Employer Benefits You're Missing Out On #326

wasn't receiving benefits. It was all taxes. But there are a lot of benefits that sometimes are deductive from our paychecks. And that's what we're gonna focus on today. Not all benefits that you might receive from your employer are deducted from your paycheck, but about half the ones we're gonna talk about today are, and about half of them aren't. I'm excited to talk about this today with you, my friend. Yeah, let's talk about something that we're not deducted from your paycheck.

Probably back then, I'm sure you got to hit the golf ball some like, you know, for free. I'm sure you got some free food from the clubhouse on occasion pretty much anytime we wanted, probably got to act like a madman in the golf cards and driving around the golf course, and unlimited range tokens as well. You can just go by, grab some of those range tokens, head over to the driving range, smash a bucket of balls if you wanted to. It was a lot of fun

back the day. Those are the important kind of things that to take note of when you're especially when you're talking about a teenage job. Oh, certainly meaningful as a kid. Yeah, sure, those secondary benefits really do pay off in a big way, like, oh cool, let's stay for an extra hour and hit some balls on the range for free. But yeah, real quick,

before we get to our topic. Um, there's this game I stumbled upon called Money Habitudes, and it's a game that apparently is supposed to help you talk about money, And yeah, I was just wondering, like, you got a chance to take a look at it too, What are your thoughts that? Don you think? You and I are big fans of encouraging people to start money conversation sas, and we know that it can be hard. You don't want to necessarily just go out there and be like, hey,

how much money do you make every year? You know, it's like a bad question to get the ball rolling, but you know there are it's a bit abrasive, right exactly, peper to ask it like that? Well whoa slow down? Um, But there's obviously some some good that comes from opening up the lines of money communication. And yeah, I was

wondering do you think a game can be helpful on that? Well, so I do like it because it provides a format or a framework to have these conversations in right, the actual So it's like a deck of cards almost uh uh, this habitudes money habitudes like cards against humanity, but for money and way safer, way less offensive. And honestly, on the face of it, it's a little cheesy, you know, like I was reading some of the cards and some

of the prompts. Really it's a bit lame. But the thing is it doesn't have to be the coolest thing ever. Like the whole point is to get the ball rolling, to get these conversations started. And you know that there's a deck of cards, and you know, and you can play it with somebody else too, Like that's the whole point is that, Like, in particular, if you have a significant other, you sit down together and you can flip through these and essentially you identify with you know, what

it's saying on the card. You either say, oh, that's totally me, or that's me sometimes or that's never me. Uh. And so it's a good way to talk with you know, a partner about money, but you can also do it by yourself. And so I think it could be a good thought exercise if these are things that you haven't really thought all the way through. Maybe you listen to the podcast, but maybe you're wanting to see where you stand when it comes to some of these other areas

that maybe we haven't even talked about. It makes me think about, like I think my girls when they got a kid's meal at Chick fil A. One of the things that came in it was some cards that would help facilitate like dinner discussion. And some of those are kind of lame too, but actually ultimately they're pretty fun um at the end of the day, even though they're kind of like maybe maybe it's a lame question on

the face. On its face, it seems lame, but if we have a good time with it, you know, that's exactly so it all depends on what you do with it. Like I could totally see like maybe a set of these cards like at a brewery or something like that, like a coffee shop. If it was sitting there, I'd be like, oh, what's that? And you pick it up and kind of flip through it like you would flip through a magazine maybe, but instead of just chatting about

whatever you're seeing in the book or the magazine. And people aren't really doing that anymore, right, Like, no one's really going into a coffee shop and sitting there and like it's been a while reading a book at person. But I can first see into the future maybe sometime this summer doing that, and that would be a lot of fun out of brewery, be like, oh, what do you think about you know X? Like like or how would you respond to this money situation? It's kind of

like what we do here on the show. Yeah, yeah, I like that, So I we'll put a link to that game in the show notes if you're interested, And again, you've got to kind of go into it with your own flare because it's not gonna provide much of that on its own. Yeah, this isn't a full on endorsement, but I gave. But if you do try it, let us know how it is, because I haven't actually tried it, or even if you have it, maybe you already have it at your house. Yeah, that could be pretty cool

to hear from somebody who has used it, totally. Alright, Well, Matt, let's mention the beer that we're having on the show. This one's called Cocoa Bunny. It's by Creature Comforts Awesome Brewery out of Athens, Georgia, and this is a milk porter. So looking forward to having this one on the show with you today, my friend. Yeah, that's right. And also before we launch into things, I'm just gonna say real quick, there's chainsaws going on outside outside our studio here to

palatial How To Money Studio. Yeah yeah, and I don't think people gonna hear them, but just in case you can. Yeah, it's actually here on the recording, and it's not happening there in your neighbors. Yeah, it's it's it's happening where we are, all right. Yeah, Well, let's get onto the subject to hand. We're talking about employer benefits that you're missing out on. Matt. I recently mentioned on the show that I just left my job to become a full

time podcaster. Body, you kind of have been forced into that through the pandemic as weddings are mostly non existent, although they're they're on the comeback and you've done a few. It's gonna be a hot year for right, It's like that pent up demand. Oh yeah, everybody's gonna be getting hitched. It's even if they don't want to, they're gonna do it, you know. And I'm pumped to be working on how

the money stuff with you full time, my friend. Good stuff, But I will say I'm already missing some of the people that I worked with, as well as some of the secondary benefits that my former employer offered. Uh, Matt, you're a pretty good buss, right, but uh but you know, you just don't offer the range of benefits that I've kind of grown accustomed to. Hey, I do allow us to continue drinking beer every well almost every episode. That's

a good point. That's a very good benefit. And uh yeah, so I've I feel like I did a solid job taking advantage of those benefits over the years where where when I had access to them, but given how extensive they were, I probably could have made it even more of a priority to use them on the leg And I feel like that's the impetus for this episode, Like we want to talk about what benefits are often available, um, and then encourage you to take advantage of them in

the right ways. Yeah, that's right. And the fact is, dude, you are not alone. There are many potential benefits that folks who are listening out there that your employer probably offers that you may or may not be taking advantage of, right, but not using those benefits to their fullest potential can be akin to leaving money on the table. And we're

fans of you never leaving a dollar behind. Not every benefit that we mentioned here today is going to be of interest to you, but it's at least worth doing a little digging to see what is available so that you aren't leaving any any awesome benefits by the wayside. We want to make sure that you're squeezing every little less bit of toothpaste there out of the tube. It's just they're waiting on you. Yeah. Yeah, And you know, your salary obviously is a massively important feature of taking

a job. It's the biggest benefit that you're gonna receive. Like I doubt that anybody out there has secondary benefits that outweigh the regular income that they get, right, um, except for like the super high rollers getting paid you know in stock options. That's uh, that's not our listeners.

I don't think though. So. But your compensation package, of course, goes far beyond just the salary piece, And especially if you're in the job market looking for a new position right now, it's really important to dissect not just the upfront salary number, but to assess the additional benefits that

are being offered to you as well. You might find that maybe a job with a five thousand dollar higher starting salary is actually worse for you when you run the numbers than another job, purely based on how the benefits stack up. The job that pays more money might restrict or not even offer other really important benefits. And

those benefits really really at up. Yeah. And one of the other cool things about employer benefits as opposed to increased pay is the fact that many of these benefits aren't taxed all, or maybe they are tax efficient, right. It's kind of like how the cash back that you might earn with a credit card isn't taxed versus what you earn on a savings account each year is taxed.

It's similar with some of these additional benefits, and so we wanted to point this out because this is a major reason that we are paying attention to these secondary benefits. You know, having a bump in your pay is nice, but when some of these benefits aren't taxed, you are receiving that, you know, the full benefit, versus something being taxed multiple times, which is what happens to your pay.

And that's what makes these benefits so valuable. Yeah, and glass doors, well, they actually found that eight percent of employees would prefer an uptick in benefits to getting more pay, and that makes sense to me. Matt, My my last boss offered the incredible benefit of a free international flight every year. And it's not something we're offering here yet. How the money not yet maybe someday, but that was like, man, that was one. It was great for bonding with my

colleagues too. I get to see another part of the world. I got to explore six different continents this way and that as a park. We didn't go to Antarctica. I don't know why, um, but yeah, not yet, But I gotta say I know why four out of five people would prefer an excellent benefit to more pay. There are lots of employer benefits that can be even more rewarding than just adding more pay into the equation. And I feel like often those unique benefits develop an even greater

sense of loyalty to the place where you're working. Sometimes those benefits you actually overvalue them. And I think it's okay like to to say, you know what, this benefit means more to me than cash, Like that's a normal response when a solid benefit is offered from an employer that you love. Yeah, in fact is those benefits are not only good for you as the employee, but like you said, like they're good for the employer as well. Right.

That bonding that takes place during something like a vacation, uh, something like a trip where you're all kind of doing it together, that's that's awesome. And the fact it's too Had you just gotten more pay, there's a chance like maybe you would have gone on another extra trip or something like that, but you likely would have done the smart and responsible thing with that money. You would have

sucked it away, you would have invested it. You wouldn't have taken these steps that would have ensured a better U workplace. Uh, camaraderie with your with your fellow coworkers, right completely. Yeah. If if it weren't in the form of free travel, I would not have spent it on travel. Probably, you're right. And I think that's another reason that the benefit is helpful, because it almost forces you to do something or helps you do something that you might otherwise

put off. It's that nudge in the right direction. So, but international plane tickets are pretty rare there when it comes to different employers. Uh. And also too, we're not going to be talking about like the Google style benefits like yoga classes and chair massages, chef made meals I've got going on there during lunch. But we will get to the more common benefits that you're likely to have access to and their importance. And we're gonna get to

all of those right after this break. All right, we're back. Let's start talking about the most beneficial benefits Boo, yes, I went there, and how you can use them to your full advantage. And and let's start off like the benefit that pretty much everybody knows if they have access to this or not, is a workplace retirement account. Whether it's oh yeah, four oh one k A four or three B a t SP And we talk about this

a lot on the show. Getting a match is obviously the big perk if your employer offers one of those alongside it, so make sure not to leave that match just sitting there. That was in our Money Gears episode we talked about that it's such an important part of building up wealth in your life. But even if you don't have a match, there's a really good chance you're

gonna want to participate in your workplace retirement account. It gives you access to being able to invest quite a bit of money every year for the future, but also to We're not gonna dwell on this topic very much because we have talked about it before, but we couldn't do this episode about benefits and not even mention it

at all. Yeah, that's right, And also it's worth noting that there are sort of these hidden benefits kind of located within a work sponsored retirement accounts, So for example, you might have some automatic increases that are built into your retirement plan. It sounds like it's not a big deal, right, but we're gonna argue that it is because it helps you to overcome the behavioral uh ineptitude that we all faced. You know, it's it's tough to manually increase what we're

investing every year. Uh So oftentimes we don't increase how much we're saving every year because it's not something that you know is automatic. But many four ow K plans will allow you to automatically increase the percentage of your pay that you put into your retirement plan without having to think about it. It's sort of like this automatic stairstep, this kind of automatic ladder that's implemented. Uh and you get to see those percentages increase every single year. Yeah.

So if you do have that, put it intomotion so that you don't have to think about it from here on out, whether whether you choose one to three every year that you're going to step up your contributions increase every year. I mean, if you're a real bott let's boy, I mean, I think taking the advantage of that though, sending that emotion so that you really don't have to think about it. That the less you have to think about contributing money to for your future, uh, the easier

it's going to be. Right. Yeah, And I mean I'll say to we kind of have a love hate relationship to automation. Right on one hand, I hate when we become overly depend on this technology and you don't internalize the fact that you are an investor. You like, you haven't internalized you can't kind of come up with the reason why it is that you're doing that. I don't

like that. However, at the same time, if it means that you're starting to set money aside for your retirement that you would not have done otherwise, than I mean, I can't really argue with that, you know, totally, Like in this case, I feel like it's an instance where go ahead and start doing the thing that you should be doing, even if you don't even necessarily completely know why, and then over time you can kind of grow into

those bridges and totally. A potential downside to a workplace retirement plans that's worth mentioning is that your employer might be offering you a plan that has really had fees inside of that workplace retirement account. It's still likely worth it if they offer a match, but if they don't, you might be better off investing inside of your own I RA first. A good rule of Thomas actually look for the funds in your employer's plan that have the

lowest expense ratio. Those are often total stock market funds or target date retirement funds, which are great funds. They're well diversified, and they're like the easiest ones to pick. So if you're kind of be fuddled by which fund to its started investing in in your employer's plan, look at the expense ratio, go down the list, find the lowest one. In all likelihood that is going to be one of the best funds for you to put your

money in. That is true, man, And so let's go ahead and move on then to the next benefit that we want to cover. U. Some employers are helping to pay down student loan balances for their employees. Your employer can pay five thousand, two hundred fifty dollars annually towards your student loan balance, and the best part is that it doesn't count towards your taxable income. This is a perk that is becoming more common, UH and one that is massively beneficial to many of the young people in

the workforce today. And your employer can make these payments either directly to you, the employee, or directly to the lender who is servicing your loan. This is specifically a benefit due to the the Cares Act from last year, and it's set to go through five. At that point we will see if it continues to be a tax free benefit. Yeah, and I like that to Matt. Since this is a relatively new benefit potential for employers. As an employee, it's worth bringing up and asking your HR

department the question, Hey, is this offered? If not, is there any plan in the future that this might be offered, Because Yeah, that's a good chunk of change that you're gonna be able to get tax free to go towards your student loans if your employer jumps on board. So yeah, worth asking the question. At least. The next benefit that we want to cover is h S, A S and f S as Health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts are often another killer perk that offer significant tax benefits

to you if you use them wisely. H s as in particular, if you have a high deductible healthcare plan are or like having another tax advantaged retirement account. They're actually the most tax advantaged account that currently exists on the face of the earth. That triple triple tax advantage exactly. We talked about this in depth and episode one oh five, So don't skip over those plans when open enrollment is

going on where you work. If it makes sense for you, going into a high deduct corble healthcare plan just to take advantage of an h s A essentially could be a killer move because it's gonna allow you to save and invest more for your retirement inside of this little vehicle that not many people know enough about. And h h s as have become way more common as employers offer more and more high deductible plans in order to

cut their healthcare costs. Uh. And then f s a s have an even longer history and go beyond healthcare expenses. You can open a healthcare and a dependent care f s A as a way to avoid income tax on the money that you will spend this year on either healthcare expenses or daycare. And you know, if you max these out, you will avoid tax on seven thousand, seven fifty dollars and earnings. Uh. That's a good chunk of money that you are receiving full on without being taxed on. Yeah,

it's so great. Yeah. Yeah. And again I F I say, though you have to pay specific attention to the details, because if you stock all that money away and then you don't actually use it that year, f I say, is like use it or lose it, And and so you want to make sure that you're only putting away what you're going to be able to use the next year. Matt was just giving the maximum amount that you can put away tax free, but only if you're gonna actually

use that much on healthcare and dependent care expenses. Otherwise you might end up with a ton of sunscreen in your closet that might go bad over the years. Yeah, exactly. And no matter where you're employed and h s A or an f s A, those are those are pretty popular offerings. You're likely going to have access to one of the two at many employers that you'd work for. One that you probably don't have access to or very few people do as an e SPP employee stock purchase plan.

And if you do and you use it properly, this can be another solid benefit. I don't want to dwell on this because this is not a benefit that most people have that we've talked about it in the past, though. We'll put a link in the show notes to an episode where we did discuss ees pps in some detail. And and Matt, two, let's talk about life insurance. Many

employers will offer you free life insurance coverage. This isn't a major perk because term life insurance is pretty cheap, so but it's still nice to have, right, It's still a benefit that that you can that you can get through a lot of employers. And I will say it becomes an even better benefit though if you have like severe medical issues that would prevent you from being able to shop for term life insurance and get a policy

on your own on the open market. Like, if you have like a medical history that's not looking so good, a life insurance company is less likely to offer you a policy or or it's likely to cost you a whole lot of money. And for most people, getting even just a little bit of free life insurance through your employer it is a nice little benefit. Yeah, absolutely, man,

it is. And of course, in addition to that that free amount that your employer offers, you want to make sure that you're snagging your own life insurance by shopping on a site light policy genius. You'll likely have the choice to pay for more life insurance through your employer, but that's a bad deal. That's a bad idea in almost all cases. It's almost always going to be cheaper

to shop for your own policy. Plus that policy remains with you even after you leave your employer, which is very important to not have to worry about reinstituting a new policy. Worried to change jobs. Yeah, I mean just talking about my situation for a second, Matt, Like, I had uh life insurance up to my annual income covered by my employer every year, right, but now I don't work there anymore, and so uh little how to money? We don't don't have any life insurance offering, right, so

I've gotta go get my own. I already had obviously my own in place. But it does make me think maybe I need to get another policy. Maybe I need to do some laddering, because layering, that's how I like to picture it. Layer. It's like you got one layer of like one umbrella. That's like, but maybe another umbrella just in case, you know, with everyone masking it up, it's like, maybe does one more one more layer will help us out here? Right? Yeah? The double mask they

the double life insurance policy. And so yeah, now that I no longer have that smaller policy like through my through my former employer. Uh, it's it probably has time for me to get a second policy for myself to cover to cover my family. Uh in the case that I died, right time to double up. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So those are some like really hard benefits. I would

say that a lot of people have access to. They offer you tax benefits, They offer you the ability to invest for your few sure inside of these tax advantaged accounts, and working for the man has its benefits in that regard, right, But then there are other benefits that your employer might offer you, And we'll get to some of those kind of more secondary benefits that can still come in clutch and be really meaningful. We'll talk about those after this break.

All right, we are back from the break, and we're talking about these benefits that you can receive in your paycheck that you're probably missing out on. Maybe it's because you you you haven't opted in, but maybe it's also because too you're with an employer who doesn't necessarily offer some of these benefits. And so we feel that it's important to at least be aware of these different benefits when the time comes maybe for you to negotiate your salary.

Maybe you're even looking at other positions. It is important to know what is out there. Uh, and Joel, before the break, most of the benefits we were talking about would be maybe what I would consider like paycheck benefits. It's something that you see deducted from your pay but it's something very tangible that that you receive. But we're gonna talk now about some of these like softer benefits.

They're more like perks oftentimes from working for a specific company. Yeah, And I will say too, when you're thinking about leaving the workforce, in starting your own thing, becoming self employed, working as a contractor, these are the kind of things you have to take into account too, because you're gonna have to start funneling more of your own resources towards some of these benefits, right towards uh, saving money in your own i RA or getting your own life insurance policy.

That you might have been content with what you had through work, but if you signed to go do your own things, start your own business. Uh, those are expenses that you're gonna incur that aren't covered by your employer anymore. Yeah, Or even if they're not necessarily expenses, there are things that you're gonna have to be more intentional about right,

and so case on point, let's talk about flexibility. Uh. Interestingly enough, Fractal Today survey and they found that flexibility is the number two most desired benefit, right behind better health, dental and vision insurance. Some workplaces, once you at your desk from end of five, no matter what its scheduling, a morning uh like dennisappointment is going to be out of the question for you to take care of your teeth.

But other employers won't make you take a chunk of PTO just for showing up a touch late or you know, shifting your schedule around for personal needs. That's a real benefit, So make sure that you recognize it as such. All employers aren't created equally here, right, there's definitely something that are employeers, no employees. All employeers are not created. Some are definitely more demanding than others. Let's now, I want

to mention to like unlimited PTO policies. That was something that was kind of starting to get instituted where I worked before I walked out the door. Sounds pretty great. It sounds great on its face. It makes it sounds like like an old like Ryan's buffet, Golden Corral buffet. Did you ever get to those back? Yes, it's been quite a while though, and I'm glad it's been quite a while. Same here, But yeah, it does feel like four decisions. Wait, I can take as much vacation as

I want. This is like the best park in the world. But it's it's funny. In reality, it doesn't work out like that for most people. Most people feel guilty about taking paid time off for taking vacation time when it is an unlimited policy. I think when you're created a certain number of weeks, four or five weeks of vacation, you're more apt to take those days. But when an employer is like it's unlimited, you're like, oh, man, I'm not going past a week and a half. You know,

I don't want to let everyone down. I don't want to get get fired or something like that. So yeah, I wanted to mention that because I feel like those unlimited PTO policies are becoming more and more of a thing. People are already kind of reticent to take their vacation, and when they don't actually know how much they have, I think it actually makes them, you know, less willing

to take some time off. Yeah, so honestly, it kind of makes me think of this illustration where, like you say, picture, you've got a bunch of kids playing on a playground, right uh, and it's next to a busy road and there's no fence, and so most kids and a lot and obviously adults as well, are gonna want those kids to basically stay as far away from the road as possible, right right, because it's just kind of like, well, you know how far is definitely way too far, but between there,

who knows right first is now imagine that playground then has a fence around it, right Well, in that case, the kids are gonna be able to play all the way up to the edge of that fence, and there's gonna be way more of the playground that's utilized versus you know, the other example where it's just like, well, there's a whole chunk of the playground like the kids never go on because it's kind of closer to the road.

When you have sort of these very clear, definite boundaries, there's a clear understanding of what you can and can't do, and and yeah, when you say unlimited, well, unlimited is super vague and there can be a lot of judgment calls that have to enter the equation, right, And so it's not just the fact that something is unlimited, it's like, well, in reality, that means something very different than than what

it sounds like. Yeah, man, I hope those unlimited pto play and start going away because they're rough and uh yeah, I mean they don't have to be rough, but it seems that in practice they're more difficult to implement, uh than you might think. I think more often they go underutilized. I would love to hear from a listener who has one of those and they're like, I take fifteen weeks a year. It's great. If that's the case, please let us know. I would love to hear that, all right.

The next soft benefit that a lot of people are receiving at their workplace now is free counseling and wellness initiatives. Some employers matt or even offering their own gyms before you work out in right, Hey, we've got a kettle bell down here, dog swing And I'll count that as a benefit, I guess. And like, one of my friends actually recently posted that her employer just constructed an office gym for employees. I guess they had been given a free membership to a gym, and a lot of the

employees felt uncomfortable going, so they built one in house. Um, and that's that's kind of cool. I'm thinking about maybe buying a pullet bar down here. What do you think about that pullet bar and the kettle bell? What else could I want? You know? Nothing? And so like, it's it's cool to see that employers are doing this. We actually had a gym that I could have gone to up at corporate, which is not where my office was, so it was a massive drive. And there's I went

in there and I saw it one day. But there's just I mean, I'm not fighting forty five minutes both ways in Atlanta traffic to go work out right, and also to check to see whether or not your workplace offers some sort of free counseling or subsidized counseling. A lot of employers are prioritizing mental wellness for their employe ease. And I'll tell you what, Like, counseling is a great thing. Therapy can be a great thing for a lot of folks,

but it's not cheap. Anybody who has booked their own appointment, UM and put that on a credit card. Knows that it costs quite a bit of money in order to to get that mental help. And employers are starting to recognize this, and it's definitely worth checking in to see if your employer is offering anything for you on that front. Absolutely, Man,

another benefit, let's talk about discounts. Uh. There are discounts that you can get a different service providers, like, for instance, with a cell phone provider or maybe some different electronic retailers. You might be able to get tim person off an Apple or Dell product, or or even off of your cell phone bill with one of the major carriers. So we've talked before, how back in the day, we had

this giant tin person family plan going on. Uh, And we did it through your work, and we were able to get a nice discount, which is part of how we got it down so cheap. Yeah, that was still the cheapest cell phone plan I've ever had in my life. Yes, although we're pretty close to there right now, like going

solo with Mint, but yeah, it was. It was ridiculously cheap. Uh. And And yeah, my form employer, Matt, offered discount memberships to the zoo, to the aquarium where we live, it's worth taking thirty minutes or so to dig into those offerings,

especially if you're planning to make a major purchase. I know a lot of those offerings are are reserved for people that work for a bigger employer, but but man, some sometimes those benefits get really extensive, and so it's worth digging in on the back end of that employer benefits website to see what's there. Yeah, and some employers too are offering advanced education opportunities. I'm thinking about Starbucks. They are one of the employers that has done an

incredible job on this front. Uh. They offer higher education opportunities to employees who work more than twenty hours a week. Uh. They get tuition reimbursement for classes that they take at Arizona State University. And so this is worth noting. Your employer might offer continuing education classes. Uh. And or they might be willing to pay for you to go back to school. UH. Definitely something to keep in mind. Obviously, some employers as well are even willing to kind of

go in with you on an MBA program. With a rising costs of higher education, this is definitely a benefit that you do not want to discount. Yeah, and additional benefits like that can be can be so meaningful, right, It can turn a job where you're getting paid let's say at a Starbucks fifteen sixteen seventeen an hour, into with those additional benefits, it can feel like you're getting paid twice that much, right easily. Yeah, it's like this

feels like a thirty dollar an hour job. Now, yeah, totally with with a with a free education and also to the retirement plan that they have at Starbucks is clutch. Um. If I was looking for something part time, like twenty hours a week, man, Starbucks would be a go to thought because of the additional benefits. It's it's not just the pay that they give you for every hour that you work, plus the free panel of coffee every week. Right, that's another go one I think you do. Yeah, that's

that's pretty sweet and intangible. It's better than the kettle bar we've got down here, but kettle kettle bell sir, That's what I meant to say. That's how much I use it. If only you swung it around, so I think you would know what it's called. You're right, it's I think it's important to note though, that like uh benefits that your employer offers are really there to help retain talent, like they want to keep you on board by offering some of these benefits. It's a way that

they can kind of make their workforce happy. And so if there's a benefit that we've mentioned that you would love to have that your employer doesn't currently offer, I think it's okay to bring that up. It's okay to ask for that. Um, you're not being greedy. You're saying, hey, this is I've seen other employers in the industry offering something like this. Would we ever consider offering something like

this too? And then ask HR two if they know about that tax break that allows employers to help their employees pay off student loans, because hey, that could be make a big difference in the lives of our workforce. But it's easy to see as we run through this list, Matt, how these benefits really add up and how they can

make or break your work experience. They can cause you to want to leave your job with crummy benefits to find one that has great benefits, or they can cause you maybe to even be more thankful for the job that you currently have, because it's not just about the paycheck. It's about all these other things that come alongside of

getting to to work that place. Yeah, and especially these days too, I think a lot of employers might be unwilling to raise pay right, there might be pay freezes in place, But by offering these benefits, it's a way for them to, you know, make some concessions because they know that not everybody will necessarily take advantage of these benefits. But because you're listening to this episode today, you're you're

gonna know to keep an eye out. But again, like Joel, coming back to what you're saying, advocating for these benefits you know from your employer is what we're encouraging here. They're not set in stone, they're not static, and if you approach that conversation well with your employer, you could have an impact on helping your employer to modernize their their benefit offerings and making them more tailored to the

workforce that they're they're hoping to attract. And for many of our listeners who employ other people, do take note of the benefits that your employees get most excited about the ones that you hear them talking about. Right, many of the most valued benefits don't actually hurt your bottom line all that much, and in fact, offering more enticing benefits in the future could help you to keep top employees and to save you money you might lose through

through higher level as of turnover. So in particular, offering a retirement account is so cheap, so much easier than it used to be. We would recommend for employers to go check out guideline dot com. They've got uh some amazing resources over there if you're looking to expand what it is that you're offering to your employees. Yeah, and going back to kind of that perk, I was able

to receive Matt the free international trip every year. It was always a really cheap ticket, Like we would go internationally for four bucks sometimes and um, and obviously that's not free, that costs money. But people that got a job where we worked never left. And so yeah, employee turnover training another person to take over this job is is so expensive that when you think about it, that perk, that benefit is a drop in the bucket um when it comes to the cost of doing business of keeping

great talent around. So I think that's how employers should think about it. Especially recently, we talked about the efficiency wage theory oftentimes adding a little bit more to what you're offering your employees is actually gonna benefit your bottom

line in the long run too. Yeah, It's it's funny to think about, like, have somebody that might have a salary between like I don't like fifty sixty seventy dollars and like we're yeah, we're talking about maybe a FI ticket here, Like that is a relatively small increase and what quote unquote their pay is right and what the

benefit they're receiving. But it feels like so much more like it's sexy, it's kind of it has this glow around it, and it's things like that that make an employers stand out and makes you want to continue to work for them, yea, and work harder for them. All right, Matt, Let's get back to the beer that we had on the show today. This one was called Cocoa Bunny. It's a milk border from Creature Comforts, uh, and it's brewed with coconut cocoa nibs and coffee. What are your thoughts

on this beer? Man? Honestly, I think I have forgotten how good this beer is. This is such a good beer. You pick these up, put them in our our little beer fridge down here in the office, and I saw I was like, oh, that's cute cocoa bunny. It's been a while since we've had it. And by the way, it's spelled ko ko bu, and I I'm not sure what that. I don't know what that spelling means. Bunny.

But it's not like a little chocolate bunny or something like that, but it may as well be, because that's what it tastes like, right, It's got like these nice roasty, toasted flavors. Going on the fact that it's a milk porter, it just it makes it so smooth in your mouth, like there's it means there's a good amount of lactose, uh milk sugars within this beer. But that in combination with that that coconut, that cocon nuts, the coffee, what's the girl's got cookie with a with a coconut samoa?

Is that a samoa? I think? But it kind of reminds me of that. But but even smoother like like that has almost like this kind of sharpness to it, which I enjoy, Like there's a lot of punch, but this is just like nice and like blist out. It's like a blissed out version of a samoa as a beer. I'm not a huge fan of coconut usually when I'm eating it, Dude, I love, but toasted coconut and a beer Like I love the taste of it, I don't love the texture of coconut usually okay, um, and so

it's too stringy. Yeah, that's why I like, I choose not to eat cookies or like a cake with coconuts or branola. I mean, I will if I'm forced it, but I'm not going to be into it. If I force you to eat this cake got coconut on it, if like, if it's to save my life, I'll do it right. But um, but I love actually the flavor of it, And toasted coconut in a beer is I think one of those great elements that works so well, especially in like a stout or reporter, And this one

is pulled off impeccably well. Like you said, super smooth. All those ingredients make it kind of like a Desserty beer, but that's not overly sweet. Coca Bunny is a seasonal beer, but it's well worth picking up when it's on the shelves here in Georgia and soon there's a good amount of it. Yeah, there's a good amount. Like it is seasonal, like you mentioned, it's not year round. But when they do have it, I mean you can find it anywhere. You can find it on the grocery on the grocery

store shells for sure. That's where we live, right, Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, I will say too soon to be California because they're launching a brew hub in l A later this year next year, so getting closer to that launch, California friends will be able to pick up some Creature Comfort stuff then, and yeah, you're gonna know what you've been missing all these years. And when you finally can, it's uh such

a good brewery. Yeah. Ever since Avengers Endgame where Thorne was drinking the Creature Comforts Bears within the movie, they made a little connection there with those producers out West and they're like, we really love your beer. We're gonna help you get set up here out West. I think that's how it went down Atty. Sure it is well, good for them, man. We're hoping for a Creature Comfort spru pub in Atlanta one of these days too, so that would be nice, all right, that's gonna do it

for this episode. We'll put our show notes up on the website at how to money dot com. That's right, and Jel, you know, week after week we sit here, we try to provide some valuable content to our listeners out there. But if you're sitting here and you're listening to this episode and you have some feedback for us, if you think that there is a way for us to improve, we would encourage you to go to the website, go to how the Money dot com, forward slash do Better,

and from there you can leave us a message. We're always looking for ways to actually do better, Yes we are, and we want to hear from you if you've got something to say there as well. So we want to improve, man, we don't want we don't want to be static, you know, like just like benefits aren't static. Matt and Joel are not static, and we want to do better. So that is true. But yeah, well that's gonna be it for this episode, dude. Until next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out, bo