Yeah, We Overpaid for That (SB1656)

Summary

The Stacking Benjamins Show: Episode Summary - "Yeah, We Overpaid for That (SB1656)"

Episode Information:

• Title: Yeah, We Overpaid for That (SB1656)
• Release Date: March 14, 2025
• Hosts: Joe Saul-Sehy and Doug (OG)
• Guests: Paula Pant (Afford Anything) and Justin Peters (The Struggle is Real)

Overview: In this engaging episode of The Stacking Benjamins Show, hosts Joe Saul-Sehy and Doug delve into the common areas where individuals tend to overspend. Joined by financial experts Paula Pant and Justin Peters, the discussion revolves around strategies to identify and curb unnecessary expenses, ultimately helping listeners save more effectively.

---

1. Introduction to Overpaying Habits

The episode kicks off with a light-hearted banter between Joe and Doug, setting a friendly tone before introducing the main topic: identifying and addressing areas where people commonly overpay.

Notable Quote:

• Joe Saul-Sehy [01:24]: "Someone's drunk in the kitchen. Go check on Grandma."

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2. Overpriced Airport Food and Amenities

Discussion Highlights:

• Joe shares personal anecdotes about the exorbitant costs of airport food and beverages, emphasizing how premium pricing affects travelers.

  Quote:

  • Joe Saul-Sehy [10:05]: "I paid $89 per beer, but I still got drunk in the kitchen."

• Paula Pant discusses her preference for airport lounges to avoid the high costs associated with general airport eateries.

  Quote:

  • Paula Pant [09:47]: "I'm usually in airport lounges where restaurants are exactly filthy, unwashed."

• Justin Peters reveals his strategy of packing a lunchbox to circumvent overpriced airport food, though he notes the challenges posed by security protocols.

  Quote:

  • Justin Peters [10:24]: "I'm the guy that packs a lunchbox into the airport, and the security is like, what is going on here?"

Insights:

• Airport venues often capitalize on travelers' limited time, leading to inflated prices.
• Planning ahead by bringing your own food can result in significant savings, despite potential inconveniences.

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3. The Hidden Costs of Concert Tickets

Discussion Highlights:

• Justin Peters highlights the significant markup on concert tickets, particularly junk fees that inflate the overall cost.

  Quote:

  • Justin Peters [11:48]: "It's ridiculous."

• Doug estimates that approximately 27% of a concert ticket's cost can be attributed to additional fees unrelated to the artist or venue.

  Quote:

  • Doug [11:54]: "27% of your total spend for a given ticket is actually for extra fees."

• Joe and Guests explore strategies to mitigate these costs, such as waiting for resale tickets or choosing general admission options to avoid exorbitant fees.

  Quote:

  • Joe Saul-Sehy [16:57]: "If I know I can't save money, I make sure the night doesn't suck by adding other enjoyable activities."

Insights:

• Junk fees significantly increase the cost of attending concerts.
• Flexible ticket purchasing strategies, like waiting for resale sales, can help reduce expenses.

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4. Managing Travel-Related Expenses: Taxis vs. Public Transit

Discussion Highlights:

• Paula Pant shares her consistent struggle with opting for taxis over public transportation due to time constraints and the hassle of scheduling.

  Quote:

  • Paula Pant [17:37]: "Every single time I'm rushing out the door and then I have to take a taxi."

• Doug and Joe discuss the high costs associated with taxis and rental car gas surcharges, debating the value of time versus money.

  Quote:

  • Joe Saul-Sehy [22:19]: "It's like an extra, what, 20 bucks?"

• Justin Peters emphasizes the importance of aligning spending with personal values, suggesting that some expenses are justified if they save valuable time.

  Quote:

  • Justin Peters [41:21]: "I'd rather spend it on the things that really bring me joy."

Insights:

• Evaluating the necessity and frequency of travel-related expenses can lead to significant savings.
• Balancing time efficiency with cost-effectiveness involves personal financial priorities.

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5. Everyday Spending Habits and Their Impact

Discussion Highlights:

• Doug shares humorous yet insightful stories about overpaying for convenience, such as returning rental cars with an empty tank to avoid high refueling costs.

  Quote:

  • Doug [21:20]: "I just return it as is. I don't even care."

• Paula Pant and Justin Peters discuss the subtle but impactful ways daily habits, like buying pre-cut vegetables or using delivery services, contribute to unnecessary spending.

  Quote:

  • Doug [45:52]: "I bought the individual bell peppers, and I pay so much more for that."

• Joe Saul-Sehy reflects on the importance of valuing time, sharing his past consideration of a grocery shopping service to reclaim valuable hours.

  Quote:

  • Joe Saul-Sehy [42:14]: "I want somebody to buy me groceries. I don't care what it costs."

Insights:

• Small, everyday expenses can accumulate, leading to significant financial strain over time.
• Conscious spending and strategic planning can help mitigate these costs without sacrificing quality of life.

---

6. Trivia Segment: McDonald's Pie Sales on Pi Day

Overview: In celebration of Pi Day (March 14), the hosts introduce a trivia challenge centered around McDonald's pie sales during their peak in the late 1980s.

Question: At their peak, how many pies did McDonald's sell in one year back in the late '80s?

Participants' Guesses:

• Doug: 61 million pies [29:50]
• Paula Pant: 22 million pies [31:36]
• Justin Peters: 40 million pies [32:22]

Correct Answer:

• Doug: 250 million pies [38:41]

Reflection: The trivia segment not only adds an element of fun but also underscores the massive scale of everyday items like fast-food pies, illustrating how seemingly small products contribute significantly to corporate revenues.

Notable Quote:

• Doug [38:41]: "The correct answer is 250 million. Making Jerk Face OG our winner."

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7. Key Takeaways and Strategies to Avoid Overpaying

Discussion Highlights:

• Paula Pant emphasizes the importance of collective effort in events like weddings to reduce costs, advocating for potluck-style gatherings.

  Quote:

  • Paula Pant [49:28]: "They had a big spreadsheet, and everybody was assigned a different type of dish."

• Justin Peters shares his ongoing struggle with wedding expenses, highlighting the average cost and exploring creative solutions to stay within budget.

  Quote:

  • Justin Peters [48:34]: "I thought that was a bit ridiculous. So I'm still struggling there."

• Joe Saul-Sehy and Doug discuss the broader theme of valuing time over money, suggesting that investing in time-saving measures can lead to long-term financial benefits.

  Quote:

  • Joe Saul-Sehy [41:36]: "My multiple on that time was huge."

Insights:

• Collaborative planning and community involvement can significantly reduce large-scale event costs.
• Prioritizing time-saving expenses aligns spending with personal values, enhancing overall financial well-being.

---

8. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reiterate the importance of being mindful about where and how money is spent. By identifying areas of overspending and implementing strategic adjustments, listeners can optimize their finances and save more effectively.

Notable Quote:

• Doug [52:19]: "This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor."

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Final Takeaways:

• Identify Overpaying Areas: Recognize common spending traps like overpriced airport food, concert fees, and everyday conveniences.
• Strategic Savings: Implement practical strategies such as packing meals, choosing general admission for events, and evaluating the necessity of certain expenses.
• Value Time: Balance spending by valuing time-saving measures that align with personal financial goals.
• Collaborative Efforts: Engage in collective planning for large expenses like weddings to minimize costs without compromising quality.

By staying informed and intentional with spending habits, listeners can make smarter financial decisions and enhance their overall financial health.

Transcript

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

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[Doug]

Okay, let's talk about something besides cake.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Pie.

[Doug]

That's like liquid cake, isn't it?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Pie can't compete with cake. Cake. Put candles in a cake. It's a birthday cake.

[Doug]

Put candles in a pie.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Someone's drunk in the kitchen. Go check on Grandma.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Live from the basement of the YouTube headquarters, it's the Stacking Benjamin Show. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. And have you eaten at an airport recently? I did. It was really fun, you know, especially the part where I refinanced my house to afford a second beer. Today we're talking places where we know we're overpaying. How do we make a better plan and save some Benjamins? While I know you're thinking, that's amazing, Doug, thanks for coming up with such a great topic for today's roundtable. What you should be thinking is that I haven't even talked about the best part of all my incredible trivia question. And now here comes a guy who gladly sell you his secrets to wealth right after he finds him. It's Joe Saul Sei.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That was going so well until the very end, Doug. So, so well. Hey everybody. Happy Friday to you. Welcome back to the Stacky Benjamin Show. I am Joe Sal Sehei. We're gonna have a ton of fun during the next hour because we have these amazing people with us. First of all, the guy behind the microphone across the card table from me. Mr. OG is here. You have a place you need to be. So we are going to ski daddle on today's episode.

[Doug]

It's always about me. I know. I apologize in advance.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We just need to remind people, though, it isn't about quantity. It's about quality. You're about to get 56. Quality. That's right. Pure. Grade A. Okay, quality, maybe grade B plus magic. I don't know. But the woman who always brings grade A stuff to this podcast, Paula Pant from Afford. Anything's here. How are you, Paula?

[Paula Pant]

Oh, I'm. I'm fantastic. It's a. Weather's getting warmer. It's a good day.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Let's make a show in New York City in March. Weather's warmer. That means it's what, 14 degrees today?

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly up from 13.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yes. Now you look all dressed. Did you dress up for us today?

[Paula Pant]

I did, I did, but not sure it was for you.

[Doug]

Yes.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, we'll go with that.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Perfect. That's exactly what I thought. Well, sure. Yes.

[Doug]

As Joe and I are wearing hoodies.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And the guy who, when I wrote him, I'm like, how come I've known this guy forever and we haven't had him on the. I don't know what the hell we were thinking. Finally, finally, the guy behind the struggle is real. Mr. Justin Peters is here. How are you, man?

[Justin Peters]

I'm doing great, Joe. And honestly, I've been waiting those four or five years for. For this email. I was sitting there on the keyboard. Finally it came.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

He's like, I can finally get up. I can finally get up and walk and do something else. I was listening, Justin, to a recent episode you had about medical bills and how easy it is to negotiate your medical bills. And, man, you cover some of these cool areas. Tell everybody what you do at the struggles Real.

[Justin Peters]

I like to cover personal finance topics for people that are on the path to financial independence, but put a little bit of postfi wisdom in there, too. That episode in particular is something I was really passionate about. I got pretty fiery about. I just think there's a lot of things that are broken with medical bills here in the United States and found a good expert for it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

So you found that out firsthand, though. You were. Where were you were in Japan.

[Justin Peters]

I was in Japan, yes. I had an ear infection. I was like, oh, no, this is going to be a nightmare. I tried to fix it myself. That didn't work out. Then I finally looked up a little.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Just your finger all the way in there?

[Justin Peters]

Yeah, yeah. Honestly, I went in to this place to buy something that they could potentially work. He didn't know what I was talking about. He pointed to a lot of random things. I was like, all right, I got to find an ent. I was like, this got to cost me an arm and a leg. And I walked out and it cost me $40. Uninsured in Japan. Craziness. I think even insured.

[Doug]

What it is in America, right, For health care.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Even insured.

[Justin Peters]

I think that would have cost me 10 times the amount. So I was going to say, give.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Or take a zero, right?

[Justin Peters]

Yes, yes.

[Doug]

It's all where you put that decimal point.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It was a great episod. Minnesota. What I really loved. Is that your expert. I don't remember her name. I apologize. But she was saying, you don't have to be a great negotiator, which was great. Just ask for these facts. Just. Just ask them. I need. I need these codes. I need to know exactly what's going on. It was. It was pretty powerful stuff. We'll link to it in the show notes as we do with all of our contributors every week. But today, Justin, we've got you here to talk about airport food, which is pretty, pretty exciting. Where are we getting ripped off? Seriously, where are we getting ripped off? And we know we are, Tom, and we keep doing it anyway. How can we maybe put the lid on some of the overspending that happens? What plans can we have to make that better? But before all that, we have a couple sponsors that make sure this is free for you and we can keep on keeping on without you paying a dime. So we're going to hear from them. And then, Justin, Paula, og, Doug and I talking about curtailing some of the outrageous spending that you do on the fly. That can really take a toll on you. I mean, between minimum payments and interest rates, it's really stressful. And at times it feels, and I've been here, like, you just can't get ahead. Well, Navy Federal Credit Union understands debt's a huge stressor, and they're here to help. Navy Federal Credit Union has all the financial tools and resources you need to dominate debt. Right now, Navy Federal Credit Union is offering a 0% intro APR on credit card balance transfers for 12 months. Here's the way you use that Stackers. First of all, you create your debt payoff strategy. You figure out exactly how that's going to help you, because a 0% transfer for 12 months can save you a ton. But make that work for you. Plus, you can get $250 when you spend 20 $500 in your first 90 days on a cash rewards or cash rewards plus credit card again needs to be part of the overall plan. Don't let debt drag you down. Visit navy federal.org to start dominating debt today. Navy Federal Credit Union are members are the mission. Navy Federal is insured by NCUA. After the intro rate expires, variable APRs are 14.9% to 18% based on creditworthiness. Rates are subject to change. ATM fees for cash advances are up to $1 at non Navy Federal ATMs. Small business owners State Farms there with small business insurance to fit your specific needs. Whether you're starting a new venture or growing an existing one, State Farm helps you choose the right coverage to protect what matters most. Working with a local State Farm agent helps you understand your coverage options. Offering local support to help you achieve your goals. Focus on turning your passion into a thriving business. Knowing your insurance can change as your business grows. State Farm here to help you succeed with your business like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Our piece today.

[Doug]

Comes to what you did there. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Nobody else got that. The spending you do on the fly.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Okay, Ninja.

[Doug]

Now let's talk about airplane food. Weird.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

So ninja. I didn't even get it.

[Doug]

That's.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That's how ninja I am. It just, it just comes naturally. Oh, gee. Yeah. The piece that inspired this actually was in the Wall Street Journal. It was written by John Syndrome, John Rowe. Are you splurging on food and drink before departure? Your airport really hopes so. And the crux of this is that hungry travelers may determine the future of Airport Finance. 2024. More flyers than ever passed through London's Heathrow Airport, spending more money at its stores, the company running it said last week. Yet total revenue decline because Britain's aviation regulator lowered the maximum fees the airport can charge to airlines. So airlines hoping that you have some of that just second class food that you can get at any airport. I will say this, Paula. I think the airport food's gotten better over time, but man, it still is a slog.

[Paula Pant]

Typically, there's. There's no way to say this without you guys making fun of me. Typically when I go, I love how.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You'Re anticipating it already.

[Paula Pant]

I'm anticipating the reaction this is going to get. I'm usually in airport lounges.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Oh, for God's sake.

[Doug]

Okay, Og, I'm not with the commoners.

[Paula Pant]

Where the restaurants would be exactly.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Filthy, unwashed.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, exactly. I'm not out with the huddled masses in the airport where people are paying for food.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Okay, so, Justin.

[Justin Peters]

I'm going to break it to you.

[Doug]

Nice seeing you, fella.

[Justin Peters]

I'm a peasant. I am a peasant.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yes, because I know Gee well enough to know that he doesn't sit with the commoners either. Tell me, Justin, that you travel and you've paid $87 for a beer at an airport recently.

[Justin Peters]

Unfortunately not. I'm the guy that packs a lunchbox into the airport, and the security is like, what is going on here? So, yeah, no, I'm with the peasants.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It's like your Flintstone lunchbox.

[Justin Peters]

Yep, exactly.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That's good. No, that's great. Because seriously, I remember. This is horrible. This is a few years ago. I wanted to celebrate my birthday with my brother. We were on our way to go on a trip together that day. There was nothing we could do because we had to catch a plane. So we decided that we would get drunk at the airport before. Before the plane took off, talk about something dumb. Not only were we paying $89 per beer, but we also found that that very nice bartender that likes you at an airport when you first sit down makes all their money from turning those over quickly because everybody's got to catch their plane. And we sat there for an hour and a half, and the last 45 minutes of it, Justin, she was downright mean. Like, she was not even. She was so mean to us just to get us. But it was my birthday, so that wasn't going to happen. But you've already solved that problem. Where's an area, Justin, in your life where maybe you overspend?

[Justin Peters]

Oh, concert tickets. I splurge on concert tickets all the time. Anytime I see a good show coming into Austin, I'm going ahead and buying it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We almost. We almost did some trivia on the junk fees that are on concert tickets. I think we decided not to do that one. But what was the amount of money that are just junk fees or percentage? Do you remember?

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Well, I think it was 27% of your total spend for a given ticket is actually for extra fees. And that convenience fee and service charges nothing to do with going to the artist or the venue.

[Justin Peters]

Yeah, it's ridiculous.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

But the frustrating thing about that, Justin, is, I mean, that's an experience. And what are you going to do? Just show up at the hotel where the star staying and hope that you catch them on the way to their hotel room so you get an autograph?

[Justin Peters]

There's not a lot of great alternatives that I found if I want to catch an act. You Know, those junk fees are crappy. The resale market is even worse. I don't know. I'm looking for some advice if anyone's got it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, Paula, you go see many concerts?

[Paula Pant]

I'm not a big concert person. All I come to you.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I've known you forever and why did I even go to you?

[Doug]

Remember, Paula's in the corner at the airport lounge by herself in the ultra elite section where there is no one else.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Exactly.

[Doug]

Doing oxygen listening on her AirPods.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

She definitely doesn't have a movie on either.

[Paula Pant]

Oh, I did actually. In an effort to see more movies, I got a pass to the local movie theater. 99 unlimited movies for a year.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Whoa. They're gonna clean up on you, Paula.

[Doug]

The average movie cost for Paula is $99. So I saw this $99 movie this year. It wasn't very good. I don't think I'll go back.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And after the $36 for popcorn.

[Doug]

Yeah, more junk.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Well, OG you go to concerts?

[Doug]

Yeah, a little bit. We're more of a Broadway type of family. Like we've seen a couple concerts and we'll go and do do that. A band or a group that we really particularly like did not succumb to Taylor Swift World probably should have with my daughter, but I just couldn't swallow that. That was. That was insane. But we'll do a lot of, you know, Lion King or Les Mis or what, you know, whatever family. The opera. When it comes back, like Justin was saying, it's more of an experience. And for us, it's more of a family thing. Kids like it, you know, they can get behind the music and the story and that sort of thing. And I don't feel like it's as egregious of a cost as what you're talking about. About the airport thing of. Of the travel of that. You know, it's like. It seems like when you go to the airport, you're already getting hammered on whatever the airline ticket is, which is not inexpensive. And then God forbid you have a family or you're traveling with a partner or something, and that's going to be 2x3x4x5x whatever that number is that you see. But then all the stuff that you do once you're there at the airport. Right. Okay, well, you want to speed through the line. Oh, you need TSA PreCheck. No problem. We'll just get that a hundred dollars times five. Right. For a period of time. Oh, you guys are going to travel internationally, no problem. You just have to get a passport, that's $200. Or, you know, oh, you have little kids now. You and your spouse have to go to the passport office and take half a day off of work and schedule it. You know, it's like all that stuff piles up around it to be able to do the one thing that you want to do, which is just get on airplane and go. And so I feel like by the time you even get there, notwithstanding baggage fees and all that other sort of stuff, you're just mentally, you're mentally spent and you just have. Maybe that's the plan. They're trying to get you to cave. Like by the time, by the time you get to the airport, you're just like, whatever, I'll just take a be.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

They're like, sir, just take my wallet.

[Doug]

Please tell me you have an American Express platinum card for this beer. You're like, well, that's. Yeah. They're like, good, because you're going to need it all. Whatever the limit is. We found it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We'll make sure you go just over it. So there's some over limit fee.

[Doug]

Yeah, exactly. Sponsored by American Express.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I don't know if this is right or wrong, but this is just what Cheryl and I have done. When we go to one of the bigger productions where it's not like a general admission thing, if I really am a huge fan, I will splurge for the upfront stuff, but otherwise I'm fine in the cheap seats just because I just like being in the building. I just like being in the place and the people around me and having fun, you know, in the crowd of people. I'll do that. And I don't know, Justin, if you're going to the big concerts where that can happen or if it's general admission, you just, you know, you're just paying the fee to get in.

[Justin Peters]

Yeah, I like general admission. The other thing that I will do to save a little bit of money sometimes is if it's a mid tier band, I'm kind of excited about them, but if I miss it, it's no big deal. I'll wait around until the headliner comes on, until they're old. I'll check marketplace or resale market. Right. Whenever the concert starts, go ahead, grab a cheap ticket now that the ticket prices are dropping and then go head that direction.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, like the scalper who's bailing because they know they got to get a dollar too. Yeah, yeah. What's interesting, I think there's another side to this when it comes to concerts too, which is, you know, If I know I can't save money. And we do this every year with our theme park episode with Robert Niles from Theme Park Insider. If we know it's going to be really hard to save money, how do we just make it so that night doesn't suck? You know what I mean? If I'm gonna pay a ton of money, let's make sure that it's actually a memorable night. Instead of some of the concerts I've seen where, you know, you get done, you're like, really? I paid for that? Like, that was absolutely horrible. So I don't know.

[Doug]

So you're saying, like add stuff around it to make sure the whole night is memorable to insulate from that? Is that what you're saying? Insulate from the fact that maybe the band will suck. It's like, but at least I had a nice dinner. Is that.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, do whatever I can to make it just a. Just a nice night. It doesn't have to be an expensive night.

[Doug]

Sure.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

But make it memorable in other ways with entertainment before, after, or, you know, a concert I went to recently, we were able to stand in line and meet the artist afterwards. I wasn't going to buy anything, but I got to meet Josh Rouse and have a picture taken with him. Which is cool. When you got a 56 year old guy who wants to have his picture taken with you, I'm sure he was.

[Doug]

Thrilled, especially since you didn't buy anything.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I know. This is the fan I'm looking for. Yes. And I. And I don't need your album. I don't have a record player. Paula, what did you think of when you thought of this as something where people spend a bunch of money, or maybe you spend a bunch of money that you know you're just getting hosed, you know?

[Paula Pant]

So on the topic of the airport, the taxi to and from the airport, getting from my home to the airport itself, every single time I tell myself, this is the time I'm going to take public transportation. And every single time I don't, I usually will do it on the way back because coming back home, I'm not in a time crunch. But going there, every single time I'm like, this is the time that I'm going to allow for ample time so there's a margin of error. So I can take public transit and even if it's slow or even if I have to wait for a connection, nope. Every single time I'm rushing out the door and then I have to take a taxi.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Back when we were together in New York, in mid December, I told you and Nick Magiulli, who also lives in New York, that I spent 90 bucks on a taxi from the airport.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, that is so normal.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You guys weren't even phased. I was like, that is highway robbery. You're like, yeah, whatever. It is what it is.

[Paula Pant]

That's standard. Par for the course. Estimate about 100 bucks every time, you know, getting to the airport. And then if you decide to take a taxi coming back, estimate that it's going to be a 200 round trip.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That is a key, though. I remember a couple of fincons, this industry conference that we all often attend, and I remember this last one in Atlanta, and just taking the time to learn how the. The. What's that system called, Paula?

[Paula Pant]

The marta.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, Learning how the MARTA worked. The marta. The MARTA went two blocks away from our hotel.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And what was funny was I saw so many attendees just immediately grab an Uber and even sharing an Uber where they're spending a bunch of money versus, I think the MARTA was six bucks.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, yeah, the MARTA is good, but don't take it at night.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

I've heard similar things about Chicago. I read an article on the points guy once where three people from the points guy were all leaving a work thing downtown. They might have been in the Sears building. Yes. I'm still calling it the Sears building. And that's your protest.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That's your boycott.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Yeah. I mean, it just pisses me off anyway. And they decided to compare. Somebody took the L, somebody took an Uber, and I think somebody drove themselves. And unquestionably, the L was faster, and I think it was $4. And I know people who live there, and they still don't do that now. Same thing, though, Paula, I've heard you don't want to do that line later at night because it's one of the few lines that runs late at night. And so a lot of sort of unsavories might ride that train because they can hang out there and stay warm. And. And I don't want to get us into a different topic, but so that's. You want to be cautious about that at night, but there's still a lot of other hours of the day where that makes the most sense. And people don't do it after Paul.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And I and the people at our meetup group and OG Was there after we said goodbye. But Paul, I said you and I because we walked to the station together. And then you went one way and I went the other way. It was that night that I got the New York experience. There was a gentleman sleeping on the train. And then he got up. I thought he was getting up to get off the train. He wasn't. He was getting up because he had to urinate and he did it right in front of the door. Which is funny and sad altogether. Right. I mean, on one hand I got to check the bingo box and another, you know, I mean, that's. Yeah, that truly is.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. No, I'm, I'm. I'm laughing only because it's so familiar.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yes.

[Paula Pant]

You know. Yeah, yeah. It's a laugh of recognition.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It was, it was called the New York Experience ahead of time by me. Or not by me. By me. I called it that.

[Doug]

Joe was like, hold on a second. I didn't know we could do this. Excuse me, sir. My turn.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Maybe not. Oh, gee, how about for you?

[Doug]

Are you asking what I spend money on that's frivolous, that I shouldn't.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Everything.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

See?

[Doug]

All of the above.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yes.

[Doug]

What don't I, you know, I really strongly believe in the work hard, play hard, methodology. So I play hard and then I have to work hard to pay for it all.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, but there's gotta be some things. Like as an example, in the example I gave all of you when I was introducing this topic, I said, you know, this one drives me crazy. I know that the gas station right across from the car rental agency has the most jacked up prices on earth. And yet maybe a month ago, I'm in Seattle and I'm flying back to the place, and all of a sudden I looked at and I go, why didn't I fill it up? Oh my goodness. And I paid.

[Doug]

Maybe I do way more than. Way better than that, Joe. I don't even bother. I just return it as is.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

But do you prepay for the gas then?

[Doug]

I've done that on occasion, if I think about it, or if I think, okay, I'm probably going to drive a lot on this trip, but a lot of times I just turn it back in. I don't even care. Paul is aghast. She's like, do you realize what's.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

There's got people screaming at you at their device.

[Doug]

There was a comedian that did a bit one time where he said, he's like, he was running late for a flight and he just stopped the car in front of the terminal and called up Enterprise and was like, hey, I left your car there. They're like, you can't do that. And he's like, well, I did. So anyways, bye. And he said, in that moment, I realized that Was totally normal. And they were on the hook for that car. So I'm going to do that from now on. Obviously it's a comedy bit, but I'm getting the look from Paula like, wait, you can just return cars with empty gas? And he's okay. I mean, it's okay. I don't know what the cost is. They jack up the price. I was thinking about this the other day in a different context. I was talking to a friend who was having a project done on his house. I think that I spend money very, very, very liberally on things that will free up time based on what I value my time around that thing would be. So, like, I'm not going to stop and get gas unless it's convenient for me. Like, if I was going to stop anyway and get a pack of gum, yeah, we'll gas the car and go, oh, that was easy. Like, save some money. But if I'm just driving around Chicago and now I'm going back to the airport, I'm not going to purposefully stop and get gas just to save a dollar a gallon. And they charge. It's like $20, right? Like, I don't. I don't really care.

[Justin Peters]

You don't know.

[Doug]

Like, I would.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, no, it could be $20 million, Justin. He would not know.

[Doug]

Doug and I were talking about this with the kids and their Xboxes. If I can avoid having to deal with something by putting money at it, like, I will do that because so my kids, when they were younger, we had an Xbox and what do boys do? They fight about the Xbox. Right? I want. It's my turn. Hold on, I gotta. I have one more level.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And, you know, so OG taught them a lesson here. He's about to teach them a lesson.

[Doug]

Yes, I taught them a lesson. All right. I said, you with me? Why? He's. How come he gets to play? I go, trust me, this will be worth it. And we went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and bought another 60 inch TV and another Xbox and put them right next to one another so that I don't have to deal with that problem anymore. I know you think it's. It's like, this is ridiculous.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

This is imperative.

[Doug]

Listen, hear me out. This was less than $1,000 10 or 12 years ago. That has solved 12 years of. It's my turn. It solved a dozen years of going. That's not. No, come here. No, no, you got yours. You got yours. You guys want to play against one another? Awesome. You can do that. Xbox has a way to, like, share games, right? So we're not buying double games or anything like that. So I would spend money on that sort of stuff. And when it comes to travel, yes, I pay for clear. I mean, it gets reimbursed with a credit card somewhere, but I pay for clear and I pay for pre check and I pay for Global Entry and all of those things that are going to speed up the experience of getting me to the I'm not traveling because I like to travel. I'm traveling because I've got somewhere to go and I want to be there at some reasonable time at some reasonable amount of energy when I get there. And so if I can come back from our trip and go through Global entry because that line is short, you know, I'll do that.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I want to dive into some of those topics because, oh gee, what started off as incredulously non frugal. I think there might have been a couple points there that I.

[Doug]

There was a little nugget. Did I? Did I?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

There might have been a nugget. And we're going to grab onto that in the second half of today's discussion. But at the halfway point of this shindig, Justin, every week we have this year long trivia competition between our three frequent contributors, OG Paula and Jesse Kramer. You're sitting in for Jesse today. That brings up some good news and some bad news. Justin, you want the good news or the bad news?

[Justin Peters]

Let's go. Bad news.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Well, the bad news is that Jesse has not figured out a way to score a point yet this year despite.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

All of his cheating.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

He was 20 immediately when he entered the show last year and now he's on this drought. So Justin, no pressure, but maybe you can save our mutual friend Jesse Kramer's fortunes by getting him on the board. The good news is you're only one point behind Paula Panto, who finds herself precariously in second place with one. And man, what I wish for both you and Paula is that you beat our reigning champion, Mr. OG who has four already four points. So that's the trophy, that's the stakes. The other good news, Justin, you get to go last. So you get to see what these two people do ahead of you. OG World guests first, Paula guesses second and Doug each week gives us the trivia. What's our question today? Man?

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Yeah, Joe, I can't believe we've gotten this far into today's show and we haven't talked about the fact that today is PI day.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It is PI Day, isn't it? I was just looking at what you said in the chat.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Are.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Are you seriously. Are you seriously thinking about getting a pie tattoo on your, like, every digit? I mean, don't get me wrong, you certainly have room. I'm not talking about that thing either. Talk about the other thing.

[Doug]

What's happening?

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

I'm not sure I'm following Joe, but actually, I don't know what you mean by digits. I was thinking about getting peach.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, you want a peach pie tattooed on your butt?

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

You know, like the emoji the kids use?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, okay. Do you know what PI day means? Do you have any idea what PI day actually means?

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Well, duh. I mean, it's the middle of March. It's a crappy month. It's like raining everywhere. We all need something to cheer us up.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Paul is talking about the weather getting better. But look at the date. 3:14.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Yeah, so look.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Think.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Oh, snap. It's right there in front of me. How could I miss that? Geez, that's embarrassing. Well, in that case, I've got the perfect question for PI day for a roundtable. Here's the question. At their peak, how many pies did McDonald's sell in one year back in the late 80s? I'll be back right after I go figure out a way to bring the pies back. Maybe Joe's mom can help me out.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I think he still doesn't get it, but we'll take it from there. Oh, gee. How many. How many pies. If one of the banner years in the late 1980s did McDonald's sell?

[Doug]

This is cumulative. Nationally. Globally.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Globally. In one year.

[Doug]

Global pies. And inclusive of both flavors. I believe there were two. Cherry and apple.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I think there was cherry and apple.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

There was total pies sold.

[Doug]

Total pie sold globally. In 1989, you said.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Well, in their peak year, during the 80s.

[Doug]

The peak year was in the 80s.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

You're stalling. Just give us a number.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You're the one that has to leave.

[Doug]

No, but I need some clarity. Just a second. I believe that at the time it said hundreds of millions sold on the thing on the McDonald's banner. The average person gets what, two pies a visit? No, that's not what you guys did.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Okay, you stop at two.

[Doug]

All right, four. Whatever.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Exactly.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

We're bite sized.

[Doug]

I'm going to say that the number of pies sold in the peak of McDonald's was 61 million pies. 61 million.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

61 million. Paula, what are you going to do with that?

[Paula Pant]

I was also thinking about, you know, because the late 80s was when McDonald's on the sign Every year it would say, like, X items sold or whatever.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Customer served.

[Doug]

Served. Customer served. Yes.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, Customer served. And I remember every year that number would. It would climb and climb and climb and climb, and then eventually they just gave up. And they were like billions and billions. But there was a time when they would routinely update that number. So I was trying to remember what that was, and I. Geez, I was thinking lower. Well, because you also, you know, you also have to anticipate that not everybody who goes to McDonald's is going to get a pie. Like, some people go there for the hot fudge Sundae, right, the McFlurry. Some go for the french fries.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Look at Joe just like, how do I reel this back in?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Please, God, shoot me now. Just. Some people go there for the quarter Pounder. Some people go there for a filet of fish.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Always just listing the whole menu.

[Paula Pant]

Some just want the chicken nuggets. And then some time at the McDonald's.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Playground, whether it be a 20 piece of a four piece.

[Paula Pant]

Right? Some just want the toy that's in the kids meal box. I'm gonna say 22 million.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

22 million pies. All right, Justin, you've got. What was OG 60. 60 million.

[Doug]

61.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

61, yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

61 and 22. Justin, what are you thinking?

[Justin Peters]

Well, part of me feels like I have a disadvantage here because I'm a kid of the 90s, and I didn't see this sign, this amount served that you guys were talking about.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

But do you think it matters? You've been on the show now for 25 minutes.

[Justin Peters]

But the other part of me is I feel like I have insider knowledge because I worked at McDonald's for three years while I was a teenager, so I did, too. I. I do see how many pies go out the door, and I'm. I'm trying to do some mental math right now, and I'm going to get Jesse on the board for sure. And I'm feeling pretty good at 40 million.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

40 million pies. All right, we got 61. We got 40. We got 22. Who's right? Is Jesse finally on the board? Is Paula gonna start sneaking up on OG or is the dark lord gonna pull ahead? We'll find out in a moment. Today's show is sponsored by Strawberry Me Stackers. All right, everybody, let's talk careers. You know, you work hard, you bring in a paycheck, maybe even contribute to your 401k. Like a responsible adult gold star for you. But here's the thing. Making money is great, but making the right moves to actually grow your career and earn more. Are you doing that because, let's be honest, hoping your boss finally notices you and hands you a raise. That is not a plan. That is a gamble. And unless you're the type of person who gets excited about betting their retirement on meme stocks, you probably want a better strategy. I certainly do. I have a coach, Mary Lou, that I meet with every Monday morning. And Mary Lou and I lay out my week. We talk about doing the things that are important to my family, that are important for my health, and the things that are important for financial literacy and stacking Benjamins and the intersection of all those things. And that's where Strawberry Me career coaching can help you. They'll match you with a certified career coach, somebody who knows how to help you get ahead. Like my coach helps me negotiate better pay and actually make smart money moves. So you're not leaving money on the table. You've heard me talk about this before. The key is to have people around you, smart people around you who hold you accountable to getting those things you say that you want for yourself. If you're anything like me, you've been, meaning to, quote, update your resume for, like, the last five years. I remember what Mary Lou said. Are we going to keep talking about this book? Are you finally going to write it? And I'm very proud of Stacked. But without Marie Lu, I would have never had Stacked. Your career is your biggest financial asset. It's time to start treating in that way. When I started treating it that way, things change. It can be the same for you. So here's the deal. Go to Strawberry Me. It's Strawberry Me stacking, and you'll claim your $50 credit. That strawberry Me stacking. Because maximizing your earnings is just as important as maximizing your investments. Strawberry Me does not facilitate or provide healthcare services. Please consult with a healthcare professional. But, guys, let's get smart people around us, shall we? Bombas makes the most comfortable socks, underwear and T shirts. Warning.

[Doug]

Bombas are so absurdly comfortable, you may.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Throw out all your other clothes.

[Paula Pant]

Sorry, do we legally have to say that?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

No, this is just how I talk.

[Doug]

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[Joe Saul-Sehy]

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[Doug]

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[Joe Saul-Sehy]

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[Doug]

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[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, gee. You started off with 61 million. Both Justin and Paula thought you were way too high with that number. What are you thinking?

[Doug]

I don't know. I don't have a good feeling about this. I'm really mad because behind the scenes, which you guys don't know, is that some of this show is thought of. And as soon as you guys started to talk about PI day, I was thinking, I know what the trivia question is going to be because we talked about this. It was going to be a random number of PI out into the future. So I memorized PI to like a thousand digits. And I'm super mad that you guys didn't use that because I had, I had that in the bag. I was going to nail it right on the button.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

We did think about that to throw them off.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Doug, we were going to ask for everybody listening. When we were brainstorming this today's question, we thought, what if we just said, tell us what the 132nd and 133rd digits are of PI, Which I knew.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, totally new. Totally had that 16. So you don't know one way or another. Paula, how are you feeling? You've got the low number.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, yeah. You know, I've captured all of the downsides. So if the answer is anywhere between zero to what, 30 something million, I've got it. So I like that. I've got a good range.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And Justin at 40, you got the field goal. You're right in the middle there. Feeling good.

[Justin Peters]

I feel 100% confident on this one. I feel really, really good.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I like that. That's great. Well, let's see if the confidence is well deserved or not. Doug, what's our answer?

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

I don't want to read. I mean this. I'm just so. The enthusiasm has been sucked out of me. Hey there. Stackers on pie lover. And the guy who knows a good 3.14 when I see it, Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug. Ah, pie day. I love them all. You got your apple, you got your Dutch apple.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Where are you? Paula?

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

You got your apple crumble. You got your source cream apple. You Got your apple tart. You even got your rhubarb apple. All right, that one kind of sucks. Hey, you've even got Doug's crawdad pie. Nope. That's a good one. Oh, it's real. Look it up. Look it up. Also true, I can eat about 3.14 pies in a single sitting. But today's question was about McDonald's pies. How many per year was the fast food chain selling during their peak years in the late 80s? Well, I don't just come right out and tell you, because OG Hates it when I do that. He likes it when I stretch it out. And when I do the math, what I will say is that it was. Well, it was in the millions. So you guys had that part right. It was 210 million more than what JustinJesse guessed. 228 million more than what Paula guessed.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Unbelievable.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Just. Just 100. 189 more unbelievable. The grim reaper of sadness. Guest. He guessed 61 million. The correct answer is 250 million. Making Jerk Face OG our winner.

[Doug]

250 million. That's a lot of pie.

[Paula Pant]

Wow.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

In a year. What I want to shine a light on is something Paul and I were talking about on the Afford Anything show recently, which is her uncanny ability to every time go the wrong way.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

And I'm listening to Justin, who's all confident, and he's like, I worked there. I saw him and he went out the door. I think I got this one in the bag. All he had to say was, 62 million. You had to go 11 higher.

[Justin Peters]

I probably should have took the high on that one. That's my bad, Jesse.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

And to be all, like, puffing your chest out like, oh, I got this in the bag. You don't go to the middle, Justin. You don't hedge yourself in. You either go way low or way high. Oh, my God.

[Justin Peters]

Doug.

[Doug]

Doug.

[Justin Peters]

I'm just setting up a comeback story for Jesse here. I don't want to put any points that he didn't earn on the board here.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah. When they make the Hallmark movie about this at the end of the year. Incredible comeback of Justin and Jesse. Let's jump into the second half of this discussion about things we overpay for. And I want to highlight before we move on, on a couple things that OG Said, because, Paula, I kind of like the thing about valuing your time. Right. I mean, there's different types of wealth as you've had a recent guest on talk about, but this gift of time we have is something we can't get back.

[Paula Pant]

Exactly. Yeah. And I 100% agree with that and stand by it. I do think not filling your gas tank is a little extreme. That's just because the surcharge on that is so massive.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It is.

[Doug]

Compared to what, though? I mean, it's like an extra, what, 20 bucks?

[Paula Pant]

I mean, I guess it depends on how much you drive and how many gallons that is, but. All right, let's say you're paying, I don't know, a $6 surcharge per gallon times.

[Doug]

Oh, it's not that much. No, no, no, no.

[Paula Pant]

Really?

[Doug]

No.

[Paula Pant]

All right, this could be the question.

[Doug]

You could be right, and I would be way wrong. I think I would notice if it was like, hey, your rental was forecast to be $61 this week. Turns out it's 605. You know, I think I probably noticed that being off, but I think it's like. Because it tells you when you leave. It says, like, gas right now right.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Up right behind there.

[Doug]

If you don't do it, it's 4:15. And I'm like, all right, well, it's.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Maybe a buck 50 or $2 a gallon.

[Paula Pant]

Oh, is that it?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Paula Pant]

Huh.

[Doug]

Maybe it was more before Paula.

[Paula Pant]

Interesting.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Paula Pant]

Okay. All right. That's not as bad as I thought then.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I don't know. I just don't like parting with that money. I don't know where you at on that one, Justin.

[Justin Peters]

I'm with you on this one, Joe. I don't like to spend money frivolously. I'd rather spend it on the things that really bring me joy. I don't know. That would pain me to know that I just spent an extra 20 or 30 bucks on the gas when I could have just probably taken two or three minutes of planning and stopping on the way there.

[Doug]

Three more minutes with my friends.

[Justin Peters]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

That is valuing your time pretty high, though, Justin. I mean, it is a value of your time. I remember when. When I was with American Express, I got to this point in my career where I thought of this amazing thing. I was like, I want somebody to buy me groceries. I don't care what it cost. I mean, within reason, I don't care what it cost. But the amount of time I spend in a grocery store versus the amount of money I could make if I had that time. My multiple on that time was huge. Was absolutely huge. And then I decided I wanted to.

[Doug]

Tell me. Tell me that you started the idea of Instacart. Did you saw that all the way to fruition? Right no, but you're founding.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Well, clearly I didn't, because I'm here with you. But what is funny is, oh, gee, the people. I called Meijer, our local regional chain in the Midwest. I called the people at Meijer and I explained what I wanted to do, and they kept bringing me further up the food chain. And the regional manager was like, yeah, I don't know anybody that would pay for that. Like. Like, we don't have anybody to do that. We don't have any way to get that done.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I'm like, I would totally pay to have somebody do my grocery shopping for me. He's like, I'm sorry, we just don't have a way to do it. So, yeah, thought of it and let it go.

[Doug]

Now a bunch of people do it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And now I'm suing Instacart for the rights to that idea. Talked about it on the podcast.

[Paula Pant]

Do you hear the expenses? That will fly. Spending that on the fly. And now pass you up the food chain, right? Yeah.

[Doug]

There are some things that I regret. Like doordash really kind of slapped me around sideways the other day. I wasn't paying attention. The Mrs. Was out, cooked this fantastic dinner, but it wasn't for us. It was like out of a movie. Like, everyone was upstairs. You've seen, like, the cartoons where, like, the dog smells the food and he's, like, floating to the smell of whatever it is. All of a sudden you could smell this garlic chicken thing come and, like, all the kids were upstairs. I was upstairs watching a game, and we're like, wow, that smells pretty good. And we all kind of float downstairs like, wow, that smells really good. Mom, what's for dinner? She goes, oh, this isn't for you. This is for my mom's group. We're like, seriously, it smells really good. What's for dinner? She goes, no, seriously, this isn't for you. I'm taking it to my mom's group. You guys are on your own. We're like, wait, what? You know, and so we ordered Doordash Wendy's, which is a terrible idea on every front because Wendy's is bad, Wendy's cold is worse. And apparently they don't charge you market prices on doordash for fast food. It's a multiple. And it literally, you know, I'm not going to say how much it was because that's. That'll really set Paula off, but it was like putting $6 of gas in my car, you know, 15 gallons of it. It was a lot.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I'm glad this entire show that was supposed to be helping people avoid charges has become, oh, geez, like conf.

[Doug]

Well, I'm just saying, like, I wish I would have paid attention to that because that I would have said, you know, I can drive to Wendy's for the kids. You know what I mean? Like I just did on the phone, like, whatever. And you know, that was four days ago.

[Paula Pant]

I'm actually with you though. I use Uber Eats to order Taco Bell delivery. Oh God, I've done that twice.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, I just can't do it. I can't do the doordash. I enjoy leaving my house. I enjoy just going out and getting it myself. I don't want to pay some. I'm sorry. If you do Uber Eats, I just don't want to be somebody's side hustle when I can go get his addresses.

[Doug]

On, you know, Marigold Court. If you want to spit this food next time, Joe, I'm going to jump.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

In here and say, this just happened to me the other day and, and it's something that I, I realized for years I've been being overcharged out of convenience. I kind of knew it, but I actually left the house thinking, I'm not going to go get food, I'm going to go get ingredients at the grocery store to make dinner. I wanted to make fajitas, so I needed bell peppers. It's nice to have a, you know, red, green and yellow bell peppers, but if it's not in season, usually you can't. They don't have like piles of them in the produce section. So I have gotten in the habit of grabbing those prepackaged, where there's one yellow, one red and one green bell pepper. And in the produce section that they have, those are all like you. Oh, I've got to take crudite to the cocktail party at my country club because I do that every week and gotta do what so you buy it.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Quickly becoming a show of the people.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

So I mean, I'm regular, I'm like everybody else.

[Doug]

So there I am having Jeeves order me some crudite for my country club.

[Paula Pant]

Party and you're making fun of me for airline lounges.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

You can't stand there in your plaid trousers and your sport coat cutting up the cauliflower. So you buy the stuff that's pre cut. Oh, and I did that. I bought the individual bell peppers or, you know, the all in cellophane. And you pay so much more for that when you could have just gone.

[Doug]

$3 for a jar of cut up watermelon or 99 cents for a watermelon.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Exactly right. These are things, these are habits we get into that are, they're so easy to avoid. Just buy a head of cauliflower ahead of broccoli and some carrots, put it on a plate and, and, and show up at Augusta National. You'll be well liked.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I, I had. And if you dress right, everybody will think you're the waiter. So you're good. I didn't realize the cost of cutting your own vegetables until I remember in my life it was actually Len, Len Penzo that brought that up and was like the surcharge on cutting your own or on having your food cut for you by the grocery store is a monster number.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

So it really is.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

So here's a question, Justin. Why do I feel so good paying a ton of money for a cup of coffee at my local place? Like, I get done, even going through the drive through, I get done and I got the warm coffee in my hand and I just, you know, had to take out a small loan to afford this coffee. But I feel great.

[Justin Peters]

Maybe it's the caffeine, I'm not sure. No, I do think there is a point if you're making the localization or supporting a small business, maybe you can get behind something like that. Sure. Or just buying something that you really, really enjoy. Which is kind of what I was getting back to the initial question with, with the gas tank. I do not want to pay a surcharge for just the avoidance of filling up my tank. But I'm happily we'll buy a hundred dollar concert ticket. That's totally fine with me. So just aligning what I'm spending on with what I really value is, is where my heart is.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Is there another place though, that makes you grown where you spend money and you're like, why, why, why, why, why?

[Justin Peters]

Oh, there's lots. Well, the one right now that I'm really struggling with is wedding vendors. I have recently been exploring wedding vendors and the outrageous cost there. I've had a lot of friends get married and I've been wanting to do a podcast episode around five ways to reduce your wedding cost. I went out and started figuring out how much does a wedding really cost? There was this like, number that $35,000 is the average wedding cost. And I was like, that seems ridiculous. No. I called a venue in Austin, a caterer in Austin, and a photographer and videographer, and I'm already blowing through that 35,000. So I, I was like struggling to even fit within the, the average. And I thought that was a bit ridiculous. So I'm still struggling there.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

How do you get around these things? So I think you got to plan a little more creatively. I know I'm going to a wedding this weekend, and it's in somebody's backyard. And I think just the intimacy of this beautiful backyard might even make it a nicer. Assuming the weather holds out. Right. Might make it a nicer event.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. The most inexpensive wedding that I ever attended. The couple threw it at a park. It was potluck. And they had a big spreadsheet, and everybody was assigned a different type of a dish. So they had a good selection of appetizers, main courses, desserts. They had their friends volunteer people took shifts. So friends volunteered to be the bartender. One of our good friends who is pretty talented at photography. She's not a professional, but she's. Her pictures are always really nice. Was their unofficial. Or was, I guess, their official unofficial official photographer? So it was really just everybody pitched in, like kind of like a community barn raising type of a wedding.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Did anybody care?

[Paula Pant]

I think we all enjoyed it more because we felt a sense of ownership. There was that participatory element, or sometimes it's nicer to be a participant than it is to simply be a spectator.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah. Justin, I think I stepped on something you were gonna say.

[Justin Peters]

That was exactly what I was gonna ask. I was kind of curious what the sentiment was by getting a job in that wedding.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. I think it gave all of us a. It was sort of a bonding thing because it's like, wow, I feel honored to be a close enough friend that you would ask me to, like, make a dish for your wedding. Not everybody can be in the wedding party, but there's a certain intimacy of like, wow, we are close enough that you would make that request. What a wonderful thing. It's the Ben Franklin effect.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

What do you mean by the Ben Franklin effect?

[Paula Pant]

So the Ben Franklin effect. It is a theory by Ben Franklin, if you ask somebody to do you a small favor, that person will actually end up liking you more. And so Ben Franklin would frequently ask people if he could borrow a book. And it wasn't even that he needed that particular book. It was that for the person to whom he was making the request. The very fact that they've now just invested a little bit of time into him, it can't be too onerous of a request.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Sure.

[Paula Pant]

But, like, they invested just a little bit of time into him. Now they kind of like him more because they've invested into him. They want him to Succeed. It's sort of like, you know, you bond with a pet because you take care of it. That. That caretaking element often leads to increased closeness.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It is interesting. You know, they talk about life being about connections. And this book, Keith Farazi's book, Never Eat Alone, talks about having a party and asking people, you know, and even if you don't have a super nice house, you live in an apartment. And. And he says in his book, nobody cares. And if you don't have any money for food, just do a potluck and serve like a soup. Because just the. And this might go over differently after Covid than it did before COVID but just the communal nature of eating out of a big pot of soup together kind of brings you closer together.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

That's disgusting.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I don't. I don't mean eating out of the same spoon, just ladling it out into your cavemen.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

What are you doing here?

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

It's not filet mignon.

[Doug]

Beef Wellington.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yeah, that's interesting. Anyway, I think we're going to leave it there like a lot of Fridays. I'm glad we solved the problem of the Xbox problem by buying a second Xbox. We saved our time by making sure.

[Doug]

I think there's going to be people who write in and go. That is one of the most egregiously excess things that I've heard. But I think there might be a person or two that goes. That, sir, is brilliant. Tip of the hat to you, sir. Yeah, well done.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Maybe somebody like Jeff Bezos or Warren.

[Doug]

Buffett, the guy who owns stock in Nebraska Furniture Mart. Yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

As you name, drop the company.

[Doug]

Thank you for visiting.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Well, and I was also thinking, I think another important part of this episode, the social proof that McDonald's had when they had the, you know, the number going up like everybody eats here. We could do the same thing. Oh, gee. We should put both stackers served by.

[Doug]

Today'S episode and tens of listeners.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Four or five listeners served on today's episode. Let's send those four or five people to the brilliant work that you guys do. Well, let's start off with OG what do you got going on this weekend, man?

[Doug]

Oh, this weekend upcoming is spring break weekend. And of course it's the basketball tournaments.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Kicking off end of the Big ten tournament this weekend.

[Doug]

Yeah. So it's a big conflux of. Of stuff. Well, I guess this is Friday, so this weekend not starts spring break, but we. We're going to go skiing next week, so. So I'll be gone. See you.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Awesome.

[Doug]

Best wishes.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

You taking the 60 inch TVs with.

[Doug]

You and no, the condo that we rent has all that stuff.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And well, if our guest. The last. Our guest of honor go last. Paula, what's going on? Afford Anything.

[Paula Pant]

So on the Afford Anything podcast, we have a debate between Paul Merriman and big urn, Karsten Jeska. It was inspired by the Forget About Money podcast, which is where the idea originated.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Our friend, David Boyer.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, the debate started off as should you just vtsax and chill, or should you have a more diversified portfolio that has some small cap value in it? That's where we started. And we went. I mean, it was a two hour debate and by the end of it, they were talking about the existence of God.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

I wonder, by the way, who started that debate? How do you think that debate first got started? Oh, no, I'm joking. Because of course it was you and me.

[Paula Pant]

Well, we seated the efficient frontier conversation.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

But like, I think we started off by saying VTS X is stupid.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah. VTS X and chill is stupid.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yes.

[Paula Pant]

Yeah, that is how it seated. Yeah.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

And to be clear, not for beginners. For beginners, it's perfect. But later on. And then Big Earn, by the way, called me a small cap value fanboy, which Earn I'm still upset about. Not a fanboy anyway. And that's all at the Afford Anything podcast.

[Paula Pant]

Yes, that's at the Afford Anything podcast.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Debating the existence of God, right?

[Paula Pant]

Yes. Small cap value and existence of God.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Justin, it's about time we got this done, man.

[Justin Peters]

Yeah, I'm glad we did. I'm stoked to be here today. If you guys want to hang out with me a little bit more. The struggle is real on all your favorite podcast players. You can come and find some things like how to negotiate your medical bills. And I got some fun ones coming up around real estate investing, how to get started with that, and how to double your income in the next year with Andrew G and Cola. So should be some fun ones coming out.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Awesome. Andrew is such a great guy.

[Justin Peters]

He's a rock star.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Yep. Super. And that's on the Struggle is Real podcast. We're finest. The finest podcast.

[Justin Peters]

Yes.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Are found. All right, big thanks to you, Justin. To you, Paula, and thanks to all of you for hanging out with us Stackers. If you're live on YouTube with us or if you're listening later. Thanks a ton. Doug, you've been making the to do list. What should be our top three?

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Well, Joe, first take some advice from our very own polysyllabic. Paula, tell us again why it's okay to mooch off your friends, Paula.

[Paula Pant]

Well, your friends make the best soup. And if you. You can get your friends to just ladle the soup into your mouth, then you never have to buy groceries again.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

Gross. Second, even though he prances around all day showing off the fact that he has two first names, Justin Peters had a single brilliant thought. Justin, can you summarize for us again why none of us should ever, ever, ever get married? I mean, how to save money on a wedding?

[Justin Peters]

Yeah, I don't know. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Doug, I'm sorry.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

All right, get back to us. But the big lesson, if you're too young to remember the McDonald's pie, here's all you have to do to replicate the process. Take something fried, shove it in the microwave for like 68 minutes so it's just the surface of the sun hot, and then shove it right into your mouth the second it gets out. That's just step one. Step two, start screaming and like, just don't stop screaming. Step three, wait too long, then to finish it and eat as much too cold apple pie and the taste is just disgusting. And voila. You've replicated the McDonald's pie experience. Thanks to the Justin Peters for joining us today. You'll find the Struggle Is Real podcast wherever you're listening to us right now. We'll also include links in our show [e-mail] thanks to Paula Pant for hanging out with us today. You'll find her fabulous and loquacious podcast Afford Anything wherever you listen to finer podcasts. And finally, thanks also to OG for joining us. Looking for good financial planning help or a good scorekeeper for your baseball game? Head to stackingbenjamins.com OG for his calendar. This show is the property of SP Podcast, 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 the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

And before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don't take advice from people. You don't.

[Joe Saul-Sehy]

No.

[Joe's Mom's Neighbor Doug]

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 Stacking Benjamin show.