July 13, 2025 • 30 mins
Joel talks about his dishwasher arbitrage play. Also, does the Moody's credit downgrade matter?
Ask HTM: Cheryl inherited some money and wants to know the wisest way to proceed with extra money in hand.
Some high school juniors are getting $70k job offers. It reinforces the reality that there's a dearth skilled labor right now.
Ask HTM: Buddy wants to know if it's ok to buy a floor model mattress.
Ask HTM: Cheryl inherited some money and wants to know the wisest way to proceed with extra money in hand.
Some high school juniors are getting $70k job offers. It reinforces the reality that there's a dearth skilled labor right now.
Ask HTM: Buddy wants to know if it's ok to buy a floor model mattress.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KF I am six forty. You're listening to How to
Money on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Do you want to live well without drowning in debt?
Joel and Matt have you covered? This is how to
Money with Joel lars Guard and Matt Almes without drowning
in debt? Joel and Matt have you covered? This is
(00:34):
how to Money with Joel lars Guard and Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Almes KF I am sixty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
This is how to Money. I am Matt Altmes.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
And I'm Joel Larsgard. Don't forget to sign up for
the how to Money newsletter. You can find that up
at how tomoney dot com slash newsletter.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Joel, do you want to give a quick little update
on your dishwasher?
Speaker 5 (01:07):
So?
Speaker 4 (01:08):
I'm sure folks are wondering. They've been on the edge
of their seat.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
I know.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Well, yeah, so I ended up. I bought four dishwashers
from Costco, as I said, and my wife was were
they all shrink wrapped together? Were they connected with the
big handle? Amazing? How could you carry that? Well?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
No, separately shrink wrapped, but man, so I had mine
installed and I sold my old dishwasher, and then my
dad wanted one of the dishwashers, and so caught free
installation from Costco for for mine and for his, and then.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
I sold serious de ja vous, but but keep going,
keep going.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And then so I sold the other two on Facebook
pretty quickly for five hundred bucks each. So my dad,
I gave him the essentially the price that I paid
per for dishwasher, right, but but for the ones, I
get that kin discount. That's right, right, But I'm not
gonna like charging extra. But people on Facebook paid the
full freight that I was asking five hundred bucks. I
(02:08):
was like, well it started off higher than that because
it I was like, maybe I'll get more, but had
takers at five hundred and so ultimately I ended up
not getting paid, which I thought I would. I think,
I'm told you I thought I would, and I did.
I ended up getting paid to get a new dishwasher
put in at my house, and like I told you,
them was getting long in the tooth. I was getting
frustrated with it. So yeah, I'm happy.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So okay, so the big question does it You've had
it now for a few days and you so you
said you wanted to get a new dishwasher because your
old one. You are the man who handles the dishes,
the dish like you are, Yeah, you're in charge of
clean up. Does it clean better? Because this is a
Bosh dishwasher, and we know that with it being a
German company. Well, I guess just because it's German doesn't
mean it's automatically better. But Bosh specifically are incredibly highly rated.
(02:50):
They last, does it? Does it clean?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yes, it's been cleaning better, and so my mornings when
I'm putting the dishes away are far less frustrating.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Are they dryer as well? They are dryer as well? Yeah,
see that was that was my big hold up because
of the plastics. Yeah, I was, yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
There's certain spots in like those kids food containers that
just didn't always.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Gonna get all the way dry.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I don't think in any like if it could have,
if it could get rid of all the water in there,
that'd be impressive.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
But evidently some of them can, including plastics. Right, Okay,
So one of our our biggest hang ups has been
we tried some uh like some green the detergent pods
because we're like, yeah, you know, maybe we should be
a little more health conscience, health conscious. But they didn't
do a great job cleaning the freaking dishes, and I
do I am incredibly hesitant to throw something away. I
(03:38):
don't like to waste stuff. This it's the leftover's principle,
right like you got it, like put it to use.
I was so close to tossing those things because the
dishes were not getting clean. I was so happy to
see to put the last pod in the thing. And
then we kind of swung in the other direction and
got like these incredibly highly rated, very not natural, very
not green, little gel pod looking things or whatever. And
(04:00):
I hate those two not because so they do a
good job cleaning the best. Well, the fragrance specifically on
these it's terrible, like all the cups and plates, everything
smells like this, like flowers or something. Yeah, I hate it. Again.
I'm like this close to toss on all those, but
I can't bring myself to waste these perfectly fine, they
get the job done. I just prove a conundrum right there. Oh,
(04:20):
I got a grin and Barrett and I can't give
them to somebody you think might appreciate them. Maybe we should. Yeah,
so I'm looking forward to being done with us and
just moving back to the what is it the power ball?
You know it's got the little red Classic. I feel
like those are just they're not overly fancy, they're not
super expensive. They don't seem like the absolute worst pods
for you. But I'm on sale and it's what we
have been using. I don't know why we switched it up.
(04:42):
Is that what y'all use? No, we use the liquid
because he's like squirted in there. Is it multipole like that?
You get this from Costco? Yeah, so it's the Kirkland sig.
It's not Kirkland. Okay, what is it with the brain
is in a green bottle? But okay, they want to
say it's like seven bucks for giant tub of dishwasher liquid.
That interesting, Yeah, not bad. Let's go for it, buddy,
Let's keep moving that. This is like quite a departure
(05:04):
from what we're talking about now that you want to
talk about. I just want to say a macro level
what's going on.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It's thrilling to me, to the frugal guy and me
to get paid to put a new dish rusher in
when I already marry that.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
I am happy for you. For me, that's just that's
like a that's a big money win. It's good.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
But yes, let's talk about a bunch of other stories, Matt,
personal finance stories that are going to impact people's people's
finances and America's credit worthiness. That's something that we should
probably talk about in the beginning. It's in greater question
right now. After Moody's, one of the credit rating agencies
joined the other two credit rating agencies and downgraded the
(05:40):
America's credit standing. So it's it's like essentially the like
Equifax telling you, yeah, you had a seven.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Forty, now you're down to like seven twenty five.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
We just don't think you're as good at handling credit
as we thought before. So, but this is on a
national scale, so this isn't surprising, but it does shine
a light on our unwillingness to face economic facts head
on as a country. I think it's some people might
be overestimating the impact though it's I think it is
also not a red warning light that should be freaking
(06:10):
us all out. But it does reveal the fact that
our country could be on better financial footing if we
were better managing garden title entitlement programs. And our overall
debt load, that would have a positive impact, right, Mett,
you and I have had these conversations off the mic.
America's financial strength is still unparalleled. When we're talking about
pure nations.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
We're number one. Yeah. Still yeah, even if we're all.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Like making dumb moves like shooting ourselves in the foot,
to a certain extent, America is still in a top
notch position. So yeah, I think, similar to prior downgrades
from the other credit rating agencies, I think it's likely
to have a minimal impact, but it doesn't mean it's
still not tough to watch.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I totally agree. So yeah, I wanted to highlight that
because there's been a lot of talk about this being political.
It's not political. So the first downgrade, as we came
down from the triple A rating, it happened back in
twenty eleven. And guess who was president then, a very
popular Democrat who was residing in the White House, Barack
Obama yea, and some reason twenty I think, well, maybe
it was twenty eleven, maybe twenty thirteen, But then I
(07:09):
know that the second one of the other ones, maybe
it was Fitch at that point downgraded. That happened in
twenty twenty three, and I remember we covered that then
and again how it's likely to be overblown. But it's
definitely not political because you've got two Democratic presidents who
were in office at that point in time. It is
not political. But I also don't think it's as big
of a deal as many folks are making it out
(07:30):
to be, because it's in particular, I find myself thinking
more and more like in this line of thought, thinking
about what are the alternatives when it comes to borrowing
from countries, because and so I looked it up, and
there are maybe about a dozen countries out there who
still have retained the perfect triple A status. But here's
the thing, they're tiny. They are so stink and small. Like,
(07:52):
so you average the GDP of those around twelve countries
who still retain that perfect rating, and we are something
like twenty seven times larger than the average at all
those of all those combined, but just on average, like
it's anywhere from like Germany is the biggest, and I
think there's something like four trillion dollars or something like
(08:12):
that compared to the US is twenty seven, But a
lot of the other countries are closer to not four trillion,
but like three two, and most of them are in
the hundreds of billions of dollars that retained that perfect range.
So that's something to keep in mind on a macro level,
as folks are freaking out. I don't think this is
something that folks should be overly concerned about. Yeah, and
you say that it's not political, and I think you're right.
(08:32):
It's not some sort of like denigration of a particular
party or their policies. But I do think this is
in some ways the extension of the tax cuts and
job ACKed or this new big beautiful bill, the tax cuts,
extension of the tax cuts, the elimination of taxes on
social Security tips, overtime pay, those policies aren't raining spending
(08:53):
it in any meaningful way. And so it's not obviously
just a reflection of the current administration, to reflection of
what's been happening with under both Democratic, Democrat and Republican regimes.
It's a reaction to the fiscal reality of what's likely
to happen. But I think we're also seeing a wait
a second, like this bill. While yeah, it'll provide tax
savings for many Americans, it will grow the deficit which
(09:16):
is not great for the long term financial health of
our country. Yeah, and of course on an individual level,
borrowing costs are going to go up because these I
mean basically, the US has been told, hey, you know,
before you additional these these treasuries at four percent, like,
we're going to need to see a little more from
you because we're not totally sure if you're going to
be able to pay these off. And so we saw
(09:36):
like thirty year treasuries go from like they went over
five percent for the first time in quite a while.
But the way this is going to impact us as individuals,
specifically for borrowers. Right, so for folks who are looking
to buy a home, the thirty year fixed mortgage rate
is closely aligned with a ten year treasury note this
is how it's going to more directly impact folks on
(09:57):
a personal level. But even still, I wouldn't be freaking out.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. All Right, we've got more
to get to. On today's show, pay if I am
six point forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
This is how to Money. I am one of your hosts,
Joel Larsgard and I am mat all mixed by the way.
You can always find more money saving information over at
howtomoney dot com.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
And if you have a money question we'd love to
hear from you, just go to how toomoney dot com
slash ask, or instead of doing that, just record your
question on the Voicemamo app of your phone, send it
to us at how tomoneypod at gmail dot com. Hopefully
we can take it next week on the show, Matt.
This question comes from a listener who inherited some money.
She's trying to figure out what's the best way to
(10:42):
handle it.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
Hey, Matt, Joel, it's Cheryl from Nebraska. I am going
to get about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in inheritance.
I owe about one hundred and ten on my house.
I wondered if it would be smarter to pay off
the house or just pay half on the principle.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Or I don't know what.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
Give me your thoughts. I listened to your show daily,
Love it.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Thanks, Joel. Cheryl is listening to us daily. I'm assuming
she's catching up on the episodes. But what if we
switched it up and started doing a daily podcast, daily
financial News?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You wouldn't have to twist my arm. I don't think
I like talking to you. I like talking about money.
So doing that more, I wouldn't have to.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Cut it down to like a fifteen minute show, perhaps
something like just just because the one part of the
thing that we can't control is how much listeners like
or dislike us, and if we talk too much into
their years.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
They might fall into the ladder camp.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
That is true, Cheryl. I want to kick things off
and say that I'm sorry to hear that you've lost
someone close to you, someone who's close enough that they
would leave you in inheritance. So condolences first off. But
what it is that you choose to do with this
lump sum of money, man, we are not going to
be able to give a clear cared answer because it
is so dependent on your personal money goals. It's so
(12:07):
dependent on some of the specifics that we actually aren't
privy to. So with that in mind, we'll try to
provide a general framework so hopefully you can make a
smart decision with this cash and fusion, which I'm sure is.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
What this feels like for sure. Most people like. The
biggest cash in fusion most people get, Matt is their
their tax refund right that they got recently, and that
feels like a big thing that they can do a
lot with. But this is obviously much bigger. You can
address bigger financial concerns that you have, and so let's
address maybe the mortgage first.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
For Cheryl. Here is Cheryl if you swish, he's got
her eyes set on pan off that house. I get that.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
That's especially when you're talking about big some money. You're like,
what do I owe the most on? And that is
a mortgage typically for most people, and so it makes
sense like, well, big lump sum, big mortgage. Let's try
to eradicate as much of that as possible. And if
you just bought the house recently, Cheryl, the answer might
be yes. Right, if you've got like a seven percent
mortgage or something like that, and you're a debt averse person,
(13:05):
then paying off the mortgage it can be a fine way.
I would say to use those inheritance dollars on top
of paying it off, though you'd still have forty thousand
dollars left to boost your savings and to invest, so
it's not like that's the only thing you could accomplish either,
which I think is great and lens maybe even more
credence to the goal of paying off your mortgage with
(13:28):
the majority of this money. But if you bought your
house a whole bunch of years ago, and let's say
you're in the last decade of paying it off, and
you've got a really sweet locked in low interest rate, right,
you're gonna get a whole lot less bang for your buck.
So if you've got that three percent or so interestrate,
you've already paid a lot of interest over the first
(13:48):
decades of ownership, if you've had that mortgage for a
long time. While paying it off in one fell swoop
can feel good, there are meaningfully better ways I think
to use that one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, because
really that tail end of the mortgage matt when you
don't know as much. You're just talking about paying very
little in interest to the banks every single month because
of the way a mortgage loan is amortized. So that's
(14:12):
when people are most likely to start paying off their
mortgage in droves, to start throwing more money at it.
But it's also the time where it matters to the least.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
That is true. One thing I want to mention too,
like and you mentioned one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
So does Cheryl make sure Cheryl that you are accounting
for taxes on this inheritance, because yes, there is no
federal inheritance tax, but Cheryl lives in Nebraska, and Nebraska
is one of the few states that does actually have
an inheritance tax, and so we may not be talking
(14:43):
about the full one fifty. So I'm assuming, Cheryl, though,
that you are keeping that in mind. But Jill, like
we're we're talking about the alternatives and what we can
do with this money. We've mentioned this before, but when
you can get that higher guaranteed return in a high
yield savings account, why would you consider accelerating your debt payoff.
It's hard to give up a guaranteed return on your
investment by hanging onto a lower mortgage as opposed to
(15:05):
paying it off early, because most of the time there's
risk involved when you are trying to invest money versus
paying off that debt, and you know you might want
to invest some of those dollars too, But when there
is that risk free route to earn more, it's really
hard to turn down. And that's what a high ueld
tamings account is for people with a mortgage in the
low to mid threes, it's guaranteed plus. Then this is
(15:28):
another note. I think a lot of folks, maybe more
recently folks have sort of felt the advantages of having
more cash on hand. But generally speaking, liquidity is incredibly
underrated in personal finance. Everyone's looking for different ways to
optimize as opposed to finding ways to be able to
weather the storm. And when there are fewer and fewer storms,
maybe you start thinking, ah, maybe all the storms they
(15:49):
don't exist anymore. It's like, no, you just wait, there'll
be something that comes along. And I think that the.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Cash is trash mantra caught on for a whole bunch
of years. Yeah, well I'm just gonna invest then, and
no matter what. And so you know, paying off low
interest that didn't make sense. Putting money and saves didn't
make sense because hey, what's that cash really doing for me? Well,
cash is finally doing something for you now, it's certainly
not trash. And and you're right, the liquidity piece, the
(16:14):
liquidity that having cash on hand provides those options.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Man, there's worth there. There's value as opposed to paying
off the mortgage early, Like once you get rid of
that mortgage, especially if it's a lower rate mortgage, there's
no going back. Yeah, possibly ever, but maybe potentially in
your lifetime being able to secure a mortgage of that loss.
Whereas if savings rates go down, you can always sort
of change the you know, your plan of attack at
that point.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yes, all right, We've got actually more to get to
on today's show.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
But KF I am six forty. You're listening to how
to Money on demand on the iHeartRadio app KFI AM
six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. This is
how to Money. I am Matt alt Mixed and I'm
Joel Larsgard.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
If you're on Facebook, by the way, you want to
join a group of like minded folks who have money questions,
who have money insights, please go join the how to
Money Facebook group.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Let's talk about the youths for a minute here. What
are the kids up to? Matt not totally sure. I'm
not on social media as much these days, but I
did see that some high school juniors are getting seventy
thousand dollars job offers, which is more than the average
pay for Americans across the country.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
You know what I would say to that, skibity rizzler
or that someone. I'm assuming kids.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Would say to that. I think that's what you would
have to say. Honestly, I would just assume I heard
that like six months ago from my donor, so I'm
assuming it's not conol anymore. This is incredibly impressive for
teenagers who are just starting out with no college degrees,
and so you might be thinking, gosh, these are some
smart kids. You know, they've gotten straight a's, maybe they've
gotten insane score on their SATs, whatever other tests these
(17:49):
kids are taking these days. Nope, that is not the case.
Companies are hiring these kids who have shop experience, something
like welding, for instance, and they are being courted almost
like athletes because of the extreme lack of skilled labor
in the country. We've talked about this before, including with
different experts here on the show. Yeah, but blue collar
(18:09):
work apprenticeships are thriving right now, and man, you combine
that with the ability to start making money early, you're
able to avoid college debt. It's certainly not for everyone,
but I really love seeing this trend. It's hard for
me to not project and picture myself in a situation
like this where I wasn't totally sure what I wanted
to do when I was sixteen or seventeen. And I
(18:30):
say that because that's how old you are. When you're
a junior, that's when you start making some of these
decisions as to what you might be doing for the
next five years of your life. We're talking to a
friend of ours recently. They've got a rising senior. They're
going to be spending the summer going to different colleges.
And that's great for a lot of folks. Who are
I mean kids who are I was not mature at
that age, that's all I'm going to say. That's all
(18:51):
I'm saying. And I lucked out. I was fortunate enough
to not have to take on student loans and shows
a degree that blighted me in great careers and I
found my way, Joel. But for a lot of students
out there, I think this can be such a fantastic
way to make some money for a couple of years,
to gain some maturity, to figure out what it is
that you want to do with your life before you
especially before you take on some inordinate student lend debt.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, I mean, there's a school not too far from
where we live and one of our friends, Matt oversaw
this program of kids learning to become airplane mechanics and
so amazing. They are graduating with the best skill set,
the better skill set than most of their peers with
immediate professions. And he told me this with a little
(19:34):
smack of I don't know, sadness on his face. He's like,
they're gonna get paid more than I am right when
they graduate high school, because he's a teacher, and like,
I feel hear the pain in your voice when you
say that, but also the pride that those kids are
able to instantly earn, coming from a tough background in
lots of situations, instantly earn more than he was after
all the education he'd received amazing. And it's not that
(19:55):
I mean when you look at the data, still on
average people earn more with a college degree over the
lifetime of their earning, some a million dollars more over time.
But it's also with the price of college and with
the dearth of blue collar workers. If you're smart in
the path that you take, you can do better, I
think in many instances than your college kind of parts,
(20:17):
especially the people who go to college for a couple
of years then drop out, they've got college debt, they
don't have the degree to show for it. That's the
worst case scenario.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Yeah, especially when it hasn't cost you any money to
gain these skills, Like why not buy yourself a couple
of years if you want to change your mind, that's
something you can do. You can then apply for college
at that point in time when you've got maybe a
clear idea of what it is you want to pursue,
and drop tens of thousands of dollars on in higher
and how.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Much you spend on that college education is crucial, especially
in today's job market and environment. If you're talking about
taking on six figures in student loan debt, it's tough
to overcome. But if you're talking about a free or
incredibly cheap education, then that's also a case of like, well, yeah,
I don't know, why not go for it. But let's
hope those youngsters Matt making good money right out of
high school are investing in a roth Ira from the
(21:02):
get go. That's something we would recommend they do right
to build up to start building wealth through their future.
They really should be with that kind of salary. And
one of the best people in personal finance. Jonathan Clements,
he used to write for the Wall Street Journal. He
launched a website called The Humble Dollar, which is which
is great. Well, he's launched a new initiative to help
kids from poor families start investing in a ROTH early on.
(21:25):
And so Jonathan, he was sadly diagnosed with a terminal
form of lung cancer about a year ago, but he's
still and I've been really interested to watch kind of
how he's handled this man. He's handled it so well
in the way he's talked about it, but also the
way that he's continued to pursue the things that he
cares about, even in the face of death coming soon.
(21:47):
And he's so he's pursuing that passion of personal finance
education despite those trials that he's facing. And proceeds from
his new book, which is an anthology of his writings
from the Journal back in the day, are it's going
to fund a getting going on savings initiative and this
is being launched in Boston specifically, and it pairs education
with free matching WROTH contributions for some lucky teams. And
(22:11):
they're also what I love about this, They're going to
do some tracking They're going to see how this impacts
those savers moving forward, like incentivizing them to invest in
a wrath so in their teens when they otherwise likely
would not have. Is this going to lead to lifelong
savers and investors.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
I think it will.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
I'm really curious to see the results. But I love
that Jonathan is like putting his money where his mouth
is in this, and he's really not only investing in kids,
but investing in some data that's going to I think
help us, help us all figure out what it looks
like to help the next generation become better savers and
investors totally.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
I think another lesson we can gain here is that
that we have more power as individuals to make change
out in the world right, Like incentivize the type of
behavior that you want to see. I don't want to
make everything about like fitness, and I don't know, I
feel like we've kept we kept that rained in some
but like this is a part of and I've shared this.
This is one of the reasons. That's part of the
reason why I built up the home gym is because
I wanted to empower my daughters, like I wanted them
(23:05):
to see that it is okay, and in fact great
to be a strong female. And I've incentivize them to
like do pull ups and dips and stuff like that.
And as well as the kids in the neighborhood, like
when they came over, if they're able to, you know,
to do that, they get they get paid money, like
it's a party when when the kids come over. We
don't have to fully rely on the government to enact
(23:26):
ways for future generations to save pay you pay me
for pollups. No, I'm sorry, Joel, and you are listening
to how to Money KAP.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
This is how to Money. I'm Joel Larsgard and I
am Matt Altmixed. Don't forget to sign up for the
how to Money newsletter over at how tomoney dot com
slash newsletter. Let's now hear from a listener and he
has a particularly fun frugal or cheap for us.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
I'm at and Joel. This is Buddy from Downers Grove.
I have a frugal or cheap question for you. So
you walk into a store you're looking for a new mattress.
You've been there before. You know the sales rep that's
work with you, and you go on. You say, hey,
I want the same bed that I bought two years
ago because I need to swap one bet out at
my house, and they say, hey, listen, we got one
(24:13):
end back. It's going to have this fifty percent off
and you could add on an extended to warranty at
a pre low rate. Is that frugal or cheap to
be buying a used mattress that was on the show
floor of a mattress store. Thank you so much for
the show. We'll be of a great.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Day, all right, matt Normally, when I hear the words
used and mattress in the same sentence, my earparks up
and I'm like, tell me more.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Because I get excited in a good way. Well sometimes
like is.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
There a horror story coming here?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Or like because I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
I get When I was much much younger, I was
more inclined to do whatever it would take to save
a buck. And I'm still thinking myself as a pretty
frugal dude. But use mattresses. I have outgrown that mattress
regrets regards you. Well, we I know, I think you
guys something similar and inherited.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Mattress well sort of. Okay. So the problem with Buddy's
question here is that he's asking a guy who slept
on a used mattress for over a decade. Yeah, so,
and this is I used mattress not by somebody. It
wasn't inherited, it was not from somebody. We knew. It
was listed on Facebook, and it just so happened that
it was next door to some folks that we know,
(25:26):
some friends of ours, and so I was able to
kind of quasi have them vouch for their neighbors.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
It was these weird, messy, nasty people.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
But I mean they did have cats, and there are
you know, some cat here that I drove extra fast
on the way home because the mattress was strapped to
the top of the car. I'm like, okay, maybe that'll
get all the oh the cat hairl Okay. So here's
the thing we, like I said, we slept on that
thing for over a decade, super comfortable mattress. And now
so we upgraded to a king a couple of years ago.
(25:53):
And guess who sleeps on that on that mattress now
one of our kids. So we still have that mattress
and everybody in her household knows that that is the
most comfortable mattress. That's my entire house bar nun Like
no questions ask everyone knows it. It's it was a
smart move for us.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I think that's a clutch part of the answer. Here
is it comfortable? Like yeah, because if you're saying, hey, listen,
I'm thinking about trying to save money on this thing,
and you know, the mattresses I at best, but actually
it's not giving me the best night's sleep. Like there
is something in sleep s important.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
This is also probably middle aged me coming out, but like,
my sleep matter is more than Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Often you pay attention to your sleep score on your
watch every day.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I look at it and and uh, I always let
that inform how I slept. I'm like, how did I sleep?
I don't know, let me tell my watch. I try
to actually like think about how I feel a first
and see if it matches up with a number, because
it doesn't. Always just to not like brainwatch yourself by
whatever the score happens to say yeah on the garmen.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Yeah, but I get it.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
I guess I just don't want Buddy to make a
decision here solely for money, because yeah, your sleep matters.
It's going to influence a lot of things, including potentially
how much money you make, like if you're like showing
up groggy eye to your job and stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Like it matters. Old buddy got the cheap mattress but
not making nearly as much a work anymore.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, but I think it like where Buddy's coming from
and the way he phrased this question makes me think
that it is frugal and not cheap because a couple
of things. It sounds like he's purchased this model before
he's had good results, so he knows that this particular
brand of mattress is a good one at least for
you know, the way he's used it in the past.
That moods well. I too, similar to Buddy, would be
(27:36):
willing to buy a floor model in order to score
fifty percent off. If I was a fan and I
needed another mattress, I'd rather buy a nice floor model
mattress in order to score a higher end bed that
I otherwise wouldn't be willing to purchase or able to afford,
than to buy a brand new, much cheaper model. I
just think that the construction could be much worse on
the on some of those fly by night mattress and
(28:00):
box sort of things, although some of the mattress in.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
The boxes are are pretty good and it just depends.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
On I sleep on one now, But yeah, I think that,
you know, the comfort level could be inferior on a
lower end mattress. And so if you're like, hey, I
know this, it's nicely, it's it's well made. I'm getting
a great deal. I know, I like this thing. Save
the money.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Sure, I almost see the floor model as like a
benefit because of the fact that it's had some some
folks kind of you know, bouncing on a little bit,
kind of like walking around on their knees. So I
will say that when we purchased our new mattress, I
was like, man, this thing's kind of stiff, but like
it takes a minute to actually break in, and we
anytime I've talked to you folks who know a thing
or two about mattresses, they literally will on their knees,
(28:41):
like walk around on the mattress to kind of like
break it in. Yeah, essentially, But also I think what
Buddy said was that the sales rep or the salesperson whoever,
they started at fifty percent, and so I almost see
this as an opportunity, Like he came to him already
with fifty percent, and I think that there is a
chance that he would even be able to go down
(29:02):
a touch more sure perhaps, So.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Yeah, why not negotiate.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
I want to see Buddy have a conversation. Hey, this
is somebody he knows, someone he's familiar with. I think
there's an ability for them to get rid of a
model maybe that nobody else wants that's been in the
back of the store for a minute. While also Buddy
give getting an even better deal than he thought possible.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I'd also probably want to know the return policy, Like
is that is true? Hey, granted, this is a store
model and I'm getting a sick discount, But if I
take it home and I realize that it is bent
out of shape or something like that, and the right
side of the mattresses is worn in a little more
than that, I thought that, can I bring it back
within thirty days? And so yeah, I think the return
(29:42):
policy matters here. And you really only might be able
to figure out what kind of condition it's in after
sleeping on it for a few nights. So that's at
least one question I would have And then you know,
the one thing in your question that might be a
bad idea would be to get an extended warranty, though,
because the risk of a mattress having significant issues is
pretty low. And it's not that extended warranties can never
(30:05):
be a smart move, it's just that they rarely are.
Self insuring is almost always the best bet. It's almost
always what you're going to hear from us as an answer.
So if you're getting this bargain basement price, what you're
going to pay for the extended warranty would probably be
a decent portion of the overall cost that I wouldn't
want to work over.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Yeah, that's true. Okay, you are listening to how to
Money on KFI AM six forty. This is Joel Larscard
and Matt Altmis
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And you're listening to KFI AM six forty how to
Money on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
KF I am six forty. You're listening to How to
Money on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Do you want to live well without drowning in debt?
Joel and Matt have you covered? This is how to
Money with Joel lars Guard and Matt Almes without drowning
in debt? Joel and Matt have you covered? This is
(00:34):
how to Money with Joel lars Guard and Matt.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Almes KF I am sixty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
This is how to Money. I am Matt Altmes.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
And I'm Joel Larsgard. Don't forget to sign up for
the how to Money newsletter. You can find that up
at how tomoney dot com slash newsletter.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
Joel, do you want to give a quick little update
on your dishwasher?
Speaker 5 (01:07):
So?
Speaker 4 (01:08):
I'm sure folks are wondering. They've been on the edge
of their seat.
Speaker 5 (01:10):
I know.
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Well, yeah, so I ended up. I bought four dishwashers
from Costco, as I said, and my wife was were
they all shrink wrapped together? Were they connected with the
big handle? Amazing? How could you carry that? Well?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
No, separately shrink wrapped, but man, so I had mine
installed and I sold my old dishwasher, and then my
dad wanted one of the dishwashers, and so caught free
installation from Costco for for mine and for his, and then.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
I sold serious de ja vous, but but keep going,
keep going.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And then so I sold the other two on Facebook
pretty quickly for five hundred bucks each. So my dad,
I gave him the essentially the price that I paid
per for dishwasher, right, but but for the ones, I
get that kin discount. That's right, right, But I'm not
gonna like charging extra. But people on Facebook paid the
full freight that I was asking five hundred bucks. I
(02:08):
was like, well it started off higher than that because
it I was like, maybe I'll get more, but had
takers at five hundred and so ultimately I ended up
not getting paid, which I thought I would. I think,
I'm told you I thought I would, and I did.
I ended up getting paid to get a new dishwasher
put in at my house, and like I told you,
them was getting long in the tooth. I was getting
frustrated with it. So yeah, I'm happy.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So okay, so the big question does it You've had
it now for a few days and you so you
said you wanted to get a new dishwasher because your
old one. You are the man who handles the dishes,
the dish like you are, Yeah, you're in charge of
clean up. Does it clean better? Because this is a
Bosh dishwasher, and we know that with it being a
German company. Well, I guess just because it's German doesn't
mean it's automatically better. But Bosh specifically are incredibly highly rated.
(02:50):
They last, does it? Does it clean?
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yes, it's been cleaning better, and so my mornings when
I'm putting the dishes away are far less frustrating.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Are they dryer as well? They are dryer as well? Yeah,
see that was that was my big hold up because
of the plastics. Yeah, I was, yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
There's certain spots in like those kids food containers that
just didn't always.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Gonna get all the way dry.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
I don't think in any like if it could have,
if it could get rid of all the water in there,
that'd be impressive.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
But evidently some of them can, including plastics. Right, Okay,
So one of our our biggest hang ups has been
we tried some uh like some green the detergent pods
because we're like, yeah, you know, maybe we should be
a little more health conscience, health conscious. But they didn't
do a great job cleaning the freaking dishes, and I
do I am incredibly hesitant to throw something away. I
(03:38):
don't like to waste stuff. This it's the leftover's principle,
right like you got it, like put it to use.
I was so close to tossing those things because the
dishes were not getting clean. I was so happy to
see to put the last pod in the thing. And
then we kind of swung in the other direction and
got like these incredibly highly rated, very not natural, very
not green, little gel pod looking things or whatever. And
(04:00):
I hate those two not because so they do a
good job cleaning the best. Well, the fragrance specifically on
these it's terrible, like all the cups and plates, everything
smells like this, like flowers or something. Yeah, I hate it. Again.
I'm like this close to toss on all those, but
I can't bring myself to waste these perfectly fine, they
get the job done. I just prove a conundrum right there. Oh,
(04:20):
I got a grin and Barrett and I can't give
them to somebody you think might appreciate them. Maybe we should. Yeah,
so I'm looking forward to being done with us and
just moving back to the what is it the power ball?
You know it's got the little red Classic. I feel
like those are just they're not overly fancy, they're not
super expensive. They don't seem like the absolute worst pods
for you. But I'm on sale and it's what we
have been using. I don't know why we switched it up.
(04:42):
Is that what y'all use? No, we use the liquid
because he's like squirted in there. Is it multipole like that?
You get this from Costco? Yeah, so it's the Kirkland sig.
It's not Kirkland. Okay, what is it with the brain
is in a green bottle? But okay, they want to
say it's like seven bucks for giant tub of dishwasher liquid.
That interesting, Yeah, not bad. Let's go for it, buddy,
Let's keep moving that. This is like quite a departure
(05:04):
from what we're talking about now that you want to
talk about. I just want to say a macro level
what's going on.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It's thrilling to me, to the frugal guy and me
to get paid to put a new dish rusher in
when I already marry that.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
I am happy for you. For me, that's just that's
like a that's a big money win. It's good.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
But yes, let's talk about a bunch of other stories, Matt,
personal finance stories that are going to impact people's people's
finances and America's credit worthiness. That's something that we should
probably talk about in the beginning. It's in greater question
right now. After Moody's, one of the credit rating agencies
joined the other two credit rating agencies and downgraded the
(05:40):
America's credit standing. So it's it's like essentially the like
Equifax telling you, yeah, you had a seven.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Forty, now you're down to like seven twenty five.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
We just don't think you're as good at handling credit
as we thought before. So, but this is on a
national scale, so this isn't surprising, but it does shine
a light on our unwillingness to face economic facts head
on as a country. I think it's some people might
be overestimating the impact though it's I think it is
also not a red warning light that should be freaking
(06:10):
us all out. But it does reveal the fact that
our country could be on better financial footing if we
were better managing garden title entitlement programs. And our overall
debt load, that would have a positive impact, right, Mett,
you and I have had these conversations off the mic.
America's financial strength is still unparalleled. When we're talking about
pure nations.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
We're number one. Yeah. Still yeah, even if we're all.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Like making dumb moves like shooting ourselves in the foot,
to a certain extent, America is still in a top
notch position. So yeah, I think, similar to prior downgrades
from the other credit rating agencies, I think it's likely
to have a minimal impact, but it doesn't mean it's
still not tough to watch.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I totally agree. So yeah, I wanted to highlight that
because there's been a lot of talk about this being political.
It's not political. So the first downgrade, as we came
down from the triple A rating, it happened back in
twenty eleven. And guess who was president then, a very
popular Democrat who was residing in the White House, Barack
Obama yea, and some reason twenty I think, well, maybe
it was twenty eleven, maybe twenty thirteen, But then I
(07:09):
know that the second one of the other ones, maybe
it was Fitch at that point downgraded. That happened in
twenty twenty three, and I remember we covered that then
and again how it's likely to be overblown. But it's
definitely not political because you've got two Democratic presidents who
were in office at that point in time. It is
not political. But I also don't think it's as big
of a deal as many folks are making it out
(07:30):
to be, because it's in particular, I find myself thinking
more and more like in this line of thought, thinking
about what are the alternatives when it comes to borrowing
from countries, because and so I looked it up, and
there are maybe about a dozen countries out there who
still have retained the perfect triple A status. But here's
the thing, they're tiny. They are so stink and small. Like,
(07:52):
so you average the GDP of those around twelve countries
who still retain that perfect rating, and we are something
like twenty seven times larger than the average at all
those of all those combined, but just on average, like
it's anywhere from like Germany is the biggest, and I
think there's something like four trillion dollars or something like
(08:12):
that compared to the US is twenty seven, But a
lot of the other countries are closer to not four trillion,
but like three two, and most of them are in
the hundreds of billions of dollars that retained that perfect range.
So that's something to keep in mind on a macro level,
as folks are freaking out. I don't think this is
something that folks should be overly concerned about. Yeah, and
you say that it's not political, and I think you're right.
(08:32):
It's not some sort of like denigration of a particular
party or their policies. But I do think this is
in some ways the extension of the tax cuts and
job ACKed or this new big beautiful bill, the tax cuts,
extension of the tax cuts, the elimination of taxes on
social Security tips, overtime pay, those policies aren't raining spending
(08:53):
it in any meaningful way. And so it's not obviously
just a reflection of the current administration, to reflection of
what's been happening with under both Democratic, Democrat and Republican regimes.
It's a reaction to the fiscal reality of what's likely
to happen. But I think we're also seeing a wait
a second, like this bill. While yeah, it'll provide tax
savings for many Americans, it will grow the deficit which
(09:16):
is not great for the long term financial health of
our country. Yeah, and of course on an individual level,
borrowing costs are going to go up because these I
mean basically, the US has been told, hey, you know,
before you additional these these treasuries at four percent, like,
we're going to need to see a little more from
you because we're not totally sure if you're going to
be able to pay these off. And so we saw
(09:36):
like thirty year treasuries go from like they went over
five percent for the first time in quite a while.
But the way this is going to impact us as individuals,
specifically for borrowers. Right, so for folks who are looking
to buy a home, the thirty year fixed mortgage rate
is closely aligned with a ten year treasury note this
is how it's going to more directly impact folks on
(09:57):
a personal level. But even still, I wouldn't be freaking out.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. All Right, we've got more
to get to. On today's show, pay if I am
six point forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
This is how to Money. I am one of your hosts,
Joel Larsgard and I am mat all mixed by the way.
You can always find more money saving information over at
howtomoney dot com.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
And if you have a money question we'd love to
hear from you, just go to how toomoney dot com
slash ask, or instead of doing that, just record your
question on the Voicemamo app of your phone, send it
to us at how tomoneypod at gmail dot com. Hopefully
we can take it next week on the show, Matt.
This question comes from a listener who inherited some money.
She's trying to figure out what's the best way to
(10:42):
handle it.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
Hey, Matt, Joel, it's Cheryl from Nebraska. I am going
to get about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in inheritance.
I owe about one hundred and ten on my house.
I wondered if it would be smarter to pay off
the house or just pay half on the principle.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Or I don't know what.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
Give me your thoughts. I listened to your show daily,
Love it.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Thanks, Joel. Cheryl is listening to us daily. I'm assuming
she's catching up on the episodes. But what if we
switched it up and started doing a daily podcast, daily
financial News?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
You wouldn't have to twist my arm. I don't think
I like talking to you. I like talking about money.
So doing that more, I wouldn't have to.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
Cut it down to like a fifteen minute show, perhaps
something like just just because the one part of the
thing that we can't control is how much listeners like
or dislike us, and if we talk too much into
their years.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
They might fall into the ladder camp.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
That is true, Cheryl. I want to kick things off
and say that I'm sorry to hear that you've lost
someone close to you, someone who's close enough that they
would leave you in inheritance. So condolences first off. But
what it is that you choose to do with this
lump sum of money, man, we are not going to
be able to give a clear cared answer because it
is so dependent on your personal money goals. It's so
(12:07):
dependent on some of the specifics that we actually aren't
privy to. So with that in mind, we'll try to
provide a general framework so hopefully you can make a
smart decision with this cash and fusion, which I'm sure is.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
What this feels like for sure. Most people like. The
biggest cash in fusion most people get, Matt is their
their tax refund right that they got recently, and that
feels like a big thing that they can do a
lot with. But this is obviously much bigger. You can
address bigger financial concerns that you have, and so let's
address maybe the mortgage first.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
For Cheryl. Here is Cheryl if you swish, he's got
her eyes set on pan off that house. I get that.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
That's especially when you're talking about big some money. You're like,
what do I owe the most on? And that is
a mortgage typically for most people, and so it makes
sense like, well, big lump sum, big mortgage. Let's try
to eradicate as much of that as possible. And if
you just bought the house recently, Cheryl, the answer might
be yes. Right, if you've got like a seven percent
mortgage or something like that, and you're a debt averse person,
(13:05):
then paying off the mortgage it can be a fine way.
I would say to use those inheritance dollars on top
of paying it off, though you'd still have forty thousand
dollars left to boost your savings and to invest, so
it's not like that's the only thing you could accomplish either,
which I think is great and lens maybe even more
credence to the goal of paying off your mortgage with
(13:28):
the majority of this money. But if you bought your
house a whole bunch of years ago, and let's say
you're in the last decade of paying it off, and
you've got a really sweet locked in low interest rate, right,
you're gonna get a whole lot less bang for your buck.
So if you've got that three percent or so interestrate,
you've already paid a lot of interest over the first
(13:48):
decades of ownership, if you've had that mortgage for a
long time. While paying it off in one fell swoop
can feel good, there are meaningfully better ways I think
to use that one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, because
really that tail end of the mortgage matt when you
don't know as much. You're just talking about paying very
little in interest to the banks every single month because
of the way a mortgage loan is amortized. So that's
(14:12):
when people are most likely to start paying off their
mortgage in droves, to start throwing more money at it.
But it's also the time where it matters to the least.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
That is true. One thing I want to mention too,
like and you mentioned one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
So does Cheryl make sure Cheryl that you are accounting
for taxes on this inheritance, because yes, there is no
federal inheritance tax, but Cheryl lives in Nebraska, and Nebraska
is one of the few states that does actually have
an inheritance tax, and so we may not be talking
(14:43):
about the full one fifty. So I'm assuming, Cheryl, though,
that you are keeping that in mind. But Jill, like
we're we're talking about the alternatives and what we can
do with this money. We've mentioned this before, but when
you can get that higher guaranteed return in a high
yield savings account, why would you consider accelerating your debt payoff.
It's hard to give up a guaranteed return on your
investment by hanging onto a lower mortgage as opposed to
(15:05):
paying it off early, because most of the time there's
risk involved when you are trying to invest money versus
paying off that debt, and you know you might want
to invest some of those dollars too, But when there
is that risk free route to earn more, it's really
hard to turn down. And that's what a high ueld
tamings account is for people with a mortgage in the
low to mid threes, it's guaranteed plus. Then this is
(15:28):
another note. I think a lot of folks, maybe more
recently folks have sort of felt the advantages of having
more cash on hand. But generally speaking, liquidity is incredibly
underrated in personal finance. Everyone's looking for different ways to
optimize as opposed to finding ways to be able to
weather the storm. And when there are fewer and fewer storms,
maybe you start thinking, ah, maybe all the storms they
(15:49):
don't exist anymore. It's like, no, you just wait, there'll
be something that comes along. And I think that the.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Cash is trash mantra caught on for a whole bunch
of years. Yeah, well I'm just gonna invest then, and
no matter what. And so you know, paying off low
interest that didn't make sense. Putting money and saves didn't
make sense because hey, what's that cash really doing for me? Well,
cash is finally doing something for you now, it's certainly
not trash. And and you're right, the liquidity piece, the
(16:14):
liquidity that having cash on hand provides those options.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Man, there's worth there. There's value as opposed to paying
off the mortgage early, Like once you get rid of
that mortgage, especially if it's a lower rate mortgage, there's
no going back. Yeah, possibly ever, but maybe potentially in
your lifetime being able to secure a mortgage of that loss.
Whereas if savings rates go down, you can always sort
of change the you know, your plan of attack at
that point.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yes, all right, We've got actually more to get to
on today's show.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
But KF I am six forty. You're listening to how
to Money on demand on the iHeartRadio app KFI AM
six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. This is
how to Money. I am Matt alt Mixed and I'm
Joel Larsgard.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
If you're on Facebook, by the way, you want to
join a group of like minded folks who have money questions,
who have money insights, please go join the how to
Money Facebook group.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Let's talk about the youths for a minute here. What
are the kids up to? Matt not totally sure. I'm
not on social media as much these days, but I
did see that some high school juniors are getting seventy
thousand dollars job offers, which is more than the average
pay for Americans across the country.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
You know what I would say to that, skibity rizzler
or that someone. I'm assuming kids.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Would say to that. I think that's what you would
have to say. Honestly, I would just assume I heard
that like six months ago from my donor, so I'm
assuming it's not conol anymore. This is incredibly impressive for
teenagers who are just starting out with no college degrees,
and so you might be thinking, gosh, these are some
smart kids. You know, they've gotten straight a's, maybe they've
gotten insane score on their SATs, whatever other tests these
(17:49):
kids are taking these days. Nope, that is not the case.
Companies are hiring these kids who have shop experience, something
like welding, for instance, and they are being courted almost
like athletes because of the extreme lack of skilled labor
in the country. We've talked about this before, including with
different experts here on the show. Yeah, but blue collar
(18:09):
work apprenticeships are thriving right now, and man, you combine
that with the ability to start making money early, you're
able to avoid college debt. It's certainly not for everyone,
but I really love seeing this trend. It's hard for
me to not project and picture myself in a situation
like this where I wasn't totally sure what I wanted
to do when I was sixteen or seventeen. And I
(18:30):
say that because that's how old you are. When you're
a junior, that's when you start making some of these
decisions as to what you might be doing for the
next five years of your life. We're talking to a
friend of ours recently. They've got a rising senior. They're
going to be spending the summer going to different colleges.
And that's great for a lot of folks. Who are
I mean kids who are I was not mature at
that age, that's all I'm going to say. That's all
(18:51):
I'm saying. And I lucked out. I was fortunate enough
to not have to take on student loans and shows
a degree that blighted me in great careers and I
found my way, Joel. But for a lot of students
out there, I think this can be such a fantastic
way to make some money for a couple of years,
to gain some maturity, to figure out what it is
that you want to do with your life before you
especially before you take on some inordinate student lend debt.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Yeah, I mean, there's a school not too far from
where we live and one of our friends, Matt oversaw
this program of kids learning to become airplane mechanics and
so amazing. They are graduating with the best skill set,
the better skill set than most of their peers with
immediate professions. And he told me this with a little
(19:34):
smack of I don't know, sadness on his face. He's like,
they're gonna get paid more than I am right when
they graduate high school, because he's a teacher, and like,
I feel hear the pain in your voice when you
say that, but also the pride that those kids are
able to instantly earn, coming from a tough background in
lots of situations, instantly earn more than he was after
all the education he'd received amazing. And it's not that
(19:55):
I mean when you look at the data, still on
average people earn more with a college degree over the
lifetime of their earning, some a million dollars more over time.
But it's also with the price of college and with
the dearth of blue collar workers. If you're smart in
the path that you take, you can do better, I
think in many instances than your college kind of parts,
(20:17):
especially the people who go to college for a couple
of years then drop out, they've got college debt, they
don't have the degree to show for it. That's the
worst case scenario.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Yeah, especially when it hasn't cost you any money to
gain these skills, Like why not buy yourself a couple
of years if you want to change your mind, that's
something you can do. You can then apply for college
at that point in time when you've got maybe a
clear idea of what it is you want to pursue,
and drop tens of thousands of dollars on in higher
and how.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Much you spend on that college education is crucial, especially
in today's job market and environment. If you're talking about
taking on six figures in student loan debt, it's tough
to overcome. But if you're talking about a free or
incredibly cheap education, then that's also a case of like, well, yeah,
I don't know, why not go for it. But let's
hope those youngsters Matt making good money right out of
high school are investing in a roth Ira from the
(21:02):
get go. That's something we would recommend they do right
to build up to start building wealth through their future.
They really should be with that kind of salary. And
one of the best people in personal finance. Jonathan Clements,
he used to write for the Wall Street Journal. He
launched a website called The Humble Dollar, which is which
is great. Well, he's launched a new initiative to help
kids from poor families start investing in a ROTH early on.
(21:25):
And so Jonathan, he was sadly diagnosed with a terminal
form of lung cancer about a year ago, but he's
still and I've been really interested to watch kind of
how he's handled this man. He's handled it so well
in the way he's talked about it, but also the
way that he's continued to pursue the things that he
cares about, even in the face of death coming soon.
(21:47):
And he's so he's pursuing that passion of personal finance
education despite those trials that he's facing. And proceeds from
his new book, which is an anthology of his writings
from the Journal back in the day, are it's going
to fund a getting going on savings initiative and this
is being launched in Boston specifically, and it pairs education
with free matching WROTH contributions for some lucky teams. And
(22:11):
they're also what I love about this, They're going to
do some tracking They're going to see how this impacts
those savers moving forward, like incentivizing them to invest in
a wrath so in their teens when they otherwise likely
would not have. Is this going to lead to lifelong
savers and investors.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
I think it will.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
I'm really curious to see the results. But I love
that Jonathan is like putting his money where his mouth
is in this, and he's really not only investing in kids,
but investing in some data that's going to I think
help us, help us all figure out what it looks
like to help the next generation become better savers and
investors totally.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
I think another lesson we can gain here is that
that we have more power as individuals to make change
out in the world right, Like incentivize the type of
behavior that you want to see. I don't want to
make everything about like fitness, and I don't know, I
feel like we've kept we kept that rained in some
but like this is a part of and I've shared this.
This is one of the reasons. That's part of the
reason why I built up the home gym is because
I wanted to empower my daughters, like I wanted them
(23:05):
to see that it is okay, and in fact great
to be a strong female. And I've incentivize them to
like do pull ups and dips and stuff like that.
And as well as the kids in the neighborhood, like
when they came over, if they're able to, you know,
to do that, they get they get paid money, like
it's a party when when the kids come over. We
don't have to fully rely on the government to enact
(23:26):
ways for future generations to save pay you pay me
for pollups. No, I'm sorry, Joel, and you are listening
to how to Money KAP.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
I am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
This is how to Money. I'm Joel Larsgard and I
am Matt Altmixed. Don't forget to sign up for the
how to Money newsletter over at how tomoney dot com
slash newsletter. Let's now hear from a listener and he
has a particularly fun frugal or cheap for us.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
I'm at and Joel. This is Buddy from Downers Grove.
I have a frugal or cheap question for you. So
you walk into a store you're looking for a new mattress.
You've been there before. You know the sales rep that's
work with you, and you go on. You say, hey,
I want the same bed that I bought two years
ago because I need to swap one bet out at
my house, and they say, hey, listen, we got one
(24:13):
end back. It's going to have this fifty percent off
and you could add on an extended to warranty at
a pre low rate. Is that frugal or cheap to
be buying a used mattress that was on the show
floor of a mattress store. Thank you so much for
the show. We'll be of a great.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Day, all right, matt Normally, when I hear the words
used and mattress in the same sentence, my earparks up
and I'm like, tell me more.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Because I get excited in a good way. Well sometimes
like is.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
There a horror story coming here?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Or like because I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
I get When I was much much younger, I was
more inclined to do whatever it would take to save
a buck. And I'm still thinking myself as a pretty
frugal dude. But use mattresses. I have outgrown that mattress
regrets regards you. Well, we I know, I think you
guys something similar and inherited.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Mattress well sort of. Okay. So the problem with Buddy's
question here is that he's asking a guy who slept
on a used mattress for over a decade. Yeah, so,
and this is I used mattress not by somebody. It
wasn't inherited, it was not from somebody. We knew. It
was listed on Facebook, and it just so happened that
it was next door to some folks that we know,
(25:26):
some friends of ours, and so I was able to
kind of quasi have them vouch for their neighbors.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
It was these weird, messy, nasty people.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
But I mean they did have cats, and there are
you know, some cat here that I drove extra fast
on the way home because the mattress was strapped to
the top of the car. I'm like, okay, maybe that'll
get all the oh the cat hairl Okay. So here's
the thing we, like I said, we slept on that
thing for over a decade, super comfortable mattress. And now
so we upgraded to a king a couple of years ago.
(25:53):
And guess who sleeps on that on that mattress now
one of our kids. So we still have that mattress
and everybody in her household knows that that is the
most comfortable mattress. That's my entire house bar nun Like
no questions ask everyone knows it. It's it was a
smart move for us.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
I think that's a clutch part of the answer. Here
is it comfortable? Like yeah, because if you're saying, hey, listen,
I'm thinking about trying to save money on this thing,
and you know, the mattresses I at best, but actually
it's not giving me the best night's sleep. Like there
is something in sleep s important.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
Man.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
This is also probably middle aged me coming out, but like,
my sleep matter is more than Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Often you pay attention to your sleep score on your
watch every day.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
I look at it and and uh, I always let
that inform how I slept. I'm like, how did I sleep?
I don't know, let me tell my watch. I try
to actually like think about how I feel a first
and see if it matches up with a number, because
it doesn't. Always just to not like brainwatch yourself by
whatever the score happens to say yeah on the garmen.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Yeah, but I get it.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
I guess I just don't want Buddy to make a
decision here solely for money, because yeah, your sleep matters.
It's going to influence a lot of things, including potentially
how much money you make, like if you're like showing
up groggy eye to your job and stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
Like it matters. Old buddy got the cheap mattress but
not making nearly as much a work anymore.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, but I think it like where Buddy's coming from
and the way he phrased this question makes me think
that it is frugal and not cheap because a couple
of things. It sounds like he's purchased this model before
he's had good results, so he knows that this particular
brand of mattress is a good one at least for
you know, the way he's used it in the past.
That moods well. I too, similar to Buddy, would be
(27:36):
willing to buy a floor model in order to score
fifty percent off. If I was a fan and I
needed another mattress, I'd rather buy a nice floor model
mattress in order to score a higher end bed that
I otherwise wouldn't be willing to purchase or able to afford,
than to buy a brand new, much cheaper model. I
just think that the construction could be much worse on
the on some of those fly by night mattress and
(28:00):
box sort of things, although some of the mattress in.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
The boxes are are pretty good and it just depends.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
On I sleep on one now, But yeah, I think that,
you know, the comfort level could be inferior on a
lower end mattress. And so if you're like, hey, I
know this, it's nicely, it's it's well made. I'm getting
a great deal. I know, I like this thing. Save
the money.
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Sure, I almost see the floor model as like a
benefit because of the fact that it's had some some
folks kind of you know, bouncing on a little bit,
kind of like walking around on their knees. So I
will say that when we purchased our new mattress, I
was like, man, this thing's kind of stiff, but like
it takes a minute to actually break in, and we
anytime I've talked to you folks who know a thing
or two about mattresses, they literally will on their knees,
(28:41):
like walk around on the mattress to kind of like
break it in. Yeah, essentially, But also I think what
Buddy said was that the sales rep or the salesperson whoever,
they started at fifty percent, and so I almost see
this as an opportunity, Like he came to him already
with fifty percent, and I think that there is a
chance that he would even be able to go down
(29:02):
a touch more sure perhaps, So.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
Yeah, why not negotiate.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
I want to see Buddy have a conversation. Hey, this
is somebody he knows, someone he's familiar with. I think
there's an ability for them to get rid of a
model maybe that nobody else wants that's been in the
back of the store for a minute. While also Buddy
give getting an even better deal than he thought possible.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I'd also probably want to know the return policy, Like
is that is true? Hey, granted, this is a store
model and I'm getting a sick discount, But if I
take it home and I realize that it is bent
out of shape or something like that, and the right
side of the mattresses is worn in a little more
than that, I thought that, can I bring it back
within thirty days? And so yeah, I think the return
(29:42):
policy matters here. And you really only might be able
to figure out what kind of condition it's in after
sleeping on it for a few nights. So that's at
least one question I would have And then you know,
the one thing in your question that might be a
bad idea would be to get an extended warranty, though,
because the risk of a mattress having significant issues is
pretty low. And it's not that extended warranties can never
(30:05):
be a smart move, it's just that they rarely are.
Self insuring is almost always the best bet. It's almost
always what you're going to hear from us as an answer.
So if you're getting this bargain basement price, what you're
going to pay for the extended warranty would probably be
a decent portion of the overall cost that I wouldn't
want to work over.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
Yeah, that's true. Okay, you are listening to how to
Money on KFI AM six forty. This is Joel Larscard
and Matt Altmis
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And you're listening to KFI AM six forty how to
Money on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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