Friday Flight - Prime Day Reprise, Subversive Subscriptions, & Moving for Money #573

got a question for you following this as well. But thirty percent of households still have a landline, which it's obviously has been declining ever since they started keeping track of this, maybe decade or two ago. But do you remember the last time you ever? Have you ever lived in a home or or an apartment where you had

a landline? Only only in the home my parents owned back And I was curious because I as I was thinking through this, I remembered, so ever since Kate and I have been together, we've never paid for a phone. But when I was in college, yep, we had a landline. Andrew, our one roommate, insisted that we really should have a land line, and so it was a bill that we split four ways every single month. Cell Phones were still a little fresh back then, right they were. They were fresh,

but even still more expensive. Nobody used the stupid land line. It was just sort of like this thing that almost seemed like a like a blankie, like like just in case the grid goes down or something like that, we can still make a phone. When you look at what's happened with prices of land lines, they've just continued to go up, but prices of cell phone service have just continued to go down. So I guess I understand why some people might want that security blanket still land line.

Maybe that was the case back then. When I guarantee you there's still a lot of people paying for one who might be realizing right out, wait a second, Yeah, I am hay on that bill every month. And no, it's been a few years since I've even used mine. And plus I don't even remember my phone number in line anymore. I bet there's some people who fall into that camp, who could who could easily just kind of call up and cancel tomorrow. You know, It's funny something

else Buddy and I mentioned recently. He said, Okay, when your kids kids say that they're going to talk on the phone, how do they how do they hold their hand to their head to indicate that they're talking on

the phone. And he pointed out that basically all of our kids when they hold a phone up to their head, either put their hand up like it's an iPhone or like it's a smartphone, or they hold it like you're holding a little brick, as opposed to the pinky thumb extension, which is I feel like my kids are used to video calling, so they're kind of like flash in front of their face or on FaceTime or something like that. Yeah,

but just yeah, another indicator that we're getting older. Man, we might be the last generation who speaks into their pinky and listens through their thumb. It's kind of kind of old school. Not that's nothing I had thought of it. It's like the land line. If you're out there listening and you're like, wait a second, I don't use it, and I do have one. Man, it's it's time to get rid of it. But I can't imagine that how

the money listeners still have a landline hanging around. I gotta I gotta imagine it's a much smaller segment, but I guess so Yeah, well, let's move on, Matt. Let's get to all the interesting stories we found fascinating this week in the realm of personal finance, because there's a lot of stuff that impacts how you spend, save, and invest in today's episode. And you know what, the world really doesn't need, Matt, but it's getting anyway. Pay phones. Yeah,

we don't need payphones anymore. But we also don't need another Amazon Prime Day. However, they failed up help to give us one. And this is happening in a couple of weeks on October eleven and twelve. Amazon and other retailers Apparently they're you know, they're they're thinking that inflation in the slowing economy is kind of curb holiday spending. So what they're trying to do is they're trying to get us to spend earlier than usual. I think that's

what this second Prime Day is all about. They don't want us to wait until the days before Christmas because they want to spend less at that point, and or maybe just forget to buy gifts at all, just want to clear out those warehouses because they've got if they've got all these goods just sitting there and nobody is buying them. That's right. Yeah, because the supply chains are kind of back online for a lot of those major retailers,

they've got more stuff than they planned on having. And to Walmart and Target, they've announced similar efforts to frontload holiday sales. Target said holiday deals are going to start by October six in in uh Target stores. So I guess my question is is this a good thing or a bad thing? I think of it as kind of being both. It's it's kind of like a double edged sword, because more deals can cause us to buy more stuff, stuff that we don't necessarily need. That's bad and can

inhibit our ability to reach other financial goals we have. Right. But on the other side, shopping early for holiday presents that you're planning to buy anyways can save you money, right, And so there's there's that park. Yeah, if you were already planning to make certain certain purchases, uh, if these were gonna be gifts and things that you're gonna buy anyway, that could save you a lot of money, uh, and also allow you to enjoy the holidays a bit more too.

I think, you know, like you could you could be a touch more present if you're not thinking about presents like that their presence over presence, you know what I'm saying there. Uh, And so we would recommend for folks to to make a list now of the folks that you want to buy guests for this year, create a budget, you know, stick to that list of items that you're considering getting for them. Don't be afraid to shop the sales, but do stick to your list. Personally, I think I

enjoy having a little bit more time. I wish gift giving was like a part of like more of my day to day where I'm thinking about it more often, but oftentimes I'm I'm not. But yeah, again, the previous years, supply chains were a reason that some of these holiday sales were starting sooner than later. This year, it seems like it's going to be inflation. But either way, we want to make sure that you are spending your dollars wisely. Joe, let's switch from spending to saving money. There is a

great article on CNBC about super savers. We typically think of super savers as like somebody who's saving at least fifty of their income, but CNB they were referring to it as folks who were funneling cent or more of their income into work sponsored retirement account like a four one K, and so you might, uh, you might be having like the the knee jerk reaction that I did. It must be nice to be a loaded, dank household, you know, like you've got an engineering degree, Oh, you've

got a job as an attorney. Yeah, saving fift is still like a far off goal for a lot of people when it comes to they're what they want to invest in. It's a lot, it's a lot less than fifty percent. But those are folks who are on these like crazy paths towards fire where they're looking to retire in just a few years. Not what most folks are

looking to achieve. But that being said, as I read this article, I found out that it's actually not when the stats shows that it's not that kind of folks who were considered super savers, Not all of them are loaded. Some folks in the survey we're making as little as thirty five thous dollars every year and they were still able to salk away such a high percentage of their income every month. I think that's incredibly cool and the way that they were doing it. We're just through some

like basic frugal means of living. UH. Some of the stats they shared where that forty eight percent of these folks drove older vehicles, thirty nine percent don't travel as much as that they'd like to. Percent also clean their own homes uh, and thirty eight percent of folks attempt to d I y most things. All of these things sound up our alley like the kind of basic really exactly, but it's also the path to stocking away tons of

money into retirement. It's not rocket science, but being able to save more typically involve some of these small trade off some of these tradeoffs that we face almost day to day in our lives. But what we need to keep in mind is the flexibility and the independence that you're able to achieve are going to be well worth it.

There's nothing wrong with having a massive income, with having a fat paycheck rolling in all the time, but this just goes to show that you don't have to have that in order to not only be a super saver, but to also achieve some sort of sense of financial freedom down the road. To me, that was the most comforting thing because I know there are a lot of

people out there on small incomes. It makes me think of our conversation recently with Sarah the Budget Girl, and she is crushing it on what a lot of people would say is as a small income, what she's been able to achieve, all those little things matter a whole lot, especially um the smaller income that you have going on. So it's it's fun to be able to see people at that end of the income spectrum still able to

save and invest that much. And Matt and I wait, we would say, is the minimum that people should be seeking to save and invest? Uh? Paying yourself first right, Sacking away at least fifteen of what you have into your savings accounts and investment accounts is an important goal to strive for. Ultimately, we want people to be able to save and invest more than that, and even higher percentage, but fifteen is our kind of bare minimum we want folks shooting for. And on the note of saving more,

Matt Bloomberg. They had a great article this week backing up something that you and I we've been saying on the show for years that online banks are the best banks and it's not been close. The main takeaway from this article was that the average rate on savings accounts in the country is a paltry point one three but there are some banks out there offering rates north of two and a half percent. And the reality is that rates are vastly superior with the online banks, but so

are the customer service and additional parks too. So if you're banking with one of the big banks, they're likely paying you point zero one percent on savings, like we're talking about Wells Fargo Bank of America. Those guys, so please please ditch them in favor of one of the much better, fastly superior online banks. Marcus, Ally, c, I T and Discover are just a few of our favorites. Link to an article outlining how to switch banks effectively in the show notes, because I know sometimes that is

what feels like a pain. It's like, do I really have to do this adulting thing and and change banks and and change all my financial transactions to come out of this account. Yes, yes you do, but it's not as big of a lift as you think it is. And to get paid more on your money is a great thing, But it's also nice to do business with

a bank that doesn't completely stuck. At the same time, Yeah, I will say personally, it's been nice seeing the amount the learning an interest every month from my high yield savings account increase steadily every single month. That has also been very nice. It's not that's not something that anybody with the big traditional break and mortar banks, they're not experiencing that. I am. Come on over to the come

on over to the bright side. Um, okay, let's talk about those subversive subscriptions, because it turns out that on average we underestimate how much we pay monthly for the different recurring subscriptions in our in our life, and not by a small amount, but by a significant amount. There is a C and Our research paper recently and they found out that most folks have almost no clue about what they pay for various subscriptions each and every month.

Almost none of the folks who participate in the survey were accurate, Like pretty much everybody missed the mark by at least a little yeah, if if not a significant amount. Over half fifty four percent of folks undershot how much they spend every month on subscriptions by over a hundred bucks uh. And the average amount that they were off was by something like a hundred and thirty three dollars.

Of that amount, there were there was eleven percent who were off by more than three hundred bucks, which is like mind blowing so much money? How much you spent on subscriptions? I don't know, twenty bucks? Sorry, Actually, like how could you be that far off? That is that's closer to the truth than you realize. Um, there's just this massive gap between like what we think we're paying what we're actually shelling out. And it's obviously it's clearly going to have an impact on our finances in large

part because this isn't just a single expense. This these are recurring expenses. This happens every single month. If you're talking about three hundred bucks, over the course of a year, you're thirty six dollars. That is a ton of money. And folks are wondering where, like where can I find the money to what? It's like, Oh, I've got an hs A, but how am I supposed to fund it? Right there? Maybe those subscriptions that you're not even maybe

you're not getting value from it. Maybe you are, but if you're not, this is something we want you to read. This pay attention to the money that is automatically leaving your account every month. Yeah, these subversive subscriptions, Matt. They made me think of like a boat that's got tiny

little leaks that are kind of hard to see. And and that's the thing is, like, that's what they're counting on when you sign up, is that you're going to forget about it, but you're gonna keep paying because it's on autopilot and you're gonna be out money every month. But at the same time you might forget about that subscription, you might not be getting value from it. And apparently of folks say that subscriptions are making them crazy because

they're hard to keep track of. They're they're literally adding stress to people's lives rather than relieving it, which is often the promise of so many subscription services. Three quarters of folks say they're easy to forget about, which is true.

That's why people are paying them right every single month, like clockwork, and they're forgetting that they even that they even have access to whatever it is, whether it's a streaming service or whether it's some sort of relationship with an apparel company, whether it's an Amazon subscribe and save, like whatever it is, people are signing up forgetting about it and still paying for us right. So we would

say it's time to call your subscriptions. I literally did that just this week because we we had go Henry, which helps to teach our kids about finances. But I realized, wait a second, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it was good helping my girls learn some lessons. But I want to go back to the physical, tangible approach with dollars. And so I'm like, listen, this is a subscription that I'm paying for. It's costing me money too. So I canceled and now, uh, now I've got that one out

of my life. And so if you don't track your expenses, that's where you gotta start. You gotta find out where your money is going, whether that's using a basic spreadsheet or something like mint. You know, those subscription services are nefarious because it's so easy to forget about them, And this weekend would be a great time to start canceling stuff you're not actually using to kind of start looking at finding those leaks in the ship so you can

start plugging them up. Unfortunately, I don't think most folks share the same sort of They don't get the same high that we do when we find seeing money, when we find ways to keep it's it's it's like a slow bleed, you know, like like we're like you said, well you're talking about a boat, but like you're just slowly bleeding out, and this is these are resources that you could easily regain. I think this is a fun game. I think it's fun to spot these dollars and be like,

wait a second, Yeah, you're right. I was way under estimating mind, just like the rest of these people in the survey. And and now guess what, I'm going to finally seeing someone plug the leaks and I'm gonna bring a hundred twenty dollars a month back into my life or whatever it is. That's a significant amount of money that then you could be spending in a more intentional way.

But we just have to find a way to make it more fun, because people would do it if like there has to be some sort of like mental shifts, some sort of trick that takes place. I mean, we talked, We've talked a lot about subscriptions, uh, streaming services in particular over the past few months. But earlier this week or last week, I finally canceled Netflix. I had been hanging onto it because I still hadn't finished stranger things. But since I did, I was like, Okay, finally that's

one I can cut. And I was paying a lot man because I was splurged on the ultra ultra high death. I bet you did fancy pants twenty bucks a month, but I was willing to pay that for a short amount of time. And so, like, we want you to have different subscriptions in your life that are bringing you value that you are aware of, but once they are not bringing you value anymore, be choosy. We want you to cut those things from your life. And like you said, Jill,

being aware of those subscriptions is the first thing. And it's tough to be aware if you're not tracking your expenses, if you're not keeping up with where it is your money is going. Agreed, So all right, cut some of those sneaky, subversive subscriptions at your life, and then you'll have more money to put towards things that matter more to you. I mean, we've got more stuff to cover on the Friday flight, including getting paid to move somewhere, and we've got some tips about how to save money

on car insurance. We'll get to both of those and more right after this. All right, we are back from the break, Jill, you just chease to some of the different ways to save when it comes to car insurance. We're also gonna discussed maybe what's quite possibly going to be the most affordable electric vehicle out there that a lot of people are gonna potentially be able to afford, depending on where you are in your life with your finances. But first we've got to get to our ludicrous headline

of the week. We just kind of went off on subscriptions. Well, now, let's give the buy now, pay later industry some hate for a second. Here. This one comes from The Times and it reads Mary now pay later news services put weddings on installment, basically anything that you can buy. I feel like it's going to be whatever that pay later, because we did like give now pay later a few

weeks ago. Makes me think of that Tommy Boy seen where he gets the office and he's sorry to his dad and he's like, I can keep six packs of here? Is that anything you want to keep cold, Tommy boy? And it's it's truly, it's like anything you want to put on a payment plan, Tommy Boy, Like, you really can't anything that you can spend money on. You could do it. Uh later this new upstart called Marou I guess that's how you say. It's m A r oo. They are allowing folks to pay for their wedding services

over time. Uh, and the average cost of a wedding is is closing in on and so because of that, like, I get the temptation, I get the desire to want to defer some of that pain, uh of all that money leaving your account, But you also don't want to start off your new life of wedded bliss deep in a debt hole. You know, Like, it's not even that we're like, we're not again spending a lot of money on your wedding day. It's it's a party worth splurging on.

And I would honestly even be okay with folks doing this if they were paying for it and making the payments on the front end, because that's traditionally how it worked. You book a vendor, you put down a deposit, and then typically on the day of the wedding, so like before things even really kick off, you pay the balance. And so if this is just like a new fintech type way for you to accomplish this, I'm all for that. But but this is delaying those payments exactly year after

your wedding. And that's the problem because the truth is is that by not pay later, it allows and actually kind of like prods people to spend more than the otherwise would. And so not only is it a delayed payment, they're also putting more, they're spending more on their wedding. Uh STA show that folks often spend more than the otherwise would. If by now, pay later is offered at checkout in retail scenarios, is typically like thirty to fifty more.

I've got to think that with weddings it's probably something really similar And so, yeah, it might sound old school, but just finding ways to cut costs and save more money on the front, and we think that that is a much better move than utilizing the buy now, pay later industry. That's right, Yeah, I mean I think we're gonna see a lot of people who if you're paying

it out over the year after that. Yeah, if if you're if you can pay something out over twelve months, you're typically going to get the nicer food choice or the more experienced photographer or whatever. That you're just gonna opt for nicer stuff if you don't have to come up with the cash on the front end, and you might be able to rationalize it's saying that it's you know,

one of the most important days of your life. But you can rationalize a lot of things, a lot of doing a lot of things with that sort of mentality, And so we would say, yeah, saving up more on the front end, is it matters, it's important. And you know, one other alternative to using my now pay later, by the way, is to ask your wedding guests to give you cash instead of presents. And apparently a lot more

folks are doing this. They're using their wedding registry to ask for cash instead of pots and pans or whatever. You know, getting dish towels in silverware, I guess can be helpful, but especially as folks are getting married later in life, Matt, I think, you know, they've often had to purchase some of those items on their own, and so they're saving up for thing bigger things like down payments or a honeymoon fund. And I think it's cool that people can and are asking for cash instead of

physical consumer goods. Yeah, when you get married. When Katy got married, like literally we're basically like kids, like I didn't have bath towels. Like when I got on the shower, I was riding off with like like a big dish rag. You're basically a Neanderthal. Uh. It makes I get it. When you're young completely you literally don't have some of

these items. But I think that's a great point. In particular, as folks are established, they've been out of school oftentimes for like a decade, not only do they have all their history of their habits, they've got their stuff and they don't necessarily need new items when they get married. Yeah, and I think this is becoming less of like a rude thing like to ask for cash. I think it's just becoming more common and we're seeing less of a

negative reaction from guests. But I do want to say I think how you go about asking for cash is important because there's a way to do it totally can offend your guests, and there's a way to do it that can actually get them really enthusiastic about giving you cash. I would say the key, one of the main keys, is to to tell people what it is that you're

saving for. So instead of being like throw cash, like let's get moss saviors, account bangs so you'll give me all the money so I can do whatever does I want. That's how you shouldn't ask, right, It gets some more excited to send your money if you have specific like, uh, things you're saving for that you can call out and ask him to donate to. And what's what's cool is there's this site called Zola that can help help you make that cash giving experience a bit more pleasant for

people who are attending your wedding. And the awesome thing is there's going to be zero fee when your guests choose to send money. They can choose to send me a credit card and that will be a what like two and a half percent fee, or they can choose to send with Venmo and it will be zero fee for you or for the person who's attending your wedding

and who doesn't have Venmo. And I gotta tell you, man, I would be more than happy if someone's like, they've got these buckets broken out, Hey, this is what we're saving for. It's just like a registry, right, like like like you're actually it's like, okay, it's a dinnerware set

of twelve Oh my gosh, they need twelve play settings. Okay, we're gonna go in and you decide, and you you always would kind of throw your money towards the thing that brings value to you, you know, and so you're like, oh, oh, they totally need to have this. In the same way, you can do that with what you're donating to, what it is that you're you know, whatever specific buckets that you're looking to fill for this, if you're excited to help fund the down payment or to fund the honeymoon fund.

Either way, it's just kind of it's more fun for the guests to get to participate in that way, but it's also nicer for the recipient for the couple who's getting married because now they've got they've got more options as opposed to having to return and sort through a

bunch of physical items. I think that the thing is having options, and I think that's why maybe another country, like if you are of foreign descent and you go to like a foreign wedding, it's pretty typical to receive cash like Asian weddings, uh, Nigerian weddings, money, cash checks, red envelopes that are given to couples. It's a huge part of the culture there. Um. But I think there's something about Americans and wanting to have say over what

it is that you're giving them. And as Americans, when we just give cash, it feels like we're being limited as the gift giver. But like you said, if it feels like there's some sort of autonomy, some sort of liberty, which is a very American word, Um, it changes the game. And I think that that can allow folks to give a little more freely interesting as would be more accepted. As the gift giver. I would be thrilled because I

have to do far less due diligence. I'm just like cool, Yeah, I'll travel hunter bucks here, or whatever it is for the experience that you're interested in creating. Yeah, and it doesn't even have to be like these big things where

like a down payment. Uh. In the article that there's some folks that they were talking about they created buckets for like date something as small as date nights or even just traveling abroad, which I'm like, man, that's awesome, Like those are the kind of things that I would love to see prioritize more. Those experiences, those memories that you're you're building together as opposed to you know, bone China, like like some really nice stuff that you can buy

at bed, Bath and Beyond. But let's keep on working through our Friday flight, Jil. Let's get to that moving for money headline that we mentioned at the top of the episode. More folks are considering moving because they are getting paid to do it. We've actually talked about some US towns who are paying millennials to move there. This is maybe it was this sort of like back in

the middle of the pandemic. I think you might remember when we talked about how Northwest Arkansas, how they were offering folks ten thousand dollars as well as a free bike back in I got my attention, well, anytime there's a free bike, and vall like, wait a second, should I be doing this? Um? Apparently the Italian island of Sardinia they're now prepared to pay folks fifteen thousand dollars

to move there. Up in the Anti Plus, you can say that, yeah, I live in Italy, but I think said it's always important to read the fine print because you're gonna have to become a full time resident. This isn't just like where your summer. Uh, you gotta live there full time and it's got to be in the super small town that has like less uh less than three thousand residents and then also you have to use

that money to renovate a home there. And so we thought this was pretty cool because if you're looking for a big change of scenery, this could be you know, a fun maybe a lucrative way to to make it happen. I would like to think that if I was in a different stage of life, that I would be willing to take on an adventure like this, but also annoying myself,

I probably wouldn't have. I like the idea of it more than the reality of actually doing something that yes, same here, but I'm also setting my ways at this point in time, and so I'm not gonna go on this Italian adventure. But I think there are a lot of other people who might say, you know what a super flexible I am up for anadventure. I'm I'm willing to go do something like this. I bet some of those Italian villas in Sardinia are pretty cheap. It's got

to get to put towards some rerhno's. You get this cool sweet spot that doesn't cost you very much, and you're in this. Yeah, I don't think I could live in a tiny town like that. That would be the hardest part for me. But it's interesting to see some of these things pop up. I saw something else pop up, and uh, this yogurt company is paying someone fifty dollars

to move to Iceland. Although it's kind of like for a job as well, like you gotta be like their social media manager and take photos and stuff like that. But these are the kind of fun things that I don't know, I could see myself being excited about, being interested in, at least in my early or mid twenties. Fulfill your cheap Nordic houses fantasy exactly exactly. Don't forget about the taxes though. That's that's the catch there. It's like, oh,

you could buy this villain. Oh you can buy this house on this fiord for eighties seven thousand dollars and it's got this incredible view. But it's not the heat, it's the humidity. That's not the price of the house. It's the taxes associated living in Norway, Sweden, Iceland. Getting to that remote area I'm or is not cheap. Every time you want a summer there or whatever. Well, and Matt, let's just say you don't want to move to one

of these places which you'd like to visit them. What do you need anytime you want to travel somewhere, You gotta have a passport, right And what is one of the biggest pain in the butts in the world getting your passport renewed. I've never talked to anybody who's in the middle of that process who's like, it was a breeze and it was so simple and it only took like a few days or a week or so to get my passport back. No, typically it's weeks and weeks and weeks. It's a lot of paperwork and it's a

huge hassle. But online passport renewal, Fortunately, it seems like it's going to become a thing at the beginning of according to the U. S. State Department. We'll let you guys know when it officially launches. But this is great news for travelers because it's gonna cut down on paperwork and frustration which typically a company getting that passport renewed. You do basically anything online now. Man, I even got my driver's license updated online. It was free, it was easy.

But this needs to happen. I'm so glad that it's gonna happen soon, alright. We we recently does guess how expensive electric vehicles are getting. We love the idea of them, but fact is, more and more, it's looking like it's only the privilege that those who are in the most I don't know. It feels like the upper echelons who can actually afford electric vehicles expensive. It is. Prices are rising quickly, in particular as battery costs are are rising

super fast. The average price of an electric vehicle is going up five times faster than it's gas powered counterpart. But there's always an exception to the rule, and that exclusion is now the brand new electric Chevy Equinox and the base model. When this puppy is released next year, it could cost as little as twenty two thousand five after tax credits. That's super awesome, I think. So we

shared this. We wanted to share this because if you're in the market for an e V but you found that it's just too freaking expensive to make the jump, the equinoxes is likely gonna be just a frugal car buying win for a lot of folks once it launches. Keep an eye out for that one. Yeah, we need more inex insitive electric vehicles because so many, so many the vehicles being produced in that space are high end, their luxury cars, and they're really expensive. So I'm glad

to see somebody prioritizing. And it seems like Chevrolet is the only car manufacturer right now really prioritizing cheaper electric vehicles, and that's the only way we're gonna get the mass adoption. But I think it's it's just difficult for them to justify, well, how are we going to make an electric vehicle that also doesn't have electric windows. You know, everything's gonna run

off of electricity. It's gonna be fully digital, it's gonna be it's virtually the most powerful computer that you're gonna own once and if you buy a new electric vehicle, yeah, for sure. Let's talk about car insurance costs, Matt while we're talking about cars, because that's that's something else has been going up in cost, And the average car insurance policy went up something like eight point three percent over the past year, and predictions are showing the costs are

likely to rise another ten percent next year. And we figured it would make sense to deliver I don't know our semi annual reminder that folks can potentially save a ton of money by shopping insurance rates with a variety different providers. This is a case where being a loyal customer actually works against you. So, I don't know, let's talk about a couple of ways that people can save. If you're one of those folks out there listening, you're

you're living the ht M life to the fullest. Driving you know you're driving an older car, you might actually be overinsured. We would say that opting for liability coverage only it could save you hundreds of dollars a year, So that's one thing worth considering. Also, raising your deductible is another great way to lower your premiums. You can do that for your homeowners insurance too, which can be

a double way me saving you big bucks. Also get pesky when you're asking about additional discounts with your agent. You know, I took a safe driving test online Matt at a a r p S website. Even though I'm still a young pup. Uh. Anybody can take this this test and a lot of insurance companies will count it. It took a couple hours of my time, cost me twenty five bucks, and it has saved me hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars over the years. Basically, what

we're saying too is just a self insure more. The more you can have in savings, the higher you can raise those deductables, like, the more opportunity you have to save on your insurance costs. It's right, and with savings rates that banks are paying now better than they've ever been, uh, it does, it's not quite as painful to leave some of that extra money sitting there within your savings account. Actually, when you're saving hundreds of dollars a year on those

insurance costs, man, it's a win win. Yeah. And by the way, actually, you know, seeing what just happened down in Florida, our our hearts go out to all the folks down there with all the all the flooding, all the damage that Hurricane Ian has caused. But that being said, this should be a great reminder for all of us to actually check out our insurance coverage. It turns out only like eighteen and a half percent of folks who were in the evacuated counties down there in Florida had

flood insurance. Man, which is it's going to add financial hurt to the hurricane aftermath. For many folks, um, this is this is a difficult note to strike right because on one hand, we want you to save as much money as possible in particularly like Joel said, if you have an older car, if you are self insured. But on the other hand, if there is a type of insurance that you should have and you're skipping out, well

that's an example of not being frugal. But we think of being cheap, and so you kind of have to find a way to ride that line to balance the risk that we all face in our lives. It kind of takes me back to like the subscriptions. We we need to be aware of the money that we're spending because if there is value that we're receiving from it, then that's great. If there is some risk that is being taken off of your plate by a certain insurance product, fantastic.

But we don't want you to to stay subscribed to something with where there's this recurring charge for an insurance product where you're not getting any value from we We want you to We want everyone out there to be conscious consumers of the different things within their life. Yeah, insurance is just kind of a necessary thing to have

in a lot of instances in modern life. And and it can be something like, as you've become more financially successful, it's something you might have to allocate more dollars to for instance, uh, you know, you might have to buy more term life insurance. Let's say, as your income rises and you have more more assets that now require a

more robust insurance policy. And so these are the kind of things that we have to think about senior stat like that match just maybe maybe really sad because there's a lot of people who are going to have lost a lot and now they don't have any insurance to back them up. And flood insurance is one of those particular things that you have to get through FEMA, through the federal government, and it's you're a lot of people

think they're covered by their homeowners insurance, but they're not. Yeah, and that flood insurance through FEMA's note as affordable as it used to be either. So it's it's, yeah, you're in a tough spot because would you actually be able to cover the cost of completely rebuilding your house where it to you know, where it to flood out and

in most cases no photo folks don't. But then they're also looking at that price tag, that thousand dollars annual annual premium that they're having to pay, and they're they're really feeling hard pressed to actually find the money to

make that happen. Sure, yeah, it's a tough spot, but you know, if we're gonna make big purchases like a home, we have to include all those costs we talk about on the show too, And if you are in a area that's flood prone, flood insurance is one of those things that's that's a must have, despite the fact that it's it's not as cheap as it used to be.

But yeah, we actually have a couple of hurricane refugees, Emily's mom and stepdad staying with us right now, and we just wish the best everybody down in Florida and and on the what on the coast to of what South Carolina and Georgia, So hopefully everybody stays safe out there. We hope you guys have a great weekend. And Matt, that's gonna do it for this episode. Until next time. Best Friends Out and Best Friends Out