August 29, 2025 • 35 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: job skill certificates that don’t pay, pre-K for pay, death of the one page resume, debit card spending growth, BNPL saying the quiet part out loud, helicopter savers, politics shmoliticks AKA partisan politics (makes you) poor, working past retirement age, & cookie cutter financial advisors.
Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances:
- Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.
- Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical.
- Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group.
- Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile.
And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money. Have an awesome weekend!
Best friends out!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Out of Money. I'm Joel, I am Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Today we're talking pre K for pay, helicopter savers and
politics shmoloitics, politicsitics.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You know what I would have called that one? Uh?
Parties and politics makes you poor?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
The PPP too, Yeah, what happened to the uh?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You're doing a little bit of alliteration, alliterations, thought, I'm
moving away.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I just thought of that because of all the jabs
you've tossed over the years of my way.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No. I was just reading some roll Doll with my buddy,
my little guy, oh the whole family, and gosh, what
miss Trench Bull from Matilda Uh huh. Roll Dall does
a good bit of alliteration too, And I wonder, and
I know you're a big fan, and I wonder if
that's where you get it. I think the one I think,
the one I most recently remember was I think they
called her a formidable female character that she plays in
(01:08):
that book.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I think if there was a mount rushmore of children's
book authors, he'd be, Oh, yeah, he's up there. Him
and JK are up there. I don't know who else
i'd put up there, but those those two come to mind.
Instantly like JK.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Simmons, I haven't read any of his books, No different one. Well,
instead of some banter, dude, let's just jump right into it.
Let's talk about getting a job, buddy. Some people assume
that more education is always going to be a good thing,
that it's going to lead to better job opportunities, it's
going to lead to better pay. That's a lot of
times why folks do it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It's like the more initials after my name, the more
highly I'll be valued.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I've got no idea compensated what any of those initials mean,
because I didn't take the course that teaches me what
all the initials mean. We all know the value of
a college education, of course, but it has also come
into a bit more scrutiny as costs have risen steeply
over the years and the value of certain degrees has
certainly declined. But it is not just college job skill certificates.
(02:00):
Turns out they're a bit overrated too. Online courses, certificates
and credentialing are vastly overrated, as the Burning Glass Institute
recently found. They took a look at over twenty three
thousand of the most popular ones out there and which
I'm just going to commend them for doing a thorough job.
That's amazing. Yes, but they found that just one in
(02:21):
eight actually delivered notable wage gains for those who completed
the certifications, and the ones that paid off they were
mostly in the medical field, so it's like a nursing
things that are required to actually do the job, and
so I feel like even that kind of skews the
results a little bit. They actually highlighted even a project
management certificate that you can stag from Harvard, which of
(02:42):
course you're paying for the name brand there. It's got
a fourteen thousand dollars price tag, but even that created
minimal results. It was like some sort of.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
You would think getting it from Harvard adding that to
your resume. No, people might even be like whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay,
this person, this man or woman has like extra pizaz
because they got this.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
You know, they have kind of lost their lost their
shine a little bit. Man. But so what we want
to point folks to though, is there is this online
tool that we'll link to where you can see which
of these certificates, which one of these credentialing programs that
you can be a part of pay off and which
ones don't. But uh, yeah, we want folks to be
careful shilling out a ton of money for education in
(03:19):
hopes that you will get paid more, because you may not,
you might and if you, and if so, I would
also say encourage or see if you can get your
employer to pay for some of that training, because it's like, hey,
this is going to better prepare me for this project
that we've got coming up later this year, next quarter.
I don't know whatever language that your employer uses, but
(03:39):
that can certainly help you now. But it's also going
to increase your value in the market over time.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, some of that stuff can can be edifying from
a personal standpoint getting some of that extra education, just
don't assume that it's going to lead to higher wages.
And also if you get someone else to pay for it,
that's might be the sweetest fact. Yeah, I'm thinking even
of Matt my wife, who like that continue education is
part of the joy, Like she loved school and she's
kind of already missing it, and so she is doing
(04:07):
like some additional training so she doesn't have to do
that costs money, but it's like for the love of
the game sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Right, personal fulfillment. That's one of the reasons that you
do the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, and there is a chance that it could lead
to higher pay, but a lot of these things really
you might appeal to a certain demographic or a person
looking for a certain sort of therapist. But it's also like,
are you gonna be able to charge more per hour
just because you have this extra training?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Not usually so random, but interesting career news. If you
have young children, pre K could actually be your ticket
to higher earnings. This is the pre K for pay,
pre K for pay part of our friend uy so
applely names. So, yeah, not everyone wants to send their
child to school at that age, but if making more
money is your goal, and there's a state funded pre
K around the corner from where you live, well, there
(04:52):
was this study of Connecticut parents and it found that
the ones who sent their kids to pre K, they
made more money. And since that pre K runs on
a lottery system, it's it's not just like, oh, the
smart people choose to send their kids to pre K.
It's it's really based on you know, the first people chosen,
and some people don't make the cut. It seems like
(05:14):
we're talking about causation here, which makes sense. I think, Matt, like,
this makes intuitive sense, right, because yeah, if your child
is at home more, that means you have less time
to work, or you're you have to go down to
working part time because you have to do more of.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
The childcare and vice versa. Man.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, or you're just less effective at your job because
you're you're juggling more things because yeah, you've childcare becomes
more of your focus, and that often it's going to
lead to lower pay. And so this study was basically saying, well, hey,
you're actually going to make more if you send your
kid to pre K. But it's not even just for
that one year. Higher earnings lasted for years into the future.
(05:52):
In the study, they really only measured up until your
kid went to fifth grade. But just think, man, it's like, yeah,
that not just that single year, but to the future.
Because you're making more money that year, you're gonna make
more money every single year from there on out on average.
And I know making more money is at the primary
concern for everyone, and those younger years with your children
(06:13):
at home can be incredibly meaningful. Plus, not every state
makes pre K free. But I just think this is
helpful information to know as you're weighing the trade offs
of sending your kid off to school early in one
of those state funded programs if you have access to one.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, the real nuggets in that report were the fact
that parents reported higher levels of sanity. I'm sure their
kids want to pre k which is that that I believe? Well,
But I mean it's all related, like literally, when you've
got more capacity to do the things like around the house,
or even to like recondole friendships that maybe we're on
the back burner while you're in the fog of a
(06:47):
baby who wouldn't sleep very well, or those crazy toddler years,
or for some folks it's yeah, to get back into
their career is something that they haven't paid much attention to.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
You can actually focus I know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, who knew. While we're talking about John and careers,
one page resumes they were incredibly hot there, seemed like
for a period of time, in part because they made
it really easy for potential employers to just on a
single sheet to scan to know whether or not you've
got what it takes to come in for an interview.
But that task has now become less human centered. AI
(07:20):
now calls stacks of resumes before human can even basically
lay eyes on it. And so essentially to get past
the first layer of defense, you got to please the
robot overlords basically, and they care less about the length,
and they care a bit more about keywords that you
are or aren't going to include there in your resume.
(07:41):
So it's gonna you know, it's basically searching to see
if the words or the titles the positions you've held,
if they match what it is that they're looking for
to that they're looking to hire for. And if not,
if you don't have that included, it's a good idea,
certainly to revisit it before you submit your resume. I
think it's yeah, I think it's a wise move to
tailor every single one of your resumes to a specific
(08:03):
job using the language that they are using, not just
to be sneaky, but just to you are envisioning yourself
in that job, figuring out how you are personally applying
your skills and experience to how it is that that
organization is going to be able to essentially further their cause.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
This doesn't it's like a little bit of mimicking, right,
You're mimicking some of the specific words that they call out,
because that's exactly what they're looking for. And if you
don't mimic, right, if you're not including some of that
verbiage in your resume, then you it doesn't matter how
qualified you are, You've got to jump through that hoop
in order to even get a shot.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
You haven't. Yeah, essentially, you have not communicated effectively to
let them know that you've got what it takes. And
we don't think you need to go out there and
deliver a resume that's like the length of Brothers Caramezov
or War and Peace or anything like that, but you
certainly revisit what it is that you are looking to submit.
And this might not be like the ideal world we
all want to live in, like tailoring our resume to
(09:00):
artificial intelligence so that we make it through that first barrier,
the first round of cuts, and actually get in front
of a human But it's the world we live in,
so I think you just have to you have to
realize cool you if you try to live in that
world of ideals and not the world of reality, you
might miss out on an opportunity totally. All right, let's
talk about spending Matt, Americans are putting down their credit
(09:22):
cards in favor of debit cards. Yeah, I'm generally for it.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Okay, Well, I think it depends on your take here, right,
And you and I we've talked. We usually say good
things about credit cards, although we have the golden rules
of plastic, and if people don't follow the golden rules
of plastic, they shouldn't be using credit cards in the
first place, right.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Exactly, But we also just know that roughly half of
people don't use credit cards properly, which is always why
we inserted caveat. But hopefully, hopefully the vast majority of
how the money listeners are using their credit cards properly.
But it's interesting to see.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Kind of the tide shift, and it looks like it
might be predictor a harbinger of economic things to come
that people are like, oh, no, I'm getting worried about
how much I'm racking up on my credit card. Maybe
maybe I need to make a change. And if I'm
paying with the debit card, well I know that I'm
not spending more than I actually have because it's coming
directly out of my checking or my spending account, whatever
you call it. But yeah, it's also not like the
(10:19):
overall spending levels are receding, Like we're still seeing spending
kind of happening at the same levels. People are just
using a different device, a different piece of plastic, and
it seems like they're doing that largely in an effort
to rein in their spending, but it's maybe it's not
actually working. It's true you can't spend, which you don't
have on a debit card, but on the flip side,
you also don't get the same rewards or protections, And
(10:44):
I think protections are probably more important than rewards here
because rewards don't really matter if you're going into credit
card debt. I think a lot of people are like,
oh man, it's gonna be great to get that free flight.
What doesn't matter if you're perpetually in credit card debt.
That flight actually costs you a lot more than you think.
But the protections are important, and it's something I think
people under consider because if you lose your debit card
and someone buys stuff with your card, well you're trying
(11:07):
to call those funds back from your bank, and if
you don't recognize in time, you can be on be
on the hook for some of the money that was
taken with a credit card, you follow a dispute, you're
never out the money, that's true. You don't, oh for
purchases that were not made by you.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So or refunds that were not refunded to you. That's
a that's a particular situation. I'm funding myself. Oh really,
I won't share right now that maybe depending on the resolution,
we will see. But in the meantime, the credit card
company has credited me, that's right, credit, But that company
is like, it's not responded to the credit card company,
and it's just it makes me makes me not want
to do business with them even more.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It's like innocent until proven guilty, right with a credit card,
whereas debit card you're more like guilty until proven innocent.
And so it's it's it's worth it to take that
into account. I think two just on top of this,
because of human nature and bias, no matter whether you're
using a debit card or a credit card. I think
what something that used to be powerful for people was, yeah,
(12:04):
checks were a pain in the butt, but people would
reconcile their checkbook as they were as they were spending,
as they were making those purchases, and there was something
about the act of writing it down, connecting it to
your brain, the neurons firing, and just the realization that
you had less money in your account because you were
doing that reconciliation like as you were on the spending. Yeah,
and I think that the check ledger right there, right.
(12:25):
I think the swiping, the tapping, the auto fill of
credit cards and debit cards is something maybe that we've
gotten super duper used to. It's easier than ever to
be parted with our money. So whether you're using, no
matter what form of payment you feel most inclined to use,
I think it's more important than ever to kind of
just be on top of that, create a record and
(12:46):
make sure you're following up and that the spending you're doing,
whether it is on credit or debit, is actually fitting
into your budget.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
That's true. Yeah, Generally speaking, I am in favor of
folks spending less on credit because it's just less of
a reliance on a debt product and more just tapping
into their actual funds that they have on hand. Right,
But it turns out that a part of why folks
may not be relying on credit cards as much is
because they're relying on potentially worse forms of worse debt
(13:12):
products out there, like personal loans. There has been an
eighteen percent year over year jump when it comes to
personal loans. But also buy now, Pay Later, and we
wanted to talk about that because just the continued rise
of buy now, Pay later is just showing that we
are prioritizing this near term happiness over long term freedom.
But something new here, buy now new here. The buy now,
(13:34):
pay later companies, as it turns out, they don't want
to play nice with the credit bureers anymore. As more
and more customers are falling behind on their monthly buy now,
pay later obligations, they are worried that their user base
is going to see a significant credit score drop, and
so they want to avoid that at all costs, of course,
because it's going to harm their business model. And basically
(13:57):
like I hate it. I hate it because the buy now,
pay later companies like they are literally seeing the quiet
part out loud. They're like, no, no, no, no, we don't
want to share our user information with the credit bureaus
because the scores are going to drop. Yeah, they're admitting,
like it's like on a house, like there's a water stain,
there's rot underneath the surface, there's there's termites up in there, dude,
and you just toss some pain up and you're just like, oh,
let me get some paper, just kind of paper over that,
(14:17):
and no, let's just delicately put another code of pain
on here. So it looks perfectly fine. It feels like it.
It feels like a house of cards. And I am
not a fan of the fact that the buy Now
like the Klarna's I guess I think after pay as well,
that the fact that they're just they've got cold feet
and they're walking back from the agreement to start sharing
the user data with the credit bureaus.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Every day buy Now Pay Later becomes a bigger borrowing segment,
and every day that it's not factored into credit scores,
credit scores become at least a little bit less trustworthy.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
And so at some point, as is it accurate information anymore?
We don't know, right, it's looking like it's not.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
And so yeah, I would love to see buy Now
Pay Later actually factor into your credit score.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
I think it's going to need to at some point.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
It's becoming too important of a segment of you know,
debt products and stuff in general, that it really needs
to for those to be accurate.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
And it's another lesson too, the fact that just because
there are companies that are willing to lend you money,
that are willing to say, oh, yeah, yeah, go ahead
and get the thing and just give us, like I
don't know a quarter of how much it costs and
then let's talk. Let's talk next month too, they are
willing to say yes, but it's up to you as
an individual to say, oh, do I have the ability
to pay back on these debt obligations that I've signed
up for? Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
And just kind of going back to the credit card
thing for a split second, I think you're right to
say that that we should be careful about how much
we're using credit cards. And you and I do talk
about some of the benefits of using credit cards, but
we also have to speak to that percentage of the population.
We have to talk about how nefarious they can be
for a whole lot of people. And it can be
that kind of slow but steady frog in the boiling
(15:46):
water that credit card. You say, oh, yeah, I turned
I turned to the credit card last month. I had
some expenses that were out of the norm, and that
can happen many, many months and then a couple of
years down the line. You're talking about fifteen thousand dollars
in recurring credit card debt and the interest, the interest
to state you're paying associated with that by not paying
it off in full and on time. And if you
find yourself in that position, then this debt is this
(16:08):
credit card debt is a huge problem. And we don't
talk about this enough, Matt. But the not for profit
companies that will help you if you're overwhelmed or overloaded
in credit card debt could be a great place to
turn if you find yourself in that position. Money Management
International or the National Foundation for Credit Counseling are both
two great places turn. You can find a local affiliate
near you. Yeah, if you're in that position where you've
(16:29):
just overdone it with credit cards, we want to help you.
We want you to get out of it quickly, and
sometimes you need the help of a trusted friend to
really make that possible.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Y's right, man, But we've got more to get to.
We're going to get to how partisan politics will in
fact make you poor. We'll get to the politics schmoloitics
part of the Friday flight. That more right after this,
All right, we're back.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Time for the ludacrous headline of the week. This one
comes from the Wall Street Journal, and.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
We haven't talked about this, but as soon as I
independently saw this article pop up on their homepage, I
was just like, Oh, there's no way I was not
going to want to talk about this. This is so good.
This is right up our alleys like parenting. You know,
we're young dads, well, young ish whatever, Yeah, not young.
We're we got young families, I think to think we are.
I think I've got we got five year olds. You know,
(17:22):
we got dudes that are uh, that are in kindergarten.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I was hanging out with the young fellows the other night,
and I was like, what music's coool? Now fellows, the
actually young fellows. Yeah dads yet so they don't what's.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Cool, but I don't anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
All this headline reads, she's seven years old, her parents
are saving to support her when she's thirty. And I think, maybe,
in an attempt to not be terribly judgmental, Matt, first off,
I should say to each of their own, like, we
know some folks feel strongly about building generational wealth, or
they put investing in a five to twenty nine plan
ahead of their own retirement. Needs you do you, but
(17:58):
we don't have to agree with you or think it's
smart or a good idea.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yeah, this is our show. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
We could say what we think, so be nice. Though
it'll be nice, I think to make things worse, Matt.
This article that wasn't talking about saving up for college
or an able plan for a disabled child who they
knew they were going to have to be a big
primary role as a caregiver in the future. This was
about parents who think it's their job to ensure that
(18:22):
their kids have like a meaningful source of income once
they reach young adulthood, through no effort of their own,
creating kind of like a padded place for them to
land when they reach early adulthood. It's going to make
their life easier. And so their assumption was like, Hey,
if I can compound, you know, fork over one thousand
or two thousand dollars a month to investment accounts on
(18:43):
their behalf, the compounding is going to make a big
difference over the next twenty twenty five years, then I
really am creating a substantial nest egg for them to
tap into the cacker though, is that for a lot
of these parents it's causing significant financial strain because it
really is hard to meet your own financial goals the
goals of somebody else at the same time. And so yees,
(19:03):
seeing that, it was like people were kind of freaking
out because they're trying to attempt this and then they
realize that they haven't done a good enough job for
themselves at the same.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Time, Yeah, they didn't do a great job with projecting
into the future. What is this actually going to cost me?
Like what kind of short term sacrifices are are we
going to have to make in order to pull this off?
And here's the things that's from Pew. They show that
adult parents do often help their kids out financially. Evidently
sixty percent of parents help out their kids. But buying
there's a difference between like buying a dinner or paying
(19:34):
for their portion of a family vacation, right, Like, that's
one thing if you have the means and if you
have saved effectively for your own future. There's a big
difference between that and then setting aside two thousand dollars
a month starting at the age of seven, like that's
I think that's ridiculous. It's these the classic teach a man,
give a man to give a man of fish and
you feed him for a day. Teach a man of
(19:54):
fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Like hello,
Like this is like the exact what like that entire
less and encapsulated in this article and life decisions that
people are making. Unfortunately, it's why we teach our kids
to tie their shoes, and we don't tie them for
them every morning. Dude. Literally, like two days ago, I'm
doing laundry with my kindergartener and I noticed all of
(20:16):
his socks are flipped inside out or they're like kind
of baled up. So A they're got a little wet
because they don't drive very well when they're all balled up,
but b because they're inside out, there's wood chips from
the playground. And I'm like, buddy, this this is gross, man,
this is a massive mess. And we had to sit
there and flip all the socks inside out, pull out
the wood chips, and I'm like, why you need to
take your socks off so that they're not inside out,
(20:37):
and he was getting flustered and frustrated. He's just like
when I grab it at the top of the sock
and I pull it off, it flips inside out. I'm like, okay,
well let's try it like this, and we put his
sock on him. I was like, here's how we're gonna
do it. With one hand, you start to pull from
the top, and with your other hand you grab the
sock by the toe and then voila, this sock pops
off your foot. And he it's like I just showed
(20:57):
him a magic trick. His eye lit up and he
was like so stoked. He couldn't believe that, like, oh wow,
there is a way to do this. And I think
so much of what we try to do as parents
is to it's the passing of knowledge and experience and
helping them to understand how the world works, because like
that is a part of what it means to live
of satisfying and fulfilling life. If you don't pass on
(21:18):
this knowledge, if we don't teach our kids, there's an
element of like you are keeping them from the good stuff.
I think some folks on the service are going to think, well,
this is I don't want them to have to worry
about that. It's like, no, no, no, them having to
worry about that is where the creativity kicks in and
they start to identify what matters to them. And so
in a similar way, when it comes to investing, we
have to teach our kids how to set that money aside.
We need to model it for them and set up
(21:40):
frameworks for where, you know, how they can earn money
on their own through their own creativity and sweat and effort.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
I think you're spot on, and I when I look
back at my life, I remember at the time being
frustrated that my parents didn't have the means to buy
me a car, like when a lot of my friends
were getting a car in high school. Right, But what
it taught me was better than just having my parents
buy me a car, having to go, you know, working
(22:07):
at fourteen after school was over, buying my first start,
saving up the cash to buy it with cash like
that was that meant so much to me. I look
back at that as like a formative period in my life.
Oh yeah, same with college. It was like we had
to partner together to figure out what it was going
to be like for me to go to to to
get a college degree and how much debt was I
willing to take out, and I had to make decisions
(22:29):
that about my future because of that. That weren't they
were not just contingent on my parents' deep pockets. Yeah,
and that again was formational. Yeah, you don't just get
suffer free, right. You don't just get whatever car you want.
You can't just go to whatever college you want.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You know, you've got to make these decisions and trade
offs and evaluate or make a judgment call on the
value that you are receiving from a certain car or
a certain school.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Saving up a twenty percent down payment for my first
house was doing that by my doing that because it
was money I made. That satisfying feels a lot different
when you do that. Man, if it was given to me,
it wouldn't have felt the same. So maybe you might
be I think you're doing the right thing, And I
don't know. It's up to your family situation and your
desires and all that stuff. Like I said before, but
just think about what you might be taking from your
(23:13):
kids if you're actually trying to fund their future on
their path.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Totally last recommendation. It's been a minute since I've mentioned
Fortune's children, But if you want to see what it
looks like to you, said, create a soft kind of
landing pad for your kids. That's exactly what the commodore
did when the railroad baron and they document the author chronicles.
I don't want to call it a downfall, but essentially
(23:37):
how the future members of the family were a bit
less productive, let's say, than the patriarch of the family.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And if you want a more recent example, just watch
the show Succession on a you know, and you'll realize, Yeah,
it sounds like it's really good. I mean, one of
the best written shows of all time.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
So I've seen the intro because wait, did tren Resnor
do the music? Yeah? What was it? There's something else
I had listened to or watched that there was? Oh no,
Teenage Mutan, Ninja Turtles.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, Mute Mayhem, which best kids movie in recent memory?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Pretty awesome? So good, highly recommend. All right, let's talk
about politics, Matt. There was there was an interesting Gallup poll.
Let's dive into it about how politics is driving economic
beliefs and investing strategy in really big ways right now.
And the crux of the finding is that the majority
of Americans are seeing more aspects of their lives through
a political lens. And I think this is just.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Readily apparent when we look around, we tend to see
everything as political when there man, there's so many more
elements to our lives and that make life meaningful. But
in politics are necessary part of life, but like letting
them color everything is it's just not smart and you're
living in a false reality if you do that. But
especially on the investing front, because that's what we talk about.
(24:53):
But Gallup finds that Democrats are pessimistic about the market
right now because there's because of who's in office, and
Democrats who expect the stock market to decline over the
six next six months exceeded Republican beliefs by fifty nine percent.
So there's this like pretty big swag insane gap based
on the R or the D in front of the
(25:14):
name and who's in the White House at the time.
So Republicans right now they're super optimistic. They're like, this
is going to be great my guys in the office.
So the stock market is going to crush, but also
to a fault because there was there's a Make America
Great Again ETF fund and it has underperformed the S
and P by twenty percentage points and to boot it
(25:35):
comes with the ridiculous expense ratio. But if you are
so inclined to invest according to your politics and buy
the ETF with the ridiculously high expense ratio, you can
of course expect, I think, to underperform well, you expect
the opposite, but in reality you're not going to do
as well. And so it's just really interesting that people
on both sides of the aisle are saying, Hey, I'm
gonna I'm gonna let my politics inform not just what
(25:57):
I think about the future of this economy and what
the state of America is going to look like, but
also specific investing choices that are working out to their detriment.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah, you have to stay a political when it comes
to investing. Just because your guy is in the White House,
that doesn't mean that the market is destined for historic returns.
So we choose to invest like optimists no matter the
party that's in that's in charge. And if you want
to get involved in politics, if you're so inclined, sure
go for it. Throw your energy behind that. If that's
(26:26):
the kind of change that you want to see. When
it comes to especially locally, get involved locally, but letting
as opposed to like getting involved, like at the federal level,
just online through your Blue Sky or x account. I
don't think that's going to pan out well for you
from a actual difference making point of view.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
But changing strangers' minds online.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Through what happens all the time my tweets, don't you know.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah, but of course those aren't working.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
They're not effective. Not effective. Don't let your political whims
impact your investments because it could tempt you into putting
away less. It could tempt you into selling, you know,
thinking that things are going to take right. Let's say
you're like, oh, okay, this is the end and you
move into cash. It is going to have these long
term ramifications as you jump in and out of the
market every two to four years. Even the tariff induced
(27:16):
gyrations that we experienced back it was that March or April. Yeah,
even that was short lived, was incredibly short lived. Yes, Yeah,
the economic engine of the US man, it's really powerful,
it's really resilient. Look to history that will prove that out.
That we can most likely expect the market to grow
at around ten percent excluding inflation. It's not a guarantee,
(27:37):
but that is what we have seen in the past
and I'm taking my cues from history.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, if you were to ask me at the time,
man we talked about tariffs and are what we think
about tariffs on the show a reasonable amount, I would
have said, yeah, I don't think this is going to
be good for the economy, and this might not be
good for the stock market. But I did not change
how I invest, even though I think thought that was
a potential threat. I realize that the economic engine of
(28:03):
the United States is so incredible that I don't think
one person, especially given the checks and balance, the system
that we have in place in our country, has has
the ability to bring it to its needs. And so
even if I don't agree with some of the policy,
which I typically don't no matter who's in charge, agree
(28:25):
with all the policy that's proposed or that's being implemented, well.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
There's more and more of that policy that I find
myself disagreeing with. Yeah, in the current administration, initially because
there's a lot of folks, oh, we're getting maybe let's
be a little little too polical, And initially a lot
of folks are like, oh, he tends to be pro business.
But there have been all and I would have said, yeah,
maybe so historically speaking, but then lately, gosh, yeah, is
it worth talking about. We're not gonna talk about Intel
(28:49):
and the government stake in a privately held company now,
but like, that's not something I like to see the
government getting involved with private companies.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Not great, But also at the same time, America is
resilient and we have again a country, an economic history
and an economic and I believe in economic future that's
unlike anywhere else. It's still the best. Yeah, we still
the tops our More Americans met are working past retirement age,
according to Pew. Another survey on top of that found
that the majority of sixty five and over folks are
(29:19):
planning on skipping retirement altogether, even though they've they're sixty
five and older already and they're like, yeah, I've arrived
at what's considered typical retirement years, but I'm not planning
on quitting work. And when you look at the stats,
like for many it's because they don't feel like they've
saved it up, saved up enough, and they don't think
they can actually stop work completely. And for some people
(29:41):
that is the reality, even with Social Security, they don't
have enough money coming in. Although to that, I'd also say,
run the numbers, don't let feelings alone make that decision
for you. As I was walking through my parents with
my parents their decision to retire, they had certain feelings
about maybe not having enough, and then when we kind
of took a look at it and we talked about
the options they had, it turns out they did and
so they felt more comfortable after kind of running through
(30:02):
some scenarios. But you know, for some, you know, some
people really might be better off working longer to reach
greater levels of financial independence. So much depends on the
specifics of each individual scenario. But then for others too, Matt,
these findings basically said that the work provides a sense
of identity, and so not working would just be this
(30:23):
really hard psychological shift for a lot of people as
they near retirement age, they're like, well, what else am
I going to do with my Timeah? Which makes me
think about West Moss and the Secrets of the happiest
retirees and how.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Something you got to cultivate over time.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Man, Yeah, you've got to be building that up in
your thirties, forties, and fifties so that you have something
to retire too. I think too this maybe think that
some people may dismiss the idea of saving for retirement
because they're like, well, I don't plan on retiring. I'm
going to be one of those people because i love
my job and I'm going to be working into my seventies,
probably my eighties. So why do I even really need
(30:58):
to emphasize I'm just going to like reduce my contra
ba stent amounts significantly because that's not in the cards
for me. But I think it's also important to mention
that's not always up to you, and yeah, you should
hope for the best, but also plan for the worst.
You want to save like a pessimist. You want to
save like you're not going to be able to work
as long as you'd ideally like to. But it would
be like not getting life insurance because you don't plan
(31:18):
on dying in the next thirty years. I don't need
that term life policy. I'm only twenty five. I'm not
going to die by the time I'm fifty five, or
I'm not planning on it.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
You don't always have the option, don't always have to
say as to what's happening off in your.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Future, miss right, And so it just because you're planning
on something doesn't mean that it's going to happen or
that an alternative can't happen. And I think being able
to choose to work or to retire is a crucial
part of being able to be happy as you continue
to work into older age.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah, well, Joe, maybe some of those folks needed to
talk to a financial advisor. That's my segue for this
next bit. Though. It turns out that financial advice experts
out there, they don't always work well for the math
in every situation, because each of us finds ourselves in
our own unique and different circumstances.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Right, you're saying, I am a snowflake man, We are.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
All unique snowflakes. Okay, financial plans they can't be like
quote unquote tailored for the average investor out there because
none of us truly fit a mold. In addition to that, though,
like I don't even fit the same mold that I
was that I would have put myself in. That was
like the map mold, like from like two years ago. Like,
we are constantly changing our hopes and our dreams are
(32:29):
constantly evolving, which means our financial plan is also morphing
over the years as well. And like, Yeah, an interesting
tid bit in in that journal article, an investing columnists
Columnists recently wrote about how advisors are particularly ill suited
to help what he called tightwads, which was the most
fascinating part of that article, which it totally resonates with
(32:53):
me because I think that it's sort of like you're
alluding to earlier, a lot of the how to money
listeners out there have been doing the right thing for
years and in super.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Frugal they've set aside a good bit.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Of money and a lot of times I think what
those folks need is kind of the counter like not
the typical advice. I think sometimes they need to be encouraged,
like on a more coaching level, it's like, oh no, no,
you got the numbers figured out. What you need is
more like a life coach. You need somebody to kind
of help you to think through what you want your
life to look like, not necessarily even when you are
(33:22):
in your retirement years, but like even now, like you
don't need to switch from A mode to B mode.
It's like there's a whole lot of notes in between scrum. Yeah,
it's a spectrum. I like I was thinking about it,
like in music, because it's like it fluctuates and it
depends on what's going on as to the melody that
you're making. But I think more folks need to be
encouraged in that direction, especially folks who are listening to
our show. So, like you're saying, cultivating some of those
(33:45):
things that make life beautiful so that you have something
to retire to, so that and that not just as
an end goal, but to enrich your life right now,
whatever that might be, whether that's art or community or
volunteering beautiful things service like, there are so many different
ways to involved outside of your job, and I would
hate for folks to continue to work day and day
out because that's all they know how to do. Kind
(34:07):
of turned into a one trick pony, which doesn't sound
very fulfilling.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
When you don't know what sort of dramatic life changes
are going to happen to you, whether a family member
or spouse gets some sort of awful illness, a terminal illness.
Maybe you're a single parent and you didn't expect that.
And so I think I want people to be saving
and investing to set themselves up for flexibility, but you
also then need to be able to pivot right if
(34:31):
you say, actually, I need to dial back my retirement
account contributions because I have to I have to work
less so I can be at home with my kids
more because I am a single parent now, Like, there
are all sorts of things like life happens to you
and you can prepare as best you can, but you
can't be fully prepared for all the things that can
there will come, that will come to pass.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yea. So it's a fine balance.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
It is a fine balance. And so I guess on
the advisor front, like, I think it makes sense to
ask probing questions if you are interviewing an advisor, make
sure they have the ability to help you just the
average human they're going to take. In addition, yea, yeah,
what what your goals? What's your ideals you want? Yeah,
so that they're not just like, well, yeah, do it
exactly like like this, because that's how most of my
(35:11):
other clients are doing it. Like you want somebody actually
to be advising you, not advising the fiftieth percentile.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Awesome, all right, that's gonna be it for our Friday flight.
We hope everyone has had a fantastic week and that
you've got an even better weekend lined up, we'll see
back here on Monday the Fresh Ask How To Money episode,
and until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,
Welcome to Out of Money. I'm Joel, I am Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Today we're talking pre K for pay, helicopter savers and
politics shmoloitics, politicsitics.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You know what I would have called that one? Uh?
Parties and politics makes you poor?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
The PPP too, Yeah, what happened to the uh?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
You're doing a little bit of alliteration, alliterations, thought, I'm
moving away.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I just thought of that because of all the jabs
you've tossed over the years of my way.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
No. I was just reading some roll Doll with my buddy,
my little guy, oh the whole family, and gosh, what
miss Trench Bull from Matilda Uh huh. Roll Dall does
a good bit of alliteration too, And I wonder, and
I know you're a big fan, and I wonder if
that's where you get it. I think the one I think,
the one I most recently remember was I think they
called her a formidable female character that she plays in
(01:08):
that book.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I think if there was a mount rushmore of children's
book authors, he'd be, Oh, yeah, he's up there. Him
and JK are up there. I don't know who else
i'd put up there, but those those two come to mind.
Instantly like JK.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Simmons, I haven't read any of his books, No different one. Well,
instead of some banter, dude, let's just jump right into it.
Let's talk about getting a job, buddy. Some people assume
that more education is always going to be a good thing,
that it's going to lead to better job opportunities, it's
going to lead to better pay. That's a lot of
times why folks do it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
It's like the more initials after my name, the more
highly I'll be valued.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I've got no idea compensated what any of those initials mean,
because I didn't take the course that teaches me what
all the initials mean. We all know the value of
a college education, of course, but it has also come
into a bit more scrutiny as costs have risen steeply
over the years and the value of certain degrees has
certainly declined. But it is not just college job skill certificates.
(02:00):
Turns out they're a bit overrated too. Online courses, certificates
and credentialing are vastly overrated, as the Burning Glass Institute
recently found. They took a look at over twenty three
thousand of the most popular ones out there and which
I'm just going to commend them for doing a thorough job.
That's amazing. Yes, but they found that just one in
(02:21):
eight actually delivered notable wage gains for those who completed
the certifications, and the ones that paid off they were
mostly in the medical field, so it's like a nursing
things that are required to actually do the job, and
so I feel like even that kind of skews the
results a little bit. They actually highlighted even a project
management certificate that you can stag from Harvard, which of
(02:42):
course you're paying for the name brand there. It's got
a fourteen thousand dollars price tag, but even that created
minimal results. It was like some sort of.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
You would think getting it from Harvard adding that to
your resume. No, people might even be like whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay,
this person, this man or woman has like extra pizaz
because they got this.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
You know, they have kind of lost their lost their
shine a little bit. Man. But so what we want
to point folks to though, is there is this online
tool that we'll link to where you can see which
of these certificates, which one of these credentialing programs that
you can be a part of pay off and which
ones don't. But uh, yeah, we want folks to be
careful shilling out a ton of money for education in
(03:19):
hopes that you will get paid more, because you may not,
you might and if you, and if so, I would
also say encourage or see if you can get your
employer to pay for some of that training, because it's like, hey,
this is going to better prepare me for this project
that we've got coming up later this year, next quarter.
I don't know whatever language that your employer uses, but
(03:39):
that can certainly help you now. But it's also going
to increase your value in the market over time.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, some of that stuff can can be edifying from
a personal standpoint getting some of that extra education, just
don't assume that it's going to lead to higher wages.
And also if you get someone else to pay for it,
that's might be the sweetest fact. Yeah, I'm thinking even
of Matt my wife, who like that continue education is
part of the joy, Like she loved school and she's
kind of already missing it, and so she is doing
(04:07):
like some additional training so she doesn't have to do
that costs money, but it's like for the love of
the game sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Right, personal fulfillment. That's one of the reasons that you
do the thing.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, and there is a chance that it could lead
to higher pay, but a lot of these things really
you might appeal to a certain demographic or a person
looking for a certain sort of therapist. But it's also like,
are you gonna be able to charge more per hour
just because you have this extra training?
Speaker 1 (04:30):
No?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Not usually so random, but interesting career news. If you
have young children, pre K could actually be your ticket
to higher earnings. This is the pre K for pay,
pre K for pay part of our friend uy so
applely names. So, yeah, not everyone wants to send their
child to school at that age, but if making more
money is your goal, and there's a state funded pre
K around the corner from where you live, well, there
(04:52):
was this study of Connecticut parents and it found that
the ones who sent their kids to pre K, they
made more money. And since that pre K runs on
a lottery system, it's it's not just like, oh, the
smart people choose to send their kids to pre K.
It's it's really based on you know, the first people chosen,
and some people don't make the cut. It seems like
(05:14):
we're talking about causation here, which makes sense. I think, Matt, like,
this makes intuitive sense, right, because yeah, if your child
is at home more, that means you have less time
to work, or you're you have to go down to
working part time because you have to do more of.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
The childcare and vice versa. Man.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, or you're just less effective at your job because
you're you're juggling more things because yeah, you've childcare becomes
more of your focus, and that often it's going to
lead to lower pay. And so this study was basically saying, well, hey,
you're actually going to make more if you send your
kid to pre K. But it's not even just for
that one year. Higher earnings lasted for years into the future.
(05:52):
In the study, they really only measured up until your
kid went to fifth grade. But just think, man, it's like, yeah,
that not just that single year, but to the future.
Because you're making more money that year, you're gonna make
more money every single year from there on out on average.
And I know making more money is at the primary
concern for everyone, and those younger years with your children
(06:13):
at home can be incredibly meaningful. Plus, not every state
makes pre K free. But I just think this is
helpful information to know as you're weighing the trade offs
of sending your kid off to school early in one
of those state funded programs if you have access to one.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, the real nuggets in that report were the fact
that parents reported higher levels of sanity. I'm sure their
kids want to pre k which is that that I believe? Well,
But I mean it's all related, like literally, when you've
got more capacity to do the things like around the house,
or even to like recondole friendships that maybe we're on
the back burner while you're in the fog of a
(06:47):
baby who wouldn't sleep very well, or those crazy toddler years,
or for some folks it's yeah, to get back into
their career is something that they haven't paid much attention to.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
You can actually focus I know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, who knew. While we're talking about John and careers,
one page resumes they were incredibly hot there, seemed like
for a period of time, in part because they made
it really easy for potential employers to just on a
single sheet to scan to know whether or not you've
got what it takes to come in for an interview.
But that task has now become less human centered. AI
(07:20):
now calls stacks of resumes before human can even basically
lay eyes on it. And so essentially to get past
the first layer of defense, you got to please the
robot overlords basically, and they care less about the length,
and they care a bit more about keywords that you
are or aren't going to include there in your resume.
(07:41):
So it's gonna you know, it's basically searching to see
if the words or the titles the positions you've held,
if they match what it is that they're looking for
to that they're looking to hire for. And if not,
if you don't have that included, it's a good idea,
certainly to revisit it before you submit your resume. I
think it's yeah, I think it's a wise move to
tailor every single one of your resumes to a specific
(08:03):
job using the language that they are using, not just
to be sneaky, but just to you are envisioning yourself
in that job, figuring out how you are personally applying
your skills and experience to how it is that that
organization is going to be able to essentially further their cause.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
This doesn't it's like a little bit of mimicking, right,
You're mimicking some of the specific words that they call out,
because that's exactly what they're looking for. And if you
don't mimic, right, if you're not including some of that
verbiage in your resume, then you it doesn't matter how
qualified you are, You've got to jump through that hoop
in order to even get a shot.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
You haven't. Yeah, essentially, you have not communicated effectively to
let them know that you've got what it takes. And
we don't think you need to go out there and
deliver a resume that's like the length of Brothers Caramezov
or War and Peace or anything like that, but you
certainly revisit what it is that you are looking to submit.
And this might not be like the ideal world we
all want to live in, like tailoring our resume to
(09:00):
artificial intelligence so that we make it through that first barrier,
the first round of cuts, and actually get in front
of a human But it's the world we live in,
so I think you just have to you have to
realize cool you if you try to live in that
world of ideals and not the world of reality, you
might miss out on an opportunity totally. All right, let's
talk about spending Matt, Americans are putting down their credit
(09:22):
cards in favor of debit cards. Yeah, I'm generally for it.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Okay, Well, I think it depends on your take here, right,
And you and I we've talked. We usually say good
things about credit cards, although we have the golden rules
of plastic, and if people don't follow the golden rules
of plastic, they shouldn't be using credit cards in the
first place, right.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Exactly, But we also just know that roughly half of
people don't use credit cards properly, which is always why
we inserted caveat. But hopefully, hopefully the vast majority of
how the money listeners are using their credit cards properly.
But it's interesting to see.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Kind of the tide shift, and it looks like it
might be predictor a harbinger of economic things to come
that people are like, oh, no, I'm getting worried about
how much I'm racking up on my credit card. Maybe
maybe I need to make a change. And if I'm
paying with the debit card, well I know that I'm
not spending more than I actually have because it's coming
directly out of my checking or my spending account, whatever
you call it. But yeah, it's also not like the
(10:19):
overall spending levels are receding, Like we're still seeing spending
kind of happening at the same levels. People are just
using a different device, a different piece of plastic, and
it seems like they're doing that largely in an effort
to rein in their spending, but it's maybe it's not
actually working. It's true you can't spend, which you don't
have on a debit card, but on the flip side,
you also don't get the same rewards or protections, And
(10:44):
I think protections are probably more important than rewards here
because rewards don't really matter if you're going into credit
card debt. I think a lot of people are like,
oh man, it's gonna be great to get that free flight.
What doesn't matter if you're perpetually in credit card debt.
That flight actually costs you a lot more than you think.
But the protections are important, and it's something I think
people under consider because if you lose your debit card
and someone buys stuff with your card, well you're trying
(11:07):
to call those funds back from your bank, and if
you don't recognize in time, you can be on be
on the hook for some of the money that was
taken with a credit card, you follow a dispute, you're
never out the money, that's true. You don't, oh for
purchases that were not made by you.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
So or refunds that were not refunded to you. That's
a that's a particular situation. I'm funding myself. Oh really,
I won't share right now that maybe depending on the resolution,
we will see. But in the meantime, the credit card
company has credited me, that's right, credit, But that company
is like, it's not responded to the credit card company,
and it's just it makes me makes me not want
to do business with them even more.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
It's like innocent until proven guilty, right with a credit card,
whereas debit card you're more like guilty until proven innocent.
And so it's it's it's worth it to take that
into account. I think two just on top of this,
because of human nature and bias, no matter whether you're
using a debit card or a credit card. I think
what something that used to be powerful for people was, yeah,
(12:04):
checks were a pain in the butt, but people would
reconcile their checkbook as they were as they were spending,
as they were making those purchases, and there was something
about the act of writing it down, connecting it to
your brain, the neurons firing, and just the realization that
you had less money in your account because you were
doing that reconciliation like as you were on the spending. Yeah,
and I think that the check ledger right there, right.
(12:25):
I think the swiping, the tapping, the auto fill of
credit cards and debit cards is something maybe that we've
gotten super duper used to. It's easier than ever to
be parted with our money. So whether you're using, no
matter what form of payment you feel most inclined to use,
I think it's more important than ever to kind of
just be on top of that, create a record and
(12:46):
make sure you're following up and that the spending you're doing,
whether it is on credit or debit, is actually fitting
into your budget.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
That's true. Yeah, Generally speaking, I am in favor of
folks spending less on credit because it's just less of
a reliance on a debt product and more just tapping
into their actual funds that they have on hand. Right,
But it turns out that a part of why folks
may not be relying on credit cards as much is
because they're relying on potentially worse forms of worse debt
(13:12):
products out there, like personal loans. There has been an
eighteen percent year over year jump when it comes to
personal loans. But also buy now, Pay Later, and we
wanted to talk about that because just the continued rise
of buy now, Pay later is just showing that we
are prioritizing this near term happiness over long term freedom.
But something new here, buy now new here. The buy now,
(13:34):
pay later companies, as it turns out, they don't want
to play nice with the credit bureers anymore. As more
and more customers are falling behind on their monthly buy now,
pay later obligations, they are worried that their user base
is going to see a significant credit score drop, and
so they want to avoid that at all costs, of course,
because it's going to harm their business model. And basically
(13:57):
like I hate it. I hate it because the buy now,
pay later companies like they are literally seeing the quiet
part out loud. They're like, no, no, no, no, we don't
want to share our user information with the credit bureaus
because the scores are going to drop. Yeah, they're admitting,
like it's like on a house, like there's a water stain,
there's rot underneath the surface, there's there's termites up in there, dude,
and you just toss some pain up and you're just like, oh,
let me get some paper, just kind of paper over that,
(14:17):
and no, let's just delicately put another code of pain
on here. So it looks perfectly fine. It feels like it.
It feels like a house of cards. And I am
not a fan of the fact that the buy Now
like the Klarna's I guess I think after pay as well,
that the fact that they're just they've got cold feet
and they're walking back from the agreement to start sharing
the user data with the credit bureaus.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Every day buy Now Pay Later becomes a bigger borrowing segment,
and every day that it's not factored into credit scores,
credit scores become at least a little bit less trustworthy.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
And so at some point, as is it accurate information anymore?
We don't know, right, it's looking like it's not.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
And so yeah, I would love to see buy Now
Pay Later actually factor into your credit score.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
I think it's going to need to at some point.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
It's becoming too important of a segment of you know,
debt products and stuff in general, that it really needs
to for those to be accurate.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
And it's another lesson too, the fact that just because
there are companies that are willing to lend you money,
that are willing to say, oh, yeah, yeah, go ahead
and get the thing and just give us, like I
don't know a quarter of how much it costs and
then let's talk. Let's talk next month too, they are
willing to say yes, but it's up to you as
an individual to say, oh, do I have the ability
to pay back on these debt obligations that I've signed
up for? Yeah? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
And just kind of going back to the credit card
thing for a split second, I think you're right to
say that that we should be careful about how much
we're using credit cards. And you and I do talk
about some of the benefits of using credit cards, but
we also have to speak to that percentage of the population.
We have to talk about how nefarious they can be
for a whole lot of people. And it can be
that kind of slow but steady frog in the boiling
(15:46):
water that credit card. You say, oh, yeah, I turned
I turned to the credit card last month. I had
some expenses that were out of the norm, and that
can happen many, many months and then a couple of
years down the line. You're talking about fifteen thousand dollars
in recurring credit card debt and the interest, the interest
to state you're paying associated with that by not paying
it off in full and on time. And if you
find yourself in that position, then this debt is this
(16:08):
credit card debt is a huge problem. And we don't
talk about this enough, Matt. But the not for profit
companies that will help you if you're overwhelmed or overloaded
in credit card debt could be a great place to
turn if you find yourself in that position. Money Management
International or the National Foundation for Credit Counseling are both
two great places turn. You can find a local affiliate
near you. Yeah, if you're in that position where you've
(16:29):
just overdone it with credit cards, we want to help you.
We want you to get out of it quickly, and
sometimes you need the help of a trusted friend to
really make that possible.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Y's right, man, But we've got more to get to.
We're going to get to how partisan politics will in
fact make you poor. We'll get to the politics schmoloitics
part of the Friday flight. That more right after this,
All right, we're back.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Time for the ludacrous headline of the week. This one
comes from the Wall Street Journal, and.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
We haven't talked about this, but as soon as I
independently saw this article pop up on their homepage, I
was just like, Oh, there's no way I was not
going to want to talk about this. This is so good.
This is right up our alleys like parenting. You know,
we're young dads, well, young ish whatever, Yeah, not young.
We're we got young families, I think to think we are.
I think I've got we got five year olds. You know,
(17:22):
we got dudes that are uh, that are in kindergarten.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I was hanging out with the young fellows the other night,
and I was like, what music's coool? Now fellows, the
actually young fellows. Yeah dads yet so they don't what's.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Cool, but I don't anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
All this headline reads, she's seven years old, her parents
are saving to support her when she's thirty. And I think, maybe,
in an attempt to not be terribly judgmental, Matt, first off,
I should say to each of their own, like, we
know some folks feel strongly about building generational wealth, or
they put investing in a five to twenty nine plan
ahead of their own retirement. Needs you do you, but
(17:58):
we don't have to agree with you or think it's
smart or a good idea.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yeah, this is our show. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
We could say what we think, so be nice. Though
it'll be nice, I think to make things worse, Matt.
This article that wasn't talking about saving up for college
or an able plan for a disabled child who they
knew they were going to have to be a big
primary role as a caregiver in the future. This was
about parents who think it's their job to ensure that
(18:22):
their kids have like a meaningful source of income once
they reach young adulthood, through no effort of their own,
creating kind of like a padded place for them to
land when they reach early adulthood. It's going to make
their life easier. And so their assumption was like, Hey,
if I can compound, you know, fork over one thousand
or two thousand dollars a month to investment accounts on
(18:43):
their behalf, the compounding is going to make a big
difference over the next twenty twenty five years, then I
really am creating a substantial nest egg for them to
tap into the cacker though, is that for a lot
of these parents it's causing significant financial strain because it
really is hard to meet your own financial goals the
goals of somebody else at the same time. And so yees,
(19:03):
seeing that, it was like people were kind of freaking
out because they're trying to attempt this and then they
realize that they haven't done a good enough job for
themselves at the same.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Time, Yeah, they didn't do a great job with projecting
into the future. What is this actually going to cost me?
Like what kind of short term sacrifices are are we
going to have to make in order to pull this off?
And here's the things that's from Pew. They show that
adult parents do often help their kids out financially. Evidently
sixty percent of parents help out their kids. But buying
there's a difference between like buying a dinner or paying
(19:34):
for their portion of a family vacation, right, Like, that's
one thing if you have the means and if you
have saved effectively for your own future. There's a big
difference between that and then setting aside two thousand dollars
a month starting at the age of seven, like that's
I think that's ridiculous. It's these the classic teach a man,
give a man to give a man of fish and
you feed him for a day. Teach a man of
(19:54):
fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Like hello,
Like this is like the exact what like that entire
less and encapsulated in this article and life decisions that
people are making. Unfortunately, it's why we teach our kids
to tie their shoes, and we don't tie them for
them every morning. Dude. Literally, like two days ago, I'm
doing laundry with my kindergartener and I noticed all of
(20:16):
his socks are flipped inside out or they're like kind
of baled up. So A they're got a little wet
because they don't drive very well when they're all balled up,
but b because they're inside out, there's wood chips from
the playground. And I'm like, buddy, this this is gross, man,
this is a massive mess. And we had to sit
there and flip all the socks inside out, pull out
the wood chips, and I'm like, why you need to
take your socks off so that they're not inside out,
(20:37):
and he was getting flustered and frustrated. He's just like
when I grab it at the top of the sock
and I pull it off, it flips inside out. I'm like, okay,
well let's try it like this, and we put his
sock on him. I was like, here's how we're gonna
do it. With one hand, you start to pull from
the top, and with your other hand you grab the
sock by the toe and then voila, this sock pops
off your foot. And he it's like I just showed
(20:57):
him a magic trick. His eye lit up and he
was like so stoked. He couldn't believe that, like, oh wow,
there is a way to do this. And I think
so much of what we try to do as parents
is to it's the passing of knowledge and experience and
helping them to understand how the world works, because like
that is a part of what it means to live
of satisfying and fulfilling life. If you don't pass on
(21:18):
this knowledge, if we don't teach our kids, there's an
element of like you are keeping them from the good stuff.
I think some folks on the service are going to think, well,
this is I don't want them to have to worry
about that. It's like, no, no, no, them having to
worry about that is where the creativity kicks in and
they start to identify what matters to them. And so
in a similar way, when it comes to investing, we
have to teach our kids how to set that money aside.
We need to model it for them and set up
(21:40):
frameworks for where, you know, how they can earn money
on their own through their own creativity and sweat and effort.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
I think you're spot on, and I when I look
back at my life, I remember at the time being
frustrated that my parents didn't have the means to buy
me a car, like when a lot of my friends
were getting a car in high school. Right, But what
it taught me was better than just having my parents
buy me a car, having to go, you know, working
(22:07):
at fourteen after school was over, buying my first start,
saving up the cash to buy it with cash like
that was that meant so much to me. I look
back at that as like a formative period in my life.
Oh yeah, same with college. It was like we had
to partner together to figure out what it was going
to be like for me to go to to to
get a college degree and how much debt was I
willing to take out, and I had to make decisions
(22:29):
that about my future because of that. That weren't they
were not just contingent on my parents' deep pockets. Yeah,
and that again was formational. Yeah, you don't just get
suffer free, right. You don't just get whatever car you want.
You can't just go to whatever college you want.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You know, you've got to make these decisions and trade
offs and evaluate or make a judgment call on the
value that you are receiving from a certain car or
a certain school.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Saving up a twenty percent down payment for my first
house was doing that by my doing that because it
was money I made. That satisfying feels a lot different
when you do that. Man, if it was given to me,
it wouldn't have felt the same. So maybe you might
be I think you're doing the right thing, And I
don't know. It's up to your family situation and your
desires and all that stuff. Like I said before, but
just think about what you might be taking from your
(23:13):
kids if you're actually trying to fund their future on
their path.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
Totally last recommendation. It's been a minute since I've mentioned
Fortune's children, But if you want to see what it
looks like to you, said, create a soft kind of
landing pad for your kids. That's exactly what the commodore
did when the railroad baron and they document the author chronicles.
I don't want to call it a downfall, but essentially
(23:37):
how the future members of the family were a bit
less productive, let's say, than the patriarch of the family.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And if you want a more recent example, just watch
the show Succession on a you know, and you'll realize, Yeah,
it sounds like it's really good. I mean, one of
the best written shows of all time.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
So I've seen the intro because wait, did tren Resnor
do the music? Yeah? What was it? There's something else
I had listened to or watched that there was? Oh no,
Teenage Mutan, Ninja Turtles.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, Mute Mayhem, which best kids movie in recent memory?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Pretty awesome? So good, highly recommend. All right, let's talk
about politics, Matt. There was there was an interesting Gallup poll.
Let's dive into it about how politics is driving economic
beliefs and investing strategy in really big ways right now.
And the crux of the finding is that the majority
of Americans are seeing more aspects of their lives through
a political lens. And I think this is just.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Readily apparent when we look around, we tend to see
everything as political when there man, there's so many more
elements to our lives and that make life meaningful. But
in politics are necessary part of life, but like letting
them color everything is it's just not smart and you're
living in a false reality if you do that. But
especially on the investing front, because that's what we talk about.
(24:53):
But Gallup finds that Democrats are pessimistic about the market
right now because there's because of who's in office, and
Democrats who expect the stock market to decline over the
six next six months exceeded Republican beliefs by fifty nine percent.
So there's this like pretty big swag insane gap based
on the R or the D in front of the
(25:14):
name and who's in the White House at the time.
So Republicans right now they're super optimistic. They're like, this
is going to be great my guys in the office.
So the stock market is going to crush, but also
to a fault because there was there's a Make America
Great Again ETF fund and it has underperformed the S
and P by twenty percentage points and to boot it
(25:35):
comes with the ridiculous expense ratio. But if you are
so inclined to invest according to your politics and buy
the ETF with the ridiculously high expense ratio, you can
of course expect, I think, to underperform well, you expect
the opposite, but in reality you're not going to do
as well. And so it's just really interesting that people
on both sides of the aisle are saying, Hey, I'm
gonna I'm gonna let my politics inform not just what
(25:57):
I think about the future of this economy and what
the state of America is going to look like, but
also specific investing choices that are working out to their detriment.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah, you have to stay a political when it comes
to investing. Just because your guy is in the White House,
that doesn't mean that the market is destined for historic returns.
So we choose to invest like optimists no matter the
party that's in that's in charge. And if you want
to get involved in politics, if you're so inclined, sure
go for it. Throw your energy behind that. If that's
(26:26):
the kind of change that you want to see. When
it comes to especially locally, get involved locally, but letting
as opposed to like getting involved, like at the federal level,
just online through your Blue Sky or x account. I
don't think that's going to pan out well for you
from a actual difference making point of view.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
But changing strangers' minds online.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Through what happens all the time my tweets, don't you know.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah, but of course those aren't working.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
They're not effective. Not effective. Don't let your political whims
impact your investments because it could tempt you into putting
away less. It could tempt you into selling, you know,
thinking that things are going to take right. Let's say
you're like, oh, okay, this is the end and you
move into cash. It is going to have these long
term ramifications as you jump in and out of the
market every two to four years. Even the tariff induced
(27:16):
gyrations that we experienced back it was that March or April. Yeah,
even that was short lived, was incredibly short lived. Yes, Yeah,
the economic engine of the US man, it's really powerful,
it's really resilient. Look to history that will prove that out.
That we can most likely expect the market to grow
at around ten percent excluding inflation. It's not a guarantee,
(27:37):
but that is what we have seen in the past
and I'm taking my cues from history.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Yeah, if you were to ask me at the time,
man we talked about tariffs and are what we think
about tariffs on the show a reasonable amount, I would
have said, yeah, I don't think this is going to
be good for the economy, and this might not be
good for the stock market. But I did not change
how I invest, even though I think thought that was
a potential threat. I realize that the economic engine of
(28:03):
the United States is so incredible that I don't think
one person, especially given the checks and balance, the system
that we have in place in our country, has has
the ability to bring it to its needs. And so
even if I don't agree with some of the policy,
which I typically don't no matter who's in charge, agree
(28:25):
with all the policy that's proposed or that's being implemented, well.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
There's more and more of that policy that I find
myself disagreeing with. Yeah, in the current administration, initially because
there's a lot of folks, oh, we're getting maybe let's
be a little little too polical, And initially a lot
of folks are like, oh, he tends to be pro business.
But there have been all and I would have said, yeah,
maybe so historically speaking, but then lately, gosh, yeah, is
it worth talking about. We're not gonna talk about Intel
(28:49):
and the government stake in a privately held company now,
but like, that's not something I like to see the
government getting involved with private companies.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Not great, But also at the same time, America is
resilient and we have again a country, an economic history
and an economic and I believe in economic future that's
unlike anywhere else. It's still the best. Yeah, we still
the tops our More Americans met are working past retirement age,
according to Pew. Another survey on top of that found
that the majority of sixty five and over folks are
(29:19):
planning on skipping retirement altogether, even though they've they're sixty
five and older already and they're like, yeah, I've arrived
at what's considered typical retirement years, but I'm not planning
on quitting work. And when you look at the stats,
like for many it's because they don't feel like they've
saved it up, saved up enough, and they don't think
they can actually stop work completely. And for some people
(29:41):
that is the reality, even with Social Security, they don't
have enough money coming in. Although to that, I'd also say,
run the numbers, don't let feelings alone make that decision
for you. As I was walking through my parents with
my parents their decision to retire, they had certain feelings
about maybe not having enough, and then when we kind
of took a look at it and we talked about
the options they had, it turns out they did and
so they felt more comfortable after kind of running through
(30:02):
some scenarios. But you know, for some, you know, some
people really might be better off working longer to reach
greater levels of financial independence. So much depends on the
specifics of each individual scenario. But then for others too, Matt,
these findings basically said that the work provides a sense
of identity, and so not working would just be this
(30:23):
really hard psychological shift for a lot of people as
they near retirement age, they're like, well, what else am
I going to do with my Timeah? Which makes me
think about West Moss and the Secrets of the happiest
retirees and how.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Something you got to cultivate over time.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Man, Yeah, you've got to be building that up in
your thirties, forties, and fifties so that you have something
to retire too. I think too this maybe think that
some people may dismiss the idea of saving for retirement
because they're like, well, I don't plan on retiring. I'm
going to be one of those people because i love
my job and I'm going to be working into my seventies,
probably my eighties. So why do I even really need
(30:58):
to emphasize I'm just going to like reduce my contra
ba stent amounts significantly because that's not in the cards
for me. But I think it's also important to mention
that's not always up to you, and yeah, you should
hope for the best, but also plan for the worst.
You want to save like a pessimist. You want to
save like you're not going to be able to work
as long as you'd ideally like to. But it would
be like not getting life insurance because you don't plan
(31:18):
on dying in the next thirty years. I don't need
that term life policy. I'm only twenty five. I'm not
going to die by the time I'm fifty five, or
I'm not planning on it.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
You don't always have the option, don't always have to
say as to what's happening off in your.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Future, miss right, And so it just because you're planning
on something doesn't mean that it's going to happen or
that an alternative can't happen. And I think being able
to choose to work or to retire is a crucial
part of being able to be happy as you continue
to work into older age.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah, well, Joe, maybe some of those folks needed to
talk to a financial advisor. That's my segue for this
next bit. Though. It turns out that financial advice experts
out there, they don't always work well for the math
in every situation, because each of us finds ourselves in
our own unique and different circumstances.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Right, you're saying, I am a snowflake man, We are.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
All unique snowflakes. Okay, financial plans they can't be like
quote unquote tailored for the average investor out there because
none of us truly fit a mold. In addition to that, though,
like I don't even fit the same mold that I
was that I would have put myself in. That was
like the map mold, like from like two years ago. Like,
we are constantly changing our hopes and our dreams are
(32:29):
constantly evolving, which means our financial plan is also morphing
over the years as well. And like, Yeah, an interesting
tid bit in in that journal article, an investing columnists
Columnists recently wrote about how advisors are particularly ill suited
to help what he called tightwads, which was the most
fascinating part of that article, which it totally resonates with
(32:53):
me because I think that it's sort of like you're
alluding to earlier, a lot of the how to money
listeners out there have been doing the right thing for
years and in super.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Frugal they've set aside a good bit.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Of money and a lot of times I think what
those folks need is kind of the counter like not
the typical advice. I think sometimes they need to be encouraged,
like on a more coaching level, it's like, oh no, no,
you got the numbers figured out. What you need is
more like a life coach. You need somebody to kind
of help you to think through what you want your
life to look like, not necessarily even when you are
(33:22):
in your retirement years, but like even now, like you
don't need to switch from A mode to B mode.
It's like there's a whole lot of notes in between scrum. Yeah,
it's a spectrum. I like I was thinking about it,
like in music, because it's like it fluctuates and it
depends on what's going on as to the melody that
you're making. But I think more folks need to be
encouraged in that direction, especially folks who are listening to
our show. So, like you're saying, cultivating some of those
(33:45):
things that make life beautiful so that you have something
to retire to, so that and that not just as
an end goal, but to enrich your life right now,
whatever that might be, whether that's art or community or
volunteering beautiful things service like, there are so many different
ways to involved outside of your job, and I would
hate for folks to continue to work day and day
out because that's all they know how to do. Kind
(34:07):
of turned into a one trick pony, which doesn't sound
very fulfilling.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
When you don't know what sort of dramatic life changes
are going to happen to you, whether a family member
or spouse gets some sort of awful illness, a terminal illness.
Maybe you're a single parent and you didn't expect that.
And so I think I want people to be saving
and investing to set themselves up for flexibility, but you
also then need to be able to pivot right if
(34:31):
you say, actually, I need to dial back my retirement
account contributions because I have to I have to work
less so I can be at home with my kids
more because I am a single parent now, Like, there
are all sorts of things like life happens to you
and you can prepare as best you can, but you
can't be fully prepared for all the things that can
there will come, that will come to pass.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yea. So it's a fine balance.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
It is a fine balance. And so I guess on
the advisor front, like, I think it makes sense to
ask probing questions if you are interviewing an advisor, make
sure they have the ability to help you just the
average human they're going to take. In addition, yea, yeah,
what what your goals? What's your ideals you want? Yeah,
so that they're not just like, well, yeah, do it
exactly like like this, because that's how most of my
(35:11):
other clients are doing it. Like you want somebody actually
to be advising you, not advising the fiftieth percentile.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Awesome, all right, that's gonna be it for our Friday flight.
We hope everyone has had a fantastic week and that
you've got an even better weekend lined up, we'll see
back here on Monday the Fresh Ask How To Money episode,
and until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.