0:00

Episode twenty nine, Investing

0:02

for frugal Folks. Welcome

0:08

to the Frugal Friends podcast, where

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you'll learn to save money, embrace

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simplicity, rights, and live with

0:15

your life. Here

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your host Jen and Jill. Hello,

0:24

welcome back. It's November.

0:27

Are y'all do in? This is Jen, This

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one's Jill Here. I am, and

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we're so excited for today's episode

0:35

of the Frugal Friends podcast. I know

0:38

we say we're always excited, but I'm

0:40

like, especially super excited for

0:42

this one. Jill. Yeah,

0:45

yeah, we actually have someone who knows

0:47

their stuff and is going to give us some good content.

0:50

I know, because we're just always winging it. So

0:52

it's nice to finally have somebody

0:54

on that knows what you're talking about.

0:57

Usually a bunch of question marks

0:59

with our episodes, but this one,

1:01

you know, we can feel good about it because

1:03

he went to college. He did.

1:06

He's been doing this like a long time.

1:08

So before we get into

1:11

our interview, we got

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but we've were partners. So

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yeah, that's how we're friends. And

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she still gives me tips and

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a great to sponsor this. So

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does water not have its hand in the Let's

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be honest, it's

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there's a joke to be said about that, but I don't know

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what it is right now, we'll

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laugh anyways. Right, uh

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so, let's not waste any time.

3:26

Let's flow right

3:28

into our interview with

3:31

Andrew Wong and learns

3:34

some about frugal investing. Get

3:36

it's alright,

3:41

y'all, we are here with

3:44

Andrew Wong from running Mead

3:46

Capital. Thank you so much

3:48

for being on the Frugal Friends podcast.

3:51

Andrew, it's so awesome to

3:53

be here. It's always good to have frugal friends. Yes,

3:56

it is welcome. Thank you.

3:58

We are so excited to get to talk to you today

4:00

about investing. I think that this content will

4:02

bring a lot of really good things for

4:04

our listeners and for me let's be honest.

4:07

But to get us started, can you tell

4:09

us a little bit about yourself and what you

4:11

do as a financial advisor? Sure?

4:14

Absolutely, I think, well, thank you for

4:16

having me on the show. I think that investing

4:19

can be a super fun subject,

4:21

but it can also be heavy

4:24

and complex, So we'll

4:27

try to keep it more on the fun side so

4:29

that hopefully listeners can get something

4:31

out of it. But I'm

4:35

I'm a fee only financial

4:37

advisor. I've been in the business

4:39

for nearly twenty years. I'm

4:42

part of a family business, so this

4:44

is in my blood. My father

4:47

started the company, um

4:49

gosh years ago, and I work with

4:51

my brother my father. My mom is

4:53

here most of the time to make sure that the

4:56

boys are behaving themselves. Does

4:59

she suck seed in that most

5:01

of the time? Yes, most of the time. And

5:05

I don't know the boys. We

5:07

we when we're honest,

5:10

I think that we should really defer to her.

5:12

We say, you know, she would probably be running

5:14

our company much better if

5:16

we just gave her the reins. But

5:19

otherwise, it's a family business and and

5:21

it's well balanced. We we each

5:23

do different tasks, and we we help individuals

5:26

to prepare for retirement. We help companies

5:29

to run their four oh one K plans,

5:32

and then we run some institutional funds

5:34

too as their institutional

5:36

money managers. Wow,

5:39

that's fantastic. And you

5:41

you're kind of in a bit of a mind field

5:44

there. I don't know, just in my estimation

5:46

to be in a family business and

5:48

then also working in finances and

5:50

discussing finances all the time,

5:52

those seemed to be like the two areas

5:55

for like the greatest at stress.

5:58

But it sounds like it's going really well

6:00

for you. That's fantastic. Yeah.

6:03

I tell friends that, you know, I have my

6:05

days. There are the days

6:07

when you're like, why am I working

6:09

with my dad? Um?

6:11

But those those days

6:13

are fire in the minority. UM, I really

6:16

enjoy working with family and Yeah.

6:18

The downside is that sometimes when you're

6:20

a Thanksgiving dinner, it's hard to

6:23

put the work aside. It seems like you're always

6:25

working. Um, But I can

6:28

see the benefits because

6:30

both my brother and I worked at outside.

6:33

You know, we worked outside of the family business before

6:35

joining my dad. So we don't take

6:37

it for granted that we don't have big

6:40

office politics here, Like we don't have to worry

6:42

about what is the person in the next cubicle

6:45

um doing or trying to vie

6:48

for a promote. It's

6:51

nice working with family and we have each other's

6:53

backs all the time. That's

6:55

awesome. So you guys

6:58

are the only financial advisers,

7:00

but like, what's the difference for all the

7:02

other titles, and like

7:05

do you need a financial

7:07

advisor to get started or do you need

7:09

any of them? Like that's confusing

7:11

in and of itself. I want to talk

7:14

about a couple of things here. I'm

7:16

an advisor, right, so I'll try to be as

7:18

objective as possible being

7:20

an advisor. I'm going to say that I'm coming

7:22

to this conversation with some bias,

7:25

but if I'm going to be as

7:27

objective as I can, Like

7:30

I'm coming here as the listener's friend.

7:33

I don't think that you need an advisor

7:36

to get started investing. But

7:39

that said, every individual is different, so

7:42

results may vary. Like there are some

7:44

people who they don't want

7:46

to do it themselves, or they cannot

7:48

do it themselves, Like no

7:50

matter how much research or time

7:53

that they have to learn

7:56

and and and try to do it on their own,

7:58

sometimes they're just not going to do it. So it

8:01

totally depends you know it's not. It's

8:03

it's no different from outsourcing

8:07

like house cleaning or

8:10

lawn care. It's like, sometimes

8:12

you can do it yourself, you don't need to hire somebody,

8:14

but then

8:17

there are benefits of hiring somebody to you

8:19

can go both ways. Yeah.

8:21

I remember when we started

8:24

looking into investing, we had no absolutely

8:26

no clue. But I am by

8:28

nature like a really avid

8:31

researcher and learner. It's like one

8:33

of my strengths on the strengths finder. Um,

8:35

so it was more beneficial

8:38

to me to learn all that stuff and do

8:40

it. But I also know people that

8:43

have absolutely no desire to do that, in

8:45

which case they should not just like blindly

8:48

go invest in the first thing that

8:50

pops up. So

8:52

yeah, I definitely see what you're saying there. Yeah,

8:54

I probably would come with knowledge of self and

8:57

what you're good at and what you're not good

8:59

at, and letting the people major in those

9:01

things. Yeah, that's part

9:03

of it. And then the other thing is that investing

9:07

can be really simple or

9:09

it can be so complex, So

9:11

it depends how you're approaching it too,

9:14

And I think that the beauty is that there

9:17

is a way to approach investing

9:20

in a simple, basic way,

9:22

and if you do that, most people

9:24

should be able to get started on their own. Um.

9:27

The second thing that I wanted to talk about is financial

9:30

advisors in general, Like

9:32

that is so confusing. I mean,

9:34

I've been in the business for a long time and so

9:37

I understand the differences, but anyone

9:40

can call themselves a financial advisor, so

9:43

it's confusing. So for listeners who

9:46

feel that they need help and want

9:48

to engage a financial

9:50

advisor, just know that there are differences

9:54

and the word fiduciary is important.

9:56

The word fee only is important because

9:58

the difference comes down to how is the

10:00

advisor making money?

10:03

How are they being paid? Are they

10:05

making a commission based

10:07

on selling a product that could be a mutual

10:10

fund, that could be an annuity.

10:12

Sometimes their insurance people,

10:14

so they also sell insurance. In

10:17

cases where they're getting paid a commission,

10:19

there's potential for conflict of interest

10:22

where they don't have the client's

10:24

interests best interests

10:26

at heart, right they are motivated

10:29

by selling a product that pays them better. It's

10:32

important to ask how does the

10:34

advisor get paid? And

10:36

to add even more confusion, there

10:39

are advisors who are dual registered

10:41

advisors, so they'll say that I'm a

10:43

fiduciary, I put my clients interests

10:46

first, But they're also brokers

10:48

and can get paid a commission, in which

10:51

case they'll say, well, it depends which

10:53

hat I'm wearing. Sometimes I have my fiduciary

10:55

had on, other times I have my product

10:58

sales had on. And that using

11:00

to the pure fee only

11:02

fiduciary advisors, which

11:05

my firm is one, I

11:07

think it's relatively small. Tony Robins

11:09

spent a lot of time in his book talking

11:12

about you know what the differences

11:14

are in types of advisors and the fee

11:16

only fiduciary advisors. I think it's just like

11:18

ten of all financial

11:21

advisors. So it's

11:23

something to be aware of, right, just ask

11:26

how are they being paid? Can they get paid

11:28

commissions or not? And then

11:30

if they say yes, just understand

11:33

that you have to be mindful

11:35

that there may be cases where they're

11:38

not required by law to act in your best

11:40

interest. Right that they could say,

11:42

well, this product is

11:44

suitable for you, and that's

11:46

why I'm recommending it. But ultimately,

11:49

if you sort of lift the

11:51

lift the veil, you say, okay, well between

11:53

product and product B, product

11:55

A push it pays them higher

11:58

like a better commission. So that's why going to sell

12:00

it, so buy or beware, So

12:03

you'd have to be a little bit more of a shrewd

12:06

investor if you are stepping

12:09

outside of the fee only kind

12:11

of financial advisory realm. Is

12:13

that what you're saying. Well, not to say that

12:16

there aren't good, capable

12:18

advisors who do collect

12:20

a commission, but um,

12:22

you know, I think that the consumer should be aware

12:25

of those things. In the way that our industry works,

12:28

a lot of it is not transparent.

12:30

It's very confusing, and anyone,

12:33

like I said, anyone can call themselves a financial

12:35

advisor. So it could be an insurance

12:37

it could be an insurance agent, it could

12:39

be a certified financial planner.

12:42

It could be like there's no clear

12:44

way to know without asking

12:46

them. You know, how are you compensated?

12:49

Yeah? And I think this is a this will

12:51

be an easy trip up for somebody who's frugal.

12:54

Because I actually

12:56

met with a broker who

13:00

called himself a financial advisor and

13:03

we were going to set up our I RA A S

13:05

through his company. But I just got

13:07

like a weird feeling because I had no clue

13:10

what fees or commissions were at

13:12

the time. Um, but I just felt like it

13:14

was the percentage taken

13:16

out, it was going to be a lot

13:18

of money. But his time with me

13:21

was free initially, Like

13:23

that attracted to me to that

13:25

because I didn't have to pay for the initial meeting, whereas

13:28

with a fee only fiduciary

13:30

you do have to pay for their time, but they're

13:33

not getting commissions on whatever you are

13:35

buying. So that's

13:38

like an important thing to know in

13:40

your like frugality, to know

13:43

long term what

13:45

the cost of that advisor

13:47

will be. Absolutely yeah, And to

13:49

frugal friends out there, it's true.

13:52

Um, many brokers who

13:54

charge a commission sometimes they're collecting a

13:56

fee from the mutual fund that

13:59

you own. They get like a

14:01

sales commission, and you

14:04

don't see that coming out. It's

14:07

done in the pricing of the mutual fund.

14:09

So yeah, for for those who

14:11

are frugal, if they're working with an advisor

14:14

who says that they don't charge anything, that

14:21

advisors out there are not charities, right,

14:24

And he was not a bad guy. He was a

14:26

super nice guy trying to put me in the

14:28

best thing he had available. Um,

14:30

But the only thing he had available was what

14:33

would pay him money and put food on his table.

14:35

So um, but

14:37

yeah, it is something to be aware of for

14:39

sure. Absolutely, Yeah,

14:42

Andrew, what in your mind

14:44

are the benefits of being a frugal

14:47

investor and why

14:49

should we care about low cost investments?

14:53

Well, I don't know. To frugal friends

14:57

even have to be convinced of that. I mean, like

15:00

any money that you can save, you

15:03

should be able to allocate

15:05

towards something else or in the

15:07

case of investing, the

15:10

beauty of investing is that

15:12

you're able to grow your money

15:15

and over time, if you do

15:17

it well, you have the

15:19

benefit of compound interest. It's

15:21

like your money is compounding,

15:24

you're getting compound growth. So

15:27

when you can have the lowest

15:29

fee, then

15:31

your savings is being reinvested,

15:34

and over time having

15:36

your money reinvested just grows

15:38

at a faster rate. So

15:40

that's why it's important. And I

15:43

think that the fantastic thing about

15:46

being an investor today is

15:48

that there are so many choices and that costs

15:50

keep coming down. I mean, if we

15:52

were talking twenty years ago, sure

15:55

there were options for low cost investing, but

15:57

today there are so many more,

16:00

and I think the cost, you know, the

16:02

cost keep being driven

16:05

lower, so the

16:07

potential for someone

16:09

who's frugal. There's choice

16:12

and costs keep going down, So it's

16:14

fantastic, right, So

16:16

level of entry into investment is

16:19

pretty pretty accessible. Is that what you're

16:21

saying. It's extremely accessible.

16:24

Yeah, it's an awesome time to

16:26

be an investor, even though I

16:29

think that the month of this month of October

16:32

or last month of October, volatility

16:35

has returned to the market. So people

16:37

may not necessarily feel that way,

16:40

but I think when it comes to choice and

16:43

accessibility, it's a great

16:45

time. M hmmm. And

16:47

also I think a lot of our listeners

16:50

are kind of in their

16:52

twenties and thirties, maybe even forties,

16:55

but we have so much time left in

16:57

the market that's in volatility right

16:59

now. Isn't anything you

17:01

know, to be afraid of. It doesn't make

17:04

me check my I RA

17:06

or four oh one K anymore frequently. Travis

17:09

checks it sometimes and he'll tell me and I'm like to stop,

17:11

don't tell me. Yeah,

17:14

what is this doing for me? Talk to

17:16

me when there's good news? Yeah, yeah,

17:18

that's totally true. I mean all the studies

17:20

say that the earlier, the earlier

17:22

you start, the better because

17:24

you have more runway to grow,

17:27

you know, grow your money, and

17:30

it is that power of compounding that let's

17:32

you win over the long term. And

17:35

the longer you have, the

17:37

more you can afford to ignore

17:40

the short term fluctuation. Right,

17:42

because if you're retired then

17:46

you do have to be more careful because

17:48

you don't have a paycheck too um

17:51

cover short term losses. But when you have

17:53

a long time then odds

17:56

are on your side and the

17:58

chances of doing well are very good.

18:01

Yeah, that's awesome. So

18:04

what do you consider

18:07

low cost investments? What are your favorite

18:10

favorites for frugal investing

18:12

and where do we get them? Oh

18:15

my gosh, there's so many choices. And I

18:17

think for me because I'm a little bit

18:19

older, like I'm not even up to date

18:21

using some of the newest

18:24

things. But like traditionally,

18:27

Vanguard is the

18:30

example of a company who

18:32

wants to drive costs lower and

18:35

offer consumers great

18:37

products at super low cost. That

18:40

the founder, John Bogel, that's

18:42

been his thing ever since he started Vanguard,

18:45

and that still stands today. They want

18:47

to provide products that the

18:49

cost keeps going like closer and closer to zero.

18:52

So Vanguard index funds. But now

18:54

there are exchange traded funds that trade

18:56

like stocks, their eye shares, e t

18:58

f s that have extre reamly low expenses.

19:01

Then some of the newer things like there's robin

19:04

Hood where you can open an account

19:06

for free and have

19:09

like no cost commission. I think m

19:12

hm, I personally have Vanguard

19:15

because I like the fact that they

19:17

are investor owned.

19:20

But I also know, like Fidelity

19:23

Schwab, Fidelity actually won the race

19:25

to zero. They're now offering management

19:28

fee free index funds.

19:30

But how do we go about getting

19:33

these? Can we go straight

19:35

to the website? Is there? And intermediate

19:38

we should use? Also where

19:40

do we put them? Because I know it's not just

19:42

advantageous to open up the brokerage

19:45

account and just put the money there, which is

19:47

actually something a lot of people do. They

19:49

don't actually invest in What's

19:51

that They open their account and then they don't

19:54

know they open the account, they put the money in the brokerage

19:56

and they don't know that they have to actually pick

19:59

somewhere to Oh, I see right

20:01

right, They're like they celebrate that they open

20:03

the account. Big,

20:07

that's a real thing. Yeah, yeah,

20:10

well, I think they're getting started, Like

20:13

first and foremost most

20:15

people should get started in their four oh one

20:17

K, because I think that it's

20:19

estimated that Americans

20:22

work for a company that offers a four oh

20:24

one K plan, So make sure

20:26

that you're paying attention to the four oh one K.

20:29

Oftentimes that's where you can get started

20:31

first. If you're fortunate enough

20:33

to have a company that is generous and offers

20:37

some kind of matching. That's

20:39

free money, so make sure you're contributing

20:41

up to that match. Um.

20:44

But in looking at the

20:46

investments in your four oh one K, the fees

20:49

still come into play because,

20:51

um, you know four oh one K plans,

20:54

they differ from one another company to company,

20:56

so you have to look within your plan and

20:58

see which one which

21:00

choices are actively managed. Those

21:02

tend to be different. Mutual funds you're

21:04

going to have like a growth, you'll have value,

21:07

you'll have large cab, mid

21:09

cap, small cab international, but

21:11

many of those are actively managed, and you

21:14

can go look to see what are the

21:16

expense ratios and fees for those mutual

21:18

funds. You can go to morning star dot

21:20

com or you can go to different websites

21:22

and look that up. But ideally,

21:25

if you want to be frugal, you should also

21:27

be looking at your passive choices.

21:31

Most four own K plans today offer

21:33

passive index funds, but not

21:36

all of them do. So if you have an

21:38

SMP five hundred index, you

21:40

can go look that up see if that's in

21:42

your plan offered as a choice.

21:45

And then even index funds,

21:48

they were not all created equal. They have different

21:51

expense ratios and fees, so you

21:53

you should do your homework at the same time when

21:57

you're checking your actively managed choices,

21:59

check the index funds

22:01

and see what kind of FeAs do they have to because

22:04

odds are they're going to be cheaper than the actively managed

22:06

but they're not always as cheap as they

22:08

should be. And if they're not, then you

22:10

can approach your human resources

22:13

department or benefits and you

22:15

know, you can make a little noise because the

22:18

company has a responsibility

22:20

to be offering participants the

22:22

best choices and part of that is

22:25

cost. Yeah, definitely. And

22:28

so is there like a expense

22:30

ratio that we should be

22:32

looking to to like, if it's

22:35

at this point, maybe we

22:37

should think about not putting as

22:39

much in the four oh one K but focusing maybe

22:41

more on the I RA. Not really,

22:43

I mean, I think it's like take a

22:45

case by case, take a look, hopefully

22:48

if you have an SMP five hundred

22:50

choice or any passive

22:53

choices under ten basis

22:55

points hopefully annual expense.

22:58

I mean some of them go down to like

23:00

three or four basis points, so that

23:02

would be like a point three or

23:05

point ten percent correct,

23:07

Okay, yeah, I know. The

23:10

fund that I started with in my

23:12

I R A was just a thousand

23:15

dollars minimum, and that's why

23:17

I started with that, because it was a litwer minimum and it had

23:19

a point one six percent

23:21

expense ratio UM. And

23:24

then I actually had better options in my four

23:26

oh one K because it didn't

23:28

have like any minimums. That was one of the

23:30

perks of doing it through the four oh one K

23:32

is that you can start with

23:35

very little UM and you still

23:37

get the benefits of having that

23:39

group plan. So I was able

23:42

to get like the shares that you

23:44

have to, you know, initially start with

23:46

a minimum ten dollar investment, and

23:48

I got to do them. You know, my first five

23:51

dollars invested in my four oh one K. Four

23:54

O one ks are definitely super great

23:56

options to start. I love that, and

23:58

I think, you know, like I said, it's a great

24:00

place for most people, Like that's

24:02

where you're going to get started, and then if

24:05

you want to open up an I RA

24:07

or have outside accounts, it's

24:09

really easy. You either go to Vanguard

24:12

dot com or Fidelity dot com. You can

24:14

go to schwab Um,

24:16

Robin Hood any of them. But um,

24:20

I think that I agree with you. When you go with

24:22

van Guard, you have like an industry

24:25

leader. They have size, they have a

24:28

lot of advantages that if

24:30

you are an investor, you don't have to worry

24:32

that they're not going to be there tomorrow. Yeah,

24:35

I mean, and these other places are going to be there

24:37

tomorrow, but they're they're also

24:40

beholden to like shareholders, which

24:42

is not a bad thing, but like, just for

24:44

me personally, since I had the option

24:47

to choose Vanguard because I had the

24:49

minimum required to open account,

24:52

I did that. Some people do not. I

24:54

know, Fidelities, new Um

24:57

zero fee funds, they don't have a minimum.

25:00

So if you're just trying to get started with something really

25:03

teeny tiny, that sounds really

25:05

good. Yeah, all great choices.

25:08

It's hard to go wrong when

25:10

you when you have that are zero

25:13

or close to zero. It's

25:16

really unbelievable. So we're going to dive

25:18

into some questions from our community. We

25:21

have a Facebook group called the Frugal Friends

25:23

Community, and we talk

25:25

about all things frugal and

25:28

all things gift related. So

25:32

gift with a G I F not g

25:34

I F T because we're frugal and

25:36

gifts are free. So we

25:39

asked everyone what they

25:41

would ask a financial advisor

25:43

if they had their own podcast. So

25:46

we have a few of those here for

25:49

you, Andrew. The first one is

25:51

from Catherine, and she wants to know

25:54

after you recognize the importance of

25:56

investing and want to start investing

25:58

well or optimizing, where

26:00

can you go to learn how can she

26:03

start integrating this thing into

26:05

her busy life, which is literally lifelong

26:08

learning about investing. That's

26:12

true, that's true. Well,

26:14

I think that you know if you if you're looking

26:16

for free resources, it

26:18

goes back to your four oh one K again because

26:21

a lot of times your company,

26:24

the four one K plan offers education

26:27

and information, like there's a website and you can

26:29

log into that and try to

26:31

read up just to learn

26:34

more about concepts and

26:37

different things that you should or

26:39

shouldn't be doing. Um.

26:41

But Catherine asked a great question,

26:44

and when I hear the question, it really

26:46

reminds me of this

26:48

book that I read recently by

26:50

Danielle Town and Danielle

26:52

and her dad have the Invested podcast,

26:56

and it's fun because her father

26:58

is this like unpolished investment

27:01

guy, like he's run some

27:03

hedge funds and he sells courses

27:06

teaching people. I think he's written at least

27:08

a couple of books that have been New York Times

27:10

bestsellers. And dan Yelle's background

27:13

is totally different because she's

27:15

an attorney. She was like a startup

27:17

attorney in Colorado,

27:19

I think, and that

27:22

startup attorney life was really

27:25

taking a tax on her health. I mean, she was

27:27

working long hour she was it was very

27:29

intense, and she was suffering

27:31

from like stomach problems, which the

27:34

doctors would say, well, we're not really sure what's wrong,

27:36

but here's some medicine, and

27:38

um. She reached the point where she said, Okay, it's

27:40

got to be stress related, and

27:44

in her own personal sort

27:46

of path, she said, well, she really

27:48

needs to uh level

27:51

up her investing game. And

27:54

she she has the benefit of having this father

27:56

who is extremely knowledgeable, and

27:59

she says she's she's an attorney. She's

28:01

not a numbers person. She's much more verbal

28:04

and can write and read um

28:07

so her she wrote a book and

28:09

I think it's it's a really good book in

28:12

that it's investing

28:14

related. She tries to go through

28:16

her own process

28:18

of trying to ask her father questions,

28:21

and that's the premise of their podcast too.

28:23

She asks her dad questions that

28:26

most people are embarrassed to ask and

28:28

then she gets answers. And

28:31

the book's great because she wanted to

28:33

write a book that really

28:35

outlined sort of a Warren Buffet approach

28:38

to doing research understanding companies.

28:41

You know, what types of companies do you want to own

28:43

over the long term? How do you

28:45

do some of that analysis in

28:47

her process of learning. I think she calls it her

28:49

investing practice, and

28:52

it wasn't an easy thing to do. But like

28:55

anything, if you're trying to develop

28:57

new habits, routines, and

29:00

processes, you want to make

29:02

it like a regular thing. So if

29:05

you're doing a budget monthly, or

29:07

I talked to someone recently who said you should be looking

29:09

at your budget every like first and fifteenth

29:12

of the month, build your investing

29:15

practice into that too,

29:18

so you can look at you know, what types

29:20

of companies do you want to invest in? Do you want

29:22

to listen to company conference

29:24

calls and learn more. I mean, there's so

29:26

many things that you can do today to learn right

29:29

because of the internet. Um,

29:32

the companies publish all kinds of reports,

29:34

you can listen to conference calls. But

29:36

I think it comes down to how

29:38

much do you want to be involved, And

29:41

if you're willing to do the homework, you

29:43

can just start with like start with the

29:45

company where you work and do

29:47

some research on the company. Understand

29:50

how are their earnings. You know, is the company

29:53

growing, what are some of the challenges,

29:55

And it comes down to do you want to be an investor

29:58

or a speculator. I think that most to us

30:00

want to be investors, So it's playing the long

30:02

game. And the lesson that I learned

30:04

from my father is that earnings

30:07

matter. It goes back to you

30:10

know, for kids and we're setting up a lemonade

30:12

stand in front of our house. Part

30:14

of it is for fun and the activity

30:17

and having neighbors come be supportive.

30:20

But if you're going to be measured as a business,

30:22

even if your little kids selling lemonade, like

30:25

it matters that you actually made a profit. You don't

30:27

want to sell for each cup of lemonade

30:29

that you make, you lost because

30:32

you went to Whole Foods and bought like organic

30:35

lemons and you're not charging enough. So

30:38

earnings matter investors. It's

30:40

like you want companies the same

30:42

thing. You want to identify companies that are

30:45

making money every quarter, preferably

30:48

consistently because they have great

30:51

management teams who can manage

30:53

that growth. And companies

30:56

that grow quarter after quarter, year after year,

30:59

they're gonna increase in value because there

31:01

should be some relationship between

31:03

their earnings growth in their stock price.

31:07

Yeah, and I think it's important to point out

31:09

too, is that even if you're not investing

31:11

in individual companies like in

31:14

these index funds, these

31:16

individual companies are still in these

31:18

funds, and there are more and

31:20

more specialized funds

31:23

coming out that people are wanting to get

31:25

into, like the marijuana funds or

31:27

the sustainable energy funds or whatever

31:30

whatever. Um So it's

31:32

still a good idea if that's kind of something

31:34

you want to get into, not necessarily single

31:36

company, but like more niche

31:39

funds to do this too. It's not like

31:41

a requirement, but but yeah, it's

31:43

definitely something that we don't talk about a

31:45

lot. Yeah, we talked about the choice. I mean, it's

31:47

like probably a great time to be an

31:49

investor. But it's a double edged sword

31:51

too, because there's so many choices you

31:53

can be paralyzed in

31:56

trying to do analysis and understand. But

31:58

um yeah, just one quick Even with

32:01

like SMP five hundred as

32:03

an index, you can still

32:05

look at the earning. So you can go to Standard

32:07

and Poors dot com and they publish

32:10

like a quarterly earnings

32:13

estimate for like I think the next two years

32:15

plus the past, and the earnings

32:17

matter. You'll see that if you were to actually take

32:19

the time to plot the earnings.

32:23

When the earnings like decelerate,

32:26

usually it coincides with the recession and

32:29

then there's a stock market correction. So earnings

32:31

matter even for the if

32:33

you're looking at one company, but it even

32:35

applies to the five hundred companies

32:38

as a group. Yep. Yeah, always

32:40

say I always take a look at like the

32:43

five, ten, and thirty year

32:45

growth. So and that's

32:48

one of the reasons why I didn't

32:50

switch over to Fidelity when they introduced

32:53

those zero fee funds, because like they're

32:55

into all like most index funds are

32:57

proprietary, so they're not exactly the

33:00

index that they're tracking. So it's

33:02

like I want to have that five,

33:05

ten, thirty year track

33:07

to be able to look back to you to see

33:10

the earnings. Yeah,

33:12

I don't know, that's just my own like personal

33:14

preference. I don't know if that's like recommended.

33:17

That's good that you're doing your homework. And

33:20

Andrew to move on to the next question from

33:22

one of our listeners, Heidi. She wants

33:24

to know what a backdoor roth

33:27

is. She says that a lot of people recommend

33:29

a roth ira over a traditional

33:31

ira, but she's hurt. There are some limitations

33:34

on the wroth, so she doesn't have one. She has

33:36

a traditional But what are your thoughts

33:38

on that? Yeah, this one's a pretty

33:41

advanced subject. Okay,

33:45

I think I

33:47

think a lot of people don't even know about a

33:49

backdoor roth. And

33:51

it's a little bit uh.

33:53

I wouldn't say controversial, but it's

33:56

it's kind of a loophole that exists

33:58

today. Way air the

34:01

roth ira phases

34:03

out depending on how much

34:05

money you have, Like there are income

34:07

limits. So in two thousand eighteen, if

34:10

you're modified adjusted gross income

34:13

is a hundred thirty five thousand dollars if you're single,

34:16

or if it's a thousand

34:18

for a married couple. Filing

34:20

jointly, then you

34:23

cannot contribute to a roth ira.

34:26

And the difference between the rath and

34:28

the traditional is that the rath

34:31

you're paying the taxes when

34:33

you're funding it, so you're you're paying taxes

34:36

up front with the idea

34:39

that over time you're

34:41

going to grow it, and when

34:43

you take the money out, you already paid your

34:45

taxes. So the longer runway

34:47

that you have as an investor, it

34:50

makes sense to pay the taxes up

34:52

front. Hopefully you don't

34:54

have like a super high tax bracket right

34:56

now, so you're paying a lower tax bracket,

34:59

and then the funds in the rath appreciate

35:02

over time, so say thirty years

35:04

from now, that money is tax free essentially

35:06

because you paid your taxes already

35:09

um whereas the traditional

35:11

ira it's a tax

35:14

deferred investment and you're not paying

35:16

the taxes until later. So

35:18

thirty years from now, again you're

35:21

making the assumption that it's appreciated

35:23

a significant amount, and now you

35:25

have to pay taxes on that appreciated

35:28

amount. So the back door wrath is

35:31

away. If your income level

35:33

is too high and you cannot

35:36

fund a roth ira but you

35:38

want to, the back door is a way to

35:40

do it, and what

35:42

you're doing is you're funding

35:44

a traditional ira and

35:47

then you're converting it

35:49

into a roth ira. And so

35:51

I've seen people who use this

35:54

because they're making more

35:56

than the hundred thirty five dollars. The

35:59

thing is the if you have an

36:01

ira that's already funded, it

36:04

makes it much more difficult to do this conversion.

36:08

Ideally, you don't have an

36:10

ira that has money in it, and

36:12

then each year you're you're

36:14

taking your IRA that's at zero,

36:17

you put the money in that you're that you

36:19

want to go into the rath and

36:21

then you're doing this conversion. But

36:24

it's it's a little comple it's complicated.

36:26

It's a little bit complex, not

36:29

terrible, but I would say that

36:31

for those who are looking to do this,

36:34

they should consult like a tax

36:36

expert just to make sure that they're

36:39

doing it correctly. And

36:42

if you're going to do it, you should also know that

36:44

it's kind of a loophole right now that

36:46

exists that allows you to do this, and

36:50

you know, the tax regulations could change

36:53

in the future. You don't know what's going to happen,

36:56

um, but you know it's it's

36:58

something that people are doing. UM.

37:01

I think a couple of years ago, I was reading about it,

37:03

and the article that I read

37:05

was saying, well, you know you can do it,

37:07

it's definitely legal. But they're

37:10

like, you know, you don't even want to be that public about

37:13

publishing that you So I

37:15

don't know. I guess it depends, but

37:17

certainly there are people. There are enough people doing

37:19

it that I think it's safe to do. Yeah,

37:22

I will never need to do a backdoor wrath,

37:24

um just based

37:26

on income. Based

37:28

on income, I don't believe

37:31

I will ever need to consider a backdoor

37:34

wrath. But this is I do have

37:36

a regular roth ira. Yes,

37:40

I do love that because I have a

37:43

nice, steady average

37:45

tax bracket. Yeah. And I think

37:47

there are many people when making the decision whether

37:50

to put it in a traditional wrath or

37:53

the traditional ira or

37:55

the rath, it's like, is

37:57

it better to pay the taxes up front? And

38:01

I think for most, because you're assuming that

38:03

it's going to grow over time, it's like better

38:05

to pay now. But it's

38:08

not clear cut, like you don't know how

38:10

things are going to play out, so

38:12

usually people sort of take

38:15

like, you know, you take a balanced

38:17

approach. It's like, all right, I'm going to fund my

38:19

traditional IRA, I'm gonna fund

38:21

my roth IRA. In

38:24

that way, You're you're funding both

38:26

buckets, and that's

38:28

like the that's taking the average.

38:30

Like you're like, well, I don't know how it's going to end

38:32

up at retirement, but I'll

38:35

kind of do a little bit of both, take a balanced

38:37

approach, and then when

38:39

you get there, hopefully, um, you know it

38:42

worked out. Yeah, I

38:44

only I mean, I since I

38:46

do contribute to the four oh one K and

38:48

that's so close to a traditional IRA,

38:51

I like max out way roth

38:54

IRA because and I feel good about doing that because

38:56

I'm like tax bracket,

38:59

well, we're according this in two um,

39:02

and I mean it may not be good for everyone,

39:05

but like I feel good about it. Like I feel

39:07

like that's a a small enough

39:09

tax bracket to make the tax

39:11

benefits of the rathire a work for me

39:14

totally. That's a solid strategy. You're

39:16

fully funding your four ow n K, and then

39:18

you're fully funding your roth

39:21

IRA because you're willing to pay

39:23

the taxes. And then retirement,

39:26

hopefully it grew a lot and

39:28

you don't have to pay taxes anymore on the

39:31

rath and then also, um,

39:33

you'll never have to take minimum required

39:35

distributions out of the roth. So

39:37

if you if you are lucky enough

39:40

to want to pass that

39:42

on to your beneficiary someday,

39:45

you're not being forced to take money out of it and pay

39:47

taxes on it, which which is the

39:49

case with a traditional IRA. After

39:52

age seventy and a half, you have to take money

39:54

out and pay the taxes. The government

39:56

wants their taxes. But

39:59

if I won the Mega Millions later

40:02

in life, then I could just pay

40:04

that, I live off that, and I would not have to

40:06

use my wrath bui array, that's correct,

40:08

and then you could pass that on to your beneficiaries

40:12

and that one you can count on. You

40:14

most likely will never need a backdoor wrath.

40:17

But the win in the Mega Millions,

40:19

yeah, that's going to happen. Good for you. It's

40:22

part of my financial plan. So

40:26

yeah, it seated a billion.

40:29

I bought three tickets, one for each of my

40:31

kids, and we we

40:34

won nothing. Then

40:36

when it hit one point six billion, I was

40:38

like, I still want to have just you

40:41

know, a little skin in the game, but I'll just buy one

40:43

ticket this time. I don't need three, but

40:46

not really increasing my chances one

40:49

of your kids one Like what if one

40:51

of them won, how do you did

40:53

they agree to share? Like or

40:56

it's not like an office pool, so they

40:59

didn't even know that they have good

41:02

Okay, that's the best. If

41:05

we had any winnings, it would have been like a family,

41:08

good family event.

41:11

Bought in their name, not bought for them.

41:14

There's a difference. Always

41:17

the best best allowed

41:19

to buy it in their name since they're minors

41:22

in their honor, in their honor. There

41:24

you go. Yes, well,

41:27

I was hoping that it would be a college fund, but no

41:30

such luck this time. Maybe

41:32

next time we'll

41:35

see. Okay, So moving on to our next

41:37

question. So Abby says

41:40

she has no clue about investing,

41:42

and hopefully the first half of this episode cleared

41:44

up some of those things. Um, but

41:46

she also wants to know what's

41:49

the best way to start on a super tight

41:51

budget, and soon she'll be quitting

41:53

her job to work for herself,

41:55

so she also wants to know what's the best option

41:57

for investing once she does that too, which

42:00

I'm sure she'll start on a super

42:02

tight budget there too. Yeah, those

42:04

are there are a couple of questions packed into

42:06

there. I think that and we

42:08

covered a little bit right Because if you're

42:10

clueless about investing. The benefit

42:12

I think, in my opinion, the biggest benefit of

42:15

investing is that even

42:17

though investing in stocks

42:19

and bonds, if you're doing bonds, those are

42:21

risk assets, so there's good you have to expect some

42:24

volatility and there is risk,

42:27

but you win because of the

42:29

compound interest growth.

42:32

And when you can do that, if you can

42:35

compound your money, whether it's

42:37

five percent or eight percent, if you're

42:39

lucky, it's double digits UM

42:42

over the years, that is really

42:44

powerful. I mean, that's how that's

42:46

why whenever you hear these examples

42:48

about the earlier you start investing

42:51

into your flour oh one k, the better and the

42:53

more you contribute over time, by

42:56

the time you retire, you can have you

42:58

know, way over a million dollar dollars. It's

43:00

because of that compounding. That's

43:02

a powerful thing, and that's why you want

43:04

to consider investing UM.

43:07

Just like with trying to make the decision whether

43:10

you should be contributing to the traditional IRA

43:12

or the wrath IRA. I think it's a balanced

43:15

approach. Right, Even if you're on a tight budget,

43:17

you might not have a lot of funds to invest,

43:20

but you can invest a little bit, you

43:22

know, you do what you can. I mean, you have to

43:24

make some choices on what

43:26

money are you applying towards credit

43:29

cards or student loan debt um.

43:32

But I think a balance approach is usually a good

43:34

one, and that if you can afford to

43:37

invest a little bit, even if it's a small percentage,

43:40

it's good to get into

43:42

that habit and be in the game of

43:45

that that you're thinking about it. Right, Like I

43:48

said, um, building habits. It's like you're

43:50

you're reviewing your budget. You want to review

43:52

your investments. And even if you're just doing like

43:55

one percent or two percent, that's

43:57

okay, or just whatever start

44:00

you can do. It just becomes part

44:02

of your process and something that you're

44:04

doing on a regular basis. And

44:06

earlier you start, the better. So if

44:09

you can afford to do it, get

44:12

started today, m m, and then

44:14

nice. Yeah, just even those small

44:17

steps. I think it can be such a barrier to say,

44:19

well, I don't have enough money and maybe when

44:21

I when I'm older, maybe when i'm And that's how

44:23

you get into your forties, fifties, sixties

44:25

having not really done anything. It's

44:27

like, oh geez, But if I would have started

44:31

and done what I could have and then not touched

44:33

it. Yeah, people

44:35

think they have like so much time before

44:38

retirement, but like, if you just think about it a

44:40

little bit now, then

44:42

you don't have to think about it as much later down the

44:44

road. Yeah, every penny counts.

44:47

Every penny. Yeah, every penny.

44:49

And then the part two of her question, if she's

44:52

going to be leaving her job soon to be

44:54

an entrepreneur and start her own business, then

44:58

it's going to become her response ability to

45:00

set up some kind of retirement

45:03

plan. And I don't know if she's going to be a solo preneurs

45:06

or eventually have employees, but

45:09

um, you know, there are a few options beyond

45:12

the roth IRA and traditional IRA

45:14

that we talked about. There's a sep

45:17

I RA, there's a solo four oh one

45:19

K, there's a cash balanced pension

45:21

fund, and a simple IRA.

45:24

So not to confuse

45:27

her with even more choices, but I would

45:29

say that when she starts her business, it's

45:31

usually a time that's super busy. Right.

45:34

Trying to set up a business is not easy,

45:36

and you're usually trying to figure out

45:38

how am I going to make

45:41

money and make this profitable and make

45:44

sure that I'm going to have my company

45:46

survived that like first year, because

45:48

so many don't. UM, So

45:52

oftentimes this retirement plan

45:54

is something that gets put on the back burner. But keep

45:57

it in mind that you know it's worth

45:59

doing because you have to pay taxes

46:02

and as a business owner, there

46:04

are benefits to having a retirement

46:07

plan that you're saving taxes

46:09

for yourself and you're also saving taxes for

46:11

the business. And if

46:14

you can save some money going

46:16

back to frugal friends, right, that's

46:18

going to help your company be

46:21

as profitable as you can.

46:24

So it can be

46:26

really complex. I'll just say that I think

46:28

that the simple four oh one k uh,

46:31

if it's like a solo preneur or

46:33

working with a spouse, usually works

46:35

really well. Um And

46:38

it's sort of a it's somewhat of a newer thing

46:40

over the sep I rara,

46:43

which has been around longer and is super

46:45

well used among business

46:48

owners and sort of contract workers.

46:51

But the simple four oh one k I think is worth looking

46:54

at because there are some benefits.

46:56

You're not only contributing as

46:59

the employee, but you're also contributing

47:01

as the employer, So I think that you can

47:03

get some benefits

47:05

for not only you as the owner

47:08

but also for the company. Uh

47:10

So, talk to a fee only advisor if you

47:12

can, because he

47:14

or she can help make some of those comparisons

47:17

and understand what your company looks

47:19

like and what your needs are. See what makes

47:21

sense? Yeah, excellent,

47:24

nice Andrew. One last question

47:26

from our listeners, and this one's from Lauren.

47:29

She says she hears financial bloggers and

47:31

podcasters talk about saving eighteen

47:33

tho dollars into their retirement account,

47:36

and that's half her annual take

47:38

home pay, so she puts in about

47:40

four percent for the company match other

47:43

than the obvious of finding

47:45

a better being job. What can

47:48

she do and how much should she put

47:50

in so she can sleep at night knowing

47:52

she'll be able to retire. Yeah,

47:57

super good question. And again

47:59

I think it's a good question because it means that she's

48:01

paying attention to this, which

48:04

is more than half the battle. I mean,

48:07

too many of us just don't pay

48:09

attention and ignore like our

48:11

personal finances entirely, So so

48:14

kudos to her for that. UM.

48:17

On my podcast Inspired Money, I've talked

48:19

to a lot of different guests

48:21

who I don't know how they do it, but

48:24

they've been able to save like of

48:27

their paycheck and max

48:30

out retirement accounts and

48:32

pay down debt. It's it's

48:34

really amazing how they do

48:36

that. But yeah, I think my advice

48:39

is really just again it's like, it's

48:41

great that she's taking advantage

48:43

of her company match. That's huge. That's

48:45

free money. And then it's

48:48

a matter of like for anybody's

48:50

personal finances, there are two sides. It's like you

48:52

can either make more or you can

48:54

spend less. And you

48:57

know, I think frugal friends, you're trying

48:59

to look at both sides, right, but you're trying to like

49:01

save cost where you can. And

49:04

when you look at those two sides, it's like it

49:07

comes down to the budgeting. I think that

49:10

they talk about like zero what is it? It's

49:12

like zero budgeting whereby

49:16

Yeah, so that like you're looking at

49:19

next month and you're trying to allocate every

49:21

expected dollar and where it's going to

49:23

go. So if you can spend less

49:26

and I don't know if you can make

49:28

more, whatever that combination works

49:30

out to be. But then within

49:33

your allocation, you're figuring out can you

49:35

suck more into the floor? Ow k um,

49:38

how how can you actually make that happen?

49:40

Because you can see where is it where

49:43

is it going to come from? But yeah, I think

49:45

balanced approach, try to figure if you

49:47

can map it out, then at least it gives

49:49

you some clarity in

49:51

an idea, like how are you going to make

49:53

it happen? I think you can be more strategic

49:56

that way. Yeah, we've personally

49:58

made a commitment to like

50:01

spending less and making more money so

50:03

that we can max out um

50:06

at least one for oh one k in our house

50:08

and and we do not make I don't

50:11

make much more than you learn

50:13

and make a very average American

50:16

median household income um.

50:18

But I know that, Like, I'm

50:21

twenty nine, and this is the best,

50:23

literal best time to invest

50:26

because I have so much time for compound interest.

50:28

So I would rather make it a priority

50:30

now to cut back.

50:32

And just like with paying off debt, people already think

50:34

about this, I'd rather make the commitment

50:37

now and take the sacrifices now to

50:39

not let that bad interest, uh

50:42

you know, roll up and compound.

50:44

It's the same with investing. I would rather uh

50:47

save now and give

50:50

time for the good interest to compound, you

50:52

know. That way, when I have kids or want to travel

50:54

more or work less, I don't

50:57

have to worry as much about that

51:00

I can afford to put less into

51:02

the four oh one k or I ra a yeah,

51:04

And then I think that, you know, it goes

51:06

back to what we were saying that, like costs

51:08

keep being driven down and

51:11

like there's so many choices. Because just

51:13

last week in the headlines there's talk about

51:16

and I can't remember, I think it's Wealthfront is

51:18

offering free financial planning,

51:21

and there is sort of buzz in the industry

51:23

like what does this mean to advisors?

51:26

Are they using it as a loss leader? But

51:28

I think for the investor that what

51:30

you can read into it is that there

51:33

are a lot of choices coming online. And

51:35

if she wants to figure out how

51:37

is she going to be able to reach her

51:40

goals in retirement, that's part of it. It's

51:42

doing the planning, trying to do some

51:44

projections on you know, what

51:46

your income levels are, what you're projected

51:49

expenses are. You sort of reverse

51:51

engineer and say what kind of investment

51:53

returns annually do I need? So

51:56

she can look into some of those things. If she googles

51:58

like free financial planning, just

52:01

see what comes up and try

52:03

to decide if that's an option worth pursuing.

52:05

Or not. That's

52:08

brand new. That was just headline this

52:10

week. I think that's crazy. I'll

52:13

have to look into that. Yeah, you might be able to

52:15

get a free financial plan. I don't know what. I'm

52:18

try it out just to see what it entails.

52:21

Rightly, Guinea Pig,

52:24

that's how you learn that. I love that's

52:26

how you find out. So all

52:28

right, Andrew, thanks so much for coming on. What

52:31

can we expect from Inspired

52:33

Money, your podcast about investing

52:36

in retirement? What can you expect?

52:38

A great question. I think that my

52:41

goal, even though I'm a financial advisor,

52:44

is not to deliver a podcast

52:46

that is super boring and dry. Um.

52:49

So that's why I went with Inspired Money.

52:51

I have a lot of fun with it. Every week I invite different

52:53

guests on. We keep it

52:55

very fun and casual, and we do

52:58

talk a little bit about money, but we also talk talk

53:00

about things like purpose and

53:02

meaning and happiness because

53:06

it's just really fun talking to people

53:08

from all different sort of occupations

53:10

and jobs, but they have some level

53:12

of success, so trying to get some insight into

53:16

what drives them, what motivates them.

53:18

And I say Inspired Money

53:20

means building something or giving

53:22

it all away to make the world a better

53:24

place. So I talked to entrepreneurs, I talked

53:27

to artists, I talked to I'll talk to anybody authors.

53:30

That's fantastic, But you

53:32

know, it's like you get a little money tip out of it, but

53:34

really it's interesting people with interesting

53:37

stories. And hopefully

53:40

the goal is to if I

53:42

can inspire someone with positive

53:45

money stories, it will increase the chances

53:47

that they'll actually look at their four ohne k

53:50

or open their statement. Isn't

53:53

that always the case? You know, you think you're just going to

53:55

talk about money, but there's so much more. We are

53:58

whole people and we bring all of

54:00

ourselves into what we do. So

54:02

of course this is going to impact

54:04

every other area of life, and it can be

54:06

fun and it doesn't have to be scari or daunting.

54:09

And yeah, it's great that you're opening

54:11

up that conversation too in the platform that

54:13

you're doing it. It's that's great. Yeah,

54:16

I'm having fun, and um, I'm learning

54:18

a lot, so I figure I'm enjoying

54:20

it. I learned something. I hope that some listeners

54:23

will come along for the ride. And um,

54:25

yeah it's been good, awesome, excellent,

54:28

Yeah, thanks so much, Andrew. We've enjoyed

54:30

having you. You've given us a lot of really great

54:32

content. I made notes for myself, so that's

54:35

saying something awesome. Thank

54:37

you Jill, Thank you John, Thanks for having me, and

54:39

thanks thanks for including me among

54:42

your frugal friends. Yes, I'm always

54:45

take care cool. Thanks By.

54:51

Well that was fantastic, jen Uh.

54:54

Like I said, I took a lot of notes for myself.

54:56

Maybe they'll make it in the show notes. Maybe they won't.

54:59

I don't know there me, but

55:02

anyhow, there's more to be

55:04

gained from us frugal friends here. It's

55:06

November. It's the first day of November

55:08

actually for us as a record, we are

55:11

reading The More of Less by Joshua

55:13

Becker for our monthly book

55:15

club. And I'm so excited our

55:18

next book. We already have a decided look at

55:20

us. We're such future thinkers. Our

55:23

next book in December will be The Millionaire

55:25

next Door for those of you who might need to start

55:27

putting that on hold at your local library. That's

55:30

by Thomas J. Stanley, and

55:32

the book is a compilation of research done

55:34

by millions or on millionaires

55:37

that found that they don't necessarily show

55:39

up where they where we think that they will or

55:41

buy the things that we assume that

55:43

they might be buying. It's a must

55:46

read in the Frugal Book Club, so join

55:49

us in reading the More

55:51

of Less, but also be looking forward to that next

55:53

book in December. Yes awesome.

55:57

And if you want to win

56:00

yourself a copy of The Millionaire next

56:02

Door, we're actually giving away one

56:05

for every five reviews we get

56:07

in November. No limit. So

56:11

to enter, leave a review on your podcast

56:13

listening device, screenshot

56:16

it and send it to Frugal

56:19

Friends podcast at gmail dot

56:21

com and we will pick one. And

56:24

if you want an example of

56:26

a good review again, it

56:28

looks like five stars. Um, all

56:30

of them are yellow or orange depending

56:33

on how you see those stars, but all

56:35

of them are are colored in. And

56:39

this one comes to us from

56:42

h Baron and she

56:44

says, y'all need to tour, which

56:47

I agree. Friends

56:50

Podcasts is an entertaining and informative

56:53

show that just feels like you're chatting with some old

56:55

pals. I don't have a lot of friends

56:58

I can discuss my debt free journey with, so it's fun

57:00

to listen to y'all. Y'all have made

57:03

commutes and runs more enjoyable

57:05

and efficient. If you're ever in the Houston area.

57:08

You've got a friend in me signed

57:10

Dr debt Free. Yes, yes,

57:14

what do you think Jen? Let's do it?

57:16

Just because Dr debt Free said we should,

57:18

let's start tour in Houston. Yeah.

57:21

I love the use of y'all too, because

57:24

I need in my life. Oh

57:27

my gosh, that's exactly what we're going

57:29

for. And so if you feel like

57:31

we're hitting the nail on the head, please

57:34

leave us a review so that other people know

57:36

what the show is about and they know if it's

57:38

for them or not. So thank

57:41

you so much for hanging out with us today. Hit

57:43

that subscribe button if you like it, and

57:46

turn it off if you don't. So right

57:52

regard, you're not victims regardless.

57:55

We're coming at you every Friday

57:57

with more approval goodness, So until

57:59

not next week, I'll feed

58:01

us in see U. Frugal

58:05

Friends is produced, edited and mixed by

58:07

Eric Sirian. Did

58:18

you just speak German? Yeah?

58:21

I did? Oh my goodness,

58:23

that was so really

58:26

it came naturally. Wow.

58:30

My maiden name is German. I saw

58:32

it happened through the screen

58:34

as I talked to you, and I was like, WHOA.

58:37

I also gave a salute is

58:39

nobody could say I be is

58:43

multilingual saluting,

58:46

right. I gave a politically correct salute, not

58:48

like the other kind of German salute. I

58:51

don't think about that. I gave Yeah,

58:55

whether you're cute, little side pony,

58:58

I was just gonna say, i'll cute your bangs are today,

59:02

thank you. Yeah.

59:05

Sometimes we gotta get

59:07

in some of that dry shampoo so I

59:09

can make my not showering

59:12

not so noticeable. You know, I mean, you mean

59:14

that cinnamon and cornstarch. Yeah,

59:17

buddy, that

59:20

d I Y dry shampoo.