June 23, 2026 • 24 mins
Tom welcomes consumer advocate and longtime journalist Herb Weisbaum to discuss the surprisingly expensive and increasingly chaotic summer travel season. Herb explains why airfare and travel costs remain elevated, why airline prices may not fall even if fuel costs eventually decline, and how travelers can save money through flexibility, airline perks, and smart planning. The conversation also explores travel insurance, airline schedule cuts, baggage fees, vacation-rental scams, fake airline customer-service numbers, and the importance of using credit cards rather than debit cards for travel purchases. The episode is packed with practical consumer-protection advice for anyone traveling this summer.
0:05 Introduction to consumer advocate Herb Weisbaum and the challenges facing travelers this summer.
0:55 Airfare surge: domestic fares up roughly 18% year over year and international fares up about 8%.
1:23 Why airline ticket prices may stay high even if fuel costs eventually decline.
2:38 Airline executives signal that fare increases could become permanent if demand remains strong.
3:10 Strong travel demand despite higher prices and the impact of reduced low-cost competition.
3:42 Concerns about consumers financing vacations with credit cards and buy-now-pay-later programs.
4:36 Strategies travelers can use to reduce costs despite rising fares.
4:58 Rising checked baggage fees and how airline credit cards or elite status can help avoid them.
5:42 The value of flexible travel dates and considering less-crowded destinations.
6:30 Why booking trips sooner rather than later may be advantageous.
7:04 Travel insurance considerations, including “cancel for any reason” coverage.
7:39 Basic travel insurance limitations and war-related exclusions.
8:03 Airlines reducing schedules and eliminating routes because of fuel and operational pressures.
8:42 International carriers cutting thousands of flights and what it means for travelers.
9:24 Why this may be the most unpredictable travel season since the pandemic.
10:02 Practical advice for travelers facing uncertainty and disruptions.
10:18 The importance of airline apps for rebooking and managing travel disruptions.
10:42 Growing scams involving fake airline customer-service phone numbers appearing in search results.
11:46 A simple clue that a customer-service number may actually be a scammer.
12:19 Credit cards versus debit cards for travel purchases and fraud protection.
13:57 Why wire transfers, cryptocurrency payments, and peer-to-peer apps create major consumer risks.
14:58 Vacation rental scams involving major booking platforms.
16:25 A real-world family reunion rental scam and the challenges of obtaining refunds.
18:03 Differences between how major vacation-rental platforms handle payments and disputes.
18:59 World Cup travel, ticket scams, and avoiding fraudulent offers.
20:50 Why major events create ideal conditions for scammers.
21:46 Herb shares where listeners can find his articles, podcast, and consumer resources.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
We're gonna do a really great financial feature.
Tom and Dom are talking realmoney.
SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
Welcome to talking real money.
I'm Tom Cock.
Thank you for joining us.
And I gotta say, uh, as youknow, normally we talk about
investments or we talk aboutmoney or we, you know, talk
about retirement.
Those are kind of the mainstayissues.
But I tell you, we try to getoff the beaten path every once
in a while because there'spretty important stuff that is
financial, but not necessarilyin our wheelhouse.
(00:35):
So we bring in really smartpeople.
Maybe you've seen this guyflying high above us with his
cape going behind.
Nah, kidding.
Uh, he's he's not a bird, he'snot a plane, but he is the
consumer man, and that's HerbWeisbaum.
Herb, thanks for being on thetalking real money.
SPEAKER_02 (00:50):
And I do have a cape.
SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
I believe you do.
And uh probably works, is myguess.
Superman.
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
The drug paying bills are horrendous, let me
tell you.
SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
Especially here in Seattle.
So uh here we are in the middleof travel season.
Everybody, kids are out ofschool, and everybody's all
happy because they want to gosomewhere and the weather's
nice, and it's time to get outand enjoy things just in time
for wow, domestic airfares,according to a recent article he
wrote a checkbook, up 18% yearover year, international fares
(01:21):
up about eight percent.
So these are way up, but I gottaassume that you know, when oil
prices go back down, the priceof these fares is gonna go down
too, correct?
SPEAKER_02 (01:30):
Well, as Don would say to you, well time, one never
assumes.
Um there's no first of all,there's no way to know if prices
will go up some more because theuh oil prices are going up and
down, as you know, followingthem, but basically they're up
significantly from where theywere.
So the price of uh jet fuel toairlines is up dramatically from
(01:51):
where it was, and there's no wayto know when the oil prices will
come down.
Uh despite predictions from whatthe White House says that oil
prices are gonna return tonormal as soon as a quote deal
is done, uh industry analyststell me it's gonna take a long
time, maybe the end of the year,for jet fuel prices to get back
to where they were on Februarytwenty eighth before the war.
According to Patrick Dehan, youmay know his name, he's on TV
(02:13):
and radio now more than I ambecause of the fuel prices.
He's the chief petroleum analystat the Gas Buddy, and he says
for every day the uh Strait ofHormuz remains closed, it
extends by a week how long itwill take for fuel prices to
return to normal.
So just based on how long thestraits have been closed now, he
said, we're looking at the endof the year or longer.
(02:33):
And to d directly answer yourquestion, will prices come down
when jet fuel comes down?
Uh you're obviously not anairline executive, Tom.
SPEAKER_01 (02:41):
I I wish I was today, right?
Because I mean was astounded inyour article when United
Airlines CEO Scott Kirby saidhis company's fares are fifteen
to twenty percent higher sincethe war began.
But the longer this lasts,according to Kirby, the higher
the probability goes thatpricing increases hold.
That's not very good news forconsumers.
SPEAKER_02 (03:01):
Yeah, Delta United and even Alaska have indicated
that so far, despite the higherprices, demand has remained
strong.
People just want to continue totravel.
And uh so if it stays like this,there's no real logic, if you're
an airline executive, to lowerprices back to where they were
at a pre-war level.
So, yeah, if the prices stick,if people continue to fly,
volume stays up, then theyprobably won't bring the prices
(03:24):
down very much.
And remember, Spirit is gone.
So in all the markets whereSpirit was flying, they now no
longer have that low pricediscount competition.
They can bring their prices upin those markets because they
don't have to worry about thecompetition.
So uh I'm not and the otherthing, and because this is a
money show, what concerns me,and my wife Deb, and you know
Deb was talking about this lastnight, she goes, where are
(03:47):
people getting all this money totravel?
I mean, I traveled in f in Aprilfor a conference in Orlando
round trip, and the airfare onAlaska Airlines and I booked
before the war was a thousandbucks round trip to go to
Orlando from Seattle.
Where are people getting allthis money?
And the answer is they're eitherdoing buy now, pay later, or
they're doing credit cards andgetting deeper and deeper and
deeper in debt, just throwingtheir hands up as some surveys
(04:10):
have shown, saying, I'm nevergonna make ends meet, so you
might as well just get in andget to enjoy life and we'll
worry about this later, which isa very sad place to be and scary
place to be from a financialpoint.
SPEAKER_01 (04:20):
Yeah, it really is, it's because I mean the f you
gotta you you can't just go, youknow, crazy with your credit
cards, as you say, or figure outhow to pay later.
Okay, but let's okay, so that'sthe bad news, right?
Prices are up, demand stayinghigh because people want to get
out of here.
Any solution on the horizon, away that people can kind of work
their way around this, or are wejust kind of like you said, if
(04:41):
you want to go, you gotta go,and you're gonna have to pay the
pay the piper here?
SPEAKER_02 (04:45):
Well, I think there's a couple of things you
have to do to deal with this.
First of all, as you know, checkbags are now a big moneymaker
for the airlines, and all sixmajor U.S.
carriers have increased thecheck baggage fee.
Most now charge$45 for the firstcheck bag, and on a one-way, on
a that's a one-way flight.
So we do a round trip that's$90and$55 for the second bag.
So what you can do is eitherlimit yourself to carry on
(05:08):
luggage, uh, or if you're afrequent flyer with status, you
can usually check at least onebag for free uh and or get an
airline credit card.
Now you may pay a fee for that.
For example, the Alaska AirlinesAt most rewards card with an
annual fee of$95 gives you afree check bag for any card
holder and up to six guests onthe same reservation when the
(05:29):
flight is paid for with theairline's credit cards.
If you're traveling with thewhole family, you're gonna more
than pay back that$95 fee in onetrip.
So that's one way to get aroundthis.
Have status, get an airlinecredit card, limit yourself to
carry-on baggage, try to beflexible with your schedule.
So if you uh don't have to go atpeak times or peak days of the
(05:51):
week, if you put in a searchengine when you're doing it,
lowest price, and you see thatthere's a better deal on a
Tuesday and you can go on aTuesday rather than a Sunday,
maybe that's the way to go.
You can do that.
And maybe pick destinationswhere not everybody and their
brother is going.
I mean, obviously the bigdestinations are always popular.
I mean, people are gonna go,know what in the summertime.
(06:12):
They're gonna go to uh you know,they're gonna go to New York,
and they're gonna go possibly toa couple places in Canada, and
they're gonna go to Californiaand where all the vacation sites
are, maybe Florida.
Maybe you pick another place.
You know, maybe you visit uhbeautiful downtown I don't know,
Paulsbow or something like that.
Yeah.
Yes.
And that yes, and you pay 'em uhyou pay about as much in
(06:33):
gasoline to get from SeattleMetro to where you live, Tom,
and about uh that you pay for aticket for an airplane.
But seriously, maybe think aboutgoing to someplace where
everybody and the brother aren'tgoing this summer and and do it
that way, just to plan aroundthat.
And if you can lock in the ratenow sooner rather than later is
the best way to go becauseprices are only likely to go up,
and if it goes down, you canrebook your ticket.
(06:55):
I spoke on my podcast, which asyou know is called
consumerpedia.org withsyndicated travel expert
Christopher Elliott.
He grew up in Washington State.
He's now traveling the world foryears.
He hasn't been home in like 18years or something like that.
Well, seriously, we caught upwith him in Australia, and he
suggests that you might getcancel for any reason travel
insurance if you really have tobe someplace on time, like you
(07:18):
booked a cruise ship or anon-refundable vacation resort
or something like that, becausethey really are canceling
willy-nilly flights are beingcanceled uh as airlines try to
cut back routes that are makingmoney or to uh just balance
their budget.
It's more expensive than basictravel insurance, which by the
way, he pointed out to me doesnot cover causes of delay due to
(07:38):
acts of war.
So that they're something tokeep in mind.
So you want all uh cancel forany reason travel insurance.
It's about 10 to 12 percent ofthe total trip cost, but it
would cover you if your flightgot canceled, then you're gonna
miss the cruise or the theresort and anything like that.
That might be worth it.
And then keep in mind, I mean,check with your airline if
you're if you're gonna if you'replanning a trip.
Um, as you know from thearticle, Delta has already
(08:01):
suspended some flights frommajor hubs, including JFK and
Boston Logan and DetroitMetropolitan.
And internationally, Tom,they're really getting clobbered
because not only is the priceup, but they're running out of
supply, and they just can't getthe fuel they need.
So some international carriers,including Air Canada, Lufthansa,
KLM, SAS, and Air New Zealand,have already significantly
(08:23):
reduced their summer flightschedules.
Lufthansa, that's the Germanairline in mid-April announced
that it would eliminate 20,000European short haul flights over
the summer.
As Don would say, 20,000flights.
So you're lucky in Europe he cantake trains.
It's easier to take trains, butAir Canada is gonna suspend
flights from Montreal andToronto to JFK June 1 through
(08:45):
October 25th.
So the flights you're eventhinking about going on or you
may have gone before may noteven be flying anymore.
So there's there's gonna beElliot told me this is gonna be
the most uh confusing travel sothe most challenging travel
season, most unpredictable.
Sound the table.
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
I was just you jumped my to my my next seg.
I was gonna say you you quotedhim and you're saying called
this you called it the mostunpredictable summer travel
season since the pandemic.
Sounds like you agree with him.
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
Uh absolutely.
I mean, you know, airlines aremaking all sorts of changes.
Fares are up, baggage fees areup, fuel charges are being added
on, by the way.
So you may see the fuel chargedrop, but the basic fare stays
up.
That's one way to keep makingmore revenue.
Flights are being eliminated.
Yeah, it's gonna be a crazyyear.
A lot of people have decidedthey don't want to participate.
They're gonna take a drivingvacation, go someplace and see
the USA in your Chevrolet.
(09:34):
Uh how's that for gone back intime?
That's going way back.
Yeah, and anybody listeningwho's old enough to re who
remember that jingle, you needto invest your money with Tom
because he's gonna take it.
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
Yeah, that's a good pitch.
Okay.
Flexibility.
Flexibility.
Starting early.
I mean, my wife, God bless her,booked all this many months ago
before the war.
So she's she's always on top ofthis.
But if you're just stillthinking about it, as you say,
flexibility and just roll the fthe punches, right?
Because there's not a whole lotelse you can do.
SPEAKER_02 (10:05):
Right.
And one more tip, seriously, andthat is to make sure you have
the airplanes app on your phoneif you're going to travel the
summer season.
Because if a flight is canceledor you're at the airport or last
minute, rather than trying toget in line with uh, you know,
150 other people at the customerservice desk are calling a line
that isn't answered, you canpossibly do much of your work on
(10:27):
the app and figure out what'sgoing on and and get that done.
But one scam, I wrote a separatereport about this, one scam to
watch out for is that if you'restuck at the airport and you
don't know uh have your app andyou don't know what the number
is for Alaska or Delta United,you might Google it.
Excuse me.
And so what happens is thescammers are now buying Google
(10:48):
ads, search engine ads, and theyshow up at the top of the search
engine results.
So you will call this number,you are going to a scammer, they
will answer the phone, they willbe happy to tell you they'll
rebook your f your uh ticket foryou, but they need your credit
card in order to do that.
And what they'll do is eitherbook you a ticket at an uh an
inflated price, or they won'tbook a ticket at all, but
(11:10):
they'll charge your credit card.
So you've got to be really,really careful.
The advice is it have the appand take the phone number, the
legitimate phone number of yourairline with you when you head
to the airport.
This has been a scam for awhile, Tom.
It's really growing inpopularity with the scammers.
They're doing this for hotels,they're doing this for airlines.
They answer the phone as ifyou've called the airline or if
(11:31):
you've called the hotel, so youreally don't know that you've
called a scammer.
Uh and uh the one way you cantell Chris Elliott, he said this
on the podcast, which was reallyfunny.
He said, if you call an airlineand they pick up on the first
ring, you know you're talking toa scammer, because what airline
is gonna answer on the firstring?
You know it's a good tip.
Absolutely.
But be careful.
A lot of a lot of people aregetting burned this way.
(11:51):
So not only are you out of moneyand you have to deal with a
credit card fraud, but youdidn't get on the other flight,
so you're not gonna get to yourdestination.
So there's a double hit if youwind up contacting a scammer.
So get the app and have the airlines and maybe the hotel's um
phone number if you need tocontact them if something goes
wrong on the chip, just beprepared ahead of time.
SPEAKER_01 (12:07):
Yeah, that's really good advice.
You know, we got stuck in, Ithink you know this, in London
last summer.
Yep.
And uh there was a line of about150 or 200 people.
Thankfully, I had sent my wifeearlier.
She was like second in linebecause I don't know, the rest
of those people may still bewaiting.
I don't know.
But you raised another goodpoint.
We're talking with HerbWeisbaum, who is a consumer man.
(12:28):
Of course, you can read hisgreat work at checkbook.org all
the time.
It's up there.
Do you have weekly?
How often do you update that?
SPEAKER_02 (12:35):
I write a I write a story every week.
I'm talking aboutconsumerpedia.org every other
week.
SPEAKER_01 (12:40):
That's awesome.
Great information.
So, okay, but you raisedsomething that's very important.
We'll get to another part of thethe article about travel, but
just but just in a generalsense.
This use of the way you pay forthings, because you mentioned
using your credit card.
If you use your credit card, youhave some protection.
If you use a debit card, youhave basically no protection.
Or as you account in anotherarticle you wrote, somebody
(13:03):
wired money to somebody.
I mean, once you've sent themoney out of your bank account,
you got nothing.
So you really should be usingthat credit card on any sort of
major purchase, correct?
SPEAKER_02 (13:12):
Yeah, you do have some rights with a debit card,
but you don't have anywhere nearthe rights you get for fraud
protection with a credit card,because with a credit card
you're using the bank's money,with a debit card, you're using
your money.
By the way, I don't have a debitcard because I've talked to too
many victims who have had aproblem.
The bank has either investigatedand they by law have at least 10
days to investigate.
So while they're investigating,that money is out of your bank
(13:33):
account to see, you know, thatyou can't use your money to pay
the rent or the mortgage orwhatever.
And then in many cases, theywould tell somebody, did you
give that debit card number tothat scammer?
And you'd say yes, and thenwell, it's not a scam.
You gave them the number andthey'll not and they won't put
the money back.
So I don't have a debit card.
I only use a credit card becauseof all the forward protection.
Wire transfer, come on, pay uhby Bitcoin, seriously.
(13:55):
Uh you know, the I mean, or payor peer-to-peer app.
You know, even the apps say youshouldn't do anything but send
money to somebody you know.
Somebody's asking you to pay forany kind of travel experience,
uh, and they need you to wirethe money or pay by Bitcoin or
pay by a peer-to-peer app, runaway as fast as you can.
You're absolutely dealing with ascammer.
But the the credit card, so ifyou have a problem, you call the
credit card company and say, Ijust called the airline, I got
(14:17):
hooked up with a scammer, theyhave my credit card, they charge
the card, it's a bogus charge.
The credit card company pulls itoff to the side, you don't have
to pay for it, so no harm, nofoul, and they'll investigate.
And in most cases, checkbook isfound, they find it in favor of
the consumer if it's alegitimate complaint.
They take that off your account,they deal with it with the
merchant.
It's called a chargeback.
So that's the protection youhave with a credit card.
SPEAKER_01 (14:38):
Yeah, and this comes up because when people are
booking through third parties,for example, you wrote a piece
about uh booking.com, I think itwas, and maybe even mentioned
Airbnb and the vacation rentalprocess.
Yeah, where people book thesethings, they send off the money,
and then they find out it wasall a big scam and they're not
staying anywhere.
I mean, tell us a little bitmore about that.
It's fairly shocking.
SPEAKER_02 (14:58):
Sure.
I will I just want to follow upon another thought because I've
heard people tell me through theyears, Tom, I don't want to give
my credit card number because Idon't want to possibly give my
credit card number to a scammer.
That's why you have a creditcard.
Right.
If you give it to a scammer, youcall the credit card.
If you give a debit card to thescammer, you got a lot more
problems.
They took your money, and nowyou got to get it back in your
account.
So that's that's why not thatwilly-nilly use your credit
(15:20):
card, but that's why you have itto protect against fraud.
Yeah, this is a really bigarticle, a major investigation
that my boss, Kevin Brassler,our executive editor of
Checkbook, did, and he lookedinto all the terms and
conditions and the problems thatpeople are having when they book
their vacations with vacationrental services.
The problems tend to be worsewith VRBO and with um
(15:41):
booking.com and tend to be alittle bit uh the Airbnb tends
to be more helpful.
So here's the problem (15:46):
the people go on and and book these
vacations, and what they findout is something happens to the
uh to their property, they get acontact from the property that
there's a problem with theirrental.
In some cases, they booked ascam property and there's no
such property there, and theyeither find out before they go,
or in some cases, horrendously,when they arrive and there's no
(16:07):
such property.
Can you imagine showing up at ahouse of people going my house?
I'm not renting my house.
Or other cases, the uh the uhhost cancels the reservation but
doesn't return the money, thedeposit you paid.
And uh we to I talked to for formy podcast, I talked to a
victim, her name is Susan Chud.
Uh she booked a house inKentucky for a family reunion,
(16:28):
so this was a huge amount ofmoney.
It was a scam.
And on the phone, VRBOacknowledged that the host had
canceled other guest stays andrefused to issue the refunds for
deposits, and they told her theywould refund the money, and she
said they seemed very empatheticand said they would help.
And then a day or so later, shegot an email that said, Deal
with your credit card company.
(16:48):
We're not paying back anything,or not even refunding the
booking charge you paid directlyto us, Virbo.
So uh she was sort of stuck thatwith that was a$780 charge Virbo
had, they wouldn't even refundthat.
Thankfully, she did the uhchargeback appeal to the credit
card company and they theyreversed the transaction.
But she and the other victims wetalked to wanted people to know
(17:11):
that despite all the uh promisesand the claims and the
advertising, they go through theplatforms, it's a safe way to
book.
You can trust us that whathappens is if verbo and
booking.com have a problem, youmay not get your money back.
And here's what my boss foundout he found out that verbo and
booking.com pay the host as soonas the reservation is booked.
(17:33):
So they get the money ahead oftime.
And the difference is thatAirbnb pays the host after the
person shows up for the rental.
Ah.
So they so that that makes itless likely that there's going
to be a scam because you got,you know, you're alerted,
they're there, you're there,you're at the property.
So if you alert them,something's not going on.
So they control all thefinancial transactions, and if
(17:56):
somebody gets scammed, theystill have your money, not the
scammers, and they appear to bea little bit more willing to
issue refunds, uh, we write.
Um, so and they also seem toremove fake listings faster than
other companies.
So that's the problem with uhverbo and booking.com is they
pay and and and in the articleand in the podcast, my boss
said, Why don't you just switchverbo booking.com?
(18:18):
Why don't you just, yeah, you'regonna annoy the host because
they want their money rightaway.
But where are they but where arethey gonna go?
You're you're two of the bigguys.
You know, they gotta use you ifthey want to rent these things.
Just switch it and and favor theconsumer instead of favoring
this the potential scammer who'sgonna steal people's money and
then say to them, sorry, we'renot gonna help you.
(18:38):
You've got to go to the creditcard company and deal with the
credit card company and get thistaken care of.
This Susan Chud said it ruinedthe whole experience with her,
and she would never ever usethem again.
SPEAKER_01 (18:47):
Oh boy, that's harsh.
We did not touch on this priorto our interview.
We're talking with HerbWeissbaum, who is the consumer
man and has been for I don'tshould we say it?
Almost almost 50 years.
Um but we're in the middle of apretty special time for people
that love soccer or football.
The World Cup.
Any scams that have been goingon there that you would did
(19:09):
you've around tickets oranything else that you've been
aware of?
SPEAKER_02 (19:12):
Um not particularly because you know I'm not a I'm
not a football or soccer guy.
You keep trying to you keeptrying to convert me.
So I mean I did watch Ted Lasso,so I guess I like it a little
bit.
Just be suspicious of any offer,and especially like if you're
gonna stay at a room, a hotel oruh some kind of place, and
somebody is offering anunbelievable deal that is way
(19:35):
below the market value, orsomebody who uh wants you to pay
in a one of the bizarre ways wetalked about via bank transfer
or via uh wire transfer or somekind of other way, a
peer-to-peer app.
Just be careful.
And I'm sure there's gonna bethose kind of scams going on uh
when you know, pay specialattention if you're doing a
vacation rental to reviews andlook for ones to talk about any
(19:57):
kind of scam or or problem withthat review with that host.
That's a good way to do that.
Uh again, there's probably gonnabe ticket scalping of scams.
I think the fact that thetickets are digital will
probably reduce that a littlebit because they can't stand
outside the stadium and say,hey, I got my tickets for row
six or whatever.
But you know, with in today'sworld, they can they can do
anything digitally and fakesomething.
(20:18):
So you just really, really needto be careful.
And yes, this is a goldenopportunity.
This is the moments thatscammers live for.
Big events where people areanxious, emotional, not
thinking.
You know, if you get a textmessage, hey, I got special deal
on tickets, you know, the hotelroom just went on sale, click
now.
That's when you get the littlevoice inside's gotta say, Herb
said, Don't do that.
Slow down, you're gonna get introuble.
SPEAKER_01 (20:39):
Is that what it's gonna take to make you a soccer
fan, get you into row six?
Is that the row that we need toto secure to get you to join the
club here, or what's the deal?
SPEAKER_02 (20:49):
Well, I'd like to share with our listeners that
you've promised to take me to amatch, and I've said I will
come.
I said I will come.
I asked you if I could bring thenewspaper along with me.
But if you if you if you doinvite me and buy a hot dog and
beer, I will absolutely come.
SPEAKER_01 (21:06):
Okay.
I can count you in.
You can also tell, I'll tell youanother thing you can count on
for a very long time is this guyis watching out for you.
He writes about it, as he said,regularly at checkbook.org.
What's where where do they findthe podcast again?
You find that there at sure.
SPEAKER_02 (21:19):
The podcast the podcast is at consumerpedia.org,
consumerpedia.org.
The articles are checkbook.org.
And if you want to write me andyou like see a scam or you have
a question based on what we'retalking about here with Tom, I
answer every question that comesin from listeners.
Go to my website,consumerman.com, which has all
my checkbook stories.
Consumerman.com, you'll see anenvelope, an old-fashioned
(21:41):
envelope at the top.
That's my email link.
Write me and know and say I waslistening to the podcast.
I have a question, or I got ascam you might want to look into
because that's how I get thesome of the best stories, Tom.
Is pe there are the eyes andears out there, and they say,
Did you did you know about thisone?
And that's how we find out aboutthings.
SPEAKER_01 (21:57):
I love it.
And keep up the great work.
And for those of you who havequestions for Don and myself,
well, you can go totalkingrealmoney.com.
That's right.
And then click on it's reallytough.
Ask a question.
You can ask it, uh you can typeit, you can voice it, you can do
all kinds of stuff there.
So we love that.
And if you want help from anadvisor, it's right there on the
website as well.
You know we're gonna be here.
(22:18):
Thank you, Herb, by the way, forjoining us because it's always
great when you uh when you comeon the program.
It was a pleasure, and as Donwould say, and we'll be back
with another episode tomorrow ofuh because you know we're always
gonna be here, always gonna behere talking real money.
SPEAKER_04 (22:35):
The opinions and views expressed in this podcast
were current on the daterecorded.
Opinions, estimates, forecasts,and statements of financial
market trends that are based oncurrent market conditions
constitute our judgment and aresubject to change without
notice, including anyforward-looking estimates or
statements which are based oncertain expectations and
assumptions.
SPEAKER_03 (22:48):
Although information and opinions given have been
obtained from or based onsources believed to be reliable,
no warranty or representation ismade as to their correctness,
completeness, or accuracy.
SPEAKER_04 (22:57):
Information presented on the podcast is not
personalized investment advicefrom Ropello Wealth.
The views and strategiesdescribed may not be suitable
for everyone.
This podcast does not identifyall the risks, direct or
indirect, or otherconsiderations which might be
material to you when enteringany financial transaction.
Past performance does notguarantee feature results, and
profitable results cannot beguaranteed.
We hope you realize that theinformation provided on Talking
Real Money is for informational,educational, and hopefully
(23:20):
enjoyable purposes only.
The podcast is not trying to getyou to buy or sell any financial
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Instead, the program is providedas a public service by Appello
Wealth, a fee-only registeredinvestment advisor.
SPEAKER_03 (23:30):
See AppelloWealth ADV Part 2 and on our website
for information regardingAppellate's fees and services.
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Appello Capital, LLC DBA Appello Wealth, is an
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The firm only transacts businessin the states where it is
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Registration with the SEC or anystate securities authority does
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Apello does not provide tax orlegal advice, and nothing either
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(23:57):
advice.
Thanks for listening, and pleasevisit talkingrealmoney.com for
more information and importantdisclosure related to
performance of any specificindex or fund quoted in this
podcast.
We're gonna do a really great financial feature.
Tom and Dom are talking realmoney.
SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
Welcome to talking real money.
I'm Tom Cock.
Thank you for joining us.
And I gotta say, uh, as youknow, normally we talk about
investments or we talk aboutmoney or we, you know, talk
about retirement.
Those are kind of the mainstayissues.
But I tell you, we try to getoff the beaten path every once
in a while because there'spretty important stuff that is
financial, but not necessarilyin our wheelhouse.
(00:35):
So we bring in really smartpeople.
Maybe you've seen this guyflying high above us with his
cape going behind.
Nah, kidding.
Uh, he's he's not a bird, he'snot a plane, but he is the
consumer man, and that's HerbWeisbaum.
Herb, thanks for being on thetalking real money.
SPEAKER_02 (00:50):
And I do have a cape.
SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
I believe you do.
And uh probably works, is myguess.
Superman.
SPEAKER_02 (00:55):
The drug paying bills are horrendous, let me
tell you.
SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
Especially here in Seattle.
So uh here we are in the middleof travel season.
Everybody, kids are out ofschool, and everybody's all
happy because they want to gosomewhere and the weather's
nice, and it's time to get outand enjoy things just in time
for wow, domestic airfares,according to a recent article he
wrote a checkbook, up 18% yearover year, international fares
(01:21):
up about eight percent.
So these are way up, but I gottaassume that you know, when oil
prices go back down, the priceof these fares is gonna go down
too, correct?
SPEAKER_02 (01:30):
Well, as Don would say to you, well time, one never
assumes.
Um there's no first of all,there's no way to know if prices
will go up some more because theuh oil prices are going up and
down, as you know, followingthem, but basically they're up
significantly from where theywere.
So the price of uh jet fuel toairlines is up dramatically from
(01:51):
where it was, and there's no wayto know when the oil prices will
come down.
Uh despite predictions from whatthe White House says that oil
prices are gonna return tonormal as soon as a quote deal
is done, uh industry analyststell me it's gonna take a long
time, maybe the end of the year,for jet fuel prices to get back
to where they were on Februarytwenty eighth before the war.
According to Patrick Dehan, youmay know his name, he's on TV
(02:13):
and radio now more than I ambecause of the fuel prices.
He's the chief petroleum analystat the Gas Buddy, and he says
for every day the uh Strait ofHormuz remains closed, it
extends by a week how long itwill take for fuel prices to
return to normal.
So just based on how long thestraits have been closed now, he
said, we're looking at the endof the year or longer.
(02:33):
And to d directly answer yourquestion, will prices come down
when jet fuel comes down?
Uh you're obviously not anairline executive, Tom.
SPEAKER_01 (02:41):
I I wish I was today, right?
Because I mean was astounded inyour article when United
Airlines CEO Scott Kirby saidhis company's fares are fifteen
to twenty percent higher sincethe war began.
But the longer this lasts,according to Kirby, the higher
the probability goes thatpricing increases hold.
That's not very good news forconsumers.
SPEAKER_02 (03:01):
Yeah, Delta United and even Alaska have indicated
that so far, despite the higherprices, demand has remained
strong.
People just want to continue totravel.
And uh so if it stays like this,there's no real logic, if you're
an airline executive, to lowerprices back to where they were
at a pre-war level.
So, yeah, if the prices stick,if people continue to fly,
volume stays up, then theyprobably won't bring the prices
(03:24):
down very much.
And remember, Spirit is gone.
So in all the markets whereSpirit was flying, they now no
longer have that low pricediscount competition.
They can bring their prices upin those markets because they
don't have to worry about thecompetition.
So uh I'm not and the otherthing, and because this is a
money show, what concerns me,and my wife Deb, and you know
Deb was talking about this lastnight, she goes, where are
(03:47):
people getting all this money totravel?
I mean, I traveled in f in Aprilfor a conference in Orlando
round trip, and the airfare onAlaska Airlines and I booked
before the war was a thousandbucks round trip to go to
Orlando from Seattle.
Where are people getting allthis money?
And the answer is they're eitherdoing buy now, pay later, or
they're doing credit cards andgetting deeper and deeper and
deeper in debt, just throwingtheir hands up as some surveys
(04:10):
have shown, saying, I'm nevergonna make ends meet, so you
might as well just get in andget to enjoy life and we'll
worry about this later, which isa very sad place to be and scary
place to be from a financialpoint.
SPEAKER_01 (04:20):
Yeah, it really is, it's because I mean the f you
gotta you you can't just go, youknow, crazy with your credit
cards, as you say, or figure outhow to pay later.
Okay, but let's okay, so that'sthe bad news, right?
Prices are up, demand stayinghigh because people want to get
out of here.
Any solution on the horizon, away that people can kind of work
their way around this, or are wejust kind of like you said, if
(04:41):
you want to go, you gotta go,and you're gonna have to pay the
pay the piper here?
SPEAKER_02 (04:45):
Well, I think there's a couple of things you
have to do to deal with this.
First of all, as you know, checkbags are now a big moneymaker
for the airlines, and all sixmajor U.S.
carriers have increased thecheck baggage fee.
Most now charge$45 for the firstcheck bag, and on a one-way, on
a that's a one-way flight.
So we do a round trip that's$90and$55 for the second bag.
So what you can do is eitherlimit yourself to carry on
(05:08):
luggage, uh, or if you're afrequent flyer with status, you
can usually check at least onebag for free uh and or get an
airline credit card.
Now you may pay a fee for that.
For example, the Alaska AirlinesAt most rewards card with an
annual fee of$95 gives you afree check bag for any card
holder and up to six guests onthe same reservation when the
(05:29):
flight is paid for with theairline's credit cards.
If you're traveling with thewhole family, you're gonna more
than pay back that$95 fee in onetrip.
So that's one way to get aroundthis.
Have status, get an airlinecredit card, limit yourself to
carry-on baggage, try to beflexible with your schedule.
So if you uh don't have to go atpeak times or peak days of the
(05:51):
week, if you put in a searchengine when you're doing it,
lowest price, and you see thatthere's a better deal on a
Tuesday and you can go on aTuesday rather than a Sunday,
maybe that's the way to go.
You can do that.
And maybe pick destinationswhere not everybody and their
brother is going.
I mean, obviously the bigdestinations are always popular.
I mean, people are gonna go,know what in the summertime.
(06:12):
They're gonna go to uh you know,they're gonna go to New York,
and they're gonna go possibly toa couple places in Canada, and
they're gonna go to Californiaand where all the vacation sites
are, maybe Florida.
Maybe you pick another place.
You know, maybe you visit uhbeautiful downtown I don't know,
Paulsbow or something like that.
Yeah.
Yes.
And that yes, and you pay 'em uhyou pay about as much in
(06:33):
gasoline to get from SeattleMetro to where you live, Tom,
and about uh that you pay for aticket for an airplane.
But seriously, maybe think aboutgoing to someplace where
everybody and the brother aren'tgoing this summer and and do it
that way, just to plan aroundthat.
And if you can lock in the ratenow sooner rather than later is
the best way to go becauseprices are only likely to go up,
and if it goes down, you canrebook your ticket.
(06:55):
I spoke on my podcast, which asyou know is called
consumerpedia.org withsyndicated travel expert
Christopher Elliott.
He grew up in Washington State.
He's now traveling the world foryears.
He hasn't been home in like 18years or something like that.
Well, seriously, we caught upwith him in Australia, and he
suggests that you might getcancel for any reason travel
insurance if you really have tobe someplace on time, like you
(07:18):
booked a cruise ship or anon-refundable vacation resort
or something like that, becausethey really are canceling
willy-nilly flights are beingcanceled uh as airlines try to
cut back routes that are makingmoney or to uh just balance
their budget.
It's more expensive than basictravel insurance, which by the
way, he pointed out to me doesnot cover causes of delay due to
(07:38):
acts of war.
So that they're something tokeep in mind.
So you want all uh cancel forany reason travel insurance.
It's about 10 to 12 percent ofthe total trip cost, but it
would cover you if your flightgot canceled, then you're gonna
miss the cruise or the theresort and anything like that.
That might be worth it.
And then keep in mind, I mean,check with your airline if
you're if you're gonna if you'replanning a trip.
Um, as you know from thearticle, Delta has already
(08:01):
suspended some flights frommajor hubs, including JFK and
Boston Logan and DetroitMetropolitan.
And internationally, Tom,they're really getting clobbered
because not only is the priceup, but they're running out of
supply, and they just can't getthe fuel they need.
So some international carriers,including Air Canada, Lufthansa,
KLM, SAS, and Air New Zealand,have already significantly
(08:23):
reduced their summer flightschedules.
Lufthansa, that's the Germanairline in mid-April announced
that it would eliminate 20,000European short haul flights over
the summer.
As Don would say, 20,000flights.
So you're lucky in Europe he cantake trains.
It's easier to take trains, butAir Canada is gonna suspend
flights from Montreal andToronto to JFK June 1 through
(08:45):
October 25th.
So the flights you're eventhinking about going on or you
may have gone before may noteven be flying anymore.
So there's there's gonna beElliot told me this is gonna be
the most uh confusing travel sothe most challenging travel
season, most unpredictable.
Sound the table.
SPEAKER_01 (09:00):
I was just you jumped my to my my next seg.
I was gonna say you you quotedhim and you're saying called
this you called it the mostunpredictable summer travel
season since the pandemic.
Sounds like you agree with him.
SPEAKER_02 (09:12):
Uh absolutely.
I mean, you know, airlines aremaking all sorts of changes.
Fares are up, baggage fees areup, fuel charges are being added
on, by the way.
So you may see the fuel chargedrop, but the basic fare stays
up.
That's one way to keep makingmore revenue.
Flights are being eliminated.
Yeah, it's gonna be a crazyyear.
A lot of people have decidedthey don't want to participate.
They're gonna take a drivingvacation, go someplace and see
the USA in your Chevrolet.
(09:34):
Uh how's that for gone back intime?
That's going way back.
Yeah, and anybody listeningwho's old enough to re who
remember that jingle, you needto invest your money with Tom
because he's gonna take it.
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
Yeah, that's a good pitch.
Okay.
Flexibility.
Flexibility.
Starting early.
I mean, my wife, God bless her,booked all this many months ago
before the war.
So she's she's always on top ofthis.
But if you're just stillthinking about it, as you say,
flexibility and just roll the fthe punches, right?
Because there's not a whole lotelse you can do.
SPEAKER_02 (10:05):
Right.
And one more tip, seriously, andthat is to make sure you have
the airplanes app on your phoneif you're going to travel the
summer season.
Because if a flight is canceledor you're at the airport or last
minute, rather than trying toget in line with uh, you know,
150 other people at the customerservice desk are calling a line
that isn't answered, you canpossibly do much of your work on
(10:27):
the app and figure out what'sgoing on and and get that done.
But one scam, I wrote a separatereport about this, one scam to
watch out for is that if you'restuck at the airport and you
don't know uh have your app andyou don't know what the number
is for Alaska or Delta United,you might Google it.
Excuse me.
And so what happens is thescammers are now buying Google
(10:48):
ads, search engine ads, and theyshow up at the top of the search
engine results.
So you will call this number,you are going to a scammer, they
will answer the phone, they willbe happy to tell you they'll
rebook your f your uh ticket foryou, but they need your credit
card in order to do that.
And what they'll do is eitherbook you a ticket at an uh an
inflated price, or they won'tbook a ticket at all, but
(11:10):
they'll charge your credit card.
So you've got to be really,really careful.
The advice is it have the appand take the phone number, the
legitimate phone number of yourairline with you when you head
to the airport.
This has been a scam for awhile, Tom.
It's really growing inpopularity with the scammers.
They're doing this for hotels,they're doing this for airlines.
They answer the phone as ifyou've called the airline or if
(11:31):
you've called the hotel, so youreally don't know that you've
called a scammer.
Uh and uh the one way you cantell Chris Elliott, he said this
on the podcast, which was reallyfunny.
He said, if you call an airlineand they pick up on the first
ring, you know you're talking toa scammer, because what airline
is gonna answer on the firstring?
You know it's a good tip.
Absolutely.
But be careful.
A lot of a lot of people aregetting burned this way.
(11:51):
So not only are you out of moneyand you have to deal with a
credit card fraud, but youdidn't get on the other flight,
so you're not gonna get to yourdestination.
So there's a double hit if youwind up contacting a scammer.
So get the app and have the airlines and maybe the hotel's um
phone number if you need tocontact them if something goes
wrong on the chip, just beprepared ahead of time.
SPEAKER_01 (12:07):
Yeah, that's really good advice.
You know, we got stuck in, Ithink you know this, in London
last summer.
Yep.
And uh there was a line of about150 or 200 people.
Thankfully, I had sent my wifeearlier.
She was like second in linebecause I don't know, the rest
of those people may still bewaiting.
I don't know.
But you raised another goodpoint.
We're talking with HerbWeisbaum, who is a consumer man.
(12:28):
Of course, you can read hisgreat work at checkbook.org all
the time.
It's up there.
Do you have weekly?
How often do you update that?
SPEAKER_02 (12:35):
I write a I write a story every week.
I'm talking aboutconsumerpedia.org every other
week.
SPEAKER_01 (12:40):
That's awesome.
Great information.
So, okay, but you raisedsomething that's very important.
We'll get to another part of thethe article about travel, but
just but just in a generalsense.
This use of the way you pay forthings, because you mentioned
using your credit card.
If you use your credit card, youhave some protection.
If you use a debit card, youhave basically no protection.
Or as you account in anotherarticle you wrote, somebody
(13:03):
wired money to somebody.
I mean, once you've sent themoney out of your bank account,
you got nothing.
So you really should be usingthat credit card on any sort of
major purchase, correct?
SPEAKER_02 (13:12):
Yeah, you do have some rights with a debit card,
but you don't have anywhere nearthe rights you get for fraud
protection with a credit card,because with a credit card
you're using the bank's money,with a debit card, you're using
your money.
By the way, I don't have a debitcard because I've talked to too
many victims who have had aproblem.
The bank has either investigatedand they by law have at least 10
days to investigate.
So while they're investigating,that money is out of your bank
(13:33):
account to see, you know, thatyou can't use your money to pay
the rent or the mortgage orwhatever.
And then in many cases, theywould tell somebody, did you
give that debit card number tothat scammer?
And you'd say yes, and thenwell, it's not a scam.
You gave them the number andthey'll not and they won't put
the money back.
So I don't have a debit card.
I only use a credit card becauseof all the forward protection.
Wire transfer, come on, pay uhby Bitcoin, seriously.
(13:55):
Uh you know, the I mean, or payor peer-to-peer app.
You know, even the apps say youshouldn't do anything but send
money to somebody you know.
Somebody's asking you to pay forany kind of travel experience,
uh, and they need you to wirethe money or pay by Bitcoin or
pay by a peer-to-peer app, runaway as fast as you can.
You're absolutely dealing with ascammer.
But the the credit card, so ifyou have a problem, you call the
credit card company and say, Ijust called the airline, I got
(14:17):
hooked up with a scammer, theyhave my credit card, they charge
the card, it's a bogus charge.
The credit card company pulls itoff to the side, you don't have
to pay for it, so no harm, nofoul, and they'll investigate.
And in most cases, checkbook isfound, they find it in favor of
the consumer if it's alegitimate complaint.
They take that off your account,they deal with it with the
merchant.
It's called a chargeback.
So that's the protection youhave with a credit card.
SPEAKER_01 (14:38):
Yeah, and this comes up because when people are
booking through third parties,for example, you wrote a piece
about uh booking.com, I think itwas, and maybe even mentioned
Airbnb and the vacation rentalprocess.
Yeah, where people book thesethings, they send off the money,
and then they find out it wasall a big scam and they're not
staying anywhere.
I mean, tell us a little bitmore about that.
It's fairly shocking.
SPEAKER_02 (14:58):
Sure.
I will I just want to follow upon another thought because I've
heard people tell me through theyears, Tom, I don't want to give
my credit card number because Idon't want to possibly give my
credit card number to a scammer.
That's why you have a creditcard.
Right.
If you give it to a scammer, youcall the credit card.
If you give a debit card to thescammer, you got a lot more
problems.
They took your money, and nowyou got to get it back in your
account.
So that's that's why not thatwilly-nilly use your credit
(15:20):
card, but that's why you have itto protect against fraud.
Yeah, this is a really bigarticle, a major investigation
that my boss, Kevin Brassler,our executive editor of
Checkbook, did, and he lookedinto all the terms and
conditions and the problems thatpeople are having when they book
their vacations with vacationrental services.
The problems tend to be worsewith VRBO and with um
(15:41):
booking.com and tend to be alittle bit uh the Airbnb tends
to be more helpful.
So here's the problem (15:46):
the people go on and and book these
vacations, and what they findout is something happens to the
uh to their property, they get acontact from the property that
there's a problem with theirrental.
In some cases, they booked ascam property and there's no
such property there, and theyeither find out before they go,
or in some cases, horrendously,when they arrive and there's no
(16:07):
such property.
Can you imagine showing up at ahouse of people going my house?
I'm not renting my house.
Or other cases, the uh the uhhost cancels the reservation but
doesn't return the money, thedeposit you paid.
And uh we to I talked to for formy podcast, I talked to a
victim, her name is Susan Chud.
Uh she booked a house inKentucky for a family reunion,
(16:28):
so this was a huge amount ofmoney.
It was a scam.
And on the phone, VRBOacknowledged that the host had
canceled other guest stays andrefused to issue the refunds for
deposits, and they told her theywould refund the money, and she
said they seemed very empatheticand said they would help.
And then a day or so later, shegot an email that said, Deal
with your credit card company.
(16:48):
We're not paying back anything,or not even refunding the
booking charge you paid directlyto us, Virbo.
So uh she was sort of stuck thatwith that was a$780 charge Virbo
had, they wouldn't even refundthat.
Thankfully, she did the uhchargeback appeal to the credit
card company and they theyreversed the transaction.
But she and the other victims wetalked to wanted people to know
(17:11):
that despite all the uh promisesand the claims and the
advertising, they go through theplatforms, it's a safe way to
book.
You can trust us that whathappens is if verbo and
booking.com have a problem, youmay not get your money back.
And here's what my boss foundout he found out that verbo and
booking.com pay the host as soonas the reservation is booked.
(17:33):
So they get the money ahead oftime.
And the difference is thatAirbnb pays the host after the
person shows up for the rental.
Ah.
So they so that that makes itless likely that there's going
to be a scam because you got,you know, you're alerted,
they're there, you're there,you're at the property.
So if you alert them,something's not going on.
So they control all thefinancial transactions, and if
(17:56):
somebody gets scammed, theystill have your money, not the
scammers, and they appear to bea little bit more willing to
issue refunds, uh, we write.
Um, so and they also seem toremove fake listings faster than
other companies.
So that's the problem with uhverbo and booking.com is they
pay and and and in the articleand in the podcast, my boss
said, Why don't you just switchverbo booking.com?
(18:18):
Why don't you just, yeah, you'regonna annoy the host because
they want their money rightaway.
But where are they but where arethey gonna go?
You're you're two of the bigguys.
You know, they gotta use you ifthey want to rent these things.
Just switch it and and favor theconsumer instead of favoring
this the potential scammer who'sgonna steal people's money and
then say to them, sorry, we'renot gonna help you.
(18:38):
You've got to go to the creditcard company and deal with the
credit card company and get thistaken care of.
This Susan Chud said it ruinedthe whole experience with her,
and she would never ever usethem again.
SPEAKER_01 (18:47):
Oh boy, that's harsh.
We did not touch on this priorto our interview.
We're talking with HerbWeissbaum, who is the consumer
man and has been for I don'tshould we say it?
Almost almost 50 years.
Um but we're in the middle of apretty special time for people
that love soccer or football.
The World Cup.
Any scams that have been goingon there that you would did
(19:09):
you've around tickets oranything else that you've been
aware of?
SPEAKER_02 (19:12):
Um not particularly because you know I'm not a I'm
not a football or soccer guy.
You keep trying to you keeptrying to convert me.
So I mean I did watch Ted Lasso,so I guess I like it a little
bit.
Just be suspicious of any offer,and especially like if you're
gonna stay at a room, a hotel oruh some kind of place, and
somebody is offering anunbelievable deal that is way
(19:35):
below the market value, orsomebody who uh wants you to pay
in a one of the bizarre ways wetalked about via bank transfer
or via uh wire transfer or somekind of other way, a
peer-to-peer app.
Just be careful.
And I'm sure there's gonna bethose kind of scams going on uh
when you know, pay specialattention if you're doing a
vacation rental to reviews andlook for ones to talk about any
(19:57):
kind of scam or or problem withthat review with that host.
That's a good way to do that.
Uh again, there's probably gonnabe ticket scalping of scams.
I think the fact that thetickets are digital will
probably reduce that a littlebit because they can't stand
outside the stadium and say,hey, I got my tickets for row
six or whatever.
But you know, with in today'sworld, they can they can do
anything digitally and fakesomething.
(20:18):
So you just really, really needto be careful.
And yes, this is a goldenopportunity.
This is the moments thatscammers live for.
Big events where people areanxious, emotional, not
thinking.
You know, if you get a textmessage, hey, I got special deal
on tickets, you know, the hotelroom just went on sale, click
now.
That's when you get the littlevoice inside's gotta say, Herb
said, Don't do that.
Slow down, you're gonna get introuble.
SPEAKER_01 (20:39):
Is that what it's gonna take to make you a soccer
fan, get you into row six?
Is that the row that we need toto secure to get you to join the
club here, or what's the deal?
SPEAKER_02 (20:49):
Well, I'd like to share with our listeners that
you've promised to take me to amatch, and I've said I will
come.
I said I will come.
I asked you if I could bring thenewspaper along with me.
But if you if you if you doinvite me and buy a hot dog and
beer, I will absolutely come.
SPEAKER_01 (21:06):
Okay.
I can count you in.
You can also tell, I'll tell youanother thing you can count on
for a very long time is this guyis watching out for you.
He writes about it, as he said,regularly at checkbook.org.
What's where where do they findthe podcast again?
You find that there at sure.
SPEAKER_02 (21:19):
The podcast the podcast is at consumerpedia.org,
consumerpedia.org.
The articles are checkbook.org.
And if you want to write me andyou like see a scam or you have
a question based on what we'retalking about here with Tom, I
answer every question that comesin from listeners.
Go to my website,consumerman.com, which has all
my checkbook stories.
Consumerman.com, you'll see anenvelope, an old-fashioned
(21:41):
envelope at the top.
That's my email link.
Write me and know and say I waslistening to the podcast.
I have a question, or I got ascam you might want to look into
because that's how I get thesome of the best stories, Tom.
Is pe there are the eyes andears out there, and they say,
Did you did you know about thisone?
And that's how we find out aboutthings.
SPEAKER_01 (21:57):
I love it.
And keep up the great work.
And for those of you who havequestions for Don and myself,
well, you can go totalkingrealmoney.com.
That's right.
And then click on it's reallytough.
Ask a question.
You can ask it, uh you can typeit, you can voice it, you can do
all kinds of stuff there.
So we love that.
And if you want help from anadvisor, it's right there on the
website as well.
You know we're gonna be here.
(22:18):
Thank you, Herb, by the way, forjoining us because it's always
great when you uh when you comeon the program.
It was a pleasure, and as Donwould say, and we'll be back
with another episode tomorrow ofuh because you know we're always
gonna be here, always gonna behere talking real money.
SPEAKER_04 (22:35):
The opinions and views expressed in this podcast
were current on the daterecorded.
Opinions, estimates, forecasts,and statements of financial
market trends that are based oncurrent market conditions
constitute our judgment and aresubject to change without
notice, including anyforward-looking estimates or
statements which are based oncertain expectations and
assumptions.
SPEAKER_03 (22:48):
Although information and opinions given have been
obtained from or based onsources believed to be reliable,
no warranty or representation ismade as to their correctness,
completeness, or accuracy.
SPEAKER_04 (22:57):
Information presented on the podcast is not
personalized investment advicefrom Ropello Wealth.
The views and strategiesdescribed may not be suitable
for everyone.
This podcast does not identifyall the risks, direct or
indirect, or otherconsiderations which might be
material to you when enteringany financial transaction.
Past performance does notguarantee feature results, and
profitable results cannot beguaranteed.
We hope you realize that theinformation provided on Talking
Real Money is for informational,educational, and hopefully
(23:20):
enjoyable purposes only.
The podcast is not trying to getyou to buy or sell any financial
products or securities.
Instead, the program is providedas a public service by Appello
Wealth, a fee-only registeredinvestment advisor.
SPEAKER_03 (23:30):
See AppelloWealth ADV Part 2 and on our website
for information regardingAppellate's fees and services.
SPEAKER_04 (23:35):
Appello Capital, LLC DBA Appello Wealth, is an
investment advisory firmregistered with the Securities
and Exchange Commission.
The firm only transacts businessin the states where it is
properly registered or excludedor exempt from registration
requirements.
Registration with the SEC or anystate securities authority does
not imply a certain level ofskill or training.
Apello does not provide tax orlegal advice, and nothing either
stated or implied here should beinferred as providing such
(23:57):
advice.
Thanks for listening, and pleasevisit talkingrealmoney.com for
more information and importantdisclosure related to
performance of any specificindex or fund quoted in this
podcast.
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