WE BACK - Frugal Fun, Travel Tips, & Sabbatical Takeaways #1019

Summary

How to Money - Episode #1019: WE BACK - Frugal Fun, Travel Tips, & Sabbatical Takeaways

Release Date: August 6, 2025
Hosts: Joel and Ryan
Description: In this special episode, co-hosts Joel and Ryan return from their sabbatical to share their recent adventures, travel tips, and personal insights that align with the podcast's mission to provide accessible personal finance guidance.

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1. Welcome Back from Sabbatical ([02:26] - [04:34])

Joel and Ryan kick off the episode by reintroducing themselves after a six to seven-week break. They humorously discuss the challenges of getting back into the podcasting groove, highlighting the natural hiatus that comes with taking time off.

Notable Quote:
Joel ([02:44]): "We're back. We're back from sabbatical."

---

2. Travel Experiences and Tips ([04:34] - [18:50])

a. Seattle Trip ([06:00] - [07:43])
Ryan recounts his visit to Seattle for his cousin's wedding, emphasizing the city's vibrant craft beer scene. Although he didn't explore many breweries due to time constraints, he praises the overall atmosphere.

Notable Quote:
Ryan ([06:18]): "Seattle is one of the great cities, not just in the U.S. but in the world."

b. Hawaii Adventure ([07:43] - [16:16])
The hosts share their experience in Hawaii, particularly highlighting cost-saving measures such as staying with friends and utilizing Costco for groceries. Ryan suggests that traveling to places where friends live can significantly reduce expenses.

Notable Quote:
Ryan ([06:55]): "To save money, go travel someplace where one of your friends lives so you can stay with them."

c. Northeast Road Trip ([07:44] - [10:40])
Joel and Ryan discuss their road trip to the Northeast, exploring breweries in Portland, Maine, and Hudson Valley Brewing in Beacon, New York. They emphasize the joy of discovering local breweries and the culinary experiences along the way.

Notable Quote:
Joel ([10:14]): "Kids all tried lobster for the first time. Yes. Oysters. That was in Boston..."

d. Money-Saving Strategies ([16:16] - [18:50])
A significant portion of their travels focused on frugal living. They highlight the benefits of shopping at Aldi and preparing homemade meals during road trips to avoid costly fast food options like Chick-fil-A. This approach not only saved money but also promoted healthier eating habits.

Notable Quote:
Joel ([17:24]): "We saved a ton of money... we're eating so much better. So much less expensive."

---

3. Home Projects and Family Time ([13:08] - [18:50])

While on sabbatical, Joel and Ryan dedicated time to home improvement projects and spending quality time with their children. Joel mentions working in the yard, while Ryan discusses organizing the garage and other household tasks.

Notable Quote:
Joel ([13:08]): "I was in the yard a ton... unloading mulch to far corners of our backyard."

---

4. Reflections on Sabbatical and Future Plans ([26:06] - [31:06])

The hosts delve into their personal growth during the sabbatical. Joel reflects on the challenges of taking a break, such as feeling restless and taking on home projects instead of truly relaxing. They both express a renewed appreciation for their podcast and the importance of balancing work with personal life.

Notable Quote:
Joel ([27:04]): "I definitely appreciate... the ability to bring money saving information and money investing information... to our listeners."

---

5. Reading and Personal Growth ([29:36] - [32:56])

Joel and Ryan share their current reading habits, with Joel tackling "The Brothers Karamazov" and Ryan reading Rick Rubin's book on creativity. They discuss how reading contributes to their personal and professional development, providing fresh perspectives for their podcast content.

Notable Quote:
Ryan ([30:08]): "I feel like I've been reading this for a month and I'm maybe halfway through."

---

6. Return to Podcasting ([37:10] - [40:21])

As they approach the end of the sabbatical, Joel and Ryan express excitement about resuming regular podcast episodes. They hint at upcoming topics, including the housing market and personal finance strategies, assuring listeners that the break has provided them with fresh insights and renewed passion.

Notable Quote:
Joel ([40:21]): "Hopefully maybe some folks took a break as well... it's time to get back on the horse."

---

7. Closing Remarks ([40:21] - End)

The episode concludes with final thoughts on rejoining the podcasting routine and expressing gratitude towards their listeners. Joel and Ryan reiterate their commitment to providing valuable personal finance content, encouraging listeners to stay tuned for future episodes.

Notable Quote:
Ryan ([40:21]): "And we want to help you navigate your personal finance waters. We'll continue that. We'll be back on Friday."

---

Key Takeaways:

• Frugal Travel: Utilizing resources like Costco and Aldi can significantly reduce travel expenses without compromising the quality of the experience.

• Balanced Break: Taking a sabbatical offers an opportunity for personal growth, family bonding, and recharging, but it's essential to strike a balance between relaxation and responsibilities.

• Continuous Learning: Engaging in reading and exploring new interests during breaks can provide fresh perspectives and enhance both personal and professional life.

• Returning with Renewed Passion: Stepping away from routine tasks can reignite passion for one's work, leading to improved content and enthusiasm upon return.

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Note: This summary focuses solely on the main content of the episode, omitting all advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content segments as per the provided guidelines.

Transcript

[Joel]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Matt]

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[Ryan]

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[Joel]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Joel]

I mean, I'm fine with this. Even to start talking now.

[Ryan]

Let's do it then.

[Joel]

I didn't even change out of my face.

[Ryan]

Me neither Did. We're both. I wouldn't say sopping wet because the walk back from the beach definitely dried us off a little bit.

[Joel]

But we're going to start like this.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

All right. Welcome to how to Money. I get to say it this time, buddy.

[Ryan]

And we're back. We're back from sabbatical.

[Joel]

What's. What's funny is I don't even know how to do it because you're the one who always says, welcome to how to Money, you know, And I only say, and I am not.

[Ryan]

It's easier than you might imagine. It's actually not the toughest part of my job.

[Joel]

You're incredibly talented, my friend. No, this is an episode where we wanted to just ease listeners back into.

[Ryan]

It's not like we're easing back into it.

[Joel]

It's honestly us. Yes. It's. It's weirder for you and me to sit down because we haven't recorded in six, seven weeks or something like that.

[Ryan]

I was like, matt, remind me how to talk into a microphone again.

[Joel]

It is a little bit different, though, because we are at a beach house that our families have rented. We do this every summer. And what's crazy is that in the. I mean, the kids are older, they're out at the beach, and, I mean, Kate's out there with them, but they're kind of autonomous more and more. Granted, the little dudes are still young.

[Ryan]

They need less help than they used.

[Joel]

We are entering a new phase of game playing, and we're, like, way past the phase of digging tide pools for the babies. Yeah. Kind of thing. As opposed to, like, hitting the volleyball, playing some spike ball, swimming across the. What's it? The inlet.

[Ryan]

Yes.

[Joel]

That's your favorite thing that you like to do.

[Ryan]

I was gonna say, I think our kids are staying up later than we are now, which is, like, for. This is the first year ever where we've crossed that threshold. And so, like, adult gameplay has been happening.

[Joel]

That's what I was gonna say. It's been most noticeable in the fact that we have not played one game of a choir.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

Which it's funny because we're sitting at the quote unquote game table, and there's a game of Clue here that the kids left out because that's what they're playing. They're getting into the board games on their own. But how you been?

[Ryan]

I've been great.

[Joel]

I mean, does it feel weird for you to get back on the mic a little bit. A little bit.

[Ryan]

Because it does feel like it's been a while. And I'm sure to our audience are like, we've heard you talking, but not fresh stuff. And so what have you been up to? And I feel like there is probably a lot for us to relay. And as we've come back from our.

[Joel]

Sabbaticals, our trips, and we'll share, I.

[Ryan]

Think, a lot here, but we'll also share more in the months to come about what we will. We'll have a lot of stories to regale.

[Joel]

We're still probably processing. I know I'm still processing having taken a break. More of a break. A summer break, honestly. Like more in line with the kids. But how you.

[Ryan]

There's actually a Facebook argument about sabbatical, mini retirement. The words that you use.

[Joel]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan]

What can you call it?

[Joel]

And so I totally would have been interested in that, in that argument because. And I mentioned this at some point on one of the episodes because Katie north and whoever else they're talking about sabbaticals typically being at least, you know, three months plus, like three to nine.

[Ryan]

Or at least at least a mini retirement. Right. So there people were saying, if you're going to call it a mini retirement, it needs to be kind of longer. Like that sabbatical. Sure. Six, eight weeks. It's fine. So I guess that's probably what you and I really partook in was a sabbatical. Not a big break.

[Joel]

I'm just gonna call it a summer break. Summer break. It's a summer break, man. You want to share a little bit about your trip because y' all took some of your time. And so that's the most recent thing. The most recent thing. Right before this, y' all came back from your trip. We came back for our trip. Maybe we'll share a little bit.

[Ryan]

Yeah, let's do that.

[Joel]

Our adventures.

[Ryan]

And then maybe we'll get into kind of some bigger, deeper stuff that we've been thinking about.

[Joel]

But.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

What's the most fun thing you did in the past two weeks?

[Ryan]

I just want to say this. At the outset, the first part of our sabbatical, we stayed home. It was staycation.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And the second part was travels. And I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the staycation. I was like, oh, the travel is going to be the best part. And travel was awesome. Thoroughly enjoyed it. But I really, really enjoyed just kind.

[Joel]

Of the normal rhythm, living in your own house, in your own town, doing the Cool. Like, stuff that you get to now participate in because you're not. Yeah. Completely slammed booked.

[Ryan]

100%. Yeah. So whether it was just like, oh, 3pm, let's go to the pool as a family, whatever it is, that kind of stuff. So I really enjoyed that. But, yeah, in regards to the trip, it was awesome. We were in Seattle for my cousin's wedding, and I was reminded of how Seattle is one of the. The great cities, not just in the U.S. but in the world. Is it?

[Joel]

That's a beautiful one.

[Ryan]

It's a beautiful town. And chock full of craft beer, of course, too, which. Which makes me love it even more.

[Joel]

Okay, so do you have. What was the best brewery that you went to when you were out in Seattle? So did you do well? You were only there for a couple of days.

[Ryan]

Only there for a couple of days.

[Joel]

Okay.

[Ryan]

Pick some up at the grocery store. But didn't even make it, even though I was in Ballard, which, like, you can't even turn around and not see a brewery. You're smack dab in the midst. It's insane. How many.

[Joel]

Is that what the kids used to call the hipster part of town? Pretty much 10, 20 years ago.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, I think Ballard had all these old warehouses, and so breweries just moved in. And so I was ran. I ran past at least, like, six of them, but didn't actually step foot in any of them. But I had a couple of good beers while I was there, but actually the best beers I had.

[Joel]

Fill me in.

[Ryan]

When we went to Hawaii, which was our next stop on our trip. And one travel tip. To save money, go travel someplace where one of your friends lives so you can stay with them.

[Joel]

Booyah. So, hey, you don't mind if we crash on your couch? So this is. This is the. It's not horseshoe theory. This is full circle for you. You went from CR pad crashing to hostels to Airbnbs, and now you took your family back to pad crashing.

[Ryan]

That's right. So Emily's best friend lives just outside of Honolulu, and we stayed with them for four nights, and we hit up a brewery. I'm blanking on the name. It's right there in downtown Honolulu. We had that beer just last night. The oh Han Mari or something like that. I want to say. Gosh, they made some excellent beers. Those were definitely the best beers I.

[Joel]

Had on the whole trip. Nice.

[Ryan]

Just Hawaii, man.

[Joel]

So wonderful. Of course. So I was up in the Northeast, which is home to all the hazy New England IPAs, of course. So I got to participate. I mean. Oh, my gosh, dude, I had.

[Ryan]

You were sending me pics. I was.

[Joel]

All the greats, of course. Trillium, of course. Bissell brothers. Two. Okay, so two standouts that I was not expecting that we literally stumbled upon were Hudson Valley Brewing, which was in Beacon, New York. That's in the Hudson Valley, of course. Phenomenal. So good. Them as well as Bellflower, which was. I think it's a newer brewery in Portland, Maine.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Joel]

Both of the. Of course, we had some Maine Beer Company beers while we're up in Maine, up in Acadia. But those. Those other two breweries, though, were total standouts.

[Ryan]

Portland's one of those hip towns, too, where they've got a plethora of good.

[Joel]

Beer up there all in the same part of town.

[Ryan]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Joel]

Yeah. So that was huge for us, for sure.

[Ryan]

I'm curious for you, and we can get into a bunch of different stuff here, but what was maybe your. Did you have, like, a favorite part of your trip? Like the best. Favorite leg is your best day?

[Joel]

Oh, see, you're putting all this pressure on one. One singular day. I. I don't think I can narrow it down to a specific day because I feel like we. We took her. I don't know. We did a whole lot in two weeks.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

It was a road trip, which let me just share with folks, too, that man and I, we knew this going into it. But a road trip is not a vacation. A road trip is an adventure. And every waking moment, I feel like was Kate and I talking about our next steps. We had plans, we had itineraries, we had tickets booked. But then it's us saying, oh, man, we really went hard yesterday, though. Like, are we actually going to do everything we had planned and kind of making decisions on the fly, trying to figure out, where are the bathrooms, where can we refill their water bottles? It's just constant. You're just constantly on edge, which means.

[Ryan]

You don't come back rested and refreshed.

[Joel]

No, no. It was a ton of fun, but just a lot of on the go. So I'm not going to pinpoint it to a specific day, but I feel like a theme. I'll say a theme. Something that we just consistently did with the kids was that they were regularly trying new foods and being exposed to different things. So whether it's like, lobster. What do you call it? The lobster rolls.

[Ryan]

Lobster rolls.

[Joel]

Lobster rolls.

[Ryan]

Whether it's that oysters that we stumbled.

[Joel]

Upon, that something we learned about this beach, a few. Let's see. Maybe at the beginning of summer, York, Maine. So we just were like, oh, maybe we'll swing. Swing by up there. And we ended up spending way more time up there. Stumbled upon this awesome Crab shack. I think it was foxes, actually.

[Ryan]

Okay.

[Joel]

Beautiful lighthouse right there. It was just. I don't know. It was amazing. Kids all tried lobster for the first time. Yes. Oysters. That was in Boston, where we're like, all right, all of you are going to try raw oysters. And just doing some of those experiences with the kids. Aside from. I think a lot of folks would think, oh, was it seeing the Declaration of Independence? Yes. That was awesome. So was seeing George Washington's copy in the. What was that? I guess that was the Library of Congress.

[Ryan]

You're singing the praises about Abraham Lincoln's pocket knife.

[Joel]

We. Oh, we got to see. Well, yeah, the contents in his pocket. That's also there in the. In the library. The Congressional Library. What's it called? The Congressional Library. Attached to the Capitol Building. That was super cool. That was really cool for me personally going. We got tickets. You reach. Oh, so here's a tip for folks. Reach out to your local representative, local senator in your state, and you get tickets to a lot of places in D.C. for free. You just have to get on the radar. So obviously, the Smithsonian and all those different places, they're free. But the ability to go tour the Capitol, you know, like, not as a rider, like, where you're walking through, it's.

[Ryan]

I mean, when you're actually allowed to be there.

[Joel]

Yeah, exactly. It's. It's all inspiring because it's. I think it's like the closest thing I think we have in the US to like a. A cathedral. Like a Gothic cathedral. I mean, it's massive. It's beautiful.

[Ryan]

Did your congressperson ask if you voted for them before they said yes?

[Joel]

No, you know, it's just one of their. One of their interns. They were just like, oh, yeah, we actually have a few passes that we can give you.

[Ryan]

That's cool.

[Joel]

So that was a ton of fun, that specific day there.

[Ryan]

DC Also just a cheap place to visit.

[Joel]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan]

A plethora of awesome stuff to do for very little money.

[Joel]

Also in D.C. we went to Kate's. Just amazing when it comes to food and planning trips out. We went to Jose. Gosh, what's his last name? We talked.

[Ryan]

Jose Andres.

[Joel]

Andres, yes. He's got this Taco Place in D.C. that's, like, right between. It's, like, right off the mall. Had an awesome time there with the kids. It was Just, it was fun because it was slightly more refined food that Kate and I could both enjoy, but the kids were digging it as well. They tried beef tongue there for the first time. So they're like, what's. Is that an actual tongue of a cow? We're like, yeah. And it's really good. They know what they're doing here. Some of those culinary experiences really stand out. But obviously, just being able to learn a whole lot about our country, because it was kind of a quasi US.

[Ryan]

History sort of road trip, which is cool. A little bit of world schooling during.

[Joel]

The summer, taking them up to Acadia, which is the place that Kate and I have been to before, having Prosecco and popovers at Jordan Pond, like that kind of thing. But, yeah, it was a great trip for us, but like you. So I wanted to loop back to what you were saying as far as living kind of like quasi normal life at home and having just more time on your hands. I'm totally with you, man.

[Ryan]

It's great.

[Joel]

It's so nice to be able to have downtime. And for us, Kate and I, I mean, we love working on projects at home, and so I spent a lot of that time, like, doing stuff around the house that I normally don't have time to do.

[Ryan]

Oh, you were in the yard a ton, too.

[Joel]

I was in the yard a ton. Well, you know. You know, the problem is that Kate ordered a chip drop, which is free. And you know this because you were actually. You. You pitched in a little bit. You're like, hey, I'll. I'll shovel a few. Or not more than a few. You shoveled several wheelbarrows full of mulch and hauled them to far corners of our. Of our backyard.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

Yeah. Just doing stuff like that, being able to hang with the kids at home, that was a lot of fun.

[Ryan]

The one thing I didn't get checked off my to do list was to clean out our garage.

[Joel]

But that was on your list.

[Ryan]

It's still on my list. I'll get to it at some point.

[Joel]

Your garage isn't really messy.

[Ryan]

It's not too bad. But, like, I really want to organize my tools and stuff, and I just.

[Joel]

Oh, look at you.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Getting tired of not being able to find Stu when I need it. I think maybe if I was to pick one of the coolest things.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

What about was. We went to Volcanoes national park, and there are episodic eruptions right now of. You got to talk about that volcano there. And so it's. We actually got to see a live lava flow Literally lava erupting into the sky. And it was so crazy. It was one of those things where we kind of got in earlier than we thought. The Airbnb we're going to stay at wasn't ready. And so we're like, let's just. National park's two miles up the road. Let's go.

[Joel]

Blessing in disguise. Yeah, it was. It was totally was.

[Ryan]

Because we got to see it, and it cut off before dark that night. So we got to see it for a couple hours from different angles as we did it.

[Joel]

Literally not even erupt the rest of time. You're there.

[Ryan]

Interrupt the rest of. Shut up. Yeah. That's awesome. So it was serendipitous, and it's one of those cool things that none of us will ever forget.

[Joel]

Well, that's the thing. You can't necessarily plan on that. Like, you can plan a trip to Hawaii, but you can't plan on there being a lava flow, because that's up to Mother Nature, man.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

And okay, so the time that we're recording this, there was also, like, more action going down there in Hawaii, or I guess it was the warning.

[Ryan]

Tsunami warning. Yeah.

[Joel]

But luckily it seems like why.

[Ryan]

Avoided the worst there for sure. And everybody else, too. It sounds like minimal impact anywhere, but.

[Joel]

That still would have been crazy. Like a tsunami siren. It's got the alliteration. So I know you love it, but you probably would have been a little frightening there with the kids, right?

[Ryan]

Oh, my kids would be freaking out. Biggest money saving tip on what you got. The island, either the Big island or Oahu, but especially the Big island, is have a Costco membership.

[Joel]

Really?

[Ryan]

Yeah. So not only just to breeze and get a hot dog if you're hungry or whatever.

[Joel]

What you can do for sure, you know, we still. Our family still has not had a Costco hot dog.

[Ryan]

I'm trying not to judge you for that. So breeze in there and get that. But the biggest thing is everything on Hawaii is significantly more expensive. Sure. So you want to drop in and get a beer? A single beer, 2x, you think? Maybe not. Not 2x, but it's definitely more expensive. And Costco keeps their prices the same on the island of Hawaii as they do on the mainland.

[Joel]

I bet it's so popular.

[Ryan]

So, like my cold brew, the two pack, same price as when I get it. The stoke. Yes.

[Joel]

Oak cold brew.

[Ryan]

Same exact price. Same with, like, loaves of bread or whatever.

[Joel]

Impressive.

[Ryan]

They have certain other things that they sell only in Hawaii, which is cool. So you can get some local stuff.

[Joel]

Local Flavor. Yeah.

[Ryan]

But I really appreciate that.

[Joel]

And so I was like, thank God I don't have to drink some local, like, Hawaiian coffee. I can get my stoked cold brew.

[Ryan]

We were trying to do especially in on the Big Island. We were trying to do more of our eating at home. And so we're like, let's put some groceries. We landed, went straight to Costco and got a bunch of stuff so we could cook meals.

[Joel]

All right, okay. So our I'll share a travel money saving tip. So this is so predictable. People are going to say, of course Joel talked about Costco and Matt talked about Aldi because get this, guess.

[Ryan]

And we're not sponsored by them.

[Joel]

So sadly, we just love it. We were just out on the beach. So literally, you don't have a shirt on. My trunks are soaking wet. We just jumped back in here to record a little bit. Just before we came in, we looked over and there's a couple and he had an Aldi bag. Looked like they had Aldi beach chairs. And maybe it seemed like one of them had an Aldi bathing suit. Does that even exist? It was all like, the Aldi Rainbow.

[Ryan]

I wonder if they, like, work for Aldi corporate or something. We need to go ask them when we go back.

[Joel]

Aldi schwag.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

What was. Oh, so mine is Aldi related. Oh, I was gonna say, guess how many times we ate. Because we love eating at Chick Fil A. Like, if we're gonna drive to the beach, that's probably gonna be our stop for lunch. Right? Like, we're gonna put our. Our order in. Guess how many times we ate Chick Fil A on the road trip twice. Zero, baby.

[Ryan]

Oh, zero.

[Joel]

And it wasn't even something that we were trying to do. I wasn't like, this is going to be great fodder for the show. It literally didn't cross our minds because we had planned on. And we did this earlier in the summer. We went up to Michigan, Lake Michigan for some time with family. But we stopped at Aldi on the way back and not only bought groceries that we knew that we needed for back home, like eggs and milk. Right. Like just some basics. But we said, wait a minute, let's just stop in there and we'll get food for dinner as well and put together kind of a meal on the road. And we're so much more food, better quality stuff than fast food, you know, than stuff that's. That's deep fried and you're saving just a ton of money.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

I mean, our typical Chick Fil a order. There's six of us. Our typical order is like 50 bucks.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

And that's just for fast food. And it's not well rounded. There's not whole, not granted, there's protein. Right. And so we took that mindset. And so for the road trip, Kate brought a big baking tray to be able to load up these little lunch boxes. Like these little. They're plastic. They look like Tupperware. They're subdivided.

[Ryan]

Oh, lunchables.

[Joel]

Yeah, basically. But like homemade lunchables.

[Ryan]

Yeah. Not filled with all the worst things that imaginable.

[Joel]

Yes. So we would stop at Aldi and get a block of cheese. We would get. Gosh, what else would we do? Nuts, Cured meats. Like vegetables chopped, like clean bottled water. Right. Like kind of clean off a cucumber. Slice that up. And so we did that a ton on the road and say, I know. We saved a ton of money.

[Ryan]

You're eating better, too.

[Joel]

We're eating so much better. So much less expensive. I know. Than Chick Fil A, again, I don't even know because Kate's the one that calls ahead. You know, she uses the app and places the Chick Fil A order. But it's at least. I'm certain it's at least 50 bucks, if not more.

[Ryan]

I'm sure a pop.

[Joel]

So that's. We did that a ton. And for us, that was in addition to. Oh, one of the AMA questions I think was about, hey, are you going to rent a car or are you going to take the old van?

[Ryan]

Let's talk about your car rental. Yeah, let's do it right after this.

[Matt]

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[Ryan]

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[Joel]

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[Ryan]

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[Joel]

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[Ryan]

That's guardianbikes.com built in the USA, made specifically for kids. Guardianbikes.com all right, we're back. Matt, we left off you were the car rental. Talked about your car rental. I dropped you off at the car rental place.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

And it turns out, oh, it was a nightmare. You did not end up renting a car there.

[Joel]

I mean, even though you had one booked. I don't know if I want to throw the company under the bus because maybe they're decent, but this particular location, they took my car rental reservation, but they couldn't hold it, as Jerry Seinfeld would say. Right. Is that how it goes?

[Ryan]

It's one of the classic Seinfeld episodes.

[Joel]

Yeah. And so they're like, well, we can offer you a nicer vehicle, this grand Highland.

[Ryan]

Grand.

[Joel]

It was a grand Highlander, I will say. And it looked nice. I was even tempted because I thought, I'm never going to have the opportunity to drive over long distance in a leather. It was just really nice. But I was like, no, there's no luggage space, the ability to move around in the vehicle. So anyway, we ended up going with a Chrysler Pacifica rental with Avis. It was great. And specifically, we got a hybrid, which was also very nice. So talk about some savings driving that many miles. Yeah. I will say, though, I did some quick math. We saved some money, but it wasn't a tremendous amount. I don't think we saved much more than two.

[Ryan]

How much do you think you saved on that?

[Joel]

I think we saved around 200 bucks. 200 bucks in gas, which isn't nothing, but, you know, you're dropping like around 1000 bucks on a rental. Like, I wouldn't go out of my way to go to get extra, to pay extra in order to get a hybrid. When it's like, all right, if we were driving our vehicle, maybe I'm getting like 20 miles per gallon in an old traditional, you know, minivan, as opposed to something closer to 30.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

In a hybrid, because the hybrid doesn't work so well when you're driving at higher speeds on the interstate. It's great for driving around town. Because when you're driving around town, that's when the. That's true.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

That's when the little low power motor kind of thing kicks on and, and you're getting like 35 miles. 35, 37 miles per gallon. But it was nice. I loved watching that little power meter thing there on the. I think I would get addicted to that.

[Ryan]

If I had a hybrid.

[Joel]

I would always be like, dude, I want to get the leafs. I want to be in the green. I want to constantly be regenerative braking.

[Ryan]

Like you're hypermiling it.

[Joel]

Yes. I will say getting back in a traditional vehicle like standard disc brakes seem so antiquated.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

I'm like, why not use this stored energy that is in the mass of our vehicle trying to slow down to generate power. Doesn't that seem like a no brainer?

[Ryan]

It does.

[Joel]

I feel like all cars should be equipped with regenerative braking.

[Ryan]

I rented one of those new Jeeps on Hawaii because jeeps are the way to get around.

[Joel]

Because come on, if you're in Hawaii you should be driving a Jeep around.

[Ryan]

And so it's got a little, like a little battery in there that they. I guess you can drive it in just electric mode or in hybrid mode, but it's like kind of pathetic. Like the battery's so tiny it lasts like about two minutes in electric road.

[Joel]

Was it literally two minutes?

[Ryan]

It's not long at all. It's. Yeah, probably close to that. And then hybrid mode, it maybe lasts like 35, 40 minutes. So it's kind of pathetic. But if you had it at home.

[Joel]

Though, do you think it would be enough for you to run an errand? Let's say you're going to the grocery store and back.

[Ryan]

Maybe it's not.

[Joel]

Is that kind of like what it's geared for?

[Ryan]

I think so, but I don't think it's even as robust as like the plug in hybrids that Toyota offers, for instance, like the RAV4 Toyota Prius. Those are more like 40 miles worth of range.

[Joel]

What's the difference between Jeeps and Toyota's, man? Toyota, like they've been perfecting the hybrid. Yeah. For. And now they prime. Right. Like the plug in EVs or whatever. The plug in hybrids, they've been perfecting that for 20 plus years now. As opposed to some of these newer guys that were like, oh yeah, maybe we'll take advantage of the EV tax and you know, all the incentives that were getting poured into green vehicles.

[Ryan]

So my question for you.

[Joel]

Yeah.

[Ryan]

How much did you miss Talking about personal finance. And did you find yourself maybe talking about Roth iras as you were going to sleep? Just to nobody, just to yourself.

[Joel]

Just a random guy waiting in line.

[Ryan]

At the Smithsonian, calling your random friends to give them finance tips or anything like that?

[Joel]

No, I never found myself tempted, tempted to do that. I will say though, I'm trying to unpack as to. Because we were trying to treat this as a sabbatical, not just as a time to take some bigger trips, but within that.

[Ryan]

When you say that, what do you mean? What's the difference?

[Joel]

Well, having more time to take trips is fun, right? As opposed to like, all right, going on a three day silent retreat where you're just really getting a lot more introspective. I don't know, maybe I was just too ambitious with the time to be able to do absolutely nothing. Because even the time where I was supposed to do absolutely nothing at home, I'm like, oh, I could use this time to put a laundry room sink in our laundry room. Which is something I did. And it was a ton of fun. It was a little frustrating at times. Almost electrocuted myself. Maybe I'll say that for that story for some other time.

[Ryan]

Glad you're still here.

[Joel]

I'm still here. I didn't. Yeah, it's all good. It was a 220 line too. It was to the dryer, so it was like high, higher voltage.

[Ryan]

Oh, snap.

[Joel]

I think it could have been bad, but I can safely say that I definitely miss recording. I miss doing what it is that you and I get to do here. And obviously it's a blessing to be able to A, be our own bosses, but then B, within that framework to have the ability to step away from our work for the summer and say, all right, let's spend some time for you, like training a little bit more, maybe going for more runs, spending more time with friends, spending time with family, just chilling out, reading more the day. Other ability to take some of these bigger trips that you otherwise wouldn't. Right? Like, as opposed to going out to Seattle and just kind of flying back real quick. You're like, hey, we're already out here on the west coast, baby. Let's, let's fly it down to, to Hawaii. The ability and the blessing. It is a blessing for, I think, our ability to do something like that. Same thing with taking a two week long road trip and to not feel confident up right to the very start of it and the very end of it, right? To be able to say, all right, we can kind of think about this. Well, prepare for it. And then when you come home, it's like, you can also. All right, let's take some time to kind of re. Acclimate to home life and like, all right, let's just sleep in tomorrow. Just all the kind of.

[Ryan]

You don't come back on a Sunday and get back to real life on a Monday.

[Joel]

Exactly. And that's hard. And so, man, that I certainly, most definitely appreciate. And within that sort of. Within thinking about that. Certainly missed being able to talk into the microphone with you about the things that we love and care about and the ability to bring money saving information and money investing information and all the things that we love to talk about here on the podcast to our listeners. Yeah. What about you?

[Ryan]

Yeah, it's funny. I was like, I thought I was gonna have like, withdrawal symptoms or something like that. Three weeks not talking into a microphone about personal finance with my buddy. What's gonna happen?

[Joel]

The good news is that, babe, we're on vacation. The bad news is I started smoking.

[Ryan]

I had to find a habit to take over my other habit, which is my day job. But no, like, I'm actually super stoked about getting back into a rhythm of kids in school going into work and recording and talking about personal. I do love it. I will say I was still reading a similar amount to maybe what I read on a daily basis. Just because I'm. That's. It's a subject I'm not just passionate, you know, I don't just get paid to do. I'm also passionate about it. Yeah. But I. I just. I feel like I was able to get away to such an extent that I wasn't missing it. I was like, I was glad to be away, but also looking forward to being back when the time came.

[Joel]

I get that. Which I definitely wasn't reading as. Oh, I'll be honest, I was not reading as much. I was reading as much. Total, perhaps, or maybe more. I'm still in the. I'm in the middle of the Brothers Karamazov, which is a really long. It's a freaking book.

[Ryan]

Yeah, it is.

[Joel]

It's like over a thousand pages. And so I'm like, I feel like I've been reading this for a month and I'm maybe halfway through.

[Ryan]

Wasn't it. Wasn't it Laura Vanderkamp that told us she read War and Peace? War and Peace. Daily emails?

[Joel]

I think that's even longer.

[Ryan]

That's crazy.

[Joel]

Which, by the way, what are you reading? Are you in the middle of anything right now?

[Ryan]

I'M reading Rick Rubin's book on creativity.

[Joel]

Nice.

[Ryan]

Which is super, super interesting. And it makes me.

[Joel]

Came out last year.

[Ryan]

Yeah. And you and I have actually been talking about we love what we do. But like, hey, can we come back to this podcast with fresh eyes, with a different approach? And I think we will, like, I think we will continue, I think in a fresh passion even. I'm like, actually super stoked to get away from it and now come back to it and be like, all right, what can we do to improve this thing that we love that's been around for seven plus years now?

[Joel]

It's fun to take breaks. I mean, I think that's a part of it too. I mean, it's fun from the sense of like, you get to do fun things while you're taking time off, but it's also fun to kind of look at it with fresh eyes. Being able to take a break from it and being like, oh, wait a minute, no, this is. And I think that's kind of where, I guess where I'm at right now. As I think about it. I'm just like, this is awesome. Like what we get to do on a, on a, you know, day in and day out.

[Ryan]

And even if you're thankful and you know you love it sometimes when you're in the weeds of day to day stuff and then it's harder to see. Totally.

[Joel]

It can, it can be tougher to be appreciative. I will say taking more time to appreciate other things in life. Does it. I still, obviously, I still want to be able to do what we do. It does also make me want to make sure I'm setting aside enough time to do other things that I have been able to expose myself to. Like art, for instance. Like, I was like talking with Kate about this.

[Ryan]

I'm like, you know, entering into your George Bush era. I see.

[Joel]

But I mean, maybe, but like literally, like we spent way more time in galleries and appreciating art and learning about artists. Like, gosh, the Farnsworth Art Museum has this incredible Andrew Wyeth collection. And somewhat familiar with him before, but really like diving into. I recently started a book that was this six day interview of him. This was actually a book that's in. That was in Kate's family that an uncle gave her, Kate's grandmother. And so she was just like, well, don't take this one out to the beach. She's like, make sure this one kind of was like a family. Not a family heirloom, but it means something more. But art Right. So the ability to, I don't know, carve more, and I don't know what exactly that looks like, but does it look like more of an appreciation for it? I certainly have that. So how can I continue that? Does it look like thinking through. Oh, I kind of started out my career basically as a visual artist, as a graphic designer, then moving into photography. Well, what does it look like another stage of that even where I am incorporating more of that into my life? These are questions I'm, like, asking myself now, where I'm like, man, I don't know. There's something. There's. Maybe life is too short to not appreciate some of the beauty, like the most beautiful things that's out there that are out there in the world. And certainly going to the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art, going to different spots along the east coast, has allowed me to realize how much is out there. Gosh, the Isabella Stewart Gardner. Like, Kate and I were talking to you.

[Ryan]

Sounds amazing.

[Joel]

You and Emily about that. An amazing place. If you've never been there and you're in Boston, I would highly recommend it you. If. If you want an incredible story with this private collection of art that you get to tour. But it does make me want to. I think the break has allowed me to see that as well, that, like, what you do, like, from nine to five, like, that's good. But also this. There's a lot of other stuff in life that is also good. And as we are, we've been talking a little bit about the kids with ramping back up for school, and they're taking on additional pursuits, whether it's sports or different clubs and things that they want to do. And it's like, heck, yeah. Like, I want you to do all these things. Like, this is awesome. How can I support you? Like, I'm thinking about them from a development standpoint because, like, you know, that's what you do as parents. Right. Like, you've. We've had our parents who have poured into us, and that has led to our own development. And obviously we do that by, like, taking care of our kids and feeding them, taking them to school and stuff like that, but finding a way to kind of partner with them, broaden their horizons in their own development. Yeah. Like, I think I've got a renewed passion for that as well, especially as I think about them launching. You know, they're all starting new grades now, so it's like, oh, man, you're gonna get to start learning about this. Oh, you're playing this sport. Oh, you are entering School for the first time, buddy. Like, that's something that's totally new. Like, yeah, both of our little dudes are entering into kindergarten, which is a ton of fun.

[Ryan]

I think one of the things travel does for you, too, and this is something we kept talking about with our kids, is it helps you to realize that there are so many different ways to live this life, right? And, like, we took surfing lessons one day when we were in Hawaii. That was, like, our big splurge item. It was Selma's birthday, and we were like, all right, let's go surfing. And it was super cool. And of course, the guy John, who does our surfing lessons, the stereotypical Hawaiian surfer dude. And he was so fun to hang out with. And he used all the lingo, not because I think he was trying to imitate one, but because he legit is a surfer dude. And you just realize, like, that he's got this small business taking people out surfing.

[Joel]

That's what he does.

[Ryan]

And he does decently well for himself.

[Joel]

But he gets to do the thing.

[Ryan]

He enjoys every single day. And that is pretty magical, too.

[Joel]

He's living the dream.

[Ryan]

And there are just so many ways to live this life. And I love when I travel, seeing the different kinds of ways people have chosen to live life. And it makes me want to reconsider, too. Not, like, shake things up completely, because I'm pretty happy with the way my life looks. But it's also one of those things where it's a good reminder that it's not the only way or it's not the way that it has to look forever. Shaking things up, iterating, are all a part of what it looks like to think to live a meaningful life. And experiencing that through other people is one of the great benefits of travel.

[Joel]

Well, you talking about surfing has got me thinking about a recurring theme with this beach trip, which I would call the beach trip, where we learned about tides, because tides are like this mystery, right? And now every day, you and I are like, oh, well, how long before high tide, before low tide? Because we found out, we started playing with our Garmin watches, that there's a tide feature that you can turn on and put on the watch face or whatever. So I'm like a tide pro now, dude.

[Ryan]

Oh, and one other thing that I think we should remark about this trip.

[Joel]

We.

[Ryan]

We talk a lot about on the show about lifestyle creep and how, like, kind of once you incorporate a new method of spending into your life, it's really hard to dial it back down. Hey, you start hiring somebody to do your lawn service. Really hard to fire them and start mowing your lawn again. Well, we actually unlocked my creeps on the house and we downgraded significantly this year. Well, maybe not significantly, but price wise, significantly. Almost half price.

[Joel]

Almost half the price.

[Ryan]

But we found a great place. It's like literally three houses down from the one we stayed at. And so I think that's one of those things too. It doesn't have the amenities. It doesn't. It's not as fancified, but it's one of those things where it's like, we kind of.

[Joel]

It's great. It's so good. We're sitting here in it.

[Ryan]

What do we want from a beach house? And we're like, yeah, that place was over the top. Let's get this one instead.

[Joel]

And it's a reconsidering and just kind of talking it through, just being like, do we want to keep doing that? Like, can we? Sure, we could afford it. We could plunk down the change. We could splurge. But yeah, this, like, honestly, there are certain aspects about this house, even though it is literally half the price of the. The one that we've gotten in the past, There are certain aspects of it that are better.

[Ryan]

Yeah.

[Joel]

Than the.

[Ryan]

More functional.

[Joel]

Yes. Yeah, it's more functional. It's. It's more suited for two families like ours to get together and hang out at the beach. But the other crazy thing too is that it's like. Like you said, three houses down. And I guess I'll share this part. And I told you that when we. That I guess it was the night that we arrived here that I didn't want to walk the same way to pass the big fancy house because we're probably going to be like, oh, I kind of feel like a stab in our heart. Except that the first day we did walk past it and it's uninhabited. How would you say it.

[Ryan]

It's under reconstructed.

[Joel]

It is not habitable at the moment because I guess when it was built, they didn't seal it properly. So there's like scaffolding all around this house and it looks like a total dump. And the total dump doesn't bother me. But what bothers me is the fact that had we booked it, we would have likely gotten kicked out of there. Sure, we would have gotten our money back, but we likely wouldn't have found. I mean, this place probably would have been snatched up.

[Ryan]

Yeah. By that point I felt bad too, just because there's a lot of good memories in that house and you're like, oh man, it'll sucks that, that house.

[Joel]

Well, it's clear that they're going to return it to its former glory. Yeah, but it's like this. Yeah, that's a fancy house. We'll just leave it at that.

[Ryan]

All that to be said, we are back. We are looking forward to resuming regular content. We got many emails. People are like, when did the Friday flights return? So I think. I don't know if that's like the most desired.

[Joel]

What happened to the Friday flights?

[Ryan]

Right, well, well, that, that'll come out two days from now.

[Joel]

Yeah, yeah, it's coming out on Wednesday and we'll be back here on Friday. The problem with the Friday flights is just the fact that, I mean, when we are running besties, you can run an old interview episode, you can run a topic that we, you know, where we dove deep. No one, I don't think anybody wants to hear yesterday's news from a year ago from qc. That doesn't fly as much. So even though all the episodes say bestie after them there at the end, I think maybe, I wonder if a lot of folks missed that and they were thinking, oh, sweet, this is a great episode. Which makes me feel good about some of the older content that we put out there. Very evergreen for folks.

[Ryan]

I started to listen to the most recent one that we released with Chad Carson and I was shocked at how relevant it still was. It's great because interest rates had spiked and interest rates remained incredibly high.

[Joel]

Although I was still there. It's still there.

[Ryan]

The. And we'll talk about this, I'm sure, in the coming weeks.

[Joel]

But the pressure the Fed might be feeling.

[Ryan]

Well, the housing market boom seems to be officially over and so what happens with housing prices moving forward, that's something I'm, I'm fascinated by the housing market and I'm sure we'll continue to talk about. We'll see.

[Joel]

But that's, I think that could change pretty quickly though because like, if the Fed does feel a little pressure and once rates do start ticking down, it's like, okay, mortgage rates starts. Start ticking down as well. And then home prices, what do they do in response as that demand increases? Well, you tend to see prices go up. That is not guaranteed. And this is also going to get played out, I'm sure over like 18.

[Ryan]

Months, you know, months and years. Well, you still got it, buddy. Your chops, I can tell as you start talking about. I could see the fire in your eyes light up. While talking about the housing market, you.

[Joel]

It's the first time I've talked about the housing market in two months. Which is fun because, you know, Kate does. I mean, we chat about. Actually we do talk about. I bet we do talk more about personal finance stuff just on a personal level. Right. Just between, between her and I for our family as we are navigating the waters.

[Ryan]

Sure.

[Joel]

But yeah.

[Ryan]

And we want to help you navigate your personal finance waters. We'll continue that. We'll be back on Friday. Thank you guys so much for listening.

[Joel]

And hopefully maybe some folks took a break as well. Right? Like maybe some folks are thinking, yeah, I tuned out because, hey, Joel and Matt took a break. I'm going to take a break too. And hopefully you saw from the title of this episode that we back and it's time to get back on the horse. The famous fashion designer said in Zoolander Most def.

[Ryan]

All right, appreciate you guys. Matt. Until next time. Best friends out.

[Joel]

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[Ryan]

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[Ryan]

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[Joel]

This is an iHeart podcast.