To wrap up Season Two, the Talk Wealth To Me team "replies all" to questions we've received during Season Two from our listeners.
From COVID-19 budgeting tips to payday loans, you have questions and we have answers.
About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at talkwealthpodcast@gmail.com.
To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
To wrap up Season Two, the Talk Wealth To Me team "replies all" to questions we've received during Season Two from our listeners.
From COVID-19 budgeting tips to payday loans, you have questions and we have answers.
About the Show
Comments, questions or suggestions for the show? Email us at talkwealthpodcast@gmail.com.
To learn more about DebtWave Credit Counseling, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
To learn more about the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, visit our website or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Welcome to Talk Wealth To Me, a safe space podcast, where we chat about anything and everything related to personal finance.
Felipe Arevalo:The information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute as accounting, legal, tax or other professional advice.
Katie Utterback:Was there something, so you were, you already had the Peloton before the pandemic started. Was there something that you, I guess, purchased to try to make the quarantine a little bit more comfortable? Is there something that you noticed that you guys have been spending more money on?
Chase Peckham:You know, what, the one thing that we literally consciously did was, which has been out of the ordinary financially, is we did, um, subscribe to HBO max, um, because the show"Friends," which was on Netflix forever, my kids literally it's their favorite thing ever. And so now that it's on HBO, max, my wife's like, you know what? This all sucks. This is terrible. Let's give them friends at a touch of a button instead of having to wait for TBS and commercials. Um, and, uh, so that's one thing, but it's 4.99 a month. So, but you know, we had talked about this before, right Felipe, I mean, with the cutting the cord, so to speak, right. Not having that, but now with all these apps, with all the different things that you want, they can add up pretty quick.
Felipe Arevalo:If you get like 10 of them right now for$10.
Chase Peckham:So we did have Netflix, which we've had is, which is 3.99 a month. Um, cause we've had it forever. Uh, we did get the, um, what is it, um, what is Disney plus Disney plus? Yeah, that's kind of it and that's way cheaper than buying DVDs though, and all those movies and stuff. So, and.
Felipe Arevalo:they released them pretty quick,
Chase Peckham:very, very quick. And plus not only the movies, but star Wars and all those different things and, uh, YouTube TV, which is the one normal like TV we do have. So I think altogether we spend 80 bucks a month with everything, which is still significantly lower than what we were paying with direct TV. Um, so, but yeah, that's the one thing Katie. I mean, we did, you know, the extra HBO max, um, and for friends, I mean, for all those friends fans out there, um, you know, my kids adore it. I mean, they could watch it. We got it about two weeks ago and they're already on season four.
Katie Utterback:Oo that's hilarious. Felipe, What's going on in your house?
Speaker 3:We did get, um, we added Hulu just to add some variety to Netflix. Um, but it's like the, we added just the cheap one with commercials and it's kind of annoying where you're used to not having commercials, but they're like 30 seconds and we don't watch it nearly as much as Netflix. So, um, I have started, well, I thought I was going to start playing more video games. So I bought I signed up for like the Nintendo online account. Uh, turns out Sarah plays more video games.
Chase Peckham:Uh, that's funny.
Felipe Arevalo:And I bought the Nintendo switch a while back for me so that I can, as they're watching TV, I can jump on there and play, uh, trying to, you know, play some video games and it's been taken over, uh, Sarah never played video games and she loves know animal crossing. And so I get, I don't get to play it. Uh, but that's one of the things. And then we did buy a, when quarantine first started a Bowflex workout machine.
Chase Peckham:Are you using it consistently?
Felipe Arevalo:Finally putting some, some, uh, usage to it recently. Um, and we started eating better, um, doing a, doing weight Watchers really week and a half. Uh, so that's been, uh, just a change to my grocery shopping list, more than anything, uh, and then trying to figure out recipes, cause I'm not a part of the problem is my cooking doesn't incorporate enough healthy things. So I think just, and we mentioned it during our presentation chase earlier this week that, uh, it like when, when you track your expenses, sometimes it's a matter of awareness. And I think when I started tracking what I was eating, it created this extra level of awareness. This is similar to when you would track your expenses. Yeah. That made me realize, Oh man, like that pizza pocket really mess me up for the whole day. And you know, I could do a pizza pocket real quick in the morning, but you know, that's sent me up for, you know, uh, a, a failure with my dietary needs.
Chase Peckham:I'm just going to put it out there that anything that is named pizza pocket probably shouldn't be consumed.
Felipe Arevalo:Just, they're just delicious though.
Chase Peckham:Anything that you can just throw in a microwave and you have to put a sleeve over the top of it to cook it
Felipe Arevalo:Crispy.
Chase Peckham:I think that's probably not on the dietary weight watchers list.
Felipe Arevalo:it is. But you get a lot of points for it. Yeah. That's not. Yeah.
Katie Utterback:Speaking of food, um, I don't know if you guys have those experience, but um, some of my favorite restaurants closed during like March, April, right? So when they reopened late part of may, June, I went overboard ordering takeout. Did you guys have that experience?
Chase Peckham:I did. Yeah. We, and we found out very quickly, we missed our restaurants that we go to, but we also realized that getting it and bringing it back home, wasn't nearly as satisfying as eating it at the place itself. Um, and I don't know if it's just because of, you know, atmosphere or having to, you know, put something in a box and drive it home. And when they prepare that food, that's not that they don't prepare, it meant to be in a box for 15, 20 minutes to get home. Right. So we, we both realized after we'd spend 60,$70 on a meal for the four of us and then we'd finish it and go, was that worth? It was that like the experience that we have when we go and, and it just wasn't. So we really have not been eating out at home as much as we did when those first really started opening back up again,
Felipe Arevalo:We didn't, I, because I was more because of the weight, trying to control my, knowing that I wasn't working out enough. Like, you know what? I think we've broken that habit of eating out and by force because the places we normally go eat out are closed. Um, so if we just don't fall back into it by just not going, we, the hard part is done. The hardest part, you know, breaking a habit is that initial stage. So it's broken now. Why give it a chance to, to come back? So we've had a, I mean, we ate out for Sarah's birthday. Um, and we had like, father's day we had barbecue and that kind of stuff. But for the most part, we've not have not been frequenting the taco shops at the moment. Um, so no, we've tried to keep it healthy as much as possible. Barrington. He's, you know, he'll say, Hey guys, um, when are we going to go out and eat?
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Our kids love to go out and eat too. That's the one thing you mentioned taco shops in here in San Diego, that that's the food that does travel pretty well. That's the kind of food that you can. Oh, there's nothing like a good old burrito burrito. Yeah. Except like French, like clay found out the other day. He only ate half of it and then he warmed it back up and he's like, Ugh, the fries don't warm up as well.
Felipe Arevalo:They have sour cream. It doesn't, it doesn't get that on the side.
Chase Peckham:Well, they've learned, so they dip it now instead of, so it doesn't get all warm and crusty in there. Yeah. Yeah. Cream is the worst.
Katie Utterback:Oh yeah. That's how my husband orders stuff. He's like, like lettuce and sour cream on the outside please. So that if I don't eat it. Yeah,
Chase Peckham:Yeah. There's right. There's a lot to be said for that. Absolutely. It's funny. Thanks. What we've learned.
Katie Utterback:You guys are both cooking more at home. Are you guys trying out new recipes? Like where are these ideas coming from?
Felipe Arevalo:Normally look online. And then I get the idea. I look at it, I see the recipe. And I think it's part of a habit of just the way my mom used to cook with no recipes. Um, it drives me dry, Sarah, crazy. Um, I improvise, I see the idea. I see the things as stuff, Turkey, Turkey, stuff like jalapeno stuffed with something. All I see is jalapeno stuffed with Turkey. And then I just kind of, yeah. I just like, Oh, I've seen this used in stuffing before, and I got some low fat, uh, this and I'm going to throw the Turkey in there. And, and then the other day I looked at it and I was like, that's not gonna work. So I had to cut them up and put them like as a base. And it was just like a, I don't know what it was, but it was just jalapenos or chilled green chilies. Um, cut up in the air fryer. I put aluminum foil down and I put a layer of him. And then I just layered Turkey, whatever on top. And then salsa or Pico the guy on the top.
Katie Utterback:That sounds good.
Felipe Arevalo:It was easy. It came out. Okay. I've succeeded at some I've really missed pizza and others. Um, but I usually just go online. I try and I, or now that we're doing the weight Watchers, they have a lot of, uh, little recipe ideas. You need to follow those to the T so you can get your points the way they should be, get the points correctly right now. I just, so Sarah says the same thing. Like if you follow it, we can just click on the little thing and get the points. Right. But you don't follow it. So now I have to manually enter Turkey manually enter. Um, I mean, it's the works. You just got to manually enter everything.
Chase Peckham:It's an extra couple of steps. What's, what's the heck. Um, you know, it's funny. I have Carrie and I, neither of us are like super good cooks. Um, I have certain things that I've been really good at. I become really good at barbecuing. Um, I've, I've always been a good barbecue, but I've also been also been always a charcoal, barbecue guy. And that's kind of a, it's like an event barbecuing. Cause it takes a while to get it going and then you smoke everybody out. And so about a year and a half ago, Carrie and I broke down and just said, all right, let me get the gas grill. And since this whole time I've probably barbecued three, five, three to five days a week of different kinds of things. And I've been really good at it. You know, if it's pork loin or pork chops or, um, you know, chicken, certain chicken things, if it's boneless or with bone, you gotta cook those things all much differently, um, at a much different heat. So I've just Googling how to cook that on a gas grill. And it's funny how much stuff comes up and how many good recipes. And I follow that when we have a new temperature thing and it's turned out that I'm a much better barbecue now than I used to be when I used to just kinda, kinda just kind of go well, I'll okay. It looks good. Uh, there, there is an art to it. So I'm much better at that. And Carrie had found a few different, um, there was a place called the butchery, uh, that she would, we would get meat delivered to us, uh, in different things, uh, that was cheap for awhile. And then when meat got a little bit more expensive because of the lack, it got a little bit more expensive and it wasn't worth getting the deliveries every month. Um, so now we pick and choose as we go. So, um, we've tried a little bit of it all. Um, and, uh, you know, it's, some of this just gets boring. Like I made Turkey tacos forever and carry now is just like, if we're having those, I'm just, I gotta have a grilled cheese or something. Cause I'm just Turkey taco out where my kids, they would eat that every night of the week, if they could,
Felipe Arevalo:Oh, same with my kids, their Turkey tacos is kind of one of the things where I know I could sit here in front of them and they're not going to complain. They're just going to get it. And then they're going to like either kind of have some more, or I'm done before I even go sit down,
Chase Peckham:Incredible grilled. Uh, I grilled up some pork loin, which well done pork line. And if you have the right sauce, it's just awesome. And my kids are like, Ooh, the pork is so fatty. And I'm like, you guys have no idea how much people pay for a pork line. Right. I t's really. A nd if it's done well and then they doesn't sound good, but then they hate it. And they're like, Oh, this is delicious. Okay. I really okay. I'm sorry. And they do that all the time. And then, u h, I realized that my wife says, you k now who they sound like, right. Yeah. I t's me. And I do that t oo. L ike, cause it just doesn't sound good at the time, but then you e nd up eating a nd it's great. It's l ike k ind o f like stir fry. Like I always think, O h, I don't want stir fry. And then when I eat it, I go, man, that's really good. It's just, I don't know what it is about the brain versus the taste buds. You just think about certain things that you want and you don't want.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. What's that? How about you?
Katie Utterback:Well, like I said, I went ham with ticket, like ordering takeout because what happened was, so my birthday was in April, my first and second choice restaurant for where I wanted to order takeout from, they were both closed. So I started feeling like, Oh my gosh, if once this place opens, I have to go, you know, you have support too. Yeah. And then there's other things like there's a bakery that I like in ocean beach and they're actually selling a lot of their stuff frozen. So I bought, I went way overboard there too, but I just stacked it all in the freezer. But yeah,
Chase Peckham:That's a good thing. I mean, mentally we need some kind of normalcy and a lot of that and food has a lot to do with that. Um, so that, that is a good thing. And Phil, I'm proud of you though for going the healthy route, as it's easy to get used excuses to get off a flight, it's just like a budget. Yeah. Eating healthy, working out. Use that bowl. Flex man.
Felipe Arevalo:No, I got to get on it early on the quarantine though. I was like, well, I'm going to go support a local, small business or two. And I was trying to figure out which ones. So I have supported breweries and cause you know, San Diego, we have a lot of them and you know, it was partially, yes. I want to support them. Cause I want to make sure that are open and available when they don't close down. But at the same time, it wasn't the most healthy of a choice as far as calories. Um,
Katie Utterback:I saw something, there was like a stat and it said alcohol consumption is up like 75% or something like sales. Like it's crazy, crazy high
Chase Peckham:Is there to do we're in our houses,
Felipe Arevalo:Right. You're home. You're not going anywhere. The rest of the day, there's no baseball practice, soccer practice.
Chase Peckham:I got no responsibilities whatsoever right now. And no, I mean, that's not true anymore. But at the beginning of this thing, Carrie and I did, we're not drinking any more now than we normally do. But at the beginning of this thing, we were drinking more than normal. And I don't know how much of that psychologically was just nerves and trying to relax a little bit or just honestly pure boredom. I mean, for when you're looking at the same people over and over and over again, as much as It's, We weren't built like this, right. We weren't At least some of your personalities. We're not, I mean, we're people, people, you know, we're people, persons we like to get out or even our kids are very social animals. Um, we're Bo none of us are introverts. We're all extroverts. So it's for us, this has been really, really difficult, but I also have friends that are introverts and this is like wonderful for them. Like they love the fact they don't have to go into public and do those kinds of things. So I mean, it just really depends on the kind of person.
Katie Utterback:Yeah. I mean, I like it, to be honest, I.
Chase Peckham:I'm going literally bananas.
Katie Utterback:I see. I'm not going to lie to you. Like I have days where like I I'm struggling. I'm really struggling. And that's where I turn inward and I am focusing on like my mental health and like that's when I'll, you know, do like a kickboxing workout or go for a run or do something. That's great. Um, but what I like about this is that I am the type of person that I struggle to. Like I'm just going to come on and say it. Like, I don't necessarily get along with everyone. I'm not everyone's cup of tea. And I know that about myself. So for me, this is great because I don't have to put on that face of like, okay, let's just get along to get along. Like I can just be who I am more authentically this way. Cause like I can just, you know, do my job like podcasts with you guys. Then most of the rest of the time I'm hanging out with the people that give me the energy. I guess that's where my introvert deadness comes from. There's people that give me energy.
Chase Peckham:Well, you're our cup of tea.
Felipe Arevalo:you're so friendly, how can you not get along with Katie? No doubt.
Chase Peckham:No doubt. Look, I mean, we're at a time when lots of people, you know, social media age, especially right now, things are so, you know, people are in the, in the world just don't, aren't, don't seem to have the abilities to just listen to other people's opinions or viewpoints and not, um, fueled by if you disagree with me, then you're wrong. Right. And I don't believe that I have my beliefs from what I know my experiences, I don't have other people's experiences. So they see that through their lens. And that's why having an open mind and having an open heart and listening to people is so extraordinarily important. And that's what I mean, honestly, one of our great volunteers wrote me the other day and said, I don't know if you've seen all my information on Facebook and Instagram. I've been really promoting this 5k walk. And I wrote her back just privately and said, look, I'll be honest. I'm not looking at any of that right now because it just, it, it really, there are people that just literally love chaos and they love to, they push their point across and have arguments. I've defended probably three or four close friends of mine from high school that I just, they want to debate everything. And I just can't, it's just not healthy.
Katie Utterback:Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. We get to get away from those people for a little bit and just keep, you know, de-friend, put the block up, and it's nice, it's okay.
Chase Peckham:Right. And not that I think that's just my, I think through this whole thing, um, beyond the fact that you feel the, the disease itself, the virus itself doesn't scare me as much as what all of this is doing to our society. What it's done to people that have lost their jobs.
Katie Utterback:What is, what is all of this?
Chase Peckham:I mean, when, I mean the, the entire shutdown, what, what has happened with businesses? Why, you know, we're staying home, we're trying to be healthy. I understand all that. When, and, and, you know, I personally knock on wood, you know, I don't want to get the virus. I don't want to be sick. Um, but there are thousands and thousands of other illnesses that we deal with all the time. Right? And we, this is just another one that we're going to have to add to the list. And as, as we go forward over time, what is frustrated me is the, is, and I'm not pointing blame at anyone. I, it is what it is. We are where we are. Um, the government or officials are doing what they think is best for everyone in this situation. There's no ultimate right answers for everybody. And there's, so that's what I mean by this is as much as I may disagree or agree with certain things of the way this has all been handled, the fact is that hopefully everyone's doing the best they can and doing what's in the best interest of everybody. And that's where I just say, look, if even if I disagree with this, I'm going to do it because it's at the better interest of everyone. Um, so I just wish people would be more openminded and do what's best for their families. Um, because the mental health side of this, the repercussions, you guys, you know, Phillipa has children. Um, one of the witches in school, the repercussions that this is having on kids, not being able to go to school is dramatic, absolutely dramatic learning online. It's look, it is what we have right now. It's the best we've got, but it is going to have a major setback for our kids. Um, I have noticed my children who are outgoing, they they're struggling with this, that they can't go see any friend that they want. They're not going out as much. Um, it's been very difficult for them. Um, and yet in Carrie and night, and we talk about not going back to school or doing these kinds of things. I mean, these are major decisions that have to be made. Um, but I, and I'm less worried about my children than I am. Those that, you know, don't have the resources that Carrie and I have. We were both lucky. We both have our jobs. We both have our incomes. We're both able to work from home. So, and, and our kids are at an age where even if we do have to go to the office, eventually they're at an age where they can't stay home by themselves. So we're not worried about that, but there are so many families that are not in that situation. And what do those kids do? And they don't have the luxury of having a computer or wifi system that is good enough for them to be able to learn. So there's just so many scenarios. So when I say all of this, I'm just saying there are so many different factors, even though we're all in this together, each of us has our own issues that we have to get through through this. Not that we don't have our own issues and just everyday regular life, right. Even if right, throw the pandemic out of this, we all have our own things, financial and otherwise.
Katie Utterback:Well, right. And throw, like you said, throw the pandemic outta this. We had a country where there, there were a lot of people in financial trouble before this it's just made it worse much, much more quickly. Sure.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. And I mean, that is a growing question that we will have to, as a nation, as a world, really go forward and figuring out what is the best solution for everyone. Um, and you know, there are, there's always going to be, um, those with more and there's going to be more and they're going to be those with less. And then there's going to be a lot of people right. In the middle. Um, so it's, it's know there's not a perfect solution.
Katie Utterback:There's not, which is why I think, um, the pandemic, at least for me and myself has been a great time for me to rethink about who I'm comparing myself to and like, why. Right. So money goals, home goals, like even in our last episode, I have this idea of what I'm supposed, what kind of a house I'm supposed to live in. Part of it is influenced by, you know, society. Part of it is influenced by me being a Taurus and being very materialistic. So I'm trying to check myself and not compare anybody else who's 30 or younger and has a home. I'm just trying to compare myself to where I am now, which is, I'm a lot more financially stable right now than I was at the beginning of the pandemic. And part of that is because I'm paying attention to like, Felipe was saying, what am I budgeting? Like, what am I putting in my household or my body through food. And then also, what kind of emergency savings do I have? You know, am I still contributing to my 401k or do I need to pause that and make sure that I can keep my rent going for another month? You know, there's all of these things. And I think that, like I said, this pandemic has really kind of forced us to take a look at what are you individually? How is your situation improving? Or what are you doing in that, that realm? Because if you constantly are comparing yourself to other people, especially in this pandemic, you're gonna be very sorely disappointed.
Felipe Arevalo:Absolutely. Especially if you're on social media, comparing yourself to others, they're only going to show you what they want you to see. No one's going to share, you know, it's all happy. And for the most part, I mean, there's some people who like to share all the Debbie downers, but yeah, for the most part, you know, they're going to show you that you're going to see the fun things. You're not going to see that every day, you know, whatever it is, struggle that they're going through. They're just going to show you the highlights that they want you to see. So if you start comparing yourself to others on social media, whether it be financially or otherwise, you know, you're going to be like, wow, alright
Chase Peckham:In Paris. Yeah, it is. And it doesn't honestly, the truth is Katie. You hit it on the head and it doesn't matter what socioeconomic area you're in. You're always going to compare yourself to your surroundings, your age group, your cultural background, family, whatever it might be. And it is, this could be a good time to just realize for yourself, take a look and go is what I have enough for now. Right? I mean, cause we always it's human nature to want more. Right. And it's human nature in a lot of ways to look at, you know, what I don't have and where I thought I was going to be and where I should be. And I'll just tell you, having her, having, having been your age before I went through a lot of the same things that you're like, I didn't own a home until I was 38 years old for the longest time, I'm thought, well, how come I'm not further along than I should be. Or as far as long as this friend of mine is. And the pure fact is is that we all, as we talk about budgeting all the time, we walk our own map, right? We have our own journey and that's all you can worry about is your journey. And don't worry about what Joe is doing over here. Or Molly is doing over there. Just worry about, you know, what you can control and what you and your husband's course is. And I think that's really, really smart and financially that's a great way to look at it. Um, and when you make your choices on where your money's going to go or what you're going to do, whether it pay rent or look at a new buying a home or whatever it might be when the time is right for you, it will be right.
Katie Utterback:Oh yeah. And you know, I actually, I want to bring this up, cause this is kind of sillier, but, um, at the beginning of the pandemic, do you remember when there was all that, like the toilet paper shortage
Chase Peckham:That seems like years ago now,
Katie Utterback:Right. Okay. So this is a true story. There was almost no toilet paper. I started looking in to see how much like a bidet would cost. Like,
Chase Peckham:Um, I have a few friends that bought them.
Katie Utterback:Yeah?
Chase Peckham:Yeah. I asked him the other day if they're still using it and the answer is not really.
Felipe Arevalo:And now it's like, you can go, it seems like there's always something that's a little more in shortage than others. It has been, at least since it started, you know, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, that, all that in abundance. And then even to the point where you were like limited to how much meat you could buy at the grocery store to now it's more back to normal now, apparently it's coin.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. I saw that today. So I had to go into CVS for my eye and buy these special eyedrops for$22 for a thing that big. And uh, they said they were shortage on coins, which was interesting to be considering how many people, how many, how many times have you used physical cash in awhile?
Felipe Arevalo:Oh, it's been, well, I have been doing Instacart for grocery. So at the gas station, you use your card at the pump, even if it's your debit card and you know, it's like, I don't remember the last time I used,
Katie Utterback:I think the only, the only like industry that's accepting cash, like without any sort of ban would be the cannabis, weed industry
Chase Peckham:Really. Um, there's, I've only ran into a couple of businesses that aren't accepting cash right now. Um, and that's been in when I gone to play golf. Yeah.
Katie Utterback:Okay. Burros& fries is not accepting cash restaurants.
Chase Peckham:There are, there are, there are quite a few restaurants that aren't accepting cash too. But, um, most of the ones that I frequent, uh, have are, are using it, but the honest truth is I just haven't carried it as much.
Katie Utterback:I was thinking about that. Cause that's advice that a lot of people give out is to use cash when you're trying to pay off debt. How, I mean, that must be really throwing some people for a loop. Like if they don't have access to a credit card or debit card and now cash isn't accepted.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. That would be tough if that was your strategy to go like on a cash system. And now you might not be able to use cash
Chase Peckham:Because you can use a cash card if that It's a debit card or something, You a re cash on it. U m, you can do that. Okay. So Katie have there, I understand that there's been questions from some of our listeners.
Katie Utterback:Yes. So we have a couple of questions that came in. Um, I'll just rapid fire them. Okay. First question that came in is, Oh my gosh, talk wealth to me. I need a budget. Do you use any budgeting apps, either a free or paid version? If so, what do you use?
Chase Peckham:Um, I will tell you that I personally, and I've used a few through the years, uh, but my wife and I use mint now. Um, and, and we used mint far before, actually Intuit as a partner of, of the STFs, um, with all their educational tools. Um, but we used mint before and we still use mint now and it is free and it's amazing. Um, how useful it is for me, but there are hundreds out there
Felipe Arevalo:For me it's the same. I've tried others, uh, sometimes just as research to try and try others. But, um, mint is the one that even before we were working with mint on the education side of things, um, you know, I, I liked it. Yeah. It's just very robust. Yeah.
Katie Utterback:Okay. Next question. My credit card limit was halved in April due to COVID-19 and I'm unable to use cash. Should I get a payday loan to help me in the interim?
Chase Peckham:Okay. Um, so I think what I'm understanding is the credit card company slashed this person's, uh, available credit and she now can't use cash because she's not going anywhere. It needs to use, um, that kind of thing. So my question is if she did, does she have a bank? And if so, does she have a debit card that she can use and use the debit card as she would a credit card? Um,
Felipe Arevalo:Or are they asking if they were looking to use the, are they saying that they don't have a cash flow so they can't use it?
Katie Utterback:She wants to know she should get a payday loan to pay off the credit card, the credit card debt, because the limit was no chance. And then no.
Chase Peckham:So the short answer is no because the interest rates and, and the, the fine print of that loan that she would take could possibly quadruple the amount that she's actually borrowing to pay off the credit card. And the credit card will be at lower interest rate than that.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. Even if you think about it, even a bad, really bad penalty, APR credit card is going to be at 29%, 32% and a payday loan, just regular, everyday payload. You're looking at 300%, 400%, and it's just going to compound so fast. That's one of the things when people say, you know, I'm trying to pay off this payday loan, or I need to, that's one of the ones you want to, you know, should I save money or should I pay down my debts? What kind of debt do you have? Well, I have a payday loan pay off your debts because it's costing you so much extra money. I always tell people if you have a family member or, you know, go to your in-laws, if you have to borrow some money, but pay off that payday loan, because it's going to cost you so much more and then, you know, take them out to a nice dinner afterwards as a thank you for letting you borrow the money, uh, or whatever it is, but you need to pay off those payday loans ASAP, stay away from payday loans, period.
Katie Utterback:Yeah. Yeah. We got a lot of questions about payday loans, um, especially in regard to, uh, credit limits being reduced. So we should we'll, we'll do an episode on that one in the future. Okay. Next question is unemployment money tax free. I've been receiving unemployment checks for five weeks, and I haven't seen any taxes being taken out, but I just listened to your episode. And you mentioned paying taxes.
Chase Peckham:So that's an interesting question. Um, unemployment typically is subject to taxes federally. Um, but like for instance, in the state of California, uh, it's not subject to social security or Medicare. Um, and or are they taxable on your typical California income tax return? Um, but it really varies from state to state.
Katie Utterback:Okay. Next question. I have$22,000 saved and I owe$20,000 in student loans. I know I have a reprieve until September, but should I wait until the coronavirus Corona virus crisis is over to pay off my student loans or just pay it now
Felipe Arevalo:Student loans is, is a tricky one. If you only have that 22.
Katie Utterback:Yes. He has 22,000 saved and 20,000. Yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:Kudos for saving that kind of money. Um, you know, that that's not an easy sum of money to accumulate assuming there's no other debts as well, because if, if there are other debts, you definitely probably want to take care of those first because your student loans are going to offer more benefits, usually lower APRs. Um, but I I'd be cautious in spending your entire savings on paying off debt because then you're gonna, what if something comes up, you don't, you want to have that, uh, emergency fund available. Uh, and you know, with the student loans right now, you're not really, I mean, they're on hold. So what if, you know, they may be working now, but what if something happens and now they don't have their emergency blanket sitting there to help them out. I'd be cautious.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. I agree with that. I wouldn't spend the whole nest egg, um, and get into depleting your savings account, uh, for something like that. Especially student loans that typically are at a lower interest rate than a typical debt.
Katie Utterback:I can see why that would be tempting though. Yeah. I'm just there. I get those numbers. Just switch it out.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. But at the same time, how much longer is it going to take to rebuild up that savings account?
Chase Peckham:Yeah. I mean, if you can pay half of it and then pay the rest of it, but at least keep that three to six month. That's always a safe key. Got to keep three to six months in that cash.
Katie Utterback:Next question. I'm a 35 year old single mother of two on a single income. I live in a pretty high cost of living area and I'm currently working on finishing up my BA in health information management. I don't really have any money in retirement and I'm starting to panic a little, the calculators online, say, I need to be putting away 14% of my income a year, which isn't realistic for me earning roughly$1,900 a month. I don't see how I'll be able to save while paying down my debt. Any advice, do you have any success stories about saving for retirement later in the game? Tell me it isn't hopeless.
Felipe Arevalo:What was the age? 35, 35. I like to think that's a very young age still. I might be biased in that general area.
Katie Utterback:It is young. It is young.
Chase Peckham:I think the honest truth at this point is, is put away anything you can. And the first thing to do is try to, uh, pay yourself first. And we talk about that a lot. And the reason we say this is a lot of times, people want to save what they have left. And the honest truth is not most of us don't have a lot left when it's over. And our brain says, Oh, there's, there's so much there in my account, but I don't want to, I don't necessarily want to deplete it right by putting it into a savings. So the idea is, if you can just start with$10 a month,$20 a month or$20 a paycheck, let's say, if you're paid by what monthly, so you're putting away$40 a month, do that first into a different account, or put that into a retirement vehicle. If you can start there and then pay what you, and then use what you have left over, which would be still a significant amount after taxes in pay off your debts. And I think that you'll get that feeling of, I am putting it away without even thinking about it. Um, that is where I would start. Um, and, and something is better than nothing, uh, at this point. So just kind of flipping the idea of paying yourself, like you're a bill first.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. I think also another thing to consider kind of you're going off also, the last question is, is there a save emergency savings account built in? And if there isn't one of those established, you definitely want to try and establish those because if you put money away and saving in a retirement where you have zero in your emergency fund, you're playing, it can be a very dangerous situation. If some financial emergency arises and there's, you know, your money's locked up in your retirement, which is great. You want to do invest in it as early and as much as possible, but if you don't have that emergency fund and then you ended up having to take out a credit card that, or, you know, we've talked about on a previous question, a payday loan, you're going to lose so much more money than that, then that potential growth. Yeah.
Chase Peckham:And I would talk to a personal financial, um, financial planner planner too, because there are other vehicles that you can put into retirement accounts that you can touch, unlike a IRA or 401k.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. And it's something where if you didn't have the three months or six months savings, and now you're in a tough financial situation, it's going to be really hard to build it up now. Um, and, and it's something where you're at the point you're going through it right now. You know, you can't beat yourself up over it because it does you no good. It wasn't there already. There's nothing you can, you can't go back and do anything about that. You can, you know, make the budgetary changes that you need to make now cut back on your spending, where you can now, because those are things you can control right now at this moment, you can't control the past. And the fact that there wasn't enough savings there. And then once you make it to the other side of the financial hurdle, make sure that you take it as a learning experience and, you know, take it as a, as you know, Oh, they were right. That would have made it so much easier. That's when you can reflect back on it and say, I should have, and, and start building your emergency savings from there. If you're just scraping by now, there's no point in beating yourself up for previous things because you can't change anything. Now don't stress yourself out.
Chase Peckham:So look forward, right?
Katie Utterback:Yeah. That's a good point. I bet there's a lot of people kicking themselves for not having an emergency fund, but there's nothing you can do about it. So just let's just move forward. Right. That's right.
Chase Peckham:That's the hardest thing. The only reason you're looking back, the only way, the only reason you're looking back at all is to say, where can I make necessary changes going to go forward? And that's the way you gotta look at it, but you can't beat yourself up and wallow in. What if, what if, what if I should have, I should have, I should have, because it'll get you nowhere.
Katie Utterback:I heard that that's called mental. Uh, There's a bleep in there, but the coulda shoulda. Woulda i s like, y eah, yeah,
Chase Peckham:Yeah. I mean, that can be a spiral downward, right? If you get anything that you can, you get. Absolutely. Just objectified with that. You're just thinking about nonstop. You've got to be able to compartmentalize where you are now be in the present and then make adjustments to help yourself go forward and some are gonna work. And some aren't you just can't beat yourself up over that stuff. Unless you're eating pizza pockets or pizza pizza pocket.
Felipe Arevalo:Well, I was, I was actually going to bring it back up to, uh, to the eating. Right. You know, because yeah, I've, I've made the decision to eat whatever it is I ate and not work out as much as I should have. Um, I beat myself up about it and I'm not going to pretend like I don't from time to time, but there's nothing I can do about that. You know, all I can do is control what I'm going to go eat, you know, this afternoon. And, and you know, from, if I do have a beer, it's a light beer now, as opposed to the PAs that I normally would have gone with and, you know, control my workouts from here, I can doesn't mean no good to complain. Right. I didn't work out last year. All I can do is work out this year.
Chase Peckham:That's right. But sometimes, and you got to think this money is the same thing. Are the decisions you making instant gratification, or can you make decisions that over the longterm will give you gratification is just not going to be as quick. And you have to ask us that you gotta weigh it. Right? Yeah. This is a decision that you're making,
Felipe Arevalo:Gonna make you going to benefit you in the future, or is it just something that you're going to, you make the decision on the impulse? Cause right now it sounds like a good idea, but it may harm you in the future. Right,
Chase Peckham:Exactly. Right. And I've heard that from, I guess, a great analogy you can, when you think about that is smokers, right. When they're trying to quit and it's been forever and I've had some older friends who were in their sixties and now they have emphysema and they go, Oh, if I only would have quit back then, but at the time it was always, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, and they just never did. And that, and believe me, that's hard, right? There's a lot of, lot to that addiction and everything else, but it kinda is the same thing. We can always put off what we can do. Right. I tell my kids this all day, why would you put off today or to do tomorrow, what you can do today. And that goes for any decision that you're going to make
Katie Utterback:Well said.
Chase Peckham:Well, thank you.
Katie Utterback:I didn't have anything else.
Chase Peckham:Well, I mean, this is the conclusion of season two. Congratulations to you guys. Yeah. Um, when, when we are back, uh, the next podcast that we hear, it will be podcast. I believe this is 50 correct. Or 51 51. And so we'll be coming back with 52, which will be the start of season three. So congratulations to you guys. Uh, three seasons. That's great. Are two seasons in the books. I guess we picked up for season three. There you go. Nice. The Corona virus split into like the pre and post or like two different years. Yeah, it really does. It does kind of feel like 2020 has been, when you look back at like, what was it? January, February. I was worried about what day? Literally[inaudible].