Ask HTM - Requesting a Credit Limit Increase, Path to Homeownership Considerations, and Biking with Kids #220

question as well that has to do with bikes. We're gonna make a bike recommendation to somebody because he knows our love, our passion of all sorts of bikes out there. So excited to get to that last question as well. Yeah, we don't want them to spend too much, but you know what, a bike is one thing that's worth spending a little bit more on, I think, and I would be willing to say that a bike is an investment

as well. There's not many things that we spend money on that go down in value that I would consider an investment, but bikes totally are because think about all the money that it's saving you by not driving around. It's a good point. Yeah, bikes are definitely a worthwhile purchase. I don't know if I'm willing to call a bike in investment, but I think it's a worthwhile purchase because it can say while purchase for sure. Yeah all right, okay, question for you frugal or cheap. Let's do this. We

haven't done it in a minute, Let's do it. Uh. So recently I heard about this this company. I think they're an Instagram ad called Propane Taxi. And wait, how do you say propane? You say propane, propane, propane, propane, propane, all right, the emphasist is on the first the wrong sellable. So okay. So I saw this ad, I decided, wow, ten dollar propane tank delivered to my porch. Why not,

I'll give it a shot. And so so I signed up, and they delivered it when they said they were going to and literally it was I want to say it was eight dollars and fifty cents. Because I chose a date like two weeks off in the future would save me even more money. And it's like Amazon slow ship the five dollars of random credit that you'll never be

able to find exactly exactly. And so yeah, the propane tank showed up and man, it was super seamless, but you know, my initial thought when I first placed the order, when I first ordered that tank, was I'm never going to use these guys again, because I saw their regular rates that we were like twenty three to a tank, and I know I can go just down to the whole hardware store and I can get the same tank for fourteen bucks. But yeah, what's your take on that?

Is it frugal or cheap to sign up for a service because of the initial deal knowing in all likelihood you're never going to use that service again. Man, this is such a tough question, and I could constantly struggle with questions like this as well, because in an instance like this here, here's why I struggle. It is because I feel pretty confident in my ability to say no, Like I'm pretty sure I'm never going to use the

company like that again. It's funny that you mentioned them, because I'm looking at swapping out one of my things with him as well. I think I got the same

Instagram ad that you did. Uh, Because now that a summer, we're doing a lot more grilling, you know, But obviously that the company is banking on the fact that you'll use them, you will realize how great they are, you know, the convenience that they're able to provide that you won't have to lug your you know, the heavy, nasty propane tank around, you know, it's got like grease drippings on

it to completely avoid that. They'll think that you'll kind of fall in love with their service and that you will just kind of stick with it, But I struggle with it knowing that I'm I'm going to cancel it, right if if I sign up for that service, I'm pretty sure I'm going to cancel. I'm pretty confident in my ability to say no, and that that's not going to be something that I just kind of slowly, you know, upgrade my quality of life by you know, taking part

in this delivery service. But even still that being said, they they're taking that into accounts. They know that they are going to be some people who try their service, like you exactly, who are gonna take advantage of that discounted first pro pain tank and then they're gonna walk away. And so I think they know that, right, and so it's built into their business model, and so therefore I label it frugal. I think it's a y is you

some money? I think I'm with you on this because I think the their goal, their effort is to try to provide a great service and show you how wonderful it can be. And you know what, I'm leaving room in the back of my mind that I could be persuaded that I'm just gonna start having propane tanks delivered to my porch, but in a likelihood that's that's not

gonna happen. I'm not willing to pay ten dollars extra every time I need to refill, but I was willing to give it a shot, knowing full well there was

a really good chance I never used them again. So I'm gonna go frugal, even though you know, maybe maybe some of our audience would say say it's cheap, but I think it's worth it to take advantage of an initial offer, and that It's happened to me before where I took advantage of an initial offer and I didn't think I was going to be a sticky customer, and

then I ended up being one. For instance, one time when I switched banks and that there was, you know, an initial bonus to sign up and transfer your money over, and I was like, cool, Yeah, I'm totally gonna ditch and go back to my bank after I get that free money, and I didn't. I ended up liking what that bank had to offer and it felt worthwhile. It

kept him around in my life. So yeah, I'm gonna say frugal when you take advantage of one of those offers that is readily available, it's frugal, it's not cheap. And plus, we're talking about propane taxi a lot right now. We have no affiliation with them at all, but it's something you and I just felt like discussing. I'm willing to bet that they think that this is probably a huge win, uh, and that we're actually losing out. All right, man, let's go ahead. Take it to the beer. This episode,

we are drinking a beer by Wild Leap. This one is called Time, Love and Tenderness and this is a double I p A. I'm looking forward to sharing this one with you, buddy, and we'll give our tasing notes what we think about this beer at the end of the episode. You know it, all right, Matt, onto the list of questions that we're gonna answer on today's episode for folks that have a question that they want to submit for the show. Matt and I would love to

take your question on a future episode. Just go to our website how to money dot com slash ask. You'll find the simple directions there for how to submit a voice question so we can feature it on the show and then answer it. So, Matt, let's get to the first one. This one's about asking for a credit limit increase. Hi, this is Lisa from Baton Rouge. I recently paid off to credit cards and a friend advised that I asked for a credit limit in reas on either or both

of them because she said it would increase my credit score. Now, I was planning on leaving the accounts open, not using them, and letting the account closing process happen naturally, so to speak. So I'm wondering if what she said is accurate and if y'all had any advice on that. Thank you, Lisa, thanks so much for that question, and congrats on paying

off your credit card debt. That is awesome. Paying off consumer debt, especially spread out over a couple of cards like that, that is no easy feat, you know, especially during this recession as well, So good job. There takes a lot of dedication to make that happen, absolutely so so, Lisa, credit limit increases. They are traditionally a great thing to

ask of your credit card company. They can lift your credit score nicely because so much of your score is a reflection of how much of your available credit you are actually using. So as a reminder, you don't want to be using much of your available credit, but you do want a lot of it available to you. Yeah, it's such an odd system, Matt, that it's set up that way, where you look better the more credit you have access to, but where you're not using much of it.

It's very confusing to a lot of people. Yeah, sort of like if you have a ferrari, but the credit bureaus only when to see you take that up to like twenty hour. But that being said, Lisa, you are unlikely to get a limit increase in today's environment, credit card companies are actually slashing limits because they're worried about people relying too much on the credit cards right now. So traditionally this is great advice, but it's actually unlikely

to to work for you right now. Yeah, you probably don't want to call your credit card company asking for a credit limit increase just because they're likely to say now, So probably best to avoid that conversation for the time being. And Lisa, you are right to leave those cards open, but we would prefer that you actually use them on occasion, right, maybe two to four times a year, maybe once a month on a recurring monthly subscription something like that, because

you actually don't want those cards to close. And if you leave them open but then stop using them all together, eventually that credit card company is going to close it for you. Uh, And that's not what you want. Using that credit card in a limited fashion and then having it paid automatically every single month is going to keep that credit score alive in your credit mix, and it's going to help out your credit score over time. And the great thing is then you don't even really have

to think about it. That card is helping your score in a big way just by using it sparingly and then paying off the balance in full every month. Yeah. And there are a couple instances though, when we would recommend closing a credit card, Lisa. One is you know, if you're likely to run up more credit card debt by using those cards, because just because that credit is available, right, If that's the case, If that's you, then go ahead

and close those cards. Now, this is an instance where knowing yourself and being honest with yourself is really important, honestly, Joe, this kind of makes me think of like if someone has, you know, say, a drinking problem, right uh, and they are quitting alcohol, it's probably not a good idea just to keep alcohol just around the house just in case you're gonna be more likely to lapse. And you know, if someone knows that that's a temptation for them, well

that's just not a wise move. Having a drink now and then it's a good thing, it's something that you and I enjoy. But if you know it's going to be a problem, just remove it from your life completely. I think credit cards are very similar. If you have a spending problem, well it's not a good idea just to keep these cards with high credit limits available to

you just sitting around. And then another instance where you'd want to close the cards is if it has an annual fee and you aren't taking advantage of those extra benefits. There are a lot of great cards out there that have no annual fee with great benefits, especially cash back. Juel, I know that you're a big fan of the City Double Cash card, where you are two percent on every single purchase. Yeah, keeps it simple on everything. Yeah. I love that. Uh, and so we'll link to that card

in our show notes. But there are a lot of cards like that one that have no annual fee every single year, and you can take advantage of some of those benefits without having to pay extra. Yeah. All right, Matt, We're gonna get to you some more questions, including the one about the path to homeownership. How you start to even think about buying a house, what that looks like. We'll get to that and more questions right after the break. Alright, Joel,

back from the break. He's still hanging in there. I'm here, buddy, I'm ready. All right, Before we get to that question about home ownership, let's get to a question about how to you go about paying off a loan. Hey, Matt and Joel, this is Cassie from Liberty, Missouri. I love your show. I love that you drink beer. Makes my day anyway. Um, we have an installment loan that we got a couple of years ago for some sighting and

windows on a property. It's six with a maturity date of This is the only debt we have besides our home. We want to get this paid off as soon as possible. I don't want to pay this interest rate forever. What are my options? We want to pay it off very quickly, especially with the economy like it is in the interest rates being low, but we're just looking for options. I don't really know what to do with it. Any advice or help would be much appreciated. Thank you, Cassie. Thanks

for your question. By the way, drinking a good beer makes our days too, doesn't Matt. Yeah, I'm glad to hear that she enjoys us enjoying a beer. That makes me happy. All right, Cassie, let's get onto your question about paying off an installment loan, and we we so love your motivation to pay off that debt quickly. Seven percent is an expensive interest rate, especially in today's environment, and you definitely don't want to be paying on that

loan for the next nine years. But you also don't want to pay off that installment loan by any means necessary. Right there. There are certain things you need to take into consideration before you aim all of your money arsenal at this at this debt, and in particular, given the trying times we find ourselves in, you don't want to wipe out all of your emergency fund that you have saved up. You you want to be able to maintain at least some financial margin right now, even while you're

making paying off this debt a big priority in your life. Yeah, exactly, you don't want to completely wipe out all of your cash reserves to just pay down this installment loan and Cassie Let's mention credit cards as well. You know, since this installment alone was used for home improvement, it sounds like you might have a larger balance, and so you may not be able to do a balanced transfer and pay off that installment alone with a zero percent balance

transfer credit card. And even if you could, you probably wouldn't want to because if you were to do that, the clock would then be ticking on that credit card and you might only have fifteen months or or maybe at most twenty one months to pay off that card. And you don't want to put yourself in a position where you're gonna see the interest rate really go sky high after that zero percent window has expired. Yeah. So, ultimately, for Cassie, Matt, you and I think that a helock

is is ideal for her. Rates on those are roughly half of what Cassie is currently paying, and there are typically no closing costs associated with with getting a helock. Rates are so low they're very competitive, and so yeah, that's the direction that Cassie, we would suggest you go in in order to make sure more of your money, more of your payments are going towards eliminating the debt,

not just going towards interest. One other thing that makes the helock even a better idea right now is that the Federal Reserve has indicated that they're gonna keep rates low for a while in all likelihood through two. A home equity line of credit does not come with a fixed rate, and that is one downside of the helock, right that your rate can increase over the life of the loan, But because of the likelihood that that rates are not going to go up in the next few years,

that makes the helock a whole lot less risky. So while current borrowers have seen their rates decline, which is awesome if you currently have a helock, if you take out a loan right now, you will likely see your rate rise at some point during the payoff period. But with how low rates are currently, with how low we expect them to be over the next few years. I think it's not a terribly risky position to put yourself in.

You're gonna be able to pay off so much in in the next three or four years that by the time rates do potentially start to rise, I think your your balance is just gonna be so much lower that a helock still makes the most sense. Yeah, it is a perfect time to get a helock, that is, if you can secure one. One other thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the bigger banks aren't currently offering helocks. But that's actually fine, because we'd want you to look round to some local small banks or

local credit unions where many are still offering helocks. So you know, in the end, helock will likely be the best option for you because you're going to be drastically cutting your right now, making it easier to pay down the loan more quickly. So Cassie, do some shopping locally for a helock, and yeah, see what kind of rate you can get, no doubt, all right, and helocks matt or associated with home ownership, and that is what our next question is about. Hey Man and Joel, I hope

you guys are doing Well, my name is John. I'm from Los Angeles, California. I just want to start off by saying how much of a fan I am. I listened every episode and I even write down notes in a journal. Because of your advice, I was able to pay off all of my credit card debt in school, a loan, and even starting h s A, a RATH and a high interest savings account. I have a quick

question for you guys about home ownership. My next financial goal was to be able to own a house, but given the renting culture and high rent coss in California, I'm not really sure how to start or even where to look. For context, I previously live in San Francisco. We're renting an apartment, usually at a high cost, seems to be the norm, so the idea of actually owning a house seems a little foreign to me. Any guidance

on starting name path towards homeownership would be amazing. Thanks guys, Joel. I don't know if you heard that question, but John is getting after it man. That is amazing, paying down all those debts and killing student loans. Uh. And he started investing in hs A and a ROTH. That's amazing. Yeah, And he's taking notes during the podcast. That's super impressive that maybe our show, notut should be a little more detailed, John,

So you don't have to do that. I don't know, But let's talk about John's question in the path to home ownership, John, first, you need to decide if that's the path you actually want to be on when you start looking at numbers. Homeownership is definitely not a slam dunk for everyone. There are a lot of additional expenses

that hopeful homeowners overlook. It's so easy to get starry eyes when you're looking at homes on red fin or zillo dot com and to imagine yourself living in this new place and crunching the numbers can fall by the wayside because we fall in love with the idea of owning our own place. And John, in particular, because you live in an expensive city, that means it's even less likely to make sense for you to buy a home, and in particular, in expensive cities, primary residents can often

be terrible investments. And Matt, we've talked overall about how home ownership, Buying a home is not necessarily a good financial move, and in many cases it's a terrible financial move. We talked about that in detail John on episode thirty, if you want to check that one out. So, if you're just crunching the numbers, renting might continue to make the most sense, although it doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't buy home. It just means that it might not

make the most financial sense for you. Yeah, And another thing to consider too is that home ownership it's about more than just the dollars. It's more than just about the money, right, There's a sense of place and permanence that you can get from owning a home, uh and feeling rooted to a spot. But it's a good thing to think through whether or not this is something that

is really important to you. You know, maybe a good question to ask yourself is, you know, have I even enjoyed being at home during you know, sheltering in place, if house projects, and in gardening. If that sounds like fun to you, then buying a home sounds like it could be a good fit. But if you've been issuing to get back to traveling and you know, maybe seeing friends in other cities, then maybe owning your own home, owning your own house, maybe that's not going to be

a good idea for you. Yeah, and in a place like San Francisco, you might not even have access to any sort of place to to grow a garden. I don't know, I don't know, but yeah, and that's all square foot gardening. You grow, you go verticals. Okay, all right, so yeah, John. Another lifestyle consideration is knowing and and even committing to being able to live in that house

for a certain amount of time. Five years is often recommended, but but we like to air on the side of caution and say that if you're gonna buy a house, you should really plan to live there for at least seven years. That's because of the massive transaction costs associated with buying or selling a home. The great thing is, if you're buying a home right now, you can lock in a fixed rate for a long period of time that is incredibly low, making it potentially a better decision

to buy right now. Yeah. Rates are close to two ten year lows right now, Yeah, which which could lower your monthly costs right on on your mortgage, which helps put a positive check mark in that column of wanting to buy a home. But don't forget that if you decide to sell your home within just a few years. Even if phone prices haven't gone down, because of just those transaction costs of real estate agents and closing costs, you you could be taking a loss on that home.

And so yeah, you're gonna want to be able to commit to staying in that place for at least seven years. Yes, six percent alone, just in realtor fees can be a lot of money when it comes time to sell, Yeah, for sure. So John, let's assume though, that you've thought through all these things, you do want to buy a home and you're ready to maybe pull the trigger. It

is important to save up. A healthy down payment is ideal to qualify for the best rates out there and to avoid p M. I Also, you want to make sure that your credit score is in great shape too, in order to get the best rates. And you can also ensure that you get the best rate by shopping around with a minimum of three lenders. But you know what, we would even prefer more than that if you can kind of nerd out a little bit and shop it by maybe two more lenders and have a total of five.

You just want to make sure that you are really getting the best rate, and you do that by comparing and so Once you have financings right away, the next thing you wanna do is to get some recommendations on a great realtor who has a lot of experience helping buyers and sellers in the specific location that you hope to buy a home in. You want to tour a

lot of homes, get an inspection. Uh, there's a lot of details involved with the actual home buying process, but again, a great realtor will help you tremendously and will help you to, you know, walk through that entire process. Yeah, Matt, you said to our a lot of homes. I think that's really crucial. I think I think anybody shopping in particular for their first home should should step foot in in at least ten homes, and honestly, probably more like

twenty because there are so many idiosyncrasies to houses. Every neighborhood is different, every home is different. So the more that you can walk around houses and see what's different, what's unique, the more that can help you become an informed buyer. And that part of the equation actually typically

gets people excited. Cool, I want to go look at ten or twenty homes, But the thing that doesn't typically excite people is shopping uh their rate with different lenders and getting different quotes and comparing the apples to apples. But that is something that you and I are proponents of. It might be a little nerdy, not quite as fun as going and touring a bunch of homes, but it's something that's super necessary if you want to lower those

monthly costs of voting at home. That's right, man. All right, We've got a couple more questions we're gonna get to you after the break, including that one about bikes, as well as selling some company's stock. We'll get to those in a minute. All right, Matt, we're back from the break, and the next question up is one about selling company stock. That's appreciated nicely. Hi, Joel and Matt. This is Megan

from Sunny San Diego, California. Currently, my company's stock is at an all time high, and if I sell both my long term and some of my short term stock, I could pay off all of my high interest credit card debt. I'm wondering if I should sell just enough to cover my debt, only sell my long term stock to avoid the short term capital gains tax, or let it continue to rise. I do have savings and a four oh one. K. Well, thank you so much for taking my carne Cheers, Joel. First of all, I feel

like Megan's maybe rubbing it in a little bit. She lives in sunny San Diego. We get it, Megan. You live in a great town with great craft beer and it's always great weather. We understand, that's right. What's your your favorite brewery there in San Diego? Modern Times is there? Modern Times is excellent. I've been to Al Smith that's

an excellent spot as well. But like there's too many account like it's really it's really just too hard to name a favorite brewery in California or San Diego in particular. It's a good place to live, for sure. I've heard this one. They're called Pure Project. That's supposed to be really good as well. I don't think they distribute, though,

so we'll see. And I'm also a little curious to what company Megan works for, because she said that her company stock is doing really well during these difficult, kind of weird times, and so, like I know, she doesn't work for J. C. Penny. Probably not one of the

airlines either, Yeah, exactly. Yeah, But I think let's get to the heart of Megan's question, And man, I think like our first response when when we heard Bangan's question was heck, yes, you should tell right if your if your company stock has risen this much and you have high interest credit card debt at the same time, you should sell it and pay that credit card debt off. And and and in Megan's questions, she said, or should I

continue to let it rise? And if if any of us could predict the future and know that this stock was going to continue to rise, well then I think we might have a different take, right. But but none of us knows the future of of Megan's company, It's particular stock. We don't have any insight as to what the stock market is going to do tomorrow or a year from now. But what we do know is is that credit card debt will eat you alive with interest

rates that never stop in the range. So I think it's a fairly easy decision in our minds, right to sell all the stock, pay off your debt, be done with credit card debts, and then Megan, do your best not to run up those credit cards anymore, not to do any spending on them that you can't pay off

at the end of the month. Yeah, Joe, I totally agree, you know, Megan, even though it's worked out for you up until now, Like, we're not huge fans of of having really any company's stock in your portfolio, like I personally would have none. There's just too much risk having both your paycheck in your investments with one single company. Uh. You know, so you'd be lowering your risk in multiple ways by selling the stock and getting rid of your

credit card debt. You know, if your company is offering, you know, an E SPP employee stock purchase plan, go ahead and do get those shares at a discount, but then sell them as soon as possible. Otherwise we would recommend that you just stick with widely diversified, low cost index funds, and you can get those with our favorites Fidelity and Vanguard. Yes, so I think basically Megan's going

to get the best of both worlds. Where she scored really big with her company stock and had this just incredible ability to be able to get rid of her credit card debt and one fell swoop, and when she sells her stock in order to pay off that credit card debt, she's doing something else that's great. She won't have nearly as much writing on her employer right her paycheck, and then also a good bit of her investments. So Matt,

I I totally agree. I think selling it getting rid of the debt, It's really helpful for Megan's finances in multiple ways. Nice all right, Joel, So you and I we love bikes. Our next question has to do with biking with your kid, So let's go ahead and hear that one. Angel and Matt. This is Alec from Los Angeles. I love listening to your podcast. Thanks so much for all the information you provide me and all your listeners.

You guys do a great job. I actually have a question that deals with your passion for bikes and cycling. I recently sold my old, but still in great shape road bike. I decided to sell it because I hadn't been on it in a while, but the main reason I sold it was to try to make some money in order to purchase a new bike to take my sixteen month old daughter on rides with me using a

rear mounted child's seat. I'm very much a novice when it comes to bikes and everything that goes into the things I should look for in a bike, but I definitely know that a road bike is not the best option for adding a child seat. Consider myself a tall guy six too, and adding a child seat in the baby's way I know won't fly with a road bike. I did some research and I read that I should go with the hybrid bike because I don't want a mountain bike and I know I don't want a cruiser.

But I found that even within the hybrid category there's so many different types. Anyways, you guys know a lot more about bikes and now welcome your thoughts and opinions. Oh and one last thing, Just like you guys, I would like to keep this purchase on a budget five or below would be best, but if the best bang for your buck bike is out there a little higher than that, then I would have to weigh my the pros and cons of the price and the actual bike.

Thanks and keep up the great work, Alex. Great question, Matt May. We always love talking about bikes, so you don't have to twist our arms to take your question on the show. And he's a tall guy like you did that, Yeah, it mid six too. He doesn't have he doesn't have your six four going on, but he's still pretty tall six five buddy six Yeah, dude, like barely six ft. It can't make it harder to find a bike for taller people. Yeah, seriously, for sure you've

had issues with bikes them specifically. I know. Yeah, I literally had to buy an aftermarket one for my rad bike because yeah, what they came what it came with was meant for people up to six ft two people, So ID to go on eBay and find find one on my own. But yeah, that being said to, bike sales have been through the roof lately. I saw that r I said that new bike sales are up four times uh the amount they normally are lately, So people are super into biking and largely because of the pandemic

and there's nothing else to do. And that we mentioned too how in this past spring it's been even tougher to find a used bike. So if something does randomly get posted on on Craigslist or Facebook, it gets snatched up super quick because a lot of traditional bike shops and websites are completely sold out or they're just running thin on stock. So Alex, we're gonna do our best to give you some great advice on how to find

a great bike. But also, no, it just might be a little bit tougher right now in order to get that exact bike you want. Yeah, a lot of companies are still selling bikes, but they're back ordered as well. Uh so, Alex. There are a lot of different definitions out there, but I would recommend either a hybrid or a gravel bike, And it sounds like you kind of came upon hybrid bike on your own. Hybrid will be a little more suited for on road riding and will

likely put you in a more upright riding position. So this means it will be a little more comfortable and casual. And because of that though, don't expect to go, you know, as fast, You're not going to be in as aggressive of a position. But if you are looking for maybe more of a do everything kind of bike, check out gravel or adventure bikes. That's actually what I just picked up from ari I, which is funny that you mentioned ari a jel, but I picked up a gravel bike.

They are tougher than road bikes, but they have tire clearances that allow for you know, some fatter knobby or tires, so you can also easily ride fast on dirt and gravel. But then you can take it easy when you put the kids seat back on. And so I'm not saying that you're gonna be riding super fast on dirt or gravel with your kid on board, but with a lot of those kids seats, you're able to kind of pop

them on and off pretty easily. And so if you did go with one of these gravel bikes, I personally like that because it kind of opens up a lot more riding options for you and then you're not only confined to the pavement. Yeah, man, I think you're right. I think either one of those kinds of bikes with a kid's heat on it, it is great for hauling

around one kid, I think two for for Alex. One thing we're considering is if there's a chance that you're gonna have more children at some point, you're gonna have

more kidos riding on your bike. A cargo bike could still be a great move, And Alex mentioned this in this question in a particular brand that you've had for a long time that I think makes great pretty inexpensive cargo bikes, although they're still above the threshold that Alex was hoping to stayander is Yuba Bikes, and they have a newer bike called the Combi that is a thousand dollars, but you could put two, maybe even three kids on the back of there and it'd be a solid bike

for a lot of years. So so much of it depends on kind of what you want to do, whether you're gonna be riding only with your kids on back, or whether you're gonna be riding solo to or whether you want to be able to remove the kids seat and then ride on your own, or you're only doing kind of family rides. But yeah, you be worth checking out.

They make some great bikes. Yeah, and Joel, you and I will live on the East coast here in Atlanta, but you but they're actually headquarters somewhere out there on the West coast, I'm pretty sure in California, maybe even close to where Alex lives. So Alex, you could maybe even check them out in person, which would be a

lot of fun and something else to Alex. I wanted to mention, if you are going to consider a traditional bike and you're gonna go with the bike seat, I would recommend checking out some of those bike seats that mount not on the rear of the bike but instead on the front, where it's mounted in between the handlebars and your seat. I personally really like these seats because, first of all, your arms are kind of wrapped around the kid while you're riding, and so it kind of,

I don't know, it encloses them a little bit. I think they feel a little safer because they're inside your arm cage a little bit there. But you can also talk to them while you're writing, which man I found that to be so awesome because you're basically talking them through what you're doing. And then plus two, they're not just staring at your butt the whole time. The whole time you're riding. Man, I have pictures of my kids on the back of my bike and I swear on

my butts right in their face. I feel bad for him, but we still have a blast ride around. But Truly Uh, they are a company that makes one of those, and it's called the Truly Yep Mini, and we'll put a link to that in our show notes as well. But that's a really solid company and to make a really good one that's really secure and alex for an actual bike, right,

a non cargo bike. My favorite discount buying site is bikes direct dot com on there you can definitely find a solid hybrid or solid gravel bike for five bucks or less. For sure. I've had numerous friends purchased bikes from on there. I've purchased a bike from them before. I currently have a friend who actually has ordered one from them, and it's again, not surprisingly, it's on back order.

But they are a solid online seller of bicycles. Even though their website may not look totally legit actually could totally use a little revamp, couldn't they. But but you're buying essentially straight from the manufacturer, no middleman. It's why their bikes are easily less than what you would pay for an equivalent bike from a major retailer or straight from a company that maybe you're more familiar with. But those bikes on that site are solid, all right, man?

That makes me wanna get out of here and go start riding my bike otto, doesn't it best to elect to alex finding something great and making some memories on the bike. I mean, that's one of the best things about about having a bike and riding with your kids is the memories you make, the places you go. We're hopping in a car to go to that same place, just doesn't quite do it. It's not the same in experienced.

I mean, for me again, literally having that bike seat where they're where Eavy, our oldest was sitting up front there, Like I have such great memories of riding around the city with her between my arms, you know, telling her where we're going, what we're doing, you know, pointing things out like look at that doggie, you know, and things

like that. And that's not the kind of experience you have riding around in a car or even you know, if if the kids in a trailer, Like trailers are pretty safe and they're a great way to haul kids around as well, but they're in their own little vehicle behind you that you're telling and you can't interact with them. I'm a big fan of the seats right there between your arms. Yeah, for sure. Man. All right, let's get back to the beer that we had on the show today.

We drank Wild Leap Time Love and Tenderness Double I p A. And I feel like there should be some slow jams playing behind us while when you recap the beer that we had on the show, not what were your thoughts on this one? Well, first of all, I wanted to mention Wild leap this. They are no stranger to the show. We definitely have had their beers on before, and they just continue to make solid, delicious I p a S that are kind of the new I PA that are a little hazy. Uh. This one, in particular

was lush. I feel like that's the best way to I could describe it. But it was juicy. It was full bodied, uh and fruity at the same time, with just like a little bit of that hot kick to it. Uh, kind of that hot dryness going on, but mixed in with all the florals and all that fruitiness. This was a really delicious one. And again, I feel like we should branch out a little bit and try different beers because we constantly drink I p a S. But it's

because we love them so much. They're so delicious. Yeah, this one was soft, sweet, proof forward. Yeah, like a juicy fruit gum or something like that. But I really, yeah, I really dug this one wildly. Man. They've been making some good beers there about an hour south, forty minutes south of where we are. I've never been there neither, but you know, one of these days we'll take a bike road trip down there. Let's do it? Can our

legs handle it? Oh no, we can't bike down there, but we can like drive down there with our bikes and you know, find a trailer or something like that. Yeah, find a gravel road to ride around on our venture bikes. That sounds good. All right, Well, Matt, that's gonna do it for this episode. And for folks who want to read the show notes for this episode, we'll just go to our website how to money dot com. You'll find

them there. And we would also be incredibly thankful if you not only subscribe to the show but left us a solid review. It is always helpful and a big thanks in advance. So Joel, that's going to be a buddy until next time. Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.