Janice Spooner has some money saving tips

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining US now an expert on lending and credits. Janice
Spooner is joining US now. Janis welcome in. Thanks for
being here.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, JT. Glad to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
You know, in the bigger picture, it seems the economy
is doing pretty good. The market's doing great. We see
that the tariff discussion is going to end up leveling
the playing field if you in a little bit more
advantage for the United States, a big advantage of trillions
of dollars over the next coming years. Gas prices are
still relatively low, but there's still some things out there

(00:28):
that are pricey groceries and you entertainment and travel and
airlines and things like that. So when everybody's trying to
balance their own personal budget at home, there are ways
to cut and save that you know, most people don't
really think about and maybe, you know, making some mistakes
along the way. So I thought, well, let's talk about this, Jannis.

(00:49):
So what are your recommendations for most folks that are
trying to get that tight budget working for him?

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, let's just start with the statement you can't fix
which you don't track. So understanding your budget and really
aligning that with your goals and your values, making sure
you're financially prepared for emergencies. You have a wishless bucket,
and you invest. So that's the big level picture. We

(01:17):
can drill down to what to do or not to do.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Wow, so when you track it now you're okay, well,
I didn't realize what was spending this money money here,
and oh I could probably save that instead of spending it.
Where are most people making the wrong decisions?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Cutting without a plan and that includes I see people
take their risk of living without insurance. You can't live
without car insurance, home insurance, those types of things. Those
are essentials that should not be cut.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Those shouldn't be cut. Or where do you where do
you like to you know, focus in on.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Cutting asletally look at your recurring bills, your credit cards,
your phone, your internet, call and try to negotiate. Ask
if there's an opportunity for a better interest rate. Let's
just take the credit card for example. If you've had
this one credit card for a long time and you

(02:17):
you know, have to pay attention to that last page
on your credit card statement where it says it's in
the twenty five percent interest rate range. Call see if
there's a better opportunity. Look to see if there's a
different card that you could transfer those balances and get
a lower interest rate. But also, you know, use tools,
find ways to track your spending and really audit your

(02:41):
full budget so that you are making sure it aligns
with where you want to be. And don't just react,
but respond because you have to have an emergency fund.
Look a look at your budget, see where you're spending,
and set that up because that's going to save you
in the future.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
All Right, Janis, thank you so much for the insight.
I appreciate you. This morning, it's seven forty six now
Alabama's Morning News. I got to tell you the best
way to go about cutting things is She's right. Look
what you're spending, and a lot of banks will lail
that out for you, like monthly spending, where your debits
went and where your checks went and all that and
put them a pie in a category and like, oh
my gosh, spent a lot of money over here in

(03:22):
this entertainment world back here, and then yeah, take action
on it there too, And the credit companies will work
with you, unlike student loan companies. You call them and
they'll negotiate a lot of times you know, you got
a ten thousand dollars visa debt and you know it
can only make forty two dollars payments a month. Sometimes
they'll you know, offer up, okay, if you can pay
it all off and maybe get an equity line or something,

(03:44):
pay it off, We'll cut it in half. I mean
they'll they'll work with you and reduce the amount of
debt for you if you just ask. You know, you
got a fifty fifty chance of a yes, that's for sure,
if you just make the call. Seven forty seven Now
Alabama's morning news. All right, Instagram now tracking us where
we're going. Well, they've just rolled out this new feature
letting you share your real time location with friends, kind

(04:05):
of like find my friends, you know, find me on
the app, but it's baked right into your DMS. You'll
need to opt in and enable the location services, and
it only updates when you're using the app or it's
you know, running in the background. So while Instagram's parent company,
Meta of course says it's all about lightweight connection and
privacy is the top priority. Yeah, some of users raising
some eyebrows on this one here, Thankfully, turning it off

(04:27):
is just as easy as if you'd rather not be
on the map. But there's a way to go through
it to check it out. I don't know the exact steps,
but you know, if you dig into it, and you
know click this and click that, you can make sure
that the location setting on Instagram's not letting stockers find
you