Friday Flight - 3% Mortgages, Secondhand Steals, & Leg Room Lunacy #564

to real quick. I wanted to share a quick personal anecdote though, So back in the spring when we listened our house, back when the housing market was quite hot, in particular for the sellers out there, we had a number of offers, a number of competitive offers on our Place two in particular, we were trying to decide between but one of the buyers they had included within their offer the ability to stay in mountain cabin. Have we

talked about this on the show? I can't remember, so if we if we have, it's always have to know what we've talked about only in real life with you and me sitting here in the office, versus what we've talked about on the show. And granted, this wouldn't have tipped the scales if the other offer was super strong. If they had come in with a really high price. At that point, it just kind of comes down to the numbers. You kind of have to do the math.

You don't want to overvalue this mountain cabin stay. It's yeah, what can I book this formally night let's say exactly it's value if maybe an extra thousand bucks, but it was still enough to put them on our radar, maybe a little bit more than otherwise. Right. But simultaneously I was a little bit curious to see if we were actually going to take advantage of that, because it's one of those things were on paper. It seems like this nice perk's offer literally a tent and you're like, dang it,

no they failed again. They did include pictures and it looked really nice, and we thought, oh, this is this is actually something we should consider as we're making a decision. Well, the good news is that we actually just booked it. We we've kind of been in touch with them, and we weren't sure if we're going to reach out to them and they're gonna say, oh, by the way, it's book for the next two years. That was a joke,

but we know it's in the contract man. No, yeah, it was, And that is something that we just books. I'm actually, yeah, we're looking forward to doing that this this fall for a few days. But the reason I wanted to share that is because it was a way that these buyers that they got creative in order to get the house that they wanted. Uh. And we're actually seeing that in other ways, not necessarily from the buyer's standpoint,

but from the seller standpoint. So our first story, we're gonna talk about mortgage loan assumptions because obviously mortgage rates, you know, like they're still low if you if you take kind of like if you zoom out and take a long term look. I kinda want to make a joke about assumptions here, by the way, because I don't know, you know what they say about people who make assumptions, right man, But I think this type of assumptions, though, are a good thing. Exactly. Yeah, So let's just like

spell that out real quick. This assumption is literally you taking over somebody else's mortgage, right, So not going out and getting your own mortgage, but when someone is selling that house, you are saying, not only am I taking your house, when I'm taking your mortgage at the same time, exactly, And and The interesting thing is that almost nobody did

this for a whole lot of years. But as mortgage rates have risen just astronomically recently, we've we've seen a lot more mortgage assumptions taking place now that rates are in the six percent range. It's pricing some folks out

of the out of the housing market. Well, if you get that same house, same price, but with a three percent mortgage, you might be able to afford it, right, And there are what will point out a big chunk of loans that are not assumable based on the way the contract is written from that mortgage lender, like they can't transfer it into your name. These are specifically government backboard like that like v A loans, loans, U s d A loans, some of these loans that are directly

backed by the US government exactly. So. The interesting thing though, is as you're out there searching for homes to buy, you're going to likely see people touting this inside of the listing, right because if they have this two point seven five percent mortgage or three and a half percent mortgage that they're willing to let you assume that's an that's a huge check mark for them and for their property.

They're gonna get a lot more potential buyers if those buyers know that they can take on that much lower mortgage. Right at the same time, I will say it's a tricky process though, even if you even if the house does come with an assumable loan, for instance, it maybe that loan might only cover the purchase price and you've got to either bring cash or get another. Loans are so much higher likely than when they actually purchase that home. So yeah, it may not only it may only cover

a small portion of the overall purchase price of that property. Yeah, but that Wall Street Journal article about assumable mortgages was something I was like, I I know it's more common actually in other countries, I believe in Great Britain. It's

one of those things. It's kind of hard for the course, and it would it would seem like this should be more normal here where you don't have to but the bank's benefit right from every time somebody does takes out a fresh new loan, when if we just had more assumable loans, it would cut down on some of those transaction fees that were always railing against matt when it

comes to buying and selling real estate. I would love to see more mortgage loans become assumable, more people transferring mortgages to each other as they buy or sell a house. But I don't know. It's good to see at least a little bit of uptick in this regard, that's right. Yeah, so there is a way for you to get that two and three quarters mortgage radees, but they're they're just you and far between. Not not terribly easy, but it's possible,

all right. So we talked recently about the duopoly and the monopoly reality that most folks face when it comes to paying for internet at home. There are really just a few companies around the country who are out there competing with each other. So the options they remain pretty crappy, and the prices because of that, they stay pretty high.

Speeds are low, and your mostly bill is exorbit But one thing that we failed to mission is that technology is helping to bring more competition to the space, helping this to hopefully become more of a problem of the past. Some of the major cell phone companies out there, like Verizon and T Mobile, they are selling their five G cell service, but it's not just cell phone service, it's actually gonna be able to replace your current WiFi set up that you have at home. And the price, it's

it's not all that bad either. It's like it's a fifty bucks from T Mobile. Uh and plans start at fifty dollars as well with Verizon, although folks who currently have Verizon for cell phone service they can get an even lower rate by bundling. I haven't tested these out personally, but from what we've read, the reviews look really good

and the price is good as well. Uh And so it's it's good to see that there these are some kind of like realistic options that would allow you to take a completely different approach to getting internet at home as opposed to going the more traditional path, which always feels so cumbersome as well. Right, like you, So you have to be there in person because the guy is going to show up. I think he's gonna drill a random hole in your house. Who knows where exactly, He's

just gonna drill over everyone. When we moved in the A T and T guy came out, we we had to talk a long time about where he's gonna put this whole and it was just kind of I don't know, it. It took a long time. These five five G service at it seems like it's it's going to be the future. And the speeds or something like in the in the average range of a hundred megs up to like a hundred and eighty megs with a couple of these plans,

So it's worth looking into. Let's say, if you're currently paying for internet service every single month, but that speed is going to serve you just fine, or maybe you just found that like yeah, you've called the customer retention department again, like we've suggested, and they have finally got onto your game, and then they're not lowering your rate anymore. Typically they will, but not always. Well, it might be it might be time to try out one of these five G plans, and if you do, let us know,

let us know how it goes. And that one thing you you mentioned was that if you are currently a Verizon customer, you can get an even better deal on this five G service. Sadly that means that you're paying so much extra though for cell phone service that's probably

not worth it. If you mean, if you just leave, sit down and do the math, like take the whole picture into account, right, because if maybe you are with Mint Mobile, uh, and you've got that price down and you are able to pay maybe more than you want to because you are with Comcast. But if your overall net cost is going to be lower, of course, stick

with what you've got going on. But if you do the math and you realize that, you know what, paying more for a Verizon cellfone service, uh, that would allow me to pay a lot less for my home internet, you could totally come out ahead. Yeah, because I think comes down to the numbers. Baby. I saw if you're actually a Verizon cell customer, you can get the internet for as low as twenty five dollars a month. It

was like, that's pretty good, pretty sweet. Yeah. Alright, let's talk about travel for a second, because we had travel expert Scott Kais on the show a while back. Matt and we we talked a little bit about leg room on airplanes or the lack thereof, and airlines are, of course, they're doing their best to charge us more for tiny slivers of extra space as they've shrunk the distance between seats by a meaningful number of inches over the past couple of decades. Matt, I'm six ft six and so

every inch of leg room they take away. I feel it like in my knees, in my back, all over, and so I don't love feel it in a pinky. It hurts there too, exactly exactly. My left ear lobe

particularly throbs Matt on these long flights. But I've actually seen some drawings recently for potential cabin configurations where you're more in like an upright seat where they're packing a whole lot more people in and you're in this like semi standing positions, like an adjustable bike seat basically strattle, and you're yeah, it's almost like the steading roller coasters that you like, get It's almost exactly like that. That's

the best. Yeah, that's one only lasts uh forty five seconds, whereas the other last for four and a half out right right, Well, I mean no, no carriers have actually tried to implement anything like this yet. But the interesting thing is they might not have the chance because apparently the Department of Transportation is considering imposing a minimum seat requirements for how much legroom people have, and it's currently

open for public comment on their site. Now, I, Matt, like I told you, I don't like being crammed into a seat. I don't like feeling like a sardine where my knees are literally buffled up against the seat and front of me. But I will say I also like saving money, and I am more than willing to endure some discomfort to save an extra couple hundred dollars on a three or four hour flight. So I'm not the kind of person who wants to fly first class, who

wants even the premium economy. Stick me in the back with all the regular folks who also have their knees cram begins to seat in front of them. Um, if it means I get to save money, I'm totally cool with it. So we're stuck hearing you complaining about it, like Jill does not want to be forced to pay that, But you always shall have the option to pay for that, all right. Like that's the thing that we love so much about the way things I guess currently are is

that you have the choice. Like imagine if you wanted to fly somewhere you didn't have a ton of money, but you gotta fly, Well, you're probably gonna consider going with Spirit or you know, somebody like that where you can basically sneer at you the whole time. You know, like they're going to charge you for every little thing, But it is most likely absolutely be the best way to save and to be able to fly there for

the least amount of money possible. But if these regulations pass, uh, guess what, that more affordable fare isn't going to exist because essentially you're you're you're forcing the airlines to pass some of those costs onto you. One of the other most beautiful things about the major discounters like Spirit Matt

is the number show. When Spirit comes into a market, the amount of money that the major airlines are charging for seats goes down to So it's not just the fact that they're tramping people into cheap seats on on the Spirit airlines and that you could save money that way.

It just because of the competition. Just because there are cheaper seats on Spirit means that their competitors, the even the ones that are are fullfair airlines, are gonna they're gonna be cheaper too, exactly because if they're forced to have fewer seats on these planes, that's going to lead to higher prices. Uh. But you know, so in the end,

we'll we'll see what happens. We don't know, um fingers across those of the airlines that they keep doing their thing and that customers they are able to choose the airline that they want to do business with accordingly, because that's the thing. Over time, it depends on It's not even just you and what you're gradually getting used to, but like it depends maybe from trip to trip or even year to year. You might have like a really good year and you're thinking, you know it, you know,

if I'm flying anywhere this year, I'm gonna do first class. Baby, like, no longer shall my knees be crammed. But like let's say three years from now, in fact, growth three more inches and it becomes just untenable. Likely you're done growing. But but you have the option. And that's what I love the most is that folks have the option to

do that. Although that being said, some of these, uh, the extra leg room seats out there, they come with extra perks, like free drinks, which is kind of cool, and you know, flying so that your knees so that they don't ram into the seat in front of you, like that might be your craft beer equivalent, or you might feel that that's just a basic human need from your your point of view, But I think what's important to keep in mind is that do you want to

have the choice to make this purchase on your own or do you want to be forced? Do you want to be coerced into paying more? Because everybody is having to provide, you know, fewer seats on a plane, they're having to provide more leg room for everybody. Like, I want people to have the choice, that's all. I can't imagine getting behind the wheel of Masa Miyata. Those things seem tiny, and I think they should be wiped off the face of the earth. Accordingly, like people who are

six six probably shouldn't be dry in those cars. So there's a lot of Masa Miata fans. There's like, there's a lot of people who are five four who taking circuit and all they do is raise hota. Really do you know that? Yeah? You remember Corey, our our old buddy. He used to be part of this uh Miata group and they all got their mia have like a cult following take him to the track. I would imagine the

cult following is mostly involved short people. But ironically enough, Core was at least six, he was decent, and he drove a Miata. Maybe they've got more legroom than I'm giving them credit for him. Maybe so well, speaking of the airlines, last week the U. S Department of Transportation, they published a really helpful chart that's gonna allow you to know what you're entitled to if you're affected by

what's known as a controllable flight cancelation or delay. And this includes things like maintenance problems or let's say they don't have the right crew members for your flight, baggage loading or fueling problems. Will actually link to this in the show notes. But for example, if there's an overnight delay, virtually all of the airline carriers they've admitted to providing passengers with a complimentary hotel stay, all of them except

for one matt Uh not Spirit actually, but Frontier. But yeah, just because an airline hasn't committed to certain amenities across the board, just because they're not listed on this website as offering that benefit, that doesn't mean that they won't

hook you up if you ask. So it's important to know that it's often up to the discretion of the individual carrier and even the actual employee who you're speaking with, right, So it depends if if what what seats they sat in in order to Is Jan having a good day? We don't know, but maybe Margaret over here is feeling a little little happier and she's willing to make sure you're taking care of right, But she got to set in that extra first class seat. She didn't have to.

What's the jump? Is that the jump seat that the uh the airline doesn't Is that the best seat in the in the house. No, not the bet They're just like a little fold out like a piece of wood or something like that. They do not look super comfortable.

Let's well, well, yeah, I just it's just is important to mention one that this exists and that you can kind of see what you're entitled to, but also that even if you're not publicly entitled to some sort of compensation for one of these, you know, for a cancelation or for a delay, you can still advocate for yourself often again Matt via Twitter. Twitter is one of the best ways to get ahold of airline customer service and and lots of times they'll take care of you when

legally they're not even required to. That's right, dude, All right, we have several other stories we're gonna get to including sacrificing a little bit of your privacy in order to save more on insurance. We've got that story plus a few others right after this. All right, we're going to continue here on the Friday flight. We're gonna talk continue to cover some stories that we found interesting this week,

how they pertain to your personal finances. And of course we always get to the ludicrous headline of the week that's right now, and this one comes from Axios. The headline reads new company encourages donate now, pay later charitable giving, and the headline Matt just gave me the willies. I was like, I know where this is going. It cannot be good. It's basically by now, pay later. But instead of spending your money on an item you want, it's for giving money away to a cause that you care about.

Let's just say we were not surprised to see that. I mean, it's as as you see that, you're like, well, of course, yeah, about of course it went there, that this is where it went. Yeah, it's it's kind of it's inevitable, right, It's it's a domino effect. We start with BNPL, we get to g mp L and now yeah, you don't even have to have the money in your possession to give two causes you care about. They're just so many problems with this though that it's it's hard

to know really where to start. Like one, you're giving away money you don't have to give to there's now a middleman taking a cut of your donation somewhere between eight and fifteen percent. So the charity that you couldn't wait to support until you actually had the money, well now they're not getting anywhere near the full benefit they

would have if you gave to them directly. Although I will say that one of the things that the company behind this that like one of their stats was that something will give twice as much if they're presented with

this option. Whether or not that that is a good thing is like, that's another debate, right, But the fact that certain nonprofits out there are able to potentially receive even even more money, that's what the BNP is a good argument have said the whole the whole time, folks will spend more, Yeah, hey, put us on your website Amazon, and because people are gonna have bigger shopping carts because they're gonna buy more than they can actually afford and this is going to be good all the way around

for everyone. It's going to increase your bottom line. But when you're giving away more money, I get why that sounds nice to the charitable organizations. Hey, people are gonna give more money to you, but they're giving money that they don't have. And so we would say this, this major league sucks. And we are all about supporting nonprofits that are doing good work. We would say it's a

great thing to budget for monthly or annual giving. But this feels shady and almost predatory, and it's definitely not the best way to make those donations happen. So if you see a gift now, pay later button, avoid it. Don't do it. Because it's another modern iteration of a stupid fintech offering that is bad for bad for individuals,

it's bad for consumers. I will say, I'm willing to play Devil's advocate a little bright here because so like in this way, like simultaneously, I feel like it could be a good thing if it allows somebody to commit to a behavior that they might want to do but that they find themselves not doing over time, right like like I will see it almost like a tool, not inherently a bad or an evil thing, but as a

tool that someone could potentially utilize. You're just sitting over there staring at me that you can potentially utilize as like a commitment device, right and so like in that way, I almost feel also do the same with a recurring credit card donation to my friend. You totally could. Yeah, absolutely so I get what you're saying. And we've said the same thing about bnpls, that they're not inherently wrong

or inherently bad. It's just that most people use them slow us the typically yes they buy or give money that, yeah, they use importantly. And so that's why the the end matters so much so much, right, and so the means to the end here in this case, the end is to give that money away when you're using it to buy more junk, like more crap. I think that to me that feels more pernicious, right, Like that's when you're you're not really thinking through like do you really need

all this stuff? Now? Do you really need that fancy pair of running shorts or something. I'm just picking on myself because that's like the last thing I bought but not via pay now. But forgiving is not much better than right, And it's not about going into debt. Obviously, if you're doing that, then then that's something that we would discourage and a lot of people are well in

that case, I absolutely would discourage it. But yeah, the ability for somebody, I do see there being benefits, sort of like with by not pay later, there are some benefits if say, it does allow somebody to turn their credit around a little bit because those payments get counted towards their credit. In the same way, I do see there being some slight benefits potentially to having give now, pay later be an option, and especially considering the f are willing to give a little bit more of their

money away if presented without option. But that's well, And so whether you're giving it or their future money, they don't. That is true. Which is the problem, right it is that is at the crux of the problem is people saying, I want to do this thing now, but I don't have the money to do it, But I'm gonna gonna go ahead and commit to it because this tool exists for me to be able to do that, and and

that's what we talk like. Credit cards are are similar in that way, although it's a shorter timeframe, and it really can be as a method of payment, and it comes with even better rewards. The only reward for bnp L most of the time is just the ability to

hold off doing something you would have done otherwise. Whereas credit cards offer additional benefits, we say, I mean ultimately, if someone can't afford it, right, if they are like where it does feel like a loan in order to give that seems like a very unhealthy, very unhealthy behavior, as opposed to seeing it as a way for some folks I think are just entering into that mindset of like they are seeing themselves months a month, and even though discourage that, we want people to look ahead, We

want folks to plan and to budget and to do things a little more proactively. I think there are a lot of folks who are entering into this way of handling their money where they are looking at it more as just a kind of like a monthly amount, like a subscription. This is how much I pay every month that goes towards my you know, Netflix, or this is how much I end up paying every month towards my groceries.

I think I would say a c H though, or setting up a monthly put it on autopilot shore but by now give later to me could set you up to be in a position, a financial position you don't want to find yourself in. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, ultimately we don't like it, but I guess I do see this as being a slight way that there someone is using this technology for good. Obviously, if folks are using it for consumables, then I think that's a very bad thing. And unfortunately that is how a lot of folks are

are using it. That's that's why it's wrecking the personal finances of a lot of a lot of young folks. Actually, The Times had an article this past weekend about how more individuals are turning to buy now, pay later for just like basic purchases like gross trees. And then, of course what ends up happening. Folks start spending more while they're at the grocery store because they can pay for

multiple installments. And so why not get the the gourmet cheese where I'm gonna go ahead and get the the name brand cereal because it's a little bit nicer than the off brand stuff. I'll just pay for it over time. And so when you use it in this way, these products are basically loans, and so taking out a loan to buy groceries, we feel as a as a recipe for disaster. We want you to be planning ahead in advance.

And while at the moment it does kind of seem like you're a gray area, I think ultimately it feels like that this is going to go. It's gonna start leaning more in the direction of it being a massive negative as opposed to being something that you can use

to your advantage. I agreed, And we've talked about how some buy now, pay later companies are starting to report to the credit bureaus, and so if you're a really savvy consumer who doesn't have a great credit score, it's you know, buying thoughtfully occasionally an item through BNPL when you have the money, I'm ensuring that you pay it off. As agreed, well, that can help boost your credit score.

But for the most part, especially seeing that story about groceries, it's just it's a bar to see people getting into financial situations they wouldn't otherwise because these products exist and they're using them thinking that they're better than they actually are. Um when for the most part people use them poorly. It's a tool, but it's it's mostly a crappy tool for for most people. Let's let's move on the map.

There's a new survey from a company called Higher Visibility, and they found that of gen z ears want to become social media influencers. And when I read that, I was like, you know what, that's that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think it's okay to want to influence the people around you. And it is true that some

social media content creators are able to make real money. Uh, but it's also true that there are only a select few who make legitimate income doing so, who make a meaningful amount, right, who make enough to I don't know, pay the bills. And I guess, you know, influencers maybe are kind of the new pro athletes. That's like the new hot job that people want. But we all know by now that the percentage of folks who make it to the pros in that field is infantessimally small too.

You know. We had linebacker Brain and Copeland on recently, and he talked about how difficult difficult it was to make in the NFL, especially as an undrafted player. Uh, not trying to crush the dreams of the youngsters out there, But it's wise to not put that profession on such a pedestal and to put all your eggs in that basket.

It's okay to dabble and to see what happens, but putting all of your efforts there, it's just it's not a good idea because again, so few people are actually gonna make money, and I know a lot of people in that space. I don't have any hate for the influencer crowd out there. I think it's I think it's totally fine. I don't really participate much, um, but I'm totally cool that people make money online in that way.

But it's just important to mention that something like the one percent or even the point one percent, that's where most of the money is going. And there's a whole lot of I want to be influencers out there who who aren't making to dime. I like how you said it's okay to influence other people like you just completely strip the word influencer of it's like negative connotation that

comes with it. Well, I think for some people the reality is like they have a good heart and they want to share cool things with the world, and so there's nothing wrong with being out there and talking to your friends and sharing with others how you think or how you feel about something. To be honest, there's a lot of crappy influencers out there who doing terrible things. But I think most people the reason they want to do this is because it sounds like fun and they

want to share something cool with others. And I think I think that motive that desire is good. Yeah. Absolutely, All right, let's talk about saving money by being healthy? Uh, Joel, you know there's that saying that is it like an ounce of prevention that's worth a pound of cure um. Though as a country, I feel like like we've not been great at internalizing that when it comes to medicine or or honestly a lot of important elements of our

society either. But apparently more insurance companies are starting to lean in this direction, implementing something called active insurance. Uh. And so basically insurance companies they will reward you for good behavior, which will have a direct impact on both their bottom line and of course yours, which is why we're talking about it. Maybe your waistline too, if it's a health insurance Yeah. And so, like one example is, yeah, wearing like a health insurance company provided device to track

your physical activity. Uh, and if you start exercising and losing weight, you might see reduced premiums or you know, some other money saving rewards. Uh. The reality, man, is that like these sorts of products are going to continue

to proliferate. And we think that that's a that's a good thing when it comes to our ability to save money, but honestly for our collective health as well, if we just jump through a few hoops, I see this as a as a great way for us to potentially like we're sacrificing a little bit of privacy, uh, the insurance

companies maybe know a little bit more about us. Ultimately, this could be kind of like a frugal versus cheap, where you know, are we being cheap because we're sacrificing our data here in the short term in order to save money here in the short term, but in the long run to all of these companies they know more about us. I do think that that will be a good question for future discussions, but definitely something to keep

in mind as well. Before you which we often all do, just instinctively click the checkbox that I agree with the whatever that consen Who's got the time to read all of those, man, But I totally agree, but reports, I guess, so, yeah, they're digging into those fine print for us. But the last job I had, the last real job before podcasting full time, we had this thing called Know your Numbers. And what they did was once a year, Emily and

I would go into into the into the office. They would bring some nurses there, they would draw some blood, they measure your waistline, all that kind of stuff. They took like five different numbers, checker blood pressure, checker blood pressure. They want to make sure that you are meeting some sort of requirements. And if you do that, if you agree you don't, you didn't have to. You could continue

to pay full freight for health insurance. But if you agreed to get your numbers measured and you were good on at least three out of five of those numbers, you got four hundred bucks back off of your premiums. And so that was the kind of thing where I'm like, of course, I'm going to trade them knowing my blood

pressure and waistline's eyes for foreigner bucks, no problem. And so that those are the kind of things that more and more insurance companies are participating in trying to make sure that you're living healthy and that's gonna be good for you. It's gonna save you money. But there might even be additional incentives on top of it. Uh. And so I don't know. I like to see these sorts of things. But you're right, Matt, there are some of

those privacy concerns intertwined in these programs too. But let's let's talk about something else. About a new report from a firm called Global Data, which just made me think of Global Gym from Dodgeball. The ben Stiller's Gym finds that of Americans are actively involved in selling and buying used goods secondhand. So basically sites like eBay, Facebook, Marketplace, and offer up. They are booming right now. And that's understandable. Lots of folks are saying that inflation is a major

reason that they're opting to go to the shrout. Hey, everything costs more, so I'm trying to buy more stuff used and we hope that trend sticks around. We think that's great. Yeah, technology has made buying and selling used goods easier than it's ever been, and we think that it's it's always a great time to be using those sites to pay less for consumer goods and to sell unwanted items, and Matt, it's also just me easier to get more money for those goods. Think about going back

to garage sales. You could get pennies on the dollar because, like you're the sphere, the amount of people you could reach it was really people who were walking or driving by who would see your stuff and maybe stop specific beholding geographic audience exactly to look at your stuff. Whereas now with these with these sites, you can reach a whole lot more folks, folks who are willing to drive and pay top dollar for that item. And you have.

Speaking of which, Matt, there are less than four months now left in the Sell your Stuff Challenge, So just for stuff, I just need to get my sheet updated because I haven't done, and I've been doing pretty good to you, I got I gotta update my sheet as well. I'm curious to see where I'm at. I think I'm I think maybe I'm just a little bit behind. But for how the money listeners out there who are participating, we all that at the beginning of this year selling

one item a week. I'm curious too, I'm so curious to see the results, Matt, to see how many items people actually sold and see maybe who made the most money this year too. Yeah, and actually there's another story about all of the different athletic gear that folks bought

during the pandemic. How it's been plumbing in value. So not only can you use sites like eBay to sell the stuff that you no longer want, but as a consumer, you can take advantage of the prices, the plumbering values that that folks are having to sell their stuff for because they're no longer worth what they paid for it. I'm search for a mountain bike because but the problem is I'm freakishly tall, and nobody has the extra large frames.

So everybody's got those medium sized frames. Gets you the medium sized frame, but then get you an extra long ce post. Those are like the monster batas of bikes. But what about new stuff, because it's actually it's hard to believe, but the Holidays, they're really around the corner. And I think there's a chance that we're gonna see a lot more Black Friday deals this year. A friend of the show, Ben Carlson, he thinks, so we tend to agree basic how it works for months on end

supply chain issues they were a serious problem. But now there's been an over correction, right, Like imagine the pendulum swinging and it was far off over to one side where there wasn't enough supply, and now it's swung back that bull whip effect and there are there's an abundance of supply. Uh so change like Walmart and Target have

excess inventory. We've got too much stuff. Of course, these different companies, they're gonna have to reduce prices in a serious way in order to entice you to remove that inventory, uh you know, from their warehouses. But keep in mind, the best way to save the most money is by not buying any of this stuff you know altogether. Don't be enticed by the fort off, by the seventy percent off sales that you know that you might see. Ask yourself first, is there a way that I could just

do without this item completely? Without thinking that? You know, you're the smartest consumer out there because you are taking advantage of the deals. Plus I can pay pay for it in six installments over time through buy now, pay later only only if you're giving that money away, this is the deal of a lifetime. Probably not so. Yeah, although we are likely to see more deals, the best deals are going to be buying used still on a

lot of these sites for the most part. Um. But yeah, I like that you said to Matt, start budgeting now. Like I think most people aren't thinking about the holidays yet, but it really is right around the corner, and you can make the holidays a whole lot less financially painful if you start thinking now and you start saving now.

Maybe come up with an exact total of what you're gonna want to spend on gifts and start setting money aside to every paycheck so that you have the cash you need to pay for the presidents you want to buy when it comes to when it comes Christmas time. That's right, all right, Well, that's gonna do it, Matt. For this episode, we hope that you guys have a great weekend, and we hope to see you back here on Monday. Matt and I are going to publish a

conversation that we just had with Sarah Wilson. She's known as budget Girl on YouTube and she's pretty rad, Matt, So I'm looking forward to releasing that episode on Monday. That's right, man, So that's gonna be for this one though. Until next time, best Friends Out, Best Friends Out, m