ATHLLC1840778264

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.760 | - Hello, and welcome to another episode of All The Hacks,

00:00:05.640 | a show about upgrading your life, money, and travel.

00:00:08.460 | I'm Chris Hutchins, and I'm so excited you're here

00:00:10.460 | for another Mailbag episode,

00:00:12.240 | but this time it's gonna be so much more than Q&A

00:00:15.080 | because you all have shared so much.

00:00:17.380 | So we're also gonna have great deals, hacks,

00:00:19.680 | and some insurance tips and wins from you all.

00:00:22.580 | And as I was preparing this,

00:00:24.240 | also I realized there is way too much for just one episode.

00:00:27.640 | In fact, there was way too much for two episodes.

00:00:30.080 | So here's how I'm gonna break it up.

00:00:31.600 | Today, I'm gonna cover all the best and latest deals,

00:00:34.560 | but when it comes to hacks and questions,

00:00:36.540 | I'm gonna focus mostly on money, saving, and investing,

00:00:39.520 | which includes a very timely discussion

00:00:41.640 | about how I'm thinking about banking and investing

00:00:44.160 | in light of what happened last week with Silicon Valley Bank

00:00:47.000 | which, fun fact, happens to actually be our bank

00:00:49.800 | for checking and our mortgage.

00:00:51.660 | So yeah, it's been an interesting last few days.

00:00:54.600 | I'm also gonna talk about where to store cash,

00:00:56.600 | bank account bonuses, shopping for tires

00:00:59.200 | or engagement rings, and a lot more.

00:01:01.440 | Then I'm gonna take all the amazing travel points

00:01:03.720 | and miles, hacks, and questions

00:01:05.600 | and talk about those in a few weeks.

00:01:07.480 | So feel free to send anything else over for that episode.

00:01:10.520 | And then I'll take all the relationship, family,

00:01:12.640 | and kids hacks and questions and do another episode,

00:01:15.900 | but this time I'm gonna have my wife Amy join me

00:01:18.080 | so you can get her perspective too.

00:01:20.280 | So if you have any questions you want the two of us

00:01:22.600 | to tackle, please send them our way as well.

00:01:25.560 | But before we jump in, I wanna chat about a few things.

00:01:29.000 | First, for everyone who had an email out to me

00:01:31.280 | that I hadn't responded to for a few weeks, I'm so sorry.

00:01:34.560 | I ended up getting hundreds of listener emails

00:01:36.940 | in 2023 so far, but as of last night,

00:01:39.600 | I think I've caught up on every single one of them.

00:01:42.140 | So to everyone who engaged, asked questions, reached out,

00:01:45.200 | thank you so much, I really appreciate your support.

00:01:47.960 | Keep it coming.

00:01:48.900 | And also to the 18 people

00:01:51.320 | who've joined the All The Hacks membership,

00:01:53.160 | thank you so much.

00:01:54.440 | Though, however, I did get an email

00:01:56.440 | from a listener named Grace who pointed out

00:01:58.780 | that she's a bit overwhelmed by creators' memberships.

00:02:01.600 | So I wanna clarify a few things.

00:02:03.800 | First, my goal for the membership is to make it something

00:02:06.300 | you get way more value from than you put in.

00:02:09.120 | For example, I'm trying to see if we can set up

00:02:11.060 | a travel agency and make all members sub-agents

00:02:13.800 | so you can get discounts on travel.

00:02:15.720 | I'm also working on partnering with brands

00:02:17.460 | to get exclusive deals on financial and lifestyle products.

00:02:21.580 | That said, I don't want it to become just a coupon book

00:02:24.160 | of things you won't use,

00:02:25.200 | so I'm gonna be really thoughtful about what goes into it.

00:02:28.140 | In fact, Spotify just launched a new feature

00:02:30.400 | to ask your audience a question.

00:02:32.240 | So if you're listening there or you want to,

00:02:34.240 | you should see a pop-up.

00:02:35.920 | Please let me know what perks or benefits you'd wanna see.

00:02:39.480 | But like I said, I don't have those perks all yet.

00:02:42.680 | Right now, the membership is really three things.

00:02:44.960 | It's a monthly video call for members

00:02:47.160 | where we can discuss whatever is top of mind,

00:02:49.460 | whether that's me live screen sharing,

00:02:51.320 | searching for flights, giving advice on a credit card,

00:02:54.720 | or giving my take on a financial question

00:02:57.040 | or decision you have to make.

00:02:58.760 | Second, I wanna invite you behind the scenes

00:03:00.920 | with a podcast.

00:03:02.000 | So when I book guests, I'm gonna send an email out

00:03:04.120 | to solicit questions you wanna propose I ask them

00:03:06.440 | in the interview, or I might get your take on a new idea,

00:03:09.300 | like when I was considering launching

00:03:11.000 | city or country travel-focused episodes.

00:03:13.720 | And third, I'm gonna flag members in my inbox

00:03:16.280 | so I can get back to you guys as fast as possible.

00:03:19.560 | I still plan to reply to every email I get,

00:03:22.120 | so it's not gonna be a gate.

00:03:23.800 | Don't worry.

00:03:25.280 | So if that sounds like it's worth it to you,

00:03:27.120 | which right now is $10 a month or $100 a year,

00:03:29.860 | I'd love to have you join at allthehacks.com/join.

00:03:34.000 | But please don't feel the pressure to join right now

00:03:35.920 | if you don't want to.

00:03:37.240 | I mean, you're also welcome to join

00:03:38.500 | if you just wanna support me in the show,

00:03:40.040 | but there are so many other ways you can do that

00:03:42.400 | by sharing the show with your friends or colleagues,

00:03:44.860 | leaving a rating, a review,

00:03:46.440 | using the card links I have on the website,

00:03:48.800 | checking out our sponsors,

00:03:50.400 | or even just listening every week.

00:03:52.520 | So to Grace and anyone else feeling exhausted

00:03:55.160 | with people pitching you to join their membership,

00:03:57.320 | please do not feel any pressure here,

00:03:59.560 | and hopefully I can add enough value to the membership

00:04:02.240 | that you wanna join and even save money each year

00:04:05.200 | by being a part.

00:04:06.580 | So with that aside, we have a lot to cover,

00:04:09.080 | but one quick thing, huge, huge congratulations

00:04:11.860 | to my editor, Ben, who welcomed his first child

00:04:14.360 | into the world last week.

00:04:15.840 | If you notice the audio quality on this

00:04:17.520 | has dropped a little from our normal episodes,

00:04:19.480 | that's because I was doing it myself.

00:04:21.480 | So as soon as Ben's back, things will get a lot better.

00:04:24.360 | Let's jump in right after this.

00:04:26.540 | (upbeat music)

00:04:29.560 | So the first thing I wanna tackle is a follow-up

00:04:32.360 | to the episode I did a few weeks ago on insurance.

00:04:35.580 | I got a few emails from listeners,

00:04:37.620 | and I just wanted to share some of the experience

00:04:39.760 | they've had and update you guys on where I ended up.

00:04:42.800 | So ultimately, for some reason that I don't understand,

00:04:46.000 | we thought we were gonna go with Travelers,

00:04:48.000 | but their underwriting team thought that our home,

00:04:50.880 | which is not in a wildfire area,

00:04:52.760 | was at too high of a risk for wildfires and said no.

00:04:56.240 | So we ended up going with USAA,

00:04:58.200 | which I actually anticipated being more expensive,

00:05:01.560 | but it turns out that the bundled pricing

00:05:04.780 | for auto insurance at USAA

00:05:06.680 | is something they can't quote in advance

00:05:08.460 | and even mistakenly told me wouldn't exist.

00:05:11.340 | But by the time I ended up getting the home policy set up

00:05:14.280 | and adding auto, the total price was less

00:05:16.680 | than it would have been with Travelers.

00:05:18.280 | And the entire experience online,

00:05:20.440 | getting everything set up was so easy.

00:05:22.900 | And I'm pretty excited that they're in the number one

00:05:25.520 | or number two spot on Consumer Reports.

00:05:27.560 | Obviously, I haven't had any claims yet in a few days,

00:05:29.680 | but I'm feeling really happy

00:05:30.700 | with the decision to move over there.

00:05:32.400 | And it just feels nice

00:05:33.320 | to have all my insurance policies in one place.

00:05:36.360 | One good tip, when you go to cancel insurance policies

00:05:39.440 | with your next insurance carrier,

00:05:40.980 | if you're in that situation,

00:05:42.320 | they will generally, at least GEICO and Lemonade were fine,

00:05:45.840 | backdating to the date that the new policy kicked in

00:05:48.880 | because at least in one case,

00:05:50.360 | it took me a few days to get things organized

00:05:52.760 | and give them a call.

00:05:53.920 | So that's one thing to know.

00:05:55.360 | Also, I'm feeling good because Billy is a listener

00:05:58.360 | who reached out and said he's been a USAA member

00:06:00.640 | for 18 years.

00:06:02.040 | And while his rates have gone up a little over time,

00:06:04.240 | which I think is true of every carrier,

00:06:06.080 | he said the service has been amazing

00:06:08.600 | and they've gone above and beyond

00:06:10.320 | and he's been so impressed.

00:06:11.800 | So I'm very happy.

00:06:13.120 | If anyone has any questions about my experience,

00:06:15.680 | let me know, I'll update you if anything happens.

00:06:17.960 | But so far, I'm very excited

00:06:20.120 | to have everything set up there.

00:06:21.680 | A few other things people wrote back.

00:06:23.280 | So funny enough, I got an email from John

00:06:25.000 | who said he actually was a USAA member for 20 years

00:06:27.720 | and the rates kept getting so much more expensive

00:06:30.760 | that he ended up deciding to shop around

00:06:33.760 | and he was using PolicyGenius and had a great experience.

00:06:36.960 | So if you're looking for a broker online,

00:06:39.760 | John wrote in and is now saving more than $1,000 a year

00:06:43.240 | on all of his policies.

00:06:44.800 | Funny enough, I think John's also in the Bay Area.

00:06:47.400 | So for him, switching carriers away from USAA

00:06:50.320 | was a lot of savings.

00:06:51.480 | For me, switching to USA was a lot of savings.

00:06:53.920 | I think, you know, it just undermines the necessity

00:06:57.720 | for everyone to go out there and price this themselves.

00:07:00.200 | So definitely recommend that.

00:07:02.080 | I've used PolicyGenius in the past

00:07:04.040 | and gotten some good results,

00:07:05.800 | but do keep in mind, not all carriers

00:07:08.400 | are able to price through PolicyGenius.

00:07:10.120 | So for some, you're gonna need to go price on your own

00:07:12.440 | if you really wanna do an exhaustive search.

00:07:14.640 | And unfortunately, it also means that

00:07:16.920 | just because I found the best rates at Travelers or USAA,

00:07:20.240 | doesn't mean that even if you live

00:07:21.720 | in the same part of the country,

00:07:23.160 | might have the same experience

00:07:24.480 | because it's so much driven on so many factors

00:07:27.000 | that are outside of your and my control.

00:07:29.320 | When it comes to pet insurance though,

00:07:30.840 | I did get two emails from Adam and Aya,

00:07:33.400 | both of which highly recommended Embrace for pet insurance.

00:07:37.640 | They both said that it was so easy to work with them.

00:07:40.640 | They paid back their claims very quickly

00:07:42.880 | and they've been so happy.

00:07:44.240 | Aya actually sent me her referral code

00:07:46.600 | and said if anyone listening needs pet insurance,

00:07:48.680 | I really recommend Embrace

00:07:50.240 | and here's my referral code if someone needs it.

00:07:52.600 | So I'm gonna put her link in the show notes.

00:07:54.720 | I'm actually gonna link allthehacks.com/embrace,

00:07:58.000 | E-M-B-R-A-C-E, to Aya's referral code.

00:08:01.400 | So if you wanna send her some love

00:08:02.680 | and you're looking for pet insurance,

00:08:04.120 | definitely check that out.

00:08:05.360 | I don't have any personal experience,

00:08:07.280 | but reading Aya and Adam's strong endorsement

00:08:10.280 | makes me think that if I'm getting pet insurance,

00:08:12.000 | I don't even know if I need to look around.

00:08:13.640 | I might just start there

00:08:14.840 | because they had such strong things to say.

00:08:17.200 | One more thing from Jeffrey,

00:08:18.640 | who, by the way, just came back from a trip to Milan

00:08:21.120 | where he pointed out that he was able to fly in business

00:08:23.840 | for 150,000 points and some fees,

00:08:26.920 | had an amazing trip to Italy,

00:08:28.720 | used point.me, had a great experience,

00:08:31.040 | but he said that the firm he works at

00:08:32.960 | practices in the area of significant personal injury

00:08:36.000 | and he wanted to emphasize

00:08:37.720 | how many times a catastrophic event happens

00:08:40.440 | and clients are left with almost nothing

00:08:42.400 | because the person who injured them

00:08:43.760 | was either not insured or only had the state minimums.

00:08:47.320 | He said, "It is really, really important

00:08:49.560 | "that people consider getting the maximum amount

00:08:52.000 | "of uninsured and underinsured motor as possible,

00:08:54.680 | "which in California is limited

00:08:56.280 | "to the amount you carry on your own liability."

00:08:58.920 | Jeffrey said the cost is so minimal

00:09:00.600 | and it would have made such a huge difference so many times.

00:09:03.200 | So he really wanted to emphasize

00:09:04.520 | how much people should consider making sure

00:09:06.320 | they have that coverage.

00:09:07.800 | Finally, I got a long email from Joel.

00:09:10.320 | Thank you for everything.

00:09:11.480 | Just to highlight how important disability insurance was,

00:09:15.040 | he's actually had multiple people in his life,

00:09:17.000 | colleagues and family members,

00:09:18.560 | who have been in the unfortunate situation

00:09:20.760 | of needing to rely on their disability insurance.

00:09:23.240 | And he's very thankful that the ones that had it, had it,

00:09:26.760 | and just wanted to point out that

00:09:28.720 | disabilities can be more common than people realize.

00:09:31.640 | Everything from accidents, falling off a horse,

00:09:33.960 | things at work that Workers' Comp doesn't cover enough of

00:09:37.240 | beyond a certain timeframe,

00:09:38.680 | that he had a lot of experiences

00:09:40.560 | where people really benefited from having it

00:09:43.160 | and wanted to make sure that people had another data point

00:09:46.840 | since I personally don't have

00:09:48.120 | any of those experiences to share.

00:09:50.320 | So that's a little recap from the insurance episode.

00:09:53.600 | Now I wanna talk about deals

00:09:54.720 | 'cause there's a handful of deals happening right now

00:09:56.600 | that I think are worth knowing about.

00:09:58.680 | First, very timely because you have to book it by tomorrow,

00:10:02.160 | which is March 16th.

00:10:03.800 | Southwest is doing a sale 20% off all award flights.

00:10:08.360 | You have to fly by May 24th,

00:10:10.600 | but the promo code is SAVE20NOW.

00:10:13.160 | So if you're looking at a Southwest flight

00:10:14.920 | and you have points to do it,

00:10:16.480 | you can get 20% off as long as you book today or tomorrow.

00:10:19.800 | Chase Freedom, if you have a Freedom card starting today,

00:10:23.520 | you can go to chasebonus.com

00:10:25.320 | and you should be able to register for the next bonus,

00:10:27.920 | which for Q2 is on Amazon and Lowe's.

00:10:30.880 | That's 5% cash back up to $1,500 of spend.

00:10:34.080 | But if you also have a Sapphire card,

00:10:36.640 | you can actually take that cash back

00:10:38.480 | and convert it to points.

00:10:39.520 | So it's a great combo card.

00:10:41.560 | And if you have any home improvement projects,

00:10:43.800 | maybe Q2 is the time to pick stuff up at Lowe's

00:10:46.480 | and we're probably all shopping on Amazon.

00:10:48.800 | So it might make sense to use your Freedom card

00:10:50.960 | if you have one for Amazon for the next three months,

00:10:53.280 | starting April 1st, of course,

00:10:54.880 | not three months starting now.

00:10:56.160 | There are also a few card bonuses

00:10:58.400 | that are worth sharing right now

00:10:59.720 | because they are a lot higher

00:11:01.160 | than I've seen in recent past.

00:11:02.640 | In fact, the Ink Business Cash and Unlimited bonuses

00:11:05.400 | are the all time best I've ever seen.

00:11:08.320 | Now you might be thinking, I don't have a business,

00:11:10.000 | but I wanna be clear that you probably do have a business.

00:11:13.880 | Technically, if you sell something at a yard sale

00:11:16.320 | or on eBay, or you do any consulting or writing

00:11:19.480 | or handyman services or have a rental property

00:11:21.760 | or have ever driven for Lyft or done TaskRabbit,

00:11:24.640 | any of those things, even if you don't have an LLC,

00:11:27.320 | even if you don't have a business set up,

00:11:29.520 | are still considered a sole proprietorship.

00:11:31.680 | And so you can qualify for a business credit card.

00:11:34.440 | In fact, when you apply for a business credit card,

00:11:36.520 | you can use your name as the business name,

00:11:38.360 | your address as your business address,

00:11:40.040 | your phone number as your business phone number,

00:11:41.720 | and your own social as the business tax ID

00:11:44.280 | because sole proprietorships

00:11:45.640 | actually don't have their own tax ID.

00:11:47.840 | So you might be way more eligible for a business card

00:11:50.600 | than you think.

00:11:51.440 | And right now, the Chase Ink Business Cash

00:11:54.200 | and Ink Business Unlimited both have a $900 bonus,

00:11:59.160 | but like the Freedom card,

00:12:00.960 | if you have a Chase Sapphire card

00:12:03.680 | or an Ink Business Preferred,

00:12:05.320 | you can use that $900 of bonus cash

00:12:08.240 | as 90,000 ultimate rewards points,

00:12:11.040 | which is an awesome bonus.

00:12:13.280 | Both of the cards, by the way, also have no annual fee.

00:12:16.920 | So we're talking about a no annual fee card

00:12:19.160 | with a 90,000 points signup bonus,

00:12:21.680 | really, really great cards.

00:12:23.480 | The Business Unlimited earns 1.5% on everything,

00:12:27.400 | which, like I said, if you pair with the right cards

00:12:29.760 | is 1.5 points.

00:12:31.200 | And the Ink Business Cash gives you 5% cash back

00:12:33.960 | or 5X points at office supply stores

00:12:36.400 | and on internet, cable, and phone services.

00:12:38.880 | And you get 2% back or 2X points on gas and restaurants.

00:12:43.440 | So two great opportunities.

00:12:45.600 | For both of those cards,

00:12:46.640 | you need to spend 6,000 in the first three months.

00:12:49.400 | So I think this could be a great opportunity

00:12:51.440 | if you're eligible.

00:12:52.680 | The Ink Business Preferred

00:12:53.800 | does have a 100,000 point bonus signup

00:12:56.320 | or $1,000 if you redeemed it on cash,

00:12:58.640 | but you need to spend $15,000

00:13:00.720 | and there's a $95 annual fee.

00:13:02.960 | So yes, it's more points,

00:13:05.360 | but to get just 10,000 less points for no fee

00:13:08.440 | and not needing to spend that much

00:13:10.040 | in the first three months,

00:13:10.880 | I think it's a great opportunity.

00:13:12.280 | One other thing I did read online

00:13:14.120 | is that usually you can't get a card that you already have

00:13:16.560 | and you can't qualify for the bonus

00:13:18.520 | if you've had it in the last 24 months.

00:13:20.560 | But I've read a couple reports online

00:13:22.240 | that these rules don't apply to Chase Ink cards.

00:13:24.520 | So some people have even been able to get a card

00:13:26.720 | for the same business that they already have

00:13:28.880 | and get the bonus.

00:13:30.200 | So definitely a lot of opportunities right now.

00:13:32.920 | The reason I'm talking about this now

00:13:34.280 | is that these bonuses expire March 21st.

00:13:36.840 | So get in in the next week if you're interested.

00:13:40.120 | I'll put the links to all these in the show notes,

00:13:42.320 | or you can go to allthehacks.com/inkcash/inkunlimited

00:13:46.960 | or /inkpreferred,

00:13:48.680 | or just go to allthehacks.com/cards

00:13:50.520 | and find the links there.

00:13:51.720 | Few other card bonuses worth considering.

00:13:54.360 | If you've been thinking about

00:13:55.200 | getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred,

00:13:56.960 | there has been a rumor posted around online

00:13:59.320 | that the bonus is going up to 80,000 points,

00:14:02.480 | but you're only gonna be able to open that card

00:14:05.480 | with an offer from a branch starting on March 19th.

00:14:09.240 | So if that's something you're considering,

00:14:11.360 | like I always say, use the best offer you can get.

00:14:14.800 | It doesn't have to be mine.

00:14:16.240 | So in that case, sign up for this Chase Preferred

00:14:18.920 | in a Chase branch if you can find a branch

00:14:20.920 | that has that offer there after March 19th.

00:14:23.480 | A few other quick ones.

00:14:24.960 | The Amex Gold and Platinum offers right now

00:14:27.440 | are really high for referrals.

00:14:29.520 | So that's 90,000 points for Gold

00:14:32.600 | and 150,000 points for Platinum.

00:14:35.120 | That means again, my links aren't gonna work,

00:14:36.880 | but I have found some referral links online.

00:14:39.400 | I can't promise how long they'll all work for,

00:14:41.400 | but I'll put them in the show notes

00:14:42.880 | or at allthehacks.com/amexgold or amexplatinum.

00:14:46.960 | If you have referral links yourself

00:14:48.760 | for either of those offers,

00:14:50.080 | the 90,000 Gold or the 150,000 Platinum,

00:14:52.840 | please feel free to send them to me

00:14:54.400 | and I'll replace those redirects

00:14:56.280 | and then links in the show notes to your offers

00:14:58.240 | because I'd love you guys to earn points.

00:15:00.120 | Unfortunately, my referral bonuses

00:15:02.000 | when I log into Amex's site are much lower

00:15:04.600 | and I'd rather you guys get the most points.

00:15:06.520 | So I just found some referral links online.

00:15:08.760 | At the end of the day,

00:15:09.960 | as much as I want you guys

00:15:11.440 | to be able to support me in the show,

00:15:12.960 | I want you to get more points.

00:15:14.600 | So I'm always gonna find the best links I can.

00:15:16.640 | Last two other cards to consider.

00:15:18.720 | One timely one is that the IHG Premier card

00:15:21.800 | has an all time best offer of 175,000 bonus points.

00:15:26.800 | The points guy values IHG points at about half a cent.

00:15:29.880 | So this is about a $875 value offer, which is pretty high.

00:15:34.200 | But if you are looking at doing some bookings

00:15:36.520 | at IHG properties,

00:15:37.720 | you can probably make those points go a little bit further.

00:15:40.160 | So something worth considering

00:15:41.560 | because this is the best offer I've ever seen on that card.

00:15:44.920 | Finally, Delta launched an amazing perk

00:15:47.400 | for all of their SkyMiles cards.

00:15:49.560 | And that's that you get 15% off the points you need

00:15:52.960 | for an award flight when you have a Delta card.

00:15:56.200 | So for example, if you and your partner

00:15:58.120 | are looking to book a trip to Europe

00:15:59.680 | and it's gonna cost 150,000 points total,

00:16:02.440 | you're actually gonna save 22,500 points for that booking

00:16:07.080 | just by holding a Delta Amex.

00:16:09.320 | So if you go to allthehacks.com/cards,

00:16:11.920 | you'll see all the Delta Amex cards.

00:16:13.840 | They do have 70 to 90,000 point signup bonuses right now,

00:16:18.160 | which is pretty decent.

00:16:19.240 | But the real big perk there is that you get 15% back.

00:16:23.080 | So I'm actually considering

00:16:24.360 | getting the Delta Platinum card myself right now.

00:16:26.760 | Yes, it has a $250 annual fee.

00:16:29.000 | However, you get 90,000 bonus miles when you get the card,

00:16:32.500 | you get a free companion certificate each year,

00:16:35.600 | you get that 15% off anytime you book with Delta,

00:16:38.640 | and you get your first check bag free for you

00:16:41.180 | and up to eight other people on a reservation.

00:16:43.200 | All those things combined,

00:16:44.360 | I think will more than make up for the $250 annual fee.

00:16:47.520 | Not to mention, we've got a few trips coming up

00:16:49.800 | where I think we're gonna be flying Delta,

00:16:51.220 | so that 15% off would actually come in a lot of handy.

00:16:54.160 | So that's one I'm really considering.

00:16:55.520 | That's all for cards right now.

00:16:57.040 | I'm hoping we get some really big, great monster bonuses

00:16:59.720 | over 100,000 later this year,

00:17:01.680 | and I will be sure to tell you about them.

00:17:03.600 | A few more deals.

00:17:04.680 | It is astonishing how much of our personal information

00:17:08.600 | is online, and in the last few months,

00:17:10.840 | I've been trying to remove as much of Amy

00:17:13.440 | and my info as possible.

00:17:15.560 | I also did the same for our parents,

00:17:17.480 | and in total, after reviewing over 20,000 listings,

00:17:21.600 | we found over 1,000 pieces

00:17:23.560 | of personally identifiable information.

00:17:25.840 | Thankfully, it's all getting removed,

00:17:27.800 | and instead of spending 50-plus hours

00:17:30.000 | searching and filing requests to do that,

00:17:32.340 | it only took a few minutes

00:17:33.840 | because I used Delete.me from Abine,

00:17:35.920 | and I am so excited to be partnering with them

00:17:37.980 | for this episode.

00:17:38.920 | Delete.me is an amazing service

00:17:40.720 | that will not just find and remove your personal information

00:17:44.020 | from over 500 data broker websites,

00:17:46.800 | but they'll continuously scan for new data that shows up

00:17:49.920 | and get that removed as well.

00:17:51.560 | On average, Delete.me finds and removes

00:17:53.500 | over 2,000 pieces of data for a customer

00:17:55.880 | in their first two years,

00:17:57.360 | and to date, they've removed over 35 million pieces of data

00:18:01.240 | for their customers.

00:18:02.200 | So if you wanna get your personal information removed

00:18:04.760 | from all these listings on the internet,

00:18:06.760 | go to allthehacks.com/deleteme

00:18:09.760 | and get 20% off a plan for you or your entire family.

00:18:14.340 | Again, that's allthehacks.com/deleteme.

00:18:18.320 | Getting the crew together isn't as easy as it used to be.

00:18:23.180 | I get it.

00:18:24.000 | Life comes at you fast, but trust me,

00:18:26.700 | your friends are probably desperate for a good hang.

00:18:29.580 | So kick 2024 off right by finally hosting that event.

00:18:33.660 | Just make sure you do it the easy way

00:18:35.580 | and let our sponsor Drizly,

00:18:37.540 | the go-to app for drink delivery, take care of the supplies.

00:18:41.260 | All you need to come up with is the excuse to get together.

00:18:44.080 | It doesn't even have to be a good one.

00:18:45.940 | It could be your dog's birthday,

00:18:47.340 | that the sun finally came out,

00:18:49.300 | or maybe you just wanna celebrate

00:18:50.780 | that you got through another week.

00:18:52.860 | With Drizly, you can make hosting easy

00:18:54.980 | by taking the drink run off your to-do list,

00:18:57.500 | which means you can entice your friends

00:18:59.260 | to leave their houses without ever leaving yours.

00:19:02.380 | And since I know you like a good deal,

00:19:04.020 | Drizly compares prices on their massive selection

00:19:06.600 | of beer, wine, and spirits across multiple stores.

00:19:09.580 | So when I really wanted to make a few cocktails

00:19:11.620 | while we were hosting family last week,

00:19:13.440 | not only could I get an Italian Amaro

00:19:15.500 | delivered in less than an hour,

00:19:17.140 | but I found it for $15 less than my local liquor store.

00:19:20.620 | So whatever the occasion,

00:19:22.260 | download the Drizly app or go to drizly.com.

00:19:25.560 | That's D-R-I-Z-L-Y.com today.

00:19:29.580 | Must be 21 plus, not available in all locations.

00:19:33.520 | So first, I can't remember if I already mentioned this,

00:19:36.740 | but I don't think I'd personally signed up for it.

00:19:38.900 | So now I did.

00:19:39.820 | You can get Lyft Pink for free

00:19:41.640 | as a Chase Sapphire Reserve member,

00:19:43.940 | gets you some free cancellations, priority pickup,

00:19:47.220 | three scooter or e-bike passes a year,

00:19:49.700 | unlimited 45-minute classic bike rides,

00:19:52.740 | as well as free Grubhub Plus for a year.

00:19:54.700 | So you get two years of that

00:19:55.800 | as a Chase Sapphire Reserve member.

00:19:57.860 | I'll put a link to the show notes

00:19:59.080 | where you can sign up for that.

00:20:00.300 | There's also two transfer bonuses

00:20:02.300 | to Virgin right now from Capital One and Citi.

00:20:05.020 | The Citi one expires in a few days,

00:20:06.620 | the Capital One at the end of the month,

00:20:08.180 | but you'll get 30% extra points transferring to Virgin.

00:20:11.220 | So if there's a trip you wanna take

00:20:12.580 | and Virgin Miles are the way to do it,

00:20:14.420 | definitely worth checking that out.

00:20:15.780 | I'll also link in the show notes,

00:20:16.900 | Virgin Atlantic just launched this really cool

00:20:19.460 | reward flight finder on their website,

00:20:21.720 | where you can put in a Citi pair

00:20:23.380 | and it'll show you for any month when there are seats

00:20:26.100 | and how many there are in different classes.

00:20:28.140 | Makes it really easy to search for availability on Virgin

00:20:31.820 | or on Delta flights to the UK.

00:20:34.380 | It doesn't look like you can search for flights from the US.

00:20:37.340 | So just search for London to the US.

00:20:40.660 | And then as soon as you get to the search results,

00:20:42.340 | you can hit return and see the other way as well.

00:20:45.080 | Last set of deals.

00:20:47.540 | There are a ton of offers on Amex and Chase's site

00:20:50.120 | that I think are worth considering.

00:20:51.860 | And then I'll talk about why I don't actually

00:20:53.260 | have to think about a lot of them.

00:20:54.420 | So on Amex, there's an offer for 10% off insurance bills

00:20:58.240 | up to $30.

00:20:59.460 | Fortunately, I have a lot of insurance bills,

00:21:00.920 | so I'm gonna use that one.

00:21:01.980 | If you need anything electronic that you can get from Dell

00:21:05.120 | that costs over $600, you can get $120 back.

00:21:08.940 | If you are going to a Hilton resort,

00:21:10.780 | there's a $20 off $1,000.

00:21:13.320 | We just did the episode on Japan

00:21:15.260 | and I saw an offer on ZipAir for $150 off $750.

00:21:19.820 | So if you're looking to make a last minute trip to Japan,

00:21:22.580 | there's a great deal.

00:21:23.900 | 50% off Dropbox, deals on TaxAct and TurboTax,

00:21:28.220 | $60 off $300 at Marriott.

00:21:31.240 | And then there's a $15 off phone bill offer

00:21:33.880 | as long as your phone bill is over $115.

00:21:36.480 | And I think you can use it a few times.

00:21:38.920 | So those are the Amex deals.

00:21:40.760 | On Chase, similarly, you can get deals

00:21:43.020 | on TurboTax and TaxAct.

00:21:45.080 | My Southwest card on Chase also has a 10% off Southwest deal.

00:21:49.180 | So I'm looking at a Southwest flight right now

00:21:51.560 | for later this year, so I think I'm gonna buy that soon.

00:21:54.320 | And then there's a deal on Panera Bread.

00:21:56.160 | And I only say Panera Bread not because I think

00:21:58.340 | everyone listening is going to Panera Bread,

00:22:00.300 | but I was with my parents

00:22:01.620 | and that's what we ended up doing for lunch.

00:22:03.780 | And I didn't think to go to Chase

00:22:05.780 | before I went to Panera and add the offer.

00:22:07.900 | But sure enough, I noticed that I got credit

00:22:10.500 | for a Panera Bread discount.

00:22:12.220 | And that is because I signed up for Card Pointers.

00:22:14.660 | And if you use Card Pointers and their browser extension,

00:22:18.100 | anytime you log into Chase or Amex's website,

00:22:21.060 | they will automatically add all these offers to your cards.

00:22:24.380 | So I think three or four times now,

00:22:26.280 | I've spent money at a retailer on my card

00:22:29.440 | without adding the offer,

00:22:31.240 | or at least without knowing that I added the offer,

00:22:33.240 | but then I've gotten the credit back.

00:22:35.200 | Amex had one where it was like $5 off restaurants

00:22:37.960 | during a certain month and it was automatically added.

00:22:41.320 | So I love that Card Pointers does this,

00:22:44.000 | but there's one thing that I think a lot of people

00:22:45.760 | don't realize Card Pointers does, which is even better,

00:22:49.080 | which is they will simultaneously hit

00:22:52.040 | the Chase and Amex APIs and request adding those offers

00:22:57.000 | to every card at the same time,

00:23:00.080 | which is important because if you've ever tried this

00:23:02.000 | yourself, you might see an offer on multiple cards,

00:23:04.800 | but as soon as you add it to one,

00:23:06.240 | it usually doesn't show up with the other cards.

00:23:09.240 | But Card Pointers requests it all at the exact same time.

00:23:12.520 | And so you're actually able to load those offers

00:23:14.680 | on multiple cards, which means you can redeem

00:23:17.280 | those offers multiple times.

00:23:19.240 | So if you have a 10% off your insurance bill,

00:23:21.360 | up to $30 back, you could go make a $300 payment

00:23:24.600 | on every single Amex you have and get $30 for each one.

00:23:28.960 | So I've gotten a ton of value out of this already,

00:23:31.480 | probably more than pays for the annual fee

00:23:33.660 | if you want Card Pointers Pro.

00:23:35.280 | There is a 20% discount on Card Pointers Pro

00:23:38.640 | for all the Hacks members.

00:23:39.600 | Just go to allthehacks.com/cardpointers

00:23:42.240 | and make sure you check out the extension

00:23:44.280 | if you wanna auto enroll in all these offers

00:23:46.840 | every time you log in, and I think hopefully,

00:23:49.740 | over the course of a year, I'd be surprised

00:23:51.920 | if you didn't find at least one thing

00:23:53.320 | that you earned cash back for without even realizing it.

00:23:56.320 | So that's a lot of deals right now.

00:23:58.960 | Hopefully that's helpful.

00:23:59.960 | Hopefully something in there will help you save some money

00:24:02.240 | or get some extra points.

00:24:04.120 | Let's jump on to hacks and questions.

00:24:05.720 | But first, I just wanna share a couple wins

00:24:07.920 | because I love hearing these stories.

00:24:10.100 | So when it comes to unclaimed money,

00:24:12.040 | I keep getting these amazing stories,

00:24:14.200 | and I'm just gonna share them

00:24:15.400 | because a few people actually said,

00:24:17.640 | "Hey, I didn't think it was gonna work,

00:24:19.720 | "so I didn't do it.

00:24:20.560 | "Finally, I did, and wow."

00:24:22.040 | I have one listener, got $93 back,

00:24:24.640 | but then became obsessed with checking unclaimed money

00:24:26.820 | for their friends and family,

00:24:28.320 | and at one night, found over $1,000,

00:24:31.000 | and one person had over 500 owed to them.

00:24:33.880 | Then Jeff reached out and said,

00:24:35.560 | "Hey, you've mentioned this a few times.

00:24:38.040 | "I was super careful.

00:24:39.480 | "I'm always running spreadsheets

00:24:40.760 | "to make sure I change everything.

00:24:42.040 | "I didn't think it would be me.

00:24:43.560 | "Finally, I added it to my list,

00:24:45.320 | "and I found a $250 insurance refund,

00:24:48.000 | "and then another $320 from a state

00:24:50.400 | "he and his wife used to live in."

00:24:52.160 | He said all three of those places

00:24:53.680 | should have had their updated address,

00:24:55.280 | but somehow they sent the money to the state instead.

00:24:57.980 | And Jeff's message to everyone listening

00:24:59.920 | is that if an ultra careful guy like him can find $600,

00:25:03.320 | everyone needs to go on the hunt.

00:25:05.120 | He would have bet anything that no money would be there

00:25:07.700 | when he searched, and $600 later, he was wrong.

00:25:10.800 | Jeff, I'm glad you found that money.

00:25:12.440 | Cameron, I'm glad you found another $80,

00:25:15.360 | and then $450 for your friends.

00:25:17.800 | And then Emilio, I am the most happy for you

00:25:22.640 | because he found that his undergraduate school

00:25:25.400 | where he graduated 15 years ago

00:25:27.880 | had $1,359 waiting for him

00:25:31.240 | in his state's unclaimed money pool.

00:25:33.240 | So he had to go through a little bit of hassle,

00:25:35.960 | creating an account, verifying his email,

00:25:38.060 | uploading some personal documents.

00:25:40.000 | But two months later,

00:25:41.120 | he got over $1,000 from the state of Virginia.

00:25:43.800 | So I'll just tell everyone one more time,

00:25:46.320 | if you haven't already searched for unclaimed money,

00:25:48.960 | definitely go do that, definitely worth it.

00:25:51.560 | Another hack from a past episode was Michael,

00:25:54.000 | who long story short, got screwed by his insurance

00:25:56.980 | and his son wasn't covered after he was born.

00:25:59.760 | He had a bill of close to $7,000,

00:26:02.800 | and he went back and forth,

00:26:04.160 | followed some of the tips from my episode with Marshall Allen

00:26:07.520 | and got the bill down to $1,800.

00:26:10.600 | Paid off 1,000, still owed 800,

00:26:13.520 | and asked them if he paid 500,

00:26:15.080 | would they call it even?

00:26:15.960 | And they said, yes.

00:26:17.120 | So it just goes to show,

00:26:19.100 | yes, insurance would have been great,

00:26:20.680 | but if you're in a situation where you have a medical bill,

00:26:23.160 | please make sure you fight back and negotiate.

00:26:25.680 | Go back and listen to episode 34 of "All The Hacks"

00:26:28.120 | if you need some tips,

00:26:29.640 | but there's always a way to get that price down.

00:26:32.680 | And finally, had an awesome Apple review

00:26:35.880 | from a listener, Fit Gravity,

00:26:38.320 | who said, love the show.

00:26:39.400 | I'm so glad I discovered this podcast.

00:26:41.200 | Love the content, the topics,

00:26:42.680 | and getting real practical tips.

00:26:44.760 | I just saved $260 on the purchase of a washer and dryer

00:26:47.720 | from Home Depot using a hack I learned on the show

00:26:50.160 | that I wanna share.

00:26:51.320 | I was about to buy a 15% off coupon from Save N Deals,

00:26:54.840 | which is a site I've shared before

00:26:56.240 | that I'll put in the show notes,

00:26:57.760 | but then they realized it couldn't be applied

00:26:59.560 | to a purchase on sale.

00:27:01.160 | So they quickly chatted with customer support,

00:27:03.080 | and boom, they were offered a discount

00:27:05.240 | that was actually eligible for the sale price already,

00:27:08.120 | and finally made the purchase

00:27:09.400 | through the Capital One Shopping Portal

00:27:10.880 | with a 5% cashback offer from Home Depot

00:27:13.400 | to sweeten the deal.

00:27:14.680 | That is so awesome.

00:27:15.560 | I love stumbling upon stories like this in reviews.

00:27:18.760 | And speaking of them, I'm at 904 reviews on Apple Podcasts,

00:27:22.160 | and I have a goal to get to 1,000.

00:27:24.040 | So any help would be greatly appreciated.

00:27:26.560 | Thank you so much.

00:27:27.940 | Okay, I keep saying we're gonna get to hacks,

00:27:29.940 | and here we are.

00:27:30.780 | I wanna share a bunch of awesome hacks

00:27:32.520 | that I've learned from you all that you've sent in,

00:27:34.680 | and then I wanna answer a bunch of questions

00:27:36.560 | and come back to the big elephant in the room,

00:27:38.700 | which is how am I rethinking about money

00:27:41.160 | now that my primary bank has more or less collapsed,

00:27:44.640 | although maybe not, but I'll get to that.

00:27:46.920 | But here are some hacks that I wanna share.

00:27:48.680 | First from Ben.

00:27:50.440 | He started off sharing a hack

00:27:51.720 | that I think I've shared before,

00:27:52.940 | which is that if you wanna make large purchases,

00:27:54.880 | you can always take a card

00:27:56.160 | that gets you a bonus at the grocery store

00:27:58.400 | and buy gift cards.

00:28:00.240 | But he pointed out that if you're going to Kroger,

00:28:02.680 | and oftentimes this is also true in Safeway,

00:28:05.320 | if you use their app,

00:28:06.960 | you can activate bonus points for fuel.

00:28:09.880 | Every time he's had these big purchases,

00:28:11.880 | he buys gift cards, activates the Forex fuel points,

00:28:15.320 | and has been doing this a lot.

00:28:17.080 | Funny enough, he doesn't even have a car that uses gas,

00:28:20.400 | but he keeps adding these deals

00:28:22.400 | to his father-in-law's account.

00:28:24.240 | And he said his father-in-law has been tracking

00:28:26.160 | the amount he's saved filling his car with diesel gas,

00:28:29.260 | and last year he saved over $1,000.

00:28:32.320 | So this is probably true

00:28:34.040 | even if you're just buying groceries,

00:28:35.600 | but don't forget to use that grocery app

00:28:37.160 | to add fuel points if you're making purchases,

00:28:39.600 | but also don't forget to add the deals.

00:28:41.880 | Every time I'm going to Safeway,

00:28:43.320 | I look in the Safeway app,

00:28:44.720 | and they have deals that you don't see in the store always

00:28:47.880 | that are so much better.

00:28:49.240 | Just yesterday, I added a $5 off coupon.

00:28:51.880 | In the past, I've added a free gallon of milk,

00:28:53.920 | a free carton of eggs, $1 strawberries,

00:28:56.320 | a free avocado, all kinds of stuff.

00:28:58.700 | So definitely recommend checking out the grocery store apps

00:29:01.720 | because there's some deals in there that are awesome.

00:29:03.860 | When it comes to renting a car,

00:29:05.600 | Ed wanted to share that as much as it might seem ridiculous,

00:29:09.120 | if rental cars are expensive,

00:29:10.720 | don't forget to look at U-Haul.

00:29:13.000 | He said, yes, it might've been inconvenient,

00:29:15.080 | but he has definitely rented a 10-foot box truck in the past

00:29:18.120 | because rental cars were more expensive.

00:29:19.700 | So Ed, great tip.

00:29:22.120 | Now I want to share another hack

00:29:23.320 | for getting a deal on phones.

00:29:25.160 | Two things, one's mine and one's from Phaedra.

00:29:27.600 | So Phaedra pointed out that every now and then,

00:29:29.600 | AT&T and Verizon have really, really high values

00:29:32.820 | on trade-ins.

00:29:34.060 | So she was able to get $1,000 off a new iPhone

00:29:37.500 | by trading in any phone on a list of approved devices.

00:29:40.960 | One of those was a Samsung S20

00:29:43.140 | that she went on Craigslist and bought for $300

00:29:45.580 | and got the full $1,000 trade-in value.

00:29:48.220 | So anytime these carriers are running these deals

00:29:50.940 | for huge discounts, if you trade in your phone,

00:29:53.560 | even if you don't have an eligible phone,

00:29:55.240 | definitely go search for it.

00:29:57.300 | There's another discount that often happens

00:29:59.400 | where you get a huge discount

00:30:01.060 | for porting a number into your line.

00:30:03.380 | But it's not just adding a new line.

00:30:05.620 | The discount comes if you port the number

00:30:07.420 | from another carrier.

00:30:08.740 | Now, recently I learned that the hack for this

00:30:10.980 | is a website called Phone Barn

00:30:13.020 | where you can actually buy phone numbers

00:30:15.220 | and port them over.

00:30:16.580 | So for a few dollars, you can buy a phone number,

00:30:19.780 | port it over, and oftentimes get huge savings

00:30:23.300 | on a new phone by porting a phone number

00:30:25.340 | over from somewhere else.

00:30:26.660 | Definitely something to work out.

00:30:27.900 | You can even check the eligibility

00:30:29.560 | of the number usually before you buy it.

00:30:32.200 | Next, concerts.

00:30:33.720 | On Twitter, SoiHenry shared that his favorite hack

00:30:36.360 | is buying tickets minutes before

00:30:38.400 | or even after an event has started.

00:30:40.480 | He said people end up panic selling

00:30:42.040 | and there's great opportunities.

00:30:43.800 | This is something I've used a lot in New York

00:30:46.080 | for going to Broadway shows.

00:30:47.920 | There used to be a FedEx office store,

00:30:49.800 | or maybe it was FedEx Kinko's back then,

00:30:51.520 | around Times Square.

00:30:52.900 | So if we wanted to go to a Broadway show

00:30:54.720 | and we looked like there were a lot of tickets on StubHub,

00:30:57.360 | we would just go a few minutes before

00:30:59.980 | and wait and wait and wait for the price to drop

00:31:02.500 | because people were quickly dropping them

00:31:04.420 | so that they could get sold and not go lost.

00:31:06.640 | Back before you could necessarily do them all on mobile,

00:31:09.580 | we would just walk into the FedEx store,

00:31:11.580 | we would print out the tickets and walk into the show

00:31:14.380 | having just bought them a few minutes before.

00:31:16.540 | So that's definitely an awesome hack.

00:31:18.660 | Another one that Sean's shared

00:31:20.660 | is that he uses the Amex emails

00:31:23.220 | on early access to concert tickets all the time.

00:31:26.060 | And his Amex Platinum got him face value early access

00:31:29.740 | to Sixth Row Red Hot Chili Peppers tickets

00:31:31.760 | before they went on sale to the general public.

00:31:33.760 | So there are a few hacks for concerts.

00:31:35.480 | This is a little one, but I really liked it.

00:31:37.460 | Nirav pointed out that if you're using any apps

00:31:40.080 | that can let you reassign keys,

00:31:42.400 | the Karabiner app on Mac is one of them.

00:31:44.680 | He loves reassigning the caps lock key.

00:31:47.360 | And I'm always thinking about keyboard shortcuts

00:31:49.620 | and trying to come up with something really obscure

00:31:52.620 | that isn't being used.

00:31:54.560 | But I never really thought about the fact

00:31:55.880 | that I never use caps lock.

00:31:57.660 | So you've got this big key on your keyboard.

00:31:59.700 | If you can use an app like Karabiner to remap it,

00:32:02.320 | then you're able to do a lot of cool stuff.

00:32:04.040 | So he remaps it to actually be the equivalent of F13,

00:32:07.600 | which is not a real key in Karabiner.

00:32:09.680 | And then he can use that to trigger

00:32:11.180 | a lot of other things on his computer.

00:32:12.680 | Two more, one from Suheitha.

00:32:15.280 | I think you've all heard me talk about

00:32:16.580 | how much I love the app Paprika for managing recipes,

00:32:19.660 | but it can get a little expensive

00:32:21.260 | and they charge for every single platform.

00:32:23.680 | And so she pointed out that Crouton is a similar app

00:32:27.000 | that's less expensive.

00:32:28.400 | I actually downloaded it today

00:32:30.160 | and started importing recipes and I was pretty impressed.

00:32:33.000 | They have a Mac app and an iPhone app.

00:32:34.880 | It was really simple, really nice.

00:32:36.880 | If I didn't already pay for Paprika,

00:32:38.640 | I would definitely consider it

00:32:39.840 | because I think if you purchase it within the first 24 hours

00:32:42.920 | it's just $10 across all platforms.

00:32:46.060 | So if you're looking for a recipe and meal planning app

00:32:49.180 | and Paprika was too expensive, check out Crouton.

00:32:51.840 | And finally, a big shout out to Mindy

00:32:53.840 | from BiggerPocketsMoney who said

00:32:55.960 | that she has a great hack for Target

00:32:57.520 | that works at lots of different places.

00:32:59.800 | When they have a sale on car seats,

00:33:01.200 | which happens a couple of times a year,

00:33:02.880 | they often give 20% additional off

00:33:05.200 | if you bring in a used car seat.

00:33:07.340 | She said, even if you don't have a used car seat,

00:33:09.880 | you can typically find them really, really affordably

00:33:12.360 | or free on Craigslist, Freecycle,

00:33:14.760 | Buy Nothing groups or anything.

00:33:16.280 | Target will dispose of them anyway,

00:33:17.680 | so it doesn't matter what the condition is,

00:33:19.520 | but you can get an extra 20% off there.

00:33:21.340 | So another great tip there, love that one.

00:33:24.840 | Thank you for sending all these great hacks in.

00:33:27.080 | I'm gonna keep sharing them.

00:33:28.400 | I've got a bunch from travel that I'm excited to share

00:33:31.000 | in the next time we do this episode,

00:33:32.940 | but please keep sending them in

00:33:34.600 | and let's jump in to questions.

00:33:36.840 | So Jessica wrote in asking for my thoughts on SVB

00:33:39.720 | and boy, do I have some.

00:33:41.280 | I love helping you answer all the toughest questions

00:33:45.860 | about life, money, and so much more,

00:33:48.360 | but sometimes it's helpful to talk to other people

00:33:50.960 | in your situation, which actually gets harder

00:33:53.620 | as you build your wealth.

00:33:55.000 | So I wanna introduce you to today's sponsor, Long Angle.

00:33:58.280 | Long Angle is a community of high net worth individuals

00:34:01.120 | with backgrounds in everything from technology,

00:34:03.280 | finance, medicine, to real estate, law,

00:34:05.800 | manufacturing, and more.

00:34:07.800 | I'm a member of Long Angle.

00:34:09.200 | I've loved being a part of the community

00:34:11.160 | and I've even had one of the founders, Tad Fallows,

00:34:13.480 | join me on all the hacks in episode 87

00:34:15.600 | to talk about alternative investments.

00:34:17.960 | Now, the majority of Long Angle members

00:34:19.680 | are first generation wealth,

00:34:21.480 | young, highly successful individuals

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00:34:27.040 | in a confidential, unbiased setting.

00:34:29.640 | On top of that, members also get access

00:34:31.920 | to some unique private market investment opportunities.

00:34:35.260 | Like I said, I'm a member

00:34:36.680 | and I've gotten so much value from the community

00:34:38.840 | because you're getting advice and feedback

00:34:40.800 | from people in a similar situation to you

00:34:43.280 | on everything from your investment portfolio

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00:34:49.380 | So many of these conversations

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00:34:53.060 | So if you have more than 2.2 million in investable assets,

00:34:56.720 | which is their minimum for membership,

00:34:58.560 | I encourage you to check out Long Angle

00:35:00.760 | and it's totally free to join.

00:35:02.820 | Just go to longangle.com to learn more.

00:35:05.960 | And if you choose to apply,

00:35:07.480 | be sure to let them know you heard about it here.

00:35:10.420 | Again, that's longangle, A-N-G-L-E.com.

00:35:16.000 | There are only a few brands I use almost every single day

00:35:19.420 | and Viore is one of them.

00:35:20.980 | And I am so excited to be partnering

00:35:22.580 | with them for this episode.

00:35:23.940 | Viore makes performance apparel that's incredibly versatile.

00:35:27.140 | Everything is designed to work out in,

00:35:28.820 | but it doesn't look or feel like it at all.

00:35:31.360 | And it is so freaking comfortable,

00:35:33.140 | you will wanna wear it all the time.

00:35:35.240 | Seriously, I'm pretty sure it's more comfortable

00:35:37.060 | than whatever you're wearing right now,

00:35:38.780 | unless it's Viore, in which case you know what I mean.

00:35:41.340 | And it's not just for men.

00:35:42.820 | My wife, Amy, is as obsessed with Viore as I am.

00:35:46.240 | My personal favorite is the Sunday Performance Joggers.

00:35:48.880 | I think I have three pairs of them

00:35:50.320 | and they're probably the most comfortable pants

00:35:51.820 | I've ever owned.

00:35:52.880 | Their products are incredibly versatile

00:35:54.680 | and can be used for just about any activity,

00:35:56.760 | whether it's running, training, yoga,

00:35:58.680 | but they're also great for lounging.

00:36:00.840 | Or I even wear their MetaPants out to a nice dinner.

00:36:04.080 | Honestly, I think Viore is an investment in your happiness.

00:36:07.040 | And for all the Hacks listeners,

00:36:08.360 | they're offering 20% off your first purchase,

00:36:10.840 | as well as free shipping and returns on any U.S. order

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00:36:15.400 | So definitely check them out at allthehacks.com/viore.

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00:36:24.920 | And get yourself some of the most comfortable

00:36:27.680 | and versatile clothing on the planet.

00:36:29.600 | I just wanna thank you, Quick,

00:36:32.320 | for listening to and supporting the show.

00:36:34.600 | Your support is what keeps this show going.

00:36:37.440 | To get all of the URLs, codes, deals,

00:36:40.160 | and discounts from our partners,

00:36:41.920 | you can go to allthehacks.com/deals.

00:36:45.480 | So please consider supporting those who support us.

00:36:48.640 | She wanted to know how to proceed

00:36:50.080 | as it relates to everything she's doing

00:36:51.760 | with her personal finances.

00:36:53.360 | She actually had some questions

00:36:54.240 | about Wealthfront and BlockFi, so I'll get to all of it.

00:36:56.840 | But first off, I will say that the way everything unfolded

00:37:00.680 | with SVB, while slightly terrifying,

00:37:03.760 | ended up in a place that I'm feeling a lot more confident

00:37:06.760 | with what FDIC insurance actually means.

00:37:09.080 | I think I was a little stressed out

00:37:10.600 | because we just didn't have access to any of our money.

00:37:13.000 | And in fact, as of recording this on Tuesday night,

00:37:15.680 | I still don't, because we tried to wire our money

00:37:18.120 | out of SVB, not knowing the future.

00:37:20.280 | They ended up debiting all the money out of our account,

00:37:23.000 | but not sending the wire.

00:37:24.640 | And we got an email today saying they are slowly working

00:37:27.240 | to put the money back in people's accounts,

00:37:29.360 | and they don't have an ETA for when that will be done.

00:37:32.040 | So as of right now, all the money

00:37:34.000 | in our checking account is inaccessible,

00:37:36.360 | and I'm just hoping that it comes back

00:37:38.760 | before we need to pay off our credit card bills,

00:37:41.760 | which normally happens on the 16th.

00:37:43.520 | So we've got two days.

00:37:44.520 | It's gonna be an interesting 48 hours.

00:37:46.480 | Hopefully that all comes through.

00:37:48.080 | If not, I do have an emergency fund earning interest

00:37:51.240 | that I can draw from, but what a disaster.

00:37:53.920 | However, if you would ask me last week,

00:37:56.400 | before all this happened, how long I thought

00:37:58.480 | it would take the FDIC to jump in

00:38:01.360 | and be able to provide a backstop

00:38:03.560 | to a bank that's going out of business,

00:38:06.240 | I would have measured it in anything longer

00:38:08.280 | than one business day.

00:38:09.680 | But the fact that SVB could be taken over

00:38:12.800 | by the FDIC on a Friday, and by Monday,

00:38:15.400 | funds were made available, except for funds

00:38:17.840 | that were wired out on Friday and didn't go through,

00:38:20.200 | is pretty impressive.

00:38:21.120 | So what changes am I making because of this?

00:38:24.760 | Well, I had never put more than $250,000

00:38:28.040 | into any one bank account.

00:38:29.600 | So that's not a change I'm going to make,

00:38:31.480 | but you can be sure that in the future,

00:38:33.520 | even though the FDIC decided to come in

00:38:35.760 | and protect depositors over the 250K limit,

00:38:39.360 | I don't wanna bank on that happening again in the future.

00:38:42.120 | So I absolutely will never be putting

00:38:44.880 | more than $250,000 into one bank account,

00:38:47.640 | unless that bank or financial institution

00:38:50.120 | is working with program banks to spread that out.

00:38:53.080 | So one of the great features

00:38:54.360 | about the Wealthfront Cash Account,

00:38:56.000 | which I've used to earn interest on cash for years,

00:38:59.360 | is that there are a bunch of program banks

00:39:01.680 | to spread your money out so that you have

00:39:03.640 | more FDIC insurance than just one bank would offer.

00:39:06.800 | So I think right now the limit on a single account

00:39:09.280 | is $2 million and on a joint or trust account

00:39:12.320 | is $4 million.

00:39:13.400 | So that's awesome if you're looking for a place

00:39:15.760 | to earn over 4% and go over that FDIC limit,

00:39:19.680 | I'm a big fan of the Wealthfront Cash Account.

00:39:22.120 | Though I've actually been thinking about

00:39:24.800 | whether a high yield savings account

00:39:27.160 | is the best alternative compared to investing in treasuries.

00:39:31.080 | And so I'll just segue briefly here

00:39:33.680 | because it's something I've been thinking a lot about

00:39:35.360 | and shout out to my co-founder of my last company, Chris,

00:39:37.920 | who answered a few questions

00:39:39.600 | before I started recording this today.

00:39:41.480 | But the main trade-off here

00:39:43.520 | is that you can just invest in US treasuries.

00:39:46.080 | And right now, depending on the duration,

00:39:48.480 | short-term treasuries are paying

00:39:49.920 | anywhere from four and a half to about 4.8%.

00:39:54.120 | Changes regularly, so don't quote me

00:39:55.720 | on any of those numbers,

00:39:57.080 | which is a little higher than the 4.05%

00:40:00.120 | that you get at Wealthfront

00:40:01.400 | or what you get at almost every savings account out there.

00:40:04.520 | However, there's a couple added benefits

00:40:06.920 | and a few reasons not to do this.

00:40:09.640 | So one, it's not the easiest process.

00:40:12.480 | So if you actually truly want to go buy treasuries

00:40:15.680 | on the primary market,

00:40:17.120 | meaning buy them when they're issued,

00:40:18.360 | you need to do it on the Treasury Direct website,

00:40:20.720 | which as I've talked about in the past

00:40:22.640 | when it comes to IBONs is one of the worst websites to use.

00:40:26.640 | It feels like it's more than a decade old

00:40:29.440 | and it's super clunky,

00:40:31.080 | but that's just one of the challenges.

00:40:32.320 | The other is that if you don't hold those T-bills

00:40:34.840 | to maturity, which could be as little as four weeks,

00:40:38.200 | but could be a lot longer

00:40:39.400 | depending on what you decide to buy,

00:40:41.240 | you can't just easily sell them on Treasury Direct.

00:40:43.960 | So unless you really know what you're doing

00:40:45.920 | and you want that experience,

00:40:47.440 | I wouldn't suggest buying them on Treasury Direct anyways.

00:40:50.200 | I would probably buy those T-bills directly

00:40:52.920 | from your brokerage firm.

00:40:54.400 | You could do that with Schwab, with E-Trade,

00:40:57.520 | with wherever you trade stocks and funds.

00:40:59.960 | However, I still don't think that's worth it

00:41:02.240 | because the amount of work it is to manage

00:41:04.880 | and deciding whether you wanna set a limit order

00:41:07.680 | because there is a spread

00:41:08.760 | on a lot of these securities is difficult.

00:41:11.360 | So at the end of the day,

00:41:12.400 | if you're looking to invest in treasuries to earn a yield

00:41:15.800 | that might be higher than your cash account

00:41:17.720 | or your savings account,

00:41:19.320 | I think the easiest way to do it

00:41:20.640 | is to just use a brokerage account

00:41:22.240 | and invest in a short-term treasury mutual fund or ETF.

00:41:27.240 | My favorite is Vanguard's VUSXX.

00:41:30.400 | It's their treasury money market fund,

00:41:32.400 | focuses on short-term duration.

00:41:34.160 | When I was recording this,

00:41:35.400 | the seven-day yield was 4.57%.

00:41:38.120 | But I think this is probably a good time to say why

00:41:39.840 | I think this is such a compelling option,

00:41:42.000 | especially if you live in a state like California or New York

00:41:44.880 | and that's the interest on government securities

00:41:48.080 | is state tax-free.

00:41:50.160 | So if you're at the highest tax bracket in California,

00:41:52.400 | that could mean saving 13% on your earnings.

00:41:56.360 | Now, other states that might be zero

00:41:58.000 | and it might not be as compelling,

00:41:59.480 | but even if you find the best,

00:42:01.800 | highest interest savings account out there at 5%,

00:42:06.000 | it's still probably after that tax savings

00:42:08.600 | in a high tax bracket state,

00:42:10.520 | not gonna beat the current 4.5, 4.6% yield.

00:42:14.920 | That said, there are expense ratios.

00:42:16.640 | Right now, the expense ratio on that fund is 0.09%.

00:42:20.200 | So yes, if you wanna go do all this yourself,

00:42:22.240 | you might save 0.09% if you can manage

00:42:24.880 | to price things correctly and make the right orders.

00:42:27.720 | But for me, I think the best way to manage treasuries,

00:42:31.600 | and this is just my opinion,

00:42:33.000 | is through a mutual fund or an ETF.

00:42:35.720 | And if I were doing an ETF,

00:42:37.440 | I think I would probably personally choose SGOV,

00:42:40.640 | which is the iShares zero to three-month treasury bond ETF,

00:42:44.360 | but likely what I will use is VUSXX.

00:42:47.720 | But one more important caveat is that savings accounts,

00:42:50.920 | cash accounts are a little more easily liquid.

00:42:54.080 | You can withdraw money from them instantly.

00:42:56.160 | You can often send wires from them.

00:42:58.040 | There's no waiting for anything to close.

00:43:00.120 | Whereas if you're holding a treasury mutual fund,

00:43:02.960 | you're going to need to sell and wait for that cash to settle

00:43:07.240 | before you can transfer that money out.

00:43:09.080 | So that's just an important thing.

00:43:11.160 | If you want money somewhere

00:43:12.360 | where you don't need to wait two days to get it,

00:43:14.640 | a cash account or a savings account might be a better option.

00:43:17.880 | Funny enough, if you asked me last week

00:43:19.520 | if there were ever really a time

00:43:20.600 | where I didn't have 48 hours notice of needing cash,

00:43:23.040 | I would have told you no.

00:43:24.160 | But in the last week, the answer has actually been yes.

00:43:26.120 | So I'm still going to keep a decent amount

00:43:28.960 | of very easily accessible liquid money

00:43:31.840 | in a high-yield savings account.

00:43:33.480 | But for any long-term savings of cash

00:43:35.840 | for the next six, 12, 18, 24 months,

00:43:38.880 | you know, I typically keep cash

00:43:40.160 | for anything that I know I'm going to need to spend

00:43:41.920 | in the next five years.

00:43:43.680 | I'm going to move that to VUSXX

00:43:45.560 | in my interactive broker's account,

00:43:47.200 | but you could just as easily do it in any brokerage account.

00:43:49.760 | So for that money that I am leaving in a savings account,

00:43:53.040 | I have that in my Wealthfront Cash account.

00:43:54.880 | I have no worries about the security or safety of that money.

00:43:58.240 | I know that it's spread out to multiple institutions

00:44:00.520 | under the FDIC limit.

00:44:02.120 | I've watched firsthand that the FDIC

00:44:03.960 | can step in quickly to backstop things.

00:44:06.320 | So I'm feeling very good and confident there.

00:44:08.360 | On the investment side, I'm investing for the long run.

00:44:11.000 | So none of what's happening right now has changed anything.

00:44:14.280 | In fact, I don't even think I've looked

00:44:15.680 | at how my brokerage account has done in the last two weeks

00:44:18.880 | because it's just not how I think about investing.

00:44:20.920 | So nothing's really changed there.

00:44:22.880 | But I did get a question from Colin,

00:44:24.480 | which was now that I stopped working at Wealthfront,

00:44:26.280 | am I still keeping my money there?

00:44:28.400 | Or why wouldn't I move it to a place like Vanguard

00:44:30.560 | where I could save money on all those commissions?

00:44:32.400 | I wanted to answer that

00:44:33.240 | because it's a decision I had to make.

00:44:34.880 | And right now, if you look at the portfolio I have,

00:44:38.120 | which is five or six index funds,

00:44:40.180 | I think back to my time

00:44:42.320 | before moving that money to Wealthfront

00:44:43.920 | and how slow I was to rebalance

00:44:46.520 | because each time I needed to figure out,

00:44:48.400 | okay, how much do I have to sell of this fund?

00:44:50.600 | Then how much do I have to buy of this fund

00:44:52.280 | and mix it around?

00:44:53.160 | Like it was kind of messy.

00:44:55.120 | Yes, you could probably just build a simple spreadsheet

00:44:57.400 | to do that, and I did.

00:44:58.980 | But the fact that I had to log in

00:45:00.760 | and place those trades and get it all set up

00:45:03.200 | always ended up that I kept delaying it.

00:45:05.160 | And so I didn't want a system

00:45:06.240 | where I had to deal with that overhead.

00:45:08.480 | But the real reason is that I think

00:45:10.840 | the automated tax loss harvesting at Wealthfront,

00:45:13.320 | in fact, I don't even think it,

00:45:14.240 | I know that it is more than paid

00:45:16.040 | for the entire fees that I've paid to Wealthfront.

00:45:17.960 | Yes, you could do some of that tax loss harvesting yourself,

00:45:20.760 | but then you've got to keep track of everything,

00:45:22.680 | what's going on in different accounts.

00:45:24.400 | The idea that I can put my IRAs

00:45:26.680 | and my taxable brokerage account all in one place

00:45:29.080 | that automatically trades things for tax loss harvesting

00:45:33.040 | and ends me at the end of the year

00:45:34.660 | with a bunch of losses that I can use.

00:45:37.440 | And just to be clear,

00:45:38.280 | since we haven't talked about tax loss harvesting

00:45:40.000 | in this episode, we're not talking about losing money.

00:45:42.960 | I'm talking about when something is down,

00:45:45.280 | Wealthfront will sell that security

00:45:47.000 | and buy something very, very similar and correlated,

00:45:49.960 | but not identical.

00:45:51.160 | So you still have the same exposure to the asset class

00:45:54.280 | that you're investing in,

00:45:55.400 | but you've been able to take that loss

00:45:56.840 | while something's down,

00:45:58.080 | so you can use that to offset capital gains.

00:46:01.440 | It does lower the cost basis of that investment.

00:46:04.120 | So you will have to pay taxes in the future,

00:46:06.920 | but until then, you're able to capture those losses

00:46:10.320 | and reduce your taxable income.

00:46:11.760 | So finally, I'm really big fan of direct indexing

00:46:14.920 | because of the impact it has on tax loss harvesting.

00:46:17.220 | You could do this at other institutions,

00:46:19.000 | but I haven't found one as accessible

00:46:21.440 | in terms of the number of dollars you need to have

00:46:23.280 | and the fees.

00:46:24.400 | But essentially, instead of buying the S&P 500,

00:46:27.720 | it buys all the individual stocks,

00:46:29.960 | which gives you the added advantage

00:46:31.760 | of being able to sell certain stocks when they're down

00:46:34.260 | and do tax loss harvesting on a stock level,

00:46:36.840 | which has also improved the ability

00:46:38.880 | to capture more losses each year.

00:46:41.920 | And then finally, the portfolio line of credit feature

00:46:44.240 | at Wealthfront is great.

00:46:45.360 | And I know when I was at Vanguard,

00:46:46.680 | I didn't have an option for that.

00:46:48.160 | So if I need to,

00:46:49.720 | which actually this week is a prime example

00:46:52.200 | of this circumstance,

00:46:53.660 | I can borrow up to 30% of my portfolio

00:46:56.280 | without selling anything.

00:46:58.080 | And yes, I do have to pay interest.

00:47:00.680 | So there is an interest rate

00:47:01.880 | that's tied to the federal funds rate,

00:47:03.560 | which right now is higher than I'd like to pay,

00:47:06.060 | but knowing that I have access to cash

00:47:08.080 | without having to sell things

00:47:09.400 | is really, really valuable to me.

00:47:10.720 | So I still kept my money at Wealthfront.

00:47:13.120 | I'm not planning on self-managing it.

00:47:15.320 | I think the overhead that it took me

00:47:17.080 | to go manage all the trades

00:47:18.600 | and do the tax loss harvesting

00:47:19.860 | is just not even close to worth the fee.

00:47:22.300 | And if you look at the Wealthfront website right now,

00:47:24.220 | I think the latest data shows that on average,

00:47:26.500 | they've added an extra 1.8%

00:47:28.760 | to automated investing account clients' after-tax returns

00:47:32.540 | by turning on tax loss harvesting.

00:47:34.380 | So I haven't done the math to see the exact value

00:47:37.520 | it's added to me.

00:47:38.400 | I probably should, that'd be interesting.

00:47:39.920 | But I remember at Wealthfront seeing this data firsthand

00:47:42.280 | and I'm a big fan.

00:47:43.640 | And for the foreseeable future,

00:47:45.400 | we'll be using it for all my investing.

00:47:46.880 | If you wanna help me reduce my fees,

00:47:48.760 | you can go to allthehacks.com/wealthfront.

00:47:51.240 | That's my referral code

00:47:52.640 | and you'll get your first $5,000 managed free.

00:47:55.400 | Back to the topic of primary checking accounts.

00:47:57.780 | I don't actually know

00:47:58.840 | whether I'm going to keep the SVB account

00:48:00.680 | or transfer it somewhere else, and if so, where.

00:48:02.800 | So I'll let you know if I find a new bank that I like more.

00:48:06.120 | But I did get a question from Mike

00:48:08.400 | about whether checking account signup bonuses are worth it.

00:48:11.720 | And it's something we haven't really talked about

00:48:13.240 | on this show, so I think now's a great time to bring it up.

00:48:16.760 | There are a bunch of bonuses you can get

00:48:19.280 | and I'm actually gonna set up a whole page

00:48:20.880 | for you to see some of them.

00:48:21.900 | So if you go to allthehacks.com/bankbonus,

00:48:25.480 | I'll share a list of bonuses there.

00:48:27.800 | And you'll see that there are all kinds of deals,

00:48:30.400 | everything from open up a checking account

00:48:33.300 | and get $600 to get $2,000 to get $700,

00:48:37.480 | really always depends on how much money

00:48:39.200 | you're depositing in the account.

00:48:41.280 | But in some cases, deposit 10,000, get 200.

00:48:45.200 | Our au pair opened up an account at Chase,

00:48:47.600 | didn't even have to deposit that much,

00:48:49.200 | but did have to get her weekly pay deposited

00:48:52.960 | into the account and got a $300 bonus.

00:48:55.660 | So I do think that in some cases,

00:48:58.720 | these bonuses are super interesting.

00:49:00.300 | And I know there are people listening

00:49:01.720 | who have really gamed this system

00:49:04.160 | and opened and closed many accounts a year

00:49:06.640 | and probably earned hundreds, thousands,

00:49:09.680 | maybe tens of thousands of dollars in their life

00:49:11.880 | opening up on all these bank bonuses.

00:49:14.100 | So I'd love to hear from more of you

00:49:15.600 | if you've been able to do this

00:49:16.880 | and whether you think it's worth the hassle.

00:49:20.600 | Generally, if I'm looking at a lot of these bonuses,

00:49:23.480 | we're talking about low hundreds of dollars

00:49:25.660 | for the effort of moving your checking relationship,

00:49:28.480 | your direct deposit, making bill pays,

00:49:30.560 | sometimes even making debit card transactions

00:49:33.180 | for anywhere from three to six months

00:49:34.800 | in order to get a few hundred dollars.

00:49:36.920 | Now, I don't wanna diminish the value of a few hundred dollars

00:49:39.480 | but I also know that opening up a new credit card,

00:49:42.600 | we talked earlier in the show

00:49:43.720 | about some of the bonuses right now

00:49:45.480 | can generate over $1,000 at times.

00:49:48.360 | So for me, I think about

00:49:49.940 | if I'm going to go through a handful of these a year,

00:49:53.160 | what do I wanna focus on?

00:49:54.760 | All that said, sometimes the hassle

00:49:56.540 | of moving your direct deposit over

00:49:58.360 | and making a bunch of payments

00:50:00.000 | and having to change all your bill pay

00:50:01.600 | might not be worth it for a few hundred dollars

00:50:03.640 | when you can get a multiple of that

00:50:05.400 | for just opening up a new card,

00:50:07.020 | which doesn't require all that.

00:50:08.600 | However, in some cases,

00:50:10.160 | you don't need to make all those changes

00:50:11.840 | or maybe you can just split your direct deposit

00:50:14.000 | and send a few hundred dollars a month,

00:50:15.720 | not have to change all your primary bill pay

00:50:17.920 | or use the debit card and maybe it is worth it.

00:50:20.280 | I actually just opened a business checking account at Amex

00:50:23.160 | and got a 30,000 point bonus

00:50:25.160 | and I just had to make five transactions.

00:50:27.120 | So I will say that there are some interesting bonuses

00:50:29.920 | definitely check out allthehacks.com/bankbonus,

00:50:33.000 | see if there's anything there that's interesting

00:50:34.620 | and please reach out if you've been doing this

00:50:36.400 | or if you're interested in it.

00:50:37.760 | I'd love to hear how that experience goes.

00:50:39.680 | A few final questions before we wrap up.

00:50:41.840 | So first, Allen wrote in and asked,

00:50:44.640 | if I've looked into the commercials

00:50:46.020 | that Discover Card has been airing recently

00:50:48.360 | about how they say they'll remove your personal data

00:50:50.480 | from 10 search sites

00:50:52.040 | and was asking if it's worth all the hassle

00:50:54.080 | to get a Discover Card,

00:50:55.700 | if he's not interested in spending the money

00:50:57.520 | for a full service like Delete Me.

00:50:59.580 | Now, Allen, I'm not sure I'm gonna give you

00:51:01.040 | an answer you like, but maybe it will be an answer you like.

00:51:03.260 | So let's jump through.

00:51:04.280 | First off, I went through this process a few times.

00:51:06.900 | So I've now signed up for Delete Me for myself,

00:51:09.040 | I've signed up for it for my wife

00:51:10.360 | and then this year for Christmas,

00:51:12.120 | we actually bought my parents and Amy's parents

00:51:16.520 | a subscription to Delete Me for Christmas.

00:51:18.880 | So I've now gone through the process

00:51:20.320 | and seen the results for six people.

00:51:22.000 | And on average, each person's information

00:51:24.720 | was on anywhere from probably 20 to 45 data brokers websites.

00:51:29.720 | So knowing that, if Discover's only going

00:51:33.860 | after 10 data brokers,

00:51:35.300 | I don't see how that can be a comprehensive solution.

00:51:38.420 | Sure, if you're not gonna sign up for anything else

00:51:40.500 | and you already have a Discover Card,

00:51:42.620 | maybe it's worth just activating it

00:51:44.400 | because it's better than nothing.

00:51:45.820 | And I'm sure they targeted 10 great data brokers,

00:51:48.820 | but I can tell you that Delete Me

00:51:49.900 | is looking at over 500 data brokers.

00:51:51.960 | And so I know that it's gonna miss things

00:51:53.940 | because I know how many data brokers

00:51:55.380 | that remove data from my site.

00:51:57.740 | But I wanna present a different way to think about this

00:51:59.440 | because the question was,

00:52:00.460 | is it worth signing up for a Discover Card to get this

00:52:02.700 | if you don't wanna spend the money for Delete Me?

00:52:05.220 | I'll point out that Delete Me

00:52:06.380 | after the 20% discount you get

00:52:08.140 | at allthehacks.com/deleteme is $103.20 for one year.

00:52:12.900 | Now, you could open almost any credit card

00:52:16.180 | and get a signup bonus worth more than $103.20.

00:52:20.460 | So if you don't think it's worth spending the money

00:52:23.000 | on Delete Me, but you are willing to open up a Discover Card

00:52:25.960 | to get this deal to help get your data removed,

00:52:29.140 | I would challenge you to open up any other card,

00:52:32.580 | get a bonus worth more than $103

00:52:35.780 | and spend that $103 on a year of Delete Me.

00:52:39.200 | So I know that's not the answer you wanted

00:52:41.340 | 'cause you said you don't wanna spend the money on Delete Me,

00:52:43.140 | but if you're willing to open up a credit card

00:52:44.820 | to get something, I would say,

00:52:46.180 | instead of opening up a Discover Card

00:52:48.260 | to get a subpar version of data removal,

00:52:50.860 | open up another card and allocate part of that signup bonus

00:52:54.300 | to getting something that I think is much more comprehensive.

00:52:58.400 | And crazy enough, I just got my third report from Delete Me,

00:53:01.080 | which would be six months later.

00:53:03.360 | And there is still somehow information

00:53:05.720 | on data broker websites, not just like name,

00:53:08.280 | but like actual siblings' names.

00:53:10.360 | I went and looked at it

00:53:11.680 | and it was a full set of information.

00:53:13.440 | So I wish that you could just remove it once,

00:53:16.160 | but I can tell you firsthand

00:53:17.580 | that there are a few sites right now

00:53:19.240 | that somehow got access to the same information

00:53:22.080 | that we'd scrubbed three and six months ago.

00:53:24.960 | So I'm a huge fan of the product.

00:53:26.640 | Definitely think it's worth checking out.

00:53:28.140 | Three other things.

00:53:29.540 | One, tires.

00:53:31.200 | Ashley said, "Do you have any hacks

00:53:32.840 | "on getting the cheapest tires for a car?

00:53:34.440 | "Or what is the best way to shop for tires?"

00:53:36.800 | So fortunately, I called up my brother-in-law, Jeremy,

00:53:39.600 | who owns a few tire shops.

00:53:40.800 | So if you happen to be in Steamboat Springs, Colorado,

00:53:43.060 | head on over to Yampa Valley Tire Pros,

00:53:45.160 | support my brother and his business.

00:53:47.660 | So I wanna share a few of the things he told me.

00:53:49.680 | One is that the quality of a tire really matters.

00:53:51.920 | You might have to replace cheap tires

00:53:53.680 | two to three times as often

00:53:55.440 | as you would have to replace a really higher quality tire.

00:53:58.440 | So definitely make sure that you're getting a good tire.

00:54:01.840 | There are reports on Consumer Reports.

00:54:03.560 | You can ask a local tire shop.

00:54:05.580 | That's one.

00:54:06.640 | Two, a lot of these tires have mileage guarantees

00:54:09.360 | and all you have to do is things like rotate your tires

00:54:12.000 | to be able to be eligible.

00:54:13.640 | My brother-in-law said that these are the kind of things

00:54:16.640 | that many people don't claim,

00:54:19.120 | but actually could be really valuable.

00:54:21.160 | So definitely, if you end up needing to replace tires

00:54:23.720 | before their guarantee is up,

00:54:25.240 | you can go through that process yourself

00:54:27.160 | to get those tires replaced for free.

00:54:29.240 | To get the most life out of your tires,

00:54:31.320 | regularly check your alignment

00:54:32.860 | because bad alignment can wear out your tires fast.

00:54:35.480 | Make sure they're properly inflated

00:54:36.960 | because even over or under inflation

00:54:39.300 | can wear out tires faster.

00:54:40.760 | And then just regularly check them.

00:54:42.480 | You can use a coin.

00:54:44.760 | You can use a device that you can buy online

00:54:46.940 | for a few dollars, but definitely do that.

00:54:49.720 | And also if you're shopping for tires,

00:54:51.740 | there are times where there are manufacturer rebates.

00:54:54.240 | And if you look online before you're ready for new tires,

00:54:57.200 | so if you're checking your tires and you're like,

00:54:58.600 | we're gonna need them in the next six to seven months,

00:55:00.800 | you could basically go online in advance

00:55:02.920 | and see if there are any rebates

00:55:04.560 | and continue checking up until the time you need tires.

00:55:07.640 | These rebates happen regularly enough

00:55:09.840 | that you'll probably find a good deal.

00:55:11.560 | So big question is one, how do you pick the best tires?

00:55:16.560 | I honestly don't have a perfect answer.

00:55:19.360 | I went on Consumer Reports and the number one rated tire

00:55:22.320 | is the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S.

00:55:24.520 | So I could say, just get those tires.

00:55:26.180 | They seem to be really highly rated.

00:55:27.560 | They're not the most expensive tires,

00:55:29.440 | but if you want more than that,

00:55:31.460 | I'm gonna say you're gonna have to do research

00:55:33.000 | that I haven't done yet

00:55:33.960 | because I'm not in the market for tires,

00:55:35.560 | or you can go to a tire shop and ask around.

00:55:38.280 | Now, a few weeks ago,

00:55:39.300 | I did actually need to replace one tire on our Model 3.

00:55:43.020 | And I wasn't gonna replace all my tires,

00:55:45.360 | but being the optimizer I am,

00:55:47.380 | I wanted to call around

00:55:48.440 | to see if I can get a better deal than the Tesla store,

00:55:50.680 | or maybe I could buy the tire online.

00:55:52.920 | So I looked online, I thought about it.

00:55:55.200 | The range to replace this tire

00:55:57.020 | was anywhere from like $370 to $410.

00:56:01.160 | Keep in mind that labor rates

00:56:02.680 | are probably a lot higher in the Bay Area than anywhere else.

00:56:05.440 | But ultimately, I decided that for 30 or $40 savings,

00:56:10.440 | just getting it done at the dealership for Tesla,

00:56:13.700 | knowing that if anything happens to the car,

00:56:15.620 | they're never gonna blame me for doing the tires wrong

00:56:17.540 | 'cause it was their responsibility,

00:56:19.220 | and they actually had the tire in stock

00:56:21.020 | and could replace it that day,

00:56:22.680 | made me much more interested in just doing that

00:56:25.740 | than trying to get a deal.

00:56:27.060 | Now, if I were buying four tires and I had time to plan,

00:56:29.760 | you could buy tires at Costco or Walmart,

00:56:32.060 | which my brother-in-law said both do a really good job,

00:56:34.900 | and you can ship them to yourself

00:56:36.560 | or you can even ship them to a lot of tire stores

00:56:38.640 | and they'll put them on.

00:56:39.900 | And so you might be able to save a little bit doing that

00:56:42.100 | over buying the tires from the tire shop.

00:56:44.960 | However, there are a few things that I didn't think about

00:56:47.800 | that would make me want to consider

00:56:49.520 | actually buying from a tire shop in the future.

00:56:52.180 | So one, guidance on which tires to get

00:56:54.920 | and how to think about those.

00:56:56.600 | Two, at least my brother-in-law said

00:56:58.360 | that he manages the entire process

00:57:00.800 | for manufacturer guarantees for all of his customers

00:57:03.460 | that buy tires from him.

00:57:05.160 | So if something goes wrong,

00:57:06.340 | he's gonna deal with the manufacturer,

00:57:07.860 | he's gonna get the refund, he's gonna do that.

00:57:10.240 | He does free rotating, free flat repair

00:57:12.520 | for any tires purchased from him.

00:57:14.360 | So a lot of those extra perks you'll get

00:57:16.180 | from buying from a tire shop,

00:57:17.780 | you won't get if you ship them the tires.

00:57:19.920 | And so yes, you might save 20, 30 bucks per tire,

00:57:23.720 | but you gotta ask whether that's worth it.

00:57:25.720 | And it really depends on the savings.

00:57:27.000 | So I'll let you make that call,

00:57:28.640 | but I did wanna share some of the tips he gave

00:57:30.840 | because when Ashley wrote the question, I was like,

00:57:33.620 | on many things I might not have a good answer,

00:57:35.380 | but at least in this case,

00:57:36.420 | I have a brother-in-law who owns a tire shop.

00:57:37.980 | So if there are other questions for him,

00:57:39.300 | let me know and I can ask.

00:57:40.900 | Finally, I got another question from a reader.

00:57:42.900 | I'll keep anonymous on the off chance

00:57:44.880 | that his girlfriend is listening,

00:57:46.420 | but he said he's ready to propose to his girlfriend

00:57:48.700 | any hacks for buying an engagement ring,

00:57:50.820 | either where to look, cards to put the purchase on or what.

00:57:53.740 | And I'll share my advice

00:57:55.580 | because I went through this process with Amy years ago.

00:57:58.500 | And as much as I wanted credit card points for this purchase

00:58:01.600 | because it was a large purchase,

00:58:03.440 | ultimately I found that negotiating with cash

00:58:06.680 | for things like jewelry can result in a discount

00:58:09.840 | that is much bigger than the value of the points you'll get.

00:58:13.560 | So my strategy was I went into a jeweler,

00:58:16.300 | I talked, I figured out what I wanted, I got a price.

00:58:19.160 | I came back in a few days, not looking too desperate

00:58:22.440 | and said, okay, I'll do this, but I want this price.

00:58:25.300 | I low balled, we did a little negotiating,

00:58:28.200 | little did the jeweler know at the time,

00:58:30.280 | but I had brought all cash, like actual cash with me.

00:58:34.480 | And I said, can you do this price?

00:58:36.520 | I can't actually remember the price

00:58:37.680 | off the top of my head now.

00:58:38.920 | And he said, I can't do that price.

00:58:40.360 | And then I just took that much in cash,

00:58:42.800 | put it on the table and said,

00:58:43.900 | I will do this right now or no.

00:58:46.720 | And I think the fact that there was cash on the counter

00:58:49.380 | made him realize I was serious

00:58:51.000 | and I ended up getting a much better deal.

00:58:53.120 | Now, had I paid full price and put it on a card,

00:58:55.120 | I would have gotten some points,

00:58:56.480 | but those points weren't worth anywhere close

00:58:59.120 | to the discount I got paying cash.

00:59:01.000 | So that said, if there is a very specific piece of jewelry

00:59:03.920 | you want and you can only get it one place

00:59:05.980 | and there's no better deal you can get paying in cash,

00:59:08.720 | or if you're trying to negotiate a deal

00:59:10.300 | and the best you can get paying in cash is 1% off,

00:59:13.580 | then yeah, I would put it on a card.

00:59:15.160 | I would pick a card that gets two points per dollar,

00:59:17.400 | like the Venture or the Venture X,

00:59:19.120 | or I'd get a new card that I could hit a signup bonus on

00:59:22.020 | and get 7,500,000 points from the signup bonus.

00:59:24.920 | So that's how I think about it.

00:59:26.920 | That's what I got for rings.

00:59:28.280 | Last question I have on the docket for today

00:59:31.160 | is around BlockFi.

00:59:33.240 | As people know, I had a meaningful amount of money

00:59:35.680 | in BlockFi.

00:59:36.500 | I guess I still do, or it's still somewhere.

00:59:38.760 | And so Amardeep wrote out and said,

00:59:40.620 | "I'd love to know if you could just give everyone an update

00:59:42.920 | on what the current status is, best you know it,

00:59:45.440 | and what people should do."

00:59:46.520 | So for me, I got a letter from BlockFi saying,

00:59:49.780 | "This is how much we believe that you have in your account

00:59:52.380 | as of the date that they decided was the date

00:59:55.660 | they're looking at balances.

00:59:57.100 | If this amount is right, you don't need to do anything.

00:59:59.740 | If this amount is wrong, please file a claim."

01:00:02.500 | So fortunately for me, that amount was right.

01:00:04.500 | So I didn't file a claim and don't feel the need to.

01:00:07.500 | And now I'm just sitting back and waiting

01:00:10.180 | as they go through this bankruptcy process.

01:00:13.060 | Right now, I'm pretending the money doesn't exist

01:00:15.680 | because I have no idea what will become of it.

01:00:18.300 | And I would much rather be pleasantly surprised

01:00:20.420 | that I get a lot of it back than expect it to be there

01:00:23.820 | and be very sad that it won't.

01:00:26.140 | So I've already kind of mourned the loss

01:00:28.260 | of the money for now.

01:00:30.140 | I am optimistic that it won't be a complete zero,

01:00:33.300 | but mentally the way I like to handle these things

01:00:35.180 | is write it to zero now and get something back

01:00:38.100 | instead of assuming it'll be something.

01:00:40.240 | I'm hoping it'll be more than 50% of what it was,

01:00:43.380 | but I have no idea if it's gonna happen this year,

01:00:45.880 | next year, or further out.

01:00:47.340 | So it's a really crappy situation for a lot of people,

01:00:50.460 | myself included, and I'm just hoping

01:00:52.940 | that they can figure things out quickly

01:00:54.940 | and make people as whole as possible.

01:00:57.660 | I think that's it.

01:01:00.020 | I covered a lot.

01:01:00.860 | Obviously, if you have follow-ups,

01:01:02.300 | if you have more questions, please reach out to me.

01:01:04.660 | I would love to hear from you.

01:01:06.260 | I'd love to include those questions

01:01:08.420 | in the next few of these.

01:01:09.740 | We're gonna do one on travel points and miles.

01:01:11.420 | I'm gonna do one with Amy on relationships, family, and kids.

01:01:15.060 | So lots of stuff to come.

01:01:17.100 | Thank you so much for listening.

01:01:18.540 | Thank you for supporting me, and I'll see you next week.

01:01:22.260 | (upbeat music)

01:01:24.840 | (upbeat music)

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