October 7, 2025 • 7 mins
Amy talks with the host of ‘How to Money’ Joel Larsgaard about contract and freelance work, retirement accounts, and reliable cars.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's say good morning now to the host of How
to Money on KFI. It's Joel lars Guard Morning.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Joel morning Amy.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Okay, so you're saying, when when you're looking for your
next gig, instead of a regular employees setup, maybe contractor
freelance is a way to.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Go at least consider it, right, So we are. I
just I have feels for the people for three years
ago when the job market was robust and it was like, actually,
I'm going to leave my employer and go down the
street and make twenty five percent more. And that was
regularly hearing from listeners who are making that happen. And
the job market is clearly not in that place right now,
(00:41):
and we've reached more of an equilibrium state because the
unemployment rate overall is still reasonably low from a historic perspective.
But we're also it's there's kind of a frozenness to
the job market. And it's not that you can't go
down the street and potentially make more, it's just that
it's much much harder to pull off. And so one
of the tactics that I've seen people employing right now
(01:02):
in order to maybe get their foot in the door
for an employer they're interested in working for, or even
a way to potentially make a higher hourly rate, but
it just doesn't come without it just doesn't come with
the benefits is opting for like a freelance or a
contract position. And so employers are saying, we're just kind
of uncertain about what's going to happen with the economy
(01:22):
where things are headed. They're saying these tariffs, like how
much are they going to impact our bottom line? And so, yeah,
we'd like to expand we'd like to hire some more folks,
but it's easier for us to potentially hire someone in
a contract position right now because it's easier to ask
you if the time comes that we actually can't afford
to keep you on. And so you might be able to,
(01:45):
as an individual find one of these contract or freelance
positions and maybe that's what gets your foot in the
door at an employer. As a way to move if
you're if you're looking to move jobs or you need
a new job, this could be the perfect way to
get started. Even if you're like man, I want that
full time position with benefits. This could be a good
(02:06):
option for a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Of folksta there's certain companies who basically operate that way,
like Nike used to. I don't know if they still do,
but when I was up in Oregon, Nike hired people
on a contract basis pretty regularly, and then after a
period of time they decide if they were going to
offer you full time.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, And I think it's understandable from an employer perspective,
where you're like, let's let's test the goods out. Let's
let's go like three six months and see how this
person fits from a culture perspective and what sort of
work they're churning out. And then for you too, when
you think about the right now, trying to go through
the hiring process and get your it can be a
(02:47):
real pain. And so you're like, I've submitted my resume,
I've reached out multiple times, I feel like I'm not
hearing back. Trying to get hired can be tough, But
trying to get hired for a contract position can be
much easier because the stakes are lower. And so but
then once you're once you're in the door and you're
and you're churning out good work and you're valuable to
that employer, it's so much easier for them to say
(03:07):
six months down the road, all right, let's bring you
on full time now, benefits included. But I will say
this too. One of my friends, like, he got laid
off recently and he's doing contract work for the employer
that laid him off, and he's making a much higher
hourly rate now and he's able to his his spouse
is still working, so he's able to get benefits there,
and so it's actually been in some ways a better
(03:29):
situation for him. So I think some people are maybe
just reticent to even consider freelance and contract positions, and
I just think it's something that should be on the table.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Okay, here's something that I am very interested in. You
can put more in your retirement accounts.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Now. Yeah, So this is fun And it happens every
year or two where the contribution limits for retirement accounts
goes up, and they all go up at different rates,
depending on different things, partly based on the rate of inflation.
But your next year in twenty twenty six, you're going
to be able to contribute more to your four one
(04:05):
K to your four or three B if you are
the kind of person and if you if you're the
kind of person who wants to max out your retirement accounts.
You're my kind of person, and not many people can
do this. Obviously, it's really hard to contribute twenty four
five hundred dollars a year to your workplace retirement account.
In addition to that, you can contribute instead of seven
(04:27):
thousand dollars, you can contribute seventy five hundred to your
traditional or roth ira, And so it's just important to mention.
I think these are good goals for people to have
good benchmarks to strive after. And in particular, I love
the roth Ira bump up. I want people that's one
of my favorite accounts, and so seeing that you can
(04:47):
put more money in that is a really good thing.
And I just divided seventy five hundred dollars by twelve
twelve months. And if you're seeking to max out your
roth ira and you want to do it in equal
contribution amounts every single month, six hundred and twenty five
dollars a month is what you would need to allocate
into that roth Ira. And so whether you have it
(05:07):
through Vanguard or Fidelity or Schwab, just make sure that
you have that recurring contribution set up and that you're
investing the money that goes inside of that account. But
six hundred and twenty five bucks a month is the
goal to shoot for if you want to max out
that account next year.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
All right, And then I thought this was interesting too,
because you know, there are so many people who just
got to have a new car. I used to be
one of them, got to have a new car all
the time, and I don't do that anymore. But if
you're looking to have a car for the long haul,
there are some cars to get and some to steer
away from.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, and this is one of the yeah, nice, nice,
I too love dad jokes. Yeah, this was a great
list for ic cars, and it honestly it was completely
not shocking, just reinforcing of something we already know from
other data elsewhere. But Toyotas are more likely to reach
two hundred fifty thousand mile something like three point seven
(06:02):
times more likely to last that long than any other
maker model. And so if you're like and I think
this is a really important thing to consider, especially with
what we've discussed about people being underwater on their cars
taking out longer car loans, well, one of the potential
solves to that problem is driving a make and model
(06:23):
that's going to last you a lot longer, and so
that's going to ease some of the pain of maybe
some of those other mistakes that people are making. I
love the idea of looking at specific makes and models
on a site like Consumer Reports to see well because
from year to year the reliability ratings can vary, so
Consumer Reports is a great place to turn for that.
But Toyota specifically Lexis also was there, Honda right afterwards
(06:47):
in Accura. So the top four cars that last the longest,
that are most likely to make it to two undred
fifty thousand miles are Toyotas and Honda's because Honda makes Acura,
Toyota makes Lexus. So if you're like, if you're stumped
about what kind of car to get, that's at least
one knee jerk reaction. That might make some sense. And
I love the idea. I don't know if you'll actually
most of us will actually drive cars to two hundred
(07:09):
and fifty thousand miles. Both of mine are getting close
to two hundred thousand miles. I'd love to get to
that point. And if you can, that's a massive financial
win for you because the longer you keep your car
on the road. The longer you avoid having a car payment,
you're just gonna save so much money. I know it
gets tiresome to go to the mechanic once your car
passes two hundred thousand miles, but just think of and
(07:29):
actually and actually document what am I spending to repair
this car, because I would venture to guess that it's
a heck of a lot less than what those monthly
car payments would be if you were to sign up
for a new loan.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
All right. The host of how to Money on KFI
is Joel Larsgard, and you can listen to him every
Sunday from noon to two. You can follow him on
how to Money Joel and get lots of great financial
advice like you just heard right here. Thank you, Joel.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Thanks Amy
Let's say good morning now to the host of How
to Money on KFI. It's Joel lars Guard Morning.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Joel morning Amy.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Okay, so you're saying, when when you're looking for your
next gig, instead of a regular employees setup, maybe contractor
freelance is a way to.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Go at least consider it, right, So we are. I
just I have feels for the people for three years
ago when the job market was robust and it was like, actually,
I'm going to leave my employer and go down the
street and make twenty five percent more. And that was
regularly hearing from listeners who are making that happen. And
the job market is clearly not in that place right now,
(00:41):
and we've reached more of an equilibrium state because the
unemployment rate overall is still reasonably low from a historic perspective.
But we're also it's there's kind of a frozenness to
the job market. And it's not that you can't go
down the street and potentially make more, it's just that
it's much much harder to pull off. And so one
of the tactics that I've seen people employing right now
(01:02):
in order to maybe get their foot in the door
for an employer they're interested in working for, or even
a way to potentially make a higher hourly rate, but
it just doesn't come without it just doesn't come with
the benefits is opting for like a freelance or a
contract position. And so employers are saying, we're just kind
of uncertain about what's going to happen with the economy
(01:22):
where things are headed. They're saying these tariffs, like how
much are they going to impact our bottom line? And so, yeah,
we'd like to expand we'd like to hire some more folks,
but it's easier for us to potentially hire someone in
a contract position right now because it's easier to ask
you if the time comes that we actually can't afford
to keep you on. And so you might be able to,
(01:45):
as an individual find one of these contract or freelance
positions and maybe that's what gets your foot in the
door at an employer. As a way to move if
you're if you're looking to move jobs or you need
a new job, this could be the perfect way to
get started. Even if you're like man, I want that
full time position with benefits. This could be a good
(02:06):
option for a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Of folksta there's certain companies who basically operate that way,
like Nike used to. I don't know if they still do,
but when I was up in Oregon, Nike hired people
on a contract basis pretty regularly, and then after a
period of time they decide if they were going to
offer you full time.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, And I think it's understandable from an employer perspective,
where you're like, let's let's test the goods out. Let's
let's go like three six months and see how this
person fits from a culture perspective and what sort of
work they're churning out. And then for you too, when
you think about the right now, trying to go through
the hiring process and get your it can be a
(02:47):
real pain. And so you're like, I've submitted my resume,
I've reached out multiple times, I feel like I'm not
hearing back. Trying to get hired can be tough, But
trying to get hired for a contract position can be
much easier because the stakes are lower. And so but
then once you're once you're in the door and you're
and you're churning out good work and you're valuable to
that employer, it's so much easier for them to say
(03:07):
six months down the road, all right, let's bring you
on full time now, benefits included. But I will say
this too. One of my friends, like, he got laid
off recently and he's doing contract work for the employer
that laid him off, and he's making a much higher
hourly rate now and he's able to his his spouse
is still working, so he's able to get benefits there,
and so it's actually been in some ways a better
(03:29):
situation for him. So I think some people are maybe
just reticent to even consider freelance and contract positions, and
I just think it's something that should be on the table.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Okay, here's something that I am very interested in. You
can put more in your retirement accounts.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Now. Yeah, So this is fun And it happens every
year or two where the contribution limits for retirement accounts
goes up, and they all go up at different rates,
depending on different things, partly based on the rate of inflation.
But your next year in twenty twenty six, you're going
to be able to contribute more to your four one
(04:05):
K to your four or three B if you are
the kind of person and if you if you're the
kind of person who wants to max out your retirement accounts.
You're my kind of person, and not many people can
do this. Obviously, it's really hard to contribute twenty four
five hundred dollars a year to your workplace retirement account.
In addition to that, you can contribute instead of seven
(04:27):
thousand dollars, you can contribute seventy five hundred to your
traditional or roth ira, And so it's just important to mention.
I think these are good goals for people to have
good benchmarks to strive after. And in particular, I love
the roth Ira bump up. I want people that's one
of my favorite accounts, and so seeing that you can
(04:47):
put more money in that is a really good thing.
And I just divided seventy five hundred dollars by twelve
twelve months. And if you're seeking to max out your
roth ira and you want to do it in equal
contribution amounts every single month, six hundred and twenty five
dollars a month is what you would need to allocate
into that roth Ira. And so whether you have it
(05:07):
through Vanguard or Fidelity or Schwab, just make sure that
you have that recurring contribution set up and that you're
investing the money that goes inside of that account. But
six hundred and twenty five bucks a month is the
goal to shoot for if you want to max out
that account next year.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
All right, And then I thought this was interesting too,
because you know, there are so many people who just
got to have a new car. I used to be
one of them, got to have a new car all
the time, and I don't do that anymore. But if
you're looking to have a car for the long haul,
there are some cars to get and some to steer
away from.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah, and this is one of the yeah, nice, nice,
I too love dad jokes. Yeah, this was a great
list for ic cars, and it honestly it was completely
not shocking, just reinforcing of something we already know from
other data elsewhere. But Toyotas are more likely to reach
two hundred fifty thousand mile something like three point seven
(06:02):
times more likely to last that long than any other
maker model. And so if you're like and I think
this is a really important thing to consider, especially with
what we've discussed about people being underwater on their cars
taking out longer car loans, well, one of the potential
solves to that problem is driving a make and model
(06:23):
that's going to last you a lot longer, and so
that's going to ease some of the pain of maybe
some of those other mistakes that people are making. I
love the idea of looking at specific makes and models
on a site like Consumer Reports to see well because
from year to year the reliability ratings can vary, so
Consumer Reports is a great place to turn for that.
But Toyota specifically Lexis also was there, Honda right afterwards
(06:47):
in Accura. So the top four cars that last the longest,
that are most likely to make it to two undred
fifty thousand miles are Toyotas and Honda's because Honda makes Acura,
Toyota makes Lexus. So if you're like, if you're stumped
about what kind of car to get, that's at least
one knee jerk reaction. That might make some sense. And
I love the idea. I don't know if you'll actually
most of us will actually drive cars to two hundred
(07:09):
and fifty thousand miles. Both of mine are getting close
to two hundred thousand miles. I'd love to get to
that point. And if you can, that's a massive financial
win for you because the longer you keep your car
on the road. The longer you avoid having a car payment,
you're just gonna save so much money. I know it
gets tiresome to go to the mechanic once your car
passes two hundred thousand miles, but just think of and
(07:29):
actually and actually document what am I spending to repair
this car, because I would venture to guess that it's
a heck of a lot less than what those monthly
car payments would be if you were to sign up
for a new loan.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
All right. The host of how to Money on KFI
is Joel Larsgard, and you can listen to him every
Sunday from noon to two. You can follow him on
how to Money Joel and get lots of great financial
advice like you just heard right here. Thank you, Joel.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Thanks Amy
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