Welcome to had the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt.
Today we're talking jump at the pump, lestening leverage, and tapping too soon.
That's if we're laughing, because we watched the intro a couple of times there and then we just kept rolling and found a way to make it happen. We're we're pros here, Matt. You know, we're just here to have some fun. That's what we're gonna do here on this Friday flight, especially considerably. Pros have been doing this for as long as we have. But do we even still we make idiotic mistakes? Yeah, I'll say your little catchy headlines are super vague.
That was kind.
That's a little intense, So listener's got to stick around and find out what we're talking about on all of none, none of these are giving it away.
Some of the pump felt a little pannic at the disco. Oh, I like that? Did you ever like those guys?
I never really listened to anither a little too screamy, not like scream o rock, but like, I don't know, too high pitched. Okay, you had a really high voice. Was it like was back in the emo era? Is that what they were it's like post emo. Okay, yeah, moving a little bit more to the mainstream. But yeah, this is our Friday flight. We're gonna talk about the personal finance headlines, specifically how they are going to impact your wallet.
While we're talking.
About your wallet, I think one of the prices that people pay the most attention to is the price of gasoline because they drive passed it multiple times a day and we've gotten used to, you know, fairly low gas prices, especially over the past year.
We've seen those prices dip, but the price of gases soared this week.
Our local gas station here, like a month ago, I want to say, we were in like the two to fifty range, but prices have quickly shot up to three dollars thirty cents even more because of US military operations in Iran. Twenty percent of the world's oil passes through the stream of Hormah, which has been cut off by the Iranians. The tankers essentially are like, no, don't want
to go over there. Sure, And with the President saying that the attacks are set to persist potentially for weeks to come, the uncertainty of what retaliation could look like. I think folks should be prepared to expand their their budgets in this area for months to come. When it when it comes to transportation costs, the cost of filling up your car, I think there have been talks perhaps
of let's say, a cease fire. If that happens, well, obviously that's going to change the I think the potential for price you know what, what you're paying out the prompt dramatically, but.
It could be a very short lived spike. We'll see. Yeah.
I mean literally, as of this recording, there haven't been any talks of negotiations or talks, but that literally could happen in like an hour or.
Apparently, I don't know.
I saw someone reporting that there was a request for talks from the Iranian side, But like when will that happen? Will will that happen?
It's tough, Yeah, And I was going to say too, and by the way.
Like that, there's a lot we could say just about the fact that our country is now at war. This is not a political podcast, so we won't and we'll let you do.
Even using the term that we're at war.
Have you noticed that they've tried to avoid saying that we're at war because it's like, oh, no, this is a military what they keep referring to it as a kinetic and military.
Operation is the word, Then that's not Then it's not really happening. Is that? Now? This is this is totally war.
Sure it may not be war in the traditional sense of what we're used to, but this is absolutely what's going on. And it's always terrible to see loss of life.
I want to say, Triple A does one of the best jobs of tracking gas prices, and what they've shown is that over the last couple of days, prices on average across the nation have jumped something like twenty five cents. But anecdotally here the few gas stations I go by, and man, I'm either sometimes i'm driving by them, usually I'm running by them. But I was I was shocked. I was like, eighty I've seen an eighty cent spike at the gas stations that I'm used to going by.
Price gouging station owners. What's going on?
Maybe or maybe the data from Triple A is just slow to catch up to reality. I don't know, but I'm curious to see if over the next couple of days maybe it does catch up and we've seen more like a forty to fifty to sixty sent per gallon spike across the nation on avare be curious to hear from how to money listeners, like what's going on at
your local gas stations? How is this impacting you? And people might be wondering too, Matt, Well, how can gas prices shoot up so much when our country is producing so much oil? You look at the amount that we produce in a given day and the amount that we consume, and it's pretty close to being on par. And it does help that we're not as reliant on Middle Eastern countries as we used to be, like let's say in
the nineties, right, But oil is a global market. So that is why, like even though we produce quite a bit of oil in this country now, far more than we ever used to, even just like what happened under Trump administration number one Biden administration and continues to happen under the Trump administration is just like we drill the drill, baby, drill thing is.
A reality in our country, it is, yea.
But even still because of the nature of the global market, Yes, we're more insulated from price pikes, we're still and not immune to them. Yeah, well yeah, when you're talking about just such a large because it's not again, it's because of the amount of oil that goes through that region. It's not even just Iran specifically, but just how much is getting essentially choked off from the world. And so
you're referring to the global market. Yeah, when there is a reduction in supply elsewhere in the world that impacts prices here locally.
That's right.
And gas stations also are reacting to increased demand. That's happening because people are like gas prices are going up, let me fill up before I actually need to. They're also reacting to the likelihood of higher prices. They're kind of looking with the crystal ball into the future and they're saying, well, the next supply that I have to purchase, it's going to cost more. So I'm just going to go ahead and preemptively raise the price for people who
are coming to fill up. So fear of higher prices and an increase in consumer demand, those are just bringing about higher prices more quickly on consumer and so we feel it maybe more quickly, even though in some ways like it feels like prices shouldn't rise so quickly.
Sure, Okay, So here is a Timely USA Today article. They put together a list of the most fuel efficient cars Joel and it was they're just like published now. But Tesla, of course was number one. EV's they're just cheap to run, even if they're not as cheap to purchase now because of the federal tax credits because they have gone away. But as far as brands that make mostly gas cars, Kia, Nissan, and Subaru were up there.
But here's the interesting thing. Consumers don't seem to care all that much, relatively speaking, because the the data tends to show that as gas prices decline, well, individuals react and then they go ahead and just purchase the larger, these bigger, larger gas guzzling SUVs, these giant suburbans and expeditions.
Do you even think with a fourth or a fifth row? Actually, that's that's what I'm into right now.
Hey, some people I know more more folks. Man, they got seven plus kids, They got like the transit.
Well, you have that many kids, you need it, I guess. But you do mean there's a lot.
Of people who are just like, we're the big, big run, the biggest suv, And I'm really only putting two people in that run.
But the opposite is true as well, when when gas prices go up, that's when folks tend to reach for the more fuel efficient vehicles. And so yeah, it's interesting though to even just look at Tesla so and again it's not it shouldn't be any surprise, but it gets one hundred and twenty miles per gallon, and that's like obviously the equivalent, right because Teslas don't run a gasoline.
But it just puts into perspective. This is a conversation I was having with Kate recently where there's part of me that sees our Honda and we drive around the city right taking the kids to school, running errands, things like that, we're getting like twenty miles per gallon. Right on the highway we can get twenty five, twenty six,
we're getting twenty around town. And then I see the two to Siena and he gets thirty six in the city because it's got the hybrid, so it's operating off of the battery for a lot of that, and I
think better, Oh my gosh, it's so much better. Oh maybe I should drop forty thousand dollars in order to achieve And like I did the math, and I would only be saving like one thousand dollars to twelve hundred dollars annually on gas prices in forty years, which it would pay for itself, which like that is too long of a time with bad math, as episode like that
should not be a reason for me to consider. It's just so again, it's so attractive going back to the fact that you drive past these prices every day and you're constantly reminded of how much more you're having to pay because of how often you're having to fill up. That compared to something like a Tesla, where it's like, wait a minute, if you're talking about truly six x, it gets six times better gas mileage equivalent.
Of course, I mean that does make a bit more.
Sense and seems more of a potentially justifiable reason to get something like an old used Tesla versus plinking on the change for a new Toyota just because truly, maybe I just want a new Toyota.
Well in all, really this comes down to I think us thinking holistically about the total cost of ownership of whatever car we might buy. Like you say, today had another list about just the cheapest overall new car brands right, and they were like, Mitsubishi is super inexpensive, right, they make some of the cheaper cars out there. And I was like, wait a second, mitsub she makes car still they do apparently, Nissan, Mazda, Kiya, subrew they're up there as well.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse back in the day in high school, that was the car. Oh yeah, my friend had a day wu. Those don't even exist anymore.
So when you look at the js and Saturns, there's some there's some overlap on these lists. Matt, you said Kiya, Nissan, Suberu, I said the same three? So those are those are in Mazda Maybe, I don't know. Masda is up there as far as being fuel efficient and brands all of those, so maybe look at the overlap there. It's always nice to pay less for a car, but truly, when it comes down to it, what's the total cost of ownership? You know, it's it's nice to have a car that's
fuel efficient. A lower upfront sales price is great, but what about reliability? What about lower insurance costs? Think about the Tesla there, it's like how much am I going to save on gas costs versus how much more might I pay on insurance, you're gonna want to check with your insurance company.
Or how much less are you gonna pay it on insurance? Because of full self driving insurans are starting to take that into acount.
That's right, like we.
Talked about with Lemonade, dropping prices on your insurance for your Tesla. So but I guess just even with gas prices going up, don't get hung up on just one factor. And it makes me think, Matt, that for at least some people one car, if let's say gas is a meaningful expense in your life, but you have your life, maybe is you're not driving huge long distances in one fell swoop man. Those old Nissan leafs are dirt cheap, and think about how much money you're gonna save. I
kind of wish I still had mine around. It was just this econo box that is no.
Frills, and yet if you're thinking about it like a golf cart, then it's a great golf cart exactly exactly. But you can get you can get one of those Nissan Leaves that still has seventy five miles of range like.
Per charge for like four grand.
And really, yes, they're so cheap because they're so on love. Nobody wants them super super affordable. So just putting that out there for folks.
I mean, if the range anxiety, if you can get past it, yeah, that's that might be the golden ticket right there, that's right.
I like what Yeah.
Where you're pointing at here though, is like again going back to the total cost of ownership. And I noticed that Toyota, for instance, wasn't on the list of the affordable brands. And that's because in part one, they've got some really nice Toyota's out there. So that was they were addressing just the brands as a whole.
You've seen those new Land Cruisers. We've talked about them. That's too nice. They're so nice seconds but in.
Part because they've got quality parts too, And so you're and you're referencing just how long is this thing going to actually last? And when you look at all the research, when it comes to the number of or the percentage of vehicle or the likelihood of a certain car being on the road past two hundred thousand miles past two hundred and fifty thousand miles, Toyota takes like the top four spots or something like that. It's like matter so Coya, Tundra,
the Siena. They're just built like tanks, and so you're paying more on the front end. But it depends on how you keep up with that thing and if you take care of it. Have we shared that our van rolled over towhure thousand miles?
No? Have we not?
Okay, it was getting close. We're getting close. Since yeah, we're well over two hundred thousand, and we rechristened it.
I did tell you this. Yeah, yeah, we rechristened it Vincent. And the kids were like why, and I said, van go because we want the vein just to keep on trucking. Man. We love it. We have humor and it's finest.
It was a great crossover between dad humor and like classical education. The kids kind of gave me a tip of the cap and a snarl roll of the eyes. Yes, all right, let's talk about jobs. The good old days, Matt, of the job market were in you know, some of the worst days for humanity twenty twenty one.
The job market was great. Well, that was the silver lining.
Yeah, the COVID was rough, and so work from home too was available to most folks at that point in time. Obviously not and people doing a lot of really arduous work in hospitals, grocery stores, a lot of people in service jobs that were not working from home. But we did see that was like a big dividing line where a lot of people who had previously been unable were then able to work from home. But that's not true
anymore in the way that it was. There was a recent analysis of six hundred thousand jobs and it just found that remote work is basically a dream that's slipping away, and if you're keen on working from home, you might be looking for work even longer these days in the job market. Right as we know your people are looking for work, it's take longer to find the job they want. But if you're like I'm prioritizing a work from home role, then you're going to be looking even longer than the
average person. Says a quote from the study that said remote roles are roughly four times harder to get than in office or hybrid positions. So if work from home is a priority for you, look too. Smaller and mid sized companies that's likely going to be your best bet, But especially the big guys, Matt, we have definitely seen this that call back to the office and strict office hour rules. Those are more likely at some of the
bigger corporations. So the key question I think for job hunters right now is how much is work from home worth to me? Because it's increasingly coming with real trade offs like waiting longer to find the job that suits you. And I get that it's a high priority, but for some people they might find that giving up on that ideal and being able to being willing to grab a hybrid role might make more sense.
Yeah, yeah, I saw they're talking about trying to sell it as well, in the sense of, hey, I just get the job done, I.
Do the work.
I'm not going to be there in the office cause it a whole lot of workplace drama. Which there's a part of me that's like, oh yeah, I bet there are a whole lot of employers that want more of that transactional sort of utility out of their employees. But then I got to thinking that, oh that cuts both ways. Though, that's a double edged sword because in that same sense, like when it comes to whoever they need to cut.
It's just like, oh, sorry, you gotta go.
It's just business, right, because like they're just looking for somebody to fill fill this position.
And out of sight, out of mind to a certain exactly.
So it's like, I don't know, Yeah, your personality and the ability for you to be front and center goes a long way, I think.
And it's hard to your role. It's harder to fire or let go the person you see every day, yes, right, like I have a relationship with them.
As long as you're not, I guess super annoying. Or maybe it's.
Easy then, but uh so, job hoppers and the leverage that you would gain in going with a new company, it's not what it used to be. ADP data they continue to show that job switchers are at least on average, unable to get much of a pay bump right now, although recent FED data is a bit contradictory that they're showing a slightly bigger bump in pay for job switchers. But the data as a whole is just a reflection of a reversion to the mean after the insanity of
the pandemic labor market. And I will say the numbers also very significantly by sector, and so if you're in very physical jobs, if you're in construction, if you're in mining, even finance, actually al SI presidency, but the average pay bump is significantly higher, So just don't assume that you
should stay put because of these data trends. The job market is not as worker friendly as it was, but I think there's still a whole lot of opportunity out there for folks who are looking for something maybe a little bit better, something where the grass might be a big greener.
What I think when.
You read the headlines or see the trends, it's really easy to think, I guess now's not a good time for me to look for a job and just assume that the trends are just concrete reality for everyone. But that's not true, right, And it's still okay despite the trends to seek a job that pays more. Like I have a friend this week who just started a new job. He's getting paid a lot more, and he's not alone. There are other people out there who were doing the same.
It's just kind of the average. It's the norm. It's not as easy, but it's not possible.
Yeah.
It makes me think of the housing market, right, It's like, oh, this is a terrible time to buy. Nobody's selling their home. It's like, okay, therefore, I should never look right. But that being said, what about the you know, your old neighbor that's been there for twenty years, and you know what, she's actually going to move in with her sister across town. Like, there are always little smallunity opportunity. Oh so and so got a promotion, but he's got to move to the
company headquarters out of state. And normally you wouldn't expect that house to go on the market, but it is now. There are always these unique, one off, more individualized data points as opposed to kind of what's happening overall. Yeah, even if the trend an't your friend, there's still real possibility out there. Interestingly, enough, Americans are working less than ever before. According to that same ADP report, Matt, the
average weekly worktime is down to thirty three hours. So butch part timer's out there trying to live like Matt and Joel or something like that. But Americans still broadly report not having enough time. And I'm curious, do you do you have any informed thoughts on why that might be the case, Why people are working less but they still feel like they I think enough time.
I think it's just perpetual. You know, first of all, I will address the thirty three hours.
It's not too far off, like it is the lowest it's been, but it's kind of been around thirty four since like the eighties, right, Like if you look back at data back like hundred years of the nineteen twenties,
it's been like increased dramatically. Fifty hours was the typical because the six day work week was super stinking normal, and it wasn't until Henry Ford before he was just like, oh yeah, increased production, it just declines, I forget what the term is whatever, But beyond a certain point, there's no point in folks working. So that's when the five day work week and then the laws were passed all that, and twelve year olds work a whole lot less than
they did two hundred years again exactly. But that being said, I mean, aside from that, like in our modern era, I think the notion of feeling like you don't have
enough time, it's just a part of being human. There's a I think there's a certain aspect of there's just all especially as we have access to and see more things that are things that are out there in the world, and there's just more that you want to be able to do, and you start wondering, like, well, how the heck am I going to be able to do all these? It makes me think of we always talk about the
tail end. Uh wait, wait, but why that's the tim urban side And you start realizing, you know, he looks at Oh my gosh, I only have there's only like a there's a very limited finite number of visits I'll have with my parents again before.
Like I've got eleven Boston Red Sox games.
Yes, exactly, or there's only so many I forget what's the food example that he gave. I don't know, but like, there's so many different things like that, and you can truly kind of quantify. It just starts putting into perspective some of the things that you want to accomplish with
your time. So I think when you are faced with the reality of yes, we work less than we ever have worked before, but also I don't feel like I have a whole lot of time, there's just a I don't know, there's a dissonance there, and I think it's worth addressing and asking you why do I feel like I have less time than ever?
So why?
I think a part of it is just we live complex lives. I think life is much more complicated than it used to be as far as just.
I don't know that.
There seem to be a thousand different little outlets and things that are drawing our attention and our time.
And some of it's good, but some of it's not good. And maybe in some ways we're doing it to ourselves as well, don't you think. I mean, I think the one I think there's more pressure for that people feel at work, even inside of those work hours, to produce, and maybe AI is kicking that up a notch from some of the reports we've seen recently as well, where people are just expected to do more because hey, now you get this tool of AI, so your output should
be more significant than it has been. I think that's pressure that people feel. And then I think in some ways it's it's self induced, well maybe not self induced, but to working parents like and which feels like in necessity now that's if you've got kids, that feels like more of a hardship. And then in other I just think about the rise of screen time and what that
seems to do to our brains. And I think it's really easy when we think that that's going to give us maybe some respite from a hard day or something like that, and it doesn't calm us down or relax us in the way we'd hoped, whereas like a walk with our spouse or a friend would maybe actually provide some of that relief and make it feel like we had more time. So a little bit of touching grass getting out in nature could be at least a little
helpful to those kind of feelings like there's no time. Yeah, And you might be like, there's no time for me to get out in nature, Joel, what are you talking about? But like, I think we find time for all these other things that maybe are just less restorative than taking a walk around the neighborhood would be.
Yeah. Yeah.
And that's what I think for some folks is just realizing and trying to figure out where their time is going, because I think a lot of times folks are like, well, I don't know, I just don't have the time. And something as simple like you do financial audits where you are reviewing your expenses, figuring out where the money is going, and at the end of the year, a lot of times folks do that with their budgets, and I think doing something similar I've done this myself.
I did this.
This is like an experiment I did six years ago or something like that where I literally was trying to track every fifteen minute block essentially of my day and I just stuck it on the calendar and I still have I have looked at it and for it and forever. But I just wanted to prove to myself that I was actually able to do some of the things that I said I wasn't able to do if I was just willing to actually prioritize those things.
That's what actually I was thinking of as you were I'm talking about this, I was like, I remember when you tracked your time, and like how beneficial that can be?
Eye opening? Right?
Yeah, wait exactly am I spending my time and I say I don't have the time.
To do the things I want? But remove the excuses.
And because I was giving myself excuses of like, well, how I can't do this, Like what am I supposed to do this? And therefore I wouldn't try because I just felt like I didn't have the time. But then once I was able to identify, oh no, no, no, there is actual time here for me to do this, to do that for me to work out, for me to grab a beer with a friend, to grab coffee, to be able to volunteer in this way, like, oh,
there are slots for all of those things. I just need to be I have to stick those on the calendar, and I have to prioritize those. I have to get those big rocks in first, before the little pebbles and before the sand. Yeah, soaks up all the remaining space.
There's always time for beer with a friend. Yeah, no excuses for that. We've got more we want to get to on this episode and clean. We'll talk about the new Apple laptop and inexpensive man, really inexpensive, and also just some bad news in terms of how people are treating their four one case.
We get to that and more right after this.
All right, Matt, we're back. It's time for the Ludacris headline of the week. Of course, I always got to hit that. This one comes from the Wall Street Journal and it said record numbers of workers are rating their four oh one K savings. Yes, Americans are grabbing four to one K dollars early in record numbers. This is according to the good people of Vanguard, our favorite low
cost brokerage, they saw six percent fidelity up there. Schwab's great Vanguard you like Robin Hood, uh, and yeah, there's there's some great other place, but Vanguard is like the OG so yeah, special love.
But they saw that six percent of four one K holders took a hardship withdraw last year. And Americans have seen their portfolio the headline four oh one K number right go up. So actually I just saw another headline. I think the average four one K balance went up eleven percent in twenty twenty five. So let's say you had a couple hundred grand. Well you look back after the end of one year and you're like, man, I
got like I got two twenty something like this is awesome. Uh, and so it's just easier to tap your four one K When it's up, You're like, I got more money than I thought. It's it's the wealth effect, right, I think it takes place in your brain.
Yeah.
Well, and that's also on top of just the additional growth that we've seen since twenty twenty, which I think is one hundred and thirty three percent, which is really significant, man, Like that is and that's in the S and P. So, so it's hard, it's hard. To ignore that rising balance is people feeling wealth here. And then also simultaneously, we've made it easier for people to tap their four one ks than ever before, which is not something we love.
But I think what people are rationalizing in their heads mat they're saying, like, so, why don't want to grab a little bit to use now? Well, it's the harm I think that's kind of the thought process. Well, there are a whole lot of reasons not to write. First, you pay income tax and a ten percent penalty when you take money out of your four oh one K
unless you meet those stringent guide. I think the hardship withdrawal that was introduced one thousand dollars is what you're able to take every few years out of your four o one K without paying a penalty. But that's not much money, right, and so you're also interrupting. Another huge important point in favor of not rating your four one K early is the effect that compounding is going to
have on your ability to build wealth. And we would just say it's probably better to not invest those dollars in the first place, and to pad your emergency fund before you start sticking more money in your four oh one K. Yeah, because if you're like.
Living on the edge and you feel like you might have to grab money from that, just don't put it into the first place.
Yeah, that's I think this is an instance where that force savings is working because it's forcing people to save. But guess what, there's no fource savings when it comes to your efund, and all of a sudden you find yourself retirement rich but cash strapped, and maybe you've got a cash flow issue. It's not just the four one ks though, Americans are using their heelock dollars in bigger
numbers as well. So similar to your four one K balance, the average homeowner has a lot of home equity, and the headline number is something like thirty five trillion dollars. I think we've seen even more equity growth when it comes to the average homeowner than even the market, so that SMP is it's something like one hundred and thirty three percent. It's something like one hundred and forty two percent.
No way in equity growth on the average home since twenty twenty, which is insane, that's staggering, totally an aberration historically, Yes, you know, yeah, so don't get used to your home prize going up with that record clip.
Yeah, ad nausea.
And so with that, we're seeing an increase in folks taking out helocks every quarter since the end of twenty twenty two. And it's this is a great another example of four savings, right, It's great to be able to build wealth in your home, and it might make sense to take out a helock to improve your home because in that sense, in that way, it's also tax deductible, and it can also you can also if you want to use that to consolidate some debt as well. I
think that could make a whole lot of sense. But especially with interest rates closer to seven eight percent, certainly proceed with caution. It seems like much more. There's more of an argument I think to use the helock if you are in a tough cash flow situation than tapping your retirement. In part because of the ten percent haircut that you're taking off off of your four O one K, that's that part of it feels a bit more egregious in my opinion.
Yeah, yeah, And really, when you're talking about it, are the two biggest piles of wealth that people typically have access to, and so it feels like the easiest place to go for money. And typically it is the easiest place to go, especially if you need a fairly large sum,
but rating them is rarely a good idea. And in terms of the he like you said to be really thoughtful on the front end about how long it's going to take you to pay it back, because you don't want to have that hanging over your head for eight ten years. Back to four one case for a second, mat I had someone really smart recently tell me. He basically said something like about how small business is. They
don't really do the four to one K thing. And I politely disagreed, and I was like, no, no, no, but it's easier and cheaper than ever for small businesses to get a four to one K off the ground. This is like, this is happening. I didn't have any data to share at the time, but then I saw this new study from Gusto. They found that more than six million small business employees have gained access to four one
K since twenty nineteen. That's six million Americans. What percentage of Americans is that it's over It's over one percent of the population, probably at least one, let's say two percent of the American population that's not nothing now has access to a four one K where they did not. That's a massive jump, right, and people who have access to a workplace retirement account. And it's great news for those individual but also for those businesses because it allows
them to attract and to retain great workers. And a decent four one K feels like it's table stakes these days. If you're trying to hire someone that you want to keep around for a long time, having a solid four one K with a decent match is like it's kind of like a bare bones park.
Right.
You don't have to go all Google or fancy tech company and have the chef making sushi and stuff at lunch, but you got to have a four to one K. And Guideline and Betterment are two of the best places to turn if you own a small business and you want to offer one, because they're pretty low cost, easy to get set up if you don't have many employees.
And if you, by the way, work for a small business that doesn't have a four to one K, kindly let them know how easy it is to get it off the ground and be like, this is a perk. I see more and more small businesses offering. I want to stay here for a long time to come. What do you think is this a possibility?
Yeah? I do so.
I don't know who your really smart friend is. But it is much easier to get a Solo four one K.
I question this intelligence now.
Yeah, it's a.
Lot easier to get a Solo four win get. There are more hoops you have to jump through with a small business. But like you said, you've got these companies that exist to help get those.
Planes off the ground.
But what you've got a note here about something about a cashmere sweater's what's the solo bon?
Dude? This?
I thought this was crazy. You high end everything. I feel like there are markets now that didn't exist ten or twelve, fifteen years ago, high end products for whatever your interest.
Yeah yeah yeah, fashion.
Stuff, fashion stuff, like just whatever your hobby is. Now you can ramp it up to instead of like a nice little twenty dollars pickleball paddle. I know people are like, I want that three hundred dollars one.
I don't know what the difference is.
People are competitive. Yes, there's like national or even international rankings on pickleball. Yeah really okay, yeah, I mean it's it makes sense. It's a growing sports. Did we talk There was somebody we we spoke with last year and he talked about how much money that was his splurge. He spent a lot of money on pickball, pickle ball stuff. And I think he's got like the really nice paddle. He's nationally ranked. He really he was really into it.
He was a guy who wrote the book with doctor Brad Klantz, remember, and he and he had like a pickleball court like in house.
Yeah.
Different level, yes right there, which I still have yet to really partake. I want to, Okay, but there was. I just saw an article about like high end running gear and it just like not just fancy shirt, like a forty dollars shirt or shorts or something like that, but the people running in like Kashmir, like cashmere running sweaters are apparently a thing now. I looked up to see what the price was, two hundred and fifty five dollars matt for this Kashmir running sweater.
It's pretty expensive.
Just makes me think of that that's Seinfeld episode. It's kashme or Georgie Porgy. But I don't know, man, I think the am I glad they exist. I guess in some ways I'm glad some of these high end stores and that.
They're free market man there to buy it.
And you know what, I'm just here to say that I refuse to buy at the Kashmir running sweater.
Well, I mean, let's be honest, how much with two fifty like that's like list price.
You would never buy to that.
But if it went on significant sale, considering like how much do you spend on a pair of shoes.
Like, oh about which sixty bucks? Seventy bucks? Like a lot of people are spending one hundred dollars easy?
Right, Oh for sure, I mean especially with the that's another thing, right, the high end running shoes, Well you double that if you get something with like the carbon plate in it.
And how long are your shoes going to last? You like a pair of shoes that you buy, Yeah, because I would I would argue that, I would dare to venture that you would say, well, shoes are necessary, man, like that's what you need to get out there.
I would say that, but cashmere sweaters are not. But how long is that pair of shoes or the shoes gonna last? She probably like three four months depending on the mileage that you're throwing down right, like how often do you change out your shoes?
Like I probably probably ever have a shooting for five miles. I kind of play it.
I probably should, but yeah, you base it more on the tread, how much tread is looking.
Yeah, that's kind of what I do.
Yeah, but you think about that, and it's just like, Okay, I might cycle through three or four pairs of shoes in a given year, whereas something like this, like something like this, you take care of it. You can potentially
wear this for the rest of your life. And so you also have the argument in that direction because like I think about certain things that I bought as a broke college student, Like I've got cap like Patagonia Kapeline shirts that I bought over twenty years ago that I still wear, Like that I'll literally wear running.
Kids will see me.
As like as a young buck and they're like, wait, you still have that shirt. Sometimes I'm like literally wearing it as they're looking at pictures on the computer or something like that, And I'm just there's an argument to made for high quality stuff like that. Yes, you say cashmere, and it seems super exotic comes from the cashmir goat off in Mongolia. It's maybe harder to justify that you need that for running.
But you know, I'm not gonna.
Hate if there's folks out there and you want to spend money on the nicest wool that is available to you because it's so soft against your skin, it's like much warmer than your traditional smart well. Shoot, what's how much is like a smart wol base layer.
It's not cheap. It's not cheap like you're probably talking.
I got I've got some smart wolves and they're worth the money. Yes, and so it's wonderful. So and that's Marino and so that this is the next level.
Maybe I'm a hypocrite. I'm just saying. Maybe. I'm sure there's a part of it that that ruffled your feathers.
Maybe the part it feels designer, I guess, and designer. I feel like it's just.
Like getting out there and roughing it.
Yeah, like smart wolf feels like a basic necessity for some endeavors. And and a cashmere running sweater it feels feels like a designer purchase. That's that's not necessarily U is.
Gonna be wearing a cashmere by the end of the year.
Folks saying it, so please know, all right, shall we keep let's let's keep talking about it, let's keep buying stuff up.
Printers are typically really cheap to buy. But seeing at Harden had an article about how expensive it is to buy the ink for your printer, which is of course incredibly true, right that the printer itself is often reasonably priced. But then when you place the cartridges, you just want to punch yourself in the face. And the printer companies are essentially taking the razor approach get people in the door, so theyt's spend ridiculous sums on the replacement blades. The
printer manufacturers is doing that exact same thing. They're even selling the printer itself at a loss so much of the time. Yeah, so they can get you in the door. You're like forty bucks for a printer.
All right, Yeah, it's a subsidized printer that is being subsidized by folks who are heavy printers. Yes, heavy, heavy, heavy printer users. So the best case scenario, you are somebody who needs a printer at home, but you barely use it.
And then because of the proprietary nature of the print cartridges, it can be hard to find a third party seller like that maybe it actually works where the printer carter is actually does a good job for you. So you're like, I got to get the name brand, I guess on this thing, which is tough, and it feels crappy to throw away a printer because the ink is so expensive. So we just kind of succumb to the perpetual cycle. And the recipe for success, according to c net is
to use a few different things. They suggested use high yield cartridges or buy a printer with refillable ink, which is my favorite suggestion. There's like a couple of different brands. There's the epsom Eco tank, and there's the Brother Ink Vestment, and then just like print less in color, and consider laser printers that's what we have here at the office,
which are great too. But yeah, it just might even be cheaper, by the way, in the long run to get a new printer as opposed to just buying overly expensive ink on the rag.
Yeah, and just to plan for it.
Like, you know what this makes me think of is credit score, Like this credit scoring system like this, it's just how it is. It's how they have created this sort of this market and there aren't real great alternative solutions to it as opposed to It's funny because you mentioned the like the razor model, like the Gellette, right, they get you with a free handle you turn sixteen or you turn eighteen. I literally literally remember getting.
This in the mail. Yeah, the razor in the mail, and all of.
A sudden they've got a customer for life, or so they thought, because guess what I'm not using now is a Gillette. I'm not I'm not even using a Harry's razor. Did we talk about my foray into the safety razors? Okay, so yes, I've been dude, that is the solution. And I've got the safety raiser, the luminum handle so well designed, I freaking love it. And the blades well, well, first of all, I'm still using like the starter kit that came with a razor. I've only changed the blades like
three times since last summer. But you can get like a tenpact for seven bucks, so it's less than a dollar a blade. And I don't shave a ton. I'm not, you know, not working in some sort of corporate setting, but I shave a decent amount. But literally, I've only
changed the blades three times since last summer. I think that is a great solution for folks, and I don't know, worth, maybe the opposite of the print of model right, where you're paying a little bit more upfront for a nice, high quality handle, and then you're paying absolutely nothing for these blades and getting a wonderful shave.
Yeah.
So all right, Last, but not least, let's talk about the Apple new Apple products that they launched.
I love it. What do you think? They're affordable? That's what's so great. So the Apple needs that.
The first time Apple and affordability can be put in the same sentence, I feel.
Like, yeah, yeah, so obviously I like it. You know, we can talk about from a financial angle. But what I think, what I like most about it is the fact that they there seems to be a focus on
creation as opposed to consumption. And I'm sure there's right and so like typically on a desktop computer or a laptop with with a full keyboard, like that is the kind of device that you create on, as opposed to an iPhone or an iPad, which are there are a lot I mean, I know there's gonna be folks who are gonna push back and say, guys, I make my living using my phone, and that's great. The vast majority of people who are working are much more productive on
a laptop on a desktop. Students who are learning and creating, they're on laptops.
And I just like what.
It's almost like Apple drew a line in the sand and they're like, you know what, We're going to start focusing more on creating a productive culture here as opposed to a culture that's just hooked on their devices mindlessly consuming. Maybe I'm reading into it much more, but I just like that sort of pivot that there is now an affordable option that is also powered by So it's powered by like the iPhone chip, which is one of the potential criticisms that are like is it going to be
strong enough to be able to operate this laptop? But I mean that's essentially what the chromebooks are, right Like they're being powered by these well my power that'ship.
This is this is like set up to attack, is to totally get chromebooks Dell and say lay down. And this is this is where Apple has not done well over the years. Is they've done really nice, solid product. They're fairly expensive and that lasts for a long time, and so maybe they're they're high value products, but this could be a high value product at a much lower price point that really eats into the market share of
a lot of other competitors. And I think, like I was just looking at the specs and some of the reviews of this this laptop they just announced the Neo six hundred dollars is the starting price, and then you get seven hundred dollars, you get like some real meaningful additional perks.
I was telling you too.
If you get it on the via the Education Store, if you're a student, it starts at.
Five hundred dollars five hundred bucks man. That's an incredible price point. That's really cool for a really good laptop. And even the new seventeen eiphone they made some serious updates to make that I think a lot more appealing as an entry level six hundred dollars phone as well. So I wasn't really expecting this from Apple to get the price point down so low on something that seems
still like a really, really good offering. I could see this laptop becoming their best selling laptop in a couple of years. Sure, yeah, And I do absolutely like the direction that they're going with this so all right, well done, tim Apple.
Old tim Apple. All right, that's gonna be it for this Friday flight. We hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. We'll see you back here on Monday. So until next time, best friends out, Best friends Out,