July 5, 2024 • 35 mins
Time for a Friday Flight- our little sampling of the week’s financial news and what it means for your personal finances. There are a lot of headlines out there, but we boil them down to specific takeaways that will allow you to kick off the weekend informed and help you to get ahead with your money. In this episode we explain some relevant and helpful stories like: the slowest workday of the summer, the SAVE seesaw, overspending own goals, a new attractive unlimited MVNO, brand warmth, exes getting millions, auto-enroll to the rescue, money avoidance, & saving like BTS.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to had a Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt.
Today we're talking about the Save Seesaw brand, warmth and
money avoidance.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Happy Friday, everybody, it's the Is there a name for
the day after the fourth of July? Joel? Other than
the fifth? There's no How do you say July in Spanish?
You took Spanish, I should know that June is like
junior July.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I should know that too.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Wholio, who is really? I think so nice?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Guess, but I feel like it's the slowest day.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's like it's the slowest day of like the entire summer,
because it's the day after the fourth. A lot of
folks have flex Fridays anyway, where they're kind of like,
all right, we're gonna dip out of town earlier for vacation.
There's like nothing getting done.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Today and celebration hangover and we.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Ran our or you in your first ten k. So
congrats to everybody who completed the peach tree. A lot
of people running some prs.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Heck yeah, fourth Joly, it's like a big and running.
Apparently he was back in vogue. I didn't realize this
is becoming a thing again.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's a new thing called yogging.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It's like it feels like it's nineteen eightyes, Portland, but
all across the United States. Yeah, so we've got a
lot to get to on this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Spontane Era.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That's right, you're growing your prefontein stash right now.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh yeah. I wonder if that's the inspiration behind me
when I did as a joke. Yeah, but it's kind
of sticking around a little bit, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I keep it around me. I like it. I think
mustaches are sophisticated. Uh oh, real quick, Matt. We just
got back from vacation too, and you took a week
off in Michigan. I took a week, took the family
down to Tybee Island, just outside of Savannah, and I
ended up going to a Savannah Bananas game. Thanks to
listener Gary, who's been emailing us for years.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
He stayed in.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Contact and he was like, Hey, if you ever want
to go to a Banana's game, let me know. And
I never want to go to Brads game again now
because banana ball is so much more fun than traditional baseball.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So this is why I need to make sure that
the first baseball game I take the kids too is
an actual baseball game, because once she get yeah, I've
heard that about the Savannah Bananas. Once you go there,
the kids are never going to want to actually go
to a real, boring MLB baseball game.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
And basically, did you reach out to him proactively?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I was like, oh, yeah, Well, he had told me,
if you're ever in town, you want to go to
Banana's game, let me know, just give me heads up.
So I gave him like a month or two heads up,
and he was.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Like, great, I want to go to a Banana's game.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Because apparently they're like almost impossible to get those tickets.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, I was talking to my brother in law sister
in law. They lived near Savannah.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You want to go like gary A.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Evidently folks buying like a year in advance, Like they
hit and then everyone pounces on them.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And it's an atmosphere, it's a vibe and it's worth
checking out for sure. And Major League Baseball?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Is that where you got the Justin Bieber song stuck
in your head? That it was they're playing music the
whole time you mentioned that, I'm like, what Justin Bieber song?
And you're like, you know you hear about it when
you're just out and about. I'm like, no, no, there
was so.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Many songs I listened to that night that I was like, oh,
I remember this. I've heard this before. But I'm so
out of don't know what's going on with popular music,
but Savannah bananas. Major League Baseball could stand to learn
a lot because it's there's such a chasm, such a
gap between the player and the fan, and they just
they don't there is none of that exists in banana ball.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
There.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Players are in the stands, they're outside signing autographs at
the end of the game, and I'm like, it's just
torn down that wall. Yeah, it's way more fun.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Well, I will say that they I mean was it?
Last year was the first season that they instituted the
pitch clock, shot clock, the pitch clock plus the larger
bases to allow for more stolen bases, and that alone
significantly decreased the length of a game. Yea, so well,
banana ball it's two hours. Platt like you, no matter what,
don't go past two hours. Really, Yeah, so they just
(03:42):
stop it. They stop it. Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So that's kind of cool too. You know, when you're
getting out of there, you start at seven. You're done
at nine. Stick around for an autograph if you want,
then you peace out. So it's delightful, all right, But
we digress. We're glad to be back, glad to be
talking about money again. And let's get to the saving
of stories we found interesting this week how they pertained
to your personal finances. We have to start off talking
about student loans. Student loan forgiveness, of course, as everyone knows,
(04:07):
was a bust. It was shut down by the Supreme Court,
much to the stratgrin of the Biden administration. And then
the Safe Plan was another attempt by the President and
the Department of Education to at least reduce the burden
of student loan payments by lowering payments for the vast
majority of people, some people down to zero dollar payments,
while also shortening that forgiveness timeline. Well, just as it
(04:29):
was about to be fully implemented, the legal rug was
kind of sort of pulled out from under the Save
Plan as well. Eighteen states have sued over the President's
lack of authority essentially to push through a generous plan
like this without the aid of Congress, without any sort
of congressional approval, making a law and it is kind
of tenuous.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I guess the Save Plan it's legal standing because it
didn't originate from Congress or from legislation, and so I
think the main beef, it seems like, in these lawsuits
is with the accelerat forgiveness timeline. And so multiple judges
agreed with that petition by the States and they put
at least part of the Safe Plan on ice for
the time being, and then and then on Sunday, another
(05:10):
court ruled that this save Plan can move ahead. So
which constructed. Yeah, it feels like whiplash. And I know
anybody out there with student loans, especially since July was
going to be the month and still is going to
be the month. Now the payments take on this new
lower form. Exciting news for those folks this past Sunday
because now they're they're going to be able to experience
those lower payments at least for the time being.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Sure. Yeah, So for I guess for all the folks
out there who have student loans, you're probably wondering what
this means for you. So the Biden administration they're pushing
back or attempting to use legal recourse to ensure that
Save remains fully implemented. They can't use the debt forgiveness
portion of save at least for now, but the payment
for many will be reduced dramatically according to the new
(05:52):
discretionary income rules and the final outcome for the tenure
forgiveness timeline that remains to be seen. But for the
time being, no matter what your income level is, if
you are enrolled in the safe play and your payment
it's gonna be zero dollars because you'll technically be pushed
into forbearance by the powers that be. So basically, as
(06:13):
they're arguing over this, it's like, Okay, everything is going
to be put on hold again. Payments are going to
be on pause until further notice.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That's the last thing I read was basically not just
that some people, a few million people with incomes and
family sizes that that made them qualify under the discretionary
income rules, not just them, not just those folks, would
experience a zero dollar payment, but that potentially everybody who's
enrolled and saved is going to experience zero dollar payments
for the time being while this gets while in the.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Courts, exactly, Yeah, and not to get political too, but
like I hate this for folks who hold student loans,
because even the top Democratic official leader, Nancy Pelosi, like
last was it last year or a couple of years ago,
said that this is not something that the president can do,
but then they just they try to push forward with
it anyway. And so it just felt like a false promise.
And that's the part of it that I hate so much,
that folks are counting on this forgiveness on just some
(07:04):
of the different promises that that we're going to be made. Yeah.
So yeah, I don't know. I just hate it full
as opposed to it actually going through congressional action, them
actually voting on it, as opposed to the executive branch
unilaterally doing it on the rim.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
It's like telling your kid you're going to go get
an ice cream and then being like, psych not gonna
get checks, scream and how disappointed are they? Whereas if
you'd never say anything in the first place and you
just don't get ice cream, like they don't know any.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Would have been better for them to have never known.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, and so we don't know how this is going
to shake out. My guess is that parts of this
save plan are going to be implemented, and they are
being implemented as it stands right now, but what's going
to happen ultimately still remains to be seen. And so
I think right now the best course of action is
to assume that you're going to be paying your full
student loan payment and to bank that for the time being,
(07:50):
not to assume that it's going away. I just want
to I wouldn want to count my chickens.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Before they have, yes, which is what we said from
the very beginning, like literally back during COVID, during the pandemic,
as the forbearans, as payments were paused, we said, hey,
keep setting that money aside, pay yourself, put that into
high yield savings, and then when the time comes, you'll
get to you know, you'll see what it is that
you'll have to do with that money.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Don't don't treat it as an excuse to spend more.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
If you're going to want to invest more, that's fine,
I guess, but don't inflate your lifestyle. Make sure you
at least retain the ability to pay your student loans
when that payment comes back. But for the time being,
the safe plan is kind of sort of mostly on.
All right, let's talk about cell phones maths. A new
survey from whistle Out. It's a cool name for a website.
They basically document the price of cell phone service and
(08:39):
what's happening in the cell phone sphere. And they have
a new annual overspending report, that's what they call it.
And they found that Americans are wasting fifteen hundred bucks
a year on cell phone service. I don't know if
that would have been your guest, like the average American,
mat was the average Americans spending or wasting on cell
phone service? I don't think I would have said it
with that much, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
What they cited in this survey was rising monthly costs,
which contributed to a lack of affordability, which also shocks me,
given the reality that you and I have seen prices
decreasing the exact opposite. Yeah, we see prices going down. Actually,
well everything else has gone up in price. Cell phone
service has basically withstood the inflation gauntlet all together. But
(09:21):
whistle out found that the average American I'm quoting here,
the average American currently spends one hundred and fifty seven
dollars a month on a plan from a major carrier
that would that's like, that's the crux of the issue
here in their report?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Did that also include the price of like a phone
or something like? That's I don't know, that's the part
I don't understand. I know, I don't understand how that's possible. Yeah,
so it just makes me slightly questioned, whistle out and
their motives.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, well, how are you coming up with this data?
I mean, yeah, so maybe it's not as bad as
they're actually making it, you know, making it sound, because
I can't. I haven't met anybody who pays that much
for their cell phone service. I've met people paying sixty
to seventy eighty bucks a month, but one hundred fifty
seven is insane. And if that's the average, how's that possible?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Sure? But even still, this gives us a good excuse
to talk about the more affordable options out there, because
fortunately the tide is changing. The big guys are losing
market share, and you know, us Americans, we're starting to
realize just how much we can say by avoiding the
big names, the big name brands that are constantly advertising
by hopping over to an MV and zero.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That's, by the way, what's you're paying?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Format?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
You mentioned the advertising, the guys that sponsor stadiums, the
guys that they're running the commercials during your favorite sports program.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Basically, the more you know about it, the more automatically is. Yeah,
forty seven percent of Americans now get their cell service
from a discounter like Visible Mint, some of the other
great boots. That's another boost. Yeah, although, so I noticed
that Google five they recently increased price on some of
their multi person plans, making them a little less enticing,
(10:49):
because that's one that I mean, we were considering ceping
out with our wives. Slightly less interested in that now.
But another cheap and this is a newer player, but
a service provider that's been on our recently is US Mobile.
I'm not actually totally sure how long they've been around,
but they offer an unlimited prepaid plan for seventeen dollars
and fifty cents a month. That's good, which is really
(11:10):
good man. And yeah, I think we've got like another
have like another month or two cople months with Mint.
I think Mint who has been great. I literally don't
have any complaints with Mint. But I'm like, all right,
well we know about Mint because of Ryan Reynolds, and
I don't know like maybe their prices, I will say,
the plan prices haven't gone up, but they have reduced
the if you add on data, the cost on that
(11:33):
has gone up, or or maybe they've reduced the amount
of data you get. But even and you and I
were not hich folks will complain about because they're like,
I think it's literally I think it's twenty dollars for
an extra three gigs of data. Wow, which it does
seem like a lot, right, but even still, like, let's's
imagine you're on like a ten gig fifteen gig a
month plan prepaid throughout the year. The ability to save
(11:56):
like more than one hundred dollars every single month, with
the off chance maybe once or twice a year that
you might add more data for twenty bucks, you definitely
come out ahead.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
But so Emily she we're on the five gig plane,
which is fifteen bucks a month, which is cheaper than
the US mobile plan you just mentioned. But there has
been a time or two if we're adding data. Emily
in particular has run out of data and she's like,
add me some data, and she's like, I'm sure she's annoyed,
why are you cheaping out? And going the and so
I think, oh, we don't need to do this, and
we don't need unlimited data, that's for sure, because again
(12:27):
and most people don't. They're on Wi Fi at work,
at home, and so most folks unless you're just add
the extra data streaming YouTube while you're driving, which ISA, no, no,
you're going to get arrested for that or maybe not
a rest of but you're gonna get all. Don't do that.
But so I think with the extra when you pay
fifteen or twenty bucks to top off your data, and
even if it's just a one month or two months
out of the year, it starts to make that seventeen
(12:48):
dollars a month unlimited make a whole lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
An extra two to fifty a months times twelve. Yeah.
So I actually hopped on my usage or whatever on
and I noticed so when we were when we are
down in Savannah, we are up in the woods of
Michigan and where we're staying didn't have Wi Fi and
we barely had cell phone service. It was like snail's
pace cell phone coverage. But even still, what that meant
(13:11):
is anything that I was consuming was coming through data,
and I've got like twenty five days left, basically a
whole month, and I'm like, I've only got like one
gig left. I didn't realize how much data I use,
So I'm definitely gonna need to make sure, yeah, doing
big downloads or anything like that while I am connected
to Wi Fi. But even still, let's say I hit
(13:32):
that cap in next week or something like that, it's
still gonna be worth it to add that extra three
gigs of data for twenty bucks versus going with one
of the big players.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, and it used to be, and it is with Mint,
and it is with a lot of these other players.
It's something close to double the cost to get the unlimited.
But now that Unlimited is going down in price, I
see the wisdom and going directly with one of those
plans if it's cheap enough. So US Mobile we're checking
out will tramp a link in the show notes for you.
All Right, Mattlis talk about brands and brand loyalty. I'm
(14:01):
sure every single person listening to this podcast can name
a company or two that brings a smile out their face, right,
I could name a few myself, whether it's a generous
return policy, one of a kind goods or service.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Thinking of Costco. I'm thinking of all d yeah, the
return policy.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Or even brains that just make cool stuff that are
off the beaten path, Like as a want to be runner,
someone who's getting into running, there's a company you're not.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I want to dude, you run. Now you are a runner.
We'll see except the identificate, the uh. I don't know
that identity, not until I grow a stash like hers.
If only it could be as thick as prefontame.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Some day you'll get there.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You'll get there.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
But there's a company I found recently called runner Are
in in Are and they make you would look at
these hats and you'd be like, that's so jo, that's
so because they're bright, they're ostentatious, they're over the top
and ridiculous, but they're cool.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I just need to get you a pair of those
some bright hokahs. What was that?
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I mean, funky stuff is my bier. So yeah, those
are the kind of things like maybe it is just
something that's one of the kind nobody else makes it
like that, or just great customer service, right, that's something
else you think of Chick fil A. It's the my pleasure,
it's the trying to create raving fans. People have loyalty,
strong loyalty to companies like that, and so if you
were to have an issue with one of these admirable companies,
you'd likely find that you were able to get it
(15:10):
resolved without too much trouble, which only adheres you to
that company even more, not necessarily just because they make
cool stuff, but because customer service is at the forefront
of their priority list. And this is what's known as
brand warmth. And the best companies, of course, have this
in spades. A recent white paper found that customers report
feedback to these brands, to these brands that they feel
(15:33):
like they have almost like a friendship or relationship with,
even more than they would to a company they consider
to be uncaring or they're more likely not to just
give feedback, but they're more likely to complain. And so
the reason they complain and don't just offer feedback is
because they know they're going to be shut down cold
if they try to offer constructive criticism. Like you think
about the exact opposite of brand warmth, Matt, you think
(15:53):
probably Comcast, Right, that's probably one of those brands at
least in when.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Not very warm feelings. Yeah, when you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Consumer Reports used to have this blog and they would
identify the worst company in the world every single year,
and Comcast was typically in the top four, often number one.
But think about another brand, maybe, ARII, you're probably gonna
get a fair hearing if you say, based on just
their general policy, but then also based on their warmth
towards their customers. And so I think it makes me think,
(16:21):
don't be afraid to beat this wiki wheel with brands,
especially that you love and admire, and do it in
a feedback oriented approach instead of a complaining sort of approach.
They're often going to respond fondly to that. They're gonna respond.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Well, well, yeah, I mean, I think it has a
lot to do with the fact that when you have
a company or a brand that you love, you want
them to continue to perform. Well, you know, like Kate
recently took the kids to see a movie. They went
to this sort of discount movie theater and she was
just like, this is the first time she had been there,
and she said, we didn't make sure this play sticks around.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I guess they had a deal on Tuesdays. I guess
it was for kids where they get a two dollars movies.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I forget the price, but you get a drink and
a a popcorn, like it's all basically included, and they
count on you doing the upgrade. They count on you
getting like pretzel bites or something like that. But it's like,
oh no, no, you stick with what's included for free.
But it takes supporting those kind of companies. And I
think when folks reach out to brands that they love,
it's in an effort to see them do better, which
makes me think we haven't mentioned this recently, but if
(17:19):
you have feedback for us, of course we would love
to hear from you. Just email us at how tomneypod
at gmail dot com. Because we make mistakes, we don't
always do things perfectly, and we truly are trying to improve,
just like you're trying to run faster jol like, like
there are things and goals that we have set up
before us, and we want to make sure that we're
continuing to deliver a superior podcast where we try to
(17:40):
write out there to every single one of those emails
that comes in, we try to we read something up
on our spam. We read them all, yeah, all the
ones that don't get filtered. We certainly read and not
even go looking in the Gmail spam. Yeah, sometimes heavy
handed with what they consider spam.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
And we'll take we'll take complaint sand feedback either one,
if you've got complain, if you like. There's somebody who
left a review recently, Matt. They said that ouranguage has
gotten more that.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I don't know what we said. Did we let some
slip not that I know, Like I feel like we're
pretty buttoned up when it comes to language. Ear mustol Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So the flip side of the coin is that when
a company tries to sell itself as trustworthy but isn't,
and that's the case for most of the companies that
take that pack. There's a new study that finds that
the use of the word trust in their marketing materials
is associated with worse outcomes. They're the ones that receive
more letters from the SEC asking them for marketing clarity,
(18:31):
or their stock performs more poorly, they pay more in
auditing fees, which of course is not a great sign.
And I've always hated this sort of marketing and more
it's kind of a red flag for me, Like you
can think of just honest Hlary's use car lot, like
the fact that you have to put honest in your name,
it's not a great sign. Or it makes me think
of even like security companies.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Riot or like keeping your family safe.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, and when there are more ambiguous products or services
I guess that are being delivered when trust is the
main reason to do business with them, we would say
be wary because we feel that trust is something that
it's more earned as opposed to something that it's put
out there in marketing materials. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
If you hear like ads for the how of Money
podcast and we're like, trust us. I mean that just
to me, that's like, well, why, I don't know. I
don't know you yet.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Like when companies put that front and center in their
marketing efforts, I'm typically I don't know, I turn away
from that. I think it for some people, maybe that
seems to engender them to the brand. To me, it's
always seemed to the opposite. And it's interesting to see
some of this data that the companies that rely on
that word to try to convince people to do business
with them seem to be more suspect than companies that don't.
(19:42):
So we've got more to get to on this episode,
including we're going to talk about money avoidance and how
it can create bigger problems down the line. We'll talk
about that and more. Right after this, we are back
from the break and it is now time for the
(20:03):
ludicrous headline of the week. This one is from the Journal.
The headline reads, his ex is getting his one million
dollar retirement account. They broke up in nineteen eighty nine.
What do you think about that, Joel? What do you
think of when you hear nineteen eighty nine? I think
you know what I think of? Taylor Swift? Yeah, okay,
that's the only thing you can't think of. Ryan Adams
covered that album. Who's one of my favorite artists? And
(20:24):
now I don't listen to Ryan Adams anymore. He was like,
literally my all time favorite for many years and now
he's following off.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, he didn't make the best choices, but hey, trust him, Joel.
Maybe he's turned things around. So nineteen eighty nine, that
was a long time ago. We are here for this
financial drama that the Journal is reporting. But basically, this
dude named Jeff and his lady friend named Margaret Ladynn.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Except from that's like big Levowski, Right, there's my lady first.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Is from the eighties. That's her name was Margaret. They
dated for a while, and again this is almost forty
years ago, but it was serious enough, at least at
the time where he made her his sole beneficiary on
his retirement account. Granted he didn't have a whole lot
set aside. He was probably just like, oh, I love you,
or maybe I think I do. They just dated for.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Probably had like sixty bucks at the time.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, exactly. But this act that was made back in
nineteen eighty seven, so okay, they dated for a couple
of years. There you go, but it was never updated again,
and now she stands to inherit. I think it was
actually more than the headline reads a million. I think
at this point it's grown to be one point two
or something. Yes, it's significantly more. So. Yeah, lucky for Margaret.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Lucky Margaret for sure.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
And the family, as you would imagine they document in
the story, they're not happy about this, Matt. They're doing
everything they can to try to go into the courts
to get this overturned. Right. And the truth is, though,
like we've said many times before, your beneficiary designation trump's
what your will says, and so even though back in
the day beneficiary designations were made on index cards, you
(21:54):
didn't even do it on the internet because the internet
didn't exist, Like, you couldn't go into Vanguard dot com,
Fidelity dot com updated in mere seconds. Literally you had
to go to like hr and get a new index card. Literally,
his was written on a three and a half by
five inch card, like, hey, hand me that one back,
let me light this one in flames and hand you
another one. That's not how it works anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Fortunately, probably did burn them because folks were smoking in
the office, right.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Exactly along with everything else, mad men Era, Well, let
this be a lesson to us all. It is easier
now than ever before to change your beneficiary, and it
is incredibly important. Think about you know, Jeff's family here
and Margaret's like apparently she wasn't talking to the journal,
but her lawyers like, uh, I mean, clearly he made
her the beneficiary, and so she wants this money and
(22:40):
she's legally entitled to it, and I get by. The
family has has their panties in a lot over this.
They're not very happy. They're trying to pursue legal recourse
to claw this money back, but they just I don't
think there's gonna be much that can be done about this.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It seems it's like it's a fairly ironclad thing. Do
you think she should continue to what does she owe
to the family? Do you think she'd just take my money?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That's a really tough moral question, and as a judgment,
if it was me, I would feel, really it would
be hard for me to take that money.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I don't think I could. Yeah, I think I would
have to accept for the so I would feel differently.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Okay, So sorry, if one of my ex girlfriends has
done this, you go change your maneficiary so I don't
have to go through this moral quandary.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Okay, So here is there's no family. Well, like you
say family, but it's his two brothers brothers. Yeah, yeah,
so it's not.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Like a wife and kids.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yes, I would feel one hundred percent differently about it
if he had a wife, if he had some kids.
But he just had another girlfriend a little bit further
down the line, and that's it. And so the I'm
just thinking about his brothers, and I can't imagine that
they were counting on this money coming from their brother
when he passed, and so legally, I just feels he's
just it's owed to her, And I don't know. I
(23:46):
think if I was her, it would also depend on
my financial situation. I guess if I was her and
I'm looking at the brothers and maybe they're not in
the best financial situation and I was crushing it, I'd say,
all right, guys, you know what, I totally understand. I'm
not that seems like split sys generous thing to do. Yeah,
there's two brothers, Hey how about we all go one
third in on it. Plus, I guess the brothers are.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Saying, we're doing what he would have wanted. But like,
if you how do you know that?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
How do you know that? Yeah, you can't into it
somebody else's desires and wishes And the fact that he
never married anybody and had a family makes me think, man,
maybe he was always like really torn up about it
Margaret for years, and he left her on there because
he truly wanted her to be set for life, way
off into the future.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
But it is, you know, the ultimate lesson here is,
too is to change your beneficiary on your retirement accounts
to at least log in and look it up and
see you even named anybody because you don't want this
to go through some protracted legal process. Not only does
it mean that the money that you have worked so
tirelessly to save and invest and build up that it
might not go to the person you intend, but also
(24:50):
the people who love you the most have to endure
the process of trying to figure this out after your passing.
And so make it easy on that.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Make it clear. Yea, yeah, totally. So what's going on
here basically is inertia bias, which is a totally underestimated,
underrated behavioral economics term. And when it comes to your
wealth building journey, the things that we put in motion
have a significant impact as to what it is that
we continue to do. Just like in just case, he
didn't change his beneficiary. He did that once and that
(25:18):
just kind of carried on through his entire life.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Is exactly the approach of most people. They signed on
to their retirement plan, they name a beneficiary, and then they.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Out of sight. It's a natural because yeah, you don't
want to have to necessarily revisit those things. But automation
is one of the things that can help us to
overcome these human tendencies where you're able to make a
one time smart decision that reduces the need for ongoing
self discipline basically, and the same is true for automatic enrollment,
which is now the default in retirement plans leading up
(25:47):
to twenty twenty five, when the Secure Act two point
zero automatic contribution mandate fully kicks in. The standard contribution
percentage used to be three percent, but many companies have
gone ahead and made six percent default contribution for new hires.
This is according to data from Vanguard, which means that
not only are folks now investing in their four to
(26:07):
one k because that's the default, they're now auto investing
at a higher percent of pay which is amazing. This
is something that we love to see.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
And again we talk about how people, at least speaking
for myself, knowing myself, a little lazy tendency to procrastinate,
and so whatever I sign on and I see my
first paycheck, it doesn't matter if I'm contributing three or
six percent. For most people, they're not even real they
don't even realize how much is going out, and they
get used to that paycheck, and so whatever that default is,
(26:37):
it's going to stay that way. Most people aren't going
to go in there and change it unless they're their
proactive type to increase their contributions. So interestingly enough, Vanguard
also found that the average annual four oh one K
contribution rate is eleven point seven percent of pay. So
there are people who aren't just taking that automatic six
which is a great baseline. They're going in and they're
contributing even more to those retirement accounts, more than ever
(26:59):
in human history, which is awesome. And a big part
of that, by the way, is that default contribution rate
going up, that many employees who would otherwise likely be
contributing nothing are now stocking away. And Matt, I think
that there's a lot that's made been made over the
years about people not making enough to invest. It's not
always that people don't have the money to put into
the retirement account though right they often could if they
(27:21):
had the education and maybe the spark.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
But you're just doing other things with their money, yep.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And because like I said, if they got the smaller
paycheck from the day one, they wouldn't realize any difference,
and then they'd find just sublimely later down down the
line that they have a significant amount of money saved
up in their retirement accounts.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So I think.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Automatic enrollment and higher automatic contribution amounts are going to
ensure that a whole lot more people are more prepared
for retirement than the otherwise would be. This is great stuff.
This is like societal goodness here, and this is private
companies making helpful decisions and pushing their employees towards better behavior.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
That's right, man, All right, let's talk about interpersonal financial
issues because money avoidance within relationships can create tension, you
can create ongoing problems. This is literally why we talk
about talking about money, and it's.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Also why we've had so meta but it is necessary.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
We've had a whole lot of different folks on the show,
like financial therapists specifically in order to address some of
these underlying issues. Like so, for instance, if you've had
like traumatic money experience, like you're not necessarily going to
get past that just because you learned about the reality
of compounding returns, you've learned about the twenty five times
your annual expenses rule.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah, it takes talking through.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Some of the issues that you might have. And there's
a new report from experts over at Cornell and Yale,
and they find that not unexpectedly, that people don't broach
the topic of money with their significant other because they're
nervous it's going to cause a fight. It's the literal
anticipation of conflict that causes them to shove their concerns
under the rug. And as we all know, of course,
(28:59):
that's not helpful.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Just to be assuming things under the rug isn't a
good thing.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Map exactly. That's when my wife tells me to clean,
that's what I do, and she's like, it look so
clean down here, and I'm like, don't lift the rug up.
You can't kick the ice cube under the fridge. That's allowed.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah, that happens all the time in our house too. Yeah,
you're right. They it's that anticipation, like if I bring
this up, it's going to cause stress, it's going to
cause an emotional reaction from my partner or something like that.
So why don't I just not tackle the subject at all?
Mum's the word. And I think the first problem here
is that you're assuming that a fight is going to
(29:30):
occur if you bring up the topic. The truth is
it might not. And the second you're only setting yourself
up for future failure because at some point there's the
big lump under the rug because you sweep more and
more stuff underneath it, and then the lump has to
be addressed, and it's become a more tenuous situation. The
longer you neglect anything, the worse the problem tends to get.
It's true with your health, your money, your relationship issues,
(29:53):
and so I don't think it means you have to
force the issue in the heat of the moment, like
all right, well, tempers are, how right, now, let's talk
about all of our worst money mistakes. The key, though,
is to have those conversations more regularly when the stakes
are lower. So using your goals and your dreams to
jumpstart a money conversation, not harping on the mistakes of
(30:14):
the person you love. That will set the tone for
a better conversation that can move you forward in a
positive manner. So like making changes to for spending habits,
for instance, it's easier to do when there's something bigger
that you're aiming for together, when you're on the same
page and you're like, yeah, let's cut out of this
some of the silly spending that we've been doing, because
there are bigger fish we have the fry, there are
(30:36):
bigger things we want to tackle and accomplished together, and
so when the setting is calm and you're both ready
for and expecting the conversation. I think you can make
a lot of progress. And I think we want like
a money date right there.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
One of the tip is to get it on the calendar,
to say, listen, I know now is not actually the
best time, but what if next Friday night we put
it on the calendar and instead of going out, we
still we opened a nice bottle of the line and
we talk about some of these money things. I've got
a few things I want to tackle, and you just
create an environment, a soft environment, to have some of
those discussions, because avoiding the topic altogether sure isn't going
(31:11):
to fix anything.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah. Or it doesn't have to be a bottle of
nice one. It can just be some PBR if that's
more your speed.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I'm not against it, but I usually save that for
music shows these days.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
True. Okay, while we're talking about relationships, let's talk about
something that the Times documented, which is how Koreans are
combining saving money and friendship in something that is called
a k moyeme. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Oh, and by the way, this is near and dear
to your heart. Because you are of Korean descent, have sees.
I saw this and I was like, friendship koreanness, it
could be more. Matt's got Matt written all over it. Literally,
Kate and I. So we had our week Kimchi on
your Sabit, our weekly date night.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Last night, and we hit up a new Korean pop
up here in town that and they're going to open
in the fall. It was very good. I am curious
to see how American palettes to some legit Korean food.
Though Kate and I loved it, I'm curious to try it. Actually,
I snuffed a picture of the menu and send it
to my mom and she was very happy. I'm so
happy you have a place to go with you and
your family. It's awesome. But basically what these are, they're
(32:13):
essentially like a savings bucket. They're like sinking funds that
you contribute to monthly alongside your friends in order to
save for shared or common mutual goals you might have.
And so not only are you able to say, for
let's say, a shared experience like this can be something
as big as a vacation or even as small as
a barbecue. But many said that the mutual goal and
(32:35):
the repeated savings it kept their friendship close as well,
which is really fascinating. Do you think this is something
that could work here in the States? Drole.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I don't know. I don't know if we have the
cultural ability. Like it's very different sensibilities over there than
it is here. We're so much more individualistic.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
But I like kind of suffered to do some of
these more collective action things here in the US with
so with so much diversity, right, Like you go to
a well even articulture that's plants or whatever, but like
you go to somewhere like the culture is so homogenous,
it's easier to implement things. It makes me think of
like the different studies coming out of Scandinavia and it's like, well, yeah,
you can pull off taxes like that. There are expected
(33:10):
more's and norms that allow that to work, whereas in
the US it's a little more different.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
They tout the public education in Finland as being top notch,
and you're like, yeah, there's four million people like and
they're they're more similar. We're a melting pot. It's it's
much it's a much more difficult things that task that
we have at hand. And you're right, I like this,
and I think there are probably ways that we can
adopt it to our own friend groups. And I think
really too, what they're saying is like the I don't know,
having something that you're building towards with other people, it
(33:37):
can keep those relationships intact for listener, high school friends.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Accountability, and I think that's a big part of it.
But I do I think it can be done with
closer friends because that's what's required because since we do,
since we all do have various backgrounds. If you it
means though that like your friendship of that core group
needs to be incredibly healthy, which means you're talking about
important issues but not limited to your personal finances, because
(34:02):
that means you are able to work towards something. And
in my mind that is the biggest hurdle because as
we've seen over I mean what it was all the
research pointing to declining rates of close friendships and so
we're not connected more than anything. That's probably what's going
to keep folks from doing that. But then I've maybe
the argument could also be made that, hey, you don't
have to have that before you do this. Maybe by
implementing this sort of like what you're saying, that can
(34:24):
allow folks to I don't know, it could draw people closer.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
So maybe you don't have to create your own de
moin did I say right close? Close enough? Maybe you
don't have to create that, but maybe it is anything
you can do to kind of spur on personal finance
conversations and creating more talking about things that matter more
than just what you watched on TV. All the Bears great,
I agree, but still there are better things worth talking about.
(34:48):
And it's interesting to see how the kind of the
bondedness you can feel actually money with. Katie had a
great article recently, Matt just about the fact that we
pay for everything in our culture these days and we
don't rely on our friendship to the same extent.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I think she's spot on.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I think that is something that we just asking for
a favor from a friend, like we're so reticent, so
hesitant to do that. But that's what builds community, that's
what builds a real relationship. And we've commoditized everything and
they're downside to that.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Yeah, there are all right, that's gonna be it. Though
for today's Friday flight, we hope you have a fantastic
weekend and we'll see you back here on Monday. Reach
out to us hown Moneypod at gmail dot com. If
you have some feedback, if you've got nothing but good
things to say, share it with the world over at
Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. But buddy,
let's get out of here. Until next time, Best friends out,
(35:34):
Best friends Out,
Welcome to had a Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt.
Today we're talking about the Save Seesaw brand, warmth and
money avoidance.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Happy Friday, everybody, it's the Is there a name for
the day after the fourth of July? Joel? Other than
the fifth? There's no How do you say July in Spanish?
You took Spanish, I should know that June is like
junior July.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I should know that too.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Wholio, who is really? I think so nice?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Guess, but I feel like it's the slowest day.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's like it's the slowest day of like the entire summer,
because it's the day after the fourth. A lot of
folks have flex Fridays anyway, where they're kind of like,
all right, we're gonna dip out of town earlier for vacation.
There's like nothing getting done.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Today and celebration hangover and we.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Ran our or you in your first ten k. So
congrats to everybody who completed the peach tree. A lot
of people running some prs.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Heck yeah, fourth Joly, it's like a big and running.
Apparently he was back in vogue. I didn't realize this
is becoming a thing again.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's a new thing called yogging.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It's like it feels like it's nineteen eightyes, Portland, but
all across the United States. Yeah, so we've got a
lot to get to on this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Spontane Era.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That's right, you're growing your prefontein stash right now.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh yeah. I wonder if that's the inspiration behind me
when I did as a joke. Yeah, but it's kind
of sticking around a little bit, all right.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I keep it around me. I like it. I think
mustaches are sophisticated. Uh oh, real quick, Matt. We just
got back from vacation too, and you took a week
off in Michigan. I took a week, took the family
down to Tybee Island, just outside of Savannah, and I
ended up going to a Savannah Bananas game. Thanks to
listener Gary, who's been emailing us for years.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
He stayed in.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Contact and he was like, Hey, if you ever want
to go to a Banana's game, let me know. And
I never want to go to Brads game again now
because banana ball is so much more fun than traditional baseball.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So this is why I need to make sure that
the first baseball game I take the kids too is
an actual baseball game, because once she get yeah, I've
heard that about the Savannah Bananas. Once you go there,
the kids are never going to want to actually go
to a real, boring MLB baseball game.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
And basically, did you reach out to him proactively?
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I was like, oh, yeah, Well, he had told me,
if you're ever in town, you want to go to
Banana's game, let me know, just give me heads up.
So I gave him like a month or two heads up,
and he was.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Like, great, I want to go to a Banana's game.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Because apparently they're like almost impossible to get those tickets.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, I was talking to my brother in law sister
in law. They lived near Savannah.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
You want to go like gary A.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Evidently folks buying like a year in advance, Like they
hit and then everyone pounces on them.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And it's an atmosphere, it's a vibe and it's worth
checking out for sure. And Major League Baseball?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Is that where you got the Justin Bieber song stuck
in your head? That it was they're playing music the
whole time you mentioned that, I'm like, what Justin Bieber song?
And you're like, you know you hear about it when
you're just out and about. I'm like, no, no, there
was so.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Many songs I listened to that night that I was like, oh,
I remember this. I've heard this before. But I'm so
out of don't know what's going on with popular music,
but Savannah bananas. Major League Baseball could stand to learn
a lot because it's there's such a chasm, such a
gap between the player and the fan, and they just
they don't there is none of that exists in banana ball.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
There.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Players are in the stands, they're outside signing autographs at
the end of the game, and I'm like, it's just
torn down that wall. Yeah, it's way more fun.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Well, I will say that they I mean was it?
Last year was the first season that they instituted the
pitch clock, shot clock, the pitch clock plus the larger
bases to allow for more stolen bases, and that alone
significantly decreased the length of a game. Yea, so well,
banana ball it's two hours. Platt like you, no matter what,
don't go past two hours. Really, Yeah, so they just
(03:42):
stop it. They stop it. Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So that's kind of cool too. You know, when you're
getting out of there, you start at seven. You're done
at nine. Stick around for an autograph if you want,
then you peace out. So it's delightful, all right, But
we digress. We're glad to be back, glad to be
talking about money again. And let's get to the saving
of stories we found interesting this week how they pertained
to your personal finances. We have to start off talking
about student loans. Student loan forgiveness, of course, as everyone knows,
(04:07):
was a bust. It was shut down by the Supreme Court,
much to the stratgrin of the Biden administration. And then
the Safe Plan was another attempt by the President and
the Department of Education to at least reduce the burden
of student loan payments by lowering payments for the vast
majority of people, some people down to zero dollar payments,
while also shortening that forgiveness timeline. Well, just as it
(04:29):
was about to be fully implemented, the legal rug was
kind of sort of pulled out from under the Save
Plan as well. Eighteen states have sued over the President's
lack of authority essentially to push through a generous plan
like this without the aid of Congress, without any sort
of congressional approval, making a law and it is kind
of tenuous.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Matt.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
I guess the Save Plan it's legal standing because it
didn't originate from Congress or from legislation, and so I
think the main beef, it seems like, in these lawsuits
is with the accelerat forgiveness timeline. And so multiple judges
agreed with that petition by the States and they put
at least part of the Safe Plan on ice for
the time being, and then and then on Sunday, another
(05:10):
court ruled that this save Plan can move ahead. So
which constructed. Yeah, it feels like whiplash. And I know
anybody out there with student loans, especially since July was
going to be the month and still is going to
be the month. Now the payments take on this new
lower form. Exciting news for those folks this past Sunday
because now they're they're going to be able to experience
those lower payments at least for the time being.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Sure. Yeah, So for I guess for all the folks
out there who have student loans, you're probably wondering what
this means for you. So the Biden administration they're pushing
back or attempting to use legal recourse to ensure that
Save remains fully implemented. They can't use the debt forgiveness
portion of save at least for now, but the payment
for many will be reduced dramatically according to the new
(05:52):
discretionary income rules and the final outcome for the tenure
forgiveness timeline that remains to be seen. But for the
time being, no matter what your income level is, if
you are enrolled in the safe play and your payment
it's gonna be zero dollars because you'll technically be pushed
into forbearance by the powers that be. So basically, as
(06:13):
they're arguing over this, it's like, Okay, everything is going
to be put on hold again. Payments are going to
be on pause until further notice.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That's the last thing I read was basically not just
that some people, a few million people with incomes and
family sizes that that made them qualify under the discretionary
income rules, not just them, not just those folks, would
experience a zero dollar payment, but that potentially everybody who's
enrolled and saved is going to experience zero dollar payments
for the time being while this gets while in the.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Courts, exactly, Yeah, and not to get political too, but
like I hate this for folks who hold student loans,
because even the top Democratic official leader, Nancy Pelosi, like
last was it last year or a couple of years ago,
said that this is not something that the president can do,
but then they just they try to push forward with
it anyway. And so it just felt like a false promise.
And that's the part of it that I hate so much,
that folks are counting on this forgiveness on just some
(07:04):
of the different promises that that we're going to be made. Yeah.
So yeah, I don't know. I just hate it full
as opposed to it actually going through congressional action, them
actually voting on it, as opposed to the executive branch
unilaterally doing it on the rim.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
It's like telling your kid you're going to go get
an ice cream and then being like, psych not gonna
get checks, scream and how disappointed are they? Whereas if
you'd never say anything in the first place and you
just don't get ice cream, like they don't know any.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Would have been better for them to have never known.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, and so we don't know how this is going
to shake out. My guess is that parts of this
save plan are going to be implemented, and they are
being implemented as it stands right now, but what's going
to happen ultimately still remains to be seen. And so
I think right now the best course of action is
to assume that you're going to be paying your full
student loan payment and to bank that for the time being,
(07:50):
not to assume that it's going away. I just want
to I wouldn want to count my chickens.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Before they have, yes, which is what we said from
the very beginning, like literally back during COVID, during the pandemic,
as the forbearans, as payments were paused, we said, hey,
keep setting that money aside, pay yourself, put that into
high yield savings, and then when the time comes, you'll
get to you know, you'll see what it is that
you'll have to do with that money.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Don't don't treat it as an excuse to spend more.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
If you're going to want to invest more, that's fine,
I guess, but don't inflate your lifestyle. Make sure you
at least retain the ability to pay your student loans
when that payment comes back. But for the time being,
the safe plan is kind of sort of mostly on.
All right, let's talk about cell phones maths. A new
survey from whistle Out. It's a cool name for a website.
They basically document the price of cell phone service and
(08:39):
what's happening in the cell phone sphere. And they have
a new annual overspending report, that's what they call it.
And they found that Americans are wasting fifteen hundred bucks
a year on cell phone service. I don't know if
that would have been your guest, like the average American,
mat was the average Americans spending or wasting on cell
phone service? I don't think I would have said it
with that much, that's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
What they cited in this survey was rising monthly costs,
which contributed to a lack of affordability, which also shocks me,
given the reality that you and I have seen prices
decreasing the exact opposite. Yeah, we see prices going down. Actually,
well everything else has gone up in price. Cell phone
service has basically withstood the inflation gauntlet all together. But
(09:21):
whistle out found that the average American I'm quoting here,
the average American currently spends one hundred and fifty seven
dollars a month on a plan from a major carrier
that would that's like, that's the crux of the issue
here in their report?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Did that also include the price of like a phone
or something like? That's I don't know, that's the part
I don't understand. I know, I don't understand how that's possible. Yeah,
so it just makes me slightly questioned, whistle out and
their motives.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Yeah, well, how are you coming up with this data?
I mean, yeah, so maybe it's not as bad as
they're actually making it, you know, making it sound, because
I can't. I haven't met anybody who pays that much
for their cell phone service. I've met people paying sixty
to seventy eighty bucks a month, but one hundred fifty
seven is insane. And if that's the average, how's that possible?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Sure? But even still, this gives us a good excuse
to talk about the more affordable options out there, because
fortunately the tide is changing. The big guys are losing
market share, and you know, us Americans, we're starting to
realize just how much we can say by avoiding the
big names, the big name brands that are constantly advertising
by hopping over to an MV and zero.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That's, by the way, what's you're paying?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Format?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
You mentioned the advertising, the guys that sponsor stadiums, the
guys that they're running the commercials during your favorite sports program.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Basically, the more you know about it, the more automatically is. Yeah,
forty seven percent of Americans now get their cell service
from a discounter like Visible Mint, some of the other
great boots. That's another boost. Yeah, although, so I noticed
that Google five they recently increased price on some of
their multi person plans, making them a little less enticing,
(10:49):
because that's one that I mean, we were considering ceping
out with our wives. Slightly less interested in that now.
But another cheap and this is a newer player, but
a service provider that's been on our recently is US Mobile.
I'm not actually totally sure how long they've been around,
but they offer an unlimited prepaid plan for seventeen dollars
and fifty cents a month. That's good, which is really
(11:10):
good man. And yeah, I think we've got like another
have like another month or two cople months with Mint.
I think Mint who has been great. I literally don't
have any complaints with Mint. But I'm like, all right,
well we know about Mint because of Ryan Reynolds, and
I don't know like maybe their prices, I will say,
the plan prices haven't gone up, but they have reduced
the if you add on data, the cost on that
(11:33):
has gone up, or or maybe they've reduced the amount
of data you get. But even and you and I
were not hich folks will complain about because they're like,
I think it's literally I think it's twenty dollars for
an extra three gigs of data. Wow, which it does
seem like a lot, right, but even still, like, let's's
imagine you're on like a ten gig fifteen gig a
month plan prepaid throughout the year. The ability to save
(11:56):
like more than one hundred dollars every single month, with
the off chance maybe once or twice a year that
you might add more data for twenty bucks, you definitely
come out ahead.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
But so Emily she we're on the five gig plane,
which is fifteen bucks a month, which is cheaper than
the US mobile plan you just mentioned. But there has
been a time or two if we're adding data. Emily
in particular has run out of data and she's like,
add me some data, and she's like, I'm sure she's annoyed,
why are you cheaping out? And going the and so
I think, oh, we don't need to do this, and
we don't need unlimited data, that's for sure, because again
(12:27):
and most people don't. They're on Wi Fi at work,
at home, and so most folks unless you're just add
the extra data streaming YouTube while you're driving, which ISA, no, no,
you're going to get arrested for that or maybe not
a rest of but you're gonna get all. Don't do that.
But so I think with the extra when you pay
fifteen or twenty bucks to top off your data, and
even if it's just a one month or two months
out of the year, it starts to make that seventeen
(12:48):
dollars a month unlimited make a whole lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
An extra two to fifty a months times twelve. Yeah.
So I actually hopped on my usage or whatever on
and I noticed so when we were when we are
down in Savannah, we are up in the woods of
Michigan and where we're staying didn't have Wi Fi and
we barely had cell phone service. It was like snail's
pace cell phone coverage. But even still, what that meant
(13:11):
is anything that I was consuming was coming through data,
and I've got like twenty five days left, basically a
whole month, and I'm like, I've only got like one
gig left. I didn't realize how much data I use,
So I'm definitely gonna need to make sure, yeah, doing
big downloads or anything like that while I am connected
to Wi Fi. But even still, let's say I hit
(13:32):
that cap in next week or something like that, it's
still gonna be worth it to add that extra three
gigs of data for twenty bucks versus going with one
of the big players.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Well, and it used to be, and it is with Mint,
and it is with a lot of these other players.
It's something close to double the cost to get the unlimited.
But now that Unlimited is going down in price, I
see the wisdom and going directly with one of those
plans if it's cheap enough. So US Mobile we're checking
out will tramp a link in the show notes for you.
All Right, Mattlis talk about brands and brand loyalty. I'm
(14:01):
sure every single person listening to this podcast can name
a company or two that brings a smile out their face, right,
I could name a few myself, whether it's a generous
return policy, one of a kind goods or service.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Thinking of Costco. I'm thinking of all d yeah, the
return policy.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Or even brains that just make cool stuff that are
off the beaten path, Like as a want to be runner,
someone who's getting into running, there's a company you're not.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I want to dude, you run. Now you are a runner.
We'll see except the identificate, the uh. I don't know
that identity, not until I grow a stash like hers.
If only it could be as thick as prefontame.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Some day you'll get there.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You'll get there.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
But there's a company I found recently called runner Are
in in Are and they make you would look at
these hats and you'd be like, that's so jo, that's
so because they're bright, they're ostentatious, they're over the top
and ridiculous, but they're cool.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I just need to get you a pair of those
some bright hokahs. What was that?
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I mean, funky stuff is my bier. So yeah, those
are the kind of things like maybe it is just
something that's one of the kind nobody else makes it
like that, or just great customer service, right, that's something
else you think of Chick fil A. It's the my pleasure,
it's the trying to create raving fans. People have loyalty,
strong loyalty to companies like that, and so if you
were to have an issue with one of these admirable companies,
you'd likely find that you were able to get it
(15:10):
resolved without too much trouble, which only adheres you to
that company even more, not necessarily just because they make
cool stuff, but because customer service is at the forefront
of their priority list. And this is what's known as
brand warmth. And the best companies, of course, have this
in spades. A recent white paper found that customers report
feedback to these brands, to these brands that they feel
(15:33):
like they have almost like a friendship or relationship with,
even more than they would to a company they consider
to be uncaring or they're more likely not to just
give feedback, but they're more likely to complain. And so
the reason they complain and don't just offer feedback is
because they know they're going to be shut down cold
if they try to offer constructive criticism. Like you think
about the exact opposite of brand warmth, Matt, you think
(15:53):
probably Comcast, Right, that's probably one of those brands at
least in when.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Not very warm feelings. Yeah, when you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Consumer Reports used to have this blog and they would
identify the worst company in the world every single year,
and Comcast was typically in the top four, often number one.
But think about another brand, maybe, ARII, you're probably gonna
get a fair hearing if you say, based on just
their general policy, but then also based on their warmth
towards their customers. And so I think it makes me think,
(16:21):
don't be afraid to beat this wiki wheel with brands,
especially that you love and admire, and do it in
a feedback oriented approach instead of a complaining sort of approach.
They're often going to respond fondly to that. They're gonna respond.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Well, well, yeah, I mean, I think it has a
lot to do with the fact that when you have
a company or a brand that you love, you want
them to continue to perform. Well, you know, like Kate
recently took the kids to see a movie. They went
to this sort of discount movie theater and she was
just like, this is the first time she had been there,
and she said, we didn't make sure this play sticks around.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I guess they had a deal on Tuesdays. I guess
it was for kids where they get a two dollars movies.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I forget the price, but you get a drink and
a a popcorn, like it's all basically included, and they
count on you doing the upgrade. They count on you
getting like pretzel bites or something like that. But it's like,
oh no, no, you stick with what's included for free.
But it takes supporting those kind of companies. And I
think when folks reach out to brands that they love,
it's in an effort to see them do better, which
makes me think we haven't mentioned this recently, but if
(17:19):
you have feedback for us, of course we would love
to hear from you. Just email us at how tomneypod
at gmail dot com. Because we make mistakes, we don't
always do things perfectly, and we truly are trying to improve,
just like you're trying to run faster jol like, like
there are things and goals that we have set up
before us, and we want to make sure that we're
continuing to deliver a superior podcast where we try to
(17:40):
write out there to every single one of those emails
that comes in, we try to we read something up
on our spam. We read them all, yeah, all the
ones that don't get filtered. We certainly read and not
even go looking in the Gmail spam. Yeah, sometimes heavy
handed with what they consider spam.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
And we'll take we'll take complaint sand feedback either one,
if you've got complain, if you like. There's somebody who
left a review recently, Matt. They said that ouranguage has
gotten more that.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I don't know what we said. Did we let some
slip not that I know, Like I feel like we're
pretty buttoned up when it comes to language. Ear mustol Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So the flip side of the coin is that when
a company tries to sell itself as trustworthy but isn't,
and that's the case for most of the companies that
take that pack. There's a new study that finds that
the use of the word trust in their marketing materials
is associated with worse outcomes. They're the ones that receive
more letters from the SEC asking them for marketing clarity,
(18:31):
or their stock performs more poorly, they pay more in
auditing fees, which of course is not a great sign.
And I've always hated this sort of marketing and more
it's kind of a red flag for me, Like you
can think of just honest Hlary's use car lot, like
the fact that you have to put honest in your name,
it's not a great sign. Or it makes me think
of even like security companies.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Riot or like keeping your family safe.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, and when there are more ambiguous products or services
I guess that are being delivered when trust is the
main reason to do business with them, we would say
be wary because we feel that trust is something that
it's more earned as opposed to something that it's put
out there in marketing materials. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
If you hear like ads for the how of Money
podcast and we're like, trust us. I mean that just
to me, that's like, well, why, I don't know. I
don't know you yet.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Like when companies put that front and center in their
marketing efforts, I'm typically I don't know, I turn away
from that. I think it for some people, maybe that
seems to engender them to the brand. To me, it's
always seemed to the opposite. And it's interesting to see
some of this data that the companies that rely on
that word to try to convince people to do business
with them seem to be more suspect than companies that don't.
(19:42):
So we've got more to get to on this episode,
including we're going to talk about money avoidance and how
it can create bigger problems down the line. We'll talk
about that and more. Right after this, we are back
from the break and it is now time for the
(20:03):
ludicrous headline of the week. This one is from the Journal.
The headline reads, his ex is getting his one million
dollar retirement account. They broke up in nineteen eighty nine.
What do you think about that, Joel? What do you
think of when you hear nineteen eighty nine? I think
you know what I think of? Taylor Swift? Yeah, okay,
that's the only thing you can't think of. Ryan Adams
covered that album. Who's one of my favorite artists? And
(20:24):
now I don't listen to Ryan Adams anymore. He was like,
literally my all time favorite for many years and now
he's following off.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, he didn't make the best choices, but hey, trust him, Joel.
Maybe he's turned things around. So nineteen eighty nine, that
was a long time ago. We are here for this
financial drama that the Journal is reporting. But basically, this
dude named Jeff and his lady friend named Margaret Ladynn.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Except from that's like big Levowski, Right, there's my lady first.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Is from the eighties. That's her name was Margaret. They
dated for a while, and again this is almost forty
years ago, but it was serious enough, at least at
the time where he made her his sole beneficiary on
his retirement account. Granted he didn't have a whole lot
set aside. He was probably just like, oh, I love you,
or maybe I think I do. They just dated for.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Probably had like sixty bucks at the time.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, exactly. But this act that was made back in
nineteen eighty seven, so okay, they dated for a couple
of years. There you go, but it was never updated again,
and now she stands to inherit. I think it was
actually more than the headline reads a million. I think
at this point it's grown to be one point two
or something. Yes, it's significantly more. So. Yeah, lucky for Margaret.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Lucky Margaret for sure.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
And the family, as you would imagine they document in
the story, they're not happy about this, Matt. They're doing
everything they can to try to go into the courts
to get this overturned. Right. And the truth is, though,
like we've said many times before, your beneficiary designation trump's
what your will says, and so even though back in
the day beneficiary designations were made on index cards, you
(21:54):
didn't even do it on the internet because the internet
didn't exist, Like, you couldn't go into Vanguard dot com,
Fidelity dot com updated in mere seconds. Literally you had
to go to like hr and get a new index card. Literally,
his was written on a three and a half by
five inch card, like, hey, hand me that one back,
let me light this one in flames and hand you
another one. That's not how it works anymore.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Fortunately, probably did burn them because folks were smoking in
the office, right.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Exactly along with everything else, mad men Era, Well, let
this be a lesson to us all. It is easier
now than ever before to change your beneficiary, and it
is incredibly important. Think about you know, Jeff's family here
and Margaret's like apparently she wasn't talking to the journal,
but her lawyers like, uh, I mean, clearly he made
her the beneficiary, and so she wants this money and
(22:40):
she's legally entitled to it, and I get by. The
family has has their panties in a lot over this.
They're not very happy. They're trying to pursue legal recourse
to claw this money back, but they just I don't
think there's gonna be much that can be done about this.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It seems it's like it's a fairly ironclad thing. Do
you think she should continue to what does she owe
to the family? Do you think she'd just take my money?
Speaker 1 (23:02):
That's a really tough moral question, and as a judgment,
if it was me, I would feel, really it would
be hard for me to take that money.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I don't think I could. Yeah, I think I would
have to accept for the so I would feel differently.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Okay, So sorry, if one of my ex girlfriends has
done this, you go change your maneficiary so I don't
have to go through this moral quandary.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Okay, So here is there's no family. Well, like you
say family, but it's his two brothers brothers. Yeah, yeah,
so it's not.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Like a wife and kids.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yes, I would feel one hundred percent differently about it
if he had a wife, if he had some kids.
But he just had another girlfriend a little bit further
down the line, and that's it. And so the I'm
just thinking about his brothers, and I can't imagine that
they were counting on this money coming from their brother
when he passed, and so legally, I just feels he's
just it's owed to her, And I don't know. I
(23:46):
think if I was her, it would also depend on
my financial situation. I guess if I was her and
I'm looking at the brothers and maybe they're not in
the best financial situation and I was crushing it, I'd say,
all right, guys, you know what, I totally understand. I'm
not that seems like split sys generous thing to do. Yeah,
there's two brothers, Hey how about we all go one
third in on it. Plus, I guess the brothers are.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Saying, we're doing what he would have wanted. But like,
if you how do you know that?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
How do you know that? Yeah, you can't into it
somebody else's desires and wishes And the fact that he
never married anybody and had a family makes me think, man,
maybe he was always like really torn up about it
Margaret for years, and he left her on there because
he truly wanted her to be set for life, way
off into the future.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
But it is, you know, the ultimate lesson here is,
too is to change your beneficiary on your retirement accounts
to at least log in and look it up and
see you even named anybody because you don't want this
to go through some protracted legal process. Not only does
it mean that the money that you have worked so
tirelessly to save and invest and build up that it
might not go to the person you intend, but also
(24:50):
the people who love you the most have to endure
the process of trying to figure this out after your passing.
And so make it easy on that.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Make it clear. Yea, yeah, totally. So what's going on
here basically is inertia bias, which is a totally underestimated,
underrated behavioral economics term. And when it comes to your
wealth building journey, the things that we put in motion
have a significant impact as to what it is that
we continue to do. Just like in just case, he
didn't change his beneficiary. He did that once and that
(25:18):
just kind of carried on through his entire life.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Is exactly the approach of most people. They signed on
to their retirement plan, they name a beneficiary, and then they.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Out of sight. It's a natural because yeah, you don't
want to have to necessarily revisit those things. But automation
is one of the things that can help us to
overcome these human tendencies where you're able to make a
one time smart decision that reduces the need for ongoing
self discipline basically, and the same is true for automatic enrollment,
which is now the default in retirement plans leading up
(25:47):
to twenty twenty five, when the Secure Act two point
zero automatic contribution mandate fully kicks in. The standard contribution
percentage used to be three percent, but many companies have
gone ahead and made six percent default contribution for new hires.
This is according to data from Vanguard, which means that
not only are folks now investing in their four to
(26:07):
one k because that's the default, they're now auto investing
at a higher percent of pay which is amazing. This
is something that we love to see.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
And again we talk about how people, at least speaking
for myself, knowing myself, a little lazy tendency to procrastinate,
and so whatever I sign on and I see my
first paycheck, it doesn't matter if I'm contributing three or
six percent. For most people, they're not even real they
don't even realize how much is going out, and they
get used to that paycheck, and so whatever that default is,
(26:37):
it's going to stay that way. Most people aren't going
to go in there and change it unless they're their
proactive type to increase their contributions. So interestingly enough, Vanguard
also found that the average annual four oh one K
contribution rate is eleven point seven percent of pay. So
there are people who aren't just taking that automatic six
which is a great baseline. They're going in and they're
contributing even more to those retirement accounts, more than ever
(26:59):
in human history, which is awesome. And a big part
of that, by the way, is that default contribution rate
going up, that many employees who would otherwise likely be
contributing nothing are now stocking away. And Matt, I think
that there's a lot that's made been made over the
years about people not making enough to invest. It's not
always that people don't have the money to put into
the retirement account though right they often could if they
(27:21):
had the education and maybe the spark.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
But you're just doing other things with their money, yep.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
And because like I said, if they got the smaller
paycheck from the day one, they wouldn't realize any difference,
and then they'd find just sublimely later down down the
line that they have a significant amount of money saved
up in their retirement accounts.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So I think.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Automatic enrollment and higher automatic contribution amounts are going to
ensure that a whole lot more people are more prepared
for retirement than the otherwise would be. This is great stuff.
This is like societal goodness here, and this is private
companies making helpful decisions and pushing their employees towards better behavior.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
That's right, man, All right, let's talk about interpersonal financial
issues because money avoidance within relationships can create tension, you
can create ongoing problems. This is literally why we talk
about talking about money, and it's.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
Also why we've had so meta but it is necessary.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
We've had a whole lot of different folks on the show,
like financial therapists specifically in order to address some of
these underlying issues. Like so, for instance, if you've had
like traumatic money experience, like you're not necessarily going to
get past that just because you learned about the reality
of compounding returns, you've learned about the twenty five times
your annual expenses rule.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah, it takes talking through.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Some of the issues that you might have. And there's
a new report from experts over at Cornell and Yale,
and they find that not unexpectedly, that people don't broach
the topic of money with their significant other because they're
nervous it's going to cause a fight. It's the literal
anticipation of conflict that causes them to shove their concerns
under the rug. And as we all know, of course,
(28:59):
that's not helpful.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Just to be assuming things under the rug isn't a
good thing.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Map exactly. That's when my wife tells me to clean,
that's what I do, and she's like, it look so
clean down here, and I'm like, don't lift the rug up.
You can't kick the ice cube under the fridge. That's allowed.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Yeah, that happens all the time in our house too. Yeah,
you're right. They it's that anticipation, like if I bring
this up, it's going to cause stress, it's going to
cause an emotional reaction from my partner or something like that.
So why don't I just not tackle the subject at all?
Mum's the word. And I think the first problem here
is that you're assuming that a fight is going to
(29:30):
occur if you bring up the topic. The truth is
it might not. And the second you're only setting yourself
up for future failure because at some point there's the
big lump under the rug because you sweep more and
more stuff underneath it, and then the lump has to
be addressed, and it's become a more tenuous situation. The
longer you neglect anything, the worse the problem tends to get.
It's true with your health, your money, your relationship issues,
(29:53):
and so I don't think it means you have to
force the issue in the heat of the moment, like
all right, well, tempers are, how right, now, let's talk
about all of our worst money mistakes. The key, though,
is to have those conversations more regularly when the stakes
are lower. So using your goals and your dreams to
jumpstart a money conversation, not harping on the mistakes of
(30:14):
the person you love. That will set the tone for
a better conversation that can move you forward in a
positive manner. So like making changes to for spending habits,
for instance, it's easier to do when there's something bigger
that you're aiming for together, when you're on the same
page and you're like, yeah, let's cut out of this
some of the silly spending that we've been doing, because
there are bigger fish we have the fry, there are
(30:36):
bigger things we want to tackle and accomplished together, and
so when the setting is calm and you're both ready
for and expecting the conversation. I think you can make
a lot of progress. And I think we want like
a money date right there.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
One of the tip is to get it on the calendar,
to say, listen, I know now is not actually the
best time, but what if next Friday night we put
it on the calendar and instead of going out, we
still we opened a nice bottle of the line and
we talk about some of these money things. I've got
a few things I want to tackle, and you just
create an environment, a soft environment, to have some of
those discussions, because avoiding the topic altogether sure isn't going
(31:11):
to fix anything.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Yeah. Or it doesn't have to be a bottle of
nice one. It can just be some PBR if that's
more your speed.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I'm not against it, but I usually save that for
music shows these days.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
True. Okay, while we're talking about relationships, let's talk about
something that the Times documented, which is how Koreans are
combining saving money and friendship in something that is called
a k moyeme. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
Oh, and by the way, this is near and dear
to your heart. Because you are of Korean descent, have sees.
I saw this and I was like, friendship koreanness, it
could be more. Matt's got Matt written all over it. Literally,
Kate and I. So we had our week Kimchi on
your Sabit, our weekly date night.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Last night, and we hit up a new Korean pop
up here in town that and they're going to open
in the fall. It was very good. I am curious
to see how American palettes to some legit Korean food.
Though Kate and I loved it, I'm curious to try it. Actually,
I snuffed a picture of the menu and send it
to my mom and she was very happy. I'm so
happy you have a place to go with you and
your family. It's awesome. But basically what these are, they're
(32:13):
essentially like a savings bucket. They're like sinking funds that
you contribute to monthly alongside your friends in order to
save for shared or common mutual goals you might have.
And so not only are you able to say, for
let's say, a shared experience like this can be something
as big as a vacation or even as small as
a barbecue. But many said that the mutual goal and
(32:35):
the repeated savings it kept their friendship close as well,
which is really fascinating. Do you think this is something
that could work here in the States? Drole.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I don't know. I don't know if we have the
cultural ability. Like it's very different sensibilities over there than
it is here. We're so much more individualistic.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
But I like kind of suffered to do some of
these more collective action things here in the US with
so with so much diversity, right, Like you go to
a well even articulture that's plants or whatever, but like
you go to somewhere like the culture is so homogenous,
it's easier to implement things. It makes me think of
like the different studies coming out of Scandinavia and it's like, well, yeah,
you can pull off taxes like that. There are expected
(33:10):
more's and norms that allow that to work, whereas in
the US it's a little more different.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
They tout the public education in Finland as being top notch,
and you're like, yeah, there's four million people like and
they're they're more similar. We're a melting pot. It's it's
much it's a much more difficult things that task that
we have at hand. And you're right, I like this,
and I think there are probably ways that we can
adopt it to our own friend groups. And I think
really too, what they're saying is like the I don't know,
having something that you're building towards with other people, it
(33:37):
can keep those relationships intact for listener, high school friends.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Accountability, and I think that's a big part of it.
But I do I think it can be done with
closer friends because that's what's required because since we do,
since we all do have various backgrounds. If you it
means though that like your friendship of that core group
needs to be incredibly healthy, which means you're talking about
important issues but not limited to your personal finances, because
(34:02):
that means you are able to work towards something. And
in my mind that is the biggest hurdle because as
we've seen over I mean what it was all the
research pointing to declining rates of close friendships and so
we're not connected more than anything. That's probably what's going
to keep folks from doing that. But then I've maybe
the argument could also be made that, hey, you don't
have to have that before you do this. Maybe by
implementing this sort of like what you're saying, that can
(34:24):
allow folks to I don't know, it could draw people closer.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
So maybe you don't have to create your own de
moin did I say right close? Close enough? Maybe you
don't have to create that, but maybe it is anything
you can do to kind of spur on personal finance
conversations and creating more talking about things that matter more
than just what you watched on TV. All the Bears great,
I agree, but still there are better things worth talking about.
(34:48):
And it's interesting to see how the kind of the
bondedness you can feel actually money with. Katie had a
great article recently, Matt just about the fact that we
pay for everything in our culture these days and we
don't rely on our friendship to the same extent.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I think she's spot on.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
I think that is something that we just asking for
a favor from a friend, like we're so reticent, so
hesitant to do that. But that's what builds community, that's
what builds a real relationship. And we've commoditized everything and
they're downside to that.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Yeah, there are all right, that's gonna be it. Though
for today's Friday flight, we hope you have a fantastic
weekend and we'll see you back here on Monday. Reach
out to us hown Moneypod at gmail dot com. If
you have some feedback, if you've got nothing but good
things to say, share it with the world over at
Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. But buddy,
let's get out of here. Until next time, Best friends out,
(35:34):
Best friends Out,
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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