June 29, 2025 • 33 mins
Mocktails are ridiculously expensive these days! Also, Gen Z is reluctant to open a bar tab - that could be sneaky smart.
Ask HTM: Caden wants to know if he should get another credit card.
We're buying everything on Amazon, including clothing. Amazon makes shopping easy, but that frictionless experience could coax you into buying too much stuff!
Ask HTM: A listener wants to know if she should repair or replace her old car that's having major issues.
Ask HTM: Caden wants to know if he should get another credit card.
We're buying everything on Amazon, including clothing. Amazon makes shopping easy, but that frictionless experience could coax you into buying too much stuff!
Ask HTM: A listener wants to know if she should repair or replace her old car that's having major issues.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kay.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
If I am six forty you're listening to how to
Money on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
All Joel and Matt want to do is help you save,
invest and enjoy more of what matters. This is how
to Money with Joel Lar's Guard and Matt Aultmix.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
K I am six point forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
This is how to Money. I'm Joel Larsgard and I
am Matt Altmixed.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Don't forget to sign up for the how to Money
newsletter over at how tomoney dot com slash newsletter.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And of course it's time for the ludicrous headline of
the week. This one comes from the Wall Street Journal,
and I said, mocktails cost fifteen bucks and nobody knows why.
And I'm not a mocktail guy, but I was like,
mocktails for real cost fifteen bucks.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That's insane. So I read the article and.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I there are obviously a couple different takeaways from this.
I think it's interesting that we as a society are
more aware of the effects of alcohol, and you know,
we're all avoiding alcohol more and more. And this comes
from the guy who drinks beer on his podcast. But
even I am drinking less than I have in the past,
and on purpose to say I want to be healthier.
(01:53):
I want to enjoy a good drink on occasion. But
I also think that drinking a lot less frequently is
better for me. I feel better. So I get why
people are dropping alcohol, some people dropping it all together.
But I also I think I love that we're not
teetotaling and dropping alcohol out of this like legalistic moral duty,
(02:13):
but it's more of just an effort to treat our
bodies well. Non Alcoholic beer is gaining popularity in a
big way too, and even craft brewers are saying, oh,
we have to have non alcoholic beer to cater to
that segment of the population because they're growing. And I've
had a couple solid ones. I'm still a fan of
real craft beer, but it's nice to see the non
(02:36):
alcoholic stuff getting better. But mocktails they're hot too, And
you would think that a mocktail would save us money
because the most expensive ingredient is being left out of
the equation, but they don't. Bars used to charge less
for non alcoholic drinks, like a Shirley Temple or something
like that, but bars have caught on and many are
charging cocktail equivalent prices because they can, I guess, and
(02:59):
also because us the more you dig into it, like,
you can make non alcoholic spirits like gin and vodka
and stuff like that, and they're really hard to make
and they're expensive to make, and so if you want
those put into your drink to get more of the
flavor profile you're hoping for, it's going to be just
as expensive as a drink, or very close to as
expensive as the alcoholic version of that drink. So a
(03:22):
lot of ebstainers are taking the smart route of opting
for tea or diet coke or sparkling water or something
like that instead when they're out in the bar. So
just know if you're cutting out alcohol in part of
your reasoning is not just health but an effort to
save money, well it might not save you money. If
you're buying the expensive mocktails, the ones that are attempting
(03:46):
to most closely mimic your favorite cocktails. Be aware when
you go out with your friends you might be racking
up just as high of a bar tab and I do.
I obviously drinking at home or making your own cocktails
or mocktails at home will be will save you a
lot of money as well. And there's this other drinking
trend that I thought was worth covering. It's gen zers
(04:09):
saying we're going to open a bar tab, or we're
not going to open a bar tab. We're just going
to pay for each drink individually. So if you order
three beers in a night, you literally pay three times
over the course of the evening instead of opening a
tab and paying for it all at once at the end.
And one of my friends he texted me about this,
and he's a millennial like me, and he just couldn't
(04:29):
understand the logic. He's like, what is up with these
young people, the gen zers, who don't open up a
bar tab and they pay for every drink as they
get it. He's like, this baffles me. I don't understand,
but I actually do, and I think that this kind
of makes some sense, and I think it actually might
be financially savvy.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
It might be smart because.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
When we talk, and when we've talked in the past
about the gamification of money, part of what helps you
spend less is increasing the pain of spending in a
society of ever reducing amounts of friction for buying stuff.
It's much easier to get parted from your money and
not feel a thing until you realize, oh man, credit
(05:12):
card bill just came in and I owe more than
I thought I did, or your savings get depleted because
you just were more thoughtlessly spending. And it's of course
easier to do that now than it has ever been
in human history to spend money and not think about
it by now. Pay later makes it easy. Credit cards
(05:33):
have made it easy. So, and even just retailers where
one day shipping, or hey, you know you can get
it the same day, get it later this afternoon, that
sort of frictionless response or grub hub whatever, everything is
conspiring to get us to spend money thoughtlessly. And so
what gen zers are doing here, in my opinion, by
(05:53):
avoiding the bar tab is saying is every time I
get a beer or a drink or whatever it is,
or a mocktail, I'm going to pay for it, and
then I will feel the pain. And maybe don't mean
I drink less because I don't want to spend as
much as I realize I'm spending. So paying free drink individually,
maybe it slows you down, maybe drink less overall, It
(06:14):
might decrease what you ultimately spend when going out. I'm
gonna call this a win. I'm gonna say, gen z Ers,
you're being smart here.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I like this.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
If it's a frugal versus cheap, I'm gonna say it's frugal.
And if you would prefer to make cocktails at home
but you want to make them the easy route. One
of my favorite substacks from a guy who is a
raging cocktail enthusiast. He tried Kirkland's Signature from Costco their
New Old Fashion in a bottle so it's not just bourbon,
(06:42):
and then you mix the other ingredients like the bitters
and the sugar and stuff in yourself. You just get
pre made in a bottle and then you can add
some lemon dust on your own. I guess if you want.
But he said it's actually not too bad. So it
wasn't like this ringing endorsement, like it's incredible. But he said, yeah,
decently delicious for the price you pay, and the New
(07:04):
Old Fashion in a bottle Kirkland signature brand is less
than a dollar a serving, which ain't bad. So that's
one of my go to cocktails at home. I might
have to try this out. At some point, but that's
another Hey, if you're looking to save money the pre
mixed Kirkland signature cocktail, drinking it at home might make sense.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
You're listening to how To Money with Joel Larsgard on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
If you're on.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
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.
All right, let's get to another question. This one's about
adding another credit card to the mix. If you've already
got three d you need a fourth.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
Hi, Joel and Matt. My name is Caiden Hires and
I am from Counsel Buffs, Iowa. My question was regarding
credit cards. I currently have three credit cards at the
age of nineteen with a total credit limit of thirty
three hundred dollars. I was wondering if you guys think
(08:07):
it would be a good decision to get an Apple
card with three percent cash back on everyday purchases with
a limit of sixty five hundred dollars. The only gist
is my fiance and I plan on trying to buy
a house within the next around two years, so I
(08:28):
don't know if that would be a bad thing or
if it'd be a good thing and show that I'm
more responsible with more money by keeping my usage below
ten percent and paying them off every month in full.
Thank you for listening to my question, and I hope
you guys have a great day and enjoy the beer.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So I just realized that Caiden said he's nineteen, which
means he's not partaking in the finer things in life
when it comes to the fancier craft beer.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So two years from now, Cayden, you can start to
enjoy some of the beers that Matt and I have
enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
If you head our away will take you by your
first one. I would love to do that.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Yeah, Joe Caiden, if you want to reach out and uh,
we will totally one percent honor this offer right here
on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
By you the best hazy ipa and also a nice
fruit tower.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Ooh well, it also depends on the time of year.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
There's a whole lot of thought that goes into the
craft beer in our world, Cayden. But I love that
you were doing so many positive things with your money
already at the age of nineteen. It's already got three cards.
I feel like when I was his age, I was
pretty smart about the credit cards, because this is back
when you could get credit cards and you're like fourteen
or fifteen.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
They were just like trying to give them out like
candy on college campuses. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Well, and I wasn't in college at that age, and
so it wasn't that smart. But even still, I mean,
I guess the rules were much lax, and I remember
my dad saying, yeah, go ahead and get a card,
and you can start learning how to handle this properly.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
But before the Card Act, I believe r the Card Act,
which sense that they would call it that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Which prevented credit card companies from offering like free pizzas
to grab a credit card on campus, which I get
probably doomed a lot of people right from the k.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I also did that too, because I wanted the free pizza.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, but if you're intelligent and you just scored a
free pizza and you well, and I don't even cast
the spurgeons on people's intelligence. It was more like it
was a rigged system in a lot of ways, pushing
people towards credit card debt who didn't really know better.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
But ye, yeah, let's talk about the Apple credit card.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Like Cai's thinking about it though, Yes, like him and
his fiance like they are going to be like they're
on this awesome.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Path that I'm really excited for him. Agreed, I think
he should get this Apple credit card. And when did
you become an Apple fan boy? I wouldn' say I'm
a fanboy. I'm I'm fine with Apple, but I have
no really super emotional feelings towards that. I don't love
them or hate them. They just exist and I utilize
our products sometimes. But this card, in particular, I think
does a couple of nice things for Kayden here. One,
(10:46):
it adds a credit card that doesn't have an annual fee.
I think that's a good thing, right. It allows you
to have another card in your arsenal. Not that I'm
against annual fees, right, if you're getting enough bang for
your buck with the annual fee, but it's just kind
of a we don't know that, we don't know what
you're spending is like, and Caden at the age of nineteen,
I don't know if you're if you're spending enough or
traveling enough right to get kind of the bang for
(11:06):
your buck from signing up for one of those more
expensive credit cards. But I think this could help essentially
with optimization of cash back on some of the purchases
you make by having this credit card in your digital wallet.
And I will explain why we say digital wallet in
the second right. That's the best part of it about
the Apple Wallet. I know, double click to pay baby, Yeah,
it makes things simple. But the bigger reason this could
(11:28):
be helpful to you, though, I think, is the larger
credit limit that you're going to have available. The goal,
as we've discussed many times before on the show, is
to have a large credit limit, but to not use
much of that available credit. That is what helps make
your credit score look awesome. It's what makes you look
like a super credit worthy person. And so this new
card alone would essentially double your credit limit, which makes
(11:51):
it easier to increase your credit score, because hey, now
that instead of having three thousand dollars worth available credit,
you've got something closer to seven thousand dollars of credit.
If you're spending the same amount although you have an
extra card, you're still spending the same amount every month.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
It just makes you.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Look better to the credit barrows, which is awesome. And
that in particular is going to be helpful for you
as you work towards buying this house a couple of
years from this, right, your.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Credit utilization rate has gone down.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Let's talk about timing here as well, because we would
tell you to not get this card if you are
planning on making offers and if you're planning to apply
for a mortgage over the next couple of months. But
you said you're looking to buy a house in a
couple of years, which means that small credit ding that
you're going to receive applying for this card, it's not
going to negatively impact you at that point in time.
It's gonna yeah, it's gonna be in the rear view
(12:39):
mirror for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
It's a short it's a short lived ding that might
hit for a couple of three months maybe Yeah, I
was gonna say.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Sixty to ninety days if I if I had a guess.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
But then the smart usage of that new card is
going to help on multiple fronts because the base level
goal is to use less than thirty percent of your
available credit. And given the fact that he's at like
thirty did you say thirty three hundred is something like that?
Overall like, I don't, it wouldn't be that difficult to
see your spending start creeping above that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And so yeah, like you said, kay, and for you
to be able to keep that to ten percent or
less is even better.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
And then you're aiming for that score, that credit score
and the seven to forty plus range that will help
you to qualify for the best rates possible when you
are ready to buy. And of course, like you said,
make sure that you are paying your card off on time,
in full every single month.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Otherwise that's the crucial part.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
That's the otherwise you're not allowed to have the credit card, Like, no,
no more credit cards for you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
If you're not paying it off, it's not worth it. Yeah, agreed.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
But it sounds like he's already got three Hopefully he's
handling those well, he's got this this minimal line of credit.
Hopefully he's like developed the right habits over the past
year or whatever length of time he's had those credit
cards available, and now adding this next one into the mix,
isn't some sort of added temptation, is just gaming the
system right to increase his credit score and to increase
(13:51):
the benefits that he gets from spending the way he's spending.
One of our favorite things too about the Apple Card
is the user interface. I think it's worth mentioning that, Matt,
because anybody who has this from everything I've read like,
love it. I don't have the Apple Card personally, although
I'm not against it, I would totally consider it. But
people who are like Apple fanboys and fangirls, they absolutely
love this card, and for good reason, right, because Apple's
(14:14):
doing it differently than most of the other credit card companies,
and in fact, they seem to be helping you visualize
how much interest that you would owe.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
There's like a lot of charts, a lot of graphs, yes,
interactive graphs as well, which.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
What's more fun than a graph? An interactive that you
can put your finger on and move around, right, I mean,
you love the stuff. I guess I'm surprised you don't
have this card, but all right, I'll apply right now.
But they're suggesting payment amounts right to help you pay
off your balance faster, which most credit card companies they're
not actually wanting you to do that. Their favorite customers
are the ones who don't pay off their balance, and
(14:47):
so any sort of added interactive graph to help incentivize
you or get you excited about paying off your balance faster. Well,
they want to hide that from you. So I love
that Apple is doing the exact opposite, and the car
lives inside your Apple wallet, which is also where you
can sign up for Apple's Cash account, which pays a
competitive interest rate. So Apple kind of created this semi
(15:08):
banking system that I think a lot of Apple customers
are tending to like.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Apple.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
They also don't charge bogus fees like some of the
credit card companies charge, so if you use it, well,
it really is a good card for a lot of
folks to have, and I think for a lot of people, Matt,
it probably will be their first credit card or it
will be one of their go to credit cards, just
because of the nature of the way Apple people use
their devices and the way Apple caters to its customers
(15:35):
and gives them kind of what they're looking for.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Yeah, Okay, one thing you mentioned though, was getting three
percent cash back. But I don't want folks to hear
too rosy of a picture that we're painting here, because
the Apple Card, it really only offers two percent cash
back for every purchase that you make when you use
Apple Pay which is accepted a most places, which is good.
You know, it still rivals one of our you know,
like our favorite cards out there, like the City Double
Cash and the Fidelity Card.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
That three percent cash back rate.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
It's limited to purchases that you make specifically at Apple,
with a few other selected retailers that they highlight, and
that list of selected retailers has actually.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Been shrinking over the past year or two.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
So I wouldn't go into it thinking I don't want
folks out there to hear us talking about three percent
cash back with the Apple credit cards.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
That certainly beats the Double Cash. Well not really. It's
very very limited in scope. But two percent cash back
too on every purchase with Apple Pay.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Two is great. That's pretty darn good.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And it's not hard to use Apple Pay almost everywhere
you go now online too.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
You're listening to how to Money with Joel Larsgard on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
By the way, you can always find more money saving
information over at howtomoney dot com or.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Another story I found interesting this week, One out of
eight new items of clothing is now purchased on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Amazon.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
It feels like the sun that our universe revolves around
now at least for some people. Talking to somebody this
week and they said, my wife buys stuff on Amazon
like it's her job. And the returns. You know, woman,
We're going to talk about returns in just a second,
because she is just like clothing whatever it is. Amazon
is the center of her retail universe. And I don't
(17:16):
think she's alone in that. And it is kind of
frightening to me because one out of eight items being sold,
clothing items, is being sold on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Amazon's not even like, was not originally a clothing retailer,
and when you think about that's not their bread and butter,
but it's becoming the bread and butter, at least more
than I suspected. And that's double the amounts they're selling,
double the amount of clothing items of any other retailer,
Walmart included. And think about Walmart, they've got physical locations
around the country. Amazon doesn't like, they're just online. And
(17:46):
so I'm not an Amazon hater, and I don't think
everyone should just boycott Amazon or anything like that, but
it's Amazon has been expanding their wardrobe selection and when
your shop for other stuff, now they're going to make
suggestions and say, hey, had she thought about maybe adding
a pair of socks.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Or a dress or this nice shirt.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Did you realize that we have these Amazon basic shorts
that you would look so good in. And so they're
making suggestions, And because this is the place where most
people are shopping on a regular basis, they're just more
likely to buy clothes there now.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And it is adding up.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So it might not be because they have the most
fashionable items in existence, or because they even have the
cheapest items, but it's I think it's largely comes down
to the fact that it's convenient, and yet maybe some
other stuff is a great value. I think I have
like a pair of Amazon shorts and they're good, like
they're fine, Like they're they're worth the money, I would say,
(18:42):
and they fit good. They're not like the highest quality.
I've got some nicer shorts that are like more. But
I think the main reason people buy stuff on Amazon
and buy clothing on Amazon, it's because it's easy. I
know that's why my wife shops there. She buys stuff
on Amazon and then she's like, yeah, that's fine, Yeah
it works. But I think if I've been trying lately
(19:05):
to help her shop for nicer, even more expensive items
that I think are going to last longer for her.
She just doesn't love to shop online, and so the
more I can kind of pitch in and say, oh,
look at this stuff I found for you, it takes
some weight off her plate. And she actually she actually
likes me to be in her kind of secret shopper
of sorts. But I think taking Amazon, the Amazon app
(19:27):
off your phone is a good way to maybe stop
some of that mindless shopping. If you feel like you've
gotten into a rut, so consider, reconsider how much clothing
you're buying on Amazon, whether you need it, and whether
or not you're actually wearing the stuff that you buy,
and just don't buy it because it's easy, and consider
buying stuff more stuff secondhand. We talked about how tariffs
(19:50):
are making secondhand goods more enticing. There's no arbitrary additional
cost added on when you buy stuff used, whether it's
a garage, shale of good will, anything like that, right,
but everyone is getting in on this action. My wife
was just talking about her clothing habits. Well, she's a
big fan of anthropology clothing, but it's incredibly expensive, and
so actually buying stuff there, she just never does it
(20:12):
because it's so one dress is like two hundred and
fifty bucks or something like that. She's like, I'm not
doing that, which I'm thankful for. But she actually I
talked about this recently. She rented some stuff from Newly,
where you spend one hundred, one hundred and twenty five
bucks and you get like six different pieces for the month,
and she needed a fancy dress and she's like, great,
this is a perfect chance to try this, and it
(20:33):
was awesome. And what I've just came around to realizing
is that Newly has to at some point sell the
stuff they've been renting, and they sell it at a
massive discount. So some of the dresses that you can get,
or a lot of more than just dresses, items of
clothing that you can get that were rented by people
on Newly are now being sold on anthropologies site that
(20:54):
they're like cleaned up and then shipped out to you,
and it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
You can get like.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Two hundred dollars dresses for like thirty bucks. And so
that's kind of where we've been sourcing her wardrobe lately.
We've got some really cool stuff there that hasn't cost
much money. But it's high quality. I think other places
to prioritize buying use goods. If you haven't heard of
Buffalo Exchange, that's like a growing chain that's being added
to more and more cities. Plato's Closet that's another one,
and that's too where you can make money selling your
(21:19):
old stuff at both of those stores, and then they'll
turn around and sell your stuff for more. They're kind
of the middleman of sorts goodwill obviously, even on sporting goods.
I was thinking, play it again Sports is a great
place to go because buying used it saves you know,
it's good for the planet, it's green, but also saves
you money. And so I'm looking for a used stationary
(21:40):
bike for my wife right now, and I'm like, yeah,
I probably need to head over to play it against
Sports if I don't find what I need on Facebook Marketplace.
But yeah, I think it's also important to mention that
some of these retailer websites they're getting into the secondhand
goods game, like Levi's has done this well. Peloton just
launched a secondhand Peloton store online this week. And what
(22:04):
I found, because like I said, I'm looking for a
stationary bike. I went onto Peloton site and we're talking
about starting prices at like nine hundred bucks. But if
you look on Facebook Marketplace and you buy from someone
in your area, you're talking about being able to get
one for close to half that price. So just make
sure that you don't kneed JRK go to the brand's
(22:24):
website and not look to your peers in your community,
because you might find that they're cutting out the middleman
is going to save you the most money. And this
is a way I think to follow Ashley Piper's advice
from the Wednesday episode no new things, adding no new
things to your life. It's not easy, but it's also
it is a beautiful way to live. So trying to
(22:46):
deprioritize new buys and prioritize secondhand goods is Yeah, it's
good for the world and it's good for our wallets.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
You're listening to How To Money with Joel Larsgar on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
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 (23:08):
It is now time for the Facebook Question of the Week,
which is from Sharisa she wrote, repair versus replace. I
know usually it's better to repair your car rather than
get a different used car, but I'm second guessing myself.
Could you give me your opinion. I have a twenty
eleven Cadillac S Rex that has a small timing belt
leak thirty seven hundred dollars to fix.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Doesn't sound all that small to me.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
Two of the.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Catlet converters have failed four thousand dollars to fix and
required to pass emissions and other standard wear tear stuff,
torn ball joints, cracking control armbushings, engine transmission mounts. There's
also a small evaporation leak. I don't even know what that.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Is, Joel, which might be as simple as changing the
gas cap. Okay.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
She's checking horribly due to the needed repairs and has
one hundred and sixty seven thousand miles without issues. The
car is worth around seven or eight thousand dollars. Would
you dump money into repairing all of this or get
something newer.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
With fewer miles? What would you do in her shoes? Okay?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I feel like typically this is a tough question, right
because my bent is almost always to say keep your
car on the road, and I think most of the
time when this debate happens, there's a whole lot of
emotion involved. It's like, you're just kind of tired of
the thing, and that makes it so much easier to
get rid of it and opt into something new, because
(24:27):
you're just assuming that this new thing isn't going to
have nearly as many headaches going along with it. You're
tired of the headaches, which I get, but you know,
that makes it more likely that someone's going to take
the expedient route of trading in that automobile.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
That's like what she say is chugging along and horribly though.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
That is what she's said, yeah, which is which I get,
I believe, but that makes it more likely you're going
to trade that puppy in for a new car, even
if the costs are steep, even if you're like, let's say,
rolling negative equity into alone. It's just that sort of
emotional release that you're looking for, but that comes at
a financial cost. The cost of repairing your car, though,
Sharissa are getting intense right, equaling the current value of
(25:06):
the automobile.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
That's the problem.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
So I think in this case, getting rid of this
car and opting for another used car that's in better condition.
That makes the most sense to me.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Yeah, multiple big repairs like this at the same time,
it can be seriously tough. But I would say one
thing before you go and do that before you make
the repairs or before in this, like Joel mentioned, because
you are getting close to the total cost of that
vehicle before you go and replace it.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Get a second opinion from another mechanic. These are some
I wish.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
I would have actually checked the Kelly Blue Book repair
prices or whatever, because some of these prices sound pretty
dang high. I would certainly want you to do your
perform your due diligence. I do not want you to
be hasty.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Well, yeah, I don't even know what a timing belt
leak is. Does a timing belt leak? I thought, I
know it needs.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
To be there's a water pump, there's a pump that's involved.
Maybe it's but.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
That sounds like high for a timing belt water pump fix,
Like I would think maybe you could get that done
for half as much.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
And some of these other things aren't, I mean she
mentioned like engine mounts. It just depends, I guess on
the specific vehicle. Some engine mounts can be faincy. They're
like electronic and they automatically bounce. Some are just rubber,
so it just that varies as well. But I just
want you to make sure that you've talked to a
couple at least a couple other mechanics to see what
it's going to cost. If it is going to cost
(26:21):
that much, I would be reluctant toss that much money
into it. Sure, And instead, if it is still running,
even if it's running horribly or chugging horribly.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
The fact that it's running at all is a good thing. Yeah.
And what stops running, then the value decreases. Yeah more.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Somebody could come along and be like, Okay, I I
know what to do here, but if it's not running,
it's just like, well, how long has it not been running?
How long has it been sitting here? You know, pulled
off on the side of your driveway, exactly, flat looking
tires and the weeds are grown up around it. I'm
not sure how much you know you've saved up for this,
but I would love to see you pay cash, assuming
you either get some better quotes back or if you
(26:56):
do decide to get some different But of course, don't
forget sumer Reports head over there for reliability ratings, because
you know, I would also feel a little bit differently
if this was some type of Toyota or Honda. But
the fact that's the Cadillac that also steers me in
the direction of like, I'm not sure if I were
in her shoes that I would make all those runs.
(27:16):
Consumer Reports lately has been pumping the old school Honda
fits as like essentially the best economical choice for people
trying to buy.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
It and ain't got the Cadillac kind of luxury. But
I don't know. I think Surisa might be past that.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Regardless of what type of vehicle it is, though, make
sure to get it inspected, because you know, the ability
to snag a car that is less likely to have
major repair issues moving.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Forward, that's going to be a massive win, no doubt.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Let's get to a question from Trevor here. Matt He says,
a few years ago, I signed up for a Roboa advisor.
It's called Bloom. It's not defunct. Not sure if it
was worth the cost, but that's not the question. I
have maintained the asset allocation that it had me in at.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
My four oh one A.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I'm wondering though, if I should just switch it to
a lower fee fund like VU. I'm with Fidelity. What
do they have that's equivalent to VOO? I like this question.
I remember Bloom, another one of those fintech startups, basically
analyzing people's retirement accounts for them in an effort to
make sure that they weren't paying egregious fees and that
they were well diversified. I think the heart the mission
(28:13):
behind Bloom was great. They did this, of course for
a fee. It was much lower fee than what they
were hoping to save people, so it was an attempt
to kind of merge altruism and money savings for you
and then also met them a profit. It didn't work
out though, ultimately for Bloom. But yeah, I didn't have
a problem with Bloom per se. But I also, Matt,
(28:36):
you and I talk about DIY investing and how for
most people it's not overly complicated, and obviously there just
weren't enough paying customers to sustain Bloom. But this is
just one of those things too, about fintech companies in general.
There's some cool and sustain the test of time. There's Acorns, Venmo,
thinking why nab something we talk about regularly that has
did the test of time. People still benefit from that.
(28:58):
Robinhood is another fintech that's around a long time, but
a whole lot of them over time. You might say
that's cool. I love what they're doing, but they just
don't make a big enough DBT in the market and
they go bust or they sell to a mainstream company.
So Bloom sadly is in the fintech graveyard totally.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
I think the heart of what Trevor's asking is whether
or not he should just simplify things essentially, and the
way I like to like I was thinking about it,
I was just like, what is this like in our life?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Right?
Speaker 4 (29:22):
He's asking, like, do I need to maintain this super
custom I super bespoke investing portfolio to suit my personal needs?
Because I'm an individual? I am unique, Joels. That's what
Trevor's saying.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
That's how I think every time I do a personality test,
I'm like, I'm not like all the other people in
these categors, like these folks, I'm unique.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
I like, when we're talking about something like a suit
or a dress, do we need bespoke? Do we need
our arms measured and our waist and are in say
all that, absolutely, because you need to take all those
things into account. But investment portfolios, in my opinion, are
they are more like tables than.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Suits or t shirts.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Do you need to take your hair color into a
out or your eye color, or the width of your
the circumference of your waist, or your shoe size or
any like, any of these things when you're buying a table. No, Like,
basically it's gonna be thirty inches off the ground. You
want it to be solid, and beyond that you can
like find the type of table that you're attracted to.
You don't need to think through all the different scenarios
(30:19):
and just all the different ways that you could customize
this and make it unique and different and have all
these different slices of your pie. I think in this
way that switching things up, taking the more simple path
to wealth, going with something like an index fund, an
S ANDP index fund, or a total stock market fund
is absolutely what Trevor should be doing as opposed to
the customized bespoke portfolio.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
So basically you're overthinking it if you're opting for that,
and yet maybe it'll have some positive benefits, but maybe
maybe not, but the negative realities over time of them
having to rebalance and pay attention to all the particulars
of your custom made portfolio might be unnecessary. And way
(31:00):
he mentioned VU, it could be too costly as well
to have that custom portfolio for yourself when you're talking
about higher expense ratios. But VU you can buy that
from Fidelity as a customer, and you're not charged extra
for buying VO there, So you can buy it from
paying cards, you can buy it on robin Hood. You
can buy vou almost anywhere. Right, he doesn't have to
get something like VU. You can buy VU, right.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
This is one of the reasons that Vanguard is so awesome.
They're not like, no, this is our walled private personal garden.
You guys can't play over here. No, it's like a
public park man, right. They let everyone part eight, which
is beautiful. But the other thing is, yeah, Fidelity does
have similar funds. They have a mutual fund that's almost
an exact replica. It's fx AIX, which is also great,
(31:42):
which is also great.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Also own a ton of that. Yeah, in our in
our for one.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Case, that's right, our solo foromer case that we have
with Fidelity, and if you want more diversification, well, I
think a low cost target date fund is a reasonable choice.
Although we have talked about some of the downsides of
target date funds too. We think they solve a meaningful problem,
but they're also not necessarily the greatest choice for everyone,
especially for young investors. But you know, while Bloom I
think was of course making an effort to make more
(32:07):
complex diversification efforts simple. That's cool, it's it's just unnecessary
for a whole lot of folks. Kind Of with your
table example, Matt, it's like, yeah, don't you.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Run over complix.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
You want a solid table that's affordable that maybe it's like,
you know, you don't want a table that's like rickety,
like make sure it's got solid legs.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
But then there's nothing else really that you need to
take into account.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Agree, So Trevor, hope that helps man head over to Fidelity,
get those low cost index funds, and yeah, your investing
life is going to be simpler and more of your
money is going to be working for you in the future. Okay,
thank you as always for listening to the show. We
appreciate your time and attention. You can always find more
money saving information up on our website at howtomoney dot com.
(32:49):
We'll see you back here next week. You're listening to
how to Money. You've been listening to how to Money
with Joel Larsgard. You can always hear us live on
KFI AM six forty twelve pm to two pm on
Sunday and anytime I'm on demand on the iHeartRadio app
Kay.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
If I am six forty you're listening to how to
Money on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
All Joel and Matt want to do is help you save,
invest and enjoy more of what matters. This is how
to Money with Joel Lar's Guard and Matt Aultmix.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
K I am six point forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
This is how to Money. I'm Joel Larsgard and I
am Matt Altmixed.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Don't forget to sign up for the how to Money
newsletter over at how tomoney dot com slash newsletter.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And of course it's time for the ludicrous headline of
the week. This one comes from the Wall Street Journal,
and I said, mocktails cost fifteen bucks and nobody knows why.
And I'm not a mocktail guy, but I was like,
mocktails for real cost fifteen bucks.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That's insane. So I read the article and.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I there are obviously a couple different takeaways from this.
I think it's interesting that we as a society are
more aware of the effects of alcohol, and you know,
we're all avoiding alcohol more and more. And this comes
from the guy who drinks beer on his podcast. But
even I am drinking less than I have in the past,
and on purpose to say I want to be healthier.
(01:53):
I want to enjoy a good drink on occasion. But
I also think that drinking a lot less frequently is
better for me. I feel better. So I get why
people are dropping alcohol, some people dropping it all together.
But I also I think I love that we're not
teetotaling and dropping alcohol out of this like legalistic moral duty,
(02:13):
but it's more of just an effort to treat our
bodies well. Non Alcoholic beer is gaining popularity in a
big way too, and even craft brewers are saying, oh,
we have to have non alcoholic beer to cater to
that segment of the population because they're growing. And I've
had a couple solid ones. I'm still a fan of
real craft beer, but it's nice to see the non
(02:36):
alcoholic stuff getting better. But mocktails they're hot too, And
you would think that a mocktail would save us money
because the most expensive ingredient is being left out of
the equation, but they don't. Bars used to charge less
for non alcoholic drinks, like a Shirley Temple or something
like that, but bars have caught on and many are
charging cocktail equivalent prices because they can, I guess, and
(02:59):
also because us the more you dig into it, like,
you can make non alcoholic spirits like gin and vodka
and stuff like that, and they're really hard to make
and they're expensive to make, and so if you want
those put into your drink to get more of the
flavor profile you're hoping for, it's going to be just
as expensive as a drink, or very close to as
expensive as the alcoholic version of that drink. So a
(03:22):
lot of ebstainers are taking the smart route of opting
for tea or diet coke or sparkling water or something
like that instead when they're out in the bar. So
just know if you're cutting out alcohol in part of
your reasoning is not just health but an effort to
save money, well it might not save you money. If
you're buying the expensive mocktails, the ones that are attempting
(03:46):
to most closely mimic your favorite cocktails. Be aware when
you go out with your friends you might be racking
up just as high of a bar tab and I do.
I obviously drinking at home or making your own cocktails
or mocktails at home will be will save you a
lot of money as well. And there's this other drinking
trend that I thought was worth covering. It's gen zers
(04:09):
saying we're going to open a bar tab, or we're
not going to open a bar tab. We're just going
to pay for each drink individually. So if you order
three beers in a night, you literally pay three times
over the course of the evening instead of opening a
tab and paying for it all at once at the end.
And one of my friends he texted me about this,
and he's a millennial like me, and he just couldn't
(04:29):
understand the logic. He's like, what is up with these
young people, the gen zers, who don't open up a
bar tab and they pay for every drink as they
get it. He's like, this baffles me. I don't understand,
but I actually do, and I think that this kind
of makes some sense, and I think it actually might
be financially savvy.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
It might be smart because.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
When we talk, and when we've talked in the past
about the gamification of money, part of what helps you
spend less is increasing the pain of spending in a
society of ever reducing amounts of friction for buying stuff.
It's much easier to get parted from your money and
not feel a thing until you realize, oh man, credit
(05:12):
card bill just came in and I owe more than
I thought I did, or your savings get depleted because
you just were more thoughtlessly spending. And it's of course
easier to do that now than it has ever been
in human history to spend money and not think about
it by now. Pay later makes it easy. Credit cards
(05:33):
have made it easy. So, and even just retailers where
one day shipping, or hey, you know you can get
it the same day, get it later this afternoon, that
sort of frictionless response or grub hub whatever, everything is
conspiring to get us to spend money thoughtlessly. And so
what gen zers are doing here, in my opinion, by
(05:53):
avoiding the bar tab is saying is every time I
get a beer or a drink or whatever it is,
or a mocktail, I'm going to pay for it, and
then I will feel the pain. And maybe don't mean
I drink less because I don't want to spend as
much as I realize I'm spending. So paying free drink individually,
maybe it slows you down, maybe drink less overall, It
(06:14):
might decrease what you ultimately spend when going out. I'm
gonna call this a win. I'm gonna say, gen z Ers,
you're being smart here.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
I like this.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
If it's a frugal versus cheap, I'm gonna say it's frugal.
And if you would prefer to make cocktails at home
but you want to make them the easy route. One
of my favorite substacks from a guy who is a
raging cocktail enthusiast. He tried Kirkland's Signature from Costco their
New Old Fashion in a bottle so it's not just bourbon,
(06:42):
and then you mix the other ingredients like the bitters
and the sugar and stuff in yourself. You just get
pre made in a bottle and then you can add
some lemon dust on your own. I guess if you want.
But he said it's actually not too bad. So it
wasn't like this ringing endorsement, like it's incredible. But he said, yeah,
decently delicious for the price you pay, and the New
(07:04):
Old Fashion in a bottle Kirkland signature brand is less
than a dollar a serving, which ain't bad. So that's
one of my go to cocktails at home. I might
have to try this out. At some point, but that's
another Hey, if you're looking to save money the pre
mixed Kirkland signature cocktail, drinking it at home might make sense.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
You're listening to how To Money with Joel Larsgard on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
If you're on.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
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.
All right, let's get to another question. This one's about
adding another credit card to the mix. If you've already
got three d you need a fourth.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
Hi, Joel and Matt. My name is Caiden Hires and
I am from Counsel Buffs, Iowa. My question was regarding
credit cards. I currently have three credit cards at the
age of nineteen with a total credit limit of thirty
three hundred dollars. I was wondering if you guys think
(08:07):
it would be a good decision to get an Apple
card with three percent cash back on everyday purchases with
a limit of sixty five hundred dollars. The only gist
is my fiance and I plan on trying to buy
a house within the next around two years, so I
(08:28):
don't know if that would be a bad thing or
if it'd be a good thing and show that I'm
more responsible with more money by keeping my usage below
ten percent and paying them off every month in full.
Thank you for listening to my question, and I hope
you guys have a great day and enjoy the beer.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
So I just realized that Caiden said he's nineteen, which
means he's not partaking in the finer things in life
when it comes to the fancier craft beer.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
So two years from now, Cayden, you can start to
enjoy some of the beers that Matt and I have
enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
If you head our away will take you by your
first one. I would love to do that.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Yeah, Joe Caiden, if you want to reach out and uh,
we will totally one percent honor this offer right here
on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
By you the best hazy ipa and also a nice
fruit tower.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Ooh well, it also depends on the time of year.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
There's a whole lot of thought that goes into the
craft beer in our world, Cayden. But I love that
you were doing so many positive things with your money
already at the age of nineteen. It's already got three cards.
I feel like when I was his age, I was
pretty smart about the credit cards, because this is back
when you could get credit cards and you're like fourteen
or fifteen.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
They were just like trying to give them out like
candy on college campuses. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Well, and I wasn't in college at that age, and
so it wasn't that smart. But even still, I mean,
I guess the rules were much lax, and I remember
my dad saying, yeah, go ahead and get a card,
and you can start learning how to handle this properly.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
But before the Card Act, I believe r the Card Act,
which sense that they would call it that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Which prevented credit card companies from offering like free pizzas
to grab a credit card on campus, which I get
probably doomed a lot of people right from the k.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I also did that too, because I wanted the free pizza.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah, but if you're intelligent and you just scored a
free pizza and you well, and I don't even cast
the spurgeons on people's intelligence. It was more like it
was a rigged system in a lot of ways, pushing
people towards credit card debt who didn't really know better.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
But ye, yeah, let's talk about the Apple credit card.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Like Cai's thinking about it though, Yes, like him and
his fiance like they are going to be like they're
on this awesome.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Path that I'm really excited for him. Agreed, I think
he should get this Apple credit card. And when did
you become an Apple fan boy? I wouldn' say I'm
a fanboy. I'm I'm fine with Apple, but I have
no really super emotional feelings towards that. I don't love
them or hate them. They just exist and I utilize
our products sometimes. But this card, in particular, I think
does a couple of nice things for Kayden here. One,
(10:46):
it adds a credit card that doesn't have an annual fee.
I think that's a good thing, right. It allows you
to have another card in your arsenal. Not that I'm
against annual fees, right, if you're getting enough bang for
your buck with the annual fee, but it's just kind
of a we don't know that, we don't know what
you're spending is like, and Caden at the age of nineteen,
I don't know if you're if you're spending enough or
traveling enough right to get kind of the bang for
(11:06):
your buck from signing up for one of those more
expensive credit cards. But I think this could help essentially
with optimization of cash back on some of the purchases
you make by having this credit card in your digital wallet.
And I will explain why we say digital wallet in
the second right. That's the best part of it about
the Apple Wallet. I know, double click to pay baby, Yeah,
it makes things simple. But the bigger reason this could
(11:28):
be helpful to you, though, I think, is the larger
credit limit that you're going to have available. The goal,
as we've discussed many times before on the show, is
to have a large credit limit, but to not use
much of that available credit. That is what helps make
your credit score look awesome. It's what makes you look
like a super credit worthy person. And so this new
card alone would essentially double your credit limit, which makes
(11:51):
it easier to increase your credit score, because hey, now
that instead of having three thousand dollars worth available credit,
you've got something closer to seven thousand dollars of credit.
If you're spending the same amount although you have an
extra card, you're still spending the same amount every month.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
It just makes you.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Look better to the credit barrows, which is awesome. And
that in particular is going to be helpful for you
as you work towards buying this house a couple of
years from this, right, your.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Credit utilization rate has gone down.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Let's talk about timing here as well, because we would
tell you to not get this card if you are
planning on making offers and if you're planning to apply
for a mortgage over the next couple of months. But
you said you're looking to buy a house in a
couple of years, which means that small credit ding that
you're going to receive applying for this card, it's not
going to negatively impact you at that point in time.
It's gonna yeah, it's gonna be in the rear view
(12:39):
mirror for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
It's a short it's a short lived ding that might
hit for a couple of three months maybe Yeah, I
was gonna say.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Sixty to ninety days if I if I had a guess.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
But then the smart usage of that new card is
going to help on multiple fronts because the base level
goal is to use less than thirty percent of your
available credit. And given the fact that he's at like
thirty did you say thirty three hundred is something like that?
Overall like, I don't, it wouldn't be that difficult to
see your spending start creeping above that.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And so yeah, like you said, kay, and for you
to be able to keep that to ten percent or
less is even better.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
And then you're aiming for that score, that credit score
and the seven to forty plus range that will help
you to qualify for the best rates possible when you
are ready to buy. And of course, like you said,
make sure that you are paying your card off on time,
in full every single month.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Otherwise that's the crucial part.
Speaker 4 (13:25):
That's the otherwise you're not allowed to have the credit card, Like, no,
no more credit cards for you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
If you're not paying it off, it's not worth it. Yeah, agreed.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
But it sounds like he's already got three Hopefully he's
handling those well, he's got this this minimal line of credit.
Hopefully he's like developed the right habits over the past
year or whatever length of time he's had those credit
cards available, and now adding this next one into the mix,
isn't some sort of added temptation, is just gaming the
system right to increase his credit score and to increase
(13:51):
the benefits that he gets from spending the way he's spending.
One of our favorite things too about the Apple Card
is the user interface. I think it's worth mentioning that, Matt,
because anybody who has this from everything I've read like,
love it. I don't have the Apple Card personally, although
I'm not against it, I would totally consider it. But
people who are like Apple fanboys and fangirls, they absolutely
love this card, and for good reason, right, because Apple's
(14:14):
doing it differently than most of the other credit card companies,
and in fact, they seem to be helping you visualize
how much interest that you would owe.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
There's like a lot of charts, a lot of graphs, yes,
interactive graphs as well, which.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
What's more fun than a graph? An interactive that you
can put your finger on and move around, right, I mean,
you love the stuff. I guess I'm surprised you don't
have this card, but all right, I'll apply right now.
But they're suggesting payment amounts right to help you pay
off your balance faster, which most credit card companies they're
not actually wanting you to do that. Their favorite customers
are the ones who don't pay off their balance, and
(14:47):
so any sort of added interactive graph to help incentivize
you or get you excited about paying off your balance faster. Well,
they want to hide that from you. So I love
that Apple is doing the exact opposite, and the car
lives inside your Apple wallet, which is also where you
can sign up for Apple's Cash account, which pays a
competitive interest rate. So Apple kind of created this semi
(15:08):
banking system that I think a lot of Apple customers
are tending to like.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Apple.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
They also don't charge bogus fees like some of the
credit card companies charge, so if you use it, well,
it really is a good card for a lot of
folks to have, and I think for a lot of people, Matt,
it probably will be their first credit card or it
will be one of their go to credit cards, just
because of the nature of the way Apple people use
their devices and the way Apple caters to its customers
(15:35):
and gives them kind of what they're looking for.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
Yeah, Okay, one thing you mentioned though, was getting three
percent cash back. But I don't want folks to hear
too rosy of a picture that we're painting here, because
the Apple Card, it really only offers two percent cash
back for every purchase that you make when you use
Apple Pay which is accepted a most places, which is good.
You know, it still rivals one of our you know,
like our favorite cards out there, like the City Double
Cash and the Fidelity Card.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
That three percent cash back rate.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
It's limited to purchases that you make specifically at Apple,
with a few other selected retailers that they highlight, and
that list of selected retailers has actually.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Been shrinking over the past year or two.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
So I wouldn't go into it thinking I don't want
folks out there to hear us talking about three percent
cash back with the Apple credit cards.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
That certainly beats the Double Cash. Well not really. It's
very very limited in scope. But two percent cash back
too on every purchase with Apple Pay.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Two is great. That's pretty darn good.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And it's not hard to use Apple Pay almost everywhere
you go now online too.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
You're listening to how to Money with Joel Larsgard on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
By the way, you can always find more money saving
information over at howtomoney dot com or.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Another story I found interesting this week, One out of
eight new items of clothing is now purchased on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Amazon.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
It feels like the sun that our universe revolves around
now at least for some people. Talking to somebody this
week and they said, my wife buys stuff on Amazon
like it's her job. And the returns. You know, woman,
We're going to talk about returns in just a second,
because she is just like clothing whatever it is. Amazon
is the center of her retail universe. And I don't
(17:16):
think she's alone in that. And it is kind of
frightening to me because one out of eight items being sold,
clothing items, is being sold on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Amazon's not even like, was not originally a clothing retailer,
and when you think about that's not their bread and butter,
but it's becoming the bread and butter, at least more
than I suspected. And that's double the amounts they're selling,
double the amount of clothing items of any other retailer,
Walmart included. And think about Walmart, they've got physical locations
around the country. Amazon doesn't like, they're just online. And
(17:46):
so I'm not an Amazon hater, and I don't think
everyone should just boycott Amazon or anything like that, but
it's Amazon has been expanding their wardrobe selection and when
your shop for other stuff, now they're going to make
suggestions and say, hey, had she thought about maybe adding
a pair of socks.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Or a dress or this nice shirt.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Did you realize that we have these Amazon basic shorts
that you would look so good in. And so they're
making suggestions, And because this is the place where most
people are shopping on a regular basis, they're just more
likely to buy clothes there now.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And it is adding up.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
So it might not be because they have the most
fashionable items in existence, or because they even have the
cheapest items, but it's I think it's largely comes down
to the fact that it's convenient, and yet maybe some
other stuff is a great value. I think I have
like a pair of Amazon shorts and they're good, like
they're fine, Like they're they're worth the money, I would say,
(18:42):
and they fit good. They're not like the highest quality.
I've got some nicer shorts that are like more. But
I think the main reason people buy stuff on Amazon
and buy clothing on Amazon, it's because it's easy. I
know that's why my wife shops there. She buys stuff
on Amazon and then she's like, yeah, that's fine, Yeah
it works. But I think if I've been trying lately
(19:05):
to help her shop for nicer, even more expensive items
that I think are going to last longer for her.
She just doesn't love to shop online, and so the
more I can kind of pitch in and say, oh,
look at this stuff I found for you, it takes
some weight off her plate. And she actually she actually
likes me to be in her kind of secret shopper
of sorts. But I think taking Amazon, the Amazon app
(19:27):
off your phone is a good way to maybe stop
some of that mindless shopping. If you feel like you've
gotten into a rut, so consider, reconsider how much clothing
you're buying on Amazon, whether you need it, and whether
or not you're actually wearing the stuff that you buy,
and just don't buy it because it's easy, and consider
buying stuff more stuff secondhand. We talked about how tariffs
(19:50):
are making secondhand goods more enticing. There's no arbitrary additional
cost added on when you buy stuff used, whether it's
a garage, shale of good will, anything like that, right,
but everyone is getting in on this action. My wife
was just talking about her clothing habits. Well, she's a
big fan of anthropology clothing, but it's incredibly expensive, and
so actually buying stuff there, she just never does it
(20:12):
because it's so one dress is like two hundred and
fifty bucks or something like that. She's like, I'm not
doing that, which I'm thankful for. But she actually I
talked about this recently. She rented some stuff from Newly,
where you spend one hundred, one hundred and twenty five
bucks and you get like six different pieces for the month,
and she needed a fancy dress and she's like, great,
this is a perfect chance to try this, and it
(20:33):
was awesome. And what I've just came around to realizing
is that Newly has to at some point sell the
stuff they've been renting, and they sell it at a
massive discount. So some of the dresses that you can get,
or a lot of more than just dresses, items of
clothing that you can get that were rented by people
on Newly are now being sold on anthropologies site that
(20:54):
they're like cleaned up and then shipped out to you,
and it's amazing.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
You can get like.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Two hundred dollars dresses for like thirty bucks. And so
that's kind of where we've been sourcing her wardrobe lately.
We've got some really cool stuff there that hasn't cost
much money. But it's high quality. I think other places
to prioritize buying use goods. If you haven't heard of
Buffalo Exchange, that's like a growing chain that's being added
to more and more cities. Plato's Closet that's another one,
and that's too where you can make money selling your
(21:19):
old stuff at both of those stores, and then they'll
turn around and sell your stuff for more. They're kind
of the middleman of sorts goodwill obviously, even on sporting goods.
I was thinking, play it again Sports is a great
place to go because buying used it saves you know,
it's good for the planet, it's green, but also saves
you money. And so I'm looking for a used stationary
(21:40):
bike for my wife right now, and I'm like, yeah,
I probably need to head over to play it against
Sports if I don't find what I need on Facebook Marketplace.
But yeah, I think it's also important to mention that
some of these retailer websites they're getting into the secondhand
goods game, like Levi's has done this well. Peloton just
launched a secondhand Peloton store online this week. And what
(22:04):
I found, because like I said, I'm looking for a
stationary bike. I went onto Peloton site and we're talking
about starting prices at like nine hundred bucks. But if
you look on Facebook Marketplace and you buy from someone
in your area, you're talking about being able to get
one for close to half that price. So just make
sure that you don't kneed JRK go to the brand's
(22:24):
website and not look to your peers in your community,
because you might find that they're cutting out the middleman
is going to save you the most money. And this
is a way I think to follow Ashley Piper's advice
from the Wednesday episode no new things, adding no new
things to your life. It's not easy, but it's also
it is a beautiful way to live. So trying to
(22:46):
deprioritize new buys and prioritize secondhand goods is Yeah, it's
good for the world and it's good for our wallets.
Speaker 5 (22:56):
You're listening to How To Money with Joel Larsgar on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
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 (23:08):
It is now time for the Facebook Question of the Week,
which is from Sharisa she wrote, repair versus replace. I
know usually it's better to repair your car rather than
get a different used car, but I'm second guessing myself.
Could you give me your opinion. I have a twenty
eleven Cadillac S Rex that has a small timing belt
leak thirty seven hundred dollars to fix.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Doesn't sound all that small to me.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
Two of the.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Catlet converters have failed four thousand dollars to fix and
required to pass emissions and other standard wear tear stuff,
torn ball joints, cracking control armbushings, engine transmission mounts. There's
also a small evaporation leak. I don't even know what that.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Is, Joel, which might be as simple as changing the
gas cap. Okay.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
She's checking horribly due to the needed repairs and has
one hundred and sixty seven thousand miles without issues. The
car is worth around seven or eight thousand dollars. Would
you dump money into repairing all of this or get
something newer.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
With fewer miles? What would you do in her shoes? Okay?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
I feel like typically this is a tough question, right
because my bent is almost always to say keep your
car on the road, and I think most of the
time when this debate happens, there's a whole lot of
emotion involved. It's like, you're just kind of tired of
the thing, and that makes it so much easier to
get rid of it and opt into something new, because
(24:27):
you're just assuming that this new thing isn't going to
have nearly as many headaches going along with it. You're
tired of the headaches, which I get, but you know,
that makes it more likely that someone's going to take
the expedient route of trading in that automobile.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
That's like what she say is chugging along and horribly though.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
That is what she's said, yeah, which is which I get,
I believe, but that makes it more likely you're going
to trade that puppy in for a new car, even
if the costs are steep, even if you're like, let's say,
rolling negative equity into alone. It's just that sort of
emotional release that you're looking for, but that comes at
a financial cost. The cost of repairing your car, though,
Sharissa are getting intense right, equaling the current value of
(25:06):
the automobile.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
That's the problem.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
So I think in this case, getting rid of this
car and opting for another used car that's in better condition.
That makes the most sense to me.
Speaker 4 (25:15):
Yeah, multiple big repairs like this at the same time,
it can be seriously tough. But I would say one
thing before you go and do that before you make
the repairs or before in this, like Joel mentioned, because
you are getting close to the total cost of that
vehicle before you go and replace it.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Get a second opinion from another mechanic. These are some
I wish.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
I would have actually checked the Kelly Blue Book repair
prices or whatever, because some of these prices sound pretty
dang high. I would certainly want you to do your
perform your due diligence. I do not want you to
be hasty.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Well, yeah, I don't even know what a timing belt
leak is. Does a timing belt leak? I thought, I
know it needs.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
To be there's a water pump, there's a pump that's involved.
Maybe it's but.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
That sounds like high for a timing belt water pump fix,
Like I would think maybe you could get that done
for half as much.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
And some of these other things aren't, I mean she
mentioned like engine mounts. It just depends, I guess on
the specific vehicle. Some engine mounts can be faincy. They're
like electronic and they automatically bounce. Some are just rubber,
so it just that varies as well. But I just
want you to make sure that you've talked to a
couple at least a couple other mechanics to see what
it's going to cost. If it is going to cost
(26:21):
that much, I would be reluctant toss that much money
into it. Sure, And instead, if it is still running,
even if it's running horribly or chugging horribly.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
The fact that it's running at all is a good thing. Yeah.
And what stops running, then the value decreases. Yeah more.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Somebody could come along and be like, Okay, I I
know what to do here, but if it's not running,
it's just like, well, how long has it not been running?
How long has it been sitting here? You know, pulled
off on the side of your driveway, exactly, flat looking
tires and the weeds are grown up around it. I'm
not sure how much you know you've saved up for this,
but I would love to see you pay cash, assuming
you either get some better quotes back or if you
(26:56):
do decide to get some different But of course, don't
forget sumer Reports head over there for reliability ratings, because
you know, I would also feel a little bit differently
if this was some type of Toyota or Honda. But
the fact that's the Cadillac that also steers me in
the direction of like, I'm not sure if I were
in her shoes that I would make all those runs.
(27:16):
Consumer Reports lately has been pumping the old school Honda
fits as like essentially the best economical choice for people
trying to buy.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
It and ain't got the Cadillac kind of luxury. But
I don't know. I think Surisa might be past that.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Regardless of what type of vehicle it is, though, make
sure to get it inspected, because you know, the ability
to snag a car that is less likely to have
major repair issues moving.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Forward, that's going to be a massive win, no doubt.
Speaker 5 (27:41):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Let's get to a question from Trevor here. Matt He says,
a few years ago, I signed up for a Roboa advisor.
It's called Bloom. It's not defunct. Not sure if it
was worth the cost, but that's not the question. I
have maintained the asset allocation that it had me in at.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
My four oh one A.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
I'm wondering though, if I should just switch it to
a lower fee fund like VU. I'm with Fidelity. What
do they have that's equivalent to VOO? I like this question.
I remember Bloom, another one of those fintech startups, basically
analyzing people's retirement accounts for them in an effort to
make sure that they weren't paying egregious fees and that
they were well diversified. I think the heart the mission
(28:13):
behind Bloom was great. They did this, of course for
a fee. It was much lower fee than what they
were hoping to save people, so it was an attempt
to kind of merge altruism and money savings for you
and then also met them a profit. It didn't work
out though, ultimately for Bloom. But yeah, I didn't have
a problem with Bloom per se. But I also, Matt,
(28:36):
you and I talk about DIY investing and how for
most people it's not overly complicated, and obviously there just
weren't enough paying customers to sustain Bloom. But this is
just one of those things too, about fintech companies in general.
There's some cool and sustain the test of time. There's Acorns, Venmo,
thinking why nab something we talk about regularly that has
did the test of time. People still benefit from that.
(28:58):
Robinhood is another fintech that's around a long time, but
a whole lot of them over time. You might say
that's cool. I love what they're doing, but they just
don't make a big enough DBT in the market and
they go bust or they sell to a mainstream company.
So Bloom sadly is in the fintech graveyard totally.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
I think the heart of what Trevor's asking is whether
or not he should just simplify things essentially, and the
way I like to like I was thinking about it,
I was just like, what is this like in our life?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Right?
Speaker 4 (29:22):
He's asking, like, do I need to maintain this super
custom I super bespoke investing portfolio to suit my personal needs?
Because I'm an individual? I am unique, Joels. That's what
Trevor's saying.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
That's how I think every time I do a personality test,
I'm like, I'm not like all the other people in
these categors, like these folks, I'm unique.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
I like, when we're talking about something like a suit
or a dress, do we need bespoke? Do we need
our arms measured and our waist and are in say
all that, absolutely, because you need to take all those
things into account. But investment portfolios, in my opinion, are
they are more like tables than.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Suits or t shirts.
Speaker 4 (29:57):
Do you need to take your hair color into a
out or your eye color, or the width of your
the circumference of your waist, or your shoe size or
any like, any of these things when you're buying a table. No, Like,
basically it's gonna be thirty inches off the ground. You
want it to be solid, and beyond that you can
like find the type of table that you're attracted to.
You don't need to think through all the different scenarios
(30:19):
and just all the different ways that you could customize
this and make it unique and different and have all
these different slices of your pie. I think in this
way that switching things up, taking the more simple path
to wealth, going with something like an index fund, an
S ANDP index fund, or a total stock market fund
is absolutely what Trevor should be doing as opposed to
the customized bespoke portfolio.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
So basically you're overthinking it if you're opting for that,
and yet maybe it'll have some positive benefits, but maybe
maybe not, but the negative realities over time of them
having to rebalance and pay attention to all the particulars
of your custom made portfolio might be unnecessary. And way
(31:00):
he mentioned VU, it could be too costly as well
to have that custom portfolio for yourself when you're talking
about higher expense ratios. But VU you can buy that
from Fidelity as a customer, and you're not charged extra
for buying VO there, So you can buy it from
paying cards, you can buy it on robin Hood. You
can buy vou almost anywhere. Right, he doesn't have to
get something like VU. You can buy VU, right.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:21):
This is one of the reasons that Vanguard is so awesome.
They're not like, no, this is our walled private personal garden.
You guys can't play over here. No, it's like a
public park man, right. They let everyone part eight, which
is beautiful. But the other thing is, yeah, Fidelity does
have similar funds. They have a mutual fund that's almost
an exact replica. It's fx AIX, which is also great,
(31:42):
which is also great.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Also own a ton of that. Yeah, in our in
our for one.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Case, that's right, our solo foromer case that we have
with Fidelity, and if you want more diversification, well, I
think a low cost target date fund is a reasonable choice.
Although we have talked about some of the downsides of
target date funds too. We think they solve a meaningful problem,
but they're also not necessarily the greatest choice for everyone,
especially for young investors. But you know, while Bloom I
think was of course making an effort to make more
(32:07):
complex diversification efforts simple. That's cool, it's it's just unnecessary
for a whole lot of folks. Kind Of with your
table example, Matt, it's like, yeah, don't you.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Run over complix.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
You want a solid table that's affordable that maybe it's like,
you know, you don't want a table that's like rickety,
like make sure it's got solid legs.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
But then there's nothing else really that you need to
take into account.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Agree, So Trevor, hope that helps man head over to Fidelity,
get those low cost index funds, and yeah, your investing
life is going to be simpler and more of your
money is going to be working for you in the future. Okay,
thank you as always for listening to the show. We
appreciate your time and attention. You can always find more
money saving information up on our website at howtomoney dot com.
(32:49):
We'll see you back here next week. You're listening to
how to Money. You've been listening to how to Money
with Joel Larsgard. You can always hear us live on
KFI AM six forty twelve pm to two pm on
Sunday and anytime I'm on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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