The Holiday Kickoff Special: 2025 Lessons, Risky Bets, and an Alaska Surprise (SB1777)

Summary

The Stacking Benjamins Show – Holiday Kickoff Special: 2025 Lessons, Risky Bets, and an Alaska Surprise (SB1777)

Date: December 22, 2025
Hosts: Joe Saul-Sehy, OG, Doug
Guests: Joel Larsgaard & Matt Altmix (How To Money Podcast)

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Overview

This festive episode welcomes Joel and Matt from the How To Money podcast for a lively recap of 2025’s biggest personal finance lessons, a candid discussion on risk, giving, and AI, and the debut of Stacking Benjamins’ new “vault” tool. The group brings their signature banter as they unpack notable events, financial trends, the dangers of risky bets, the surprising truths about renting, and how AI is shaking up everything from Wall Street to the workplace.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Charity, Giving, and Community Impact

(13:12–19:49)

• Reflecting on the annual Voices for Good challenge, where the Stacking Benjamins and How To Money communities raised funds for financial literacy and other effective charities.
• Joel’s Charity: Supported Undue Medical Debt (formerly RIP Medical Debt) to buy and forgive crippling medical debts at a fraction of their price.
  • “They buy the debt, and then they forgive the debt. You thought you had $12,000 in medical debt. You don’t have it any longer.” – Joel (17:13)
• Matt’s Charity: Focused on GiveWell-vetted causes, supporting global health through proven, cost-effective charities (e.g., mosquito nets, nutritional supplements).
  • “Your dollars are going a lot further… to literally save lives as opposed to, okay, how do I want my personal life and the people around me to be able to benefit from my own charity?” – Matt (16:50)

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2. Top 5 Lessons from 2025

(19:21–49:19)

5. Empty Political Promises and Taking Control

(20:28–24:45)

• The year was full of “floated” political ideas (tariff rebates, student loan forgiveness) that didn’t materialize.
• Lesson: Focus on what you can control (spending, saving, personal action) rather than being distracted by policy noise.
  • “They come in with all this stuff and when we... look at the financial plan and go, ‘Hey, are you ahead or behind on that number?’ ...All this third party crap never came back again. We just focused on what we could do.” – Joe (23:23)
• Notable Quote: “There are promises right and left and you just have to be discerning... Is it actually going to come to fruition?” – Joel (22:03)

4. Risky Financial Products Proliferate

(25:19–32:43)

• Rise in private equity in 401(k)s, day trading options, speculative real estate platforms, and gamified investing apps.
• Warning: Novelty and FOMO lure people into higher-fee, higher-risk investments, often resulting in loss.
  • “It’s even more incumbent on us to be wary, to be careful what we invest in.” – Joel (29:19)
• Referenced: Gamified platforms (Robinhood) making both good (IRA matches) and dangerous (leveraged ETFs, options) tools easier to access.
  • “It’s just a money grab... the more we can get regulators out of our way, the more money we can make more quickly.” – Joe (31:15)

3. Renting Isn’t Throwing Away Money

(32:43–36:34)

• Changing dynamics in housing: Down payments have soared; economics of buy vs. rent have shifted, especially in hot markets.
• Myth-busting: Traditional “homeownership builds wealth” platitude isn’t always true—especially in today’s cycle.
  • “Renting is not throwing away money... It’s easier than ever for folks to use platforms like Robinhood... to invest in the market in a way that was inaccessible to our parents.” – Matt (33:44)
• Market cycles dramatically affect the rent/buy calculus; job mobility also demands more flexibility.

2. The Government Shutdown: Why You Need to Prepare

(37:27–44:23)

• 2025 marked the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Previously “stable” government jobs proved vulnerable.
• Lesson: Always have an emergency fund and a “bare bones” budget ready for unexpected disruption.
  • “It's really important... to have done that due diligence ahead of time, because guess what? Really sucks to get laid off on a Friday, and then Saturday be like, ‘What are we going to cut?’ ” – Joel (37:27)
• Ability to weather disruption is about liquidity and free cash flow, not just math on interest rates.
• Personalizing the federal waste debate: “Rather than fight about stuff I can’t control in Washington, where are my wasteful spending places?”* – Joe (41:41)

1. AI’s Era: Opportunity and Danger

(44:23–51:55)

• 2025’s defining theme: Massive impact and hype around AI—stock market gains concentrated in AI giants, existential job losses, new efficiencies, and consumer confusion.
• AI both empowers and deceives: Great for simple tasks or challenging big systems (like disputing a medical bill); unreliable for nuanced/local finance advice.
  • “There’s like a lot of fake stuff out there and then there’s some helpful parts of it.” – Joel (46:57)
• Notable Quote: “At any time I feel complacent and like everything is safe... this year proved that may be wrong.” – Joe (49:19)
• Gen Z is reevaluating college and career paths in response to AI’s disruption; cost-conscious education matters more than ever.

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3. Notable Podcast Moments

• On Shortcuts in Investing:
  “You want to catch all the ladders, but there’s all these potential slides that can send you back tumbling down... Watch out, because that shortcut could come back to bite you.” – Joel (29:19)
• On Homeownership:
  “The discrepancy between what you're going to pay when you buy... versus rent... you’re going to save a lot of money renting in 2025.” – Joel (34:03)
• On Big Losses in Speculative Products:
  “A couple bad days of being in this Tesla leveraged ETF, I could lose all my money.” – Joel (29:31)
• On Preparation:
  “Plan for the worst, and then when the best happens, you’re always grateful.” – Joe (50:48)

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Segments & Timestamps

| Segment | Start | Details | |------------------------------------|-----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Holiday banter, Stacking Benjamins Vault | 00:20 | Hosts preview the holidays, promote their new subscription/data privacy tool, and announce the episode’s themes. | | Voices for Good Charity Recap | 13:12 | Joel & Matt discuss charity picks, proving personal finance listeners aren’t greedy but generous. | | Top 5 Lessons of 2025 | 19:21 | Letterman-style countdown with practical and philosophical takeaways; begins with political promises and wraps on AI’s impact. | | Government Shutdown & Emergency Funds | 37:27 | A real-world stress test for the oft-repeated “emergency fund” advice; lessons about job security and personal planning. | | On AI’s Disruption | 44:23 | How artificial intelligence is both an investment theme and a real-life risk for jobs and daily money decisions. | | Fun, self-deprecating banter | 52:53 | Spoofs and holiday humor—including plans for Matt's fake OnlyFans, “Santa” calls from Alaska about the budget crisis, and more. | | Holiday Trivia: “Santa Claus rally”| 55:34 | Doug humorously quizzes the crew about the end-of-year stock market bump’s festive name. | | Headline: Risky Bets & Prediction Markets | 66:53 | Investment News predicts risky gamified betting will spread; hosts warn about labeling speculative plays as “entertainment.” | | Community shout-outs, BAD groups | 81:40 | Highlights from local “Benjamin’s After Dark” meetups and the importance of connecting with other smart savers. | | Aftershow: Toilet Paper Economics | 89:46 | Hilarious end-cap about “real” wealth (buying TP without checking price) and holiday overindulgence. |

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Memorable Quotes (with Timestamps & Attribution)

• On Politics & Control:
  "There are promises right and left and you just have to be discerning. And while it might sound great, like, is it actually going to come to fruition?"
  —Joel Larsgaard (22:03)

• On New Financial Risks:
  "With many more risky financial products at our fingertips, it's even more incumbent on us to be wary...what we invest in."
  —Joel Larsgaard (29:19)

• On Preparation & Resilience:
  "Really sucks to get laid off on a Friday, and then Saturday be like, ‘What are we gonna cut?’ Having done that exercise puts power in your hands..."
  —Joel Larsgaard (37:27)

• On AI’s Impact:
  “At any time I feel complacent and like everything is safe, this year proved that that may be wrong.”
  —Joe Saul-Sehy (49:19)

• On Speculation vs. Investing:
  “If you're nuking your plan because you think that, oh, well, this is my investment account, I'm investing in futures trading. No, you're not. You're gambling.”
  —OG (78:49)

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Focus on what you can control: Don’t be distracted by the political noise or headlines outside your circle of influence.
• The basics remain undefeated: Simplicity in investing, foundational financial planning, and steady saving are more important than ever in an era of financial novelty.
• Preparation is power: Emergency funds and spending flexibility are nonnegotiable, even—especially—when life “feels stable.”
• New risks require new vigilance: Label your speculative investments as entertainment, not strategy, and never let them disrupt your foundational financial plan.
• AI is not just hype: Its opportunities and dangers are real, both for your investments and your career. Stay curious, adaptable, and skeptical.

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For the Holidays and Beyond

• Give intentionally: Supporting effective charities and local causes can multiply your impact.
• Cherish community: Whether at holiday parties, trivia time, or local meetups, financial literacy is more fun (and sticky) together.

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For more insight or to revisit the year’s best financial advice, tune into The Stacking Benjamins Show and the How To Money podcast!

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“Take some advice from Joel and Matt. If you focus on what you can control, the events of 2026 and beyond won’t control you.” —Doug (87:00)

Transcript

[Joe Saul Sehi]

This message is sponsored by Navy Federal Credit Union. As a credit union dedicated to serving all veterans, active duty and their families, we know that during the holiday season, every little bit counts. And that's why for a limited time, you could earn a 250 cash bonus when you spend 2,500 on the cash rewards and cash rewards plus cards in the first 90 days. Now, stackers, you know not to get into credit card debt, but if you were going to spend $2500 anyway, an extra $250 goes a long way. Give joy, get joy. Join now@navy federal.org Navy Federal Credit Union. Our members are the mission. Navy Federal is insured by NCUA. Visit Navy federal.org cashrewards for details. Cash back terms and conditions apply. Offer ends 1 1, 20, 26. Two hours ago, Kyle arrived at the bar. Hey, what's everyone drinking? Thirty minutes ago, Kyle got his friends.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Another round of drinks.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Years.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Five minutes ago, Kyle decided to drive home drunk.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

A minute ago, a law enforcement officer pulled up behind Kyle. Sir, have you been drinking tonight? A chain of events that began two hours ago is about to change Kyle's whole world. Drive sober or get pulled over.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Paid for by Nitza.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

We are kicking off our holiday extravaganza weeks, and I can't wait. The next two weeks are going to be so awesome. Oh, gee. I noticed as you sat down, you've got a phenomenal mug in front of you.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Thank you. Lotion and cream. It keeps the wrinkles away. I can't do much about the hairline, but the wrinkles are gone.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Just go to Turkey like one of my family members did. Just go to Turkey.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Not that important to me. I asked my barber. She said something about it one time, and I said, yeah, maybe I'll do something about that. She goes, no, you're not. And I just said, oh, really? She goes, no, because if you actually cared, you'd have done it by now. She's like, it's past. You missed the window fixing at this point. Like you needed to care about this five years ago.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I was like, the ship has left the dock.

[OG (The Funkle)]

She said, all right, I guess. Okay.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

There aren't enough dark alleys in Turkey where you can get this fixed.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

The answer wasn't, oh, no, you're very attractive like this. The answer was, the ship is sailed.

[OG (The Funkle)]

She's like, yeah, it's not happening.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

I think you're pulling it off.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

But Shepardy's watching on video the cool mug.

[OG (The Funkle)]

I got this from my nieces and nephews.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I would have had no idea it was from nieces and nephews.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

It says, number one, Funko, give them money, don't you?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I like the Funko, though. You give them what? You give them money.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

There's no way they give him that mug, Number one, Funkle. If they're not financially incentivized.

[OG (The Funkle)]

I am the fun uncle. I am the fun uncle. We are going to have tons of fun. I don't care what anybody says. God dang it.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

The yelling will continue until everybody agrees we're having fun.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yeah, we are having fun. And you will like it.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

As much fun as our men and women in the service.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yeah. Well, the reason I was wondering about the mug in the first place, Doug, was because if you're new here, we celebrate the beginning of our Monday episodes by saluting the men and women who kept us safe all weekend. And we'll keep us safe through the holidays.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Michigan State mug. That's kind of like a middle finger though, isn't it?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

To that. Come on, man. Our basketball team. We're in basketball season now.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

They're a basketball school.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

We're in a good.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Always have been.

[OG (The Funkle)]

So is Purdue, apparently.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Absolutely. I. Well, we've never feigned being anything else.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Drew Brees would like a word, but that's okay.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

So on behalf of the men and women, make a podcast in Mom's basement. And the men and women at Navy Federal Credit Union who serve our troops, the veterans and their families, thank you for keeping us safe. Go stack some Benjamins now, this holiday season, while everybody else is spending them. Let's go stack them.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Thanks, everybody.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

But out of that, a new holiday was born.

[Santa Nick (Caller)]

A Festivus for the rest of us.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Live from Joe's mom's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin Show. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and on Friday, you heard what our roundtable team thought we could learn from the events of 2025. But what do others think? Today we welcome the hosts of the how to Money podcast. Two dudes you stackers beat like a Guitar Hero drum kid at a nine year old's birthday party last month while raising money for charity. I mean, two amazing, intelligent and handsome dudes. Okay, that's a bridge too far. I draw the line at intelligent. It's Joel Larsgaard and Matt Altmix. In our headline segment, we'll feature an ugly prediction from investment news about 2026. But don't worry, I'll also share a TikTok minute about AI yet again. And I'll also share some incredible year End trivia. And now two guys who Joe's mom says are the rear ends of this podcast. Whatever. Joe and O. Jj. Jj.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I think she means, Doug, that here we are at the rear end of 2025 and we are helping people dive in. That's what she means.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah, you're. You're right.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the beginning of the holiday extravaganza that we have at the end of every year at the Stacking Benjamin show. I am Joe Saul Sehi, and across the card table from me, it is the one and only the Mr. OG the number one funkle.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Indeed.

[OG (The Funkle)]

OG numero uno, rear ends. I was thinking like rump roast. I was thinking like the prime rib roast.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Joe, did you notice that the font on the number one Funkle mug is the Godfather?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Oh, it is.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Oh, it is.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It is. So.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

I mean, there's a subtle hint there. Like they all know.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

We swear to God you're fun. We swear to God you're fun. Please take a mug. Please, please.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

They have to come into his darkened office every. Every Christmas Eve with their hat in hand.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Well, let me tell you all what's coming up here to round out 2025 and kick off 2026 today. Of course, Doug, as you said, Joel and Matt joining us to talk about what their top five lessons from 2025 would be. We heard the round tables, now we'll hear theirs. We also have a TikTok minute that is nearly as good as that guy from China Airlines we talked about last week. China Airlines. That thing that just happened. That was really cool.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah, yeah, definitely is a true story.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

By the way, thanks to our stacker on Spotify, who also sent us the link OG that you sent saying, yeah, that's. That's a fake deal. But this one's not. This one is. We're gonna. We're gonna protect some people today in our tick tock minute. We also have a call in. Anna's not here. And we have a call in today. We normally don't do them without Anna here helping us out with that, but today we're gonna take one because it is your end extravaganza on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, for those who celebrate, we are playing Doug and the three ghosts. And if you haven't heard this story that we totally came up with on our own about Doug being visited by these three ghosts, about his. His credit it happened and his money habits, not inspired by anything at all in particular. Just totally came up with it. So that is then. And then on Friday, we begin Friday, Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of next week, we're gonna have six days, seven shows, all kinds of goodness. Some of our best guests from 2023, we're diving back like we did last year. Three years. And we're playing the best of three.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Years ago because everybody already heard this year.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yes.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

We're hoping they forgot. It's like far enough back that they forgot those and we're, we're going to resurrect them for them.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Well, and I'll tell you, these mentors, Doug, are our shows that you want to hear again. I got really excited about those and some of our top episodes with just the three of us. And then our number one show from 2025, we'll also use to kick off 2026. So a great, great year coming up. But we've got one more thing before we welcome Joel and Matt to the basement. We're unveiling it, guys. It's about time. The Stacking Benjamin's vault is finally open. Finally, the ferrets that spin the wheel here in mom's basement have made the master product. You thought the guides were good. You thought that, oh, geez, practice was good. Now you can get the vault.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Well, is this the thing? Like, every guy has a vault and when, like, and you've got your best buddy and they're like, dude, if I ever d like, here's where the vault is. It's all make sure you get rid of it.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It's all that, but with your financial information. We call it the vault because we know how important it is to protect your identity. Stay away from unused subscriptions, get off the text and email list. The people that are selling all your data. You get all these rando texts. Hey, so what are you doing for dinner? You know, those come from just a few places that are constantly selling your data. Protect your credit, run credit wh ifs it's all finally here. The super tool that we created with the team at ARRAY who protects millions of people like you. And I was super happy to team up with them to bring you the Stacky Benjamin vault. So check out stacky benjamin.com vault. See how it works. Finally take control of subscription management, identity protection, getting removed from trash list, Controlling your credit St.Benjamin.com vault gets you there. I'm excited. I've been waiting to say that line og for a long, long been practicing.

[OG (The Funkle)]

It, that's for sure.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

We began developing this with the team at ARRAY back this summer, and so it's good to finally get it out there. All right. The two guys who were super happy to talk to today even though Doug, you said it. Stackers. You guys kick their butt in the Voices for Good challenge. We're so proud of the fact that you raised so much money for Gifting Sense wonderful Karen Hollins tool that helps kids learn financial literacy. And you, you can go to giftingsense.org and check it out. We also thought it was probably time to bury the hatchet. We kind of talk a little trash about them. So good time to acknowledge two guys who are really good dudes actually have a fantastic show how to Money.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

You better mute my mic because I still want to dunk on them.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Joel and Matt from How To Money coming down to the basement in just a moment. But while we're waiting for them to sit down, we got a couple sponsors that help us keep on keeping on. We're gon from them and then we're kicking off the holidays with Joel, Lars Guard and Matt Altmix Retirement planning isn't about guesswork anymore. It's about having the right data, control and confidence. Bolden is the modern retirement planning tool built for people who want to plan their future their way. Run your own scenarios, see Advisor Quality Insights and make decisions with confidence. Try it free [e-mail] Plan. This message is sponsored by Navy Federal Credit Union. As the holiday season rolls around, we know that you strive to do everything you can to bring cheer and joy to your loved ones. And as a credit union dedicated to serving all veterans, active duty and their families, we understand that every little bit counts. That's why for a limited time, you could earn a 250 cash bonus when you spend $2,500 with Navy Federal's cash rewards and cash rewards plus cards in the first 90 days. Of course Stackers, this is part of a big financial plan, right? Don't get yourself into debt. Make sure that you are spending and saving with a plan. But you know what? The giving doesn't stop there. You could also earn up to 2% unlimited cash back with these cards. So saving up for whatever the season brings just got a little easier. Give joy. Get joy. Join now@navy federal.org Navy Federal Credit Union Our members are the mission. Navy Federal is insured by NCUA. Visit navy federal.org cash rewards for details. Cash Back terms and conditions apply. Offer ends January 1, 2026. And I'm super happy these guys are in mom's basement. In fact, we are ending the year with the biggest stars we've had all year.

[Matt Altmix]

Oh shut up.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

The guys that Finished second place.

[Matt Altmix]

Oh, my gosh, what a jerk.

[Joel Larsgaard]

I'm leaving before this begins. Yeah.

[Matt Altmix]

So Joe brought us on just to drag us through the mud, just to.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Say that you guys could go now. No, it's my good friends from how of Money, Joel and Matt. How are you guys?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah, not. Not as good. Now do it.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah, I was feeling pretty good about myself, about our listeners, Joe, until you just started rubbing our face in the fact that. That you curb stomped us on the. The Daff. You talking about the Daffy challenge, right?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yeah. Stackers did a wonderful job. But you know what? So did the how to Money audience.

[Joel Larsgaard]

And.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

And what I do want to say, that was really a. It was very hard trying to make fun of you guys for a month. It's not easy making fun of guys that I like as much as I annoyingly like you two. But then the second thing is for a month I was like, when are all these celebrity podcasts that the two of you and us that we're going up against, when are they going to catch us? Dude, they never did.

[Matt Altmix]

So I think once you are a celebrity, you're allowed to. I mean, you're opening yourself. You are opening yourself up to criticism. Just the fact that you have a podcast. Right. But if you are a true celebrity, okay, you are open to all attacks. And I was super disappointed in the fact that, like, you've got some of these other shows. These are like legit stars, folks who are on shows who. What was it like one kid was the voice on, like how to train your dragon or something like that.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Family favorite.

[Matt Altmix]

And I don't know, truly, I don't know much about these folks individually, but yeah, I was a little disappointed to see that they didn't seem like they're encouraging their audience to participate because I think if they had, they would have seen some. A bit more participation and more good put out there in the world. But I guess that's more our lane, giving personal finance and being smart with it and being generous. But yeah, I think it's a bit disappointing.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Maybe we should just also say congratulations, Joe Stacking Benjamin's well done. Proud of you guys.

[Matt Altmix]

You know what?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I'm just rolling his eyes.

[Matt Altmix]

I did hear Joel say, Matt, you know, it was only like one or.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Two big donors that Joe had. It wasn't. Dude, you should have seen. I swear it was. It was his relatives. He called his uncle. Like, he just like browbeat people around the Thanksgiving dinner. That's what you did, Joe. We know how you did this.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

My dad does have 16 brothers and sisters. So we do have a large family.

[Joel Larsgaard]

See.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

But I'll say this, that we had, as you guys did, we had a huge number of people that gave. I was super excited to see our community, your community. And even though you said, matt, that's our lane outside of personal finance communities, we're not known that way. Like people think that the reason you listen to a money podcast is because you're a little greedy and you want more, more, more for me, me, me and you, you guys. And I know that's not true. And I think we really did a great job proving it. We were raising money for financial literacy. You guys were raising money also for some cool, cool cars. Yeah.

[Matt Altmix]

My big thing is unfortunately, Sam Bankman, Fried drug. What is it effective altruism through the mud A little bit. Speaking of dragging people through the mud. But I mean my whole approach is for folks who are looking to, I mean from a personal finance standpoint, you're looking for the most value, right? And so the charities that give, well assesses and more of the money that you're giving to them is going to impacting lives and saving lives specifically. So for me, I don't know, it makes it. I like the ability to not have to research it. And the fact that they have gone through this vetting process in such a thorough way makes me feel good about every single cent on a global standpoint. But then of course leave space when it comes to being able to give locally, whether with Joel and I both give to our church, local schools, different things like that, to be able to participate locally. I feel like that's the duality. I like that approach on a grand scheme where your money can really go far to literally save lives as opposed to, okay, how do I want my personal life and the people around me to be able to benefit from my own charity?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

100. Can we, can we talk for a second? Because I think our Stacker audience might not know what charities you guys were supporting. Joel, who was, who were you supporting?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah, I'll just say one of my favorites. It used to be called Rip Medical Debt. They changed their name to Undue Medical Debt. I don't know why they changed their name. Because Rip Medical Debt had such a nice ring to it. Right. They're all about eliminating medical debt that people have accrued. Right? So think about like some of the. What we hear right from, from listeners, what, what you see as just a nationwide terrible trend is people have more debt than they've ever had before is, is what it feels and Medical debt is one of those things that puts people on shaky ground. People don't know how to negotiate it down. And so that's one of the nonprofits I was particularly trying to raise money for, was to help relieve people of that debt because it can be sold for pennies on the dollar. And that's what this organization does. They buy the debt, and then they forgive the debt. And so that person, they get a letter in the mail, and it's like, hey, guess what? You. You thought you had $12,000 in medical debt. You don't have it any longer. And it's. And undue. Medical Debt didn't spend 12 grand. They spent a whole lot less than that. So they can forgive medical debt by the insane number. So that. That's. That was one of the nonprofits.

[Matt Altmix]

That's another way that it feels like your dollars are going a lot further, because it's like, on paper, this is how much has been forgiven, but in reality, this is how much. Hundred x. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. That's super cool.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Matt, what was one of yours?

[Matt Altmix]

Let's see. So GiveWell was the organization that was vetting some of the charities, like, so new incentives. Helen Keller International. Both of these are international charities where mosquito netting was. Was another one as well. But again, just the ability for a very small amount of money to be able to provide supplements where kids are avoiding some of these lifelong diseases.

[Joel Larsgaard]

That's. Insert athletic greens commercial here.

[Matt Altmix]

I know only, dude, I'd try some AG one, but, you know, these are core nutrients and minerals that we take for granted here in the very wealthy, developed western world that other parts of the world that they don't have. Right? And something as simple as mosquito nets to prevent kids from getting malaria. And it takes so little money to be able to set these individuals and these families up. Providing incentives for mothers to bring their kids in to receive some of these supplements.

[Joel Larsgaard]

It's just.

[Matt Altmix]

It makes a huge impact. And again, when you're looking to change the world, there's only so much money that.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

That I have.

[Matt Altmix]

Joel's got a lot more than I do.

[Joel Larsgaard]

It's true.

[Matt Altmix]

And so I'm trying to stretch my dollars, you know, just too little butter over too much bread, perhaps.

[Joel Larsgaard]

But, yeah, I hold it over him all the time.

[Matt Altmix]

Do what we can.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It was such a fun way to spend a month and such a warm feeling that on our last show of the year that we're talking about being able to give and our ability to give and how helpful our communities were. You guys have been Able to help our stackers today too by being our guest of honor in the seat of sharing. What were the, in your minds, five of the biggest things that happened in 2025 that we can maybe learn some lessons from. Do you guys mind if we do these like David Letterman style? Did you put them in?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Oh, let's do it in like an order.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah, we weren't watching a whole lot of late night TV back in the 80s and 90s.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Can we start with the clearest, most obvious one though? It's the Cracker Barrel logo change. Joe. Like that's the one I learned the most lessons from. Watch your PR and marketing.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Maybe do a little PR marketing stuff before you have to handle the emergency.

[Joel Larsgaard]

PR firm later to try carrying space. That was another one that to me really resonated deeply this year.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Katie and I both cried after that.

[Joel Larsgaard]

So that I believe.

[Matt Altmix]

Oh man.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

What was your number five, gentlemen?

[Matt Altmix]

Oh, are these in any particular order? Which one.

[Joel Larsgaard]

So let's, we got them written now.

[Matt Altmix]

Let's. We'll start with maybe some more of the empty promises that. Let's just talk about politics.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Joe, speaking of next, can we do religion?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yes.

[Matt Altmix]

Speaking of Cracker Barrel and alienating your audience, we're just going to cut to the chase. I think there are so many people who are looking to government on both sides of the aisle. Right. Like we saw this in previous administrations, we see this now and they're looking to the government to fix all their problems. And what I love about personal finance is we hardly ever get into that stuff because it's not about policy. Like we need to pay attention to how certain things that are actually changing, how they impact your tax bracket and different rmd, just the different laws pertaining to your money. But when it comes to just the. Oh, they're floating this idea. Oh, you got this, you got that. Sometimes it's fun to talk about because it allows us to sort of latch onto a deeper, more substantial truth and what that means for individuals and how they handle their money. But for the most part, what we talk about are things that individuals can do. And there are const. Whether it's student loan forgiveness like last administration or whether it's, you know, at this point in time, additional health savings accounts or, or the tariff rebate checks.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Right. That were floated this year, everybody's going to get $2,000. And it's. Which is funny because it's like a problem that's. Then the solution is the creation of the problem has been done by the people in charge and then it's like, let's create a solution to the problem that we created. This is like a perpetual thing in the world of politics. And sorry to start off on a political note, but it's just one of.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Those things, just getting it out of the way.

[Joel Larsgaard]

There's promises right and left and you just have to be discerning. And while it might sound great, like, is it actually going to come to fruition? And yeah, the student loan forgiveness thing didn't. That was struck down. The tariff thing, don't think that's going to happen. The tariffs, I guess, are another one of those things that was like one of the big, big things of this year.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah, we actually don't have that one down, but that's another one where.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah.

[Matt Altmix]

Should you invest based on what you think, what tariffs are or aren't going to come through? And yeah, I'm sure a lot of folks were thinking that back in April.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

But yeah, when I said yeah there I did mean, yes, you should. Yeah, I agree. And when I was a financial planner, people would come into my office and they'd see these headlines and the first thing they wanted to talk about is, oh, like, pretend it's today. What do you think about tariffs? What do you think about the fact that even the government saying that the cost of our health care is going to go sky high next year? What do we do about the fact that, you know, with the Fed, the changing of the Fed chairman, like, what do we do about all that? And they come in with all this stuff and when we, to your point, would look at the financial plan and go, hey, you know what, I'm not sure about that. We'll get back to, let's put a pin in that. But in the financial plan it says that by today your accounts needed to be at the, let's say, $85,000 for you to be on track to be on the ladder toward your goals. Are you ahead or behind on that number? And then all of a sudden they get off the idea of all the crap they can't control and they start digging through, you know, looking up their 401k, looking up their investment accounts and they go, oh, we're a little bit ahead or we're a little bit behind. Then all of a sudden we're talking about what do you have to do?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

And not about what is somebody else going to have to do. And you know what's cool? All this third party crap never came back again. And we just focused on what we could do.

[Joel Larsgaard]

There was a recent survey of CFP professionals and it found that more of their clients are coming in. And politics is one of the top line items on the discussion. I think people are like, hey, this seems to be happening. This is a, like, what's going on? How's this going to impact my finances? And the truth is, like, we see legislation that dramatically impacts, like whether it's raising of the standard deduction, whether it's the new Trump accounts for kids. Right. Whether it is some tweak to the tax code that really does change the incentives for what we do around the margins. Like, those things matter. That's why our Friday flight exists, to talk about the headlines, how they're going to impact your finances. We do it every week. We think it's really important. But of course, the most important thing is the evergreen stuff that you're doing with regularity. No matter who's in the White House, no matter whether the Senate's 60, 40 in favor of red or blue, the actions we take are pretty consistent throughout the years, even though there are tweaks to be made around the margins.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yeah, great stuff. That's a great place to start. Even though you freaked me out of.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Politics, guys, Matt's running for president.

[Matt Altmix]

I just figured we'd go ahead and rub the band aid off, get it out of the way. But I like what you say. Like you're talking or maybe you said too just focusing on what you can control. Right. Is it Stephen Covey, the seven habits, like the circle of influence and then finding ways as you learn more about personal finances and like you are expanding your circle. And those are things that you then have an impact, a direct impact over when it comes to your personal finances and what it is, the kind of differences that you can make in your own life that are going to lead to substantial lasting change versus the headline of the day.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Well, we got off to a great start. What's number four on the list?

[Joel Larsgaard]

All right, number four is this past year was a year of riskier financial products. And we're talking about private equity inside of 401ks. We're seeing a rise in people day trading options. We're seeing a rise in alternative investment opportunities out there. And we've seen some of those things come crashing down. So I think when we talk about kind of the simple ways to invest, often being the best, when people are exposed and allowed to invest in more financial products, and there's a wider array, more now than seems like ever before, oftentimes those lead us astray and they lead to higher fees, they lead to man, think about even just some of those, the alternative investment real estate platforms and how people have lost most, if not all of their capital investing in real estate online. And so it seems like this thing I'm going to diversify, right? That's like a way that you might even convince yourself that this is a smart move.

[Matt Altmix]

It's just a bit more sophisticated. It's just like, you know what I'm not going to do. What everyone else is doing at work with a 401k is kind of boring, right?

[Joel Larsgaard]

The index funds, like, I've heard about those things. I'm doing that with some. But, man, I really, I should be doing something beyond that, right? Let me delve into some of this stuff that's going to produce higher returns. And of course, when you go to the homepage of any of those alternative investing sites, it sure looks like you're going to the moon a whole lot faster. But what happens is people don't look at the fees, they don't look at the details, and they don't realize that their capital is at risk. And so we've seen a lot of. I think that that come back to bite people on the investing side.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It's really wild to me that on one hand, you see everybody on Wall street saying this is a good idea. All these private Equity Investments inside 401ks, we definitely need to do that. At the same time, equity multiple, the real estate company I think you're talking about is blowing up, right? I mean, they now have had to change their name, which is just whenever a company has to change their name. In fact, the network you guys are on had had to change their name because people.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Matt had to change his names multiple times because some of the things he did in some of the towns that he had to leave.

[Matt Altmix]

That's true.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It's absolutely horrible. Like, are you kidding me? So what's it about them? Why are so many people talking heads that you see on CNBC or Fox Business? Why do they keep saying, this is a good idea, we need this? Hey, you got all these opportunities out here.

[Matt Altmix]

Why do you think. I mean, there's an element of novelty, right? Like, are we or are we not more distracted, more adhd and we're looking for the next new shiny, bright thing? It's either that or the fact that they're behind and they're looking to make up lost time, Right. They didn't start investing when they first heard about compounding interest, you know, in their early 20s. And maybe some folks, maybe they never Heard about it. And it's. I feel for those folks, if you are in a situation where you missed out on some of those early years. Yeah, maybe you are trying to pick up lost ground. But I think more than anything, it's just folks. It's like a novelty. It's a stimulus sort of environment that we live in. Right. Like, we are used to the algorithms. We are used to 15 seconds clips of video. I was talking to a comic recently, and he's been in some major movies, and him and his wife.

[Joel Larsgaard]

That Chris Rock. You heard of him?

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

My good friend Chris Rock. I can't believe, by the way, he didn't just go ahead and name drop Joel.

[Matt Altmix]

You had to do it for him.

[Joel Larsgaard]

He usually does. I tried.

[Matt Altmix]

I'm a humble guy, Joe. But like, we were talking about this sort of series that him and his wife created on YouTube, and then he's just like, you know, it's how it is that we create content and has changed. And like, he's like, I mean, I'm doing it to myself. Like our. You kind of chop it up and create the small, quick little hits, but nobody's necessarily incentivized to go and watch the whole thing. They kind of are fed the interesting, novel, entertaining thing, and then they essentially move on. That's the environment that we're in. You take that and expand that beyond entertainment. And if you're talking about investments, I think we tend to expect the same kind of that same dynamic. I think we're looking for that same dynamic in other areas in life. And a lot of ways I think that can lead to incredibly poor outcomes. Right? Yeah. New and shiny and novel and better.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Isn't actually always better just a shortcut. Right. I'm thinking about the game Chutes and Ladders that I play with my son. He cheats every time we play. Like, dude gets every ladder and never hits a slide.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It just sounds like. It just sounds like an excuse for losing to your kid, Joel.

[Joel Larsgaard]

It is. It is. And I berate him for this, Joe. No, I don't. But it's. You want to catch all the ladders, but, man. Yeah, there's all these potential slides that can send you back tumbling down. And if you look for the shortcuts, just watch out, because there's certainly a way that that shortcut could come back to bite you. And in case, like, talking about, like, leverage ETFs, those are something that have seen kind of more dollars, more influence, and people don't realize that, like, a couple bad days of Being in this Tesla leveraged etf, I could lose all, all my money that I put in. It's very different than just buying Tesla because you think Tesla's a great company that's going to stand the test of time and be a good investment for years to come. So I guess, yeah, just with many more risky financial products at our fingertips, it's even more incumbent on us to be wary, to be careful what we invest in.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah. The thing is too is like a lot of the companies that are pushing these things are like you've got a love hate relationship with. Right. So I'm thinking of Robinhood in particular and they've got some awesome stuff. The fact that they're offering a match for individuals on Roth IRAs like that is incredibly attractive. That's when I started paying to have an account with them because I'm like, you know what? I've never had a match in my entire life other than what we pay when we put on our employer hat to ourselves. But truly that is being provided by another entity. And even their 3% credit card, flat across the board, cash back, that's really attractive. I'm using that card is on my phone right now. But then they're also saying, hey, did you know that you can leverage investing.

[Joel Larsgaard]

You can leverage securities.

[Matt Altmix]

All of these, these behaviors that I don't want to see more of our listeners, more of the stackers out there partaking in. And that's where it comes down to us as individuals kind of going back to the first point, right. To take ownership and responsibility for our own money. Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I think on my side, guys, I think the reason we're seeing so many people on Wall street say this is a good thing, it's just a money grab. I mean it totally is a, hey, we need this. I mean the more we can get regulators out of our way, the more money we can make more quickly. I get my bonus. It's fantastic. I'm like, are you kidding me?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Was it that the whole point of Tony Robbins latest book, right. Was like, here's how you get outsized returns by going with this company I have a special relationship with. And you're like, oh, okay. Like this is an advertorial in book form.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It's incredible. And a long read too. Like a thick book for an advertorial. Made it seem very professional.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

The frustrating thing for people that, that are bored, Matt, to your point, you know, and they think, well, maybe I, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe there is a shortcut. Just go look for people that have been through that before because, man, the number of stories we've seen, people in their 50s even who found a way to cobble together a retirement even though they started late and they didn't do any of those things, they didn't do any of those shortcuts, they actually built a foundation, which was super cool to see.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah, that comparison too, I think that we're all comparing ourselves to people we don't know more than ever before. And that makes it easier to justify. Man, I started too late. I gotta like, I gotta get. What's the catalyst to get me going. And oftentimes it is riskier products, higher returns, your eyeballs get bigger and you're excited about that and then you're. And ultimately what happens is it puts you further behind so much of the time.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah. And Joe, so I'll segue us to number three, because you're talking about how like our parents and the older generations, they built this foundation. They didn't partake in any of those things. And one of the things they did partake in is homeownership. And that is the past. Yes, that's how a lot of folks were able to build wealth because. And that's. It's still the number one asset that Americans have their, their personal net worth tied up in. Right. Their home. But that is changing. And that's something that I think we've continued to see this year. And so that's our number three is that renting is not throwing away money. And just because individuals, our parents generation, and there are plenty of folks who will die on this hill. And they said, you guys don't understand how much of my wealth is because of this amazing property that I have. And I'm not at all saying that. No, that's not true. But I am saying that because of how easy it is for folks to invest, because of Automatic enrollment in 401ks, it's easier than ever for folks to use platforms like said Robinhood. This is why we have like a. I've got a love hate relationship with them because they do make it so easy for you to invest in the market in a way that was inaccessible to our parents and their. And their parents as well. And so the fact that individuals can now find a great place to live that's affordable, that they're going to rent without having to save up tens of thousands of dollars in order to put down a decent down payment, I think that's incredible. They are receiving a good place to.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Live depends on economic cycles. Right. We talk about buying versus renting in 2011 and buying versus renting in 2025. They're completely different discussions based on prices, based on interest rate, based on market trends. So you have to also just kind of like lick your fingers, stick it up to the wind and be like, what's going on right now? And the discrepancy between what you're going to pay when you buy a house for that mortgage and what you're going to pay in rent for a similar single family home, you're going to save a lot of money renting in 2025, in 2011, that wasn't the case. And so you just have to like, understand also like what's happening in the market. The housing market is in an interesting spot. Rents have been declining in a lot of places, in particular in certain markets like Austin or Boise that experienced extreme run ups. And so I think it's really important to not just be like, assume that owning a home is the pathway to building wealth. Like, that's the way I'm going to make it and realize, well, actually a lot of people that bought homes in the past year are kind of kicking themselves or having a hard time, hard go of it.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Well, I think that as the data changes, right. I mean, in the amount of money it takes for a down payment now just continues to go sky high. I was speaking to a gentleman in Southern California. When he bought his first house, he put down $10,000, maybe it was $12,000. Now for his daughter who has a good job making I think $85,000 right out of college, you know, nice solid start, she's got to accumulate, you know, five times that just to live anywhere close to that neighborhood.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yep. Just to sniff a house. Right?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yeah. And then there's another thing too, because I love the fact that, Joel, you mentioned economic conditions are changing, but really, even with the old metrics of don't buy a house unless you know you're going to live there seven years, the statistics even have changed from 2011 to 2025 when it comes to job stability.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I mean, people are working more jobs, moving more frequently than they have even in 2011.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah, yeah, that's true too. I know people are worried about the job market. We're still relatively low unemployment, historically speaking. But the job market, I think it also feels like a whiplash because like post Covid, it was an employee's market and it was like, are you going to pay me 30% more than my current employer? Then I don't care. I'm not interested. So in some ways, that was really cool to see because we hadn't seen that much power in the hands of workers. The ability to demand more, the ability to jump ship and get paid a whole lot more than they were. And that has changed. I don't think it's maybe as bad as some of the headlines want to make it sound, but I do think it is obvious. It's clearly tougher than it was a few years ago, but we've also had much worse labor markets in the United States than we're experiencing right now.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Joel, how many children do you have?

[Joel Larsgaard]

I have three.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Have your kids ever seen you make that head motion when you're like.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Probably when I'm dancing with their mother.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

They think you're the coolest dad on Earth.

[Joel Larsgaard]

No, not at all.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I'm surprised because with moves like that.

[Matt Altmix]

My friend, ever since he grew out the mustache, I think they. He clicked up a few, a couple notches.

[Joel Larsgaard]

They do like the mustache. The kids are a fan of it. I will say that.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I said, while we were sitting here at the card table, before we went live, I even told Joel he just looks like a private detective. Like, I just. I don't know. The mustache really does it.

[Joel Larsgaard]

I should probably wear a monocle. Maybe that'll add even more to the mystique.

[Matt Altmix]

You could be alongside Benedict Cumberbatch there.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah.

[Matt Altmix]

Sherlock Holmes reboot.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I didn't even want to think about that. So let's move to number two. Okay, what's second on our list of 2025 topics?

[Joel Larsgaard]

We're going to go back to politics briefly here, Joe. Yes, super fun. The government shut down. Longest government shutdown in the history of our country. And it just points to something so freaking basic but so important, which is to plan ahead for bad times. This is obviously the emergency fund. Everybody who listens to this podcast knows about that. It's also something we call the bare bones budget, which is planning ahead and saying, like, what could we cut in case of emergency? And it's really important, we think, to have done that due diligence ahead of time, because guess what? Really sucks to get laid off on a Friday, and then Saturday be like, what are we going to cut? You know, and having. Having done that exercise, I think, puts power into your hands to be able to know exactly what you're going to do in the face of uncertainty and in the face of not knowing when you're going to get another paycheck. And so obviously tough position for a lot of people on the government payroll. For what, 900,000 people to go through and to not know when this is going to end and feel like it's a political football and you are the football being kicked around, that sucks. But there are ways to make that hurt a little bit less with some solid personal finance planning.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah, it's kind of going back to what you're saying, too, Joe. I mean, it just highlights the fact that in my mind, if you would have said 20 years ago, oh, I've got a government job that's sort of synonymous with stability, with an inability, I don't know, an inability to lose your job, something that feels very stable and upwards and kind of onwards.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Like being a tenured professor or something.

[Matt Altmix]

Something. Yeah, yeah. But for those folks, that's maybe one of the biggest lessons learned. And of course, not ignoring the current administration's stance towards the size of government. But, like, aside from politics, like, I think it's fair to assess and ask the questions, hey, what jobs, what departments are necessary? Is there a way for us to be more efficient? I mean, that's. We do that constantly in our own lives, and so businesses do it and we reward them.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah.

[Matt Altmix]

Yes.

[Joel Larsgaard]

And both sides of the aisle care about that and have done different things at different points in time to reduce wasteful spending. Right?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Is that where I say right?

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah, yeah. Only if you agree, Joe.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Well, no, I mean, like, not to get political, but it happened back in the Clinton administration and it's happened. Yeah. Both Republicans and Democrats have at certain point given at least lip service to the fact that they care.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yes.

[Matt Altmix]

That's the thing now, too. I mean, regarding lip service, it seems like it's just more. Is. Is it even lip service now? Because that's the thing. Like, again, man, we really are, like, diving into the politics here. Sorry, Joe, but like, we try to talk. This section, when we talk about it, we try to talk as apolitical and as both sides of the aisle as possible. But when you've got a current administration that says, oh, yeah, this is something that we care about, and they created this entire new department, and then you see the kind of spending that's going on on some ridiculous stuff, it makes you question that, makes you scratch your head and you start to wonder, oh, it's hardly even lip service anymore. Like, there is no concern from a fiscal responsibility standpoint, like, we are so far past the days of the Tea Party and any sort of semblance to what taking a personal finance approach from an. On an individual level and trying to apply that to the government, like in hindsight, that feels so quaint.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Oh, yeah.

[Matt Altmix]

Doesn't it feel so quaint?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Nobody cares about that anymore.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Nobody.

[Matt Altmix]

Nobody does. Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I was thinking about even reversing that, guys. Just taking this idea of, let's cut wasteful spending and just rather than fight with people I don't know on Facebook or X or wherever, pick your place, look inward and go, okay, if I'm. If I'm holding myself accountable here rather than fight about stuff I can't control in Washington, where are my wasteful spending places? Yeah, and by wasteful, I don't mean being judgy, because there's stuff that I love. Like, I'm not cutting out my Andy's ice cream. Like, I freaking love Andy's ice cream. Those people know me. I got to keep that business afloat. It's a focus, helping the community and everything.

[Matt Altmix]

You know, I literally have a line item on my budget.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Joe.

[Matt Altmix]

When this new brewery that opened up in town, and I said, you know what? Craft beer is having a moment, like, in a tough moment, right? There's more breweries that are closing that close this year. That's our number one. It's. It's craft beer related. Just kidding. But I want to make sure that they succeed, right? And so to intentionally spend your money in a way that some people would call wasteful, and we call that the craft beer equivalent, but I literally do that with a local brewery. And guess what? Every date night, my wife and I, we swing by there and we have.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

A beer and we chat, and you.

[Matt Altmix]

Love it, and we love it. So great.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Not wasteful at all. But when you're blowing cash on stuff that you don't care about, doordashing, some reheated meal or whatever that you truly don't care about, you know, what are you doing? Love that. What was the point in number two, where do we. Where do we begin?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Just. It was like, government shutdown. Be prepared.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Oh, cash.

[Matt Altmix]

Know, cash on hand.

[Joel Larsgaard]

There's stuff that can come out of left field and just kind of smack you in the face most of the time. You can't be like, you don't have forewarning. But you know what? You do have the ability to plan for the unexpected.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

This is also where I think, you know, the argument of don't pay down debt that has a low interest rate, continue to just make payments on it also falters because really focusing on free cash flow during that time, like, people that had a lot of free cash flow, I'll bet, had a ton of easier time getting through the shutdown, if they lost their job than people that needed every single penny of that paycheck.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah, that's true. Although when you think about it, if you're making extra payments towards, let's say a low interest rate mortgage, you're taking some of what you could have done, which is kept it liquid in the case of an emergency, you've given yourself optionality with that money and you're not losing much in the process. If it's in a high yield savings account paying 3.75 and your mortgage is three and a quarter, prepaying the mortgage, not only does it not make a ton of math sense, but it also cost you liquidity in the case of one of those unforeseen circumstances coming down the pike.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yeah, I like both sides of that argument.

[Joel Larsgaard]

I like my side better. But you know, whatever.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

My side's probably better. But we'll.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah. Ladies, Ladies.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

But I do like the idea, I do like the idea, Joel, of this. This is what I used to tell my clients that were paying down debt directly to their loan, which was if you're one payment away from paying your house off and you can't afford to make that last payment, do they only take away the one piece, a little tiny chunk of the house that you didn't pay, or do they take the entire house?

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

And they take the entire house.

[Joel Larsgaard]

It's true.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I still like the idea of. It's not always about the interest rate discussion. It is often about free cash flow. I mean, we evaluate stocks based on free cash flow. Will evaluate, you know, people. Healthy living is free cash flow. And if I can create more free cash flow in my life, how cool is that? Because then I can go with Matt to the.

[Joel Larsgaard]

That's right.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

To the Grab the Beer brewery and keep them in business.

[Matt Altmix]

We'll grab some ice cream after the fact too.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Beer and ice cream.

[Joel Larsgaard]

We'll get all the high caloric intake.

[Matt Altmix]

We're. We're healthy folks over here in the basement.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Can't imagine. All right, we're up to the number one. I got goosebumps. Just can't wait. Okay, what is the number one thing we should have learned from in 2025?

[Matt Altmix]

Do you want to switch it up? Do you feel like we need to go bigger? Something that impacts.

[Joel Larsgaard]

You're going to go out. What are you going to do?

[Matt Altmix]

Going to pull something random instead of. It kind of impacts everything.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Okay, sorry.

[Matt Altmix]

Is it okay that we're having an on air conversation as to what we.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Should actually deliver on?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It's Good radio. It's great radio.

[Matt Altmix]

Everyone loves to know how the sausage is made, Joe.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah, they do.

[Matt Altmix]

I think AI, like, it's got to be at the top, right? Because not only have we seen its impact when it comes to investments, I mean, is or is not the stock market run up? I mean, does it have more or less to do with the Mag 7? And pretty much all the gains that we've seen this year has to do with that. Are we in a bubble? There's a lot of folks who are saying that that might be the case. What do you think, Joe? Bubble.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yay.

[Matt Altmix]

Nay.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I think at some point, the stock market always comes down.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yep.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

That's what I think. I think it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. And so if you're prepared, that it's going to happen. I don't know if it's going to happen tomorrow, next week, or three years from now, but it's always funny. People are like, do you think the market's going to go down? Yes.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just a matter of when and how much. Right? Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

So bubble, I don't know. That's above my pay grade.

[Joel Larsgaard]

So from the macro level, from the stock market level, AI certainly one of the biggest stories of the year. And then on the micro level, when it comes to careers, how AI is implemented, how that's impacting the job market. Also, when it comes to using AI for personal finance, there's pros and cons to that in some ways. Like, I was asking it about 529 accounts in my state, and it totally led me astray and told me I could contribute half as much as I was able to and get a tax break. So I was like, glad I know better than you. But then there are other ways in which I've seen people be able to use it effectively. Like one of those instances being like, I got this, like, really insane medical bill. What do I do in response to this? And we have, you know, podcast episodes about that with, like, experts. I know you do too, Joe. That's, like, a really important topic. But AI can help you, like, fight the man and clutch your money back from the system that's trying to steal your dollars. Because there's so much inefficiency in the healthcare system and there's so much, like, over billing, and there's so many ways that you can go about even as simple as, like, well, how much money do I make and do I qualify for a full forgiveness of this bill? That I've received in the mail. So I think AI is one of those things where I'm curious to see where it goes over the coming years. There's some positives, but there's some negatives. And again, discerning individual, like that's what so much comes down to. Right. You just have to be discerning in the age of AI because there's like a lot of fake stuff out there and then there's some helpful parts of it.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah, yeah. So like, so we're talking about it at an investment level. You're talking about it like on a personal level, how you can use it as a tool, but then just from a, from a workforce standpoint as well.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Right.

[Matt Altmix]

And there's reports about it that it's capable of replacing currently 12% of the current workforce. I think that's something that we've got to really wrestle with and trying to figure out for. And folks are like, that's. I think that's one of the encouraging things too. Right. The fact that people are responding to it. Like you see folks who are applying to be computer science majors, like you are seeing people respond to the writing on the wall and they're saying, okay, yeah, I don't see, I don't see a future. I thought I was going to do that. But let's maybe let's pivot a little bit. And I think giving, I think as individuals we have to be. Especially if you are in an industry that is a bit more dynamic right now, you got to be aware, you can't just like blindly enter into that and assume hope for the best. Like these are decisions that we have to make, trade offs that we have to make and evaluate. I don't know what is this going to mean for me, for my industry as well? Not just using it like a tool, which I think everybody's pretty much doing. Right. Like there's no, we're not going to argue one way or the other there. Like it's like essentially it's replaced Google for me. Right. Like I. These are the same dumb questions of like, if you look at my history, it's like stuff that I should know. But I just Google because I want to double. I double check.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Don't look at his history. You don't want to know Joel's is.

[Matt Altmix]

Katy Perry in space.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah, it is. Love those memes, all the memes. I'm here for them. But there's something like 30 year olds are saying like, but I was told to go to college and that everything would be Fine. And I think we're seeing a generational shift too where Gen Z teenagers are like, I'm seeing what's happening up there. I think I might need to take a different route. I'm seeing the writing on the wall with AI. I'm seeing what happened to the generation that went before me. And it's not that. And we would never suggest that like college is like a ripoff or a ridiculous idea for most people. But again, you have to think twice. Think about, well, how much is it going to cost? What sort of education am I get? What am I going to be able to do with that education? At the end of the day, in the world of AI, you have to ask those questions in a much deeper way to make a good decision. And I think in particular the cost of it matters so much if you go to college for 150 grand or if you can get that same degree for $12,000. Like there really is that level of disparity between different schools that you can, you can choose to go to when it comes to scholarships, when it comes to financial aid, when it comes to prestige. And getting the degree for a whole lot less matters even more now.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I think a great stoic perspective on everything you guys just said. It just makes me think of if at any time in my life I feel complacent and like everything is safe. This year proved that, that, that may be wrong. Yeah, that, that you know, my job is safe because I'm a lawyer. Look at the destruction AIs had on the bottom layers of legal firms and the number of jobs that got replaced there very quickly. Look at what's going to happen to truck drivers over the next several years as he's self driving trucks, you know, come online more and more and more. Look what's largely happened in, well, shoot, pick a ton of fields in, in journalism where, you know, this Pakistani newspaper just got caught leaving the prompt at the bottom of the article that was supposedly written by a human. Yes.

[Matt Altmix]

I didn't see that.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Oh, this was great. It's just stellar journalism where it says write a, write a piece for me. Xyz.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Well, the great thing is it can't touch podcasting, right?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

No, not at all. And yet this year we saw. Have you seen, have you seen those fake podcasters and how good they are?

[Joel Larsgaard]

I haven't. Are they good?

[Matt Altmix]

Google X. Yeah, the Notebook.

[Joel Larsgaard]

I should be worried.

[Matt Altmix]

It, it's really impressive because they can imitate what people come to expect out of a podcast. But honestly, like, I mean, I'm not personally too concerned.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Maybe I should be. Joe. You.

[Matt Altmix]

You let me know after the fact, we'll hit, we'll stop recording, and then you let me know if I should be shaking in my boots.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

But I just think we should always be concerned. I mean, there should always be. I think it's a great perspective. Right. When you plan, plan for the worst, and then when the best happens, you're always grateful. Yeah.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah. I guess there's an element of always looking over our shoulder. But, like, what I'm speaking to is the fact that so much of what. And I'm sure you've seen so much of what we talk about. Yeah, we're talking about personal finance, but we are, man, We're. This is going to start getting really insider baseball. But, like, we're drawing on personal stories. It's about stuff that we're doing today, Things, lessons that we have learned as individuals. You don't get that with no large language models. I don't know, like, does a. Is Gemini placing an instacart order and learning that it's paying 50% more, you know, for its Aldi order? That's something that I literally. I learned recently that we talked about. And, you know, that really pissed me off. Like, I was almost embarrassed to share that because I'm like, I'm like the frugal Aldi leftover eaten son of a gun that doesn't throw any of his leftovers away. And then I was like, oh, my gosh, I got duped. They fooled me, they tricked me. And that's not something that happens to computers. Right?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Computers all know reason you went to Aldi in the first place. Got ripped away from you.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's something about that that feels doubly bad. Like, if it happened at Whole Foods, I'm like, yeah, what do you.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Eggs.

[Matt Altmix]

I was like, artisanal beef jerky. Of course I was going to pay a premium for that, but not for my. What's it, the Aldi Egg brand or whatever. Something. Happy Farms. Not for Happy Farms. Like, come on, if I wouldn't treat you like that. If I'm getting Happy Farms cheese, like, I'm expecting to pay slightly more than like, government cheese prices, you know, like, come on.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Those are the types of stories that AI doesn't give you. But you do get on the how to Money podcast. So, guys, thanks for sharing five stories that we can learn from this year. Let's talk about what's going on at how to Money. You guys know, both our listeners are probably asleep at this point. So say something that you normally wouldn't say on air about what's coming up, like some big reveal of some big topic that's going to happen at how to Money that the Stacker universe will know first.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Matt's going to start live streaming on Rumble, but he's going to do it nude. And I just think it's going to be really appealing to a wide.

[Matt Altmix]

I'm trying to supplement the how to Money income with a little bit of additional only fans kind of revenue to start streaming in here.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Matt, here's my wallet. Damn it. Just sign me up.

[Matt Altmix]

I just got a notification that like a Joe. Joe SS Just Joe Seeley.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Who can pronounce that name?

[Matt Altmix]

The benefit here is that I don't have to pay taxes because that's a tip.

[Joel Larsgaard]

That's right.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Cha Ch. See that? We both win. Both.

[Matt Altmix]

I love it.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Amen.

[Matt Altmix]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

All because of the new government rules. What's coming up on how to many.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Guys, dude, we're going to keep podcasting. We're going to keep, until the AI.

[Matt Altmix]

Takes over microphones from our hands, the.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Necessity for us to exist in any way, form or fashion. We're going to keep doing it and just keep interviewing interesting folks. We answer listener questions and the Friday flights, I think are my favorite. Or we're just like talking about stuff like this. Like, what is top of mind this week? How does it impact your money? And then typically in that we try to give like a evergreen sort of lesson that comes from it. Well, here's. Yeah, here's how it might impact your finances. But then what's the long term approach to that? Because that's honestly how you win in personal finances, taking that long term approach. Every time I try to go like the short term route, man, I end up screwing things up. Whether it's like a home Reno or like, yeah, like trying to get a gift for my wife. And I'm like, I'm just going to make it super quick. And then it's like a crappy gift. And she's like, why'd you even get this for me? Don't do that.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

That's. And that's at the how to Buddy podcast. We're finer. Podcasts are found.

[Joel Larsgaard]

True story.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Thank you so much for mentoring our Stackers guys.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Glad to be here. Thanks for having us.

[Matt Altmix]

Great to see you, Joe.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Hey there, Stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and today I'm putting up the stocking so that when Santa climbs his fat butt down our chimney, he'll know exactly what to do first. I put my own stocking squarely in the middle. Of course, with Joe's way, way down at the end. The dude's getting cold anyways, so it doesn't matter. But speaking of Santa Claus, here's a term our newest stackers might not know. What's the term involving St. Nick, which describes the upsurge of stocks that happens at the end of many years during the last week of December. I'll be back right after I go check out my own stock portfolio. Let's see. Well, it looks like I've got beef stock and chicken stock. That's incredible. Damn, they expired in 2019. Time to call my broker at the Piggly Wiggly.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Hey folks, let me tell you that drinking and driving is a decision that will change your whole world. Things will never be the same once you get a DUI because legal fees and time in court are just the beginning. Getting into a crash is another way your world could be irreversibly changed. After drinking and driving, your vehicle may not be the only thing that gets damaged in that crash. You could face a life altering injury or even death. But you're not the only one who could face those consequences. Your decision to drink and drive could permanently change someone else's world, whether you injure them or leave their loved ones grieving. The next time you're out drinking, call a ride, share a taxi, a sober friend, or a designated sober driver. Always plan for a safe ride home. The only decision that will change your world for the better is the decision to call for a sober ride. It's never worth it to drive drunk. Don't risk it. Drive sober or get pulled over. Paid for by nhtsa.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Hey, what's up y'?

[OG (The Funkle)]

All?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. My favorite thing about the holidays? Decking out my whole house. It's not a competition, but if it was, well, I'd win the season with Wayfair Outdoor Inflatable Santa. Got it on Wayfair Trees, lights and ornaments. Wayfair hosting must haves like dining sets, beds, sheets and towels. Wayfair for everything in your style, delivered with fast and free shipping. Visit Wayfair.com or the Wayfair app to win the season. But again, it's not a competition. Wayfair Every style, every home. The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online and more personal info in more places that could afford expose you more to identity theft. But LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second if your identity is stolen, our US based restoration Specialists will fix it, guaranteed or your money back. Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans or financial losses alone. Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with LifeLock. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com podcast terms apply.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Hey there, stackers. I'm soup lover and guy who is insists chicken and stars is way better than chicken noodle. Fight me. Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. I gotta admit, I'm feeling warm and cozy here in Joe's mom's basement. Heck, this hot water heater puts off enough heat that only three of my toes aren't even numb. But speaking of heat, the stock market often heats up the last week of the year and investors have a St. Nick related term for it. What do they call this surge in stock prices during the last five days of trading? It's called the Santa Claus rally. And now here come two guys rallying back to the mics to finish out 2025 in the strongest way possible. Well, you know, for them it's Joe and OG. Good effort, guys. Good effort. Now get back out there and try your best.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Mom's proud. You get the participation trophy. You participated in the holidays. Good for you.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

I cut up a whole bunch of oranges for you later.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Super. Do I get a Capri sun as well? By the way, Doug, I haven't had chicken and stars since I was like nine. Oh, gee. When's the last time you had chicken and stars?

[OG (The Funkle)]

Maybe never.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Actually, it's so much better than regular chicken and noodle.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Is it? When's the last time you had it, Doug?

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Probably in the last two months.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Really?

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

We buy it regularly. I love chicken and stars. Absolutely.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Now, now, now I want to buy it. I just.

[Joel Larsgaard]

It's.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

You're going to be like, he's right, damn it.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It's going to set me back A$12 and it's on you.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

That's crazy.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

That.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

That can of soup is a buck 12.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yeah. And it's so basic. How about that? That's a blast from the past. Thanks to Joel and Matt for hanging out. Oh, gee, I saw the look on your face. Not surprising to you at all that they also thought AI, the big news from 2025, do you think it's going to be. I think it's gonna be even bigger in 2026.

[OG (The Funkle)]

I'm waiting for it to do something magical. I think right now it's at some level souped up Google. And I find it funny that when you Google something now, it's like the AI answer is this it's like, so the other Google answer is this right? You know, like it's just a in depth Google answer. It's supposedly, you know, AI.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I don't know, it does drive me crazy when you ask Siri questions like, would you like me to ask ChatGPT? Well, no, I was hoping you could just answer it like, I don't care as long as you give me the right answer. Do whatever you want.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Everybody is talking about and kind of bitching about the AI that's more consumer facing, I'll say, with all the crazy videos that are getting made or you know, the chatgpt type answers. But the real miracle part that most of us aren't talking about, seeing, thinking about is all of the coding that it can do. All of the heavy lifting on basic code structures to create apps that we never see that people are able to do now with almost no or much less coding experience. Stuff has to get cleaned up by more experienced technologists. But there's a lot of fundamental foundational tech stuff that it is doing that unfortunately, yeah, it's taking away some entry level jobs, but that's where I think the real impressive stuff is, is happening. We just don't see, we see all the other stuff.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

We're seeing the chrome, just the chrome around the edge. Yeah, yeah, there's a bunch going on under the hood. Let's pivot away from that to our next segment which is pivot time. Time to talk to somebody who said, you know what, I better call Saul. See. Hi and Og. This is the part of the show where we shine a light on your questions. Normally we've been tackling these. In 2026 we'll be teching with our friend Anna Ellum and we're going to be doing those a lot in 2026. So stacky benjamin.com voicemail and we already have a few, but we can always use more. But we do have a special one that mom's friend Gertrude said we should probably listen to today. This call comes to us from Nick.

[Santa Nick (Caller)]

Hello, Joe and Og. This is Santa Nick calling from the North, Alaska. I have to say I travel around the world once a year and love catching up on the show. Oh, it's a jolly good time Even though I don't learn a thing. Here's my question. I've got terrible budget problems. Several years ago I told the missus that I'd give presents to a bunch of kids. I don't know, pay it forward. She said, you'll become a legend, that sort of thing. Well, I have to say it's gotten out of hand. Every stinkin year I load up my sleigh. I mean my pickup with all of these toys. It used to be trucks, trains and Barbies, but now they want iPads, Xboxes, and thousand dollar phones. I mean, I give these ankle biters everything they ask for and they always just come back asking for more. I know what you're going to say, OG and before you say it, I've already tried to cut my costs. We had the great idea of stuffing things in socks to limit the amounts, but before you know it, that just became an add on. And now these rascals all expect a sock full of junk and their silly presents. Oh, greedy little. And all for what? All I get in return is a few Christmas cookies and now they're all gluten free. Where's the fun in that? Between us, I've even gone so far as to hire a bunch of undocumented workers. They're out in my workshop behind the house making knockoff purses and jewelry as we speak. I wouldn't be surprised if the feds knock on my door tomorrow and shut us down. And if that weren't a big enough problem, we use deer in our delivery system. And the animal rights people are breathing down my neck. I really, truly don't know what to do anymore. So here's what I need to know. How do I cut when there's nothing left to trim? What would you do if you were me? Thanks guys.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

That voice sounds familiar. I feel like we've heard that before.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Undocumented workers.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

But what do you do, OG when you're just trying to control your cost and you're really not sure where the income's coming from?

[OG (The Funkle)]

Just say no. I tried that this year. My mom got all super mad. I called her and I said, hey, I need you to do one thing for me when I was a kid and tell me how this worked for you guys. Because Joe, you guys, you had a big family. Doug. Not as big of a family, I don't think. With the nieces and nephews. Did you guys have big like grandma, grandpa holiday parties where all the aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews are at one place? Did you, did you all do that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What was the rule on the kids getting presents? Which adults got what Kids presents? And when did you stop being a kid? Any idea? Was it firm or was it just kind of whatever? In my house, it was always a pretty firm cutoff.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Oh, I don't know. I felt like Sometime during college years it just went bye bye.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah, I would agree. It was.

[OG (The Funkle)]

So ours was very, very crystal clear. After high school you didn't get any presents except for grandma and grandpa would get your present obviously. But yeah, you know, because before that there was, you know, aunts and uncles, we had godparents. That's how we did it was the godparents would give you gifts because we had lots of cousins. But yeah, it was very clear. It was like once you're out of high school, we're done with that now you're just here as an adult to enjoy the company, basically.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah.

[OG (The Funkle)]

And so I sent that to my mom. I was like, hey, you know, this is what I'd like to do. And she's like, you deal with that with your siblings. And I'm like, well the only person it affects is me because I have an 18 year old in college and my other brother who has like his kids are 30. And I'm like, I just, I don't want there to be any surprises. And since you're the grandma, it should.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Come from you declare it go.

[OG (The Funkle)]

This is how it's going to be. Because it's my party. We got in a fight about it. But yeah, that's what I would do. I would just go, no, you're 30, man. You're not getting anything from. I'm not the Funkle for you. I'm the focal for like the five year old ones. That's how I control costs.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Well, I think sometimes it's also an income problem, right? I mean it truly is. You got to just go look for income opportunities, look for a way to kind of score, raise. Maybe all these different houses he stops at, maybe he gets a little something something from them.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

At my house he's turning around that little screen that says I'm just gonna ask. It's just gonna ask you a couple of questions.

[Matt Altmix]

Exactly.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Does that happen to you guys yet? On the, with the UPS guy, he's like, like I just need the name and quick signature and I'm just going to ask you a quick question right here.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Not with a UPS guy.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Oh, it doesn't happen with your UPS guy? No.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Oh no, I haven't had that.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Thanks for the call, Nick. If you've got a call for us, we're happy to help. Stacking benjamins.com. voicemail.

[OG (The Funkle)]

All these ankle biters get you Uncle OG don't want to get no presents for no ankle biters anymore. I'm trying to get out of it. My mom won't Help me if there.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Is a tradition here. That segment may be one of my favorite traditions. Let's do a quick headline.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Hello darlings.

[Joel Larsgaard]

And now it's time for your favorite part of the show. Our stacking Benjamin's headlines.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Our headline today comes to us from investment news. Again. We had one last week and I'm turning there again this week. OG because this piece written by Greg Greenberg, expect change in investor behavior in 2026 as prediction markets expand. And I'm like, what is prediction markets? Prediction.

[OG (The Funkle)]

If you think gambling is, is addictive, this isn't gambling at all. This isn't sports betting. It's sports predicting.

[Joel Larsgaard]

It's way different.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

This is a whole piece. It's a whole piece on sports betting moving further into the mainstream. And now prediction markets and platforms like Robin Hood and Stackers. You just heard me let Matt talk about his love hate relationship with Robin Hood without saying a word. Aren't you proud of me? I waited until they left left before I'm saying anything. But they are accelerating into the space this year adding these new features and so.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Features.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

This whole piece, OG is advisors talking about how do you work with clients to avoid this place where many of the brokerages seem to be headed?

[OG (The Funkle)]

The question is, how do you tell clients not to do this? Is that your question?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Well, but what if they continue to do it? You know what I mean?

[OG (The Funkle)]

Careful. I mean, I mean it's on you. Well, okay, so at some level this is no different than sports betting. Right. The headline that I got out of this was, I mean, not out of this particular piece here, but just this whole industry is, this is a spin off of sports betting for the states that don't allow sports betting. It's like there's different apps and you know, because like, oh well, this is fantasy sports. You can do that here for money. You just can't bet on how many touchdowns your favorite player is going to have.

[Matt Altmix]

Stuff.

[OG (The Funkle)]

It's like, okay, what are we doing? It's like when they little crass. It's like when they banned all the websites in different states. They're like, you can't go to those websites anymore unless you use a vpn.

[Matt Altmix]

Right.

[OG (The Funkle)]

And then you can.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

It just reminds me of just so. It just reminds me of growing up in Michigan and there were no alcohol sales until noon on Sunday.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Because God's position changed on alcohol.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yeah. At 12, at noon is when. When Jesus said, and let there be drunks.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

This is when the water changed into wine.

[OG (The Funkle)]

On the eighth day. He said, thou must be Drunk after the first quarter of the NFL.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Some of these arbitrary rules just crack me up.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yeah, I spend my life looking for incongruencies so that those types of things really crack me up. But this is basically nothing more. I'm going to use a sports betting piece of it. This is nothing more than a futures contract that you can do with your favorite team. And so the question is, is this profoundly different than any other sort of futures or options trade? And as long as you understand that the mathematics are the same, which are an insane return if you're correct in exchange for $0, not 0 return $0 if you're incorrect.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Right.

[OG (The Funkle)]

And the likelihood of being correct is whatever, and then that's how it's priced. So this is gambling at its finest. And if you do this with your investment portfolio as a way to entertain yourself, so be it.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

One of the advisors in this piece, Rob Wolf, said that emotion and confidence routinely overpower discipline, probability thinking. When you're either doing sports based betting or you're doing these now these predictive markets things, adding clients just say sports.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Betting because it's the same. Well, but, but there's other areas.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. This is going to spill over into what do you think the Dow's going to do? What do you think that, you know, who's going to win the election, who's going to, you know, you can bet on whatever you want. Adding clients often underestimate how quickly small repeated losses add up over time. So we go from this thing where our brain, this discipline, probability thinking of, hey, I'm going to stick with the index fund because the probability is I'm going to win much more often than I lose. And all I need to do is get these small incremental wins far more often than I get the small losses. But I love what Wolf says here, which is these tiny, sometimes small losses, oh gee, they just add up quickly. And all of a sudden now it turns into, well, I just got to bet a little bigger to, quote, win it back.

[OG (The Funkle)]

There's a whole town built on this thinking. And you only have to go to Las Vegas one time with an open mind and say, these fine folks here did not borrow this money to build this big building. They've got a pretty good system here for extracting capital from the average citizen.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Yeah, they know the ROI before they break ground.

[OG (The Funkle)]

I mean, the other day the, the Powerball was at a billion. I don't know what it's at now if anybody won it, but, you know, did you guys, did you guys play it when I was at a billion?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I 100 played it.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Absolutely.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

You know why somebody's got to donate to that thing to make it keep going up? Why not me?

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yeah, well, the reason that you buy the $3 ticket or whatever or 30 bucks worth of tickets because you bought 10 of them is because you go, some idiots got to win this thing. It's one in a trillion. But you know what? Some a hole gets hit by lightning every year too. So so far, you know, might as well be me.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I walk out in the parking lot, get hit by lightning, and I won, but in a different way.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yeah, that's how it works at the casino. That's how it works in the options market. I mean, the Internet is littered with people in the last five years who have figured out option trading, not figured out, who have learned about option trading. And you see, just like everything else. This is why I absolutely abhor everything about social media. Because you only see the stuff that people want you to see. You know, I mean, just look at it from like a reality TV show, right? What is the most exciting part about the reality TV shows? Just generally speaking, what do you like the most?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Just the fact that it's unpredictable. What's going to happen next?

[OG (The Funkle)]

That's not the answer I was looking for, Doug.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Car crashes.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yes, absolutely. You want to see the big wins and the big losses. Like you want to see the relationships that blow up because, you know, you got the little sneak peek camera and you didn't know that Betty was cheating on Joe with, with Alan. And now Alan's gonna, you already know and you're waiting for that thing to come to a head. Right? Because you want to see the trainer. Oddly specific on social media. We want to see the wild extremes. Nobody videotapes their day and goes, yeah, so today I got up at 7:50 like I always do and took a little longer shower than normal. It was 15 minutes and seven.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Are those Cheerios?

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yeah. No, I ran out of Cheerios. So today I just didn't have breakfast and I reacted to that like a normal person did and went, I'll have a Pop Tart instead. And then I had a cup of coffee and then I sat and watched the news. It's like, no, that's what real life is. But when you see people who, for lack of a better term, like to just brag about what's happening, they don't talk about all the boring stuff. They go, hey, I put a hundred bucks in this option trade and made a 'thousand I put ten thousand in this thing. And. And you see all these big wins, these big, giant success stories, because that's the interesting thing. You're on Reddit. The stuff that they feed you is the stuff that you linger on, which is the stuff that is the most exciting stuff. Right. I like reading the story of the idiot that put a thousand bucks in something and turned it into a hundred thousand. That's interesting to me. I go, wow, what a lucky sob. That's pretty cool. But I also know the other side of that same thing with Instagram. You see the stories about the people who, you know, had the miraculous weight loss or fly the private airplanes or whatever, whatever it is, you know, shoot the great golf score. You don't see the story of the person who sat on the range for 15 hours a day all summer to have the one good round. You know, it's just. It's not the thing that's exciting.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Well, it's why when you see. When they're playing poker, when you watch poker on tv, they only show you the cool hands. They don't show you the hours and hours between the big hands the casino.

[OG (The Funkle)]

System is built on. There's got to be some idiot out there that's going to pull this lever and win a million bucks. Somebody's going to do it. I might as well be me. And I'm going to put a dollar in and see, and I'm put another dollar in and what's. What's $10? And if I just do, you know, I just do $10 a day, like.

[Joel Larsgaard]

That'S not a lot.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I like the analogy around options that it's always been here, but I also think it's far more accessible than it's been because options were so opaque to so many people. And now it's in our face, Robin Hood, you know, gamification masters. In fact, one of the advisors, Taylor Knoff, says, as a result of gamification, the culture has shifted. And I see people as likely to talk about this beating the market as they are a football game. Like, people are going to go, oh, on my app. I invested in the fact that I thought the market was going to go up tomorrow, and guess what? It did. And so I turn this amount of money into this amount of money, and it's so cool. And again, because of social media, we're only going to see the wins. But it's going to be far more often on these platforms than we did with options. Because what the hell's a put? What the hell is a call People got lost in the names. So let's talk about what really to do about it, what these advisors are talking about. Rob Wolf again, says most of his clients OG have some type of quote entertainment investment that captures their attention even for a brief time. And he says he's got this section of the portfolio he and his client have carved out called the entertainment capital bucket. So it just is entertainment. It's almost like when I go to Vegas, I set money aside and I'm like, I don't care if I win or lose. This is entertainment money. I'm just having fun with this money. This is not capital. If I lose it all, it's just the cost of entertaining myself. So how much money do I put in this? But his big thing is whether it's traditional day trading, collectibles, crypto, other more speculative stuff, he says he wants to make sure his clients label it correctly. It's not about whether you do it or not. Like, like, it is a losing battle for advisors to go, yeah, you shouldn't do that. Well, they're gonna freaking do it anyway. Instead, label it correctly so in your brain, you don't cost yourself your entire future.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Ultimately, this comes back down to your planning. And I'm a big believer in once the plan is good to go, then everything else is fair game. Because some person, to your point about entertainment, some person's entertainment is going to the movies and having a bag of popcorn and a cherry Coke, and that's like a fine Tuesday afternoon. Some other people like to go skydiving, and some people think that's a good way to spend a Tuesday afternoon. I'm not the judge of what you value as excitement or entertainment. If you like to go on vacation, and your vacation is, I go to my lake house and I like to drink a cup of coffee and watch the sun come up over the lake. Some people say that sounds really super boring. I like to go on vacation and do a big hike, or I like to go on vacation to these exotic locations. That's what really gets me excited. There's nothing right or wrong about that. What's wrong is if you do that and your plan is blown up. And it doesn't matter if you're blowing your plan up because you're, you know, day trading crypto or betting on, you know, football outcomes or because you're blowing too much of your money on exotic trips that are nuking your plan, all of that leads to the same. The same graveyard, right?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Same outcome.

[OG (The Funkle)]

If your plan is good, then the rest of it doesn't matter. Now, reasonable people can disagree as to, you know, how one should spend their free time in their access capital. And some people would say, just like anybody who goes, oh, skydiving is really stupid. And I can't believe you'd waste your money doing that. And that's the parlance we use, right? Can't believe you'd waste your money doing that. And I know people who do skydiving to that. That's not wasting their money.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Like, that's the best experience they could ever have.

[OG (The Funkle)]

They love every second of it. That's what they want to spend their money on. Some people like to go, you know, and flaunt trips down the Rhone River.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Who would do that?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Right.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

By the way, it's pronounced Rhine. The Rhine River. The Rhone would be next time, probably.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yes. Okay.

[Matt Altmix]

All right.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Some people think that's a waste of money. Some people like to spend it. Right. It's just, I don't have any value judgments in how you spend your money. What I will tell you is, if you're nuking your plan because you think that, oh, well, this is my investment account. I'm investing in futures trading. No, you're not. You're gambling. And you might be right. That's the dangerous part. Honestly. I told the story a couple summers ago about when it was raining at the cottage, and I went, holy crap. You can gamble in Michigan on your phone.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Slots.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

That's a slippery slope.

[OG (The Funkle)]

The worst thing that happened, happened. I won $8,000 on my phone on a Tuesday afternoon. I mean, it was. I guarantee. I've given all that back. And all the visits back to Michigan.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Happened with my son. I taught him how to play craps in Vegas. He thought it was the greatest thing. Luckily, he lost before we left town.

[OG (The Funkle)]

My kid did the same thing, too. He went to. He went to the casino. As soon as he turned 18, he won, you know, 100 bu. And he's like, that's the easiest hundred.

[Matt Altmix]

Dollars I've ever made.

[OG (The Funkle)]

I'm going tomorrow. I'm going tomorrow. He went, like, the whole bunch. And then he ended up losing it all on one trip. He goes, that's the dumbest thing ever. That place sucks.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

My son came back to the hotel room and slammed the. You know how hard it is to slam a hotel door? And he still managed to slam the hotel door. And Cheryl's like, thank God he lost. Thank God.

[OG (The Funkle)]

How'd it go, Nick?

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yep.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

He was on a hot streak. A fascinating story, and I do think. I do think so.

[OG (The Funkle)]

This is sticking around. Basically that's the more I do think.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Investment news is on this. This is going to get bigger. This is going to be big news in 2026. I don't think they're wrong willing to it on our show notes page@Stacky Benjamins.com if people want to dive in more and if you want to dive in even more to topics like this, the 201 newsletter you can sign up for and man we got a lot of great while we're giving out kudos, let's give some kudos to Kevin Bailey who writes the 201. Always following up and digging in deeper to these curated topics from the same topics that we talk about on the show. It's always free. You also then will know when we're going live on YouTube if you sign up for the 201. You'll also see when our bad groups, our Benjamin's After Dark groups are meeting up. You'll get all the Latest stack of benjamin.com201 by the way, let's While we're talking about community wandering out on the back porch, our our Benjamin's After Dark group in Minneapolis St. Paul had their end of the year party. I don't know Doug. Did you see this? What? Chris Luger and Veronica Barnas and our stackers, they had an ugly Christmas sweater party. People engaged in ax throwing which I've always wondered ax. Like what's the liability insurance on that place?

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah, I don't know how they stay in business.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

You?

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

I really don't.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I always wonder.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

I do know I walked into one one time and when I saw how much it cost. Yeah, no, I'm out. I can do this in my backyard for free.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

The meetup group team, they came up with cupcakes. The cupcake is a regular green frosted cupcake with an elf and they have. They put my face in the place of the elf's face.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

I don't like the suggestive way you're straddling that candy cane, Joe.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

That is scary as hell. I'm afraid it's my face. Like oh God, get that off there. Big thanks to our Benjamin's After Dark group leaders who make financial literacy and just hanging out with like minded people so much more accessible right now. We have groups in Minneapolis, St. Paul, in Seattle, groups coming online in Southern Minnesota and in Boston in the near future. And we're talking to people in Dallas right now and had somebody reach out from Tucson. If you want to know more about starting a group, a bad group, Benjamin's After Dark group. Write to me joe stacking benjamin.com if.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

The Tucson group gets together, I absolutely will go. I have strong connection as long as at least one meetup is at Tanya's because they have this burrito known to man.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Oh, excellent.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah. If you're anywhere in the state of Arizona, go to Tanya's for the breakfast burrito in Tucson. It'll change your life.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Oh, gee, I love Doug's Bay. He's like, if you have it in Tucson and if it's on the day that I already plan to be there, I'm not coming special. And if you have it in the morning so we can get a breakfast burrito and it's at Tanya's.

[Santa Nick (Caller)]

Wow.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Well, the great thing is they serve the breakfast burrito the whole time they're open.

[OG (The Funkle)]

I mean, to be fair, that's kind of how. That's kind of my travel plans too. Oh, we're having a meetup. Sounds great. As long as it's on the day that I'm going to be there and I can get there in the manner in which I please and I. It starts when I want and I get to leave whenever I want. Sounds great. I'll be there.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

I'm, I will go better than that because I can get to Tucson relatively easily. So, yeah, put the group together. Make it happen. Neighbor Doug will be there. Just make sure that there's a Tanya's breakfast burrito waiting for me wherever you have your meetup.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Two more things we want to talk about community wise, but waiting for six months to finally release the Stacking Benjamin's Vault. So to keep your money safe, your credit, your privacy, your ID protection, get you off not just the normal subscription list that is sucking money out of your pockets, but also get you off of those lists that are sending you all kinds of spam and, well, and even worse than spam, frankly, the places where a bunch of the scammers go to buy your information. Get off all of those lists and more. There's so many things that you can do with the vault. We'll be talking about it over the course of next week. Stacky benjamins.com vault we have had some nice people, Doug, who've also said very kind things about us on podcasting platforms. And Doug, you've been raving about this one all day.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

I do. Mostly because I love who it came from. Joe, this is from Curly Q 2024. Can we just, can we pause for a minute to talk about how great this person's fries are? They are absolutely the better Fries. Curly.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I love curly fries. Every chance. Do you want the regular fries or the curly fries? No question.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

That's not even a question.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Okay, how about this one? One of our new restaurants in town is a place called Bubba's. They have a few of these around the south. At Bubba's, Doug, you can get regular fries, seasoned fries, or tater tots.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Oh, tater tots.

[Joel Larsgaard]

Yeah.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Until you said tater tots, that was an easy decision, but now I know. And if it was seasoned tater tots.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

The seasoned tater tots for the win. If they made curry.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Absolutely.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Tater tots. Like, okay, take my wallet.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Blown. Well, here's what the master of all fries said to us in a review. He said or she. They said. A fun and valuable finance podcast, Stacking Benjamin's delivers valuable financial insights without feeling overwhelming. The advice is practical, the hosts keep things entertaining, and the guest interviews are always worthwhile. A great listen for anyone wanting to improve their financial literacy. It's like they stole our mission statement.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I. I feel like it. Thank you so much, Curlicue. And I can't wait for you to hear some of the holiday extravaganza coming up this week, because the best of that we chose from 2023. So relevant today. So, so, so relevant today. And we're excited to.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

I thought for sure you were going to say, and I can't wait for you to invent Curly Tater tots, please.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

And it doesn't have to be either. Or it's it. And go do God's work inventing Curly tater tots. All right. Thank you so much for spending the year with us stackers. We've got so much more to come. We can't wait for you to hear it. Coming up on Wednesday, it is the tale as old as time. Doug and the three ghosts. Doug. Speaking of Doug, what are the three things we should have on our to do list after hearing today's episode?

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Well, Joe, first, take some advice from Joel and Matt. If you focus on what you can control, the events of 2026 and beyond won't control you. Second, how about our headline, huh? Betting on where the stock market heads next is awesome.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

If.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

If you want to lose money, let's stay with a winning hand. As Kenny Rogers said, you got to know when to hold them, and that's 99% of the time. But the big lesson. You didn't think I was going to sing that, did you? But the big lesson. Don't share any betting analogies with Joe's mom. She'll brag that she's got 2 to 1 odds that I'm definitely loading the dishwasher after dinner tonight. Two to one. You can't say no to that lady. It's one to one odds. She's like a cartel controlling the betting line here in the basement. I don't even really know what a cartel is, but I bet it looks a lot like her. Thanks to Joel and Matt for putting on their big boy pants, painting on a brave face and shuffling down to the basement to join us. Even though you all pounded them like a keyboard during tax season during the Voices for Good challenge. Great job Stackers. You can hear their great show how to Bunny wherever podcasts are streamed. Like wherever you're listening to us right now. This show is the property of SB Podcasts, LLC, Copyright 2025 and is created by Josal Sehive. Joe gets help from a few of our neighborhood friends. You'll find out about our awesome [e-mail] along with along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Oh yeah.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

And before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don't take advice from people you don't know. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and we'll see you next time back here at the Stack Benjamin Show.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Welcome to the after show everybody. This is the part of the show where we talk about important financial stuff. And to end the year, I started.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

The recording midway because we're talking about cleaning up.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I was telling OG and Doug that I'm in the grocery store and you know, we buy the industrial strength packet of toilet paper and so I don't often pay attention to the price. And there was an end catch 1.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Percenter with these mega rolls.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Tell me how rich you are without telling me how rich you are.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Remember, remember we did the show a couple weeks ago, the Friday episode. Oh gee. Where you're talking about when you make over X amount, you no longer worry about the restaurant. What number is it where you just don't pay attention to the price of the toilet paper. How come that didn't make your analogy? But right on the end cap it said on sale for 25 bucks. It was the stuff I like the ultra cushy absorbent.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Yeah, super strong 70 grit.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

But just the stuff that feels nice. You know, I don't need to have The Doug Truck Stop toilet paper. Because when they give you those narrow toilet paper rolls, you're like, you're not fooling anybody. I'm gonna wrap this thing 18 times to make up for the fact that you decided to go.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Hold on. No, no, no. You don't do that, do you?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

What do you mean? What do you do?

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

It's a five square maximum per pole. No, in our house. Yeah. Five squares.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Even if you go cheap as all ghetto.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Just talking about the truck stop.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I'm talking about you go cheap with that narrow stuff. I'm sorry, your five square rules, gone.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

That's my complaint, is that ours. While it's Charmin and it's supposedly the, you know, quilted and the thick and all of that stuff, it's narrow, and I don't get it. And you go look up online, because I've been to other people's houses that have nice, wide rolls of toilet paper. Like, I want that. And then I. I, like, I measured mine, and I go online and see how wide is the. Whatever the other brands are.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

This would be a great, like, Larry David skit. You walk out of somebody's bathroom just.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

With a tape measure.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

You're at a holiday party and you're just going off. Where do you find this?

[OG (The Funkle)]

It's like American Psycho, but instead of the business card, it's paper.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

And I'm still. I'm still sir. I. I haven't pulled the trigger because, like OG we're on subscribe and save. Have been since COVID So it's just too easy to let it roll and have the giant box show up on our doorstep. I feel like I might be ready to switch brands to get that extra eighth of an inch width.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Gotta tell you, it's worth it.

[OG (The Funkle)]

My grandpa used to tell me that you only needed one little square. And what you did was you poked a hole in the middle, right? And you took that little piece and you held onto that, and then you'd use your hand, and then the paper was to wipe off your hand. And then that little. That little piece that you poked through, which is the part that.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

There's no way your grandpa told you that.

[OG (The Funkle)]

That is a hundred percent what my grandfather told me.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

This explains so much.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

If you speak.

[OG (The Funkle)]

If you only knew.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

Speaking of, say you're wealthy, say you're redneck without saying you're redneck.

[Joel Larsgaard]

It is.

[OG (The Funkle)]

That is grandpa.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

All right. Speaking of another thing, did you guys notice how much I. I was kind of squirming around as I sat down at the card table. My bill.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Thick as ply as you thought, huh?

[Joe Saul Sehi]

My belt.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Emory, cream's not working.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

No. How does your. How does you say you've eaten too many Christmas cookies without saying you've eaten too many Christmas cookies?

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

Or digging in belt buckle? Digging in a little bit.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

No, it broke it. My belt completely 100 broke. Look at this. It is completely busted. Like, it is busted.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

You broke the leather, dude.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I broke. No, no, it's the. It's the little metal piece.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Worse. It's the steel part.

[Doug (Joe's mom's neighbor)]

He broke the steel part. Time to put the shortbread away.

[OG (The Funkle)]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

So talk about say your whatever without say your whatever. Oh, my God. Not good.

[OG (The Funkle)]

All sort of problems in your house, Joe.

[Joe Saul Sehi]

I'm not a quitter, though, so let's bring back out the Christmas cookies.