May 16, 2025 • 36 mins
Time for a Friday Flight- our little sampling of the week’s financial news and what it means for your personal finances. There are a lot of headlines out there, but we boil them down to specific takeaways that will allow you to kick off the weekend informed and help you to get ahead with your money. In this episode we explain some relevant and helpful stories like: home warranties, bringing down renovations costs, streaming sports, AMC Stubs, set-jetting to luxury resorts, Carvana making it too easy, car-free neighborhoods, ode to e-bike, AI lies, loneliness: there’s an app for that, Fortnite is back, tariff cease-fire, and financial anxiety.
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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, I'm Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Today we're talking about streaming sports, trade in trade offs,
and AI lies.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
July. I prefer AI hallucinations as opposed to flat out
saying that AI is lying. But we'll get to what's
a lie man. In this case, we will get to
how it actually is lying. You want to talk about
something you got in the mail recently, tell me about it.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So I'm sure other people have gotten a mail are
like this, But there was a home warranty company sent
me something in the mail saying, hey, protect your stuff.
And actually what they said more than protect your stuff
specifically on the flyer was protect your budget with a
home warranty.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh, they're tapping into some of our language, right, that's
a term that we would use all that you got
a plan, you got a budget for these kind of expenses.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I was like, Oh, that's a pretty smart marketing tactic
because most people assume, oh, yeah, if I get the
home warranty and then my air conditioner, you know, bugs
out and I've got to replace it. Well, this home
warranty is going to be there to back me up,
or if it just needs repair, it's going to minimize
my repair costs. And so people might might read that
and might say, like, great, sign me up. What is
it five hundred bucks a year? Well, i'll probably you know,
(01:26):
get more than I'm that I'm paying to from that
home warranty service.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I don't do it. Truth is no, you know you
shouldn't be doing that. So what's what's so crafty? Language? Man?
It's the language. That's what I want to focus on
here is because what there is home shield is projecting
that you are responsible. You are a responsible citizen. Of
course you have been budgeting for some of the different
expenses you have in your life, but there are things
outside of that that will blow your budget. And so
(01:51):
you read that and you think, oh, yeah, somehow they
have made me feel good about myself. Just buy the
language that they've used. Yeah, they're assuming, assuming the best.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And we've talked about the store on the show. Just
what these home warranties do. How one, it's really hard
to get an actual replacement. How sometimes the repairs can
take a really long time, like they're not very.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Responsive, assuming that they don't deny the claim, right, Yeah,
it's not good.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
There are typically fees associated with trying to get those
repair people out as well. So what's covered, what's not? Like,
it's just better to have money in your emergency fund
and not trust that one of these home warranty companies
is going to save your bacon and save your budget.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Totally agree. Okay, while we're talking about home stuff, I'm
going to give a quick little update on our home
addition renovation because we're getting really close to the end
of it, and recently we were we were talking about
home expenses that kind of stuff, and dude, I am
proud to say that. So we've got an awesome contractor
and we have come under budget. Wow, have you ever
heard of that renovation or audition coming under budget? No,
(02:47):
it's usually six months longer and what twenty percent over
and to cap it off, it was done sooner than
they had originally planned. Man, which granted, like we're still
punch listing stuff, but I'm going by when were we
able to occupy that space. I know that they're going
to be small things here and there that we have
to address, but the overall timeframe and as far as
coming under budget, not just like fifty bucks or something
(03:08):
like a significant amount, significant enough for me to take
note and I will give our contractor his due right.
The fact that they were able to get some quotes
and to realistically plan for what some of these expenses are, right,
I think that's a big part of it. But also
Kate and I at every chance, we could purchase things
ourselves as opposed to letting the contractor purchase them going
(03:29):
through the usual distributors, sources, different companies that they typically use.
Could you were able to get better deals, Yes, to
get better deals, and so at every I mean because
they are just constantly buying stuff. They find it, they
order it, it's shipped to the house they're looking to make,
and that's a big part of how things are able
to move quickly. Right. But the ability to save one
hundred bucks here, one hundred bucks there, five hundred bucks here,
(03:51):
five hundred bucks there. I think that also had a
lot to do with why we were able to save
some money. And specifically, I will say one of those
things that we purchased ourselves, that was one of the
big items. So we built out a studio, an art
studio for Kate. We wanted to get some counters in there.
You've seen it looks pretty solid, right, and a we
didn't go with like the faancier counter company that the
(04:12):
contractors used to going to. So we went to more
i don't know, maybe more of a discount the big lots.
That's the fly of counter companies. But then on top
of that, we we searched the yard, the lot or
whatever where they've got all the slabs, and we found
this piece of stone that looked awesome, but you could
tell had been sitting there for a long time. It's
kind of busted up on the sides, it's real dirty,
(04:33):
looked like even there's some staining. And they're like, oh, no, no, no,
all that will come out, and in fact, we'll give
you a discount as well. And so we're like, all right,
they cleaned it up, and guess what, some of that
staining didn't come out, and so we were able to
talk them down even more and it ended up paying
like less than half of what that stone per square
Originally it was like one thirty a square foot and
thirty five, and we got that junk for sixty dollars
(04:53):
a square foot. Great, I mean that's like a two thousand,
you know, one fifteen two thousand dollars wigs, yeah, right there.
One yeah. So it's a little bit more of a
hassle for folks to do some of that work. Right,
you're placing those orders, but like, it's not too difficult
to search some of the different lighting fixtures or plumbing
fixtures to save a buck.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, your in there East Wing looks amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
It's uh, we're finally getting to enjoy it, which is
it's a ton of fun. That's nice.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
All right, let's get to the Friday flights, the stories
we found interesting this week, and how they pertain to
your finances. Matt, let's start off talking about streaming. ESPN
is launching its first streaming service. They announced this week
they're trying to appeal to cord cutters, which is most people.
I don't think I know anybody who still pays for
cable every month.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
What about your folks? No, no, they're done with it too.
They finally did it, because that's how I used to
watch soccer. Yeah, back in the day, I know, right,
we log it under their stuff occasionally, but now I
swear it like and maybe I'm sure I do know
somebody who has cable, but I don't hear them talk
about it. And so every person you talk to for
the rest of this weekend, right, make that be your
first question. I was just asking, like, I gotta find
(05:59):
somebody that's.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
The bane of most people's existence, though, is that it's
been harder, Like you got to have cable if you
want Espn because ESPN Plus apparently was like trash. I
don't know, I don't really watch sports much anymore. But
it's not gonna be cheap, of course, because like when
you're talking about the cable package, ESPN commanded a huge
percentage based on like the number of channels that were there. Well,
ESPN got a big payout every time a cable package
(06:22):
was sold. Well, you're gonna pay, if you want to
pay Espn directly for the privilege of streaming their content
thirty bucks a month. If you want to toss in
Disney Plus and Hulu, you're talking thirty six dollars a month.
And maybe maybe this is worth it for diehard sports nuts,
but it's a high price to pay if you want
to watch sports like basketball and football. And I think
the problem here too, Matt, is that there there's still
(06:44):
a lot of sports programming you're missing out on, even
if you sign.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Up for the business fully encompassing of all the sports that
someone might wan.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
If it was like all the sports I could ever
want to watch for thirty bucks a month, I'd be like, yeah, okay, yeah,
I might be up for that. But the truth is
we're still talking about like regional sports packages for baseball.
We're still talking about MLS which is on Apple Plus,
which if you want to watch the European soccer matches,
you're talking about going with another streaming services. NFL games
now being spread around to different channels and other streaming
(07:13):
services too. So core cutting just used to be the
no brainer way to save money. But with the stratification
of streaming and more and more a proliferation of streaming services,
you have to be careful.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Could you could spend more than you used to spend
for cable. That is very true, man. So on the
opposite end of the spectrum going irl in real life
there to see a movie is getting cheaper, not more expensive. Joel.
The Journal, they had an article about the cult of
AMC Stubbs memberships, and I hadn't even heard of this
membership until I read this article. I can't tell you
the last time I went to see a movie. People
(07:46):
who have this membership evidently they love it. And what
it does is it allows them to watch four movies
a week for the monthly price of twenty six bucks,
which is actually a pretty good deal for a week,
which is like sixteen of them. That's a lot of
time in the movie theater price standpoint, it's actually a
pretty good deal given how much movie tickets cost these days.
(08:07):
But the problem is, like you said, the fact that
it's for what, four movies are out there that do
you even want to see?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Like all year, are there that many new movies coming
out every single.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Actually, did you hear Derek friend of the show, Derek
Thompson talked with somebody that wrote an article for The
Atlantic talking about pop culture these days? Did you hear
did you hear that alisode or read that article? Fascinating,
super fascinating, talking about how is pop culture the worst
it's ever been? And you know, and they go back
and forth and they're like, well, no, like artists back
in the day, when they first were on the scene,
(08:37):
people didn't like them and it wasn't until after that,
after the fact, blah blah blah. But you can't argue
the fact, like if you look back at movies specifically
thirty years ago. Like if you look back at to
like nineteen ninety four, guess with the top what the
top grossing box office movies were in ninety four? There
were movies like The Lion King, like the original Lion King,
Lion King, Forrest Gump. What else was dumb and dumber
(08:59):
was in nineteen ninety Classics, All Speed, Donna Raves, Dude,
amazing movies. These were all original movies and we're just
remaking up. They're all remakes. So last year, so twenty
twenty four, I haven't readmade for us comput it's coming.
They'll do it with his son. Yeah. But thirty years later,
all of the top grossing movies in the box office
(09:21):
were sequels. You're Indespicable, Mefour Mwana to Godzilla whatever. Like
it's crazy how we are addicted to sequels, that there
is just so attention being given two new ideas. Yes,
and some of it has to We were just talking
about this how it's somewhat of a reflection of us
as a society, Like we don't have the stomach, we
(09:42):
don't have the patience to be able to sit down
and experience something new. We're not contemplative enough as opposed
to being like, well i've heard of that, just give
me the second version of that. So maybe this is
a criticism of culture at large as opposed to AMC specific.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So it's like, the pricing's pretty good, the pricing is great,
but is there enough watching that you're willing to pay
the price? I guess maybe if you want to see
fewer movies but you want to discount that. The AMC
announced that this summer they're going to be doing fifty
percent off on Wednesdays. So instead of feeling like, all right,
I pay this monthly fee, now I gotta go see
as many movies as peas. Yeah, just go, I don't know,
(10:17):
watch a movie on Wednesdays once or twice a month.
And that's a free membership.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So that's right. It's it's the free tier gives you
that discount. That's right. That's nice.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
All right, So, Matt, it turns out Max, the streaming
service is going back to being called HBO Max. They
just announced that, which I think makes a whole lot
of sense because HBO just had a whole lot of
name cache all.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So many great shows are on Hbo, right, does it?
Did it stand for a home Box office. It didn't. Okay,
that's right, So like, what does HBO even mean, right,
because I know what Max means, but HBO is just
a company. Well yeah, so I think it makes sense
the're going back to HBO Max. But this leads me
to another story that we saw this week about something
called set jetting. It's a new trial trend where basically
(11:01):
people want to travel to hit up destinations that have
been featured in prestige TV shows. Yeah, not to be
confused with jet setting, yes, but set jetting said a
little play on words, you're flying to the sets of
your favorite show or yeah, movie exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So White Lotus I think is the main inspiration for people.
I think what they just had the third season of
White Lotus, which I haven't seen, but that that is
like the main culprit show because it's set in these
like fantastic four seasons resorts in different parts of the world,
so that there was one in Hawaii than one I
believe season two was maybe in Sicily, and then the
most recent was in Thailand. And so instead of just
(11:38):
going to a general cool resort in Thailand, now it's like, no,
I want to go to that one where my show
was filmed, and apparently the article made it sound like
this goes back to the sound of music, which boosted
travel to Austria back in the day, such.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So much more wholesome, though it doesn't it he does.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Well, I have a friend who's super into Lord of
the Rings and has gone to New Zealand for the
second time to kind of some Lord of the Rings
hiking by travel thing. Yeah, Hobbiting, going to Hobiting and
checking it out like he loves that. So but the
problem I think with traveling to a trendy spot, particularly
something like that was recently featured in a movie or
(12:16):
TV show, is that it's not going to come cheap
because demand is out the wazoo. I'm all about finding
ways to get a good deal and then figuring out
why it's so great. I think it's a better methodology.
Instead of saying I really got to stay at that
resort and I'll pay whatever it costs, take the opposite approach, right,
If you say, well, where's the good deal, and then
why do I want to go there? That's what's typically
(12:38):
going to help you save money on travel. This set
jetting sort of mindset.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
It's going to cost you so much more money.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It makes sense. It feels so American right now. But yeah,
if you can like zig and do something different.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
No, I think that's what it comes down to, Like
you need a zag while everyone else is zigging, right,
Like zigging comes first, So like while everyone's zigging, use
ag because that's the thing. Like I picture a bell
curve and like right and like right in the middle
of that bell curve is where everyone is spending the
absolute most money. And I think what you need to
do is either be ahead of the bell curve, which
means just going somewhere because you like it, like personally,
(13:13):
you find it intriguing, You're like this, this seems awesome,
or you need to be behind the bell curve. You
need to be on the tail end, which means you
just wait a little bit and you just have to
be okay with the fact that and then you go
to time. Everyone else is going to Thailand right now,
I'm just gonna like play it local or maybe now
is the time to go to Sicily or something like that.
But yeah, it's it's funny too, like the fact that
you mentioned the sound of music because we like, on
(13:34):
one hand, it seems like a new trend, but it
isn't a new trend. Like we are always going to
be impacted by different things. We are going to find inspiration,
whether it's from books we read, things that happen in history,
like why there's a reason why there are like battlefield
parks and historic monuments and places that we go to
visit to learn about history. But it's just a matter
of avoiding the crowds and if everyone else is going
(13:55):
to those things at certain points in time for whatever reason,
whether it's being featured pop culture or because it's the
time of year that everyone goes and does this thing.
It makes me think of like Yosemite when the waterfall,
I figure, the waterfall of Fire or whatever it's called,
Like that's a popular time because everyone wants to see that.
And okay, if that's a bucket list item, but maybe
if you don't really care about that, that's something you
(14:17):
can avoid and you'll certainly save money while doing that.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah, I think you're kind of just hinting it, like
shoulder season, right, Hey, look to other times of year,
and I know it's it's not always easy when you
have kids in school and stuff like that, but yeah,
shoulder season versus prime travel season. Not only you get
to save money, but you avoid the crowds too.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
All right, Joel, So we've talked about flying places, which,
by the way, we haven't even talked about the radar
outages at the different airports. Well freaky, isn't it. Yeah,
New York's enough time. I don't have you. Evidently something
like that happened at the Atlanta Airport last week, or
maybe it was earlier this week. Yeah, kind of freaky. Yeah,
don't know enough to actually comment. But let's talk about
not flying places driving places. We're gonna talk about cars, Joel.
(14:56):
Half of new car purchases involved the trade in of
an a car, which makes sense, but remember that you
are almost always getting paid less for that car than
you would have received had you sold it privately. Uh.
And of course you've got a company stepping in the void, Carvana.
They're trying to convince folks to sell their car directly
to them instead of DIY selling it as well. They're
(15:18):
sending direct emails and hopes that you're going to get
excited about the possibility of selling your your used ride
upgrading to something nicer. Makes me think about the mail
or please email, it's like, please sell me your car. Yeah,
because they're like, hey, we need we need more supply
on some more inventory.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Maybe you're the sucker. Maybe this email is going to entice.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
You don't do it. And this isn't because we hate Carvana.
I think they're fine for some things. I actually purchased
a vehicle from them seven years ago. Now a great experience,
and I don't think it can hurt either to get
a quick quote. I think it can be a great
spot to say, all right, let's just kind of see
it's like the first piece of data, right, like the
first data entry. But then after that, look at Kelly bluebook,
(15:55):
head over to Edmonds. Because the offer from Carvana could
be a low ball offer, and of course listing it
yourself on like Facebook, Marketplace or auto trader, it can
be well worth the effort to sell it because I
think there's a good chance you're gonna receive thousands more.
It's just an interesting thing that Carvana is stepping in
to be able to provide a frictionless sort of environment.
(16:17):
Carvana isn't ripping you. I don't want to at all
a disparaged Carvana. They are providing a service. They are
making life easy for you. It's incredibly convenient to go
with them, but what are you willing to pay? Right
and like always like everything, like even if you want
to fly to Thailand and stay at the Four Seasons,
more power to you, but just know that you're going
to be forking out much more money to do that,
(16:38):
just like you're going to be paid much less money
for your trade in where you to upgrade anytime.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It feels like convenience is the name of the game
for companies these days. They're like, how can we make
your life more convenient? But there's an extraction that takes
place when you make your life more convenient. And I'm
not saying that it's not worth paying for sometimes, but
you have to be thoughtful about that because it's also.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You can't convenience everything right, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
And at some point, if you do convenience everything, you're
going to be forking over a lot more money than
you otherwise would. And this is one of those places
I think where the numbers are substantial that I think
when you look at the data, something you're gonna get
paid typically fifteen to twenty percent less doing a trade
in of a car than you would selling it directly
to another private party. And so if you're talking about
(17:20):
a fifteen thousand dollars car, you could be talking about
three grand less in your pocket.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And so, oh it's a hustle to listen on face Yeah,
I get that. I get that.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
It's not fun to feel the incoming Facebook messages and
to meet up with somebody. But it also might be
worth it because the dollar amounts significant and there are
other things maybe where the trade off of convenience is
going to cost you less money, and you say, no,
I'm going to do that on purpose. But if we
convenience everything, which it feels like we're doing as a culture,
it's going to cost money, right, and you might want
(17:50):
to sell your car, by the way, if you move
into a car free neighborhood. Dwell magazine Matter used to
subscribe to that. I haven't in a while, but I
loved that magazine, like the pictures more than anything. Beautiful homes. Yeah,
like we talked about with with Callie Cox. Yeah yeah,
So Dwell had this article about a car free community
called cul de Sac. Then you and I've kind of
kept our eyes on. It's in Tempe, Arizona, and it
(18:13):
seems like it's been a raging success because folks who
opt to live there, they get sweet on campus amenities
like a gym, they've got cool shops, they've got you know,
food options, and gen z ers in particular seem to
be all about the amenities and places that they're living.
I know my I don't think my sister's gen Z.
She's a millennial, but she she's got that mindsets the
(18:34):
very young millennial. Yes, and she's so into amenities where
she lives, even if it means training off and living
in a smaller space. But this this cul de sac
in particular, comes with free transit passes and free ebag
access because hey, guess what, you're giving up your car
if you live there. And and so it's really what
they're trying to do is create this antidote way of
(18:54):
living to the standard car centric lifestyle. And people are
thrilled to pay more to live there because they're downsizing
their carefully, they're going to save money there. And so
I think also it's not just because about saving on
car costs. I think it increases the community vibe and
I think people are thrilled to pay more to live there,
not just because they're spending less on car stuff, but
(19:14):
because it's an enjoyable place to hang. Yeah, it was
created very thoughtfully. Yeah, right, like with intention.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
There's a lot of density, right, Like, who doesn't want
to be able to walk down the steps around the
corner and boom, there's a coffee shop there.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
There's a light rail line connected to cul A Sac
that it will get you so many other hopping spots
in town.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah. Yeah, they're getting a real community experience there, and
not to mention that you are there with like like
minded people. But I think a criticism of that is like, oh, yeah,
that's great, folks. If if you've got the money to
be able to uproot your life, go buy this incredibly
bosh standard of living out here, removed from all you know,
just also nice. It is nice, It is nice, but
(19:51):
you don't have to move in order to accomplish something
like this. I think even I was we literally were
talking with some neighbors and we were talking about how
great it is to go and check your mail and
then be stuck for an hour, not stuck, but like
positively stuck for an hour. And she's like, oh, shoot,
I gotta get inside and cooked dinner. But because folks
are walking around having conversations with neighbors, it's something you
(20:12):
can literally start doing today. We don't have to move
to be able to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I think we underrate those happenstance encounters with neighbors and friends.
Those are the best one. Those are more like fulfilling
in so many ways than like, hey, let's get drinks
two fridays from now. Yeah, it's kind of the rub
and shoulders, the everyday stuff that really does.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
It's that going back to friction. Man. Yeah, it's this
thing that makes life a little more enjoyable, and oftentimes
we write it off pretty quickly. On that note, a
writer over at The Atlantic published an ode to the
e BikeE Joel, stating that morning to mutes for their
family have now become a daily highlight instead of being
monotonous and filled with traffic, which I could not agree more.
(20:47):
Man Like, that's something we have experienced firsthand. You're still
doing that, still doing it with a little man dropping
off at school and he me and man, I had
to sell that cargo bike.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I had to take him in the car this morning
because we had somewhere else to be right after, and
he was.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
So five, but he was probably like, man, what's up
with this? Dad? This sucks. He was so disappointed. He
loves riding on the bike, and I love how much
he loves it. Obviously, this isn't something that everyone can replicate, right, Like,
it's tough to e bike on the interstate. I would
not recommend that I don't do it, but traveling by
e bike is more doable the many folks think that
it is, and they can work well for people of
all ages because it's an ee bike, so it provides
(21:22):
that assistance there. And you know, when you were talking
about the price of a vehicle, all like fifteenth is. Man,
it's so funny. I was literally talking to my daughter
this morning and she's like, or no, I was talking
with both of our daughters. I was taking was bringing
them home last night. Oh yeah, and they're for whatever reason,
they're starting to talk about cars and they're like, how
much is like a decent car that like that won't
break down. I'm like, well, it depends, but maybe you're
(21:43):
talking about five seven grand if you know, like something
a little bit newer, maybe eight nine, And I don't know.
It was just interesting, but.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Pretty a lot of people out there would say no,
we're talking like thirty grand for a decent car at least, right.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yes, and for something that's you know, under one hundred
thousand miles. Sure like you are to be forking out
that much Either way, Both of those prices are much much,
much higher than two thousand dollars, which is what you
can easily get an e Bykee for these days. Yeah,
brand new, brand new. I'm thinking more cargo e bike
as well. I mean even less than that for some
of the more compacts what are they called Brampton's, like
(22:17):
the ones that like even the fold fold up and
you can take in your off.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I mean I think you can get sevent eight hundred
bucks you can get one of those.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, and it allows you to use your car less.
If it allows you to enjoy your life more, man,
it could be some of the best money that you've
ever spent, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
All Right, Matt, we got more to get to, including
let's talk about artificial intelligence and hey, purports to save
you money. What is it going to We'll get to
that more right after this or we're back now it's
time for the Lucra's headline of the week. This one
comes from four H four Media and the headline reads,
(22:52):
Instagram's AI chatbots lie about being licensed therapists. Dirty AI
man bit lying to us.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
But this one really got under your skin, but also
the skin of your wife. Yes, I know.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I told her about this and she was like, yeah,
let me tell you why this sucks. So my wife
literally just graduated this past weekend. Super pumped for her.
She is now officially a licensed therapist. And the Harvard
Business Review finds that the number one use case right
now for artificial intelligence. You would think it's cheating on
writing papers, but no, it's therapy and companionship. Well, I
(23:23):
do think that there are a lot of there's a
lot of students outre who are cheating on Weren't you
shocked though, that therapy and companionship actually outranked That is
a use for artificial intelligence from a I mean it
makes sense, I guess from an official like as a whole,
as an aggregate, Are there more students cheating on papers
as opposed to services being offered? Yes, I do think
that that's certainly the case. So maybe they didn't correct
(23:45):
count the data correctly. I don't know, but it's interesting
that it's moving artificial intelligence is really moving that hard
into this space. That was it the movie Her back
in the day with Scarlett Johansen was the voice of
the AI. That's like becoming real life before our eyes,
and so like the lines between what's real and what's
not are being blurred. And Psychology Today wrote about this phenomenon.
(24:08):
They said, hey, chatbots lack nuanced empathy, they missed nonverbal cues,
they avoid conflict, and that actually can lead to worsening
mental health risks. So and on top of that the
fact that the chatbots are trying to help in doing
so poorly. I think that's one thing. But they're trying
to pass as real humans with degrees and credentials. So
if you push back and you say, hey, where did
(24:29):
you go to school, what's your degree in? They'll make
up lies that's yeah and tell you stuff like well,
I went to this school and here's my the licensed
therapy therapy number, and it's all fake and so it's
a really weird thing. I think it also shows two
that people who are in charge of these tech companies
are taking this like leisse fair approach to artificial intelligence. Yes,
that's a little freaky. I don't blame the AI, because
(24:51):
that's what it's programmed to do. It's the companies that
are implementing, yes, you know, like that's I think, like
AI does not have a mind of its own. And
it makes me think about Man, you've heard me talk
about this too. It makes me think about smartphones ten
fifteen years ago, right, and it's just like, oh, these
are new tools, and we need to get our kids
on these using these things. And now the generation that
went before us, I feel like I honestly feel bad
(25:13):
for him because it's something that was sort of unproven.
And this feels similar to me that in particular the fact.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
That it just test your mental health with these AI
chapsts and tell you what happened. They are experimenting on
the public at large, all in an attempt to gain
as much market share as possible. Like it's an arms
race crash test dummies over here. Yes, yeah, And who's
to I mean, who's to benefit? Oh, well, some of
these a lot of these companies. Who has the risk
of being harmed? I think it's the obviously the most vulnerable,
(25:40):
those who are looking for some type of counseling, but
then also kids as well, which really I don't know
it makes me feel makes me feel weird about it.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
One of the things that my wife said to when
I asked her about the story was, well, the biggest thing,
the most important part of therapy is human to human interaction,
and it's the relationship with the therapist that is a
big part of the life change that takes sure for people.
And so if you remove the human element, like you
remove the big catalyst that leads to change for a
whole lot of people. So could AI therapy be potentially
(26:10):
helpful for some folks. I'm not going to say no.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I could see it being used as a tool, but
not as a replacement, right right, Like I could see
an office in the fact they're lying to US's just weird,
maut even more, that's yeah, that's but again that's like
you ask any chat something like that and it just
makes it up and they're called hallucinations, and it's like, well, no,
that's it's just that's how it's programmed to run. It's
going to find the information to make to satisfy your query.
Basically you come up with something, yes, exactly, you talking about,
(26:36):
like the relationship with a counselor like that is is
embodiment It makes me think of a recent article you've
seen Zuck talking about AI AI best friends. I can't
hang out with you tonight, by the way, which seems
completely insane. I'm hanging out with my AI best friend now. Essentially,
he's pointing to the loneliness pandemic and how like, well,
actually people want to have more friends, they don't have
the time or ability to. So you're gonna have a
(26:57):
virtual an AI best friend. Do you think he actually
believes us? I don't know if he actually believes this.
That scares me.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
But maybe he believes this to the tune of like
profit and dollar signs.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
That's that's I think that's what it comes.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
But that's super frightening to think that he thinks that
AI can be a replacement for friendship too.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Like my good faith sort of argument is that he's
trying to he's just throwing stuff at the wall. He's
trying to innovate. Yeah, he's like, all right, the metaglasses
didn't really work out, so maybe we can double down
on the AI. But going back to like friction rubbing shoulders,
you don't have that with AI, right right, Like what
you have is zero friction and so much so that
(27:34):
you're not challenged, Like that's what makes life interesting, like
the fact that we disagree about, Like what do comedians
make jokes out of? It's the it's the friction, it's
like the tension. It's all the things that take place
in real, embodied life, and you are not getting that
when it comes to these AI bots that are basically
it feels weird. Man, it's gonna be like this sycophantic
(27:54):
sort of just replies where they're just patting you on
the back. Do you have to like upgrade to get
like the next level more aware chatbot that's going to
push back a little bit? And then you're thinking, well,
forget that. Why am I paying you to argue with me? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Right, it's a scary dystopian future if Mark Zuckerberg has
his way. And Yeah, just these two stories together this
week just have me thinking about, like, this is why
I have mostly avoided artificial intelligence. It's not because I'm
a luddite or don't care about proc technological progress. It's
that I just don't know that it's best for me
(28:32):
to engage with artificial intelligence on a regular basis. And
I think that are some real.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Pitfalls to it. Agreed.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Good news by the way on the tech overlord front,
though that will benefit millions of people. A judge just
ruled that the Apple Store that their app store has
been engaging in anti competitive behavior and that they have
to stop restricting app developers from funneling users to their
site to make a sale. So basically, yeah, Apple was
taking this like blackmail, like vig from every purchase that
(28:59):
a customer made of thirty percent. And it wasn't just
in the app. So if you downloaded the app and
you bought something through the app, signed up for a
service or something like that, even that seemed a little
shady to me. But if an app developer wanted you
to click over to its website in order to buy
the service or good there, Apple still wanted their cut.
That's the weird part, which is so dirty and so
(29:22):
I have hated this practice for a long time and
has enriched Apple, much to the chagrin of many app developers.
It helps Apple's bottom line, but.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Specifically Epic so folks might remember this going way back
to when it was Fortnite. Basically it was Epic Games
or whatever wanting to make sure that Apple wasn't getting
a cut of every single Fortnite download, even when it
was taking place outside of the App Store, right, I
think it was like I think they're still getting like
twenty seven percent.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah, something like that, which is so I think pretty
fact Fortnite is back on the App Store now, or
at least they petition to get back on the App Store.
This is one of those things where maybe you don't
notice it in the background that Apple is scheming and
stealing money from consumers from company, and they're going to
appeal this ruling, but I'm hoping that it sticks because
(30:04):
what Apple has been doing to all of us is wrong.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, so jump through some hoops in order to get
a deal, Like that's one and the same, right, And
so if you like, I'm totally fine by the way
for Apple to charge more to you know, essentially for
apps and different services that are being offered through the
App Store, if it's more expensive because it's easy. Again,
you're paying for a service, you're paying for convenience. But
if you click out of that app and want to
(30:28):
do things the hard way, you should be rewarded for that.
If you want to encompany the extra legwork to get
a deal, then you should be receiving that.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
The companies should be able to incentivize their users to
take the extra step to save money and avoid the
egregious apples totally.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
And some folks will do it, some folks won't, but
at least give people a choice. Joe, let's talk about
tarifs and inflation, because I don't know if you heard
tariffs were put on hold. I heard there's a delay
that was announced earlier this week, sending the markets up.
A lot of folks may have felt that as well
when it came to their four one ks.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Actually the market is back up over where it was
on Liberation Day. The market's been soaring it's amost.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's almost as if it didn't almost as if it
didn't didn't even happen. So so instead of one hundred
and forty five percent tariffs against China, they're down now
to thirty percent. China they've died back their terraces on
US goods to ten percent. And some folks are calling
it a trade deal, like something that they've agreed to,
but really it's this. It's the temporary trade war truce
(31:26):
for ninety days and depending on how things end up
shaking out in those talks. We'll see if they actually
hold for that long. I personally can't imagine. I don't know.
I feel like you've let the cat out of the
bag by walking back to the terrace. You can't go back
at this point. I would be shocked to see that.
But still regardless, this is good news for businesses, especially
small ones who get a lot of supplies and inventory
(31:48):
from China. But then also for consumers alike if this
does lead to sustained bargains that allows for the free
flow of goods and not services, but of goods across borders,
across the Pacific specifically. And so it's still hard to
know what the political, what the economic goals are here,
but for now we are happy to see things moving
in the right direction. I am personally encouraged because to
(32:11):
think that, okay, does the White House actually think that
terrorists are the solution? And to me this is evidence
that like, oh yeah, it was all a gambit, it
was all a part of the negotiating. What will we
actually receive out of it that will hold? We will see, yeah,
But at least it's not a fundamental disagreement as to
how it is that free trade benefits everybody.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Yeah, there's been more talk about the benefits of free
trade recently from the White House, which was not happening
as a breath of fresh air in the first caust.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
That's the thing. You can't have those talks if you
are also saying out of one side of your mouth.
You can't say that and then out of the other
side of your mouth saying that like oh no, no, no, terras,
that's gonna be what turns America around, you know, like, yeah,
I feel bad for what was it, Lutnik, the guy
that like, man, he kind of he had to play
the bad cop essentially, like he had to be the
one that was just like, no, guys, this is gonna
(32:59):
be great for everyone. And now they're like, all right, buddy,
we're done with you. Yeah, thank you for your service,
thank you, peace out.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Well, and we're seeing I think I've seen more articles,
Matt about this uptick of financial anxiety that people are experiencing,
and I think part of it is the headlines about tariffs,
the uncertainty that those are creating, the recession predictions. They're
causing some people to really reconsider some of their spending
habits and rain in some of their spending right now
because of the increased anxiety they're feeling. And then those
(33:28):
anecdotes that are being dropped in those articles will those
are backed up by the consumer Sentiment Index, which has plummeted.
People are like, ah, oh, feel so great about the
state of the economy right now. And I would say
you and I were not against making changes to your
spending habits to prepare for potentially more difficult times, but
(33:48):
we also don't want you living in fear. And so
if you've been like rolling through the money gears, which
you can find at how to money dot com, you
can click start here, you'll see the money gears there. Well,
if you're tracking your spending and your savings are robut
because you've been doing that, you've been investing over months
and years.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Just I think I.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Want to highlight the fact that you shouldn't let vibes
upend your life or make you feel like you have
to do more. And I think sometimes MATP people get
in this position where they're like, I feel uncertain, I
don't feel great about where things are going or where
or the state of the economy right now, and so
they just feel like they have to do more and
pinch further. But I think for a lot of people,
(34:26):
the antidote to anxiety. If you're doing the savings, you're
doing the debt pay down, you got that bare bones
budget in your pocket. Those are important things. But it's
not just that. It's also about working to dial back
on some of those anxious thoughts and just maybe think
of the episode we did, episode six thirty one with
Lindsey Brian Podvin about how to reduce financial anxiety in
our lives, and maybe that's worth of re listen. She's
(34:47):
a financial therapist. If you or if you hadn't heard
that one before, it's worth checking that out because especially
if you're feeling those if those feelings are ramping up
right now. Obviously the answer is not to be like, hey,
don't be anxious, That's not what I'm saying, But go
lit into that episode because it might help you develop
some skills to kind of reduce the maybe the incessant
anxiety and anxious thoughts that you might you're feeling.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I'm curious if folks are wondering if we are part
of the problem, you know, because like it's like, on
one hand, we try to talk about relevant news, but
on the other hand, like we try to be optimistic, right,
Like I wonder if folks are thinking like, oh, dudes,
I was good until you told me that I should
be worried about the terrorist once. I think that's the
(35:30):
part of why I was found myself not wanting to
talk about terrorists after like the first week or so,
because it's like, ah, we don't know if this is
going to happen, like what's going to be the end result,
But it's like, I don't know what. We try to
strike that balance between sticking your head in the sand
and being like huh, you know, putting your fingers in
your ears and humming like everything's going to be fine, yah,
(35:50):
versus incessantly focusing on the negative like or somehow trying
to do both. And I'm curious if listen, maybe listeners
will email us if you feel that we are overly
focus on the negative or overly optimistic and pollyannish, because
somehow we're trying to find we're try the needle man. Yeah,
we try to do here.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
We don't want to be causing five alarm fires where
it's not necessary, but also trying to say, hey, you
have questions, you have thoughts about this. You've seen the headline,
you are you probably do have some concerns, and you
want to hear two besties talk about to offer their
thoughts on the reality things.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
That's right, buddy, and that is going to be it
for this week's Friday flight. We hope everyone has a
fantastic weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday with
a fresh ask how to Money episode a show you
know it? All right?
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Until next time, best Friends Out, I'm best Friends Out.
Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Today we're talking about streaming sports, trade in trade offs,
and AI lies.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
July. I prefer AI hallucinations as opposed to flat out
saying that AI is lying. But we'll get to what's
a lie man. In this case, we will get to
how it actually is lying. You want to talk about
something you got in the mail recently, tell me about it.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
So I'm sure other people have gotten a mail are
like this, But there was a home warranty company sent
me something in the mail saying, hey, protect your stuff.
And actually what they said more than protect your stuff
specifically on the flyer was protect your budget with a
home warranty.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Oh, they're tapping into some of our language, right, that's
a term that we would use all that you got
a plan, you got a budget for these kind of expenses.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I was like, Oh, that's a pretty smart marketing tactic
because most people assume, oh, yeah, if I get the
home warranty and then my air conditioner, you know, bugs
out and I've got to replace it. Well, this home
warranty is going to be there to back me up,
or if it just needs repair, it's going to minimize
my repair costs. And so people might might read that
and might say, like, great, sign me up. What is
it five hundred bucks a year? Well, i'll probably you know,
(01:26):
get more than I'm that I'm paying to from that
home warranty service.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
I don't do it. Truth is no, you know you
shouldn't be doing that. So what's what's so crafty? Language? Man?
It's the language. That's what I want to focus on
here is because what there is home shield is projecting
that you are responsible. You are a responsible citizen. Of
course you have been budgeting for some of the different
expenses you have in your life, but there are things
outside of that that will blow your budget. And so
(01:51):
you read that and you think, oh, yeah, somehow they
have made me feel good about myself. Just buy the
language that they've used. Yeah, they're assuming, assuming the best.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And we've talked about the store on the show. Just
what these home warranties do. How one, it's really hard
to get an actual replacement. How sometimes the repairs can
take a really long time, like they're not very.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Responsive, assuming that they don't deny the claim, right, Yeah,
it's not good.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
There are typically fees associated with trying to get those
repair people out as well. So what's covered, what's not? Like,
it's just better to have money in your emergency fund
and not trust that one of these home warranty companies
is going to save your bacon and save your budget.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Totally agree. Okay, while we're talking about home stuff, I'm
going to give a quick little update on our home
addition renovation because we're getting really close to the end
of it, and recently we were we were talking about
home expenses that kind of stuff, and dude, I am
proud to say that. So we've got an awesome contractor
and we have come under budget. Wow, have you ever
heard of that renovation or audition coming under budget? No,
(02:47):
it's usually six months longer and what twenty percent over
and to cap it off, it was done sooner than
they had originally planned. Man, which granted, like we're still
punch listing stuff, but I'm going by when were we
able to occupy that space. I know that they're going
to be small things here and there that we have
to address, but the overall timeframe and as far as
coming under budget, not just like fifty bucks or something
(03:08):
like a significant amount, significant enough for me to take
note and I will give our contractor his due right.
The fact that they were able to get some quotes
and to realistically plan for what some of these expenses are, right,
I think that's a big part of it. But also
Kate and I at every chance, we could purchase things
ourselves as opposed to letting the contractor purchase them going
(03:29):
through the usual distributors, sources, different companies that they typically use.
Could you were able to get better deals, Yes, to
get better deals, and so at every I mean because
they are just constantly buying stuff. They find it, they
order it, it's shipped to the house they're looking to make,
and that's a big part of how things are able
to move quickly. Right. But the ability to save one
hundred bucks here, one hundred bucks there, five hundred bucks here,
(03:51):
five hundred bucks there. I think that also had a
lot to do with why we were able to save
some money. And specifically, I will say one of those
things that we purchased ourselves, that was one of the
big items. So we built out a studio, an art
studio for Kate. We wanted to get some counters in there.
You've seen it looks pretty solid, right, and a we
didn't go with like the faancier counter company that the
(04:12):
contractors used to going to. So we went to more
i don't know, maybe more of a discount the big lots.
That's the fly of counter companies. But then on top
of that, we we searched the yard, the lot or
whatever where they've got all the slabs, and we found
this piece of stone that looked awesome, but you could
tell had been sitting there for a long time. It's
kind of busted up on the sides, it's real dirty,
(04:33):
looked like even there's some staining. And they're like, oh, no, no, no,
all that will come out, and in fact, we'll give
you a discount as well. And so we're like, all right,
they cleaned it up, and guess what, some of that
staining didn't come out, and so we were able to
talk them down even more and it ended up paying
like less than half of what that stone per square
Originally it was like one thirty a square foot and
thirty five, and we got that junk for sixty dollars
(04:53):
a square foot. Great, I mean that's like a two thousand,
you know, one fifteen two thousand dollars wigs, yeah, right there.
One yeah. So it's a little bit more of a
hassle for folks to do some of that work. Right,
you're placing those orders, but like, it's not too difficult
to search some of the different lighting fixtures or plumbing
fixtures to save a buck.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Well, your in there East Wing looks amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
It's uh, we're finally getting to enjoy it, which is
it's a ton of fun. That's nice.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
All right, let's get to the Friday flights, the stories
we found interesting this week, and how they pertain to
your finances. Matt, let's start off talking about streaming. ESPN
is launching its first streaming service. They announced this week
they're trying to appeal to cord cutters, which is most people.
I don't think I know anybody who still pays for
cable every month.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
What about your folks? No, no, they're done with it too.
They finally did it, because that's how I used to
watch soccer. Yeah, back in the day, I know, right,
we log it under their stuff occasionally, but now I
swear it like and maybe I'm sure I do know
somebody who has cable, but I don't hear them talk
about it. And so every person you talk to for
the rest of this weekend, right, make that be your
first question. I was just asking, like, I gotta find
(05:59):
somebody that's.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
The bane of most people's existence, though, is that it's
been harder, Like you got to have cable if you
want Espn because ESPN Plus apparently was like trash. I
don't know, I don't really watch sports much anymore. But
it's not gonna be cheap, of course, because like when
you're talking about the cable package, ESPN commanded a huge
percentage based on like the number of channels that were there. Well,
ESPN got a big payout every time a cable package
(06:22):
was sold. Well, you're gonna pay, if you want to
pay Espn directly for the privilege of streaming their content
thirty bucks a month. If you want to toss in
Disney Plus and Hulu, you're talking thirty six dollars a month.
And maybe maybe this is worth it for diehard sports nuts,
but it's a high price to pay if you want
to watch sports like basketball and football. And I think
the problem here too, Matt, is that there there's still
(06:44):
a lot of sports programming you're missing out on, even
if you sign.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Up for the business fully encompassing of all the sports that
someone might wan.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
If it was like all the sports I could ever
want to watch for thirty bucks a month, I'd be like, yeah, okay, yeah,
I might be up for that. But the truth is
we're still talking about like regional sports packages for baseball.
We're still talking about MLS which is on Apple Plus,
which if you want to watch the European soccer matches,
you're talking about going with another streaming services. NFL games
now being spread around to different channels and other streaming
(07:13):
services too. So core cutting just used to be the
no brainer way to save money. But with the stratification
of streaming and more and more a proliferation of streaming services,
you have to be careful.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Could you could spend more than you used to spend
for cable. That is very true, man. So on the
opposite end of the spectrum going irl in real life
there to see a movie is getting cheaper, not more expensive. Joel.
The Journal, they had an article about the cult of
AMC Stubbs memberships, and I hadn't even heard of this
membership until I read this article. I can't tell you
the last time I went to see a movie. People
(07:46):
who have this membership evidently they love it. And what
it does is it allows them to watch four movies
a week for the monthly price of twenty six bucks,
which is actually a pretty good deal for a week,
which is like sixteen of them. That's a lot of
time in the movie theater price standpoint, it's actually a
pretty good deal given how much movie tickets cost these days.
(08:07):
But the problem is, like you said, the fact that
it's for what, four movies are out there that do
you even want to see?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Like all year, are there that many new movies coming
out every single.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Actually, did you hear Derek friend of the show, Derek
Thompson talked with somebody that wrote an article for The
Atlantic talking about pop culture these days? Did you hear
did you hear that alisode or read that article? Fascinating,
super fascinating, talking about how is pop culture the worst
it's ever been? And you know, and they go back
and forth and they're like, well, no, like artists back
in the day, when they first were on the scene,
(08:37):
people didn't like them and it wasn't until after that,
after the fact, blah blah blah. But you can't argue
the fact, like if you look back at movies specifically
thirty years ago. Like if you look back at to
like nineteen ninety four, guess with the top what the
top grossing box office movies were in ninety four? There
were movies like The Lion King, like the original Lion King,
Lion King, Forrest Gump. What else was dumb and dumber
(08:59):
was in nineteen ninety Classics, All Speed, Donna Raves, Dude,
amazing movies. These were all original movies and we're just
remaking up. They're all remakes. So last year, so twenty
twenty four, I haven't readmade for us comput it's coming.
They'll do it with his son. Yeah. But thirty years later,
all of the top grossing movies in the box office
(09:21):
were sequels. You're Indespicable, Mefour Mwana to Godzilla whatever. Like
it's crazy how we are addicted to sequels, that there
is just so attention being given two new ideas. Yes,
and some of it has to We were just talking
about this how it's somewhat of a reflection of us
as a society, Like we don't have the stomach, we
(09:42):
don't have the patience to be able to sit down
and experience something new. We're not contemplative enough as opposed
to being like, well i've heard of that, just give
me the second version of that. So maybe this is
a criticism of culture at large as opposed to AMC specific.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So it's like, the pricing's pretty good, the pricing is great,
but is there enough watching that you're willing to pay
the price? I guess maybe if you want to see
fewer movies but you want to discount that. The AMC
announced that this summer they're going to be doing fifty
percent off on Wednesdays. So instead of feeling like, all right,
I pay this monthly fee, now I gotta go see
as many movies as peas. Yeah, just go, I don't know,
(10:17):
watch a movie on Wednesdays once or twice a month.
And that's a free membership.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
So that's right. It's it's the free tier gives you
that discount. That's right. That's nice.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
All right, So, Matt, it turns out Max, the streaming
service is going back to being called HBO Max. They
just announced that, which I think makes a whole lot
of sense because HBO just had a whole lot of
name cache all.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So many great shows are on Hbo, right, does it?
Did it stand for a home Box office. It didn't. Okay,
that's right, So like, what does HBO even mean, right,
because I know what Max means, but HBO is just
a company. Well yeah, so I think it makes sense
the're going back to HBO Max. But this leads me
to another story that we saw this week about something
called set jetting. It's a new trial trend where basically
(11:01):
people want to travel to hit up destinations that have
been featured in prestige TV shows. Yeah, not to be
confused with jet setting, yes, but set jetting said a
little play on words, you're flying to the sets of
your favorite show or yeah, movie exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So White Lotus I think is the main inspiration for people.
I think what they just had the third season of
White Lotus, which I haven't seen, but that that is
like the main culprit show because it's set in these
like fantastic four seasons resorts in different parts of the world,
so that there was one in Hawaii than one I
believe season two was maybe in Sicily, and then the
most recent was in Thailand. And so instead of just
(11:38):
going to a general cool resort in Thailand, now it's like, no,
I want to go to that one where my show
was filmed, and apparently the article made it sound like
this goes back to the sound of music, which boosted
travel to Austria back in the day, such.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
So much more wholesome, though it doesn't it he does.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Well, I have a friend who's super into Lord of
the Rings and has gone to New Zealand for the
second time to kind of some Lord of the Rings
hiking by travel thing. Yeah, Hobbiting, going to Hobiting and
checking it out like he loves that. So but the
problem I think with traveling to a trendy spot, particularly
something like that was recently featured in a movie or
(12:16):
TV show, is that it's not going to come cheap
because demand is out the wazoo. I'm all about finding
ways to get a good deal and then figuring out
why it's so great. I think it's a better methodology.
Instead of saying I really got to stay at that
resort and I'll pay whatever it costs, take the opposite approach, right,
If you say, well, where's the good deal, and then
why do I want to go there? That's what's typically
(12:38):
going to help you save money on travel. This set
jetting sort of mindset.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
It's going to cost you so much more money.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It makes sense. It feels so American right now. But yeah,
if you can like zig and do something different.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
No, I think that's what it comes down to, Like
you need a zag while everyone else is zigging, right,
Like zigging comes first, So like while everyone's zigging, use
ag because that's the thing. Like I picture a bell
curve and like right and like right in the middle
of that bell curve is where everyone is spending the
absolute most money. And I think what you need to
do is either be ahead of the bell curve, which
means just going somewhere because you like it, like personally,
(13:13):
you find it intriguing, You're like this, this seems awesome,
or you need to be behind the bell curve. You
need to be on the tail end, which means you
just wait a little bit and you just have to
be okay with the fact that and then you go
to time. Everyone else is going to Thailand right now,
I'm just gonna like play it local or maybe now
is the time to go to Sicily or something like that.
But yeah, it's it's funny too, like the fact that
you mentioned the sound of music because we like, on
(13:34):
one hand, it seems like a new trend, but it
isn't a new trend. Like we are always going to
be impacted by different things. We are going to find inspiration,
whether it's from books we read, things that happen in history,
like why there's a reason why there are like battlefield
parks and historic monuments and places that we go to
visit to learn about history. But it's just a matter
of avoiding the crowds and if everyone else is going
(13:55):
to those things at certain points in time for whatever reason,
whether it's being featured pop culture or because it's the
time of year that everyone goes and does this thing.
It makes me think of like Yosemite when the waterfall,
I figure, the waterfall of Fire or whatever it's called,
Like that's a popular time because everyone wants to see that.
And okay, if that's a bucket list item, but maybe
if you don't really care about that, that's something you
(14:17):
can avoid and you'll certainly save money while doing that.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yeah, I think you're kind of just hinting it, like
shoulder season, right, Hey, look to other times of year,
and I know it's it's not always easy when you
have kids in school and stuff like that, but yeah,
shoulder season versus prime travel season. Not only you get
to save money, but you avoid the crowds too.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
All right, Joel, So we've talked about flying places, which,
by the way, we haven't even talked about the radar
outages at the different airports. Well freaky, isn't it. Yeah,
New York's enough time. I don't have you. Evidently something
like that happened at the Atlanta Airport last week, or
maybe it was earlier this week. Yeah, kind of freaky. Yeah,
don't know enough to actually comment. But let's talk about
not flying places driving places. We're gonna talk about cars, Joel.
(14:56):
Half of new car purchases involved the trade in of
an a car, which makes sense, but remember that you
are almost always getting paid less for that car than
you would have received had you sold it privately. Uh.
And of course you've got a company stepping in the void, Carvana.
They're trying to convince folks to sell their car directly
to them instead of DIY selling it as well. They're
(15:18):
sending direct emails and hopes that you're going to get
excited about the possibility of selling your your used ride
upgrading to something nicer. Makes me think about the mail
or please email, it's like, please sell me your car. Yeah,
because they're like, hey, we need we need more supply
on some more inventory.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Maybe you're the sucker. Maybe this email is going to entice.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
You don't do it. And this isn't because we hate Carvana.
I think they're fine for some things. I actually purchased
a vehicle from them seven years ago. Now a great experience,
and I don't think it can hurt either to get
a quick quote. I think it can be a great
spot to say, all right, let's just kind of see
it's like the first piece of data, right, like the
first data entry. But then after that, look at Kelly bluebook,
(15:55):
head over to Edmonds. Because the offer from Carvana could
be a low ball offer, and of course listing it
yourself on like Facebook, Marketplace or auto trader, it can
be well worth the effort to sell it because I
think there's a good chance you're gonna receive thousands more.
It's just an interesting thing that Carvana is stepping in
to be able to provide a frictionless sort of environment.
(16:17):
Carvana isn't ripping you. I don't want to at all
a disparaged Carvana. They are providing a service. They are
making life easy for you. It's incredibly convenient to go
with them, but what are you willing to pay? Right
and like always like everything, like even if you want
to fly to Thailand and stay at the Four Seasons,
more power to you, but just know that you're going
to be forking out much more money to do that,
(16:38):
just like you're going to be paid much less money
for your trade in where you to upgrade anytime.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It feels like convenience is the name of the game
for companies these days. They're like, how can we make
your life more convenient? But there's an extraction that takes
place when you make your life more convenient. And I'm
not saying that it's not worth paying for sometimes, but
you have to be thoughtful about that because it's also.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You can't convenience everything right, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
And at some point, if you do convenience everything, you're
going to be forking over a lot more money than
you otherwise would. And this is one of those places
I think where the numbers are substantial that I think
when you look at the data, something you're gonna get
paid typically fifteen to twenty percent less doing a trade
in of a car than you would selling it directly
to another private party. And so if you're talking about
(17:20):
a fifteen thousand dollars car, you could be talking about
three grand less in your pocket.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
And so, oh it's a hustle to listen on face Yeah,
I get that. I get that.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
It's not fun to feel the incoming Facebook messages and
to meet up with somebody. But it also might be
worth it because the dollar amounts significant and there are
other things maybe where the trade off of convenience is
going to cost you less money, and you say, no,
I'm going to do that on purpose. But if we
convenience everything, which it feels like we're doing as a culture,
it's going to cost money, right, and you might want
(17:50):
to sell your car, by the way, if you move
into a car free neighborhood. Dwell magazine Matter used to
subscribe to that. I haven't in a while, but I
loved that magazine, like the pictures more than anything. Beautiful homes. Yeah,
like we talked about with with Callie Cox. Yeah yeah,
So Dwell had this article about a car free community
called cul de Sac. Then you and I've kind of
kept our eyes on. It's in Tempe, Arizona, and it
(18:13):
seems like it's been a raging success because folks who
opt to live there, they get sweet on campus amenities
like a gym, they've got cool shops, they've got you know,
food options, and gen z ers in particular seem to
be all about the amenities and places that they're living.
I know my I don't think my sister's gen Z.
She's a millennial, but she she's got that mindsets the
(18:34):
very young millennial. Yes, and she's so into amenities where
she lives, even if it means training off and living
in a smaller space. But this this cul de sac
in particular, comes with free transit passes and free ebag
access because hey, guess what, you're giving up your car
if you live there. And and so it's really what
they're trying to do is create this antidote way of
(18:54):
living to the standard car centric lifestyle. And people are
thrilled to pay more to live there because they're downsizing
their carefully, they're going to save money there. And so
I think also it's not just because about saving on
car costs. I think it increases the community vibe and
I think people are thrilled to pay more to live there,
not just because they're spending less on car stuff, but
(19:14):
because it's an enjoyable place to hang. Yeah, it was
created very thoughtfully. Yeah, right, like with intention.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
There's a lot of density, right, Like, who doesn't want
to be able to walk down the steps around the
corner and boom, there's a coffee shop there.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
There's a light rail line connected to cul A Sac
that it will get you so many other hopping spots
in town.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah. Yeah, they're getting a real community experience there, and
not to mention that you are there with like like
minded people. But I think a criticism of that is like, oh, yeah,
that's great, folks. If if you've got the money to
be able to uproot your life, go buy this incredibly
bosh standard of living out here, removed from all you know,
just also nice. It is nice, It is nice, but
(19:51):
you don't have to move in order to accomplish something
like this. I think even I was we literally were
talking with some neighbors and we were talking about how
great it is to go and check your mail and
then be stuck for an hour, not stuck, but like
positively stuck for an hour. And she's like, oh, shoot,
I gotta get inside and cooked dinner. But because folks
are walking around having conversations with neighbors, it's something you
(20:12):
can literally start doing today. We don't have to move
to be able to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
I think we underrate those happenstance encounters with neighbors and friends.
Those are the best one. Those are more like fulfilling
in so many ways than like, hey, let's get drinks
two fridays from now. Yeah, it's kind of the rub
and shoulders, the everyday stuff that really does.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
It's that going back to friction. Man. Yeah, it's this
thing that makes life a little more enjoyable, and oftentimes
we write it off pretty quickly. On that note, a
writer over at The Atlantic published an ode to the
e BikeE Joel, stating that morning to mutes for their
family have now become a daily highlight instead of being
monotonous and filled with traffic, which I could not agree more.
(20:47):
Man Like, that's something we have experienced firsthand. You're still
doing that, still doing it with a little man dropping
off at school and he me and man, I had
to sell that cargo bike.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I had to take him in the car this morning
because we had somewhere else to be right after, and
he was.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
So five, but he was probably like, man, what's up
with this? Dad? This sucks. He was so disappointed. He
loves riding on the bike, and I love how much
he loves it. Obviously, this isn't something that everyone can replicate, right, Like,
it's tough to e bike on the interstate. I would
not recommend that I don't do it, but traveling by
e bike is more doable the many folks think that
it is, and they can work well for people of
all ages because it's an ee bike, so it provides
(21:22):
that assistance there. And you know, when you were talking
about the price of a vehicle, all like fifteenth is. Man,
it's so funny. I was literally talking to my daughter
this morning and she's like, or no, I was talking
with both of our daughters. I was taking was bringing
them home last night. Oh yeah, and they're for whatever reason,
they're starting to talk about cars and they're like, how
much is like a decent car that like that won't
break down. I'm like, well, it depends, but maybe you're
(21:43):
talking about five seven grand if you know, like something
a little bit newer, maybe eight nine, And I don't know.
It was just interesting, but.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Pretty a lot of people out there would say no,
we're talking like thirty grand for a decent car at least, right.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Yes, and for something that's you know, under one hundred
thousand miles. Sure like you are to be forking out
that much Either way, Both of those prices are much much,
much higher than two thousand dollars, which is what you
can easily get an e Bykee for these days. Yeah,
brand new, brand new. I'm thinking more cargo e bike
as well. I mean even less than that for some
of the more compacts what are they called Brampton's, like
(22:17):
the ones that like even the fold fold up and
you can take in your off.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I mean I think you can get sevent eight hundred
bucks you can get one of those.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, and it allows you to use your car less.
If it allows you to enjoy your life more, man,
it could be some of the best money that you've
ever spent, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
All Right, Matt, we got more to get to, including
let's talk about artificial intelligence and hey, purports to save
you money. What is it going to We'll get to
that more right after this or we're back now it's
time for the Lucra's headline of the week. This one
comes from four H four Media and the headline reads,
(22:52):
Instagram's AI chatbots lie about being licensed therapists. Dirty AI
man bit lying to us.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
But this one really got under your skin, but also
the skin of your wife. Yes, I know.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
I told her about this and she was like, yeah,
let me tell you why this sucks. So my wife
literally just graduated this past weekend. Super pumped for her.
She is now officially a licensed therapist. And the Harvard
Business Review finds that the number one use case right
now for artificial intelligence. You would think it's cheating on
writing papers, but no, it's therapy and companionship. Well, I
(23:23):
do think that there are a lot of there's a
lot of students outre who are cheating on Weren't you
shocked though, that therapy and companionship actually outranked That is
a use for artificial intelligence from a I mean it
makes sense, I guess from an official like as a whole,
as an aggregate, Are there more students cheating on papers
as opposed to services being offered? Yes, I do think
that that's certainly the case. So maybe they didn't correct
(23:45):
count the data correctly. I don't know, but it's interesting
that it's moving artificial intelligence is really moving that hard
into this space. That was it the movie Her back
in the day with Scarlett Johansen was the voice of
the AI. That's like becoming real life before our eyes,
and so like the lines between what's real and what's
not are being blurred. And Psychology Today wrote about this phenomenon.
(24:08):
They said, hey, chatbots lack nuanced empathy, they missed nonverbal cues,
they avoid conflict, and that actually can lead to worsening
mental health risks. So and on top of that the
fact that the chatbots are trying to help in doing
so poorly. I think that's one thing. But they're trying
to pass as real humans with degrees and credentials. So
if you push back and you say, hey, where did
(24:29):
you go to school, what's your degree in? They'll make
up lies that's yeah and tell you stuff like well,
I went to this school and here's my the licensed
therapy therapy number, and it's all fake and so it's
a really weird thing. I think it also shows two
that people who are in charge of these tech companies
are taking this like leisse fair approach to artificial intelligence. Yes,
that's a little freaky. I don't blame the AI, because
(24:51):
that's what it's programmed to do. It's the companies that
are implementing, yes, you know, like that's I think, like
AI does not have a mind of its own. And
it makes me think about Man, you've heard me talk
about this too. It makes me think about smartphones ten
fifteen years ago, right, and it's just like, oh, these
are new tools, and we need to get our kids
on these using these things. And now the generation that
went before us, I feel like I honestly feel bad
(25:13):
for him because it's something that was sort of unproven.
And this feels similar to me that in particular the fact.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
That it just test your mental health with these AI
chapsts and tell you what happened. They are experimenting on
the public at large, all in an attempt to gain
as much market share as possible. Like it's an arms
race crash test dummies over here. Yes, yeah, And who's
to I mean, who's to benefit? Oh, well, some of
these a lot of these companies. Who has the risk
of being harmed? I think it's the obviously the most vulnerable,
(25:40):
those who are looking for some type of counseling, but
then also kids as well, which really I don't know
it makes me feel makes me feel weird about it.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
One of the things that my wife said to when
I asked her about the story was, well, the biggest thing,
the most important part of therapy is human to human interaction,
and it's the relationship with the therapist that is a
big part of the life change that takes sure for people.
And so if you remove the human element, like you
remove the big catalyst that leads to change for a
whole lot of people. So could AI therapy be potentially
(26:10):
helpful for some folks. I'm not going to say no.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I could see it being used as a tool, but
not as a replacement, right right, Like I could see
an office in the fact they're lying to US's just weird,
maut even more, that's yeah, that's but again that's like
you ask any chat something like that and it just
makes it up and they're called hallucinations, and it's like, well, no,
that's it's just that's how it's programmed to run. It's
going to find the information to make to satisfy your query.
Basically you come up with something, yes, exactly, you talking about,
(26:36):
like the relationship with a counselor like that is is
embodiment It makes me think of a recent article you've
seen Zuck talking about AI AI best friends. I can't
hang out with you tonight, by the way, which seems
completely insane. I'm hanging out with my AI best friend now. Essentially,
he's pointing to the loneliness pandemic and how like, well,
actually people want to have more friends, they don't have
the time or ability to. So you're gonna have a
(26:57):
virtual an AI best friend. Do you think he actually
believes us? I don't know if he actually believes this.
That scares me.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
But maybe he believes this to the tune of like
profit and dollar signs.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
That's that's I think that's what it comes.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
But that's super frightening to think that he thinks that
AI can be a replacement for friendship too.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Like my good faith sort of argument is that he's
trying to he's just throwing stuff at the wall. He's
trying to innovate. Yeah, he's like, all right, the metaglasses
didn't really work out, so maybe we can double down
on the AI. But going back to like friction rubbing shoulders,
you don't have that with AI, right right, Like what
you have is zero friction and so much so that
(27:34):
you're not challenged, Like that's what makes life interesting, like
the fact that we disagree about, Like what do comedians
make jokes out of? It's the it's the friction, it's
like the tension. It's all the things that take place
in real, embodied life, and you are not getting that
when it comes to these AI bots that are basically
it feels weird. Man, it's gonna be like this sycophantic
(27:54):
sort of just replies where they're just patting you on
the back. Do you have to like upgrade to get
like the next level more aware chatbot that's going to
push back a little bit? And then you're thinking, well,
forget that. Why am I paying you to argue with me? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
Right, it's a scary dystopian future if Mark Zuckerberg has
his way. And Yeah, just these two stories together this
week just have me thinking about, like, this is why
I have mostly avoided artificial intelligence. It's not because I'm
a luddite or don't care about proc technological progress. It's
that I just don't know that it's best for me
(28:32):
to engage with artificial intelligence on a regular basis. And
I think that are some real.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Pitfalls to it. Agreed.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Good news by the way on the tech overlord front,
though that will benefit millions of people. A judge just
ruled that the Apple Store that their app store has
been engaging in anti competitive behavior and that they have
to stop restricting app developers from funneling users to their
site to make a sale. So basically, yeah, Apple was
taking this like blackmail, like vig from every purchase that
(28:59):
a customer made of thirty percent. And it wasn't just
in the app. So if you downloaded the app and
you bought something through the app, signed up for a
service or something like that, even that seemed a little
shady to me. But if an app developer wanted you
to click over to its website in order to buy
the service or good there, Apple still wanted their cut.
That's the weird part, which is so dirty and so
(29:22):
I have hated this practice for a long time and
has enriched Apple, much to the chagrin of many app developers.
It helps Apple's bottom line, but.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Specifically Epic so folks might remember this going way back
to when it was Fortnite. Basically it was Epic Games
or whatever wanting to make sure that Apple wasn't getting
a cut of every single Fortnite download, even when it
was taking place outside of the App Store, right, I
think it was like I think they're still getting like
twenty seven percent.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Yeah, something like that, which is so I think pretty
fact Fortnite is back on the App Store now, or
at least they petition to get back on the App Store.
This is one of those things where maybe you don't
notice it in the background that Apple is scheming and
stealing money from consumers from company, and they're going to
appeal this ruling, but I'm hoping that it sticks because
(30:04):
what Apple has been doing to all of us is wrong.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Yeah, so jump through some hoops in order to get
a deal, Like that's one and the same, right, And
so if you like, I'm totally fine by the way
for Apple to charge more to you know, essentially for
apps and different services that are being offered through the
App Store, if it's more expensive because it's easy. Again,
you're paying for a service, you're paying for convenience. But
if you click out of that app and want to
(30:28):
do things the hard way, you should be rewarded for that.
If you want to encompany the extra legwork to get
a deal, then you should be receiving that.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
The companies should be able to incentivize their users to
take the extra step to save money and avoid the
egregious apples totally.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
And some folks will do it, some folks won't, but
at least give people a choice. Joe, let's talk about
tarifs and inflation, because I don't know if you heard
tariffs were put on hold. I heard there's a delay
that was announced earlier this week, sending the markets up.
A lot of folks may have felt that as well
when it came to their four one ks.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Actually the market is back up over where it was
on Liberation Day. The market's been soaring it's amost.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's almost as if it didn't almost as if it
didn't didn't even happen. So so instead of one hundred
and forty five percent tariffs against China, they're down now
to thirty percent. China they've died back their terraces on
US goods to ten percent. And some folks are calling
it a trade deal, like something that they've agreed to,
but really it's this. It's the temporary trade war truce
(31:26):
for ninety days and depending on how things end up
shaking out in those talks. We'll see if they actually
hold for that long. I personally can't imagine. I don't know.
I feel like you've let the cat out of the
bag by walking back to the terrace. You can't go back
at this point. I would be shocked to see that.
But still regardless, this is good news for businesses, especially
small ones who get a lot of supplies and inventory
(31:48):
from China. But then also for consumers alike if this
does lead to sustained bargains that allows for the free
flow of goods and not services, but of goods across borders,
across the Pacific specifically. And so it's still hard to
know what the political, what the economic goals are here,
but for now we are happy to see things moving
in the right direction. I am personally encouraged because to
(32:11):
think that, okay, does the White House actually think that
terrorists are the solution? And to me this is evidence
that like, oh yeah, it was all a gambit, it
was all a part of the negotiating. What will we
actually receive out of it that will hold? We will see, yeah,
But at least it's not a fundamental disagreement as to
how it is that free trade benefits everybody.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Yeah, there's been more talk about the benefits of free
trade recently from the White House, which was not happening
as a breath of fresh air in the first caust.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
That's the thing. You can't have those talks if you
are also saying out of one side of your mouth.
You can't say that and then out of the other
side of your mouth saying that like oh no, no, no, terras,
that's gonna be what turns America around, you know, like, yeah,
I feel bad for what was it, Lutnik, the guy
that like, man, he kind of he had to play
the bad cop essentially, like he had to be the
one that was just like, no, guys, this is gonna
(32:59):
be great for everyone. And now they're like, all right, buddy,
we're done with you. Yeah, thank you for your service,
thank you, peace out.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Well, and we're seeing I think I've seen more articles,
Matt about this uptick of financial anxiety that people are experiencing,
and I think part of it is the headlines about tariffs,
the uncertainty that those are creating, the recession predictions. They're
causing some people to really reconsider some of their spending
habits and rain in some of their spending right now
because of the increased anxiety they're feeling. And then those
(33:28):
anecdotes that are being dropped in those articles will those
are backed up by the consumer Sentiment Index, which has plummeted.
People are like, ah, oh, feel so great about the
state of the economy right now. And I would say
you and I were not against making changes to your
spending habits to prepare for potentially more difficult times, but
(33:48):
we also don't want you living in fear. And so
if you've been like rolling through the money gears, which
you can find at how to money dot com, you
can click start here, you'll see the money gears there. Well,
if you're tracking your spending and your savings are robut
because you've been doing that, you've been investing over months
and years.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Just I think I.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Want to highlight the fact that you shouldn't let vibes
upend your life or make you feel like you have
to do more. And I think sometimes MATP people get
in this position where they're like, I feel uncertain, I
don't feel great about where things are going or where
or the state of the economy right now, and so
they just feel like they have to do more and
pinch further. But I think for a lot of people,
(34:26):
the antidote to anxiety. If you're doing the savings, you're
doing the debt pay down, you got that bare bones
budget in your pocket. Those are important things. But it's
not just that. It's also about working to dial back
on some of those anxious thoughts and just maybe think
of the episode we did, episode six thirty one with
Lindsey Brian Podvin about how to reduce financial anxiety in
our lives, and maybe that's worth of re listen. She's
(34:47):
a financial therapist. If you or if you hadn't heard
that one before, it's worth checking that out because especially
if you're feeling those if those feelings are ramping up
right now. Obviously the answer is not to be like, hey,
don't be anxious, That's not what I'm saying, But go
lit into that episode because it might help you develop
some skills to kind of reduce the maybe the incessant
anxiety and anxious thoughts that you might you're feeling.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
I'm curious if folks are wondering if we are part
of the problem, you know, because like it's like, on
one hand, we try to talk about relevant news, but
on the other hand, like we try to be optimistic, right,
Like I wonder if folks are thinking like, oh, dudes,
I was good until you told me that I should
be worried about the terrorist once. I think that's the
(35:30):
part of why I was found myself not wanting to
talk about terrorists after like the first week or so,
because it's like, ah, we don't know if this is
going to happen, like what's going to be the end result,
But it's like, I don't know what. We try to
strike that balance between sticking your head in the sand
and being like huh, you know, putting your fingers in
your ears and humming like everything's going to be fine, yah,
(35:50):
versus incessantly focusing on the negative like or somehow trying
to do both. And I'm curious if listen, maybe listeners
will email us if you feel that we are overly
focus on the negative or overly optimistic and pollyannish, because
somehow we're trying to find we're try the needle man. Yeah,
we try to do here.
Speaker 2 (36:08):
We don't want to be causing five alarm fires where
it's not necessary, but also trying to say, hey, you
have questions, you have thoughts about this. You've seen the headline,
you are you probably do have some concerns, and you
want to hear two besties talk about to offer their
thoughts on the reality things.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
That's right, buddy, and that is going to be it
for this week's Friday flight. We hope everyone has a
fantastic weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday with
a fresh ask how to Money episode a show you
know it? All right?
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Until next time, best Friends Out, I'm best Friends Out.
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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