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- [00:00]
Podcast Announcer
This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human Today's episode is brought to you by ChatGPT for Business. As a listener of this podcast, you're looking for ways to help teams move faster, make sharper decisions, and turn scattered context into work they can use. ChatGPT for Business can help. ChatGPT for Business gives teams a shared workspace with admin controls, permissions, and access to work and codecs. In ChatGPT, this means your business can move from question to answer and code to rollout quicker. Join over 10 million business and enterprise users worldwide already using ChatGPT for work. Download the ChatGPT desktop app or contact Sales to learn more.
- [00:42]
Joel
Say you've always wanted to take a spontaneous trip to the Caribbean. Here's the thing. If you get smart with your money, you can do things like that. With Empower, you can start making the most of your money so you can go out and live a little. If you Isn't that why we work so hard to have some fun with our money? Like treating yourself to something special or
- [00:58]
Matt
spontaneously doing something extra for a loved one? Use Empower and get good at money so you can be a little bad. Join their 20 million customers today@empower.com not an Empower client, paid or sponsored. Okay Joel, I am excited about this one. Here on the show, we are all about comparing prices to save money on so many things in life. So why wouldn't we compare prices for our next ride share? Taking a few seconds to check Lyft can save you real money on your next ride. And I did this last time. I caught a ride home from the airport after some travel and guess who came out on top? It was Lyft. Don't just price check with your flights and phone plans and groceries. Comparing rideshare prices will help you to save money every time you ride. Save money.
- [01:44]
Joel
Check Lyft welcome to how to Money. I'm Joel. I'm Matt, and today we're discussing popular money advice that just ain't right.
- [02:11]
Matt
Joel, Even the crappiest financial advice that's out there, it still has a little nugget of truth, right? Like oftentimes, the reason I think it resonates with folks is because they're like, oh no, no, no, that's true. I've heard that before. I've heard my parents talk about that. I've heard friends talk about that. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's like this super bulletproof piece of financial advice that you should be following to the letter with every dollar that you Make.
- [02:33]
Joel
Yeah. Some. Some of the pieces of advice we're going to cover in this episode are things that you've heard people say, and they are smart people. And so you automatically assume that based on their other advice or based on the fact that you've heard this from multiple sources of information, that it's good
- [02:47]
Matt
and it's reliable advice that your grandparents gave you. And you're like, that would never steer me wrong. Well, it's not quite right.
- [02:53]
Joel
Yeah. We want you to question everything your grandparents taught you in this episode. Now, that's. Okay. That's too far. Not really. But there are a lot of things. Yeah. That we're going to cover today. And some of it has, like you said, Matt, a ring of truth. But we're going to say, okay, here's the nugget that is actually true, but here's where you should throw out the rest of it. And so, yeah, we've got a lot to get to on this episode. But before we get to that, Matt, I wanted to mention that you and I, we've talked about on the show how we have metashare covering our families when it comes to our. Are health insurance.
- [03:23]
Matt
That's right.
- [03:23]
Joel
Not actual insurance.
- [03:24]
Matt
It's not technically health insurance. It's a health sharing plan.
- [03:28]
Joel
Exactly. But it is a lot cheaper than insurance. And I was even talking to a neighbor the other day and he was saying what he gets through his work, that his premiums every month are really expensive. Even though his employer subsidizes a decent chunk of those premiums, there's still a lot left on the plate for him to have to pay every single month. And so for us, it's the cheapest, most effective way for us to cover our families.
- [03:53]
Matt
That's right.
- [03:53]
Joel
And we've got a review on it. If you want to read it, we'll link to it in the show. Notes that Matt wrote about how it's worked for his family. But I found one of my new favorite features of Medishare is that they have partnered with basically this teladoc company called MD Live, and you can virtually visit a doctor on the computer or via phone for free, which is just another massive win for us.
- [04:18]
Matt
It is included in the price. There is no.
- [04:20]
Joel
Yeah.
- [04:20]
Matt
Baseline fee. There's no copay that comes with that. It is included.
- [04:24]
Joel
So like a week and a half,
- [04:25]
Matt
which I've seen before, but, like, I've. I never taken advantage of it.
- [04:28]
Joel
So we used it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, like all of our kids were sick. I Think everybody that we knew had sick.
- [04:35]
Matt
Yeah.
- [04:36]
Joel
Like, it was going around. It's like flu. It's Covid. It's cold, strep. Everything. Everything combined, hitting simultaneously. Everyone I know who had a kid, like, had them pulled out of school for a couple of days. And so we were like, okay, we're going to try to go see the pediatrician. They were full up, man. They. They. They didn't have room to take us because everybody was sick. And so we're like, okay, we're gonna give this Teladoc MD live. We're gonna give it a shot. And it was great. Like, it was so simple. We waited 45 minutes, and you don't even, like. You're not, like, sitting in a waiting room, though. You're literally at home kicking it. And then you get a text, and it's like, the doctor will see you now. So you hop into the chat, you click the link.
- [05:12]
Matt
Waiting 45 minutes at home while you're cooking dinner or cleaning the dishes or something like that is much, much better than sitting at a waiting room full of other sick kids sneezing on you and being all nasty.
- [05:24]
Joel
Right. And then there's no sick visit that we had to pay. There's. It's literally free to get the diagnosis.
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Matt
That's awesome, man.
- [05:30]
Joel
Yeah. So I will say I'm super happy with it.
- [05:32]
Matt
Sounds like Joel's pretty bullish on Teladoc stocks.
- [05:36]
Troy Millings
I know.
- [05:36]
Joel
Well, you know, the Teladoc stock in particular has not been doing well as of late, but, yeah, it's. It's just one of those things that adds a lot of value to our MetaShare membership.
- [05:44]
Matt
Nice. Looking forward to checking that out. That's not something that we've taken advantage of yet, but I could totally see where that would come in handy in particular if. If you know that you just need. We probably need this prescription, this prescribed. We just need some meds.
- [05:56]
Joel
Yeah. My kids are particularly susceptible to strep for some reason.
- [05:59]
Matt
It's their favorite.
- [06:00]
Joel
So, yeah, we had to answer a couple questions to the doc, and typically, they like to do a swab, but he even prescribed an antibiotic in that chat, which is cool.
- [06:09]
Matt
Did they make your daughter make her open up her mouth?
- [06:12]
Joel
We took a picture. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we took a picture. We sent it in even before the appointment, because if you're on a video
- [06:16]
Matt
call, he could just be like, all right, make sure the video light's on and just jam it in there.
- [06:20]
Joel
Get real close.
- [06:22]
Matt
You hear him talking. It's, like, echoing. And her Mouth water. That's cool. That's cool, though. I'm glad you were able to take advantage of that. Hopefully we won't need to take advantage of that soon, but I'm glad to know that it exists. Let's introduce the beer. You and I, we are enjoying another Talisman Beer. And this one is called Uplifted. It is a Scottish style ale. Andy, thank you so much for donating this. This is our last of the Talisman beers. They're out of Utah, but looking forward to enjoying this one. And we will share our thoughts at the end of the episode.
- [06:54]
Joel
No doubt. All right, well, let's get onto it, Matt. The subject at hand.
- [06:57]
Matt
Let's do it.
- [06:58]
Joel
Popular money advice that just ain't right. And it made me think of maybe some other pieces of advice that we just assume are correct because you've heard it so much so many times. And I personally like to get out there and grill on occasion. And you've. You've heard everybody say it, that searing your meat, is this the best way to lock in the flavor? Right. You want to get that grill piping
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Matt
hot, lock in the moisture, slap that
- [07:21]
Joel
steak down or whatever it is, and that is going to. Yeah, lock in the moisture. It's something I've heard folks say for years. And then you get to right after
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Matt
they click their tongs and they're like, all right, it's ready.
- [07:32]
Joel
That's right. And then it's like, oh, you're going to get to get to eat that juicy medium rare steak that you have always dreamed of, but you got to get the sear. Right. But as it turns out, that's actually the farthest thing from the truth. Culinary scientists tell us that although this sounds like good advice, it's not actually the best method if you want to get the proper outcome. And it's true that searing your steak is going to brown it, which does increase some caramelization, flavor and texture. They want to sear it at some point.
- [07:59]
Matt
Yeah, it's good for other reasons, but not necessarily what you're saying from a moisture standpoint. Yeah, like that's the Maillard reaction, whatever, where basically you're reducing some of those sugars and that's what creates that delicious smell. Like when you smell delicious food, it's because of the browning, it's because of the searing that often is taking place. But that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with, like you're saying, the moisture of the meat that you're sealing in like a, like I picture like a raincoat. Or, you know, or like somebody who's like trying to make weight for like wrestling or something like that, and they're like wearing trash bags. They're just like locking in all that, all that nasty moisture and they're just sweating like crazy. That sear does not act like a rain jacket for your steak.
- [08:34]
Joel
No, no, it doesn't. And the truth is, starting to cook your steak slower and then doing a reverse sear to add the flavor at the end is the best method.
- [08:43]
Matt
You're getting really fancy these days, aren't you?
- [08:45]
Joel
It's just what? Yeah. So even, let's say you, you put that steak in a sous vide, you low cook it until it reaches a certain temperature, and then you slap it on the grill for like a minute and a half on each side or something like that. Typically, a lot of folks say that's the way you're going to get the best tasting steak in the end, but it's just not what you normally hear as typical grilling advice from most folks. That's true. And just like that, BS grilling advice. Right. That just isn't right. We're going to spend some time talking smack about personal finance advice today on the show that we just dislike. Or maybe that has taken on this element of gospel truth. But we would say in reality, there's a lot of mistruth in that statement. And so we're going to kind of like break them down and talk about them today.
- [09:21]
Matt
Yeah, like there's just a lot of crappy things out there being said. And oftentimes I think the problem is that we, we hear something and because it intuitively makes some sort of sense, like we just stick with it. Just like you were talking about with the searing meat. Or maybe it's just packaged in such a way that it makes it easy to remember. Right. Because like, we're all living busy lives. So anytime we're able to hear something that allows us to simplify and make life a little bit easier, like we're going to cling to that basic rule of thumb. I think it's one of the ways that we're, that we're able to be super productive. Right. Like, most folks are looking for shortcuts, but it doesn't always mean that those shortcuts are accurate and that they're the best method of action for you and your money. And the fact is there have always been folks out there who are just spouting bad information. Right. Like, I think most folks are well intentioned, but you're likely going to Encounter some bad advice as you are working to get your personal finances in order as you're trying to make that progress. And so we're going to call out some of the biggest culprits today on the show and we're going to share how it is that you should be thinking about your money.
- [10:21]
Joel
Yeah. And I like how you said most people are well intentioned. I think there's, there's a couple of things here. One, people are out there trying to simplify advice for the masses, trying to give them good information in a bite sized way. But oftentimes then you're missing a lot of kind of the important truth that, that surrounds it. But also there are a lot of people who just don't know enough about personal finance. And so they might be newbie influencers on social media hoping to talk about their experience and how they've been able to change their lives, but oftentimes they're missing some of the most important ingredients to be able to help people do it in their own lives.
- [10:54]
Matt
Right, sure, yeah, yeah. They might have a good story, just good heart. Yeah, exactly. And kind of where they are personally. Maybe there's some wisdom that you can glean from their experiences, but they may not be fully informed.
- [11:05]
Joel
Yeah. And you may not be able to directly apply it to your own situation because. Because their situation could be quite a bit different. And so, yeah, we would say some of the basic advice still holds. Like we're not trying to throw out the baby with the bathwater in this episode. Some of the most basic advice out there, for instance, the number one rule of personal finance, which is spending less than you make, that holds water. Right, that makes sense to us. But even in something like that, even in such a basic piece of advice, that's like the number one rule of personal finance that can even get warps into folks leading you to think that you shouldn't spend money. A push towards maximum frugality, which we would say can become unhealthy. Plus even that little basic piece of advice which is helpful, it just doesn't tell you how much less you should be spending, like how you should be changing your habits and, you know, should that be a constant amount over the decades? Well, that pithy little bit of advice doesn't really tell you. So we would say even the most basic advice that has truth to it needs some context, needs some fleshing out in particular, depending on your personal situation. And naturally that context, that fleshing out requires time and attention, which is unfortunately in short supply. Right. So most folks in our modern age, they're content with these 5 second sound bites and they're just not willing to read past the headlines. But that additional time is what it often takes in order to understand the nuance of any conversation or debate. And it's, it's, it's true everywhere. But it's definitely true of these personal finance conversations as well.
- [12:33]
Matt
Yeah.
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Troy Millings
All right.
- [12:34]
Matt
Yeah. So let's talk about some of the, some of the crappy advice in the realm of spending first. And one of the popular lines of advice is skip the latte, skip the avocado toast. This is, I mean, honestly, it's, bar none, one of the pieces of advice I hate the most. And it's not that spending too much money at your local coffee shop like that, it's not possible. It definitely is. And it's not that the small expenses that you make, that they don't add up to a meaningful amount of money, because they do. And you know, you might be wasting money without even thinking enough about it. This happens to a lot of folks. It's just, I don't understand why coffee shops specifically bear the brunt of this. Right.
- [13:11]
Joel
Coffee shop owners. There's so many other places you could attack.
- [13:15]
Matt
Exactly. So many other places where folks are wasting money. Like a ridiculous car payment for a fancy car that you don't really need when you could have just paid cash for something more affordable. Or like having your meals delivered. Or speaking of food, think about the countless containers of leftovers that you've tossed. Or, Joel, the countless.
- [13:33]
Joel
Your favorite thing to attack, by the way, people that don't eat their leftovers.
- [13:36]
Matt
What is wrong with you?
- [13:36]
Joel
You don't like those people.
- [13:38]
Matt
It's a terrible habit. It's just an inefficient way of going about making your meals at home. And yet we're kind of digressing here. We're talking about the latte factor. But folks, and in particular media, I think has just picked one of the loveliest spots that's often like a cornerstone of community hangs. It just seems like the coffee shop has kind of gotten a bad rap. Maybe this is on my mind, Joel, because this morning you and I, we went and got a coffee before our morning meeting.
- [14:01]
Joel
We had a new neighbor who was awesome. We saw old neighbors who we love.
- [14:05]
Matt
And it's, it's something that, I don't know, maybe we' biased a little bit because it's something that we are realizing it's important in our sort of. It's not like something we do every day.
- [14:14]
Joel
But when we do partake in it typically.
- [14:16]
Matt
Yeah, it provides a lot of meaning and value to us.
- [14:19]
Joel
$4 flat white provides a lot more than just like a delicious cup of coffee. Exactly. And that's by the way, my beverage of choice. Typically if I'm going out to a coffee shop, flat whites, cortado all the way. Cortados are great too.
- [14:31]
Matt
Slightly less milk.
- [14:31]
Joel
Yeah, that's true. Well, so, yeah, so we would say that that is one of those things where that is up to the individual. And I think you're right, Matt. There are other places in particular larger line items in our budget that are much easier to cut back. Especially if the coffee shop is a place where you do derive a lot of joy and community from or you enjoy even, you know, when you're working from home, going to work there. And it really, when you think about it, in the grand scheme of things, it's a minimal cost. For some reason, we've singled out coffee shops. It's wrong, it needs to stop. But speaking of those just ain't right. That's right. Those bigger ticket items though, you have bigger fish to fry. So when you spend an inordinate amount of your time thinking about these tiny little ways that you could potentially eke out a few more bucks, I'm not saying, I don't think either of us would say, Matt, that that's time poorly spent, but we would say you might be hogging valuable mental bandwidth that could be spent on those bigger ticket items where you could be getting a bigger ROI by looking elsewhere. And so instead of constantly worrying about spending money on coffee, get a more affordable car insurance provider. Boom. That just paid for your coffee for the entire year. I love doing those bigger things. A one time task that allows you then to use your money in a way that's more effectively going to move the needle value wise in your life. And this is of course a fine balance to strike because you and I, we're all about frugal living. Like we don't want people necessarily going out there and get that flat white every day. That's not what we're, that's not what we're saying. But if you're counting pennies of every single purchase, not only are you like sucking the fun, the joy out of some of those simple pleasures of life, but it could also just be a highly inefficient use of your time. You're majoring on the minors. And we would say that there's a whole lot more financial ground you can cover focusing more on those big Ticket items.
- [16:11]
Matt
That's right. I got to keep you in check in case I start hearing Joel saying, all right, this kind of feels like a two flat white kind of day.
- [16:17]
Joel
Oh, man, I don't think I've ever done two coffees in one day a week. Maybe we could justify that on occasion.
- [16:23]
Matt
All right, well, not only should you be thinking about some of these big waves to save money, but also the bigger ways that you can make more money as well.
- [16:31]
Joel
Right.
- [16:32]
Matt
Because I think you can easily adopt that same, like, latte factor mindset and then just apply it to how it is that you make money. And so, like, specifically what I'm thinking of here is, like, we see a lot of folks who are spending a tremendous amount of time on their side hustle use. In particular, using different apps like Swagbucks, Uber, Instacart are a few that come to mind. And again, you know, we're all about folks using the spare time that they've got to get after whatever financial goal that they've set for themselves. But this is an instance, man, like, where it would be really helpful to pause for a moment and imagine where this side hustle is going to take you. But the allure to immediately make some, some instant cash is attractive. Not to mention, you know, like all the apps, they are designed to keep folks coming back, to keep you coming back for more due to how it is that they're designed, how they're. They've essentially gamified the task or the jobs that literally pop up from within the app. They don't want you to slow down and think about the big picture. They just want you to keep working. So don't lose sight of the forest for the trees simultaneously. Don't let the desire to hustle and to make a small amount of money today keep you from making a large amount of money tomorrow. This is when, like, I even hate using this phrase, but oftentimes folks who kind of fall into this pattern can fall into like the scarcity mindset. Yeah, And I don't like saying that because it makes it seem like that you can just manifest stuff and think it and bring it into existence. You can't just do that. It takes a lot of hard work. But sometimes we do get locked into that scarcity mindset as opposed to thinking about like an abundance mindset. Right. Like, if you are so focused in particular going back to the spending on just watching every single little penny. And instead, what if you took that same amount of energy and poured it into ways that you can not only make money via some of these different apps that feel immediate. But like, let's talk about some of the bigger picture, some of the larger big thinking kind of ways that will allow you to advance your career and make some serious positive impacts on your inc. Yeah.
- [18:23]
Joel
It almost makes me think of when you go to a casino and how you have no idea what time of day it is and they're probably getting oxygen and so your blinders are on. You don't know how long you've been there. You don't know how much money you've lost, like because you're getting the free drinks and so it's. But you got a free buffet and so maybe that makes up for all the time. And that's how we think of side hustles.
- [18:39]
Matt
This tells me that I should not go to Vegas because I hear that and I have fallen into similar traps at other points in my life. In particular, I'm thinking about playing video games in college. I'm just like, wait, what day is it?
- [18:52]
Joel
Well, it's like everything is conspiring against you to get you to lose your money. And I think with some of these side hustles, it's not that they can't be effective in the short term, but we've talked about kind of the nefarious elements that side hustles come with. And so people have to be really careful before they dedicate too much time to make money on the side. There are often more effective ways to grow your, to grow your income over the long term. That doesn't mean, you know, the great thing about side houses is you can like literally hit a button and start making money today. And that's a great short term tactic, but it's not going to be best when it comes to long term earnings, which is where we want your eyes a little more focused on.
- [19:25]
Matt
That's right, Joel. And we've got several other pieces of popular financial advice that we're going to get to that's just not right. Including we're going to talk a little bit more about earning money as well as popular advice to avoid when it comes to how it is that we save and invest our money. We'll get to all of that right after this.
- [19:48]
Troy Millings
This is Troy Millings from Earn your leisure. You probably think of Walmart as a store that carries about everything under the sun and maybe not as a place to discover small brands. Well, two things can be true at the same time because Walmart is home to thousands of small brands founded by people who had an idea, took a chance and built something of their own. Behind everyone is a real story and a lot of hard work. So why not take a little time to recognize all the people building small brands across the country and support everything they're creating? Walmart is proud to give those brands a place on its shelves and online. It's never been easier to find and support small brands. So take a look at Walmart. You might come across something new, something unexpected, or a brand whose story speaks to you. You never know what you're missing until you look. Discover thousands of small brands@walmart.com Quick one
- [20:39]
Podcast Announcer
before you jump back in, you're listening for ways to help teams move faster, make sharper decisions, and turn scattered context into work they can use ChatGPT for business can help ChatGPT for business gives teams a shared workspace with admin controls, permissions and access to work and codecs in ChatGPT, this means your business can move from question to answer and code to rollout quicker. Join over 10 million business and enterprise users worldwide already using ChatGPT for work. Download the ChatGPT desktop app or contact sales to learn more.
- [21:14]
Matt
Okay Joel, I am excited about this one. Here on the show we are all about comparing prices to save money on so many things in life. So why wouldn't we compare prices for our next ride share? Taking a few seconds to check Lyft can save you real money on your next ride. I did this last time I caught a ride home from the airport after some travel and guess who came out on top? It was Lyft. Don't just price check with your flights and phone plans and groceries. Comparing rideshare prices will help you to save money every time you ride. Save money. Check Lyft.
- [21:49]
Joel
Alright Matt, let's keep going. Let's talk about personal finance advice that you and I, we're just not fans of. And these are kind of things that people start to get accustomed to. I think we've gotten a lot more accustomed to side hustles like we just talked about before the break in recent years. And as in that being a way to maybe make ends meet or to grow your income when there are better ways over the long term to grow your income. But there's the flip side of that coin. So let's talk about that too. There's the, there's the reality that some people, they have a relationship to their job or it's more like golden handcuffs. And so that's something we want people to change their thinking about as well. Because on the other end of the Spectrum, right. There are some people who have a great job that pays incredibly well, and in fact, it might be a little, a little too handsomely. And you feel stuck. Even if you don't really like your job, even if you actually kind of hate it and you don't want to go to work anymore, you don't like your co workers, you don't like what you're doing, you're working too much.
- [22:40]
Matt
We know folks who have made the these confessions to us before.
- [22:44]
Joel
They're like, my job sucks, but I'm making so much money, I'm making bank. How can I leave?
- [22:48]
Matt
Exactly.
- [22:48]
Joel
I can't. And so it's this case of golden handcuffs where the salary, the benefits have gotten so robust that you don't even let yourself consider an alternative. And of course, Matt, neither you or I, when people are making this admission, have told us, you know what, my life doesn't really matter. But that's kind of in some ways what they're saying, right?
- [23:04]
Matt
That's what they're saying through their actions. Not necessarily because it's something that they've flat out stated that, like, I no longer care about how I spend my
- [23:12]
Joel
hours every day, but they are in essence saying that. They're saying it's all about the Benjamins. The dollars matter more than how my time is spent, than me actually finding joy, taking pride in what I do every day, I'm just going to grind it out another five or 10 years. Like, that's the kind of the mentality that a lot of people have. Keep reaping the rewards of this awesome paycheck. But this, of course, is terrible financial advice that ultimately leads to terrible life advice. It's, you know, we don't know how long we are guaranteed. And the every single year that you spend at a job that you just can't stomach, that you hate, those are years you're not going to be able to get back.
- [23:45]
Matt
That's right, yes. I mean, so much of life satisfaction, specifically, it comes from the work you do and the ability that you have to help other people. Viktor Frankl, we've mentioned him plenty of times here on the show. He's an Austrian psychiatrist. He wrote one of the most profound books, Man's Search for Meaning After Surviving the Holocaust. But he found that personal relationships, specifically, they are the most important component of finding happiness. And then right after that, it was engaging and productive work. That is the next thing that brings us meaning. So you want to know what he doesn't discuss? Making a ton of money. And so with that in mind, like, what better way to spend half of our waking hours than by engaging in rewarding and productive work that connects us to our fellow man, to our fellow human beings? And this is one of those bits of advice that I say that I know, right? Like we all have a head knowledge of it, but do we grasp it as heart knowledge? You know, this is a good one to revisit because we're tempted to, you know, simply understand this concept without actually living it out. I think we're constantly tempted to live in a way that is at odds with this because that's what success looks like. That's what the world tells us to do. That's even, you know, what our parents tell us to do. They're like, oh, but that's gonna put you on this trajectory. By all sort of outward measures of success, you're likely going to decide that what you should do is like you said, like continuing to grind it out and not just for like 10 years, but like 20, 30 years, sometimes doing work that you don't love as opposed to thinking about how it is you're actually spending that time that's really important.
- [25:17]
Joel
Matt, I feel like we are the money show that is constantly telling people to think less about money, to not
- [25:21]
Matt
focus on the money. That's totally true.
- [25:23]
Joel
Yeah. And so we try to cover the nuts and bolts and we want to help people get better with their money, invest more wisely and save a bigger chunk of what they bring home. But we also want people to think about money as a tool and to not think about money as the ends. It is a means to better ends for your life.
- [25:40]
Matt
It's the tool that we focus on the most here on the show. But ultimately, like what we're all about is just folks living a life that they feel it leads to happiness, essentially just a fulfilling life for sure.
- [25:49]
Joel
And the reality is if money is the end goal, you're going to miss out on some of the things that matter the most. Like that is a byproduct of too much focus on money is missing out on a lot of things that matter. Let's talk about some more, something else in the vein of career and earnings oriented advice that people here on the reg, Matt. And that is just that college is a no brainer. Right. And so not many of our listeners are college age small handful. But some of our listeners are getting to the point where they've got kids who are considering going to college. They've got those, those teenagers now at home. And so every time we talk about This. I feel like we get unhappy listener emails because they say, listen, why are you talking crap about college? And we especially got him after episode 548 where we kind of debunked the fact that college makes sense for is
- [26:36]
Matt
College for Dummies, right?
- [26:39]
Podcast Announcer
Episode. Yeah.
- [26:40]
Joel
And we definitely, like, not everyone is happy that we don't think that college is a slam dunk decision, but we just, we just don't think that the vast majority of high school seniors should be mortgaging their futures by taking on astronomical amounts of debt, which, which is in many cases leading to, I don't know, the most expensive piece of wall art they'll ever hang.
- [26:58]
Matt
Right.
- [26:59]
Joel
That college degree that goes behind their desk, that some couple hundred K. Do
- [27:03]
Matt
you even know where your college degree, like your actual diploma is?
- [27:05]
Joel
No, I have no idea. And I remember I, I would have had to walk to get my diploma, but my mom was out of town.
- [27:11]
Matt
So you didn't even have to walk.
- [27:12]
Joel
No, I didn't even walk. I didn't do it. So I just didn't, I didn't care.
- [27:15]
Matt
Just showed up in a tube a few weeks later.
- [27:17]
Joel
That's exactly right. Well, so I guess, you know, you could ask the question, does college pay off for lots of folks still? And we would say yes, of course, like it does for a lot of people. And the more you can curb the costs that you incur and the time it takes to get that degree. What I mean is not taking six or seven years to get it, plus making sure that the one you get is more highly valued in the marketplace then the more likely it is to be a smart choice. Like for instance, that advanced history degree, it's going to pay off for a much smaller section of people and a lot of folks who get that degree are going to find that the money was poorly spent, even if it was edifying. But the thing is, college truly was a no brainer 30 to 40 years ago. But it's much more of a specific value proposition that young adults have to consider beforehand these days before they start applying to schools. The reality of debt that can linger for decades, especially if that degree isn't landing you the lucrative career that you hoped is just too much of a downside to give some sort of blanket advice that college makes sense for most people.
- [28:17]
Matt
Yeah. And on a related note too, just how you pay for that college makes me think of 529 accounts. And oftentimes that's also accepted as kind of like a slam dunk, you know, no brainer sort of decision. It's like, well, if you care about your kids, of course you're gonna save and invest money within a 529 account. But so much of it depends on your personal situation. Because yes, that can be a great tool to allow you to save for your kids college, but if you're doing it to the detriment of your ability to save for retirement, well then we would say that your priorities are a little out of whack if you're not
- [28:48]
Joel
in money gear 6 or 7, like 529 plans probably shouldn't be on your radar. Exactly. That's what we say. You need to have your finances buttoned up, your personal finances buttoned up. You need to be saving for retirement in a big a major way before you start investing for your kids future.
- [29:02]
Matt
And again, it comes down to your personal situation. Maybe you're not quite there, but, but this is of vital importance to you and you've got all the reasons why. Then you know what, like there are pieces of advice and things that we're going to say here on the show that may not apply to 100% of the folks out there, but this is something that we think folks need to be thinking about more often than not. And similarly, let's talk about debt, Joel, because oftentimes folks will hear that they should be living life debt free. And again, this is one of those uber simple pieces of advice that sounds good on its face. But if you take this dogmatic pronouncement to its logical conclusion, you're going to have a much harder time reaching your educational and your financial goals. And we know that it's hard to convey a reasonable debt philosophy just in a two to five second soundbite here. Which is why we don't try to. We create entire episodes on important topics like debt accumulation and debt payoff to try and convey just a nuanced approach towards debt that we think is healthy in our modern society. The truth is it's actually possible to use debt in a strategic way to catapult your finances forward. That's a recent episode that we'll link to in our show notes. But not all forms of debt were created to screw you over and it's important to keep that in mind. But on the other hand, it's also possible to rely on debt too much, right? Particularly consumer debt in order to fund a lifestyle that you can actually afford, buying the things that you don't need and which should be completely avoided.
- [30:31]
Joel
Yeah, there's a massive difference between a payday loan and a 15 year mortgage. Right. I mean, and I think that's where the live life debt free sort of philosophy, the mantra gets lost. And so people automatically assume that every single potential form of debt is now just something they shouldn't even consider, they shouldn't bring into their lives. When the truth is, what we're revolting here against here, Matt, is a lack of nuance. Right. It's that pithy phrase that, that starts to lead people down the road of thinking that only one way of handling debt makes sense and that is to never ever use it. And it's a convenient way to convey a message, but it's not always the most helpful to folks who are trying to make progress with their personal finances. For instance, like let's say you do have that 15 year mortgage at two and a half percent, at a two and a half percent rate, well, it almost feels like a safe haven. Right now we're experiencing a period of intense inflation. Let's say you used all your savings to pay off that mortgage, which in and of itself would be like, mean you probably had a lot of too much money in savings. Well, you might find yourself in an uncomfortable position if, let's say you lost your job next week. Yeah, sure, you don't have the mortgage payment, but you also don't have any cash in the bank to back you up to allow you to afford your other monthly bills if the worst case scenario happens. So how dumb is that 2.5% mortgage rate debt? In actuality, we would say it's not, it's not very dumb. It's really not that bad and you probably shouldn't pay it off even at the expense of prioritizing something like tax, advantage, retirement savings. So while the answer is not always easy, it often requires context. The question is always an important one to ask. So much of the answer comes down to the terms of that debt and what you plan to do with the money you borrow. If you're sinking that money that you're borrowing into speculative assets, let's say cryptocurrency or all sorts of new fangled digital coins, that you could potentially lose it all overnight still owing debt on top of it, that's really risky. That's a terrible way to use debt. But we would say there are smart ways to use debt to be able to actually accelerate your progress, just like you said, Matt. And I think thinking that avoiding debt completely for the rest of your life is the best way forward, not thinking about the ways that you can use it intelligently as like a stepping stone to Kind of continue down the path is short sighted and is in all likelihood going to mean you're making less progress potentially in your career or in your personal finances and your wealth building journey than you'd otherwise like to see.
- [32:51]
Matt
Totally don't use credit cards Joel. That's another piece of advice that you'll often hear. The same guy who likes to say that debt is dumb and to live that debt free lifestyle also likes to talk smack about the credit cards. But the truth is when used effectively, we love credit cards. When you use them effectively, you know they're not just alright, they're the best form of payment where they offer you greater consumer protections plus superior rewards and benefits and other meaningful perks. And it's worth pointing out here, debit cards and credit cards, they definitely look the same, but they are not created equal. Maybe we should do an entire episode talking about the differences between debit and credit cards, but we are fans of using them responsibly and if you have a reasonable level of discipline then you're going to be able to use your cards effectively and they're going to be a great tool for you. That's why we're such fans of using them. But again, we just have to make sure that we couch it within the proper language. We don't want anybody and everybody out there to go looking for the best cash back signup bonuses that you can find. But if that is you, if you are in a healthy position, if you do have that reasonable amount of discipline, then head over to our site, go to howtomoney.comcreditcards because that tool will help you to find the best credit card for you. And based on the different benefits and the perks that you are looking for.
- [34:11]
Joel
Yeah, it doesn't get talked about much. Most people don't know that there are different consumer protections when you use a credit card at purchase than when you use a debit card. So it's not just the 2% cash back or the Amex Blue cash preferred 6% back at the grocery store. Like those are awesome perks, but we're also talking about just more robust fraud protection. When you're using a credit card. We're talking about sometimes an extended warranty that a credit card offers. In addition, that means you don't have to buy the crappy extended warranty that the electronics company or the big box warehouse is trying to get you to buy the credit card offers that for you.
- [34:41]
Matt
Yeah, the ability to drop the cdw, the collision damage waiver when you're renting a car because you've got a car that offers primary car insurance by declining
- [34:51]
Joel
that cdw or as we talked about in a recent Ask out of Money
- [34:54]
Matt
episode, so many different benefits.
- [34:55]
Troy Millings
Yeah.
- [34:55]
Joel
The, the ability to not have to carry a bunch of cash on your person when you're traveling overseas and to get the best exchange rate and to not pay a fee to do it
- [35:02]
Matt
because you get that zero percent transaction fee.
- [35:04]
Joel
Yeah.
- [35:04]
Matt
So really foreign transaction fee.
- [35:06]
Joel
When you dig into the details, I mean, credit cards, a lot. There are people out there who think that they can't be used effectively. Those people would be wrong. It is possible to use a credit card effectively and it's not just about 2% cash back. Right. To slightly juice your returns. There's a lot more to it than that. But we've got, Matt, some more pieces of financial advice that we think are pretty crummy. They just ain't right. We'll get to those, including some about investing I think that are really important, especially right now with what's happening in the market, how they're. There's more bad investing advice going around now than even there typically is. So we'll get to that and more right after this.
- [35:46]
Jacob Goldstein
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- [36:40]
Podcast Announcer
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- [37:15]
Matt
Okay, Joel, I am excited about this one. Here on the show we are all about comparing prices to save money on so many things in life. So why wouldn't we compare prices for our next ride share? Taking a few seconds to check Lyft can save you real money on your next ride. I did this last time I caught a ride home from the airport after some travel and guess who came out on top? It was Lyft. Don't just price check with your flights and phone plans and groceries. Comparing rideshare prices will help you to save money every time you ride. Save money. Check Lyft. Alright, so we just spent some time talking about spending money. Now let's get serious and let's discuss saving and investing your money. And a piece of advice that you often hear, Joel, is save 10% of your income. This is advice I even heard as a, as a little wee one growing up and you might be asking like, why is this crappy advice? This sounds smart and it kind of is. It's certainly better than what the average American is saving, which is somewhere in the 3% range.
- [38:18]
Joel
Oh yeah.
- [38:19]
Matt
And so if you're in that position, if you aren't currently even saving a tenth of your income, then yes, this is a good goal to strive for. But we don't want how the money listeners out there to be the average American. We don't want you to stay there. We don't want that 10% basically to be a ceiling for you. Because sometimes mainstream financial advice, it actually, I think they set the bar too low. And if you stick with this incredibly basic framework of saving, even as your income increases over the years, you're going to find it hard to make progress towards those bigger financial goals. If you get complacent just saving 10% of your income, it's going to be tough to save up to pay cash for a car or amassing big old down payment for a home purchase while simultaneously socking away enough for retirement. And not only is it about the ability to achieve some of these financial goals that you've identified today, but we're also talking about being able to achieve financial goals tomorrow. Right. Like these are all things that, that today, that today Matt wants to do, but what about tomorrow Matt? I don't know what tomorrow Matt wants. And so the ability to save a little bit more than that standard 10% gives me that additional flexibility, gives me options to pursue some of those Goals in a way that feels like I'm making progress as opposed to just completely resetting the clock.
- [39:30]
Joel
I'm pretty sure tomorrow Matt is going to want a cortado at the local coffee shop, but he's going to have to wait till next week. Okay, next week Matt is going to get that.
- [39:36]
Matt
Just one a week.
- [39:37]
Joel
One a week. That's all we do. And yeah, I think you're right, Matt. I think that is kind of this basic tenet of personal finance advice and many people strive for. And then you get to 10% and you rest on your laurels. And because of that, it takes a really long time to make meaningful progress. And we think people should be seeking to save a lot more of their money. And other cultures do this. Well, what is it in Japan the average person saves something, something like in the 30% range of their salary. They get so much higher. We are abysmal at saving. And yeah, how to money listeners can do better than that. We know that well. And we're too soft. That's right. We're trying to harden you up. And let's talk about some crappy investing advice for a second because is really. We could do a whole episode about crappy investing advice. There's a lot of that out there.
- [40:19]
Matt
That's true.
- [40:20]
Joel
But one of them we would say is buy low and sell high. And I feel like you hear in a down market you hear more people talking about that, buying the dip, that kind of stuff. And again, Matt, kind of like what you said with the 10% thing, it's like this is kind of sort of good advice. Like there's a nugget of wisdom here, but there's also the fact that this piece of advice could completely mess you up. It's just not possible really to buy low and sell high is what we would say. Stats show year after year that even professional fund managers consistently underperform the simple strategy of buying straight up index funds. These are people that are highly compensated, that this is their job to attempt to outperform the market to get outsized returns. But the reality is that trying to buy the Diplomat means you're waiting on stock prices to go down. The truth is stocks are mostly on an up and to the right trajectory. That is the overwhelming direction that they're heading. That means if you're holding on to money that you want to invest in hopes of a market downturn to score a better deal, you're more likely to miss out on gains than you are to get that deal that you're hoping for. That's why we prefer and we advocate the dollar cost averaging approach, mostly ignoring current market conditions because your cash sitting on the sidelines while you're trying to buy the dip is experiencing opportunity cost and it's just being smacked around by inflation in particular today. So we would say just keep buying. Don't worry about timing the market. The key is to get your money in the market with regularity. So if you hear buy low and sell high, it's advice that sounds good, but pulling it off, it's like, hey, yeah, just go out there and hit four home runs in a game and it'll be, I'll be all good, but I've never tried to hit a home run map. But I know it's really difficult and that even the best guys like hit, you know, 60 a year, right? Like, and that's really hard to come by. So hitting four home runs in a game, that's, it's great advice if you can actually do it.
- [42:11]
Matt
Sounds impossible. Yes, technically that is correct. You do that and you'll be the mvp. You're going to make millions or billions. Same thing with buy low, sell high. In theory, on paper, it's great advice, but actually executing it, virtually impossible. Joel, something else like I feel like this isn't necessarily like advice that you hear, but just kind of maybe more sentiment when it comes to investors, which is the fact that they're afraid that the market is going to collapse. There's a number of fairly bright individuals out there who continue to predict that the stock market that is just this house of cards and that were all bound to get wiped out in this historic catastrophe. It kind of makes me think of the fundamental Christians who predicted the end of the world back in the 80s.
- [42:54]
Joel
I think it was this guy Hal Lindsay and he wrote three books about it and he was just wrong every time he predicted that.
- [42:59]
Matt
And when their conviction ends up being dead wrong, like they instead they often just double down.
- [43:03]
Joel
Wait, I was just wrong on that date. And now I've gotten a new push that out seven new insights.
- [43:08]
Matt
And so they predict an even more catastrophic event on the horizon. And so when it comes to the different financial advice out there, like best selling author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, he's one of those folks, but there are definitely others as well. But the truth is the market, it's got its ups and downs as we've experienced this year, but there's still no easier way to build wealth despite the significant amounts of volatility than regularly investing in the American economy, humans, we are incredibly creative. We're adaptable creatures, and it's best to just ignore these predictions of doom and gloom. There is enough other normal, sad, normal stuff out there for us to worry about. And by the way, I was talking about the volatility, like that bumpy ride that you experience in the market. That is a feature, not a bug. That is what allows us to be able to see growth over the long, the long haul. And again, if there is some sort of catastrophe, something like, like a nuclear attack or something like that, I think we've got bigger problems. And it doesn't matter if you're invested in whatever alternative investment, it's also not going to save you if we're, you know, approaching the end of the world.
- [44:14]
Jacob Goldstein
Yeah.
- [44:14]
Joel
And a lot of the folks that are the loudest voices, Matt, saying that the stock market is a house of cards or that we're going to see massive declines this year or depression 2023, it's inevitable. Those people often have a financial incentive to scare people in order to buy what they're selling.
- [44:29]
Matt
Yeah. Like, by the way, have you checked out this company and they happen to sell gold.
- [44:33]
Joel
That's right. And here's how you save yourself from this, from being impacted to the extent that other people are impacted when everything goes to hell. And another, Matt, another investing thing that you probably hear, that people hear investing advice is to invest in what you know, you might hear folks say that it makes sense to invest in companies that you use regularly. So, like, if you absolutely love Netflix, if you're a fan of the content they create, you should invest in the stock. And if you can't wait to, like, spend time in the metaverse, let's say, which I've not heard anyone say that
- [45:04]
Matt
before, that was my Netflix tone.
- [45:06]
Joel
Nicely done.
- [45:07]
Matt
Thanks.
- [45:07]
Joel
And yeah, I mean, like, have you heard anyone say they want to spend time in the metaverse? I feel like they.
- [45:11]
Matt
No, I definitely have.
- [45:12]
Joel
Not the Zuck, he's getting criticism for that these days because he's sticking a lot of Facebook's dollars or metas dollars towards this future potential universe. But, yeah, if you, if you are excited about that, if you're one of the rare people, go ahead, toss some of your retirement dollars in a company that you think has some insight into what we're all going to be doing in the future. Or let's say you are a big fan of the Yeezy shoes, which probably nobody is anymore, kind of got canceled.
- [45:36]
Matt
But after he went on his incredible
- [45:39]
Joel
anti Semitic tirades, And so we saw what happened with Adidas stock. Like, you never know. Even just like the crazy bumblings of a celebrity can lead to a precipitous fallout in a company stock. So I get kind of why this advice gets spread, but hopefully with each one of these examples, you can see how it might play out. Like, first, we're not fans of investing in single stocks. The two of us, we talk about money and investing all the time, and we don't do it. But the reality is you just never know what competition or other headwinds might be coming for that company you love. For when it comes to Netflix, there's more streaming competition out there than ever before. And it's not to say that Netflix won't ultimately succeed, but for a while, they had it easy. They didn't have much competition, and they had the edge. And it's not to say that people won't want to spend time in the Metaverse. If Zuckerberg can make it something fascinating, if he can make it like, Ready Player One style, maybe we'll all be in there, like, doing cool stuff.
- [46:34]
Matt
Or we won't, because people. Because we just don't know the future. Like, that's what's happening. That's the predicament here, is that we have no clue. And when you're putting all of your eggs in literally one basket with one stock like this, it's difficult to know because, yeah, Metaverse folks might realize that, you know what, those in real life relationships going back to Viktor Frankl, those are the relationships that matter. Not this imitation stuff, basically, that we're finding on the Metaverse.
- [46:58]
Joel
Just because you like a company's shoes doesn't mean that they've partnered with the right people to help improve that business and to reach more customers. Over the long haul, those relationships can sour, costing companies hundreds of millions of dollars.
- [47:11]
Matt
Yeah, and we're, like you said, we're talking about individual stocks. But even beyond that, I think the same lessons can be applied to entire sectors. Because during the pandemic, what did we see in the tech sector? We saw tech stocks taking off. They crushed. And now what we've seen so far this year is the man bloodbath with all the big tech names. And instead, what we've seen is energy stocks. The entire energy sector is at all time highs.
- [47:36]
Joel
And so now you might be saying, oh, now the time to invest in Exxon, but you don't know.
- [47:39]
Matt
You don't know. So instead, invest in widely diversified index funds like VU or VT Sachs, both of Vanguard's either total stock OR S&P 500 index funds. And so don't invest in what you know, because that essentially it's a shallow understanding. It's a shallow measure of what you think might be successful in the future, but is a far cry from an actual analysis, let alone a prediction of what actually might happen in the future.
- [48:03]
Joel
And so oftentimes when we do this, Matt too, we just get the timing wrong. So you might kind of be right. Maybe the metaverse will see going back
- [48:09]
Matt
to timing the market. Yes, sure, buy low, sell high. But how the heck do you figure that out?
- [48:14]
Joel
Might be 15 years from now.
- [48:15]
Matt
In retrospect, hindsight, it always looks so easy because you're framing the past by what you are experiencing today. And so, yeah, looking back to the pandemic, you're thinking, of course we're talking about Teladoc earlier, of course they were going to crush. Everybody's going to be at home, everyone's going to prize these technology companies. But at the time we didn't know that. And so the same thing applies to the present moving forward. We have no clue what the future is going to hold.
- [48:40]
Joel
And are you going to have this
- [48:41]
Matt
in retrospect, you might be able to
- [48:42]
Joel
figure it out, the fortitude to hold on to those, to those stocks when they're plummeting, when they're not doing well, just because you have that ultimate faith and belief. Probably not. Like most people, at some point they cry uncle, they sell. And so, like right now, you doubt yourself.
- [48:56]
Matt
Yeah, you end up selling at the wrong time.
- [48:58]
Joel
I think there's just a lot to be said for not not taking that approach, even though there's a lot of people that are going to say that that's what you should do and that, that that's how stock market investing makes sense to the average individual. But I don't think that's the case. And I think investing in the market as a whole is something that's easy for the average American to understand. You don't have to start picking individual stocks of companies that you already kind of, kind of like in order to be a good investor. And in fact, it's probably going to take you down the wrong path.
- [49:23]
Matt
That's right, yeah. Again, we could do an entire episode on the crappy investing advice that we often hear. But I mean, as we kind of round this episode out, bottom line, we just want you to be careful who it is that you listen to. There's probably a lot more crappy personal finance advice out there than you think. And we can't tackle all the poor advice that you might come across just in one episode. So bottom line, we want you to be careful who it is that you're listening to. We think that there's probably a lot more crappy personal finance advice out there than you think. And you know, we can't tackle it all just in one episode. Oftentimes it's the folks who are screaming the loudest, it's the folks who have the most rigid rules out there. They can be the easiest to understand for sure. But it doesn't mean that their going to be best for you, you know, that's going to be best for you to listen to them or that it'll actually be the most helpful for you in the long run, at least. Personal finance advice, it can and should be nuanced. It takes time, like we talked about earlier too. And not all advice is created equal. And some of the different blanket rules of thumb that you come across for everyone, no matter what their individual financial situation looks like, that is not a great tactic where it is that you are in your financial journey. It's crucial to the advice that you should be heeding. And with that make sure that you spend enough time thinking about this. I think oftentimes folks, they go with the slogan advice, the thing that's easy to repeat, they go with the headlines and instead we want you to think about it. We don't want you to spend too much time, but spend enough time that you are informed and that you're able to make the best decisions for yourself.
- [50:54]
Joel
Yeah, and it just makes me think, Matt, that like you mentioned Viktor Frankl's book and I think it's a great one and it's actually, it's pretty skinny. It's not really that hard for most folks to read but if I handle it, it to my 7 year old who's in second grade and she's reading Pete the Cat kind of books, right? Like that's kind of the vein she's in. She might be able to understand a good chunk of the words. She's not going to understand what she's reading though. And so yeah, when you do blanket advice or you say this is the best thing for everyone, oftentimes we're missing the reality that people are at different points in their financial journey. And so we try to bring that nuance to the forefront so that people can see how we're coming to our conclusions so they can come to their own, not just tossing a phrase out there and hoping that everyone adapts. Accordingly, like, that's not our plan. That's not our path. That's not how we roll.
- [51:36]
Matt
All right, man. Is that it for this episode?
- [51:38]
Joel
Yeah.
- [51:38]
Matt
Let's get to the beer. This episode you and I enjoyed uplifted, which is Scottish style ale from Talisman Brewing Company. Thank you, Andy, for donating this one to the show. What were your thoughts, buddy?
- [51:48]
Joel
So I've never had. This was like a light version of a scotch ale. Yeah.
- [51:52]
Matt
So I was reading on the side. It said it's like a session, sessionable Scottish ale.
- [51:56]
Joel
Yeah. So I would say it was kind of like a light brown ale in a lot of ways. And I like a good scotch ale. We actually got to have a good one on the show not too long ago, and that was fun because scotch ales are actually kind of hard to come by. Not many people make them. But this one left a little more to be desired than that one. It was kind of lacking in some of the flavor profile and some of the punch I typically like to get in my scotch. Alex.
- [52:17]
Matt
It wasn't quite as toast. I mean, a lot of times it's characterized by like, a toastiness, like some
- [52:22]
Joel
bigger, darker flavors, caramel vibes.
- [52:24]
Matt
This one was almost a little bit tougher, tart. So maybe that. That lightness in body lent itself to maybe just a. Yeah, like a slight tartness. But as always, I would rather be drinking a craft beer with you while we record an episode, the Knots. So I'm glad that you and I were able to enjoy one of these today, buddy.
- [52:39]
Jacob Goldstein
Yeah.
- [52:40]
Joel
And by the way, I mean, we talked about smart rules for spending earlier, just for a second, as we were talking about the latte factor and that you and I kind of go. What we do flies directly in the face of that. We drink a craft beer often, an expensive craft beer beer every episode. This one, fortunately, was free. Thanks, Andy. But we are spending our own money for 95% of these beers because. And not just because we love beer. That's a big part of it, but because there's another lesson to be had in there, that spending money on the things that you love in the here and now while you're getting good with your money is an important part of the equation. And going too hard, becoming hyper frugal over the top is a recipe for disaster in the long run. Yeah.
- [53:17]
Matt
All frugal and no splurge mix. Joel and I, dull boys.
- [53:20]
Joel
That's right. We don't want to be that. So. All right, Matt, that's going to do it for this episode. If you have another piece of financial advice that really sucks, that really great to you that you find around the interwebs at some point, send it our way. We'd love to hear from you. Reach out to us. You can email us@howtomoneypodmail.com that's right, buddy.
- [53:37]
Matt
So that's going to be it for this episode. Until next time, Best friends out. Best friends out.
- [53:57]
Jacob Goldstein
This is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? When you think about discovering small brands, what store pops into your mind? Well, it should be Walmart. Seriously, Walmart has thousands of small brands and they're all in one place. Just go online or in store discovery and shop. It could not be easier. Every one of these brands has a real story and real people behind it. They're true American success stories and you can find them all at Walmart. Discover thousands of small brands@walmart.com today before you sign off.
- [54:32]
Podcast Announcer
You tuned in for ways to help teams move faster, make sharper decisions, and turn scattered context into work. They can use ChatGPT for business can help. ChatGPT for business gives teams a shared workspace with admin control permissions and access to work and codecs in ChatGPT. This means your business can move from question to answer and code to rollout quicker. Join over 10 million business and enterprise users worldwide already using ChatGPT for work. Download the Chat GPT desktop app or contact sales to learn more.
- [55:05]
Matt
Okay, Joel, I am excited about this one. Here on the show we are all about comparing prices to save money on so many things in life. So why wouldn't we compare prices for our next ride share? Taking a few seconds to check Lyft can save you real money on your next ride. I did this last time. I caught a ride home from the airport after some travel and guess who came out on top? It was Lyft. Don't just price check with your flights and phone plans and groceries. Comparing rideshare prices will help you to save money every time you ride. Save money? Check Lyft. This is an Iheart podcast.
- [55:39]
Podcast Announcer
Guaranteed human.