October 3, 2025 • 37 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:
- Government shutdown
- Streaming price hikes
- Underwater autos
- Best high mileage vehicles
- Car insurers that have your back
- Freelancers FTW
- Side hustle scams
- E-fund idiocy
- Employer matched savings
- Employer provided financial advice
- TrumpRx
- Pharma ads
Want more How To Money in your life? Here are some additional ways to get ahead with your personal finances:
- Knowing your ‘money gear’ is a crucial part of your personal finance journey. Start here.
- Sign up for the weekly HTM newsletter. It’s fun, free, & practical.
- Join a thriving community of fellow money in the HTM Facebook group.
- Massively reduce your cell phone bill each month by switching to a discount provider like Mint Mobile.
And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money. Have an awesome weekend!
Best friends out!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel, I am Matt,
and today we're talking about underwater autos, freelancing for the win,
and E fund idiocy.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
E fund idiocy.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
That will most likely be our ludicrous headline of the
week that we'll get to today.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Joel, We're gonna take some other financial influencer to task
on that one.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Indeed, Oh, we don't have anything here about the government shutdown.
Maybe we should say something about that. How at least
at the time of this recording, we are, I guess
on day three of the government shut down. Toilets are
perhaps overflowing in national parks a terrible site to or
the toilets are closed completely. I went by our National
Battlefield Park the other day to go for a run.
Do they mark the doors were closed? Nobody at home.
(01:02):
I had to pee, so said to go on, I
should have go on the trail like I mean, don't
don't wrap me up. You should be doing that anyway, right,
you come on, you're out like out there in the
middle of the woods. It's not like you're at some
highly congested You've got to do it very popular. You
got to do it in an unpopulated spot.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Do what you gotta do.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah, but I can't imagine this is going to stretch
on for for.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
All that I hope not. Yeah, we have listeners and
friends who are are impacted by this, and we're gonna
talk about emergency funds later on, and I don't just
makes you take it. Two things you can do about this.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
One is the case for an emergency fund.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, the more money you have in savings,
the there's still the psychological impact and the the maybe
frustration right with the fact that it comes to this,
and that that the looming government shutdown threat is seems
like it's perpetually upon us. It's not often we get
to this point in the process, but sure my heart
(01:57):
goes out to all you folks out there who are having.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Folks who are impacted, who are not getting paid, who
are furloughed and still expected to come to work.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You know, I said, I don't think it's going to
stretch on, but it might because of the fact that
folks are taking they're using this, you know, they're trying
to use this as like a political bludgeon.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It makes me think.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Of so have you have you heard of the economic problem?
The chess piece fallacy.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
It basically.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Adam Smith I think originally, but then Thomas sol popularized it.
But it talks about how if you're a policymaker, you
think that like, oh well, we can just try this out,
we can experiment, maybe we'll end up breaking things and
we'll learn from that, which I understand when you are
talking about like, well, in this case, so a chess piece,
you're essentially the mastermind and you're moving the pieces around
and you're playing this very elaborate game. But in this case,
(02:46):
we're not talking about a game with no stakes, like
we are talking about individuals' lives, like people's livelihoods, and
that's when people start to revolt. That's when people get
upset if they have.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
The misrent payment or afford to go on the trip,
that they even just like putting food on the table.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
It has so it has all these unintended consequences that
when you discount how it impacts individuals lives, there's a
problem there essentially. So it also makes me think about
like when when Elon came in and bought bought Twitter
slash the workforce broke code and like that is a
very maybe it shouldn't be a chess piece fallacy. It
should be like a programmer fallacy, because that's how programmers think.
(03:24):
That's what I've been told. I'm not a program myself.
But you go in, you break things, you try things out,
and then you just put it back to get it
back to working. But you can't necessarily. It's a lot
hard to do that with individuals lives again, when people
are being impacted in a significant way for some individuals
out there.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Agreed, All right, Vosh, we'll get to the Friday flight.
Let's let's do it. Sampling of stories we found interesting
this week. Let's start off talking about streaming. Streaming price
hikes are of course coming down the pike with regularity.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I think Apple TV Plus is that what they call theirs, Matt.
I think they've had a price hike every year for
the last three years, which is interesting because I don't
feel like they've got a lot of stuff for you
to watch on it, like they've got the best stuff?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Do they? Severance?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Okay, Severance was one. I still haven't seen that one.
You've told me it's so good, it's so good. It
just feels like they have so little uh for you
to interest me.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
But if it really counts the stuff that they do
put out there and does is that enough to win
you over?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, that's what That's why I feel like HBO has
been so good at is Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I think that's the model that Apple's trying to trying
to go with, although I will say at the end
of the last season it does lead some questions where
you're just like, oh, come on, I don't want to
put any spoilers. One.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I'm guessing where they go, and I'm guessing you've canceled
Apple TV Plus at this point because you're done with
severance and you'll sign up again later. Of course, So
the the cheap prices of early streaming days, they're just
in the rear view mirror completely at this point right
where you.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Can just keep it around even when the season's over.
You can, but like you way more than you need to.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And so Disney just notified subscribers that they're going to
be ramping up the prices of Disney Plus Hulu plans,
and uh, the price acts are just going to keep coming.
Why are they going to keep coming? Well, it's because
consumers aren't really changing their habits. They're not canceling in
the numbers that are impacting the streaming services to a
meaningful degree. There's this new credit Karma survey and it
(05:14):
found that streaming is at the very top of non
essential priorities in people's budgets in their lives. So it's
this really sticky service that people aren't willing to do without.
The streaming companies know this, and they're taking full advantage.
So I know that price hex can be frustrating. People
get that email and they're like, again, really, you're going
(05:34):
to up the price and you haven't really added much
more good stuff for me to check out, So but
I don't know, they just stay with it anyway. People
take this lying down it seems. I think there are
some pros and cons of being out of the cable
TV era. The early streaming days, though Matt, seemed to
be the best of times, and now we're entering this
(05:54):
period of time where streaming is more competitive, just as
bad as cable in so many ways. The only way
we as individuals can get the best get the most
bang for our buck is to I think, sign up
for services when we're going to use them, cancel when
we're not, and just be more thoughtful in general about
what we're subscribing to and when.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Totally yes, And actually I just said that it's more competitive,
it's actually less competitive because when it was more competitive,
when Netflix was the big player on the scene when
they do you remember back when they won their first
Emmy or Golden Globe or I don't know, it was
just a massive deal, like they swept the awards that year.
It's like, oh, wow, they are a legitimate studio.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
They're on the scene.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yes, yeah, And so back in those days when there
was more competition, I think all of these streamers, well
they were willing to offer their services for a lot
less as they're trying to gobble up market share. But
it's less competitive now and they're all kind of sitting back,
they're getting comfortable. They're trying to increase that profit share,
increase those margins.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
But yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So we just canceled Disney Disney Plus, which is was
kind of a mainstay for us because we wanted to
watch something on Netflix, and so I was what I said,
was like, Hey, what we're going to do here, We're
going to implement the classic one in, one out, Like though,
if you're trying to manage your closet, like manage your
wardrobe instead of just letting them proliferate. Yeah, well, so
you kind of have to do that with your closet,
(07:12):
right because you are literally going to run out of space.
I think that's one of the one of the benefits
of doing that, not just letting it get get so overcrowded.
But when it comes to these digital streaming services, these
digital products, what is it cluttering up?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah? Nothing, you just continue to yes.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, And so you were just you were out the
money and you don't realize how many of these that
you've accumulated. There's no physical, tangible response mechanism that's telling you, oh,
you have too many of these. Typically, when it comes
to digital stuff like the more options we have, the better.
But in this case, uh yeah, I guess you could
have them all, but it's going to cost you a ton.
You truly are back into the cable bundling days when
(07:51):
you were paying for everything. But that's what's so beautiful
about streaming is that you have the ability to very
easily drop one of the streamers after a couple that
once that show's over.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well, Peloton just announced in the middle of the week
as well that they're increasing their prices for folks who
have a bike and they like to work out on
it or whatever. And I think I talked recently on
the show not too long ago about buying a used
peloton for my wife who likes to jump on it
and do her thing. You get her spin on. Yeah,
but they're going from forty five bucks a month to
(08:22):
fifty bucks a month and five bucks not a biggie,
that's what Yeah, that's what you say. But like, I'm
not a frog in the boiling water. At some point,
we're jumping out, and she was like, she came to
me before I even said anything, because I'm trying not
to cause marital strife. And she was like, man, I'm
so mad that they raised the price. I think I'm
going to cancel for a while. And I was like,
because she's like, I'm never using it. She's a member
(08:43):
of another gym as well, and it's like the price
per use just went up. I'm not using it as
much as i'd like to. So they all hop on
still use it but not pay for the service. I'm like,
all right, fine with me. So what's the benefit of
the service. The fact that you've got like the screen
and you got somebody encouraging you. That's music playing the
actual class and the metrics and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
There's got to be some online free YouTube channels that
you can pull up where you're listening to this very
similar kind of deal having to pay for.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
It, right, Well, yeah, there's ads. Yeah. And then like
there was a we were doing some of the stretching
classes the peloton, but I was like, I've got some
great YouTube videos that are one hundred percent free. You
don't need I mean, they're not live classes even they're
like pre recorded. We were just doing the same one
over and over. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well that's the thing.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Like, now you've learned how to do it and you've
internalized it, you don't need someone to guide you through
that anymore. Like you are your own stretching Shirpa. Let's
talk about owning a vehicle, because trading in a car
it's fraught with so much financial peril. First of all,
when you trade in instead of selling that car outright
to an individual, you risk getting a lot less than
(09:47):
it's worth listing it yourself. Putting in a bit more,
a little bit more effort, taking the pictures, scheduling the meetups,
it could net you thousands of additional dollars.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Doing the hassle thing. It's worth it. It takes a
little more work.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
But one of the worst financial moves though, that you
can make is to upgrade your ride and then trade
in a car that you are underwater on. But Americans
are doing it like it's their job. More than a
quarter of trade ins today are being done by folks
with negative equity who owe more on that car than
it's actually worth, often by like many thousands of dollars,
(10:23):
which is man, that's very frightening.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I think the average underwater amount is over six thousand dollars.
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I was talking to somebody this week and they had
a friend who traded in a car that was like
thirty grand underwater, which that's insane. Punch me in the face.
It's all your stuff like that. It makes me so sad.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
It also isn't all that surprising given the price of vehicles, right, Like,
you buy a brand new eighty thousand dollars nice you know,
luxury suv, it's probably not going to take that long
for you. If you have these payments that are stretched
out in two three years. Like there's a very good
chance that you're going to owe more on that.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Thing, yeah, than what it's actually worth. You're exactly right,
it's the cost of the car. But it's also, like
you just the length of the car loan itself, and
so you are making such a small dent in those
first couple of years on the actual I mean, you're
paying down the principle, but because you've stretched it out
from like let's say forty eight months four years to
something like eighty four months, it's just taking so much longer.
(11:17):
And if in three years time you get tired of
that car and you're like, oh, it's not for me
to upgrade, well, you've paid so much less of that car,
and so you are of course going to have negative equity,
and then you roll it into the next loan and
you've got a giant loan. You're way upside down on
the next car, only compounding the problem making it worse.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So yeah, personally, I'm going to say no car loan,
but I know some folks are. They're not in the
situation to where they've got the money on you, right,
I should be able to cover that.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
You and I were typically fans of that right only
buy a car if you have the cash or save
up longer. And if you don't agree with us or yeah,
you are in that position, just make sure you don't
take out a loan that's longer than forty eight months
ideally forty two or less. Cause yeah, like driving a
car with negative equity, it's not ideal, but it's not
the worst thing in the world as long as you
can hold on to it. If you really want to
(12:05):
upgrade your ride, but you just aren't in the financial
position to do that, truly, wait longer. That is the
solution here. And by the way, matt I See Cars
released its list of the vehicles that are most likely
to last two hundred and fifty thousand miles. That's not
sure that most people want to go there, I do.
I'm probably not doing that with both the cars that
we currently own. I'm getting so close to two hundred
(12:28):
k with the with the Honda, Yeah, I work, you're
beyond us. I think we're at like one eighty and
my other cars like one seventy one, but we're like
one ninety two. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Hey, like I don't want to put the miles on,
but every time it gets closer, it just it makes
me so happy, it's inevitable, it's gonna happen. Okay, But
you know, you know the brand that was number one
on that list, it's oh yeah, yea. You don't even
have to like read it like a long shot.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, yeah. This is like they said that Toyotas are
what three point seven times more likely to last two
hundred fifty thousand miles than any other car manufacturer. Lexis
and Honda were right up there too, but it's like
Toyota's were like by a long shot, crushing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Basically, Toyota, Toyota, and Lexis are like one and two
then Handa and makes yeah, and Hannah makes accurate, So
they're basically first, Toyota's first, Hanna's second. You know what
I thought was so fascinating that was basically next on
the list Tesla, which got me thinking, like, it makes
so much sense given the fact that there are so
many fewer moving parts. It would not surprise me if
(13:27):
over the years we see the share of Tesla's that
are on the road, that you are able to keep
those around for much longer periods of time because of
the fact that it's just an electric An electric motor
is a very efficient durable like mechanical device, and yeah,
it makes all the makes all the sense in the world.
I thought it was very humorous to see that the
(13:48):
cars that had a zero percent chance two hundred and
fifty k. It's not surprising. It was like Jaguar Mini Cooper,
which that one actually kind of surprised me. I thought
menis were a little more. They just seem to have
such a fan base.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, you know, but I don't think it's because they're reliable.
I guess not. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And when I say Jaguar Mini and like Maserati or
something like that, okay, yeah, which you've got a couple
of those.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, yeah, a few of those.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I know, Hey, I'm only going to hit fifty thousand
on those bad right exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
So I guess when it comes down to it, that's
one of the key ingredients too, in being able to
hold onto your car longer is to get something that's reliable.
And you can go in to consumer reports and you
can dig in and see what makes and models in
years have like the highest reliability ratings, or you can
even just take this generic ICEE car survey and be like,
I guess I'm getting a Toyota Rohanda.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, car reliability matters, dude. Let's talk about car insurance.
So we obviously talk a lot about saving money, but
getting the lowest possible price, it's not always the goal.
We talk about frugal versus cheap moves when it comes
to car insurance. We want to get value for the
money that we're paying, and that is particularly true here.
It doesn't matter how much you save on premiums if
(14:59):
your insurance company actually won't pay your claim, or if
they're impossible to deal with, if you can't get them
to respond to any calls consumer reports. They released a
list of insurance companies who have the best record of
paying claims and two the were ones that we've talked
about on the show before. Amika USAA. There's a new
(15:20):
one that I never heard before. Erie er I E yeah,
and evidently they are pretty tops as well. Only downside,
they're only in like ten states in the country. But
if you have access to Erie, check them out, but
otherwise shop around get quotes, but specifically from these insurance
companies that tend to rate more highly.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
This is like an interesting one because you and I
we talked about shopping on insurance to save money, and
we think there's a lot of wisdom to that, but
you just have to be careful because there are kind
of like fly by night insurance companies, and then there
are also It's kind of like we answered a question
recently about renting from one of those super cheap car
rental companies, you po car and you have to be
(16:01):
careful in that, and the same thing is true with
getting that insurance. It's like, it's best to get that
policy from a company who's reliably pays out claims. That's
kind of what Consumer Reports was getting out here. They
rank them in order, and it's worth taking a look
and seeing where your insurance company falls because you might
(16:22):
you might be like, yeah, they're saving me a little
bit of money, but if I do get into a
situation where I have to file a claim, they're going
to like put me through the ringer and that'll be
super frustrating.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yep, car insurance seems like an industry a market that
needs disrupting. Let's talk about jobs, because the market's been
getting worse and worse sadly. But we've got one piece
of advice that might help folks out there who might
be looking for another job or you know, like whether
you are out of work or maybe you're you're still
employed and you're looking for a new job. And that
is that freelance and contract positions might make more sense
(16:53):
than a traditional W two full time employ like employment
job that you might be used to. And this is
for a number of reasons. First of all, it might
be easier to get in the door hiring someone on
a contract basis. It can be easier for employers. I
think this is especially true given the uncertainty that businesses
have seen with Terris right, Like, that's one of the
(17:15):
downsides is when you don't if you can't look ahead
to the future and forecast what the industry is going
to look like, you're less prone to make investments in
your business, which one of the biggest investments you can
make is human capital.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Of those employers are saying, hey, we need to hire somebody.
We're not off from the full time furlough on new
hires a contract position because it's just it's a less
embedded relationship.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, so I totally get it from the employer's standpoint,
but as an employee, for you out there looking to
get a new job, it can often lead to that
full time job, that full time work there in the future,
you're getting your foot in the door, you're making these relationships.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
This is all clutch, and you.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Can also potentially start at a higher hourly rate. A
lot of times that's because you're not getting the other benefits,
so they are trying to offset, they're trying to compensate
a little bit for the fact that you're not getting
some of these additional benefits. Yeah, we're talking health insurance
as well. That's probably one of the biggest ones. It's
not cheap. That being said, your increased pay, that higher
hourly rate might be worth it. So it makes me
(18:14):
think something to consider one.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Of our friends who got laid off and then he
ended up getting contract work with the company that just
let him go, and because of that, his hourly rate
went up meaningfully because he doesn't have access to those benefits.
And so for a lot of folks, let's say, especially
if you have health insurance, you can get coverage through
a partner or something like that, maybe it's the best
(18:38):
of both worlds. But I think you're right, Matt, just
for some people maybe considering more some of those freelance
and contract positions instead of just looking for that full
time benefits included. A job might make sense, especially right now,
but contract work is different than signing up for a
side hustle. You and I we have discussed our feelings
(18:59):
about side hustle. Don't remember the episode number, but we
talked about kind of the nefarious what do we call it?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Some of them with that episode.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, but the side hustles can be nefarious, and part
of the reason is because, yeah, they can be a
great way to make cash quickly, but they're not typically
a great long term solution for people's finances. Another problem, though,
that we're seeing is a rise in side hustle scams,
and we'll link to a great Yahoo Finance post about
the red flags to watch out for. But if you
(19:28):
are in a pinch job wise, which more and more
people are finding themselves in right now, be careful before
taking a gig based on a text that you receive
or a social media post that you saw, and don't
ever sign up for a side hustle that comes with
upfront costs. That is a massive red flag right to
get scams. Oh yeah, hey, we'd love to give you
(19:48):
this job, but you have to pay some money for
training or for equipment that you need in order to
be able to do this job from your home. Even
if they offer to send a check to cover those costs,
because the check, of course turns out to be frau vigil,
you're out the money. And it just seems like we're
seeing a rise inside hustle scams right now. So and
especially with people looking for employment and some folks getting desperate,
(20:11):
be on the lookout for that.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Even I saw another story, I think it was last
week where a lady was scammed via a job that
she was hired for, like over on LinkedIn. So like
it's not just the air and email that shows up
out of nowhere, but also somewhere that you feel like.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
It feels like one of the brighter.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Sunnier corners of the Internet, like a trusted site, and
you can still find scammy postings there. Yeah, but we've
got more to get to. We're going to talk about
the cost of drugs and plenty more on today's Friday flight.
But first some ads, thanks.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
For sticking with us on this Friday flight. We've got
more to get to. We are going to talk about drugs, specifically,
not good our ex Matt, but Trump, our ex we'll
talk about that. It's a real thing. It's happening. Well,
the first, let's to the ludacrous headline of the week.
This one comes from Yahoo Finance and it reads Grant
Cardon calls the concept of emergency savings a bank myth.
(21:09):
And I'm not sure if everyone listening is familiar with
this real estate influencer, Grant Cardon. He's kind of a
brash fella. I don't know much.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
About I know the name, but was he on TV?
Did he have like a TV show?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I don't even know. Okay, I think maybe, but I
just know that, like so he's just there on lander webs. Yeah,
he's one of the biggest influencers in the real estate space,
and a lot of what he says doesn't really jibe
with me, probably because we have different goals but also
different philosophies. And sometimes this is just the case. Also
in people who are super duper into real estate, they
(21:42):
can just be tough to listen to because they think
that real estate is the answer to every single problem.
And this guy in particular, it's kind of hard for
me the stomach, But they often real estate people. You
and I are real estate investors. Map but that's only
a part of what we do. Or real estate light, Yeah,
real estate light and so. But a lot of people
(22:02):
who go heavy into that space they basically think that,
you know, basic personal finance knowledge and hygiene aren't really
that important. Real estate's going to solve all the problems.
And Grant Cardon's premise is that saving money is a
trick the banks are playing on us, and that going
to work, he says, is the key to getting by
if stuff hits the fan. That's clearly what about if
(22:24):
you can't work, I know, right, yeah, what if you
get injured or what?
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Sometimes that's why you need an emergency fund, Why you
need some cash in the bank.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
No, that's good.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
I mean you can always just like turn like turn
on the you know, like the works bigot.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And receive cash. It seems kind of ludicrous that he
would say this, especially given all the studies that have
been done about the mental benefit and the real personal
finance benefit that people gain by having an emergency fund
at at their disposal, And just by looking at my
own life and history and other people that I know,
it's like the momssif fund comes in clutch sometimes for people, right, Ye,
(22:58):
you probably don't need a whole year cash on hand.
There's been more people saying that lately. But and I
do think maybe if I'm going to be the most
generous interpretation of what Grant Cardone is saying, maybe maybe
what he's trying to say is that, well, people tend
to over index into savings and they don't invest when
they should be. They're too much, they're shoveling too much
money into their savings accountant, not enough into their four
(23:20):
one k's iras or into real estate investments. That's just
being generous. But I don't think that's what he's saying.
But and that can be true. There are some people
who do over index to savings, and yeah, you don't
need a year of savings built up before you start investing,
but still having some liquid cash on hand, it's a necessity.
It always has been, always will be.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
I just think he's out of touch with like the
common person out there who like runs into cashlow issues,
and like when you've got tons of real estate, yes,
like you have the ability to tap these other investments,
and you've got private equity and just ways of acquiring
just getting your hands on money, that's not that's not
where most Americans are man So because of that, the
basic emergency fund, which we've updated because originally it was
(24:04):
two thousand and four or sixty seven dollars back in
the day, and withflation, that dollar amount is now three
forty five dollars. So remember that thirty forty five.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
And I do think probably he is out of touch
because I remember seeing an article in the Wall Street
Journal or New York Times about his like super super
fancy house on the beach in Malibu.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Oh okay, yeah, I'm like, okay, all that fits with you,
that guy. Okay, exactly, congrats exactly. But so I just
said the specific dollar amounts that you need to set
aside for an emergency fund, and it turns out that
is key when it comes to growing your emergency fund quickly.
You need to set a specific goal. So that's the
first step, and then the second step is to put
that goal, that specific amount, like constantly in front of you,
(24:45):
like we're talking like a sticky note on your bathroom mirror,
putting a note up on.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
The fridge, the dash of your car.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
And certainly try to find the most painless ways to
cut back first, but then start making some harder moves
like finding ways to just like eating out lest maybe
maybe you haven't bounced around your insurance a little bit
and you're way over paying. There are more difficult steps
that take a little bit more time to ensure that
you're spending less money to where you're allowing yourself to
build up that emergency fund more quickly. But those two
(25:14):
steps specifically identifying your the dollar amount three forty five
dollars and then reminding yourself of it, that comes from
friend of the show Katie Milkman, who is brilliant. Those
are great tips. But I will say I think in
addition to that, I think what's going to cement it
for a lot of people is once they actually have
that emerency fund on hand and then they use it,
(25:34):
they find themselves in a situation to where they're like, oh,
I knew that the roof was going out, and I
had some money set aside there, but I thought it
was only gonna be nine thousand dollars. Turns out as
twelve thousand dollars. Oh, I got some extra money here.
Like experiencing the like the sigh of relief that you
get to like that you get to exhale knowing that
you're not having to put it on credit cards still
(25:56):
where you're paying over twenty percent because you aren't financially
prepared for the emergency room visit, right, Like, no one
expects that, but if you find yourself in a pinch, like,
that's what people have to rely on, and that's what
we're trying to get folks to avoid. It's not that
I don't even care that people. I don't want you
to have tons of money in your savings account, not
because you could be doing smarterer things without money. It's
because it's not about the money. It's about the relief.
(26:17):
It's about the PM worry. Yeah, yeah, the piece that
that's going to allow you to then be able to
focus on the things that are more important than life.
We don't want you obsessing over your dollars. It's about life.
It's about what you can then turn your attention to
what you can then focus on that's so much more important.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
I've had a couple of conversations recently with some real
estate investors and just who are friends, and I've been like,
there's some tough times happening right now in the multifamily
and commercial realty spaces right now. For people who have
investments that they've made, they are finding that the numbers
(26:53):
aren't nearly as good as they had projected. And when
you're thinking about that, like you need what do you
need to be able to hang on to investment? You
need liquidity, right, And so it's even as a real
estate investor who you can project the best numbers, but
if they don't come to pass the way you hoped
they would, you need to have cash in the bank
to be able to allow you to make it through,
(27:14):
so you don't have to fire sale and completely mess
your finances up in the process. So, especially as a
real estate investor, that doesn't eliminate you, I don't think
from the need for having an emergency fund. I think,
in fact, it makes it potentially even more.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Important, not for the individuals out there, but for the
quote unquote savvy folks out.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
There as well. By the way, some employers are being
more helpful in the area of helping people garner a
bigger emergency fund, which is kind of cool. And this
is kind of a self interested play as well, right
that these employers realize that their employees are potentially like
living on the financial precipice and they're stressed about it,
(27:53):
and because of that, they're less productive in their job.
That not having savings it takes a mental toll. So
there are new fintech companies springing up. There's one called
secure Save. There was an article just written about them,
and they're making it easier for employers to offer a
match towards emergency savings, which is just this benefit for
(28:13):
people to incentivize something that is going to help the
employee and the employer. Makes sense, man, Yeah, and I
don't necessarily think it's the employer's job. I think it's
our job. But it's also cool to see that employer.
Some employers are responding and they're being like, actually, why
not We realize that this is like a goal you
should be tackling, but why don't we help you out
with it because it's a win win it's in our
best interest too. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Well, on a similar note, worker satisfaction is being tied
to being offered financial advice from their employers. So not
only do they want the good benefits like health coverage,
a nice four win K match, and maybe now an
emergency fund match, but they want money advice money help
as well, whether it's access to budgeting software out there
(28:56):
or just even engaging content. Man, this makes me think
about we've done seminars companies out there to help teach
their employees about money, which is a ton of fun
and it is very very cool to see folks engage
and asking great questions. You as an individual, you can't
rely on your employer to, I think, play this role
in your life. But man, I think given the poor
state of personal finance education in the country, I'm for
(29:18):
helpful instruction, like from wherever it comes from. It makes
me wonder if more folks were talking about personal finance
like back in the day, because there is certainly a
demand for it, So like where was the supply, like,
and we're providing the supply now, yeah, and companies are
doing that. We're definitely we're trying to but like, yeah,
it makes me wonder, like we're folks more willing to
(29:39):
talk about their personal finances back in the day and
has it become more private over the past twenty years
show I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I think a lot of it comes down to at
a complexity and personal finances have just become there's just
a lot more to wade through, to think through, and
I think it's just used to be less complex back
in the day, which made maybe maybe made some of
this content a little bit less necessary.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
But we live in a more complex, optimized world, and
so as companies are looking to grow their margins, grow
their profits, a lot of times what that means is
folks potentially overpaying for products for services, not investing as
well as it could be.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
And we've had a proliferation of options for people, right,
so it's this we're entering into this like Walmart sized
grocery store instead of like an all they sized grocery
store with like minimal choices, and it's just, man, I
think there's overload for people trying to figure out their finances,
and so we want to at least here, we want
to simplify things and help help folks make those most
(30:36):
important decisions. That's what we're doing with us.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
We're trying to do at least all.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Right, let's talk about prescription drugs. We've talked about using
good RX for saving money on websites. I used good
RX the other day at a pharmacy. I told you
should get that rash look at antibiotic for my daughter.
And I went in there and I pulled up good
rx and it saved me I don't know, like three
dollars and fifty cents. It wasn't a ton of money,
but it took me all the fifty three seconds, you know.
(31:02):
But no joke. Trump Ourx is joining the ranks of
discount medicine websites. The Wall Street Journal they love to
jab him right now and they called him the pharmacist
in Chief in one of their recent headlines. And we're
just seeing a unique blend of capitalism and socialism coming
down from the White House these days. The President himself,
(31:24):
i guess, has negotiated deals directly with some drug companies,
specifically Pfizer, to be able to offer discounted medicines to
consumers through trump rx dot com. The details are vague,
so we don't know exactly what this is going to
look like or how much savings people are going to
be able to realize. Truly, the threat of tariffs is
ultimately what made this deal happen. Pfizer got like a
(31:46):
three year exemption from the tariffs that are being threatened,
and so this site is set to launch early next year.
We'll be on the lookout for it. I'm curious, Matt,
I am very curious to see what this entails and
how much it can or will help people. How robust
it's going to be. We'll see. I hope it says
people money on expensive drugs, but there's also a lot
of other websites out there that are already making hay
(32:09):
in that space. Cost Plus Drugs, which Mark Cuban launched
a few years back, is a big one in that space.
Doesn't cover everything, that's for sure, but it's a great
place to turn because they have a very costco esque
approach where it's like a fifteen percent markup, which means
that the drugs cost a fraction of what they're going
to cost in a lot of other places that you
(32:29):
that you might turn.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
And the best part is that that was launched by
an individual, you know, capitalism baby, not by the federal government.
And that's the problem. That's what rubs me the wrong
way about going like do I want to see lower
drug prices? Do I want to see lower healthcare prices
for American citizens? Absolutely? But how we get there matters
so much and so on.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
It also feels less like the government, by the way,
and like an individual yeah, you know, which, like it'd
be different if Congress was like, we're going to create
this website and we're going to create some legulation around this.
But it's one individual trying to launch, sure a website
with their name with his name on it. Sure.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yeah, what's the Obamacare equivalent where with his name plastered
on this potential offering for folks. But either way, I
mean in both cases, I still don't like it if
it's coming from the top down, and so on a
similar note, here's a potentially positive note, but we might
be seeing fewer pharma ads on TV. The FDA director
(33:23):
wrote an op ed in The New York Times about
pharmaceutical ads, basically how they run a muck and how
he's planning to rain them in. And the US is
one of the two developed countries in the world that
continues to allow direct advertising from pharmaceutical companies, which is fascinating.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
But New Zealand the other.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah, yeah, Like what is it with us in New Zealand?
Speaker 1 (33:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
And I certainly am totally on board with the fact
that these commercials are annoying.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
They're stupid, they're so silly.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
It's just people like living their best lives and you know,
you spend thirty seconds talking about all the side effect.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Because of this farmer drug. Yeah yeah, and it's like
it makes me happier. I might I kill over instantly
by taking this drug? It was worth it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Yeah, So that the last line in the article was
that the billions of dollars drug companies spent on advertising
it would be better spent a lowering drug prices for
American consumers, which certainly sounds nice.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
But at the same time, I think.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
What you have to ask yourself is where do you
draw the line when it comes to what you're going
to allow your government to decide for you? Right because
and like this is this kind of mirror is the
free speech conversations that we're having these days. It's really
easy when you see something you don't like to say, yeah,
they should shut that down. But what we need to
do is imagine the shoe being on the other foot.
(34:37):
And what we need to be thinking through is imagine
a policy, Imagine a product, something that the government does
or not does, but that's out there that you really like,
and now think, oh, yeah, the folks on the other
side of the aisle are going to say, yeah, let's
shut that down because now we're in power. Is that
the kind of power that we want our federal government
to have. That's why I have such a hard time
(34:57):
with Trump, rx with anything the federal government does. And
I am all for Mark Cuban and all the different
entrepreneurs out there doing awesome things on their own dime.
They're the ones taking the risk as opposed to the government,
the federal government taking the risk. And then and then
us as US citizens as taxpayers, being saddled with the bill.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I will say, the FDA director, he didn't say I'm
going to outlaw them, but what he said was, there's
actually we used to send letters to the pharmaceutical companies
about truth and advertising claims. We don't really send those
letters anymore. We've kind of like the cop isn't on
the beat anymore, and some of the claims being made
are pretty ostentatious, not not aligned with reality. And so
(35:38):
he's saying, we're just gonna be on We're gonna be
on it a little bit more. And I think that's
that's probably.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
That just sounds like, don't make me count to three.
But you know, because then what like, what does it
come down to? It comes down to enforcement, and then
what that costs money. And then at some point you
have to decide what you're gonna allow what you're not
gonna allow, Like I don't again, I'm totally on board
with the fact that these commercials are so stupid. But
let's just make one of them, right, Like, let's make
it similar sway.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
By them, Let's make it so ridiculous in their doctor's
office and they're like, hey, I know, and I think well,
and that the hippocratic gath right, like that falls then
upon the doctors to say, hey, let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
What's actually best for you in this in this scenario.
I understand why that's attractive, but as healthcare professionals, I
think there should be I mean, then there is a
high standard as to what it is that you're gonna
do for your patients.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Yeah, all right, good time. So we'll see what happens there.
We'll be following this indeed, all right, that's gonna do
it for this episode. Map we'll put links to some
of the stories that we mentioned in today's episode up
on our website at health to money dot com. And
we'll see you back here on Monday with a fresh
ask how to Money episode. And if you have a
question for us, a money question. Send it our way.
(36:46):
We'd love to take it. Just record it on the
voicemail map of your phone. Email it over to us
at how to moneypot at gmail dot com. Until next time,
best friends
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Out, Best friends Out,
Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel, I am Matt,
and today we're talking about underwater autos, freelancing for the win,
and E fund idiocy.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
E fund idiocy.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
That will most likely be our ludicrous headline of the
week that we'll get to today.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Joel, We're gonna take some other financial influencer to task
on that one.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Indeed, Oh, we don't have anything here about the government shutdown.
Maybe we should say something about that. How at least
at the time of this recording, we are, I guess
on day three of the government shut down. Toilets are
perhaps overflowing in national parks a terrible site to or
the toilets are closed completely. I went by our National
Battlefield Park the other day to go for a run.
Do they mark the doors were closed? Nobody at home.
(01:02):
I had to pee, so said to go on, I
should have go on the trail like I mean, don't
don't wrap me up. You should be doing that anyway, right,
you come on, you're out like out there in the
middle of the woods. It's not like you're at some
highly congested You've got to do it very popular. You
got to do it in an unpopulated spot.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Do what you gotta do.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah, but I can't imagine this is going to stretch
on for for.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
All that I hope not. Yeah, we have listeners and
friends who are are impacted by this, and we're gonna
talk about emergency funds later on, and I don't just
makes you take it. Two things you can do about this.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
One is the case for an emergency fund.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, the more money you have in savings,
the there's still the psychological impact and the the maybe
frustration right with the fact that it comes to this,
and that that the looming government shutdown threat is seems
like it's perpetually upon us. It's not often we get
to this point in the process, but sure my heart
(01:57):
goes out to all you folks out there who are having.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Folks who are impacted, who are not getting paid, who
are furloughed and still expected to come to work.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
You know, I said, I don't think it's going to
stretch on, but it might because of the fact that
folks are taking they're using this, you know, they're trying
to use this as like a political bludgeon.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
It makes me think.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Of so have you have you heard of the economic problem?
The chess piece fallacy.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
It basically.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Adam Smith I think originally, but then Thomas sol popularized it.
But it talks about how if you're a policymaker, you
think that like, oh well, we can just try this out,
we can experiment, maybe we'll end up breaking things and
we'll learn from that, which I understand when you are
talking about like, well, in this case, so a chess piece,
you're essentially the mastermind and you're moving the pieces around
and you're playing this very elaborate game. But in this case,
(02:46):
we're not talking about a game with no stakes, like
we are talking about individuals' lives, like people's livelihoods, and
that's when people start to revolt. That's when people get
upset if they have.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
The misrent payment or afford to go on the trip,
that they even just like putting food on the table.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
It has so it has all these unintended consequences that
when you discount how it impacts individuals lives, there's a
problem there essentially. So it also makes me think about
like when when Elon came in and bought bought Twitter
slash the workforce broke code and like that is a
very maybe it shouldn't be a chess piece fallacy. It
should be like a programmer fallacy, because that's how programmers think.
(03:24):
That's what I've been told. I'm not a program myself.
But you go in, you break things, you try things out,
and then you just put it back to get it
back to working. But you can't necessarily. It's a lot
hard to do that with individuals lives again, when people
are being impacted in a significant way for some individuals
out there.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Agreed, All right, Vosh, we'll get to the Friday flight.
Let's let's do it. Sampling of stories we found interesting
this week. Let's start off talking about streaming. Streaming price
hikes are of course coming down the pike with regularity.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Now.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I think Apple TV Plus is that what they call theirs, Matt.
I think they've had a price hike every year for
the last three years, which is interesting because I don't
feel like they've got a lot of stuff for you
to watch on it, like they've got the best stuff?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Do they? Severance?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Okay, Severance was one. I still haven't seen that one.
You've told me it's so good, it's so good. It
just feels like they have so little uh for you
to interest me.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
But if it really counts the stuff that they do
put out there and does is that enough to win
you over?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, that's what That's why I feel like HBO has
been so good at is Yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I think that's the model that Apple's trying to trying
to go with, although I will say at the end
of the last season it does lead some questions where
you're just like, oh, come on, I don't want to
put any spoilers. One.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
I'm guessing where they go, and I'm guessing you've canceled
Apple TV Plus at this point because you're done with
severance and you'll sign up again later. Of course, So
the the cheap prices of early streaming days, they're just
in the rear view mirror completely at this point right
where you.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Can just keep it around even when the season's over.
You can, but like you way more than you need to.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And so Disney just notified subscribers that they're going to
be ramping up the prices of Disney Plus Hulu plans,
and uh, the price acts are just going to keep coming.
Why are they going to keep coming? Well, it's because
consumers aren't really changing their habits. They're not canceling in
the numbers that are impacting the streaming services to a
meaningful degree. There's this new credit Karma survey and it
(05:14):
found that streaming is at the very top of non
essential priorities in people's budgets in their lives. So it's
this really sticky service that people aren't willing to do without.
The streaming companies know this, and they're taking full advantage.
So I know that price hex can be frustrating. People
get that email and they're like, again, really, you're going
(05:34):
to up the price and you haven't really added much
more good stuff for me to check out, So but
I don't know, they just stay with it anyway. People
take this lying down it seems. I think there are
some pros and cons of being out of the cable
TV era. The early streaming days, though Matt, seemed to
be the best of times, and now we're entering this
(05:54):
period of time where streaming is more competitive, just as
bad as cable in so many ways. The only way
we as individuals can get the best get the most
bang for our buck is to I think, sign up
for services when we're going to use them, cancel when
we're not, and just be more thoughtful in general about
what we're subscribing to and when.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Totally yes, And actually I just said that it's more competitive,
it's actually less competitive because when it was more competitive,
when Netflix was the big player on the scene when
they do you remember back when they won their first
Emmy or Golden Globe or I don't know, it was
just a massive deal, like they swept the awards that year.
It's like, oh, wow, they are a legitimate studio.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
They're on the scene.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yes, yeah, And so back in those days when there
was more competition, I think all of these streamers, well
they were willing to offer their services for a lot
less as they're trying to gobble up market share. But
it's less competitive now and they're all kind of sitting back,
they're getting comfortable. They're trying to increase that profit share,
increase those margins.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
But yeah, I think.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So we just canceled Disney Disney Plus, which is was
kind of a mainstay for us because we wanted to
watch something on Netflix, and so I was what I said,
was like, Hey, what we're going to do here, We're
going to implement the classic one in, one out, Like though,
if you're trying to manage your closet, like manage your
wardrobe instead of just letting them proliferate. Yeah, well, so
you kind of have to do that with your closet,
(07:12):
right because you are literally going to run out of space.
I think that's one of the one of the benefits
of doing that, not just letting it get get so overcrowded.
But when it comes to these digital streaming services, these
digital products, what is it cluttering up?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah? Nothing, you just continue to yes.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, And so you were just you were out the
money and you don't realize how many of these that
you've accumulated. There's no physical, tangible response mechanism that's telling you, oh,
you have too many of these. Typically, when it comes
to digital stuff like the more options we have, the better.
But in this case, uh yeah, I guess you could
have them all, but it's going to cost you a ton.
You truly are back into the cable bundling days when
(07:51):
you were paying for everything. But that's what's so beautiful
about streaming is that you have the ability to very
easily drop one of the streamers after a couple that
once that show's over.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well, Peloton just announced in the middle of the week
as well that they're increasing their prices for folks who
have a bike and they like to work out on
it or whatever. And I think I talked recently on
the show not too long ago about buying a used
peloton for my wife who likes to jump on it
and do her thing. You get her spin on. Yeah,
but they're going from forty five bucks a month to
(08:22):
fifty bucks a month and five bucks not a biggie,
that's what Yeah, that's what you say. But like, I'm
not a frog in the boiling water. At some point,
we're jumping out, and she was like, she came to
me before I even said anything, because I'm trying not
to cause marital strife. And she was like, man, I'm
so mad that they raised the price. I think I'm
going to cancel for a while. And I was like,
because she's like, I'm never using it. She's a member
(08:43):
of another gym as well, and it's like the price
per use just went up. I'm not using it as
much as i'd like to. So they all hop on
still use it but not pay for the service. I'm like,
all right, fine with me. So what's the benefit of
the service. The fact that you've got like the screen
and you got somebody encouraging you. That's music playing the
actual class and the metrics and all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
There's got to be some online free YouTube channels that
you can pull up where you're listening to this very
similar kind of deal having to pay for.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
It, right, Well, yeah, there's ads. Yeah. And then like
there was a we were doing some of the stretching
classes the peloton, but I was like, I've got some
great YouTube videos that are one hundred percent free. You
don't need I mean, they're not live classes even they're
like pre recorded. We were just doing the same one
over and over. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well that's the thing.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Like, now you've learned how to do it and you've
internalized it, you don't need someone to guide you through
that anymore. Like you are your own stretching Shirpa. Let's
talk about owning a vehicle, because trading in a car
it's fraught with so much financial peril. First of all,
when you trade in instead of selling that car outright
to an individual, you risk getting a lot less than
(09:47):
it's worth listing it yourself. Putting in a bit more,
a little bit more effort, taking the pictures, scheduling the meetups,
it could net you thousands of additional dollars.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Doing the hassle thing. It's worth it. It takes a
little more work.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
But one of the worst financial moves though, that you
can make is to upgrade your ride and then trade
in a car that you are underwater on. But Americans
are doing it like it's their job. More than a
quarter of trade ins today are being done by folks
with negative equity who owe more on that car than
it's actually worth, often by like many thousands of dollars,
(10:23):
which is man, that's very frightening.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
I think the average underwater amount is over six thousand dollars.
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I was talking to somebody this week and they had
a friend who traded in a car that was like
thirty grand underwater, which that's insane. Punch me in the face.
It's all your stuff like that. It makes me so sad.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
It also isn't all that surprising given the price of vehicles, right, Like,
you buy a brand new eighty thousand dollars nice you know,
luxury suv, it's probably not going to take that long
for you. If you have these payments that are stretched
out in two three years. Like there's a very good
chance that you're going to owe more on that.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Thing, yeah, than what it's actually worth. You're exactly right,
it's the cost of the car. But it's also, like
you just the length of the car loan itself, and
so you are making such a small dent in those
first couple of years on the actual I mean, you're
paying down the principle, but because you've stretched it out
from like let's say forty eight months four years to
something like eighty four months, it's just taking so much longer.
(11:17):
And if in three years time you get tired of
that car and you're like, oh, it's not for me
to upgrade, well, you've paid so much less of that car,
and so you are of course going to have negative equity,
and then you roll it into the next loan and
you've got a giant loan. You're way upside down on
the next car, only compounding the problem making it worse.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So yeah, personally, I'm going to say no car loan,
but I know some folks are. They're not in the
situation to where they've got the money on you, right,
I should be able to cover that.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
You and I were typically fans of that right only
buy a car if you have the cash or save
up longer. And if you don't agree with us or yeah,
you are in that position, just make sure you don't
take out a loan that's longer than forty eight months
ideally forty two or less. Cause yeah, like driving a
car with negative equity, it's not ideal, but it's not
the worst thing in the world as long as you
can hold on to it. If you really want to
(12:05):
upgrade your ride, but you just aren't in the financial
position to do that, truly, wait longer. That is the
solution here. And by the way, matt I See Cars
released its list of the vehicles that are most likely
to last two hundred and fifty thousand miles. That's not
sure that most people want to go there, I do.
I'm probably not doing that with both the cars that
we currently own. I'm getting so close to two hundred
(12:28):
k with the with the Honda, Yeah, I work, you're
beyond us. I think we're at like one eighty and
my other cars like one seventy one, but we're like
one ninety two. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Hey, like I don't want to put the miles on,
but every time it gets closer, it just it makes
me so happy, it's inevitable, it's gonna happen. Okay, But
you know, you know the brand that was number one
on that list, it's oh yeah, yea. You don't even
have to like read it like a long shot.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, yeah. This is like they said that Toyotas are
what three point seven times more likely to last two
hundred fifty thousand miles than any other car manufacturer. Lexis
and Honda were right up there too, but it's like
Toyota's were like by a long shot, crushing. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Basically, Toyota, Toyota, and Lexis are like one and two
then Handa and makes yeah, and Hannah makes accurate, So
they're basically first, Toyota's first, Hanna's second. You know what
I thought was so fascinating that was basically next on
the list Tesla, which got me thinking, like, it makes
so much sense given the fact that there are so
many fewer moving parts. It would not surprise me if
(13:27):
over the years we see the share of Tesla's that
are on the road, that you are able to keep
those around for much longer periods of time because of
the fact that it's just an electric An electric motor
is a very efficient durable like mechanical device, and yeah,
it makes all the makes all the sense in the world.
I thought it was very humorous to see that the
(13:48):
cars that had a zero percent chance two hundred and
fifty k. It's not surprising. It was like Jaguar Mini Cooper,
which that one actually kind of surprised me. I thought
menis were a little more. They just seem to have
such a fan base.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Yeah, you know, but I don't think it's because they're reliable.
I guess not. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And when I say Jaguar Mini and like Maserati or
something like that, okay, yeah, which you've got a couple
of those.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, yeah, a few of those.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
I know, Hey, I'm only going to hit fifty thousand
on those bad right exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
So I guess when it comes down to it, that's
one of the key ingredients too, in being able to
hold onto your car longer is to get something that's reliable.
And you can go in to consumer reports and you
can dig in and see what makes and models in
years have like the highest reliability ratings, or you can
even just take this generic ICEE car survey and be like,
I guess I'm getting a Toyota Rohanda.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, car reliability matters, dude. Let's talk about car insurance.
So we obviously talk a lot about saving money, but
getting the lowest possible price, it's not always the goal.
We talk about frugal versus cheap moves when it comes
to car insurance. We want to get value for the
money that we're paying, and that is particularly true here.
It doesn't matter how much you save on premiums if
(14:59):
your insurance company actually won't pay your claim, or if
they're impossible to deal with, if you can't get them
to respond to any calls consumer reports. They released a
list of insurance companies who have the best record of
paying claims and two the were ones that we've talked
about on the show before. Amika USAA. There's a new
(15:20):
one that I never heard before. Erie er I E yeah,
and evidently they are pretty tops as well. Only downside,
they're only in like ten states in the country. But
if you have access to Erie, check them out, but
otherwise shop around get quotes, but specifically from these insurance
companies that tend to rate more highly.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
This is like an interesting one because you and I
we talked about shopping on insurance to save money, and
we think there's a lot of wisdom to that, but
you just have to be careful because there are kind
of like fly by night insurance companies, and then there
are also It's kind of like we answered a question
recently about renting from one of those super cheap car
rental companies, you po car and you have to be
(16:01):
careful in that, and the same thing is true with
getting that insurance. It's like, it's best to get that
policy from a company who's reliably pays out claims. That's
kind of what Consumer Reports was getting out here. They
rank them in order, and it's worth taking a look
and seeing where your insurance company falls because you might
(16:22):
you might be like, yeah, they're saving me a little
bit of money, but if I do get into a
situation where I have to file a claim, they're going
to like put me through the ringer and that'll be
super frustrating.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yep, car insurance seems like an industry a market that
needs disrupting. Let's talk about jobs, because the market's been
getting worse and worse sadly. But we've got one piece
of advice that might help folks out there who might
be looking for another job or you know, like whether
you are out of work or maybe you're you're still
employed and you're looking for a new job. And that
is that freelance and contract positions might make more sense
(16:53):
than a traditional W two full time employ like employment
job that you might be used to. And this is
for a number of reasons. First of all, it might
be easier to get in the door hiring someone on
a contract basis. It can be easier for employers. I
think this is especially true given the uncertainty that businesses
have seen with Terris right, Like, that's one of the
(17:15):
downsides is when you don't if you can't look ahead
to the future and forecast what the industry is going
to look like, you're less prone to make investments in
your business, which one of the biggest investments you can
make is human capital.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Of those employers are saying, hey, we need to hire somebody.
We're not off from the full time furlough on new
hires a contract position because it's just it's a less
embedded relationship.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, so I totally get it from the employer's standpoint,
but as an employee, for you out there looking to
get a new job, it can often lead to that
full time job, that full time work there in the future,
you're getting your foot in the door, you're making these relationships.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
This is all clutch, and you.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Can also potentially start at a higher hourly rate. A
lot of times that's because you're not getting the other benefits,
so they are trying to offset, they're trying to compensate
a little bit for the fact that you're not getting
some of these additional benefits. Yeah, we're talking health insurance
as well. That's probably one of the biggest ones. It's
not cheap. That being said, your increased pay, that higher
hourly rate might be worth it. So it makes me
(18:14):
think something to consider one.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Of our friends who got laid off and then he
ended up getting contract work with the company that just
let him go, and because of that, his hourly rate
went up meaningfully because he doesn't have access to those benefits.
And so for a lot of folks, let's say, especially
if you have health insurance, you can get coverage through
a partner or something like that, maybe it's the best
(18:38):
of both worlds. But I think you're right, Matt, just
for some people maybe considering more some of those freelance
and contract positions instead of just looking for that full
time benefits included. A job might make sense, especially right now,
but contract work is different than signing up for a
side hustle. You and I we have discussed our feelings
(18:59):
about side hustle. Don't remember the episode number, but we
talked about kind of the nefarious what do we call it?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Some of them with that episode.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Yeah, but the side hustles can be nefarious, and part
of the reason is because, yeah, they can be a
great way to make cash quickly, but they're not typically
a great long term solution for people's finances. Another problem, though,
that we're seeing is a rise in side hustle scams,
and we'll link to a great Yahoo Finance post about
the red flags to watch out for. But if you
(19:28):
are in a pinch job wise, which more and more
people are finding themselves in right now, be careful before
taking a gig based on a text that you receive
or a social media post that you saw, and don't
ever sign up for a side hustle that comes with
upfront costs. That is a massive red flag right to
get scams. Oh yeah, hey, we'd love to give you
(19:48):
this job, but you have to pay some money for
training or for equipment that you need in order to
be able to do this job from your home. Even
if they offer to send a check to cover those costs,
because the check, of course turns out to be frau vigil,
you're out the money. And it just seems like we're
seeing a rise inside hustle scams right now. So and
especially with people looking for employment and some folks getting desperate,
(20:11):
be on the lookout for that.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Even I saw another story, I think it was last
week where a lady was scammed via a job that
she was hired for, like over on LinkedIn. So like
it's not just the air and email that shows up
out of nowhere, but also somewhere that you feel like.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
It feels like one of the brighter.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Sunnier corners of the Internet, like a trusted site, and
you can still find scammy postings there. Yeah, but we've
got more to get to. We're going to talk about
the cost of drugs and plenty more on today's Friday flight.
But first some ads, thanks.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
For sticking with us on this Friday flight. We've got
more to get to. We are going to talk about drugs, specifically,
not good our ex Matt, but Trump, our ex we'll
talk about that. It's a real thing. It's happening. Well,
the first, let's to the ludacrous headline of the week.
This one comes from Yahoo Finance and it reads Grant
Cardon calls the concept of emergency savings a bank myth.
(21:09):
And I'm not sure if everyone listening is familiar with
this real estate influencer, Grant Cardon. He's kind of a
brash fella. I don't know much.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
About I know the name, but was he on TV?
Did he have like a TV show?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
I don't even know. Okay, I think maybe, but I
just know that, like so he's just there on lander webs. Yeah,
he's one of the biggest influencers in the real estate space,
and a lot of what he says doesn't really jibe
with me, probably because we have different goals but also
different philosophies. And sometimes this is just the case. Also
in people who are super duper into real estate, they
(21:42):
can just be tough to listen to because they think
that real estate is the answer to every single problem.
And this guy in particular, it's kind of hard for
me the stomach, But they often real estate people. You
and I are real estate investors. Map but that's only
a part of what we do. Or real estate light, Yeah,
real estate light and so. But a lot of people
(22:02):
who go heavy into that space they basically think that,
you know, basic personal finance knowledge and hygiene aren't really
that important. Real estate's going to solve all the problems.
And Grant Cardon's premise is that saving money is a
trick the banks are playing on us, and that going
to work, he says, is the key to getting by
if stuff hits the fan. That's clearly what about if
(22:24):
you can't work, I know, right, yeah, what if you
get injured or what?
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Sometimes that's why you need an emergency fund, Why you
need some cash in the bank.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
No, that's good.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
I mean you can always just like turn like turn
on the you know, like the works bigot.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
And receive cash. It seems kind of ludicrous that he
would say this, especially given all the studies that have
been done about the mental benefit and the real personal
finance benefit that people gain by having an emergency fund
at at their disposal, And just by looking at my
own life and history and other people that I know,
it's like the momssif fund comes in clutch sometimes for people, right, Ye,
(22:58):
you probably don't need a whole year cash on hand.
There's been more people saying that lately. But and I
do think maybe if I'm going to be the most
generous interpretation of what Grant Cardone is saying, maybe maybe
what he's trying to say is that, well, people tend
to over index into savings and they don't invest when
they should be. They're too much, they're shoveling too much
money into their savings accountant, not enough into their four
(23:20):
one k's iras or into real estate investments. That's just
being generous. But I don't think that's what he's saying.
But and that can be true. There are some people
who do over index to savings, and yeah, you don't
need a year of savings built up before you start investing,
but still having some liquid cash on hand, it's a necessity.
It always has been, always will be.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
I just think he's out of touch with like the
common person out there who like runs into cashlow issues,
and like when you've got tons of real estate, yes,
like you have the ability to tap these other investments,
and you've got private equity and just ways of acquiring
just getting your hands on money, that's not that's not
where most Americans are man So because of that, the
basic emergency fund, which we've updated because originally it was
(24:04):
two thousand and four or sixty seven dollars back in
the day, and withflation, that dollar amount is now three
forty five dollars. So remember that thirty forty five.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
And I do think probably he is out of touch
because I remember seeing an article in the Wall Street
Journal or New York Times about his like super super
fancy house on the beach in Malibu.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Oh okay, yeah, I'm like, okay, all that fits with you,
that guy. Okay, exactly, congrats exactly. But so I just
said the specific dollar amounts that you need to set
aside for an emergency fund, and it turns out that
is key when it comes to growing your emergency fund quickly.
You need to set a specific goal. So that's the
first step, and then the second step is to put
that goal, that specific amount, like constantly in front of you,
(24:45):
like we're talking like a sticky note on your bathroom mirror,
putting a note up on.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
The fridge, the dash of your car.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
And certainly try to find the most painless ways to
cut back first, but then start making some harder moves
like finding ways to just like eating out lest maybe
maybe you haven't bounced around your insurance a little bit
and you're way over paying. There are more difficult steps
that take a little bit more time to ensure that
you're spending less money to where you're allowing yourself to
build up that emergency fund more quickly. But those two
(25:14):
steps specifically identifying your the dollar amount three forty five
dollars and then reminding yourself of it, that comes from
friend of the show Katie Milkman, who is brilliant. Those
are great tips. But I will say I think in
addition to that, I think what's going to cement it
for a lot of people is once they actually have
that emerency fund on hand and then they use it,
(25:34):
they find themselves in a situation to where they're like, oh,
I knew that the roof was going out, and I
had some money set aside there, but I thought it
was only gonna be nine thousand dollars. Turns out as
twelve thousand dollars. Oh, I got some extra money here.
Like experiencing the like the sigh of relief that you
get to like that you get to exhale knowing that
you're not having to put it on credit cards still
(25:56):
where you're paying over twenty percent because you aren't financially
prepared for the emergency room visit, right, Like, no one
expects that, but if you find yourself in a pinch, like,
that's what people have to rely on, and that's what
we're trying to get folks to avoid. It's not that
I don't even care that people. I don't want you
to have tons of money in your savings account, not
because you could be doing smarterer things without money. It's
because it's not about the money. It's about the relief.
(26:17):
It's about the PM worry. Yeah, yeah, the piece that
that's going to allow you to then be able to
focus on the things that are more important than life.
We don't want you obsessing over your dollars. It's about life.
It's about what you can then turn your attention to
what you can then focus on that's so much more important.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
I've had a couple of conversations recently with some real
estate investors and just who are friends, and I've been like,
there's some tough times happening right now in the multifamily
and commercial realty spaces right now. For people who have
investments that they've made, they are finding that the numbers
(26:53):
aren't nearly as good as they had projected. And when
you're thinking about that, like you need what do you
need to be able to hang on to investment? You
need liquidity, right, And so it's even as a real
estate investor who you can project the best numbers, but
if they don't come to pass the way you hoped
they would, you need to have cash in the bank
to be able to allow you to make it through,
(27:14):
so you don't have to fire sale and completely mess
your finances up in the process. So, especially as a
real estate investor, that doesn't eliminate you, I don't think
from the need for having an emergency fund. I think,
in fact, it makes it potentially even more.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Important, not for the individuals out there, but for the
quote unquote savvy folks out.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
There as well. By the way, some employers are being
more helpful in the area of helping people garner a
bigger emergency fund, which is kind of cool. And this
is kind of a self interested play as well, right
that these employers realize that their employees are potentially like
living on the financial precipice and they're stressed about it,
(27:53):
and because of that, they're less productive in their job.
That not having savings it takes a mental toll. So
there are new fintech companies springing up. There's one called
secure Save. There was an article just written about them,
and they're making it easier for employers to offer a
match towards emergency savings, which is just this benefit for
(28:13):
people to incentivize something that is going to help the
employee and the employer. Makes sense, man, Yeah, and I
don't necessarily think it's the employer's job. I think it's
our job. But it's also cool to see that employer.
Some employers are responding and they're being like, actually, why
not We realize that this is like a goal you
should be tackling, but why don't we help you out
with it because it's a win win it's in our
best interest too. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Well, on a similar note, worker satisfaction is being tied
to being offered financial advice from their employers. So not
only do they want the good benefits like health coverage,
a nice four win K match, and maybe now an
emergency fund match, but they want money advice money help
as well, whether it's access to budgeting software out there
(28:56):
or just even engaging content. Man, this makes me think
about we've done seminars companies out there to help teach
their employees about money, which is a ton of fun
and it is very very cool to see folks engage
and asking great questions. You as an individual, you can't
rely on your employer to, I think, play this role
in your life. But man, I think given the poor
state of personal finance education in the country, I'm for
(29:18):
helpful instruction, like from wherever it comes from. It makes
me wonder if more folks were talking about personal finance
like back in the day, because there is certainly a
demand for it, So like where was the supply, like,
and we're providing the supply now, yeah, and companies are
doing that. We're definitely we're trying to but like, yeah,
it makes me wonder, like we're folks more willing to
(29:39):
talk about their personal finances back in the day and
has it become more private over the past twenty years
show I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
I think a lot of it comes down to at
a complexity and personal finances have just become there's just
a lot more to wade through, to think through, and
I think it's just used to be less complex back
in the day, which made maybe maybe made some of
this content a little bit less necessary.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
But we live in a more complex, optimized world, and
so as companies are looking to grow their margins, grow
their profits, a lot of times what that means is
folks potentially overpaying for products for services, not investing as
well as it could be.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
And we've had a proliferation of options for people, right,
so it's this we're entering into this like Walmart sized
grocery store instead of like an all they sized grocery
store with like minimal choices, and it's just, man, I
think there's overload for people trying to figure out their finances,
and so we want to at least here, we want
to simplify things and help help folks make those most
(30:36):
important decisions. That's what we're doing with us.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
We're trying to do at least all.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Right, let's talk about prescription drugs. We've talked about using
good RX for saving money on websites. I used good
RX the other day at a pharmacy. I told you
should get that rash look at antibiotic for my daughter.
And I went in there and I pulled up good
rx and it saved me I don't know, like three
dollars and fifty cents. It wasn't a ton of money,
but it took me all the fifty three seconds, you know.
(31:02):
But no joke. Trump Ourx is joining the ranks of
discount medicine websites. The Wall Street Journal they love to
jab him right now and they called him the pharmacist
in Chief in one of their recent headlines. And we're
just seeing a unique blend of capitalism and socialism coming
down from the White House these days. The President himself,
(31:24):
i guess, has negotiated deals directly with some drug companies,
specifically Pfizer, to be able to offer discounted medicines to
consumers through trump rx dot com. The details are vague,
so we don't know exactly what this is going to
look like or how much savings people are going to
be able to realize. Truly, the threat of tariffs is
ultimately what made this deal happen. Pfizer got like a
(31:46):
three year exemption from the tariffs that are being threatened,
and so this site is set to launch early next year.
We'll be on the lookout for it. I'm curious, Matt,
I am very curious to see what this entails and
how much it can or will help people. How robust
it's going to be. We'll see. I hope it says
people money on expensive drugs, but there's also a lot
of other websites out there that are already making hay
(32:09):
in that space. Cost Plus Drugs, which Mark Cuban launched
a few years back, is a big one in that space.
Doesn't cover everything, that's for sure, but it's a great
place to turn because they have a very costco esque
approach where it's like a fifteen percent markup, which means
that the drugs cost a fraction of what they're going
to cost in a lot of other places that you
(32:29):
that you might turn.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
And the best part is that that was launched by
an individual, you know, capitalism baby, not by the federal government.
And that's the problem. That's what rubs me the wrong
way about going like do I want to see lower
drug prices? Do I want to see lower healthcare prices
for American citizens? Absolutely? But how we get there matters
so much and so on.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
It also feels less like the government, by the way,
and like an individual yeah, you know, which, like it'd
be different if Congress was like, we're going to create
this website and we're going to create some legulation around this.
But it's one individual trying to launch, sure a website
with their name with his name on it. Sure.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Yeah, what's the Obamacare equivalent where with his name plastered
on this potential offering for folks. But either way, I
mean in both cases, I still don't like it if
it's coming from the top down, and so on a
similar note, here's a potentially positive note, but we might
be seeing fewer pharma ads on TV. The FDA director
(33:23):
wrote an op ed in The New York Times about
pharmaceutical ads, basically how they run a muck and how
he's planning to rain them in. And the US is
one of the two developed countries in the world that
continues to allow direct advertising from pharmaceutical companies, which is fascinating.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
But New Zealand the other.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Yeah, yeah, Like what is it with us in New Zealand?
Speaker 1 (33:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
And I certainly am totally on board with the fact
that these commercials are annoying.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
They're stupid, they're so silly.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
It's just people like living their best lives and you know,
you spend thirty seconds talking about all the side effect.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Because of this farmer drug. Yeah yeah, and it's like
it makes me happier. I might I kill over instantly
by taking this drug? It was worth it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Yeah, So that the last line in the article was
that the billions of dollars drug companies spent on advertising
it would be better spent a lowering drug prices for
American consumers, which certainly sounds nice.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
But at the same time, I think.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
What you have to ask yourself is where do you
draw the line when it comes to what you're going
to allow your government to decide for you? Right because
and like this is this kind of mirror is the
free speech conversations that we're having these days. It's really
easy when you see something you don't like to say, yeah,
they should shut that down. But what we need to
do is imagine the shoe being on the other foot.
(34:37):
And what we need to be thinking through is imagine
a policy, Imagine a product, something that the government does
or not does, but that's out there that you really like,
and now think, oh, yeah, the folks on the other
side of the aisle are going to say, yeah, let's
shut that down because now we're in power. Is that
the kind of power that we want our federal government
to have. That's why I have such a hard time
(34:57):
with Trump, rx with anything the federal government does. And
I am all for Mark Cuban and all the different
entrepreneurs out there doing awesome things on their own dime.
They're the ones taking the risk as opposed to the government,
the federal government taking the risk. And then and then
us as US citizens as taxpayers, being saddled with the bill.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I will say, the FDA director, he didn't say I'm
going to outlaw them, but what he said was, there's
actually we used to send letters to the pharmaceutical companies
about truth and advertising claims. We don't really send those
letters anymore. We've kind of like the cop isn't on
the beat anymore, and some of the claims being made
are pretty ostentatious, not not aligned with reality. And so
(35:38):
he's saying, we're just gonna be on We're gonna be
on it a little bit more. And I think that's
that's probably.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
That just sounds like, don't make me count to three.
But you know, because then what like, what does it
come down to? It comes down to enforcement, and then
what that costs money. And then at some point you
have to decide what you're gonna allow what you're not
gonna allow, Like I don't again, I'm totally on board
with the fact that these commercials are so stupid. But
let's just make one of them, right, Like, let's make
it similar sway.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
By them, Let's make it so ridiculous in their doctor's
office and they're like, hey, I know, and I think well,
and that the hippocratic gath right, like that falls then
upon the doctors to say, hey, let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (36:13):
What's actually best for you in this in this scenario.
I understand why that's attractive, but as healthcare professionals, I
think there should be I mean, then there is a
high standard as to what it is that you're gonna
do for your patients.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
Yeah, all right, good time. So we'll see what happens there.
We'll be following this indeed, all right, that's gonna do
it for this episode. Map we'll put links to some
of the stories that we mentioned in today's episode up
on our website at health to money dot com. And
we'll see you back here on Monday with a fresh
ask how to Money episode. And if you have a
question for us, a money question. Send it our way.
(36:46):
We'd love to take it. Just record it on the
voicemail map of your phone. Email it over to us
at how to moneypot at gmail dot com. Until next time,
best friends
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Out, Best friends Out,
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.