Ask HTM - Free Fidelity Funds, Credit Card Maxxing, & Debating a PTO Cash-Out #1126

Summary

How to Money — Episode #1126

“Ask HTM – Free Fidelity Funds, Credit Card Maxxing, & Debating a PTO Cash-Out”
Released: April 13, 2026
Hosts: Joel & Matt

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Episode Overview

In this lively “Ask HTM” edition, Joel and Matt address listener questions on a range of personal finance topics: from the real deal with Fidelity’s free index funds, to maximizing credit card rewards (especially the Robinhood Gold card buzz), strategic insurance decisions, Social Security solvency, and whether you should cash out PTO or take the time off. They bring their typical approachable, bantering style, sharing both money wisdom and relatable stories from their own lives.

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DIY Corner: Wins and Saving on Repairs

Timestamps: 03:18–08:34

• Joel celebrates a small DIY home repair—fixing a dryer latch—to highlight how even minor self-sufficiency can save money.
  • “We had my kids slam the dryer door sometimes, Matt...someone broke the latch.”—Joel (04:06)
  • Replacement part cost: $28, which both hosts agree is overpriced, but still far cheaper than a service call.
• Matt riffs on how home maintenance costs have ballooned and how tackling these tasks can feel empowering.
• Discussion of creative ways to save on heating in winter by repurposing dryer exhaust air—showcasing frugal thinking, if a bit quirky.
  • “It’s this moisture-rich, good-smelling, warm air...I could instead pump into my house and help with the energy bill in the winter.”—Matt (07:27)

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Listener Q1: Are Fidelity Zero Funds Really “No-Compromises”?

Timestamps: 09:11–20:55

Listener: Chad
Question: Am I sacrificing performance by using the free, zero-fee Fidelity funds (e.g., FZROX) in my Roth IRA?

Key Points:

• Origins & Strategy:
  • Fidelity Zero funds were introduced in 2018 as a “loss leader” to compete with Vanguard’s reputation for low fees.
    • “Fidelity was like, ‘We’re low cost too. Look at us!’ The only way they could break through the noise...was to launch these zero-fee, free funds.”—Joel (10:32)
• How Are They Free?
  • Unlike S&P 500 funds (which pay licensing fees), the Zero funds track proprietary indexes, eliminating some costs.
    • “It’s a dupe of something. And it’s legitimate...but they’re avoiding the licensing fee expenses.”—Matt (12:39)
• Performance:
  • Returns are “nearly identical” to other total stock market funds.
    • “Performance is nearly identical...we have a long enough performance timeline to extrapolate that performance should be incredibly similar to a total stock market counterpart.”—Joel (15:03)
  • Fees always matter, but at these ultra-low levels, the practical difference is minimal for most investors.
    • “When you get to the point where you’re comparing just a couple tenths of a percentage, the stakes are so much lower.”—Matt (17:45)
• Drawbacks:
  • These funds are proprietary—you cannot transfer them in-kind to another brokerage. In a taxable account, this creates liquidity and tax problems if you ever want to switch platforms.
    • “You can’t donate appreciated shares of FZROX to Daffy...I was not happy about that.”—Joel (19:34)
  • This is only an issue for taxable accounts or if you want to be generous with those shares.

Bottom Line: Fidelity Zero funds are a great tool for cost-conscious investors, especially in tax-advantaged accounts. For maximum flexibility (e.g. donating, switching brokerages), ultra-low cost non-proprietary funds from Vanguard or Schwab might serve you better.

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Listener Q2: Maximizing Credit Card Rewards and the Robinhood Gold Card

Timestamps: 22:39–34:35

Listener: Amy from Grand Rapids, MI
Question: What’s up with the Robinhood Gold Card waitlist? Is it worth paying for Gold to get the card and that 3% cash back?

Key Points:

• Robinhood Gold Card Hype:
  • The 3% cash back is appealing, but the “velvet rope” scarcity is mostly marketing.
    • “They’re trying to stand out...It makes you think about—if I was going to clubs, I’d want to get into the one with the long line.”—Matt (24:48)
  • There’s no clear algorithm for moving up the waitlist.
• The Catch:
  • 3% back is only available if rewards are deposited into your Robinhood brokerage.
    • “If you redeem towards your statement credit, you get a big old reward haircut—roughly 2% instead of 3%.”—Matt (27:16)
    • Robinhood gamifies rewards with multiple redemption options, many of which are subpar.
  • Being part of Robinhood’s ecosystem is required. This may not appeal to everyone.
• Alternatives:
  • Simpler, fee-free alternatives exist (Citi Double Cash, Fidelity Card: both 2% cash back, with fewer hoops).
    • “With Fidelity...far less fine print...and then from there, you can just transfer that money into your bank account regularly.”—Joel (30:55)
• Annual Fee Factor:
  • Robinhood Gold is $50/year, factored against your spending/rewards.
  • For high spenders (especially if also leveraging Robinhood’s 3% IRA match), the math can work. For most, the hassle and ecosystem lock-in outweigh the gains.
    • “It does come down to what you want to spend your time managing and keeping up with, and honestly, where you are in the money gears.”—Matt (32:34)

Actionable Advice:
Only chase the extra percent if you’re already using Robinhood and willing to play within their system. Otherwise, proven 2% options are easier and nearly as rewarding.

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Listener Q3: Home Insurance Is Skyrocketing—What Policy Features Keep Premiums Down?

Timestamps: 34:43–46:17

Listener: Clint from Chipola, Iowa
Question: Home insurance is going up 17%. I have an independent agent, but what type of policy helps keep costs down?

Key Points:

• Clint’s “Craft Beer Equivalents”: Experiences with family/friends and vehicles (owns seven cars, all paid for).
• Rising Premiums are Industry-Wide:
  • Shop annually via an independent agent or aggregators (Policygenius, Zebra, Trusted Choice).
• Biggest Cost-Saver: High deductibles, especially percentage deductibles (e.g., 3% of home value, not flat $1k or $5k).
  • “Having a percentage deductible reduces my premiums significantly...my deductible might be closer to twenty grand or even maybe a little bit north of that.”—Joel (40:59)
  • Only a fit for those with healthy savings—“you have to be willing to take on that additional risk.”
• Why Raise Your Deductible?
  • Encourages using insurance only for big disasters, not minor claims (which can spike premiums or even get you dropped).
  • “The whole goal of insurance is to avoid making a claim...I want you to learn from younger Matt’s mistakes.”—Matt (41:30)
• Multi-Policy Bundles: Bundling auto/home may save more—though special cases like collectibles could complicate this.

Takeaway: If you’re financially solid, raising your deductible—especially to a percentage—yields big savings so long as you’re prepared to self-insure for smaller losses.

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Facebook Q: Why Not Remove the Cap on Social Security Taxes?

Timestamps: 48:54–54:33

Listener: Bonnie
Question: Why not raise or remove the cap on Social Security withholding to fix solvency?

Key Points:

• Removing the cap would help system solvency (currently, only the first ~$184k of wages are taxed for Social Security), but it’s controversial.
  • “If we raise the cap and don’t expand benefits...it kind of breaks that long-standing link between contribution and payout, which I think is why people actually really like Social Security.”—Joel (50:27)
• Proposals exist (e.g., “donut” plans), but none are politically palatable.
• Problem isn’t just tax design—demographics (lower birth rates, aging) mean fewer workers per retiree.
  • “The biggest issue with Social Security comes down to lower birth rates, essentially...we’ve got a larger and larger older group of folks and a smaller amount of folks who are young and paying in.”—Matt (51:12)
• Drastic solutions (raising retirement ages, cutting benefits) will only get harder the longer reforms are delayed.

Memorable Analogy

• “...like a hotel that says, ‘oh, there’s coffee included’...Is it really good coffee?...No, but it’s going to be caffeine and taste like bean water. That’s what Social Security is headed towards.”—Matt (53:43)

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Listener Q4: Should I Cash Out PTO or Take the Time?

Timestamps: 54:33–58:59

Anonymous Healthcare Listener
Question: Hard to use PTO—should I cash it in and use the money for an extra mortgage payment, or prioritize time off?

Key Points:

• Decision depends on one’s financial stage and life circumstances.
• Early in your career, the cash may move the needle more; trading PTO for rapid wealth-building can make sense.
  • “...when I was single, newly married...a $1000 extra would have been a big cash infusion for me.”—Joel (55:59)
• Further along, value of time and family experiences rises; the marginal gain from cash dwindles.
• If using the cash to pay down your mortgage early, remember: You must repeat this yearly for big impact, and that is a long commitment.
  • “Can you imagine trading your PTO for a thousand bucks for two and a half decades? That’s a really long commitment, man.”—Matt (58:04)
• Suggest considering quality of life and family needs over purely mathematical optimization.

Actionable Summary:
Cashing out PTO could make sense if you need the funds for a pressing financial goal, but don’t ignore the value of genuine time off—especially with loved ones. As you advance in your financial journey, time tends to become more precious than modest windfalls.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Fidelity Zero Funds:
  • “Free is cool, it’s attractive, but honestly it’s not a massive game changer.” —Matt (17:54)
• On Robinhood Gold Card:
  • “They’re gamifying it...All these more enticing options...there’s almost like a gambling aspect of it too.”—Matt (28:23)
• On High Deductibles:
  • “Every year when I pay my much smaller premium, I’m still thrilled to do so because I’m saving thousands of dollars every year by taking more risk on my own shoulders.”—Joel (41:01)
• On Social Security Reform:
  • “Why would you be the one who just steps in the ant pile right now, which I think it would feel like to any lawmaker?” —Matt (52:00)
• On PTO Value:
  • “If you’re sacrificing really important, meaningful time with people you love the most...that’s a hard sell for your fam, and I don’t know that it’s best for you.” —Joel (58:46)

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Episode Flow and Tone

The hosts’ friendly, sometimes goofy back-and-forth (“Best friends out!”), pop-culture references (Costco, Aldi, velvet ropes), and real-life stories keep the money advice relatable. They balance practical, sometimes technical answers with gentle reminders that financial optimization shouldn’t crowd out what matters most in life.

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Useful Timestamps Index

• DIY Home Repair & Frugality: 03:18–08:34
• Fidelity Zero Funds Deep Dive: 09:11–20:55
• Robinhood Gold Card & Card Maximization: 22:39–34:35
• Insurance Deductibles & Saving Strategies: 34:43–46:17
• Social Security Cap Discussion: 48:54–54:33
• PTO Cash-Out vs Time Value Debate: 54:33–58:59

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Final Thoughts

This episode delivers insightful, jargon-free responses to pressing listener questions about investing, spending, and living well with your money. The show’s core message remains clear: financial independence is a tool for building a richer, more meaningful life.

Transcript

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Matt]

Guaranteed Human Is it just me or is it getting really hard to figure out the best way to save for retirement? Well, Fidelity can help you to find clarity so you can save the best way for you. With a free personalized plan, goal tracking and timely insights, you'll be set to take on retirement your way.

[Joel]

Get [e-mail] future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account. Apply Fidelity Brokerage Services member NYSE SIPC

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[Matt]

2026 Struggling to see up close? Make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using VIZ include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if VIZ is right for you. Learn [e-mail] welcome to how to Money.

[Joel]

I'm Joel.

[Matt]

I am Matt.

[Joel]

Today we're answering your listener questions.

[Matt]

That's right, it's Monday. I hope nobody had the Sunday scaries. Joel, I'm so thankful that I don't ever have the Sunday scariest because you and I, we get to work together. We come in here to our little clubhouse, answer lists, our questions.

[Joel]

My kids still have them though, sometimes.

[Matt]

Oh, oh my gosh. Same here. Yeah, that's something that we talk about Sunday. Like tucking them in and they're like, oh, I don't want to go to school. I got quizzes, tests. These days it's been math lately where a couple of the kids are just like, oh, I'm not good at math.

[Joel]

It was always math for me growing up.

[Matt]

Was there really?

[Joel]

Oh yeah, for sure.

[Matt]

Hey, that's why you've got me, brother. That's right.

[Joel]

Like, honestly, I think people assume that you and I are like the exact same, like replicas of each other. We're very much not like, you and I are opposite on so many things. And I think that's actually what makes us a good pair.

[Matt]

I think I would agree with you, my friend, but we are going to

[Joel]

do the math here.

[Matt]

From listeners directly via their voice memos. We are going to take a question about some free Fidelity funds that are out there. Specifically, this listener is wanting to know whether or not that's the cheap option or whether they're pretty solid. We're going to talk about credit card maxing and not maxing out your balance. We're going to talk about maxing the cash back.

[Joel]

Is this, like, looks maxing, Matt?

[Matt]

Yeah, all the maxing. All the maxings. Another listener is considering taking the paid time off as opposed to, like, actually taking time off from work versus grabbing the cash, taking the payout and what he possibly should be doing with that cash were he to grab it. We'll get to that question, plus more during our episode today.

[Joel]

Sounds good.

[Matt]

I see you've got a little DIY win listed out here. What's you got? You got like a Tim the Tool Maintainer moment that you're going to share with listeners.

[Joel]

I hesitated to even bring this up because. Well, because you're. I feel like you are such a good. You're handyman for sure, and you love to learn about this stuff. You love to engage in home projects.

[Matt]

Maybe that's the difference. I really enjoy it.

[Joel]

You enjoy it and I don't.

[Matt]

So maybe. No, but a win's a win, baby.

[Joel]

But I still. I feel the need to challenge myself sometimes. This was honestly, was not even a challenge. It was so easy. But I feel the need to engage in these things because it's so ridiculously expensive to get someone to come out to your house to do anything now.

[Matt]

Right. Yeah.

[Joel]

I think about how, like, even 15 years ago, when we had our first rental properties and needed something to get fixed, and I was like, all right, that sounds reasonable. And now everything sounds unreasonable to me, or almost everything. And so I'm like, I just need to engage in this just for, like, fiscal responsibility and my own growth as a human. And so we had my kids slam the dryer door sometimes, Matt. And I don't. I think. I'm assuming I didn't blame anybody or take them to task or anything like that, but someone broke the latch on

[Matt]

the dryer door so it wouldn't hold shut.

[Joel]

Yes. Okay. So for a second we had some tape.

[Matt]

Yes.

[Joel]

Just for, like, a few days.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Joel]

Until the replacement came in.

[Matt]

I, too, have had renters actually pull that number. Yeah.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

And then you see it and it's just like, super sticky. There's residue all over it. I'm just like, guys, like, we could have fixed this.

[Joel]

Just let me know. It's a $28 part and it's six. Six screws. Okay. Pull out, put the new one back in, and you're good to go.

[Matt]

Okay. Very nice. Dude, I love it.

[Joel]

It was on the dryer. Door.

[Matt]

Yeah. Was it on the door or was it the receiver part?

[Joel]

It was on the door. So it was the receiver part that's in.

[Matt]

So the male end was on the dryer, the receiver was on the door.

[Joel]

That's right.

[Matt]

And it was shut in such a way that the little plastic tabs snaps.

[Joel]

Exactly.

[Matt]

I know exactly what you're talking.

[Joel]

And it would not grab onto it.

[Matt]

And holy clothes. I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah.

[Joel]

And again, I'm sure most people listening to this are like, cool, dude. So easy. I'll do that myself any day of the week, honestly.

[Matt]

I bet what most folks would have done was the tape method or leaning something up against it to hold it if they didn't want to admit to themselves that, like, okay, I'm not going to tape it, but maybe I can just, like, lean this thing and it'll kind of hold it shut. Hey, way to go, dude. 28 bucks. That feels like a lot of money, though, for a plastic.

[Joel]

For a little plastic part.

[Matt]

They probably know that they got you by the.

[Joel]

I think that's the way it is with those replacement parts. That's right. That's right. And I think that's the way it is with a lot of those replacement parts is, like, the cost to manufacture them, I'm guessing. It's just really a couple of companies that sell them, and so they charge an arm and a leg for a part that really should cost, like, $3.

[Matt]

Was it the name brand part or did you roll the dice for like

[Joel]

a. I don't even remember. I think what I was prioritizing was the part that would come quickest even if it cost me a little more too.

[Matt]

You were just done with it?

[Joel]

Yeah, I was like, I gotta fix this. I gotta be. Gotta bring it back.

[Matt]

Yeah. Will you add another zero to the total cost if you were to get somebody out there, at least. And so I get it. I'm willing to pay maybe 10%, 20, 30% more if I'm gonna do it myself in order to get that. To be able to completely eliminate that.

[Joel]

Yes.

[Matt]

Okay. So not just. I'm very proud of you. And I think that's.

[Joel]

Please Shame me now.

[Matt]

No, I'm not gonna shame you. Like, you talking about dryers made me think about. I don't think we've talked about this on the show and it's actually too late in the year to do this because it's hot outside. But, you know, something I've thought of doing is what happens when you dry your clothes? What does it produce as a byproduct?

[Joel]

Heat.

[Matt]

Heat.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

Not only heat, but warm, wet heat, which is exactly what you want at what time of year, Joel? In the winter, because the air gets wet. The opposite of that. It gets cold and dry. And for months this past winter, I've thought I want to create some sort of system where I can divert the exhaust. It's not. It's not exhaust. It's just the. It's the air that it makes. Right. I want to create some sort of thing that diverts that air back into the house. Because I'm just heating the world.

[Joel]

Yeah, right.

[Matt]

Like, yes, it's drying the clothes, but it's this moisture rich, good smelling, warm air.

[Joel]

It does smell good. Yes.

[Matt]

That I could instead pump into my house and help with the. The energy bill in the winter.

[Joel]

So the dryer vent empties right by our front door. And so if you're coming up to the house while the dryer's on.

[Matt]

But it smells great.

[Joel]

Oh, my gosh. It smells like bounty or something like that. You're like, gosh, this smells so nice.

[Matt]

Anyway, I have not done that, and I'm not going to do it anytime soon, but maybe by next winter, and maybe it is different.

[Joel]

Has it been done? I'm sure somebody's done that.

[Matt]

I don't know. I don't know. But that's how my mind thinks. I think, what a waste, all of this wonderful warm air going out into the world. And I want this instead to be going inside my house to help condition the air. And I'm sure there might be a reason you don't want to do that, but I haven't quite looked into it enough and maybe we'll get around to that by next winter. But that's something I thought of as you're talking about your dryer wind, but I am super stoked for you, dude. That's an awesome way to kind of flex your DIY muscles a little bit.

[Joel]

Again, it was minor, but it just. It's reminding me, oh, I can. I can do stuff, and I can learn how to do stuff, and I can get my drill out again. And it just makes me want to Tackle more stuff at home and try to hire out, you know, fewer projects because I'm not an idiot, you know, I can make it happen.

[Matt]

You can handle it, man. All right. The beer that you and I are going to enjoy today that we're going to share is called Soft Static. This is a collaboration with Everywhere Brewing. This is a beer by specifically Innervoice, which is one of our favorite local breweries here where we live. But yeah, looking forward to enjoying it. And we'll share our thoughts at the end of the episode.

[Joel]

Most def. And by the way, if you have a money question, please holler at us. Send your voice memo, record it on your phone, and email it over to [e-mail] we love to hear from you. We'd love to take your questions. Matt, let's get to a question from Chad, who wants to talk about index funds that are not just cheap, but free.

[Listener Chad]

Hey, guys, I want to thank you for all the podcast content that you put out. I'm a longtime listener. First time voice memo. Er, anyway, I wanted to ask you about the Fidelity Zero funds, specifically FZerocks, which is where my Roth IRA is invested exclusively. So the question I've had for a bit and I'm just now sending to you guys is am I sacrificing any performance in my investment by choosing a free fund with no fees? Just curious your thoughts on that. Thanks again for all you do, Joel.

[Matt]

So you shared his name, Chad. I guess he didn't mention it there at the beginning. Do you know where he's from?

[Joel]

No, I don't.

[Matt]

I don't know. I don't know either.

[Joel]

Okay, well, I thought you would have a street address.

[Matt]

No. Although, why does the app, why does the iPhone put your location sometimes by

[Joel]

the name of your street address? Right.

[Podcast Announcer]

Yes.

[Joel]

It puts it in there as the file name if you don't see the file name by default.

[Matt]

And it's weird in that.

[Joel]

Weird. Yeah.

[Matt]

So we've actually. Yeah, we actually have seen some very specific locations and we've never talked about that before.

[Joel]

But don't worry, your information, your location is always safe with us.

[Matt]

We are secure, dudes.

[Joel]

Yeah, we won't reveal anything. But I love this question and one, I love that Chad's Roth is with Fidelity. That's one of our favorite low cost brokerages. So Chad's. Heck yeah. He's on the. Already doing the right thing. There's. It's one of the top choices, specifically because Fidelity has prioritized ridiculously low costs for customers the zero fee funds, Matt, were in large part a response, I think, to Vanguard being thought of as the ultimate low cost leader. Fidelity was like, we're low cost too. Look at us. The only way they could break through the noise free was to launch these zero fee free funds. Right? They did that back in 2018. It's hard to believe that it's been eight years. It feels like they've been around even longer. But I remember when they launched because it was, it was a game changer. And a lot of people were like, this is ridiculous. I mean, it's already cheap enough at Vanguard. I don't need free funds. Or. But this is, this was and has been, I think, a brilliant, a brilliant marketing move for Fidelity. I think it's drawn a lot of eyeballs and clearly it's interested Chad as well as you and me and a lot of how to money listeners.

[Matt]

That's right. But Chad is a little suspicious. Right. And so it's important to mention how it is that Fidelity can offer something here for free that nobody else can. And specifically, this is a loss leader strategy for Fidelity. Right. So I think they're hoping to attract more customers by touting these free funds and then hoping basically that you expand your relationship with them into the future and they're building this goodwill. And it's also important to mention here that fzrox, that is the total stock market, it is not tracking, for instance, the S&P 500, which would cost them money. The S and P, like that, that is a proprietary index. So instead Fidelity has created its own proprietary index, in this case, allowing them to avoid licensing fees. So this is one of the ways that it's like, well, how are, how am I able to get this for free so? Well, because it's just the entire overall stock market as opposed to.

[Joel]

It's like a dupe, basically.

[Matt]

Yeah, yeah, it's a dupe of something. And it's a. It's legitimate as well. But they're avoiding. I'm trying to think of some sort of analogy, but yeah, they're avoiding some of the additional expenses that they would accrue were this to be an S&P 500 index. Like. Yeah, like Vanguard's VU, right? Like, that's not what we're talking about here. Voo costs you money because it's an S&P 500 index.

[Joel]

Because I guess Vanguard, the way it's structured, they're not keen to offer loss leaders. Right. Kind of like Costco. Costco doesn't offer loss leaders. Some traditional Grocery stores do. Why they offer you a loss leader is they want to get you in. Get you super excited about the ridiculously low cost of a gallon of milk or get you insanely excited about the sale that they're having on strawberries right now, even if they're maybe losing a little bit of money on it, because they know that you're going to buy other stuff when you're in there. That's what a loss leader is all about. And that's what this is about for fidelity.

[Matt]

That's fidelity's approach. Absolutely. I was going to say vu. Well, not to make this all about, you know, this is a fidelity question, not a Vanguard question, but what's the Roman numeral numeral for five V, V, V, O, O. It's 500. That's got to be why, right? Yeah, we've never talked about that. But I think there's an actual different number, or. I'm sorry, a different letter for the actual roman numeral for 500. It's a singular letter.

[Joel]

I don't get no actual 500. Would it be just five X's?

[Matt]

But then there's the five X's is 10 or 30. No, no, there's.

[Joel]

There's.

[Matt]

It's like a. I don't know. It's like R. It's completely random. But because of the stock symbol, I should know my Roman numerals in order to have a ticker symbol. I think they're kind of not making fun, but it's just like, oh, well, let's just do a five. And then. Oh, oh, it's like. Like it's 500.

[Joel]

There you go. I've never thought of that before.

[Matt]

It makes me, like, love VU even more if that's actually true.

[Joel]

I mean, my guess is either that or the V stands for Vanguard. You know, it's one of the two.

[Matt]

Yeah, well, that's why they've got, like, V with everything else. But I think it just works out that, oh, let's make it a V, and then we'll put O, O behind it. And it looks. And then kind of looks like 500.

[Joel]

Okay.

[Matt]

I love that. All right, man. I love Vanguard. I like. I love fidelity, too, though, because, like, guess who's offering the free funds? Fidelity.

[Joel]

Okay, but this gets to the heart of Chad's question, because you said. And we basically said that this. This is like a dupe fund. It's an attempt to imitate, but it's not going on. For instance, tracking an exact index. Right. That other s and P.500 funds are. And so does the reality that these funds aren't charging you any fee change the performance or does the fact that they're not following a particular specific index, does that mean that you're not getting as good of results? Well, there are other tradeoffs that we'll get to in a second, but in terms of returns, it's so close that the performance of no fee funds compares incredibly well to their similar low fee funds. The performance is nearly identical. I would say when you look at that, when you look at past five year performance, past ten year, although these funds have only been around for eight years. But when you look at the longer timeline, they are almost identical. That's not enough time comparison. I think some people would say, Matt, to have full assurance that these funds are going to function similarly or exactly the same in the future. But I think this is a case in which we have a long enough performance timeline to, to extrapolate that performance should be incredibly similar to a total stock market counterpart. I feel very comfortable with these zero fee funds from a comparative performance perspective.

[Matt]

Yeah, it's not like it's just some generic where you're kind of expecting for there to be like you're talking about dupes, but like it's like, okay, well this is not quite as good, but it's pretty dang close. I mean this, it's virtually identical.

[Joel]

It would be like getting the same Louis Vuitton handbag but without like one additional emblem that they put on it or something like that. Right? Like, sure, but quality, craftsmanship, color, everything else is like the exact same. It just left one tiny thing.

[Matt]

Yeah, it's not going to fall apart by next year. So folks might be wondering if these free funds are completely necessary for investors who are looking to take that option. And I would say it's not totally necessary. And in fact, I say that from personal experience because I've just shared that my favorite is Voo. Right. Guess what the expense ratio is on Voorho? 0.03%.

[Joel]

Oh, you like staying poor, I see. Paying fees, Matt.

[Matt]

Exactly. But what that means, it's yes, I am indeed paying $3 on $10,000 worth of investments. And so it's just not a ton of money. And even if you were to run the numbers on how much these fees would drag on your returns over years, over decades, we're talking about a few thousand dollars less in your retirement nest egg overall. And this isn't to say that we are telling you to not pay attention to fees. They certainly matter a ton in the world of investing. But like, when you get to the point to where you're comparing just a couple tenths of a percentage, the stakes are so much lower. Right. And so if you are looking at the difference between like half a percent, right. Let's. Let's say 0.5% as opposed to.05%. Well, that's pretty big. But.05% versus free, that's a really tiny gap. So free is cool. It's attractive. I love that they launched these back in 2018. We talked about. I remember. I still remember the chart that they, that they put out with the presser. It's really cool. I love that they exist. But it's honestly, it's not a massive game changer.

[Joel]

And also, just when you think about it, it's kind of like what Aldi does when they come into a community, they launch a grocery store, and every other grocery store has to look at all these prices, have to take note, and they have to potentially change their prices, lower prices. In response to the fact that Aldi now exists close by, I think the same thing happened when Fidelity launched these funds. Everyone else was like, shot across the bow. I got to pay attention to my fees. People are paying more attention to fees in general now because of this. One negative thing about these funds, Matt, I think it's worth mentioning is that these are proprietary funds, right? These are not tracking a specific index. This is kind of Fidelity's own mix that is attempting to mimic a total stock market index fund. This is actually really a negative thing that I have experienced in myself owning these funds. You can't transfer these funds to another brokerage firm. If you want to leave Fidelity, you'd have to sell your holdings, which is not a huge problem. I guess if you hold FC rocks, for instance, which Chad mentioned in your IRA or your 401, because you can sell and rebuy something similar without tax consequences. But if it's in a taxable brokerage account, that could potentially become a big problem for people who you can't sell out of your taxable brokerage account and then rebuy somewhere else because you are subject to capital gains taxes. And so that is something that's worth mentioning. If you hold FC Rocks inside of a taxable brokerage account and you say, I'm done with Fidelity or I'm trying to open up this account somewhere else, you can have a real issue there because of the proprietary nature of the fund. And you also can't. And this was where I ran afoul mat you can't donate appreciated shares of FC Rocks to Daffy. Which frustrated me because I was like we talk about this on the reg. How donating appreciated shares of your taxable broker from your taxable brokerage account allows you to avoid selling and paying capital gains and then you could rebuy with cash that you have on hand. I can't do that with shares that I purchased of FC Rocks. And so that is definitely something worth noting if you'd like to be be generous with money that you've invested and with the gains you've received.

[Matt]

Exactly. Yeah. So that's a flexibility issue by you know, were you to hold this proprietary fund and you are especially interested in donating those appreciated shares, which again not everyone is into that. But if you are interested in being a bit more generous, it's often the best way to give money from a tax perspective. And so certainly don't definitely don't sleep on that. I mean that is the only way. Aside from very small amounts of giving that I do here and there impromptu giving, our family pretty much 100% handles all that giving through Daffy specifically Joel, we got more to get to. We're going to talk about paid time off strategies, how to approach that. We'll get to Social Security that as well. All that more just after this.

[Joel]

You love what you do. You also love the idea of not doing it one day. But it's getting harder to know the best way to move into the future towards retirement. Right. We hear about inflation, rate hikes, the changing market, got to get kids through college, build an emergency fund and then there's retirement.

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[Matt]

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[Joel]

alright Matt, we're back. We're still taking money questions from listeners. Let's get to a good one about a specific new credit card and then kind of just how to think about credit card benefits in general.

[Podcast Announcer]

Hi Joel and Matt, this is Amy from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am a longtime listener, second time caller and my question is what is up with the Robin Hood Gold card? You mentioned this on a recent episode that one of you has it and I currently have the Chase Sapphire Preferred and we get tons of cash back from that card. Of course we always pay it off in full every month. But I signed up and so did my husband actually almost two years ago now to be on the wait list for the Robinhood Gold Card to get the 3% cash back. And my number has not been called. And my question is, I've done some research online and on Reddit all over the place trying to figure out what the algorithm is that can get me this card to get more cash back. And I'm not a Robinhood Gold member because I don't want to pay $5 a month for that and receive nothing in return. But do you think if I become a Robinhood Gold member, my name might be called for the card? Should I give up? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Matt]

Oh Joel, you know, I'm excited to answer this question because I love the Robin Hood Gold Card.

[Joel]

You're a Robin Hood Gold card carrying member.

[Matt]

I'm a, I'm a promoter of the. I'm actually not a promoter.

[Joel]

You're an unpaid promoter.

[Matt]

I mean, truly, I should actually walk all of this back because it is a good card. It is a good card and I don't want to downplay it, but I also don't want to make it seem like the, the greatest thing since like sliced bread. Right. It's also worth kind of like we were talking about Fidelity's approach and how they're trying to position themselves against Vanguard and what they're doing there in the market. Trying to differentiate themselves. And it. I think there's a certain amount of that going on with Robin Hood.

[Joel]

Right.

[Matt]

Like they're trying to stand out. They've created a name for themselves. They're trying to make it. Oh, they got this new gold card. It's exclusive. Right. Like it makes you think about. I don't go to clubs, but if I was, if I were to be the guy who goes to clubs and I see two clubs and one there's no line out the door and the other one, there's like a really long line, guess which club I'm going to think is cooler. Yeah, it's the one with all the people. Of course. I think they're kind of doing that a little bit when it comes to.

[Joel]

It's a velvet rope system.

[Matt]

Yeah. Yeah. And you got to, you got to know somebody.

[Joel]

I'm trying to.

[Matt]

You don't need to know somebody.

[Joel]

I'm trying to get in that club. Like give me.

[Matt]

But no, no, stop. Don't do it. Joel, I think I was about to

[Joel]

go off the rails. Thank you for showing me. Yeah, I'm really, I'm really glad you mentioned that because I do think that this is a marketing strategy to try to get more people interested. Although I will say, just on its merits, it's a worthwhile consideration for a lot of people. Specifically to Amy's question in the FAQ on their site, Robinhood says that applicants are selected based on, they say, various factors and therefore they say it's possible that someone who signed up after you was randomly selected to be given the opportunity to apply before you. Very cryptic. Right?

[Matt]

Sounds pretty ambiguous.

[Joel]

Right. So what are they like, who are they letting through the rope and who are they keeping at bay? That's a good question. But you know, it's allowing Robinhood to gain paying gold members without dishing out essentially the best straight up cash back credit card in existence to everyone all at once. They, they're trying to slow roll it and see how this goes. Should you though, join Robinhood Gold in hopes that it'll move you up in the list and gain you access more quickly? I think the answer is probably not. I don't think so. I, I don't think I would do it.

[Matt]

Yeah, well, I mean, and you're not doing it right? Like you haven't, you haven't joined. It's not something that you're interested in. I will say I did have the gold membership, but prior to getting the

[Joel]

card because you had rolled over, they'd offered. I mean, Robin has Like, there's a

[Matt]

lot of different offerings.

[Joel]

Yes.

[Matt]

Like whether.

[Joel]

Yeah, because you got a. You got a match for money that you rolled over from your old retirement.

[Matt]

And they still offer the match too, as well. But. So, I mean, yeah, maybe we'll get to some of the additional benefits there, but I guess I want to dunk a little bit on because I'm speaking out of both sides of my mouth here. On one hand, I love the card, but I do want to highlight that it's not as. It's got the potential to not be quite as great as they're making it sound. Because if you look at the fine print, the only way you get the 3% reward is if you deposit the points that you earn directly into your Robinhood brokerage account. And so if you were to redeem your points towards your credit card balance, for instance, essentially offer the statement credit, you get a big old reward haircut where you are snagging roughly 2% instead of the 3%, I think it's technically 2.1% were you to take that path,

[Joel]

which isn't nearly as good. Like, the whole reason that this card exists and people like, for the 3% are willing to stand in line for it is because 3.3percent cash back on. You know, every purchase you make is a lot better than 2% cash back, which is. Which are the other most generous cards. That's what they offer.

[Matt]

Exactly. Yeah. And you might think, okay, well, no big deal. I will just go quote, unquote, cashback option. Which, by the way, is further down than the statement credit option. Actually, there's. It's like fifth or sixth on the list. Like, if you go. When you go to rewards in the app, the first one, there's all these other more enticing options and they have graphics and pictures and one's like a gold bar. Like win a chance to win a gold bar. One's like. I mean, and there's like a. Almost like a gambling aspect of it too, where you can sort of like, oh, yeah, spin the wheel and see how much of a you can use your points to get to win more points.

[Joel]

You might get 10x points on your next dinner out or something like that, which incentivizes you to go get a really expensive dinner.

[Matt]

They're gamifying it. And they have all of these options ahead of the boring, plain old no graphic, no picture cash back. And that's when you select. That is when you get the full point for point or point percent, I should say. And that's how you get the full 3%. But again, that being said, A, you need to have that brokerage account set up. But then also, what's going on? Oh, you got that money sitting over there in the brokerage account and so it's already still in their system. But you're going to likely be slightly more tempted to do something with that money within that system as opposed to use it towards whatever financial goal that you might have.

[Joel]

Yeah. And there are even worse reward ratios, by the way. Like you can use the points you've earned for discounts at gas stations and that's even worse than.

[Matt]

I don't even know what that rate is, but I'm sure it's probably terrible.

[Joel]

I think it's like 1.4. Yeah. Something like that. Like the redemption rate is even worse doing that. And again, I think you're right. Like this is, this just isn't the card for Amy, given the fact that she doesn't really want to be in Robin Hood's orbit. Right.

[Matt]

Unless she doesn't mind. If you don't mind doing the. Doing the Robin Hood thing and if you can stay disciplined, then that's when I think it can make. Makes sense. It just depends.

[Joel]

And you could inside of that, like if you're willing to be a Robinhood customer and have the taxable brokerage account, get the credit card, 3% cash back and then use your Robinhood account to buy low cost Vanguard funds. Right. Inside of that taxable brokerage account.

[Matt]

Oh, which you can purchase. You can buy the Fidelity funds. Why? We've discussed this. It's proprietary. Exactly. Is this why. Actually, this is probably why I've been more keen to open my Robinhood account because I was able to move all like a lot of my get the same exact funds. Yeah. I moved all my VOO or not all but like onto my VU over. Whereas you weren't able to do that with, with Fidelity.

[Joel]

Which is.

[Matt]

Which is so fascinating.

[Joel]

One of the things I didn't realize when I signed up and started investing money in FC Rocks and then found that out later down the line and I was like, son of a.

[Matt]

Right.

[Joel]

I was like, not happy about that. But. But yeah, if this is. If, if that's not your jam, I, I would say stop worrying about where you're on the wait list at all and just move on to a card that makes more sense for you.

[Matt]

Yeah. Well, and you, I mean, obviously you've got the 2% she mentioned a Chase card. But like if you got the 2% Citi double cash, you got The Fidelity. Speaking of Fidelity, you've got the Fidelity. Are you still rocking that one?

[Joel]

Yeah. Oh, man. That's my card. The credit card. I've had the longest. I've had that for.

[Matt]

Have you?

[Joel]

Probably like 13 or 14 years.

[Matt]

Okay, so how does that. How does that system work as far as the cash back there?

[Joel]

It's. It's great. There's far less fine print. Right. That would prevent you from getting the headline reward rate. So with Fidelity, you. You do need to deposit your rewards into a Fidelity account to get the full 2%. But. But you can have those rewards go into a Fidelity Cash Management account at the. And still get the 2% cash back rewards rate. And then from there, you can just transfer that money into your bank account regularly. So you could stick your money that you made from the cash back you made from your Fidelity card into, let's say, an IRA if you were. If you were so inclined. Or you could like, literally just put it into the CMA and then toss it into your bank. Gotcha. However you want to. But it's nice that there's. There aren't all these stipulations. There's, like, with Robinhood, there's one way to get the 3% right. With fidelity, it's not quite that locked in.

[Matt]

Well, there's still one way, but there's just fewer things, fewer carrots that are dangling in front of you to get you to not do the thing that you want to do, which is, like, actually, yeah, like, that's. And I guess I think that's why Robin Hood oftentimes gets criticized is that they've got all of these, like, glitzy, sparkly, shiny options. You know, like, oh, here's a graphic of a chunk of gold. And it's like, oh, I want that. You know, like, that's what's going through people's minds. Yeah. They're, like, enticing you to do the wrong thing, even while they're advertising, like, the fiscally responsible thing, which is like, the 3%.

[Joel]

Well, also, it's worth mentioning that there's no fee attached to the Fidelity or the City Double Cash. When you think about the Robinhood gold card. Yeah, 3%. But you're. Not only are you paying the $50 annual fee, but you're also then, I think, enticed to maybe do things that aren't in your own best interest.

[Matt]

Yes. I mean, at the end of the day, I think it does come down to what you want to spend your time managing and keeping up with. And honestly, where you are like, within the money gears, because I think for a lot of people, this is going to be too. It's going to be too onerous to go through these, jump through these hoops, set up these additional accounts in order to earn 1 additional percent cash back on their spending. But it also depends on your spending. Right. Like, I mean, given the fact that, I mean, we've got businesses, Joel, we've got real estate, We've got other additional expenses depending on your spending. It's a substantial amount of money to get one additional percent over the course of a year. Plus, you touched on this earlier. Plus, coupled with the fact that, oh, here is an IRA that's matching 3% on $7,500. That's an additional 225 bucks that you'd be receiving every year. And so is it worth the additional 1% on all of your spending for the year, plus a hard 225 bucks if you're maxing out your IRA, all

[Joel]

for the low cost of 50 bucks,

[Matt]

50 bucks annually, which also gets you,

[Joel]

what, a higher rate on your savings as well? Typically.

[Matt]

Yeah. Yeah. And there's other options, too. But at the end of the day, like, how much more additional, how many more additional dollars are finding their way into my account because of this? I think that is what Amy needs to essentially, essentially calculates.

[Joel]

I don't think Robinhood likes having you as a customer. I think Robinhood detests customers like you because you're using.

[Matt]

I'm not partaking in all the additional things. Exactly. But that's how we approach credit cards,

[Joel]

and that's how they make money, is when someone signs up for the 3% cash back card and then they use it in a way that's not great. Right. But you're using it by the book. And if you can use it by

[Matt]

the book, then I'm all for folks doing it. But again, she's specifically asking, how do I get the card? There's no guarantee that by going ahead and signing up for that membership that you're going to get that.

[Joel]

It's like being 30th in line behind the velvet rope. Maybe someone comes down the line and says, hey, you look nice tonight. Come on in. But, like, there's a good chance you're waiting for a while.

[Matt]

Let's hear from another listener who is trying to figure out what to do about insurance costs. He's also going to share what his craft beer equivalent is.

[Listener Clint]

Hi, guys. This is Clint from Chipola, Iowa. I'm 39, married, with two kids. And we're money gear number seven. Our craft beer equivalent is experiences with friends and family. And the other thing is vehicles. We have seven. Everything is bought and paid for, and anything in the future would be paid for with cash. So my question is, my insurance person called to tell me my home insurance is going up 17% this year. They said this is standard across the industry and it's not a big deal. They are an independent insurance agent. So I asked if this was still the best company to be with. They said it was. I've heard you guys talk about home insurance on the show. It talks about low premiums, but a high deductible. Exactly. What kind of insurance is it and who offers it? On a positive note, my vehicle insurance went down, so there's that. Have a great day. Thanks for all the education you guys put out there. Bye.

[Joel]

Oh, experiences and vehicles. Those are Clint's craft beer equivalents, man.

[Matt]

Those are two good ones. Yeah.

[Joel]

And I love that he what one that he was like, this is. This is my jam, but I'm going to do it in a financially responsible way. Right. So if experiences were my craft beer equivalent, but I was putting those experiences on a credit card and not paying that credit card balance off on time. And if I wasn't saving and thinking ahead about those purchases, that's not that count as a craft beer equivalent, really. That's just a poor financial choice.

[Matt]

But experiences.

[Joel]

Let's not do it that way.

[Matt]

Experiences in four.

[Joel]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Buy now, pay later experiences.

[Matt]

No, I guess it's better than like groceries in four, but my God, either way, let's go. Seven cars is a lot, though. And I will say so I don't.

[Joel]

What do you do with seven cars?

[Matt]

Well, I was going to say. Well, I looked up his. He said where he's from, it's a very, very small town and I think there's a lot of land out there in Iowa in this very small town where he lives. So I will say you're picturing like your driveway with seven cars. I think your driveway looks different than his driveway where maybe he's got plenty of storage.

[Joel]

Even if it's not storage space, it's think about just you got to drive those cars pretty regularly so that they are well maintained. Maybe Clint is also into the maintenance factor, which would make it make more sense for him as well. Like me making repairs on a car. The dryer is one thing, Matt, but like putting in a new radiator or something like that. That's not something I'M probably going to partake in.

[Matt]

I'm not going to. Yeah, I'm not going to take that on.

[Joel]

I guess I could, but I don't know. Not right now, at least. And so is it hard to keep them all in decent running condition? How do you decide which one to drive that day?

[Matt]

You might have to, like, put it on a ro. Like, as like a reminder, I guess,

[Joel]

if you have seven, one for each day of the week.

[Matt]

Oh, that's true. How do you think about that?

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Joel]

Sorry for asking all the questions, Clint, but I guess I am just curious what it looks like to have that many cars. No, no judgment, because you paid for all in cash and you've literally named this as your crapper equivalent.

[Matt]

Yeah. And he's in money year seven. So, like, the world's your oyster, man. Like, if that's something that you want to pursue. More power. More power to you, Clint. But your question, insurance costs. They have been on the rise. Tough to stomach, I think. I think there's a chance a lot of homeowners are even skimping on their home maintenance right now because they're trying to. I don't know, they're seeing this cost increase. They're wondering if there's other expenses that they can kind of kick off down the road a little bit. It's just tough to know how to react. I get that. But the first thing to do, and this sounds like something that you are doing essentially, Clint, is to shop around. So you've got an independent agent who is doing this on your behalf. Sounds.

[Joel]

Folks who are listening and don't know that means it's someone who doesn't. It's not beholden to. You're in a captive agent to a single insurance company.

[Matt]

That's right.

[Joel]

They're shopping around with a bunch on your behalf. So, hey, he might be getting essentially 10 quotes at one time.

[Matt]

Exactly. They're not an agent by. With one of the companies that you see advertising advertisements for on the tv or that's what you basically want to avoid. And it does sound like you've got the lowest rate with your current insurer, which is good news. But for everyone else out there, you want to make sure that you are shopping with an independent agent. That's one of the things we love about policygenius is the fact that they compare quotes. But also like even a newer site like Zebra, they do the same thing. Check out Trusted Choice. If you're specifically looking for a local independent agent, as opposed to kind of like one of the One of the online aggregators. But again, so I'm putting this more out there for folks who haven't done this, Joel, who are with, like, one of the big companies that have the funny commercials and the mascots that we can all think of. Aside from that, what you need to do is start playing with the numbers a little bit. Like, what we're talking about is tweaking the deductibles. That's how you're probably going to be able to save the most. And it's like the next step.

[Joel]

And it's just something, I think, that doesn't get talked about enough. I think it's something that a lot of people are reticent to do, Matt, because people see their deductible increase and they're like, gosh, I'm going to be on the hook for a heck of a lot more. Yeah, it lowers my premiums, but, man, my risk is massively amplified. Should I even consider this? But Clint seems like he knows the tradeoffs. He's in the kind of position, from a financial perspective to handle that increased risk. What we're talking about, what he's asking about, is a percentage deductible. Instead of just a flat number. It's a percentage of your home's insured value. I'm with Liberty Mutual right now, and having a percentage deductible reduces my premiums significantly because, yeah, my. My in particular deductible is 3% of my home's insured value. So this, of course, like I just talked about, increases my risk, my personal risk, because instead of a $1,000 or even like a $5,000 hit, if something happens and I have to file a claim, we're talking about a lot more money coming out of my pocket if some sort of massive damage gets sustained to my house. And this is something that got talked about, obviously, almost what I guess was almost exactly three years ago.

[Matt]

Was it?

[Joel]

Yeah, almost exactly three years ago when the tree fell through my roof. Lightning struck, hit the tree. We were out of town fortunately, so we were okay, but the house was not okay. I wasn't thrilled with my massive deductible, but I also knew what I was taking on.

[Matt]

Yeah, you knew that. Like, it's unfortunate, but that was still the right decision.

[Joel]

Yes, ye. It was still the right decision. Every year when I pay my much smaller premium, I'm still thrilled to do so because I'm saving thousands of dollars every year by taking more risk on my own shoulders. I'm willing to make that trade off with eyes Wide open, Yes, I said thousands of dollars a year. But that means that instead of having a $5,000 deductible, my deductible might be closer to 20 grand or even maybe a little bit north of that. You have to have the savings on hand and you have to be willing to. To take on that additional risk.

[Matt]

That's right.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

And I mean, another reason to consider a higher deductible overall is just because. I mean, the whole goal of insurance is to avoid making a claim. And like. So I'm sharing this because I want you to learn from younger Matt's mistakes. Right. Because I'm thinking of when I filed multiple claims for broken or cracked windshields. And I thought, man, this is a no brainer. I'm paying like 250 bucks. And all right. I think that's how I mean, it was. Probably was iron deductible back then, or even. It may have even been less than that. But I remember I had this old windshield and I thought, this is great. Like, my windshield's perfectly clear now. Never had as clean of a windshield, but I did that twice. And then I hit a deer. And then I also was falling slightly too close to the car in front of me. Slight bumpage took place. And so I technically received a following too close ticket. And guess what happened to my insurance? It shot up. I was considered a high risk. Whatever insured person, you know, I still

[Joel]

consider you a high risk person.

[Matt]

No, I'm a very, very safe bet these days.

[Joel]

Okay.

[Matt]

I'll tell you what. But, yeah, you're right.

[Joel]

I mean, it's.

[Matt]

These things add up. They add up. Yeah. And had I known that, I probably would not, like, there's not much of a choice when it comes to the fact that I received the ticket. Like, that person was going to file a claim. They were going to see that. Even the deer situation, I mean, it was a pretty. It was a big old dent. Yeah, it messed a lot of stuff up. But if I could go back in time, I would be like, of course not. I'm not going to go with the windshields because, like, you want to be able to. You do want to use your insurance, right? Like, I don't. I don't think. Yeah, when you need it, I don't think you would have encouraged anybody to say, oh, no, the tree branch went through my roof. Guess what? I'm not going to use it because, well, that's literally what the insurance is for. But you do need to pay attention to how often you're using it. And you don't want to incentivize yourself to use it more often by setting your deductible, you know what I would say, artificially low. Like it needs to be large enough to where you see it makes you think twice. Yeah, it makes you think twice. And you know, you use it once, it's not going to be that big of a deal. Although I guess you might lose your, what is it like a lot of insurance have like the claim free discount.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

And so effectively, yeah, you make a claim and you might see a slight, slight increase because you've lost that discount. But by the time you make a second claim, you start entering into, certainly by the third claim, auto, or from a homeowner standpoint, you start entering into a high risk category where you even run the risk of getting booted from that insurer altogether. I was gonna say you want to make sure you avoid.

[Joel]

You might think, well that's okay, I'll just go find another insurance company. But there's this thing called your Clue report, which means that the next insurance company is going to charge you more too because it's a, it's your file. It's a system database. Right. That every insurance company has access to.

[Matt]

So comprehension. Loss underwriting under what's the E. Oh, I should I forget? Yeah, I'm pretty sure the first three though are comprehensive loss underwriting something. But yeah, it's something that lives on regardless of. Yeah. What, what insurer that you're with.

[Joel]

So when you like ask another insurance company, hey, give me some quotes, they pull your clue report and then they say, yeah, it's going to be really expensive because you've been using your insurance willy nilly. And so avoiding insurance claims when you can, when possible is crucial. Part of that is raising your deductible and self insuring more. It's just going to mean you're going to resort to using insurance less often. Like not use it for a windshield replacement when you can pay out of pocket. Yeah, it's maybe it's 250 with the low deductible, but it's 600 bucks on your own. You're just going to pay the 600 bucks. Right. And not use your insurance. And so yeah, just like you're smart with car purchases, paying for them in cash, we would say consider raising your deductible. Get quotes with different insurance companies for policies with a percentage deductible. That's exactly what you're asking about. And you might already have heaps of cash to self insure. And then you'll find that you can save a bundle with one of these, with one of these policies. But I love that idea. For somebody in particular like Clint In Money Gear 7, this is a perfect chance to take on more risk on yourself and allow your, your strong financial position to kind of be your ballast.

[Matt]

Yeah, well, you. And you actually, you said bundle. Like, we didn't even talk about actually combining your insurers with your homeowners and your auto as well. Although with seven cars, there's a chance. I wonder if he's got like some old antique cars, in which case there's like some of these specialty insurance products that allow you to insure antique vehicle, like collectible style vehicles. And I wonder if that's what he's got going on. Right. Like, I doubt he's got a bunch of forerunners, you know, like, it's not like he's got like five foreigners.

[Joel]

How many Odysseys do you have, man?

[Matt]

Yeah, like, I got a feeling that some of these are antiques or kind of like more like collector's items. So maybe it's tougher to bundle and save like they say on the commercials, when it comes to combining your home and auto, in that case.

[Joel]

But the truth is most people putting them together, and I think the average American does have their home and car insurance in one place because of that. But it's. Yeah, that's another place that an independent insurance agent might be able to help out and point you in the right direction, especially since you have so many vehicles. Clint, we've got more questions to get to. Matt, we're going to talk about Social Security and also cashing in your pto. Does it make sense? We'll get to those questions right after this. You love what you do. You also love the idea of not doing it one day. But it's getting harder to know the best way to move into the future towards retirement. Right. We hear about inflation, rate hikes, the changing market, got to get kids through college, build an emergency fund, and then there's retirement.

[Matt]

Yeah. Here is where fidelity comes in, though. Fidelity can help you to find clarity and saving for the future, even as your path and your priorities evolve. How? Well, they'll help you to create a free, personalized plan that adapts as your priorities change. They'll also show you what's called timely insights, small tips on ways to save and invest to help meet your goals. And you can monitor your plan so you stay on target.

[Joel]

The future is coming, and so is retirement. Fidelity can help you take it on your way learn [e-mail] future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account. Apply Fidelity Brokerage Services member NYSE SIPC

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[Matt]

Make it visible with Viz VIZ is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using VIZ include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if VIZ is right for you. Learn [e-mail] alright, Joel, we're back from the break. It's time for the Facebook Question of the week, which is from Bonnie, who wrote when people talk about ways to keep Social Security solvent, why do they never consider removing the cap on Social Security, withholding or raising it significantly, of course, other than the people making the laws who would be negatively impacted. What you think? Joel? Yeah, I mean, are you all for raising the caps?

[Joel]

Well, tax the rich? Is that is that what I'm for? That's a good question.

[Matt]

Let's say that's a whole different can of words.

[Joel]

Yeah, yeah. I'd say this. It actually does get discussed. It just doesn't really get discussed by our politicians. It's more in the realm of think tanks, Matt and when you think about whether it's politically oriented or tax foundations that do this kind of work and they pass on information and studies to politicians who I think don't read them is my guess. But people do debate these topics. It's just that our elected leaders don't really talk about it in any meaningful way. Currently. What Bonnie is getting at is that people don't pay the 6.2% tax, the Social Security tax on income over $184,000. Removing that cap would bring more money into the Social Security system that's badly needed to right the ship and to prevent the trust from going insolvent quickly, which we've talked about on the show. But the reason for not increasing the cap is, I think, one of fairness. It's not like people who make a million dollars a year for their whole career get A much higher Social Security check than someone making, let's say, $175,000.

[Matt]

Right.

[Joel]

Their check will be quite similar because they both paid in similar amounts to the system because of that cap. And so if we raise the cap and we don't expand benefits to people who are then paying a lot more into the system, it kind of breaks that long standing link between contribution and payout, which I think is why people actually really like Social Security. If you want polling on the benefits of Social Security to go down, you take that, take that linkage away and remove the cap altogether. Again, this is a political question in so many ways, but there are reasons, I think, why the cap has not been removed at this point.

[Matt]

Yeah, it's not like it's a total no brainer solution because there's honestly a lot of different, more creative approaches that have been floated that wouldn't tax middle to upper class folks more, but would raise Social Security taxes on like some of the incredibly high income earners out there.

[Joel]

I think they call it like a, it's like a donut plan. Right. So, but they're carving out those people who make a little bit more than that cap, but then they're reinstituting the cap further up the income scale.

[Matt]

But even still, like, this doesn't completely solve the problem that we have. And the biggest issue with Social Security comes down to lower birth rates, essentially, like, basically, demographics aren't our friend these days. We've got a larger and larger older group of folks and a smaller amount of folks who are young and who are paying into it. And so what that means to fully address it, like we would need to delay the current full retirement age as well, or possibly even reducing benefits, which neither of those seem to be huge

[Joel]

winners, honestly, none of them seem to

[Matt]

be huge winners because nobody's really willing to tackle it at this point in time. Because nobody, I mean, we don't need to tackle it. So why would you be the one who just steps in the ant pile right now, which is, I think it would feel like to any lawmaker, well,

[Joel]

when you say we don't need to,

[Matt]

we need to because like, you're kind

[Joel]

of right, because we're not at the cliff.

[Matt]

We don't currently need to. And so nobody's gonna preemptively, you know, punch themself in the face, like you like to say, which is what it's gonna feel like to any politician who proactively addresses the issue.

[Joel]

But the closer you get to the cliff at the higher speed you're going, it would behoove you to start slowing down sooner rather than later. And we just haven't had the political will or the push from American citizens.

[Matt]

They're like, full speed ahead. And so we need to stop. And then we'll stop, then y.

[Joel]

And we will slam on the brakes as hard as humanly possible. It's just going to make whatever solution gets implemented, it'll have to be harsher. Right. Because the closer we get to, it's like the longer you. The more you rack up your credit card debt and don't pay attention to it. Well, at some point, you got to pay the piper. The sooner you start addressing that, the better, because it means you can write the ship in less time. And the same is true of the Social Security shortfall, which we're going to talk about actually on Wednesday. I've got a guest coming up, Mike Piper. He is an expert.

[Matt]

Mike.

[Joel]

Mike's the man. You said pay the piper earlier.

[Matt]

Was that subconscious solution, too?

[Joel]

Yeah, it could have been.

[Matt]

I think so.

[Joel]

So Mike has thought through these things in. In serious fashion. And so we're talking about how millennials should think about Social Security, where it's going to be for them. Because, Matt, even in the how to Money Facebook group, I've seen somebody there. Yeah.

[Matt]

Yes.

[Joel]

But I've seen, man, there's a lot of doubters, there's a lot of haters.

[Matt]

People need to not hate.

[Joel]

I mean, I hate a little bit, too. So there's a little bit of hating that needs to take place because it's gonna be there.

[Matt]

But is it gonna be, like, the best? Is it gonna be the most well funded? No, but, like, no.

[Joel]

And because of this very issue, because no one's willing to do what it. What it. It takes.

[Matt]

But there'll be something there. Like, it makes. Yeah, like.

[Joel]

And that's some. Count on it.

[Matt]

But it's not gonna be great, right? It's like, it's like, like a hotel that says, oh, there's coffee. There's coffee include or like an Airbnb. It's like coffee maker. Is it gonna be really good coffee, Joel? Is it gonna be like the Canyon Ethiopian cold brew that we had this morning that was really excellent cold brew? No, it's not gonna be like that, but it's gonna be caffeine and it's gonna taste like the bean water. It's gonna taste like the bean juice.

[Joel]

It's gonna be kind of like driving on a car on the interstate, but you got, like, a donut on two of Your wheels, you know, the sm. Like that's what's gonna be like that's what Social Security is headed towards if we don't. If we don't fix things. And so that's probably true. We'll get Mike's take on that. And so, yeah, listen, on Wednesday he actually created a free Social Security calculator called Open Social Security, which. So he spent years making that, Matt. To help people make the wise decision when it comes to when and how they claim Social Security. So cover a lot of stuff on Wednesday.

[Matt]

All right, another quick anonymous question. It's that time of year when I can cash in my PTO if I would like. I have plenty of PTO and work in healthcare, so I feel that it's hard to use my pay time off. Has anyone done this just to get some quick cash or is it not worth it because of the taxes? I think I would get an extra thousand dollars just now. I have been obsessed with the idea of paying one extra house payment a year to shorten years of paying mortgage and I thought I would use that PTO money to make that happen yearly. Or is it. Nope, go take the family and figure out a different way to do it. What do you think, Joel? What should anonymous poster do for. Well, first of all, first off, do you think he should take the pto?

[Joel]

That's a good question.

[Matt]

I like, should he take the time off and spend it with his family?

[Joel]

I think it depends on the individual, the individual's goals and the individual stage of life. Right. Like, not everyone is going to make the same decision on this and that's understandable. This is something I would have completely considered, Matt, especially in my 20s, whether when I was single, when I was newly married, it's like easy enough to like leave work on Friday and have a nice quick getaway. You can still get out of town and have fun. Right. Even though you don't, you're not necessarily taking a full week off or something like that. I'm all for pto, but when I at that age, Matt, I had like big money goals that I wanted to achieve then I wanted to achieve them quickly and given kind of where my salary was at like a thousand dollars extra, that would have been a big cash infusion for me.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Joel]

I think the further you get down the wealth building goal though, the less willing you are to trade time for money.

[Matt]

Like I want a little more time, a little less money.

[Joel]

That's right. So that thousand dollars, it moves the needle less and less over time.

[Matt]

Us old guys are Sitting back here just like, give me all the time. And all the young folks who don't, you know, who are saving up for the down payment for that house, like that's a money goal that folks have. Yeah, they're like, give me. No, no, no, I'll take the thousand bucks exactly every day of the week. Yeah, I get that. It also depends too, even aside from some of those bigger goals, just where you are within the money gears. Because let's say, and I mean so much of it depends on your specifics. Because let's say you have a house, you've got a mortgage. Let's say even if your mortgage rate's at 6%, if you aren't, if you don't have a retirement, if you haven't been funding your ira, well, that's going to be a better use of your funds, especially if you're with Robinhood and get that, get the 3% match, get some of that free money. But it just depends where you are with things. And I would be hard pressed, I think especially once you, like, once you are comparing money to like time with family. I feel like that actually helps make it a little bit easier because you're thinking, well, especially, yeah. Like using it to pay down to eliminate the mortgage a little bit, a little bit early. Sounds like this is something that he's discovered and, or she. And it's like, oh, wow, here is sort of a shortcut to be able to get rid of this mortgage quickly. Know that you have to commit to that. Like, like, I mean folks write about this, they talk about it, there's TikTok videos. Oh, you're going to be able to turn your 30 year mortgage into a 23 year. 23 year mortgage just by making an extra payment a year. You got to do that every year though.

[Joel]

Yeah. Like you can't for 23 years. Yes.

[Matt]

This isn't just something that you do once and think, all right, we're set and don't underestimate your.

[Joel]

It's not that even just doing it one year wouldn't make a dent, but it helps.

[Matt]

But if your eyes are big because you love the idea of being able to no longer have a mortgage in 23 years, then just know that you got to commit to the thing, which

[Joel]

is totally fine, but can you imagine trading your PTO for a thousand bucks for two and a half decades?

[Matt]

That's a really long commitment, man. And my goals tend to change and I wouldn't trust myself to want to go down that path as opposed to say, let's take that additional. Even if you want to cash out, I think it's a whole nother question as to whether or not you paid on that mortgage. I think even just sitting on that cash, sticking it in a high yield account, and figuring out something that you are really, really stoked about, not just something that makes financial mathematic sense to where it feels like you're optimizing as opposed to, like a serious life upgrade, Like a quality of life upgrade, especially when it comes to your family.

[Joel]

Yes, we hope that helps. It's not a simple decision, but hopefully if you're far enough along on your journey, this idea of paying off the mortgage. Yes, I get it. I love it.

[Matt]

But if it's.

[Joel]

If you're sacrificing really important, meaningful time with the people you love the most and you're like, can't go to the. On that lake trip this year, guys, because daddy wants to pay down the mortgage a little bit earlier. That's just a hard sell for your fam, and I don't know that it's best for you.

[Matt]

I agree. Yeah. What are you trading all that time and money for?

[Joel]

All right, you want to get back to the beer? This is soft static. It's. They call it a mega fruited sour mat.

[Matt]

Have we had this beer before?

[Joel]

I don't think so.

[Matt]

Gosh, it seems like such a familiar, familiar flavor.

[Joel]

Really. So this was inner voice's fourth anniversary beer. Emily and I got some from the source when we were down there not too long ago.

[Matt]

Very nice.

[Joel]

What are your thoughts on this one?

[Matt]

Well, first of all, Inner voice is one of my favorite. I don't know. They haven't been around all that long. And specifically in the Atlanta area, Inner Voice, they're crushing it. Man. Memory farm is such a great go to hazy. But we're not here to talk about memory farm. We're here to talk about soft static. And it says it's mega fruited and. Oh, is it? It is so juicy. It's sweet, but it's not like a pure sugar sweet. Like, it's got a lot of fruit flavors to balance it out. Like, it's got like strawberry flavors, cherry, maybe like a little bit of raspberry going on. It's just like truly packed full of all that flavor, which, given the amount of sweetness, like, you need that flavor to balance it. Otherwise it just feels too over the top. Kind of cloyingly palate, fatigue inducing type of beer. You know what I'm saying?

[Joel]

Yeah, I was gonna say cherry and strawberry vibes. For sure. And to me it had like a touch of vanilla going on which lent like a little kind of smooth balance to it and smoothed it out a little bit. But and I love, love me some fruited sours.

[Matt]

So this is it's been a minute since my channel on the show.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

Glad you and I glad you and Emily picked this one up, but glad you and I got to share it. And you can find our show notes up on the [e-mail] if you haven't left us a review. That's something we would love and would appreciate. It helps us to get the word out to other folks who have not yet discovered the joys of how to money. Joel, did you know there's folks out there who don't know what financial independence is?

[Joel]

That's something that we it's a shame.

[Matt]

That's the gospel we're trying to spread here.

[Joel]

That's right, man. That's right. Yeah. So tell your friends, tell your mom, tell your sister.

[Matt]

Leave us a solid one.

[Joel]

Yeah, thanks for listening. We'll catch you on Wednesday with that Social Security episode. Until next time, Best friends out.

[Matt]

Best friends out. Is it just me or is it getting really hard to figure out the best way to save for retirement? Well, Fidelity can help you to find clarity so you can save the best way for you with a free personalized plan, goal tracking and timely insights, you'll be set to take on retirement your way.

[Joel]

Get [e-mail] future expenses charged by your investments and other costs and fees associated with trading or transacting in your account. Apply Fidelity Brokerage Services Member NYSE SIPC

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[Matt]

Struggling to see up close? Make it visible with viz. VIZ is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using VIZ include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if VIZ is right for you. Learn [e-mail] this is an I Heart Podcast.

[Listener Chad]

Guaranteed human.