Picture yourself stranded on a highway due to a car breakdown. Sounds like a nightmare, right? In our latest episode, we take you on a journey where we share our personal experiences and insights on how basic car maintenance can save you from such unforeseen mishaps and unnecessary expenses. We turn the intimidating task of changing the car oil into a simple task that anyone can do with the right tools and knowledge.
We're not just about cars though. We explore the power of networking and the role it plays in enriching your personal and professional life. We also dive into the financial aspects of owning versus renting a home, addressing current high-interest rates, and potential savings over the course of 30 years. Imagine saving up to $400,000 just by renting? Yes, it's possible and we discuss how!
In the latter part of our discussion, we delve into the importance of relationships. A strong network of friends not only adds color to our lives but also provides immense support during challenging times. And to lighten the mood, we bring you the heartening story of 'Fat Bear Week'. It's a captivating tale from Anchorage, Alaska about the competition between bears Chunk and Grazer. Join us on this journey filled with practical insights and heartwarming stories. Trust us, it's going to be a ride you won't forget!
Picture yourself stranded on a highway due to a car breakdown. Sounds like a nightmare, right? In our latest episode, we take you on a journey where we share our personal experiences and insights on how basic car maintenance can save you from such unforeseen mishaps and unnecessary expenses. We turn the intimidating task of changing the car oil into a simple task that anyone can do with the right tools and knowledge.
We're not just about cars though. We explore the power of networking and the role it plays in enriching your personal and professional life. We also dive into the financial aspects of owning versus renting a home, addressing current high-interest rates, and potential savings over the course of 30 years. Imagine saving up to $400,000 just by renting? Yes, it's possible and we discuss how!
In the latter part of our discussion, we delve into the importance of relationships. A strong network of friends not only adds color to our lives but also provides immense support during challenging times. And to lighten the mood, we bring you the heartening story of 'Fat Bear Week'. It's a captivating tale from Anchorage, Alaska about the competition between bears Chunk and Grazer. Join us on this journey filled with practical insights and heartwarming stories. Trust us, it's going to be a ride you won't forget!
Today on the Idiots Guide, we are talking about even more adulting topics. Have you gotten tired of this yet? No, no, no, we still have like 400 to go, cause AI is pretty smart. I hear well, actually I hear other that it's not that smart, and even more so that I'm not even as smart as AI. So that, what does that make us? This is kind of depressing all of a sudden, anyway, and you know, chunk, chunk no, I'm not calling you that, joe, I'm sorry, but chunk is a great name if you're fat shaming, but on the most watched Alaskan Fat Bear Reality TV show, chunk was recently unseated.
Adam Richardson:I'm your host, Adam Richardson, aka the Profit Hacker, and I'm joined by the man in charge, Mr. Joe Haslam. Welcome to the Idiots Guide, all right. Well, joe, I think that you know, over the last couple episodes that we've had, we've covered some pretty serious topics, not really, but really I mean they're good topics. I mean so much so that, like the last episode, like we like slogged through three of them for a whole nearly an hour. I was just like, oh, this is excruciating. So to our listener out there, which I mean we just saw this morning, actually listened. So you know, we're gonna try to make it through a few more. I'm not even gonna set a goal because I don't wanna like, I don't feel like that's appropriate. I don't wanna get your hopes up or mine, and so we're gonna work through these and hopefully we make some good progress. You know, maybe it'll surprise me and we'll exceed the goal that I mentally have right now.
Joe Haslam:Oh see, you've set a number for yourself. That is as much as we're going to get through. Whether you say it out loud or not, I guarantee you that is as many as we're gonna get through, no more no less Make it, I'll smile, I'll smile, it's fine, I'm good.
Adam Richardson:But if we don't, I'll be mad.
Joe Haslam:So can't do anything about it. Well, don't tell me the number. That'll destroy us for sure.
Adam Richardson:Okay, so, without further ado, I think that we can jump right into this, unless there's you wanna add to what we were talking about last week, just so that it can elongate the topics that we spoke of last week.
Joe Haslam:No, I think we have thoroughly reviewed the AI overlords. First eight topics and then we can go on to the next ones. You're right it is eight.
Adam Richardson:Yeah, yeah. I can remember sometimes I had to take my shoes off to count that high. There you go. So all right guys. Well, number what would be nine. At each episode I'm kind of saying one, two, skip a few 99. Anyway, number nine is basic car maintenance. Learn how to change a tire, check the oil and top off fluids.
Joe Haslam:This is so important. So years ago I decided, okay, we're gonna go really cheap and we're just gonna get a really cheap car for my commuter car I don't go very far, you know, it's just to work and back. So we were looking for Toyota Tercels. Okay, so, really cheap, really inexpensive, good mileage car. Well, we got it from my wife's sister and her then husband and so we thought, okay, this is a great deal. So we bought it for, I think, like a thousand bucks.
Joe Haslam:It was an older one and here I was assuming that they had properly maintained this car. Well, about maybe a month after buying it I'm heading up a hill here in the valley and about halfway up the hill the car just dies and it's not going anywhere, it's not doing anything, it just dies. Well, come to find out, the engine seized because they had never done an oil change on that vehicle and I only had it for a month. I didn't think I needed to. I figured this is family, this is a family of mechanics, they would know to do that. No, they did not maintain it. So I got a month out of this $1,000 Tercel.
Adam Richardson:I had. I think it was roughly the same. It was about two, maybe about 2,500, for a Ford Taurus. It was nice, I really liked it. It's still like probably one of the most comfortable seats I've ever driven in. So I don't even think that they had that, that they make Ford Tauruses anymore. I don't know, this was about 2010 when I had it, but it was newer, but it wasn't that new. It was like a maybe like a 2004 Ford Taurus. So it's decent Transmission gone in like two months gone.
Adam Richardson:I'm like dead in the intersection. I was like what happened? Like just dropped all the gears and nothing. I was stuck. It would start but it would not go anywhere. It's like you'd run through shift and nothing. You wouldn't. It wouldn't catch a single gear. I was like how does that even happen? So I ended up having to just get rid of it because I was like there's one At that point in my life I was, my wife was living in another state, I was living here and, yeah, it was just a giant nightmare. But I was curious because what you guys add was the Toyota Tercel. That is the male of a hawk, especially a peregrine or a ghost, ghost, hawk, ghost, shock, ghost, hawk, ghost. I don't know how you say that gauze, hawk. Anyway, I was just curious about that. That was more of a rabbit trail in my brain solidified onto my computer.
Joe Haslam:Well, there you go.
Joe Haslam:But yeah, that's why it's so important, because if you are not maintaining your vehicles, you will end up being stranded, guaranteed, and there are not always situations where you're going to have the ability to have someone else maintain it. So you think about oil changes. That's probably the most complex thing to do yourself is an oil change, but I mean, it's not too difficult. You just gotta make sure you lift it up. You've got all the blocks and everything under it and you can do the oil change. You want to check your fluids? Do all that stuff while you're doing the oil change.
Joe Haslam:A lot of the other things, thinking about changing a tire. So I have had two situations where I've had tires blow while traveling somewhere. Once was on a major freeway, another one was on an interstate highway, and so it was the middle of nowhere. I think it was in Oregon when the tire blew. I can't remember exactly where I was. I was going from Utah to Washington, I just know that. And somewhere along that route, in a little little tiny town, tire blew and you've got to know how to change that tire, you've got to have the equipment to change that tire. Now, at that time I didn't, because I was 22 and I should have had everything.
Adam Richardson:I'll just flex and people down. They can help pick up the car and wheel it this way.
Joe Haslam:Yeah, exactly. And so I had to pay for the tow truck. I had to pay for, yeah, a lot of extra stuff because I just I couldn't do it myself. Yeah, yeah, which is ironic because this was a few years after my dad and I had rebuilt a Ford F-250 for me to drive. So I knew how to do the entire drivetrain, I knew how to replace an engine, I knew how to connect the engine to the transmission. We replaced it with a 350 big block. Well, we did all this stuff. You know the one thing he never taught me how to do Change a tire. Yeah, so I could repair the entire truck, but I couldn't change a tire.
Adam Richardson:I mean, if all else, if you don't have any knowledge about doing it every single vehicle manual. We'll show you how to do that. And also, you have a smartphone in your pocket, yeah, so you can access the internet. Type in change a tire and you will have a tutorial video from start to finish, and it'll even tell you where your tire is located, because some people don't know, some people.
Adam Richardson:Hey guys, the easiest thing is, if it's a car, it's in the trunk yeah, there's nowhere else it's gonna go. And if it is a minivan, sometimes the minivans they have a central compartment, but most often they're right underneath, the very back of the vehicle. Suvs are very similar to that. Trucks are too. Now here's a note for trucks and SUVs If, for some reason, you have a bigger tire let's say you get all terrains and these are not very big tires, just normally a little bit bigger than your average tire it's always best to have a full-size spare, because you have a full-size rim that comes with that. It is not a spare tire like the cars get the little donut, okay. The reason for that is because of the vehicle weight. So if you have something that is not the same size as your other tires, you are going to screw up everything else of your vehicle, suspension-wise to steering-wise. So you really want to make sure, if you're changing tires, your spare has the same change as well.
Joe Haslam:Yeah, yeah, and I mean you always wanna make sure. So all of my girls except for one know how to change tires the one we're still trying to get her to even get a license but they all know how to change tires. They know what maintenance to do. They're all great. Now they'll still call me, if they're close by, to do it for them, because that's just who they are. Because now you know.
Joe Haslam:Yeah and so it's. But that's an important thing that you need to know. When you turn your car on the sounds that it makes, the things that happen. It's important to know is it battery? Is it alternator? Is it is the sound or the smell of the leak? Is it oil? Is it transmission? All of these things are indicators of what's wrong with your vehicle to know. Okay, this is how to diagnose it. Now, computers nowadays, or cars nowadays you can take it to the auto zone and they'll do the free checkup for you with the little device. You can even buy the device on your own. But all these things help you to know what's wrong with your vehicle.
Joe Haslam:And even and to your point of looking it up online my daughter's truck. We just got her a truck. It's a used truck. It had a check engine light about two weeks after bringing it home, so we go to auto zone, get it checked out. We couldn't tell if there was anything wrong with it. It idled hard when she would turn left, and so we take it in, get the quick check. And it was a camshaft sensor right side, because they're in her truck there too, and so I've never had to replace a camshaft sensor. Position sensor. That's what it's camshaft position sensor and so I've never had to do that Again. I know trucks pretty well. I rebuilt one at 17, but I'd never had to replace that specific part, so I just went online, looked it up how do you replace it on this truck? Youtube video it was great showed me everything Went in, got it replaced in about five, 10 minutes Wow, and so it's just. I think a lot of things is just having confidence to be able to go in and do it.
Adam Richardson:I was a mechanic. So prior to serving in the military and going overseas, that was my job. That's all I did. I took two years straight of auto mechanics in high school and I would have taken three, except for they don't allow it so and I graduated early. So it was the two years my sophomore and junior year, my senior year I was a class aide in the class. I was never there, I was always over at my friend playing 007. So you know that's he had to tell me he's like you gotta at least show up, just like once a week and I was like, okay, once a week you'll, I'll be here.
Adam Richardson:But I mean, like we did crazy things. We welded engines to grocery carts and drove around the parking lot, you know like little little go carts out of like the craziest things, getting chased by the on-campus police officer because we have made something illegal and they're trying to catch us, you know. But that's, that was fun. We would. We would melt snow with gasoline support on, light it up.
Joe Haslam:And you know I am not. I do not look like a mechanic. I mean you think you see in your mind, when you say the word mechanic, you see a typical image of a mechanic. I am the guy who walks around with really soft hands because I make sure they're always lotioned. I am probably the most fru-fru guy in this office and when I do the repairs on vehicles that need to be done, I'm wearing my button-up shirt and you know I don't know if it's appropriate for me to be like no, no, you're not Joe.
Adam Richardson:You know like, is that kissing up?
Joe Haslam:But I am, I, I, I, I you know, and growing up, my dad's mechanic, my brother's a mechanic, my father-in-law's a mechanic, my brother-in-law's a mechanic. Everyone in the family is a mechanic. But I can still go out there and get what needs to be done. Whether I'm wearing my button-up shirt and my black shoes, my black work shoes, or, if you know I'm, I look like a mechanic.
Adam Richardson:Yeah.
Joe Haslam:Or if I am a mechanic. That that's the important thing here is, just because you're a fru-fru guy doesn't mean you can't do this work. Just because you're a girl doesn't mean you can't do this work. There are a lot of stereotypes to these kinds of things, yeah.
Adam Richardson:And I think that you know some of the basic, like upkeep stuff is is really essential If you're going to own a vehicle. It's super helpful. I don't like changing oil. I know how to. Yeah, that's the thing.
Adam Richardson:So I go and get the oil change packages from places, right, and I walk in and they check all my fluids so I'm like I don't have to worry about it. I just look at the sticker and compare the mileage and say I'm ready to go back, that's it. So I follow instructions very clearly and but if I had to, if I didn't have that, that oil change package, then I would probably change my own oil. I know how to. But I think you're right In the sense of, like the most complicated, a non-mechanic minded individual, just a car driver person, you know Probably. I mean, getting to the oil plug is one thing, knowing what an oil plug is is the next, but also it's not stripping it, making sure you put it in before you put oil back in it, cause if you don't, then it will just goes right through your engine and you're going to blow up your engine and you're going to have a massive EPA issue on your hands.
Joe Haslam:If you do any work on your vehicle, do not use a regular wrench. Get a torque wrench. I am just going to say that right here, right now. They are expensive, but get a torque wrench.
Adam Richardson:See, I don't have a torque wrench and I've been wrenching for a lot of years. However, I know, like, I've used and trained and worked in other shops with a torque wrench, so I know the pressure Right. So, other than that, like a normal individual, yeah, torque wrenches are really handy and, guys, you don't even have to get one technically, you can go to your auto shop down the street. Oh yeah, these national chains that are out there all rent tools. A torque wrench is one of those tools and literally it's free. You go in, you pay for the cost of it, but then when you bring it back, you get all that money back. So it's a good deal, especially if you don't want to buy a brand new tool that you're going to use once in your lifetime. You know, go rent it and then take that tool back, and I think you know that goes to show.
Adam Richardson:For, like, you know some basic things changing filters, air filters, are easy. They're little clips. Even interior cab filters are not that complicated. You might want to like look, and I might be speaking some foreign language right now they're like there's an interior cab filter. I was like, guys, if you got some funk going on in your car. That's what the funk is going on, okay.
Adam Richardson:That is absolutely true. That's shake just in the cup holder still.
Joe Haslam:But I mean, when it comes to the maintenance and all that stuff, if you want to be, if you want to go inexpensive route, which is doing it all yourself, you can. You know you don't have to go to a repair shop to get these things done. But if you don't have the time, if you don't have the tools, take it in, get it maintained, Because you don't want to be a month down the road and lose out on $1,000 for your Toyota Tercel because you didn't check the oil.
Adam Richardson:Yeah, yep, I had friends that didn't replace oil in the car the entire time they owned it and it just seized the motor and they're like I didn't even know, like you think it was like a sealed thing going on. Like it doesn't make sense to me because I have the mechanical background and so I just I'm almost offended when somebody is that oblivious that you're like it's going to cost you so much money when it would cost you a fraction of that just to have some knowledge. Yeah, all right. So the next one, this one's a I'm going to push back on this one, but it's networking. Number 10 is networking. It is, uh, build a professional network and work on your communication skills.
Adam Richardson:The reason why I want to press back on that is I think that this is too general in the sense of saying we're talking about adulting. I don't think networking is necessarily a singular, like only professional side. I think networking is used in that, in that sphere, like I have a network, but you know, honestly, if I, you know I'm gonna go back to the car minutes if my car breaks down, it's typically not my professional network that I'm reaching into to find a mechanic that I need. It's usually somebody I know in my friends network or my family network, something around my community, and I think that I was reading one time this is this kind of ties into this. I was reading one time from a book about like best advice from realtors kind of a thing, and one of the one of the individuals, really high-profile real estate agent, has done millions and millions of dollars in sales and they use the word become an ambassador to your community.
Adam Richardson:Imagine how powerful of a network you would have if you were an ambassador to your community. And I don't mean like you're the mayor, or I mean you might, you might flex and see if that happens. You know, but but but more importantly, how are you bringing value to your community, to where you know? The word ambassador becomes you because they can depend on you. Well, that that's your networking and that isn't a professional thing, that is a character thing, that's an individual thing. Yeah, so I that's where I would push on. This is just kind of individual networking instead of it just being networking.
Joe Haslam:Yeah, and networking gets a bad rap. And professional networking, I think, is kind of bogus. It works for some groups but realistically networking is just talking to people. They turn it into. They know this whole big professional networking air quotes thing. But networking is just reaching out to people. When you find someone that does a good job for you, so let's say you have. You need someone to come and repair your garage door because it suddenly stopped working which happened to me this last week and you find a really good company that does it, that's great. Now I have a garage door repair company and install company in my back pocket that I can tell people about and I trust their work, I trust their technicians, I trust what they do. Well, that's networking and just remembering these things. And the opposite of that is also true.
Joe Haslam:If you come across a company that is very bad at what they do going back to oil changers, jiffy Lou you tell people don't ever go there yep and it's just one of those things of that's what networking is all about just keeping these things in your back pocket to know who do you talk to, who do you go to.
Joe Haslam:Just recently, so I've got a couple of clients that are veterinarians and one of my daughters wants to go to veterinary school, and so I don't know what the best veterinary schools are. I don't know what to tell her, I don't know where to go. So I called these guys. I said, okay, my daughter wants to go to veterinary school, tell me what I need to know. And these guys pulled out the stops and they said these are the five best schools, these are the three that you want to apply for, because these other two, while their best schools, aren't necessarily best for these other things, and these two schools we have personal connections with, so we'll talk to people there and we'll tell you who to talk to, and it's just made the entire college process so much easier just because I know guys that are vets yep veterinarians yeah, I honestly want to say that the professional side is just kind of like it's.
Adam Richardson:Most networking meetings that I've ever gone to on the professional side are real estate agents and insurance agents and that's it. So you're there to sign each other up for this and then next month you're gonna see each other again. It just kind of gets to this point where you're like, why are we here? You know, and some of them have premiums that you pay for that kind of stuff. And don't get me wrong, I've been part of chambers. I've been part of, you know, business networks that are. They're really good and valuable, but at the same time, it's it's not all it's cracked up to be. More importantly, when we talk about networking, it's less about a professional network and just about your individual network.
Joe Haslam:Yeah, you know, because that's going to benefit you across, both professionally and in your personal life, and so, yeah, when you talk to your neighbor over the fence and you're talking about, hey, who'd you get to come and do your landscaping or whatever it is, oh, this is who I worked with. Yeah, they were okay, they weren't great, but yeah, they were good. And so you come to a consensus and you find the best people out there. When you're looking for jobs, when you know a lot of people, it gives you an opportunity to have an in because there are references for you. Yeah, to be able to say, yeah, I know this guy, he's good at what he does and that means a lot. That's what it. That's what networking is, not this quote-unquote professional networking and all that crap stuff, because it's all crap stuff. You know, I I hate when people go into this quote-unquote professional networking. Networking is just about talking to people and getting to know them yeah because that makes the difference.
Adam Richardson:I yeah, I think that we can take away the professional side of this and just say, guys, it helps with communication skills, it even helps develop your own individual communication skills. So you know, networking is important on all fronts of your life and support and that kind of stuff. So lean into it and learn to just make connections with people. Don't call it networking. Networking is kind of a dumb word for hey guys, I'm bringing you cookies, I'm just networking, that's all you know, all right?
Joe Haslam:number 11 renting this one's a fun one for me understand your lease agreement and pay your rent on time.
Adam Richardson:Yeah, you know, we are entering an era right now where homeowners aren't moving, they're not going anywhere because everything is expensive, and then renters are renting and they're stuck renting. But then you have this drama where you're kind of stuck where you're at and you know I mean even there's a joke around our area that you're like they'll show a picture of an outhouse for rent for like 3200 bucks a month kind of a thing, and you're like, yeah, okay, I'll believe that. If it's downtown New York, you know okay, but not here. But it's really close. I mean like it's for a one bedroom apartment in most parts of our town. Here it's more than my mortgage is right now for a whole house. You know, it's kind of scary. But that doesn't excuse the fact that when you enter into an agreement and you I mean there's been, I can say every single time I've ever rented I've read my lease agreement. I was very aware, because when I was younger and didn't read it I got just robbed.
Joe Haslam:So yeah, you need to know. You know what's the term. What are the increases in rent? So I rent right now. We're looking at buying, and I'll go over the math of why it's not always better to buy but we're renting right now and he has built into the lease a 5% increase in rent every year and so if we continue to rent this, it's going to go up 5% every year. That's a lot of money when you're talking about a big house, and so it's just one of those things of you've got to make sure you're aware of everything in the lease who covers the utilities, what are the rules for pets, what are the rules for parking, what are the rules for maintenance?
Joe Haslam:There's a lot of those things that go in there that are important to know, as well as local laws. So one of the big ones I don't know if this is a national thing. I know there are some national protection laws there few and far between, and our state is. We actually have a legislator in our state who prides himself on the one-sided laws that benefit landlords that he has passed here in the state, and I despise him for it. His last name is Cullamore. I will call him out. I will call him out my entire life. But no, he prides himself on how one-sided he has made the laws in our state to benefit landlords. And guess what his son does for a living?
Joe Haslam:He's a lawyer representing landlords, oh yeah it's disgusting and sick, but anyway understanding what the laws are to what your protections are. So if you move out, is the landlord supposed to replace the carpet? So here in Utah, if you have lived there for more than two years, the landlord cannot take carpet replacement out of your security deposit, even if you've completely hashed all the carpet.
Adam Richardson:You did an oil change on your motorcycle.
Joe Haslam:Yeah, exactly In your living room, and it's all over the carpet. If you've lived there for two years or longer, the landlord can't charge you for that. Okay, they have to replace the carpet on their own dime, and so it's things like this that it's just important to know what the laws are in your state. Another really important one is if you've got a landlord who's not coming out and maintaining your property so making sure that you have running water or making sure that the appliances are working that that are necessary for living- yeah.
Joe Haslam:If they do not respond to your requests in a given amount of time, then you are fully allowed to go and do that maintenance yourself, hire someone to come in and repair it for you and you take that out of the rent and they can't do anything about it because they didn't respond to get that work done.
Adam Richardson:I do know over the years that I've learned that you do. You obviously you're going to sign a lease agreement whether that's a one page document in a handshake because you're renting from somebody's you know you're living in their basement, eating out of their fridge.
Joe Haslam:Yeah, avoid those ones. Yeah, if you're single and that's your, single and young, that's okay.
Adam Richardson:Yeah, you're, you're durable and you're bouncy. So you know. But when you have all of these other things like family and kids, and you try to enter into an agreement like that, it's really difficult. The dynamics become very, very challenging very fast. Yeah, but if there's a lease agreement, there's. There's one thing that supersedes the lease agreement, which is Utah State renters rights. Renters rights are helpful, especially if someone in a lease agreement sneaks in something stupid that you're like at the end of it they're going. Well, it was in the lease agreement. I'm like, oh well, utah State law says you're not even allowed to put that in there. Yeah, you know, and so it's. It's really really good to familiarize yourself If you feel like renting is going to be a normal thing for you for a season, for a number of years. Knowing these laws is going to save you in conversation with people who are out to just make an extra buck in the in the shadiest sorts of ways.
Joe Haslam:So yeah, and remember that you are signing a contract and so the law supersedes anything that's written in the contract. Yes, so if there is a law that says that something is illegal, you cannot make a contract to then do that. Yeah, it becomes void or voidable depending on what those situations are. And so, similar to this, not quite the same, but one of my daughters she's foster program, so she's not technically a daughter, but she was living with her mom and her mom is a big fitness buff and so made her sign up for a gym membership the day before her 18th birthday. Now, she never went to that gym. I think she was like a week before her 18th birthday.
Joe Haslam:She went once before her 18th birthday and she had been paying for that for two years when she finally came to me and said I've been trying to cancel this and I don't know how. I've called them multiple times to tell them to cancel and they won't let me cancel. They had told me I have to do this and that. And so I said when did you sign up for it? And she told me the date and it was before she was 18. And I said did you go after you were aged 18? She said no, I only went once after I signed up for the membership, and it was the day before her 18th birthday. I said perfect. And so I called up the company and I mean to their credit, once I said these things, they did cancel the contract right away.
Joe Haslam:I'm not a big fan of gyms because of how they treat their members, but at least on this point they so I won't give them, you their name, because they did. They didn't give me any crap after this, but I called them up and I said OK, I've got my daughter here and she signed up for this. She's been trying to cancel this for years now and you guys keep giving her the run around. Now she was 17 years old when she signed up for this contract and she has not affirmed this since she's turned 18. And I said it is a.
Joe Haslam:She is disaffirming this contract and she's been trying to disaffirm the contract since she's been 18 and you guys haven't let her. And so he said hold on a minute. We waited about five minutes. They came back and said no, you're good, the contract is canceled. Have a good day. That's why it's important to know what these laws are, because as a minor, you can't sign a contract, you can, but so long as you don't affirm or act on that contract. After you turn 18 and try to disaffirm the contract, you can get out of that contract because you were a minor when you entered into it and so as an adult, you have to affirm that contract and say yes, I am OK to continue this contract, and if you don't, then you can void the contract.
Adam Richardson:I think one of the things to keep an eye out that kind of ties in with the contracts and paying attention to it and renting is storage facilities.
Adam Richardson:Storage facilities are sometimes you can have a really fantastic slumlord and they're where, they're super duper, nice and the facility is decent. And then you know you like I don't know, I've had, I've had storage units where they had they wouldn't take electronic payments and so they had a little box that you had to drop an envelope in and then during snowstorms or something like that, like getting there, you had to get there because even on that they lived on the premises of the storage facility, so they'd walk out to the box and if your rent check wasn't in there on like the exact moment it's due, they're unlocking your storage facility and divvying that stuff out. So it it's. It is sketch stuff, but guys like again, that's a renting facility. You need to really pay attention to those things and also the fact that you know Storage facilities are odd because they don't fall under renters rights. However, there are tons of businesses and people who actually live in storage facilities, so you know.
Joe Haslam:But yeah, we do not recommend that, but talking about the financial benefit of owning versus renting. So I've been talking about this with people recently because we're working on buying the home that we're renting and when I explained to them that it's really not beneficial. So part of the reason it's not beneficial right now is because of the high interest rates. So when I compare how much I'm paying in rent right now on our home versus how much my mortgage would be outside of anything beyond just principal and interest. So we're not talking about increases in homeowners insurance versus renters insurance, changes in other things that come along with that. If I it's about a thousand dollar difference, I would be paying about a thousand dollars more on mortgage.
Adam Richardson:Really.
Joe Haslam:Than what I'm paying in rent. And so when I look at the entire course of the contract, so when I do this, the example is a $500,000 home at a 7% interest rate. Over the course of that loan you will pay almost $1.2 million for that home. So that's for 30 years, and so you are paying. What is that about? 700,000 more than the house is worth.
Adam Richardson:Right.
Joe Haslam:Now, if you just rent that same 30 year timeframe, given the rent that I'm paying right now is $800,000 total. So in total cash, I am saving $400,000 over the next 30 years. If I just rent Now, some people will say, well, at the end of it you have the house, you have the $500,000 house. That's great. I have a $100,000 house at that point because I can pay $800,000, or I can pay $400,000 more than what I'm paying right now to rent it. Well, that all comes out of that value of that house that I just got, and so all I'm benefiting is $100,000 more of an asset.
Adam Richardson:You know I'm curious if it's going to do this. But last time, out of this kind of economy that we had, I would say late 80s, early 90s, interest rates were horrific and they kind of dawned the era of like people, like Carlton Sheets, that would come in and start preaching this creative financing sphere, and so you start hearing more about that, where you have individuals who assume mortgages, who or they don't they don't assume a mortgage, they'll do a seller finance or a lease option to buy, and some of those you're not dictated by the terms that a normal lender is going to cost you, which can be beneficial. I agree with you in the sense that you know, when you look at the big picture in that kind of black and white sort of scenario, amortization wise, the cost to buy a house right now isn't what the cost or the cost of the house is. So it's a $450,000 house or $500,000 house. The cost is not $500,000 over the 30 years it is more like $1.2 million. But that is even at my mortgage.
Adam Richardson:I have a low interest rate, I have a decent mortgage amount and I've paid it down a little bit. I took out a home equity loan to do some stuff. I still have lots of room in the value of my home. And so, at the end of the day, if I sold, I'm in a decent position. But I'm in a terrible position to buy a house because I'll have a down payment for a really expensive home and a very high interest rate, which makes my payment that I'm paying now at least double what I'm paying.
Adam Richardson:And you know, like that's kind of one of those things you have to mentally just kind of start preparing for. That's where I see that our society will start getting more creative about this again. And I want to know I'm watching that because, you know, in the real estate market, especially in the investor side of things, how does that shape the next generation of investors, because you have a different kind of financial industry now regulatory in regards to home ownership and how are they going to get their fingers in that? And that's just something I'm paying attention to. But, guys, it's definitely something that real estate is always a great direction. But I would, you know, I would always encourage don't look at it so black and white, because at the end of the day, that will scare everyone out the door, no matter why.
Joe Haslam:Well and honestly, I am more attuned to renting. I think renting is a great option, and so if our listening listener is deciding between a mortgage or rent, honestly, rent a lot of times is better when we're in a high priced economy, like right now.
Adam Richardson:Yeah, our current market is rental. It is something for the renter. Even homeowners are not you know, they're staying homeowners. Just because of what would happen if I lost my house. Like it's, I'm good, I'm great.
Joe Haslam:And that's exactly why, because they are doing the math. And so again it comes back to we talk about this almost every single podcast. Do the research, do the math, look into the details and understand what's going on? Yeah, because that's what's going to help you make the best decisions, and we have so much information nowadays to be able to do Google searches, youtube searches Now, there's a lot of crap that's out there, but the more research you do of actual information, you're going to be that much better of a position to adult.
Joe Haslam:Yeah, to be able to live an adult life, to bring people into this life. If that's your path to just be able to succeed as an adult.
Adam Richardson:So the next two. I'm actually going to kind of fly through these because I'm looking at them and there's some redundancy about it.
Joe Haslam:You're just trying to get your number, that's all you're doing.
Adam Richardson:Don't judge me. Number 12, joe, exactly, self-care. Prioritize self-care to manage stress and maintain your well-being. So the only reason why I say that is the one we stopped on last week and spent 45 hours on was health care, and so I don't want to really get stuck on this one. Guys, the message is prioritize yourself, like make sure that you give yourself enough space to not be overburdened by everything going on in your life and at the same time, you can't just be like well, I'm taking everything off because I don't like oxygen right now, so I think it's super stressful. Believe me, I've got a lot of stress going on and it's still. If I didn't take a moment to be able to assess and calm myself. Every day, I am a walking volcano that's just a hair away from an eruption, and that's saying it lightly.
Joe Haslam:I will attest to that. But no, take vacations, take time off. There are people who work seven days a week, working 80, 120 hours a week, and it's just, it's not healthy, you know. Take time for yourself, take a vacation. Yeah, take time off. That's really important. Here in the United States, we have a really bad problem with people overworking. Yep, now, I think it's great that there's that much of a work ethic here in the United States, but it's damaging to health.
Adam Richardson:I think what's interesting is there's, you know, there's a strike going on I don't know if it's still going, I'm pretty sure it is, but with the auto workers and it's one of those strikes where it's more about the union, it's more about the politics behind it, but what they're asking for is something that I feel like our society. It's just foreign too, where they want, you know, full time, hour pay but a 32 hour work week. And you know, and what's interesting is, you go to other countries and the way that they operate their work weeks are very similar to this kind of stuff. Our society. It's so normal for you to work and then die. That's all you have a chance to do, and that could be, you know, your one day today that you wake up in the morning, then you work and you go to bed and that's that's your life. That that sounds miserable, that sounds Absolutely terrible. But but our society goes. Shame on you if you think otherwise.
Adam Richardson:You know, I'm like I always. I talk about how blessed I feel like to have the position I have here, because I have a tremendous amount of Flexibility with what I have to do. I have other responsibilities that I take care of and this job affords me to take care of those things. But but it's not the normal, like it's. I can't ever really explain it to people because they're like what do you mean you can make that time. I was like I know it's like Tuesday at 9 30 in the morning and everyone else is like Five hours into their main shift for the day and 17 to go, you know.
Joe Haslam:Yeah, you know, for me, when it comes down to you know the work life balance I call, I prefer work life integration, but if I need to take time off to go take care of a kid who's in Emotional distress, I'll do it. I've I've gone to the school in the middle of the day to yell at a vice principal for an hour and a half Because of the way that they treated one of my kids my favorite thing to do.
Adam Richardson:Oh yeah, so fun it's awesome.
Joe Haslam:But my balance to that is some days I'm, you know, I get here seven, between seven, eight, nine o'clock, depending on the day. Friday's is a little bit later because school starts later. However, they figure that works. But you know, sometimes I'm here till six, six thirty. Sometimes I leave here at 4, 30. I come in on Saturdays. You know I've got teenagers. They're not awake before noon on Saturday so I come into the office. I go get groceries first thing in the morning on Saturday, come into the office for two, three, four hours, depending on what I've got going on. It's great.
Joe Haslam:No one's calling me.
Adam Richardson:Yeah.
Joe Haslam:I can. I made up four hours that you know. I took off earlier in the week to get work done and it means that the next week, because I got work done ahead of time, I have more flexibility the next week to be able to take time off if needed.
Joe Haslam:Yeah and that's just. It's a huge benefit because my life is so much more Relaxed now. It doesn't get rid of all the stress, but we've got to realize that we've got to think about ourselves first. That's what the the sag afters strike is about. It's about what the writers union Strike was about. It's what the auto workers strike is about. These employers are taking major advantage of their workers and just working them to the bone.
Adam Richardson:Well, and the society, like I said, has this False expectation that this is how we've always done it. Yeah, you know, because you know. When you look at things like manufacturing, you look at our, you know our Emergency response. You know teams, that kind of stuff. The shift work that they're doing is extensive. Our medical staff, you know even even to the sense of call centers, and construction crews, like you, look in every direction of what our life does and the demand is more for less and they're finally saying, no, I'll do less for more. Yeah, so let's switch this around and see how it feels.
Joe Haslam:Yeah, and that's what needs to happen Now. I'm not a big fan of unions, I am a capitalist. But this, this is when those collective bargaining comes in value. You know, a lot of times unions are not necessarily there to bring in value for people. They're looking at themselves first. But these are the times when unions really come important, when people are being taken advantage of yep.
Joe Haslam:You know. And so, again, not always a big fan of unions, but I think these are the situations that are really important to talk about, and so, listener, when you are overworked, you need to go to your boss and say this is it. You know, I'm overworked.
Adam Richardson:Something I think that this kind of helps help help me in recent years is a book called boundaries. It's a it's Christian based, so if you're not into that stuff for scripture references through the book, then you know. I don't know if our listener is or not, but but it definitely I think in it it's. It's written by two doctors that Talk about, you know, this kind of self-care sort of stuff and the reality is is it's not necessarily about what the Bible says or anything like that. It's more about the idea of giving you the power to say no and not feel bad about it, and that that's that boundary, that's that saying of going, look, self-care, if.
Adam Richardson:If I was talking to a friend the other day and just kind of their struggle with, like man, I don't want to be in this meeting, whatever it is, and I turned around I said look, if it's too difficult for you to challenge what they're doing in that meeting, the next time they call you're busy. No, it's okay, I'm sorry. No, you know, like you can, you can be apologetic about it, that doesn't matter. At this point you just said no, no, no, I don't have time. No, no, I can't. And and the more you are, the more you you assert that, without it being some kind of conflict, you just kind of place it and go like man. It feels kind of liberating because now I have some free time. Yeah goodness, this feels great.
Adam Richardson:I mean, all of a sudden, you're gonna be like I'm gonna say no to everything now, you know, like this is me now, this is me time, yeah, you know. So that's just my yeah, my perspective about self-care.
Joe Haslam:sometimes Taking back that, no, is important, yeah and if our listener is a business owner, you know, a capitalist like me, be a responsible capitalist. That's the important thing. Yeah, I recognize that. Those people that you have working for you are people, yeah, and you need to treat them like that. Treat them like you want to be treated. You know, don't just treat them like guinea pigs or workhorses. Treat them like people. That's what responsible capitalism is.
Adam Richardson:Years ago I had to quit a job because I was allergic to it. Literally, I was having stress hives all over my arms. I was like what is going on? I went to the doctor and they're like those are stress hives. I was like I didn't even know that existed. You know, I was like I can't even take an antihistamine for this. They're like not really, like there's just where what's going on, whatever it is, and it was too much stress in that place and I was like, yeah, I got to go, I'm sorry, like this sucks, like I can't. I've never experienced this. That should never exist.
Joe Haslam:But anyway all right.
Adam Richardson:Next one this is the last one for today. We're going to knock this out because it ties with one we just talked about a bit ago, Number 13. It sure does. Relationships Invest time in your relationships with friends and family. Guys, this was what we just talked about in networking, but we just honestly said the same thing. But the better way of saying networking.
Joe Haslam:Have friends talk to them when I have a stressful day. I've got my best friend and I can give them a call and we can talk.
Adam Richardson:Yep.
Joe Haslam:I did miss his birthday. So if he ever listens to this happy late birthday, I never did end up calling or texting and saying happy birthday.
Adam Richardson:You can, you know? Yeah, I know, but not really Like. Yeah, but it was March, I really missed his birthday.
Joe Haslam:It was a month and a half ago, I think. But no, I mean when I'm stressed, when I've got things, when I'm dealing with DCFS and they're being dickheads for lack of a better term Wow, edit, that yeah, I can call them up and I can vent to them, and that's great. You know, I can't really vent to my wife about that because we're both dealing with it, we're both venting, we both need to vent, and so I can call my friend and I vent to him, and all he does is he listens. And if you're that friend that gets the call, all you have to do is listen. Let them talk, they're just venting.
Joe Haslam:And it's so important to be able to have that.
Adam Richardson:I think that you know like we were talking about with networking relationships. I always tell my kids, you know, like you have to be a friend to make friends or be friendly to have friends, and it just guys. Friends are really, really valuable in a lot of different ways. Some of those friends are friends that are just connections that know you occasionally and some of those people are, you know, people you can fight in about some of the most difficult things you're going through. And it's okay to have a giant pile of people at different levels. Of that I would say that please don't have a giant pile of people that you can fight in. That's usually a small group of probably no more than five, but having a big pile of friends and having those five that will hop in a vehicle and go burn something down with you if you need it, is really valuable, guys, you know.
Joe Haslam:And every relationship that you have is gonna be slightly different. But foster those relationships, build them, grow them. That's what's gonna help you get through. The worst parts of life is just having people that you can talk to. Sometimes you can't talk to your spouse about something. You may want to vent about your spouse and so you have to call a friend. There are gonna be times where you want to vent about your friend. That's what your spouse is for. You want to vent about work. You want to vent about whatever it is. I will say never vent to your kids. Some parents try to do that. Don't vent to your kids about your spouse. That's just not healthy. But find people to vent to Make sure you have those relationships in your life.
Adam Richardson:You know, and if it's something that you, by yourself, just can't bear, yeah. You know, like Anchorage, Alaska weather, you know that sort of thing.
Joe Haslam:Yeah.
Adam Richardson:That kind of stuff you want a buddy for, or at least if you are in that kind of weather, you need to pack on the pounds in order to bear that weather, like the bear named Grazer.
Joe Haslam:Okay, here we go. Nice transition there.
Adam Richardson:Also known as Bear 128, to the fans that are out there. This bear Grazer is the one that unseated Chunk. Chunk was the champion, reigning champion, for a number of years. But there's this reality TV show that is in Anchorage, alaska, all the Alaskans. It's their greatest joy. I don't think they sound like they're from Minnesota, but I imagine that's their conversation I don't know Something about. I'd have to listen to somebody from Alaska talk. I want to see like the greatest fishermen or whatever it is, and then you're like no, no, I don't want to talk like that. But these guys, this show is a big deal and for a week it's called Fat Bear Week. So it's neat. No, no, no, we're not talking about people. Guys, don't go to your neighbor and take a picture and submit it for Fat Bear Week. It's really rude and that is fat shaming, okay.
Joe Haslam:It is. I don't want to see my picture anywhere over there. Adam, I choked him up.
Adam Richardson:It's not about the weight of the bear, it's how the bear carries themself in the under the spotlight of popularity. So what happens is the locals get a chance to vote on their favorite bear of the most fat, or fatest bear, most fatter, the fatterest thing? Yeah, whatever, the Fat Bear Week.
Joe Haslam:Our inner idiots are showing right now.
Adam Richardson:Chunk got a total of 23,134 votes.
Joe Haslam:There's that many people in Alaska.
Adam Richardson:I apparently the whole state. It's big, so I think you could fit that many, but I didn't know that either. But even more so Grazer, who won by a landslide 108,321.
Joe Haslam:All right, it's got to be more than just Alaska residents that are voting for this now.
Adam Richardson:Now we're talking like British Columbia.
Joe Haslam:That's right exactly.
Adam Richardson:Yeah, they probably opened the networks up into Canada, kind of thing. We're like we need your help guys, we don't have enough numbers to break this tie.
Adam Richardson:So I was actually drew more than 1.3 million votes from dedicated fans watching this. It's on exploreorg, so it's not even on the television. Oh yeah, that's definitely not just Alaskans at that point, but it's based out of Alaska, which is where these bears and these pictures are taken from. But, yeah, it's a mighty big bear. There's a picture on the website. I got this from the Associated Press. I also know it's on NPR. They have an article same stuff. But yeah, I don't really have much more to say other than the fact that man, that bear is fat. Geez, louise, what yourself? There is a estimated 2200 brown bears in what the area calls called Katmai or Katmai, which is an area outside of Brooks River, alaska. But Grazer is one of the big bears. That's a picture of Grazer in the river Massive, massive bear. So, anyway, that's all I got for you guys. If all you guys take away from this is just life is too short, please keep laughing, please keep learning and remember idiots have way more fun. Check your shoes.