Reopening the Economy and Getting Refunds #192

the lockdown, at least for most of the country. I think while some places are starting to ease restrictions, some some states, you know, some governors have opened up certain sectors of the economy, and that's something that we're gonna address and kind of talk about on the show today too. We're gonna talk about that, We're gonna talk about being watched by your employer when you're working from home, as

well as getting refunds. So let's let's kind of dive into it because we actually have a lot to talk about. No personal banter. Well, let's get to Yeah, let's get to the good news first, Mac, That's what we like to cover on these the good news. Yeah, and there are some good things, some good stories floating around, even at a time of great distress for a lot of people.

And so I think for you know, how we're going through this mentally, it's good to be able to focus on some of the some of the positive things that are happening around us. And one thing that we were notified of by a local listener, Rebecca wrote into us and she mentioned that our episode about how to use your stimulus check that came out last week, that really

helped her a lot to ease some of her guilt. Actually, the moral conversation that we had about how to use that stimulus money, how you should think about it, it was really helpful in in her being able to actually feel okay saving a portion of it. But she also mentioned in her email Matt, this local nonprofit called Bloom to a Room and it just got started because of COVID nineteen. And there's this young fella, young local Atlantic guy,

Braxton Chadwick. He's a high school senior and he is looking for donations to brighten the lives of seniors suffering from COVID. He's getting flowers into rooms around the Atlanta area. Man, I had to make a donation when I read that story when I went to his website. It's really cool to see young people in particular doing incredible things in this time. And Braxton is one of those young people doing something really great, some flowers to brighten the days

of seniors who are suffering right now. And the reason we're sharing this story is so Rebecca she mentioned that she had a little bit of guilt for from receiving her stimulus money, right and so we had talked some about ways that we can give that money away, and

so I think stories like this will help us. Hopefully it will encourage folks out there to kind of pay it forward essentially, if you feel at tinge of guilt because you maybe maybe you are in a fantastic spot financially, and if so, then then paying it forward and find ways to contribute to you know, the needs of others and looking for those different opportunities to to give your money. That's a great use of your stimulus money. But Joel, yeah,

I'm with you when I heard about that story. You know, he's a high school senior, and so I think it's just an amazing mission that he has started, essentially, And so Rebecca, you know, she had gotten in touch with us. She let us know about bloom to a Room. She even emailed him Braxton to inquire if her aunt's senior living facility was on his list, and he said that it wasn't, but he ended up putting it on his list and delivered flowers to that facility the very next day.

She said that she didn't get flowers personally, but that she sure felt like she did, so major props to Braxton for brightening people's days, you know, with these flowers and doing something that I think a typical senior in high school wouldn't be doing, you know, like this is a typical high school senior behavior, but it's definitely something that he's doing. And major props to him for that. Yeah, completely.

And Matt on another note on the good news front and talking about paying it forward, well, an anonymous donor paid the water bill of four thousand residents of a small Indiana town. The total donation was over two thousand dollars.

Those kind of stories are so fun to read, right because a donation like that has an immediate impact on all the families of that town, but in particular a family that is struggling that's maybe gone through a job loss or has been furloughed and hasn't seen a stimulus check come into their bank account yet, or their waiting on an unemployment claim. That's one major financial victory right there, having your water bill taken care of for a month.

So yeah, I don't know who this person is. They're anonymous, but I love reading stories like that too, well, a non anonymous donor. So in Atlanta, Tyler Perry, he's you know, like the film producer. I just call him Media. Those are some of the movies that he makes. But he uh, a few weeks ago, he paid for all the groceries during Senior Hour and so uh local grocery store around here, Kroger.

He paid for the groceries on a specific day of a bunch of Kroger's across Atlanta, as well as some Win Dixies I think in Louisiana, which is where he's from. But yeah, another super cool way that folks are kind of stepping up and helping others in need. By the way, can he shop during Senior Hour if he's dressed as media? Absolutely? I think he totally kid Atlanta's Angel. That was I think what the cashiers were supposed to tell the seniors when they said, oh no, your bills covered. So I

thought that was pretty cool. Also, there's this luxury hotel that's hosting COVID patients at this hotel. It's for fancy in Barcelona, right in Spain. It normally has rooms at four hundred fifty dollars a night's but the owner decided to open up their rooms for those affected by COVID nineteen. Most of their guests are those with miles symptoms, but again also those who are more vulnerable, the elderly, some

who are pregnant. It's interesting about that story is the owner she was a little worried that she was going to get a little bit of pushback from her current customers, from you know, her previous customers that typically come to

her hotel, but in fact she saw the opposite. A lot of regulars who do stay at the hotel reached out when they heard that she was doing this to let her know that like, hey, I'm not gonna be traveling to Barcelona in time soon for obvious reasons, but as soon as possible, I'm going to make sure that I book some travel and I'm going to make sure to stay at your hotel. Because they wanted to voice their support for how she's taking care of others. Yeah,

that's a really cool story, man. I I found that one to be really neat and hotels at this particular point in time, Yeah, they're not seeing much foot traffic, and so the hotel owners who are being generous with those rooms and taking care of patients, that's huge, Matt. There was another listener email that we got this week

that thought it was important to share. It was from Tristan and Liz, a really young couple from Massachusetts, and they said they started listening last year when they were twenty three and twenty five, and Liz was in three thousand dollars worth the credit card debt, ninety thod dollars with the student loans, and thirty thousand of that was a private student loan at eleven percent interest. And Tristan told us that he budgeted and worked more overtime at his job as an e m T when they were

short on money. He said, neither of us had an emergency fund, neither of us budgeting a single dollar. Now both of us used mint to budget. We know where every dollar goes, and we're realizing how much money was slipping through the cracks. Tristan says, I opened up a wrath for oh K at work, and I'm taking advantage of my company match. Liz obliterated her credit card debt last summer, bought a used car in cash, and refinanced that thirty thousand dollars of private loans to a four

percent interest rate. They both have emergency funds in high interest rate accounts too, with three months worth of expenses on hand, and they just finished saving up those emergency funds when the COVID pandemic occurred and Liz lost her job, and Triston said, thanks to this money, she can take her time looking for a job and live stress free for months. And if we hadn't been taken the advice from the podcast, then they wouldn't have been in this position.

So yeah, I love hearing reports like that from listeners who have been able to take the advice that we give on the show. They've taken action on it. And for for Liz and Tristan, they've really only been taking action for a year, but they've made a lot of

progress in one year. I think sometimes it can be daunting to hear all the things we talk about, and it feels like those far off projections of healthy retirement and paying off debt, they seem so far away, But you have to put one ft in front of the other. And that's what Tristan Liz did. And look at what's possible in just a year's worth of time, and how much safety and security that provides during an even unforeseen

economic downturn. Yeah. Man, what an awesome email. So a huge thanks to to Liz and Tristan for sending that note our way. And I think for the rest of our listeners out there who are thinking, like, what do I do now that we are in this situation? Um? And I still think that changes can be made even now, even during the great lockdown, right, a lot of us have received and stimulus money, and I think if you don't have an emergency fund, put that money towards an

emergency fund, right, Like we've talked before. How two thousand and sixty seven dollars, How that's a great baseline. And guess what twelve und bucks that gets you half of the way there. So obviously most folks financial situations look a lot different today than it did two months ago. But we want to encourage you, if you're listening, to take those small steps today and to start making those

those small changes in your lives. Until one final quick piece of good news we wanted to share is that the credit reporting agencies, Experience, Equifax, and trains Union, they are all offering free credit reports every single week for the next year if you go to annual credit report dot com. So it used to be to where you only had access to a free report by one of those three bureaus once a year, but now you get it fifty two times a year. And we're all about

keeping in the track of your score. That is free via a lot of different websites, and you can do that whenever you want. You can check in on your credit score. It's updated monthly, but check in on your report. Yeah, usually only available to people once you hear Now it's open to you every single week. You can really stay up to speed on what's going on with your credit and in particular with people going through difficult financial times, there's a higher potential of credit damage and so yeah,

staying on top of that is really important. Nice alright, Well, so one other thing we wanted to discuss before the break is how some states are starting to make their own determinations on their reopening timeline. Our governor here in Georgia actually made the controversial decision uh and today. The Governor's order will allow places like Gems, bowling alleys, nail and hair salons, and massage therapists to reopen for business.

On top of that, restaurants will be allowed to open on Monday if they comply with social distancing and sanitary measures. I mean, you know what, I think it's pretty stinking ironic that Georgia is saying that these businesses can reopen when the state as a whole hasn't met the guidelines that was handed down from the White House on a

federal level. Yeah, it's certainly weird to hear that that these businesses can reopen right now when it doesn't seem like from the health professional side of things that almost anybody is advocating for that. But I think the biggest stand up to me, and that was bowling Alleys. Really, they're they're an essential business that we should be reopening

right now. And I guess maybe maybe on the lanes you can stay six ft away from people, Yeah, you can maintain some social distance at a bowling alley, but like, how are you supposed to do that at a hair salon or or nail salon? Right? Yeah? Yeah, And so I think it does that this question of the reopening of the economy, well, it has a few layers to it. One is the economic considerations. Right, it prompts the question how should we view our economy reopening? And I think

the answer is that it's complicated. Our lives as a whole are going to be very different for the foreseeable future. Like we talked about last week, Matt, that even as these businesses begin to reopen, as governors do open the doors, and the great lockdown kind of subsides, Well, just because states can reopen some sectors, should they be reopening those sectors of the economy. And just because the state says that we can, well should we be links so as individuals.

And I think we've heard from local restaurants, from local businesses pretty loud and clear that at least the ones that I follow on social media and the ones that the people that we're friends with, is that they're unlikely to open even though they're being told that they can. But I will say that these are tough questions and the government edicts that have forced people to stay in their home and shutter their business, well, in many cases, the government has promised to help them to keep food

on the table, and that help has not materialized. The stimulus checks have been at least somewhat delayed, the p PP funding and the E I d L funding for for small businesses in need ran out in no time flat, And so those people are are understandably frustrated that they have been told to shut their business and they have not been compensated in any sort of way from the government.

So I understand that first frustration, and I think that's why we're seeing some protests around the country, uh, surrounding these political decisions to to keep enforcing a lockdown. But that doesn't mean it's the best course of action, right and and for all of us as a whole. We have to be thinking on this greater level that continuing to shelter in place for at least a foreseeable future actually is going to help us all health wise and

economically in the long run. But I understand the frustration from both sides. It's it's a really tough conundrum that we're in. Yeah, I totally agreement. I think we can easily see how it's not the best decision when it comes to our health. And like you said that, like the long term implications and let's play Devil's advocate a little bit here too, write and like, aside from the economic and personal finance factors, individuals are going to have

different levels of risk that they are comfortable with. Right, There are always trade offs in life. Right. We make decisions every single day that affect not only our health but the health of those around us. So take cars as a quick example, like driving more and walking less, like that leads to increased heart disease. We know that, you know, driving more leads to more carbon dioxide in

our atmosphere. And then not to mention the deaths that are directly attributed to automobile accidents right easily over desks every single year for almost the past one years. Yet we all continue to drive because we're comfortable with that risk. So I mentioned this, you know, to point out that this is not an easy question to answer, and our goal shouldn't be to vilify those who we disagree with, whether the topic is our health or if it's money related.

So much of what we talk about on this show it comes down to us on a personal and individual level. And like, that's why we call it personal finance. Right, it has to do with us as individuals. However, we just need to remember, though, to base our actions on fact and science. Right, Like, we all know it's important to continue to slow the spread of the virus to buy scientists and doctors more time. So we need to

make sure that we're doing our part. Just because the governor said that certain businesses can open doesn't necessarily mean that those businesses should And just because some businesses will open their doors doesn't mean that we have to take part in that. It comes down to us as individuals and man, you know, like unfortunately, I think certain individuals they'll see headlines that say, oh, the all these stores are open, and they're going to see that as a

sign that everything is safe. And unfortunately that's not the case. We know that's not the case, but sadly that the message that it sends, yeah, it certainly does, and I hate that some people are going to get the wrong

message from this. So I would say, as as your local economy starts to reopen slowly, no matter what timeline that's on, whether you live in a state that is reopening swiftly starting today or you live in a state that that's taking greater precautions, I would say wear a mask, don't take unnecessary risks, and if you're a business owner,

make sure you're looking after your your workers. And so even if you know you really want to reopen your business, but you don't feel it safe or you can't take proper social distancing precautions to be able to to ensure the safety of your your workers and your your customers, then then I would say hold off if that's in the best interests of everyone's health. And also, don't look to politicians as having the right answer on the best behavior that you should be taking to keep yourself in

your family safe. So, yeah, Matt, I think the reopening of the economy, it's kind of a hot button issue right now, but we felt the need away and especially as some of these local economies are starting to reopen like now. But all right, we got some more things to get to, including being watched while working from home, giving refunds. That's become a tricky thing for consumers in

this COVID nineteen world. We'll get to some of those things right after the break, right Joel, back from the break, and before we get to working from home and getting some refunds from different companies, it's got to mention how there's gonna be more money for small businesses p PP funding or the paycheck Protection program that ran out last week because the original bill man it just did not

allocate nearly enough money. It seemed obvious that, you know, lawmakers essentially kind of knew that maybe when the bill was crafted. And in addition to that, like some big American corporations actually took money that was intended for more these small businesses. Shake Shack, they're one of these large companies that took a lot of money that was available to them through PPP. But at least in their case, they returned the ten million dollars that they took after

receiving criticism. And some would argue that they do contribute to their economy local lee, but the fact that this is a giant corporation, they have funding and resources that's available to them, that's you know, true small businesses could only dream of having access to. Yeah, they did the right thing by returning that money. And I think, you know, hopefully some of these other larger corporations that should not have taken PPP money will be returning there's as well.

So lawmakers are passing this bill, this FO four billion dollar package, and a large portion of that will be earmarked for the unbanked, to minorities in rural areas, into lots of mom and pop stores that don't have good banking connections and need to help. That's really what was missing, Matt from the first iteration, where a lot of those people were left on the sidelines while these bigger companies

snatched up all the money. So if you are a small business that has applied but was denied access to one of these p p P loans, will stay in touch with your banker if you have one. But but some of these small businesses, Matt, they don't even have a relationship with a bank. So we would mention too that PayPal and fintech small business lender Cabbage k A B B a g E are both offering p p P loans to people online, and they're offering you the

ability to apply online and they're taking applications now. They've left applications open even while there was no PPP funding in anticipation that there would be more. So, yeah, those are two good places to to go to consider to apply for that money if you're having trouble getting a banker at at a big bank, or even at a smaller local bank or credit unions even respond to your emails, and so let's talk about getting refunds to add insult to injury. For many big companies are being stingy with

refunds in situations where events or services were canceled. Ticket Master, you know, they do not have the most consumer friendly policies in normal times. I know I haven't heard that, and they weren't too keen to offer refunds even in the face of a pandemic. But they have changed their tune and now you know, they've made it sound like that they were always planning to get refunds for these

shows that were going to be rescheduled. Sure you are right, I'm sure taket Master, right, Yeah, I'm glad that they have said that even a rescheduled show was available for a refund. But yeah, for at the beginning, they were like, no, what are you talking about. We just moved the date. And that's a big issue, especially if you've got hundreds of dollars tied up in tickets that you purchased. Ticketmaster

finally doing the right thing. Many reports to have shown that airlines are attempting to offer travel credits instead of refunds at the same time, And and Consumer Reports has a petition that you can sign, because that's a big problem right now, and that is even more money tied

up than concert tickets. Typically, if you've got travel booked to a foreign country or even just domestically, you could have hundreds and hundreds or thousands of dollars tied up in airline tickets and the airline just wants to offer you a credit for a future flight. Uh, And that just isn't fair. So we would encourage you to sign that petition. We've linked to it in the show notes.

And especially with the federal funds that these airlines are receiving, that it's not okay for them to be only issuing vouchers. It may seem mad to see that they're receiving billions in money from the federal government and that they're not offering refunds to consumers unless you beg and plead. So that's not cool, and I hope they start to change

their tune quickly too. I think there are some even some class action paw suits being filed against a lot of the major airlines, And yeah, I hope they do the right thing. Let's go discuss too being watched while working from home. First of all, it's great that so many companies are able to maintain business as usual right the ability for employees to work remotely. This has been a growing trend that we've seen over the years, but

the recent pandemic like that has only accelerated that. But the issue now, though, is that the employers who weren't already set up in a position to manage their staff, they are all scrambling to make sure that productivity continues.

Workplace in computer monitoring is the solution oftentimes in many of these cases, and naturally, this software allows employers and managers the ability to see what their staff is up to, and one company says that increase for their software has tripled since the middle of March, and of their two thousand existing customers, about a third of them have requested

additional licenses so they can track more users. So this is important for individuals to know matt who are working from home that there's a good chance that their employer is maybe taking screenshots of what they're up to, potentially even every ten minutes. So if you you have found yourself recently working from home. You might not know that your employer has the ability to even check in on what you're doing, but that's something that you definitely have

to be aware of. And with that though, some employees might have some privacy concerns obviously, but I think this type of monitoring it seems like a necessary step in order for companies to continue to function while everyone continues

to work from home. We focused an entire episode on working from home episode one at two because it can be a really difficult transition for folks to instantly switch gears right from I'm at home watching Netflix, some Mu Jamie's or taking care of the kids too, I'm at home working on a social media campaign or debugging this database for a client, and so having some hard data and numbers to see how everyone is doing like this

is really important. And I think this is also to not just for employers, but it's for employees as well. You know, to have hard, quantifiable numbers to kind of measure your productivity against, that's really important. So Joe, an example where I see this playing out in my own life is when like when I go for runs, I tracked my runs with this app, and not only do I just run to stay healthy, but like I want

to see how I'm doing. So with this app that's running in the background, I'm able to see my my own progress. I think that only allows us to become better at whatever we're doing if there is some sort of feedback, right, And so a lot of these reports, employees have just as much access to these reports as their employers do. Yeah, I think that's a huge part of it, is the transparency and the whole thing, because if you're being monitored without your knowledge, that's when it

becomes a little shady. And Yeah, at the same time, right, we talked about in that episode that you're gonna have to have open conversations with your boss, especially during this time because a lot of people their screen might be stuck in the same place for twenty minutes because they have to deal with helping facilitate a child learning. And so it's important to know that if you are being tracked from home to to have that conversation with your

boss about what they're likely expectations can be. And these privacy concerns I think are going to come down to specific companies and who are using the software, how they're handling it, and and make sure that if you do have questions, that you ask your employer about it, because it can be free. Hey, I know I would be a little freaked out at least knowing that I was potentially being spied on or my or they were taking screenshots of my screen every ten minutes, which some of

these softwares do. So yeah, it's just something for people to to be aware of. Yeah, it'll be a little freaky if you see your person move across the screen on its own doing stuff you're not telling it to do. I mean, well, we had a quick listener question here about getting the I r S your information in order to get that stimulus money hid Matt and chillsc sins

Emma from Ohio. I discovered your podcast last year and have really been enjoying all of the great information about finances and craft beer that you've been sharing with us listeners. I'm calling because on your most recent episode, one of you mentioned that when you went to the I r S website to check your stimulus check status, you got a message saying they couldn't determine your eligibility at this time.

I've gotten the same message. I've filed my taxes on April fourteen, and I've owed money for the last two years, so they probably don't have my direct deposit information on file. Are you in the same boat? Do you know how I might be able to get my direct deposit information to the I R S. I've heard that paper checks may not arrive until September, and I'd really like to get that money as soon as possible so I can buy some index funds while the stock market is still down.

Thanks so much, I'm a great question, Yeah, Matt. A lot of questions still surround the stimulus payments, how people are receiving them, and there are definitely some hang ups for people in different situations and um and yeah, so the I r S will resolve those over time, but some people are not seeing their money in a timely

manner and I hate seeing that. I personally mentioned yeah last week, how I got that message when I logged in that it couldn't tell me basically whether or not I was receiving one, whether I was eligible or not. And then I logged back in on Sunday to check my status and it said that I would receive my funds on Wednesday, and then I did, which was great.

So some concrete info was helpful, but sadly that's not what a lot of people are getting when they turned to ir S dot of And Yeah, so if you have gotten that message in the past, Emma, I would say go back because that blanket message was given to everyone, regardless of whether they did have your information on file, and we're gonna process even just too soon as five

days later. So yeah, I would say go back to the i r S website, make sure you check again, enter in your information to see if they've updated your status. That's the first step to take in the NEMA. For for those who did file, including yourself, but you did not include your direct deposit information, we would recommend for them to to use the page get my payment that is hosted by the i r S to provide their

banking information to get their economic impact payment immediately. If you owed money in twenty nineteen, then the i r S they just don't have your direct deposit information and you must take the step to avoid having a check sent out, which you know we've mentioned before will likely take months to receive, just like you mentioned, might be

September before you get your hands on that money. Yeah, it sounds like they're trying to to send five million checks a week, and they're starting with people with the lowest adjusted gross income. So the people that are in the most need are going to get those checks the soonest, which is good. But other people who do have you know, higher a g I s are potentially gonna wait two to three months to see that check in in their mailbox.

There's also a tool for people who haven't filed a tax return recently but are eligible for the stimulus payment. Will link to that in the show notes as well. I love, also, Emma that you're planning to do some investing with this money. If you have solid savings and a stable job, investing that money is a great way

to use it. And at the same time, Matt, I don't necessarily think Emma has to worry about missing out on a bear market or missing out on the stock market being down, because I do think the economic implications of what we're going through, there's there's a good chance they last for a while longer. You know. It's not something that I hope for, you know, I hope for a quick economic recovery, but that remains to be seen.

And so even if you get your check two or three months from now, and if you're investing for the long haul, you know, whether you invested a month earlier or a month later, that's not going to have a massive difference on the overall amount you'll have, you know, when you hit retirement age. Yeah, So, like we mentioned, we will put some links in our show notes to some of those different tools and some of those pages hosted by the i R s there so that you

can make sure you get your money as quickly as possible. So, Joel, that's gonna be it for this Friday episode. We just mentioned the site how you can find some information there, but you can also go to our site in order to leave us some feedback. If you go to how do money dot com forward slash do Better. If you have some some feedback for us, if there's some ways that you think we can do a better job on

the show and providing helpful information, then please let us know. Yeah, Matt and I we read every single one of those emails. We take it seriously. We want to provide a show that's helpful, informative and fun at the same time. That's our goal every single week. So Matt, until next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,