Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt.
Today we're talking stellar staycations, Devilish destination fees, and pay cut gut punch.
That's right, buddy, this is our Friday flight. We're going to talk about the most pressing headlines and how they specifically pertain to your wallet, to your money. Should we go ahead and kick things off? Oh? Can I say one thing? Yeah? I thought you wanted to talk about Trump's address. I do. I got to get to that.
Oh yeah, but okay, just briefly, just because I think it leads into something we're going to talk about. But you've been wearing Zenny glasses for a long time. Any optical dot com something we haven't talked about in a long time on the show though. So if anybody's like needs a new pair of glasses and how they took.
Them off, look at them right now. I think I've had this pair for like three years. There's a literal pair of glass and they probably cost you what twenty five dollars or I always get the lens upgrades, okay, so that it's less so it's more resistant to oil and glare things like that. I don't know if it's worth it or not to be honest, but it's probably fifty bucks then, right for yeah, I don't know, like thirty something. He's like twenty four dollars frames with the upgrades.
Maybe it's like upper thirties, slow forties stuff like that. I mean, I still so I had to get new glass. These are premium. That's why my premium vision over here.
So my daughter needs glasses, as it turns out, don't know way yeah, so my middle child, how'd y'all figure that out?
Because she's like the vision's bory, I get headache.
Sometimes we're like classic classic means you probably really probably need some winning smart part to see what was getting because don't use chalkboards anymore.
It's all overhead projectors or the smart boards. Oh my gosh, a lot of smart boards. Yeah, and so we so we were like, all right, let's go get your eyes tested. And it's not like an extreme prescription. It's a small one, but it's it's like, all right, okay, we got to get you some some glasses and't and Emily's like, well, let's look look at Warby Parker ninety five bucks. I'm like, yeah, that's that's good. They all look like pretty adulty, all
the frames though, even the ones for kids. Yeah, you look very academic. Yeah, like even as a kid. If you have Warby Parkers, it's like, oh, you subscribe to the Times, you know, right exactly?
Are you reading the Water Journal every morning? And Zenny just has some cuter kid like frames. Yeah, and they are going to even wear Warby Parkers, you know. Yeah, I don't want to look at sen you do read the Wall Street Journal with her pipe every morning? So uh and so yeah, we got four pairs of new glasses. Well, because she's gonna loose on by the way, Yeah, you
got to prepare for that. Well, tell guess how much I paid for four pairs of glasses from zennything that you got, like the nine dollars pairs, so nine times four thirty six, but shipping forty two bucks? Okay, so a little more so ninety one dollars oh total all in. But you get the super baseline frames. No, you got a nice seventeen eighteen dollars frames, the clip on sunglasses to add on for a couple of them, which is nice.
So she's gonna be set for summer, I know, man, I know she looks adorable in them.
I can't wait to see. Yeah, so cute, but it's I love it.
And she's got you know, glasses tour with different outfits and then when she loses one to get different colornoid. Yeah, yeah, okay, that's super cute. So it just remind her to everyone if you need glasses, is any opticle is the way to go, Not an ad just super cheap, solid sunglasses that arrive at your step and a weeker we can have.
Yeah, unless you've got a local optometrist who you absolutely want to support and they've got some nice frames there by by all means do that. What I want to see folks do is avoid the in between sort of companies, right like where you're paying a fortune for an inferior product and it's like, oh, we actually if you throw one more pair of frames in there, it's only fifty
more dollars. You know, by the time you're all sudden done, is like four hundred and fifty dollars with the eye exam and two oh plus the bonus pair of glasses, and you're just like, well, I don't even like any of these frames, but you end up getting them anyway.
It's just amazing. One, how cheap it's gotten so much more cost effective. Don't remember going to get glasses when I was a kid, uh, with my I had like a I very like small, so I just like stop.
Wearing them because it was a very very small prescription. That didn't mean but I've never known you literally they were like for reading glasses that I was supposed to there, man, it didn't really matter. So I but or going with my parents, my dad weres classes and U and just how expensive it was, how time consuming it was in the day.
Yeah, and you can even do like the try on, you know, the video try on when you're when you're on zenies, so you kind of see what.
You're gonna look like in the glasses. And what's cool is once you yeah, like you said, did y' all measure using the pupilary distance thing and do all that and so here here's what's so great is that you are able to keep record of the frames that you bought which has the pupillary distance and all the different sort of metrics that pertain to that specific set of glasses. And then if she gets them, and it's just like, oh goodness, they're actually kind of a little bit small
on her. When you are looking at frames in the future, you know that, like, Okay, let's find ones that have a I don't know, I'm just kind of making this up, but like the peopilary distance of that's bigger by three or something like that. So st sixty seven, maybe we're looking at seventy seventy one, that kind of thing. So you can improve, you can essentially, yeah, kind of reiterate or iterate upon the process. So these what I'm saying is these will be the worst fitting pair of Zenni's
and that she will likely ever have. Will dial it in more exactly because I found that to be the case over the years. This is so the ones I have on now are my favorite. But I mean I've purchased over, I mean over the years, probably eight or nine different pairs yeah, of Zenni's, if I had to guess. But yeah, that's cool, man, pretty sweet, and I'm glad
that that worked out for y'all. Yeah. Oh, and I wanted to say, I bet another reason that you got four pair was because you pay the same price for shipping. Did you notice that, Well.
Once you got over a certain threshold, I think it was eighty nine dollars you qualified for free shipping, and so honestly, that was part of it. Was like, all r, I'm gonna hit ninety one. Yes, I need to get her at least two pairs, probably three. Anyway, just because we went through retainers like it was, these are a little bunny. These are a little bit bigger and slightly
less painful. So hopefully she won't accidentally throw it away with her right exactly, exactly, All right, let's let's move on. Let's mention quickly the speech man. I watched it live last night because I was very curious, and I'm like, this is going.
To have a lot of the Trumpian address.
Yes, it's going to have a lot of impact on how we move forward, And it was I was. I was assuming that we were going to get some sort of breaking news, but it seems like, kind of, hey, things are going to continue in the same manner for the next two to three weeks.
You're expecting something flashier. I was, Yeah, I was, And I tried to be like, here's here's the new Iranian leader. I brought him over myself. It would have been interesting that did not happen. Instead, it was perhaps more presidential yeah, where he's just there delivering a boring address to the camera. Maybe maybe we need more boring politics.
And you and I were saying before this that it was proper to give an address the nation about what's going on and what the goals and the timeline and so, but I think what this made me think and we need to talk about a bunch of things today on the show. But summer travel is something that people are like, what's that going to look like?
Now? Oh? Yeah, with energy prices, energy prices, yeah.
And energy prices after that speech, true, oil prices went up, right because people are like, all right, this is going to this is not ending tomorrow, This is going to continue for at least weeks if not.
It was kind of baked in the fact that, oh, he is going to give an address, because there was the talk a few days ago too about things getting dialed back essentially, and by him saying, oh, two or three more weeks, I think a lot of folks were like, well, shoot, that's not what we expecting, along with some serious threats of hitting them hard, yes exactly, so yeah, essentially more pain to come.
That's macroeconomic stuff and some political stuff which we try to avoid, but like especially with the rising airfares that we've talked about recently, Matt, I kind of wish I had like bought summer travel tickets, like airplane tickets months
ago before all this started. But if you're a procrastinator and you're finding that like prices right now have made those dreams of hopping on a plane less feasible, I think one thing that we should be advice we can offer Mat is to consider the staycation for at least part of you of your summer trip. With that, Yeah, it sounds, and it always sounds I think more appealing to depart for an exotic location, but it's always important
to consider the trade offs. You can enjoy your town or your city like a tourist, you can save a lot of money. At the same time, you get to avoid the annoyances of the airport drama, which we've talked about here on the show as well, which are getting better, and then obviously filling up your gas tank. It's not cheap, but it's a lot cheaper than plane tickets right now,
especially with fuel surcharges becoming more common. I think was a Jet Blue that just raised checked bag fees citing higher fuel costs, and we're going to see more and more of that coming down the pike. And by the way, if you're like, I don't know, man, that sounds like a lame suggestion, well, studies have actually found that staycations with short day trips can restore psychological well being similarly to an all out vacation.
The key I totally believe that, right. I mean, the key is to mentally switch off from work to get into a different headspace. It means like, don't check your work email right while you're gone, whether you're on a full fleducation or a staycation. So staycation with the proper mindset, I think is when could be a way for people to save money and still enjoy their summer. Totally agree.
And I think that a part of why a staycation can be so restorative is because there's just a lot of logistics involved when you travel, right, Like, it like you aren't kicking back in a place where you are familiar that hopefully you know, a lot of people try to create a space where you feel relaxed when you are at home and instead of enjoying that this thing that you've worked towards it' say all right, let's get out of here, go somewhere where it's where I don't
know where anything is. So there's like a there's a mental fatigue as opposed to staying home relaxing a little bit. And also, I think there's something to be said for a lot of folks you've got that sort of frenetic work energy, and even just transferring that a little bit when you're enjoying your staycation at home here and there can allow you to feel better a about being a help Like I'm thinking about like, oh, there's a stack of bills or things, things I need a file or
look into. Uh, organizing your clothes a little bit, you're like, oh, I don't know all the winter clothes. They're they're still kind of on the show. I'm pulling things out of the summer bend piecemeal. Just things like that where you finally feel like you can get on top of some of those things and then all of a sudden your home it's even more relaxing, And I think there's there's a sort of mental benefit that comes from that as well.
And how many parents have you talked to who come back from the vacation and they're like, I need a vacation from the vacation. I think actually maybe creates more of a true vacation reality, even though it's like boring, Yeah, it sucks. It's like, well, we didn't go to Hawaii this year, man, But I do think that that. I mean, it makes me think of our our sabbatical this past summer, and man, I was shocked at how the staycation was just as good, if not better than some of our travels.
And we had awesome ye travels, but there was something really special about being at home but not working.
I totally agree. Might you know something like it like that again this summer as well? I will say, if folks do want to get out of town, it's always a good idea to let the deal influence your itinerary. So Google flights Explore feature is an awesome way to search because you're looking for the best deals around the globe. You're not just looking for very minor price adjustments to your specific particular city that you want to visit within
like a very short window of time. Right, So if you can be flexible on your dates and your destination, there are some huge ways to still save in a large way when it comes to money, des by what the headlines say regarding the cost and the price of travel.
My kids were asking about airfare prices last night. They were like, so, what if you booked the day before? I was like, it's really expensive. They were like, what if you book three years in advance? And I was like, well, you can't actually do that. They're like, well, that's also very expensive. Well they don't even have the tickets listen for a sail yet. Okay, but what if you book like nine months in advance? So I'm like, that's actually
really expensive too. And they're like, then when are you supposed to book trammel? And I'm like, well usually months two to three months three.
For international, right, Yeah, it just depends. So yeah, keep keep looking. And I agree Google explore is great. Speaking of the headlines, though, Matt recession predictions arising. The Free Press recently published an article titled brace Yourselves, a recession is coming. I guess that's based on is that a lord of the rings? Beam to brace yourselves? Brace yourselves? Is that a lord of the rings? I'm sure maybe.
I don't think it's necessarily lord of the rings? All Right, you've read that more recently than I have, so I think it's from the movie Defer. Okay, well, speaking of classic, it's not really classic. We shouldn't talk about Harry Potter, but the new Harry Potter series looks good. I'm on board.
Yeah anyway, same, yeah, okay, So this makes me think though about the Bloomberg headline from twenty twenty two. Do you remember that one that forecast a chance of recession? I wasn't just it was everybody like all that. It was like all the banks were like yep, across the board.
Everybody was saying that there was a recession, leaving room for the possibility of there not being recession. But Bloomberg went all the way in said one hundred percent. I remember, like Jamie Diamond was making comments and it was like everybody they were extreme, but at least they weren't like it's an evil Bloomberg. The only one Bloomberg was the one one hundred percent, and of course they were wrong.
And then even say ninety nine exactly like man, that's you know, the one scenario we could not have thought of actually played out well. And a lot of the post Liberation Day takes were predicting similar things, right, and you and I were no fans of tariffs, but they didn't have the pronounced impact actually that a lot of people forecast. And so this article it's not ill informed.
It actually it highlights real risks, right, geopolitical risks in particular that after the speech from this week, of course, are meaningful, and they could play out. Given what's happening in the Middle East, I wouldn't be surprised about a lot of potential outcomes that could have real, massive ramifications on the global economy and on the US economy. But when the R word starts getting tossed around and they say a recession is coming, people tend to want to
run for the exits. And I just want to say, you're going to see this word tossed around more and more in the coming weeks, and it's frightening for a lot of people, Matt. But there I just I hate to see. I think there's usually an emotional like cortisols spike when you read those headlines and you feel like you need.
To take action. That's the whole point, right, Yeah, don't run for the exits. Instead, continue to invest like an optimist, save like a pessimist, and actually even pessimistic folks don't agree with his take. So there's this guy known as doctor Doom. He's an economist at NYU, and he actually recently shared that he doesn't see a recession on the horizon. So he was kind of a providing a level headed take.
So who should you actually listen to? And I think it's the best idea is to always be prepared for a recession, whether we're talking about on the economy as a whole or just in your own personal life, but generally speaking two and out recession predictions. And I think folks might be getting tossed here and there by the different headlines. And oh, prices are increasing, like, of course the price of oil, we're just talking about that as well.
Oh dude, let's provide some context too, because the price of oil, that's something where folks are like, oh my gosh, it's the highest it's been in a really long time, since twenty twenty two. In twenty twenty two, the inflation adjusted price for a barrel of oil was one hundred and thirty five dollars. So twenty twenty two, this is post pandemic, and before that it was two thousand and eight.
This is during the Great Recession and the inflation, and just price there is almost double what it is today. In today's prices, it would have been two hundred and twelve dollars. And so this isn't this isn't to say that prices are not rising. But let's temper our expectations of whether or not O recession is going to and just for everyone to keep a levelhead, little heads.
Yeah, all right, let's talk about the job market mat because instead of getting an annual raise, there's a chance you could actually get a pay cut at your annual review.
Maybe.
One of my friends actually recently mentioned he worked for a pretty large employer here where we live, and he said, man, looks like we have too much staff because of AI implementation. And I was like, what's going to happen? He was like, I'm not sure yet, but we could see reduced PEG. We could see people's jobs eliminated. And so the headline unemployment rate is still historically low. The job market has softened, and folks who have been laid off, they actually find
themselves in a more precarious position right now. Instead of applying for jobs hoping for a lateral move or to stay in the same basic pay range. There's a new study that highlights that many people feel forced to take a job with a similar title that pays less. So there's this company, Rivellio Labs, and they found that among all white collar workers who changed jobs at the end of line next year, forty percent took salary cuts of more than ten percent. So you're unlikely to actually get
a pay cut at your annual review. That's not something we're seeing in big numbers, but we are seeing people who are looking for another job or lose their job and then are on the job market. They have to be comfortable getting paid less, because that's four and ten people who are getting a significant pay cut. There are a few takeaways here, though. I think that's one is to save up more cash, whether there's a recession, whether
something happens to your job. More cash on hand is huge, right if you lose your job, that cash offers you a longer runway, more time to hold out for the right position and pay package. Also, of course, have your bare bones budget on hand, your BBB, yes, because that's going to help you stretch your dollar even further if something happens to your job. And you're out there looking
at hunting. And if you like your job and your current pay, make sure your employer knows how valuable you are, because if you were to lose your job, then the Piggins are slimmer.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely like and that makes sense, like from an intuitive standpoint, but also in this story, and we'll link to, of course all of the stories we mentioned in the show notes for the Friday flight, but there is an individual that they talked that they were talking with and he kept saying something like, Oh, if they would only give me a chance, I could prove myself like that I'm really good if they only gave me the time. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking, well, man,
you had time. It was with the job that you had prior to getting let go. And there's no time like the present when you are currently employed to be
able to express not only your appreciation. And this isn't like, I don't know, don't buy your boss a gift, but like, find ways to prove your value and to show that you're invested in that you're taking this job seriously right, Like it makes me think about relationships even like I think back to when Kate and I were dating, a lot of my time was spent thinking of ways to impress her to like do something thoughtful. You got the ring on the thing. Care you don't have to do
any of that. But like, unfortunately that's true. You get married. You know, you've been married for like eighteen year, nineteen close to nineteen years, and life looks a lot different.
You have kids, you're kind of just cruising along. But think about we just have a Unfortunately we take things for granted, whether it's relationships or with jobs, and so from a relationship standpoint, think about how how far a sweet, thoughtful comment would go, especially if I shared that with her in front of the kids for them to see
it as well. Right like that, just think about just what you're doing with from a family culture standpoint, truly to communicate something there's no alterier motive as well, But truly I'm trying to let her know that I appreciate something that she's doing. That goes a really long way
and thing in our relationship. Continuing to thrive and to do well, and so within a professional job context, I think that means leaning into your ability to express that you are taking this job seriously, that you are proactively moving forward, not just clocking in, showing up when you're supposed to be there, and not providing a whole lot of value to that company.
Probably, yeah, extra that might be extra effort most of the time, and but the effort that words you need to be used rarely to communicate that. It's like, it's how you show up to the gig.
R and the effort that you were that it would take now would I think be a fraction of the effort that it would take to then end up finding having to find a new job. Yeah. So that's that's why I'm saying for folks who are currently employed, don't assume that you are going to continue to be employed, and definitely at this particular company one hundred percent.
I think it's also going to do when you are looking for jobs to you know, whether you're currently employed or not, to look for work at companies that treat their employees as well. I think this is something that doesn't get talked about enough. It's not just a job and a salary. It's like, well, what's the culture of this place that I'm now signing on to show up
at forty plus hours a week? Right, and there's a new where you Work Matter Support MATT, which which highlights companies that their employees career as well.
It sounds very nineties Where you Work mat it does, it does, doesn't some sort of initiative from like the Bush era.
Well, and they highlight like twenty two companies in particular in tech, finance, manufacturing, and healthcare that get the highest marks. I think the list is helpful, but the list also leaves a little to be desired because there are just tons of medium and small companies that treat employees incredibly incredibly well. It's also very big companies. I saw Fidelity was on there on the list, which made me very happy.
Yeah, like, I love a Fidelity.
I bet that's a great place to work, right So I guess just talk to friends, ask around it won that's networking right too, which is the best way to get a job. It might even be worth the sacrifice to get paid a little bit less to join a great company. I was talking to a friend the other day and he was like, yeah, man, I had this job offer, but then I got another one and I took the one that paid less because it's a great It was a great company. Two years in, I've moved up.
I've climbed the ladder. I'm making more than I thought I would ever, and so I love it. I think, yeah going And it was all because that company is one that's known for a great culture and for looking after its employees. And so I think more job security, better advancement opportunities, think long term when you're thinking about the job that you want, and specifically looking towards companies
that treat employees well. In fact, I actually use chat chipet mat to look it up, like, hey, where we live, what are some of the best companies? And they give me to work for and they gave me a great list of people first companies nice and I was like, man, that's it's a good use of AI.
Just in case Matt fires me. I got these right, this list of exact companies, and you have that power, and I'm worried you're gonna use it. No, You're gonna fire me, and then I'm gonna go get my nursing job. Because do you see the article in the journal I was talking about, Oh yes, nursing jobs being sort of like this rocket booster to middle class essentially, and it makes a lot of sense. It's not something that AI is going to be able to completely replace you aging population.
Aging population. Yeah, you look at demographic, it's recession proof as well. There's a whole lot of flexibility when it comes when it comes to nursing work right, like the poll, Like a few twelve hour shifts, then you got the rest of the week to yourself. There's a whole lot to be There's a whole lot to appreciate there. I mean,
it's a hard job. It was almost not easy a yeah, and I remember there's some stories from that, but but yeah, and now I think that you can make six figures as a nurse without Yeah, they talked about trying to too hard, which is pretty incredible. And I don't mean without working hard, but I mean without like it's not it's so much easier to make six figures as a nurse now than ever before. We got more to get to, Matt, including when we talk about some companies raising prices and
ridiculous charges when you're buying a vehicle. We'll talk about that and more right after this. All right, buddy, we're back from the break, and let us now get to the ludicrous headline of the week, which is from Yahoo Finance. And even the fact that, yeah, who has a finance sort of division? Or do they actually have some good Sometimes they do, but sometimes it feels a bit click baity. Sometimes it makes me to get you who the chocolate drink?
You who have the bunny? Do I still make that? Waits? Yeah? That is next? Quick? Yeah? I don't know. Yeah, do they make you who? I haven't? Does you who have a mascot? I feel like it was like a flood of chocolate milk. That's what I picture when I think of you. Who wasn't Was that part of their commercial? Right back again, back in the back from the nineties, there was oval tine, which felt like the worst name for a chocolate drink. Ever, that was like a holdover
from the seventies, wasn't it oval Tee? I was like, I'm not drinking yeah. Uh Now this is something that a listener sent over. Headline read should you really stop contributing to your IRA? In twenty twenty six, Here's the real truth that financial experts try to hide and coy Matt Well, First off, any headline that makes it sound like that there are people who are trying to hide the truth from you, You know, the cabal of individuals
who are just be skeptical. Guess is probably a to be bogus, And this one is You're not gonna be surprised at who actually gets highlighted here because it's social media influencers, it's real estate investors. And I will say I'm not against real estate investors. The folks that we talk to on the show are very smart and that they would never call your four oh one K or your IRA scam like Grant cardone does, as he's referenced in this this article in that guy man, It's like,
this is so much bravado, it's not even fun. This is bread and butter man, this is what he does. I think I'll level headed smart individuals out there that approach life the way we do can hold two things in their mind at the same time. They can walk and chew gum at the same time. They believe that real estate investing can be a great path for those who are interested and who want to put in the extra work, and also that stocks and retirement accounts are
a legitimate way to build wealth as well. It's just different strokes for different folks.
And what it is that you want your life looking I find it so interesting that people it's great if you go to real estate route and you build wealth directly through, whether that's like owning commercial properties, whether it's owning residential properties, whether you're single family, whether you're multi family, Like, find your niche build wealth that way, go for it.
That's awesome.
But then I find it so fascinating that people who do it that way want to just completely dunk on people who do it like not everybody's cut out to be a real estate investor and everybody wants that route. And as we talk about on the show regularly, it is a part time job to be a real estate investor.
You know this, it's not purely passive. You were just telling me about a work date you had with your kids at one of the rental properties, right, you like child labor to get gust that thing up, which you might be in trouble now with the authorities.
But that's it was a character building moments. I was trying to instill grit. Yes, and we went to one of our favorite local haunts after the fact and got a great meal and some great beers. That's actually why we were talking. Having that your kidation because we're talking about your kids love beer. Well, you and I were talking about one of the great beers that they always have on tap.
Yeah, and so just real estate investing, the way the people who are myopically focused on that dunk on and hate on other ways of building it.
Let's be on. So much of it is because they're trying to gain all the attention. This is written by media that is trying to get all the clicks, and that's what they're going after.
We live in an attention economy, that's right. Let's talk about price hikes, Matt. They are all the rage right now. I got an email this week that Sam's Club is raising its membership prices from fifty bucks a year to sixty bucks a year for the less expensive version of their membership, which seems like not much like ten bucks a year, Joel, don't crime me a river. But it's a big jump from a percentage perspective, and so the I'm not hating on Sam's, I go there, Well, we've
got a membership. Remember, because of our trip to the beach this past summer, Sam's delivery was like the easiest thing for us to engage in, and so we got a Sam's membership for that reason. It saved us a bundle that was worth it. It was worth it literally just for that. Yeah, and then do I go there? No, I don't go there.
Well, wait a minute, you did the you did the tire that's true, the tire set, that's true. I did this year.
It definitely has paid for itself. But I don't need tires anytime soon, Like will will I renew?
I don't know.
This is definitely causing me to think twice, and so I get it. I think the big discounter SAMs and Costco can save people a lot of money when you use that membership regularly. We just don't use it all that much. So this is a good reminder because I think most people also have that membership on auto renewal. They're going to delete the email, they're going to move on with their day. But every time you get a price hike notification, it's a good time to reassess the
value proposition that this retailer holds in your life. Look at the data, determine whether or not the business still deserves your hard earned dollars. Again, ten dollars doesn't sound like a ton of money. It's not going to break the bank map for most people listening, but there it's not really ten dollars, it's sixty dollars, right, and then
they're counting on you staying put no matter what. So this is just a good policy to at least stop for thirty seconds to a minute, maybe look at your spending history and say does this still make sense for me?
That's right? Yeah, And let's be honest, we've had debates over lesser amounts of money, Joel. Netflix, they're doing the same. They're raising prices for the second time, and this year or not this year, but in twelve months. So the standard plan is now twenty dollars a month. That is a twenty four dollars annual increase. And of course folks are going to probably balk and are like, dude, we watched Netflix all the time, like it's got a ton
of content. And I'm not trying to throw shade on Netflix's business model here, but may we are We're a long ways from what was it four ninety nine when they first started, when you would mail the mail the actual.
Disks, that was what the good old day. Why do you hate Bridgerton, Matt, That's what the people want to know.
No, if you are into that then more power to you. I haven't seen it, but the people who love it love it. Some people do. They can raise prices as often as they'd like as they continue to increase the content that they have. But you just have to ask yourself whether you're going to sit there and just take these increases or is it time to debate and just I don't know, it's not even a debate, it's just asking yourself the question, am I getting value from this?
Because businesses, retailers, they are banking on the fact that that you're not price sensitive. But that is our true power in a free market economy, the ability to walk away when we're not happy with the price once it exceeds the value that we're receiving.
It makes me want like, maybe it's a good exercise to say, Okay, what if Sam's Club jack the price up to one twenty? What if they jacked it up to one eighty? Like would I stick around then and maybe have like a number in mind of of the value that it provides. Because to be honest, Matt, I've thought I've done this kind of thought exercise with my costcome membership, and I'm like, they could they could actually charge me a lot more, and I would stick around
because I shopped there enough. But the same is not true for SAMs Club because they don't shop there nearly as much, so the value proposition is far less.
For the cost of my life, there was costco I'd have to like list out the amount of seaweed, kimshi really nice rice port I sorry, yeah, pork butts, but then also the prime brisket that we pick up on occasion, look at the comparable prices, divide that out. It's well, I guess we're paying on an annual basis, So yeah, what is the savings that I'm gaining from all of those items? Because those I feel like, oh no, pd powder, the pdfit powder. Oh yeah, we also get that there
those prices there versus anywhere else. It wouldn't be too difficult of the math problem, And I agree, I think I probably would continue to if they doubled it tomorrow, I'd be like, I'm in. I probably think we would be too.
Yeah, which sounds crazy, But then there are other things where you raise it by two bucks and I'm like, I'm out, Like.
That, you barely had me to begin with it, right, That's the straw that broke the.
Camel's back right there. And I think now is actually a good time as any to go through all your subscriptions to your recurring bills and ask yourself, do I still use this service? And I think the reason now is a good time is because it's spring spring cleaning. Let's do the financial spring cleaning thing too, while we're also cleaning out our garages and you know, taking out our putting our winter clothes up and getting our summer clothes.
Out, getting all the pollen off of everything. Oh, it's awful. If it's the worst where we are right now, like peak, everything's yellow, everything's covered. You know, I will say, okay, here's a quick tip if you have patio furniture. Didn't think i'd be sharing this today, but last year I remember being so fed up with the amount of pollen in our screend and patio area which is just surrounded by trees, that I said, you know what, never again.
It was just so filthy that I purchased brand new. Yes, I paid full price off of Amazon. I was not waiting for any sale, but I measured out with the dimensions needed to be to cover our eating area, screen and patio as well as the sitting area with TRPs order those have those sitting ready to go. And once I realized pollens started ticking up this is like two
weeks ago covered that junk. Oh my gosh, man, it is so wonderful knowing that all I'm going to have to do is with Kate grab the corners of that thing, walk outside, probably just rinse it off, I guess. And to know that our furniture and our chairs and our table and the side tables and the coffee that it's all going to be completely protected from right down after a gross pollen. Yeah, I can't wait. It's I wonder.
I kind of enjoy seeing it stack up on there because I'm just like, guess who doesn't have to mess with that? Do people in other parts of the country have no idea what the pollen it's like here, because I don't know when you look like a pollen scale, is it's up to like two hundred or something like that. And and truly where we live, the pollen count can be five thousand and so what like it breaks the scale and it's not even last you're I think the
high was fourteen thousand or seventeen thousand, so it's completely insane. Yeah, that is. I'm not totally sure because we do have a lot of trees down here in Atlanta City in a forest. Is it like cicadas where other people are like, wait, what what's that sound in the background, Like, Oh, that's just what it sounds like down here. Man. Well okay, so.
Yeah, cover your furniture if you live in a pollen prone area, but also renegotiate those bills or cut bills that don't make sense in your life.
So I was just thinking, like spring cleaning, that was the topic. Clean sprinkleaning your finance.
Yeah, if you're if you're internet bill used to be fifty but it crept up to seventy or eighty or something like that. Well, yeah, I know it's not fun to negotiate to try to claw back that money, but it's worth the time, right, And I like again used Ai typed in a prompt Matt, and it gave me like, hey, put this into the chat and you have a really good chance of getting your bill lowered back to what it was, getting some sort of like a twelve or twenty four month deal on the price of your internet.
And so it's it's not that hard to do. I think there's just like a mental block and people are like, well, I guess it's eighty bucks now, But it doesn't have to be. And so think about what spring cleaning financial tasks you can do. Look at your credit card statement, what are we spending money on? Does that still add value? Can we get that for a less for a cheaper price? And I think that's that's just a worthwhile endeavor. I
would love to hear. By the way, if you're if you are like full board doing some spring cleaning financial tasks, how much money.
Did you say? What are some of the biggest wins?
Let us know what are some of the biggest wins and we can share them with share them with the rest of the how to Money audience.
And renegotiating some of these subs is the perfect activity to do during your staycation. Yeah, see, you've got a spring break coming up. Speaking of higher prices, Jill, also mailing packages, it's about to get more expensive because USPS they're raising prices by eight percent on mini packages later this month because of the impact of oil prices. So if you do ship a lot of things via the US Postal Service, heads up, I mean it makes sense too.
It's not like their business model is all that great. And I'm actually, I'm told I'm fine with it. Like the folks who are using it more charge them. I would rather see that than see the price of stamps increase where it's something that everyone's getting hit with. And I'm also totally fine with smaller increases and receiving like lesser services essentially, you know, like you go into the post office and you're just thinking, man, this place is rough most of the times of the most of the time.
But I'm and I'm kind of okay with that. I'm kind of okay with us with there being a service that isn't like so luxury and so nice. It kind of feels, I don't know, that's kind of how I want things to run. It's not fancy, but they get the job done. But for the most part, just talk about cars, because if you purchased a new car recently, I'm sure you were taken back at the cost, because the average new car now costs more than fifty thousand dollars,
which is insane. But it's not just higher prices, man, it's the higher fees that are a problem as well. And we're talking about the old destination charge that caused buyers to shell out more than twenty six billion dollars
last year alone. This so it's a charge that so on average, the destination charge it's sixteen hundred dollars, which is a ton of money, but again kind of makes sense considering that the average new car costs, you know, more than fifty k. But it's meant so this destination charge is meant to cover the cost of shipping the vehicles,
which has of course gone up. But it's also easier for car makers to increase this line item, right, like this price, rather than to increase the sticker price of the vehicles, kind.
Of like the airline's charging more for bags but not ramping up the price on airfare exactly.
So they're a consumer, they quoted in that article, companies are sticking a number in there that they think you'll look past. You can't typically negotiate this fee down, but you can negotiat around it by getting a better out
the door price essentially. So it's also another great reason just to avoid buying new cars altogether because of all these fees and I don't know, man, Yeah, at the top of the list is the depreciation hit, but then you start adding all these fees along with it, and it just my disdain for buying new cars is adding all time.
It remains, it remains, it remains. It's more entrench than ever. Yeah, and use cars where it's at always will be. Carmacks reports Matt that, speaking of use cars, that EV and hybrid searches have lurched upwards because of rapidly rising gas price.
I think anybody in their EV is just like looking at us, every gas car driver, like we're idiots, like we're suckers, and they're so not around us because of the fact that the Georgia state tax, what's it called, the state gas tax was repealed for sixty days, right, Yeah, so we're paying some of the lowest gas prices in the country.
Thirty three cents cheaper here in Georgia. Yeah. The water's fine. Yeah, if you want to, if you can handle the pollen, guys, come on, the water's just fine. Come on down, move on down. Check out the ATL we hah good beer like fun podcast. So just and if you don't, even if you don't like the ATL you got the burbs, that's where we are. Yeah, if you don't if you don't like the burbs, we've got water too. You can head down to Savannah. Yes, we've got Georgia beaches down there. True.
I find it's awesome. Man. Yeah, it's uh where it's at underrated. Also, great job right here. Yeah.
Well, so obviously, low gas prices over the past few years have made EV adoption progress slow dramatically, same with the repeal of the federal tax credits. But when gas prices arise like thirty five percent in a month, yeah, that creates the shock to the system and a lot of people start entertaining the idea of an EV when otherwise they were like not interested. So we we obviously don't know how long gas prices are going to remain elevated,
or how much higher they could go. Still, you know, we just talked about the high cost of buying a new car, the fees involved. Run the numbers about how much you could save based on your driving habits. If it's significant, I'd say consider an older, cheaper EV with a more limited range, if that works for you. Matt I gave the suggestion a few weeks back of those old school Nissan leaps. I still see him driving around and I'm like kind of miss my right. I don't
drive very much. I drive so little that gas prices don't really impact me very much.
I walk everywhere. This is ridiculous, but we're living the life.
If you are a person. Man, I know somebody I was talking abot Budd yesterday. He was like stuck in Atlanta traffic for like two and a half hours total, get.
Into work, and oh my gosh. And and I think, like, man, just an ev, nice quiet EV.
That saves you a lot of money if that's your normal, regular, every day life, and that that lower range means nobody really wants those cars anyway.
So's the super cheap. So the deals are especially if you can like charge it home, charge at work and then come home. I'm like, yeah, that's that's the way to go. Well, and so I've looked into this because you, yeah, you did mention this a few weeks back. It's saves so much money, dude, And I thought, oh my gosh. And so it's specifically so twenty seventeen is the last year that they made the old model. So that's the model of relief. Yeah, so that's that's the one that
looks like yours. It's a little more like hashback ye ye. Looking. It's also the last year that they had the first gen battery. So if you have a twenty seventeen or older, like you can get those for crazy cheap like two three grand. Yes, a lot of them still have amount of a good amount of what do you call it mileage or distance on the battery range. That being said, if you you're taking a bit of a gamble, yeah, you are, especially in the winter, especially if you're doing
higher speed driving, but even in the next year. Twenty eighteen is when they've changed, when they changed the body style, and it's a second gen battery that is much much better.
So basically you get a twenty eighteen or newer and essentially you're gonna be able have that car for I mean that battery is gonna last the life of the car for how much more to the twenty eight it's about double, So you're looking at around like eight thousand dollars still, which is crazy affordable for something that's gonna cost you virtually nothing to run an energy costs. Yeah, So if you're the kind of pert and I think most people overestimate how much money they spend in gas
every month or again. We've talked about this, just the emotional reality of seeing the price of the pump and being like, ah, this cost me seventy dollars when it used to cost me forty five, and that is that is frustrating. But how often are you filling up? Like, actually look at the numbers and then say, well, just buying a three thousand dollars car or an eight thousand dollars car make a lot of sense because guess what, I'm gonna save that in gas in like a year
and a half. Like if that's you, then man, I'd be jumping on that.
It could be worth Don't don't make don't make it out to be like I got to get the ribbon R one team tomorrow and pay ninety five grand.
It's for the gas, is exactly Yeah, just rolling around exactly. No, I've set my sights on, you know, and I've set my sights on all the coffee stuff. It's that a spread, make it that? Yeah, the espresso maker is is uh, the espresso machine is my Rivian equivalent. Well it looks good too, We'll see, we'll see. All right, that's gonna be it for this Friday flight. You can find the shows up on the website and howso money dot com. You know, leave us a review if you haven't left
us a solid one. Over at Apple Podcasts wherever it is that you happen to listen, you know what you can do. You can leave us feedback and we'll go looking for what it is that you said. You can think of it almost as like a not so private way for us to communicate with each other. It's like it's like sending notes, I don't know, like a pin pall or something via. I'm just trying to get people to leave nice reviews for us. But that's gonna be
it for today though, buddy. So until next time, Best friends Out, Best Friends Out.