Friday Flight - Tariff Turmoil, Winning So Much, & Border-Hopping for Bargains #1107

Summary

Podcast Summary

How to Money
Episode: Friday Flight – Tariff Turmoil, Winning So Much, & Border-Hopping for Bargains (#1107)
Date: February 27, 2026
Hosts: Joel and Matt
Theme:
This Friday Flight episode dives into the latest personal finance headlines and news you can use—from tariff policy chaos and Supreme Court decisions, to the realities of homeownership costs and clever ways to save by border-hopping for medical care or groceries. The hosts offer practical advice and a casual, friendly take on the big stories shaping your wallet right now.

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Main Discussion Points

1. Apple Storage vs. Amazon Prime Photo Storage

(01:22–04:56)

• Joel shares that many listeners wrote in about options for photo storage given his reluctance to pay for Apple’s iCloud.
• Listeners pointed out that Amazon Prime offers free unlimited photo storage (with limitations on video).
• Joel tested it: “I uploaded all my stuff to [Amazon Photos]… at one point it was like you can’t upload any more videos, so definitely have more than 10 gigs worth of videos.” (03:49)
• Discussion of “lifetime” storage plans like pCloud—which can be risky if the company shutters.
• Matt: “The Amazon Prime ecosystem is so complicated... probably a whole host of features we’re not taking advantage of.” (02:42)

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2. Supreme Court & Tariff Turmoil

(04:56–09:40)

• The Supreme Court ruled the President’s tariff policy unconstitutional, finding the executive can’t wield the IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) to justify tariffs unilaterally.
• Hosts compare Trump’s post-ruling legal maneuvers to Biden’s student loan forgiveness tactics.
  • Joel: “It makes me think of President Biden’s attempts to bring about student loan forgiveness... both are trying to spin what’s happening in the economy.” (11:15)
• Tariffs will likely be less “capricious” and now require congressional action for extension.
• Joel: “The ambiguity of tariff policy just… it’s a source of anxiety and frustration for businesses.” (08:19)
• Notable headline mentioned: “Trump replaces old illegal tariffs with new illegal tariffs.” (08:13)

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3. State of the Union & Policy Proposals

(10:00–14:29)

• The hosts decry the performative nature of the State of the Union—a spectacle rather than substance.
• Trump’s proposal for a retirement savings match: Americans without access to 401(k)s could get up to a $1,000 match for $2,000 contributed, similar to the Thrift Savings Plan.
  • Matt: “A 50% match on $2,000 of retirement savings, that’s massive, man. That could be so huge for so many Americans.” (14:04)
• Skepticism about legality and funding for the program; possible implementation via the Secure Act instead of executive order.

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4. Congress Members Trading Stocks

(14:29–15:04)

• Brief mention of plans to restrict stock trading in Congress—applauded as an overdue accountability move, even if it won’t vastly affect average Americans’ finances.

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5. Rising Homeownership Costs: Repairs, Insurance, and DIY

(15:04–19:27)

• Homeownership’s largest pain points are surprise repairs and maintenance, rising insurance, and property taxes.
• The “1-2% rule” for annual maintenance: Set aside 1–2% of your home’s value per year for repairs.
  • Joel: “If your home is worth $800,000… you’re talking about $8,000 to $16,000 for repairs.” (16:25)
• Matt recounts a DIY plumbing repair, encouraging listeners to tackle manageable projects, noting skyrocketing labor costs: “It’s at least 65-35 in terms of labor versus materials.” (18:30)
• Discussion on how rising costs make renting more attractive—many renters are building investment wealth rather than home equity, especially as markets outperform real estate in the long run.

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6. Renting vs. Buying in 2026

(19:27–23:38)

• The financial script has flipped: Renting is now often cheaper than buying, and investing the difference can build wealth faster.
  • “If I could rent the place for two grand, I would pay a mortgage [of] like four grand.” (21:00)
• Nuanced advice: While the market is softening and rates are dropping below 6% (average 5.98%), patience and savings can still pay off for buyers.

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7. Ludicrous Headline of the Week: AI After Death

(26:28–29:27)

• Business Insider reports Meta patented an AI that allows users to "post" from beyond the grave.
  • Matt: “This is straight up an episode of Black Mirror… but the really sad thing is that that is becoming reality.” (27:12)
• Discussion about deepfakes, AI-generated content, and possible ethical/legal implications for creators like themselves.

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8. Prenups in the Age of Tech Wealth

(30:16–33:57)

• In light of tech wealth and AI millionaires, conversation on the modern necessity (or not) of prenuptial agreements.
• Joel: “When you read your vows, think about what you’re saying… it’s not an insignificant commitment.” (31:39)
• Matt: “You gotta be more than fair. You have to be generous and loving.” (32:17)
• Hosts personally favor combining finances and generosity over prenups for young or asset-light couples.

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9. Medical Bills and Bankruptcy—even with Insurance

(33:58–36:58)

• Citing new Health Affairs study: Medical emergencies still often lead to bankruptcy, even for those with solid insurance, because deductibles are now so high (e.g. $7,000 for ACA bronze plans).
  • Joel: “Even if you have great insurance, make sure that your emergency fund… includes money to cover a deductible.” (35:44)
• Discussion of medical tourism as a way to save—moving abroad for major procedures now commonplace (examples: knee replacement, dental care, even surgery in England for a U.S.-based friend).

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10. Saving at the Grocery Store

(39:02–43:59)

• Kiplinger recommends reverse meal planning: Start your shopping by seeing what you already have. Plan meals around pantry/freezer contents, not just a fresh list.
  • Matt: “It feels so good to utilize what you already have on hand. It feels so good to not be wasteful…” (40:44)
• Use “pantry weeks” especially before trips.
• Steak and ground beef prices are up 17% year over year. Despite price hikes, consumers haven’t curbed their habits—warned not to slide into credit card debt for luxury groceries.
  • Joel: “If you’re just used to buying steak… price keeps going up, I’m gonna keep buying it. That’s okay… but just make sure you can actually afford it.” (43:28)
• Don’t “sleep on fish”—salmon prices are down due to a supply glut.

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Notable Quotes

• “The ambiguity of tariff policy just… it’s a source of anxiety and frustration for businesses.”
  — Joel (08:19)

• “A 50% match on $2,000 of retirement savings, that’s massive, man. That could be so huge for so many Americans.”
  — Matt (14:04)

• “This is straight up an episode of Black Mirror… but the really sad thing is that that is becoming reality.”
  — Matt (27:12)

• “Even if you have great insurance, make sure that your emergency fund… includes money to cover a deductible.”
  — Joel (35:44)

• “If you’re just used to buying steak…price keeps going up, I’m gonna keep buying it. That’s okay… but just make sure you can actually afford it.”
  — Joel (43:28)

• “You gotta be more than fair. You have to be generous and loving.”
  — Matt (32:17)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Amazon Prime Photo Storage Hack: 02:07–04:56
• Supreme Court on Tariffs: 04:56–09:40
• State of the Union/Retirement Proposal: 10:00–14:29
• Home Repairs and DIY Savings: 15:04–19:27
• Rent vs. Buy in 2026: 19:27–23:38
• AI Life After Death: 26:28–29:27
• Prenups and Modern Wealth: 30:16–33:57
• Medical Bills & Medical Tourism: 33:58–38:30
• Grocery Savings & Steak Inflation: 39:02–43:59

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The Hosts’ Tone & Approach

• Conversational, playful, and unscripted.
• Frequently playful banter and pop culture references—e.g., calling Charlie Sheen “the patron saint of the episode” for his “winning” catchphrase.
• Strong focus on practical, no-jargon personal finance advice for regular people.
• Willingness to discuss the nuance and disagree, but always returning to actionable tips.

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Bottom Line Takeaways

• Take advantage of little-known financial perks (like Amazon Prime’s photo storage).
• Tariffs and government policies are in flux, but clarity can help businesses and individuals plan.
• Home costs are rising, so plan for repairs and consider DIY to save.
• Rethink what “the American Dream” looks like: Renting isn’t always a waste, and sometimes investing beats buying.
• Protect yourself from medical bill surprises—even good insurance isn’t always enough; sometimes, a trip abroad saves you thousands.
• Before shopping, meal-plan with what you own—and check out the shifting landscape in food prices.
• Embrace generosity, transparency, and love in relationships—and know that even the future of AI can’t replace genuine human connection.

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For more show notes, links, and lively finance discussion, visit howtomoney.com and the How to Money Facebook group.

Transcript

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[Joel]

Welcome to how to Money. I'm Joel.

[Matt]

I'm Matt.

[Joel]

Today we're talking tariff turmoil, winning so much and and border hopping for bargains.

[Matt]

You know what, buddy? This is our Friday flight. We hope everyone has had a wonderful week so far and we are in fact going to get to the top. Headlines, the personal finance news that you can use.

[Joel]

Charlie Sheen is the patron saint of this episode. Winning. Wasn't that his thing? Winning so hard?

[Matt]

Wasn't it like tiger's milk or tiger blood?

[Joel]

He did a lot of crazy stuff in his day.

[Matt]

Yeah.

[Joel]

As detailed in his memoir that you can read. Okay, real quick. Matt and I will not belabor the point, but we've gotten a lot of emails about and comments in the Facebook group about my unwillingness or distaste for paying Apple for storage space. Right. For photos, essentially. And somebody wrote into us and one of their suggestions was like, wait a second, you have Amazon Prime? Amazon prime has free photo storage, dude.

[Matt]

And I was like, oh, oh, who knew that? Yeah, that's right.

[Joel]

I totally. I totally forgot that was totally off my radar.

[Matt]

You know why we don't know that is because the Amazon prime ecosystem is so complicated and there are so many different options. It's not streamlined. It's not intuitive. And so it doesn't seem surprised me there's probably a whole host of features, free features that we have available to us that we're not taking advantage of because I haven't clicked on to that secondary, nay, tertiary submenu drop down option that's available.

[Joel]

It is. It's one of those things that will work because I think you said you spend 10 bucks a month on storage, right. With the, with, with Apple. And I was like, oh man, 10 bucks, that's 120 bucks a year. That's like not too far off the price of literally just Prime. And I talked about maybe, just maybe ditching Prime. Do I want to? Will I. With this added perk and taking advantage of it, it seems like that makes prime feel like it's even more. Do you know worth the expense. Right.

[Matt]

Do you know the details of the photo storage as far as the quantity?

[Joel]

Unlimited photos. Okay. Hey, only up to 10 gigs worth of video. So photos, I'm just go to my heart's content. Videos though, there's a limit. Yeah.

[Matt]

Do you know how many videos you have? Do you take a whole lot of videos?

[Joel]

I uploaded all my stuff to.

[Matt]

You did it?

[Joel]

Oh yeah, I did. Oh yeah. I took advantage. And did it have a little gauge

[Matt]

to tell you how much space you had left?

[Joel]

Well, at one point it was like you can't upload any more videos, so definitely have more than 10 gigs worth of videos. So I, yeah, I might, I don't know what I'm gonna do about that. Maybe I go in and delete some that I don't care about. Go figure out what to do. Yeah, but at least, at least all the photos.

[Matt]

Can you upload those videos to Snapfish or whatever it was that you were looking at?

[Joel]

Maybe that's a good point. Yeah. So maybe I can like patchwork this together and save money. And Aaron, by the way, emailed about that and got another email from listener Shannon who is trying something called pCloud. And I just want to mention this because I love this sort of model. It's you pay once and you get it for life. You pay more, a lot more. Because it's like $400 for 200 gigs for life or something like that. The only potential downside is what if pCloud fails? Right. And this is the case for a lot of service for life companies. You're like, oh great, I'd never have to pay for this again. And I love that idea. But if the company fails, you're out a lot of Money, sorry, out of luck. So. But at least I found a decent solution for now.

[Matt]

Well then on top of that too, less likely that you have to run out and pick something up because you can order something on prime and have it show up later in the afternoon process. Dude. Let's talk about the Supreme Court ruling. This is one that came out actually last Friday after we had published our Friday flight. But in a 6, 3 ruling, the Supreme Court said that the President's tariff policy is unconstitutional. And why they said that was the case is pretty crucial. So the President can't use the IEEPA to justify tariffs. Essentially, the dealing out and the reeling in of terrorists from a single individual exceeds the power of the executive office. So you might be thinking, all right, woo hoo, terrorists, they are no more. All thanks to the Supreme Court. Right?

[Joel]

Not quite.

[Matt]

Yeah. He immediately was like, nope, we're gonna do terrorists this way now. So he's sticking to his guns.

[Joel]

And by the way, you cut IEEPA IPA is what people call it iepa, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

[Matt]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joel]

In case you're like a nerd and

[Matt]

you want to know that stuff, want to dive into the policy. But he's essentially justifying the tariffs now by other potentially legal or potentially illegal means. But it makes me think of President Biden's attempts to bring about student loan forgiveness.

[Joel]

Right. Very similar.

[Matt]

Where he's just like, oh, I'm pretty sure this is unconstitutional, but we're going to, we're going to go for it anyway. Figure it out later. And President Trump, he's trying to do the same with terrorists via other legal maneuvers. So terrorists will likely be forced to be less capricious. Right. Like as to why it is that whimsical.

[Joel]

Makes it sound fun.

[Matt]

Yeah, like creative and fantastical.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

As opposed to emotional knee jerk reaction, which is like, it seems like it's based more on whether or not you received a gold bar from a country as to your tariff rate. It seems more likely that you are going to receive less terrorists placed on your country. Were you to award the Nobel Peace Prize. Sure. For instance, this is the kind of

[Joel]

legitimate reasons given for implementing tariffs.

[Matt]

Don't love that kind of policy, man. I will say the current terrorists that have been stated they have an expiration date, I think it's 150 days. And so in order for those to continue, it is interesting because Congress is actually going to be forced to act to actually make this a part of legislation as opposed to them being able to sit back and have the tariffs essentially go on indefinitely. Sort of the shoes on the other foot.

[Joel]

I know you missed talking about tariffs, so I know you're thrilled to be able to talk about it today again.

[Matt]

It's a little frustrating because do people truly feel the impact of tariffs is tough to know.

[Joel]

Right.

[Matt]

Well, given, given where price is and all the fact that go into higher

[Joel]

prices, I think when you're talking about most of the people listening and what they pay at the store, it's been less felt than some economists had predicted. But when you hear the stories of individual small business owners who are confronted with spectacular tariffs that they hadn't planned for, that's where you see, oh my gosh, this is a real problem for a not insignificant number of people. And it's easier for the costcos of this world to endure tariffs than it is for those small business owners. And by the way, the headline of the most recent Reason Roundtable podcast was Trump replaces old illegal tariffs with new illegal tariffs. And I just, I love that because I think it gets to the heart of the matter.

[Matt]

But yeah, that's pretty dang accurate.

[Joel]

And the, the ambiguity, ambiguity of tariff policy, it just, it's a, it's a source of anxiety and frustration for businesses right. When they're attempting to plan. And so that is at the heart, I think, of the problem of these tariffs. I think if we had some sort of like congressional implementation of tariffs that was clear cut, understood and long lasting, then people would be a little bit less frustrated by it. But you're right, it's the capricious nature, the ever changing reality of tariff policy that really frustrated a lot of small business owners and made it hard to plan. And in fact put some small businesses either out of business or behind the eight ball when it came to moving their business forward, made it almost impossible to plan for, which is a frustrating thing.

[Matt]

Yeah, well, speaking of behind the eight ball, it seems like it's the magic eight ball that Trump is using to decide whether or not these shares go.

[Joel]

Sure. So it's all signs point to. Yes.

[Matt]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joel]

Okay, so what's going to happen now when a bunch of businesses have filed lawsuits about getting refunds for tariffs? It's probably not going to proceed smoothly. And the Supreme Court kind of said we're not going to really weigh in on that. We'll let the lower courts handle that stuff. So we'll see how the refund process plays out. My guess is Matt will keep talking about tariffs, sadly for, for months to come, hopefully just not on the reg.

[Matt]

So going Back to kind of what we're saying before it makes sense that we should be talking about tariffs because of the fact that they impact the economy. But at the same time, the way that they are being implemented makes me like it's just giving more attention to the spectacle of our current day politics, which is the part of it that I hate so much. It makes me think of the State of the Union address which. Were you excited to tune in to that?

[Joel]

No, I caught the highlights or lowlights. However you think about it.

[Matt]

I didn't even do that. I mean, well, I guess listening to news wrap ups and stuff like that, folks were highlighting the different aspects of it.

[Joel]

But I had to hear some of the economic proposals and thoughts just because I feel like we got to cover that.

[Matt]

Yeah, we definitely need to mention that. But I would rather us do away with the State of the Union because it is just the performative politics nature of what our politics is. Man. This is like totally the politics segment portion of the podcast today of the show. But it makes me think about like even the Senate hearings that we have where it's just a lot of people yelling and pointing fingers and it's like an episode of like Real Housewives or something and the cats there pointing at the lady as well. That's what it feels like. That part of it I hate so much. Even though there were some interesting things that, that Trump mentioned during the State of the Union.

[Joel]

Well, he said we're winning. So much like his, the way he touts what's happening in the economy is through a filter and the filter is. And gosh, again, trying not to get too political here. When I took office in January, everything turned around and America is great again

[Matt]

is essentially, that's what executives do at the State of the Union every stinking year. That's why I hate it so much because it's just them touting their own quote, unquote, wins.

[Joel]

You talked about how Biden, President Biden attempted to treat student loan forgiveness is very similar to how President Trump has treated and attempted to implement tariffs. I think that's true. And I think the same is true for both of these presidents in terms of how they're trying to spin what's happening in the economy. Both are like, what are you talking about? Everything's great. And when you actually step back and look from a macro perspective, there are a lot of things to be excited about in terms of our economy. Like, I don't think things are as bad as some of the political pundits want to make it sound.

[Matt]

Agreed. It's also not as good as others are also trying to make it sound.

[Joel]

And also when people feel like things aren't great, you don't come in and like Jedi mind trick and say, what are you talking about, man? Things are awesome. And you're oh yeah, you're right. No, that's just not how it works. And people want to be understood in their frustration. Are we is America as hot as Hansel and Zoolander? I don't think so. Like, I just don't think that's true. But again, when you look at the progress, post pandemic progress in particular Matt of our country when it came to like taming inflation when it comes to economic growth and things are better in America than coming down in almost any other part of the globe.

[Matt]

That's true. Okay. So one thing that's worth highlighting that Trump did mention is the matching retirement funds for individuals who don't have a 401k at their work. So starting next year, this is what's proposed, that you are going to get a $1,000 match if you contribute $2,000. There's not a whole lot of details given because obviously this is very performative. But evidently the account's going to be similar to the tsp, the Thrift Savings Plan, which federal employees are quite familiar with. And this is going to be particularly helpful for the folks out there who are self employed, for folks who are working at jobs that don't offer retirement accounts, which I, man, I totally love this. And whether I don't want to get overly excited about it though, because this is a proposal from the president and it seems like going back to the Supreme Court, one of the reasons that they cited for that Trump was, wasn't able to do this was because in The Constitution Article 1 talks about how it's in fact Congress's job to be able to levy taxes.

[Joel]

I will say they're in control of the purse. It sounds like the methodology that he can use to implement this is from the Secure Act. Right. That was implemented. Secure Act 2.0. And if that's the case, then this really could come about with very little legal issue.

[Matt]

But how durable is it at the same time?

[Joel]

That's a good question.

[Matt]

As opposed to being implemented in a more congressional legislative sort of approach if

[Joel]

it comes to pass. I think it's a really exciting development, especially for like small business owners out there. Like you talked about how when you were in your photography business, you never had access to a match like you, it was all on your back and so that's, that's cool.

[Matt]

Oh, I love the idea of it. Yeah, absolutely. I just hope it comes about the right way. Yeah. I don't want to downplay how huge this could be for individuals. A 50% match on $2,000 of retirement investing, retirement savings. That's massive, man. Like, that could be so huge for so many Americans. For that I'm really excited. And this is certainly something we'll keep an eye on.

[Joel]

The only downside is how do we come up with the funds as a country to pay for that now?

[Matt]

We'll figure that out later.

[Joel]

Just adding it onto the national debt, I guess. Last thing that we should address from State of the Union is President Trump also mentioned briefly the topic of limiting Congress's ability to trade individual stocks. That's also something we can get behind. We've been talking about for a long time. It's how big of a difference is that going to make for the average American? Not much, but it will I think at least create a sense that we, that our Congress people are not using information they get that we don't have access to to make money while they're in office.

[Matt]

Totally agree.

[Joel]

All right, let's talk about housing map. Homeowners are most frustrated by maintenance cost apparently and surprise repairs that they have to, they have to pay for these days. A new report from Hippo finds that one of the biggest financial concerns of homeownership, along with rising home insurance costs. Right. And property taxes, those are two line items that have probably, you've probably seen your mortgage payment go up in the past few years because of those two things. Well, it's the increased cost of taking care of your home. That's another big thing that people are feeling overwhelmed by. And this reveals I think a few things. One, homeownership not cheap. Along with, you know, higher monthly payments, higher than what you're paying to rent, you're also signing up for bigger one time expenses. It's, it's crucial obviously to budget for potential issues that could arise as a homeowner. The average rule of thumb we've outlined this in the past is to have something like 1 to 2% of your home value, your home's value set aside every single year for things you have to do to repair your house. Matt, I think like let's say your, your home is worth $800,000, right. Then you're, you're talking about having between eight and $16,000 set aside for things you need to do to your home. Do you think that's Excessive or do you think that that probably pretty dang

[Matt]

accurate, but I'm guessing that's not what most folks are doing.

[Joel]

Agreed. And it just really depends too on the status of your home. Because 1 to 2%, that's like a big gap. Take a look in particular at the, at the main systems of your home. Your, your roof and your H Vac. Those are two big things. Like how, how long has it been since those have been replaced? If, if it hasn't been long, then you could probably stick to closer to 1% of your home's value. But if you're like that's getting pretty up there in age. Has a roof, can be that can take your whole budget for that one year in terms of, in terms of your home. But it's crucial to set money aside for those expenses and to factor that in too on the front end when you're thinking about buying a home.

[Matt]

Or you can start figuring some of that out yourself. Yes, we talked about this. Okay, so we talked about the coffee bar on Monday, right? Here's a new wrinkle which, and I already shared this with you a little bit, so this is more for the listeners out there. But evidently there is a upstairs bathroom drain line goes through one of the walls of the coffee bar. And evidently, I think for at least four or five years it's been leaking some down in the basement. Not like terribly, but you can see where it's gotten wet and dried and it's crusty and gross. And what a great time to go ahead and bust open that wall and make sure that the leak isn't originating within the wall as opposed to right as the pipe passes through in the crawl space. And with the knowledge and experience I've gained over the past nine months when it comes to plumbing, I had very little to worry about. Well, I don't know. That sounds reckless. I felt empowered to be able to take that project on myself. And so something I was able to knock out last weekend.

[Joel]

That's awesome.

[Matt]

Cut into the 3 inch waistline. Got some fresh white PVC, ran that through the floor, got it all plumbed up.

[Joel]

There you go.

[Matt]

Good to go. Dot was back to showering. Before she even knew it. She didn't miss it.

[Joel]

This is something like when you think about the major cost of these home projects, it's labor, right?

[Matt]

I don't even.

[Joel]

Yeah, it wasn't as much the case a decade ago. I think it was closer to 50 50. But now I think it's hourly rate.

[Matt]

It's insane.

[Joel]

It's like it's at least 65, 35 in terms of labor versus the materials. And so the more you can take on or do yourself, especially those smaller projects that can help lead to bigger projects that will at least reduce how much you need to have saved if you feel like you can tackle those projects on your own.

[Matt]

It makes me think of a attorney friend of ours and he, they, he owns some properties as well and he always hates paying plumbers because he's just like, their hourly rate is more than what, what I get paid. He's like, I'm going to start being a plumber. But with these high prices of homes, this is why more young Americans are finding themselves being content to rent. And it's not that folks don't think that they're, that they're ever going to be able to buy a home, although I think that might be part of it. But it's also because they've been investing more and with that they have seen their wealth increase increase significantly. And as monthly rent remains a good bit cheaper than buying, folks are starting to even just question the entire premise of purchasing a home.

[Joel]

Right?

[Matt]

Like it used to be the sort of default sort of thing of like, oh yeah, you're throwing money away if you're renting, you need to buy a home, but it all comes down to what you are doing with those funds instead. And as more folks are sticking money into the market and they're seeing that those dollars increase faster than housing. And that's what you see. I mean, this isn't just a recent phenomena. You look back over the data from the past hundred years, the average amount of home equity increases that folks have seen have not kept up with what the market has done over the long haul. So that's the biggest trick though, I think is whether or not folks will actually do that with that money.

[Joel]

But the people who are, but the

[Matt]

folks who are, are seeing their wealth increase significantly. And it also doesn't surprise me. We were just talking about the potentially new retirement, government sponsored, government backed match with a TSP like retirement plan. But the majority of Americans who are working full time have access to a 401k. And so it doesn't surprise me that we're seeing more folks enter into the workforce and all of the new 401k plans have to auto enroll their employees. And so you've got this entire generation of folks who are getting, they got that stealth wealth, they don't even realize it until they sit down at the end of the year and they're like Whoa. Where did that come from? Yeah, that's awesome. And they feel less of that pressure to purchase a home, whereas previous generations, maybe they had fatter deposits every two weeks in their account that, you know, they're bringing their take homes a little bit more because they're not setting money aside in a 401k and therefore they're using more of those funds to purchase a home.

[Joel]

Right. And like we've talked about, trade off. So much depends on what's happening in the market. Because if you're talking about 2011, 2012, and someone's sending in an Ask HTM and they're like, should I buy a house? Like we would say, well, rates are pretty dang low. Prices are incredibly low. Think about, you're probably going to be paying less on your mortgage than what you'd pay in rent. Buying a house has. There's a lot of perks to buying a house. Right. In 2011, in 2026, the script is flipped. And it's so much from a financial standpoint. Yes, for sure. To rent than it is to buy. And you're like, oh, if I could rent or yeah, rent the place for two grand, that I would pay a mortgage, I would be paying like four grand. That's 2,000 extra dollars a month. And by the way, I don't think it's a ridiculous assertion. Given where home prices and interest rates are right now, you can probably rent something for significantly less. That's very similar. And if I'm investing that difference, you can get ahead really quickly. And guess what? You can be investing for the possibility of future homeownership instead of kind of trying to like, force a square peg into a round hole right now.

[Matt]

There you go. Yeah. You're actually building up a down payment.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

That you can deploy once you have. Have enough funds on hand.

[Joel]

I do feel like I should talk out of both sides of my mouth, Matt, because on the flip side, that's

[Matt]

one of your specialties.

[Joel]

It is, it is. Yeah. I like the dedication.

[Matt]

That's what we do. There's a lot of nuance when it comes to personal finance. So I'm not that the housing market

[Joel]

is starting to slow down. It's not like 2024. Right. Or 2023 anymore.

[Matt]

Yeah, well, yeah, rates have come down a little bit.

[Joel]

Rates. Rates are. So that's helped. Finally. Sub 6% on average and 5.98 and

[Matt]

yeah, was this week's average.

[Joel]

And I went back to the local. Our local credit union's website to look at their 15.15arm. The rate on that is down. It's, it's, I think directly at 5% right now. I wouldn't be surprised if it's in the 4 something range in the near future. Wow, that's pretty, that's pretty great. So people who are like. And we're seeing. Right. More price reductions because there's just. The market in general is softer. So yeah. Maybe if you're patient and you're smart and you've saved up, you can get a better deal than you've been able to get in recent years. This spring selling season. I don't know. That's.

[Matt]

I thought it was going to happen last spring. I remember telling folks that and be like I really think we're going to see rates tick down and things heat up. But it didn't happen.

[Joel]

Yeah. I think when you're starting, I'm done making predictions, starting to see rates in the low fives and high fours that that's a signal that's going to soften the market a little bit and it's going to make I think selling and buying something else more attractive to a certain segment of people. And just buying in general. First time home buyers maybe a little less frustrating or onerous.

[Matt]

That's right, man. But we've got more to get to. We're going to talk about eating steak and other foods. That and more ways to save right after this,

[Joel]

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[Matt]

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[Matt]

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[Joel]

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[Matt]

all

[Joel]

right, we're back from the break. It's time for the ludicrous headline of the week. This one comes from Business Insider and it reads Death isn't the end. Meta Patented an AI that lets you keep posting from beyond the grave. Right?

[Matt]

Yay. Just what everyone wanted was the ability for people on that they're friends with on Facebook to be able to troll them. I know.

[Joel]

Right from the grave. Forever from the great beyond.

[Matt]

This is so messed up.

[Joel]

I can't. Well, I don't know who's going to die first, me or you, but I'm trying to decide what it would be like to read fake postings from AI. Matt, like when you're dead? Yeah. Would I be like, oh, I don't

[Matt]

think there'd be much there because I'd

[Joel]

be like this is freaky. I think I'd be like this is

[Matt]

freaky because I try not to post on there. Yeah, because it's.

[Joel]

Dude.

[Matt]

I mean, this is straight up an episode of Black Mirror.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

Like. And that's what attracted me to Black Mirror was sort of the weird, like, twisted dystopian sort of part of it. But the really sad thing is that that is becoming reality, which only just kind of makes me kind of sad about our current state in that black Mirror.

[Joel]

So normal now.

[Matt]

Honestly, it is like, I was pretty attracted to it early on, but now that we're kind of living it.

[Joel]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Matt]

Not super thrilled with it. And just because there is a, you know, that they filed for a patent doesn't mean that that is actually going to be a feature that they roll out.

[Joel]

I wouldn't be surprised, but maybe. Well, here's why I wouldn't be surprised, but they might. 1. In the patent filing, it says, and I quote, the language model may be used for simulating the user when the user is absent from the social networking system, for example, when the user takes a long break, or if the user is deceased. And not only does it say that in the patent filing, but we're kind of already seeing this play out. So Scott Adams, who did the Dilbert comic strip, and he was also, like a political personality in many ways. He passed away a couple of months ago.

[Matt]

I did know that.

[Joel]

And AI is being used to create. Create postmortem videos of him. So, like, his podcast continues. His video podcast, apparently.

[Matt]

See, that's so weird, dude.

[Joel]

It's so weird.

[Matt]

Yeah. So dystopian.

[Joel]

How the money could continue.

[Matt]

Well, that's.

[Joel]

Without us.

[Matt]

How. It's difficult for me to not think through how does. What are the ramifications for us?

[Joel]

Right.

[Matt]

Because we have this wonderful company that

[Joel]

has worked well with us.

[Matt]

I heart iheartmedia. But here's the thing, Joel. They technically own how to Money. And even though it's been a great partnership, let's just imagine a future where we don't want to do the show. That's less likely. What's more likely probably is a future

[Joel]

we can save money.

[Matt]

Like, where we can't agree to the terms. And they say, well, that's okay. We've got over a thousand episodes that we technically own of our voice and us sharing our jokes and telling our stories. I think we can kind of keep that rolling. That's a bleak. We're living our own living nightmare of Black Mirror podcast edition. If that were to. If that were to happen. But we also know then that they wouldn't be able to run the guaranteed human part at the very beginning of the episode. Because at that point, it wouldn't be that claim off. Yeah, it couldn't do that anymore.

[Joel]

No. It's a little freaky, a little frightening. And, I mean, I think we're just living in a time where just deep fakes are getting so much better. AI scams are becoming even more prevalent, and they're becoming more convincing. And so it's just. Don't believe everything you see. Do a fact check. Like, look again. Because you're living in an era where even people can post stuff from beyond the grave. And you're like, oh, I thought the person was dead. I guess I'll keep following them. But it's a weird world, and protecting yourself becomes even more important.

[Matt]

Yeah. Okay, let me see if I can pull this off. As money piles into AI, the system's powering these deepfakes. Some of the folks working in the field are making bank. And the more money you have, the more you want to protect it, which, in the case of marriage, means getting a prenup. Did you like that segue?

[Joel]

No, it's good. Well done.

[Matt]

We've talked about prenups.

[Joel]

AI could not have replicated that.

[Matt]

Oh, my. Yeah, they could.

[Joel]

Your human skills were on full display there. Such a better job.

[Matt]

We actually talked about prenups in depth back in episode 743. And I don't have a prenup.

[Joel]

I don't.

[Matt]

Neither of us. You and Emily, they weren't really.

[Joel]

I and Kate a thing, especially for people with $0. Like, when you and I got married, there wasn't much to protect. Like, we hadn't built up significant assets. You got married when you were 23? 24. 23. 23. I got married when I was 26. Like, there wasn't much to protect. I wasn't like, oh, I don't want my wife to have access to this treasure trove that I've. There was no treasure trove. We built it together. Yeah. Yeah.

[Matt]

So this is an article highlighting folks who are just worth a ton of money now. They're trying to move on and not move on in their life, but they're trying to build their lives, start a family. And they were talking about prenups, and it's. I mean, do you feel that your opinion? Because I remember after that episode, one of. What I recall one of your takeaways being, was that, you know, I didn't think that prenups made sense, but the fact that the state. The fact that they have default rules, essentially, that they follow if you don't have a prenup means that depending on

[Joel]

which state you're in, you have different prenup rules, right?

[Matt]

Yeah. So the fact that there is sort of like this default prenup depending, that's basically state issued, seemed like it, I guess had more of an impact on you. But do you still feel that way now?

[Joel]

I do, I do. I think though that it's really crucial. Like when you're getting married, you're talking about combining. Right. For life. Like that is, that's the goal. Even when you read your vows, like think about what you're saying when you read those vows. It's not an insignificant commitment that you're making. And so I think because of that it's just, it's important to be generous and fair when you're creating a prenup with your partner. I've just, I think I've seen other, I've seen relationships at times blow up before you get to the altar because of the way the prenup process goes. Yeah, that to me is like super duper sad. So it's okay to have preuple.

[Matt]

That's probably better then than actually getting married and finding out that they're selfish and self centered. Right. Because like I would even push it a step further. You said to attempt to be fair. Like you gotta be more than fair. Like you have to be generous and loving because that's what as you enter into a marriage, it is a. Like you put together two people who are selfish, who only care about themselves into a marriage and there's just nothing but a road of brokenness that lies ahead. Right. As opposed to bringing together two people who are entering into this relationship and this institution, knowing that, oh, this is an area where I'm going to sacrifice, where I am going to put the other person first. Like you need both people doing that in order, in my opinion, to have a, to have a successful marriage.

[Joel]

I've heard friends say stuff like, oh man, once my spouse pays off the rest of her loans, her student loans or something.

[Matt]

Yeah, that feels, that feels off to me.

[Joel]

Right. I just, to me that doesn't make sense. And, and that's not how we handle money. And I think when you look at the statistics which we've talked about over the years, the happiest couples are the ones who kind of combine everything. Even if one person makes substantially more than the other.

[Matt]

Just come to terms with that, embrace it, find that you've got different strengths. It's just, it's so weird to me that Money is oftentimes such a focus here because money is this very fungible, renewable resource, essentially. You can always go out and get more money. Maybe not as much money as you can currently have if you're an AI overlord or something like that, but like, as opposed to not thinking about the amount of time and like, life energy that you're giving this person, which is not something that you can ever get back. And so if you are going to trust somebody, like, I don't know, it's my, I'm old school, I think you should probably trust them with everything.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

And certainly your finances are a part

[Joel]

of that and, and your good fortune is their good fortune and vice versa. So. All right, let's talk about medical bills. Matt, it's, it's widely known. Everybody pretty much knows that the number one cause of bankruptcy is medical bills. They're, they're roughly a factor in, in two thirds of bankruptcy filings. People have a significant amount of medical debt that they feel like they, they can't pay or they're just unable to pay. A lot of folks would think you, it would make sense intuitively, Right. That having insurance coverage would prevent that possibility. Hey, I've got good health insurance. And so bankruptcy because of medical bills, that's not going to happen to me. Well, that might not be true. There's this new Health affairs study, and it finds that medical emergencies lead to bankruptcy more often, even if you're covered by a traditional health insurance plan, like, even if you have a solid policy through your work, through your employer, because the average deductible has gone up meaningfully. So if you're looking at, let's say, a bronze plan on the healthcare exchange on healthcare.gov the average deductible is like $7,000 if you have one of those plans. Not to mention the premiums are already pretty rough for those, too. So you're forking over a lot of money every month. And then, hey, that unexpected medical bill comes. And even after, like, it's corrected via insurance, it still might be unsurmountable for you. An unexpected medical event could mean thousands of dollars in just unexpected costs that hit you even when you have insurance. And so we, yeah, we talk about this. The system sucks. It's really, it's a really difficult system to navigate. But the stress here is that you need to have savings on hand to cover your deductible. And if you increase your deductible to save more on a monthly premium, that can save money in the long run, but it increases your need to have savings on hand now. So this study just made me think, oh, even if you have great insurance, make sure that your emergency fund, that your savings include on top of whatever you need for potential emergencies, the money to cover a deductible. That's like one of those emergencies that can come along.

[Matt]

That's very likely to come along. Yeah, yeah. And to put a point on it, the broken system isn't the fact that you have to have money on hand in order to pay your deductible. That's just, that's those are the rules that you signed up for. You just need to make sure that you are adjusting your finances to accommodate for this new plan that you're on. But one of the solutions might be for if you're facing, let's say a medical procedure is to move abroad for cheaper healthcare. And it's not as ridiculous as it might sound. Depending on your healthcare needs, I think it's at least worth considering a trip to have that procedure done. Maybe you don't necessarily need to move abroad. So there is a, in the article, they're profiling a woman who is paying, I forget how much is like something like $30,000 is what it was going to cost her annually. And so she moved to France and it cost 12 times less. That's something that you probably move for. Right. Like that significantly changes your lifestyle.

[Joel]

Plus, but yeah, the baguettes, man, that sounds like another reason to move.

[Matt]

Why not? It's funny. Yeah. We're talking to the kids literally about baguettes yesterday.

[Joel]

Baguettes and wine, baby.

[Matt]

Medical tourism is understandably on the rise, but largely out of necessity. So we've got great healthcare here in our country, but far too many procedures are just really expensive for a whole lot of folks. If you can save 50 to 70% on a knee replacement, why would you not consider going abroad for that? Or 60 to 80% on dental work by going to Mexico? These are real numbers, folks.

[Joel]

Maybe don't go to Mexico right now.

[Matt]

Oh yeah, yeah. Avoid Puerto Vallarta. Yeah. Where the terrorism is. But just doing research ahead of time, knowing the trade offs, know what your total out of pocket costs are going to be. That is going to be incredibly important in order for you to make this a financial winner.

[Joel]

One of my good friends, Matt, he has a really rare heart condition and so he's got to get this surgery. And fortunately it doesn't have to happen right now. Right now. But he's planning on doing it this summer. And as he looked in and he was Getting quotes on what it would cost here, even with insurance, how much it was going to set him back here to get the procedure done in the United States. It was, it was very costly.

[Matt]

So much money, very costly.

[Joel]

And he did his research. He found there was. There's a doctor in England that performs actually a better surgery that's less invasive, that you recover more quickly from, that's gonna cost him less money. So he gets a little trip out of this with his family, and it's going to. The recovery time's not going to be nearly as bad. It's not going to be.

[Matt]

Do you know what the savings was? I'm assuming this is like a close to six figure kind of surgery.

[Joel]

I think it's something close to there. I'm sure with insurance it would have cost him a whole lot less than that. But even still going overseas was. I think the price was probably similar, but he was like, oh, this is superior and I'm gonna get a trip out of it. Let's go. Let's go. So it is. It's one of those things, I think when you look at what's happened with medical costs in our country, it's not. It's less ridiculous than ever before to think about traveling to get your medical work done. Depending on what it is. Sure.

[Matt]

Yeah. Okay. So a less extreme way to save money, grocery shopping in a way that is more strategic. A recent Kiplinger article recommends not just creating a list and sticking to it, but seeing what you already have on hand. Planning out your meals around what's in your fridge, what's in your pantry, how that's going to be a recipe for saving more, which sounds like good old fashioned meal planning.

[Joel]

Joel? Yeah.

[Matt]

I wonder if some people plan the

[Joel]

meal, but they just. And then they go buy everything they need, but they're not thinking about what they already have.

[Matt]

No. You got to start with what you got at home.

[Joel]

You got.

[Matt]

You have to take stock, man. And this is something that I am proud to say that we've been doing a good bit more of lately. In particular, we've got a whole lot of grain like these. Kate will go to the international farmer's market and buy some of these exotic grains. And it's really cool. They're really pretty, they've got cool names. Really high nutrition value in some of these things because I don't know why, I don't know the colors or something, but it takes a little bit more work. I'm not going to pretend that it's just as easy to hit Default. There are certain meals that we know how to cook. When we go to the grocery store, we buy those things, we come home. It takes a little more creativity to cook the things that you already have at home and to use certain items in a different way. And so when it comes to, like the. Like, it's like urad dal or something. Like, it's like this. I don't even know. It's like some kind of beans, like this earthy. Okay, maybe it's grain or something. I don't know. But we had some amazing weird stuff sometimes some amazing curry earlier this week. And it feels so good to utilize what you already have on hand. It feels so good to not be wasteful and to feel like you are adventurous, exotic eater who's eaten food from all over the world at the same time.

[Joel]

Yeah. And I love this idea. Just. You can implement it whenever. Just, hey, look and see what you have in your pantry, your freezer, and say, how can we get rid of a bunch of this stuff? By making meals with what we have on hand over the next week, week and a half. And in particular, I think the best time to do that is before you go on a trip. I. Oh, dude, I love that.

[Matt]

It's such a.

[Joel]

The week before we go on a trip.

[Matt]

Such a great game to play.

[Joel]

It's like no grocery run unless we need, like, bananas or milk, milk, eggs. Yep. Milk, eggs and bananas. Like, those are the three things I will. I will make an exception for. Other than that, it's like, no, we're just eating what we have on hand. And then you come back and you make the grocery store order, then you

[Matt]

go do the grocery run when.

[Joel]

When you return. That's the best way to go about it. So if you got a trip coming up, this is a perfect time to reduce your pantry stock and eat what's in your freezer. Because, yeah, it just feels so good. It feels so good to come home and then replenish.

[Matt]

If you got steaks in your freezer, it's not nearly as painful. I've got.

[Joel]

I've got a couple. You still have some steaks on him.

[Matt]

Yeah, well, because I took advantage of the $75 off per the giant side of rib eye and cut my own.

[Joel]

Oh, yeah.

[Matt]

Cut my own rib eyes. Which was the ultimate way.

[Joel]

This means, Matt, that you're essentially independently wealthy, because have you seen what's happening with steak prices? They have gone up 17% year over year, man. Well, it's insane.

[Matt]

Ground beef prices on the rise as well. And it Just. Yeah. Depends on what you are prioritizing. I will say, like, we don't eat steak a ton, but I feel like it's. I mean, we got the big old slab because it was on sale, but typically we'll eat steak a couple times. A couple times a month. And last time I did go to the. To Costco looking for a nice sale, I didn't see anything. And so even I think the ability to downgrade, quote, unquote, downgrade and get like, the Costco organic ground beef. You know, it's got the three pack.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Matt]

That's really good stuff, man. The ability, like.

[Joel]

But it's still expensive.

[Matt]

It's still expensive, but it's not as expensive. So figure out for us, that was our treat, right? The ability to grill some burgers. Last weekend, the weather was a little bit nicer. It was fantastic, man. But finding out what the more affordable option is going to be for you and how aggressively you're trying to attack your grocery budget.

[Joel]

What's interesting to me, though, is how as prices have kind of stayed inflated, have, like, continued to creep up on groceries. Ground ground beef and steak and red meat in general, consumers haven't really changed their ways. Like, it seems like there hasn't. They haven't budged. They're like, I'm just going to continue paying this. And I don't know if it's because they're adjusting their budget accordingly, Matt, and they're spending less in other areas, but something's telling me that's probably not the case. They're just like, sticking it on the credit card. Right. And so that is. That's what you want to avoid. Like, if you're just used to buying steak and you're like, oh, price keeps going up, I'm gonna keep buying it. That's okay. Right? To keep buying it. But just make sure you actually have the money and you can afford. Afford it because. Yeah. When you're talking about 18, 20 bucks a pound for, like a nice. A decent rib eye. A decent rib eye, Matt. This isn't even like a fancy one. Just. This is like a decent ribeye these days, which is insane to think it

[Matt]

costs for choice these days.

[Joel]

Yeah. Just make sure you're not doing it mindlessly.

[Matt]

Yeah. And don't. Don't sleep on fish. I saw that salmon. There's a. There's been a dip in salmon prices because there's been a glut in Norwegian salmon coming from Norway.

[Joel]

Good. Yeah. I love me some salmon, so go

[Matt]

get you some of that.

[Joel]

And it's also quite healthy for you. All right, that's going to do it for this episode. We'll put links in the show notes to some of the stuff we mentioned on the show today. And as always, you can find more money saving help and [e-mail] and in the how to Money Facebook group.

[Matt]

Yeah, boy, that's going to be it. So until next time, best friends out. Best friends out. Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to the 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math@t mobile.com Switch and now T Mobile is in US cellular stores. Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits plan features in Texas. And fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines.

[Joel]

Qualifying credit required.

[Podcast Host (Ad/Promo Voice)]

Hi, it's Jo Interestine, host of the Spirit Daughter podcast where we talk about astrology, natal charts and how to step into your most vibrant life. And today I'm talking with my dear friend Krista Williams. It can change you in the best way possible. Dance with the change, Dance with the breakdowns. The embodiment of Pisces intuition with Capricorn power moves. Just so. I'm like delusionally proud of my chart. Listen to the Spirit Daughter podcast starting on February 24th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcast.

[Matt]

I'm Clayton Eckerd.

[Joel]

In 2022, I was the lead of ABC's the Bachelor.

[Podcast Host (Ad/Promo Voice)]

But here's the thing. Bachelor fans hated him.

[Matt]

If I could press a button and rewind it all, I would.

[Podcast Host (Ad/Promo Voice)]

That's when his life took a disturbing turn. A one night stand would end in a courtroom. The media is here. This case has gone viral.

[Matt]

The dating contract.

[Joel]

Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you. This is unlike anything I've ever seen before.

[Podcast Host (Ad/Promo Voice)]

I'm Stephanie Young. Listen to Love trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.