August 24, 2025 • 32 mins
School is back! Matt and Joel talk about how to save money on school supplies and lunches.
Ask HTM: Wendy wants to know if she needs a financial advisor to help her out.
Is work/life balance really possible if you're pursuing financial independence? Some might say it's not. Some sacrifices are required, but we think you can still strike a solid balance.
Ask HTM: Joel talks about his battle for customer service with Woot. He came out on top! Matt and Joel also discuss general tips for deal hunting.
Ask HTM: Wendy wants to know if she needs a financial advisor to help her out.
Is work/life balance really possible if you're pursuing financial independence? Some might say it's not. Some sacrifices are required, but we think you can still strike a solid balance.
Ask HTM: Joel talks about his battle for customer service with Woot. He came out on top! Matt and Joel also discuss general tips for deal hunting.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to how to Money
on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Do you want to live well without drowning in debt?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Joel and Matt have you covered?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This is how to Money with Joel Larsguard and Matt.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Altmes KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is how to Money. I am one of your hosts,
Joelarsgard and I am Matt Altmixed. By the way, you
can always find more money saving information over at howtomoney
dot com.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Let's talk about school being back and as a back
for most people at this point.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I think at this point we're getting there. Maybe Northeast
is after Labor Day. That crazy, it's crazy, it's like
a month. Yeah, where we are, we start school very early.
The kids have been in school for like three weeks.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
In just crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, it really is well And anybody with kids knows that,
like summer super fun, also crazy. Uh and and even
though it's it's tough to see summer go, the predictability
of the school year can be nice. Like I was,
I was really looking forward to getting back into a rhythm.
It's nice to be back in that rhythm. It's nice
to break the rhythm and then it's also nice to
get back to it. But school also means buying school supplies,
(01:32):
figuring out what to feature kids for lunch. And on
the first thing buying school supplies, I would say, look
at what you've already got on hand, Matt. We were
able to find a binder that was gently used right
from the previous year. We uh, nice lunch lunch bags
that were and and bent go boxes or whatever to
pack their lunches in. Those are those are things that
(01:53):
we already had on hand. We don't buy those things.
We're not going to re up. I will say, we
had to. Oh maybe this is here's a school supplies
tip for for folks. We had to purchase a new
backpack for one of our kids because her backpack wasn't
big enough to handle like the big binders. Oh yeah,
So I'm up two minds because that on one hand,
our little dude just started and we went ahead and
(02:14):
bit the bullet and got him the full sized backpack.
But it's like as big as he is. But I
also know that that's gonna last five six years most likely.
But with our yeah, one of our daughters we had
gotten her just one of the smaller ones, and it's
a perfectly fine backpack, not torn, still works. She couldn't
fit her three inch binders in there. That the school's
making her.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
It's amazing how much kids are supposed tone around at
schools these days, just makes them stronger.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So it's like rocking at school. Yeah, yeah, exactly in
between the water fountain and home room. I'm curious to
hear you take on this. CNN have a story about
pawn shops and how pond shops are a good place
to get back to school supplies. I totally saw that,
and I would have said, what are you talking about
musical instruments, and then crossed my mind at all to
look into a pawn shop for a musical instrument.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So super smart.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So yeah, if you're sitting a phone and your drum
set there, clarinet whatever else, oh my gosh, yeah, I
think that's a fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Or even laptops, so there's a whole lot of electronics
in there too.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I know a lot of schools provide, oftentimes will provide
because they had to spend all that steamy money, all
the school steamy money on something they can't spend it
on salaries. So you spend it on equipment, things that
you don't have to main. You got to maintain it,
but it's not something you have to pay out every
single year. Yeah, supplies so through stores I think are
another good place to turn, especially for clothing for your kiddos. Heck, yeah,
(03:32):
and food. Let's talk about food prices. The cost of
a lunch has risen. That's just inflation, right, and inflation
at the grocery store. In particular, some school districts have
been raising the cost of their school lunches, although obviously,
like needy kids are are typically eligible for free or
greatly reduced lunch prices. But the school lunch is like
I think it's three dollars and twenty five cents where
(03:54):
we live.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Nice, it's more than that. For us. It's closer to
five bucks. Okay to school lunch, which is one of
the reasons we ain't playing that game.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Well, you typically pack your kids lunch. We do the
do the same, and I think that is a way
to save some like it's it's not like you're saving
a ton. But the big thing I think in packing
your kids lunch is you're able to give them something
that is much healthier typically than what you're going to
get at the school. And Len Penzo, who is a
personal finance writer, he does this survey every year of
(04:24):
the cost of a school lunch, which I don't know,
I just think it's awesome. And he found that the
peanut butter and jelly sandwich is the cheapest sandwich roughly
forty four cents per sandwich.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Created that's a deal. Yeah. I love PB and j's
me too.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And then they know those denser foods, I think they
might not be the coolest foods, right, the carrots, the apples,
the almonds, and that sandwich. I think that's going to
help people reduce the cost of their kids lunch and
not their kids get full on real, actual foods, you know.
I mean I think the absolutely it's all that stuff
in the most of the center aisles.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely true.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Chips, individually packaged snacks is going to ramp up the
cost of those meals. And here we go, Matt getting
on a soapbox where you shop matters as well.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
ALDI is a fantastic choice.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And I saw that more and more How To Money
listeners have access to an ALDI. They were set to
become the second largest grocery chain behind Walmart's over the
next couple of years.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
We're just back your chair and all the one. It
makes me happy. Man.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The Times they actually gave Aldi some love talking about
their rapid expansion across the US. And so if you
are listening and you're like, oh, yeah, school lunches, they've
hiked the prices there at school. I don't know if
I want to do I have what it takes to
be able to put together a school lunch. Is it
actually more affordable? Well, it will be if you start
shopping at Aldi. If that's not something that you do.
(05:44):
And here's some info that I saw, not paid for
by Aldi.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Not yeah. Yeah. So in The Times they highlighted the
fact that one of the reasons Aldi is able to
keep their prices so low is because of the store
brands Aldi carries ninety percent. I was like, I didn't,
I did. It was a lot of in and I
didn't know it was that much.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
But like, the store brains are great, and I'm gonna
specifically call out here's my all the clancies. This isn't
going to be a recurring segment or anything, but I'm
gonna I'm gonna call it the all the item of
the week, which is it really should be and this
is gonna be so on brand, but it's warns. I
try to try to say it properly, but that's the
all the German pills. It is a good beer.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You heard it from Joel Matt the craft beer guys
were not from you. I'm the one vouching for it.
But it's the solid German pills. If you're into that
stylid beer, I would recommend it. Super affordable. Makes sense
that the the grocery chain based out of Germany has
a good Germany and it's the only place you can
buy that beer in the US. Okay, like Aldi has
a deal and so I think they are literally the
(06:43):
only importer and they're the only retailer who is selling
that beer stateside. Man good to Now that's an actual
brewery over in Germany. It's legit fascinating.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Speaking of your kids, right, whether or not you say
for their college, it really depends on how much progress
you've made with your own finances. I was talking to
a friend this week and he was like, I'm not
saying for my kid's education, but he had like a
good reason for it. He's like, I had to figure
it out myself, and I think that's a reasonable way
to go. It wasn't because he couldn't. It was because
(07:13):
he didn't want to. And I think that's totally fine.
Like more power to you to each theough. Yeah, but
if you are doing a great job with your own,
you know, saving the best thing for your future, and
you're inclined to invest for you know, the future of
your offspring. You want them to go to school, and
you don't want them to pay well price. You want
to help them out with that. You want to grow
a nest egg. Well, knowing which five twenty nine plans
(07:34):
are the best can be helpful, because Matt, A lot
of people don't realize this, but you don't have to
use your state's plan. Some people think, well, I live
in Idaho, I guess I got to use Idaho's plan,
or I live in Wyoming, got to use Wyoming's plan.
And the truth is you don't have to. You can
go with any of the state plans that you want.
So morning Star recently released its annual rating of all
(07:55):
the state plans. The top ones are Alaska, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
and Utah. Utah has been like top notch for years.
They've been essentially at the forefront of low cost five
to twenty nine plans, and a lot of people from
other states have opted to invest in the Utah Plan
for good reason because it's such a good plan. I
think when you when you're trying to side which five
(08:17):
to twenty nine plan to go with, though, if your
state offers a tax incentive, you want to choose that one.
And if your state does not offer its state tax incentive,
like you're not getting a reduction in the income tax
that you have to pay, then option for one of
those superior plans, one of those top five plans that
morning Star recommends, I think those are They're all good.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
The Utah Want.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Plan again in particular, has been excellent for a long time.
So just know five to twenty nine plans continue to
get better. Costs continue to go down in many states,
but there's still some that suck really bad. Make sure
you avoid those ones.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You're listening to how To Money with Joel Larsgard on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Don't forget to sign up for the how To Money
newsletter over at how to Money dot com slash newsletter.
All right, Matt, let's get to the question from a
listener who wants to know if she needs to hire
a financial pro to help her out.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Hello, my name is Wendy. I'm thinking of going with
a financial advisor, so I spoke with my sister goes
through him. Yet they're moving from Charles schrab over to LPL,
which kind of scares me. I've read some things that
are not there great. What is your opinion?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Thank you, Wendy, Thank you so much for your question,
and we will specifically get to LPL here.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
In a minute.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
But whether or not you need a financial advisor is
a pretty complicated question. Some questions that I would be
asking myself is like how much wealth do I have?
What have I been doing up until this point? Because
here on the show, and we said this many times,
but a lot of folks who start to wake up
in terms of their finances, they start to look for
a financial advisor.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Immediately they're thinking that, I don't know, there's like a.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Sense of that's going to take place when they reach
out to the quote unquote professional like such enjoy I.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Have seen the light.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I should hire a pro. It feels like going to
the doctor. It's like, oh, no, I should this is
the right thing to do. But I really it'd be
like going on a first eight and being like that
was pretty good.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I should marry this person, and it's like no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Maybe it is more like yeah. But it depends on
how much Wendy knows as well. Because as you are
learning about building your wealth retiring, I think just doing
some of that DIY research, making some personal changes to
your savings, to what it is that you're spending on,
that's going to increase your margin, that's going to give
you more money to invest. And I would say that
(10:36):
if you if you feel completely lost and you do
in fact need some one on one guidance, a money
coach is typically more valuable. I think financial advisors they
can be helpful. They can make more sense down the road.
I think once you've amassed a good chunk of money,
when there's more yeah, when there's more money on the line,
(10:56):
they can make a lot more sense. Especially on the
tax side of things. I think that's where professional can
really step in and help out. I think for a
lot of folks, Matt, they realize there's a problem, and
then they think I should hire someone to be the solution,
and I think you need to start off being the solution.
And so that means like learning the ropes through podcasts,
through books. That's going to help you get started and
(11:18):
not only get started doing the right thing yourself, but
it'll help you know the right questions to ask a
potential advisor if you opt to go in that direction
in the future. It's kind of like when we talk
about self managing a rental property, and it's like.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
You could start, you know, you should.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
You could buy a rental property and start hiring property
managers are interviewing property managers immediately, but because you haven't
been doing it yourself for a couple of years, you're
just more in the dark about what questions you're even
asking them. And I think the same thing is true
of financial advisors because you haven't done your own due diligence,
which is crucial, and they're just different ways by the
way that relationships with an advisor can be structured. The
(11:56):
most common are advisors to charge in assets under management fee,
typically in the one percent range. We don't love I mean,
I think just from hearing that you with your two ears.
You might say one percent seems reasonable, right, That's how
big of a deal can that be? Well, it adds
up significantly over the time, over time, in particular over decades,
(12:19):
that one percent fee can really be hundreds of thousands
of dollars for diligent savers. Yeah, that's a big check
mark over in the cons side of the equation.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
And I don't know what you said.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You said something about something in addition to hiring a pro,
But essentially, I think a lot of folks when they
hire a financial advisor, they're almost like looking for a savior, right,
like the like they're almost looking to somebody they want
to farm out the hard work. Well, and it's not
just the hard work, but they're unfortunately, I think, sometimes
in a tough position, and they're looking for like a
magic trick. They're looking for a magician to pull a
rabbit out of a hat and building wealth, building your
(12:53):
net worth, growing a nice retirement nest egg. It's it's
less a magic trick, and it is more like cultivating
a seedling like a tree, right and early on the
inputs what it is that you do for that thing
matters a lot because it's this.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Tiny little thing and you need to help it along.
You need to make You got.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
To water the little seedling that is at some point
going to grow into this big, beastly white oak. And
guess what, at a certain point, there's almost nothing that
you can do that's really going to impact that tree,
right Like, for the most part, it's going to take
care of itself, and it can withstand storms and wind
and lightning strikes. Even that's what it is to build
(13:32):
your net worth. That's what it is to build up
a nice nest egg. It's not something you can rush.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
And six bags of miracle grow or whatever.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
And you can try to rush it, but then you
get mixed results. I think, yeah, perhaps, but there's something
about just doing the right thing day by day, like
day in day out, over time that is just it's.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Really difficult to skip that stuff. And because we.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Don't have more information about where Wendy is at, it's
really hard to answer this question. But I would say,
if you really do feel like you're ready to hire
a financial advisor, We're fans of some of the newer
models that align better with the interests of individuals, So
paying for hourly advice can be a smart way to
proceed instead of the assets. Under a management model, you're
paying somebody literally for an hour of their time to
(14:12):
talk to you, and you might need many hours of
their time, and that's okay. But there's a site Hello
Nectarine where you can hire an individual advisor and pay
them somewhere between one hundred and fifty and three hundred
bucks an hour, depending on by a lot of factors,
including their level of expertise. But I think a few
hours of that time could cost you far less than
(14:34):
what that one percent charge absolutely adds up to over time,
where you're siting this long contract where you're like, yeah, yeah,
we're gonna be with you for five to ten years yep,
as opposed to just a singular appointment.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
And there are also models like domain money, where you're
paying a lot more thousands of dollars, but you're also
getting more of a robust financial plan instead of like, hey,
let's meet, I got some questions because I feel pretty informed.
This is where it's like, hey, start from scratch, let's
look at my overall financial pick sure and where things
are headed. And they're asking you a bunch of questions
and there really are getting down to some changes that
(15:06):
you can make in ways that you can tweak your
investments if need be. But it's I think of that
as a more of like an intermediate step that maybe
some people could really benefit from after they've gotten to
a certain place in their wealth building journey. That's right,
Let's get specific here, because Wendy, you mention that your
sister's advisor is leaving Schwab and going to LPL. We
(15:30):
think very highly of Chuck of Charles Schwab and specifically
their emphasis on low costs. So the fact that they're
moving that doesn't bode well. And we actually looked up
what LPL advisors get paid, and it depends on how
much money you have invested.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Now they're doing that AUM model, but on top of that.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
It could actually be north of one percent, so it's
perhaps even worse. And it's again it's not that advisors
can't offer you any benefit, but the cost does matter. Yeah,
this is a conversation I continue to have with folks
who are more in their retirement years. The opaic nature
of assets under management models, that's just something that we dislike,
(16:10):
and so we want you to exercise extreme caution. Yes,
all right, we've got actually more to get to on
today's show.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You're listening to How To Money with Joel Larsgard on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
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 3 (16:33):
All right.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So the journal had a fairly provocative article about specifically
about work life balance, which certainly drew my attention, Joel.
But this author it was an opinion piece, of course,
but this author was saying that striving for that work
life balance is going.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
To keep you mediocre. And of course.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I think he was probably trying to be divisive, throw
a little opinion grenade out there into the world. That
being said, he makes solid points, all right. The suggestion
wasn't that balance is never a good thing, but that,
let's say, if you want to rock it closer to
financial independence by your early thirties, well, having some balance
is going to be hard to come by, Like you
truly do need to frontload the sacrifice. That's something we've
(17:16):
discussed here on the show. The more frugal that you
are early on, the more that you can't invest, it's
going to lead to more freedom, as of course, compounding
does its thing. That being said, far be it from
the two dudes who just took summer off to rake
anyone over the coals for not working hard enough.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
We have taken our fair share of breaks we summer now,
Matt do we.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
I might be able to get behind that, But the
writer of this article wants to be and he wants
to be a billionaire by age thirty.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
It's not a goal that most people have. It's certainly
not a goal that I have.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
But I just want folks to know that what you
want and what you save and invest it is going
to give yourself options down the road. But you also
need to know that there are certain things. And this
is my biggest issue too. Was like, I couldn't help
but to think of the sacrifices he made at an
early age to be able to He had like multiple
companies that he sold for millions of dollars. Incredibly successful
(18:13):
takes some dedication, but success comes at a high price,
and in his like think of the toll it took
on his body. I just cringed when he was talking
about on average he would get three and a half
hours of sleep at night, he gained eighty pounds in college.
You've heard of the freshman fifteen, which is a funny thing,
funny concept to explain to my kids recently. They're like,
wait what And they're like, well, a lot of schools
have these lunch or meal play series. Yeah, cafeteria, and
(18:37):
they don't make the best decisions when they what it
is that they're eating. But I think for him it
probably came because of metabolic unhealth essentially, right like when
you gained eighty pounds, he's living off of red bulls,
and that's just physical health. Think about the social sacrifices
that he made. There's things that I did in college
where it certainly served me to get I'm thinking about
(18:59):
getting like one of my earlier jobs. Like I spent
a lot of time working on a website for instance,
when I was in college, and I remember I had
friends that would kind of make fun of me for it,
and that was It was only a short period of
time though, that I really immersed myself in dream weaver
and I'm like, get in there, like figuring it out
and having fun with it. Again, it led to me
probably landing a job that I otherwise may may not
have gotten, but I was given a hard time, and
(19:20):
had I taken that a little too far, what have
I Probably maybe I wouldn't have met Kate. Yeah, my wife, who,
by the way, we just celebrated eighteen years.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Yeah, Caul, that's man, Thank you. Yeah, I love you, babe.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
But there are other things that you are giving up
when you go that hard right, Like, there are people
I think who are necessary to be the extremes, to
be the outliers. This dude's got like Elon Musk level
work ethic, and those folks I think are necessary to
change the world if that's your calling in life.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
But for other.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Folks, I think it can be a lesson of oh,
something beyond quote unquote normal is possible. But just where
along that spectrum do do I want to plant my
flag and say that that's what I want to strive after.
And I recently heard the similar fashion. The CEO of
Palenteer basically say if you want to be a raging success,
you're not going to have any friends in your twenties.
(20:07):
That was essentially his message, And I'm like, how about
I not sign up for that plan then? And also
so much depends on what your definition of success is like,
we do think that having more financial margin, amassing some
peace out money, creating the habit of saving and investing
for your future so you don't spend every dollar that
comes in today.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, that is part and parcel.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
That is part of being successful, I think, because you're
also just delaying some of your gratification, which is a
good thing as a human. You're going to grow as
an individual if you do that. But the extreme ideas,
which it feels like that phases a little bit past.
I'm actually surprised to see that article in the Wall
Street Journal right now. That doesn't feel like it's part
of the ethos of our culture. But there are some
(20:52):
people still out there pushing like billion dollar business. If
you want to build that billion dollar business, that's ultimately
what's going to make you happy. And I think that
article and these other comments from quote unquote successful people,
they don't intrigue me. They actually make me want to
run away, because, yeah, that it takes for them to
achieve that sort of status, it's it's completely totally not
(21:12):
worth it in my opinion. Yeah, yeah, it makes me
think of honestly, the increase that we've seen in folks
who have been striving after the digital nomad lifestyle, which
we have seen increase dramatically in particular over the past
five years. Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of folks
like it seems like this mirage, you know, like a
lot of folks have essentially defined like you're kind of
(21:33):
touching on, like what you define as being successful.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
And I think a lot of.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Folks they saw a lot of influencers do it in
the late teens, being you know, out there traveling the
world while also operating a successful business.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Oh, this is the new success.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's the new pinnacle of success exactly as opposed to
like what it is that actually makes you happy. And
there's a lot of reasons that folks are kind of
dropping off the digital nomad train essentially, right, Like you,
you know, it's hard to create community.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
You're constantly looking for a Wi.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Fi if you don't have some sort of global internet
service provider. But I think still might be fun for
a season, and then it stops becoming fun because living
out of a suitcase gets boring after a while.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, Oh, what I was going to say too about
early on or in response to the journal article, you're
talking about how it's surprised you that this was something
that was still being put out there. How doesn't feel
like it's part of the szeitgeist right now. It honestly
makes me worried for that guy that he has sacrificed
so much because he's still tied to these early goals
that he has set for himself. And that's that's in
(22:34):
a similar way, that's how I feel about the digital nomadism,
right Like you see it once and you think, oh
my gosh, this is everything, this is what I'm going
to go for, and you do it for a little bit,
but then you don't.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Change your course.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
And we are constantly ever evolving individuals, and I think
what we need to do is spend more time evaluating
whether or not the goals that we have set out
for ourselves are still the goals that we want to achieve,
right And so in a similar way, that's why I
think digital nomadism has soured for a lot of folks,
because they are continuing to pursue after this goal when
they're realizing, well, actually that means I don't get to
(23:05):
spend any time with my brother and he's got kids now,
and oh I want to spend more time with my folks,
and they're essentially married to this idea as opposed to
reflecting a little bit and saying, what do I define
as success in the stage of life.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
I think more folks need to be doing that.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Yeah, agreed, And it's it's hard to It's an introspective
thing that people have to go there, and it's a
continual thing you have to revisit. And so being a
digital nomad for six months or for a year might
be awesome. But I've just seen a lot of stories
about a decline and interest and people like relationships being
blown up because they lived in a van together for
(23:42):
a year. And guess what that's You know, you don't
have all of those other outlets for relationship. You've got
that one person, and that can be a little stressful
of times, and even traveling after a while, traveling is awesome,
but it can get a little old, right if it's like.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
And it can feel if it's no longer special.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, and it can feel a little selfish two at times,
which can ruin the experience. Let's talk quickly, Matt articles
making gen Z. We talked about gen Z and credit
scores last week. Well, I just feel like articles making
gen Z seem like frivolous or out of touch are
kind of the norm right now, and The New York
Times was like, to hold my beer, let's I'll oblige
and make gen Z sound like idiots this week, and
(24:20):
so they wrote an article about how gen zs are
going over budget because they treat themselves too often, and
so they're basically making the case that treat culture is
in full swing. It's something good happens at work, or
maybe even even something bad happens at work, and you
need some constellation prize. The treat can be the way
to celebrate. And it seems like from what they're saying,
gen zs are more likely to do this than others.
(24:42):
And I don't know if that's true. I don't know
that gen Z has particularly falling prey to treat culture.
I do think though, that our society as a whole,
we see more emotional reactions in our spending, and it's
like it's kind of like, a I deserve this sort
of mentality. But I think the thing that I didn't
love was in that article. It was like, they're willing
to blow their budget to get this treat, and you
(25:06):
and I were fans of spending intentionally on stuff that
you care about, even other people think it's ridiculous. That's
the craft beer equivalent, right, but put the blurge in
your budget, don't bust your budget for it. If you
want the expensive concert tickets because that's something you really
care about, or even just the fancy coffee, right, then
we think you should put that in your budget and
(25:26):
you should make it a priority. But it doesn't hit
the same way, right if you have to pay interest
on that purchase for months to come, if you put
it on the credit card and you can't pay it off,
or if you're buying now pay later because you don't
actually have the cash.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
In the bank.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And so yeah, over spending to bring short term emotional pleasure,
that's not gonna be a winning combo in the end.
That's not a good approach to spending. I guess I'd
say something like financial security is the real treat map.
All right, we've got more to get to. On today's show, you're.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Listening to How to Money with Joel Larsgard on demand
from KFI.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
If you have a money question, we'll send it our way.
All you have to do is record your question on
the voice memo app there on your phone and send
it over via email. You can find the simple instructions
at how toomoney dot com forward slash ask can I
reveal a quick story a battle for customer service with WoT,
which is technically Amazon now. WoT is like a discount site.
(26:22):
I did not know WoT still existed. With my friend,
I think WoT is doing quite well. You are the
king of shopping at websites and companies that I either
A have not heard of or B did not think
still existed. Like what is this like twenty ten? What
is it two thousand and nine?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Old?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
We're'm gonna go to Big Lots after we finished this
episode that see big Lots I've heard of because I've
drive past it. You might see it, but I haven't
been to a Big Lots and further while but I
haven't either. But that sounds that's more familiar to me
than Woot, which I feel like I haven't heard of
since like smash Mouth, what's coming out with hits or
so Loot still exists by Amazon now and I didn't
(26:59):
know that. I don't actually just like shop on Woot
for fun because I think a lot of it is
just kind of Amazon trying to clear stuff out and
they charged less for it. So it's like a clearance
site where you can get stuff on the cheap, but
sometimes okay, sorry yeah quick aside.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Do they still do WoT offs? I think so, but
I don't know, because that's.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
What I remember from like the nine era when I
first discovered WoT Yeah, whether with a countdown time or
the countdown of like how many items they have, and
so they were they would drive that demand and try
to get you to spend your money.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yeah, it's like limited time only right on a camping hammock.
Get it while it's hot and then it's gone.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
In this case, I was buying a refurbished Apple Watch
for my daughter because new Apple watch is crazy expensive,
especially the ones with cellular connections. It's I don't know why,
but Apple charges a lot more for those. I don't
know if it's a much more expensive component to stick
in there, a little cellular motim in there.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
But once the watch gets a few years old, it
seems like similar to like a luxury car. In a
regular car, like the price disparity becomes almost non existent.
And so I was looking for an older model, and
I found WoT had a pretty good deal on I
think it was the series seven is what I was buying,
and it's like beamers rightly series that's right, So seven
(28:14):
series Apple Watch, I means it's like four generations old
or something.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Okay. I was like, oh, I was still be supported
for a couple more years.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
And when I the other good thing about buying from
WoT was that there was a two year warranty on
the watch.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
And I was like, okay, that nice. That's good.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
It seemed like the warranty was solid. That gave me
some peace of mind when I was buying a refer watch. Well,
the what I did in factor in, Well I got
the watch. She was super excited. The battery life was terrible,
and so go into the back end settings and it
turns out this the battery life was inferior to the
quality they promised. So the battery life says you can
(28:47):
go into.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Your Apple Watch.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I guess yeah, percentage of battery life left exactly. And
it was like, hey, this this ain't great. It's basically
the messages that the Apple Watch told me. Did you
give a percentage? It gives a percentage. I think it
was like seventy three percent, and then it like eighty yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so because it was below that, I reached out
and they're like, hey, well we'll give you twenty five
bucks and that'll help you out.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
How much was the watch?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
The watch was like one thirty something like that. Okay,
that's not twenty five I'm picture, I'm thinking two hundred dollars.
Twenty five bucks sounds like I mean a pittance like
that sounds like nothing. It does, but but if you
have to replace the battery, which my gosh, the battery
was super non satisfactory a lot more. Yeah, it's like
one hundred bucks, right, So I was like, yeah, that's
that's not going to cut it. Actually, I'd rather send
(29:33):
this back and get YEP, another watch with the higher
battery life. And they said, actually, we source these watches
through a different vendor. They don't have any more of
these right now, so we can't do that. What they
ended up doing was saying, actually, we're just going to
give you a full refund and you can keep the watch.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Yeah. I was like, oh dude, how about one hundred
and twenty five dollars off? Right? But this this just
how much?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
How long did it take before the initial contact of
you reaching out to WoT versus them finally caving and
not too bad? It's like four or five days, like
a few back and forth. It didn't take too long.
So I was impressed with the customer service, like it
and with the resolution. And I just got to say, like,
you know, we you and I we've talked on the
past in the past about asking for her discount. We've
talked about standing up for yourself, and these are the
(30:18):
don't say yes to the first thing that a company offers. Yeah, there,
you're trying to get your problem resolved. Often just that
extra little pushback and saying, well, batteries are one hundred
bucks and you're offering me twenty five and this battery
it's it's not great.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Like she was, you know, pretty disappointed as the battery
died quickly when she just used it a little.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Bit often, you have to Yeah, if it's a seventy
three percent battery life left or whatever battery expectancy, what
does that mean from a daily use standpoint? Because I
we don't have any ah wash Apple watch. She doesn't
use it very often, and so she would just use
it for a few minutes, put it down, pick it back,
cup later, use it for a few minutes, and she'd
be like, now it's it like forty two percent?
Speaker 3 (30:53):
What in the world one day?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yoh yeah, ok, in like hours, So oh dude, that's
very frustrating.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah yeah. And again it's not like she was addicted
to it using it a bunch. That's a big boy.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Stick up for yourself, yeah, man, and recognize that you
can get better customer service.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
You just have to push for it and check in. No,
you're right.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
It's like, no, hey, what's the standard actually that you're
that I'm supposed to get when I buy this product
from you? This was substandard and they made it right.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Yeah. Well, I am glad that they were able to
make it right for you.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Glad that you held out and I think, like you said,
looking specifically for metrics. That's why I asked, Okay, what
was the actual percentage? Because if they are saying, oh, yeah,
it's a pretty good battery, right, all right, well that's
incredibly subjective as opposed to oh no, it will be
at least eighty percent or higher.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah. Thanks, man, I'm glad you were able to make
that happen.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
And also I would recommend it for folks to not
just go on their shopping because if they're still doing
that wood off, it can be addicting as opposed to
looking for a specific item, right, Like, don't go shopping
for stuff, go looking for an actual piece of equipment
that you might need, an actual specific item. You've been
listening to How to Money with Joel Larsgard. You can
always hear us live on KFI AM six meters forty
(32:00):
twelve pm to two pm on Sunday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app
KFI AM six forty. You're listening to how to Money
on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Do you want to live well without drowning in debt?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Joel and Matt have you covered?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
This is how to Money with Joel Larsguard and Matt.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
Altmes KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is how to Money. I am one of your hosts,
Joelarsgard and I am Matt Altmixed. By the way, you
can always find more money saving information over at howtomoney
dot com.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Let's talk about school being back and as a back
for most people at this point.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I think at this point we're getting there. Maybe Northeast
is after Labor Day. That crazy, it's crazy, it's like
a month. Yeah, where we are, we start school very early.
The kids have been in school for like three weeks.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
In just crazy.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, it really is well And anybody with kids knows that,
like summer super fun, also crazy. Uh and and even
though it's it's tough to see summer go, the predictability
of the school year can be nice. Like I was,
I was really looking forward to getting back into a rhythm.
It's nice to be back in that rhythm. It's nice
to break the rhythm and then it's also nice to
get back to it. But school also means buying school supplies,
(01:32):
figuring out what to feature kids for lunch. And on
the first thing buying school supplies, I would say, look
at what you've already got on hand, Matt. We were
able to find a binder that was gently used right
from the previous year. We uh, nice lunch lunch bags
that were and and bent go boxes or whatever to
pack their lunches in. Those are those are things that
(01:53):
we already had on hand. We don't buy those things.
We're not going to re up. I will say, we
had to. Oh maybe this is here's a school supplies
tip for for folks. We had to purchase a new
backpack for one of our kids because her backpack wasn't
big enough to handle like the big binders. Oh yeah,
So I'm up two minds because that on one hand,
our little dude just started and we went ahead and
(02:14):
bit the bullet and got him the full sized backpack.
But it's like as big as he is. But I
also know that that's gonna last five six years most likely.
But with our yeah, one of our daughters we had
gotten her just one of the smaller ones, and it's
a perfectly fine backpack, not torn, still works. She couldn't
fit her three inch binders in there. That the school's
making her.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
It's amazing how much kids are supposed tone around at
schools these days, just makes them stronger.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So it's like rocking at school. Yeah, yeah, exactly in
between the water fountain and home room. I'm curious to
hear you take on this. CNN have a story about
pawn shops and how pond shops are a good place
to get back to school supplies. I totally saw that,
and I would have said, what are you talking about
musical instruments, and then crossed my mind at all to
look into a pawn shop for a musical instrument.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So super smart.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So yeah, if you're sitting a phone and your drum
set there, clarinet whatever else, oh my gosh, yeah, I
think that's a fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Or even laptops, so there's a whole lot of electronics
in there too.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I know a lot of schools provide, oftentimes will provide
because they had to spend all that steamy money, all
the school steamy money on something they can't spend it
on salaries. So you spend it on equipment, things that
you don't have to main. You got to maintain it,
but it's not something you have to pay out every
single year. Yeah, supplies so through stores I think are
another good place to turn, especially for clothing for your kiddos. Heck, yeah,
(03:32):
and food. Let's talk about food prices. The cost of
a lunch has risen. That's just inflation, right, and inflation
at the grocery store. In particular, some school districts have
been raising the cost of their school lunches, although obviously,
like needy kids are are typically eligible for free or
greatly reduced lunch prices. But the school lunch is like
I think it's three dollars and twenty five cents where
(03:54):
we live.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Nice, it's more than that. For us. It's closer to
five bucks. Okay to school lunch, which is one of
the reasons we ain't playing that game.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Well, you typically pack your kids lunch. We do the
do the same, and I think that is a way
to save some like it's it's not like you're saving
a ton. But the big thing I think in packing
your kids lunch is you're able to give them something
that is much healthier typically than what you're going to
get at the school. And Len Penzo, who is a
personal finance writer, he does this survey every year of
(04:24):
the cost of a school lunch, which I don't know,
I just think it's awesome. And he found that the
peanut butter and jelly sandwich is the cheapest sandwich roughly
forty four cents per sandwich.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Created that's a deal. Yeah. I love PB and j's
me too.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
And then they know those denser foods, I think they
might not be the coolest foods, right, the carrots, the apples,
the almonds, and that sandwich. I think that's going to
help people reduce the cost of their kids lunch and
not their kids get full on real, actual foods, you know.
I mean I think the absolutely it's all that stuff
in the most of the center aisles.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely true.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Chips, individually packaged snacks is going to ramp up the
cost of those meals. And here we go, Matt getting
on a soapbox where you shop matters as well.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
ALDI is a fantastic choice.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
And I saw that more and more How To Money
listeners have access to an ALDI. They were set to
become the second largest grocery chain behind Walmart's over the
next couple of years.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
We're just back your chair and all the one. It
makes me happy. Man.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
The Times they actually gave Aldi some love talking about
their rapid expansion across the US. And so if you
are listening and you're like, oh, yeah, school lunches, they've
hiked the prices there at school. I don't know if
I want to do I have what it takes to
be able to put together a school lunch. Is it
actually more affordable? Well, it will be if you start
shopping at Aldi. If that's not something that you do.
(05:44):
And here's some info that I saw, not paid for
by Aldi.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Not yeah. Yeah. So in The Times they highlighted the
fact that one of the reasons Aldi is able to
keep their prices so low is because of the store
brands Aldi carries ninety percent. I was like, I didn't,
I did. It was a lot of in and I
didn't know it was that much.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
But like, the store brains are great, and I'm gonna
specifically call out here's my all the clancies. This isn't
going to be a recurring segment or anything, but I'm
gonna I'm gonna call it the all the item of
the week, which is it really should be and this
is gonna be so on brand, but it's warns. I
try to try to say it properly, but that's the
all the German pills. It is a good beer.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
You heard it from Joel Matt the craft beer guys
were not from you. I'm the one vouching for it.
But it's the solid German pills. If you're into that
stylid beer, I would recommend it. Super affordable. Makes sense
that the the grocery chain based out of Germany has
a good Germany and it's the only place you can
buy that beer in the US. Okay, like Aldi has
a deal and so I think they are literally the
(06:43):
only importer and they're the only retailer who is selling
that beer stateside. Man good to Now that's an actual
brewery over in Germany. It's legit fascinating.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Speaking of your kids, right, whether or not you say
for their college, it really depends on how much progress
you've made with your own finances. I was talking to
a friend this week and he was like, I'm not
saying for my kid's education, but he had like a
good reason for it. He's like, I had to figure
it out myself, and I think that's a reasonable way
to go. It wasn't because he couldn't. It was because
(07:13):
he didn't want to. And I think that's totally fine.
Like more power to you to each theough. Yeah, but
if you are doing a great job with your own,
you know, saving the best thing for your future, and
you're inclined to invest for you know, the future of
your offspring. You want them to go to school, and
you don't want them to pay well price. You want
to help them out with that. You want to grow
a nest egg. Well, knowing which five twenty nine plans
(07:34):
are the best can be helpful, because Matt, A lot
of people don't realize this, but you don't have to
use your state's plan. Some people think, well, I live
in Idaho, I guess I got to use Idaho's plan,
or I live in Wyoming, got to use Wyoming's plan.
And the truth is you don't have to. You can
go with any of the state plans that you want.
So morning Star recently released its annual rating of all
(07:55):
the state plans. The top ones are Alaska, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
and Utah. Utah has been like top notch for years.
They've been essentially at the forefront of low cost five
to twenty nine plans, and a lot of people from
other states have opted to invest in the Utah Plan
for good reason because it's such a good plan. I
think when you when you're trying to side which five
(08:17):
to twenty nine plan to go with, though, if your
state offers a tax incentive, you want to choose that one.
And if your state does not offer its state tax incentive,
like you're not getting a reduction in the income tax
that you have to pay, then option for one of
those superior plans, one of those top five plans that
morning Star recommends, I think those are They're all good.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
The Utah Want.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Plan again in particular, has been excellent for a long time.
So just know five to twenty nine plans continue to
get better. Costs continue to go down in many states,
but there's still some that suck really bad. Make sure
you avoid those ones.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
You're listening to how To Money with Joel Larsgard on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Don't forget to sign up for the how To Money
newsletter over at how to Money dot com slash newsletter.
All right, Matt, let's get to the question from a
listener who wants to know if she needs to hire
a financial pro to help her out.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Hello, my name is Wendy. I'm thinking of going with
a financial advisor, so I spoke with my sister goes
through him. Yet they're moving from Charles schrab over to LPL,
which kind of scares me. I've read some things that
are not there great. What is your opinion?
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Thank you, Wendy, Thank you so much for your question,
and we will specifically get to LPL here.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
In a minute.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
But whether or not you need a financial advisor is
a pretty complicated question. Some questions that I would be
asking myself is like how much wealth do I have?
What have I been doing up until this point? Because
here on the show, and we said this many times,
but a lot of folks who start to wake up
in terms of their finances, they start to look for
a financial advisor.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Immediately they're thinking that, I don't know, there's like a.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Sense of that's going to take place when they reach
out to the quote unquote professional like such enjoy I.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Have seen the light.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I should hire a pro. It feels like going to
the doctor. It's like, oh, no, I should this is
the right thing to do. But I really it'd be
like going on a first eight and being like that
was pretty good.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I should marry this person, and it's like no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Maybe it is more like yeah. But it depends on
how much Wendy knows as well. Because as you are
learning about building your wealth retiring, I think just doing
some of that DIY research, making some personal changes to
your savings, to what it is that you're spending on,
that's going to increase your margin, that's going to give
you more money to invest. And I would say that
(10:36):
if you if you feel completely lost and you do
in fact need some one on one guidance, a money
coach is typically more valuable. I think financial advisors they
can be helpful. They can make more sense down the road.
I think once you've amassed a good chunk of money,
when there's more yeah, when there's more money on the line,
(10:56):
they can make a lot more sense. Especially on the
tax side of things. I think that's where professional can
really step in and help out. I think for a
lot of folks, Matt, they realize there's a problem, and
then they think I should hire someone to be the solution,
and I think you need to start off being the solution.
And so that means like learning the ropes through podcasts,
through books. That's going to help you get started and
(11:18):
not only get started doing the right thing yourself, but
it'll help you know the right questions to ask a
potential advisor if you opt to go in that direction
in the future. It's kind of like when we talk
about self managing a rental property, and it's like.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
You could start, you know, you should.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
You could buy a rental property and start hiring property
managers are interviewing property managers immediately, but because you haven't
been doing it yourself for a couple of years, you're
just more in the dark about what questions you're even
asking them. And I think the same thing is true
of financial advisors because you haven't done your own due diligence,
which is crucial, and they're just different ways by the
way that relationships with an advisor can be structured. The
(11:56):
most common are advisors to charge in assets under management fee,
typically in the one percent range. We don't love I mean,
I think just from hearing that you with your two ears.
You might say one percent seems reasonable, right, That's how
big of a deal can that be? Well, it adds
up significantly over the time, over time, in particular over decades,
(12:19):
that one percent fee can really be hundreds of thousands
of dollars for diligent savers. Yeah, that's a big check
mark over in the cons side of the equation.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
And I don't know what you said.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
You said something about something in addition to hiring a pro,
But essentially, I think a lot of folks when they
hire a financial advisor, they're almost like looking for a savior, right,
like the like they're almost looking to somebody they want
to farm out the hard work. Well, and it's not
just the hard work, but they're unfortunately, I think, sometimes
in a tough position, and they're looking for like a
magic trick. They're looking for a magician to pull a
rabbit out of a hat and building wealth, building your
(12:53):
net worth, growing a nice retirement nest egg. It's it's
less a magic trick, and it is more like cultivating
a seedling like a tree, right and early on the
inputs what it is that you do for that thing
matters a lot because it's this.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Tiny little thing and you need to help it along.
You need to make You got.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
To water the little seedling that is at some point
going to grow into this big, beastly white oak. And
guess what, at a certain point, there's almost nothing that
you can do that's really going to impact that tree,
right Like, for the most part, it's going to take
care of itself, and it can withstand storms and wind
and lightning strikes. Even that's what it is to build
(13:32):
your net worth. That's what it is to build up
a nice nest egg. It's not something you can rush.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
And six bags of miracle grow or whatever.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
And you can try to rush it, but then you
get mixed results. I think, yeah, perhaps, but there's something
about just doing the right thing day by day, like
day in day out, over time that is just it's.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Really difficult to skip that stuff. And because we.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Don't have more information about where Wendy is at, it's
really hard to answer this question. But I would say,
if you really do feel like you're ready to hire
a financial advisor, We're fans of some of the newer
models that align better with the interests of individuals, So
paying for hourly advice can be a smart way to
proceed instead of the assets. Under a management model, you're
paying somebody literally for an hour of their time to
(14:12):
talk to you, and you might need many hours of
their time, and that's okay. But there's a site Hello
Nectarine where you can hire an individual advisor and pay
them somewhere between one hundred and fifty and three hundred
bucks an hour, depending on by a lot of factors,
including their level of expertise. But I think a few
hours of that time could cost you far less than
(14:34):
what that one percent charge absolutely adds up to over time,
where you're siting this long contract where you're like, yeah, yeah,
we're gonna be with you for five to ten years yep,
as opposed to just a singular appointment.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
And there are also models like domain money, where you're
paying a lot more thousands of dollars, but you're also
getting more of a robust financial plan instead of like, hey,
let's meet, I got some questions because I feel pretty informed.
This is where it's like, hey, start from scratch, let's
look at my overall financial pick sure and where things
are headed. And they're asking you a bunch of questions
and there really are getting down to some changes that
(15:06):
you can make in ways that you can tweak your
investments if need be. But it's I think of that
as a more of like an intermediate step that maybe
some people could really benefit from after they've gotten to
a certain place in their wealth building journey. That's right,
Let's get specific here, because Wendy, you mention that your
sister's advisor is leaving Schwab and going to LPL. We
(15:30):
think very highly of Chuck of Charles Schwab and specifically
their emphasis on low costs. So the fact that they're
moving that doesn't bode well. And we actually looked up
what LPL advisors get paid, and it depends on how
much money you have invested.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Now they're doing that AUM model, but on top of that.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
It could actually be north of one percent, so it's
perhaps even worse. And it's again it's not that advisors
can't offer you any benefit, but the cost does matter. Yeah,
this is a conversation I continue to have with folks
who are more in their retirement years. The opaic nature
of assets under management models, that's just something that we dislike,
(16:10):
and so we want you to exercise extreme caution. Yes,
all right, we've got actually more to get to on
today's show.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
You're listening to How To Money with Joel Larsgard on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
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 3 (16:33):
All right.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So the journal had a fairly provocative article about specifically
about work life balance, which certainly drew my attention, Joel.
But this author it was an opinion piece, of course,
but this author was saying that striving for that work
life balance is going.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
To keep you mediocre. And of course.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I think he was probably trying to be divisive, throw
a little opinion grenade out there into the world. That
being said, he makes solid points, all right. The suggestion
wasn't that balance is never a good thing, but that,
let's say, if you want to rock it closer to
financial independence by your early thirties, well, having some balance
is going to be hard to come by, Like you
truly do need to frontload the sacrifice. That's something we've
(17:16):
discussed here on the show. The more frugal that you
are early on, the more that you can't invest, it's
going to lead to more freedom, as of course, compounding
does its thing. That being said, far be it from
the two dudes who just took summer off to rake
anyone over the coals for not working hard enough.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
We have taken our fair share of breaks we summer now,
Matt do we.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
I might be able to get behind that, But the
writer of this article wants to be and he wants
to be a billionaire by age thirty.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
It's not a goal that most people have. It's certainly
not a goal that I have.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
But I just want folks to know that what you
want and what you save and invest it is going
to give yourself options down the road. But you also
need to know that there are certain things. And this
is my biggest issue too. Was like, I couldn't help
but to think of the sacrifices he made at an
early age to be able to He had like multiple
companies that he sold for millions of dollars. Incredibly successful
(18:13):
takes some dedication, but success comes at a high price,
and in his like think of the toll it took
on his body. I just cringed when he was talking
about on average he would get three and a half
hours of sleep at night, he gained eighty pounds in college.
You've heard of the freshman fifteen, which is a funny thing,
funny concept to explain to my kids recently. They're like,
wait what And they're like, well, a lot of schools
have these lunch or meal play series. Yeah, cafeteria, and
(18:37):
they don't make the best decisions when they what it
is that they're eating. But I think for him it
probably came because of metabolic unhealth essentially, right like when
you gained eighty pounds, he's living off of red bulls,
and that's just physical health. Think about the social sacrifices
that he made. There's things that I did in college
where it certainly served me to get I'm thinking about
(18:59):
getting like one of my earlier jobs. Like I spent
a lot of time working on a website for instance,
when I was in college, and I remember I had
friends that would kind of make fun of me for it,
and that was It was only a short period of
time though, that I really immersed myself in dream weaver
and I'm like, get in there, like figuring it out
and having fun with it. Again, it led to me
probably landing a job that I otherwise may may not
have gotten, but I was given a hard time, and
(19:20):
had I taken that a little too far, what have
I Probably maybe I wouldn't have met Kate. Yeah, my wife, who,
by the way, we just celebrated eighteen years.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Yeah, Caul, that's man, Thank you. Yeah, I love you, babe.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
But there are other things that you are giving up
when you go that hard right, Like, there are people
I think who are necessary to be the extremes, to
be the outliers. This dude's got like Elon Musk level
work ethic, and those folks I think are necessary to
change the world if that's your calling in life.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
But for other.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Folks, I think it can be a lesson of oh,
something beyond quote unquote normal is possible. But just where
along that spectrum do do I want to plant my
flag and say that that's what I want to strive after.
And I recently heard the similar fashion. The CEO of
Palenteer basically say if you want to be a raging success,
you're not going to have any friends in your twenties.
(20:07):
That was essentially his message, And I'm like, how about
I not sign up for that plan then? And also
so much depends on what your definition of success is like,
we do think that having more financial margin, amassing some
peace out money, creating the habit of saving and investing
for your future so you don't spend every dollar that
comes in today.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, that is part and parcel.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
That is part of being successful, I think, because you're
also just delaying some of your gratification, which is a
good thing as a human. You're going to grow as
an individual if you do that. But the extreme ideas,
which it feels like that phases a little bit past.
I'm actually surprised to see that article in the Wall
Street Journal right now. That doesn't feel like it's part
of the ethos of our culture. But there are some
(20:52):
people still out there pushing like billion dollar business. If
you want to build that billion dollar business, that's ultimately
what's going to make you happy. And I think that
article and these other comments from quote unquote successful people,
they don't intrigue me. They actually make me want to
run away, because, yeah, that it takes for them to
achieve that sort of status, it's it's completely totally not
(21:12):
worth it in my opinion. Yeah, yeah, it makes me
think of honestly, the increase that we've seen in folks
who have been striving after the digital nomad lifestyle, which
we have seen increase dramatically in particular over the past
five years. Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of folks
like it seems like this mirage, you know, like a
lot of folks have essentially defined like you're kind of
(21:33):
touching on, like what you define as being successful.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
And I think a lot of.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Folks they saw a lot of influencers do it in
the late teens, being you know, out there traveling the
world while also operating a successful business.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Oh, this is the new success.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's the new pinnacle of success exactly as opposed to
like what it is that actually makes you happy. And
there's a lot of reasons that folks are kind of
dropping off the digital nomad train essentially, right, Like you,
you know, it's hard to create community.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
You're constantly looking for a Wi.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Fi if you don't have some sort of global internet
service provider. But I think still might be fun for
a season, and then it stops becoming fun because living
out of a suitcase gets boring after a while.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, Oh, what I was going to say too about
early on or in response to the journal article, you're
talking about how it's surprised you that this was something
that was still being put out there. How doesn't feel
like it's part of the szeitgeist right now. It honestly
makes me worried for that guy that he has sacrificed
so much because he's still tied to these early goals
that he has set for himself. And that's that's in
(22:34):
a similar way, that's how I feel about the digital nomadism,
right Like you see it once and you think, oh
my gosh, this is everything, this is what I'm going
to go for, and you do it for a little bit,
but then you don't.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Change your course.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
And we are constantly ever evolving individuals, and I think
what we need to do is spend more time evaluating
whether or not the goals that we have set out
for ourselves are still the goals that we want to achieve,
right And so in a similar way, that's why I
think digital nomadism has soured for a lot of folks,
because they are continuing to pursue after this goal when
they're realizing, well, actually that means I don't get to
(23:05):
spend any time with my brother and he's got kids now,
and oh I want to spend more time with my folks,
and they're essentially married to this idea as opposed to
reflecting a little bit and saying, what do I define
as success in the stage of life.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
I think more folks need to be doing that.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Yeah, agreed, And it's it's hard to It's an introspective
thing that people have to go there, and it's a
continual thing you have to revisit. And so being a
digital nomad for six months or for a year might
be awesome. But I've just seen a lot of stories
about a decline and interest and people like relationships being
blown up because they lived in a van together for
(23:42):
a year. And guess what that's You know, you don't
have all of those other outlets for relationship. You've got
that one person, and that can be a little stressful
of times, and even traveling after a while, traveling is awesome,
but it can get a little old, right if it's like.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
And it can feel if it's no longer special.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, and it can feel a little selfish two at times,
which can ruin the experience. Let's talk quickly, Matt articles
making gen Z. We talked about gen Z and credit
scores last week. Well, I just feel like articles making
gen Z seem like frivolous or out of touch are
kind of the norm right now, and The New York
Times was like, to hold my beer, let's I'll oblige
and make gen Z sound like idiots this week, and
(24:20):
so they wrote an article about how gen zs are
going over budget because they treat themselves too often, and
so they're basically making the case that treat culture is
in full swing. It's something good happens at work, or
maybe even even something bad happens at work, and you
need some constellation prize. The treat can be the way
to celebrate. And it seems like from what they're saying,
gen zs are more likely to do this than others.
(24:42):
And I don't know if that's true. I don't know
that gen Z has particularly falling prey to treat culture.
I do think though, that our society as a whole,
we see more emotional reactions in our spending, and it's
like it's kind of like, a I deserve this sort
of mentality. But I think the thing that I didn't
love was in that article. It was like, they're willing
to blow their budget to get this treat, and you
(25:06):
and I were fans of spending intentionally on stuff that
you care about, even other people think it's ridiculous. That's
the craft beer equivalent, right, but put the blurge in
your budget, don't bust your budget for it. If you
want the expensive concert tickets because that's something you really
care about, or even just the fancy coffee, right, then
we think you should put that in your budget and
(25:26):
you should make it a priority. But it doesn't hit
the same way, right if you have to pay interest
on that purchase for months to come, if you put
it on the credit card and you can't pay it off,
or if you're buying now pay later because you don't
actually have the cash.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
In the bank.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And so yeah, over spending to bring short term emotional pleasure,
that's not gonna be a winning combo in the end.
That's not a good approach to spending. I guess I'd
say something like financial security is the real treat map.
All right, we've got more to get to. On today's show, you're.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Listening to How to Money with Joel Larsgard on demand
from KFI.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
If you have a money question, we'll send it our way.
All you have to do is record your question on
the voice memo app there on your phone and send
it over via email. You can find the simple instructions
at how toomoney dot com forward slash ask can I
reveal a quick story a battle for customer service with WoT,
which is technically Amazon now. WoT is like a discount site.
(26:22):
I did not know WoT still existed. With my friend,
I think WoT is doing quite well. You are the
king of shopping at websites and companies that I either
A have not heard of or B did not think
still existed. Like what is this like twenty ten? What
is it two thousand and nine?
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Old?
Speaker 1 (26:37):
We're'm gonna go to Big Lots after we finished this
episode that see big Lots I've heard of because I've
drive past it. You might see it, but I haven't
been to a Big Lots and further while but I
haven't either. But that sounds that's more familiar to me
than Woot, which I feel like I haven't heard of
since like smash Mouth, what's coming out with hits or
so Loot still exists by Amazon now and I didn't
(26:59):
know that. I don't actually just like shop on Woot
for fun because I think a lot of it is
just kind of Amazon trying to clear stuff out and
they charged less for it. So it's like a clearance
site where you can get stuff on the cheap, but
sometimes okay, sorry yeah quick aside.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Do they still do WoT offs? I think so, but
I don't know, because that's.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
What I remember from like the nine era when I
first discovered WoT Yeah, whether with a countdown time or
the countdown of like how many items they have, and
so they were they would drive that demand and try
to get you to spend your money.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Yeah, it's like limited time only right on a camping hammock.
Get it while it's hot and then it's gone.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
Well.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
In this case, I was buying a refurbished Apple Watch
for my daughter because new Apple watch is crazy expensive,
especially the ones with cellular connections. It's I don't know why,
but Apple charges a lot more for those. I don't
know if it's a much more expensive component to stick
in there, a little cellular motim in there.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
But once the watch gets a few years old, it
seems like similar to like a luxury car. In a
regular car, like the price disparity becomes almost non existent.
And so I was looking for an older model, and
I found WoT had a pretty good deal on I
think it was the series seven is what I was buying,
and it's like beamers rightly series that's right, So seven
(28:14):
series Apple Watch, I means it's like four generations old
or something.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Okay. I was like, oh, I was still be supported
for a couple more years.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
And when I the other good thing about buying from
WoT was that there was a two year warranty on
the watch.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
And I was like, okay, that nice. That's good.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
It seemed like the warranty was solid. That gave me
some peace of mind when I was buying a refer watch. Well,
the what I did in factor in, Well I got
the watch. She was super excited. The battery life was terrible,
and so go into the back end settings and it
turns out this the battery life was inferior to the
quality they promised. So the battery life says you can
(28:47):
go into.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Your Apple Watch.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
I guess yeah, percentage of battery life left exactly. And
it was like, hey, this this ain't great. It's basically
the messages that the Apple Watch told me. Did you
give a percentage? It gives a percentage. I think it
was like seventy three percent, and then it like eighty yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so because it was below that, I reached out
and they're like, hey, well we'll give you twenty five
bucks and that'll help you out.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
How much was the watch?
Speaker 1 (29:11):
The watch was like one thirty something like that. Okay,
that's not twenty five I'm picture, I'm thinking two hundred dollars.
Twenty five bucks sounds like I mean a pittance like
that sounds like nothing. It does, but but if you
have to replace the battery, which my gosh, the battery
was super non satisfactory a lot more. Yeah, it's like
one hundred bucks, right, So I was like, yeah, that's
that's not going to cut it. Actually, I'd rather send
(29:33):
this back and get YEP, another watch with the higher
battery life. And they said, actually, we source these watches
through a different vendor. They don't have any more of
these right now, so we can't do that. What they
ended up doing was saying, actually, we're just going to
give you a full refund and you can keep the watch.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Yeah. I was like, oh dude, how about one hundred
and twenty five dollars off? Right? But this this just
how much?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
How long did it take before the initial contact of
you reaching out to WoT versus them finally caving and
not too bad? It's like four or five days, like
a few back and forth. It didn't take too long.
So I was impressed with the customer service, like it
and with the resolution. And I just got to say, like,
you know, we you and I we've talked on the
past in the past about asking for her discount. We've
talked about standing up for yourself, and these are the
(30:18):
don't say yes to the first thing that a company offers. Yeah, there,
you're trying to get your problem resolved. Often just that
extra little pushback and saying, well, batteries are one hundred
bucks and you're offering me twenty five and this battery
it's it's not great.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Like she was, you know, pretty disappointed as the battery
died quickly when she just used it a little.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Bit often, you have to Yeah, if it's a seventy
three percent battery life left or whatever battery expectancy, what
does that mean from a daily use standpoint? Because I
we don't have any ah wash Apple watch. She doesn't
use it very often, and so she would just use
it for a few minutes, put it down, pick it back,
cup later, use it for a few minutes, and she'd
be like, now it's it like forty two percent?
Speaker 3 (30:53):
What in the world one day?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yoh yeah, ok, in like hours, So oh dude, that's
very frustrating.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah yeah. And again it's not like she was addicted
to it using it a bunch. That's a big boy.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Stick up for yourself, yeah, man, and recognize that you
can get better customer service.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
You just have to push for it and check in. No,
you're right.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
It's like, no, hey, what's the standard actually that you're
that I'm supposed to get when I buy this product
from you? This was substandard and they made it right.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Yeah. Well, I am glad that they were able to
make it right for you.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Glad that you held out and I think, like you said,
looking specifically for metrics. That's why I asked, Okay, what
was the actual percentage? Because if they are saying, oh, yeah,
it's a pretty good battery, right, all right, well that's
incredibly subjective as opposed to oh no, it will be
at least eighty percent or higher.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah. Thanks, man, I'm glad you were able to make
that happen.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
And also I would recommend it for folks to not
just go on their shopping because if they're still doing
that wood off, it can be addicting as opposed to
looking for a specific item, right, Like, don't go shopping
for stuff, go looking for an actual piece of equipment
that you might need, an actual specific item. You've been
listening to How to Money with Joel Larsgard. You can
always hear us live on KFI AM six meters forty
(32:00):
twelve pm to two pm on Sunday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app
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