Welcome to Had of Money. I'm Joeld, I'm Att. Today we're talking soft switching, tariff turn around, and discounted drugs.
Happy Friday, everyone. We hope everyone is at a wonderful week and we are glad that you're here to join this listening experience that we're about to deliver to you the Friday flight.
It's right. I've already had one Thanksgiving meal at my kids school, Matt, earlier this week, so you warm it up for I'm ready for Yeah, it's like a week and a half of Thanksgiving festivities over here because then we have to eat with my family. But that's like, how do you feel about to travel to have dinner with other family?
You think the Thanksgiving turkey is a little overrated justly speaking as a meal.
No, I think we should eat more turkey. I'm actually I think it's sad that we don't, that we eat so little of it dry typically, it's like a dry meat, man, It's like they're cooking it right. Well, most people do overcook the inject trap puppy. I'm smoking one actually for this weekend, So I'm excited about that.
And think about how very nice.
How inexpensive turkey is Matthew ninety nine cents a pounds for fresh, never frozen turkey.
It's a fairly affordable protein. That's for sure, much more affordable than some of the meat that we're going to get to later on this episode. True story. I saw you the other day. Actually, we're both driving on the Interstate and I passed your tail. Were driving. You were over there, juice in your miles per gallon. That's right, hypermiling here you were on eco mode. I'm sure over there in the van, but I noticed you had some fresh tires on that thing man looking looking nice.
I did, so. I just got a set of new tires on the mini van and I did some extensive shopping. And actually now is a great time of year talking about like Black Friday sales and stuff like that. They even have sales on tires. It's not one of those things that you normally think about. But I was like, all right, I know I need some. Maybe let me see if I can hold off and find a good deal. And I'm a member, not just a costco but at Sam's Club. We don't talk about Sam's Club very often on the show.
I always forget about Sam's Club. Because it's not you y'all live a bit closer to it than we do. It's not on our regular trek, it's not on a regular route that we travel, so because that is out of sight, out of mind. Yeah.
So it's literally right on the way home from Emily's office, so she'll stop there on the way home to grab stuff sometimes.
Nice.
And the I was like kind of going back and forth between Sam's and Costco and uh, and I looked at a couple other places too, but Sam said the best offer, man, And so what was the price?
Do you remember?
So I think out the door was like seven to twenty five for four new tires installed. That's a great price, the whole thing. And one of the things that actually pushed me over the edge towards Sam's was like there were great tires of a good price, but also they offer four years of roadside assistance when you buy tires there.
So I just there's like, how highly rated is the Sam's Club roadside? It's question, that's a good We'll see, we'll see if I get what I'm paying for or if this is actually something helpful, if I get trained on the side of the road. But five years of road hazard protection. You still get like the free flat repair, rotation of balance which they offered Costco, and I think they offer a discount tire two, so that's not necessarily
out of the ordinary. Yeah, but at the roadside assistance, So that's that'll be the big the payout, I guess, because that sounds like it would have been. Was that enough? Is that what kind of swayed you over when you saw that and thought, oh wow, this is actually I was like the prices added benefit already a little bit lower for.
Some really good tires. And then I was like, if it's got this other perk two, then maybe it makes sense to like, we'll test the waters and see if we ever actually have to use it. I'm curious to see if it works well or not. But yeah, yeah, yeah, So get those Black Friday tire deals if you're balding like mine or.
I feel like the typical sale or discount at discount tires. I think last time when I got the tires changed out is around two hundred dollars a tire. So if you can get out there for like a little under eight, that's a good deal. You got you down to the lower sevens even better, deal man.
And it felt kind of providential, Like I had a screw in the tire the day I was going to get it changed.
That's right, Yeah, that's why you borrowed my the pump.
That's right. You had to pump it up just so I could get over there to get them changed. But I was like, now I don't have to like get this flat repair.
Just get it all taken care of all together. Let's spend some time talking about credit cards, Joel, because it seems like taking full advantage and maximizing the different credit card rewards out there, it's basically becoming like a part time job. Not only are the annual fees increasing, but so are the hurdles for snagging those perks.
Well, the fancy cards. We're talking like seven, eight, nine hundred dollars a year.
If you are the type of person that's gonna visit the lounges and take advantage of all that they have to offer more power to you. But the potential dollar value of those perks offered with the annual fee, of course, it has grown significantly, but accessing those perks has certainly
come with roadblocks. The rewards are functioning more like like old school coupon books, to the chagrin of many users who are just used to at least for me, I like things to be as simple and the ability to get some cash back you.
Know there straight up it's like, oh, you can get this reward in this quarter, but then you got to spend more money next quarter to get.
More of that reward. Everyone was a fan of that, the rotating the rotating categories. Yeah, but then there's like quarterly credits, there's monthly rebates. They are all a part of the credit card company approach, hoping that the deals are gonna actually sound better than they function. Then they
actually impact your your bottom line. And the data shows that fewer high end reward card users are actually getting the benefits beyond the what they're paying in the annual fee, and so they're not actually you're you're not coming out ahead. The credit card companies are, and in an attempt to maximize the rewards, some users are opting for spreadsheets, which makes a ton of sense because if you are going to play the game, you better play it right, while
others like me are just throwing in the towel. So I think it's okay to downgrade. It's I think it's good to even cancel an extensive card if it's not working for you and going with something a bit more basic.
Yeah, which is interesting, Like, usually we're kind of against the cancelation of credit cards for the sake of your credit score, but chances are, like, if you have a great score and you've got a card with the high annual fee that you're just not getting enough rewards from, You're like, I'm paying the anal fee, but like I either have to manufacture spending. I'm spending more than I want to. It actually has become like a pain in
my butt. How much is this actually doing for me versus a straight up just two percent cash back card that I don't have to think about. If it's overwhelming you or the rewards just aren't worth it, then reconsider, yeah, in downgrade or even cancel, especially if you don't need to use your credit score for a big purchase in the near time, near future, like getting a mortgage or something like that. It is kind of crazy how complicated
some of these rewards cards have gotten. And Mett, there's a new credit card on the scene that I just saw from US Bank, And this one is actually not similar to the high end rewards cards. It's an attempt to merge a credit card and buy now, pay later. You know, this is not something the hybrid model we're going to be fans of. Yeah, I like hybrids, like a pres or something like that, but not not in terms of like emerging of credit cards and buy now,
pay later. Instead of paying off the full balance at the end of the month, with this card, you can pay off your balance over the course of three months instead for a fee. Of course, you got to pay extra for that privilege. And I just don't like credit cards becoming more like buy now, pay later. Credit cards are awesome, not because they're debt products, but if you use them properly, they offer perks, they offer protections for
you as a consumer. And so if you're just if you're just using it as a method of payment to do the buying that you already would have done and paying it off in full at the end of the month, credit cards can be an excellent way to facilitate purchases, but using any payment method to extend your buying timeline because you don't have the cash, that's a red flag.
So if you're like, oh, this credit card is great, not because of the perks, but because it allows me to pay off the item I bought well further down the road. I don't like that. So I'm really not a big fan of this newest new US Bank credit card.
Yeah, yeah, you said there's a new card that you recently read about. It's not the card I thought you were gonna mention. The card that I came across recently that I applied for is the new robin Hood card, the new robin Hood Gold Card.
That's pretty good.
It's across the board cash back, which is first of its kind right there. I don't think there has been any other card, and so I quickly applied and got it. But I haven't read all the details on it yet, but we certainly will let folks know. I did see that it's when did a launch? Well, they announced it last last year.
I want to say.
We talked about it, and it's been sitting around, I think as they're trying to figure things out. But the actual at least for me maybe other folks have been it's been trickling out. But I it showed up in my email the other day and I hit I apply now and filled out the information and they said it's going to be showing up and sometime next week.
Is there an annual fee for that card or is it just a robin Hood Gold member.
Technically there is, because it's to be a robin Hood Gold Member, you're paying five bucks a month or fifty or six sixty eight years slightly discounted. So technically there's not a direct annual fee for the card, but there kind of is. But that being said, then you get the additional benefits of being a robin Hood Gold member, right with a match the only or one of the very few non employer IRA matches that's that's being provided out there.
So just say rob robin Hood's making it more and more enticingly, they're making.
They are, they are making it attracted.
Like every time they announce something awesome, they also now something that I'm like a little wary of those.
I know.
Yeah, you just have to pick and choose the benefits that you want to access with Robinhood three.
Percent though across the board. I am really curious to see if this is going to replace like my City Double Cash card for just like all the standard purchases. But well, okay, so actually, while we're talking about robin Hood. Did you see that they are offering this whole thing where they can bring cash to your doorstep. It's like Uber eats, but for dollar bills.
I did. I saw that.
It seems like there was a whole lot of other ways. Well, it's like seven bucks in order to get cash delivered to your.
Front door unless you're a Robin Hood Golden right, or if you've got at least one hundred thousand dollars in assets with Probaina. So for me, it's like three bucks or something. Yeah, per cash delivery as opposed to which is lower than a regular ATM fee.
But you folks should be with a bank that reimburses atmfees. And if you don't have a bank that does that, you should then be if you need cash, which is a rare occasion, you should be getting cash back with your debit card once in a blue moon whenever it is that you need to do that, which you can do at a grocery store or Facebook marketplace. I just listed something and the lady was like, can I come
buy and bring cash? I was like, no problem. Cash is accepted at the All Mix household, you know, because that that is honestly how we get cash like in our coffers at home, to be able to pay the kids. Like I can't literally remember the last time I went to an ATM or got cash back. It's truly because of this kind of rotating stash of cash that we have, that the kids earn money for jobs and then pay back to us when they want to buy something.
Yeah, basically, you know what I was reminded of earlier this week that I hadn't thought about or had forgotten about, was that some grocery stores are actually charging you to get cash backs, which I think extends to Kroger. I think they're basically the same corporate ownership.
Sounds like a Krumby place to shout up with, well, if you can't.
Cash back, and I don't know if this is true at other grocery stores as well, but if it's like twenty bucks, you pay fifty fifty cent fee, and if it's like even more than that, I think you're paying two or three dollars to get cash.
Back, which is like, so everyone's getting paid roughly.
I mean, I think the average ATMF is something like five dollars and fifty cents, which is insane. That's again why you need to be with one of our favorite online banks who doesn't charge or would either have an ATM network that allows you to avoid paying any fee, or there's the if you like bank with like Schwab or something like that. I'm pretty sure Schwab they will refund any atem fee that you incur. So I mean again, this is one of those things where how often am
I getting cash similar to you? Not very often yep, But okay, speaking of banks, and maybe some banks are better than others, and so you might want to consider leaving the Krumi bank you're with, especially if it's one of the big bank that's big banks that has a brick and mortar on every street corner, which has become their favorite form of marketing. Now, I don't know, it's highly profitable and necessarily to have those.
It's just convenience, not unlike the sam sting. If it's there, maybe you'll go into it. But the fact that I never pass it, I don't ever step foot into the same club.
So what people are choosing to do now instead of signing up and moving everything over to a new bank, they're doing this thing because of course, there's a catchy term for everything these days, soft switching. This is the trend, and basically what it means is that people are opening up another bank account in order to get better service or higher interest rates, but they're just not moving all of their deposits or direct payments over to this new bank because it'd be too much of a hassle.
I'm totally done with that name. Instead of hard switching.
Just a soft switch, little soft switch, And that maybe that I think people are obvious always, or that's maybe one of the pushbacks we get is like, oh, gosh, guys, switching banks is a massive pain. Well, so what if you don't fully switch banks? But what if you open an account with an online bank that is better and you either slowly migrate over, making easing the try transition,
or you just have both simultaneously. And you're like, well, this bank offers you free checks, and it offers a better higher interest rate, and it offers better customer service. So I'll do I'll take advantage of the things that they offer, but I'll keep maybe my crummy bank account that I've had for forever and so that I don't have to change everything all at once.
I like that it gives you a longer amount of time to be able to get used to the new platform. How it is that they do things, because I think that's for a lot of folks, they just don't want
to have to learn the new system. Like everyone's just used to the status quo and keeping their their financial equilibrium for a lack of a better term, joll, how do you feel about what prices have been How do you specifically feel about tariffs and enforcing the hand of the market and getting other countries to pay the high prices in.
Order to bolster US manufacturing. And I've talked about this a little bit on the show. I think it's so fascinating that so many people who were anti tariffs and pro free markets started to buy into the fact that, like, oh, yeah, tariffs are the solution, it's to all the ales that we face. And I just don't think they are. And I think are finally starting to catch up with us. I had as prices are solely starting to catch up prices, right,
that's right. And I was hanging out with a friend recently and he was talking about a big company that he works for, a water sports company, and you would recognize the name. They make a lot of stuff, and he said he was talking about the impact of tariffs on the company, and he's like, we've been eating the tariffs, like we've had to, you know, reduce staff, We've had to really watch costs. It's been it's been really like
tough sledding. And we're not a big enough company where we have the ear of the president to roll back tariffs on our specific items that we're that we're working on, and so it's been He's like, well, pretty soon those prices are going to have to go up like they just are. And and so I think we're starting to finally see that that pre buying of the inventory has It takes a while old.
Yeah, it takes a while for to trickle through the system before, like the information, like the feedback loop.
It takes.
It's not something that you can measure within a couple months. In a few months, it's gonna Yeah, I would not be surprised to see things change dramatically if we're not wanting to continue to see prices rise well without an end insight.
I think the place where we've seen maybe the most impact of tariffs more quickly has been at the grocery store, and at least like the President is starting to realize that higher prices at the grocery store are annoying Americans, that they're frustrated by paying more for things like bananas and coffee and beef, and so this he just opted, I think it was Friday after our show came out. Matt he said that he's going to roll back tariffs at the grocery store on specific items, on dozens of items.
And so it feels like this like tacit acknowledgment. I'm not going to say it out loud, but yeah, I guess they are causing higher prices. So I'm going to roll them back on some things that people notice on when they're going, you know, because we buy groceries multiple times a week typically, and so yeah, in some categories in particular, inflation has been incredibly high. Steak, coffee, bananas, and oh well, guess what, we can't grow much coffee
in the United States. Oh guess what, we can't really grow bananas in the United States. So all the tariffs were doing with leading to higher prices. It was attax on consumers and people. We are frustrated to see steak costing twenty dollars a pound when it costs twelve dollars a pound in January, and so, yeah, the tariffs jack up prices across the board. It's good to see at least a little recognition of that from the White House.
It'd be nice if we didn't have a willy nilly tariff regime going on, but at least we will see some relief on some of these items.
Yeah, basically, tariffs act as attacks to us as US consumers, which just basically make things more expensive. But consumers, we can't do much about higher prices that stem from bad policy specifically, but folks are reacting intelligently by spurning beef instead for chicken. So Tyson reported that beef sales continued to decline, and chicken is through the roof. It's rising
quite significantly in popularity. It's up twenty eight percent year over year, which makes sense when a whole chicken is like a fraction of the cost of beef. I think it's something like ninety nine cents a pound as opposed to ground beef, which is around six dollars per pound. But Jill, you know, one of the other ways that you can combat the high prices of beef and specifically steak is to get in on sale, and this is something.
This is I'm going to celebrate a little Costco win, which is that they were offering whole slabs of ribbi.
Oh you did this, didn't so well? You okay? I told you about it. You told me about it, and I was like, so, Joel said he. I did not partake because it was like still really expensive.
Joel said, Hey, they've got Prime Ribbi at Costco the whole side of the cow basically, and it's seventy five bucks off per package. And you're like that's crazy. I was like, yeah, did you crunch the numbers and you're like, well, no, it's just because you're still paying hundreds of dollars Yeah, for thos much meat.
So it was the price per pound.
Well, the next time I went there, they were still there because I think a lot of folks were still scared off by paying hundreds of dollars. But I did a quick calculation and it brought the price down to fifteen dollars a pound for prime, which is, dude, this you can't get prices at low. It's been like four or five years since I bought Prime Ribbi at fifteen bucks. Is a little bit less because everyone knows that when they do the discount per package, you go for the
smallest package package in order to maximize that discount. So, dude, massive wind, I'd never done that before. I didn't tell you because I wanted to save it for the show. Come over to your house for rib I guess. But of course it's a whole thing, so you do have to slice it. But that was actually kind of fun.
It was interesting to see, like, oh, this is how the Rabbi steak takes its shape, and this is the meat and cutting up cutting up your own steaks at home, you know, with a giant knife on the cutting board.
Or your butchering skills.
Not bad. Okay, so a cup, I will say, The stakes on the end don't quite look like Ribbi's right like, but man, all the cuts in the middle they look like just like they do when they cut them there at Costco. They're even more uniform though, because they always include one like thinner one or one really weird thick one in the package of four or something like that. Dude, I was like laser. I didn't pull out a laser level or anything like that, but I was just looking
at it. Making sure each steak was cut perfectly. Put a bunch of those in gallon bags stuck in the freezer so they wouldn't get bad. But you like, that's that's one of the ways you also can combat some of these high beef prices, not just by opting for something different, but looking for some of those massive sales. And yeah, you got to be okay with stomaching a few hundred dollars spent that you're not going to consume for probably a month or two.
Yeah, one of these days, one of these days, I'm going to do the quarter the half cow like some of my friends do, get in the deep freeze and go in that direction. I know that that's the way that people sa have a lot of money if they really love beef, which I do, but I have been kind of following the trend and going more in the chicken direction.
But he's into much, He's into it. Next time you see one of the big things, you don't have to buy a special freezer for that. Like, you can cut up those steaks and prepackage them, slide them into the freezer. You're good to go. Yeah.
Oh, speaking which, actually, remember when we talked about roadkill recently, one of our listeners reached out hello around the corner and.
End of meeting the freezer.
Yeah, and he offered he was like, hey, not roadkill, but I just killed a deer and butchered it up. Yeah, and so Brett super high listener. Brett offered us some minicism and I have not cooked it up yet. I have an either stoke too.
Though, osbummed. I didn't get to meet him too, because well, yeah, I met up with you to kind of get my share or whatever. I was like, oh cool, So where did he get this meet from? Like where was he hunting? What was it or was it was he shooting the gun or was it like a bow hunting? And You're like, I don't.
Know, So, yeah, Brett, give us some talking about something else. I think he just wrestled it to the ground. Probably, Yeah, it looked like he could have for sure. But yeah, I'm excited for that.
The most ethical and sustainable way to and probably most affordable way too, to consume protein to get your meat.
Agreed. One of the thing we should briefly talk about, Matt, that the Trump administration is doing. While we're talking about kind of the rollback of tariffs, is that your travelers might not be able to get compensation for delayed flights anymore. This was a proposed Biden era rule that would have held airlines accountable for like heavily delayed flights, and it's being taken off the table. I'm not sure how you feel about this. My guess is you probably are okay
with it more than I am. But I just I think I like the incentive, at least for airlines to the stick to say, hey, you know, get people where they're going on time, or there's going to be a price to pay and when you if your flight's delayed. In Europe, Europe has really stringent rules compensation rules for delayed flights.
But then but then you got to live in Europe. That's true, But US travelers, I'm sure there's there's some great places to live in Europe, but I mean there's a difference though between some of the different practices and how we go about governing our countries and like, like you alluded to, like if it existed, I would certainly take advantage of it, but it doesn't mean I'm happy about it, right, Like, there are certain things that they are just the way they are, but generally speaking from
a principal standpoint, yeah, I do think it's probably for the best for this to go away. And instead of the government intervening, like, let the free market decide, right, Let folks post and share their dissatisfaction with an airline, Let the market to decide they like, well, no, your tickets aren't worth that anymore because you treat your passengers your customers poorly. As opposed to this other airline, I'm want to start flying with them instead.
I think people do realize, oh, if I really really need to get where I'm going on time, maybe Spirit Airlines isn't the best exactly. It's like there is a kind of understanding, that knowledge that's.
Something that you that you get with a more free and open market. Instead, you're thinking, all right, I'm gonna go ahead, splurge on the Delta tickets because I gotta be there. This is not something I can miss.
When and when you look at the statistics, actually, Delta is I think the most on time carrier. So you might pay a little bit more, but what you pay for more likely to get where you're going on time. But just know that there's no exactly any sort of government backstop if your flight is delayed, unless you're taking a flight tour from Europe, in which case you might be eligible for some sort of compensation. All right, Matt, we got more to get to. You got to get
the ludicrous headline of the week. Oh man, there are some incredibly new, overpriced gadgets out there that people need to be warned away from buying. Talk about that and more after this.
All right, we are back from the break. It is now time for the ludicrous headline of the week, which is from CNN, which I will say, I feel like CNN has been putting out some better news recently over.
The past couple of years, some good, good business news.
Yeah. Yeah, not even the past couple of years, I feel like over the past several months. But this is a funnier story from CNN and the headline read Apple launches a two hundred and twenty nine dollars nine iPhone pocket sock to widespread amusement.
And I was so abused too.
I was quite amused myself.
It's funny.
Apple has been highly successful at monetizing desire through their in particular through their design. But I can't imagine anyone out there is going to desire a glorified sock to store your phone in for the high price of two hundred and thirty dollars, And.
If it was a twelve dollars sock, I'd be like, all right, guys, that's cool whatever. Like some people, if it's.
A twelve dollars SoC you're like, I'll get it. And it's the stocking stuffer. Yeah, it's funny, but they're kind of going like the Gucci route, except for dude, you know what the so you know what the soccer reminded me. It looks like a like a MANKINI from like Borat, Yeah it does. It does because it's like this long, stretchy sock. Yeah, it's I mean, you can't make it up. It's pretty ridiculous, stupid.
It is something is like the Apple brand Halo damaged by releasing a ridiculous product that I think at some point people are like, wait a second, are you just trying to get my money without giving me anything of value in return?
I think so.
I feel like it eradicates, or at least reduces my trust in humanity. And I hope this product feels miserably.
Unless they don't move any product and then you're like, all right, faith and trust restored.
Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, And I hope that if they want to put it out there and see if people buy it, like, more power to them.
But hope they get stuck with a million boxes exactly, and then they have to get they're giving them away beause I guarantee the socks costs roughly a dollar and eighty two cents to make. Yeah, like eighty two cents, So the profit margin on it is just insane.
You know what's funny? Though? Okay, before it sounds like you're about to move on, but I literally, back in the day, used to store my.
iPod in a sock. And how expensive was that sock.
It was just a sock that, just like the other pair, got a hole in it, and so I just used the sock to store my my iPod.
I'm sure nobody made fun of you about it. My boss did. So this is back when I used to work for the ad agency. My creative director saw it one day when she was passing my desk and she's like, Matt, don't use this little Did she know that that was actually was ahead of the curve, the seed of an excellent idea? Yeah, to make ridiculous amount of money.
Speaking of Christmas, she did get me a little actual iPod case, a little padded fabric case with a little beaner attached to it. Very much. I appreciate it. That is sweet.
I used it well. I was going to move on because there's other ridiculously expensive Let's let's get to objects that we should mention. There a multiple ludicrous headlines. Yeah, Wired had this article about a three hundred dollar water bottle. Three hundred dollars for a water bottle.
Explain explain what this water bottle did?
Though, Well, if a if a sock is two hundred and thirty dollars, I guess sounds like a deal. It sounds reasonable. But it's this brand called Okappa, and they're they're touting it as and I quote, a technical feat of engineering beyond reason for a water bottle.
Matt right.
They engineered the heck out of this thing. It's been called the Ferrari of water bottles that now costs twelve times what a Stanley did, which was also overpriced and ridiculous. This water bottle doesn't do anything special, it doesn't filter your water, and worst of all, it has a bunch of extra parts that need regular cleaning. Does it look cool? Kind of? Yeah, yeah, kind of, But it's a I think it's a weird new product, and free markets are
fascinating to me. I will be watching this. There was also like a five hundred and twenty dollars white T shirt that I saw recently as like, well, this is like the premium white T shirt, and I was like, it looks exactly.
It's like a normal white.
Teams like the Kirkland signature white T shirt that you get I don't know or in the pack for probably twelve dollars five hundred and twenty dollars for one shirt.
It might come from the same factory.
If you're into five hundred and twenty dollars white shirts, I don't want to throw shade. If you're into three hundred dollars water bottles, you do you. But I'm just hoping that these overpriced items that don't really offer any additional value are spurned. I'm not against spending a lot of money on something that's actually going to make a meaningful difference in your life, but I just don't think the water bottle or the phone sock are going to be those items.
What's also funny. Okay, so the name of that water bottle was Okappa, which is very similar to Awala, which is two letter off, which is a superior water bottle. Do any of your kids have a.
Walas, Yes, they do, and those are pretty UNDESTRUCTI little, easy clean. I'm literally still here with my twenty eighteen takiya. I don't even know how you say it, takaya whatever that I got from fin Con for free at the hotel after the party that we were helping to host was cleaning up and someone left their water bottle. You use it every day.
It's a found water bottle. I don't think I've touched or used anything so often in my entire life.
I'm using my free now gene given to us by the kind folks of Bill's Brewing.
Yeah, classic bells, but I am considering getting in a while because of it's designed. It's tapers in the middle so it's easier to grab. It's got the straw and the spout ability to drink. I drink out of my daughter's the other day and I set out loud, this is in fact a superior water bottle. And with all that praise, we're not even sponsored by a whalla. But while we're talking about overpriced items, jol, let's talk about weight loss drugs. And obviously these drugs can have benefits
for folks with actual diabetes. That's not how a lot of folks are using them these days, though, But the price is going to go down significantly on these drugs thanks to President Trump. It's not the free market at work, and honestly, there isn't much of that at all within the pharmaceutical space, but this new agreement is likely to save people a bunch of money every month. And this is all via Trump Orex. So again, don't love how we arrived here, but we want folks to know what's
available to them or to find the best deal. And ZEP bound with govy is they're both now going to be available directly for far less than what's currently being charged. So folks without traditional insurance will be able to get these drugs for I think around one hundred and fifty dollars a month. Six hundred dollars is currently the lowest that I've seen, so this is a significant decrease.
I think literally this week I saw some of them, I don't remember which one going down to like three fifty direct without insurance because they know this trump are X thing is coming down to compete. So prices are dropping dramatically on these GLP ones, which you know, one of the reasons that we're seeing higher healthcare costs right now, it's because of the GLP ones and how much the insurance companies are paying and what a large percentage of
people on their insurance are opting for. Yeah, They're like, I want to sign up for this, and so the insurance company's kind of taking it on the chins. These lower prices could help reduce health care costs and could help reduce costs specifically for individuals buying those drugs directly. Actually, funny last night, my wife was talking about oze. Have
you heard of this? No is a I've lost weight face basically, but it happened so quickly, like you can you can tell like very quickly who who's using it because the weight.
Falls off and their skin that their skin doesn't have time to react as basically like you got lap band surgery face. Yeah, pretty much, I've not heard that, but actually you saying ozempic face. The reason that's the thing is because it starts.
With oh, which off of space though, face face well, and it's it has been interesting. But when you look at the chart of obesie rates in this country, they declined for the first time this over the past year. Yeah, like it was a steady incline on the way up. And it is cool in some ways to see that obese rate.
Dropping and hopefully that'll lead to other health benefits, right, like increases when it comes to some of the other measures, not just in obesity.
I wanted to hit on a touchy subject though, because I saw a an article in the cut about taking ozepic to get ahead at work or taking any of these weight loss medications, and research does show they highlighted in the article that thinner people tend to get paid
more and attain higher status jobs. I was talking to my sister about this and she was like, that's so true, Like everyone right around the CEO is incredibly thin and like they look fit and stuff like that, and so she was like, it is harder for people who are overweight to get ahead at least where I work, and
this appears to bear out in the statistics. So, Matt, in a world where everyone's doing it, and it could be your career advantage, you can make more money, even considering the extra you might be paying to access these drugs. Does jumping on the bandwagon of weight loss drugs makes sense for more people?
I think it could, right, Like, so you're basically asking if it's like table stakes now, the fact that you've got to do this if you want to.
I think for a lot of people it feels that way.
Yeah, I think so. I think I would be. I mean, they haven't been around for all that long, and so my biggest question are, like, what are the long term impacts of these drugs? That's one thing, But then also so if there's.
Like bone loss and like long term gut issues.
Yeah, it reduces your design across the board, and that's something else. The whole other can of worms that we probably don't need to get into during this episode. But going back to the fertility rates, and you know, these are discussions we've had on the show's that was the topic of your conversation with Melissa Kearney, Right, I don't know, it's it's a double edged sword.
I agreed. Let's talk about cars. Everyone thought Toyota was crazy when they doubled down on hybrids, and they said, we're just not going to get into the EV game right now.
I didn't think it was crazy.
Yeah, hybrid's hybrids of all, A lot of people did think about VW, going like, hey, we're going all in on this, and a lot of car makers were like, we got to come up with an EV lineup, people, this is the future full EV.
By twenty twenty eight, right. I remember the Super Bowl ads.
Right, Volvo, But I feel like now Toyota's looking crazy like a Fox cause the whole EV spaces and turmoil. Brands have not found a way to reliably produce vehicles that turn a profit. Consumers are less interested as tax credits are evaporating, so car brands are attempting to pivot. Ford basically said, hey, we're probably going to stop making the Ford Lightning even though it's the best selling EV
truck on the market. It turns out that title doesn't really mean much because unit sales are still pretty paltry and it's just really expensive to get into a new EV these days. I think that Ford Lightning was supposed to start at forty grand but an entry level model. Now it starts like sixty thousand, so prices skyrocketed on that.
I remember when they announced the Ford Lightning at forty k and I was like, yeah, I might be in for that, but then the price went up dramatically and I was like, yeah, no, I'm not going to buy one for sixty grand. So I think car companies are going to have to find a way to bring down production costs to peak interest or just stop making cars
that don't sell. And so I think we are going to see kind of a pairing down of electric electric vehicle offerings as many manufacturers are just like, we don't know how to turn a profit on these, that's.
Right, Okay, So, speaking of car expenses, we've known that poor or even non existent credit history can have a pretty wide ranging impact on your personal finances, including increasing the cost of car insurance in most states. Well, there is a recent NPR investigation and they found that the impact can be massive. And so in that report, the same applicant, with the only difference being a poor or excellent credit score, could actually pay thousands of dollars more
in premiums annually. And this is another instance of where you may not totally agree with how it is that we are calculating credit scores and the system's not perfect. But it is another reason to know the game and to play by the rules. I feel like so much of our episode today is just like, we don't love how this is happening, but we want you to have the knowledge and know how this is impacting your personal finance.
Do we love how much influence and power the three credit bureaus have and do we like how they wield their influence and power, But they're not awesome.
That's not for debate right now. What's up for debate is what it is that you can do as an individual to better your personal standing.
You need to know your credit score, and you need to make sure that it's solid because and that typically needs like seven forty or above. Is really the goal we're shooting for. If that's the case, and I think you said most states, Matt, I think it's three states that don't allow credit scores to influence what you pay for car insurance. But other than that, in the forty
seven states, it's fair game. And so if you live in the majority of the United States of America, paying attention to your credit score is going to help you pay less yep for car insurance. While we're talking about cars, Matt, let's do one final story. Let's talk about car technology. I think one of the reasons I don't love renting cars because it's kind of expensive. But the thing I do love about renting cars is you get to kind
of test drive something you've never experienced before. Like I test drove a Subaru ev last time I rented a car, and I was like, this is fun. And then it was a Toyota Sienna and I'm like, ooh, this is different than my Honda Odyssey because I'm such a middle aged man and love to test drive minivans Like that's I never would have said that twenty years ago.
I've been it's highly under a we've lost all our street credit with you know I need to do is talk to my neighbor. They just they got an expedition, which is a you know, big, Yeah, their family is growing. But I'm like, why haven't you considered a minivan, Like if you just go on one little trip with us.
You could totally be a minivan car salesman.
Aside from the fact that it's just old and kind of smells, like when you get used to the space, the automatic doors, there's no nice there's no having to like lift that baby seat way up high. You get like in some of these cars, man, like you have to raise the baby seat up like six feet up in the air to latch it into the the car base.
So any fans, they ride so smooth too, They're wonderful. Yeah, they're so great. So everyone out there considered the minivan. But one of the things I love is car play, right, It's so nice compared to my cars are so old.
Yeah I don't have that.
Yeah, I've got literally an OX jack, which my car's in six so it means it was probably like the first year they put those in, and so I'm glad I have it. Oh yeah, the auxiliary jack was a feature. Yeah, you see it as a bug. That meant it was high end back in. I think it's right. But I love how like when I get into my rental car, it just kind of automatically connects and I can play
stuff for my phone. It's super simple. Well, GM announced that it's ditching car Play in all of its new cars in favor of its own proprietary software, and I gotta imagine, Matt, that people are going to be far less interested in GM cars because of this. This seems like a really bad move. Totally agree the you know, the Apple and Android. They make it free. It's free software, and consumers like it because guess what, it works really well with their phone.
I gotta know that it looks just like an iPhone ruff for it's on car Play. Yes, a proprietary Why would I not want that. GM software is not going to be better than this, So this might be GM shooting itself in the foot. Well yeah, and you know, you know why they're doing this, probably right like they're trying to get subscriptions. Because if you are using your your iPhone and it's playing through car Play, guess what you're not using. You are not using their built in navigation.
Guess what you're not using. You're not using the free Wi Fi that they include with the purchase of a new vehicle. So my my in laws, I think the like one year free of like a Wi Fi hotspot, so they're able to use Wi Fi off their vehicle and you start getting used to that, and then pretty soon once that free trials up, they're going to start being oh, sorry, this is going to go away, and they've got their hooks in you.
Yeah, it past twenty bucks a month or else.
I know, so they want some of that recurring subscription revenue just like all the other companies out there. Man, that plus data, of course always sells for for Top Penny as they're looking to dish up the best ads.
To you, Top Penny, I ever heard of that in a while. You can't say that anymore. Pennies hop penny minting pennies, that's right, Top Dollar.
What do you even talk about the fact that they minted the last penny like two weeks ago, that's right, something like that.
I was sad, but not really, No, you.
Aren't, because we've been advocated. If you hate it, the fact that it costs what four point three cents to actually make a single penny is like the most backwards thing it is, United State.
It's a cute little copper things. They're not going to be around anymore, and so I'm glad that we're not wastefully creating pennies anymore. I'm glad I don't have to use them keep up with them, but you know, they were cool.
It's gonna I'm more likely to hang onto the pennies that we have in order to play some of the different games we play with the kids, like card games.
The best thing to do with a penny these days we put it on a railroad track and get smashed.
And because then you've essentially destroyed history, do a nickel or a court, you know something else that they're still making.
All right, hold on to your pennies.
I'm just saying, ten years down the line, I think folks are gonna say, oh, I wish it would have like held on to a buck or two worth of pennies for like little stuff, aroun onto one sleeve for just for just for kicks.
All Right, it's gonna do it. For this episode, we'll put links to some of the stories we mentioned up on our website in the show notes at Howtomoney dot com. Matt Until next time.
Best Friends Out and best Friends Out