August 23, 2024 • 33 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: expensive hobbies, presidential proposals, underconsumption core, content to rent, Disney debtors, gambling vs investing, swiping left on that credit sore, data breach fatigue, fake reviews banned, & hollowed out gift cards.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am
and today we're talking about presidential proposals, content to rent
and Disney debtors.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh, the alliteration and the rhyming is strong with you
this morning, Jewels.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
That's what I do. Well, Matt, how.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Are you doing today?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Solid?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Doing good?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah? Okay, except for can I just say not as
good as I could be?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Why? Why is that? Okay?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
So last weekend we talked about this on Friday. Actually,
right at the end of the show, you said, hey,
you run your half marathon this weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
WHOA?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
And I was like, yeah, I'm so excited. And then
and then of course it was a nighttime race. And
you know what happens sometimes at night in the South.
I know, well I know what happen, but the listeners
terrible thunderstorms, and terrible thunderstorms happened, and so what happened
to this race? It got canceled by a severe thunderstorm,
rain and insane winds just basically shut the thing down.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
So, Matt, I have huge bummer.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I've signed up for three races, three races in my life,
one of which you and I ran together success. The
other two have been rained out. Wait what was the
other one? It was like a Memorial Day, same thing,
just this insane.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Storm hopped up. Oh wait a minute, that's right. We
talked about that because you're like, is it frugal or
cheap to see if I get my money back?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
But they have a cancelation policy again, and typically they
say I remember, no, sorry, you don't get your money back,
And so I've realized that in both these cases. Fortunately
this race they said, hey, you're gonna get the You're
gonna pay a whole lot less for next year's race,
which is awesome, which is a super but and I
am wearing the T shirt even though I didnt. Around
the race they gave out medals. They gave out metals.
(01:48):
Apparently too, I did not get my metal because I
don't feel like I earned it and I don't want
the metal. No, you don't get your You don't get
the metal unless we're walking away with the metals.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
That's the same thing with a T shirt too.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I honestly feel bad wearing the shirt.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I do. I knew it's a lot of money that
you're kind of forking out. I'm not necessarily seeing the benefit.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Of I think I paid eighty bucks for this race
and to not get to run it, then, oh is
a huge barrow. Okay, here is a thought.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
What is the benefit though, of having signed up for
that race, having had some skin in the game. Is
the fact that you trained like a madman? Right? And
so I think there's maybe there's a financial lesson to
be drawn here. The things that we spend our money on.
It influences how we behave and what it is that
we do. Like I think about signing up for a
streaming service. Let's say I'm paying for Netflix. Well, guess
what I'm probably thinking, Oh, I'm going to watch this
(02:32):
dumb series, this TV show that I'm not really interested
in because I want to get my money's worth.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
You're talking about Bridgerton.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I don't know. That's unlike I never watched that masterpiece
theater popular like I'm thinking about too. You and I
with our wives, we went to an all inclusive resort
earlier this year, first time we'd never done anything like that.
It was a lot of fun, but you basically prepay
for all of the food and drink, which means that more.
While I'm there, I can guarantee you that I ate
way more and drink much more than then I would
(03:00):
have otherwise. And so I think that there's a takeaway here,
which is that the things we spend our money on
it can have a larger impact than just the impact
that it has on our wallets. It has a bigger
impact on like our lives and the things that we do.
So keep that in mind as well. Having it on
the ca is true.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Having it on the calendar made me continue to push
in the right direction so that I wouldn't show up
and completely embarrass myself on the day of the race.
And nobody got to embarrass themselves because no one has
to run it.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
In your case, though, you signed up for something that
led to a positive net result, which and so that's
a great thing.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So sale a bummer because you don't get the test
your metal, I guess, right, But yeah, and it just
they're so interestingly enough in this.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The next race you're going to sign up for so
I can avoid.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I've got to find something just because I feel like
I've trained for that. I've got to actually do the thing,
keep it rolling. But so I signed up for next
year's already because they offered the sweet discount, significant discount.
But one of the things that you can do when
signing up, and I realized that I remember seeing this
before I signed up for the race, was there's essentially
an insurance policy that you can buy and inclement what
(04:00):
is covered under the insurance policy. I didn't pay for
it last time, and guess what, I didn't pay for
it this time either, Because I think they've run the
race fourteen out of fifteen years, this.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Was the only year it's beginning, really.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And so my guess is most of the time the
race is going to go off without a hitch, and
you're wasting your money on the added insurance. So and
you know that's my style. Yeah, self insure like to
roll the diece. And plus with races people can handle
running in the rain. I run in the rain. You
run in the rain. Yeah sometimes right, Well, I literally
went on a seven plus mile run that night. Yeah,
(04:32):
the weather was cool, it was lovely, even after a
ridiculous storm that was.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Sadly, they should have race, shouldn't have canceled it, I know,
Sorry to hear that, buddy. All right, let's move on
with our Friday flight. Though. The quick sampling of the
different headlines, the different news stories that we felt were important.
We've got a lot to get to. We want to
make the most of your time on this Friday, which
actually makes me think, should we take a quick informal
survey of folks?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Raise your hand right now?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah? Yeah, no, email us if you think we've been
talking about maybe trying to make our episodes a little
bit shorter, because I know, like throughout the week, I'm
trying to listen to a bunch of different podcasts, and
if there's one that's like longer, I'm kind of like, yeah,
there's a tendency to skip some of those. I guess.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So, do you want more or less out of money?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Not more or less frequent, but like quantity wise, like
would you like it if it was ten to twenty
percent shorter? I don't know. Email us at howdomoneypod at
gmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Or if you want math to do two extra solo episodes,
because no, thank you, he's just that entertaining.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
But let's talk about the political scene, Joel, just for
a second. Generally speaking, we try to avoid politics on
the show. There's enough of that going on, enough of
the insanity out there that's warping our brains. And because that,
we don't think we need to add to it. But
with some of the recent economic proposals from the top
two presidential contenders, we thought it merit did a brief mention,
(05:48):
at least from us. We're not even gonna, you know,
weigh on the specific proposals and how smart or how
stupid they might be, because there's certainly some of both. Actually,
even the Washington Post they were not kind in its
response to some of the economic platform points points that
were recently proposed, and even that maybe I'm skintting on
the ice forty zusand bias there, but we just wanted
(06:09):
to say that while thinking through a candidate's economic agenda
is smart, right, it certainly reveals a lot about how
the lead and how it is that they see the future.
We also want to recommend that you take it with
a grain of salt. It's incredibly frustrating to hear promises
being made without much follow historically without much follow through,
(06:30):
nor just without any with without there being any sort
of constitutional authority, and their ability to unilaterally say this
is going to happen.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
What you're saying is sometimes these assertions or are pie
in the sky. Their hopes, yes and so a and
we're also kind of in an aramat in politics where
we're light on substance from a platform standpoint, Like truly,
when in the past, I feel like we had more
hard data to work on. There's way more policy and
this is opposed to just marketing and sound bites. Yeah,
(07:00):
and again this is not a partisan suggestion. This is
equal opportunity sides of the eye. Yeah, equal opportunity to think.
And so I guess as a voter, when you recognize
the likelihood that few to none of these policies are
likely to become reality, and that's not me being a pessimist,
that's just kind of like how things reality shake out,
like student loan forgiveness. Thus far, Matt, this was a
perfect example, a huge policy proposal and something that was
(07:21):
attempted multiple times and then yet it still hasn't gone
to the finish line. I think when we realize that
it can reframe how we interpret the press releases and
the speeches. And so while political actions, the actions of
our political leaders, they impact our lives, it often has
far less positive or negative impact than we like to think,
and then we tend to think it's going to So
the truth is when it comes down to it, and
(07:42):
that's what the show is all about. Solid money and
wealth building habits are up to us.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
That's right, man. Okay, So one money habit that you
could actually choose to change is owning nothing, which is
part of this trend being called under consumption core.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Don't you love that, Joel Dope new name.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
First there's hard, then there's Parkore. Yeah, sure, now there's
under consumption cores. There is a recent piece about extreme
renters who choose to not just rent a place to live,
but they opt to rent essentially everything in their lives.
According to a new survey from Credit karm but more Americans,
especially younger ones, they are content to rent clothing and electronics, furniture,
(08:23):
leasing a car. This actually falls into this category for
many as well, and it seems to stem from a
desire to not be tied down. And I don't know,
there's like almost like a commitment phobia that is permeating
our culture, which I'm not a huge fan of. But
from a financial standpoint, I'm of two minds on this
because I think renting some things can be far more
(08:43):
financially savvy, but renting items use less frequently, right, Yeah, exactly,
But running other things, like especially things that you are
gonna use frequently, that you're gonna use regularly, and that
you can get massively discounted. I think for those things,
running that makes far less sense. It seems like more
of a life. It's sort of like leasing a car, right,
Like we when we talk about that, it's oftentimes a
(09:04):
lifestyle choice. It's because you want the latest and greatest everything.
It's not the thing it's going to save you the
most money. But if that's your predisposition, you might do
better leasing a car just because of sure, if you're
always gonna end up buying the little the latest technology,
well you're probably gooding it out every two to three.
I'm out ahead, because yeah, you're taking that depreciation hit
every single time. But what we would recommend for folks
(09:24):
is the be content with something that isn't so cutting
edge that it was that you're still peeling the plastic
off of it. Well, you know, so you're saving a
ton of money while still indulging in the occasional craft
beer equivalent.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Right, Yeah. I think I think whether you choose to
rent or buy random things like clothing or electronics, Matt,
really it depends on the amount of times you think
you're gonna use that item. And so it's interesting to
see people saying, I'm run at this furniture and sit on.
I'm gonna pay somebody every single month for the ability
to just have this sofa, but then I'm gonna give
it back after the end of the year. And the
(09:55):
truth is, you'd probably be better off buying a used
couch in the style you like off of Facebook, Marketplace
or something like that. Instead makes you think I'm going
on a backpacking trip here in just a few days. Actually,
And I looked because I was really curious. Someone had
told me, hey, you should look at Ario. You should
look into renting some of this equipment instead of buying it, dude,
And and well, I thought about that, but I looked
(10:16):
up the pricing.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Oh was it expensive.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
It's actually really expensive a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
And the truth is, I was gonna say, who knows
if you like backpacking, Like if this is something I mean,
it's not my cup of tea personally, right, I love hiking,
but you enjoy your time in the tent.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So I'm doing I'm doing a shmortgage board of things.
There are a few items that I think I'm definitely
going to reuse these things, and it makes sense to buy.
And then for other things I'm borrowing from friends, which
is a nice way to go for me. But yeah,
when I look at like, for the headlamp, have.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
You gotten a pack by the way, I got a
pack o, Yes, because I've got one that's from like
twenty years ago.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I should have borrown it.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You've never seen it because I don't use it. It's
probably too small for it. It's been in the addic.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Okay, but this head adjustable, this headlamp at ari I
was twelve bucks for the first day, four bucks for
every day thereafter. What the headlamp no that I bought
that I owned, that I've had and used for years
is twenty five bucks. Yeah, you just buy the stupid hit, right.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
When you look at the prices on some of these
things that you're renting, it's like, I dig parts of
the renting economy and there are some places again where
if you're using something incredibly infrequently, it makes sense to
borrow or rent it instead. But then when you dig
into the numbers just a little bit, it's like, no,
buy that thing, please, like do not and find a
deal on it or borrow it from a friend, but
renting it it actually makes the least sense. But then again,
(11:27):
there's there's something else where an RV, Matt. If you're
like thinking, like especially retirees, Matt, this is a popular
lifestyle choice to buy an RB and to ride around
the country in it and explore America. So yeah, stay
at RV parks. Well, that's a really really expensive endeavor,
And you could rent an RB for a month for
a fraction of the price of buying it. And that's
(11:48):
a case where it's like you're testing the waters first,
you're saving yourself potentially a lot of money, heartache, and hassle.
And so I think on that one, I'm definitely more
in the camp of renting before you buy. But I'd
also like the idea of owning fewer depreciating assets. That
can be a savvy choice. But do the math because
you might quickly be paying more to rent those items
than you would have to buy them. And then, obviously,
(12:10):
of course, as always when it comes to appreciating assets,
wealth flows to owners. So we want people to own stocks,
maybe own fewer possessions, maybe rent those possessions. You're going
to use on the very rare occasion. But buying, I
think still makes sense in a lot of these areas
where younger people are tending to think renting is a
better idea.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
That's right. Okay, while we are on a buying stuff
roll or while we're on a consumption roll, let's get
to the story that Susan actually this past week email
to us and actually this could have been our ludicrous
headline of the week, but we actually have a better
one for you. But the Times they profiled some families
who are going into debt for a Disney trip. This
(12:49):
actually isn't a rare phenomenon. Unfortunately. According to lending Tree,
forty five percent of parents with kids under eighteen went
into debt in order to pull off a memorable Disney trip.
And I gotta say, I totally understand. I get it.
Our family went to Disney last year, and you know
that this is going to be an experience that your
kids are going to love. And on top of that,
(13:10):
price is at Disney, they've certainly risen precipitously in recent years.
It's so expensive, talking about exceeding the inflation numbers. What's
happening in Disney is almost criminal with their charge. It's
essentially like going to Europe, right.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Like you go to Epcot. I guess you kind of
are going to Europe, matt.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Albeit a less authentic, genuine version of actually going to
see saying the old country. You don't like the way
the Eiffel Tower sparkles over the Ratittuy ride that is
one of the best rides, by the way. So there's
a nerd wallet analysis and they pegged the cost of
a one week Disney trip between sixty four hundred dollars
and just over fifteen thousand dollars. Now, so the problem here, though,
(13:47):
is that we're pointing to the fact that folks are
going into debt in order to do this kind of trip. Right,
So imagine that price point with a twenty two percent
interest rate attached to it, and you don't have to
imagine actually crush the numbers. So if you were to
put that, like that fifteen thousand dollars trip fully on
your credit card, make minimum payments, you are going to
be paying on that trip for over thirty years while
(14:10):
also paying nearly thirty thousand dollars in interest a little
over twenty seven thousand. I think that's nasty. That is terrible.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, of course, you know, we don't want people going
into debt for superfluous things. And we're not saying that
vacations don't matter, taking time off doesn't matter. But you
don't have to go to Disney. No one has to
go to Disney. And I get the appeal and why
people want to go, But Matt, I think Disney, there's
no way, no matter how much you love it, it's
just not worth the high price and subsequent debt hangover
(14:37):
if you can't pay for it with money that you've
saved on the front end. Sorry, you got to punt
Disney to next year or keep potentially the year after.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
You got to keep saving. Right, it's not a right,
you know. I feel like a lot of folks think
about it like that. They're like, oh, it's just like
an American freedom that has been granted to us to
be able to go to Disney.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Shake Mickey Mouse's hands. No, that's not necessarily the case. No,
I agree, And just think about from the psychological perspective too.
It just sucks to go there, and you know that
you are going to be paying this for this trip
for months. For most people, Matt, for years to come,
like you mentioned, and so yeah, play hopefully not decades.
Hopefully not decades. And I think too, Matt. You gave
(15:15):
those headline numbers. You and I both went to Disney.
We spent a whole lot less than that, or you
might have spent yeah, closer to the bottom knock number
right in the middle. Really okay, okay, Wow, we spent
a little over. I mean it is really six of us.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And we went all in because we you know, we said, hey,
we don't live in Florida, it's not like we're going
to be doing this often, and so for us, we
were willing to splurge like.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
A one and done. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well, except that after having gone, it realizes that, oh
my gosh, the kids really enjoyed it. And I was like, oh,
I could totally see us coming back here in four
or five, six years, and so hey, that's a takeaway.
Don't think that this is going to be this once
in a lifetime experience. There's a decent chance that you'll
end up going back again. So you don't have to
pony up and go all out, and you can stay
on campus, stay on resort like we did. Yeah, that's
(15:59):
that's one of the ways you're able to say, we
say we stayed off exactly and we drove every day,
and that that made it a heck of a lot cheaper.
The other thing is to maybe bring your own food
and you don't have to maybe eat every meal. We
did that, yeah, pre plans, but like bringing in your
own food, Disney allows that, it's no big deal and
it's gonna save you a lot of money because he
even get the restaurants, even the cheaper ones that there
are ways, I think to cut back on that price
(16:21):
that you're going to pay for a Disney trip.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I'm not going to go into like a lot of
details about that now, but just think about that to
still make this a Disney episode, right, No, but there
are ways to make the price of your Disney trip
a whole lot less expensive. But if you're going to
go to Universal, make sure that you set aside money
at least for one meal to be eaten at the
Hogshead or the Three Broomsticks. I think that's worth it.
That's sort of thing. And by the way, Matt Disney
made a lot of headlines this week about its attempt
(16:44):
to force a loyal fan whose wife died because of
a food allergy, and I see something about that. Oh
my gosh, just terrible. They were trying to force the
husband into going into arbitration because the fine print that
apparently he signed when he checked out Disney Plus and
sign up for a free trial there. They've since backed
off this ridiculously in humane stance, But I think that
(17:05):
story reminds me that the terms and services are laden
with all sorts of things that you and I would
never sign if we took the time to read it.
Not that you and I take the time to read
those terms and services, we also signed them willy nilly
like that too, But recognize that that's the case, and
then also recognize that a vocal campaign can make a
difference when a company is being awful to his customers.
And so I'm glad that Disney's changed course on this.
(17:26):
Trying to hold this person to those terms and services
from Disney Plus for something that happened at a Disney
park is pretty ridiculous, especially given the circumstances.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It's pretty dumb, and sadly it's likely that they changed
course not because they thought that, oh, this is not
the right thing to do, right, but because it was
turning into a pr nightmare.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
That's what they're saying. They're saying, Oh, we want to
do the right thing, and it's like, well you didn't
want to do the right thing initially.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yeah yeah, But uh, okay, we've got more to get to.
We're gonna talk about gift cards, among other things. Why
it is that Joel still hates gift cards. He's got
a whole nother reason to not like them. We'll get
to that more right after this. All right, Matt, we're
back from break.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
It's time forced to get to the ludicrous headline. Oh
the week, it's my favorite. This one comes three and
a half minutes every week. So Morning Brew is a
great newsletter, comes out every morning most mornings, and they
just they have pieces. I think they post on their
website too, And this is one that really attracted my attention.
This The headline was study finds people bet on sports
(18:31):
instead of investing in the stock market. I was repulsed, Matt,
when I read that the article was based on a
recent white paper which found and I quote, sharp increases
in sports betting following legalization. This increase does not displace
other gambling activity or consumption, but significantly reduces households savings allocations.
(18:52):
These effects concentrate among financially constrained households. That means people
aren't doing so well who become further constrained as credit
card debt increases, available credit decreases and over draft frequency rises. Matt,
this is not shocking, but it is awful. We have
talked about sports gambling, the rapid growth of that space,
and how awful it is for a lot of individuals
(19:14):
and households, and we're just seeing that, in particular for
financially vulnerable people, the effects can be significantly damaging. Sure,
gambling at your fingertips on your phone to me is
still a really bad idea.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah. And the news here, though, is that just that
folks are taking money from traditional investments and then instead
giving it to draft kings instead. Researchers found that in
the two to three years that followed the legalization of
sports betting in a state, net investments dropped fourteen percent,
which is crazy to think that it would have that
kind of impact. There's a ton of other terrible stats
(19:49):
that are coming to light as well, but it's this
thing that started out as entertainment, but it's leading to
just a rapid financial deterioration for many folks out there,
and there doesn't seem to be any desire or will
to slow down the rise of these different websites and
different gambling apps because in large part states want that
extra revenue.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
They see the dollar signs and they're like, come on
in draftking.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
But yeah, some folks out there can handle it, right,
they can behave themselves. They're able to allow gambling to
be a small part of their entertainment budget. That being said,
others will find it impossible to quit after just a
few tries, and so we want folks to be wary.
And I'm not sure what's worse, because I used to
think that meme stocks and crypto and all the money
(20:31):
that was getting poured into that was worse. Because of
the fact that you're almost like tricking yourself into thinking
that you're investing right, it kind of blurs the lines
between doing something that seems responsible with something that is
being treated like entertainment. But when it comes to gambling apps,
I mean, it's just straight up gambling, and I can't
imagine there are like, it just doesn't make sense to
me that folks are thinking, oh, this is a responsible
(20:53):
way for me to potentially make money, Like, are folks
actually thinking that, Like when you step back and you
are about it, No, like nobody is going to say that.
But I think that's the problem. I think its that
once you get sucked into gambling, you're not thinking rational.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
That's what's interesting though, too. I think when you're going
into a casino, most people assume that the house has
the edge. But there's a lot of like people who
watch the NFL on Sundays and they think they know
more than the guy on ESPN or whatever, which they might,
but like they just think they have some sort of
an edge about their home team or the choices that
they might make with how many rebounds so and so
is going to get in a game. So I do
(21:27):
think that that there is this mentality for a lot
of those people that I've got some edge, so I'm
going to bet on some of these And we've talked
about maybe the parlays and stuff like that and all
the really interesting ways the insidious ways that these apps
are getting into people's wallets. I get why people are interested,
but the problem is a whole lot of folks are
losing money that the house still has the edge. In
this and Matt when you think about it too, the
(21:48):
lottery effect is real. And I think some people in
lower socioeconomic rungs might think that's my only way, that's
my only ticket right to riches is go big or
go home. But when you run the numbers, even if
you if you're gambling twenty bucks a week and you
take that instead and you invest it, which we would prefer,
you're going to find yourself over the course of thirty
years as an investor having hundreds of thousands of dollars,
(22:09):
probably in the neighborhood of four hundred thousand dollars in
your account. And so it is amazing to see how, yeah,
just a seemingly small amount where you're like, eh, I'm
just furring that away, it can turn into something really
epic at the end of the day. And this is
why it's so difficult to see that people are yeah,
investing less, gambling more, because it's going to have a
long term impact on their ability to retire.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Well, that's true. Okay, we've all got different definitions of sexy. Jill.
I'm not going to ask you what your definition is.
Whatever it is, I'm bringing it back. But there are
more folks out there who are considering a great credit
score to be something that they're interested in. A recent
survey found that two thirds of Americans so that it's
(22:52):
important for the significant other to have a good credit score.
Which you know, this doesn't mean that they're gold diggers,
right because credit scores they've got nothing to do with
your net worth, how much money you've got in the bank.
They've got a lot more to do with how you
handle your debt though, and your ability to pay your
bills on time. Say, that's sexy if you can do
those things. Yeah, you're being responsible, right, Like it shows
that you're an adult. There's essentially some insight here into
(23:15):
your dependability, your planning skills, and so I get why
it can be a positive or perhaps a negative indicator
of somebody that you're interested in. But at the same time,
I wouldn't necessarily push this to the forefront of your
different dating criteria. I think they're like, it's good that
folks are paying attention to this, But at the same time,
(23:36):
I mean, the survey was performed by Credit Karma, and
let's see, does credit Karma have any vested interest in
who in asking folks whether or not the credit score
should be higher. And now, of course they do like
eventually that you know, they want you to cut show
up and then create a profile, and eventually they're going.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
To try to sell you something thing. I would also
say that why not make it a little more important
because it is, like you said, it is revelatory.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Well it is, but I think there's a lot that's
just other facts. Again, it should be something that you consider,
it's just not that it shouldn't be a leading indicator.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Would you say it's like a third date question. What
would you say, Yeah, I mean third okay, three plus dates.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I don't need something that you can bring up.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I don't need to know your net worth, but I
would like to know maybe your credit score. But then again,
there are a lot of problems with the credit scoring
system and with the way the credit bureaus treat our information,
and so so many inaccuracies. How accurate is your true
credit score number? That is an important thing to note too.
So someone might say, no, no, but it's a six twenty,
But I promise it's Transunion's fault, Like that's not on me,
(24:33):
and they actually might not be lying. But this also
makes me think Matt too. There's another data breach that happened,
and I feel like we as a collective society have
kind of data breach fatigue. A background check company in
Florida was hacked in the spring, but it just kind
of came to light last week, and it turns out
that the social Security numbers of a bunch of Americans
have been compromised. And so there's a website mat that
(24:54):
will link to in the show notes where people can
check to see if their social Security number has been compromise.
And with all of the breaches that have happened, I
mean Equifax breach wasn't even the first, but that was
one of the biggest. I think people assume that their
data is out there and they probably assume that correctly.
But email addresses in this one were also leaked, which
potentially compounds the problem because scammers could launch more targeted
(25:17):
attacks on folks. But yeah, while these companies, they need
to be held accountable for subpar security measures. Truly, when
it comes down to it, I'm glad that there is
a federal law that makes freezing your credit free. That is,
that is the only method we have to protect ourselves
from at least the worst potential downsides of events like these,
And it doesn't mean that someone won't try to send
(25:38):
you a scam, a scam or spam email. That's happening anyway,
right and you might see an influx of them. But
we have an article about how to go about freezing
your credit and why it's super important. We'll link to
that in the show notes. And especially when you see
stuff like this matter, I think it creates or should
create a sense of urgency for listeners to go out
there and do this task that takes you just a
few minutes but can protect you in a meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
It's true it takes a little bit like if you've
never done this before, it takes a little bit longer
because you have to actually create your profile and do
all that sort of stuff. But then literally the freezing
and unfreezing, it's as easy as just logging in, and
there's a button that you can click unfreeze for when
you need to, say, apply for a mortgage or if
you want to sign up for a new credit card.
And also keep in mind too, I forget which one
(26:20):
of them one of them they all are trying to
sell you, upsell you on stuff, but one of them
in particular. Is I forget which one I want to
say it's Equifax is really sneaky, and how it is
that they're marketing their products, their privacy products and the
ability to lock down your credit No, no, no, yeah,
you don't want the lock you want the freeze. Well,
you don't need to pay for anything. This is federally
mandated as something that you can do for free, and
(26:41):
the credit lock is inferior. Oh yeah, it's going to
cost you money. I think that's do I want to
charge like twenty or twenty five bucks a month for that?
And it's like, sorry, guys, the freeze is way superior
and it doesn't cost me a dime. Okay. So a
potentially positive note on the scam front the FTC. They
have banned fake reviews, which Joe I didn't even know
that was possible. Yeah, that's like playing wack the moll,
(27:03):
wasn't it. Well, you're going to get all those fake
reviews taken down? Well, did you? Yeah? There's something where
we weren't planning to talk about, but a federal judge
struck down the FDCs anti the non compete, and so
it kind of limits what it is that they're able
to do regardless, we're not talking about that today, But
companies won't be allowed to incentivize reviews, fake reviews, or
(27:25):
AI generated reviews, all of these can get a company
in hot water in a few months time when this
is supposed to go into effect. Influencers are also being
held to a higher standard when it comes to the
reviews that they're going to dish out on either like
like social media or on their actual websites. And so, yeah,
we'll see what kind of impact this will have. Hopefully
it gets cleared up pretty quickly. I would not expect
(27:48):
an overnight change in how it is that I trust
different reviews that I come across me either. Yeah, but
that being said, they're talking about like a fifty thousand
dollars fee or ticket or you know, every time.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
They violate this this rule. So we'll see if it
actually ends up happening. You imagine if Amazon got fined,
truly got fined that much for every fake review, they
would be forced to change their algorithms and how it
is that they allow certain reviews, Well they might, I'm
guessing too. There is going to be more vetting from
(28:19):
some of these websites like Amazon, like, verify that you're
an actual human being before you leave this review. Verify
that you actually own the product and have used the
product before you write this review too, And so it
probably is going to reduce the amount of reviews, but
clarify the reviews that actually do exist. I am curious
to see the shakeout because, yeah, online reviews are, Man,
there's a it's like kind of a cesspool at times. Yeah,
(28:41):
and it's hard to know, especially for some products, right,
Like I think it depends on the product, but sometimes
because of those incentives and because of the way the
seller on a site like Amazon has gone about things,
they have generated a bunch of fake reviews, and then
it's hard for the end consumer to know based on
the star rating whether or not that product is any
good or not. So again, we'll see how this proceeds.
(29:03):
But for the time being, what's that plug in, Matt
we talk about with reviews that people should use fake spot?
I think, oh man, memory is failing. Yeah, so that's
a good one, I think to check out so that
you can at least get a heads up whether or
not the star rating is accurate. They'll give it usually
like an A through F rating and then read the
(29:24):
actual reviews. Because it's easy to spot some of those
fake reviews yourself. You should be able quickly to realize,
wait a second, that one feels fake, and then adjust accordingly.
But now let's talk about gift cards. One of my
least favorite, the least favorite things. And I've always said
that part of the reason that I don't love gift
cards is because of the fact that they go often unused.
(29:46):
They're end up in people's sock draws or something like that,
and then they're like, oh, wait a second, oh wait,
now that companies defunct, and I have a gift card
that I never ended up using, and cash is just
a much better gift than gift cards, and something else,
I haven't new reason to hate them. As you mentioned,
nearly a quarter of Americans say that they've been given
a gift card with a zero balance on it. And
(30:07):
that's not because their friends stink or they've got someone
pulling a prank on them, but it's because of the
criminals who steal the information off the back of the
card and then they siphon the money off that thing.
So when you buy it fresh off the racket at
the Kroger or wherever you're buying your gift card, you
might not know that that card has zero dollars on
it that's already been robbed. This is a massive problem
(30:30):
with gift cards, to go along with the other major
one of forgetting to spend them. But Maryland actually just
became the first state to do something about this problem.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
They're requiring manufacturers to create more protective packaging, which makes
it harder for thieves to steal the codes off the back.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
And I like it.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And this is a this is clearly like a real
problem that has cost consumers money and just is incredibly annoying.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Yeah. Well, and what's worth highlighting here as well, like
because we'll dump on different federal agencies with their inability
to enforce what it is that they're trying to get done.
This is how you do it. This is a state
that had the legislation that was introduced. It was a
bill and then it was signed into the law. Like
that is how you actually are able to make some change.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
I'm just a bill.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Are we going to talk about the BBIL creation process
on Capitol Hill? So you might be saying, well, yeah,
that's great for Maryland. I live in North Dakota fellas well.
It is amazing though, how laws in one state can
create a domino effect in others, because once these companies
have to create let's say, new packaging for Maryland specifically,
well they may as well go ahead and just roll
it out to the rest of the country. It's like,
(31:34):
it makes me think of Apple changing to what is
it USBC, like the oval shape one as opposed to
the one with the ridges in it. Yeah, because the.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
New charging port no longer lightning. Yes, basically, the.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
EU they made it a requirement, and so therefore they said, okay,
we'll just go ahead and end up rolling that out.
It is it will be cost prohibitive for us to
maintain all these different charges.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
We're not gonna make lightning charging port Apple iPhones in
for the States and USBC centric ones for Europe.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Like, we're just gonna do it all the same. From
business standpoint, it makes sense. And so what I'm pointing
out here is that there's hope, I think for the
rest of the country when it comes to the ability
for us to buy gift cards and not end up
empty handed or to be seen as a jerk because
you just handed over something that was blank Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, frustrating experiences the gift giver and the gift getter.
So it's like, yeah, just secure packaging and that would
make me feel even better about buying gift cards for somebody,
even though it's still not my number one choice. All right, man,
that's going to do it. For this episode, we'll have
links to some of the stuff we mentioned up on
our website at how to money dot com. Don't forget
to sign up for the how to Money newsletter at
(32:39):
how toomoney dot com slash newsletter. But we hope y'all
have a great weekend. Until next time, best friends and
best friends out,
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am
and today we're talking about presidential proposals, content to rent
and Disney debtors.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Oh, the alliteration and the rhyming is strong with you
this morning, Jewels.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
That's what I do. Well, Matt, how.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Are you doing today?
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Solid?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Doing good?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah? Okay, except for can I just say not as
good as I could be?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Why? Why is that? Okay?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
So last weekend we talked about this on Friday. Actually,
right at the end of the show, you said, hey,
you run your half marathon this weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:48):
WHOA?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
And I was like, yeah, I'm so excited. And then
and then of course it was a nighttime race. And
you know what happens sometimes at night in the South.
I know, well I know what happen, but the listeners
terrible thunderstorms, and terrible thunderstorms happened, and so what happened
to this race? It got canceled by a severe thunderstorm,
rain and insane winds just basically shut the thing down.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
So, Matt, I have huge bummer.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
I've signed up for three races, three races in my life,
one of which you and I ran together success. The
other two have been rained out. Wait what was the
other one? It was like a Memorial Day, same thing,
just this insane.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Storm hopped up. Oh wait a minute, that's right. We
talked about that because you're like, is it frugal or
cheap to see if I get my money back?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
But they have a cancelation policy again, and typically they
say I remember, no, sorry, you don't get your money back,
And so I've realized that in both these cases. Fortunately
this race they said, hey, you're gonna get the You're
gonna pay a whole lot less for next year's race,
which is awesome, which is a super but and I
am wearing the T shirt even though I didnt. Around
the race they gave out medals. They gave out metals.
(01:48):
Apparently too, I did not get my metal because I
don't feel like I earned it and I don't want
the metal. No, you don't get your You don't get
the metal unless we're walking away with the metals.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
That's the same thing with a T shirt too.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I honestly feel bad wearing the shirt.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I do. I knew it's a lot of money that
you're kind of forking out. I'm not necessarily seeing the benefit.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Of I think I paid eighty bucks for this race
and to not get to run it, then, oh is
a huge barrow. Okay, here is a thought.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
What is the benefit though, of having signed up for
that race, having had some skin in the game. Is
the fact that you trained like a madman? Right? And
so I think there's maybe there's a financial lesson to
be drawn here. The things that we spend our money on.
It influences how we behave and what it is that
we do. Like I think about signing up for a
streaming service. Let's say I'm paying for Netflix. Well, guess
what I'm probably thinking, Oh, I'm going to watch this
(02:32):
dumb series, this TV show that I'm not really interested
in because I want to get my money's worth.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
You're talking about Bridgerton.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I don't know. That's unlike I never watched that masterpiece
theater popular like I'm thinking about too. You and I
with our wives, we went to an all inclusive resort
earlier this year, first time we'd never done anything like that.
It was a lot of fun, but you basically prepay
for all of the food and drink, which means that more.
While I'm there, I can guarantee you that I ate
way more and drink much more than then I would
(03:00):
have otherwise. And so I think that there's a takeaway here,
which is that the things we spend our money on
it can have a larger impact than just the impact
that it has on our wallets. It has a bigger
impact on like our lives and the things that we do.
So keep that in mind as well. Having it on
the ca is true.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Having it on the calendar made me continue to push
in the right direction so that I wouldn't show up
and completely embarrass myself on the day of the race.
And nobody got to embarrass themselves because no one has
to run it.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
In your case, though, you signed up for something that
led to a positive net result, which and so that's
a great thing.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So sale a bummer because you don't get the test
your metal, I guess, right, But yeah, and it just
they're so interestingly enough in this.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
The next race you're going to sign up for so
I can avoid.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I've got to find something just because I feel like
I've trained for that. I've got to actually do the thing,
keep it rolling. But so I signed up for next
year's already because they offered the sweet discount, significant discount.
But one of the things that you can do when
signing up, and I realized that I remember seeing this
before I signed up for the race, was there's essentially
an insurance policy that you can buy and inclement what
(04:00):
is covered under the insurance policy. I didn't pay for
it last time, and guess what, I didn't pay for
it this time either, Because I think they've run the
race fourteen out of fifteen years, this.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Was the only year it's beginning, really.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And so my guess is most of the time the
race is going to go off without a hitch, and
you're wasting your money on the added insurance. So and
you know that's my style. Yeah, self insure like to
roll the diece. And plus with races people can handle
running in the rain. I run in the rain. You
run in the rain. Yeah sometimes right, Well, I literally
went on a seven plus mile run that night. Yeah,
(04:32):
the weather was cool, it was lovely, even after a
ridiculous storm that was.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Sadly, they should have race, shouldn't have canceled it, I know,
Sorry to hear that, buddy. All right, let's move on
with our Friday flight. Though. The quick sampling of the
different headlines, the different news stories that we felt were important.
We've got a lot to get to. We want to
make the most of your time on this Friday, which
actually makes me think, should we take a quick informal
survey of folks?
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Raise your hand right now?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah? Yeah, no, email us if you think we've been
talking about maybe trying to make our episodes a little
bit shorter, because I know, like throughout the week, I'm
trying to listen to a bunch of different podcasts, and
if there's one that's like longer, I'm kind of like, yeah,
there's a tendency to skip some of those. I guess.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
So, do you want more or less out of money?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Not more or less frequent, but like quantity wise, like
would you like it if it was ten to twenty
percent shorter? I don't know. Email us at howdomoneypod at
gmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Or if you want math to do two extra solo episodes,
because no, thank you, he's just that entertaining.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
But let's talk about the political scene, Joel, just for
a second. Generally speaking, we try to avoid politics on
the show. There's enough of that going on, enough of
the insanity out there that's warping our brains. And because that,
we don't think we need to add to it. But
with some of the recent economic proposals from the top
two presidential contenders, we thought it merit did a brief mention,
(05:48):
at least from us. We're not even gonna, you know,
weigh on the specific proposals and how smart or how
stupid they might be, because there's certainly some of both. Actually,
even the Washington Post they were not kind in its
response to some of the economic platform points points that
were recently proposed, and even that maybe I'm skintting on
the ice forty zusand bias there, but we just wanted
(06:09):
to say that while thinking through a candidate's economic agenda
is smart, right, it certainly reveals a lot about how
the lead and how it is that they see the future.
We also want to recommend that you take it with
a grain of salt. It's incredibly frustrating to hear promises
being made without much follow historically without much follow through,
(06:30):
nor just without any with without there being any sort
of constitutional authority, and their ability to unilaterally say this
is going to happen.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
What you're saying is sometimes these assertions or are pie
in the sky. Their hopes, yes and so a and
we're also kind of in an aramat in politics where
we're light on substance from a platform standpoint, Like truly,
when in the past, I feel like we had more
hard data to work on. There's way more policy and
this is opposed to just marketing and sound bites. Yeah,
(07:00):
and again this is not a partisan suggestion. This is
equal opportunity sides of the eye. Yeah, equal opportunity to think.
And so I guess as a voter, when you recognize
the likelihood that few to none of these policies are
likely to become reality, and that's not me being a pessimist,
that's just kind of like how things reality shake out,
like student loan forgiveness. Thus far, Matt, this was a
perfect example, a huge policy proposal and something that was
(07:21):
attempted multiple times and then yet it still hasn't gone
to the finish line. I think when we realize that
it can reframe how we interpret the press releases and
the speeches. And so while political actions, the actions of
our political leaders, they impact our lives, it often has
far less positive or negative impact than we like to think,
and then we tend to think it's going to So
the truth is when it comes down to it, and
(07:42):
that's what the show is all about. Solid money and
wealth building habits are up to us.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
That's right, man. Okay, So one money habit that you
could actually choose to change is owning nothing, which is
part of this trend being called under consumption core.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Don't you love that, Joel Dope new name.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
First there's hard, then there's Parkore. Yeah, sure, now there's
under consumption cores. There is a recent piece about extreme
renters who choose to not just rent a place to live,
but they opt to rent essentially everything in their lives.
According to a new survey from Credit karm but more Americans,
especially younger ones, they are content to rent clothing and electronics, furniture,
(08:23):
leasing a car. This actually falls into this category for
many as well, and it seems to stem from a
desire to not be tied down. And I don't know,
there's like almost like a commitment phobia that is permeating
our culture, which I'm not a huge fan of. But
from a financial standpoint, I'm of two minds on this
because I think renting some things can be far more
(08:43):
financially savvy, but renting items use less frequently, right, Yeah, exactly,
But running other things, like especially things that you are
gonna use frequently, that you're gonna use regularly, and that
you can get massively discounted. I think for those things,
running that makes far less sense. It seems like more
of a life. It's sort of like leasing a car, right,
Like we when we talk about that, it's oftentimes a
(09:04):
lifestyle choice. It's because you want the latest and greatest everything.
It's not the thing it's going to save you the
most money. But if that's your predisposition, you might do
better leasing a car just because of sure, if you're
always gonna end up buying the little the latest technology,
well you're probably gooding it out every two to three.
I'm out ahead, because yeah, you're taking that depreciation hit
every single time. But what we would recommend for folks
(09:24):
is the be content with something that isn't so cutting
edge that it was that you're still peeling the plastic
off of it. Well, you know, so you're saving a
ton of money while still indulging in the occasional craft
beer equivalent.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Right, Yeah. I think I think whether you choose to
rent or buy random things like clothing or electronics, Matt,
really it depends on the amount of times you think
you're gonna use that item. And so it's interesting to
see people saying, I'm run at this furniture and sit on.
I'm gonna pay somebody every single month for the ability
to just have this sofa, but then I'm gonna give
it back after the end of the year. And the
(09:55):
truth is, you'd probably be better off buying a used
couch in the style you like off of Facebook, Marketplace
or something like that. Instead makes you think I'm going
on a backpacking trip here in just a few days. Actually,
And I looked because I was really curious. Someone had
told me, hey, you should look at Ario. You should
look into renting some of this equipment instead of buying it, dude,
And and well, I thought about that, but I looked
(10:16):
up the pricing.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Oh was it expensive.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
It's actually really expensive a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
And the truth is, I was gonna say, who knows
if you like backpacking, Like if this is something I mean,
it's not my cup of tea personally, right, I love hiking,
but you enjoy your time in the tent.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So I'm doing I'm doing a shmortgage board of things.
There are a few items that I think I'm definitely
going to reuse these things, and it makes sense to buy.
And then for other things I'm borrowing from friends, which
is a nice way to go for me. But yeah,
when I look at like, for the headlamp, have.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
You gotten a pack by the way, I got a
pack o, Yes, because I've got one that's from like
twenty years ago.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I should have borrown it.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You've never seen it because I don't use it. It's
probably too small for it. It's been in the addic.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Okay, but this head adjustable, this headlamp at ari I
was twelve bucks for the first day, four bucks for
every day thereafter. What the headlamp no that I bought
that I owned, that I've had and used for years
is twenty five bucks. Yeah, you just buy the stupid hit, right.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That's the thing.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
When you look at the prices on some of these
things that you're renting, it's like, I dig parts of
the renting economy and there are some places again where
if you're using something incredibly infrequently, it makes sense to
borrow or rent it instead. But then when you dig
into the numbers just a little bit, it's like, no,
buy that thing, please, like do not and find a
deal on it or borrow it from a friend, but
renting it it actually makes the least sense. But then again,
(11:27):
there's there's something else where an RV, Matt. If you're
like thinking, like especially retirees, Matt, this is a popular
lifestyle choice to buy an RB and to ride around
the country in it and explore America. So yeah, stay
at RV parks. Well, that's a really really expensive endeavor,
And you could rent an RB for a month for
a fraction of the price of buying it. And that's
(11:48):
a case where it's like you're testing the waters first,
you're saving yourself potentially a lot of money, heartache, and hassle.
And so I think on that one, I'm definitely more
in the camp of renting before you buy. But I'd
also like the idea of owning fewer depreciating assets. That
can be a savvy choice. But do the math because
you might quickly be paying more to rent those items
than you would have to buy them. And then, obviously,
(12:10):
of course, as always when it comes to appreciating assets,
wealth flows to owners. So we want people to own stocks,
maybe own fewer possessions, maybe rent those possessions. You're going
to use on the very rare occasion. But buying, I
think still makes sense in a lot of these areas
where younger people are tending to think renting is a
better idea.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
That's right. Okay, while we are on a buying stuff
roll or while we're on a consumption roll, let's get
to the story that Susan actually this past week email
to us and actually this could have been our ludicrous
headline of the week, but we actually have a better
one for you. But the Times they profiled some families
who are going into debt for a Disney trip. This
(12:49):
actually isn't a rare phenomenon. Unfortunately. According to lending Tree,
forty five percent of parents with kids under eighteen went
into debt in order to pull off a memorable Disney trip.
And I gotta say, I totally understand. I get it.
Our family went to Disney last year, and you know
that this is going to be an experience that your
kids are going to love. And on top of that,
(13:10):
price is at Disney, they've certainly risen precipitously in recent years.
It's so expensive, talking about exceeding the inflation numbers. What's
happening in Disney is almost criminal with their charge. It's
essentially like going to Europe, right.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Like you go to Epcot. I guess you kind of
are going to Europe, matt.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Albeit a less authentic, genuine version of actually going to
see saying the old country. You don't like the way
the Eiffel Tower sparkles over the Ratittuy ride that is
one of the best rides, by the way. So there's
a nerd wallet analysis and they pegged the cost of
a one week Disney trip between sixty four hundred dollars
and just over fifteen thousand dollars. Now, so the problem here, though,
(13:47):
is that we're pointing to the fact that folks are
going into debt in order to do this kind of trip. Right,
So imagine that price point with a twenty two percent
interest rate attached to it, and you don't have to
imagine actually crush the numbers. So if you were to
put that, like that fifteen thousand dollars trip fully on
your credit card, make minimum payments, you are going to
be paying on that trip for over thirty years while
(14:10):
also paying nearly thirty thousand dollars in interest a little
over twenty seven thousand. I think that's nasty. That is terrible.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Yeah, of course, you know, we don't want people going
into debt for superfluous things. And we're not saying that
vacations don't matter, taking time off doesn't matter. But you
don't have to go to Disney. No one has to
go to Disney. And I get the appeal and why
people want to go, But Matt, I think Disney, there's
no way, no matter how much you love it, it's
just not worth the high price and subsequent debt hangover
(14:37):
if you can't pay for it with money that you've
saved on the front end. Sorry, you got to punt
Disney to next year or keep potentially the year after.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
You got to keep saving. Right, it's not a right,
you know. I feel like a lot of folks think
about it like that. They're like, oh, it's just like
an American freedom that has been granted to us to
be able to go to Disney.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Shake Mickey Mouse's hands. No, that's not necessarily the case. No,
I agree, And just think about from the psychological perspective too.
It just sucks to go there, and you know that
you are going to be paying this for this trip
for months. For most people, Matt, for years to come,
like you mentioned, and so yeah, play hopefully not decades.
Hopefully not decades. And I think too, Matt. You gave
(15:15):
those headline numbers. You and I both went to Disney.
We spent a whole lot less than that, or you
might have spent yeah, closer to the bottom knock number
right in the middle. Really okay, okay, Wow, we spent
a little over. I mean it is really six of us.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And we went all in because we you know, we said, hey,
we don't live in Florida, it's not like we're going
to be doing this often, and so for us, we
were willing to splurge like.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
A one and done. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Well, except that after having gone, it realizes that, oh
my gosh, the kids really enjoyed it. And I was like, oh,
I could totally see us coming back here in four
or five, six years, and so hey, that's a takeaway.
Don't think that this is going to be this once
in a lifetime experience. There's a decent chance that you'll
end up going back again. So you don't have to
pony up and go all out, and you can stay
on campus, stay on resort like we did. Yeah, that's
(15:59):
that's one of the ways you're able to say, we
say we stayed off exactly and we drove every day,
and that that made it a heck of a lot cheaper.
The other thing is to maybe bring your own food
and you don't have to maybe eat every meal. We
did that, yeah, pre plans, but like bringing in your
own food, Disney allows that, it's no big deal and
it's gonna save you a lot of money because he
even get the restaurants, even the cheaper ones that there
are ways, I think to cut back on that price
(16:21):
that you're going to pay for a Disney trip.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I'm not going to go into like a lot of
details about that now, but just think about that to
still make this a Disney episode, right, No, but there
are ways to make the price of your Disney trip
a whole lot less expensive. But if you're going to
go to Universal, make sure that you set aside money
at least for one meal to be eaten at the
Hogshead or the Three Broomsticks. I think that's worth it.
That's sort of thing. And by the way, Matt Disney
made a lot of headlines this week about its attempt
(16:44):
to force a loyal fan whose wife died because of
a food allergy, and I see something about that. Oh
my gosh, just terrible. They were trying to force the
husband into going into arbitration because the fine print that
apparently he signed when he checked out Disney Plus and
sign up for a free trial there. They've since backed
off this ridiculously in humane stance, But I think that
(17:05):
story reminds me that the terms and services are laden
with all sorts of things that you and I would
never sign if we took the time to read it.
Not that you and I take the time to read
those terms and services, we also signed them willy nilly
like that too, But recognize that that's the case, and
then also recognize that a vocal campaign can make a
difference when a company is being awful to his customers.
And so I'm glad that Disney's changed course on this.
(17:26):
Trying to hold this person to those terms and services
from Disney Plus for something that happened at a Disney
park is pretty ridiculous, especially given the circumstances.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
It's pretty dumb, and sadly it's likely that they changed
course not because they thought that, oh, this is not
the right thing to do, right, but because it was
turning into a pr nightmare.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
That's what they're saying. They're saying, Oh, we want to
do the right thing, and it's like, well you didn't
want to do the right thing initially.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yeah yeah, But uh, okay, we've got more to get to.
We're gonna talk about gift cards, among other things. Why
it is that Joel still hates gift cards. He's got
a whole nother reason to not like them. We'll get
to that more right after this. All right, Matt, we're
back from break.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
It's time forced to get to the ludicrous headline. Oh
the week, it's my favorite. This one comes three and
a half minutes every week. So Morning Brew is a
great newsletter, comes out every morning most mornings, and they
just they have pieces. I think they post on their
website too, And this is one that really attracted my attention.
This The headline was study finds people bet on sports
(18:31):
instead of investing in the stock market. I was repulsed, Matt,
when I read that the article was based on a
recent white paper which found and I quote, sharp increases
in sports betting following legalization. This increase does not displace
other gambling activity or consumption, but significantly reduces households savings allocations.
(18:52):
These effects concentrate among financially constrained households. That means people
aren't doing so well who become further constrained as credit
card debt increases, available credit decreases and over draft frequency rises. Matt,
this is not shocking, but it is awful. We have
talked about sports gambling, the rapid growth of that space,
and how awful it is for a lot of individuals
(19:14):
and households, and we're just seeing that, in particular for
financially vulnerable people, the effects can be significantly damaging. Sure,
gambling at your fingertips on your phone to me is
still a really bad idea.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah. And the news here, though, is that just that
folks are taking money from traditional investments and then instead
giving it to draft kings instead. Researchers found that in
the two to three years that followed the legalization of
sports betting in a state, net investments dropped fourteen percent,
which is crazy to think that it would have that
kind of impact. There's a ton of other terrible stats
(19:49):
that are coming to light as well, but it's this
thing that started out as entertainment, but it's leading to
just a rapid financial deterioration for many folks out there,
and there doesn't seem to be any desire or will
to slow down the rise of these different websites and
different gambling apps because in large part states want that
extra revenue.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
They see the dollar signs and they're like, come on
in draftking.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
But yeah, some folks out there can handle it, right,
they can behave themselves. They're able to allow gambling to
be a small part of their entertainment budget. That being said,
others will find it impossible to quit after just a
few tries, and so we want folks to be wary.
And I'm not sure what's worse, because I used to
think that meme stocks and crypto and all the money
(20:31):
that was getting poured into that was worse. Because of
the fact that you're almost like tricking yourself into thinking
that you're investing right, it kind of blurs the lines
between doing something that seems responsible with something that is
being treated like entertainment. But when it comes to gambling apps,
I mean, it's just straight up gambling, and I can't
imagine there are like, it just doesn't make sense to
me that folks are thinking, oh, this is a responsible
(20:53):
way for me to potentially make money, Like, are folks
actually thinking that, Like when you step back and you
are about it, No, like nobody is going to say that.
But I think that's the problem. I think its that
once you get sucked into gambling, you're not thinking rational.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
That's what's interesting though, too. I think when you're going
into a casino, most people assume that the house has
the edge. But there's a lot of like people who
watch the NFL on Sundays and they think they know
more than the guy on ESPN or whatever, which they might,
but like they just think they have some sort of
an edge about their home team or the choices that
they might make with how many rebounds so and so
is going to get in a game. So I do
(21:27):
think that that there is this mentality for a lot
of those people that I've got some edge, so I'm
going to bet on some of these And we've talked
about maybe the parlays and stuff like that and all
the really interesting ways the insidious ways that these apps
are getting into people's wallets. I get why people are interested,
but the problem is a whole lot of folks are
losing money that the house still has the edge. In
this and Matt when you think about it too, the
(21:48):
lottery effect is real. And I think some people in
lower socioeconomic rungs might think that's my only way, that's
my only ticket right to riches is go big or
go home. But when you run the numbers, even if
you if you're gambling twenty bucks a week and you
take that instead and you invest it, which we would prefer,
you're going to find yourself over the course of thirty
years as an investor having hundreds of thousands of dollars,
(22:09):
probably in the neighborhood of four hundred thousand dollars in
your account. And so it is amazing to see how, yeah,
just a seemingly small amount where you're like, eh, I'm
just furring that away, it can turn into something really
epic at the end of the day. And this is
why it's so difficult to see that people are yeah,
investing less, gambling more, because it's going to have a
long term impact on their ability to retire.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Well, that's true. Okay, we've all got different definitions of sexy. Jill.
I'm not going to ask you what your definition is.
Whatever it is, I'm bringing it back. But there are
more folks out there who are considering a great credit
score to be something that they're interested in. A recent
survey found that two thirds of Americans so that it's
(22:52):
important for the significant other to have a good credit score.
Which you know, this doesn't mean that they're gold diggers,
right because credit scores they've got nothing to do with
your net worth, how much money you've got in the bank.
They've got a lot more to do with how you
handle your debt though, and your ability to pay your
bills on time. Say, that's sexy if you can do
those things. Yeah, you're being responsible, right, Like it shows
that you're an adult. There's essentially some insight here into
(23:15):
your dependability, your planning skills, and so I get why
it can be a positive or perhaps a negative indicator
of somebody that you're interested in. But at the same time,
I wouldn't necessarily push this to the forefront of your
different dating criteria. I think they're like, it's good that
folks are paying attention to this, But at the same time,
(23:36):
I mean, the survey was performed by Credit Karma, and
let's see, does credit Karma have any vested interest in
who in asking folks whether or not the credit score
should be higher. And now, of course they do like
eventually that you know, they want you to cut show
up and then create a profile, and eventually they're going.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
To try to sell you something thing. I would also
say that why not make it a little more important
because it is, like you said, it is revelatory.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Well it is, but I think there's a lot that's
just other facts. Again, it should be something that you consider,
it's just not that it shouldn't be a leading indicator.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Would you say it's like a third date question. What
would you say, Yeah, I mean third okay, three plus dates.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
I don't need something that you can bring up.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I don't need to know your net worth, but I
would like to know maybe your credit score. But then again,
there are a lot of problems with the credit scoring
system and with the way the credit bureaus treat our information,
and so so many inaccuracies. How accurate is your true
credit score number? That is an important thing to note too.
So someone might say, no, no, but it's a six twenty,
But I promise it's Transunion's fault, Like that's not on me,
(24:33):
and they actually might not be lying. But this also
makes me think Matt too. There's another data breach that happened,
and I feel like we as a collective society have
kind of data breach fatigue. A background check company in
Florida was hacked in the spring, but it just kind
of came to light last week, and it turns out
that the social Security numbers of a bunch of Americans
have been compromised. And so there's a website mat that
(24:54):
will link to in the show notes where people can
check to see if their social Security number has been compromise.
And with all of the breaches that have happened, I
mean Equifax breach wasn't even the first, but that was
one of the biggest. I think people assume that their
data is out there and they probably assume that correctly.
But email addresses in this one were also leaked, which
potentially compounds the problem because scammers could launch more targeted
(25:17):
attacks on folks. But yeah, while these companies, they need
to be held accountable for subpar security measures. Truly, when
it comes down to it, I'm glad that there is
a federal law that makes freezing your credit free. That is,
that is the only method we have to protect ourselves
from at least the worst potential downsides of events like these,
And it doesn't mean that someone won't try to send
(25:38):
you a scam, a scam or spam email. That's happening anyway,
right and you might see an influx of them. But
we have an article about how to go about freezing
your credit and why it's super important. We'll link to
that in the show notes. And especially when you see
stuff like this matter, I think it creates or should
create a sense of urgency for listeners to go out
there and do this task that takes you just a
few minutes but can protect you in a meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
It's true it takes a little bit like if you've
never done this before, it takes a little bit longer
because you have to actually create your profile and do
all that sort of stuff. But then literally the freezing
and unfreezing, it's as easy as just logging in, and
there's a button that you can click unfreeze for when
you need to, say, apply for a mortgage or if
you want to sign up for a new credit card.
And also keep in mind too, I forget which one
(26:20):
of them one of them they all are trying to
sell you, upsell you on stuff, but one of them
in particular. Is I forget which one I want to
say it's Equifax is really sneaky, and how it is
that they're marketing their products, their privacy products and the
ability to lock down your credit No, no, no, yeah,
you don't want the lock you want the freeze. Well,
you don't need to pay for anything. This is federally
mandated as something that you can do for free, and
(26:41):
the credit lock is inferior. Oh yeah, it's going to
cost you money. I think that's do I want to
charge like twenty or twenty five bucks a month for that?
And it's like, sorry, guys, the freeze is way superior
and it doesn't cost me a dime. Okay. So a
potentially positive note on the scam front the FTC. They
have banned fake reviews, which Joe I didn't even know
that was possible. Yeah, that's like playing wack the moll,
(27:03):
wasn't it. Well, you're going to get all those fake
reviews taken down? Well, did you? Yeah? There's something where
we weren't planning to talk about, but a federal judge
struck down the FDCs anti the non compete, and so
it kind of limits what it is that they're able
to do regardless, we're not talking about that today, But
companies won't be allowed to incentivize reviews, fake reviews, or
(27:25):
AI generated reviews, all of these can get a company
in hot water in a few months time when this
is supposed to go into effect. Influencers are also being
held to a higher standard when it comes to the
reviews that they're going to dish out on either like
like social media or on their actual websites. And so, yeah,
we'll see what kind of impact this will have. Hopefully
it gets cleared up pretty quickly. I would not expect
(27:48):
an overnight change in how it is that I trust
different reviews that I come across me either. Yeah, but
that being said, they're talking about like a fifty thousand
dollars fee or ticket or you know, every time.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
They violate this this rule. So we'll see if it
actually ends up happening. You imagine if Amazon got fined,
truly got fined that much for every fake review, they
would be forced to change their algorithms and how it
is that they allow certain reviews, Well they might, I'm
guessing too. There is going to be more vetting from
(28:19):
some of these websites like Amazon, like, verify that you're
an actual human being before you leave this review. Verify
that you actually own the product and have used the
product before you write this review too, And so it
probably is going to reduce the amount of reviews, but
clarify the reviews that actually do exist. I am curious
to see the shakeout because, yeah, online reviews are, Man,
there's a it's like kind of a cesspool at times. Yeah,
(28:41):
and it's hard to know, especially for some products, right,
Like I think it depends on the product, but sometimes
because of those incentives and because of the way the
seller on a site like Amazon has gone about things,
they have generated a bunch of fake reviews, and then
it's hard for the end consumer to know based on
the star rating whether or not that product is any
good or not. So again, we'll see how this proceeds.
(29:03):
But for the time being, what's that plug in, Matt
we talk about with reviews that people should use fake spot?
I think, oh man, memory is failing. Yeah, so that's
a good one, I think to check out so that
you can at least get a heads up whether or
not the star rating is accurate. They'll give it usually
like an A through F rating and then read the
(29:24):
actual reviews. Because it's easy to spot some of those
fake reviews yourself. You should be able quickly to realize,
wait a second, that one feels fake, and then adjust accordingly.
But now let's talk about gift cards. One of my
least favorite, the least favorite things. And I've always said
that part of the reason that I don't love gift
cards is because of the fact that they go often unused.
(29:46):
They're end up in people's sock draws or something like that,
and then they're like, oh, wait a second, oh wait,
now that companies defunct, and I have a gift card
that I never ended up using, and cash is just
a much better gift than gift cards, and something else,
I haven't new reason to hate them. As you mentioned,
nearly a quarter of Americans say that they've been given
a gift card with a zero balance on it. And
(30:07):
that's not because their friends stink or they've got someone
pulling a prank on them, but it's because of the
criminals who steal the information off the back of the
card and then they siphon the money off that thing.
So when you buy it fresh off the racket at
the Kroger or wherever you're buying your gift card, you
might not know that that card has zero dollars on
it that's already been robbed. This is a massive problem
(30:30):
with gift cards, to go along with the other major
one of forgetting to spend them. But Maryland actually just
became the first state to do something about this problem.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
They're requiring manufacturers to create more protective packaging, which makes
it harder for thieves to steal the codes off the back.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
And I like it.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
And this is a this is clearly like a real
problem that has cost consumers money and just is incredibly annoying.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Yeah. Well, and what's worth highlighting here as well, like
because we'll dump on different federal agencies with their inability
to enforce what it is that they're trying to get done.
This is how you do it. This is a state
that had the legislation that was introduced. It was a
bill and then it was signed into the law. Like
that is how you actually are able to make some change.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
I'm just a bill.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Are we going to talk about the BBIL creation process
on Capitol Hill? So you might be saying, well, yeah,
that's great for Maryland. I live in North Dakota fellas well.
It is amazing though, how laws in one state can
create a domino effect in others, because once these companies
have to create let's say, new packaging for Maryland specifically,
well they may as well go ahead and just roll
it out to the rest of the country. It's like,
(31:34):
it makes me think of Apple changing to what is
it USBC, like the oval shape one as opposed to
the one with the ridges in it. Yeah, because the.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
New charging port no longer lightning. Yes, basically, the.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
EU they made it a requirement, and so therefore they said, okay,
we'll just go ahead and end up rolling that out.
It is it will be cost prohibitive for us to
maintain all these different charges.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
We're not gonna make lightning charging port Apple iPhones in
for the States and USBC centric ones for Europe.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Like, we're just gonna do it all the same. From
business standpoint, it makes sense. And so what I'm pointing
out here is that there's hope, I think for the
rest of the country when it comes to the ability
for us to buy gift cards and not end up
empty handed or to be seen as a jerk because
you just handed over something that was blank Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yeah, frustrating experiences the gift giver and the gift getter.
So it's like, yeah, just secure packaging and that would
make me feel even better about buying gift cards for somebody,
even though it's still not my number one choice. All right, man,
that's going to do it. For this episode, we'll have
links to some of the stuff we mentioned up on
our website at how to money dot com. Don't forget
to sign up for the how to Money newsletter at
(32:39):
how toomoney dot com slash newsletter. But we hope y'all
have a great weekend. Until next time, best friends and
best friends out,
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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