Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:02):
You're listening to Moody Radio 89.3, and this is mornings
with Eric and Bridget.
S2 (00:07):
Well, many of us, you know, spent a little bit
on Mother's Day yesterday. And of course, Father's Day is
coming up. And Eric says we all need to spend
on that.
S1 (00:16):
It's hard. It's hard for us. It's hard saving money
in the summer because we have, uh, my birthday, all
the kids, well, all the boys birthdays, my daughter's birthday,
my anniversary is in there. That's. I mean, within a
three month period, all those things are happening. Throw in
Father's Day. Also, there's a there's a lot that goes
(00:36):
on in the summer for us, and that makes it
a little hard to save money if you haven't planned
for it, I guess is one way to say it.
S2 (00:43):
Well, let's talk about ways that we can all do
that with Christian financial planner Glenn Zimmermann. And I mean,
there are certain times of year you think about Christmas,
but really any time of year, Glenn, it can be
it can be pretty difficult to to rein it in.
S3 (00:58):
It's. Yeah, it's funny Eric, we have a lot of
July birthdays in our family as well. It's really interesting.
And then yeah, you're right. Anniversaries. I guess it makes sense.
We got to keep Christmas and winter and, you know, give,
give you six months to save up for the summer.
S1 (01:10):
So although I'm ready to celebrate my half birthday in
in December 19th. So we're going to start doing that
for me. So we're going.
S3 (01:18):
To oh.
S1 (01:18):
I get my full birthday.
S3 (01:19):
All I can see the eye roll from here from Bridget.
S2 (01:22):
So you know me well Glenn. That's right. Well, if
we know anything about you, we know that you really
do like to help us when it comes to our
personal finances. No matter what's happening, swirling, you know, in
the economic news, there's things that we can do.
S3 (01:38):
Yeah. You know, it's sort of, um, right now, we
all know inflation is supposedly kind of coming down and
we may not feel it yet. And now you throw
in worries about, you know, the economy or maybe what
might happen with tariffs. There's some good news this morning
apparently we'll see what happens. But so I think it's
always good no matter what's going on with the economy. Uh,
(01:58):
the markets whatever is the most powerful thing we can
do is control the expenses in our own financial lives.
It's very impactful, and I think it's good to just
spend a little time on that. So that's the idea today.
S1 (02:10):
Okay, so one of the things that is expensive, you know,
buying a house, buying a car, those are expensive things.
But maintaining them and insurance and upkeep and things like
that can be that can really I mean, just when
you think you're saving money, your tire blows or whatever
it is, I mean, things like that just come up.
S3 (02:27):
Yeah. This is a huge, huge part of our budgets
and it's becoming larger, you know, um, take our cars.
You know, we all know we're supposed to get oil
changes and normal maintenance.
S1 (02:37):
And it used to be $25. It used to be $25.
S3 (02:42):
Now it's 100. Yeah. No it's you're right. And these
major services I mean you go in and go yeah.
The 60,000 mile service, that's $900. You know, it's it's
a remarkable amount of money. But I will say it's
really important to maintain something like an automobile because you
want to make sure, first of all, the warranty stays
in place. You need to have evidence that the oil
(03:03):
changes were done. So you don't want to skimp on that.
You can. If you can find a really qualified, independent mechanic,
that's fine, you know, but just get those services done. Um,
I one story. I have a friend that they had their, um,
engine go out on their car at like 63,000 miles
just over the warranty. But because they had done all
(03:25):
the servicing and they had records of it, the company,
the car company actually replaced the engine anyway. So sometimes
that does create, you know, goodwill. So just keep doing it. But,
you know, try to save money with where you're getting
it done but get it done. That's what I try
to say on that. And then our homes oh my goodness,
that's even way more expensive you know, than a car.
(03:45):
But it's amazing. I have clients that maybe they have
rental homes and uh, a tenant maybe didn't report a
small area of water damage and just let it go. Well,
that can become now it's a mold issue. It's a major,
major thing. So don't ignore little areas of of home
repair issues. Get those done. Because those those can lead
(04:06):
to major repairs. And then just little things like, um,
just having your HVAC systems maintained or plumbing maintained. I
know a couple years ago we were having our HVAC
serviced and the same company did the plumbing, and they
just checked our water heater and our pressure. I don't know,
pressure regulator valve thing was malfunctioning. We had way too
much pressure in the house. We didn't know. So they
(04:28):
caught it. And that could have been something major. So
those are things that are really important to do. And
then insurance. I don't need to say another word. Everybody
knows it's really expensive in South Florida with with all
types of insurance. So real quick on that. Just of
course shop around if you can. I know there's not
a lot of choice with specialty homeowner's insurance right now.
(04:48):
One thing you might find is that if you keep
your car and home with the same company, that might
save you a little bit of money there. And then
ask about discounts. Um, it's amazing things. A couple years ago,
you know, if you had like hurricane roof straps, which
are very inexpensive, put on your home, you could get
a discount or get a roof inspection that can save money. Uh,
(05:09):
even taking like a you can do like an online
defensive driving class every few years that can save you
on your on your auto insurance. Those things help. And
then finally I would say rethink deductibles. We tend to
we don't want to pay anything, you know, when something
bad happens or something's damaged. I think we need to
rethink that because anytime you file a claim, you risk
(05:30):
your insurance premiums going up. So I would say look
at raising your deductibles and see how much that saves
on your premium. And maybe save filing a claim for
something really big.
S2 (05:40):
Okay. So maintaining is one thing, but even the initial purchase,
when you think about something like a car, how do
we make wise decisions there. And is leasing leasing ever
an option.
S3 (05:52):
Yeah. Cars. Oh my goodness. Especially coming out of Covid.
You know they always as a financial advisor they are
necessary evils financially. We all have to have them. Unlike
our homes they don't maintain their value. They lose value
very very quickly. And right now the average new car,
it's over $45,000. So still the general rule of, you know,
(06:14):
it usually makes sense to purchase a quality used car,
maybe a few years old, but now used car prices
have gone up a lot as well. Um, and then
you'll find that some cars, you know, they don't appreciate
as much as others, um, you know, with new cars,
you or actually with used cars, you may not save
as much as you might think buying that used car
(06:35):
because it's so close to the new car price. And
it depends on the model, but a quality new car
that you keep a long time, that could actually be
a really sensible way, way to do it. And that
idea of keeping a car a long time, that's the
magic here with cars. If you can keep a car
a long time, uh, that is going to save a
(06:56):
lot of money over the years. Uh, a lot of cars. Now, again,
if they're maintained properly, they can go 150 to 200,000 miles.
You're going to have some major repairs, but way cheaper
than buying another car. So in general, if you tend
to like trade cars, save every 4 to 5 years,
you want to push that at least to 7 to
10 years or more if you can, and that's actually
(07:17):
pretty easy to do. Um, one thing it's interesting, I'll,
I'll hear from people. Well, I need to get a
new car because I've got a major repair that may
be coming that's, you know, $1,500 or something. And I'll say, well,
do you know what the tax would be on the
new car? Just the sales tax on the average new
car would be $3,000. So that could be a really
(07:39):
major repair. So don't be afraid of spending money on
your car. I have a friend that put a whole new, um,
battery in his hybrid as a Toyota. It cost a
few thousand dollars, but the car literally could go another
7 or 8 years, you know, easily. So that's something
to consider there with the cars leasing. Believe it or not,
if you're a person that just trades cars regularly, they're
(08:01):
going to buy a car every 3 or 4 years,
no matter what. Leasing actually might be an option because
it sort of locks in the numbers. You know what?
You turn the car in if you want to buy it.
The price is fixed compared to losing money when you
trade that car back. So leasing is not ideal, but
it might be better financially than buying a car regularly
(08:22):
on a, you know, more quickly.
S1 (08:23):
Yeah, we talked to our mechanic before we got our cars,
used cars, and they were very helpful. And they were like,
I don't like working on those cars because they just
they're just a mess. I mean, just knowing what they
thought was helpful was very helpful for us. And we
went that direction because, hey, they're used to working on them.
They feel comfortable with it. And that helped us in
the long run also, I think so.
S3 (08:43):
Very smart.
S1 (08:44):
Yeah. Talk to your mechanic.
S3 (08:45):
Really valuable.
S1 (08:45):
Yes. Okay, so you didn't say budget here. You said
have a spending plan, which is good. And that helps
us when we're making decisions to have some kind of
a plan, but also it helps us to slow down.
I think have a plan and slow down are two
key things, right?
S3 (09:01):
Right. Yeah. Budget is a triggering word, Eric. So I.
S1 (09:04):
Thank you. Yes yes yes. Right.
S3 (09:06):
No, really. You know, everybody's different. I think it's important
we tend to, especially in my world, think, you know,
you should not spend money on getting coffee every morning.
All these kind of weird things that advisors talk about. Listen.
Everybody's different. Some people love to travel. You know a client.
I've told this story before. A client came in and said,
we really want to travel. Over the next, like 15 years,
tell us what our expenses need to be to do it.
(09:28):
And they actually did it. It's pretty amazing. Uh, other
people may hate traveling. They don't want to leave the
good old US of A, but they love playing golf
or they love boating. Find the areas that are that
in your life that are really worth it to you
to spend money on. Spend in those areas, but not others.
It's amazing how easy it is to spend money on
(09:49):
things we don't really care that much about. Or do
we just kind of do it because they're doing it
or something? So, um, it's just easier to say no
when we're already saying yes to the things we get
excited about. My wife and I, you know, we love
to travel. It's just kind of therapeutic for us. It's
a chance to get away together, but it's actually pretty
easy for us to not spend as much on shopping
(10:10):
or eating out. Uh, we have friends that are exact opposite. Um,
even something like golfing, you know, we tend to go hiking,
and trail running doesn't cost anything. We're not that much
into golf. Other people love golf. So just find out
what's important to you. Focus on that. Um, and then emotions.
You know, a big part of spending is tied to emotions.
(10:32):
There's that sense of urgency. That's how the sales work.
You got to do this today. Something's on sale. This
could be out of stock. You got to get it now.
You can save a lot of money by not rushing
a decision and take the time to, you know, sleep
on it, think about it, pray about it together. If
a day or two, you're still feeling that, hey, I
think we should do this, then it might be a
wise thing to do. But often when we take the
(10:54):
time to wait, you don't need it. And then yes,
you want to have some way of tracking where your
money is going, whether it's software or paper. However you
do it. Um, you just want to make sure that
your expenses are less than your income.
S2 (11:08):
Oh, such helpful advice and perspective as we wrap up
our time with you, Glenn, one of the things that
you say is that we can really kind of save
is something we may not be thinking about, and this
is our really our retirement investment with our employer.
S3 (11:23):
Yeah. This is this is kind of a sneaky one.
It's kind of savings. But really, if you think about it,
when we put money away into, like, a company retirement plan,
that's an expense to us because that's money we can't
use on something else. So in a way, it's kind
of an expense. But yeah, it's amazing. Um, most retirement
plans at work, whether it's a 401 K or 4
or 3 B, um, they'll have something called an employer match.
(11:46):
This means if you contribute a certain amount into your
own 401 K plan, your employer is going to match that.
It's often could be 3%, 4%. I've seen even 6%. So, uh,
let's say someone if you put $5,000 in your employer
will literally give you $5,000 and also put it in
(12:06):
it's it's like finding money on the street. So this
is probably one of the most impactful ways that we
can save money. Um, and it will help us later
on with expenses, because now that money, you get a
tax deduction on what we contribute to the 401 K.
It's growing. Tax deferred, or potentially tax free if it's
in a Roth account. And then later on we have
(12:29):
more that we can use for expenses, you know, in retirement.
So please don't ignore that some sometimes people are like,
I don't have money to contribute. You know, for one
K at least try to find enough to put enough
in there to take care of that match. It's it's really,
really important.
S1 (12:45):
And then don't look at it every month. Just let
it sit there.
S3 (12:50):
Good advice. This past month is a good example, especially now.
S2 (12:52):
Yeah.
S1 (12:53):
Don't don't stress over it. There's time for it to
grow and just just just relax. Right. Relax. Relax and
take your time. I think that's what I've learned from
Glenn today, right? I love it. There's no rush.
S3 (13:05):
I'll go with that. That's our theme.
S1 (13:07):
There's there's no rush if you just take your time. Yeah.
I think that's great advice. Glenn. Thank you so much
for your help today. We appreciate you. Uh, not just today,
but throughout the months. You've helped us to save money
and be wise in what we're doing, so we appreciate it.
S3 (13:22):
My pleasure. Good to be with you.
S2 (13:24):
Find out more at our website. Eric and bridget.org.