September 11, 2025 • 12 mins
Host of ‘How to Money’ Joel Larsgaard joins the show to talk about Americans largely believe hard work will not lead to greater levels of economic success, flipping items on Facebook Marketplace, and Robinhood launching a new social media platform.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is time now for a how to Money segment
(00:02):
with Joe Larsgard. Joel heard Sunday twelve pm to two
pm his show cleverly entitled how to Money and his
socialism as at how to Money Joel, howdomoney dot com
is the website Joel.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good Morning, Morning Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
It used to be and I was part of this,
and I guess to some extent I still am that
for you to be successful, all you have to do
is really work hard, because that is the formula in
this country. You work hard and you will succeed. There's
no way around that. People don't believe that anymore. Certainly
(00:42):
my daughters don't. And I keep on telling him work hard,
and they go, Dad, that really doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Let's talk about that for a moment. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
So there's this recent Wall Street Journal poll and it's
been happening for They've been doing this for like twenty
five years or thirty years or something like that, and
it's been really interesting to see when you go back
and look at the graph of the percentage of Americans
who do believe the hard work pays off and can
allow you to live the American dream. And you know,
at as recently, as the year two thousand, more than
(01:14):
three quarters of Americans are like, yeah, hard work, it's
gonna lead to success in this country. And now we're
just in incredibly pessimistic times, and nearly seventy percent of
Americans just believe that hard work, No, it doesn't really
have any bearing or impact on your ability to live
a meaningful life or to flourish in this country. And
(01:36):
so it's just kind of shocking to see that rapid decline.
I can't it's really hard to parse and figure out
whether or not this is actually because things have structurally
changed so much in the past twenty years in this
country that that is accurate, or if there's just this
kind of pessimistic vibe, this dark cloud that's kind of
overhanging people's perception of the economy and their ability to
(01:59):
succeed inside of it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
You know. I see my daughters as a litmus test
to what's going on. They're about thirty twin girls, and
the only thing they work very hard at is spending
money with my credit card. That way, I give you,
but the pessimism, particularly Pamela, she's going for her master's
degree now in computer on computer.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Science and the reason she is is.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Dad, there really is no work out there for someone
who has my skill level. It's you have to have
a very high skill level and short of that in
the world of computers, because of AI, because of the
financial models they use. And it has to do with
you know, her pessimism. And she's not alone. It's out there,
(02:46):
and it's troubling, by the way, because we are a
country that every everyone's kids we're going to do better
than us, right, And that certainly was with me growing up,
and I certainly thought that when my kids were small,
you know, the next generation was going to do better.
(03:08):
And it well, let me ask you this, Certainly the
feeling out there, the belief out there is at hard
work is nearly not going to cut it.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
What's the reality of it.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So that's a great question, and that's exactly what's kind
of what I wanted to cover with you, because I
think there is there is some truth to just nose
to the grindstone. I on the prize working as hard
as you can that, yeah, you might not surpass the
economic success that your parents had, and you have to
be even more thoughtful I think in today's economy about
(03:42):
what you pursue the debt you take on to pursue
to pursue that goal, to pursue that degree, And you
also have to be I think, more flexible than ever
before in an economy that's kind of constantly changing and
morphing and moving. So there was this other really interesting
article in Business Insider about gen z and how they
are more interested in entrepreneurship, and I think that's got
(04:05):
to be largely because of the increase in the cost
of college, like all the mess of student loans, and
how that debt is really really hurting a lot of
people's ability to succeed in the economy. Even if they
get a job with their degree, which a lot of
people graduate, they have the degree, they've got the debt,
(04:26):
and they don't really have a job that's commensurate to
the education that they've just got. So I think you
have to be really careful about what degree you're getting,
how much you're spending to get that degree. And so
I think that's why you're seeing a lot of young
people pivoting. They're saying that was a path I was
told that work, but maybe I don't know. It doesn't
seem to be working out for some of those younger
millennials in older gen zs. So maybe I'm going to
(04:48):
do something a little bit different and kind of skip
that and see if maybe I can find a better
way forward. And I do think you just have to
be more willing to assess the landscape and make changes
instead of believing that, oh great, get the four year
college degree, maybe even go to graduate school and that's
what's going to lead to economic success and a significant
(05:08):
income and then home ownership and all that stuff. Maybe
I need to conceptualize a different idea of success and
find a different path forward.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
As a baby boomer, which I am, I my generation
is getting blamed for basically ruining everything. We have the
most disposable income, we have, the houses, we had, the
great jobs or still do before retiring. And there's a well,
for example, my wife, who is younger than I am,
(05:38):
she just graduated high school and she is look and
says to me, Bill, you've ruined it for the rest
of us. You baby boomers have just wiped out all
of us because you got the good stuff. And that's
the way world. The world has changed. You want to
comment on that.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Well, she's still married you, so obviously there's something she likes,
despite the fact that you've ruined it for everyone.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, I'm thinking of economically, Yeah, but how does some
I bought a house when I was in my twenties,
I was able to put down a reasonable down payment,
reasonable mortgage payments.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Those days are gone. Who can do that?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, I mean I do. I do think there is
there is some truth to that. But then again, I
was at my next door neighbor she just turned one
hundred recently, and her son had put together this like
old school newspaper article looking thing about what and it
had like what things cost in nineteen twenty five when
she was born. And it's kind of funny and silly
(06:37):
to be like, oh, my goodness, a state costs like
thirty cents back then. But then you're, you know, you
look at what investing would have done. How investing one
hundred bucks in the year nineteen twenty five would have
led to like something like two point seven million dollars now.
And so I do think that we have more people
participating in the market than ever before, and we have
(06:57):
people of all stripes and on levels benefiting from their
ability to invest incredibly easily in low cost index funds
and it's become super simple through apps like mixed feelings
about apps like Robinhood, but it makes it incredibly simple
to get into the investing space, and so I think
people have more of an ability to continue to move
(07:21):
up when in their wealth building efforts and to move
up in the economy. Then maybe they think, yes, there
are some ways that you that you don't have it
as easy as maybe the baby boomers had it, But
then there are other ways to go out there and
proceed and do just fine for yourself. I guess there's
a lot of pessimism that I think is warranted, and
then there's a lot of pessimism that I think just
(07:42):
isn't warranted, and that there's maybe a little bit of
like pity party going on.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Thank you for that. That's deep analysis.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Sometimes yes, sometimes no, well said, all right, coming up
Facebook marketplace. By the way, that's me making fun of
you in case you all right now flipping stuff on
Facebook marketplace?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Does that make sense? Because I always thought that was
kind of weird, so I think it can.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
There are only two things I like about Facebook, Bill,
I think most most of it's waste of time and energy,
But I like the Facebook groups like the how to
Money Facebook group is a great place for people to
go and ask money questions and help each other out.
And the Facebook Marketplace it has basically taken over from Craigslist.
It is it is now the place to buy and
sell stuff and to find other people who are buying
(08:31):
and selling stuff at a reasonable price in your vicinity
as well. And so I do think more people should
consider using it more frequently. Like I recently sold a
few things on there, and and someone you know comes
to my house and picks it up. And I didn't
sell it for very much, but I got rid of
it and I didn't have to throw it into like,
you know, the dumpster, which made me feel better about myself.
(08:52):
But there was this article about people flipping stuff on
Facebook Marketplace and so basically buying stuff that you think
is underpriced and selling it for more. And yeah, it
could be kind of a paint of the butt. You
might be driving around your town a lot. But if
you're kind of in this mode where you want to
pick up a side hustle and you feel like there's
you you have a particular knowledge of a specific sector
(09:16):
of stuff that's gets sold on Facebook Marketplace, Like maybe
you know a lot about dishwashers, and you buy broken
dishwashers and you fix them and you sell them to
other people.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Maybe you could.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
You could truly make some money on Facebook marketplace if
you're smart.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
And the operative word or the operative phrase is they
come to your house.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Total total strangers come to your you can.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
They can stick around for dinner if you're interested in
making a new friend too.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, there certainly seems to be an issue of security.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
They are right.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
But when I think about this, I think about small items.
I think about coins, I think about toys, that kind
of thing. I would go in that direction if I
had to guess your comments.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yes, sporting goods is another one. But yeah, like pokemon
stuff is like it's hot on Facebook, and some people
just don't know what they have and so they sell
it for less than they should. I will say, yeah,
to keep yourself safe when you're meeting when you're meeting someone,
sometimes I do, like, you sell stuff in the driveway
at my house, and I don't. I don't feel super
(10:24):
weird about it. But I also it depends on what
I'm selling. So if I'm picking, like I bought an
Apple watch for my daughter on Facebook, marketplace, and we
met at a really public place because that is it's
sometimes it's those tech items, it's specifically iPhones and Apple
watches and stuff like that, where that's when you might
encounter somebody who wants to rip you off. And so
(10:45):
meeting at a police station or a brightly lit public
place makes a lot more sense. I wouldn't want that
person necessarily come into my house. So just be really
be careful. You know what you're selling and who you're
where you're interacting with people, because yeah, I can get
a little weird.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah, Also keep in mind that there's no warranty at all.
The people disappear very quickly. You're going to go to
small claims court and never collect, and that's the risk
you take. For example, you bought an Apple Watch, how
do you know the battery is going to last?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Yeah, there's a guy there, there's a setting in the
back and you can kind of see what the battery
life is like. But you're so right. It is a
buyer beware sort of thing. And you might think you're
getting a deal, but the person selling it to you
is like, I don't know, this thing's not really working right,
That's why I'm selling it, and I'm selling it for
less because it's actually in bad shape. So yeah, be
careful about that and know what you're buying and know
(11:36):
what to look for so you're not getting a lemon, all.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Right, Joel?
Speaker 1 (11:40):
This Sunday twelve to two pm. The show is How
to Money Take Care.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Thanks Bill.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Okay, I thinking used condoms? Would that work? There's a
joke about that.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
There is a joke that I want to I will
share with you at some point.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
That's disgusting. Yeah, that's right. Let's let's let's edit that
one out. Okay. Yeah, well yeah it was a joke.
It was a joke.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Okay, well maybe not. Okay, let's get out of here.
Is that okay with you?
It is time now for a how to Money segment
(00:02):
with Joe Larsgard. Joel heard Sunday twelve pm to two
pm his show cleverly entitled how to Money and his
socialism as at how to Money Joel, howdomoney dot com
is the website Joel.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good Morning, Morning Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
It used to be and I was part of this,
and I guess to some extent I still am that
for you to be successful, all you have to do
is really work hard, because that is the formula in
this country. You work hard and you will succeed. There's
no way around that. People don't believe that anymore. Certainly
(00:42):
my daughters don't. And I keep on telling him work hard,
and they go, Dad, that really doesn't matter anymore.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Let's talk about that for a moment. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
So there's this recent Wall Street Journal poll and it's
been happening for They've been doing this for like twenty
five years or thirty years or something like that, and
it's been really interesting to see when you go back
and look at the graph of the percentage of Americans
who do believe the hard work pays off and can
allow you to live the American dream. And you know,
at as recently, as the year two thousand, more than
(01:14):
three quarters of Americans are like, yeah, hard work, it's
gonna lead to success in this country. And now we're
just in incredibly pessimistic times, and nearly seventy percent of
Americans just believe that hard work, No, it doesn't really
have any bearing or impact on your ability to live
a meaningful life or to flourish in this country. And
(01:36):
so it's just kind of shocking to see that rapid decline.
I can't it's really hard to parse and figure out
whether or not this is actually because things have structurally
changed so much in the past twenty years in this
country that that is accurate, or if there's just this
kind of pessimistic vibe, this dark cloud that's kind of
overhanging people's perception of the economy and their ability to
(01:59):
succeed inside of it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
You know. I see my daughters as a litmus test
to what's going on. They're about thirty twin girls, and
the only thing they work very hard at is spending
money with my credit card. That way, I give you,
but the pessimism, particularly Pamela, she's going for her master's
degree now in computer on computer.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Science and the reason she is is.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Dad, there really is no work out there for someone
who has my skill level. It's you have to have
a very high skill level and short of that in
the world of computers, because of AI, because of the
financial models they use. And it has to do with
you know, her pessimism. And she's not alone. It's out there,
(02:46):
and it's troubling, by the way, because we are a
country that every everyone's kids we're going to do better
than us, right, And that certainly was with me growing up,
and I certainly thought that when my kids were small,
you know, the next generation was going to do better.
(03:08):
And it well, let me ask you this, Certainly the
feeling out there, the belief out there is at hard
work is nearly not going to cut it.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
What's the reality of it.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So that's a great question, and that's exactly what's kind
of what I wanted to cover with you, because I
think there is there is some truth to just nose
to the grindstone. I on the prize working as hard
as you can that, yeah, you might not surpass the
economic success that your parents had, and you have to
be even more thoughtful I think in today's economy about
(03:42):
what you pursue the debt you take on to pursue
to pursue that goal, to pursue that degree, And you
also have to be I think, more flexible than ever
before in an economy that's kind of constantly changing and
morphing and moving. So there was this other really interesting
article in Business Insider about gen z and how they
are more interested in entrepreneurship, and I think that's got
(04:05):
to be largely because of the increase in the cost
of college, like all the mess of student loans, and
how that debt is really really hurting a lot of
people's ability to succeed in the economy. Even if they
get a job with their degree, which a lot of
people graduate, they have the degree, they've got the debt,
(04:26):
and they don't really have a job that's commensurate to
the education that they've just got. So I think you
have to be really careful about what degree you're getting,
how much you're spending to get that degree. And so
I think that's why you're seeing a lot of young
people pivoting. They're saying that was a path I was
told that work, but maybe I don't know. It doesn't
seem to be working out for some of those younger
millennials in older gen zs. So maybe I'm going to
(04:48):
do something a little bit different and kind of skip
that and see if maybe I can find a better
way forward. And I do think you just have to
be more willing to assess the landscape and make changes
instead of believing that, oh great, get the four year
college degree, maybe even go to graduate school and that's
what's going to lead to economic success and a significant
(05:08):
income and then home ownership and all that stuff. Maybe
I need to conceptualize a different idea of success and
find a different path forward.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
As a baby boomer, which I am, I my generation
is getting blamed for basically ruining everything. We have the
most disposable income, we have, the houses, we had, the
great jobs or still do before retiring. And there's a well,
for example, my wife, who is younger than I am,
(05:38):
she just graduated high school and she is look and
says to me, Bill, you've ruined it for the rest
of us. You baby boomers have just wiped out all
of us because you got the good stuff. And that's
the way world. The world has changed. You want to
comment on that.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Well, she's still married you, so obviously there's something she likes,
despite the fact that you've ruined it for everyone.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, I'm thinking of economically, Yeah, but how does some
I bought a house when I was in my twenties,
I was able to put down a reasonable down payment,
reasonable mortgage payments.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Those days are gone. Who can do that?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Yeah, I mean I do. I do think there is
there is some truth to that. But then again, I
was at my next door neighbor she just turned one
hundred recently, and her son had put together this like
old school newspaper article looking thing about what and it
had like what things cost in nineteen twenty five when
she was born. And it's kind of funny and silly
(06:37):
to be like, oh, my goodness, a state costs like
thirty cents back then. But then you're, you know, you
look at what investing would have done. How investing one
hundred bucks in the year nineteen twenty five would have
led to like something like two point seven million dollars now.
And so I do think that we have more people
participating in the market than ever before, and we have
(06:57):
people of all stripes and on levels benefiting from their
ability to invest incredibly easily in low cost index funds
and it's become super simple through apps like mixed feelings
about apps like Robinhood, but it makes it incredibly simple
to get into the investing space, and so I think
people have more of an ability to continue to move
(07:21):
up when in their wealth building efforts and to move
up in the economy. Then maybe they think, yes, there
are some ways that you that you don't have it
as easy as maybe the baby boomers had it, But
then there are other ways to go out there and
proceed and do just fine for yourself. I guess there's
a lot of pessimism that I think is warranted, and
then there's a lot of pessimism that I think just
(07:42):
isn't warranted, and that there's maybe a little bit of
like pity party going on.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Thank you for that. That's deep analysis.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Sometimes yes, sometimes no, well said, all right, coming up
Facebook marketplace. By the way, that's me making fun of
you in case you all right now flipping stuff on
Facebook marketplace?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Does that make sense? Because I always thought that was
kind of weird, so I think it can.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
There are only two things I like about Facebook, Bill,
I think most most of it's waste of time and energy,
But I like the Facebook groups like the how to
Money Facebook group is a great place for people to
go and ask money questions and help each other out.
And the Facebook Marketplace it has basically taken over from Craigslist.
It is it is now the place to buy and
sell stuff and to find other people who are buying
(08:31):
and selling stuff at a reasonable price in your vicinity
as well. And so I do think more people should
consider using it more frequently. Like I recently sold a
few things on there, and and someone you know comes
to my house and picks it up. And I didn't
sell it for very much, but I got rid of
it and I didn't have to throw it into like,
you know, the dumpster, which made me feel better about myself.
(08:52):
But there was this article about people flipping stuff on
Facebook Marketplace and so basically buying stuff that you think
is underpriced and selling it for more. And yeah, it
could be kind of a paint of the butt. You
might be driving around your town a lot. But if
you're kind of in this mode where you want to
pick up a side hustle and you feel like there's
you you have a particular knowledge of a specific sector
(09:16):
of stuff that's gets sold on Facebook Marketplace, Like maybe
you know a lot about dishwashers, and you buy broken
dishwashers and you fix them and you sell them to
other people.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Maybe you could.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
You could truly make some money on Facebook marketplace if
you're smart.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
And the operative word or the operative phrase is they
come to your house.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Total total strangers come to your you can.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
They can stick around for dinner if you're interested in
making a new friend too.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, there certainly seems to be an issue of security.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
They are right.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
But when I think about this, I think about small items.
I think about coins, I think about toys, that kind
of thing. I would go in that direction if I
had to guess your comments.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yes, sporting goods is another one. But yeah, like pokemon
stuff is like it's hot on Facebook, and some people
just don't know what they have and so they sell
it for less than they should. I will say, yeah,
to keep yourself safe when you're meeting when you're meeting someone,
sometimes I do, like, you sell stuff in the driveway
at my house, and I don't. I don't feel super
(10:24):
weird about it. But I also it depends on what
I'm selling. So if I'm picking, like I bought an
Apple watch for my daughter on Facebook, marketplace, and we
met at a really public place because that is it's
sometimes it's those tech items, it's specifically iPhones and Apple
watches and stuff like that, where that's when you might
encounter somebody who wants to rip you off. And so
(10:45):
meeting at a police station or a brightly lit public
place makes a lot more sense. I wouldn't want that
person necessarily come into my house. So just be really
be careful. You know what you're selling and who you're
where you're interacting with people, because yeah, I can get
a little weird.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Yeah, Also keep in mind that there's no warranty at all.
The people disappear very quickly. You're going to go to
small claims court and never collect, and that's the risk
you take. For example, you bought an Apple Watch, how
do you know the battery is going to last?
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Yeah, there's a guy there, there's a setting in the
back and you can kind of see what the battery
life is like. But you're so right. It is a
buyer beware sort of thing. And you might think you're
getting a deal, but the person selling it to you
is like, I don't know, this thing's not really working right,
That's why I'm selling it, and I'm selling it for
less because it's actually in bad shape. So yeah, be
careful about that and know what you're buying and know
(11:36):
what to look for so you're not getting a lemon, all.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Right, Joel?
Speaker 1 (11:40):
This Sunday twelve to two pm. The show is How
to Money Take Care.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Thanks Bill.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Okay, I thinking used condoms? Would that work? There's a
joke about that.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
There is a joke that I want to I will
share with you at some point.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
That's disgusting. Yeah, that's right. Let's let's let's edit that
one out. Okay. Yeah, well yeah it was a joke.
It was a joke.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Okay, well maybe not. Okay, let's get out of here.
Is that okay with you?
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