Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am mat and today we're talking about geographic arbitrage, purging the penny, and looking back in anger.
So looking back in Anger doesn't really seem to have a personal finance angle to it, Joel. I actually had to look this up because I saw that you had this down as.
A title of the episode, and you were like, what does that mean?
And I realized that you wanted to talk about Oasis during this episode, which I mean one of their best songs. So I never owned that album. What's the story Morning Glory?
Yeah?
And I certainly, of course knew about Champagne, super Nova, Wonderwall, but news to me that that's one of their best songs.
Yeah, all right?
That album was I have seventh grade. For me, that was my favorite album I bait.
My friends were really into it, and I still love the Oasis, would you?
All right?
We'll get to Oasis probably later on, but yes, this is our Friday flight where we look at the most pressing news headlines that we've come across this week and we discuss how they pertain to your personal finances. Joel, really quick, you and I we got to take little breaks last week, we both of us actually went out on some mountain adventures. You went out with some friends out to California, and in your case you got picked up by a friend in their car, which is always nice.
Right.
In my case, Kate and I flew out to Denver and we walked on over to the car rental agency whatever you picked up our car. Actually it was a two yet a raw four, which was just told that I got to drive around and kind of try out because I was kind of big on those. It served us well while we were driving around.
That kind of thing.
But here's the thing. When it came to returning that car back to the Denver Airport, we were getting pretty low on gas, and rather than stop at the Costco, which we really saw when we're like, oh that's the place to get gas, because of course we're Costcome members, instead we just drove straight up to the airport and drop the car off with an almost empty tank. Who are you do I lose my frugality, my frugal card.
Yeah?
Do I get that taken away?
Had it over right now?
That's ridiculous. What someone How much was gas? And how much were they charge? Because typically when when you do this paying a premium. You're paying a massive premium for every gallon they have to fill that car with. So you could just cost yourself like forty fifty bucks.
No, well not that much.
So it was it can be like three dollars a gallon difference, dude, if it's low, and it was a couple of dollars it was.
Yeah, So I think gas around then in Denver was something like three a little over three dollars per gallon, and then they ended up charging us over five dollars per gallon, so it's you know, a little bit over a two dollars difference. So here's the rest of the story, which which was the hope, and there's more. We were a little bit late, so we were pressed on time,
and so you don't want to miss a fly. Could have been had I stopped take the time to fill it up myself in order to get the absolute best price all on a gallon of gas. Well, if that caused us to miss our flight. Kate's getting a little stressed and because I saw the costco and I was like, obay, that's where we need to stop and get gas. And she's like, we are not stopping to get gas we are going straight to the airport.
Well, the problem was stopping at Costco for gas is that it can often take a lot of extra time because of the line, which is.
Where we would have stopped. And I think that one would have cost us because we would have ended up missing the flight. All right, Okay, I can and from my wife sanity because she you know, and here's here's what it's worth a lot. It's totally worth it. And the fact that if you're looking at say this, three dollars a gallon versus five dollars a gallon and the little over ten gallons that they had to fill up. So it's not a fifty dollars conversation, truly, what is it.
It's a twenty dollars conversation. So would you be willing to spend twenty bucks to not have the additional stress to not miss your flight to you know, make your significant other happy? For me, dude, it was worth every dollar. I'd never so I'd never actually done that before either, But it felt, really I felt like if I felt like mister fancy pants, I just pulled on up. And I granted it was because we're short on short on time. If we had more time.
I totally would have It would feel so amptithetical to everything that exists inside of me.
It felt a little bit weird, but I thought, this is pretty nice not having to actually stop, Like, uh, are you.
Gonna make this a regular habit?
Then I shouldn't know.
But there are certain things that you're less willing to do. Like some things are worth convenience. This is not one of them. Popping in and pumping the gas is like not terribly inconvenient. So I would say, if you if it was between you missing your flight and doing this, that's one thing. But if you're gonna start doing this on the rag and become some sort of fancy pants guy who pays five bucks at a gallon for gas without needing to, I'm gonna say, then your frugal card is a mistake.
What I should have done was earlier on in the trip, even the day before. I should have filled up because I hadn't filled it up at all, and we stopped at a safe way because we're frugal, and we were cooking breakfast at home at the loft that we were running.
That's because that's how we roll. It's a much better least in some contexts, I guess, but I should have stopped and filled up gas and at least they would have only needed to charge me for like four gallons or five gallons or something as opposed to almost the whole tank. Yeah, anyway, I thought that was worth sharing because it was something I've never done before, which is the rental company filled it up for us.
Yeah, and you know what, we all have things where we're in a hurry, or something happens, or there's traffic, and we can't optimize everything.
So I wouldn't make ourself.
Up with the colts. Just don't get used to this. That's so I'm gonna say it was nice.
We don't travel enough for that to be like a frequent thing. Anyway.
Yeah, it was a nice little slurge.
Okay, a listening on mat, let's get to the Friday flight for this week the sampling of stories we found interesting. Let's start by talking about the American dream. It's more expensive than ever. This is according to a new Go Banking rates analysis. Basically, they found that inflation has made it far more expensive to live the quintessential American.
Lifestyle so familiar.
I don't know.
Do they talk about the dream in other countries, is there like the Botswana and dream or.
The chicken in every pot.
I don't know he made up. I don't know.
I mean, but in America we have this American dream. The people want to own a house, white picket fence, two cars in the driveway, which I'd say one car of the driveways are better gold aft. But now the American dream costs roughly one hundred and fifty thousand bucks a year on average, although where you live has a massive impact on the actual cost of being able to
afford that kind of typical stock American lifestyle. Of course, Hawaii, California more expensive than living in Mississippi or Arkansas, for instance.
It makes me think of that as you know, that disease I'm sorry joke where he's like he's a parent or he's a kid of immigrants, and so he knows something about immigrants, and he's like, oh yeah. The government is like, oh hey you yeah, you yeah, you can come to America, but you got to live in Alabama because nobody wants to live in Alabama.
That's not true.
Well, he's just talking about it from a where he wanted to live standpoint. I've got nothing against the more affordable. Of course, I'm going to encourage folks to move to the states that are more affordable. Your dollars gonna go much further.
Right, think about Arkansas, man likes so underrated from like an outdoorsy perspective as it, Yeah, I don't like by the thozarks Man like some of the best mountain biking in the countries in.
Yeah, Arkansas, so sounds awesome.
Don't hate on the low cost of living spots, especially right when you think about how much the cost of the American dream has gone up, it's like thirty six percent increase over the past decade. But then there's a flip side of that, Matt. I think sometimes those things make all the headlines and it's like, well, I guess
nobody can afford the American dream anymore. Well, median household income has gone up by forty seven percent over the same time period, so household income has outpaced the rising costs of affording that American dream. So it's important to put that in perspective. It makes me think of like when we talk about headline credit card debt and it's like, oh, man, past a trillion dollars. Now it's past one point one
trillion dollars. Well, what is it adjusted for inflation? And is it actually as bad as the headline number seems. You see a lot of doom loom headlines and you and I obviously would prefer to see zero dollars in credit card debt for all Americans. But it's maybe not quite as bad as people make it out to be. And this number, by the way, includes maxing out your for OW and K and your college savings plan for your kids.
That's a part of the American dream that I can get behind.
It, Yes, exactly, except for maybe the college savings plan for your kids. Maybe we switched out for the roth Irey instead, But that's what the four one k's for. Yeah, well we want you to do both. Yeah, and in life is expensive. The other thing to mention, too, Matt, is we've all got different dreams, not one static reality that we're all shooting for. And I guess my thought is that we still live in a country that makes our ability to live out our dreams of what our
individualistic version of that American dream. We live in a country that makes it exceedingly possible for a large segment of the population. Although of course, not everyone to the exact same extent.
That's true. Yeah, so would you move in order to achieve that American dream, Joel? If you didn't, if you didn't have.
It depends on It depends on where I'm being asked to move. To a certain extent, we did move for its true a couple of years ago. But I bring that up because relocating it could significantly drive down the price of the most expensive things in your life, like housing or insurance, the cost of food, which could meaningfully
reduce your overall cost of living. We've seen that happen more and more in our post pan world, and it's helped some folks basically keep like a high flute and paying job like a Silicon Valley paycheck while living let's say, on a Tennessee budget, which sounds awesome.
Yeah you remember that.
I mean that was commonplace for real while there in the right after the pandemic hit exactly. But it's like Facebook's like, we'll keep employing you. You can live wherever you want because the office is closed.
Except for the fact that it's starting to cut both ways working from home geographic arbitrage. Employers are wising up because you might be able to keep your high paying job while moving to a cheaper location. But your boss they might also look for cheaper employee options remotely as well, so keep that in mind. It cuts both ways. This trend has been happening for a while now, it's growing and this isn't just a state to state sort of competition.
Either employers or you know, or they're hiring less expensive employee in other countries as well. I mean, I think we're all familiar with just the different call centers that are not in the States. So let's just not get too comfortable with the maybe abundant job market that we've all a lot of folks have been experiencing over the past several years. As the job market cools, I think it's a good idea to keep your savings stout, make sure you've got that emergency fund, but keep your skills
in top shape as well. Make sure your resume is looking good at least know where it is. That way you can update it if need be.
And we have said this multiple times on the show, and I think it's important to reiterate Matt that when people go into the office, oftentimes it is harder to fire that person. I mean I guess if you're going to the office and you're just napping all day, then
it's probably really easy to fire you. But the more FaceTime you're able to show to your fellow coworkers and to the higher ups, they're more likely you are to get a raise to keep your job to you're going to be You're not gonna be the first person on the shopping block. If you're only on a zoom call once a month, there's a higher chance that you are not the person who's staying when those job cuts come about.
So even if you're not required to go into the office, you might want to say, yeah, I'm going to do it a couple times a week, just because that's good for me and securing my future paycheck. There's also a downside to job hopping, Matt. There was an article about this, basically one of the downside. I don't really thought about this that much, but we talk about taking a different
job to increase your income. That's awesome, But one of the downsides potentially is accumulating less in your four oh one K. And that's partly because workers tend to cash out their retirement accounts when they leave, which don't like that we hate that it's awful, But if you quit too soon, you might also not reach the vesting requirement. Different jobs have different lengths of time before you're able
to actually get the match that's promised to you. So if you leave after a year and a half in the vesting period is two years, sorry, you just lost all the matching money that your employer was going to give you. So we would just say pay attention to that and consider your employment timeline accordingly, and if you do leave your job, keep your four one K intact please. It's the numbers are dismal, Matt, when it comes to people leaving their job and then just like rating their
retirement account like it's a piggy bank. Keep it in the four on K with your employer, or roll it over into an IRA with one of the low cost companies if it's not with one of those those low cost companies. Already, we have an article about Capitalize which is will help you do those rollovers for free, that we'll link to.
In the show notes.
But this is a problem, and it's a problem I hadn't really thought too much about, Matt. The fact that people going to work somewhere else might mean could mean kind of some slippage when it comes to the traction you're gaining and saving investing for your future.
That's right.
So while we are covering jobs, let's talk about earning more money, which I think most of us are keen on. In a way to do that is via the extremely underrated skill of emotional intelligence. This isn't like breaking news necessarily, but this is informative. There is new research out that shows that there is a linear relationship between your EQ, so your using emotional intelligence and emotion quotient interchangeably here, but that there is a linear relationship between your EQ
and your salary. People with a higher EQ tend to earn almost thirty thousand dollars more per year than folks who have a low emotional intelligence. So what should you be looking to improve? Evidently four areas make up your EQ, and they are I'm going to let's see these out here. Self awareness, social awareness, self management, and relationship management. That's our relationship doing today, Matt, I think it's doing pretty good. How do you think our relationship is doing?
I feel great about us as friends. Let's promote each other.
You're not going to be able to improve all these areas like overnights instantaneously. I think some certain aspects of it are going to be easier for some than others. But realizing and improving how it is that you express your emotions and how you feel in the workplace, I think that can go a long way towards you making more money at least over time. And those soft skills are they're just as important as the hard ones that
you've worked years to achieve. Like we focus on the degrees and the different skills and certifications, but just how it is that we work with folks in the office. With folks especially too, with varying in different backgrounds, can go a really long way in your ability to manage well in order to be a good team player.
Makes me think of an episode we did a while back with Gorik. He talked about the unspoken rules of workplace success, and is what he was talking about. So much of those unspoken rules were just kind of basic EQ sort of emotional intelligence stuff and not letting your emotions get out of hand, being able to rain them in and keep them in check, being thoughtful about the
wording that you're using in emails. There's so many little small things that people pick up on over time, your bosses, your coworkers, and the value of learning how to control your temper. For instance, it could add up to thousands and thousands of dollars in income where or potentially losing your job. I guess if you can't control it at all. Yeah, Orskinse scenario.
Yeah.
So it's really really interesting stuff. And Matt, let's talk about another workplace trend. People thought the fire movement was hot. Well, it turns out that actually the opposite of fire is kind of hot right now that more workers are choosing to unretire. So they hit their retirement age and they were like, cool, I'm done with work, and then they said, wait, a couple of years later, maybe I'm ready to get
back into the workforce. And so some research from Pew reports that Americans over seventy five are basically the hottest segment of the workforce right now. A decent chuck of boomers basically said, I'm gonna quit, but I'm either not financially or emotionally ready to completely stop working, So I'm going back to the well, I'm going to go get a job again. And some of this is actually because many older Americans expect to live longer according to Pew, Like,
so that's a good thing. They're saying, Listen, I'm seventy five, but I still feel young, and I think I'm gonna live till ninety five, So why not work till I'm eighty instead of bagging to work this early and having twenty years of no work at all. And I think if you like what you do, at least that's a
good thing. I think the flip side of this, though, Matt, for young listeners, which is most of the folks listening to how to money, is to save and invest, like you're going to retire much earlier than age eighty, so not necessarily planning like, oh cool, this is a trend. I guess I'm going to work until I'm eighty two, because while you might get to do what you want to do for as long as you want to do it, that's amazing, many older workers also find that that isn't
the case. So I would just say, like, yeah, hope for the best, but plan for bumps in the road, and that planning for bumps in the road is investing a decent chunk of your income so that you have at least optionality when it comes to those later working years, and I like the idea of trending back towards working at least part time as you get older. There's a sense of meaning, there's a social income, right, There's a lot of good stuff that comes with work, at least
if it's work that you're choosing to do on purpose. Totally, but you just don't plan on working until you die and not invest a dime because exactly that's going to leave you.
With zero choices.
Yeah, and just the fact too that more folks are that they are returning to work. It just kind of underlines I think our view of work, which is that the ability for you to work and provide value into the world, that that in it of itself is fulfilling. And if you're able to do something that you find fulfilling, oftentimes you are compensated for that. And so it's a combination of that. But also I think maybe less emphasis was placed, maybe with the boomer generation on some of
the things outside of work that also bring fulfillment. So you remove like this main thing that brought them a whole lot of fulfillment. Oh and by the way, a lot of money. But then you don't replace that with anything, right, Like, there's nothing else that's kind of steps into that void, and you kind of start thinking, well, shoot, I don't know, I was really good at that. Maybe I'll go back at least in a part time role or as a consultant.
There are different ways to continue to provide that value. You're right, this could almost be seen as somewhat of like a work addiction. It's like, sure, I quit work, and so it turns out I had nothing else to do, even though I have enough money. Guess I'll go back to work because that is like the square peg fitting in the square hole, because it fits perfectly because that's what you've crafted over the past thirty forty years. Yeah, So it's tough to talk about having a healthy relationship
to work, because I think that's more than likely. What's going on here is the fact that folks they don't have it in its right place, ye like, And that's that's the kind of I don't know, that balance that we are constantly trying to strike when it comes to work, finding value in it, but at the same time not having it be your everything because there are things outside of work, a lot of things. But we got more to get to We will eventually get to you talking about your unrequited.
Love of Oasis, I make me saying it.
Some travel trends. We'll get to that and more right after this. All right, Matt, let's keep rolling with this podcast. Do it because it's electric. Yes, I am referencing Oasis lyrics. Let's get to the ludicrous headline of the week first, though. This one comes from the FTC and the Federal Trade Commission, and the blog post title on their site was home title lock insurance not a lock at all. And you and I, Matt, we talk about insurance pretty regularly on
the show. It's some types of insurance are necessary, like car insurance. Often you're legally required to have that. There are other types of surance not nearly as good, not nearly as necessary, And some other types of insurance even depend on what phase of life you're in. Right, so you're nineteen listening to this podcast. You don't get married, you don't have many kids.
Chances are term life insurance is completely unnecessary, even though it's something we talk about sometimes as being a necessity for other people. And then there are other types of insurance that are just a bad deal. Basically, all the time. Makes me think of extended warranties MATT for your electronics
items almost always a waste of money. You're throwing it away. Well, home title lock insurance, and I use insurance term loosely on this one is one of those kinds of insurance that is pretty trashy that you should essentially avoid, and the FTC put out a warning about.
It last week.
And the funny thing is, I said, I'm going to use the term insurance loosely. This isn't even really insurance. It's not protecting you in the case of someone And essentially this is someone pretending to be you stealing the deed to you your home, which is an incredibly rare event. So I wouldn't fixate on this possibility. But this quote unquote insurance offers to notify you after the fact that something bad happened to you. It's unhelpful, it's a waste
of money. Plus, you can check your title for free with your estate's records department. Do not pay for these services.
Ridiculous.
This is like, it's a misnomer on two fronts because it's not insurance and it's also not a lock. Like two thirds of what they're selling you is a total crap home.
The home part is right, it does have something to do with your exactly, but this is like praying on fear right. People are like, steal the deed to my home. Let me get this insurance to protect me, and then it doesn't protect you in any way foreign fashion.
It makes me think of the the credit lock stuff that the credit buers offer, or like the credit notification services that costs folks money every single month, when the real quote unquote insurance that can truly prevent the problem is totally free, which is actually freezing your credit. It's like, I don't mind that it exists. If they want to sell this product, that's totally fine, but they need to
completely bogus product. They should change. If folks want to be notified in case something like this, Okay, that's fine, if you want to do that. I don't think it's a wise use of money. But it's the It's like installing a nice lock on your home, right, and you're like, oh, yeah, this is going to prevent people from getting inside, when in reality it's actually just an alarm and the door isn't locked. It's like, well, okay, and you left the
windows open. It's like, in reality, the better thing to do actually here in this case is just.
To lock it.
But it's just the fact that it's called something that it's not is the part that really gets under my skin.
It's misleading. That's what we don't like. It certainly is it certainly isn't. And the other thing is lots of states and municipalities offer free notifications if you can literally sign up for notifications, which is essentially what this is, but it costs you money and you might be able to get the same service for free. Yeah, this is one of those things. Listen to the FTC here, they're spot one, and don't throw good money away on a product like this.
Man.
On the note of insurance, at car insurance costs, they continue to skyrocket. They're going through the roof. And while price increases are slowing in almost every other sector of the economy, we keep talking about inflation coming down. Good news, Well that's not the case. We're talking about the car insurance segment of the economy. And there's a new report from Insurify which finds that car insurance rates are set
to increase again this year. And they actually said, I think in the headline that in some states they're going to increase by more than fifty percent, which can you imagine like that kind of a jump. It's shocking to people. That's crazy, completely shocking. And the average full coverage premium is now almost twenty five hundred bucks a year across the country.
That's also crazy.
Yeah, what you pay obviously depends on where you live, your driving record, your credit score in most states, and some other factors too.
I guess how new your vehicle is, how much it actually costs a replace. I guess that's the other you're driving too, if you've got a newer, brand new vehicle, which I guess there's a lot of folks that do, as opposed to driving fifteen year old clunkers. Yeah, well, that's kind of how we like to roll, right exactly. Even if I do have the rental company fill my car up for me, Joel, I know I'm still and just may you're going to keep bringing this one. I am going to you time.
You're never going to let live it down. If Surify is essentially projecting these costs are going to continue to rise through the end of twenty twenty four, we're not going to see a slow down in car insurance rates, and then I don't know, Matt, I guess there are a few options that people have though right own fewer cars. That's one of the things you mentioned. Hey, if you own one less car, you knock twenty five hundred bucks
potentially off your annual car insurance costs. And I know that's a big lifestyle change, but for a lot of people it might be worth it. What about self insuring more, raising your deductible or dropping full coverage if your car is old enough and you have enough money in the bank to cover replacing that if something were to happen,
and of course chopping around with other insurance carriers. And then if you find out that actually, well, the insurance company that I'm currently with, I've got a pretty good rate here, even though the rate's gone up, I'm not getting anything better elsewhere, Well, maybe ask about other discounts that they offer. Are there ways to save even more with the company you're with? Just a twenty minute conversation on the phone with an agent could mean significant savings.
There's big money on the table here. When we're talking about in an era where rates are going up significantly, They're not going up with the same clip from different insurance companies, and every insurance company is going to offer different quotes based on how they their algorithm. So it's certainly worth shopping around, especially in today's environment.
That's true.
Yeah, And as those monthly budgets go up because of rising prices like the cost of insurance, it's also going to mean less demand for travel, which equals more cheap flights.
On the way Hopper.
They reported that fares are down eight percent year of a year. The New York Times they highlighted the fact that we're seeing more deals or seeing more discounts from different hotel chains as well. So it's not going to make up for those higher car insurance costs, but it's at least a bit of a bright spot. That's a little bit of a silver lining. Maybe get your car and go on a trip. I mean, and this is
just another example of our economy. The market's returning to sort of that pre pan quote unquote normal because folks, you know, they had more cash on hand, folks wanted to travel more. We remember, like we talked about this on the show a couple of years ago, just the massive demand for travel as folks had more stimu money, more cash in the bank. And what did the airlines do. They accommodated for that. They increased the number of flights,
they expanded their routes. And now there's more supply than there is demand. So if you are a traveler, you have more of a possibility these days to snag a deal.
Yeah, and we're starting to see air airlines actually start to reduce some service, starting to correct because they're realizing prices are going down. Maybe we need to limit supply a little bit. It feels like right now might be the sweet spot. Yeah, it might be a good time. Except for Matt. When we're talking about travel, you know when you probably pay this without blinking, you probably love paying baggage fees. Based on recent.
Information, we flew Southwest and slammed everything into our code of pack sees. Okay, yeah, which are great. That thing fits right under the seat in front of you.
Love those things.
So when I intentionally also make sure to not take up luggage over had luggage space for those who have larger bags, because I want to make sure that everyone I'm trying to contribute to the overall good here. It's very conscient. It's some folks that they take their backpacks and they throw it up there. Yeah no, no, no, you got room under the seat in front of you. So I went, what'd you do?
Well?
Yeah, no, I put it in the overhead of my bag.
But I also had to check a bag on this most recent trip because I was backpacking. I literally had one of those bag, big old backpacking backpacks.
You would you get it, by the way, did you read it or borrow it from a friend? No? I bought it because I'm going to use it again. Oh there you go. Oh look at you.
So this but from Mari I is a great bag. But luggage fees are getting worse. I didn't have to pay any fee because I also flew Southwest, but Airlines. New stats show the airlines raked in thirty three billion dollars in baggage fees in twenty twenty three, which is a fifteen percent increase over the year before. So, Matt, it just one of those things I think people maybe
are getting used to when they travel. There's like, I guess I'm gonna pay a fee to check a bag, But the truth is you don't have to most of the time. So I just want people to know that, like as these fees become normalized, you can still avoid them. Many airlines are actually going to charge you for a carry on to these days, which annoys me. But if you know the rules, you know the hoops you can jump through, you can likely save or avoid that fee
all together. So it makes you think of when we flew Frontier recently and like, hey, if you bring this bag that fits specifically in Frontiers little container, you can take it on. It counts as a personal item, right and so it's.
A tight fit.
We packed light and we were able to fit our bags inside of there, and we didn't pay any sort of fee. But the people in front of us, they were at a little too big, just a little too big, and guess what they had to pay a hundred bucks each.
I felt terrible for what.
A massive increase to the price of your trip.
So how many times you could turn your car rental in with like on an empty tank, right, Like, that's five times.
Right there, exactly. That's less of a bad decision. And with the other thing I guess that might help you avoid some of those fees is using the right credit card. So if you have friends who are like super loyal to Delta, or something like that, and if they used the Delta card when they booked their their trip, everybody who flies with them is able to check a bag for free. So I don't know pack lighter or use the right credit card, but at least know what the
fees are and do your best to avoid them. They just don't have to be a fee that we blindly accept regularly totally.
Also, we're not sponsored or anything, but we love the Codo Pasi Alpa twenty eight liter bag we've talked about. We've mentioned them before on the show. Maybe we'll link to them in the show notes.
It's the best.
But Joel, we mentioned rising fees at ATMs recently. Was that last week that we talked about that thinks so well. More retailers are charging you if you want cash back when you're paying with a debit card these days as well, that used to be a way that you could, oh, okay, this is the way I get my hands on some cash. But according to the CFPB, retailers like the Dollar Store Kroger, they're doing this as well. They're charging you when you opt for cash back when you are paying with a
debit card. It's oftentimes still going to be a more affordable way to get your hands on some money than the average ATM fee that's out there, But just a heads up that you might pay anywhere from like fifty cents all the way up to three dollars, which makes me cringe a little bit to pull out some of your money. So I just remember doing this in high school, like, well,
you literally buy a pack of gum. Oh yeah, in order to avoid because back then they weren't really reimbursing the different ATM fees as much, so you was this strategy.
Yeah, buy a pack of gum and ask for twenty back. You need twenty forty bucks, like the pack of gum. Strategy always worked, and then it felt like the cheapest ATM fee of all time.
Plus you got some juicy fruit to go along with it. No, yeah, what's gonna go wrong is that your favorite juicy fruit?
Juicy fruit was the best.
I mean it didn't last long, but the flavor was Remember you probably got the zebra gum, didn't you?
Oh, fruits ripe? You know, was right? I was trying to think. My friend's always like a big red I hated the cinnamon is the worst. What do you think about people? Who you send them in toothpaste. It's something wrong with them, something wrong with this, I agree.
Sorry to all you listeners out there who do it, feel free to write your angry emails to Matt. Let's go back to the well on some of the FTC is doing. They issued another warning this week that we thought was at least worth mentioning for bitcoin ATMs, which, surprise, surprise, man, scammers are using bitcoin ATMs trying to steal people's money.
This is a new twist on a fairly traditional scam. Basically, a scammer tells you that there's bogus information on your account that you need to deposit money right away into one of these bitcoin ATMs. The money then goes to the scammer, never to be seen again. You are out whatever money you stuck in there. And so basically we're talking about scams raising your fear levels, praying on that feeling.
If you don't know who's calling you hang up, log into your account to see if there's really an issue or not. If there's like there's insufficient funds in your bank account, well go directly to the website or to the app on your phone and see if that's actually true, before listening to these crooks and doing what they ask you to do.
Well, you know what you can't get out of an atm Joel a penny, and that's because it's a worthless coin. A New York Times article this week said that, and this is a quote. Few things symbolize our national dysfunction more than the inability to stop minting this worthless currency.
I think that's true.
This is something that I think a lot of Americans can get behind. We totally agree, honestly. To understand the full scope of the problem, it's worth reading this entire article, but just a few highlights. They noted that this is a.
Really long article.
By the way, they hated the pennies so much they dropped a lot of ink I attraction.
I'm a fan of writing about the things you care about. But they noted how one hundred dollars worth of pennies weighs in at fifty five pounds, giving at least a partial indication of the logistical nightmare the annoyances that pennies come with.
Sounds like the solution for a good user pennies is as workout equipment than matt Oh.
That's true that sand water people do all sorts. It also costs more than three cents to produce a single one cent piece. So we wanted to highlight this because our depending on your political background and just all the stuff that's going on with our country, right like our nation, it might be embroiled in conflicts here we agree with foreign and domestic. But this is something that I do think we can all get behind.
Independence, conservatives, liberals, let's all unite in hatred of the penny.
Yeah.
Again, I don't want to prop myself up as some sort of elitist Joel, but I don't even pick up pennies on the sidewalking now, Like I've gotten to the point like it's got to be at least a nickel for me to bend over like I need. It needs to be the equivalent of five pennies for me to reach down there with you. It's too risky. Back to the day, dirty nasty germs.
Back in the day, would a coke costs a nickel and and it went up to six cents, like that was a big deal, right, and a penny was like actually meaningful currency. It served a function, But it doesn't serve any function anymore. Nobody cares Canada. I think got rid of it eleven or twelve years ago, something like that.
They ditched their penny, and so basically, if you're making a transaction in person, they round up or round down and nobody cares because a penny is essentially worthless, or if you're making an online transaction, you can still pay down to the penny.
I guess, dude, how great would it be if all the prices out there always ended in a zero or a five. I feel like it would make life a bit easier too, for sure, for multiple reasons.
Yep, I'm with you. So we're with the New York Times on this one. Let's abolish a penny. Let's move on with our lives people, Matt. Since we're talking about pricing, let's talk about the pricing of tickets to see one of the greatest bands in the history of the world. Here we go, Oasis, the band that sadly has not toured together for fifteen plus years. I want to say, yea, the Gallagher brothers. They're lack of friendship has been documented extensively.
They really didn't like each other for a really long time, and I don't know if they actually like each other now again, or if they're just they.
Just need to make a buck.
They need to make a buck, and they're going to go on tour. Well, so I was stoked to hear that they are announcing a reunion tour. They haven't actually announced a US tour yet. When they do, I will at least be considering buying tickets. But the punks at Ticketmaster ruin everything, and they botched another rollout of tickets that people really want to, really care about, really wanted
to buy. I don't mind dynamic pricing. We talk about that like, hey, it can help basically balance creatniquilibrium between supply and demand in so many cases. But Ticketmaster is taking dynamic pricing to the next level, ramping up prices
while people are waiting in the queue buy tickets. So you're like, okay, cool, this is what I'm going to pay for tickets, and then you get in there, and then while you're sitting there, it's almost like a slot machine where the numbers are rolling around, but they're only going up, costing you more. As Ticketmaster makes you sit and wait and hope that you can get those tickets in it feels a little bait and switchy. Getting more
expensive about a second. It's ridiculous, Yes, very bait and switchy. I agree, it's infuriating to customers. It's a complete and utter shame that getting to see your favorite live music has been held hostage by this awful company. I can't think of many companies matt that are worse or that
rival Ticketmaster and just how awful they are. And then customers are left with the decision of trying to buy directly from the venue, which might allow you to skirt Ticketmaster, skipping the show altogether, or holding your nose and handing over gobs of cash. Something needs to change here, and I know the British authorities are looking at a Ticketmaster because of this.
But same thing here, same side as well. I just don't understand how it's something that has continued, Like it's crazy when a grocery store groceries chains that have like razor thin margins. Was it Albertson's that was going to like merge with with Kroger and they got sued And it's like, uh, there's plenty of competition out there. Think about all the different grocery stores, all the different options, plus not to mention our favorite discount is like Aldi,
but then you got somebody like Ticketmaster. Truly, they are effectively operating as a monopoly.
I agree.
I think something's got to change soon, and hopefully we'll see something a.
Better change in time for the US ticket release of the Oasis tour, because it might. I don't know, because I mean I'm pretty sensitive. And if if I can get a ticket to go see Oasis for fifty bucks, I'm in. But if it's like one twenty, sorry, guys.
Galer, Yeah, you wouldn't pay one twenty to see one of your favorite bands from your childhood.
Not Nosebleed Seeds. Really, I don't know.
I do love them though, if you if they came, you know, I feel like I missed out on seeing YouTube at at the Sphere in Vegas if they If Oasis goes to Vegas for the Sphere, I might join you.
All right, We'll make a out of money. That seems like it would be a fun time. Yeah, But the only thing would make it better is if hooting the Blowfish opened up for Oasis, because that was that would like truly be seventh I'd come back to life for me. I guess that'd be the equivalent of going to see another Third Blind show, which I have seen. That was my first, That was my first real concert, and I don't think I paid ticket Master prices.
Yeah, I think I saw him last year and it was awesome.
But that's gonna be in For this episode. We want to give a quick newsletter referral shout out to Matt Z and Lori Lori G. Thank you both so much for sharing the how to Money newsletter with some of your friends. It comes out every Tuesday. It's free, it's chock full of helpful personal finance nuggets of wisdom. You can sign up for that at how to money dot com. Forward Slash Newsletter.
No Doubt Bud. All right, I hope you guys have a great weekend. We'll catch back here on Monday. Until next time, Best friends out and best Friends out.
Hues Electric. That's one of my favorites.
I probably a friend.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no. Bom left the cars again.
Need a little time to wake up the way