April 14, 2025 • 46 mins
Let’s dive into the week with some fresh listener questions we have lined up for you! And don't just stand on the sidelines- if you have a question you’d like us to answer, toss your voice memo our way. It only takes about 90 seconds to record and you can find a step by step guide over at HowToMoney.com/ask . Regardless of how random or bizarre you might think it is, we want to hear it!
1 - Should I follow the investment portfolio modeled by Yale’s endowment fund?
2 - Are there DIY ways to scrub my personal info from the web or should I pay for DeleteMe?
3 - Does it make sense to pay for medevac insurance or is it included in Medicare?
4 - Is it a bad idea to perform a retirement account rollover when the market is down?
5 - When does it make sense to pay for a new car in cash?
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During this episode we enjoyed a Houndstooth Sour by Contrast Artisan Ales! And please help us to spread the word by letting friends and family know about How to Money! Hit the share button, subscribe if you’re not already a regular listener, and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to change the conversation around personal finance and get more people doing smart things with their money!
Best friends out!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to had the Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt. Today
we're answering your listener questions.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Joel bringing up with us taccato delivery, which I tend
to do sometimes too, if I'm really trying to make
a point.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I learned staccato delivery in middle school band. Playing the saxophone.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Why did I think you played the trumpet for some reason?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
No, your wife played saxphone. I played to Yeah, y'all
both played the sax I wasn't cool enough. I don't
think they played the trumpet. Do you have to be cool?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I feel like the saxophone players have the cool sax vibes.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I don't know. I don't think that's the only thing
I of the beholder. I think I My mom really
liked Kenny g and so I was like, oh, my
mom will love me more if I play saxophone once.
I think that dude's cool, and I'm sure he is cool,
but I don't know if he's has cool set. Well,
he's got the kind of sacks that he played. Well,
he plays like all the saxophones, but I think he plays.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I saw a picture of him with one one time,
and I was like, oh, that's just like the straight thing.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
It looks clarinet. Look at you. I don't know how
much band knowledge you had.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
You.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I've got zero band now. More than I want, I've
been trying to get it out of my brain.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I literally didn't know that there are certain stereotypes that
go with certain instruments, and so what's the stereotype that well,
so our oldest daughter, she plays the clarinet, and I
was talking to the band guy one time. He's like, oh, yeah,
it's that's she the first born or I don't know.
He was just something as far as her being responsible,
kind of put together. He's like, that's kind of a
(01:42):
clarinet type of player. Who versus he's like, you know,
the saxophone player, the trombone got.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The middle child. They're just loud and just trying to
get all the.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Attention and they don't care, which I was like, oh wow,
this is like a whole other.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
World that I did not know about.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
We are not going to continue to talk about band instruments, though,
we are going to answer your listener questions. For instance,
if delete me is worth it, if you are a
listener out there and you're thinking about getting your personal
information scrub from the internet.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Should you pay for that?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We're gonna talk about the Yale Endowment Fund portfolio. Listener
is wondering if he should switch things up, MA.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Should we invest like the best? Is he o the best? Jill?
We will see actually well that they did quite well.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Another listener though, he's talking about paying cash for a car,
not just any car, though a brand new car. Whether
or not that pass the how to money frugal test,
there isn't really a test, but we.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Will wag in there's a test and share our thoughts.
How's it going?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
By the way, with you mentioned opening a Capital one
kids account.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
For your oldest daughter? Is is that working out for
you both girls? Yeah? Eleven and nine year old with them,
And it's actually worked out really well because I can
have the allowance automatically put into the account on Sundays
is typically when we disperse that so I have it
automatically in. But if there's like a reason that I
don't need to send that money over, like bad behavior.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Map uh huh, then I chores didn't get done. Yeah,
put a put a pause, put a hold on that payment.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
There's a there's a debit card that goes along with
the girls if they need it lots of times, if
we don't have the debit card while they're out, I
can pay with my own card and I can literally
transfer the money from my phone instantly from their account
back into mind.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Oh nice, do you show them, like, hey, look, you
are actually paying for this, Yeah, because that's the biggest
thing I was on my mind because our oldest continues
to earn lots of money babysitting, and I'm just like,
should we are, Like are we making a mistake by
not opening an account, because you know, we talked about
this before early on, we maybe went too hard in
the digital side of things. Now I've kind of swung
(03:38):
the other way, and I'm just like, you know what,
for now, what's important is instilling the value of money, right,
like a dollar earned, what that's worth to her, what
that can potentially buy. And for now we're still doing
the cash thing. But you know, I'm still taking about
you know, she might be able to make fifty bucks
in interests or something like that, where she'd have that
money and you know, earning four.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Percent met's It's less about the interest. Although that is
nice that they can earn something on their money. But
we're still talking about such piddly amounts. For it's that
for my kids, not a deal breaker about your kids.
She's my daughter's don't have quite as much money to
deal with as yours. But I do think there is
something about being able to show them exactly how much
they have, being able to move that money around effortlessly,
(04:21):
and even just to be honest, a failure on my
part for doubling out the money consistently on allowance day.
And so I like the idea of the physical system,
especially when kids are younger, but at some point, if
dad's too forgiveful or doesn't stick to it well enough,
then how much enforcing am I actually doing? And so
now when it's on kind of automatic. But then also
(04:43):
there's easy ways for me to kind of share their
progress with them. They're asking, hey, how much do I have? Hey,
I want to go spend on this thing? Well, you
know how much is that going to reduce? How much
will I have left if I do that? And then
it helps them make informed decisions. So yeah, it's say
it's working out well.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I do wish that she would do a better job
keeping up with her running total, because that's something that
she doesn't know. She knows she's got enough, but I'm like, well,
how much do you have? She's like, I don't know.
I know I've got enough to go pay for this
or pay a sibling to do something that she doesn't
want to do. Actually is what she's been doing lately.
But let's get to make my bed for me. Hey,
give me a foot rub. Yeah, not quite that, but yeah,
(05:16):
there are different incentive structures bouncing around the house, even
within just the kids that mom and dad that we're
not even involved with. But the beer, Joel, that you
and I are going to enjoy during this episode, it
is called a Hound's Tooth. This is a sour with
a BlackBerry, pear and ginger, a beer by contrast Artists
and Ales. I'm looking forward to enjoying this one, and
(05:37):
we will share our thoughts at the end of the episode.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Buddy.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But like we mentioned earlier, this is and ask how
the money? And you can send your own voice memo
over to Joel and I to review to answer here
on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I'm literally sitting by my email inbox waiting for your question.
Do I just keep clicking refresh, refresh, and I'm waiting
for your question and yes, if you think I'm talking
to you right now, I am. Send your question over.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
He's boring directly into your soul through well, I guess nothing,
your eyes like you normally would, but it's through your eardums.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Go ahead, my day, which is a weird way to
do it. That's your question.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Literally, record your name where you're from, lay out your
financial money situation that you've got going on, and email
it over to us at how to Money Pod at
gmail dot com. And no question too stupid, like literally
the weirder the better, and hopefully we will answer that
on an upcoming episode. We're going to now hear a
question from a listener who is interested in perhaps a
fancier way of investing his money.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Hey, Matt and Joel, it's Brendan from Temple, Texas calling
in with a question. I was wondering y'all's thoughts about
the Yale model that was created by David Swinson, who
was managing the Yale Endowment Fund. I learned about this
on an NPR podcast that was talking about.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Money and investments.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
And this model is thirty percent in stocks, fifteen percent
for stocks of companies.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
And other developed countries like Germany.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
France, Japan, five percent in emerging markets, twenty percent in
US real estate, fifteen percent in US treasury bonds in
fifteen percent in US treasury inflation protected securities. And apparently
that beat out a lot of the investment in mutual funds.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So I was wondering if.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Y'all thought it was worth the effort that it would
take to split a portfolio into these different categories, if
you had any suggestions on how to split into these
different categories, especially with the real estate part, as it
was very difficult now to get into the real estate market.
(07:50):
As you'll know, I hope you'll have a great day.
And again, if you're in the Temple area or the
Austin area, highly recommend you check out Barrow Do pick
up one of their Evil Catfish, which is a very
good classic IPA.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
That's friends out.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
All right, man, let's let's answer Brennan's question. And I'm
gonna if I was gonna give a name to this question,
I would say investing like the ivs, because that's kind
of what Brennan's getting at here. And I think part
of his question, and I know he's not asking this directly,
but he's I feel like He's kind of asking us
if we're smarter than a team of brilliant people who
analyze and manage this complex investment portfolio for a major university.
(08:31):
I think the answer to that is easily no one.
We're not willing to confess that, admit that out loud,
and David Twinston in particular was an incredibly brilliant guy.
He passed I think in twenty twenty one. But I
think still with that in mind, knowing that upfront we're
not as smart as the people inside of the Yale
and Dowmond Fund, we'll do our best to offer some
some humble thoughts on whether or not you should invest
(08:54):
like those people.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, well, that's the thing because like lots of different
smart folks out there, there are a whole lot of brilliant
folks to come down on different sides of the debate
when you're talking about investment diversification, right, and so I think, yeah,
there's a lot to take into account there. But it's
important to start, I think, by asking the question what
was the Swinson model trying to achieve?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So, for instance, do you have the.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Same needs, do you have the same risk tolerance as
the manager of an endowment fund at a major ivy
League college and adowment fund, it typically has different goals
than when an individual hoping to retire and say thirty
years the goals that they have. And Swinson he was
opting for a mix of assets where he was rebalancing regularly,
(09:36):
and he didn't allow anyone holding to grow more than
thirty percent of the overall total portfolio. And so let's
just kind of quickly share how.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
It worked out. Actually, it did pretty well.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So there's a chart we came across from nineteen ninety
seven to twenty twenty one when he ran that specific fund,
it came close to matching the performance of the S
and P five hundred and so you might be thinking, whoa,
it didn't actually surpass the SMP.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
It sounds like it failed.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
But one of the major benefits of Swinson as opposed
to the S ANDP is that the maximum draw down
was meaningfully less. So basically his portfolio construction actually led
to less volatility, which makes a whole lot of sense
considering that. I think when it comes to a massive
endowment fund, you're probably looking to minimize risk, like you're
(10:25):
looking to keep the amount of money that's held like,
you don't want to see that number going down, right, Like,
if you are in charge of endowment fund, you want
to see that number continuously going up into the right,
regardless of what the overall market is doing. And I
think he was able to.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Achieve that draw downs right over that period of time,
and meaningful draw downs, but not as as the SMP right,
not as severe, And you can't as an investor, like,
you can't avoid that altogether. If you do avoid that
all together, you played it too safe, right, and you
didn't maximize your returns. Yeah, you minimized the downside, but
you didn't maximize the upside. And that's where with the
(10:57):
Morgan household quote, to save like a pest, invest like
an optimist. It's crucial, especially if you've got time on
your side, to stay invested in the market. That's the
right route to take. But I think this is one
of the main reasons Matt, like what you're just pointing
out right now, at greater levels of diversification that David
Swinson and the Yale portfolio we're going for, that added
diversification does help reduce some of the negative consequences that
(11:23):
you might encounter if you were too heavily invested in
one specific way, right, or if like let's say something
like we talk about being invested in the wealth building
phase of your life one hundred percent in stocks, and
some folks think it's all about trying to juice returns,
like investing in a portfolio like this. But from all
the evidence we've seen outpacing the total stock market or
(11:44):
the S ANDP by purchasing individual stocks or prioritizing a
particular asset class or a specific sector, it can lead
to greater returns in the short term, but it rarely
does so over an extended period of time. But if
you want similar or closer turns to the overall market,
but you're kind of freaked out by stock market gyrations,
(12:06):
by big moves, and you know we've seen at least
some of those in the beginning of this year. If
you want to invest, but your emotions kind of can't
handle intense moves or prolonged downturns, I think opting for
greater levels of diversification it can make sense. You're kind
of investing knowing your emotional abilities and saying I kind
(12:26):
of know myself, so I'm going to take a little
bit off the table, and I think it can smooth
the ride while allowing you to reap the rewards of investing.
And they do think that's what something like the Yale
model does. You're still getting a lot of the upside,
but you're eliminating at least a bit of the downside. Sure.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, So, as we're discussing different approaches to investing, like,
we've tried to feature folks on the show who have
thought deeply about asset allocation specifically, and I'm thinking of
Paul Merriman with the two fund approach, as well as
Brian Ferraldi who invests in single stocks. They both have
very different philosophies from each other, and it's important to
know that neither one of them is right or wrong.
(13:01):
Each of those guys has different goals, desires, and interests
when it comes to their overall portfolio. But speaking of
guests of the show, let's say future guests of the show, Warren.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Buffett, it's going to happen one of these days.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
He suggested that his heirs be ninety percent invested in
a low cost s and P fund. For instance, View
and Warren, he might be the greatest investor of all time.
It is not what he specific like him personally what
he does, but it's what he suggests for individuals who
don't want to eat, sleep, and breathe investing to where
it completely dominates their life. There is wisdom here and
(13:38):
the realization that if you complicate things too much. I
think what we're highlighting here is that there's like a
hurdle that I think can prevent people from taking action
from actually getting in the market. If you feel like that,
you've got to it's got to be perfect, otherwise I'm
not going to participate at all.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, if you start slicing indicing a pie chart and
you start to explain to people, well, you need like
twelve percent of this and teen percent of that, and
you need to rebalance it once a year, you start
to lose a vast majority of people who want to
invest but feel like it's too compet It sounds like
a massive pain in the butt. Here's the other thing too.
Warren said that a while ago. I think he was
actually eighty three years old when he made that recommendation.
(14:15):
It wasn't just for like was five something like that,
but that was for his wife were he to die,
and she is pretty dang old. And typically as you
get higher up in your years, like you are looking
to diversify your portfolio, you are taking on more bonds
more than ten percent, which is what he was recommending,
there inducing some of the risks.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
And so that's a very aggressive, highly invested in stocks
kind of portfolio for someone who's later on in their years.
For everybody else, I would say that age or even younger,
I think it makes even more sense to consider a
full on portfolio that's invested in stocks. But if you
have a lower risk tolerance, if you don't have years
of waiting for your portfolio to recover, opting for a
(14:56):
low cost target date fund can be really smart because
depending on which date you choose, you'd be getting maybe
closer to the seventy ish thirty ish mix, so seventy
stocks thirty bonds by investing in one single fund, and
you know you'd be missing some elements. This is a
simpler one fund choice as opposed to trying to, you know,
(15:18):
personally create your own Swinson like portfolio.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, and we typically advise to keep it simple, Matt,
And I think that's kind of what you're highlighting here,
is like, if you want to get pushed a little
bit further in that direction. The target date Fund is
a reasonable and an incredibly intelligent choice. If you're trying
to say, no, I want the ride to be a
little bit smoother and I want a little more diversification,
the target date fund makes a whole lot of sense.
And there are great low cost options through some of
(15:42):
our favorite brokerage firms like Vanguard, Fidelity and Schwab. Ultimately,
what it comes down to is the more complicated you
make portfolio construction, the more you said the word hurdles, Matt,
the more hurdles you're setting out, the more barriers to entry,
the more someone likely feels that they have to hire
an expensive professional, that this can't be a DIY endeavor.
And I'm just so thankful that so many people over
(16:03):
the years dumbed it down for me and to a
place where I was like, Okay, no, I understand why
simple is actually a reasonable approach. And that's something a
Wall Street's done really well over the years is they've
made it seem really difficult for you to be an investor,
for you to do this on your own. And I
think if we try to tell people to copy some
of the investing greats who inside of a day job
(16:25):
and an endowment fund can take a different approach. Well,
it's kind of fun to think about. I think a
lot of people then might feel insufficient to do it
by themselves, and I just don't think that's the case.
I think most people can do it by themselves.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That's right, especially just as you over time build up
your skills. That's what's so great about investing, too, is
when you first start investing, you don't have a whole
lot of money on the line, and so I think
that can allow for folks to be like, Okay, you
might feel a little bit nervous about it the very
first time, but you're like, you know, I'm only talking
about putting a couple hundred dollars in, and over time
you are able to build that confidence. But then, in
addition to that, technology is actually made opting for a
(16:58):
specific investing approach a ton easier. M one, for instance,
they actually have a David Swinson pie that they've already created.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
And this isn't a service that they charge for. It's
not like you're.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Paying a premium to m one in order to have
your portfolio foe managed by a late David Swinson. No,
there is an average overall expense ratio that is completely reasonable,
and actually we'll make sure to link to that in
the show notes if anyone happens to be interested. Yeah,
but Joe, we've got more to get to, including we're
gonna hear from a listener who is interested in paying
(17:29):
for metavac insurance whether that's something that's needed or even
worth considering. We'll get to that more right after this.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
All right, Matt, we're back. Let's get to another listener question.
This one is specifically about scrubbing yourself from the internet.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
Hi. This is Kathleen and I live in California. I'm
just calling to find out what do you think about
the delete me description signing up and it helping with
identity staff or spam type of things. If you could
(18:11):
let me know appreciate it. I enjoy your show. I
love listening to it. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Thank you for the kind words, Kathleen. Joel loves listening.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
To our show as well. I love listening to myself talk.
Do you check?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Do you check it to make sure like the like,
make sure it's playing properly, make sure the ads are inserted.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Sometimes I used to I used to be way more
particular about it, so I still check it sometimes with
the kids that are like what are you? Why are
you listening to yourself? But like it's kind of like work.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
You got a big ego, Dad, That's that what I'm doing.
Oh man, was that an disease? I'm sorry a joke.
When he talks about going to Kanye's house, he's like,
he's sitting there on his own couch, bob in his
own head music, kind of no surprise, no wonder that
he is where he.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Is pouring out for buddy, former friend.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Maybe, Kathleen, you are not the only person out there
worried about your privacy and your data. It's hard to
believe that the ECHOFAX data breach that impacted roughly half
of Americans. I think that was like close to eight
years ago at the point, and that was essentially like
this turning point in the conversation around privacy, at least
for I think maybe the vast general population.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
It freaked a.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Whole lot of folks out. And after that it started
a proliferation of companies who were trying to sell you
monitoring software in order to help to provide some of
that peace of mind, including the credit bureaus. I mean
shortly after, like in that period of time is when
they started having all these different products out there.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Maybe yeah, I mean it was people were expecting that institution,
of all institutions to safeguard their data, and they just didn't,
and so it kind of turned everything on its head.
It's it's like the bank owner stealing from the bank vault.
You're just completely unexpected. Wasn't banking on that. Now everyone
wants you to take back your privacy. I feel like
(19:59):
that's maybe a slogan you hear, or at least that's
the general ethos that you hear from marketing of various companies.
The thing is, they're making a buck on your back
to do this. Almost all the time. You're now having
to pay to claw back your privacy, which is also
just kind of frustrating when you think about it, because
you didn't You weren't the one who dished out your
information all over the internet. You didn't make some sort
(20:20):
of public decoration on social media of your social Security number,
your home address, all that kind of stuff. But it
seems like those things are out there, and I think
the biggest thing that we want you to protect, Kathleen,
is your money in your credit and so this means
having like two factor authentication on all your bank and
your investment accounts. That massively decreases the chances that someone
(20:43):
can log in as you and start moving money around. Matt.
It's like the old password one, two three sort of thing.
If your password is simple or you don't have two
factor authentication, it's just going to be easier for hackers
to get into that one account and then try to
log into other accounts. Is if they're you, you don't
want to be the easy target. It's like if you're
trying to outrun a bear, you just have to outrun
(21:03):
your friend, your closest friend, or something like that. Right,
And I think this is similar too, just like you
have the institute those basic safeguards that'll go a long way,
and the internet hygiene is yes, yeah, And on top
of that, we want you to freeze your credit with
all the major credit bureaus. The cool thing is doing
both those things. It's a free thing. You don't necessarily
need to pay anyone for that. I think you're going
(21:24):
to get most of the way there just by doing
those two things. We actually have a guide to freezing
your credit up on the website that will link to
in the show notes. Super fast, super easy to do.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
But let's talk about delete me, because they are offering
something a little bit different. So instead of protecting your
finances or instead of making sure that someone doesn't open
up a line of credit in your name, what they're
doing essentially is protecting your online reputation. They're essentially trying
to take down Internet content that services about you, that's
got your name or your information associated with it.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Like when the paparazzi catch you in public map they're
taking those pictures they're posting under those entertainment tonight is websites.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
I don't want if that to happen, right, And so
if someone searches your name delete me, they can make
it appear like you don't exist. They are attempting at
least to take down all mentions of your name, address, age,
phone number, stuff like that, and it seems to.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Work pretty well, although they won't be able to scrub everything.
The reviews are actually quite good.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, the customer reviews are good. So the takeaway here
is that it's a legit product. And if that's something
that I don't I almost see it as like a splurge.
It's not something it's not necessary.
Speaker 6 (22:27):
But if you're kind of if it's a priority for you,
I guess I could be okay with so some people
care more about it than others, and I think I
don't know if this is true, but I largely think
of it across generational lines.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I think some people. I guess I'm just of the
generation Matt, where I just assume all my information is
out there and that there's not much I can do
about it besides some of the basic things we just
talked about. But I get there are other people who
say no, no, no, Like I'm tired of seeing my information
out there on all these websites. If I google my name,
the things that come up, it's kind of scary, it's
kind of disconcerting. And there is a way to claw
(23:00):
that back and delete me as a service that allows
you to do that. I get the value in it
for people who feel that way, and I think it's sad.
But just like we're forced into doing business with the
credit bureaus, there's just no right to privacy online. The
data brokers they can kind of do what they want
with our information and it's kind of like guerrilla warfare
trying to get that stuff taking down on the Internet
(23:20):
in so many ways, and there are freeways to protect
yourself online. We just mentioned a couple. But the downside
of trying to attempt to claw back your publicly posted
information is it typically it costs you money. Right so
delete me is a paid service. It's like eleven bucks
a month something like that. Could be a few dollars less,
depending on how long of an arrangement you opt for,
(23:41):
and then whether or not you decide to pay for
that depends on how nervous you are I think about
your information being online and whether or not privacy is
worth the cost to you. Delete me does have on
their website. They list one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee, which
allows for full or partial refunds if you're not satisfied
with the results. I always appreciate doing business with a
company who stands behind what they do. And then if
(24:02):
you reach out and you say, hey, that didn't live
up to what I thought it was going to let
me point out this instance, in this instance where you
failed me, if they're willing to back that up with
a guarantee that that heartens me, it makes me more
likely to use their service totally.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, there are going to be other ways of for
someone to find you. I think that's it is worth
pointing out, and it's worth acknowledging that just because you
are paying delete me to take care of this for you,
it doesn't guarantee that that's going to happen. There are
other ways to find your information, like public records at
a lot of states, it's you can just look up
people and their property and addresses online. Or I'm also
(24:39):
thinking about like social engineering, which is another way hackers
try to kind of backfill information based on not what
you post, but like what your friends are posting, and
it's like, oh, you're in a picture. Oh, and they start,
you know, they start finding a way to piece all
of this together. It's not guaranteed. It can be messy
if this is something that you are interested in trying
to tackle. But some folks will tell you though, that
you can do this for free. So, for instance, you
(25:00):
can actually go to like directly to some of the
sites that delete me is scrubbing your information from. They
just list these out in detail on their site. I
love that they.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Literally put all the websites that they're trying to take
their information doff. Like they have a really really long
list of all the companies this website they work with.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
It's not as easy as paying the money and then
just having them take care of it for you, but
that's one way of approaching it. If you're attempting more
of a DIY approach. Consumer reports. They actually have an
app called Permission Slip that's worth trying as well. It's
also free, although it's pretty manual though, like there are
still work some steps that you have to take, hoops
you have to jump through. But we'll also share a
(25:36):
link where so this is a GitHub article that was
actually updated fairly recently, and they very meticulously document a
ton of different sites. And what I love about this
is essentially they've created like a triage list and they're like, hey,
no matter what, you need to focus on these twelve
or so sites because some of these sites populate or
(25:57):
propagate to other sites as well.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
So these are off at the source.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yeah, yeah, so these are some of the most important ones,
and some of them are easier than others, Like some
of them is just literally going on there. You fill
out a form, make a request go to your email,
confirm that link, that kind of thing. Other ones are
a bit more difficult, and I'm gonna I would save
those for a last like within the triage urgent list
of different sites. So for instance, like one it's like
(26:22):
they want a picture of your license driver's license, and
I'm like, Hey, what's y'all gonna do with that picture?
This feels like the exact opposite of what I should
be doing, Right, Are you awesome? Are you going to
sell that picture for like a premium to the folks
the different folks out there who are trying to farm
all the different information out there. But I think that
that could be a great way for folks to just
start taking an active step not only in personally removing
(26:45):
that information, but understanding it as well. I think that
can be a just a helpful way to learn about
it when you just spend a few minutes and kind
of dive in there a little bit, and I think
that that will help you just moving forward to have
better online Internet hygiene as well, kind of see how
the song usage is made from an Internet privacy standpoint. Yeah,
not to be like a total pro or a total expert,
(27:05):
but just to have like your head, your.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Mind wrapped around it. I think it could be really helpful.
I think any perfectionist here is going to be let down, Matt,
because it is a little bit like playing whack a
mole where you're able to get some information scrubbed and
then well something pops up over here and you got
to whack that down. So Kathleen, just know that paying
for a service is going to make it a whole
lot easier, a whole lot less labor and time intensive
on your part. But you have to be aware of
(27:27):
the trade offs and be aware that there are ways
to at least diy it in part. Hope that's helpful, Matt.
Let's get to another question. This one is specifically about
how to pay for expensive healthcare in a pinch.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Hi.
Speaker 7 (27:40):
This is Beth from beautiful Shelbyville, Illinois. Me and some
of the other elderly women in our church group have
been talking about metavac insurance. Some of us have it,
some of us don't. I thought Medicare covered it, and
some say it does, some say it doesn't or under
certain circumstance. I went on the Medicare dot Gov webs
(28:03):
or site and well, I just can't figure it out?
Can you enlighten me about it? Thank you?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So, Joel, I was waiting for Beth to follow up
her question with the fact that her and the elderly
church ladies were getting ready to hike Mount Kilimanjaro or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Oh, that would be awesome. Like my I've got an
aunt who did that. That's why.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah, how old was she? She was like in her
early fifties. That's impressive when she did that.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yeah, it was a they like prepared for it and
trained and did all that. That's what I was picturing
some young friends who recently did it, and they made
it sound like it was incredibly challenging. And I think
it's very dusty, if I'm not wrong, and so in
the middle of Africa. So just what it does to
your sinuses is it sounds pretty pretty pretty brutal. Okay, Well,
more props to Aunt Betsy for having too man. I mean,
(28:50):
that's just you can't have to air stand up there.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, but I think this is why she specifically mentioned
where she's from.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
She and she.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Specifically called out Shelbyville, Illinois, And so I had to
look it up, of course, and it's like out in
the middle of nowhere. So it started things started clicking
into place a little bit. It's like, oh, you don't
have access like nowhere near you is a high quality
emergency care facility, and so that's probably a little bit
more on her mind. It's on the mind of her
and her friends when Saint Louis is over two hours away,
(29:19):
and that's assuming they live right in the middle of Shelbyville,
they're probably like out in the rural parts of this
rural town.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, and that's why. Yeah, you're right, that's a really
good point that different people have different concerns based on
how close they live to a top tier hospital.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
And if you do live kind of further out in
rural America, not only do you probably have slower Internet,
but you also have less proximity to the healthcare that
you need in an emergency situation.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Not something I ever considered, having pretty much always lived
in the middle of a major metropolitan, major city.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, and Beth, it sounds like you're mostly wondering whether
Medicare has got your back on this, And let me
reassure you the answer is yes. Medicare Part B particular
will cover emergency ambulance needs and I looked up this
specific wording on medicare dot gov for you because I
wanted you to have it in plain English. At states
that Medicare PARTB covers ground ambulance transportation when traveling in
(30:13):
any other vehicle could endanger your health and you need
medically necessary services from a hospital or skilled nursing facility,
Medicare may pay for emergency ambulance transportation in an airplane
or helicopter if you need immediate and rapid transport that
ground transportation can't provide. So that's specifically the wording on
the Medicare website. I would imagine you would easily fall
(30:34):
under those rules, given where you live, and given the
fact that in an emergency situation, you are far too
far away to expect an ambulance to take you two
hours of Saint Louis. If let's say there's some sort
of catastrophic injury, how fast does the helicopter go.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Oh, I'm guessing a lot faster than an ambulance, right,
a lot. I've never Have you ever been in a helicopter?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
No, I would love to.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
I have once when I was really young, but we
weren't going fast.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Mount Rushmore. Oh, really, Oh, that's cool. I wasn't like,
how fast does puppy go? Well, I think they can
go pretty fast. Yeah, yeah, but I think you know,
they specifically outlined Matt on the website that it needs
to be the nearest appropriate medical facility. So you're not
gonna be able to get like a helicopter ride to
southern California or something like that. Be like, I'd like
to go there for my medical coverage. In that case,
(31:20):
you'd be on the hook for your own medevac flight.
But that is a huge benefit that Medicare provides. A
few mile ambulance ride MAC can cost many hundreds, if
not thousands of dollars, and think about how much the
helicopter ride would cost. You want to make sure you
have that coverage before you just assume, right, totally.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yeah, And when it comes to the cost, you're going
to be responsible to cover your annual deductible and you're
also going to be responsible for the twenty percent copey
of the Medicare approved amount for that metavac. So with
that mind, you can rest easy while you're home there
in Illinois that if something happens to you and you
need emergency transportation, that Medicare Part B. It's got you covered,
but we're not talking about having coverage overseas. When you're traveling,
(32:03):
you'll want to make sure that you buy your own policy.
And we're just talking about this, not necessarily because you
mentioned it, but maybe because I don't know, just in case. Yeah,
in our mind, we're thinking about traveling because you might you.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Might read that in in Africa. Yeah, I'm covered anywhere
and everywhere all the time, and you're covered in the
United States. But if you go climkil Majarro, it's a
different it's a different deal. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
So there are sites like ensure my trip dot com
as well as world nomads. They are worth checking out.
But just know that this type of insurance could add
over ten percent to the overall cost.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Of the trip.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
It's not cheap, but if you're worried about needing medical transportation,
though it's it's worth a cost. The financial risk it's
too significant and kind of depends on your personal situation
whether or not that's necessary. I'm thinking about secondary credit
card benefits because they typically offer different types of travel
insurance coverage. We often talk about trip cancelation, lost bags,
(32:57):
even like the primary CDW that comes.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Let's say that the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. But if something.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Happens, let's say while you're abroad, it doesn't include any
medical insurance. But guess what car does the Chase Sapphire
Reserved you get medical evacuation services like that.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
You might be on that card. I say free.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
You didn't see my fingers say free because it's over
five hundred dollars a year for that. Oh yeah, well
it's a very expensive, but that's still reasonable when you
consider if you're going on one or two international trips
a year where you really want that coverage. Hey, maybe
it pays for itself. It's also I'd be curious to know, Matt.
Do you know if that has limits on the amount
of money that's covered.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
I'm sure it does. Maybe it's like up to ten
thousand dollars expense. So in that case, you might not
have enough coverage. Even so, look into the fine print
and make sure that, oh, I'm going with this credit card,
it's going to cover me? Well, does it offer enough coverage?
Because you might still, on top of that, need to
get your own secondary policy. And last, but not least,
if you have Medicare, questions and you want to talk
to someone who can walk you through the particulars. There's
(34:01):
a cool website I stumbled upon called ship heelp dot org.
It's really cool because trained volunteers are available in every
single state across this country to help walk you through
medicare questions you might have because some of the details
can be tricky, like this right, and you're like, what
what do I What am I covered for? And when
am I covered for it? What happens when I go travel? Like,
(34:22):
I think that's a pretty dang valuable service that I
love that it exists for seniors across this country to
get the answers they need when they're not really sure
whether or not they're covered.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
And you might be thinking, why is it called ship
heelp dot org. Well, it stands for it State Health
Insurance Assistance Program, which means they forgot the assistance in
the A. So really, yeah, it should be she app
help dot org. Yeah, it's got a much better ring
to it, if you ask me. It's my opinion.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
I like that. No, I think we'll send them an
email see what they can do. We've got more money
questions to get to, including one about retirement account rollovers
in a down market. We'll get to that more right
after this. All right, Joe, we are back from the break.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Let's now get to the Facebook question of the week,
which is from an anonymous.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Poster who wrote a favorite kind don't show your face around.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
The anonymous I know you shouldn't cash out any retirement
accounts and when the market is down like now, but
should you also avoid rollovers In theory you're locking in
losses but also buying low in the new account. Not
sure if there are other considerations. My reason for rolling
over is simply to consolidate accounts. And man, it's totally
true that you shouldn't be cashing out when the market
(35:39):
is declining. The goal is to have a plan in place,
right so that those those declines barely register. You don't
want to be checking your your retirement account, jol where
you're feeling sway to do something about it, as opposed
to the don't just stay in there.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Do something.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
It's like no, no, let's like turn that sale onto
his head stand there, Yeah yeah, just wait around for it.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yeah No. I think you're right, and I think that,
but that is what happens is people are paying attention
to the headlines, whether they if they read the Wall
Street Journal or something like that, they're just seeing they're
they're seeing the mess that's happening all around them, or
they're seeing the daily moves of the stock market, and
it just makes them more inclined to try to fix it, right,
(36:18):
to try to catch that falling knife, which is just
a bad idea. So you're right, man, it's like that
knowing your what, your why, and your how that's going
to make a big difference in helping you stay the
course as well. It's just kind of tuning some of
that stuff out. But what's happening with the stock market
in terms of a rollover, like from a four oh
one K to an IRA, it really has no bearing.
Like it's essentially a wash, and what the stock market
(36:41):
is doing right now, it shouldn't have any impact on
whether or when you decide to do that rollover. It's
kind of like in my mind, trading a dollar bill
for a sackajewee a dollar coin. They're both were at
the same amount and so you're just in a different form. Yeah, exactly,
in a different form. So there's no harm in doing that,
no matter what they week no matter what time of day.
(37:01):
It's the same is true with making that rollover happen exactly.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Do, however, make sure that you opt for a direct rollover,
because if you opt for an indirect rollover, what that
means is that's when you get a check sent directly
to you.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
I'm gonna act directly.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I'm just gonna say you're gonna get a check sent
to you, because I don't want to confuse the direct
in direct here, they send it to your your mailing
address with your name on it. When they do that,
there are potential tax consequences.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
If he doubts in your court.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Yeah, if you don't get that money into your new
account within sixty days. And this is assuming that you're
rolling again something like a four to one K into
an IRA. If that's the case, it does not matter.
It does matter. However, if we're talking about converting let's
say a four to one K to a wroth ir. Yes,
if we're talking about a conversion a down market it's
actually good because you're paying you know, you're paying taxes
(37:50):
on the amount that it has gone down in value,
so you owe less tax. And then the idea is
that that money sits there in that roth account, and
it grows tax free, hopefull for years, if not decades
to come. So what you're considering, that's well, that's certainly
a strategy at least worth considering.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
It's still remember to keep in mind other factors to
like your income. So you're like, oh, market's down, time
to time to turn that traditional money into WROTH money. Well,
let's say you're a big income earner even though the
market's down, might still not be a great idea to
do that.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Yet, because you're gonna taxes right sor right, and you're
gonna pay a higher rate if you're a big time
income earner too.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Last thing, Matt I think we should mention here is
just for people who want help with these rollovers, there's
a company called Capitalize that helps for free. They make
it really easy. We like Capitalize. We've written an article
about them on the website. Well, we'll link to that
article in the show notes. I've used them for a
(38:47):
rollover for my wife's old four one K And why
is it free? Like, what's the catch? Well, they get
paid by the brokerage firm you move it to. They
don't get to choose the brokerage firm. They just have
deals with a lot of these broken terms, including our
favorite low cost ones. So if you're like, I want
to do it, I don't want to screw it up.
It's honestly not terribly difficult to do it by yourself,
but I will say they made it easier than it
(39:09):
otherwise would have been and I appreciated that. So at
least consider getting capitalized to do it for you, Matt.
Let's get to another question. This one comes from listener Drew.
He says, do you guys advise paying cash for a car?
We're biting the bullet and buying a new Toyota Highland Hybrid. Ooh,
this is our families one an only vehicle. Dude.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Okay, this is a very short question with multiple elements
in it that are quite poignant. Right, and so, first off,
he's talking about a new car, and typically we recommend
buying older cars, especially given how expensive SUVs and cars
have become in recent years. And if Americans would just
change that one light item and their budgets, it would
(39:48):
improve their financial standings significantly.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
And a new Highlander.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Is probably going to set you back like fifty five
thousand dollars or so What that means is that in
five years you're going to have coughed up more than
twenty five thousand dollars simply due to depreciation. And because
I'm a pretty frugal dude, that is, I have a
really hard time getting behind the new vehicle. The depreciation
hit man, it's it's brutal.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
We are a two car family now, Matt, you're a
one car family still. But when we got that second car,
I know you were, you were a little bit like,
I don't know, man, you could have probably got buy
on one. And I will say the car of the
second car I bought costs four thousand dollars. So the
depreciation I've experienced in the two ish years that I've
owned that car next to nothing, Dude, next to nothing. Yeah.
(40:32):
And so to me, yeah does that money? Does that
car cost me a little bit of extra money every
month in insurance and gas or whatever? Yeah, it does,
but it doesn't cost me nearly as much as having
a brand new, fancy car. But there is something we
said part of this question. The listener Drew says, well,
we're a one car family, and I do think there's
(40:53):
more leeway to buy a newer or even a brand
new car. I guess if it's your only car and
you feel like you need it to be dependable and accessible.
So I don't know, man, it sounds like an excuse
to me. I don't think it means you need a
brand new car. I certainly don't think that. I know
it means you don't. You certainly don't need a brand
new car. But I think it's more understandable, and you know,
(41:15):
not everyone wants to live their lives like we do.
So if you have, like let's say, one older car,
it ends up in the shop on the rag. It's
a nightmare from a logistical standpoint, and the cost of
running a car can be a pain to I get
that we're less down on you opting for a sparkling
new ride directly off the dealer a lot if it's
if it's the only one you've gotten, if you plan
on holding on to it for a whole lot of years.
(41:37):
But still it's it's not what we would do.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Yeah, I guess the only thing I pushed back on
is the fact that it feels like an excuse to
get the nicer vehicle when like, you can totally get
by have a perfectly reliable vehicle that you might have
to proactively maintain a little bit more to make sure
that it's you want to be able to rely on
that thing. But I just, yeah, it makes me a
little bit nervous when you start justifying something like that
all on something that's going to be depreciating, that's going
to be going down in value. But do you guys
(42:02):
advise paying cash for a car totally? Because I will say,
regardless of how old or new the vehicle is, that's
going to put you in a better financial spot. Most
folks buy a new car and then what they're doing
out there is they typically finance it to the max.
That's why the average car payment on a new car
is about seven hundred and fifty dollars these days. And
then that payment it often hangs around for like five
(42:24):
or six years time even longer. That's not something we
want to see you do. So I think it's super
cool Drew that you've got the cash on hand. Hopefully
you're thinking about paying.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
For that straight up.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
That's a huge accomplishment. That being said from a logistics
standpoint here, practically speaking, dealers don't love cash buyers, and
that's because they stand to benefit more from buyers who
take out a loan. This is something we talked about
with our friends over at Car Edge that they shared
on the show somewhat recently, was that last year Joel, Yeah,
the dealer they mark up the loans and so when
(42:57):
you pay cash, they're missing out on the increased profits
that the dealership.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
So he gets to realize. You think you're doing something smart,
but you're doing something really dumb by telling the dealer
that you're paying cash ahead of time. I think there's
still ways to pay with cash, but you don't want
to lay your cards on the table ahead of time.
So don't tell the dealer walking in there and be like, hey,
i'd like to buy this car, I'm paying with cash.
By the way, you can reveal that fact later on,
after you've secured a price that you're happy with. They
(43:23):
might assume right that you plan on getting a loan
on that new car, and you don't have to correct
their assumptions. Another tactic I think you can take is
to go ahead and finance the vehicle through the f
nin department at the dealership and then pay it off
immediately afterward, and you know you stand By the way,
I think to save more money and headaches by sending
out emails to a few dealers in your area. Check
(43:44):
out that episode, episode eight forty five on car buying,
because if we're talking about a fifty five thousand dollars purchase,
doing it the right way can lead to a savings
of many thousands of dollars, and we want you to
save as much as possible if you're gonna buy this
brand new car, but hopefully we've given to at least
think twice and maybe consider a nice, gently use six
(44:05):
seven eight year old Toyta instead.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
That's right, buddy, Let's get back to the beer. You
and I enjoyed a Hound's Tooth, which is a sour
with BlackBerry, pear and ginger by contrast artisan ales.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
What you think, so do? This was a beer, but
it tasted kind of like a fruited seltzer. I only
know that because my wife likes to drink those, and
occasionally I'll have a sip and I'm like, oh, this
kind of it tastes like one of those things, tasts
like a sour beer that I like. Yeah, so it's
kind of somewhere in there a mix. It does have
that kind of effervescence of a seltzer. Nice and sparkly. Yeah,
and it's got kind of those those fruited undertones I like.
(44:37):
I'm not usually a huge fan of ginger, but it's
just got enough ginger in it where it gives a
little zip to go with I think the fruit like
the tiniest little bit of heat. Yeah. So I liked it.
Even though I would say it feels like a super
light version tone of a beer, it wasn't quite what
I was expecting. I love the color of it.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
The color like it totally makes me think of both pear,
like you know when you bite into a pair.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
It's got this nice, fleshy like barely like.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
Maybe like the tiniest bit pink kind of color to it.
It looks like that, but it also looks like candy ginger.
So WHYDFM that we used to get, like the candy
ginger from there? I don't think we've ever we've gotten
it since Wait did they sound that at Costco? No,
I'm thinking of mango.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Oh, we get the mango, the mags and mango.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
No, we used to go to this international market though
that had this candy ginger that this exact color van
and so I guess I've got that on my mind
because of that, this makes this taste totally legit, not
normally a combo.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
I'm not getting as much black BlackBerry personally.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
It's there, but yeah, no, I think I can see
why you say that. Not normally a combo or flavor
profile that I go for. But yeah, I liked it.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
I know, yeah, I was. When I saw that listed,
I was like, that's kind of random trio there to
stick in this beer. But I think it's all working
together again, better than I thought it was, even though
it didn't taste like I was expecting. All Right, man,
I's gonna do it. For this episode, we'll put links
to some of the resources we mentioned, and there were
quite a few today up in the show notes on
our website at how to money dot com.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
You know, buddy, So until next time, Best Friends Out,
Best Friends Out.
Welcome to had the Money. I'm Joel, I'm Matt. Today
we're answering your listener questions.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Joel bringing up with us taccato delivery, which I tend
to do sometimes too, if I'm really trying to make
a point.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I learned staccato delivery in middle school band. Playing the saxophone.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Why did I think you played the trumpet for some reason?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
No, your wife played saxphone. I played to Yeah, y'all
both played the sax I wasn't cool enough. I don't
think they played the trumpet. Do you have to be cool?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I feel like the saxophone players have the cool sax vibes.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I don't know. I don't think that's the only thing
I of the beholder. I think I My mom really
liked Kenny g and so I was like, oh, my
mom will love me more if I play saxophone once.
I think that dude's cool, and I'm sure he is cool,
but I don't know if he's has cool set. Well,
he's got the kind of sacks that he played. Well,
he plays like all the saxophones, but I think he plays.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I saw a picture of him with one one time,
and I was like, oh, that's just like the straight thing.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
It looks clarinet. Look at you. I don't know how
much band knowledge you had.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
You.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I've got zero band now. More than I want, I've
been trying to get it out of my brain.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I literally didn't know that there are certain stereotypes that
go with certain instruments, and so what's the stereotype that well,
so our oldest daughter, she plays the clarinet, and I
was talking to the band guy one time. He's like, oh, yeah,
it's that's she the first born or I don't know.
He was just something as far as her being responsible,
kind of put together. He's like, that's kind of a
(01:42):
clarinet type of player. Who versus he's like, you know,
the saxophone player, the trombone got.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
The middle child. They're just loud and just trying to
get all the.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Attention and they don't care, which I was like, oh wow,
this is like a whole other.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
World that I did not know about.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
We are not going to continue to talk about band instruments, though,
we are going to answer your listener questions. For instance,
if delete me is worth it, if you are a
listener out there and you're thinking about getting your personal
information scrub from the internet.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Should you pay for that?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We're gonna talk about the Yale Endowment Fund portfolio. Listener
is wondering if he should switch things up, MA.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Should we invest like the best? Is he o the best? Jill?
We will see actually well that they did quite well.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Another listener though, he's talking about paying cash for a car,
not just any car, though a brand new car. Whether
or not that pass the how to money frugal test,
there isn't really a test, but we.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Will wag in there's a test and share our thoughts.
How's it going?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
By the way, with you mentioned opening a Capital one
kids account.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
For your oldest daughter? Is is that working out for
you both girls? Yeah? Eleven and nine year old with them,
And it's actually worked out really well because I can
have the allowance automatically put into the account on Sundays
is typically when we disperse that so I have it
automatically in. But if there's like a reason that I
don't need to send that money over, like bad behavior.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Map uh huh, then I chores didn't get done. Yeah,
put a put a pause, put a hold on that payment.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
There's a there's a debit card that goes along with
the girls if they need it lots of times, if
we don't have the debit card while they're out, I
can pay with my own card and I can literally
transfer the money from my phone instantly from their account
back into mind.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Oh nice, do you show them, like, hey, look, you
are actually paying for this, Yeah, because that's the biggest
thing I was on my mind because our oldest continues
to earn lots of money babysitting, and I'm just like,
should we are, Like are we making a mistake by
not opening an account, because you know, we talked about
this before early on, we maybe went too hard in
the digital side of things. Now I've kind of swung
(03:38):
the other way, and I'm just like, you know what,
for now, what's important is instilling the value of money, right,
like a dollar earned, what that's worth to her, what
that can potentially buy. And for now we're still doing
the cash thing. But you know, I'm still taking about
you know, she might be able to make fifty bucks
in interests or something like that, where she'd have that
money and you know, earning four.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Percent met's It's less about the interest. Although that is
nice that they can earn something on their money. But
we're still talking about such piddly amounts. For it's that
for my kids, not a deal breaker about your kids.
She's my daughter's don't have quite as much money to
deal with as yours. But I do think there is
something about being able to show them exactly how much
they have, being able to move that money around effortlessly,
(04:21):
and even just to be honest, a failure on my
part for doubling out the money consistently on allowance day.
And so I like the idea of the physical system,
especially when kids are younger, but at some point, if
dad's too forgiveful or doesn't stick to it well enough,
then how much enforcing am I actually doing? And so
now when it's on kind of automatic. But then also
(04:43):
there's easy ways for me to kind of share their
progress with them. They're asking, hey, how much do I have? Hey,
I want to go spend on this thing? Well, you
know how much is that going to reduce? How much
will I have left if I do that? And then
it helps them make informed decisions. So yeah, it's say
it's working out well.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I do wish that she would do a better job
keeping up with her running total, because that's something that
she doesn't know. She knows she's got enough, but I'm like, well,
how much do you have? She's like, I don't know.
I know I've got enough to go pay for this
or pay a sibling to do something that she doesn't
want to do. Actually is what she's been doing lately.
But let's get to make my bed for me. Hey,
give me a foot rub. Yeah, not quite that, but yeah,
(05:16):
there are different incentive structures bouncing around the house, even
within just the kids that mom and dad that we're
not even involved with. But the beer, Joel, that you
and I are going to enjoy during this episode, it
is called a Hound's Tooth. This is a sour with
a BlackBerry, pear and ginger, a beer by contrast Artists
and Ales. I'm looking forward to enjoying this one, and
(05:37):
we will share our thoughts at the end of the episode.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Buddy.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But like we mentioned earlier, this is and ask how
the money? And you can send your own voice memo
over to Joel and I to review to answer here
on the podcast.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
I'm literally sitting by my email inbox waiting for your question.
Do I just keep clicking refresh, refresh, and I'm waiting
for your question and yes, if you think I'm talking
to you right now, I am. Send your question over.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
He's boring directly into your soul through well, I guess nothing,
your eyes like you normally would, but it's through your eardums.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Go ahead, my day, which is a weird way to
do it. That's your question.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Literally, record your name where you're from, lay out your
financial money situation that you've got going on, and email
it over to us at how to Money Pod at
gmail dot com. And no question too stupid, like literally
the weirder the better, and hopefully we will answer that
on an upcoming episode. We're going to now hear a
question from a listener who is interested in perhaps a
fancier way of investing his money.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Hey, Matt and Joel, it's Brendan from Temple, Texas calling
in with a question. I was wondering y'all's thoughts about
the Yale model that was created by David Swinson, who
was managing the Yale Endowment Fund. I learned about this
on an NPR podcast that was talking about.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Money and investments.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
And this model is thirty percent in stocks, fifteen percent
for stocks of companies.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
And other developed countries like Germany.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
France, Japan, five percent in emerging markets, twenty percent in
US real estate, fifteen percent in US treasury bonds in
fifteen percent in US treasury inflation protected securities. And apparently
that beat out a lot of the investment in mutual funds.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So I was wondering if.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Y'all thought it was worth the effort that it would
take to split a portfolio into these different categories, if
you had any suggestions on how to split into these
different categories, especially with the real estate part, as it
was very difficult now to get into the real estate market.
(07:50):
As you'll know, I hope you'll have a great day.
And again, if you're in the Temple area or the
Austin area, highly recommend you check out Barrow Do pick
up one of their Evil Catfish, which is a very
good classic IPA.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
That's friends out.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
All right, man, let's let's answer Brennan's question. And I'm
gonna if I was gonna give a name to this question,
I would say investing like the ivs, because that's kind
of what Brennan's getting at here. And I think part
of his question, and I know he's not asking this directly,
but he's I feel like He's kind of asking us
if we're smarter than a team of brilliant people who
analyze and manage this complex investment portfolio for a major university.
(08:31):
I think the answer to that is easily no one.
We're not willing to confess that, admit that out loud,
and David Twinston in particular was an incredibly brilliant guy.
He passed I think in twenty twenty one. But I
think still with that in mind, knowing that upfront we're
not as smart as the people inside of the Yale
and Dowmond Fund, we'll do our best to offer some
some humble thoughts on whether or not you should invest
(08:54):
like those people.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, well, that's the thing because like lots of different
smart folks out there, there are a whole lot of brilliant
folks to come down on different sides of the debate
when you're talking about investment diversification, right, and so I think, yeah,
there's a lot to take into account there. But it's
important to start, I think, by asking the question what
was the Swinson model trying to achieve?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
So, for instance, do you have the.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Same needs, do you have the same risk tolerance as
the manager of an endowment fund at a major ivy
League college and adowment fund, it typically has different goals
than when an individual hoping to retire and say thirty
years the goals that they have. And Swinson he was
opting for a mix of assets where he was rebalancing regularly,
(09:36):
and he didn't allow anyone holding to grow more than
thirty percent of the overall total portfolio. And so let's
just kind of quickly share how.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
It worked out. Actually, it did pretty well.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So there's a chart we came across from nineteen ninety
seven to twenty twenty one when he ran that specific fund,
it came close to matching the performance of the S
and P five hundred and so you might be thinking, whoa,
it didn't actually surpass the SMP.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
It sounds like it failed.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
But one of the major benefits of Swinson as opposed
to the S ANDP is that the maximum draw down
was meaningfully less. So basically his portfolio construction actually led
to less volatility, which makes a whole lot of sense
considering that. I think when it comes to a massive
endowment fund, you're probably looking to minimize risk, like you're
(10:25):
looking to keep the amount of money that's held like,
you don't want to see that number going down, right, Like,
if you are in charge of endowment fund, you want
to see that number continuously going up into the right,
regardless of what the overall market is doing. And I
think he was able to.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Achieve that draw downs right over that period of time,
and meaningful draw downs, but not as as the SMP right,
not as severe, And you can't as an investor, like,
you can't avoid that altogether. If you do avoid that
all together, you played it too safe, right, and you
didn't maximize your returns. Yeah, you minimized the downside, but
you didn't maximize the upside. And that's where with the
(10:57):
Morgan household quote, to save like a pest, invest like
an optimist. It's crucial, especially if you've got time on
your side, to stay invested in the market. That's the
right route to take. But I think this is one
of the main reasons Matt, like what you're just pointing
out right now, at greater levels of diversification that David
Swinson and the Yale portfolio we're going for, that added
diversification does help reduce some of the negative consequences that
(11:23):
you might encounter if you were too heavily invested in
one specific way, right, or if like let's say something
like we talk about being invested in the wealth building
phase of your life one hundred percent in stocks, and
some folks think it's all about trying to juice returns,
like investing in a portfolio like this. But from all
the evidence we've seen outpacing the total stock market or
(11:44):
the S ANDP by purchasing individual stocks or prioritizing a
particular asset class or a specific sector, it can lead
to greater returns in the short term, but it rarely
does so over an extended period of time. But if
you want similar or closer turns to the overall market,
but you're kind of freaked out by stock market gyrations,
(12:06):
by big moves, and you know we've seen at least
some of those in the beginning of this year. If
you want to invest, but your emotions kind of can't
handle intense moves or prolonged downturns, I think opting for
greater levels of diversification it can make sense. You're kind
of investing knowing your emotional abilities and saying I kind
(12:26):
of know myself, so I'm going to take a little
bit off the table, and I think it can smooth
the ride while allowing you to reap the rewards of investing.
And they do think that's what something like the Yale
model does. You're still getting a lot of the upside,
but you're eliminating at least a bit of the downside. Sure.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, So, as we're discussing different approaches to investing, like,
we've tried to feature folks on the show who have
thought deeply about asset allocation specifically, and I'm thinking of
Paul Merriman with the two fund approach, as well as
Brian Ferraldi who invests in single stocks. They both have
very different philosophies from each other, and it's important to
know that neither one of them is right or wrong.
(13:01):
Each of those guys has different goals, desires, and interests
when it comes to their overall portfolio. But speaking of
guests of the show, let's say future guests of the show, Warren.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Buffett, it's going to happen one of these days.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
He suggested that his heirs be ninety percent invested in
a low cost s and P fund. For instance, View
and Warren, he might be the greatest investor of all time.
It is not what he specific like him personally what
he does, but it's what he suggests for individuals who
don't want to eat, sleep, and breathe investing to where
it completely dominates their life. There is wisdom here and
(13:38):
the realization that if you complicate things too much. I
think what we're highlighting here is that there's like a
hurdle that I think can prevent people from taking action
from actually getting in the market. If you feel like that,
you've got to it's got to be perfect, otherwise I'm
not going to participate at all.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, if you start slicing indicing a pie chart and
you start to explain to people, well, you need like
twelve percent of this and teen percent of that, and
you need to rebalance it once a year, you start
to lose a vast majority of people who want to
invest but feel like it's too compet It sounds like
a massive pain in the butt. Here's the other thing too.
Warren said that a while ago. I think he was
actually eighty three years old when he made that recommendation.
(14:15):
It wasn't just for like was five something like that,
but that was for his wife were he to die,
and she is pretty dang old. And typically as you
get higher up in your years, like you are looking
to diversify your portfolio, you are taking on more bonds
more than ten percent, which is what he was recommending,
there inducing some of the risks.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
And so that's a very aggressive, highly invested in stocks
kind of portfolio for someone who's later on in their years.
For everybody else, I would say that age or even younger,
I think it makes even more sense to consider a
full on portfolio that's invested in stocks. But if you
have a lower risk tolerance, if you don't have years
of waiting for your portfolio to recover, opting for a
(14:56):
low cost target date fund can be really smart because
depending on which date you choose, you'd be getting maybe
closer to the seventy ish thirty ish mix, so seventy
stocks thirty bonds by investing in one single fund, and
you know you'd be missing some elements. This is a
simpler one fund choice as opposed to trying to, you know,
(15:18):
personally create your own Swinson like portfolio.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, and we typically advise to keep it simple, Matt,
And I think that's kind of what you're highlighting here,
is like, if you want to get pushed a little
bit further in that direction. The target date Fund is
a reasonable and an incredibly intelligent choice. If you're trying
to say, no, I want the ride to be a
little bit smoother and I want a little more diversification,
the target date fund makes a whole lot of sense.
And there are great low cost options through some of
(15:42):
our favorite brokerage firms like Vanguard, Fidelity and Schwab. Ultimately,
what it comes down to is the more complicated you
make portfolio construction, the more you said the word hurdles, Matt,
the more hurdles you're setting out, the more barriers to entry,
the more someone likely feels that they have to hire
an expensive professional, that this can't be a DIY endeavor.
And I'm just so thankful that so many people over
(16:03):
the years dumbed it down for me and to a
place where I was like, Okay, no, I understand why
simple is actually a reasonable approach. And that's something a
Wall Street's done really well over the years is they've
made it seem really difficult for you to be an investor,
for you to do this on your own. And I
think if we try to tell people to copy some
of the investing greats who inside of a day job
(16:25):
and an endowment fund can take a different approach. Well,
it's kind of fun to think about. I think a
lot of people then might feel insufficient to do it
by themselves, and I just don't think that's the case.
I think most people can do it by themselves.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
That's right, especially just as you over time build up
your skills. That's what's so great about investing, too, is
when you first start investing, you don't have a whole
lot of money on the line, and so I think
that can allow for folks to be like, Okay, you
might feel a little bit nervous about it the very
first time, but you're like, you know, I'm only talking
about putting a couple hundred dollars in, and over time
you are able to build that confidence. But then, in
addition to that, technology is actually made opting for a
(16:58):
specific investing approach a ton easier. M one, for instance,
they actually have a David Swinson pie that they've already created.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
And this isn't a service that they charge for. It's
not like you're.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Paying a premium to m one in order to have
your portfolio foe managed by a late David Swinson. No,
there is an average overall expense ratio that is completely reasonable,
and actually we'll make sure to link to that in
the show notes if anyone happens to be interested. Yeah,
but Joe, we've got more to get to, including we're
gonna hear from a listener who is interested in paying
(17:29):
for metavac insurance whether that's something that's needed or even
worth considering. We'll get to that more right after this.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
All right, Matt, we're back. Let's get to another listener question.
This one is specifically about scrubbing yourself from the internet.
Speaker 5 (17:50):
Hi. This is Kathleen and I live in California. I'm
just calling to find out what do you think about
the delete me description signing up and it helping with
identity staff or spam type of things. If you could
(18:11):
let me know appreciate it. I enjoy your show. I
love listening to it. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Thank you for the kind words, Kathleen. Joel loves listening.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
To our show as well. I love listening to myself talk.
Do you check?
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Do you check it to make sure like the like,
make sure it's playing properly, make sure the ads are inserted.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Sometimes I used to I used to be way more
particular about it, so I still check it sometimes with
the kids that are like what are you? Why are
you listening to yourself? But like it's kind of like work.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
You got a big ego, Dad, That's that what I'm doing.
Oh man, was that an disease? I'm sorry a joke.
When he talks about going to Kanye's house, he's like,
he's sitting there on his own couch, bob in his
own head music, kind of no surprise, no wonder that
he is where he.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Is pouring out for buddy, former friend.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Maybe, Kathleen, you are not the only person out there
worried about your privacy and your data. It's hard to
believe that the ECHOFAX data breach that impacted roughly half
of Americans. I think that was like close to eight
years ago at the point, and that was essentially like
this turning point in the conversation around privacy, at least
for I think maybe the vast general population.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
It freaked a.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Whole lot of folks out. And after that it started
a proliferation of companies who were trying to sell you
monitoring software in order to help to provide some of
that peace of mind, including the credit bureaus. I mean
shortly after, like in that period of time is when
they started having all these different products out there.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Maybe yeah, I mean it was people were expecting that institution,
of all institutions to safeguard their data, and they just didn't,
and so it kind of turned everything on its head.
It's it's like the bank owner stealing from the bank vault.
You're just completely unexpected. Wasn't banking on that. Now everyone
wants you to take back your privacy. I feel like
(19:59):
that's maybe a slogan you hear, or at least that's
the general ethos that you hear from marketing of various companies.
The thing is, they're making a buck on your back
to do this. Almost all the time. You're now having
to pay to claw back your privacy, which is also
just kind of frustrating when you think about it, because
you didn't You weren't the one who dished out your
information all over the internet. You didn't make some sort
(20:20):
of public decoration on social media of your social Security number,
your home address, all that kind of stuff. But it
seems like those things are out there, and I think
the biggest thing that we want you to protect, Kathleen,
is your money in your credit and so this means
having like two factor authentication on all your bank and
your investment accounts. That massively decreases the chances that someone
(20:43):
can log in as you and start moving money around. Matt.
It's like the old password one, two three sort of thing.
If your password is simple or you don't have two
factor authentication, it's just going to be easier for hackers
to get into that one account and then try to
log into other accounts. Is if they're you, you don't
want to be the easy target. It's like if you're
trying to outrun a bear, you just have to outrun
(21:03):
your friend, your closest friend, or something like that. Right,
And I think this is similar too, just like you
have the institute those basic safeguards that'll go a long way,
and the internet hygiene is yes, yeah, And on top
of that, we want you to freeze your credit with
all the major credit bureaus. The cool thing is doing
both those things. It's a free thing. You don't necessarily
need to pay anyone for that. I think you're going
(21:24):
to get most of the way there just by doing
those two things. We actually have a guide to freezing
your credit up on the website that will link to
in the show notes. Super fast, super easy to do.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
But let's talk about delete me, because they are offering
something a little bit different. So instead of protecting your
finances or instead of making sure that someone doesn't open
up a line of credit in your name, what they're
doing essentially is protecting your online reputation. They're essentially trying
to take down Internet content that services about you, that's
got your name or your information associated with it.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Like when the paparazzi catch you in public map they're
taking those pictures they're posting under those entertainment tonight is websites.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
I don't want if that to happen, right, And so
if someone searches your name delete me, they can make
it appear like you don't exist. They are attempting at
least to take down all mentions of your name, address, age,
phone number, stuff like that, and it seems to.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Work pretty well, although they won't be able to scrub everything.
The reviews are actually quite good.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, the customer reviews are good. So the takeaway here
is that it's a legit product. And if that's something
that I don't I almost see it as like a splurge.
It's not something it's not necessary.
Speaker 6 (22:27):
But if you're kind of if it's a priority for you,
I guess I could be okay with so some people
care more about it than others, and I think I
don't know if this is true, but I largely think
of it across generational lines.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I think some people. I guess I'm just of the
generation Matt, where I just assume all my information is
out there and that there's not much I can do
about it besides some of the basic things we just
talked about. But I get there are other people who
say no, no, no, Like I'm tired of seeing my information
out there on all these websites. If I google my name,
the things that come up, it's kind of scary, it's
kind of disconcerting. And there is a way to claw
(23:00):
that back and delete me as a service that allows
you to do that. I get the value in it
for people who feel that way, and I think it's sad.
But just like we're forced into doing business with the
credit bureaus, there's just no right to privacy online. The
data brokers they can kind of do what they want
with our information and it's kind of like guerrilla warfare
trying to get that stuff taking down on the Internet
(23:20):
in so many ways, and there are freeways to protect
yourself online. We just mentioned a couple. But the downside
of trying to attempt to claw back your publicly posted
information is it typically it costs you money. Right so
delete me is a paid service. It's like eleven bucks
a month something like that. Could be a few dollars less,
depending on how long of an arrangement you opt for,
(23:41):
and then whether or not you decide to pay for
that depends on how nervous you are I think about
your information being online and whether or not privacy is
worth the cost to you. Delete me does have on
their website. They list one hundred percent satisfaction guarantee, which
allows for full or partial refunds if you're not satisfied
with the results. I always appreciate doing business with a
company who stands behind what they do. And then if
(24:02):
you reach out and you say, hey, that didn't live
up to what I thought it was going to let
me point out this instance, in this instance where you
failed me, if they're willing to back that up with
a guarantee that that heartens me, it makes me more
likely to use their service totally.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, there are going to be other ways of for
someone to find you. I think that's it is worth
pointing out, and it's worth acknowledging that just because you
are paying delete me to take care of this for you,
it doesn't guarantee that that's going to happen. There are
other ways to find your information, like public records at
a lot of states, it's you can just look up
people and their property and addresses online. Or I'm also
(24:39):
thinking about like social engineering, which is another way hackers
try to kind of backfill information based on not what
you post, but like what your friends are posting, and
it's like, oh, you're in a picture. Oh, and they start,
you know, they start finding a way to piece all
of this together. It's not guaranteed. It can be messy
if this is something that you are interested in trying
to tackle. But some folks will tell you though, that
you can do this for free. So, for instance, you
(25:00):
can actually go to like directly to some of the
sites that delete me is scrubbing your information from. They
just list these out in detail on their site. I
love that they.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Literally put all the websites that they're trying to take
their information doff. Like they have a really really long
list of all the companies this website they work with.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
It's not as easy as paying the money and then
just having them take care of it for you, but
that's one way of approaching it. If you're attempting more
of a DIY approach. Consumer reports. They actually have an
app called Permission Slip that's worth trying as well. It's
also free, although it's pretty manual though, like there are
still work some steps that you have to take, hoops
you have to jump through. But we'll also share a
(25:36):
link where so this is a GitHub article that was
actually updated fairly recently, and they very meticulously document a
ton of different sites. And what I love about this
is essentially they've created like a triage list and they're like, hey,
no matter what, you need to focus on these twelve
or so sites because some of these sites populate or
(25:57):
propagate to other sites as well.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
So these are off at the source.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yeah, yeah, so these are some of the most important ones,
and some of them are easier than others, Like some
of them is just literally going on there. You fill
out a form, make a request go to your email,
confirm that link, that kind of thing. Other ones are
a bit more difficult, and I'm gonna I would save
those for a last like within the triage urgent list
of different sites. So for instance, like one it's like
(26:22):
they want a picture of your license driver's license, and
I'm like, Hey, what's y'all gonna do with that picture?
This feels like the exact opposite of what I should
be doing, Right, Are you awesome? Are you going to
sell that picture for like a premium to the folks
the different folks out there who are trying to farm
all the different information out there. But I think that
that could be a great way for folks to just
start taking an active step not only in personally removing
(26:45):
that information, but understanding it as well. I think that
can be a just a helpful way to learn about
it when you just spend a few minutes and kind
of dive in there a little bit, and I think
that that will help you just moving forward to have
better online Internet hygiene as well, kind of see how
the song usage is made from an Internet privacy standpoint. Yeah,
not to be like a total pro or a total expert,
(27:05):
but just to have like your head, your.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Mind wrapped around it. I think it could be really helpful.
I think any perfectionist here is going to be let down, Matt,
because it is a little bit like playing whack a
mole where you're able to get some information scrubbed and
then well something pops up over here and you got
to whack that down. So Kathleen, just know that paying
for a service is going to make it a whole
lot easier, a whole lot less labor and time intensive
on your part. But you have to be aware of
(27:27):
the trade offs and be aware that there are ways
to at least diy it in part. Hope that's helpful, Matt.
Let's get to another question. This one is specifically about
how to pay for expensive healthcare in a pinch.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Hi.
Speaker 7 (27:40):
This is Beth from beautiful Shelbyville, Illinois. Me and some
of the other elderly women in our church group have
been talking about metavac insurance. Some of us have it,
some of us don't. I thought Medicare covered it, and
some say it does, some say it doesn't or under
certain circumstance. I went on the Medicare dot Gov webs
(28:03):
or site and well, I just can't figure it out?
Can you enlighten me about it? Thank you?
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So, Joel, I was waiting for Beth to follow up
her question with the fact that her and the elderly
church ladies were getting ready to hike Mount Kilimanjaro or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Oh, that would be awesome. Like my I've got an
aunt who did that. That's why.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah, how old was she? She was like in her
early fifties. That's impressive when she did that.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yeah, it was a they like prepared for it and
trained and did all that. That's what I was picturing
some young friends who recently did it, and they made
it sound like it was incredibly challenging. And I think
it's very dusty, if I'm not wrong, and so in
the middle of Africa. So just what it does to
your sinuses is it sounds pretty pretty pretty brutal. Okay, Well,
more props to Aunt Betsy for having too man. I mean,
(28:50):
that's just you can't have to air stand up there.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
Yeah, but I think this is why she specifically mentioned
where she's from.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
She and she.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Specifically called out Shelbyville, Illinois, And so I had to
look it up, of course, and it's like out in
the middle of nowhere. So it started things started clicking
into place a little bit. It's like, oh, you don't
have access like nowhere near you is a high quality
emergency care facility, and so that's probably a little bit
more on her mind. It's on the mind of her
and her friends when Saint Louis is over two hours away,
(29:19):
and that's assuming they live right in the middle of Shelbyville,
they're probably like out in the rural parts of this
rural town.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, and that's why. Yeah, you're right, that's a really
good point that different people have different concerns based on
how close they live to a top tier hospital.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
And if you do live kind of further out in
rural America, not only do you probably have slower Internet,
but you also have less proximity to the healthcare that
you need in an emergency situation.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Not something I ever considered, having pretty much always lived
in the middle of a major metropolitan, major city.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, and Beth, it sounds like you're mostly wondering whether
Medicare has got your back on this, And let me
reassure you the answer is yes. Medicare Part B particular
will cover emergency ambulance needs and I looked up this
specific wording on medicare dot gov for you because I
wanted you to have it in plain English. At states
that Medicare PARTB covers ground ambulance transportation when traveling in
(30:13):
any other vehicle could endanger your health and you need
medically necessary services from a hospital or skilled nursing facility,
Medicare may pay for emergency ambulance transportation in an airplane
or helicopter if you need immediate and rapid transport that
ground transportation can't provide. So that's specifically the wording on
the Medicare website. I would imagine you would easily fall
(30:34):
under those rules, given where you live, and given the
fact that in an emergency situation, you are far too
far away to expect an ambulance to take you two
hours of Saint Louis. If let's say there's some sort
of catastrophic injury, how fast does the helicopter go.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Oh, I'm guessing a lot faster than an ambulance, right,
a lot. I've never Have you ever been in a helicopter?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
No, I would love to.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
I have once when I was really young, but we
weren't going fast.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Mount Rushmore. Oh, really, Oh, that's cool. I wasn't like,
how fast does puppy go? Well, I think they can
go pretty fast. Yeah, yeah, but I think you know,
they specifically outlined Matt on the website that it needs
to be the nearest appropriate medical facility. So you're not
gonna be able to get like a helicopter ride to
southern California or something like that. Be like, I'd like
to go there for my medical coverage. In that case,
(31:20):
you'd be on the hook for your own medevac flight.
But that is a huge benefit that Medicare provides. A
few mile ambulance ride MAC can cost many hundreds, if
not thousands of dollars, and think about how much the
helicopter ride would cost. You want to make sure you
have that coverage before you just assume, right, totally.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yeah, And when it comes to the cost, you're going
to be responsible to cover your annual deductible and you're
also going to be responsible for the twenty percent copey
of the Medicare approved amount for that metavac. So with
that mind, you can rest easy while you're home there
in Illinois that if something happens to you and you
need emergency transportation, that Medicare Part B. It's got you covered,
but we're not talking about having coverage overseas. When you're traveling,
(32:03):
you'll want to make sure that you buy your own policy.
And we're just talking about this, not necessarily because you
mentioned it, but maybe because I don't know, just in case. Yeah,
in our mind, we're thinking about traveling because you might you.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Might read that in in Africa. Yeah, I'm covered anywhere
and everywhere all the time, and you're covered in the
United States. But if you go climkil Majarro, it's a
different it's a different deal. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
So there are sites like ensure my trip dot com
as well as world nomads. They are worth checking out.
But just know that this type of insurance could add
over ten percent to the overall cost.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Of the trip.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
It's not cheap, but if you're worried about needing medical transportation,
though it's it's worth a cost. The financial risk it's
too significant and kind of depends on your personal situation
whether or not that's necessary. I'm thinking about secondary credit
card benefits because they typically offer different types of travel
insurance coverage. We often talk about trip cancelation, lost bags,
(32:57):
even like the primary CDW that comes.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Let's say that the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. But if something.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Happens, let's say while you're abroad, it doesn't include any
medical insurance. But guess what car does the Chase Sapphire
Reserved you get medical evacuation services like that.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
You might be on that card. I say free.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
You didn't see my fingers say free because it's over
five hundred dollars a year for that. Oh yeah, well
it's a very expensive, but that's still reasonable when you
consider if you're going on one or two international trips
a year where you really want that coverage. Hey, maybe
it pays for itself. It's also I'd be curious to know, Matt.
Do you know if that has limits on the amount
of money that's covered.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
I'm sure it does. Maybe it's like up to ten
thousand dollars expense. So in that case, you might not
have enough coverage. Even so, look into the fine print
and make sure that, oh, I'm going with this credit card,
it's going to cover me? Well, does it offer enough coverage?
Because you might still, on top of that, need to
get your own secondary policy. And last, but not least,
if you have Medicare, questions and you want to talk
to someone who can walk you through the particulars. There's
(34:01):
a cool website I stumbled upon called ship heelp dot org.
It's really cool because trained volunteers are available in every
single state across this country to help walk you through
medicare questions you might have because some of the details
can be tricky, like this right, and you're like, what
what do I What am I covered for? And when
am I covered for it? What happens when I go travel? Like,
(34:22):
I think that's a pretty dang valuable service that I
love that it exists for seniors across this country to
get the answers they need when they're not really sure
whether or not they're covered.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
And you might be thinking, why is it called ship
heelp dot org. Well, it stands for it State Health
Insurance Assistance Program, which means they forgot the assistance in
the A. So really, yeah, it should be she app
help dot org. Yeah, it's got a much better ring
to it, if you ask me. It's my opinion.
Speaker 1 (34:51):
I like that. No, I think we'll send them an
email see what they can do. We've got more money
questions to get to, including one about retirement account rollovers
in a down market. We'll get to that more right
after this. All right, Joe, we are back from the break.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Let's now get to the Facebook question of the week,
which is from an anonymous.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
Poster who wrote a favorite kind don't show your face around.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
The anonymous I know you shouldn't cash out any retirement
accounts and when the market is down like now, but
should you also avoid rollovers In theory you're locking in
losses but also buying low in the new account. Not
sure if there are other considerations. My reason for rolling
over is simply to consolidate accounts. And man, it's totally
true that you shouldn't be cashing out when the market
(35:39):
is declining. The goal is to have a plan in place,
right so that those those declines barely register. You don't
want to be checking your your retirement account, jol where
you're feeling sway to do something about it, as opposed
to the don't just stay in there.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Do something.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
It's like no, no, let's like turn that sale onto
his head stand there, Yeah yeah, just wait around for it.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yeah No. I think you're right, and I think that,
but that is what happens is people are paying attention
to the headlines, whether they if they read the Wall
Street Journal or something like that, they're just seeing they're
they're seeing the mess that's happening all around them, or
they're seeing the daily moves of the stock market, and
it just makes them more inclined to try to fix it, right,
(36:18):
to try to catch that falling knife, which is just
a bad idea. So you're right, man, it's like that
knowing your what, your why, and your how that's going
to make a big difference in helping you stay the
course as well. It's just kind of tuning some of
that stuff out. But what's happening with the stock market
in terms of a rollover, like from a four oh
one K to an IRA, it really has no bearing.
Like it's essentially a wash, and what the stock market
(36:41):
is doing right now, it shouldn't have any impact on
whether or when you decide to do that rollover. It's
kind of like in my mind, trading a dollar bill
for a sackajewee a dollar coin. They're both were at
the same amount and so you're just in a different form. Yeah, exactly,
in a different form. So there's no harm in doing that,
no matter what they week no matter what time of day.
(37:01):
It's the same is true with making that rollover happen exactly.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Do, however, make sure that you opt for a direct rollover,
because if you opt for an indirect rollover, what that
means is that's when you get a check sent directly
to you.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
I'm gonna act directly.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
I'm just gonna say you're gonna get a check sent
to you, because I don't want to confuse the direct
in direct here, they send it to your your mailing
address with your name on it. When they do that,
there are potential tax consequences.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
If he doubts in your court.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
Yeah, if you don't get that money into your new
account within sixty days. And this is assuming that you're
rolling again something like a four to one K into
an IRA. If that's the case, it does not matter.
It does matter. However, if we're talking about converting let's
say a four to one K to a wroth ir. Yes,
if we're talking about a conversion a down market it's
actually good because you're paying you know, you're paying taxes
(37:50):
on the amount that it has gone down in value,
so you owe less tax. And then the idea is
that that money sits there in that roth account, and
it grows tax free, hopefull for years, if not decades
to come. So what you're considering, that's well, that's certainly
a strategy at least worth considering.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
It's still remember to keep in mind other factors to
like your income. So you're like, oh, market's down, time
to time to turn that traditional money into WROTH money. Well,
let's say you're a big income earner even though the
market's down, might still not be a great idea to
do that.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Yet, because you're gonna taxes right sor right, and you're
gonna pay a higher rate if you're a big time
income earner too.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Last thing, Matt I think we should mention here is
just for people who want help with these rollovers, there's
a company called Capitalize that helps for free. They make
it really easy. We like Capitalize. We've written an article
about them on the website. Well, we'll link to that
article in the show notes. I've used them for a
(38:47):
rollover for my wife's old four one K And why
is it free? Like, what's the catch? Well, they get
paid by the brokerage firm you move it to. They
don't get to choose the brokerage firm. They just have
deals with a lot of these broken terms, including our
favorite low cost ones. So if you're like, I want
to do it, I don't want to screw it up.
It's honestly not terribly difficult to do it by yourself,
but I will say they made it easier than it
(39:09):
otherwise would have been and I appreciated that. So at
least consider getting capitalized to do it for you, Matt.
Let's get to another question. This one comes from listener Drew.
He says, do you guys advise paying cash for a car?
We're biting the bullet and buying a new Toyota Highland Hybrid. Ooh,
this is our families one an only vehicle. Dude.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Okay, this is a very short question with multiple elements
in it that are quite poignant. Right, and so, first off,
he's talking about a new car, and typically we recommend
buying older cars, especially given how expensive SUVs and cars
have become in recent years. And if Americans would just
change that one light item and their budgets, it would
(39:48):
improve their financial standings significantly.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
And a new Highlander.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Is probably going to set you back like fifty five
thousand dollars or so What that means is that in
five years you're going to have coughed up more than
twenty five thousand dollars simply due to depreciation. And because
I'm a pretty frugal dude, that is, I have a
really hard time getting behind the new vehicle. The depreciation
hit man, it's it's brutal.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
We are a two car family now, Matt, you're a
one car family still. But when we got that second car,
I know you were, you were a little bit like,
I don't know, man, you could have probably got buy
on one. And I will say the car of the
second car I bought costs four thousand dollars. So the
depreciation I've experienced in the two ish years that I've
owned that car next to nothing, Dude, next to nothing. Yeah.
(40:32):
And so to me, yeah does that money? Does that
car cost me a little bit of extra money every
month in insurance and gas or whatever? Yeah, it does,
but it doesn't cost me nearly as much as having
a brand new, fancy car. But there is something we
said part of this question. The listener Drew says, well,
we're a one car family, and I do think there's
(40:53):
more leeway to buy a newer or even a brand
new car. I guess if it's your only car and
you feel like you need it to be dependable and accessible.
So I don't know, man, it sounds like an excuse
to me. I don't think it means you need a
brand new car. I certainly don't think that. I know
it means you don't. You certainly don't need a brand
new car. But I think it's more understandable, and you know,
(41:15):
not everyone wants to live their lives like we do.
So if you have, like let's say, one older car,
it ends up in the shop on the rag. It's
a nightmare from a logistical standpoint, and the cost of
running a car can be a pain to I get
that we're less down on you opting for a sparkling
new ride directly off the dealer a lot if it's
if it's the only one you've gotten, if you plan
on holding on to it for a whole lot of years.
(41:37):
But still it's it's not what we would do.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
Yeah, I guess the only thing I pushed back on
is the fact that it feels like an excuse to
get the nicer vehicle when like, you can totally get
by have a perfectly reliable vehicle that you might have
to proactively maintain a little bit more to make sure
that it's you want to be able to rely on
that thing. But I just, yeah, it makes me a
little bit nervous when you start justifying something like that
all on something that's going to be depreciating, that's going
to be going down in value. But do you guys
(42:02):
advise paying cash for a car totally? Because I will say,
regardless of how old or new the vehicle is, that's
going to put you in a better financial spot. Most
folks buy a new car and then what they're doing
out there is they typically finance it to the max.
That's why the average car payment on a new car
is about seven hundred and fifty dollars these days. And
then that payment it often hangs around for like five
(42:24):
or six years time even longer. That's not something we
want to see you do. So I think it's super
cool Drew that you've got the cash on hand. Hopefully
you're thinking about paying.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
For that straight up.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
That's a huge accomplishment. That being said from a logistics
standpoint here, practically speaking, dealers don't love cash buyers, and
that's because they stand to benefit more from buyers who
take out a loan. This is something we talked about
with our friends over at Car Edge that they shared
on the show somewhat recently, was that last year Joel, Yeah,
the dealer they mark up the loans and so when
(42:57):
you pay cash, they're missing out on the increased profits
that the dealership.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
So he gets to realize. You think you're doing something smart,
but you're doing something really dumb by telling the dealer
that you're paying cash ahead of time. I think there's
still ways to pay with cash, but you don't want
to lay your cards on the table ahead of time.
So don't tell the dealer walking in there and be like, hey,
i'd like to buy this car, I'm paying with cash.
By the way, you can reveal that fact later on,
after you've secured a price that you're happy with. They
(43:23):
might assume right that you plan on getting a loan
on that new car, and you don't have to correct
their assumptions. Another tactic I think you can take is
to go ahead and finance the vehicle through the f
nin department at the dealership and then pay it off
immediately afterward, and you know you stand By the way,
I think to save more money and headaches by sending
out emails to a few dealers in your area. Check
(43:44):
out that episode, episode eight forty five on car buying,
because if we're talking about a fifty five thousand dollars purchase,
doing it the right way can lead to a savings
of many thousands of dollars, and we want you to
save as much as possible if you're gonna buy this
brand new car, but hopefully we've given to at least
think twice and maybe consider a nice, gently use six
(44:05):
seven eight year old Toyta instead.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
That's right, buddy, Let's get back to the beer. You
and I enjoyed a Hound's Tooth, which is a sour
with BlackBerry, pear and ginger by contrast artisan ales.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
What you think, so do? This was a beer, but
it tasted kind of like a fruited seltzer. I only
know that because my wife likes to drink those, and
occasionally I'll have a sip and I'm like, oh, this
kind of it tastes like one of those things, tasts
like a sour beer that I like. Yeah, so it's
kind of somewhere in there a mix. It does have
that kind of effervescence of a seltzer. Nice and sparkly. Yeah,
and it's got kind of those those fruited undertones I like.
(44:37):
I'm not usually a huge fan of ginger, but it's
just got enough ginger in it where it gives a
little zip to go with I think the fruit like
the tiniest little bit of heat. Yeah. So I liked it.
Even though I would say it feels like a super
light version tone of a beer, it wasn't quite what
I was expecting. I love the color of it.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
The color like it totally makes me think of both pear,
like you know when you bite into a pair.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
It's got this nice, fleshy like barely like.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
Maybe like the tiniest bit pink kind of color to it.
It looks like that, but it also looks like candy ginger.
So WHYDFM that we used to get, like the candy
ginger from there? I don't think we've ever we've gotten
it since Wait did they sound that at Costco? No,
I'm thinking of mango.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Oh, we get the mango, the mags and mango.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
No, we used to go to this international market though
that had this candy ginger that this exact color van
and so I guess I've got that on my mind
because of that, this makes this taste totally legit, not
normally a combo.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
I'm not getting as much black BlackBerry personally.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
It's there, but yeah, no, I think I can see
why you say that. Not normally a combo or flavor
profile that I go for. But yeah, I liked it.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
I know, yeah, I was. When I saw that listed,
I was like, that's kind of random trio there to
stick in this beer. But I think it's all working
together again, better than I thought it was, even though
it didn't taste like I was expecting. All Right, man,
I's gonna do it. For this episode, we'll put links
to some of the resources we mentioned, and there were
quite a few today up in the show notes on
our website at how to money dot com.
Speaker 2 (46:00):
You know, buddy, So until next time, Best Friends Out,
Best Friends Out.
Hosts And Creators
Joel Larsgaard
Matthew Altmix
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