October 25, 2024 • 37 mins
Time for a Friday Flight- our little sampling of the week’s financial news and what it means for your personal finances. There are a lot of headlines out there, but we boil them down to specific takeaways that will allow you to kick off the weekend informed and help you to get ahead with your money. In this episode we explain some relevant and helpful stories like: why you probably need to life insurance ladder (layer), house of mou$e, fitness inflation, high cost of eating out, feasting for less, why you should love Spirit Airlines, privacy concerns, Canadian carpenter makes bank, farewell savings rates, certified pre-owned clothes, Boomer Stuff Avalanche, STEM degrees, debt derailment, and blue collar millionaires.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to had a Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
and today we're.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Talking about fitness, inflation, feasting for less, and debty railment.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Joel, poor buddy, you sound a little under the weather.
Living my best life. I'm my best self right now,
just not my voice. I'm not I'm not saying you're
not living your best life, but yeah, your voice sounds
a little bit rougher. Does that have anything to do
with the fact that you crushed your half marathon last weekend?
Were you screaming the whole time? Because you're just like
so on top of the world. I was pretty pumps.
That's pretty pumps. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
My mom had laryngitis and I hung out with her.
Can you catch laryngitis from someone?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It's super contagious? Is it? No? Okay, I've got no.
I don't know. If I have no idea, I blame my mother.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Maybe maybe it can't be. Is it like a bacteria?
If so, then or if I like a viral thing.
I think it's a viral thing. Oh interesting, So does
that mean I'm going to get it next? Probably? Oh
my gosh, you're sitting directly across from as we spout
words of wisdom or try to get this. Yes you do,
but this is our Friday flight and we've got plenty
of financial stories to get to and how they're going
(01:16):
to impact your personal finances. And real Quick wanted to
mention Britt she is a friend of ours slash how
the Money Contractor, I guess, but she writes a lot
of content for us over on the website at how
tomoney dot com, and she's got a recent article up
there about insurance life insurance laddering specifically, and it's so good.
(01:37):
We want to make sure that folks are reading this
content especially, I mean, I think this could be helpful, dude,
honestly if there are folks out there who have had
get life insurance like on their to do list for
a while, because it can just help you to think
through some of the different sort of life circumstances that
might cause you to want to get different types of
insurance or for how long, But especially for folks who
(01:58):
maybe have only gotten the starter life insurance policy at
place and they're thinking, let's say you've got a policy
ten years ago, it's quite enough. Or maybe they've got
a policy with work and they know that they're covered
to a certain extent, but life has changed and there's
likely a good chance you need more coverage if you
are you know, in the life stage that Joel that
you and I are in.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Right, Yeah, the gif you bought a policy when you're
twenty six because you got married, you had your first
kid kind of thing, and now you're thirty nine, well,
a lot's change in your income, your financial situation has changed,
and that's where lattering comes in. Like, you don't want
to ditch the original life insurance policy that you took out,
but you might want another one to cover you for
a different period of your time, and you maybe have
double coverage for a specific period.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
The whole goal of.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Term life insurance doesn't have life insurance for all of
your life, but it is to cover right those most
important years to the extent that you need the insurance.
So totally, yeah, if you kind of like, do I
have enough life insurance? Do I need another policy?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
This this article can help.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
We link to it in the show notes, but we
got tons of articles like that, Matt on our website.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Heck yeah, and always creating stuff to help people. Yeah,
and so this makes me think of I don't I
can remember the last time we talked about this, but
we were in a similar position when because I was
kicking the cane down the road. And then we finally
got a life insurance policy for Kate, and in effect,
this is a ladder policy for us, because I had
gotten my thirty year term life policy like a decade ago,
(03:16):
or even longer than that. Actually it was a while ago.
But as we looked at our circumstances in our situation,
what we realized was that, man, while the kids are
at home, in particular, that's when we're going to have
the biggest financial outlay. Essentially, we're or really I should
say the biggest negative impact were one of us to die,
but especially with Kate, I mean having like once they're grown,
(03:37):
the financial story about it, yeah, exactly. And so with her,
even with her being a stay at home mom, taking
care of the kids, running the household, that's I mean,
that's a full time job. And what I realized was that,
oh my gosh, I would be in multiple worlds of
her wors sheet to pass, of course, and so I'm
pointing out the fact that we got a twenty year
term policy for her, because what we realized was that, oh,
(03:57):
once the kids are gone, we're going to be fine.
We won't need that additional income that were you to die,
that would be able to provide me. And so in effect,
we're kind of I want to say, layered. Like I
know that life insurance everyone says laddering, like that's the
that's the thing that everyone says, But that doesn't make
sense to me. I always in my mind it makes
more sense to layer it because you see why you
see that like like overlapping your policy. Yeah, because if
(04:19):
it's cold outside, what do you do? You're like, oh,
let me go ahead, put a vest on. Yeah, But
then you go outside and you're like, oh, it's a
lot colder than a thought, and so then you put
a jacket on on top of that. But then it
gets warmer, and so then you take the jacket off,
but you still have the vest on. Layering. Why hasn't
that caught on? Why did no one lets you create
this time? I don't know. I know, I feel like
folks need to jump on the insurance layering as opposed
to lattering. I understand. I get the laddering thing.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Too, but yeah, I think ultimately it can be a
morbid topic at times, but this is one of those
things where you want to make sure you have enough
coverage and you want to make sure you're getting essentially
all that you need while paying the least amount overall
and premiums you can't like you could get like a
five million dollar policy or something like that, but you
might just need a million at one point, and then
an extra five hundred thousand on another point, then another million.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Like, read the article and it will help help point
you in the right direction when it comes to how.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
You should be lattering or latering. Yeah, your life insurance policies.
But buddy, let's keep on moving. Let's talk about inflation,
because it is cooling across almost every aspect of our economy,
homeowners and car insurance. I will say our exceptions to that, sure,
but there is something else that continues to rock it
up in price going to Disney. So, despite thinning crowds Disneyland,
(05:28):
they just announced another price syke between six and twenty percent,
depending on whether you are buying like a single day
pass for popular days or if you are looking at
annual passes. And also those annual passes are crazy expens
they're crazy expensive. But I just don't understand why they
thought that, Like, oh, our profits are down. What we
need to do is in the parks are aren't that crowded?
(05:52):
So do we think that we're going to be able
to increase business and profits by increasing the price of
the tickets. I'm not totally sure how that works, oposite
of the way traditional supper and the Man works. Is
this a luxury? Good Joel? But the average price of
a ticket to Disney has doubled over the past decade,
which is bad news for somebody like me who said
that we were just going to go to Disney one time,
and last year that's what we said. We're like, all right,
(06:14):
we'll just do it once we went all out, but
we had such a great time. We're totally gonna end
up going in a few years. And it's a good
thing that it's going to be in a few years too,
because that'll give us more time to save. But what
we'd recommend is to avoid Disney if possible. If you
I don't know, I think a lot of people think
about Disney as almost like this necessity and like if
you want to do it, by all means, go for it,
(06:35):
but it doesn't mean like that you have to.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Do it almost like an annual destination that I got
to hit up or my life's not complete exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
But even if you are like a Disney nerd, you
can still go, but maybe just go a little less frequently,
or consider going on some of the least popular or
some of the cheaper days of the year, because the
most popular days can cost over two hundred dollars, the
least popular days they're only like barely over one hundred bucks. Yeah,
it's like that dynamic price a work. It's amazing, and
so use that to your advantage. And that's a big
(07:04):
difference in the price of entry. Being price sensitive. When
companies raise prices, even going on a buyer strike saying
that you're not gonna do this anymore, this has an
impact because you might be bombed to punt that trip
further down the road. But I just we're highlighting the
fact that you don't have to just hold your nose
and fork over all of your money just you know,
as like this inevitable sort of part of life.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, well, I maybe potentially other good news Matt for
Disney goers is when the new Harry Potter Park opens
in May.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, I have a feeling that's a ministry of magic. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Section I don't know if the part about how they're
pricing that, but if you want to get into that thing,
you're gonna have to pay for a four day pass,
but only one of those days can be at the
new Harry Potter Park. So I have a feeling a
lot of people who want to go see that, they're
gonna go to Florida. They're gonna miss out on Disney
completely because they're really more They're a lot more excited
about going and see the Harry Potter stuff. So Disney
might be shooting themselves in the foot by overpricing entrance
(07:57):
to the parks.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
True, the treatment HP for the Wind.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Was talking about something else that is going up in price,
and it's not even necessarily just because of inflation. It's
because of personal spending habits. The Washington Post had an
article about how much young people are spending on fitness.
A lot of people mad they view their health as
a financial priority, and I think, you know, that's probably
a better use of your money than fast food or
going to really expensive theme parks. But gen Z in particular,
(08:22):
they seem to be willing to spend extra money on fitness,
including fancy gym memberships, supplements, that kind of stuff like
the green stuff you stir into your shade.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
One. Yeah, we're not sponsored, but I hear it advertised
all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
People seem to like it, right, And for some of
these folks that means going into debt to pursue some
of their fitness goals.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
That is not good, right.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I've heard a financial rule of thumb being thrown out
there by some so called personal finance officionados saying you
should probably spend between five and ten percent of your
overall budget on fitness.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That sounds like a lot to me.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And it's not that the fitness shouldn't be a pro
I mean you mentioned earlier I ran a half marathon
right this past weekend.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
But and we've both been pursuing off your fitness goals.
You talked about building out your home gym. But there
is a limit on the upside to spending more and
more and more, And I think this is just becoming
another place where people are tending to consume. I think
health is wealth in so many ways. It's a crucial
part of living a healthy life. And it could be
smart spending if you're budgeting appropriately and intentionally, and if
(09:26):
you're avoiding debt right like some of those people. That's
the part I really really hate. Or it could, I
think maybe just become another attempt to keep up with
the Joneses. And it makes me think, Matt, of two
different friends I have, they're both into fitness. One of
them like literally makes four powdered drinks every single morning,
and those powdered things are expensive. Did you just say
four powdered, four powdered drinks, four separate drinks.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, so like I can't imagine what
he's spending every single month on those little containers.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
There's only so much that your body can absorb, yeah,
you know.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
And then one of my other buddies who's like a
far better runner than I am, when I when I
show up to run with him, he he literally is
running with a Kirkland signature water bottle in hand, like
in Jim Shorts from like twelve years ago.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And he's better than I. He's a lot better than
I am. I know you're talking about. And so I
think it just goes to show get some new Shortsville.
I think you don't.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Have to fork over like big, big money in order
to pursue fitness, and I think it's okay to spend
intentionally on that front. But I think a lot of
people are like, I don't know, potentially overdoing it, yeah,
and they're like harming their own ability to achieve financial independence.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I think what you said about keeping up with the Joneses,
that's I think that's what some folks are slipping into,
and like, just where it becomes a pattern of consumption
thinking that it's going to lead to better results, that's
when I think it can be a slippery slope. Because
I'm totally fine if, like you said, you are intentionally
spending on it, like if it like I think fitness
can be your craft beer equivalent where you're spending a
(10:49):
lot of money. That being said, the stat of maybe
ten percent of your budget going towards that, I don't
know if I can get behind that, Like that is
a ton of money. That would be the equivalent of
somebody saying that. But I'm really into cars, and it's like,
oh man, that is a lot of money. It's difficult
to have cars be your craft beer equivalent and It
just depends on where you are within your your own
(11:09):
financial journey. But the other thing that you said that
I think is so key is that we are not
gonna recommend anybody going into debt for for something like
fitness fitness goals, because you can sort of justify it
and write it off as like, oh, this is an
investment in my health, but like you're just you're fooling
yourself in like you are push ups, going for a run.
(11:30):
These are all free things. There's a lot of body.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Weight exercises you can do, and so I think, like
start there. Eventually you can ramp up your spending if
you want to when you have the cash, but don't
like rationalize it in that way that going into debt
is okay because it's something I'm building for my fitness future.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
It's not an actual investment. That's the like when we
talk about taking out debt, okay for a home or
in a lot of instances, higher education or even a business.
Those are all things that can lead to your net
worth going up. And even still it's not a guaranteed thing.
It's not slam dunk sort of decision. And so that's
why we still stay to proceed cautiously when it comes
to spinning and going into debt within those areas. But man,
(12:08):
anytime you are going into debt for lifestyle choices, you
are always going to end up pour down the road.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I just think about the number of people Matt I
see wearing those like super running shoes now call them
super shoes or whatever. They're like three hundred dollars shoes,
and every shoe brand basically has their own variety. They
can be even more than three hundred, three, four hundred
and five hundred bucks. And that's you know, see a
bunch of these at the race. I'm seeing like normal
everyday slow people like myself wearing these things.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yea. And they're crazy, crazy expensive.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And I don't know, if you're a weekend warrior out
there trying to get fit, like the shoes can be
a fun thing if you have the money, but it
can also be a distraction, I think from your fitness
goals and a waste of money, because guess what, none
of us are hitting that sub to hour marathon time.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Guys myself included. Let's talk about the costs of food.
Joel our World and Data had an updated chart on
a trend that is getting worse by the year. Adjusted
for inflation, Americans spend just as much on groceries and
so specifically cooking at home as they did in the
nineteen fifties. This is actually great, you know. This means
(13:14):
that groceries haven't been as impacted by inflation on a
multi decade timeline as we might think. What isn't good
is how much more we are spending going out to eat.
This is the trend that we hate, seeing the amount
of money that we spend at cafes, restaurants, coffee shops.
It has shot through the roof. Really is the avocado toast,
(13:35):
is what you're saying, Matt. It's not just the avocat,
it's everything. It's the fact that just as a country man,
we've gotten wealthier and because of that, we don't there's
certain things we don't want to do, and cooking food
is one of those things. We want it to be
easy in all the food delivery spoil ourselves and the
food delivery just takes it up a whole other level.
Perfect example of the fact something that didn't exist before
(13:55):
and now it feels essential to a lot of It
feels essential. Yeah, and so as far as going out
to eat, Americans have essentially doubled what they spend in
those places. And you know, it's not the end of
the world if you've budgeted for that expense, if you're
crushing your other financial goals. But man, it is just
so easy to be parted with your money going out
to eat, ordering uber eats, you know, ordering takeout on
(14:18):
a random Tuesday, without thinking twice. The average meal cooked
at home it costs only four dollars. Eating out costs
four times that. And so, in this one way, we
think that by being intentional, it can have a significant
impact literally doing this one thing, like you are going
to be head and shoulders above the rest when it
comes to being able to achieve some of the other bigger,
loftier financial goals you might.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Have, And that just might mean a little bit better
meal planning on the weekends and being intentional about getting
to the grocery store having everything kind of ready to go,
maybe even batching some of that cooking so that when
you get home at night and you say I'm too
tired to cook, well, you do have something in the
fridge it's ready to go, or you did toss something
in the crockpot before you left for work. I mean whatever, Matt,
(15:00):
our family we have busy lives, we have soccer practice
for the kids, that kind of stuff. So I totally
get the impulse. And so you have to like plan
around I think that impulse, because that impulse can be costly.
Speaking of eating, we're not even yet to Halloween, but
Thanksgiving it's just around the corner. And if you're making
let's say the meal for your family, the bird and sides, well,
the best place to go get your groceries. Promise this
(15:21):
is not an ad is Aldi and all these announced
basically that their prices are going to be even lower
than Walmart this year. They're touting what they're calling an
inflation busting holiday meal, and they basically set a meal
they can feed ten people. It's going to cost forty
seven bucks. So, Matt, you just said the average at
home meal costs four dollars to make. That's four dollars
and seventy cents a person. So all these Thanksgiving meal,
(15:43):
which is typically even a stepped up meal, is still
within that range, which is awesome. Eating at home more
is a win for your budget. It so is shopping
at the low cost grocery stores just tending to go
towards less expensive stores. In general, the Discounters makes a
lot of sense. It's going to save you money when
you run the numbers. Matt Aldie is consistently king on
that front.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
We are such fans of Aldi, and I think it's
been too long since we've voiced our love for the
Aldi Discounter grocery store.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Someone in the had a money Facebook group the other
day posted a Rivian with an Aldie colored.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Paint chob and they tagged me full snap. That's like
the purpose crossover for me? Was it say I generated?
Or I think it was? This actually exists? I think
it was real. Okay, Well, speaking of keeping prices. Low
Slate had an interesting article this past week in defense
of a company that many people actually love to hate,
and that would be Spirit Airlines. The still never flown them,
by the way I have you have. It wasn't that bad.
(16:36):
We did Frontier recently. I've done Frontier before, I've done
I've done them all. I would do Spirit. What was
the one that it used to be in Atlanta that
was also one of the discounters. Air Tran air Tran,
like all the air Tran was great I've flowed all
the discounters. I don't discriminate, I don't hate. But the
author's point in this article, whether you love or hate it,
Spirit is actually good for all flyers, and that's because
(16:57):
they are bringing down prices for all of us, even
if we refuse to fly with them. They've had a
significant impact because of the hyper focus on creating low fares,
even if you know their service may not be the
absolute best. But like, I think that perception has more
to do with your expectations as to what they're going
to provide as opposed to the actual service that you're getting. Yes,
(17:18):
you're not going to get a free cocktail or I
don't know you get free cocktails? Does that anymore? Just
by flying Delta, I get an old fashioned please sir,
And they're like, sorry, we don't do that. They're calling
this the Spirit effect. Basically, when Spirit offers a route
that Delta, American Airlines or any of the other big
airlines fly those full fare airlines, they're forced to pay
(17:39):
more attention to the pricing. Like in this way, Spirit
is kind of like Aldie. They're keeping folks honest. Actually,
I'm convincing myself to want to fly Spirit more because
I like what they're doing, especially now that Southwest is like,
I don't know, I feel like they're trying to become
one of They're trying to be a big boy airline.
We need now more than yeah, exactly. It makes me
want to gravitate towards Spirit even more.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, And the same thing is true, like when it
allD pops up half a mile from a Kroger or
one of the other big grocery stores, they have to
do a double take, and they have to check their
prices and they have to stay competitive spirits doing the
same thing in the air. And so even if you're like,
I'm never flying them, you should just like, maybe when
you see those yellow airplanes, you should have a smile
on your face because they've saved you money indirectly even
(18:20):
though you haven't flown.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
It's competition. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
We actually got an email, Matt from listener Nathan this week,
and he is love listener Nathan. He emails specifically about
privacy related things often, and the truth is we all
know that our data is consistently at risk these days.
And he detailed a few things that we wanted to share,
maybe just in one quick segment here he talked about
a fidelity breach seventy seven thousand customers had their personal
(18:44):
data leaked just a couple of weeks ago. Another story
he sent was about the likely sale of twenty three
and meters and the privacy kerfuffle.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
That that would cause. I can see that being problematic.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Shoot, I mean honestly, just using those services to do
those DNA services have potential privacy issues from the get go,
but the sale could create even more. And then yet
another story about PayPal changing its terms of service to
state that they can now sell your user data unless
you opt out. So there is a way to opt
out by heading to the settings turning off what's known
(19:14):
as personalized shopping in your PayPal account.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
So any PayPal user, all of us, should go do that.
But all these stories, I think, just combined, they show
just how at risk our data is. So two factor
authentication is one way to protect yourself so that people
can't you find your password and then log in as you.
That's one way to protect yourself. But then another is
to freeze your credit. That's free something we talk about often.
(19:37):
We have an article we'll link to a show notes
it takes like ninety seconds to accomplish that ninety seconds
and even less time to unfreeze it once you actually
have all your log in freez say thaw whatever you
want to call it, Matt. And you can even another
thing you can do reduce the max daily TRANSFERMAUNT with
a lot of your brokerage firms, so if someone were
to log in, they couldn't transfer like one hundred thousand
(19:58):
bucks over like, you can minimize the amount that you can,
and you can put pull out in one day, which
could curb your impulses to at some point. Fidel It
even has some sort of lockdown mode that you can
turn on. So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Those headlines that make me sad, kind of tough to read,
and I think sometimes it feels like we're just living
in this world where all our information is out there
and there's nothing we can do about it. But there
really are things we can do to protect ourselves.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
That's right. Or you can completely de bank yourself, Joel.
You could build a cabin out in the woods, go
off the grid, grow your own food, yeah, and just
avoid technology all together and avoid people. That's what I'm
thinking about doing. Never shop at all, because like you're
killing your own game and roasting it over an open fire.
I was just talking to a buddy about his He's
(20:40):
got a friend up in Maine and him and somebody's
just took down an elk, and evidently it's crazy expensive
to pay for the tagging. I don't exactly know how
this works at all, but it's really expensive. But he's like, well,
this is his buddy talking. We've got like half a
ton of meat here. Gosh, even the thought of going
in on like half of a cow with somebody is
like appealing, right, Like the cost savings there. But I
(21:01):
gotta think even though it's expensive, the quantity of food
that you're gonna be able to harvest ethically right like
in a way that is good for the population. I
don't know him and I we had a long conversation
about hunting and like the pros and cons and the
flavor and all this other stuff. So you've ever done it.
I don't have the attentions man of hunting. Yeah, I
can't just sit there for hours on it and hoping
(21:21):
that something wanders are along my path. I think there's
is it? Michael Easter he does a lot more. I
don't think they do a whole lot of sitting. They
do actually like rucking, so they're like hiking along with
like bows and rifles and stuff. Okay, Michael Easter, we
had him on a while ago now actually, but his
book was was it scarcy De Brain? Yeah, where he
kind of talks about the natural impulses our psychology and
how it can get hijacked to cause us to be
(21:43):
parted from our money, among other things that we discussed
with him. But Joe, we've got more to get to.
We're gonna talk about used clothes. We're gonna talk about
We'll get to the college degrees that pay the most
that more.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Right after this, our weback of the Friday flight continues.
Now it's time for the ludacrous headline of the week.
This article comes from actually friend of the show Jack
Rains right and over at Sherwood and the title of
his article was how Canadian carpenter became an options trader,
(22:18):
made three hundred million dollars and then went bust. Oh man,
this was a fun article to read.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Matt.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Honestly, I just enjoyed the ride. It was like a
roller coaster of this person's like emotions and you know,
financial progress and then lack of progress. So Jack basically
he profiled someone who became an active trader during COVID,
which isn't actually all that foreign. I think a decent
chunk of people did, and he crushed. He turned eighty
eight thousand dollars Canadian dollars into four hundred and fifteen
(22:46):
million Canadian dollars by getting risky and trading TESLA options.
And I guess four hund and fifteen million Canadian dollars
is basically three hundred million American dollars, which is why
he titled the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
So it was also, say, eighty eight thousand Canadian dollars,
what's that like twenty grand? I think it's probably like
sixty two grand calculations is correctly, I'm just like, given
our if we do have Canadian listeners listeners, given them
a heart, we for sure do.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yeah, And so he was all good, of course for
this guy, while his bank account balance was skyrocketing and
his trades were making him sick money. But of course
it all went south. He even borrowed at one point
twenty million dollars as things were going down, down, down,
to try and keep the party going. So now not
only is he out his fortune. He's also in debt,
(23:32):
so what was he doing. He's suing his bank that
allowed him to continue in his foolish endeavor of trading options,
even basically saying, Hey, they didn't recognize my addiction. It's
their fault. And I think this is a reminder Matt
that the riskiest strategies often end like this, right, How
did this guy not take money off the table at
some point along the way?
Speaker 1 (23:51):
That's yea, even like folks who were day trading during
the pandemic that or like with crypto like that had
Boukuo's the money sitting around like that's where you have
a hard time. You can take a little bit, So
you're have a hard time relating to those folks at
that point, because there's no way that I would not
have taken some money off the table just to be like,
you know, just in case things don't work pan out,
I want to be able to at least pay off
the house.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
You start to think you're the smartest guy in the
world or something like that. But I think it's also
a reminder that more risk it might net you more reward,
but that might only be in the short term. It
might not last very long.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yeah, that's true. Like most of the article had to
do with sort of like how he is suing and
how you know, the legal recourse that he's taking. But
like the most relatable aspect of history was the fact
that he's a carpenter. And I think that that is
what can cause folks to get sort of sucked into
thinking that they might be able to do something similar. Right, Like,
he's a carpenter. He's not like some sort of Wall
(24:43):
Street guy, which there might be a whole lot of
folks out there who are thinking, ah, right, he's probably
like of average intelligence. He's probably just like me. Yeah,
And then you make a couple purchases, you start investing,
start speculating, option trading like and honestly makes me think
of some of the different betting apps, Like there's a
new one too that I've I've heard talked about a
lot recently, just all the different odds markets. But you've
(25:04):
got these different sites, these different apps, and I think
the worst thing that could happen for some of these
folks is for them to do decently well. Oh yeah,
Like with that initial, I won my first parlay on
initial and then like what happens the hook is set
and you start to think that this is something that
you can do and before you know it. Hopefully you
don't get to a point in time where you're completely
in over your head. But even losing any money is
(25:27):
I don't know, unless you are intentionally doing it and
it's fun for you. That's not something we want to
see people do lose that money.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
That's really like sports gambling, Matt. I think every casual
sports fan thinks they know more than other casual sports fans.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Everyone thinks they have a little bit of insight, yeah,
that the other guy doesn't have.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
The truth is that the house has the edge, not you.
So that those sports sites are proliferating and they're making
they're generating a lot more revenue, and it's typically on
the backs of all of the participants who think they
know better.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Well, savings are the opposite of gambling and optionsl But
savings rates are falling, and if we're reading our crystal
ball correctly, that decline is likely to continue. The question
it's more about how much they're gonna decline and how
fast they're gonna go down. And I hate to see
it because it means that the era of savers being
(26:15):
reasonably rewarded was fairly short lived, right, We had inflation
going up, interest rates reflected that. And I don't know, yeah,
I had a short period of time where you can
make decent money by keeping your money in the bank.
But what should you do about it? So much of
it depends on your specific financial situation, because we all
need to have a certain amount of liquid cash within
an emergency fund for potential rainy days, and that money
(26:39):
belongs in a savings account, even if your savings rate
is declining. But also make sure that you don't have
too much cash on hand, because if you are in
the wealth building phase of your life, just be careful
about over allocating the cash because if you don't need
it in the short term or even the medium term,
those dollars should be invested in the market, and it
(26:59):
might not be something that you've done much of. And
I could see this being maybe a scenario that younger
folks find themselves in, right, Like they're thinking, oh, well,
I've always contributed to a little bit of money to
my four one k oh. I've always had a roth
I ever since I was a nineteen year old. I've
socked some money away there within my roth Ira, but
a brokerage account where you are investing more for the
medium term, that might feel a bit more foreign to folks.
(27:20):
I don't know. Maybe not. Again, during the pandemic during COVID,
a lot more folks were sort of duped into opening
brokeridge accounts before they even had retirement accounts set up.
So maybe not. So, maybe this isn't Maybe I am
speaking out of my inexperience with brokeridge accounts until I
was much further along.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Well, you remember my career, Robinhood early on didn't even
offer like you could I.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Exactly, which is why that's that's why we hated on
Robinhood so much early on, is because folks were getting
sucked into thinking that they needed to open a Robinhood account.
And it's like, dude, you need to open a roth iray,
you need to open a tax advantage account first. Of course,
they offer bread and butter. Yeah, yeah, make that happen first.
Of course, Robinhood they started offering retirement accounts after the fact,
(27:59):
But we want folks to be investing for those medium
term goals as opposed to just having that sit there
in cash for four or five, six years.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, you might think of it as a good problem
to have. Oh, I've got too much cash, and a
lot of people wouldn't shed too many tears for you
for having too much cash on hand, and you don't
have to optimize to the nth degree. But there are
downsides to having too much cash, and one of those
is not growing your dollars appropriately. Matt, Let's talk about
clothing for a second. People tend to dig use clothes.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
I like used clothes. There's even higher demand right now.
AKAA vintage vintage threads.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Joel, Yeah, I think what the nineties is back right now,
like all the stylings from the nineties. I'm seeing people
wearing the bigger jeans, the lighter colored jeans, and so yeah,
why not go get that stuff at the thrift store.
And there are actually even more companies entering the resale
market in an attempt to kind of capitalize on this
growing trend. But the economics aren't working for many of
(28:55):
these companies. As it turns out, there are a lot
to choose from. There's like eBay obviously is kind of
the original gangster of the resale market, and where individuals
can sell to other individuals like whatever vintage threads they want,
but thread up Poshmark, Burcari. There's another one called The
Real Real. All of those companies have gotten in on
this market too, not to mention major brands like Levi's
(29:18):
made well. A lot of those companies have launched their
own used clothing operation on their own websites too. And
so the problem is, though I don't know how long
all these guys are going to be around, Matt, they
have razor thin profit margins, and they're competing with I
mentioned Goodwill just a second ago.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
They're competing with the thrift stores and with.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Goodwill locations around the country. And I think that's just
a good tip for everyone. Nick, we're all about buying
used I like the fact that we're not tossing more
stuff in the landfill. And I like that, you know,
you can extend the life of a pair of jeans
or a shirt. And some of these sites are trying
to do a good job of curating used goods to
make it feel more like a brand new shopping experience.
(29:58):
At the end of the day, buying you is a
great way to save money.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
I guess I'm hoping that these companies, these resale companies
stick around and provide additional outlets for people to buy
used goods. But I also think, I don't know, if
you're super frugal, the cheapest places are the thirft stores
and Goodwills. And if you like the thrill of the
hunt too, you get to thrill the hunt there a
little more too.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, reduce, reuse, recycle, Joel. Maybe just owning fewer clothes overall. Yeah. Yeah,
we're huge advocates of quality over quantity, where less is
going to be more. But jo all the used stuff
that we don't want is the stuff our parents accumulated
over the years Business Insider. They actually recently called it
the boomers stuff avalanche. And basically our tastes just don't
(30:41):
line up with those of our parents. As a generation
millennials gen Z, they tend not to care, let's say,
about the fine china or the heirloom silver. I think
I would count myself amongst those who doesn't care about
that stuff. Yeah, you know, I was thinking about it,
and I wonder how much of that has to do
with life stage, because we're at the life stage where
we want things to be functional. We've got a bunch
of kids running around guess what, we don't need fragile China.
(31:04):
But I do wonder as I get older if I'm
going to have more of an appreciation for things that
are less functional in life as I enter into different stages,
or maybe I won't. Maybe my heirlooms that I passed
one to my kids will be my squad rack in
the garage. Yeah, because that's what I value. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Maybe part of it, too, is that our generation has
more of an affinity for like mid century goods as
opposed to Turn of the century goods. So it is
stylistic too, which tends to also be functional. Like you
think about mid century, what do you often think of
architecture and furniture, And furniture is one of those areas that,
again it's more functional. But if your parents are open
(31:41):
to the discussion, I think it's probably a good idea
to approach this boomer stuff avalanche proactively with them. This
is something that I think, Jiel that I know my
parents they've done really well. They are not nostalgic at
all when it comes to hanging out the stuff we've
been de accumulating. For dude, I mean literally for years
(32:04):
and decades now, Like when you go into their attic, now,
there's nothing there. It's so weird, Like most folks are
expecting to see boxes of old magazines and yearbooks all
this sort of stuff. Nope, nothing in there except for
like a like a broken bike of mine from high school.
They're not hanging on to anything.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
That should feel like a relief to you. It does
you want to have to pour over honestly, Yeah, yeah,
case folks, they're they're they're working on it as well.
But because those are good.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Commos, tap, I think you're right, because that that then
falls on the next generation. It's like, hey, maybe we
can make you a little bit of extra money by
selling some of this stuff. Let's have a yard sale,
let's do some Facebook marketplace listings. One person's trash is
another person's treasure, so it could be a good way
to make some extra money and then also just make uh,
that process of de accumulation less burdens some to the
(32:47):
next generation.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
It's right, let's talk about college, Joel. Because there is
a lot of debate about the value of college. Not
a lot of that debate includes much nuance. Some folks
say that college has just gotten too expensive, the ROI
is not there like it used to be, But others
are quick to point out that college grads, on average,
they still make more over the course of their career.
But I think both things can be true at the
(33:09):
same time. College can be a brilliant move that increases
your overall chances of career success and increases your earning
potential if you minimize debt, and if you get the
right degree, so stem degrees, unsurprisingly, they pay off most handsomely.
Bank Rate found that, for instance, electrical engineers, they make
(33:31):
a one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars median income and
have a one point nine percent unemployment rate, which is
the best of the bunch. Arts and humanities grads not
so much. The unemployment rate is actually three times higher,
and the medium income is a poultry forty thousand dollars.
And this isn't to say that these aren't things that
(33:51):
you shouldn't be pursuing, but which degree and how much
debt that you go into in order to pursue those
degrees like that is the care quest.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I could never have been an engineer, And even seeing
that stat and hearing that, it's like, well cool, I'm
still not going that route. Yeah, because I don't have
the brain or the temperament. I don't think to go
in that direction. So but for the engineers out.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
There, exactly, this isn't to say everyone should be, oh,
you should only be considering this. You just we want
folks to go into the decision making sort of matrix
with their eyes wide open.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Yeah, you just don't get one of these these degrees
that has is going to likely lead to a lower
paying career and then also be willing to take out
one hundred and eighteen thousand dollars worth.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Of college debt to do it. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
That's putting yourself behind the eight ball. And the truth is, Matt,
there's been a new evidence about how debt can derail
your career choices too. A new Harris poll found that
half of millennials and gen zers have had their career
impacted by the debts they've taken on. This means they
either stay in a job they don't like or they
plan on delaying their retirement because of that they've accumulated,
(34:53):
specifically from going to school. Other people say it's forced
them to take multiple jobs at the same time, or
to find a new job that pays even more, although
they didn't want to, like they liked where they were working,
but they couldn't hack it there because they had to
increase their pay, even if it meant working in a
job they didn't like as much. And so the truth is,
we don't want poor debt decisions to negatively impact the
(35:16):
future of how to money listeners. Taking on a reasonable
amount of debt for school can make sense, right, because yes,
getting that higher education can lead to higher earnings over
your lifetime, but keeping that debt to a minimum basically
that means you can have maximum freedom later on. So
just because the average person is taking out buku's student
loan debt doesn't mean it's generally a good idea.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah. On a related note, the Journal they had an
article about blue collar millionaires the other day starting a
local HVAC company, starting a plumbing business that can lead
to real wealth as well. After let's say a lot
of years of hard work and building that business, it's
possible to sell it for quite a bit of money.
There's a whole lot of private equity money that is
flowing into local businesses, which makes a ton of sense
(35:57):
given that these are things that can never be replaced right,
And I think it's a way of, honestly of a
lot of private equity hedging not knowing what sort of
impact that something like AI is going to have on
a lot of the other industries that they're invested in.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
A lot of people that were interviewing that article were
saying ten years ago, nobody wanted to buy my business,
and now there are multiple people lined up trying to
buy my business. Time to strike while the iron's hot,
and it's just and typically they are plumbing companies, h
and I companies like their local service technicians that work
in different industries exactly. So just mention that too from
a career perspective, there's not just one way to get
(36:30):
where it is that you want to go. It makes
me think of a conversation we had with Ken Rusk.
We talked with him about blue collar work and the
skilled trades, but also a conversation we had about apprenticeships
with Ryan Craig, which was more recent. We'll make sure
to link to both of those in the show notes.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
As that can provide I think, basically another angle of
thinking about your career and what it looks like to
get ahead and what it looks like to live the
good life because at the end of the day, that's
what we're all about here.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
That's right, all right, that's going to do it for
today's Friday flight. You can of course, find links to
all this stuff we mentioned, including those two episodes up
on the show notes at howtomoney dot com math.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
That's just gonna do it for this one. Until next time,
best friends Out and best Friends Out.
Welcome to had a Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
and today we're.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Talking about fitness, inflation, feasting for less, and debty railment.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Joel, poor buddy, you sound a little under the weather.
Living my best life. I'm my best self right now,
just not my voice. I'm not I'm not saying you're
not living your best life, but yeah, your voice sounds
a little bit rougher. Does that have anything to do
with the fact that you crushed your half marathon last weekend?
Were you screaming the whole time? Because you're just like
so on top of the world. I was pretty pumps.
That's pretty pumps. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
My mom had laryngitis and I hung out with her.
Can you catch laryngitis from someone?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
It's super contagious? Is it? No? Okay, I've got no.
I don't know. If I have no idea, I blame my mother.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Maybe maybe it can't be. Is it like a bacteria?
If so, then or if I like a viral thing.
I think it's a viral thing. Oh interesting, So does
that mean I'm going to get it next? Probably? Oh
my gosh, you're sitting directly across from as we spout
words of wisdom or try to get this. Yes you do,
but this is our Friday flight and we've got plenty
of financial stories to get to and how they're going
(01:16):
to impact your personal finances. And real Quick wanted to
mention Britt she is a friend of ours slash how
the Money Contractor, I guess, but she writes a lot
of content for us over on the website at how
tomoney dot com, and she's got a recent article up
there about insurance life insurance laddering specifically, and it's so good.
(01:37):
We want to make sure that folks are reading this
content especially, I mean, I think this could be helpful, dude,
honestly if there are folks out there who have had
get life insurance like on their to do list for
a while, because it can just help you to think
through some of the different sort of life circumstances that
might cause you to want to get different types of
insurance or for how long, But especially for folks who
(01:58):
maybe have only gotten the starter life insurance policy at
place and they're thinking, let's say you've got a policy
ten years ago, it's quite enough. Or maybe they've got
a policy with work and they know that they're covered
to a certain extent, but life has changed and there's
likely a good chance you need more coverage if you
are you know, in the life stage that Joel that
you and I are in.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Right, Yeah, the gif you bought a policy when you're
twenty six because you got married, you had your first
kid kind of thing, and now you're thirty nine, well,
a lot's change in your income, your financial situation has changed,
and that's where lattering comes in. Like, you don't want
to ditch the original life insurance policy that you took out,
but you might want another one to cover you for
a different period of your time, and you maybe have
double coverage for a specific period.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
The whole goal of.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Term life insurance doesn't have life insurance for all of
your life, but it is to cover right those most
important years to the extent that you need the insurance.
So totally, yeah, if you kind of like, do I
have enough life insurance? Do I need another policy?
Speaker 1 (02:50):
This this article can help.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
We link to it in the show notes, but we
got tons of articles like that, Matt on our website.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Heck yeah, and always creating stuff to help people. Yeah,
and so this makes me think of I don't I
can remember the last time we talked about this, but
we were in a similar position when because I was
kicking the cane down the road. And then we finally
got a life insurance policy for Kate, and in effect,
this is a ladder policy for us, because I had
gotten my thirty year term life policy like a decade ago,
(03:16):
or even longer than that. Actually it was a while ago.
But as we looked at our circumstances in our situation,
what we realized was that, man, while the kids are
at home, in particular, that's when we're going to have
the biggest financial outlay. Essentially, we're or really I should
say the biggest negative impact were one of us to die,
but especially with Kate, I mean having like once they're grown,
(03:37):
the financial story about it, yeah, exactly. And so with her,
even with her being a stay at home mom, taking
care of the kids, running the household, that's I mean,
that's a full time job. And what I realized was that,
oh my gosh, I would be in multiple worlds of
her wors sheet to pass, of course, and so I'm
pointing out the fact that we got a twenty year
term policy for her, because what we realized was that, oh,
(03:57):
once the kids are gone, we're going to be fine.
We won't need that additional income that were you to die,
that would be able to provide me. And so in effect,
we're kind of I want to say, layered. Like I
know that life insurance everyone says laddering, like that's the
that's the thing that everyone says, But that doesn't make
sense to me. I always in my mind it makes
more sense to layer it because you see why you
see that like like overlapping your policy. Yeah, because if
(04:19):
it's cold outside, what do you do? You're like, oh,
let me go ahead, put a vest on. Yeah, But
then you go outside and you're like, oh, it's a
lot colder than a thought, and so then you put
a jacket on on top of that. But then it
gets warmer, and so then you take the jacket off,
but you still have the vest on. Layering. Why hasn't
that caught on? Why did no one lets you create
this time? I don't know. I know, I feel like
folks need to jump on the insurance layering as opposed
to lattering. I understand. I get the laddering thing.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Too, but yeah, I think ultimately it can be a
morbid topic at times, but this is one of those
things where you want to make sure you have enough
coverage and you want to make sure you're getting essentially
all that you need while paying the least amount overall
and premiums you can't like you could get like a
five million dollar policy or something like that, but you
might just need a million at one point, and then
an extra five hundred thousand on another point, then another million.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Like, read the article and it will help help point
you in the right direction when it comes to how.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
You should be lattering or latering. Yeah, your life insurance policies.
But buddy, let's keep on moving. Let's talk about inflation,
because it is cooling across almost every aspect of our economy,
homeowners and car insurance. I will say our exceptions to that, sure,
but there is something else that continues to rock it
up in price going to Disney. So, despite thinning crowds Disneyland,
(05:28):
they just announced another price syke between six and twenty percent,
depending on whether you are buying like a single day
pass for popular days or if you are looking at
annual passes. And also those annual passes are crazy expens
they're crazy expensive. But I just don't understand why they
thought that, Like, oh, our profits are down. What we
need to do is in the parks are aren't that crowded?
(05:52):
So do we think that we're going to be able
to increase business and profits by increasing the price of
the tickets. I'm not totally sure how that works, oposite
of the way traditional supper and the Man works. Is
this a luxury? Good Joel? But the average price of
a ticket to Disney has doubled over the past decade,
which is bad news for somebody like me who said
that we were just going to go to Disney one time,
and last year that's what we said. We're like, all right,
(06:14):
we'll just do it once we went all out, but
we had such a great time. We're totally gonna end
up going in a few years. And it's a good
thing that it's going to be in a few years too,
because that'll give us more time to save. But what
we'd recommend is to avoid Disney if possible. If you
I don't know, I think a lot of people think
about Disney as almost like this necessity and like if
you want to do it, by all means, go for it,
(06:35):
but it doesn't mean like that you have to.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Do it almost like an annual destination that I got
to hit up or my life's not complete exactly.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
But even if you are like a Disney nerd, you
can still go, but maybe just go a little less frequently,
or consider going on some of the least popular or
some of the cheaper days of the year, because the
most popular days can cost over two hundred dollars, the
least popular days they're only like barely over one hundred bucks. Yeah,
it's like that dynamic price a work. It's amazing, and
so use that to your advantage. And that's a big
(07:04):
difference in the price of entry. Being price sensitive. When
companies raise prices, even going on a buyer strike saying
that you're not gonna do this anymore, this has an
impact because you might be bombed to punt that trip
further down the road. But I just we're highlighting the
fact that you don't have to just hold your nose
and fork over all of your money just you know,
as like this inevitable sort of part of life.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, well, I maybe potentially other good news Matt for
Disney goers is when the new Harry Potter Park opens
in May.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, I have a feeling that's a ministry of magic. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Section I don't know if the part about how they're
pricing that, but if you want to get into that thing,
you're gonna have to pay for a four day pass,
but only one of those days can be at the
new Harry Potter Park. So I have a feeling a
lot of people who want to go see that, they're
gonna go to Florida. They're gonna miss out on Disney
completely because they're really more They're a lot more excited
about going and see the Harry Potter stuff. So Disney
might be shooting themselves in the foot by overpricing entrance
(07:57):
to the parks.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
True, the treatment HP for the Wind.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Was talking about something else that is going up in price,
and it's not even necessarily just because of inflation. It's
because of personal spending habits. The Washington Post had an
article about how much young people are spending on fitness.
A lot of people mad they view their health as
a financial priority, and I think, you know, that's probably
a better use of your money than fast food or
going to really expensive theme parks. But gen Z in particular,
(08:22):
they seem to be willing to spend extra money on fitness,
including fancy gym memberships, supplements, that kind of stuff like
the green stuff you stir into your shade.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
One. Yeah, we're not sponsored, but I hear it advertised
all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
People seem to like it, right, And for some of
these folks that means going into debt to pursue some
of their fitness goals.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
That is not good, right.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I've heard a financial rule of thumb being thrown out
there by some so called personal finance officionados saying you
should probably spend between five and ten percent of your
overall budget on fitness.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That sounds like a lot to me.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And it's not that the fitness shouldn't be a pro
I mean you mentioned earlier I ran a half marathon
right this past weekend.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
But and we've both been pursuing off your fitness goals.
You talked about building out your home gym. But there
is a limit on the upside to spending more and
more and more, And I think this is just becoming
another place where people are tending to consume. I think
health is wealth in so many ways. It's a crucial
part of living a healthy life. And it could be
smart spending if you're budgeting appropriately and intentionally, and if
(09:26):
you're avoiding debt right like some of those people. That's
the part I really really hate. Or it could, I
think maybe just become another attempt to keep up with
the Joneses. And it makes me think, Matt, of two
different friends I have, they're both into fitness. One of
them like literally makes four powdered drinks every single morning,
and those powdered things are expensive. Did you just say
four powdered, four powdered drinks, four separate drinks.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, Oh my gosh, so like I can't imagine what
he's spending every single month on those little containers.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
There's only so much that your body can absorb, yeah,
you know.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
And then one of my other buddies who's like a
far better runner than I am, when I when I
show up to run with him, he he literally is
running with a Kirkland signature water bottle in hand, like
in Jim Shorts from like twelve years ago.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And he's better than I. He's a lot better than
I am. I know you're talking about. And so I
think it just goes to show get some new Shortsville.
I think you don't.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Have to fork over like big, big money in order
to pursue fitness, and I think it's okay to spend
intentionally on that front. But I think a lot of
people are like, I don't know, potentially overdoing it, yeah,
and they're like harming their own ability to achieve financial independence.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I think what you said about keeping up with the Joneses,
that's I think that's what some folks are slipping into,
and like, just where it becomes a pattern of consumption
thinking that it's going to lead to better results, that's
when I think it can be a slippery slope. Because
I'm totally fine if, like you said, you are intentionally
spending on it, like if it like I think fitness
can be your craft beer equivalent where you're spending a
(10:49):
lot of money. That being said, the stat of maybe
ten percent of your budget going towards that, I don't
know if I can get behind that, Like that is
a ton of money. That would be the equivalent of
somebody saying that. But I'm really into cars, and it's like,
oh man, that is a lot of money. It's difficult
to have cars be your craft beer equivalent and It
just depends on where you are within your your own
(11:09):
financial journey. But the other thing that you said that
I think is so key is that we are not
gonna recommend anybody going into debt for for something like
fitness fitness goals, because you can sort of justify it
and write it off as like, oh, this is an
investment in my health, but like you're just you're fooling
yourself in like you are push ups, going for a run.
(11:30):
These are all free things. There's a lot of body.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Weight exercises you can do, and so I think, like
start there. Eventually you can ramp up your spending if
you want to when you have the cash, but don't
like rationalize it in that way that going into debt
is okay because it's something I'm building for my fitness future.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
It's not an actual investment. That's the like when we
talk about taking out debt, okay for a home or
in a lot of instances, higher education or even a business.
Those are all things that can lead to your net
worth going up. And even still it's not a guaranteed thing.
It's not slam dunk sort of decision. And so that's
why we still stay to proceed cautiously when it comes
to spinning and going into debt within those areas. But man,
(12:08):
anytime you are going into debt for lifestyle choices, you
are always going to end up pour down the road.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I just think about the number of people Matt I
see wearing those like super running shoes now call them
super shoes or whatever. They're like three hundred dollars shoes,
and every shoe brand basically has their own variety. They
can be even more than three hundred, three, four hundred
and five hundred bucks. And that's you know, see a
bunch of these at the race. I'm seeing like normal
everyday slow people like myself wearing these things.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Yea. And they're crazy, crazy expensive.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
And I don't know, if you're a weekend warrior out
there trying to get fit, like the shoes can be
a fun thing if you have the money, but it
can also be a distraction, I think from your fitness
goals and a waste of money, because guess what, none
of us are hitting that sub to hour marathon time.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Guys myself included. Let's talk about the costs of food.
Joel our World and Data had an updated chart on
a trend that is getting worse by the year. Adjusted
for inflation, Americans spend just as much on groceries and
so specifically cooking at home as they did in the
nineteen fifties. This is actually great, you know. This means
(13:14):
that groceries haven't been as impacted by inflation on a
multi decade timeline as we might think. What isn't good
is how much more we are spending going out to eat.
This is the trend that we hate, seeing the amount
of money that we spend at cafes, restaurants, coffee shops.
It has shot through the roof. Really is the avocado toast,
(13:35):
is what you're saying, Matt. It's not just the avocat,
it's everything. It's the fact that just as a country man,
we've gotten wealthier and because of that, we don't there's
certain things we don't want to do, and cooking food
is one of those things. We want it to be
easy in all the food delivery spoil ourselves and the
food delivery just takes it up a whole other level.
Perfect example of the fact something that didn't exist before
(13:55):
and now it feels essential to a lot of It
feels essential. Yeah, and so as far as going out
to eat, Americans have essentially doubled what they spend in
those places. And you know, it's not the end of
the world if you've budgeted for that expense, if you're
crushing your other financial goals. But man, it is just
so easy to be parted with your money going out
to eat, ordering uber eats, you know, ordering takeout on
(14:18):
a random Tuesday, without thinking twice. The average meal cooked
at home it costs only four dollars. Eating out costs
four times that. And so, in this one way, we
think that by being intentional, it can have a significant
impact literally doing this one thing, like you are going
to be head and shoulders above the rest when it
comes to being able to achieve some of the other bigger,
loftier financial goals you might.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Have, And that just might mean a little bit better
meal planning on the weekends and being intentional about getting
to the grocery store having everything kind of ready to go,
maybe even batching some of that cooking so that when
you get home at night and you say I'm too
tired to cook, well, you do have something in the
fridge it's ready to go, or you did toss something
in the crockpot before you left for work. I mean whatever, Matt,
(15:00):
our family we have busy lives, we have soccer practice
for the kids, that kind of stuff. So I totally
get the impulse. And so you have to like plan
around I think that impulse, because that impulse can be costly.
Speaking of eating, we're not even yet to Halloween, but
Thanksgiving it's just around the corner. And if you're making
let's say the meal for your family, the bird and sides, well,
the best place to go get your groceries. Promise this
(15:21):
is not an ad is Aldi and all these announced
basically that their prices are going to be even lower
than Walmart this year. They're touting what they're calling an
inflation busting holiday meal, and they basically set a meal
they can feed ten people. It's going to cost forty
seven bucks. So, Matt, you just said the average at
home meal costs four dollars to make. That's four dollars
and seventy cents a person. So all these Thanksgiving meal,
(15:43):
which is typically even a stepped up meal, is still
within that range, which is awesome. Eating at home more
is a win for your budget. It so is shopping
at the low cost grocery stores just tending to go
towards less expensive stores. In general, the Discounters makes a
lot of sense. It's going to save you money when
you run the numbers. Matt Aldie is consistently king on
that front.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
We are such fans of Aldi, and I think it's
been too long since we've voiced our love for the
Aldi Discounter grocery store.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Someone in the had a money Facebook group the other
day posted a Rivian with an Aldie colored.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Paint chob and they tagged me full snap. That's like
the purpose crossover for me? Was it say I generated?
Or I think it was? This actually exists? I think
it was real. Okay, Well, speaking of keeping prices. Low
Slate had an interesting article this past week in defense
of a company that many people actually love to hate,
and that would be Spirit Airlines. The still never flown them,
by the way I have you have. It wasn't that bad.
(16:36):
We did Frontier recently. I've done Frontier before, I've done
I've done them all. I would do Spirit. What was
the one that it used to be in Atlanta that
was also one of the discounters. Air Tran air Tran,
like all the air Tran was great I've flowed all
the discounters. I don't discriminate, I don't hate. But the
author's point in this article, whether you love or hate it,
Spirit is actually good for all flyers, and that's because
(16:57):
they are bringing down prices for all of us, even
if we refuse to fly with them. They've had a
significant impact because of the hyper focus on creating low fares,
even if you know their service may not be the
absolute best. But like, I think that perception has more
to do with your expectations as to what they're going
to provide as opposed to the actual service that you're getting. Yes,
(17:18):
you're not going to get a free cocktail or I
don't know you get free cocktails? Does that anymore? Just
by flying Delta, I get an old fashioned please sir,
And they're like, sorry, we don't do that. They're calling
this the Spirit effect. Basically, when Spirit offers a route
that Delta, American Airlines or any of the other big
airlines fly those full fare airlines, they're forced to pay
(17:39):
more attention to the pricing. Like in this way, Spirit
is kind of like Aldie. They're keeping folks honest. Actually,
I'm convincing myself to want to fly Spirit more because
I like what they're doing, especially now that Southwest is like,
I don't know, I feel like they're trying to become
one of They're trying to be a big boy airline.
We need now more than yeah, exactly. It makes me
want to gravitate towards Spirit even more.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, And the same thing is true, like when it
allD pops up half a mile from a Kroger or
one of the other big grocery stores, they have to
do a double take, and they have to check their
prices and they have to stay competitive spirits doing the
same thing in the air. And so even if you're like,
I'm never flying them, you should just like, maybe when
you see those yellow airplanes, you should have a smile
on your face because they've saved you money indirectly even
(18:20):
though you haven't flown.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
It's competition. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
We actually got an email, Matt from listener Nathan this week,
and he is love listener Nathan. He emails specifically about
privacy related things often, and the truth is we all
know that our data is consistently at risk these days.
And he detailed a few things that we wanted to share,
maybe just in one quick segment here he talked about
a fidelity breach seventy seven thousand customers had their personal
(18:44):
data leaked just a couple of weeks ago. Another story
he sent was about the likely sale of twenty three
and meters and the privacy kerfuffle.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
That that would cause. I can see that being problematic.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Shoot, I mean honestly, just using those services to do
those DNA services have potential privacy issues from the get go,
but the sale could create even more. And then yet
another story about PayPal changing its terms of service to
state that they can now sell your user data unless
you opt out. So there is a way to opt
out by heading to the settings turning off what's known
(19:14):
as personalized shopping in your PayPal account.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
So any PayPal user, all of us, should go do that.
But all these stories, I think, just combined, they show
just how at risk our data is. So two factor
authentication is one way to protect yourself so that people
can't you find your password and then log in as you.
That's one way to protect yourself. But then another is
to freeze your credit. That's free something we talk about often.
(19:37):
We have an article we'll link to a show notes
it takes like ninety seconds to accomplish that ninety seconds
and even less time to unfreeze it once you actually
have all your log in freez say thaw whatever you
want to call it, Matt. And you can even another
thing you can do reduce the max daily TRANSFERMAUNT with
a lot of your brokerage firms, so if someone were
to log in, they couldn't transfer like one hundred thousand
(19:58):
bucks over like, you can minimize the amount that you can,
and you can put pull out in one day, which
could curb your impulses to at some point. Fidel It
even has some sort of lockdown mode that you can
turn on. So I don't know.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Those headlines that make me sad, kind of tough to read,
and I think sometimes it feels like we're just living
in this world where all our information is out there
and there's nothing we can do about it. But there
really are things we can do to protect ourselves.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
That's right. Or you can completely de bank yourself, Joel.
You could build a cabin out in the woods, go
off the grid, grow your own food, yeah, and just
avoid technology all together and avoid people. That's what I'm
thinking about doing. Never shop at all, because like you're
killing your own game and roasting it over an open fire.
I was just talking to a buddy about his He's
(20:40):
got a friend up in Maine and him and somebody's
just took down an elk, and evidently it's crazy expensive
to pay for the tagging. I don't exactly know how
this works at all, but it's really expensive. But he's like, well,
this is his buddy talking. We've got like half a
ton of meat here. Gosh, even the thought of going
in on like half of a cow with somebody is
like appealing, right, Like the cost savings there. But I
(21:01):
gotta think even though it's expensive, the quantity of food
that you're gonna be able to harvest ethically right like
in a way that is good for the population. I
don't know him and I we had a long conversation
about hunting and like the pros and cons and the
flavor and all this other stuff. So you've ever done it.
I don't have the attentions man of hunting. Yeah, I
can't just sit there for hours on it and hoping
(21:21):
that something wanders are along my path. I think there's
is it? Michael Easter he does a lot more. I
don't think they do a whole lot of sitting. They
do actually like rucking, so they're like hiking along with
like bows and rifles and stuff. Okay, Michael Easter, we
had him on a while ago now actually, but his
book was was it scarcy De Brain? Yeah, where he
kind of talks about the natural impulses our psychology and
how it can get hijacked to cause us to be
(21:43):
parted from our money, among other things that we discussed
with him. But Joe, we've got more to get to.
We're gonna talk about used clothes. We're gonna talk about
We'll get to the college degrees that pay the most
that more.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Right after this, our weback of the Friday flight continues.
Now it's time for the ludacrous headline of the week.
This article comes from actually friend of the show Jack
Rains right and over at Sherwood and the title of
his article was how Canadian carpenter became an options trader,
(22:18):
made three hundred million dollars and then went bust. Oh man,
this was a fun article to read.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Matt.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Honestly, I just enjoyed the ride. It was like a
roller coaster of this person's like emotions and you know,
financial progress and then lack of progress. So Jack basically
he profiled someone who became an active trader during COVID,
which isn't actually all that foreign. I think a decent
chunk of people did, and he crushed. He turned eighty
eight thousand dollars Canadian dollars into four hundred and fifteen
(22:46):
million Canadian dollars by getting risky and trading TESLA options.
And I guess four hund and fifteen million Canadian dollars
is basically three hundred million American dollars, which is why
he titled the Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
So it was also, say, eighty eight thousand Canadian dollars,
what's that like twenty grand? I think it's probably like
sixty two grand calculations is correctly, I'm just like, given
our if we do have Canadian listeners listeners, given them
a heart, we for sure do.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Yeah, And so he was all good, of course for
this guy, while his bank account balance was skyrocketing and
his trades were making him sick money. But of course
it all went south. He even borrowed at one point
twenty million dollars as things were going down, down, down,
to try and keep the party going. So now not
only is he out his fortune. He's also in debt,
(23:32):
so what was he doing. He's suing his bank that
allowed him to continue in his foolish endeavor of trading options,
even basically saying, Hey, they didn't recognize my addiction. It's
their fault. And I think this is a reminder Matt
that the riskiest strategies often end like this, right, How
did this guy not take money off the table at
some point along the way?
Speaker 1 (23:51):
That's yea, even like folks who were day trading during
the pandemic that or like with crypto like that had
Boukuo's the money sitting around like that's where you have
a hard time. You can take a little bit, So
you're have a hard time relating to those folks at
that point, because there's no way that I would not
have taken some money off the table just to be like,
you know, just in case things don't work pan out,
I want to be able to at least pay off
the house.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
You start to think you're the smartest guy in the
world or something like that. But I think it's also
a reminder that more risk it might net you more reward,
but that might only be in the short term. It
might not last very long.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Yeah, that's true. Like most of the article had to
do with sort of like how he is suing and
how you know, the legal recourse that he's taking. But
like the most relatable aspect of history was the fact
that he's a carpenter. And I think that that is
what can cause folks to get sort of sucked into
thinking that they might be able to do something similar. Right, Like,
he's a carpenter. He's not like some sort of Wall
(24:43):
Street guy, which there might be a whole lot of
folks out there who are thinking, ah, right, he's probably
like of average intelligence. He's probably just like me. Yeah,
And then you make a couple purchases, you start investing,
start speculating, option trading like and honestly makes me think
of some of the different betting apps, Like there's a
new one too that I've I've heard talked about a
lot recently, just all the different odds markets. But you've
(25:04):
got these different sites, these different apps, and I think
the worst thing that could happen for some of these
folks is for them to do decently well. Oh yeah,
Like with that initial, I won my first parlay on
initial and then like what happens the hook is set
and you start to think that this is something that
you can do and before you know it. Hopefully you
don't get to a point in time where you're completely
in over your head. But even losing any money is
(25:27):
I don't know, unless you are intentionally doing it and
it's fun for you. That's not something we want to
see people do lose that money.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
That's really like sports gambling, Matt. I think every casual
sports fan thinks they know more than other casual sports fans.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Everyone thinks they have a little bit of insight, yeah,
that the other guy doesn't have.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
The truth is that the house has the edge, not you.
So that those sports sites are proliferating and they're making
they're generating a lot more revenue, and it's typically on
the backs of all of the participants who think they
know better.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Well, savings are the opposite of gambling and optionsl But
savings rates are falling, and if we're reading our crystal
ball correctly, that decline is likely to continue. The question
it's more about how much they're gonna decline and how
fast they're gonna go down. And I hate to see
it because it means that the era of savers being
(26:15):
reasonably rewarded was fairly short lived, right, We had inflation
going up, interest rates reflected that. And I don't know, yeah,
I had a short period of time where you can
make decent money by keeping your money in the bank.
But what should you do about it? So much of
it depends on your specific financial situation, because we all
need to have a certain amount of liquid cash within
an emergency fund for potential rainy days, and that money
(26:39):
belongs in a savings account, even if your savings rate
is declining. But also make sure that you don't have
too much cash on hand, because if you are in
the wealth building phase of your life, just be careful
about over allocating the cash because if you don't need
it in the short term or even the medium term,
those dollars should be invested in the market, and it
(26:59):
might not be something that you've done much of. And
I could see this being maybe a scenario that younger
folks find themselves in, right, Like they're thinking, oh, well,
I've always contributed to a little bit of money to
my four one k oh. I've always had a roth
I ever since I was a nineteen year old. I've
socked some money away there within my roth Ira, but
a brokerage account where you are investing more for the
medium term, that might feel a bit more foreign to folks.
(27:20):
I don't know. Maybe not. Again, during the pandemic during COVID,
a lot more folks were sort of duped into opening
brokeridge accounts before they even had retirement accounts set up.
So maybe not. So, maybe this isn't Maybe I am
speaking out of my inexperience with brokeridge accounts until I
was much further along.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Well, you remember my career, Robinhood early on didn't even
offer like you could I.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Exactly, which is why that's that's why we hated on
Robinhood so much early on, is because folks were getting
sucked into thinking that they needed to open a Robinhood account.
And it's like, dude, you need to open a roth iray,
you need to open a tax advantage account first. Of course,
they offer bread and butter. Yeah, yeah, make that happen first.
Of course, Robinhood they started offering retirement accounts after the fact,
(27:59):
But we want folks to be investing for those medium
term goals as opposed to just having that sit there
in cash for four or five, six years.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, you might think of it as a good problem
to have. Oh, I've got too much cash, and a
lot of people wouldn't shed too many tears for you
for having too much cash on hand, and you don't
have to optimize to the nth degree. But there are
downsides to having too much cash, and one of those
is not growing your dollars appropriately. Matt, Let's talk about
clothing for a second. People tend to dig use clothes.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
I like used clothes. There's even higher demand right now.
AKAA vintage vintage threads.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Joel, Yeah, I think what the nineties is back right now,
like all the stylings from the nineties. I'm seeing people
wearing the bigger jeans, the lighter colored jeans, and so yeah,
why not go get that stuff at the thrift store.
And there are actually even more companies entering the resale
market in an attempt to kind of capitalize on this
growing trend. But the economics aren't working for many of
(28:55):
these companies. As it turns out, there are a lot
to choose from. There's like eBay obviously is kind of
the original gangster of the resale market, and where individuals
can sell to other individuals like whatever vintage threads they want,
but thread up Poshmark, Burcari. There's another one called The
Real Real. All of those companies have gotten in on
this market too, not to mention major brands like Levi's
(29:18):
made well. A lot of those companies have launched their
own used clothing operation on their own websites too. And
so the problem is, though I don't know how long
all these guys are going to be around, Matt, they
have razor thin profit margins, and they're competing with I
mentioned Goodwill just a second ago.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
They're competing with the thrift stores and with.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Goodwill locations around the country. And I think that's just
a good tip for everyone. Nick, we're all about buying
used I like the fact that we're not tossing more
stuff in the landfill. And I like that, you know,
you can extend the life of a pair of jeans
or a shirt. And some of these sites are trying
to do a good job of curating used goods to
make it feel more like a brand new shopping experience.
(29:58):
At the end of the day, buying you is a
great way to save money.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
I guess I'm hoping that these companies, these resale companies
stick around and provide additional outlets for people to buy
used goods. But I also think, I don't know, if
you're super frugal, the cheapest places are the thirft stores
and Goodwills. And if you like the thrill of the
hunt too, you get to thrill the hunt there a
little more too.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
Yeah, reduce, reuse, recycle, Joel. Maybe just owning fewer clothes overall. Yeah. Yeah,
we're huge advocates of quality over quantity, where less is
going to be more. But jo all the used stuff
that we don't want is the stuff our parents accumulated
over the years Business Insider. They actually recently called it
the boomers stuff avalanche. And basically our tastes just don't
(30:41):
line up with those of our parents. As a generation
millennials gen Z, they tend not to care, let's say,
about the fine china or the heirloom silver. I think
I would count myself amongst those who doesn't care about
that stuff. Yeah, you know, I was thinking about it,
and I wonder how much of that has to do
with life stage, because we're at the life stage where
we want things to be functional. We've got a bunch
of kids running around guess what, we don't need fragile China.
(31:04):
But I do wonder as I get older if I'm
going to have more of an appreciation for things that
are less functional in life as I enter into different stages,
or maybe I won't. Maybe my heirlooms that I passed
one to my kids will be my squad rack in
the garage. Yeah, because that's what I value. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Maybe part of it, too, is that our generation has
more of an affinity for like mid century goods as
opposed to Turn of the century goods. So it is
stylistic too, which tends to also be functional. Like you
think about mid century, what do you often think of
architecture and furniture, And furniture is one of those areas that,
again it's more functional. But if your parents are open
(31:41):
to the discussion, I think it's probably a good idea
to approach this boomer stuff avalanche proactively with them. This
is something that I think, Jiel that I know my
parents they've done really well. They are not nostalgic at
all when it comes to hanging out the stuff we've
been de accumulating. For dude, I mean literally for years
(32:04):
and decades now, Like when you go into their attic, now,
there's nothing there. It's so weird, Like most folks are
expecting to see boxes of old magazines and yearbooks all
this sort of stuff. Nope, nothing in there except for
like a like a broken bike of mine from high school.
They're not hanging on to anything.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
That should feel like a relief to you. It does
you want to have to pour over honestly, Yeah, yeah,
case folks, they're they're they're working on it as well.
But because those are good.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Commos, tap, I think you're right, because that that then
falls on the next generation. It's like, hey, maybe we
can make you a little bit of extra money by
selling some of this stuff. Let's have a yard sale,
let's do some Facebook marketplace listings. One person's trash is
another person's treasure, so it could be a good way
to make some extra money and then also just make uh,
that process of de accumulation less burdens some to the
(32:47):
next generation.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
It's right, let's talk about college, Joel. Because there is
a lot of debate about the value of college. Not
a lot of that debate includes much nuance. Some folks
say that college has just gotten too expensive, the ROI
is not there like it used to be, But others
are quick to point out that college grads, on average,
they still make more over the course of their career.
But I think both things can be true at the
(33:09):
same time. College can be a brilliant move that increases
your overall chances of career success and increases your earning
potential if you minimize debt, and if you get the
right degree, so stem degrees, unsurprisingly, they pay off most handsomely.
Bank Rate found that, for instance, electrical engineers, they make
(33:31):
a one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars median income and
have a one point nine percent unemployment rate, which is
the best of the bunch. Arts and humanities grads not
so much. The unemployment rate is actually three times higher,
and the medium income is a poultry forty thousand dollars.
And this isn't to say that these aren't things that
(33:51):
you shouldn't be pursuing, but which degree and how much
debt that you go into in order to pursue those
degrees like that is the care quest.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
I could never have been an engineer, And even seeing
that stat and hearing that, it's like, well cool, I'm
still not going that route. Yeah, because I don't have
the brain or the temperament. I don't think to go
in that direction. So but for the engineers out.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
There, exactly, this isn't to say everyone should be, oh,
you should only be considering this. You just we want
folks to go into the decision making sort of matrix
with their eyes wide open.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Yeah, you just don't get one of these these degrees
that has is going to likely lead to a lower
paying career and then also be willing to take out
one hundred and eighteen thousand dollars worth.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Of college debt to do it. Exactly.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
That's putting yourself behind the eight ball. And the truth is, Matt,
there's been a new evidence about how debt can derail
your career choices too. A new Harris poll found that
half of millennials and gen zers have had their career
impacted by the debts they've taken on. This means they
either stay in a job they don't like or they
plan on delaying their retirement because of that they've accumulated,
(34:53):
specifically from going to school. Other people say it's forced
them to take multiple jobs at the same time, or
to find a new job that pays even more, although
they didn't want to, like they liked where they were working,
but they couldn't hack it there because they had to
increase their pay, even if it meant working in a
job they didn't like as much. And so the truth is,
we don't want poor debt decisions to negatively impact the
(35:16):
future of how to money listeners. Taking on a reasonable
amount of debt for school can make sense, right, because yes,
getting that higher education can lead to higher earnings over
your lifetime, but keeping that debt to a minimum basically
that means you can have maximum freedom later on. So
just because the average person is taking out buku's student
loan debt doesn't mean it's generally a good idea.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah. On a related note, the Journal they had an
article about blue collar millionaires the other day starting a
local HVAC company, starting a plumbing business that can lead
to real wealth as well. After let's say a lot
of years of hard work and building that business, it's
possible to sell it for quite a bit of money.
There's a whole lot of private equity money that is
flowing into local businesses, which makes a ton of sense
(35:57):
given that these are things that can never be replaced right,
And I think it's a way of, honestly of a
lot of private equity hedging not knowing what sort of
impact that something like AI is going to have on
a lot of the other industries that they're invested in.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
A lot of people that were interviewing that article were
saying ten years ago, nobody wanted to buy my business,
and now there are multiple people lined up trying to
buy my business. Time to strike while the iron's hot,
and it's just and typically they are plumbing companies, h
and I companies like their local service technicians that work
in different industries exactly. So just mention that too from
a career perspective, there's not just one way to get
(36:30):
where it is that you want to go. It makes
me think of a conversation we had with Ken Rusk.
We talked with him about blue collar work and the
skilled trades, but also a conversation we had about apprenticeships
with Ryan Craig, which was more recent. We'll make sure
to link to both of those in the show notes.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
As that can provide I think, basically another angle of
thinking about your career and what it looks like to
get ahead and what it looks like to live the
good life because at the end of the day, that's
what we're all about here.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
That's right, all right, that's going to do it for
today's Friday flight. You can of course, find links to
all this stuff we mentioned, including those two episodes up
on the show notes at howtomoney dot com math.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
That's just gonna do it for this one. Until next time,
best friends Out and best Friends Out.
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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