Friday Flight - Robots, Rent Control, & Taylor Swift #438

But before we dig into those stories, before we get into the Friday flight, I wanted to quickly mention that I filed my first homeowners claim in my adult life. Is something you're excited about? Um, not really, it's it's luckily this is bad news, But I guess it kind of depends on how things shape up for you, right, I mean, ultimately it's it's not the worst thing ever,

but it's also not fun, I would say. But basically, what happened that the house that we're doing some work to right now that used to be a duplex, we're turning it back into a single family home for our family, someone decided to get down on the cross space and

rip out the copper pipes with the sauce. Huge bummer dude. Actually, So I was one that discovered it because Kate and I and the kids were just out for a walk and they had recently like busted out the back wall of your entire house and which is to me super fascinating, Like we're really interested in stuff like that. And so we went snoop and well, Emily she like sent us to the lock box code and was like, hey, go check it out, you know. So we poked our head

in there. Y'all had just left town, I think, and uh it was like, do you hear that? Is that something like water running? And I was like, uh, yeah, I don't know why the water is running. And sure enough, we kind of poked our head down through the floor and saw like a river underneath your house. It did not look like something that was planned. It was it was not a good thing, and it was not And yeah, so that water ended up ruining the h VAX them

and you know a couple other things down there. And it was one of those things where I had my deductible set as high as possible, and that's something we've recommended on the show, and I had never had to file an insurance claim before, and so I was like looking pretty just saving money every year on the money I was paying to the insurance company, but came back

to bite me in this instance. But I will say, you know, I need to do the math at some point and kind of see what's what's the difference how much am I saving on an annual basis, because I'm sure I have more than made up for, uh this the additional deductible amount that I had to pay in order to replace the HVAC system and fix you know, some of the other things that were ruined by this

act of vandalism. But I think that advice still holds true because, Yeah, one of the other things that it does is is having a higher deductible prevents you from filing needless claims because if you have that really tiny deductible, you might start doing it willy nilly, and then your rates start to go up over time. And so I think this one claim hopefully shouldn't have too much of an adverse impact on the premiums you'll find out next year comes up, right, Well, so have you heard from

them at all? Because oftentimes your stories about how when you file a claim like this, something I mean, this isn't it's not a tiny claim, but it's also not like a massive claim. It's not like a true felt in between, and so I'm curious if because sometimes individuals will get booted from there insured because once you use it,

you lose it. Yes, I have heard that too, and uh so obviously that hasn't happened to you, I think, yeah, I mean, the higher rates is definitely something that's worth revisiting once you do get your your bill or your premium for next year, because that's unfortunately not something that

you can shop around. I mean, you can shop around your home insurance, but when you take advantage of your insurance, it goes onto your clue report, and that's something that follows you from one insure to the next, and that's like the database where every insurance company can chant, does this person five claims or not? And yeah, hopefully one claim isn't gonna mess me up. And it was the right thing to do, even though it was tough because I'm one of those guys who's like, I'm gonna go

through all my life and never use this insurance. But that's what it's there forms that time when you do want to use it and like you said, though, it is tough to know how much you're saving, and so you actually crunch the numbers. But that did cause me to go and check my homeowners insurance because we just hadn't touched our home policy in a while. Dude, my deductible was said at one thousand dollars, I'm getting hosed. That's too low. Yes, I'm getting hosed every single year.

And so immediately wrote an email to our insurance agent because I don't know how that happened, but at some point, I mean, I know I didn't set it there intentionally, but at some point I think it reset or they just automatically migrated it down to whatever the standard policy is. But I'm sure that you're wishing that would have happened to you. If only we could trade places accidentally just

weeks before the accident, would have been great. Yeah, because obviously we're back, and let us know what the difference is, like how much you're able to save, because if I mean, I'm curious, my assumption is it's probably a couple hundred dollars a year. Oh yeah, I'm hoping by boosting that deductible, we should see a significant savings every single year. But yeah, I'll let you know, okay, all right, Well, yeah, and

and nobody needs to shed tears from me. Not a big deal, but h and and ultimately means we're getting a new HVAC system, Like this whole house is gonna be new at the end of the day. You really are. It's yeah, it's gonna it's cool. Bank accounts taking a beating right now, but at least for a while. Yeah, hopefully that means that no repairs needed on this house for a long time, good buddy years. Yeah, well, let's

move on. Let's get to the Friday flight. Let's do stories we found interesting this week in the realm of personal finance. And first let's talk about budgeting for Christmas.

There was a new service something you do budget Christmas, and well, I trying to keep that budget minimal, but obviously we we there is money they get spent every year around the holidays when it comes to yeah, gifts for our friends and loved ones, or experiences that we share with other people, bringing something to a holiday party. Those those are all the kind of things that you've got to plan ahead for. And there's a new survey from ally Bank and it reveals that Americans are worried

about going over budget this holiday season. That makes sense to me, especially with inflation, which we're gonna talk about in just a little bit. It's like everything costs more. Am I gonna be able to to stick to the budget that I have? People don't want to overspend, and we're all about that. But the statistic that followed in that same survey revealed that two in five people they're not doing any planning, they're not using a budget at all.

And so, yeah, people who are like I'm really worried about going over budget the budget that I don't have, I found that interesting. And it's gonna be hard not to go overboard if you don't have a plan, if you don't have any sort of budget when it comes to your holiday spending. And so, yeah, no, wonder you're worried about it. Um, if you want to prevent what we would say a January financial shock that can linger into the summer months, well you need to get a

plan in motion now. You need to be prepared with a budget for holiday spending. That's right. And of course I was making fun of you because you too not to budget in the formal sense like you don't track every sense that you spend like I do, but you still have a more of a shoot from the hit spending plan, and certainly when it comes to something like Christmas.

But the number one thing that we think folks should make sure to do, you know, in order to not go overboard, is just to develop a list of people that you plan to buy presents for and just you know, don't don't overdo it just because maybe you have a little more cash sitting around in your accounts, uh this year. Uh, you don't need to buy anything, you know, for your your third cousin who's twice removed. Hey, we're very close, Matt. If that's the case, then make sure to buy them

a nice gift. But just make sure that you have communicated with folks with your family, who you're close to, who you don't plan to exchange presence with. Because part of the reason we tend to go overboard is out of this sense of obligation and and this almost reciprocal nonspoken agreement that we seem to have, especially with family members. But right down the specific amounts that you aim to

spend on each person. We've talked about this somewhat recently, but even consider giving cash with just a thoughtful, uh handwritten letter or a note, that can be a great way for you to avoid finding your spending continuing to increase throughout the holidays. Maybe even giving a fun experience instead of a of a high priced item. But just don't overdo it because of the you know, you can't blame it on the holiday spirit. You can't say that like, oh, well,

I just this is something I feel like doing. We don't want you to approach you're spending that way. We want you to have a plan. Getting in the Christmas spirit or the holiday spirit is a great thing. But if you know yourself and you know you're the kind of person because the jolly nous takes over your soul that you just start spending dollars like crazy, Like, yeah, you want to have a plan so that you don't

do that. Yeah. Well, And one of the other things too, is just avoid spending on yourself because you see all the money that you're spending and you think, holy cal like, I am spending so much money on other people. I am being so generous. I deserve a little bit of that. I'm gonna treat myself Uh. And that's another way to add a solid, i don't know, ten percent onto your holiday spending budget where you to start buying some items for yourself. And so that's something we want you to avoid.

And by the way, we're gonna go into depth about how to have more of a minimalist Christmas. We're gonna talk about that on Monday with guest Meg Nordman, so you can look forward to that, no doubt. All right, let's move on, Matt to talking about Tylor Swift for

a second. You're a big fan, right, I am not a Swift tie, but I do like some of her music, Okay, yeah, and and me me too, Like I I like a few of her songs, but I only really listened to Taylor Swift when my wife is listening to Taylor Swift. And you know what, she's talented, just not my jams. Yeah, I mean specifically, recently, her music has gotten like, you know, a little darker. Yeah, get a little more of an

indie vibe to some of the stuff she's like. Now, well, yeah, and uh, if our listeners remember we we just had

an episode about ownership recently. It was episode and there's this new story this week that to me reflected the power of individual ownership and uh, and how it leads to building wealth and just like a real substantial like pop cultural moments, and and this was really Taylor Swift right, Like she she's more than just a good musical artist, as it turns out, adored by tens of millions of people,

she's an incredible businesswoman. And she actually just rereleased an album that originally came out in two thousand and twelve. Why did she do that well, because the rights to her original songs were sold out from under her and they now belonged to like some hedge fund or something like that, sold to the hedgephone buy some guy named like Scooter or something like that. Right, apparently Taylor and

Scooter are not on good terms at odds they're not celebrating. Uh, not going to be the same holiday parties, is my guest. But she rerecorded those songs and re release them, and that meant that she owns the music that her fans are now listening to. No swifties are going back and

listening to that album. They're listening to the Swift version, the one that that Taylor is now profiting from because she owns it directly, and it's also at the same time it's devaluing those original recordings in a significant way. I'm not sure which one she's happier about, probably considering where she is with their finances, I'm sure the ladder it's probably a little more enjoyable at the moment. Uh.

And you know, she already did this with. The first album that she did this with was Fearless, and that album sold almost one million copies since April, and those newly recorded songs have been streamed six hundred million times, and so this is just an awesome I don't know. And even though she's a total celebrity, this is still a very fun success story when it comes to an individual and their business acumen because Taylor, Yeah, she's got

that ownership over everything that she's creating. That's incredibly powerful. And again, it just goes to show how important it is to be an owner not just a consumer. Yeah, we see that clearly in Taylor Swift's example. It's just it's fun to see someone not just be a great entertainer but also great business person as well. Then, so, um, yeah, just kudos to t Swift on that front. And and yeah, Matt le's let's let's keep moving. Let's talk about inflation

for a second. The costs of essentials in our lives have been going through the roof, well, cost of everything, yeah, has definitely been going up, but yeah and quickly, right, And gas prices in particular, or something that's on everyone's mind. The state of California actually is setting gas price records this week. Those are the kind of records you prefer to remain unbroken, especially records that they're not celebrating in a positive way. And don't drive an electric vehicle in California.

If you have a gas powered vehicle there, you're probably like not happy. And the national average of a gallon of gas is almost three dollars and fifty cents uh. And when you run the numbers, Matt that this costs the average person sixty nine dollars more every single month compared to where gas prices were last year. And that that's real money for for lots of folks like that, that's a whole lot more money that's going straight into the gas tank just to get where you need to go.

And of course, you know, we talked a little bit about e bikes last week. It only makes more and more sense to go in that direction when we see those numbers. But also grocery store prices are rising sharply, and in fact, you know, prices for meat, poultry, and eggs were up more than ten percent in September. And so we're seeing shoppers having to make decisions at the

grocery store so that their grocery budget remains intact. They're trading down for lower priced items because of how quickly these prices are escalating, and and many are buying more store brand items instead of the name brand counterparts. That's something that you and I are are all about, you know, We're all about that. We're less about switching to store brand beer. You've tried the Aldi beer before, yeah, and in the Kirkland signature beer too, But I'm not down

with either. I am willing to drink some of the I think it's called hopping nomad or whatever is the Aldi beer in the summertime, like after cutting the grass. I'm okay with an occasional six pack of that. But uh, you know, inflation, like basically we've just seen inflation stick around, right it Like we thought it was just going to be around for a few months, but it has been much more sticky, and store brands and substitutions are two great ways to curd costs as those rising prices continue

their climb. But what else can you do? You know, Joel, you're talking about the high costs of gasoline. Well, on the gas front, not all of us can drive less. There are just sometimes places that we have to be. We may not have the option to work from home, and so that morning and afternoon commute is still going on. Um. But there are a lot of us who can change our driving patterns and habits because a big chunk of the miles that we drive our discretionary myself to get

to work. But can you combine more trips and go to the grocery store once every two weeks twice a week if you happen to work near a costco, that needs to be something that you're doing. And the other thing too. A lot of those miles are within just a smaller radius of our home, So we really could hop on a bike a bit more for those shorter trips in order to curb our gas usage. And if you are going to get in the car, look at this is gonna sound silly, but just accelerate a little

more slowly, like like coast. You notice this when you're riding on your bike. But there's this one stretch where I always take a right onto a more main road. Uh. And whoever is behind me, well, after they make their right, they'll come zoom and past me. But there's always a stoplight like one block up, and they're just like flooring it. Just wasted gas fifty feet or something like that. And I always just gonna slam it on the brakes again. Yeah, yes,

And I always pull up right next to them. And sometimes I love it when I'm like even a car too in front of them, and that you know, they floored it. They wasted all that energy. Uh, they've lost their whatever their patients, they've they've lost their cool. But just take it easy. Uh. And the other thing too, we're talking about insurance earlier on, while you're already driving

like a grandma. See if your insurance provider, if they offer one of those monitors or the driving trackers, because you know what, if you can combine gas savings with some insurance savings as well, that is two birds with one stone right there. Uh. And then yeah, on the food front, where your shop is going to make the biggest difference. We've already mentioned Aldi and Costco randomly, but those stores can make a massive difference in your food budget.

Legal is also another affordable option. But we want you just to constantly be challenging what it is that you've all always done in order to see if you can save a little bit here and there, because you might find that these are patterns that stick. Uh, and even when groceries are dropping in price, if you maintain those habits, well, then you're saving money every single month. You're not just

breaking even. And so just even simple things like buying sale items, throwing them in the freezer, doing things that you haven't done before in order to curb your spending, and just stop eating steak right now probably. I mean, you know, it's a rare delicacy for for us saying it's like once a year, I feel like, seriously, but when we do have it, it's it's a delight. But if you're having it on a weekly basis, you fancy and probably should trade down to chicken or meatless mondays

or you know, whatever you want to do. But we've got more stories to get to on today's Friday flight, including that robot story and a really interesting one about rent control. We'll get to those and more right after this break. Alright, we're back in. Before we get to that more heavy academic topic of rent control, put our putting our economist hats on. We yeah, we actually are going to do that. But before we get to that one, let's get now to our ludicrous headline of the week.

And this one is from Fast Company and it reads science proves it most n f T s are worthless. You know what? Trust science on this one. Well, here's the thing. It's less about the science, and it's just kind of like the simple numbers. It's like empirical evidence. It's just data. It's like, I love that they wrote science, And where does science actually come into play here? It's not. It's like, really like we've just looked at the actual sales prices of n but science sounds a little more fun.

I guess like we've just discovered a new statistics. Yeah. But this article focused on the research from the University of London, which poured over the sales data from thousands of n f T s and oftentimes, you know the n f T sales that make the headlines or for the different n f t s that might go for tens of thousands or even tens of millions of dollars. In the case with that people n f T that that's sold for like seventy million dollars. But here is

an interesting little tidbit. Three quarters of n f t s actually sell for fifteen dollars or less, and actually only one percent sell for more than And so the crypto punk n f t s that were you know, all the rage for a minute, Yeah, those are extreme outliers. But this doesn't mean that n f t s aren't

here to stay. But at the same time, we're not saying that, you know, the space is only about making money or getting super rich, because you know, even if is a digital piece of art, it's okay to buy it, but only by it if you like it. If it's something that you can somehow remove the knowledge that you have of n f t s and what they have sold for, and can if you can just evaluate it

from just a sense of appreciation. I don't know if that's something that anybody could actually do by actually removing the dollars and cents from it, But if that's something you can do, and it's something that you're drawn to, this n f T, then if that's the case, go ahead and buy it. But it's just important to know that the latest, you know, the new n f T that you scoop up, is very unlikely to actually make

you any money. Uh, it's I don't know. I see this almost as like a wake up call for for those who are making n f T s to realize that they're probably not going to get rich that way. But then also for those who are looking at investing in the n f T s that that's also probably not going to pan out well for them either. Yeah.

I think it's really good to see the actual statistics, and it's kind of like a bucket of cold water being tossed on your head, you know, they kind of helps you wake you up, because, Yeah, the only real facts and figures we typically see are just the rarest of a rare n f T s that are selling for like bookoo's of dollars, and people just assume, all right, that's base. That's where I say, I'm gonna go make

my money. But it turns out most people are making next to nothing really on the creator and on the investor side. And like you said, Matt, I think you're right. Like, it doesn't mean you can't buy one if you want to. I just don't think you're gonna get rich. Just do it for funzies. And something that was really interesting in

this piece as well. In this article is the guy the researcher pointed out that the majority of an n f T s actually don't sell at all, and so those are all data points that aren't taken into their calculations, and so the figures are actually way way, way worse because they're not even counting the ones that don't actually sell. Yeah. Yeah, there's probably a lot of people that post our our work online and people are like, yeah, no, I don't want I don't think so it's not even worth fifty cents.

That's weird, dude, Which is a lot of that stuff. Yeah. Well, and while we're talking about mostly worthless purchases, let's talk about maybe you're worthless smartphone. And I mean, you like it and that's fine, but the question is is your phone about to become worthless? And there was an article in The l A Times written by David Lazarus about this this week, and he said, as five g is spring up around the country. A lot of older phones are set to become bricks as three G networks get

shut down all over the place. And so if it's been like a really really long time since you upgraded your phone and you're still running on like three G, your phone doesn't do four G. If you've done that then managed to keep your phone working better than yeah, seriously, you're impressive. But it might be just a matter of months until you can't look stuff up on the go anymore, Like you won't be able to use data or make a call, like you can't even make a nine one

one call once the network actually comes down. That phone is literally yeah, well I guess technically you could use it at home. Is like a Internet searching device. Maybe it's something you can give to your kids. Yeah, it's

not completely worthless, but it's mostly worthless. But this is probably a small segment of the population, probably not many how to money listeners, And I just wanted to note though I could see people seeing headlines, because there's probably gonna be more headlines about this as the five G network comes online and people are gonna assume that they're four G phones are also going to be bricked or

become worthless. But that is not the case. Your four gy phone is going to continue to work perfectly fine for the time being, You're just yeah, but probably for years to come. But the thing is it won't be as speedy as the new phones that are coming out. We would still say, don't feel the need to upgrade. Five G. I'm sure will be nice, it will be faster, but keep what you've got as long as you can.

At the phone I bought last year, it doesn't have five G capability and something along just fine, though, isn't it. I'm not jealous. I'm gonna I'm gonna stick with the four G as long as I can. I don't care, and I think most of us should take that mentality. Just kind of keep using our phone. If it works fine, that's right. Yeah, don't be like me who splurged and

went big time. So we talked about this a few months ago, how I was planning to wait until the new thirteens came out so that the price of the twelves would drop and the nut could pounce on a great deal. Right. I don't know if he ever did update, but fact is, the twelve pros never came down in price. Apple cut them completely from their website, and so I was stuck in this position of Okay, am I gonna spend a thousand dollars on a twelve pro? Or am I gonna go ahead and get the new one? I know,

splurging getting the new one. I kind of talked myself into doing it after having you know, I sold like over ten thousand dollars worth of photography equipment. So that was my justification saying that, like, Okay, well there's a net win here of nine thousand dollars. And so in reality, maybe I'm you know, I'm kind of coming out ahead.

But in my case, I definitely splurged. But if you are not in a position where your phone is hanging on by a thread, like Joel said, we would recommend that you do your best to continue to make do uh. And the other thing too, is this not the most

egregious example of planned obsolescence. It's like the cell carriers and then like the phone manufacturers are in like serious cahoots because they're like, hey, what kind of deals can we work out if you just uh start not offering three G anymore so that all of your subscribers have to purchase a new phone that we happen to make. It's unfortunately be because this is one of those areas where I think a lot of folks would be happy to continue using their old, krusty phones, but in this case,

they don't have that option anymore. Yeah, Matt, And to be honest, I feel like, you know, I don't have any problem with you spending money on the newest iPhone because you waited like five years with your like I earned it, I think so. I think so, I think like trying to get you more time out of your phone. Just what we want to fight is that reactionary upgrade cycle where it's like every year I get a new phone,

or every eighteen months I get a new phone. Um, and we just think that's unnecessary, especially when we're talking about the phone upgrades being pretty minimal these days. Each year. And I will say that I've gotten tremendous satisfaction out of the new features on this new phone compared to the original se which is what I had. Good. I'm glad to hear that. And I figured I figured you would because it's a photographer, you know, having the multiple

camera approach, free lenses, Dude, it's awesome. I know you're gonna love it. Well, let's talk about robots for a second. Businesses, obviously you're having a hard time finding the workers they need. We've talked about that, and in fact, there are more

jobs than people looking for those jobs right now. For every one job opening, there's only point seven people looking for a job, and so yeah, that just leads to uh A wage hikes of course, alongside just more leverage for the everyday worker, and then with compensation going up, though some companies are deciding to turn to robots for

certain specific tasks. Uh demand for robots is apparently also at an all time high, and Matt I would say, it's gonna be interesting to see what sort of an impact this has on our economy and on the workforce, because it makes sense the faster wages rise, the more employers start to figure out how they can thin the herd, and robots are able to perform more tasks these days.

So what did you think when you saw that statistic? Well, I mean and just the fact too that I mean, employers don't have the ability to continue to do business because they just don't have the people around to do the jobs. And so sometimes I mean in this case, like it's it's a little bit less about the fact that the robots are here to take over take over our jobs, and it's more, we've got to find a way to continue doing business here, and in this way,

robots are are the answer. But even for those who are a little worried about robots showing up taking over our jobs, you know, this is uh, I feel like a topic. This is a fear that's been circulating for decades and they actually they never really seemed to come true. And so, for instance, it was thought that the brilliant new technology of the automated teller machine a t M, that that would mean that most banks would no longer need human tellers, right, people who you know, sit there

and work at the desk. But that didn't happen, uh, not even close. In fact, as more a t M s came on the scene, we also saw a rise in the number of human tellers working at banks as well. Not not quite the apocalyptic scenario that someone yeah, exactly. And another instance, I'm thinking of the three D printed house. Uh, these are starting to become a reality as well, and so a big question might be, you know, are they going to take away jobs? From skill laborers and contractors.

Because these houses are being made by like tubes of concrete. It's like giant toothpaste machine. It's like a soft service that you can live in. But we think that that's pretty unlikely as well. But it is likely going to create more affordable housing, and those machines are going to lower the cost of living for for many folks as

homes become more affordable. But you know, these robot headlines and predictions of rapidly advancing automation, at times it can be scary, but you know, while it sometimes will negatively impact a few specific communities or specific jobs, it's almost always going to be part of a rising tide. You know that helps the country overall more than it harms, And honestly, more than anything, it just makes me think

of just the natural forces of supply and demand. Right now, there is just an incredibly low supply of workers, and so employers they're having to get creative when it comes

to manufacturing literally more supply by creating more workers. This is something that I think sometimes can be scary, but it's just the natural changing landscape of our economy, of our labor markets, no doubt, so I don't think there's any any need or reason to fear the robot Matt Like like you mentioned, I think you're right, and let let's move on. Let's talk about rent control our our

last story for this Friday Flights. You know, we we've talked about rising rents on the show, and it's certainly no fun to encounter. If you're a renter and you're told that rent is a hundred fifty dollars more a month for this next year long lease, that's that's frustrating, and that is it can be a budget buster. But what are some cities trying to do to combat these substantial increases that we're seeing? Rent control and uh ST Paul,

Minnesota is the most recent example of this. They just passed a ballot initiative capping rent price increases at three a year. And that sounds nice if you're a renter, right saying that, hey, my rent is not going to go up above this amount. I know that it can't increase.

But sadly, while rent control sounds good on its face, the effects are almost all He's harmful in the end, and landlords they tend to stop investing in the units they own, leading to a more dilapidated housing supply overall, they would ask themselves a question like why will I spend extra to put in a nishier bathroom if they're not going to be able to recoup those costs. And yeah, and pretty much at every turn when rent control is instituted, it ends up harming the vast majority of folks in

that city where it's instituted exactly. Yeah. Yeah, we feel that the answer isn't capping the rent price that a private landlord is able to charge. We feel that a better answer is to focus on creating more supply, just like those inventive employers who are finding ways to put robots to work and so uh and we're not alone too.

Economists have been in complete agreement on this for decades. Uh. And in fact, Richard Taylor, the economist, he compared asking whether rent control is good to asking whether the sun revolves around the earth and this, No, that's just lunacy. Yeah, it's just like I mean, it was just outside the realm of consideration for him. Uh. And so it's just interesting to see that there's a city that's gonna be moving in the opposite direction. Uh. And for the folks

who currently live in a rent controlled unit. You know, it's great, it feels like it's like heaven. But for other renters, the market rate is two thousand a month and you're paying seven hundred a month because of your units rent controlled. You're like, I want the lottery exactly. But for the other renters looking for a place to live,

it becomes more difficult. And instead, we think that more relaxed zoning and creating incentives to build more units to increase that supply is the best way to create more affordable housing. Rising rents and the lack of access to affordable housing are real issues in our country, uh, and they're you know, more prevalent in some specific cities. But rent control legislation is just going to make things worse

over time. This is an example where we're gonna side with the economists and we feel that the government, uh, different governments should consider involving themselves less when it comes to interfering in an open market like this, where you know,

the supply and demand can find their own equilibrium. And when you start interfering and placing rent trolls at least to distortions within the market, the amount it just makes you think the city where we live, Atlanta, passed a law a few years back that said that people could build a small dwelling unit in their backyard, which creates

more density dwelling units. The more units that are available for people to rent, especially in some of these older neighborhoods, the better the better it's going to be when it

comes to housing affordability. But then when you look at actually the zoning laws, it's really it's harder than it would appear at first glance to build one of those ad U s, as I found out because I wanted to put one in my backyard, and because of the setback laws, it was basically impossible to put that house in my backyard, even though the law made it somewhat easier than it originally was. And so those are the

kind of things that need to be looked at. If the law doesn't just say that you can build an a DU, but then the zoning laws make it not too terribly difficult to do, so people will do it, and that will increase density. That will lead to lower rent prices for people all across the spectrum. Not surprising Joel and I we live in the city. We're all about density and and yes, in my backyard please. We're all about it, and we think that that can alleviate

some of the high costs of housing as well. But Joel, that's gonna be it for this episode. Listeners can find our show notes up on the website will link to all the different stories that we mentioned and covered during this episode up at how to money dot com. That's right, and we'll be back on Monday within interview with our friend Meg, who's going to talk about how to have

that minimalist Christmas. We hope to see you then, but have a great weekend, but buddy, until next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.