Why You Need a New Hobby #111

sort of outlook towards retirement, financial independence. There's a lot of implications that that hobbies have, so yeah, that that should be a lot of fun. But real quick, I wanted to share a story with you, you you like we always do every week. Oh tell me a story, Matthew. So, Kate and I we we received a letter in the mail from It said Capital one, and it was a different looking letter. It's not the standard envelope that you get.

So we cracked it open to look and it was from Cap one three sixty, which we used to have one of those accounts, and so I thought it was kind of bizarre. So I actually read it. Wait, let me guess the end of the story. It was a check for a lot of money and you're retiring early

two dollars. No, but similar to that, they actually said that there was an abandoned accounts or it was actually getting ready to be abandoned within like another month or two, and that it was going to be turned over to the state because there had been zero activity on it I want to say, maybe for three years. Oh and by the way, it was only for fifty six bucks, so that's a lot of money, but still enough for me to want to make that call and look into

it a little bit something. Yeah, But after I thought about it for a second, we remembered why we had opened that accounts, and it was because there was a sign up bonus way back in the day that they were offering, and my wife opened that account under her name deposited the right amount of money in there to meet the requirements to to get that bonus. But then I guess we pulled some of it out, but then

we forgot about it. And you know what, we talked about the benefits of finding a nice sign up bonus for a new checking new saving is a count but one downside is that if you are not super organized and I'm pretty organized, right, You've talked about the spreads c you have many times, but somehow that one kind of slipped under the radar. And that's the downside is that you know, you don't want to leave these accounts abandoned, otherwise it will be turned over to the States and

you may not actually find that money. Well, how suite of capital one three sixty to notify you be the mail and you're gonna get your fifty six bucks back before this account was closed and wind torment right and take that to the bank. Yeah, but I think it's important for people to know that there's a chance that there's an account like that out there that you've forgotten about. Maybe you also opened up a separate bank account to

grab that bonus. And the easiest way to track down that money that you might have completely forgotten about, well, there's a site that really helps folks do that, and it's called missing money dot com. Missing money helps people find the rifle owners of unclaimed money that states received like your state Matt was about to receive exactly. You can conduct a free search for bank accounts, safe deposit box contents, uncash checks, insurance policy CDs, trust funds, utility deposits,

stocks and bonds escrow accounts and more. I mean, it's kind of cool that it's a lot it is. They're all these potential accounts that maybe you've forgotten about, and you know what, maybe search for a parent or a relative, a loved one too. But Missing Money is just this cool site where you can for free check and see if you are somebody that you know and love is potentially missing some money that they should have in their lives.

So obviously I searched our name to see if you know, there's anything else since that kind of came up on a radar. Are there more accounts I've forgotten about? I also searched your name and saw that there was not, so I'd searched my name to what you While I was thinking about this, I was just surprised at the different people named large Guard out there because it's a really uncommon last name, and just kind of see where they're scattered on the country, which, yeah, which which ones

are missing money? And uh and yeah. So it's just kind of interesting to see that, But sadly, I'm not currently missing any money. It's also gonna note that most states do participate in that website Missing money dot com, but if they don't. They'll say that they don't participate, and they'll have a link a lot of times to this specific state website where you can typically go and search for free so make sure to check that out

missing money dot com. Yep, all right, Matt, let's mention the beer and I put beer in quotation marks because so on Monday's episode, we had a cold brew coffee and today we're taking another right turn. We're having a cider on the show, the second sider we've ever had. On this episode, we're having a bourbon barrel peach cider by tie it On Cider Works out of Washington State, and Jenna, who works with this sidery, sent this br away. So thanks to Jennifer sending this one out, I'm really

intrigued and ready to try this one. And it's not that we don't like beer anymore. We're just taking a little late summer beer break, and next episode we're getting back to the beer. We promise it's it's all beer from here on out for the most part. But but since Jenna was kind enough to send us this sider, we're ready to try it. So we'll let you know what we think about it at the end. Of the show. Yeah, looking forward to it all right, att onto the subject

at hand. Today we're discussing why you need a new hobby, and last week we discussed why we're saving for retirement. Just kind of felt like there's this need to address why we're doing that. But interestingly enough, many people that retire they have no idea what to do with themselves. They get bored and end up going back to work. My uncle is this perfect example of this, where he

retired and sat on his hands. He didn't know what to do with his life after retirement, and he ended up getting a job down the street, part time, twenty something hours a week. And I see this all the time in my dad's friend group, when they start to retire and they go back to work because they don't

know what to do with themselves. And sometimes it's okay, right to to find a more meaningful job, but yeah, exactly finding something that you know, you feel that satisfies you more on a personal level, even if it's not paying nearly what you were making in your in your regular job. Right. Yeah, my cousin he told me recently that his dad went back to work after retirement to work at home depot but it's because he's obsessed with home depot and he was like, he'd be there every

day of the week. Anyway, I give them so much of my money. Anyway, I feel like I could work there, you know. Yeah, So I just thought it was really funny that for him going back to work wasn't throwing in the towel. It wasn't like admitting defeat an interception of last resort. Yeah, it was literally this fun new option that he could partake in. That's just how be and he's putting it to work. But it's important for

us to choose and develop, in particular budget friendly hobbies. Now, my friend Wes Moss, who wrote a book about happier retirees, he calls him core pursuits, and he mentioned that, Yeah, right, I think it's a good way more pursuits the way

of describing it. Based on his studies, he says that the happiest retirees have roughly three and a half core pursuits that are meaningful to them, and the unhappiest retirees have fewer than two and and so, yeah, I think that's kind of a good springboard for this conversation that whether you're in your twenties or whether you're in your sixties, there are a lot of good reasons to find these core pursuits, these hobbies that are meaningful, that are inexpensive,

and so yeah, that's what this episode is gonna be about today. Yeah, so this episode really is all about getting more fulfillment out of your leisure time. Yeah, and Jill speaking, you know, to the fulfillment, right, finding your interests so that when you retired, you retire to something. Getting folks to to think long term about fun stuff, right,

that's what we're doing. We talk about that all the time with our money specifically, but what we're talking about on this episode is that we should also be doing that with our interests as well. You know, we have a like it's such a performance or like work based culture in the United States. It's good to kind of

step outside of that. We're essentially we're trying to find again balance in our life, and that's what we always strive to do on the show is try to find a balance between being smart with our money so that we can afford to live like at all, you know, in the future, but at the same time making sure that we are pursuing things that we find personal fulfillment in because guess what if that's something that we neglect now early on, Yeah, we're we are going to get

towards the maybe the middle or end of our lives, and we might find that we just don't know what to do with ourselves, and we might find that we are restless and that we turn to to work to kind of find that fulfillment. Yeah. I think work can be a safety blanket for you if you don't have really good hobbies, meaningful hobbies, those core pursuits, right that you're tackling in your life. Well, I think another really

important part of this. I mean, our show is called How the Money, so we have to talk about the money aspect of course, right, Well, hobbies can be expensive, and I don't know, I guess when I think about the quintessential retiree, I'm thinking of someone who plays golf two or three times a week, and which is solely fine though. I mean, if you are really into golf and if that's something that you want to do, you know, spend your time doing that once you retired, then that's great.

But as long as you're kind of doing that because you really love it, not just because well, I can go play golf, I guess right. Yeah. I was thinking today about another hobby that one of my friends recently picked up, and that is flying airplanes. That is another really expensive hobby. Pretty baller though. It's just so cool though, right, I totally understand the desire to fly airplanes despite the cost.

I think it can be worthwhile, right, But expensive hobbies and spending too much on your hobbies can also be a negative, right if we're not doing it inside the bounds of a good budget. So I think it's important to mention that there are some awesome hobbies out there that are free and cheap. And we think that by intentionally choosing hobbies and pursuing interests that are affordable, what keeps you from the temptation of diving down that spending

rabbit hole. So obviously, if you're making a specific choice based on something that you really love that does cost money and if fits into your budget, then that's great. But it's also important to mention that there are a lot of killer hobbies out there that are really fun

that are free and cheap. Jell. Another way to say that is essentially we're curating our tastes, right, Like there are certain hobbies, certain things that we could pick up that are really expensive, like you said golf or flying airplanes that that could be really expensive. But if that's your passion and that gives you an incredible fulfillment, then that's awesome. But just don't fall into something like that almost without even thinking about it, because you could spend

a lot of money towards those pursuits. And so part of the reason why we're saying hobbies as well and and less entertainment is for me at least, entertainment has sort of this connotation of like passive consumption, where without even really thinking about it, we're just being fed fun stuff, right Versus a hobby is typically something that you pursue,

and when you pursue something, there's engagement there. And I know that anytime I'm more engaged in something that I'm doing, I literally feel more personal fulfillments and I end up being a better person. And there's just lots of other benefits that come with these hot bays that we can pursue versus just lumping this all into maybe what we'd call entertainment. Yeah, I mean, you and I we like to go to soccer games and I would say that soccer games are not a hobby. Those are entertainment and

it's cool. I enjoy spending my money in that way. I like one of soccer games. It's super fun. But but it's not a hobby. And so yeah, like we're talking about hobbies slash core pursuits in general, and I don't think following a sports team or anything like that would necessarily make that cut. Yeah, well, let me jump

on that example. Let's say you're part of a supporters group though, and every week you're part of the design team that put together the t pos, like the giant banners that they raised up at the beginning of the match. That's more of a hobby, Like, that's that's you're kind of providing value to the team. There, there's something else going on there versus just sort of passively sitting back

and kind of consuming the match. Right. Yeah, there's a community aspect of that as well, exactly, And we're gonna get to some of those benefits later on in the show. Yeah, And while we're talking about the price disparity in hobbies in particular, if you're hearing this right now and you're like, I do need to find a new hobby. Why, I would suggest looking at the costs of that hobby and

trying to find something that is inexpensive. If you're already locked into a hobby that is pretty expensive but you love it, that's cool. But this is also a chance, I think for some people who have been doing a hobby but don't necessarily find it terribly fulfilling, to ditch the expensive hobby and find something new. Yeah, Joel, and we're talking about money the cost of hobbies, right, but

there are other factors that are worth considering. I'm thinking of certain hobbies that just might take up a massive amount of time, and that's fine. I'm thinking of maybe if you like to go voting or something like that, probably especially good, by the way, if it takes up a lot of time if you are retired, yeah, exactly, you've got lots of time then. But either way, you just need to make sure that you are intentionally doing

that because you love it. Brings you an incredible amount of fulfillment, because not only will something like that take up a lot of your money your funds, but also a lot of your time as well. And if it's something that you're only kind of halfway excited about. Well, it may not be a hobby worth pursuing. Right, There's also a lot of other factors to consider, Right, there's a lot of other areas in our life where our hobbies can come into play. And we're gonna talk about

those right after the break. All right, Matt, we're back. We're talking about hobbies, which is a fun little topic here. Did you ever go to a HobbyTown USA? Did you have one of those when you're growing up? But we totally did. Yeah, And you know what, I always go in there and by like the twenty one side of dice. I never got those, but I always wanted. No, I wasn't.

I truly wasn't, But I did want the car kits where you could like glue all these pieces of a car together, and and I but I honestly I never did one successfully. I just don't think I had the attention to detail. Yeah, with those, I always just wanted to kind of drive it after the facts. It's like, okay, cool, does it run? Where's the remote? It's like, no, it kind of just sits there on the shelf. No. I

was so much better with the remote control cars. It's so much more fun, Like let's actually skip the building. It looks cool the finished product, but I don't have the concentration actually keep going on it. So yeah, remote control cars definitely more of my alley, more fun, for sure. But we want to talk about the additional, potentially secret benefits of hobbies that most people don't really think about.

Usually it's something that you're naturally attracted to, or something that a friend maybe got you into, but we don't think about the power that hobbies have in our lives. And so, of course Money Show, we gotta talk about the money factor that goes along with hobbies. Hobbies can

end up earning you extra money. It can turn into a side hustle or potentially even a full time gig sometimes, So in my mind, that's not usually the purpose of a hobby, but sometimes you find that you're so into it and you become so good at something exactly even that it turns into more and you can actually make sign income or a full time living based on a hobby that you pursued, which is which is cool. Yeah,

I completely agree. You can't underestimate the power. You said the power of hobbies a second ago, right, But you can't underestimate the power that a hobby might have down the road when it comes to generating money. However, I think what you said is true. I think we need to be careful when it comes to hobbies because really they should be I think something different than ways that we're able to make money, because it's something that we should be pursuing because we love it, well, you know,

we kind of have a passion for it. And if we start immediately looking to ways that maybe we can monetize that hobby, then you know, maybe it's not truly a hobby that you're trying to build a side. Probably, Yeah, exactly. Again, it's another fine thing we've talked about on the show before. But but hobbies, this core pursuit kind of mentality that

we're getting into it is altogether different. And this is something you're pursuing most of the time purely for the pleasure of doing this task, of of of partaking in this hobby. Sometimes it leads to more though, just for funzies. Right exactly makes me think of the old guys you see on the beach with the metal detectors, and I still totally want one of those, because not because I know I'm gonna make a killing, But because I just think it's a fun way to spend time at the beach.

Why not have the little Scooper and you got your metal detector with the headphones then so you can kind of hear a beep or whatever over the waves, you know, like who needs crashing waves and the beautiful sound of seagulls When you could hear these beeps to that, you were all the changes right, Honestly, I totally see you doing that your old age. I've already got the hat. You've seen my beach. Have a hat for it. It's massive,

keeps the son from burning muskin. You're half the way there, and now I know what to get cheap for Christmas. If you get me one of those, man, I'll totally use it proudly. So one of the most unique hobbies that I have heard of recently. Matt I heard about in an interview with an actor Danny McBride. Do you know who he is? I do not, Okay, So he's been in a couple of awesome shows and movies. He's

really funny and pretty out there, but he uh. He's telling the story that he recently moved to Charleston, South Carolina. Good place abnormal for actors, but I think that's so cool that he did it anyway, Like, that's awesome. And he was trying to meet new friends, and so he was hanging out with dads of kids that his kids

were friends with, preschool dads or whatever. Yeah, and this one dad took him on this excursion to find sharks teeth, but not just like sharks teeth on the beach, prehistoric sharks teeth in these sand corries or something that you have to break into. And so that's like his new hobby is jumping fences finding these like nine inch long prehistoric sharks teeth, and he's just super into it. So I just thought that was interesting. It's pretty cool. Hobbies

can run the gamut. Yeah. Absolutely, That's definitely one that may not necessarily make you money immediately, but I'm guessing those teeth are going to be worth money right in the long term, as long as you don't get busted and sent to jailing, you know. Yeah, so true. So hobbies, they may not always make you money. Oftentimes they probably won't, but at the very least hobbies could save you money.

I'm thinking about doing things like gardening, even working in the yard, a lot of folks that sounds not like a hobby. It just sounds like yard work. But personally, I really enjoy working in the yard, whether you know, comes to landscaping or literally cutting the grass weed eating. I just love that feeling of accomplishment that I have when when it's all done and it just looks so fresh and nice, and I know that I've done that myself. But that's a way that I can save money by

not having those expenses. You're welcome to bring your passion for that hobby to my front yard anytime. See that's the problem, though, you own that yard, and therefore I don't want to care as much what your yard looks may but from my yard, I like it looking nice. Understandable. But also I'm thinking of two you and I. We both bike, and what if we really got into bike maintenance. There's a lot of guys that find a lot of

fulfillments in that I personally don't as much. I will maintain my bike and I'll work on it, maybe only to save money, but it's not something that I like doing. Right. I don't take my bike, I don't put it up on those bikes stand and start cleaning it. And tweaking it and you know, tightening things up that need to be tightened up. Although I should. Yeah, that's something I would like to get into, yes, because I feel like I'm not terribly good with my hands. But it's something

that's not terribly complex. I feel like I could figure it out pretty quickly and start to learn the ropes, and so it is something that's on my radar. Like, that's a good hobby maybe for me in the future when I have a little bit more free time, while at the same time saving you money exactly, all right. And another benefit of hobbies that we don't think about all that often is the health benefits. About eight percent

of Americans just aren't active enough. If we can find hobbies that are better for our health, it will make us happier. Will you're not likelihood live longer, And these hobbies will cost us less money in healthcare in the long run, yea. And in the long run, as long as you don't kind of fall and break your ankle when you're running for free, right Like, like, oh, I can go running for free, but that's way better than what a sedentary lifestyle too, health wise, Like a broken ankle,

it's totally true. It's a blip on the radar along the way. I'll take a broken ankle once or twice in my lifetime versus never being able to run my entire life and then dealing with the health consequences of that long term. Completely agree. Yeah, I've had some mix ups in my hobbies, especially in biking, you know, a couple of crashes along the way that led to broken

bones or whatever. And you know what, I'm okay, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, and especially the fitness component, and I've grown to love it and it's been my primary source of fitness through the years. So yeah, have we ever talked about how we love biking. I don't think we have, which is do an episode should tell

people that we like biking right now. And so, aside from health benefits of your physical body, there's also mental benefits that come along with finding hobbies, finding different ways that we can engage our brains in a way that is different than what we do forty plus hours a week. Man, That is so sinking important. Those hobbies that can give us breaks and just different interesting activities usually can stimulate

us mentally. What it does is that it keeps us sharp, even just kind of reading a different book than we normally would, or even just joining a book club is the way that we can engage your minds and make us a more rounded person. Yeah, and and break out of the ordinary, right that the stuff that we're used to doing hobbies can be these bright spots in the middle of our week. And Matt, you just mentioned it's

different than what we do forty hours a week. I have to mention too, for the stay at home moms out there, I know your brains can turn into mush being with children that many hours every single day. And I know that's true for my wife at times that when I come home, adult conversation is very welcomed. And and then too that the hobbies that she pursues on the side can be so helpful, even just the adult interactions.

So for her, she has gotten into a book club recently, so she enjoys just the act of reading the book and then meeting with adults to discuss what the book was about, and oftentimes that's over a glass of wine. So I just wanted to mention a little shout out to the stay at home moms out there who who do an awesome job, and I know it's a very difficult task. I think thinking through and pursuing meaningful hobbies

is so important for them as well. And I know it's much harder for for moms that are with their kids that much of the time to actually even have the bandwidth to think through the obvious they want to pursue. So yeah, in that case, it's not about staying sharp, but it's almost a matter of staying like sane, right completely. So what you're saying is that Emily doesn't like you coming home and then she leaves to go like babysit or something like that, Like that's like I'm gonna go

caretake for these other children. Definitely not, she would not be into that at all, but she loves the once we have though. And you know, another delightful benefit of hobbies is just the social aspect of it, Joel. You you kind of just touched on this a little bit with the book club, Like there's a social aspect to it, but just finding your people, having friend groups outside of work and family is likely a really healthy thing to do.

That's another one of those components that we need to incorporate in our lives in order to kind of maintain a balanced life. So, Matt, now that we talked about some of the best benefits of hobbies, I gotta ask you, what are your favorite hobbies? And I know the aunt farm is gonna be one of them, right well, I knew you were in turn, the day was on me

and asked me this question. So as I've given this more thought and I've given it some time, what I've realized that I really enjoy doing is building stuff, and not building something for money necessarily, but building something just because there's pure enjoyment out of being creative and out of basically solving a problem and then being able to

step back and looking at your finished project. Just even looking back to college, when I was building my first website and dream weaver, it was something digital that I created, but it was still something that I had poured myself into for several days. And it wasn't even for a class project. I wasn't getting paid for it, but it was something I was just curious to learn. And I

can see that in my life even today. We've got the playhouse in the backyard for the girls, and it was something that was a lot of work, and my dad and my father in law. They both helped me. But you know what, when I was working on that, to the outsider, it might look like work, but to me, man, it was so much freaking fun being faced with a problem like that and finding ways to solve it. And then of course in the end, we've got an awesome playhouse that the girls love playing in and having this

the super cool structure. Man, I just found so much joy and satisfaction in that. So what I guess the reason I'm saying that is, I think sometimes it's hard for us as individuals to pinpoint specific hobbies that we have. But I think if we can identify just these themes that we find running throughout our life, maybe we can identify my uh new hobbies a little bit easier. But that being said, of course I like to run, I like riding my bike, all the different things that we

we we often talk about on the show. Well, speaking about how we identify hobby, we're gonna talk about that in just a minute. I'll quickly mentioned the hobbies that I enjoy the most. I like biking, I like disc golf, and I love nerdy board games like those are like the three hobbies that I see myself pursuing. And part of the reason I love in particular board games is

because they're very very social in nature. They're like unlimited nerdy board games that you could partake in, and I have so many friends that are into them that I can fire up a text chain and get people together pretty much any night of the week to play some nerdy board games. So yeah, those are the main hobbies that I kind of currently pursue. What about a folk art that's that's I mean, would you consider that a hobby?

You kind of collect folk art a little bit. I don't think of that as much of a hobby as something that's just like an interest, yeah, hobby less of an activity, you know, Like there's some people who actively pursue art. I think you have to have a lot of money if you're gonna do that. Yeah, yeah, And I think, yeah, maybe someday I'll get more into the art and it will become more of an actual like hobby or something, But for now, it's like a side

interest that I enjoy. And so on that note of how to pick a hobby, We've got some ideas to help you get started finding the right one for you, and we'll get to that right after the break. All right, Joel, we are back, and now we're going to get to the application stage of of the episode, where hopefully, you know, with these steps, we can help folks to kind of narrow in on some different hobbies that they might find

fulfilling for them. And the first thing I want to suggest is that this might kind of sound a little old school, but looking at magazines, you know, when was the last time you went to a bookstore and you went down the magazine section and you saw just all the different covers of all these awesome different things that folks could do or honestly even better yet, like your local library, Like, don't go to the bookstore. You can go to the library, but there's something about going into

a physical space. You can see what images and what covers are you are you drawn to? Right? Like oftentimes magazines they're just based around hobbies. And again this is kind of a pretty broad but I think it can be a helpful start if you really have no idea you know what you're looking to pursue at all. Oh, that yarn on the magazine cover looks pretty I guess I'm into knitting. Some folks are in a knitting dogar.

I know I'm not, but maybe that's because I've never tried it all right, So maybe I gotta give it a shot. Yeah. Another helpful exercise to help you get started in thinking about what hobbies might be right for you is to consider where your mind drifts to at the end of a long vacation, when you're out of your usual schedule and rhythm of life, what do you start to think about what excites you? Where does your

mind that's free of daily labors take you? And I think that can be an insight into what hobbies you might want to pursue. So don't shut down your vacation brain, kind of look into it a little bit and and see if there's something there. Another good exercise is to look to your past, and what I mean by that is to ask yourself and trying to think back figure out what it was it that you did as a kid that you enjoy doing, and you can translate that

into a hobby as an adult. If as a kid you loved running through the woods and you know, setting up booby tra apps, which is one of the things I enjoy doing, of course, maybe as an adult you can still run through the woods, but maybe you're not setting booby traps trail running. No booby exactly, trail running,

Like I love hiking. It's just one of the things that, aside from muscle fatigue, I feel like I could really just do without stopping, Like I can just kind of continually explore, you know, see the wilderness, hike up different mountains, you know, like get to the top, all that kind of stuff. I feel like that ties into maybe me as a kid, where man, I just I love spending tons of time outside and playing in the woods. All right,

So this makes me think. There's a comedian, Kevin Nelon who's got a YouTube channel and it's called Hiking with Kevin Nelon, and he goes on a different hike every week and brings along a friend and he literally holds a camera facing him and he has a conversation with a new, interesting, different friend every week. And I gues's just a cool idea. So if you're into like comedians with cars basically except for it's like hiking pretty much took you to a different setting whatever. Yeah, but I

love that. You can tell there's just a marriage of two things. He loves having an interesting conversation and going for a hike. So that's really cool. I appreciate that. Yeah, that's super cool. And what is it with you? And you're watching and listening to a lot of the comedians these days, I guess I like comedy podcasts. I guess it's good stuff. Not the traditional ones, but but intelligent

comedians having interesting conversations. I would say so much of the time, comedians have the most interesting insights about daily life. And another thing to to think about when you're looking to choose a hobby for yourself is to see what your friends are doing. What are they doing that you're not doing, and maybe you get the invite and you

say yes next time. As opposed to know, sometimes trying things out that you've never tried before is the perfect way to get into something you kind of have no idea whether you're into it unless you give it a shot. Like knitting. We just talked about that, Matt, who knows, like, seriously, I could potentially get into knitting if I gave it a shot. And now I feel like, after saying that

out loud, I have to give it a shot. So if anybody out there wants to teach me how to knit, I'm in Plus it's just a nice skill to have, right, Yeah, will you make me an Atlanta United scarf? I certainly will. That's gonna be. That's like the default adding item, right is a scarf. But you can make some pretty dope Atlanta United soccer scarves with that. Yeah. One of our friends, actually she knits Christmas stockings and she gives them to friends.

That's her hobby. That's something she loves to do. And yes she's done that for us. I totally forgot about that. But super sweet and a very cool gift. Yeah, they're the coolest. Every year when we break those out at Christmas time, we're in awe of how cool they are. And it shows that that that pursuit for her has been something really meaningful. So you know what, maybe I'll have her teach me how on it. And the first item up for business is your Landing United scarf. Don't worry,

thanks buddy. Okay, something else to consider. Well, As a photographer, I'm gonna be a little biased, but I want folks to ask themselves, what do I take photos of my face? A lot of selfies and so your hobby should be makeup. I guess your own vanity. But no, seriously ask yourself that question, like, look at your Instagram account or look on Facebook. What are you posting pictures of? Is it food? Maybe it's architecture or landscapes, Maybe it's the different activities

that you're taking part of. I think that this can help you look with intention at what you maybe even subconsciously find joy. And we say this a little jokingly, but it kind of goes back to the Marie condo, like what is it that you're taking photos of? Because you know what that might be, something that's sparking enjoying you and you don't even realize it, but you've got sort of this record of proof of what it is that you actually enjoy and maybe what your next hobby

should be. Yeah, I think if we took the time to take a picture of it, typically there was some sort of meaning involved. And you know, you might be waiting through picks of beers that you've had or I was gonna say, there's lots of pictures of beer on my on my phone and that's because I love beer, and so I think that's totally fine. That's it's kind

of a hobby of mine. Like we kind of pursue beer we traveled to breweries, but yeah, I've got pictures of tons of other things that are super meaningful too, So so yeah, I think that's a good thought. Another question to ask is when was the last time that time completely flew by and you forgot to eat? That shows that you were passionate about something. Maybe you completely skipped a meal like lunch or dinner because you were

engrossed in a side pursuit. So think about that last time where something grabbed your attention at that level, and maybe you can find a way to pursue that. Yeah. What coders call that is being in flow right or like being in the zone is like the I forget what it's like positive psychology or something like that. Flow state,

flow state. Yeah, But for me, when I think back to activities where I completely forgot to eat and skip not only one, but even two meals in a day, we're back to that example that I gave when I was building things. When I'm so engrossed in something and completely consumed, it's like the outside world just shuts off and I find myself just completely just immersed in that project to not just complete it, but just because I'm finding enjoyment in it, And another way that you can

identify a cool hobby is to consider volunteering. Not only will you have the chance to meet some cool people, but you might even get to attend some cool events for completely free and that falls squarely on the side of frugal hobbies. Yeah, if you volunteer at a local music venue, you might get to see some free shows. My favorite place to volunteer is neighborhood festivals around town. There's always a lot of need and I always get

so much enjoyment out of that. And part of the reason probably is because I'm doing it with other people. And I think when you're picking a new hobby, finding something that you can do with other people can be helpful, even potentially people that you've never met before. So check out a site like meetup dot com to see what actual people are doing near where you live. Where we live in Atlanta, there are so many interesting groups doing

different things. Some are exploring where they live, Others are taking nature walks. There are running clubs that meet up. So many of these things are free that are on meetup dot com and the options are quite varied. And if you don't see the thing you like, well maybe start something and you'll attract a group of like minded folks. I love that idea and Joel, once you've actually identified a hobby, it's time to actually start doing it. You need to take action, and we would encourage folks to

start small. Don't put a significant amount of money into something before you know it's something that you're really into. Small bites can ensure just a greater chance of success and of building up a sustainable hobby. I'm thinking about my life Kate. She's really into plants. But when she first started out, she started by rooting the leaves of plants that we already had. Or in another case, she rooted a branch that broke off of a friend's succulent.

But she was able to take that. She brought it home and gave it some attention and love and figured out how to get that thing to root. And if you look behind you, that succulent is growing on her

counter right now. To her, she kind of feel like that she brought it back from the dead, and only recently has she purchased a few indoor plants that cost a little bit more money, even though honestly, in the long run, she just wants to cover our entire house with plants on the inside, because she's getting into house plants now, because that's the stage of life that she's in. I think like house plants have replaced the like the

cat lady like for what forever? It used to be like, oh, I'm a cat lady, but now it's it's all about house plants. Did you just throw your wife under the bus? Did you call her a cat lady? Kinda, no lodery cat lady. No, she's she's she's a plant lady now, alright, plant ladies are hip, dude, good to know, all right, so and hypoallergenic. So just to let you know. The next hobby I want to pursue is something I'm really interested but haven't given a shot yet. Curling. I totally

want to join an indoor curling league. Nice, do you know what curling is? Yeah? I know what it is, but I have no desire at all to do that. So I'm glad maybe that you can find your little curling group to go curling with. I certainly will. And you know what I already know. I love table shuffle board. I love Okay, I see the connection, right, I love shuffle board. When I'm at the beach, like the floor shuffleboard. Beach shuffle board. Yeah. So I have a feeling I'm

gonna like curling too. It's it's something I want to try at some point. Well, here's the deal. I still like biking, and if you can find a curling league that's biking distance, I'll ride with you. I'll bike with you to curling practice, and then I'll just about and drink beers with my friends. There we go, right done? All right, Joe. So, speaking of beer, let's take it now back to our not beer for this episode, which was a bourbon barrel peach cider from tight On Cider

Works out of Washington State. But what were your thoughts on the sider? Yeah, siders are often either really dry or really sweet, and this one was more of the sweeter variety. Definitely sweet. Yeah, and and I think peaches too, Like, peaches are incredibly sweet, So the fact that it's a cider with peaches manute even sweeter. But the bourbon barrels added a little bit of oakness and in my mind pulled back on the sweetness just a little bit. So

it was isn't overwhelmingly sweet to me? I personally love peaches, and I love like canned peaches. I love that syrupy sweetness, and so this and so this definitely wasn't that sweet, But yeah, I really appreciated this cider. Even though ciders not typically my jam, I thought this one was a good one. Yeah, Joe, I really enjoyed this one as well.

I just finished my last little sip, and we recently talked about my affinity for apple juice back in college, and this certainly had some of those apple juice cidery characteristics to it, but like you said, with a little bit of that peach action mixed in. Yeah, I figured after your confession that this was gonna be right if your alley, you thought it might actually come up. But more than anything, I'm really looking forward to drinking more ciders because I just haven't had a lot of siders

in my life. But I think I found myself drawn to some of the drier ones, almost like you find with saisons or farmhouse beers, how they kind of have that dryer quality to them. But yeah, with this one being barrel aged, it kind of has some of those oak canings in it to rein in that sweetness. Just like you said, I couldn't agree more. All right, Matt, let's get into our final thoughts quickly for this episode.

I think it's important to remember that hobbies or core pursued, as my friend West calls them, having three, four or five hobbies that are really meaningful to you actually make you a happier person. They'll make you sane when you finally do in a retirement, because that's one of the major problems for retirees. But cultivating these interests now before you hit retirement or maybe or even close to retirement is really important, and in particular, we would steer you

towards inexpensive hobbies in pursuits. Yeah, and Jel. You know, aside from the direction and focus that a hobby can bring you once you do hit retirement, there are also these sort of hidden or maybe even not so hidden benefits that hobbies can bring you. Aside from making you and even saving you money, hobbies can bring you physical

and mental health. There can also be massive social benefits to pursuing these hobbies and these interests that you really love with friends in a community who also pursue and appreciate the same things that you do. Yeah, I love the connection that you can garner through hobbies to two people and to the environment around you. I mean, hobbies are wonderful and we should consider them more. That's gonna

do it for this episode. You can always find more information on our website out to money dot com, And we just published a new article about refinancing student loans, when you should do it and how you should do it if it is the right thing for you. So go check that out. And also, if you've been listening to this podcast and you found it helpful, we would love it if you left us a review over at Apple Podcast. Just head over there and maybe do us

a solid, oh favor. I don't mind asking for a favor every once in a while, do me a solid. Do you ever say that? Uh? No, As I said that, I almost regretted it because I don't normally say that. But I'm just gonna roll with it. What what era is that from? When did people say that it don't be a solid? Was it? It was the old school Italians? Was because that's what it sounds like New York in the forties and fifties. Maybe I don't know all right, like the West Side story, that's kind of what it

makes me think. Of like, hey, can you do me a solid? All right, let's bring that back. We'll may gonna happen. Oh should that be our new sign off? No? Definitely not Yeah, definitely Joel. Until next time, Best friends Out, Best Friends Out, m m BO