Social Security Benefits for Young Children, Costco for One, and Scam Calls
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Amazon Music Key Takeaways
- Cell phone carriers often raise base costs through hidden fees and surcharges, making it important to regularly audit your monthly bills.
- For most people with health insurance or Medicare, seasonal flu shots are available at no cost when administered by an in-network provider.
- Breaking down holiday spending into weekly amounts, such as saving $55 a week for 11 weeks, helps prevent post-holiday debt and financial stress.
- Social Security benefits for qualifying children offer important financial support that many older parents and guardians are unaware of.
- Shifting the holiday focus from exchanging physical gifts to creating shared experiences or making charitable donations can strengthen relationships while protecting your finances.
In today’s episode, Ralph Estep Jr. and Juliet cover many topics.
Today’s Topics
✓ T-Mobile’s fee increases to $5.49 per voice line
✓ What T-Mobile’s price lock does not cover
✓ When a flu shot may cost you $0
✓ The $55-a-week Christmas savings plan
✓ Costco Gold Star vs. Executive for a one-person household
✓ Sweepstakes entries and scam calls
✓ Social Security benefits for qualifying children
✓ Separating fixed and variable expenses
Resources
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https://www.becomingfinanciallyconfident.com/live
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Quicken Simplifi:
https://www.becomingfinanciallyconfident.com/quicken
Social Security:
Medicare:
National Do Not Call Registry:
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Frequently Asked Questions
Are flu shots free with health insurance?
Yes, for most people with insurance or Medicare, the flu shot is fully covered as preventive care as long as you visit an in-network pharmacy or provider.
How can I avoid going into debt for Christmas?
You can avoid holiday debt by setting a firm budget early and dividing that total amount across the remaining weeks until the holidays, setting aside cash weekly.
Do cell phone price locks cover government and company fees?
Many carrier price locks only cover the base plan price and often exclude changing administrative fees, surcharges, or taxes.
Speaker A
If you're on T mobile, your bill goes up next week and your price lock does not stop it.
Speaker A
We'll also talk about the flu shot that should cost you nothing this fall and how to have Christmas paid for before you wrap it.
Speaker A
Then the mailbag.
Speaker A
Is Costco worth it when it's just you?
Speaker A
The list that tells scammers who to call and a Social Security benefit a lot of older parents never hear about.
Speaker A
Plus a brand new money move for this week.
Speaker A
Let's get into it.
Speaker A
Welcome to becoming financially confident, where we are breaking free from money shame one conversation at a time.
Speaker A
We are live every Monday through Friday at 11:30am Eastern.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
I can't believe it's Monday already.
Speaker B
Where does the weekend go?
Speaker B
It's like, you know, and it sort of, it started off bad anyway because the University of Delaware got shellacked on Friday night by Liberty University and the first quarter of the game we sat in the rain.
Speaker B
And actually, I didn't sit in the rain, I sat in the clubhouse.
Speaker B
I got to be honest.
Speaker B
But there's a lot of people sitting in the rain.
Speaker B
But anyway, I'm Ralph Eastpp Jr.
Speaker B
I'm a licensed public accountant and I'm the one around here with 30 years of accounting experience.
Speaker A
And I am Julia.
Speaker A
I'm just a regular person who has a lot of questions for Ralph and.
Speaker A
And you may have them, too.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
And we're two very different people, as you can tell, having conversations about things that affect our money.
Speaker B
And I bet they affect your money.
Speaker B
And that's the whole point of the show.
Speaker B
We've got two house rules here.
Speaker B
We live by no shame in anybody about money.
Speaker B
And nobody's going to be judged for what they didn't know.
Speaker B
Today's a brand new day and our goal on this show every day is to help you break that shame of financial things one conversation at a time.
Speaker A
So if you have any questions, please let us know.
Speaker A
Please send them over to becoming financiallyconfident.
Speaker A
Com.
Speaker A
No question is off limits.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
Because remember this, wherever you are on your financial journey, chances are someone else is on that journey at the same place and you're not alone in that search.
Speaker B
I just a quick reminder at the beginning and we'll talk a little bit about this at the end.
Speaker B
But it's still your opportunity to win Ralph's money.
Speaker B
And one of the things that somebody asked me about, they said, raffle.
Speaker B
Can we enter every week?
Speaker B
Absolutely.
Speaker B
I want to encourage you to do that.
Speaker B
So go to becomingfinanciallyconfident.com giveaway.
Speaker B
And every week you can enter and every week you can get as many drawing entries as you want by doing the other things that are there.
Speaker B
So check it out again.
Speaker B
Becoming financiallyconfident.com giveaway.
Speaker B
And we had a guy win last week.
Speaker B
We sent him his $25 gift card from Amazon and guess what?
Speaker B
That could be you this week.
Speaker B
So don't forget to enter.
Speaker B
All right, Juliet.
Speaker B
So you enter into a, an agreement for your cell phone and they tell you that they're going to lock in the fee for a certain period of time.
Speaker B
And you say, well, that's fantastic.
Speaker B
And then all of a sudden you get an email that says your fee is going up.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
How does that make you feel?
Speaker A
Well, is it after my locked contract?
Speaker A
Is that what they're saying?
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
So here's what's going on.
Speaker B
Technically, this is T mobile that's doing this.
Speaker B
They're raising a fee on every voice line by a dollar a month and it starts on October 12th.
Speaker B
And it's not because they're raising their base fee.
Speaker B
It's because it's a fee the government's charging.
Speaker B
It's not part of the plan price.
Speaker B
Okay, but here's the thing.
Speaker B
You were promised that you were going to have a certain fee, but this thing isn't included in that fee.
Speaker A
But I mean, for me it's.
Speaker A
To me it's like, yes, that's sketchy.
Speaker A
But if it's government, I would really like to understand what that fee is.
Speaker A
And I also understand that would be post contract already.
Speaker B
Well, so the deal is this.
Speaker B
So what they're doing is they're raising the fee by a dollar per month for the voice lines.
Speaker B
And because of this government fee on behind us.
Speaker B
And the thing is so many.
Speaker B
So I don't know exactly, there are fees that the government charges for all of these.
Speaker B
It's called a company fee, it's not a government tax.
Speaker B
So it's a little sketchy.
Speaker B
I like how you said that.
Speaker B
It's a little sketchy.
Speaker B
And I'm starting to see more and more of these.
Speaker B
I'm seeing gas surcharges get put on things.
Speaker B
I'm seeing these, quote, environmental fees.
Speaker B
I'm seeing this adjustment fee.
Speaker B
But this is a big deal.
Speaker A
Yeah, I feel like that's why we should have a really good, what like Consumer Protections Bureau or something like that, which, you know.
Speaker B
No, I agree with you.
Speaker B
And the thing about it, you know, the pain point for most people here is you've got a certain budget, you've put together Your dollar job framework.
Speaker B
Here's what I was intending to spend and it might not seem like a lot, but if all of the different subscriptions you have are adding a dollar here or adding 50 cents there, that stuff adds up.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
And the other thing that I noticed when I did a little research for this, this is actually the third increase in two years.
Speaker B
In 2025 it started at 349, this is the particular fee we're talking about.
Speaker B
Then it went to 399, then January of this year it went to 449 and now it's up to 549.
Speaker B
I think it's a game they're playing, to be blunt, because what they're effectively doing is they're saying oh no, you're locked into the lowest plan on the market for cell phone service.
Speaker B
But, but then they add what I'll call these junk fees or these junk charges.
Speaker B
It's not a government tax, it's just a fee they're adding.
Speaker B
But here's the thing, if you're on a family plan, let's say you've got a family plan, you got four lines, that's $4 more a month, that's $48 a year that you couldn't plan for.
Speaker A
So is there anything that people can do?
Speaker A
Because I assume like if this is a fee and it's just T mobile right now, I'm also assuming it will somehow move around to the other phone carriers too.
Speaker B
Well, I mean this is one of those follow the leader things, right?
Speaker B
So once T mobile does it, does Verizon do it does AT and T do it, does all the other ones.
Speaker B
So here's what you can do if you're on T Mobile before October 12th and actually whatever carrier you're on, look at these things.
Speaker B
Open up your carriers app and find that line that says fees and charges.
Speaker B
A lot of people don't know about that.
Speaker B
They hear the big fee like $99 a month or $49 a month and look at every single line and you may decide you maybe you've got your watch tied to it, maybe you've got a tablet tied to it.
Speaker B
I'll give you a funny example.
Speaker B
So yesterday we were going to visit my mother in law in the nursing home and my wife left her cell phone at home and she goes oh, it seems I left my cell phone home.
Speaker B
I said well you got your watch.
Speaker B
And she said yeah, but I turned off the cellular service for my watch.
Speaker B
She said because why should I pay extra for that every month?
Speaker B
I said that's fine.
Speaker B
But you know, okay, so you agree.
Speaker B
But here's why I don't agree.
Speaker B
So it turns out to be $10 a month.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
So to me, if I do the math, that's 30 cents a day.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
So is 30 cents a day worth it?
Speaker B
So that if you forget your phone or, you know, you just have that.
Speaker B
I don't know.
Speaker B
For me, it seems silly, but that's just my personal opinion.
Speaker B
But I get it.
Speaker B
Like nickel.
Speaker B
No.
Speaker B
$10 Here, $10 there, $10 here, $10 there.
Speaker B
I just thought it was interesting.
Speaker A
Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker A
I also noticed something that you did there.
Speaker A
And it's like, we briefly, like talked about it where it's, you know, when you have a big goal and it's too big, you have to break it down into smaller pieces so it's manageable.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker A
But the same way could be like exactly what you did is if it's 30 cents a day, like, is that worth it?
Speaker A
But then sometimes you do have to zoom out and be like, well, that's still $10 a day.
Speaker A
Am I still using it enough?
Speaker A
Or $10 a month.
Speaker B
And that's why.
Speaker B
And I think it's really important you look at everything like that.
Speaker B
For example, let's say you like to go to Starbucks and you're going to spend $7 a day at Starbucks.
Speaker B
Well, $7 a day doesn't seem like a big deal.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker B
Except for multiply that 30 days.
Speaker B
You spent $210 at Starbucks this month.
Speaker B
Then you're looking at your month end going, wait a minute, I spent $210 on coffee.
Speaker B
I'm not picking on people that go to Starbucks.
Speaker B
I don't drink coffee.
Speaker B
So for me it's not a big deal.
Speaker B
But.
Speaker B
And that's why I said, you know, I think you look at everything from both directions.
Speaker B
I think that's just the whole point of this.
Speaker A
Yeah, I agree.
Speaker B
But pay attention to these what I'll call junk fees.
Speaker B
Because you're sold one thing, but then the actual cost is something else.
Speaker B
So look at all of your bills.
Speaker B
Look at if there's add additional fees, additional char.
Speaker B
And here's the thing you can do, pick up the phone and call them and say, hey, T mobile, you promised me $49 a month.
Speaker B
But when I look at all these other charges, it's actually $56 a month.
Speaker B
I want you to reduce my main fee or I'm going to go over to this other carrier.
Speaker B
I don't know if they'll do that or not.
Speaker B
There's A ton of people that have these retention services.
Speaker B
So, hey, if you can get a couple of months or six months or a year at a lower price, go for it.
Speaker B
Because they're promising you one thing and they're delivering something else because of these junk fees.
Speaker A
That's true.
Speaker B
All right, well, let's move on to the next thing, and that's the flu shot.
Speaker B
And a lot of people aren't aware of this.
Speaker B
For most people with insurance or Medicare, the flu shot this fall should cost you nothing.
Speaker B
I'm talking about zero.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
As long as you're in network and you go into a pharmacy because it's billed as preventive care.
Speaker B
Now, I will be honest with you.
Speaker B
I am not a fan of the flu shot.
Speaker B
Full transparency.
Speaker A
So you don't get it.
Speaker B
I do not.
Speaker B
I haven't gotten a flu shot for several years.
Speaker B
It just.
Speaker B
That's a personal thing.
Speaker B
I'm not telling anybody not to get vaccinated.
Speaker B
Don't.
Speaker B
Don't misunderstand me.
Speaker B
But a lot of people don't realize that it's free.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
So this is one of those systems that a lot of people aren't aware of.
Speaker B
And as long as you're aware of it, go and look at your health insurance.
Speaker B
But are you aware of some of the free preventive care that you can get, Juliet?
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Well, also, like, places like cvs, a lot of them will also provide free flu shots, too.
Speaker B
Exactly.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
That's what I'm talking about.
Speaker B
So, yeah.
Speaker B
And so if you want to go get those things, then go do them, but know what your insurance covers.
Speaker B
We talked last week about how the cost of insurance is going up and up.
Speaker B
Oh, oh, oh, before I forget, I got.
Speaker B
I am so excited about this.
Speaker B
I gotta talk about this.
Speaker B
This is fantastic news.
Speaker B
Okay, remember I was talking last week about There was this $500 bonus that the Trump administration was gonna send out who may have been on Affordable Care, and they felt like they were overpaying.
Speaker B
Maybe I didn't even mention this.
Speaker B
So.
Speaker B
So last week, the end of September, the Trump administration said that there were a lot of people that, during the Biden years, were overcharged for the.
Speaker B
The marketplace, and they were going to start issuing these refunds of $500 per person starting on September 30th.
Speaker A
Okay.
Speaker B
So Friday, the mail comes.
Speaker B
Now, I get that thing in the mail.
Speaker B
I get an email in the morning that says, hey, your mail is going to be this.
Speaker B
And I see this letter.
Speaker B
I'm like, that looks like a check.
Speaker B
I can't believe this.
Speaker B
So I open up the letter.
Speaker B
I get home Friday night before I went to the ball game, and it is a check from the U.S. treasury for $1,000.
Speaker B
And I was like, this is fantastic.
Speaker B
Now, of course, they're raising my premium $600 a month starting January 1st.
Speaker B
But I was like, you know what?
Speaker B
This is amazing.
Speaker B
So if you are on the marketplace and you live in.
Speaker B
In certain states, and apparently Delaware is one of those states, be on the lookout.
Speaker B
You might be getting a check for $500 or maybe $1,000 if it's the two of you.
Speaker A
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker A
I'll have to look out, too.
Speaker A
So.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
And.
Speaker B
And for the folks who are a little bit older, if you're on Medicare, you need to understand the flu shot is covered.
Speaker B
You can get more information about that@medicare.gov and obviously, the other thing that Julia talked about, if you don't have insurance, and there's a lot of people right now that have made a decision like, I can't afford insurance, Rob.
Speaker B
It's just too expensive.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
A lot of pharmacies will do the flu shot from $20 to $75.
Speaker B
So if you feel like you need to get some vaccinations, go do that again.
Speaker B
I'm not giving you medical advice.
Speaker B
This is between you and your doctor.
Speaker B
Have that conversation.
Speaker B
But if you can get something for free, hey, do it.
Speaker A
Yes, I totally agree.
Speaker B
So here's my big takeaway from this.
Speaker B
Go to an in network pharmacy and ask this, hey, can I get this for free?
Speaker B
Is it bill?
Speaker B
It is preventive.
Speaker B
If a bill shows up, call the insurance company and ask them, hey, this is preventive.
Speaker B
Another thing you can do is you can call your county or your state health department.
Speaker B
A lot of these places do these flu shot clinics where you can get it for free as well.
Speaker B
So if you want to stay healthy, this is a great way to do it.
Speaker A
I didn't even think about calling the county, but good to know.
Speaker B
You know, it's one of those things that look at what you're preventing.
Speaker B
A lot of people don't realize all the things they get as part of their insurance.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
You can call and ask.
Speaker B
They have people that are trained to pick up the phone and talk to you, call them and say, hey, what am I?
Speaker B
What preventive care can I get covered?
Speaker B
I'll give you a great example.
Speaker B
My younger son, we were at the football game the first week, and they had, like, a little area for different people to talk about different things.
Speaker B
They sell well.
Speaker B
There was a chiropractor there and the chiropractor there, and they said they were doing free assessments.
Speaker B
And I said to my son, I said, you should go over and get a free assessment.
Speaker B
My son is 6, 7 and he's a barber, so he's constantly leaned over.
Speaker B
So I'm like, dude, you look like you need some help.
Speaker B
He went for a free assessment and guess what?
Speaker B
Because he's already met his deductible.
Speaker B
We talked about that on the show, how much he got charged for that ER visit.
Speaker B
He's getting chiropractic care for the rest of the year absolutely free because he's already met his deductible.
Speaker A
Oh, and it's already in network too.
Speaker B
Exactly.
Speaker B
So if you understand what your benefits are, what's preventive care, what all those things are, you might be able to get some benefits you didn't realize you were entitled to.
Speaker A
Oh, good to know.
Speaker A
That's such a great reminder.
Speaker B
Yeah, a lot of people don't know massage therapy, there's coverage for that in a lot of preventive care.
Speaker B
These vaccines we've talked about, a lot of those things are actually covered.
Speaker B
But you have to go or pick up the phone and call, say, I'm paying for insurance.
Speaker B
What can I get for this?
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
Now I'm going to scare you with the next headline.
Speaker A
What is it?
Speaker B
We are 11 Fridays away from Christmas.
Speaker A
Oh, yeah, that is scary.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
You know, so I want to do what I call a quick money hack here.
Speaker A
Okay.
Speaker B
For so many people, the holidays are this joyous time.
Speaker B
They want to be generous to people.
Speaker B
I'm going to talk about average of people spend, but what happens is you get past that and then that January hits and you get that credit card statement or you're looking at your bank account and the numbers slow and oh man, why did I get this right?
Speaker B
The average planned gift spending.
Speaker B
And I was shocked by this.
Speaker B
This is PwC, that's an accounting firm.
Speaker B
Their holiday outlook, they put on September 8, said the average planned gift spending per person.
Speaker B
I must be super cheap.
Speaker B
When I give you this number, you're going to say, man, $708 per person, that's a lot.
Speaker B
That's down 2% year over year.
Speaker A
I must imagine that this year, you know, with the amount of unemployment and just, you know, everybody squeeze for money, it's got to go down a lot more.
Speaker B
Well, and it's interesting you say that because in the same particular study they found eight and 10 shoppers plan a budgeting strategy this year to plan ahead.
Speaker B
So they don't put themselves in that after the holiday, you know, debt crunch.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
So if you want to do that, you've got 11 Fridays.
Speaker B
So starting this Friday, which is October 9th through December 18th.
Speaker B
And I'm giving you a little buffer there because you got to buy the gifts before Christmas, right?
Speaker B
I mean, you don't want to buy unless you're seeing family afterwards.
Speaker B
You can pull that stunt of, like, I got your gift.
Speaker B
You haven't really bought it yet, but anyway, so let's just say you wanted to set aside $600.
Speaker B
We talked about breaking things down.
Speaker B
Simply, $600 divided by 11 weeks is $55 a week.
Speaker B
So if you want to think about how can I keep myself out of problems come the holiday season, pick that gift number tonight, divide by 11, and start moving that money aside right now.
Speaker B
You can do that with a separate account.
Speaker B
You can set up the old envelope system, whatever works for you, but start this Friday.
Speaker B
And then when you get to your holiday shopping, when the envelope's empty or that account's empty, you know what?
Speaker B
I'm done.
Speaker B
But here's the best part of that.
Speaker B
You're not going into January with debt.
Speaker B
You're not going into January with regret.
Speaker B
Oh, I wish I hadn't spent so much.
Speaker B
So set what your budget is now.
Speaker B
You got to look at the people you're going to buy for.
Speaker B
I'm like, do I really want to buy for this person?
Speaker B
Or, I don't know.
Speaker B
I'm trying to be funny, but, you know, are you.
Speaker A
Are you someone who usually shops, like, shop for gifts around the holiday time, or do you have any other holiday shopping tips?
Speaker B
So, in full disclosure, I've reached a point in my life where we don't do a lot of gift exchange.
Speaker B
Here's the thing.
Speaker B
Like, I'm a Christian guy.
Speaker B
I believe in the holidays from a religious perspective.
Speaker B
But honestly, I think Christmas has become a major Ponzi scheme for most people.
Speaker B
And here's why I say that.
Speaker B
You're going to buy me a gift.
Speaker B
Let's just say we decide we're going to spend $50.
Speaker B
You don't decide that, but you kind of do, right?
Speaker B
You're going to buy me a $50 gift card.
Speaker B
I'm going to turn around and buy you a $50 gift card.
Speaker B
What have we accomplished?
Speaker B
Absolutely nothing.
Speaker B
So my holiday tip for everybody and we have this conversation with our children is.
Speaker B
And I like what Dutch has put in the comments.
Speaker B
I have a budget.
Speaker B
I try not to bust it.
Speaker B
Great.
Speaker B
So set up a budget, but have a Conversation.
Speaker B
We have this conversation with our two boys every year.
Speaker B
Your mom and I really don't need anything because, you know, you'll get that candle or that's.
Speaker B
It's like, what am I going to do with this?
Speaker B
It's going to sit on the shelf somewhere.
Speaker B
It's going to collect dust.
Speaker B
So I said to both of my children, if you want to do something for us, make a donation to a charity that you feel is a good charity.
Speaker A
Oh, that's very nice.
Speaker B
Because honestly.
Speaker B
And it's not about wealth or anything, it's like, let's do something for somebody else.
Speaker B
I started this about 10 years ago.
Speaker B
There's a charity out there called the Smile Train.
Speaker B
And what they do is they do surgery for people who are born with cleft palate or cleft lips.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Because I could go buy you a gift, and I could buy this one a gift.
Speaker B
What are we getting?
Speaker B
At the end of the day, we're not getting anything.
Speaker B
I'd much rather they come over and spend time with me.
Speaker B
Let's cook a dinner together.
Speaker B
But let's go help people who need to be helped.
Speaker A
Yes, I've spoken.
Speaker B
Let me let you talk.
Speaker A
Duchess says my girls and their fiance get the gifts and some cash.
Speaker A
Hubby and I don't normally exchange.
Speaker A
I totally agree, though.
Speaker A
Like, I am not a huge gift person either.
Speaker A
Like, I don't need that much.
Speaker A
Like, once I have something that I need or that I want, I either, you know, work towards getting it myself, or maybe I'll be like, hey, by the way, I'm looking for this, you know, but it's not.
Speaker A
I'm of the same mindset where it's like, I don't need more things.
Speaker A
I don't want more things.
Speaker A
I would rather just be able to, you know, grow my wealth and then spread it out and be in community.
Speaker B
And that's why I like these people who do, like, I don't know, the Secret Santa things are kind of cool, where everybody puts in a $25 gift.
Speaker B
It all comes down to communication.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker B
It all comes down to setting expectations.
Speaker B
Do that now because what happens?
Speaker B
And I don't know if you've ever been in this experience, but, like, you didn't get somebody something, but all of a sudden they drop something off, or you're like, oh, man, I wasn't expecting them to give me a gift.
Speaker B
And it's not that you didn't appreciate it, but you maybe hadn't planned for that.
Speaker B
Like, I had an uncle used to always do this at Christmas Time he would buy lottery tickets and he would keep a set of lottery tickets like those scratch off tickets.
Speaker B
And if somebody popped up that he wasn't expecting, like, oh, yeah, I got you a lottery ticket.
Speaker B
He gave him something, but you know what I'm saying, It was the idea.
Speaker B
But I think so many of us get into this.
Speaker B
I'll call it a trance, but like, it's like a big, huge Ponzi scheme.
Speaker B
You're going to spend for this and everybody gets in debt.
Speaker B
Nobody gets anything they actually need.
Speaker B
So, you know, I don't mean to be like the bah humbug Scrooge here and don't mean it that way because I think if we, if we focus on stuff, right, then we miss the whole point of the holidays in the first place, in my opinion.
Speaker A
So, yeah, I will say the lottery tickets, that's kind of like a nice, a nice thing to put in the back of my head just in case in the future.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker A
Infoseeker in the chat says Christmas gifts are really for the kids, adults.
Speaker A
I try to find something that person wouldn't get for themselves or something silly.
Speaker A
I love that.
Speaker A
And then Dutchess says we sometimes take day trips or go out to dinner.
Speaker A
Yeah, like, treat yourself.
Speaker A
It's a day to just like treat yourself a little better.
Speaker B
I agree.
Speaker B
And the thing is, like, I think the other thing you can do is do something for somebody, create an experience for them.
Speaker B
You know, maybe you go play miniature golf together or you go see a movie together.
Speaker B
There's a whole lot of things.
Speaker B
The thing is, I've said this on my daily show I used to do.
Speaker B
I said, how many people remember what they got for Christmas two or three years ago?
Speaker B
You don't remember, but you will remember the experience.
Speaker B
You remember that time you spent with your grandparents or that time you spent with your cousins.
Speaker B
And that's the kind of thing I think is so important to focus on that.
Speaker B
Because those experience, you can't quantify how much they're worth in dollars and cents.
Speaker B
They don't put you in debt, but they really help you grow.
Speaker B
Grow the relationships.
Speaker B
That's what it's really all about.
Speaker A
I agree.
Speaker B
All right, now we got another question here.
Speaker B
If you want to read this one.
Speaker B
This is from whisker pop888.
Speaker A
Oh, I don't see it yet.
Speaker B
I'll read it.
Speaker B
It says hot take.
Speaker B
What do you think about people re gifting gifts?
Speaker B
Oh, we're getting ready to go down a hole.
Speaker B
I'm going to let you hit that one first.
Speaker B
While I collect my thoughts.
Speaker B
Juliet.
Speaker A
Okay, so I think it depends.
Speaker A
Whisker.
Speaker A
I think it depends on how soon you're re gifting this gift.
Speaker A
And yeah, I think.
Speaker A
I think it depends on how soon you're re gifting.
Speaker A
And are you re gifting it back to the person or are you gifting it to somebody else?
Speaker A
I think that's a whole separate thing.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker A
I don't see as a totally negative thing, as long as, let's say, if it's something super expensive.
Speaker A
Oh.
Speaker A
So let me tell a story.
Speaker A
I have a friend who.
Speaker A
Who has a cousin who loves to buy gifts in general.
Speaker A
And it was like a video game for her family.
Speaker A
And her family was like, oh, we don't really play video games, so we don't know.
Speaker A
And so they were just like, well, we.
Speaker A
The next time they come over to the house, we kind of have to like, show that it's all set up and that we're playing it just to make sure we're like, reciprocating in kind.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker A
Or like, at least the emotional part of that.
Speaker A
But then they were.
Speaker A
We were.
Speaker A
I was also asking them.
Speaker A
I was like, so how long.
Speaker A
How long are you guys going to have that?
Speaker A
And if you guys want to re gift it, like, I'll take it.
Speaker B
So in other words, they're putting on a show.
Speaker B
Like, be blunt.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker B
Like.
Speaker B
And they're.
Speaker B
Because there's a lot of expectations.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
I think the best thing ever.
Speaker B
I think somebody bought my wife and I for Christmas a candle, a Yankee candle.
Speaker B
And we open up the top.
Speaker B
It had already been burnt part of the way.
Speaker A
Oh.
Speaker A
Oh.
Speaker B
So like, that was the definition to me of, like, this is a re gift.
Speaker B
You know what?
Speaker B
If you want to regift something, if it's going to sit on a shelf and collect dust, I'm all for it.
Speaker B
Do it.
Speaker B
Regift it.
Speaker B
But number one, be careful what you regift because you don't want to be that person that's like, every time I buy this something.
Speaker B
But again, I go back to communicate with the people in your inner circle.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Talk about needs and wants.
Speaker B
Talk about experiences and set the table so everybody feels good about it.
Speaker A
And make sure you're not re.
Speaker A
Gifting to the person that gifted to you.
Speaker A
That's just.
Speaker A
That's just uncool.
Speaker A
Like, have, have, have that memory at least.
Speaker A
So you know who actually gave you this gift before you re gift it, you know?
Speaker B
Yeah, I. I think I can agree with that.
Speaker B
Of course.
Speaker B
Now, if you're re gifting lottery Tickets that could be all right.
Speaker B
Just give them a different one.
Speaker B
Right?
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Well, let me talk about this.
Speaker B
There's an envelope on your desk right now.
Speaker B
Maybe you're sitting at your desk right now and you know exactly what it is.
Speaker B
But it's been there for 11 days.
Speaker B
It's not urgent enough to go to the post office to make a special trip, but you still can't throw it away.
Speaker B
It just sits there.
Speaker B
Well, stamps.com puts real postage on it from your own printer and the carrier comes to your door to get it.
Speaker B
No trip, no line, and 30 days free.
Speaker B
And then they've got plans starting at 14.99amonth.
Speaker B
If you want to find out more information, go to becoming financially confident.com stamps again.
Speaker B
That's becomingfinanciallyconfident.com stamps.
Speaker B
And get those things mailed.
Speaker B
They don't want to sit on your desk forever.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
All right.
Speaker A
So our first mailbag today, somebody wrote in.
Speaker A
I live by myself in a one bedroom apartment.
Speaker A
Everyone tells me that Costco will save me a fortune, but the membership costs money and I don't have anywhere to put 36.6rolls of toy of paper towels.
Speaker A
Is it actually worth it for one person or is it just for big families?
Speaker B
Oh, this is a great question, actually.
Speaker B
And it's interesting.
Speaker B
I was doing some looking around online and there were some cool YouTube videos.
Speaker B
We'll put a link to them if I can find them in the show.
Speaker B
Notes that I don't have them right here in front of me.
Speaker B
But a lot of people have bought into these whole wholesale clubs, these warehouse clubs.
Speaker B
And I'm guilty of it too.
Speaker B
Like, I love to go to Costco.
Speaker B
It drives my wife crazy.
Speaker B
Crazy because I'm one of these guys that gets the big cart.
Speaker B
And I'm going down every aisle because I want to see what this is.
Speaker B
I want to see that.
Speaker B
But the truth is, when I do that, Juliet, if I'm being honest, I'm buying stuff I didn't need to buy.
Speaker B
I'm buying stuff I didn't plan to buy.
Speaker B
I mean, I'll give you an example.
Speaker B
Like this one day we were there, and I love croissants.
Speaker B
Now I shouldn't eat croissants because they're not good for me on my healthy.
Speaker A
Those croissants are good, though.
Speaker B
Those croissants are so amazing.
Speaker B
But like, you can't buy one.
Speaker B
You gotta buy like 75.
Speaker B
I mean, I don't know if there's 75, but there's a lot of Them in that package.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker B
And then of course, the issue is.
Speaker B
And Dutchess made a comment.
Speaker B
I'm gonna get to that in a second because she's got a brilliant observation there.
Speaker B
But do you really need 75 croissants and are you going to use it?
Speaker B
So here's my, here's my initial take on this particular community question.
Speaker B
It's worth it if what you save on the handful of things that you'd buy anyway beats the membership fee.
Speaker B
So my accountant answer is go and look at what you're actually buying that you need not once now.
Speaker B
Needs.
Speaker A
Yeah, needs.
Speaker A
Yes.
Speaker B
And if the value of those needs outweigh the cost, then it's a no brainer.
Speaker B
Do it.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker B
But, but the thing that you have to, the thing that's hard to focus in on is are their prices good?
Speaker B
Because sometimes I found the prices aren't very good and they're encouraging you to buy more.
Speaker B
Like, you know, the 36 paper towels.
Speaker B
Okay, fine.
Speaker B
But if you're alone, like, it might take you a.
Speaker B
To use 36 rolls of paper towel.
Speaker A
I hope it takes you more than 36 years to use paper towels.
Speaker B
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker B
I mean, I don't know.
Speaker B
We use a lot of paper towels at our house because I feel like we're buying 36 rolls like once a month.
Speaker A
Oh, I.
Speaker A
Can I turn you guys on to like Swedish paper towels?
Speaker B
Oh, oh, here we go.
Speaker B
Let's hear this one.
Speaker B
You said Swedish paper towels.
Speaker A
Paper towels.
Speaker A
So it's essentially, it's essentially reusable paper towels.
Speaker A
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker B
I'm sure you like ring them out when you're done with them.
Speaker B
Like you put them in the sink and wash them like.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
Wow.
Speaker B
So is that just a towel then?
Speaker B
And I'm not being a smart alk and asking that question.
Speaker A
It's thicker than the like, paper towel.
Speaker A
Because like, let's say the paper towel is what to ply.
Speaker A
3.
Speaker A
I don't, I don't think they use plies for paper towels.
Speaker B
Unless you get the brawny ones.
Speaker B
Those brawny ones.
Speaker B
You look at the brawny ones on the side, they're like raised and like that thing is like a massive thing.
Speaker A
So the Swedish paper towels are thicker than that.
Speaker A
Yeah, but they are like, all you just have to do is dampen them and then they just turn into a very nice paper towel and you can use them like up to 200 times before.
Speaker A
You should probably like toss them away or something like that.
Speaker A
So you clean them.
Speaker B
Do you put them in the washing machine.
Speaker B
Like, how do you keep them clean?
Speaker A
You could clean them in the washing machine.
Speaker A
You can just use soap and water,.
Speaker B
But you're using them mostly to dry.
Speaker B
That's not to clean up a mess or anything like that.
Speaker B
You're talking about.
Speaker A
You can use them to clean up messes.
Speaker B
Oh, wow.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
See, you've taught me something I didn't know about.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
I'll send you a link afterwards.
Speaker A
You can take a look.
Speaker B
Now, here's an interesting story about Costco.
Speaker B
So I mentioned on the show that I have one of these Hummer EV H3s, right?
Speaker B
So I was looking at leasing this thing.
Speaker B
It's probably been a year and a half ago.
Speaker B
And I'm sitting at the car dealership and we're going through Ringamaroll like this price.
Speaker B
And he goes, hey, do you have a Costco membership?
Speaker A
Okay.
Speaker B
I'm like, I think so.
Speaker B
So I get on my iPhone and it expired.
Speaker B
And I'm like, why?
Speaker B
He says, oh, you can get twelve fifty dollars off of your truck if you have a Costco membership.
Speaker B
I just need your membership number.
Speaker B
So Costco has this car buying service, right?
Speaker B
And they basically will pay the car dealer a referral fee.
Speaker B
So I said, all you need is my membership number.
Speaker B
He said, your membership just has to be in good standing.
Speaker B
So I'm like, okay, cool.
Speaker B
So I get on my app and I'm like, yeah, it's renew.
Speaker B
Yeah, 100.
Speaker B
Whatever it was, I got an executive membership, I think was $130.
Speaker B
130.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
$130 Spent.
Speaker B
Save 1250.
Speaker B
Beautiful.
Speaker B
But that's being intentional with it.
Speaker B
You know what I mean?
Speaker B
And that, that's the whole point.
Speaker B
But just understand this.
Speaker B
Like, we're talking about Costco directly.
Speaker B
Gold membership is $65 a year.
Speaker B
Executive is 130.
Speaker B
But the cool thing about Costco is they give you 2% back up to $1,250 a year.
Speaker B
So if you're actually going to use it, that's real money.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
So Duchess of nj, A dish towel.
Speaker A
Yes, exactly.
Speaker A
It's a dish towel.
Speaker B
Yeah, that's a dish towel.
Speaker B
My grandmother used to do the dish towels all the time.
Speaker B
But, like, I don't know if you ever been over to somebody's house, and that dish towel, like, looks like it could pick up legs and walk away on its own because it's not been washed for a long time.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
See, that's the problem with those.
Speaker B
But the other thing Dutchess said here, which I think is A great idea.
Speaker B
She says you could split the membership with someone.
Speaker B
Yeah, that's a great idea.
Speaker B
And I see a lot of family.
Speaker B
Yeah, I see a lot of families doing that now.
Speaker B
And I think that's a great way to do it as well.
Speaker B
So there's a couple things that I have, what I'll call single person hacks, because I want to answer this particular question directly.
Speaker B
Split the bulk with a friend, maybe not even split the membership, but you could say, hey, Juliet, I'm going to go buy toilet paper.
Speaker B
And it's 40 rolls.
Speaker B
Could you use 10?
Speaker B
And this one uses 10?
Speaker B
And then you do it that way.
Speaker B
I think that's a great thing to do.
Speaker B
And you also have to be careful about what you're buying.
Speaker B
If you're buying paper goods, those things are going to last a long time.
Speaker B
But if you're buying frozen stuff.
Speaker B
And look, here's where my wife and I disagree.
Speaker B
Like, I think if something's frozen, it pretty much stays good forever.
Speaker B
She kind of doesn't agree with that.
Speaker B
But for me also, like I tell you a funny story.
Speaker B
So when we first got together, it's been 26 years, September.
Speaker B
I had a townhouse at the time.
Speaker B
She comes over, I was going to make her dinner, right?
Speaker B
So I just played this plan, this dinner, and, like, I would go to the Costco, like the wholesale clubs to buy stuff, right?
Speaker B
And she's just looking.
Speaker B
I'm cooking dinner, but I don't remember what I made.
Speaker B
But I had this big old vat, like this big tall vat of, like, margarine.
Speaker B
I mean, this was more margarine than a family would use in a year.
Speaker B
But it's like, oh, I got it at Costco.
Speaker B
She's like, do you know that expires?
Speaker B
I'm like, expires?
Speaker B
How would it expire?
Speaker B
It's in the refrigerator.
Speaker B
So we got a little farther into the dating scene, and she decided she moved in with me, Right?
Speaker B
And we were engaged at the time.
Speaker B
Don't get any funny things.
Speaker B
We were engaged.
Speaker B
She moves with me, and this one day she says, we need to have a conversation.
Speaker B
Like, okay.
Speaker B
I'm like, this is very serious.
Speaker B
First of all, I learned two things.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
Number one, did you know dryers have a lint thing?
Speaker A
Yes.
Speaker B
I had no idea about that.
Speaker A
Oh.
Speaker B
So I was doing.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
So, like, there was enough lint in my lint thing that I could have made a blanket.
Speaker B
So I learned that.
Speaker B
Number two, I learned that things have, you know, expiration dates.
Speaker A
Yes.
Speaker B
Because I came home one day from work, and I'm like, I know the pantry cabinets were full.
Speaker B
She's like, ralph, she says, have you looked at any of that stuff lately?
Speaker B
She said you had cans, like canned stuff that expired two years ago.
Speaker B
I'm like, but it's in a can.
Speaker B
It's fine.
Speaker A
See, that's where I also disagree with your wife a little bit.
Speaker A
I'm like, kind of on the.
Speaker A
The expiration date is sometimes a really good marker slash suggestion.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
You know, I agree with you.
Speaker B
So I don't drink milk.
Speaker B
But, like, if you go to poor milk and it's clumpy, that's probably a good sign that your.
Speaker B
Your milk is not good.
Speaker A
Really bad.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B
But anyway, this.
Speaker B
And the reason all this ties in is if you're going to buy stuff that is not perishable, then I think these things are fine.
Speaker B
But if you're going to buy perishable stuff, that's the first thing.
Speaker B
Share it with somebody else.
Speaker B
That's a great idea.
Speaker B
Number two, pay attention to what you're buying.
Speaker B
Number three, and this is where I get myself in trouble by going down every aisle, put a list together, what you actually need to buy.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
And stick to that list.
Speaker B
It's hard.
Speaker B
It's hard because you hear all the time, oh, go to the BJ's, or go to the Costco or go to the Sam's Club.
Speaker B
Those are great things.
Speaker B
And you see these massive things, and there are ways to save money if you're intentional about it.
Speaker A
Exactly.
Speaker A
Duchess of NJ says, oh, my God.
Speaker A
Lint trap, fire waiting to happen.
Speaker B
Yeah, yeah, Duchess.
Speaker B
I learned that the hard way because my wife is like, do you realize there?
Speaker B
And honestly, in full disclosure, I had been married before and my ex wife had moved out, and I guess she handled that because I never even knew about it.
Speaker B
So, yeah, my wife.
Speaker B
And it's funny because at the time I was like, it seemed like every time it took like three cycles to get my clothes to dry.
Speaker A
Whoa.
Speaker A
Go figure.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Sorry.
Speaker A
Infotech says Costco milk lasts for like a month.
Speaker A
It's the special container.
Speaker B
Oh, See, Is it like.
Speaker B
Is it like Kevlar or something?
Speaker B
Like some kind of fanciness?
Speaker A
I'm not sure, but it must.
Speaker A
Not Kevlar, but something special like that.
Speaker B
Well, and that's the whole point, though.
Speaker B
I like what info Seeker said, you know, pay attention to what you're buying.
Speaker B
Do this.
Speaker B
Write down five things that you buy every month, look at what you'd pay for them, and then compare that price at the at the warehouse store.
Speaker B
A lot of times these warehouse stores now, you can buy the stuff online.
Speaker B
So you can go actually look at the price.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
Because I firmly believe that when you get inside those warehouse stores, sometimes those prices aren't exactly a great deal.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Well, in.
Speaker A
In addition to that, you would also have to figure out how much they're giving you.
Speaker A
Because Costco is all about value, too.
Speaker A
Like, it's.
Speaker A
Yes, it's more, but that's where they say, okay, price per ounce or price per pound is.
Speaker B
That's another thing to look at.
Speaker B
That's something to look at as well.
Speaker B
And I didn't realize this until the last time I was at Costco.
Speaker B
You know, you can buy jewelry there.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
And you got some nice pieces, like, if you're into jewelry.
Speaker B
Like, I was really amazed.
Speaker A
They do.
Speaker A
They do.
Speaker B
Why don't we move on to our second letter about scammers.
Speaker B
You want to read that one, Juliet?
Speaker A
Sounds good.
Speaker A
My mom entered one of these sweepstakes or those sweepstakes a while back.
Speaker A
Now she gets you've won letters every week and scam calls almost every day.
Speaker A
Is she on some kind of list?
Speaker A
And how do I get her off it.
Speaker A
Them.
Speaker A
The lists without scaring her?
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
So this is an interesting thing.
Speaker B
There are actually lists of people who've answered sweepstakes and prize officers, prize offers.
Speaker B
Let me say that 10 times on Monday.
Speaker B
And these scammers, they buy those lists.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
So if you want to stop feeding the list, stop entering these things.
Speaker B
If someone says you've won, hang up.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Or I would say, like, if you want to enter them, because some of those sweepstakes could be real.
Speaker A
I don't know.
Speaker A
But you could have like a fake email address.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
Throw down email address is what you're really talking about.
Speaker A
Email.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
I met a client one time.
Speaker B
He created a separate email for every single person.
Speaker B
Person he interacted with.
Speaker A
That's crazy.
Speaker B
But he.
Speaker B
But here's the thing, though.
Speaker B
Like, I liked what he did because then he could tell who the spammers were, like, who sold his information, which I thought was kind of slick.
Speaker B
Right.
Speaker B
If you think about it, if you set up a separate.
Speaker B
And he was.
Speaker B
He was a pretty intent, you know, pretty wise guy when it came to, like, technology.
Speaker B
So he would set up like, Ralph underscore at such and such.
Speaker B
And he goes this way, ralph, if you sell my data, I'm going to know it, dude.
Speaker B
Because I'm going to start getting email to that domain.
Speaker B
I'm like, oh, that's really Brilliant.
Speaker A
Actually, wait, I wonder if he's doing it with like different Gmail accounts or.
Speaker B
Yeah, they're aliases.
Speaker B
I think they're aliases is what he's doing.
Speaker B
I think he's setting up separate aliases, which.
Speaker B
Which honestly I thought was a pretty brilliant move because then you can kind of tell, you know, what aliases, you know, because a lot of people don't realize this.
Speaker B
Like, the DMVs are notorious for selling your information.
Speaker B
They all.
Speaker B
It's a big deal.
Speaker B
And then when you wonder why you get the.
Speaker B
There, there are so many things.
Speaker B
And the thing is so many people, like, they get upset.
Speaker B
They feel, why being Gul.
Speaker B
Because you're right, it's human to want to win stuff.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
But just understand that there are.
Speaker B
It's interesting.
Speaker B
The cyber guy on Fox News on September 25 said opportunity seekers is.
Speaker B
That's what he called them.
Speaker B
These lists.
Speaker B
These are people who answered these things.
Speaker B
And in 2026, the Department of Justice, they had 22,000 lead lists sold to scammers.
Speaker B
Seven million older Americans lost nine and a half million dollars in losses.
Speaker B
That's what they're estimating.
Speaker B
This is.
Speaker B
It's a big deal.
Speaker A
It's a very big deal because at.
Speaker B
The same time, 201,000 complaints were filed with the government.
Speaker B
It's a big deal.
Speaker A
I, I'm actually going to take a look at this, creating email, email aliases because I'm very curious what I, I would be able to see.
Speaker B
Yeah, you could report back to us on that.
Speaker B
I think that'd be brilliant.
Speaker B
Because especially I'm not saying go create one for every single thing, but it would be an interesting test to see if you did that.
Speaker B
And see like, okay, well, I shared this with this one.
Speaker B
Now I got all these things.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A
I will say I remember from way back when we first started these live shows, we did talk about programs.
Speaker A
You can look into your state and see whether there's like a do not call or like unsubscribe list and all that stuff.
Speaker A
So that is something for everybody to take a look at if they feel like inundated with spam.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
I want to share two numbers actually.
Speaker B
So there's one is the Elder fraud hotline.
Speaker B
That's 8, 3, 3, fraud 11.
Speaker B
Again, that's 8, 3, 3, Fraud 11.
Speaker B
So if you know somebody or you've been victimized as an elder been taken advantage of, call that number.
Speaker B
And there's also.
Speaker B
That's the Department of Justice act.
Speaker B
So you can call them.
Speaker A
Got it.
Speaker B
So, yeah, now there is a donotcall.gov site that you can go to.
Speaker B
I've never personally used it.
Speaker B
I want to be careful that.
Speaker B
That.
Speaker B
I'm not necessarily saying that, but that's the thing I would do.
Speaker B
There's also another one, it says opt out prescreen.com and 1-885-opt out.
Speaker B
So those are some things you can look into.
Speaker B
I can't specifically speak to the validation of those if it's a dot gov.
Speaker B
I feel comfortable that that is a dot gov.
Speaker B
That is a fact.
Speaker B
Yeah, I mean, I feel very comfortable with that.
Speaker B
These other ones, opt out pre screen, do it, look at it, see if they're.
Speaker B
They're legitimate.
Speaker B
If they are.
Speaker B
I mean, if you can get out of these things, I think it's a great idea because it's like.
Speaker B
It's like the shark thing, right?
Speaker B
When there's blood in the water.
Speaker B
And I've seen it happen to clients, actually.
Speaker B
I've seen clients who become charitable and the next thing you know, like, they are supporting a million charities.
Speaker B
Because what happens is one charity shares their list with another charity which shares, and it's like, we got a live one here.
Speaker B
You know, I can.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
And that's what I think happens.
Speaker B
And I think that it's really easy to get your stuff stuck in that cycle of, oh, this really stinks.
Speaker B
But you.
Speaker B
Because it's a human.
Speaker B
It's a natural human emotion to try to win something.
Speaker B
I remember as a kid, like, I would see Ed McMahon come on with that Publisher's Clearinghouse.
Speaker B
And I'm thinking as a kid, like, oh, I'm gonna win $10 million, and all I gotta do is send in this thing that comes in the mail.
Speaker B
But there are people that really.
Speaker B
This is crazy, but I've seen people send those fake winning things.
Speaker B
Have you seen these?
Speaker B
They're like spoons.
Speaker B
You can send somebody that you've won the lottery and it sends them like a fake letter and a whole nine yards.
Speaker B
And so we're gonna show up with this big check and it's all scam.
Speaker B
That's.
Speaker B
You're just punking some of your friends or something.
Speaker B
It's like, not cool.
Speaker B
But I have actually seen those.
Speaker A
Yeah, I do want to loop around.
Speaker A
Infosecret in the chat says, the container.
Speaker A
This is about the milk.
Speaker A
Costco milk.
Speaker A
The container blocks light, which helps keeps it better for longer.
Speaker B
Well, that's a really good point.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
See, it's all about the containers.
Speaker B
So today on the show, we've learned about Costco containers and what did you call them?
Speaker A
Swedish paper towels.
Speaker B
Paper towels.
Speaker B
So there's.
Speaker B
But think about that.
Speaker B
There's two things that can save you money if you're not.
Speaker B
If you're not throwing away paper towels.
Speaker B
Here's another pet peeve of mine.
Speaker B
Like, I like the paper towels that have the smaller perforation so you don't have to get such a big one.
Speaker B
Because I've seen people go over to the paper towel and go.
Speaker B
And you got like a hundred of these paper towels like wadded up and you're trying to clean something up.
Speaker B
So like in my office, for example, I use the kind that are single.
Speaker B
I don't know what you call it.
Speaker B
Like, it's a single C fold towel.
Speaker B
So you just poo one up.
Speaker B
I don't know.
Speaker B
But like in the office, have you ever been.
Speaker B
This is going to sound really disgusting, but have you ever been into one of those public bathrooms that have the towel rack on the wall that's like a fabric towel and you pull it down and you dry your hands.
Speaker B
You pull it.
Speaker B
Like I'm thinking to myself, like, I don't know about that one.
Speaker A
Like, anything is still too gross.
Speaker B
Yeah, see, I don't know about that one.
Speaker B
Like, you know, separate towels are good, especially in the public.
Speaker B
And like the whole air dryer thing just drives me crazy because I don't know about you, but like, I've never got my hair, my, my, my actual hands dried from one of those stupid things.
Speaker A
Oh, which one?
Speaker A
Because I feel like it has been.
Speaker A
Has been like very prevalent in getting their really better.
Speaker A
They're much better hand dryers out there.
Speaker B
But I've seen some like, you put your hands down in.
Speaker B
Now it's like a whole thing.
Speaker B
It's got like blue light and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker B
I don't know.
Speaker A
Yeah, that's.
Speaker A
That one is supposed to like help dry.
Speaker A
Dry it faster too.
Speaker B
Oh, yeah.
Speaker B
Well, you know what?
Speaker B
Anyway, anyway, let's move on to our third, third mailbag question of the day.
Speaker B
What do you think?
Speaker A
Sounds good.
Speaker A
So this one is.
Speaker A
Oh, wait, Duchess of NJ Hopping back real quick.
Speaker A
Nasty towels.
Speaker A
I'd rather have wet hands.
Speaker A
Another thing that I do is sometimes I will just bring around a hand towel to just wipe my hands with.
Speaker B
Yeah, hold on a second.
Speaker B
Did you do.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
So you like, you have like a.
Speaker B
Take a towel with you?
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah, it's just like a small hand.
Speaker A
Hand towel.
Speaker B
Oh, that's kind of a cool idea.
Speaker B
No, a lot of people carry like the hand sanitizer with them all the time and the wipes and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker B
I don't carry a purse, so for me, I don't usually have those things,.
Speaker A
But you should totally get into merses.
Speaker A
That's a.
Speaker B
That's a. Whoa, whoa.
Speaker B
Back up a step.
Speaker B
Did you say merses?
Speaker A
Yeah, a man purse.
Speaker B
Oh, Kind of like a man bag.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
Oh, immerse.
Speaker B
I don't know.
Speaker B
Immerse.
Speaker B
I don't know.
Speaker B
See, this has been an interesting show.
Speaker B
I mean, it really has been.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker A
I will say the hand towels.
Speaker A
It's because I traveled through Asia a lot, and a lot of the times they don't have a lot of paper towels available.
Speaker A
So a lot of people do carry their.
Speaker B
Is that a cultural thing, Juliet?
Speaker B
Is it because they don't want to waste.
Speaker B
Is that what that really is about?
Speaker B
And I'm not being funny when I ask that question.
Speaker B
Is about not wanting to throw away a lot of stuff, so they're trying to keep a track on waste.
Speaker A
I don't necessarily know if the, like, paper towel for wet hands is a thing, but I. I do.
Speaker A
Like, that could be it.
Speaker A
It must be something cultural that I don't really understand.
Speaker B
Fair enough.
Speaker A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A
Duchess of NJ says I carry hand sanitizer in my car and my bag.
Speaker B
That's smart idea.
Speaker B
It's a good idea.
Speaker A
All right, we have delayed it.
Speaker A
I'm gonna read the third mailbag.
Speaker A
Okay.
Speaker B
Okay, let's do it.
Speaker A
I'm 63, and my son is 11.
Speaker A
I've always planned to wait until 70 to take Social Security.
Speaker A
A coworker told me my son could get his own check if I file sooner.
Speaker A
Is that real, or is she confusing it with someone else?
Speaker A
Something else.
Speaker B
So this is really interesting, and a lot of people aren't aware of this, so let's.
Speaker B
Let me talk about a couple things in here which maybe people don't understand.
Speaker B
So you can start to collect Social Security in the United states at age 62.
Speaker B
That's the first time based on your age, you can collect.
Speaker B
Now, the problem is, if you collect at 62, you're going to get less benefits.
Speaker B
And if you make over a certain amount of money, you'll lose actual dollars of benefits.
Speaker B
Oh.
Speaker B
So generally, the way it works is if you take your Social Security at 62, you lose about 25% of what you would have gotten if you waited till full retirement age.
Speaker B
Full retirement age is about 67 years old now.
Speaker B
Then if you wait till age 70, you actually get 25% more benefits.
Speaker B
So think about it in this continuum, it starts at 62 and it goes to 70 for every month.
Speaker B
You wait longer, you get more benefits.
Speaker B
Once you get to that, you get less benefits before full retirement age, more benefits after.
Speaker B
So the teeter point, so what this person is talking about is that if you are on Social Security and you have a dependent child that is less than 18 years old, this is absolutely true.
Speaker B
A lot of people don't know about this.
Speaker B
You act there, your child can actually get half of your Social Security benefits.
Speaker B
So the question here, really, and this is where a lot of people need a professional in their corner, but they don't have one because they don't.
Speaker B
They're not aware of this.
Speaker B
So so many people here, well, wait as long as you can and take Social Security because you'll get more money.
Speaker B
That's true, that's true.
Speaker B
But in this particular scenario, it might make sense to take it early.
Speaker B
Now, again, I can't give personal tax advice over the microphone here because everybody's situation is different.
Speaker B
But you have to weigh in that value of those checks that your child is going to get for the time period till they turn 18.
Speaker B
So if your child is unmarried, they're under 18, if they're still in high school at 18 or 19, they still qualify.
Speaker B
Or if they're disabled, as long as they're under 22, you, as the child will get 50% of the parent's full retirement age amount, even if the parent files early.
Speaker B
So even if you take that early amount at 62.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
The Social Security administration is still going to give your child half of what you would have gotten at 67.
Speaker B
So as you're factoring this in, you got to think about, okay, what does this really mean?
Speaker B
It means that at 62, number one, are you going to continue working?
Speaker B
If you're going to continue working, then you've got some limits.
Speaker B
You can only make about $25,000 a year before you lose benefits.
Speaker B
Then you're in a different position.
Speaker A
Position, okay.
Speaker B
But if you find yourself in this position, like for example, like say a parent's full benefit will be $1800 a month, then your child will get 900amonth till they turn 18 or 19 until they graduate from high school.
Speaker B
That's a lot of money.
Speaker B
So you got to factor that in to the, the equation about why I should do this.
Speaker B
But the thing is, when you go and get that money early, it does cut your benefit for life.
Speaker B
So you got to understand that, see, once you lock into Social Security, that's what you're going to get for the rest of your life.
Speaker B
And if you live to be 100 years old, you probably made a bad decision because you're going to get less benefits for life.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
So my initial reaction here, 63 year old raising an 11 year old who's trying to play in the saloon.
Speaker B
Number one.
Speaker B
If you got an 11 year old, my suspicion is you're probably still working because 11 year olds aren't cheap.
Speaker B
Yeah, but you got to go get some information.
Speaker B
You know, I'm all about clarity on this show.
Speaker B
So here's what you do.
Speaker B
Go to ssa.govmyaccount that's how you access your Social Security account.
Speaker B
And I encourage everybody to do this at least once a year.
Speaker B
Go see what's out there because sometimes Social Security has mistakes.
Speaker B
But write down your benefit at age 62 and then look at your benefit at age 70.
Speaker B
Then what you can do is you can call them because you can't do this online.
Speaker B
You can call Social Security at 800-772-1213.
Speaker B
Again, that's 800-772-1213.
Speaker B
And ask this question.
Speaker B
What would my son get on my record and how does that change my best age to file?
Speaker B
They will help you through this, to help you decide this, but there's a lot of moving pieces to this.
Speaker B
This is one of those great opportunities.
Speaker B
If you want to have somebody in your corner to do this, you can go to becomingfinanciallyconfident.com bookacallwithme so take a look at that because these are the kind of things that we can do, a consultation we can talk through and we can look at how all the different pieces to this puzzle.
Speaker A
Yeah, sounds good.
Speaker A
I can't participate in this question at all because this is just like way over my head.
Speaker A
But this is perfect for you, Ralph.
Speaker B
Well, so it's over your head.
Speaker B
But let's talk about a little bit of this because maybe there's some jargon in that that I use.
Speaker B
Maybe there's something you don't understand.
Speaker B
What specifically are you not understanding?
Speaker B
And I don't mean that from being a smart aleck comment.
Speaker B
It just.
Speaker B
Is there something that just.
Speaker B
Is it because your age you're like, I'm not worried about Social Security right now or anything like that.
Speaker A
I think it's more like this doesn't really pertain to me and it's so far down the line and I'm not in that situation where I, a child who's so young and I am, you know, already eligible to Take out Social Security.
Speaker A
So this, I think, because the situation doesn't pertain to me at all.
Speaker A
I'm just like, oh, yeah, never knew any of this.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
So this is one of those conversations that you have with family members.
Speaker B
If it doesn't affect you, maybe you've got somebody that like.
Speaker B
I know we were out somewhere this weekend and I was.
Speaker B
It was funny.
Speaker B
I saw a shirt and it says, not grandpa, dad, because I guess this guy was like 60 or something and just had a baby and it was like, so just kind of funny.
Speaker B
So.
Speaker B
But I see a lot more of this now, a lot more of elderly gentlemen who are.
Speaker B
Who are.
Speaker B
Yes, elderly gentlemen who are in this position.
Speaker B
So if you're in that position, know that this is real.
Speaker B
Nobody's trying to scam you.
Speaker B
And if you want to find information, reach out to me.
Speaker B
I'd be happy to talk to you.
Speaker B
Well, did you know this?
Speaker B
As we get older, the likelihood of us passing away gets a little stronger every year.
Speaker B
I think about that myself.
Speaker B
And 70% of people right now don't have a will.
Speaker B
And it's not because they decided against getting one.
Speaker B
They just never got around to doing it or they just keep putting it off.
Speaker B
And when you put it off, it costs you real money.
Speaker B
It cost you a probate.
Speaker B
It costs you a judge who never met your family deciding who gets what.
Speaker B
But it leaves everybody guessing.
Speaker B
Easy will and trust handles it online in one sitting.
Speaker B
And the best part is it's $149.
Speaker B
You're not going to pay thousands of dollars for an attorney.
Speaker B
It's an attorney reviewed site.
Speaker B
It's built for your state's laws.
Speaker B
If you want to find out more information, go to becoming financiallyconfident.comeasywill again, that's becomingfinanciallyconfident.comeasywill and check it out.
Speaker B
All right, well, let's do our daily update on Win Ralph's money.
Speaker B
So as I said earlier, by going to becoming financiallyconfident.com giveaway, you can enter now, let me shuffle this as of right now for the current week.
Speaker B
And again, you can enter every week if you'd like.
Speaker B
Right now we've got 57 entries for the current week.
Speaker B
And as we know, the more people that enter, the more entries that we have, the higher the amount goes.
Speaker B
It goes from 25 up to 150.
Speaker B
So if you want to win Ralph's money again, go to becomingfinanciallyconfident.com giveaway.
Speaker B
This closes at 11:45 on Thursday evening, and then we're going to draw the winner Friday and we'll tell everybody who's won again.
Speaker B
Couple of legal things.
Speaker B
It's free, there's no purchase necessary, and you go to becomingfinanciallyconfident.com giveaway.
Speaker B
You got to be a US resident 18 and up.
Speaker B
And you can see all the official rules on the page that I just mentioned.
Speaker B
So enter once and enter many times.
Speaker B
Well, let's get to our money move this week.
Speaker B
So as we talk about things that we can do, this week's money move is to split everything you spend, I'm talking about every single dollar you spend, into two lists.
Speaker B
The bills that are the same every month and the ones that change.
Speaker B
So you understand, we're going to have what we call fixed.
Speaker B
Those are the ones that are fixed.
Speaker B
They're the same every month.
Speaker B
And then we're going to have variable because here's the thing a lot of people don't understand.
Speaker B
You can't decide where your money should go until you see where it's already going.
Speaker B
And those fixed costs, if you think about it, Juliet, they're the floor.
Speaker B
They're going to be.
Speaker B
This is what it costs to live.
Speaker B
Fixed costs would be things like your mortgage is generally fixed, your car payment is generally fixed.
Speaker A
Yes.
Speaker B
But things like groceries, things like utilities, eating out, those fun bed, budget money, those are not fixed.
Speaker A
Those are variable.
Speaker B
They are.
Speaker B
So what you can do is take your last month bank statement, take your credit card statement and just create two simple columns.
Speaker B
Might take you 45 minutes to do this.
Speaker B
Half an hour to 45 minutes and just put it in there.
Speaker B
Is this a fixed cost or is this a variable cost or things that changed.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
I just think it's really going to be a great thing because then you're going to be able to see, like, where does my money actually go?
Speaker B
And if you've got that floor, you know, look, I have to make at least this much money.
Speaker B
It's going to point out where you have issues.
Speaker A
Yes, yes.
Speaker A
I'm excited to do this one.
Speaker A
And hopefully, like, if you have done this already or are already doing this and you know your numbers, let us know in the chat.
Speaker A
And if you haven't, then please do join us in this week's money move.
Speaker B
Yeah.
Speaker B
Because we're checking every day this week and if you've got questions, send them to us on this show.
Speaker B
Which leads me to this, actually make this life a little simpler for you.
Speaker B
You, what did you spend last month?
Speaker B
I'm not talking about what you earned?
Speaker B
What did you actually spend?
Speaker B
I've been doing this thing for 30 years and I've never once had a person guess that number and say, well, Ralph, I spent this and it was too high.
Speaker B
No, they always guess low.
Speaker B
And most people believe it.
Speaker B
Well, Quick and Simplify connects your accounts and answers it for you.
Speaker B
So it's going to tell you what you're actually spending month to month, week to week.
Speaker B
And then it does something a little harder.
Speaker B
You can actually build a budget into it.
Speaker B
And it's going to show you what's safe to spend for the rest of the month after the bills, after the savings is already spoken for.
Speaker B
I love this tool, and you can get it by going to becoming financiallyconfident.comquicken again.
Speaker B
That's becomingfinanciallyconfident.comquicken.
Speaker B
It gives you information, and information is power.
Speaker A
What's for tomorrow's show?
Speaker B
RALPH so tomorrow is going to be a fun Tuesday.
Speaker B
We're going to show you how to check whether something in your house has been recalled.
Speaker B
We talked a little bit about expiration dates, but tomorrow we're going to talk about recalls.
Speaker B
And then we're going to ask about if right now is the cheapest time to book a Thanksgiving flight.
Speaker B
Because guess what?
Speaker B
Hint, hint, you want to make sure you join us tomorrow because you could save some money if you're going to be traveling over the holidays.
Speaker A
Yeah.
Speaker B
And then if you buy streaming services like me or so many people, there's going to be some changes to the Disney and Hulu Bundle, so you want to know about those.
Speaker B
And then in the breakdown, I love this.
Speaker B
One of our listeners sent this idea in for the breakdown, and she said this.
Speaker B
She says, I want to understand the difference between making money, having money, and keeping money.
Speaker A
This is going to be a very juicy topic, I would say.
Speaker B
Yeah, it's going to be a lot of interesting things that we're going to talk about in the breakdown tomorrow.
Speaker B
But I love this question.
Speaker B
What's the difference between making money, having money, and keeping money?
Speaker B
I don't want to spill the beans anything today because I've got some really great ideas.
Speaker B
But this is a tough question, though.
Speaker B
It kind of comes down to the question we talked about a couple weeks ago, the needs versus wants.
Speaker A
It is.
Speaker A
It is.
Speaker A
And I think it'll be a very good thing because, you know, between making money, having money and keeping money, it's just like a mindset shift.
Speaker A
So I just feel like for people who are going to be tuning in tomorrow, you may walk away with with another way to view how you do things.
Speaker B
Because for so many of us, I think we've always gotten this indoctrination.
Speaker B
I got to go make money.
Speaker B
I got to make money.
Speaker B
I got to go make money.
Speaker B
Sometimes I think that's the easier thing to do.
Speaker B
I don't want to spill what's going to go on tomorrow, but just think about that as we go before tomorrow.
Speaker B
If you're going to join us tomorrow live, think about making money, having money and keeping money.
Speaker B
That's we're going to talk about tomorrow on the breakdown.
Speaker A
Sounds good.
Speaker A
Well, that is it for today's episode of becoming financially confident.
Speaker A
I'm Raf Eastep Jr. And I am Juliette.
Speaker B
And as always, if you've got a question for this show, we would love to hear your voice.
Speaker B
You can send us a voicemail by going to becomingfinanciallyconfident.com voicemail.
Speaker B
And don't forget, you can join us live on the show tomorrow by going to becomingfinanciallyconfident.com live.
Speaker A
And remember, this show, becoming financially confident is where we are trying to break free from money shame one conversation at a time.
Speaker A
So join us tomorrow and every single day at 11:30am to 12:30pm Eastern.
Speaker B
And don't forget to tell your friends about the show.
Speaker B
We had a lot of people join us in the live today, so the more the merrier.
Speaker B
And don't forget to enter our contest.
Speaker B
And you all have a great day today and we'll see you again tomorrow.
Speaker A
Bye.
Speaker A
It.
