September 12, 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: thinner iPhones, recipe for saving the most with cellular, flipping for cash, health insurance hikes, thrifty Teslas, the future of EVs, the most expensive hobbies, grim Googling, new homes cheaper than existing, Social Security is more valuable than you thought, & underperforming funds to avoid!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to had a Money. I'm Joel, I am Matt,
and today we're talking flipping for cash, health insurance hikes
and grim googling.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
That's right, buddy, you know what you just mentioned grim googling. Specifically,
we're going to talk about advertising that has shown up
within Google searches. We're not gonna we're not well, I
guess we even.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Just search order search order, how the first thing you
click might not be the best thing that you're looking
for exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I just wanted to high that we weren't planning to
highlight the terrible news that we that America experienced earlier
this week, although it's worth saying the murder of Charlie
kirk Man, what a terrible thing.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Awful that and it just feels like there's a general
upswing and political violence in this guy. Yes, yeah, there has,
and all acts like that, horrific like terror laden acts
of evil violence that have taken place, not just on
those individuals, I think, but even on our country. Right, Yeah,
Like this isn't how we do things in the United States.
When you have a disagreement with somebody, when you have
different beliefs, when you voice those different opinions, part of
(01:16):
the great history of our country is an ability to
speak freely and vehemently disagree.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yes with freedom of speech, man, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
With people that have issues even that you find abhorrent,
and and violence is never the solution when we disagree
on principles or political ideology.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
So yeah, yeah, we are the watch. We are fans
of fire. Not financial independence, retire early, but the foundation
of individual rights and an expression, the foundation that's out
there championing free speech and the ability for folks to
voice their opinion. And so we're all about that. We
are all about for folks to have respectful conversation, dissenting views.
(01:56):
And this isn't man. I just hope we don't see
more of this country. And my heart obviously goes out
to his family, in particular.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
His family and the families abot to build. A Ukrainian
woman earlier in Charlotte this week, right, her family, they're
just seem Yeah, the senseless violence and the impacts crummy week.
The downstream impacts that the violence has on families is
just it's hard to have them and it's tough to watch.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah. All right, So now we've got to move from
these heavier topics to something silly, Joel, something a little
more superficial. But that's we are going to talk about
personal finance. The first story. We're going to get to iPhones. Man,
let's talk about how thinner iPhones are coming, which seems silly.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, but it seems silly in its own right though too. Yes, exactly. Yeah,
the thinnest iPhone ever. And I just love to watch
Apple try to do their marketing thing and make us
think that this is the greatest thing since life spread
or a necessity in our life.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Do you remember I can't remember what version it was
that came out, but Apple specifically was asking people to
not come in the store and then the phones because
there are reports I want to say it was like
the seven. It's like, at that point in time, it
was the thinnest yet if folks were coming in, like,
wait does it there's reports of them bending in people's
pockets or something like that. They're like, please, don't come
in and bend our iPhone. How's that not going to happen?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Now?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
With the with the iPhone Air, which is now the
thinnest right of all time.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
It's interesting to see like the new product release and
how they're trying to go about promoting these things. And
I just I think the tech guy turned to typically
is Marquis Marquez Brownlee, who just like does an awesome
job on YouTube reviewing stuff, and I just like Engadget
and Get Yeah, they do a great job too. Still,
the it's the classic is classic. Suck in my way
is just so is Browny. Dude. He's been on YouTube
(03:39):
for since he was like a child, basically reviewing tech gadgers.
He's got like twenty million subscribers. He's incredible. So but
he was just like saying, I mean the battery lix inferior,
Like everything is inferior about the phone. And guess what
on top of that, I think most people are going
to do, Matt, They're going to put a case on it,
and so that super thin thousand dollars. I mean, if
not there, I know that the ceramic shield is stronger
(04:00):
and stuff like.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
That ceramicshield two baby, Yeah, stronger better than ever.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
But you're running that risk right of okay, tossing it
on the ground, shattering the screen.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I am of the mind. I am almost willing to
consider because I think about like my old phones back
in the day, how many like when I would drop them,
even with cases, and they would crack what they would shatter.
And I'm thinking about how I've got scratches all over
my current screen. It isn't a case, but I drop
it all the time and it doesn't break. I think
the technology has gotten to the point that I wonder
if the and we've talked about how you've got to
(04:32):
ensure your quote unquote ensure your phone, but by putting
a case on it, and I am wondering if that's
gonna end up being some sort of holdover, some sort
of remnant, and instead of okay, Boomer, it'll be like okay,
millennial you with your big clunky iPhone case.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I hope so I hope that the that they're able
to manufacture these phones in such a way that you
don't need a case and then if you drop it,
your phone is still okay. That would be amazing. Like I
would love to have a case free phone. I just
don't might be willing to risk skid. We'll see, all right, Richie, rich.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Maybe I'm looking forward looking for an excuse to get
it as a holder, as an owner of an iPhone
thirteen Proah, maybe I'm like I don't know, maybe I
can get it, you know, a REFERB fifteen for sixteen
on the cheap you know, sixteen pro. That's a good point,
A nice one.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Upgrading maybe to a user refurbished model that's not quite
the newest one makes more sense as a new model
gets released, because the prices go down on those models, right, that's.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
What the smart money nerds do.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, exactly. But are you going to pay like twelve
thirteen hundred bucks? I think the top of the line
Pro Max with the biggest storage is like two grand now,
so they're really starting to do in that territory of
the new one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
God, So, which is that's the cost of a computer?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
It's more than the ye crazy? Yeah, so I guess
just I think the upgrades are mostly incrementals. Yes, there
are some upgrades, but do you actually need that? And
then I think the thing that makes me the status
Matt is that some people think, well, you know what,
I really need this thing. They bought into the marketing hype,
the thinnest iPhone ever. I've got to have it in
my pocket. And while at Hub found that one in
(06:04):
four people are more than willing to go into debt
for the new iPhone, and yeah, I mean debt for
tech gadgets. We're not down with it. It's a terrible idea.
If you can't actually afford the cost of the new
phone with cash that you have on hand, even then
like consider whether or not you should put that into
your budget or not. But if you don't have the
(06:25):
money to buy it, going into debt for it is
just utterly absurd, at least from the head of money perspective.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, as a general rule of thumb, do not finance
depreciating assets. That's my rule of thumb.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I think that's a great rule with it.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
If you are looking to buy a home, sure that
can work out. But everything else. That's why I'm not
a huge fan of Carlon's.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Per student loans in moderation, right, because you are an
appreciating asset that you're doing some investing in.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
An investment in your knowledge base and yeah, your marketability.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
But even that can get out of control, as we.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Know that's true. Okay, maybe a quasi related article, there's
a story of the young dude. They talked about his
attempt to flip stuff, to flip items on Facebook marketplace
in order to make a profit. This is not a
new concept, but he was looking for items, some free,
some he paid for to purchase in order to sell
for more than he paid. I think this was over
on the journal. But the most impressive flip was a
(07:16):
set of rims, like car tire rims that he got
for free and then he turned it into a three
hundred dollars sale. This reminds me of you remember the
Canadian blogger some kid who upgraded. He bartered his way
from a red paper clip over the course of like years,
I think, but he eventually bartered his way up to
a home in the actual house.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Incredible. What this reminded me of, Yeah, I forgot what
he started with though it's literally a red paper clip,
which is I think there's like a statue or like
an art installation of like the red paper clip to
like commemorate because he was such a bolic what he did.
I think that was sort of the first of its time, right,
And in large part he was able to do that
because he garnered a lot of media coverage and people
(07:58):
are probably willing to part with something that was maybe
maybe worth a little bit more actual money, but they
were willing to be a part of his journey, be
a part of it, and maybe something he had to
them was more valuable. But that's the that's the.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
That's what's so beautiful about a free market, the ability
to choose what it is that you want to put
out there, what you want to sell, what you want
to purchase. As well, he had Pokemon cards, which have
evidently had like the best return other than like the
SMP over the past.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
That was another Pokemons have cards have outpaced the SMP
in terms of depends on what terms of return, which
which which card. But he this this guy though he
occasionally lost money.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
But and of course he said that dealing with folks
who ghosted him or who were just like super flaky,
that's the worst part, which I totally agree, that's the
worst part of trying to buy or sell something, especially
on something like Facebook marketplace. But yeah, you can totally
respect the hustle, and I respect this this guy's hustle
too when it comes to finding ways and makes some additional.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Cash in aside, just that concept of arbage, right, that
someone is selling something, maybe they're prioritizing getting rid of
it quickly, and you know a lot about that item
and you're like, well, that's way underpriced. I can buy that,
I can bring it home, I can take better pictures
or something like that, and I can turn it into
Lots of times it's crummy pictures and people don't do
a good job listing the item they have, and if
(09:18):
you're that's what happened. I have a friend who flips
mid century furniture, and that's often how he does it.
It's like poorly listed, it's misspelled, terrible photos.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
He finds it in the garage sale. Yeah, but then
he cleaned.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Sometimes he cleans it up. Sometimes he just takes better.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Pictures, right, brings it into his studio. He's got the
psych wall.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's right. Those pieces look so good, I know exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I'm like, yeah, I'll pay an eighty percent premium too,
just because it looks better.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Right, Just presentation matters, right.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So of an old friend of ours too, he would
do that with cars. So this is before the state
where he lived changed the advolorum tax. So now every
time you purchase a new vehicle, you pay that advi
alarum like essentially sales tax up front. But at the
time it was just assessed on an annual basis. And
he would I can't remember what car he ended up
(10:02):
driving in the end, but he would get a car similarly.
It wasn't marketed well crummy pictures. He drove it for
a while but then cleaned it up. He was a photographer,
took really good photos of it, and he would sell
it for a few hundred dollars more, I believe it
like a few months later. And he did that multiple times,
and every time was able to upgrade his ride.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Which I love. Again.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
I love the hustle, but it takes time. And that's
the thing you got to know. It's why I think
a lot of young folks are willing to hustle like that,
because it takes a little bit of time. It takes
a lot of energy to want to be able to
do that, and you got to be able to value
your time accurately to make sure it's worth it.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah. Yeah, And at this point in my life, I'm
not going to drive across town for a twenty dollars
item that I can sell for forty. But I don't know.
I might have done that like fifteen years ago, right,
so make some extra cash. Yeah, And just I think
the general concept of barbitrage is under discussed in personal
finance because there are inefficiencies in marketplaces. And maybe it's
even you're at a big box store or something like
(10:59):
that and you see something on clearance and you're like,
I know, I could sell this for more on eBay.
I don't know, maybe buy some of them. I almost
did that with a trigger grill that was on clearance
one time, the Costco and there were three left, and
I bought one for myself, and I was like, I
should have bought all three and sold the OtherSide. I
would have made a hundred bucks a pop on that, just.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Like you did it with the dishwashers.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Which I think exactly I did.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, I guess in that case, it was right there
in front of you, right, So it's not like you're
going out of your way. You're like, I've range on
the research. This is a good dishwasher, right, and the
ability to pounce. Maybe put a little bit of effort
into the quote unquote marketing and selling of the item,
then you're gonna come out on top.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Let's talk. Let's talk health insurance. Matt Let's super fun topic.
Everybody knows health insurance is super cheap and super affordable,
so great I think everyone loves their coverage. Everyone loves
the system that we're in. That's the best part. How
efficient it is, how well run. Of course not true.
Health insurance costs are on the rise in a meaningful
(11:56):
way this year, in particular two. Without making any changes,
price hex would likely be roughly like nine percent year
over year from employers what they have to pay for
coverage for their employees, like almost a ten percent bump
in a single year. Matt. That's far up paces inflation.
They won't be quite as high because of benefit reductions,
(12:16):
so price increases are going to be closer to six
and a half percent according to some recent data. And
there was a survey of like seventeen hundred companies and
they basically said, yeah, a lot of the higher costs
are going to have to be shoved onto our employees,
So open enrollment, we're getting close to that starting a
lot of how to money listeners. They might be shocked
(12:38):
by coverage reductions that they see or cost increases are
probably a little bit of both. So I guess we
just kind of want to give you the heads up
and say be ready to make some hard decisions here.
High deductible health care plans are not for everyone, but
if you're in good shape, with few procedures planned for
the coming year, and you've got solid savings on hand,
it can be a really good way to save on
(12:59):
monthly premium costs. And then it's important to note that
the cost of plans on healthcare dot gov they're going
up to at an even higher rate, and it seems
like subsidies are diminishing at the same time. So what
do you do when you're between a rock and a
hard place in terms of healthcare costs. These are difficult
discussions and there is no easy answer. I guess I
(13:19):
do want to at least highlight the fact that health
sharing companies for some people might make sense if you're
the cost of your plan is skyrocketing, in particular on
healthcare dot gov. They're not the same thing as insurance,
and we want to highlight that, and you should do
your due diligence before signing up for one. We have
articles up on the site actually about the health sharing
plans as well, but you might want at least consider one,
(13:40):
because when you're talking about a price gap of potentially
multiple thousands of dollars every month on premiums, versus whatever
health sharing plans call their premiums the share amount or
whatever helsehold portion.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, depending on that company.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
At some point, traditional health insurance becomes just unaffordable for
a lot of us. It's true.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Okay, so yeah, So there was one study that found
that a decent chunk of folks actually choose a health
insurance plan in less than thirty minutes. Half of millennials
say they blindly pick a plan. They're just kind of like, oh,
that one sounds nice, I just go for it, which
is crazy, Like, this is not a case where sticking
your plans on a dartboard and just kind of going
with a random choice that where that's going to be
a smart idea, And I like one of the toughest
(14:21):
parts about choosing the right plan is just knowing what
your healthcare costs, what your needs are going to be,
and of course what your sort of out of pocket
costs are going to be in the upcoming year. You
can't perfectly predict, you know, accurately, what you're going to need,
but you can likely come up with a decent range.
And while this isn't always possible, you can plan ahead
(14:41):
for some different health procedures maybe you can kind of
lump some into a current a singular calendar year when
you do have more robust coverage. It reminds me of
when you might quote unquote bunch you're giving yeah right
as to whether or not you're going to atomize your taxes.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Or a bunch of health procedures too.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah, do that. And we've had for us who have
done that, who have been a bit more strategic when
it came to, oh, I ruptured my achilles, we're gonna,
you know, got to get that fixed this year. I
guess this is also the in that case, they didn't
go with the more robust coverage, but they realized this.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Is the year that we're going to hit high inductible
schedule everything else.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah, so they did like wisdom teeth removal with the daughter,
another daughter had like the tonsils removed. You know, they
kind of like went through the litany of all the
things that they were considering. It's just like not, you're
obviously not gonna get some of these things done unnecessarily,
but they were planning all all of these things were essentially.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
On the dock on the radar, but they might not
have happened till like the following year, and they're like,
all right, we're gonna shove it all into this calendar exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
And of course, don't forget about flexible spending accounts. Still,
forget about hsas health savings accounts as well, because they
can these can be tools that you can use and
they can at least help you to save on taxes
for those increased health care expenses. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, some people underutilize those matter, especially like the the fsays.
If you have a we prefer hsas for long term
investments and tax free growth. But when you're talking about
the FSAs, that's usually like dollar for dollar plan out
you're spending, know how much you can stock in there
so that you are avoiding taxes on healthcare spending at least.
Let's talk about Tesla for a second, Matt. You remember
(16:14):
you remember when Tesla's were kind of the it car,
the Model S. They're expensive, man, and people, but there.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Still are, but yeah, not as expensive, not nearly.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
As expensive as they used to be. And that's partly
because they've released additional models that are less expensive right
than that flagship Model S. But it's also because they've
economies of scale, right, and they've figured out how the
manufacturing process, how to really manufacture those and bring the
cost down. But I just remember when they were so
expensive and was really only rich people and the elite
that could afford at Tesla, and now that's not the case.
(16:48):
I used Tesla costs less than the average used internal
combustion engine vehicle these days, and so that's kind of
hard to fathom. It's not something you could have predicted,
I don't think ten years ago. The TV tax credits
are expiring at the end of September, at the end
of this month, and so if you've got the cash
and you've got the interest, now might be a good
time to pounce, as prices have gone down and the
(17:10):
tax benefit still remains. But the New York Times they
also have a detailed EV versus gas calculator that I
think is worth checking out. But it's just fascinating to
see that. Yeah, some electric vehicles have become cheap enough
to really justify upgrading or switching from an ice vehicle
(17:31):
basically over to electric because the savings sort of that significant.
Think about how much you're going to save on gas too,
especially if you're a heavy driver. But one place you
might not save when we're talking about electric vehicles is
on insurance. And that's the one thing you're don't want
to get a quote from your insurance company before you
make that switch, because you might say this seems like
a good deal. Then you call your insurance company, they're like, well,
(17:52):
you're paying two thousand dollars a year for coverage for
your cars, and now because you added that EV in
and you ditch the other one, well that's going to
be like thirty two hundred dollars a year. And they're like,
I wasn't planning on spending that much extra. That cuts
into the savings that I was hoping to experience. So beware,
be get that quote ahead of time before you like
make that plunge. Like the total benefit package that you
(18:14):
were to receive from employer. In a similar way, what's
the total expense.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
That you're going to be experiencing when it comes to
operating your electric vehicle. Yeah, the end of the tax
credit has icy cars. That's a they put out great
information on vehicles, but they see a sales cliff coming
for EV's they're forecasting a fifty percent decline in sales
as consumers are more likely going to avoid them without
that tax incentive attached. And so the wider implication here
(18:38):
is that EV adoption, well, it's already stalled even with
the tax credits in place, and so I think it's
going to cause even more of a decline. Right, So
instead of a seven to eight percent of overall car sales,
we're likely going to see new EV purchases at roughly
four to five percent instead, which is a far cry
from This makes me think about Norway?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Can we look that up the other day because I
was curious, I think the percentage of new car sales
in Norway that are electric vehicles specific are it was
either ninety three or ninety seven percent, I would have
guessed eight.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, at least eighty.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Something insane, like it's so high. Yeah, gas powered vehicles
just almost don't exist in normally in the Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
The ones that do, I'm sure are like diesel trucks
because of the maybe the torque or the you know
that's that's involved with specialty work vehicles. But all that
being said, used EV supply is up sixty two percent,
and so it's a moving target, right, So it just
depends on what the market's doing. And even though like
I could still see myself driving an electric vehicle, Like
(19:39):
if we need a second vehicle sometime maybe next year,
just for scooting around town. It's still a very affordable
way to get around. So I think it all depends
on what the used market, in particular for me, what
that ends up doing.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, and I mean with those tax credits going away.
You and I had reservations for We didn't know if
we were going to follow through or not. But it
was a low commitment, right, one hundred buck for like
the slate the Slate truck. Yeah, and what was the
other one, Oh, the Rivian. Yeah, that's right, there were two. Yeah,
that was two years ago maybe that we said that
no longer. I canceled both of mine because I was like, well,
(20:11):
I have a solid, old gas vehicle that I really enjoy,
and uh, just with the tax tread of going away,
I was like, maybe much less sense. It makes the
less financial sense to make that upgrade.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, but man, we've got more to get to. We're
gonna discuss the Oh, let's get to the high cost
of housing. That's something that's on a lot of folks minds.
We'll get to that more.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Right after this.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
All, rybody, we are back from the break. Is now
time for the ludacrous headline of the week, which comes
from CNN this week, and headline reads, the hobby that's
costing young men tens of thousands of dollars And this
is not the new thing, oled hobby of pickleball, Joel.
We're not talking about the old school golf, which is
(21:00):
probably the second expensive one. It's very expensive.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
I have friends who go on like golf trips and
I'm like, no thanks, it's expensive. Yeah, that's my backpacking
hobby is like, not the cheapest, but it's way cheaper.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It's it's so much more footable.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
But golf.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I have such a bad attitude about golf. I've gone
on rants before about used to work a golf course.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I did.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
That was younger, Matt old, Matt is not. I played
a whole lot of golf when I was a young kid,
in part because of how accessible it was to me
at that point in time. Now we're not talking about golf.
We're talking about sports gambling, which can that even be
called a hobby? Like That's another thing.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Too, the fact that calling an addiction it is a
nice way of killing your addiction.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Of an addiction. So in this scene in an article, evidently,
if you watch a sporting event on TV, you're gonna
see an ad for gambling once every thirteen seconds, which
blew my mind. And it's actually it's not even an ad.
They're they're also including like logos for gambling apps for instance,
like whether it's on a jersey or you know, you're
(22:00):
sitting there watching the match, you're watching a hockey game
and you see like the boards, you know, like as
they're even product placement along the sides of the arena everything.
But it's just completely inundated our athletics, the sports that
we watch. And evidently this is I guess, not surprisingly
largely a young male phenomena. A quarter of males under
the age of forty five have participated at all, which
(22:24):
again very surprising. I've never gambled on sports before. Ten
percent of men who are aged eighteen to thirty think
that they have a gambling problem, and man gambling get
young guys who are gambling on their favorite players or
their favorite teams. It has become fully normalized and it's
right through at their fingertips. You know, this isn't something
(22:45):
that you need to go to Vegas to do. You
don't need a bookie, right, like that was the person
you would call up. I think in order to place
the sports, you just.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
To feel CD and now it feels like bright and
clean and fun. And there's all the bells and whistles
on the apps and they're tizoons everywhere.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
And so you're incentivized with free money to you know.
I know that's a part of it too. They're like, hey,
we'll give you this much money to even gamble with
once you initially download the app.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And it's also pretty easy addiction to hide, right that
stick it in your pocket.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
It went away? Yeah, exactly what are you talking about? Yeah,
And of course they're gonna highlight somebody who like was
on the verge of a mental breakdown because he lost
over ten thousand dollars like on a seeing You single
hockey game. I don't think the different apps that I
don't think they're out there trying to ruin people's lives,
you know, like it makes sense they're trying to maximize
(23:34):
their profits. I think they would, but I think they
would much rather see all people, not just men, but
like everybody. What if everybody just bet like five or
ten bucks a month. That's totally reasonable. And I would
say that seems totally reasonable, right, Like, I don't think
they're out there trying to get individual people to lose
tens of thousands of dollars. But you got to know yourself.
(23:55):
You got to know if, like what kind of slippery
slope you were on, and if you can't handle it, Man,
you don't even need to dabble with five bucks because
it might lead you to thinking you've got an edge
and you end up wagering much more money and you
end up losing a ton of it. They're also not
giving that money back, right if you gamble it away,
So is that what they're after?
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I don't know. I think there are incentives to keep
people glued to that app, so they are gambling more
and more. And yeah, it's a it's a real problem.
It's a real problem to the services, a society wide problem.
To speaking of ads, Matt, I don't think people are
using Google as much as they used to. I think
those the use of chat, GPT and other AI services
(24:35):
is on the uptick. And maybe I don't know. I'm
curious to see how Google response to that. But when
you actually just look at the Google results that show
up at the top when you make a search, they
might not be as good as you think. You typically
assume that whatever Google is serving up first, once you
scroll past the ads at least is is going to
be the most effective solution to whatever query you've You've
(24:59):
tossed it. And there's this wallet hub survey that found
that trusting the top search results from Google can cost
you money. And it's not just those misleading ads, but
that is true too, Right, if you click on those
top ads, you might be going to the site that
paid Google the most, not to the site that's going
to give you the most help. But it's also the
content creators who aren't offering the best advice who are
(25:22):
gaining the system getting the top SEO placements, even if
their content isn't the most impactful or helpful. So, for instance,
some creators prioritize credit card rankings on their sites based
on their relationship with advertisers, right, the relationship they have
with the banks. They list the credit cards first that
(25:42):
they get paid the most for, even if they aren't
the best solution for people making that search. So this
is I think I hope people intuitively understand this that like,
don't just trust the first Google result you come across,
but do research at multiple sites, run the numbers, and
Plus there's also individual realities here, Matt that depending on
(26:04):
how you spend well, this credit card might be better
for someone else who stumbled upon this site, but it
might not be the best card for you. So know
your individual situation and also know that whatever hits you
in the face first when you make a Google search
might not be, you know, the best thing for you
at that time.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
That's right, man, Let's discuss the cost of housing, because
the general housing market has gained more than twenty trillion
dollars in value over the past five years. This is
quoting trillion, twenty trillion dollars with the tea. That's right.
I don't think that there's this as much of a surprise.
I think you know, we all saw if you owned
a home, your your home value like skyrocket, big number
(26:40):
in the beginning in twenty twenty. Yeah, that was a
it was a fifty seven percent gain in five years.
But those giant increases have largely subsided and there's a
new housing market anomaly now, which is that new homes
are cheaper than existing ones and This makes me think
of the car industry, because I certainly the home market
(27:01):
is different than the automobile market industry. That being said,
there are some similarities. And seeing new homes become cheaper
than the existing ones buy almost twenty thousand dollars on average,
this is super fascinating. Man. It comes down to supply
and demand. Homebuilders. They've got supply coming to market when
there's basically less buyer interest generally speaking. But I think
(27:24):
also maybe in those newer homes which has led to
price cuts. So existing homeowners like the older homes, maybe
the homes that you might see and think, oh, that's
a house that's got some character. Oh that's in a
slightly more desirable part of town.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
In nineteen twenties bungalow or a nineteen sixties ranch.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, or it's just in a good location, like all
the good good spots are taken. You know, those homeowners
they've got less pressure to sell. They can often stay
put longer. And so if you are in the market
to buy a home, I think we would recommend to
consider buying a brand new one because you might get
a rate buy down. That's something that some of these
home buyers are doing in addition to a cheaper.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Sales price as well.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
So it's just a fascinating thing to see that if
you blindly said, oh, well, all housing is the same,
there are differences between old stock, you know, like old housing,
housing that's been on them, that's been in existence for
a while, and new builds essentially, and I think there's
opportunity for folks to perhaps to get you a home
that is a bit more affordable. You certainly know the
(28:25):
trade offs, and I think I think it's probably safe
to say as well that you're going to see less
appreciation on those homes because they are more affordable because
they are maybe in a new development and there's not
as much infrastructure in that, you know, in that suburb
way out there. It's just like, oh yeah, homes are
real cheap out there, But do you want to live
way out there? But it comes down to what it
is that you're you're looking, that you are valuing, and
(28:45):
what you're trying to add to your life.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
When when you look at the graph of new new
homes prices and used home prices, like new homes are
basically never cheaper than existing homes, and so it's interesting
those lines of recently crossed. Yeah, it's interesting to see
that change, and I think it does for someone who's
like I do want to get a startund The other
thing about buying a new home, I mean you still
want to get an inspection, is that you'll probably have
(29:09):
you should have lower maintenance costs for you know, many
years to come as well. So that might be another
factor kind of pushing you in that direction of a
new home versus an existing one.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
That's a massive plus.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yeah, it just it just makes me think too about
like house flips that I've seen in our neighborhood, Matt,
and that it's the reason this is happening is because
new homebuilders were like, look at yeah, they were incentivized
to build homes as prices were going We're going through
the roof, and now those homes are coming to market
and prices have stalled. Well, the same thing is happening
(29:39):
to home flippers largely right now, because they were like, oh,
I bought the house nine months ago when prices still
felt like they were going up into the right but
now I'm I'm if the house is finished and I'm
listing it in a cooling market. Some of those people,
that's what makes home flipping I think so dangerous for
a lot of people. Is like the market can change
on a dime or change pretty quickly, and you're stuck
(30:00):
with a home with shrinking profit margins and you're holding
on to it, and you're paying money every single month
holding onto that home. Home blooping can make sense, It
can work for some people, but it can be a
really dangerous way of investing too.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
All Right, buddy, let's talk about how much we as
Americans value Social Security because there's a new study from
the Congressional Budget Office and they have found that for
the vast majority of Americans, it is in fact their
most valuable asset, which is this is a minus my
Pokemon card collection. Yeah, this is some striking and sad news.
(30:36):
You know, It's evidently more valuable than the retirement accounts.
It's more valuable than the home equity that they've been
able to build up. Especially with the looming physcal troubles
that Social Security is facing. I think to have the
bulk of your retirement nest egg in Social Security, like,
that's a bit unsettling. The average Social Security benefit is
two thousand dollars a month, and without that two thousand dollars, man,
(30:59):
we would see a lot more retire devastation. I think
it's another reason that I don't see social security going
away completely, but again, like something is going to have
to be done regardless. I was very shocked to see
that nine out of ten Americans have more essentially in
their social security and how much they're expecting to draw
from that that I was expecting.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Basically, because like, yeah, two thousand dollars a month is
what you're drawing from that, But the overall value of
a social security for the average American is something like
half a million dollars, right, That's what they can expect
to pull down from social security over the years, and
that's just way an exit. Most people don't have five
hundred thousand dollars built up in their four one kiras
(31:41):
or that combination thereof they don't have that much in
home equity. So yeah, it makes sense when you look
at the numbers that something like nine to ten people
find that social security is the best thing that they
have essentially to help them fund their winnerment.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I would not have expected that it was that much.
I would have said, I would have expected that it
was pretty high, but that actually maybe or well, especially
and we've talked about this on the show. I mean
especially as auto en rolling in four to one k's
as that has become the norm. Iras have been around
for quite a long time, but I mean in so
a four to one k's right, like as we switch
from this pension system. But I guess it just hasn't
(32:19):
been It takes a long time for a generation to
kind of go through that and build up the kind
of net worth that you would need to be able
to live on, to be able to draw two thousand
dollars or more, Yeah, when you are in those retirement years.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
And I feel I guess maybe for that in between generation,
maybe it's like the gen xers, right, who didn't have
the pension, didn't have the investing knowledge or the easy
access to investing. It wasn't democratized right in the way
that it's that it's become for younger generations that you
look at the numbers of gen Zers who are just
like they're investing is kind of normalized and part of
(32:54):
their experience.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
It was a bit like second nature there. Yeah, what
is like digital natives like they're right there, automatic four
and K natives like it's almost like what they've always known.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Yeah, and so they've they've heard enough about it, they've
participated in the investing world enough, you know, some of
it dabbling in some weird stuff. But at least at
least they're doing the thing and they're they're putting money
away for their future.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
That you criticize them for their stunks.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I mean, you know there is the stunks have paid off, dude. Yeah,
and then some of the you know, fly by Night
Sheba you new coins have not yeah, and the NFTs.
But I think for us, what I take away from this,
the goal for that we have for how to Money
listeners is that your eventual monthly social Security payments are
helpful in your retirement, but that you have more valuable
(33:38):
assets to tap than your social security, so that you
find yourself in that ten percent of folks where social
Security is not your most valuable asset. And that is
why we talk about index funds inside of your four
one ks and I raise yea all the time.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
This is a bell that we're going to continue to
ring ye from now until the end of time.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Increasing your contribution amount regular right, so that you are
well set up, well funded to have more options even
before you reach retirement, but especially once you reach those
decades that you're you're not like so dependent on Social Security.
You have other ways of funding your life, right, And
we've talked about the Polish proliferation of ETF options. Matt
(34:20):
recently had there's just like so dang many a lot
of AI ETFs. Yeah, I mean dozens of them. Don't
need them, but a lot of actively managed funds are
being are being added into that ETF space, and even
at brokerages like Vanguard, it's been surprising. Vanguard, the king
of passive passive investing products, has also included a bunch
(34:42):
of actively managed funds at lower costs and a lot
of other actively managed funds, but still like they've got
a ton. There's a ton of fun choices at even
a place like Vanguard. And while those funds, the actively
managed ones, might be getting the biggest marketing push, they
cost more and they tend to underperform. And so morning
Star recently found that at only thirty three percent of
actively managed funds outperform their passive counterparts, the kind of
(35:07):
peer funds that look really similar but aren't actively managed.
And that's before you factor in the much higher fees.
Please do pay attention to that. That's why we talk
often about low cost you know, total stock market s
and p funds or target day funds like those are
all great choices.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Which I mean, how many all time new highs are
we going to hit with the SMP Yeah, in particular, man,
but which well I will maybe this year is a
little mini story which was driven in part because of
the fact that the jobs report we didn't I guess
we didn't talk about the jobs report. That's not typically
something we cover the jobs report, but the numbers that
little wonky sometimes went on. The numbers got revised from
(35:43):
the preceding twelve months, and it was like a million
less jobs than initially reported, which like almost certainly means
a rate cut coming up very soon. And maybe we're
not covering that because it's still kind of speculative, but
I think that's something we will be talking about very soon.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, for sure. So just finishing up on social security, yeah, like,
especially for your younger folks, we do believe that you'll
have some social security waiting for you. But if you're
if you're smart, if you are active in planning for
your own financial future, then it's gravy on top, and
it's not necessarily it's not something you have to rely on.
It your it's not gonna be your biggest asset in retirement.
(36:23):
That's that's a good goal to have. That's right.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
That's gonna be it for this Friday flight, though we
hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. We'll see you back
here with a fresh ask how to Money episode, So
until then, Buddy, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,
Welcome to had a Money. I'm Joel, I am Matt,
and today we're talking flipping for cash, health insurance hikes
and grim googling.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
That's right, buddy, you know what you just mentioned grim googling. Specifically,
we're going to talk about advertising that has shown up
within Google searches. We're not gonna we're not well, I
guess we even.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Just search order search order, how the first thing you
click might not be the best thing that you're looking
for exactly.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
I just wanted to high that we weren't planning to
highlight the terrible news that we that America experienced earlier
this week, although it's worth saying the murder of Charlie
kirk Man, what a terrible thing.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Awful that and it just feels like there's a general
upswing and political violence in this guy. Yes, yeah, there has,
and all acts like that, horrific like terror laden acts
of evil violence that have taken place, not just on
those individuals, I think, but even on our country. Right, Yeah,
Like this isn't how we do things in the United States.
When you have a disagreement with somebody, when you have
different beliefs, when you voice those different opinions, part of
(01:16):
the great history of our country is an ability to
speak freely and vehemently disagree.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yes with freedom of speech, man, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
With people that have issues even that you find abhorrent,
and and violence is never the solution when we disagree
on principles or political ideology.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
So yeah, yeah, we are the watch. We are fans
of fire. Not financial independence, retire early, but the foundation
of individual rights and an expression, the foundation that's out
there championing free speech and the ability for folks to
voice their opinion. And so we're all about that. We
are all about for folks to have respectful conversation, dissenting views.
(01:56):
And this isn't man. I just hope we don't see
more of this country. And my heart obviously goes out
to his family, in particular.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
His family and the families abot to build. A Ukrainian
woman earlier in Charlotte this week, right, her family, they're
just seem Yeah, the senseless violence and the impacts crummy week.
The downstream impacts that the violence has on families is
just it's hard to have them and it's tough to watch.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah. All right, So now we've got to move from
these heavier topics to something silly, Joel, something a little
more superficial. But that's we are going to talk about
personal finance. The first story. We're going to get to iPhones. Man,
let's talk about how thinner iPhones are coming, which seems silly.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yeah, but it seems silly in its own right though too. Yes, exactly. Yeah,
the thinnest iPhone ever. And I just love to watch
Apple try to do their marketing thing and make us
think that this is the greatest thing since life spread
or a necessity in our life.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Do you remember I can't remember what version it was
that came out, but Apple specifically was asking people to
not come in the store and then the phones because
there are reports I want to say it was like
the seven. It's like, at that point in time, it
was the thinnest yet if folks were coming in, like,
wait does it there's reports of them bending in people's
pockets or something like that. They're like, please, don't come
in and bend our iPhone. How's that not going to happen?
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Now?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
With the with the iPhone Air, which is now the
thinnest right of all time.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
It's interesting to see like the new product release and
how they're trying to go about promoting these things. And
I just I think the tech guy turned to typically
is Marquis Marquez Brownlee, who just like does an awesome
job on YouTube reviewing stuff, and I just like Engadget
and Get Yeah, they do a great job too. Still,
the it's the classic is classic. Suck in my way
is just so is Browny. Dude. He's been on YouTube
(03:39):
for since he was like a child, basically reviewing tech gadgers.
He's got like twenty million subscribers. He's incredible. So but
he was just like saying, I mean the battery lix inferior,
Like everything is inferior about the phone. And guess what
on top of that, I think most people are going
to do, Matt, They're going to put a case on it,
and so that super thin thousand dollars. I mean, if
not there, I know that the ceramic shield is stronger
(04:00):
and stuff like.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
That ceramicshield two baby, Yeah, stronger better than ever.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
But you're running that risk right of okay, tossing it
on the ground, shattering the screen.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I am of the mind. I am almost willing to
consider because I think about like my old phones back
in the day, how many like when I would drop them,
even with cases, and they would crack what they would shatter.
And I'm thinking about how I've got scratches all over
my current screen. It isn't a case, but I drop
it all the time and it doesn't break. I think
the technology has gotten to the point that I wonder
if the and we've talked about how you've got to
(04:32):
ensure your quote unquote ensure your phone, but by putting
a case on it, and I am wondering if that's
gonna end up being some sort of holdover, some sort
of remnant, and instead of okay, Boomer, it'll be like okay,
millennial you with your big clunky iPhone case.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I hope so I hope that the that they're able
to manufacture these phones in such a way that you
don't need a case and then if you drop it,
your phone is still okay. That would be amazing. Like I
would love to have a case free phone. I just
don't might be willing to risk skid. We'll see, all right, Richie, rich.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Maybe I'm looking forward looking for an excuse to get
it as a holder, as an owner of an iPhone
thirteen Proah, maybe I'm like I don't know, maybe I
can get it, you know, a REFERB fifteen for sixteen
on the cheap you know, sixteen pro. That's a good point,
A nice one.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Upgrading maybe to a user refurbished model that's not quite
the newest one makes more sense as a new model
gets released, because the prices go down on those models, right, that's.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
What the smart money nerds do.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, exactly. But are you going to pay like twelve
thirteen hundred bucks? I think the top of the line
Pro Max with the biggest storage is like two grand now,
so they're really starting to do in that territory of
the new one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
God, So, which is that's the cost of a computer?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Right?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
It's more than the ye crazy? Yeah, so I guess
just I think the upgrades are mostly incrementals. Yes, there
are some upgrades, but do you actually need that? And
then I think the thing that makes me the status
Matt is that some people think, well, you know what,
I really need this thing. They bought into the marketing hype,
the thinnest iPhone ever. I've got to have it in
my pocket. And while at Hub found that one in
(06:04):
four people are more than willing to go into debt
for the new iPhone, and yeah, I mean debt for
tech gadgets. We're not down with it. It's a terrible idea.
If you can't actually afford the cost of the new
phone with cash that you have on hand, even then
like consider whether or not you should put that into
your budget or not. But if you don't have the
(06:25):
money to buy it, going into debt for it is
just utterly absurd, at least from the head of money perspective.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yeah, as a general rule of thumb, do not finance
depreciating assets. That's my rule of thumb.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I think that's a great rule with it.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
If you are looking to buy a home, sure that
can work out. But everything else. That's why I'm not
a huge fan of Carlon's.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Per student loans in moderation, right, because you are an
appreciating asset that you're doing some investing in.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
An investment in your knowledge base and yeah, your marketability.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
But even that can get out of control, as we.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Know that's true. Okay, maybe a quasi related article, there's
a story of the young dude. They talked about his
attempt to flip stuff, to flip items on Facebook marketplace
in order to make a profit. This is not a
new concept, but he was looking for items, some free,
some he paid for to purchase in order to sell
for more than he paid. I think this was over
on the journal. But the most impressive flip was a
(07:16):
set of rims, like car tire rims that he got
for free and then he turned it into a three
hundred dollars sale. This reminds me of you remember the
Canadian blogger some kid who upgraded. He bartered his way
from a red paper clip over the course of like years,
I think, but he eventually bartered his way up to
a home in the actual house.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Incredible. What this reminded me of, Yeah, I forgot what
he started with though it's literally a red paper clip,
which is I think there's like a statue or like
an art installation of like the red paper clip to
like commemorate because he was such a bolic what he did.
I think that was sort of the first of its time, right,
And in large part he was able to do that
because he garnered a lot of media coverage and people
(07:58):
are probably willing to part with something that was maybe
maybe worth a little bit more actual money, but they
were willing to be a part of his journey, be
a part of it, and maybe something he had to
them was more valuable. But that's the that's the.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
That's what's so beautiful about a free market, the ability
to choose what it is that you want to put
out there, what you want to sell, what you want
to purchase. As well, he had Pokemon cards, which have
evidently had like the best return other than like the
SMP over the past.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
That was another Pokemons have cards have outpaced the SMP
in terms of depends on what terms of return, which
which which card. But he this this guy though he
occasionally lost money.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
But and of course he said that dealing with folks
who ghosted him or who were just like super flaky,
that's the worst part, which I totally agree, that's the
worst part of trying to buy or sell something, especially
on something like Facebook marketplace. But yeah, you can totally
respect the hustle, and I respect this this guy's hustle
too when it comes to finding ways and makes some additional.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Cash in aside, just that concept of arbage, right, that
someone is selling something, maybe they're prioritizing getting rid of
it quickly, and you know a lot about that item
and you're like, well, that's way underpriced. I can buy that,
I can bring it home, I can take better pictures
or something like that, and I can turn it into
Lots of times it's crummy pictures and people don't do
a good job listing the item they have, and if
(09:18):
you're that's what happened. I have a friend who flips
mid century furniture, and that's often how he does it.
It's like poorly listed, it's misspelled, terrible photos.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
He finds it in the garage sale. Yeah, but then
he cleaned.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Sometimes he cleans it up. Sometimes he just takes better.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Pictures, right, brings it into his studio. He's got the
psych wall.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's right. Those pieces look so good, I know exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
I'm like, yeah, I'll pay an eighty percent premium too,
just because it looks better.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Right, Just presentation matters, right.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So of an old friend of ours too, he would
do that with cars. So this is before the state
where he lived changed the advolorum tax. So now every
time you purchase a new vehicle, you pay that advi
alarum like essentially sales tax up front. But at the
time it was just assessed on an annual basis. And
he would I can't remember what car he ended up
(10:02):
driving in the end, but he would get a car similarly.
It wasn't marketed well crummy pictures. He drove it for
a while but then cleaned it up. He was a photographer,
took really good photos of it, and he would sell
it for a few hundred dollars more, I believe it
like a few months later. And he did that multiple times,
and every time was able to upgrade his ride.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Which I love. Again.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
I love the hustle, but it takes time. And that's
the thing you got to know. It's why I think
a lot of young folks are willing to hustle like that,
because it takes a little bit of time. It takes
a lot of energy to want to be able to
do that, and you got to be able to value
your time accurately to make sure it's worth it.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yeah. Yeah, And at this point in my life, I'm
not going to drive across town for a twenty dollars
item that I can sell for forty. But I don't know.
I might have done that like fifteen years ago, right,
so make some extra cash. Yeah, And just I think
the general concept of barbitrage is under discussed in personal
finance because there are inefficiencies in marketplaces. And maybe it's
even you're at a big box store or something like
(10:59):
that and you see something on clearance and you're like,
I know, I could sell this for more on eBay.
I don't know, maybe buy some of them. I almost
did that with a trigger grill that was on clearance
one time, the Costco and there were three left, and
I bought one for myself, and I was like, I
should have bought all three and sold the OtherSide. I
would have made a hundred bucks a pop on that, just.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Like you did it with the dishwashers.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Which I think exactly I did.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, I guess in that case, it was right there
in front of you, right, So it's not like you're
going out of your way. You're like, I've range on
the research. This is a good dishwasher, right, and the
ability to pounce. Maybe put a little bit of effort
into the quote unquote marketing and selling of the item,
then you're gonna come out on top.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Let's talk. Let's talk health insurance. Matt Let's super fun topic.
Everybody knows health insurance is super cheap and super affordable,
so great I think everyone loves their coverage. Everyone loves
the system that we're in. That's the best part. How
efficient it is, how well run. Of course not true.
Health insurance costs are on the rise in a meaningful
(11:56):
way this year, in particular two. Without making any changes,
price hex would likely be roughly like nine percent year
over year from employers what they have to pay for
coverage for their employees, like almost a ten percent bump
in a single year. Matt. That's far up paces inflation.
They won't be quite as high because of benefit reductions,
(12:16):
so price increases are going to be closer to six
and a half percent according to some recent data. And
there was a survey of like seventeen hundred companies and
they basically said, yeah, a lot of the higher costs
are going to have to be shoved onto our employees,
So open enrollment, we're getting close to that starting a
lot of how to money listeners. They might be shocked
(12:38):
by coverage reductions that they see or cost increases are
probably a little bit of both. So I guess we
just kind of want to give you the heads up
and say be ready to make some hard decisions here.
High deductible health care plans are not for everyone, but
if you're in good shape, with few procedures planned for
the coming year, and you've got solid savings on hand,
it can be a really good way to save on
(12:59):
monthly premium costs. And then it's important to note that
the cost of plans on healthcare dot gov they're going
up to at an even higher rate, and it seems
like subsidies are diminishing at the same time. So what
do you do when you're between a rock and a
hard place in terms of healthcare costs. These are difficult
discussions and there is no easy answer. I guess I
(13:19):
do want to at least highlight the fact that health
sharing companies for some people might make sense if you're
the cost of your plan is skyrocketing, in particular on
healthcare dot gov. They're not the same thing as insurance,
and we want to highlight that, and you should do
your due diligence before signing up for one. We have
articles up on the site actually about the health sharing
plans as well, but you might want at least consider one,
(13:40):
because when you're talking about a price gap of potentially
multiple thousands of dollars every month on premiums, versus whatever
health sharing plans call their premiums the share amount or
whatever helsehold portion.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, depending on that company.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
At some point, traditional health insurance becomes just unaffordable for
a lot of us. It's true.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Okay, so yeah, So there was one study that found
that a decent chunk of folks actually choose a health
insurance plan in less than thirty minutes. Half of millennials
say they blindly pick a plan. They're just kind of like, oh,
that one sounds nice, I just go for it, which
is crazy, Like, this is not a case where sticking
your plans on a dartboard and just kind of going
with a random choice that where that's going to be
a smart idea, And I like one of the toughest
(14:21):
parts about choosing the right plan is just knowing what
your healthcare costs, what your needs are going to be,
and of course what your sort of out of pocket
costs are going to be in the upcoming year. You
can't perfectly predict, you know, accurately, what you're going to need,
but you can likely come up with a decent range.
And while this isn't always possible, you can plan ahead
(14:41):
for some different health procedures maybe you can kind of
lump some into a current a singular calendar year when
you do have more robust coverage. It reminds me of
when you might quote unquote bunch you're giving yeah right
as to whether or not you're going to atomize your taxes.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Or a bunch of health procedures too.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah, do that. And we've had for us who have
done that, who have been a bit more strategic when
it came to, oh, I ruptured my achilles, we're gonna,
you know, got to get that fixed this year. I
guess this is also the in that case, they didn't
go with the more robust coverage, but they realized this.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Is the year that we're going to hit high inductible
schedule everything else.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yeah, so they did like wisdom teeth removal with the daughter,
another daughter had like the tonsils removed. You know, they
kind of like went through the litany of all the
things that they were considering. It's just like not, you're
obviously not gonna get some of these things done unnecessarily,
but they were planning all all of these things were essentially.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
On the dock on the radar, but they might not
have happened till like the following year, and they're like,
all right, we're gonna shove it all into this calendar exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
And of course, don't forget about flexible spending accounts. Still,
forget about hsas health savings accounts as well, because they
can these can be tools that you can use and
they can at least help you to save on taxes
for those increased health care expenses. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, some people underutilize those matter, especially like the the fsays.
If you have a we prefer hsas for long term
investments and tax free growth. But when you're talking about
the FSAs, that's usually like dollar for dollar plan out
you're spending, know how much you can stock in there
so that you are avoiding taxes on healthcare spending at least.
Let's talk about Tesla for a second, Matt. You remember
(16:14):
you remember when Tesla's were kind of the it car,
the Model S. They're expensive, man, and people, but there.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Still are, but yeah, not as expensive, not nearly.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
As expensive as they used to be. And that's partly
because they've released additional models that are less expensive right
than that flagship Model S. But it's also because they've
economies of scale, right, and they've figured out how the
manufacturing process, how to really manufacture those and bring the
cost down. But I just remember when they were so
expensive and was really only rich people and the elite
that could afford at Tesla, and now that's not the case.
(16:48):
I used Tesla costs less than the average used internal
combustion engine vehicle these days, and so that's kind of
hard to fathom. It's not something you could have predicted,
I don't think ten years ago. The TV tax credits
are expiring at the end of September, at the end
of this month, and so if you've got the cash
and you've got the interest, now might be a good
time to pounce, as prices have gone down and the
(17:10):
tax benefit still remains. But the New York Times they
also have a detailed EV versus gas calculator that I
think is worth checking out. But it's just fascinating to
see that. Yeah, some electric vehicles have become cheap enough
to really justify upgrading or switching from an ice vehicle
(17:31):
basically over to electric because the savings sort of that significant.
Think about how much you're going to save on gas too,
especially if you're a heavy driver. But one place you
might not save when we're talking about electric vehicles is
on insurance. And that's the one thing you're don't want
to get a quote from your insurance company before you
make that switch, because you might say this seems like
a good deal. Then you call your insurance company, they're like, well,
(17:52):
you're paying two thousand dollars a year for coverage for
your cars, and now because you added that EV in
and you ditch the other one, well that's going to
be like thirty two hundred dollars a year. And they're like,
I wasn't planning on spending that much extra. That cuts
into the savings that I was hoping to experience. So beware,
be get that quote ahead of time before you like
make that plunge. Like the total benefit package that you
(18:14):
were to receive from employer. In a similar way, what's
the total expense.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
That you're going to be experiencing when it comes to
operating your electric vehicle. Yeah, the end of the tax
credit has icy cars. That's a they put out great
information on vehicles, but they see a sales cliff coming
for EV's they're forecasting a fifty percent decline in sales
as consumers are more likely going to avoid them without
that tax incentive attached. And so the wider implication here
(18:38):
is that EV adoption, well, it's already stalled even with
the tax credits in place, and so I think it's
going to cause even more of a decline. Right, So
instead of a seven to eight percent of overall car sales,
we're likely going to see new EV purchases at roughly
four to five percent instead, which is a far cry
from This makes me think about Norway?
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Can we look that up the other day because I
was curious, I think the percentage of new car sales
in Norway that are electric vehicles specific are it was
either ninety three or ninety seven percent, I would have
guessed eight.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, at least eighty.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Something insane, like it's so high. Yeah, gas powered vehicles
just almost don't exist in normally in the Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
The ones that do, I'm sure are like diesel trucks
because of the maybe the torque or the you know
that's that's involved with specialty work vehicles. But all that
being said, used EV supply is up sixty two percent,
and so it's a moving target, right, So it just
depends on what the market's doing. And even though like
I could still see myself driving an electric vehicle, Like
(19:39):
if we need a second vehicle sometime maybe next year,
just for scooting around town. It's still a very affordable
way to get around. So I think it all depends
on what the used market, in particular for me, what
that ends up doing.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, and I mean with those tax credits going away.
You and I had reservations for We didn't know if
we were going to follow through or not. But it
was a low commitment, right, one hundred buck for like
the slate the Slate truck. Yeah, and what was the
other one, Oh, the Rivian. Yeah, that's right, there were two. Yeah,
that was two years ago maybe that we said that
no longer. I canceled both of mine because I was like, well,
(20:11):
I have a solid, old gas vehicle that I really enjoy,
and uh, just with the tax tread of going away,
I was like, maybe much less sense. It makes the
less financial sense to make that upgrade.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, but man, we've got more to get to. We're
gonna discuss the Oh, let's get to the high cost
of housing. That's something that's on a lot of folks minds.
We'll get to that more.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Right after this.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
All, rybody, we are back from the break. Is now
time for the ludacrous headline of the week, which comes
from CNN this week, and headline reads, the hobby that's
costing young men tens of thousands of dollars And this
is not the new thing, oled hobby of pickleball, Joel.
We're not talking about the old school golf, which is
(21:00):
probably the second expensive one. It's very expensive.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
I have friends who go on like golf trips and
I'm like, no thanks, it's expensive. Yeah, that's my backpacking
hobby is like, not the cheapest, but it's way cheaper.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
It's it's so much more footable.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
But golf.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I have such a bad attitude about golf. I've gone
on rants before about used to work a golf course.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I did.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
That was younger, Matt old, Matt is not. I played
a whole lot of golf when I was a young kid,
in part because of how accessible it was to me
at that point in time. Now we're not talking about golf.
We're talking about sports gambling, which can that even be
called a hobby? Like That's another thing.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Too, the fact that calling an addiction it is a
nice way of killing your addiction.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Of an addiction. So in this scene in an article, evidently,
if you watch a sporting event on TV, you're gonna
see an ad for gambling once every thirteen seconds, which
blew my mind. And it's actually it's not even an ad.
They're they're also including like logos for gambling apps for instance,
like whether it's on a jersey or you know, you're
(22:00):
sitting there watching the match, you're watching a hockey game
and you see like the boards, you know, like as
they're even product placement along the sides of the arena everything.
But it's just completely inundated our athletics, the sports that
we watch. And evidently this is I guess, not surprisingly
largely a young male phenomena. A quarter of males under
the age of forty five have participated at all, which
(22:24):
again very surprising. I've never gambled on sports before. Ten
percent of men who are aged eighteen to thirty think
that they have a gambling problem, and man gambling get
young guys who are gambling on their favorite players or
their favorite teams. It has become fully normalized and it's
right through at their fingertips. You know, this isn't something
(22:45):
that you need to go to Vegas to do. You
don't need a bookie, right, like that was the person
you would call up. I think in order to place
the sports, you just.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
To feel CD and now it feels like bright and
clean and fun. And there's all the bells and whistles
on the apps and they're tizoons everywhere.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
And so you're incentivized with free money to you know.
I know that's a part of it too. They're like, hey,
we'll give you this much money to even gamble with
once you initially download the app.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And it's also pretty easy addiction to hide, right that
stick it in your pocket.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
It went away? Yeah, exactly what are you talking about? Yeah,
And of course they're gonna highlight somebody who like was
on the verge of a mental breakdown because he lost
over ten thousand dollars like on a seeing You single
hockey game. I don't think the different apps that I
don't think they're out there trying to ruin people's lives,
you know, like it makes sense they're trying to maximize
(23:34):
their profits. I think they would, but I think they
would much rather see all people, not just men, but
like everybody. What if everybody just bet like five or
ten bucks a month. That's totally reasonable. And I would
say that seems totally reasonable, right, Like, I don't think
they're out there trying to get individual people to lose
tens of thousands of dollars. But you got to know yourself.
(23:55):
You got to know if, like what kind of slippery
slope you were on, and if you can't handle it, Man,
you don't even need to dabble with five bucks because
it might lead you to thinking you've got an edge
and you end up wagering much more money and you
end up losing a ton of it. They're also not
giving that money back, right if you gamble it away,
So is that what they're after?
Speaker 1 (24:14):
I don't know. I think there are incentives to keep
people glued to that app, so they are gambling more
and more. And yeah, it's a it's a real problem.
It's a real problem to the services, a society wide problem.
To speaking of ads, Matt, I don't think people are
using Google as much as they used to. I think
those the use of chat, GPT and other AI services
(24:35):
is on the uptick. And maybe I don't know. I'm
curious to see how Google response to that. But when
you actually just look at the Google results that show
up at the top when you make a search, they
might not be as good as you think. You typically
assume that whatever Google is serving up first, once you
scroll past the ads at least is is going to
be the most effective solution to whatever query you've You've
(24:59):
tossed it. And there's this wallet hub survey that found
that trusting the top search results from Google can cost
you money. And it's not just those misleading ads, but
that is true too, Right, if you click on those
top ads, you might be going to the site that
paid Google the most, not to the site that's going
to give you the most help. But it's also the
content creators who aren't offering the best advice who are
(25:22):
gaining the system getting the top SEO placements, even if
their content isn't the most impactful or helpful. So, for instance,
some creators prioritize credit card rankings on their sites based
on their relationship with advertisers, right, the relationship they have
with the banks. They list the credit cards first that
(25:42):
they get paid the most for, even if they aren't
the best solution for people making that search. So this
is I think I hope people intuitively understand this that like,
don't just trust the first Google result you come across,
but do research at multiple sites, run the numbers, and
Plus there's also individual realities here, Matt that depending on
(26:04):
how you spend well, this credit card might be better
for someone else who stumbled upon this site, but it
might not be the best card for you. So know
your individual situation and also know that whatever hits you
in the face first when you make a Google search
might not be, you know, the best thing for you
at that time.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
That's right, man, Let's discuss the cost of housing, because
the general housing market has gained more than twenty trillion
dollars in value over the past five years. This is
quoting trillion, twenty trillion dollars with the tea. That's right.
I don't think that there's this as much of a surprise.
I think you know, we all saw if you owned
a home, your your home value like skyrocket, big number
(26:40):
in the beginning in twenty twenty. Yeah, that was a
it was a fifty seven percent gain in five years.
But those giant increases have largely subsided and there's a
new housing market anomaly now, which is that new homes
are cheaper than existing ones and This makes me think
of the car industry, because I certainly the home market
(27:01):
is different than the automobile market industry. That being said,
there are some similarities. And seeing new homes become cheaper
than the existing ones buy almost twenty thousand dollars on average,
this is super fascinating. Man. It comes down to supply
and demand. Homebuilders. They've got supply coming to market when
there's basically less buyer interest generally speaking. But I think
(27:24):
also maybe in those newer homes which has led to
price cuts. So existing homeowners like the older homes, maybe
the homes that you might see and think, oh, that's
a house that's got some character. Oh that's in a
slightly more desirable part of town.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
In nineteen twenties bungalow or a nineteen sixties ranch.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Yeah, or it's just in a good location, like all
the good good spots are taken. You know, those homeowners
they've got less pressure to sell. They can often stay
put longer. And so if you are in the market
to buy a home, I think we would recommend to
consider buying a brand new one because you might get
a rate buy down. That's something that some of these
home buyers are doing in addition to a cheaper.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Sales price as well.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
So it's just a fascinating thing to see that if
you blindly said, oh, well, all housing is the same,
there are differences between old stock, you know, like old housing,
housing that's been on them, that's been in existence for
a while, and new builds essentially, and I think there's
opportunity for folks to perhaps to get you a home
that is a bit more affordable. You certainly know the
(28:25):
trade offs, and I think I think it's probably safe
to say as well that you're going to see less
appreciation on those homes because they are more affordable because
they are maybe in a new development and there's not
as much infrastructure in that, you know, in that suburb
way out there. It's just like, oh yeah, homes are
real cheap out there, But do you want to live
way out there? But it comes down to what it
is that you're you're looking, that you are valuing, and
(28:45):
what you're trying to add to your life.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
When when you look at the graph of new new
homes prices and used home prices, like new homes are
basically never cheaper than existing homes, and so it's interesting
those lines of recently crossed. Yeah, it's interesting to see
that change, and I think it does for someone who's
like I do want to get a startund The other
thing about buying a new home, I mean you still
want to get an inspection, is that you'll probably have
(29:09):
you should have lower maintenance costs for you know, many
years to come as well. So that might be another
factor kind of pushing you in that direction of a
new home versus an existing one.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
That's a massive plus.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Yeah, it just it just makes me think too about
like house flips that I've seen in our neighborhood, Matt,
and that it's the reason this is happening is because
new homebuilders were like, look at yeah, they were incentivized
to build homes as prices were going We're going through
the roof, and now those homes are coming to market
and prices have stalled. Well, the same thing is happening
(29:39):
to home flippers largely right now, because they were like, oh,
I bought the house nine months ago when prices still
felt like they were going up into the right but
now I'm I'm if the house is finished and I'm
listing it in a cooling market. Some of those people,
that's what makes home flipping I think so dangerous for
a lot of people. Is like the market can change
on a dime or change pretty quickly, and you're stuck
(30:00):
with a home with shrinking profit margins and you're holding
on to it, and you're paying money every single month
holding onto that home. Home blooping can make sense, It
can work for some people, but it can be a
really dangerous way of investing too.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
All Right, buddy, let's talk about how much we as
Americans value Social Security because there's a new study from
the Congressional Budget Office and they have found that for
the vast majority of Americans, it is in fact their
most valuable asset, which is this is a minus my
Pokemon card collection. Yeah, this is some striking and sad news.
(30:36):
You know, It's evidently more valuable than the retirement accounts.
It's more valuable than the home equity that they've been
able to build up. Especially with the looming physcal troubles
that Social Security is facing. I think to have the
bulk of your retirement nest egg in Social Security, like,
that's a bit unsettling. The average Social Security benefit is
two thousand dollars a month, and without that two thousand dollars, man,
(30:59):
we would see a lot more retire devastation. I think
it's another reason that I don't see social security going
away completely, but again, like something is going to have
to be done regardless. I was very shocked to see
that nine out of ten Americans have more essentially in
their social security and how much they're expecting to draw
from that that I was expecting.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Basically, because like, yeah, two thousand dollars a month is
what you're drawing from that, But the overall value of
a social security for the average American is something like
half a million dollars, right, That's what they can expect
to pull down from social security over the years, and
that's just way an exit. Most people don't have five
hundred thousand dollars built up in their four one kiras
(31:41):
or that combination thereof they don't have that much in
home equity. So yeah, it makes sense when you look
at the numbers that something like nine to ten people
find that social security is the best thing that they
have essentially to help them fund their winnerment.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
I would not have expected that it was that much.
I would have said, I would have expected that it
was pretty high, but that actually maybe or well, especially
and we've talked about this on the show. I mean
especially as auto en rolling in four to one k's
as that has become the norm. Iras have been around
for quite a long time, but I mean in so
a four to one k's right, like as we switch
from this pension system. But I guess it just hasn't
(32:19):
been It takes a long time for a generation to
kind of go through that and build up the kind
of net worth that you would need to be able
to live on, to be able to draw two thousand
dollars or more, Yeah, when you are in those retirement years.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
And I feel I guess maybe for that in between generation,
maybe it's like the gen xers, right, who didn't have
the pension, didn't have the investing knowledge or the easy
access to investing. It wasn't democratized right in the way
that it's that it's become for younger generations that you
look at the numbers of gen Zers who are just
like they're investing is kind of normalized and part of
(32:54):
their experience.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
It was a bit like second nature there. Yeah, what
is like digital natives like they're right there, automatic four
and K natives like it's almost like what they've always known.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Yeah, and so they've they've heard enough about it, they've
participated in the investing world enough, you know, some of
it dabbling in some weird stuff. But at least at
least they're doing the thing and they're they're putting money
away for their future.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
That you criticize them for their stunks.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
I mean, you know there is the stunks have paid off, dude. Yeah,
and then some of the you know, fly by Night
Sheba you new coins have not yeah, and the NFTs.
But I think for us, what I take away from this,
the goal for that we have for how to Money
listeners is that your eventual monthly social Security payments are
helpful in your retirement, but that you have more valuable
(33:38):
assets to tap than your social security, so that you
find yourself in that ten percent of folks where social
Security is not your most valuable asset. And that is
why we talk about index funds inside of your four
one ks and I raise yea all the time.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
This is a bell that we're going to continue to
ring ye from now until the end of time.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Increasing your contribution amount regular right, so that you are
well set up, well funded to have more options even
before you reach retirement, but especially once you reach those
decades that you're you're not like so dependent on Social Security.
You have other ways of funding your life, right, And
we've talked about the Polish proliferation of ETF options. Matt
(34:20):
recently had there's just like so dang many a lot
of AI ETFs. Yeah, I mean dozens of them. Don't
need them, but a lot of actively managed funds are
being are being added into that ETF space, and even
at brokerages like Vanguard, it's been surprising. Vanguard, the king
of passive passive investing products, has also included a bunch
(34:42):
of actively managed funds at lower costs and a lot
of other actively managed funds, but still like they've got
a ton. There's a ton of fun choices at even
a place like Vanguard. And while those funds, the actively
managed ones, might be getting the biggest marketing push, they
cost more and they tend to underperform. And so morning
Star recently found that at only thirty three percent of
actively managed funds outperform their passive counterparts, the kind of
(35:07):
peer funds that look really similar but aren't actively managed.
And that's before you factor in the much higher fees.
Please do pay attention to that. That's why we talk
often about low cost you know, total stock market s
and p funds or target day funds like those are
all great choices.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Which I mean, how many all time new highs are
we going to hit with the SMP Yeah, in particular, man,
but which well I will maybe this year is a
little mini story which was driven in part because of
the fact that the jobs report we didn't I guess
we didn't talk about the jobs report. That's not typically
something we cover the jobs report, but the numbers that
little wonky sometimes went on. The numbers got revised from
(35:43):
the preceding twelve months, and it was like a million
less jobs than initially reported, which like almost certainly means
a rate cut coming up very soon. And maybe we're
not covering that because it's still kind of speculative, but
I think that's something we will be talking about very soon.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, for sure. So just finishing up on social security, yeah, like,
especially for your younger folks, we do believe that you'll
have some social security waiting for you. But if you're
if you're smart, if you are active in planning for
your own financial future, then it's gravy on top, and
it's not necessarily it's not something you have to rely on.
It your it's not gonna be your biggest asset in retirement.
(36:23):
That's that's a good goal to have. That's right.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
That's gonna be it for this Friday flight, though we
hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. We'll see you back
here with a fresh ask how to Money episode, So
until then, Buddy, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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