Today’s show tackles the age-old dilemma: is it better to have good health or more money during your retirement years? Join our lively roundtable as we discuss balancing financial planning with health priorities, featuring insights from Jesse Cramer of ‘The Best Interest Podcast’, Paula Pant from ‘Afford Anything’, and OG. Learn how different retirement stages can affect your spending habits, and explore creative ways to integrate health expenses into your financial plan. Plus, discover actionable tips on motivating yourself to stick to a healthy lifestyle and whether to invest in gym memberships or home equipment. Don’t miss our contributors’ take on the potential misuse of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and their hilarious anecdotes about life and fitness.
Run of Show:
- Final Takeaways and Closing Remarks
- Introduction and Show Opening
- Panel Introduction and Health vs. Wealth Debate
- Segway and Scooter Anecdotes
- State Farm Advertisement and Personal Stories
- Health and Retirement Planning
- Trivia Question and SNL Discussion
- Comedian Salaries Revealed
- SNL Cast Member Earnings
- HSA: The Health Savings Account Debate
- Navigating Healthcare Plans
- Choosing the Right Workout Routine
- Podcast Highlights and Upcoming Guests
Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.StackingBenjamins.com/201
Enjoy!
- Physical effects of aging
- Mental effects of aging
- How to prevent mental and physical decline.
- How to prolong your healthy years.
- Creating healthy habits.
- Prioritizing lifestyle choices.
- Living healthy for as long as possible.
- Best practices for increasing your healthy lifespan.
- Prioritizing health and wellness.
- The role of purpose in longevity.
- The phases of retirement.
- Insurance.
- The role of HSAs.
- Preventative health.
- How to get the most out of your health insurance.
- Choosing the right insurance plan for your needs.
- Health cost-sharing plans.
- When it’s worth it to pay out of pocket.
- Maximizing quality of care for the best price.
- Knowing yourself well enough to identify how you’re motivated.
- Living in the moment.
- Enjoying the time you have.
- How much does SNL pay a first-year comedian on the show per episode?
Our Topic:
Your Healthy Life Expectancy is More Important Than Your Life Expectancy (The Wealthy Accountant)
During our conversation, you’ll hear us mention:
Our Contributors
A big thanks to our contributors! You can check out more links for our guests below.
Jesse Cramer

Another thanks to Jesse Cramerfor joining our contributors this week! Hear more from Jesse on his show, The Best Interest at The Best Interest – Complex Personal Finance Made Easy Podcast Series – Apple Podcasts.
Learn how you can work with Jesse by visiting The Best Interest – Invest in Knowledge.
Paula Pant

Check Out Paula’s site and amazing podcast: AffordAnything.com
Follow Paula on Twitter: @AffordAnything
OG

For more on OG and his firm’s page, click here.
Doug’s Game Show Trivia
DepositAccounts

Thanks to DepositAccounts.com for sponsoring Stacking Benjamins. DepositsAccounts.com is the #1 place to go when you’re looking to see if your rate is the BEST rate on savings, CDs, money markets, and even checking accounts! Check out ALL of the rates ranked from best to worst (and see the national averages) at DepositAccounts.com.
Mentioned in today’s show
Join Us on Monday!
Tune in on Monday when we’re learning to love math with the one and only Ben Orlin.
Miss our last show? Check it out here: What Ugliness Is Hiding In Your Investment Portfolio? (SB1585).
Written by: Kevin Bailey
Episode transcript
[00:00:00] bit: Stacking Benjamins is not for everyone. Side effects may include euphoria, increased ability to meet your goals, and aggression from people wondering what the hell your secret is. Stacking. Benjamins may be habit forming, especially if you stick around for the entire episode. Wink, wink. Please check with your doctor to see if Stacking Benjamins is right for you. [00:00:18] Doug: Live from the basement of the YouTube headquarters. It’s the Friday edition of the Stacking Benjamin Show. [00:00:35] I’m Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Duggan. Here’s today’s chicken or egg conundrum. Would you rather have good health or more money during your retirement years? We’ll ask our panel. Including one guy who’s not chicken to give his opinion. He’s the host of the best interest podcast, Jesse Kramer, and the woman who’s probably gonna tell you that you can afford some of the healthcare, but not all of the healthcare Paula pants and the guy who throws golf clubs to manage his mental health. [00:01:06] It’s og, and not only will they battle over this question, but midway through the discussion we’ll see who can conquer my incredibly brilliant trivia. And now a guy who’s brilliant with a segue if he doesn’t say so himself, and he does all the time. It’s Joe. So see. Hi. [00:01:35] Joe: Well, hey there stackers and happy Friday to you and, uh, Doug. Yes, I am brilliant with a segue. I, I must have you ever, have you ever ridden one? You know, they go really fast when you go forward and they’re so, I love those segues. P Pan, have you ever ridden a seg? I’ve never ridden a segway. You’ve never, could you imagine plop pan on a seg. [00:01:55] That would, uh, yes, [00:01:57] Paula: I’d be great at that. [00:01:58] Joe: You’d be the speed of all the runners. You could be like, this is far better than running. It’s, I just lean forward a little bit. It’s amazing how they work. Speaking of work, we got a great show today. We are going to be talking about health and wealth. Let’s say hello to the rest of our cast of characters. [00:02:12] That was Paul, Pam from Ford. Anything but Mr. Oh Gee’s here. How are you buddy? [00:02:16] OG: Cheers. Yeah, life is good. Never on a segue, but I do enjoy a, uh, electric scooter. Those are fun. When, when, uh, the situation. Allows [00:02:26] Joe: you Were the person who actually took me on my first electric scooter ride. [00:02:31] OG: Oh. It’s like magical, wasnt it? [00:02:32] Oh, we had this wonderful [00:02:33] Joe: euphemism for something. We had this wonderful ride together through downtown Austin. First he was in the lead. Yeah. We were holding hands and I was in the lead. [00:02:41] OG: Yeah, it was. We got [00:02:42] Joe: done. We shared a cigarettes. It was so great. I cried a little. It was, it was pretty, pretty. There’s some cuddling. [00:02:47] It was pretty wild actually. The electric scooter thing is pretty awesome, especially in a town like Austin where easy. Fun to get around. Yes, [00:02:55] OG: a lot of hills. [00:02:56] Joe: And the guy who, um, I see. I’m looking for the segue Doug and it’s not coming. Jesse Kramer’s here for the best interest podcast. What’s up buddy? Hey. [00:03:03] Jesse: Glad to be here. Always fun to be back here, even when we are talking about, uh, romantic scooter rides, [00:03:10] Joe: romantic scootering. Have you ever been on a romantic scooter ride, Jesse? [00:03:13] Jesse: Uh, no, I haven’t. How about [00:03:15] Joe: a romantic segue ride? I. [00:03:17] Jesse: I’ve never been outta Segway. Never been outta s You have not? No, no. I, I’m a little, so, you know, I, I grew up playing a lot of sports, but skiing and skating are two things that I’m not good at at all. [00:03:28] Something about my feet sliding without my legs moving. So I don’t know if I Something [00:03:32] Joe: about coordination. It might be, it [00:03:34] Jesse: could be that too. It might be that too. Something about segue is just reminds me of skiing or skating. I’m not sure I’m gonna like it. [00:03:40] Joe: You know the amazing thing about a segue is you could be plowing right along on the segue, and then you back up and you say, this episode’s brought to you by State Farm. [00:03:48] If you own a small business, whatever your business might be. Damn, that was good. [00:03:53] Paula: Wow. Wow. Indeed, that that was actually decent. [00:03:57] Joe: Someone who understands. That’s where State Farm small business insurance comes in. I’m sure State Farm’s gonna call me and go, that was great. Joe. State Farm Agents, they’re small business owners too. [00:04:06] They know what it takes. They can help you choose personalized policies that fit your budget. Small business insurance from State Farm, everybody ready? Like a good neighbor. State Farm there. Talk to your local agent today, or we’ll keep going. You know what’s interesting about State Farm? I love State Farm’s claims department, and my son just got in an auto accident and he’s learning the hard way. [00:04:33] That cut rate insurance, you get what you pay for. Brought to you by Stacking. Benjamins. Yeah, it’s a good lesson though. Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt, and I think he’s learning a valuable insurance lesson. We’ve got lessons though about health. Today we’re gonna be talking about health and your wallet. [00:04:49] And you know what? What keeps this podcast healthy is the fact that you guys don’t have to pay for it and we make it free. How about that segue? Huh? Ninja? Just ninja. Because of that, we’re gonna say hi to a couple of ’em right now, and then we’re gonna dive into this thing. Oh, G’s here. Paula Pants here. [00:05:04] Jesse Kramer is here. Let’s rumble. [00:05:13] Our headline today comes from the wealthy accountant.com. I thought it’d be funnier if his website was the, the not very wealthy accountant. Or the [00:05:23] OG: Making Accountant. [00:05:25] Joe: Today’s piece comes from struggling accountant.com [00:05:30] Doug: accountant in a strip mall next to a donut shop, right? [00:05:34] Joe: This piece is your healthy life expectancy is more important than your life expectancy any dives into this idea of your wallet. [00:05:42] Versus your health. And he says, when planning for retirement, people often make the mistake of using their life expectancy as a guideline for how to save and invest worse. The same people plan their retirement years. With the same life expectancy yardstick. Every retiree advanced 10 years will tell you there is no race to the finish. [00:06:02] I’m gonna read that again. There is no race to the finish. There is a slow decline from middle age with an acceleration of Deterior health at some higher age. And he talks about how he learned this when his dad passed away. His parents, he said, once owned an RV type camper, one of those homes on wheels attached to the truck with a fifth wheel. [00:06:20] Every winter they travel to Mississippi to visit friends that one year they decide not to go. The RV was sold that my parents stopped traveling at all. Even bus tours. Dad had both of his knees replaced and aches. Pains were serious. He was still able to get around, but his quality of life was low and dropping 12 years ago, he had his first stroke, and then the last stroke just happened. [00:06:39] He said, my dad was lucky. It went fast, but buried in these events is a powerful personal finance lesson. Well, let’s talk about that lesson. Oh, gee. When you’re working with people, I mean, we do, I think he’s right. We tend to. Hey, I’m gonna have this 30 year retirement and it’s gonna be travel and you know, Doug mentioned golf, so we’ll go there, golf or whatever your thing is. [00:07:00] I’m gonna hike, I’m gonna travel, I’m gonna garden. I’m gonna do all this healthy activity, right? Maybe, maybe not. [00:07:05] OG: I remember hearing a long time ago and I, I wish I could credit who this was, so maybe Joe, you remember, retirement time is three different stages. It’s the go-go years, the slow-go years and the no-go years. [00:07:17] I thought that that was a really good metaphor or phraseology. I suppose maybe for the the period of time where you’re like, all right, I want to go like crazy. I’m gonna do all the travel, I’m gonna do all the stuff, and then it’s gonna dial back a little bit. And then now I’m at the stage where proverbial rocking chair, sitting on the front porch type of thing. [00:07:36] But yeah, I think from a planning standpoint, like you said. I think we look at it as a uniform spend over the course of that 30 years. Retire at 65. You’re gonna live to be 95. Your spend will be equally distributed over that 30 year period. I think what he’s saying and what real life is showing is that that’s not, not necessarily the case. [00:07:54] Joe: Paula, you have older parents. I think you’re probably witnessing some of this right now. [00:07:58] Paula: Yeah. My parents are both 83 years old and every time I see them I can see how much they’ve aged relative to the last time I saw them. So if there are even just six months in between when I see them and the next time I see them. [00:08:14] In between every visit, I can see how much they’ve aged over six months. Fortunately, knock on wood, their cognitive health is very strong. This article talks about physical limitations, like his dad had both his knees replaced. Uh, his dad can no longer garden. He talked about gardening. He talked about travel. [00:08:32] These are all physical activities. Gardening is a, a highly physical activity, but the other element of that is your cognitive health. And as so long as you have cognitive health, you can read books, you can engage in lively discussions, you can learn new things. My dad and I are constantly recommending books to one another. [00:08:52] I just turned him on to Yuval Noah Hari’s latest book Nexus and his eyes. Sometimes he has a hard time reading like the words, so he listens to audio books. Oh, wow. Because his eyes sometimes strain it for the, the physical reading. But yeah, I mean, he’s literally now listening to an audio book about the impact of AI on future technological development and that at the age of 83, so long as your cognitive health is strong. [00:09:21] I find that he has a very rich inner life, a a rich mental life, [00:09:25] Joe: but that cognitive health, Jesse, goes along with your physical health. I mean, all kinds of studies show this. In fact, when we had Doc G on the show from Earn Invest just a couple weeks ago, we were talking about how racket sports, those recent studies that show that racket orts increase your ability to think during your retirement years, which. [00:09:45] The rise of pickleball they’re talking about is actually a really good thing for retirees. You talk about skiing, uh, maybe not being for you, but do you play racket sports? Jesse, you gonna live a long time? [00:09:55] Jesse: I did. I played college racket sports and now, uh, well there you go. Still. There we go. Yeah. [00:09:59] Scoreboard. I won’t tell you what division. No one’s keeping track, but JUCO is [00:10:03] OG: a division, Jesse. [00:10:05] Jesse: That’s [00:10:05] OG: okay. [00:10:06] Jesse: But the thing that I would love to know, and, and I don’t know nearly enough about health. Biology to understand this answer, but I would love to understand how much of what this article talked about and what we’re talking about today is kind of like unavoidable. [00:10:20] Like you will simply get older and your muscles will deteriorate with that sarcopenia they call it. Like some of these things are completely unavoidable. Uh, certain diseases are just, you know, your higher likelihoods of catching them the older you get. But then how much of it is really a function of, say, the standard American diet? [00:10:36] Here we are with the mostly American audience and, and how much of it is truly. Within our control as individuals to potentially, you know, the thing you hear is genetics loads the gun and environment pulls the trigger. Have you guys heard that before? Yeah. Nature, nature versus [00:10:51] Joe: nurture kind of thing. [00:10:52] Jesse: Yeah. [00:10:52] Yeah, exactly. And, and so for some of us, and, and part of the planning that OG was talking about, how much of a planning can be, okay, I need to plan to be healthier, to, to live a healthier lifestyle and thus to maybe extend my, my healthy years further into the future. [00:11:05] Joe: But it is inevitable, Paula. I mean, nobody gets outta here alive. [00:11:08] We’re all terminal. [00:11:09] Paula: Right, exactly. The most that you can try to do is slow it down to the best of your ability. But yeah, you’re right. You know, you’re, we’re only on this side of the topsoil for so long. Oh gee. This, this side of the top soil. [00:11:22] Joe: I have not heard that one. That is, that is great. Gee, I’m thinking from a financial perspective, like there’s this wild paradox in our lives, right? [00:11:31] As we accumulate wealth, when we think about wealth, what do we think about? We think about driving better cars that I’m gonna, I’m gonna drive more often so I don’t have to walk somewhere, right? I can afford the electric bike instead of the bicycle that, you know, I seriously have to pedal myself. I can take more inclusive, expensive vacations. [00:11:52] I can drink the expensive drinks. Like all of the stuff that we do to accumulate wealth creates a lifestyle that goes right directly against. This longevity stuff that he’s talking about in this piece. [00:12:05] OG: I remember saying this a couple of, I don’t know, maybe a couple of months ago, would you rather have Warren Buffet’s money or your age? [00:12:13] I think everyone would rather pick their age. I. Then Warren Buffett’s money and age. Right? It’s like no one wants to be 95, 94, however old he [00:12:24] Joe: is. I wanna be 94. If I wake up and I’m 94, I’m high fiving somebody. ’cause ’cause I made it to 94. Yeah. [00:12:31] OG: I wanna live past 94. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wanna, I don’t wanna wake up tomorrow and be 94. [00:12:35] Yeah. I wouldn’t trade. The fact that I have time for his money is my point. There is a little bit of a crossover. I, I don’t know when it happens, but it’s certainly more top of mind for me. I don’t know what it is for the older gentlemen in the room, but it’s definitely a little bit more top of mind around, okay, so we do have some resources, which is great. [00:12:55] So how do we use those resources, mainly time and maybe a little bit of money to make sure that we’re doing the right stuff with health in August and I was talking to my doctor and going through all the medical stuff for all the results and, and I said, doc, I just don’t know. Like, you know, you gotta work eight hours, you’re supposed to sleep eight hours, and then you know, you, I gotta out and you know, you want me to do this and this and this. [00:13:14] He says, it’s really simple. The first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is you go, uh, workout. I said, okay, I’m not really a morning guy, but I get it. I, and he says, and I said, well, then when you get the cardio in, if you’re supposed to do your strength training and cardio, he goes, well, you just do that at night. [00:13:28] And I said, but I get home from work and then I have to eat dinner and hang out with my kids. He goes, yeah, and then you do the cardio. I said, but then I have to go to sleep. But where, you know, where’s their other time? He goes, there is no time. This is all you have to do now. It’s like literally work out and work. [00:13:41] But you know, how badly do you want it? Basically, that was his point was, yeah, you do have to make some choices. You’re gonna have to choose, am I gonna sit and watch the game on Thursday afternoon or Thursday night on tv, or am I gonna go for a run? You know, am I sit on the couch all day Saturday and hang out with my friends or am I gonna, you know, do something productive from a athletic standpoint? [00:14:00] So. I think you know what Jesse was talking about in terms of resources. Peter Atia is a great resource for this, and he is got a fantastic book called Outlive. And the general thesis of that is we want to extend our health span to match our lifespan. ’cause like you said, Jesse, at some point in time we’re all gonna. [00:14:19] Lose muscle mass and flexibility and all that sort of stuff. And so knowing that, how do you back into it almost like a financial plan. How do you back into it and say, well, how strong do I have to be by 50? How strong do I have to be at 60 so that by the time I’m 80 that slope I. It doesn’t put me in the grave, or as Paul likes to say it, under the top soil. [00:14:38] Joe: Let’s talk about this lifestyle, Jesse, that you alluded to earlier. He makes the point that his dad lived to be 78 years old. The life expectancy for men in America. 74, I think it was 74.8 off the top of my head, so he’s like, my dad won. Or did he? And then he talks about how his dad truly had so many years where he struggled after his first stroke, that he didn’t live a lot of quality years, those last years. [00:15:06] In fact, they have another, uh, he has another chart on this website and I’ll link to it on the show notes if people wanna dive in later. I. In the US a our, our healthy years only go to 66, 66 0.1. So this decadent lifestyle, Jesse, we, you know, that I detailed earlier, really works against us when it comes to having any type of longevity. [00:15:29] Jesse: I mean, just imagine if you’re listening to this right now, and ostensibly you’re interested in the kind of things we talk about here, and imagine if you’ve saved up this nest egg. Maybe you can even retire a little bit early. You’re gonna retire at 55 and you’ve got 30, 30, 35 good years ahead of you. [00:15:45] You’re gonna delay Social Security to 70. But then, wait, the average American basically stops living healthy, their healthy years stop at age 66 is what you just said, Joe, right? 66, yeah. 66. What it actually means, I mean, uh, an individual who I know who’s younger than 60 was just diagnosed with, uh, a liver cancer, most likely terminal liver cancer. [00:16:06] I mean, think about it. It’s not just that you’re. Your life is getting cut short, potentially, but just all the enjoyable parts of life are getting cut short too, and you might end up in pain during those years where you aren’t physically able to do the things you wanna do. In, in Paul’s example earlier, at least, you know Paul’s dad. [00:16:26] It sounds like in, in Paul, your words was living like a very fulfilling life, mentally, right? Mm-Hmm. Very stimulating life mentally. Yeah. But in, in a lot of the specific examples of individuals who we might know in our own lives, there can be disease or just chronic pain and, and that is something in itself is a, is a fate worth trying to plan around. [00:16:47] Not to be a huge Debbie Downer. Sorry guys. I gotta crack another beer for the rest of [00:16:52] OG: this episode. That’s [00:16:53] Joe: right. So besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play? [00:16:58] OG: Yeah, great, great, great, [00:17:00] Joe: Paula. So in your financial plan, like how much of your financial plan is about the how side of the equation versus the wealth side of the equation? [00:17:08] Paula: Well, I can tell you at this particular moment in time. Most of my discretionary outside of rent and groceries and blah, blah, blah. Most of my discretionary spending relates to health or wellness in some way. Oh, the only other exception to that would be travel. A little bit of travel, but health, wellness, travel tend to be most of my discretionary spending. [00:17:33] Joe: Do you are, are you thinking about longevity or just about feeling good now? [00:17:36] Paula: Predominantly it’s feeling good now ’cause I’ve noticed to be able to work in the way that I want to, my energy levels start to dip, particularly mid-afternoon. And I tend to be more easily distracted. Like, oh, shining thing, right? [00:17:48] Joe: Yeah, me too. [00:17:49] Paula: And so just to be able to put forth the same level of cognitive energy and focus and, and work, uh, that I could when I was 25, you know, a big focus on health and wellness has sprouted just from the desire to do that. So, but I think that, you know, if you make a habit of it. And those, those things stick with you and perhaps your why changes over time, but I can’t see how, if there are longevity benefits to making sure that you’re to paying attention to your micronutrient profile or your gut bacteria when you are in your thirties or forties. [00:18:24] I’m sure that that’s, I, I’m not a doctor, but I would assume that that would also have some long-term ramifications. [00:18:31] Joe: Well, if we take a look at just lifespan, like different periods of your life, I think that, um, during the Go-go years, Paula, early in your career, it’s very easy to put your health on the back burner. [00:18:43] Making the conscious decision that my discretionary spending is gonna be on health and wellness is important. I remember Jesse, to that point, you know, when my twins were born, health and wellness really took a backseat. Are you finding it hard to prioritize your own wellness when you’ve got a baby on board? [00:19:01] Jesse: Yeah, a hundred percent. We’ve got a four month old at home now, which is hard to believe in and of itself. I used to probably work out maybe four to five hours a week, you know, just getting my heart rate up in some way. Now it might be two hours, hour and a half or two hours a week tops. And it, and it usually comes at 5:30 AM I, I usually sneak out of the house when everyone else is still sleeping and, and try to get something in before work. [00:19:22] But that said, you know, there are little other things, uh, uh, I mean, just again, a personal example would be I walk the dog and I walk the baby in a stroller a lot more than I did before because Oh yeah, we tried to steps. Exactly. We, we try to do it every day anyway, and it’s the substitute, if you will, for the kind of that harder, more invigorating workout and then, you know, a little extra focus on eating healthy and hopefully everything stays somewhat in shape. [00:19:49] Joe: Do you see health and wellness OG infiltrate your financial planning meetings Much. [00:19:54] OG: Not a ton. Obviously, we spend a lot of time talking about mental wellness, uh, especially around money and relationship with money and relationship with other people and their relationship with money. You know, how, you know, a couple or a partnership may have different views of how the resources are allocated or whatever the case may be. [00:20:11] So there’s a lot of mental wellness that goes on there. And there’s not a ton of conversation, not a, not a ton of, of planning around. Around the, uh, ongoing health part of it, whether it’s spending or potentially saving, except for the fact that I will put a little emphasis back to the point from a spending standpoint in, in retirement, it’s like you’re gonna spend the, most of your travel budget is in the front end of it. [00:20:37] If you envision traveling, oh, we’re gonna travel every year to Europe. It’s like, well, not every year, probably every year for the first 10, and then maybe every other year for the next five, and then probably never again after that. Like the guy talks about in the article here, but it replaces it. It’s not like the money is not gonna be spent because then maybe you have higher healthcare expenses later in retirement. [00:20:59] It’s not like the spending goes to zero, but we definitely do a lot of encouraging of like, if you have the resources, now now’s a good time to do the thing. Versus saying, well I’ll, I’m gonna just ’cause you don’t know. Yeah, I’m gonna do that later. It’s like, why later? What’s wrong with today? Book the trip. [00:21:15] It’ll be fun. [00:21:16] Joe: We talk about longevity at, uh, strategic Coach that OG you and I both go to, it’s one of the first things they talk about is if you focus on those things that are really important to you and purpose, that that also drives longevity. And it sounds like Paula, that’s a lot of your dad. You know what keeps him going? [00:21:33] This purpose, working on it now. Versus waiting for legacy is very important. I wanna extend this in the second half of this discussion because I think this can also inform our insurance decisions, how we use our insurance. I mean, we talked about working out eating healthy, but I think insurance is a big part of this as well. [00:21:50] How do we handle that? HSA, how do we handle disability coverage, long-term care, those things. And then I want to talk about. How do you get around the fact that working out can just be a pain in the ass? Like, how do we, how do, how do we make it so that it’s about the journey, not about the destination? Uh, love to get your takes on that. [00:22:06] But at the halfway point of every Friday episode, we dive into this, sometimes close, sometimes not, uh, competition between our three contributors and, uh, unfortunately not that close as we come down the stretch. OG has 15, Jesse, as usual, you’ll play on behalf of mom. You guys have 11. Paula with eight just waiting to strike. [00:22:29] But Paula, if you’re waiting. Time is now No time, like the present time is now. So this, uh, year long competition now enters the fourth quarter. We’re coming down the stretch. We need a trivia question this week though. Doug, what’s our money trivia on this Fine Friday? [00:22:50] Doug: Hey there, stackers. I’m Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Doug, and on today’s date in history, Saturday Night Live debuted in 1975. Isn’t it funny how. People love to rip. Saturday Night Live when Adam Sandler was on, they talked about how he wasn’t nearly as funny as Eddie Murphy and when Eddie Murphy was on, he couldn’t hold a candle to Gilda Radner. [00:23:11] And that’s Saturday Night Live. The show that continually has gotten worse for 50 years. We’re gonna be on forever. Uh, we could always get worse. Imagine if you could get worse for 50 years each year and still bring it. I’d say that’s the definition of Joe’s mom right there. Oh, just kidding, ma, settle down. [00:23:37] Oh, here’s today’s question. Everyone has heard the stories of how grueling the schedule can be for SNL’s cast of characters. But do you know how much they’re paid? So here’s the question. How much does SNL pay a first year comedian on the show per episode? I’ll be back right after I go send a copy of this week, shows to l Michaels. [00:23:59] I’m sure he’ll wanna audition me after he hears how well I did on Wednesday. Alright. [00:24:03] Joe: All right. First year cast members on Center Night Live, how much they get paid per episode? Oh gee, because you’re in the lead. [00:24:13] OG: Sure. Looks like Jesse’s Googling it. Just for the record, [00:24:17] Joe: how, how are you gonna win if you don’t, uh, Google it? [00:24:19] Jesse: Yeah. If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying, I’m writing down numbers. I’m writing down numbers. Pencil and paper. I, I remember reading this like 30 seconds ago, and [00:24:30] OG: that’s fired. All right. Okay. All right. I see what’s going on here. And being surprised by the number. Question. I am trying to remember. Was I surprised on the upside or the downside? [00:24:43] I don’t remember if I was surprised like, wow, that’s pretty good, or Whoa, I can’t believe they’d worked for so cheap. And this is today. Is this, uh, accurate? This is not 1975. No, this is now, this is what’s current year. Okay. I think [00:24:53] Joe: it’s last season. [00:24:55] OG: Oh, well there you go. Now way it is. I have it in my brain that it’s $91,000 for the season. [00:25:01] Is that the question? Oh, per episode. Oh, per episode. Shoot. Uh, how many? I thought it was 90,000 a year. I think there’s 25 episodes. Maybe, maybe 30. I, I’ll just do the math. I’ll just say it’s 3000 an episode. [00:25:19] Joe: $3,000 an episode. What are you gonna do that, Jesse? [00:25:24] Jesse: Um, I’m gonna go lower than that, I think. ’cause I was just thinking on a weekly basis. [00:25:30] And if you take, you know, a hundred thousand dollars salary and you divide it by 50 weeks, that’s $2,000 a week. And even if, even if they’re doing, you know, like Josh thought, the OG thought maybe a 30 week episode, they still might only pay ’em on a weekly basis At some rate like that, I’m gonna say $1,800. [00:25:51] I’m gonna say $90,000 salary, roughly $1,800 a week. [00:25:56] Joe: Paula, you’ve got, uh. $1,800 and $3,000. [00:26:03] Paula: I think they’re both low. There’s [00:26:04] Joe: plenty of room. Paula, for you to get this one wrong? [00:26:06] Paula: There’s plenty of room. I think they’re both low. So I’m gonna go 3001. 3000 at one. Paula going with her guy. [00:26:15] OG: You said low, I thought [00:26:16] Paula: you said close. [00:26:16] No, low. Low. I think you’re both low. [00:26:18] Joe: Oh yeah. Uh, I think we’re low. How much do you think they get paid? Like if you had to just guess how much do you think they be? [00:26:23] Paula: Uh, geez. I, I’d probably guess. 10 grand per episode. [00:26:29] Joe: 10 per episode [00:26:30] Paula: ish. [00:26:31] Joe: Okay. But my official guess, but official. [00:26:33] Paula: My official guess is 3001. [00:26:35] Joe: Sure. [00:26:36] Paula: To capture the upside. So [00:26:36] Joe: we’ve got 3000 for og 3000, one for Paula. 1800 for Jesse. Let’s see who’s right. We’ll be right back. og, you started off with 3000 bucks, Paula. Kept that, uh, and took the upside. What are you thinking? [00:26:55] OG: Well, it’s gonna come down to the number of episodes. I, I thought that the number was about 90 or a hundred thousand a year. [00:27:02] I just don’t know how many episodes there are. If they do 20 episodes, then I’m grossly off. If they do, I. 40 episodes, then I might be in the ballpark. [00:27:09] Joe: Jesse, you had about the same assumption, it sounded like about a hundred thousand dollars. You think they’re paid? [00:27:13] Jesse: Well, I, I was thinking at like a hundred thousand dollars rate because here’s my similar og, it’s like how many episodes are there in a season, or like how much time do they take off? [00:27:22] And if they’re only shooting episodes, say like eight months a year, well, I don’t think they’re getting paid by SNL during the other time May. Maybe they are. So I just said, well, it’s as if they’re getting paid a hundred thousand dollars salary, which might be. $1,800 a week. 75% of that [00:27:37] Joe: times. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. [00:27:39] Okay. Gotcha. Paul, do you have any rationale besides they’re both low? [00:27:43] Paula: Yeah, I just think that they’re making more than a hundred grand. I mean, to be a top level comedian. One of the top in your field to [00:27:50] OG: first year though person. Yeah. Yeah. [00:27:52] Paula: Still that’s a salary that you could get. Coming out of your senior year at like some rando State University in Rando College major. [00:28:04] It just doesn’t seem to compare like Michigan [00:28:05] OG: State. [00:28:06] Paula: Oh god, [00:28:08] Joe: man. What we’re about to find out. How much NBC can lowball their talent? Or do they lowball their talent? Doug, who’s gonna win this thing? [00:28:21] Doug: Well, hey, there are stackers on this podcast’s. Funny man and SNL level talent. Joe’s, mom’s neighbor, Doug, I mean you’re all, say it just a minute ago. Top level talent. Yes. 50 years of SNL this year. And the salaries, while not huge when they begin. Can grow quite high. While Cosmopolitan reports that NBC officially won’t pay any cast member more than 25,000 per episode, longtime performer Keenan Thompson reportedly earns over $2 million a year. [00:28:52] But our question was, how much does a new cast member make a new cast member? While the total adds up to a not small 147,000 a year, the amount per episode comes down to. Well, it was $5,200 more than what Jesse guessed, and 4,000 more than what OG guessed, and just 3,900. Oh my goodness. 99 for what Paula guessed, because it’s $7,000 an episode making Paula today’s winner. [00:29:21] Paul a pant. Woo. [00:29:23] Paula: What I love about this is that not only did I officially win, but my actual guests, which was thinking it was probably in the ballpark of 10,000, was also pretty darn close. Would’ve [00:29:34] OG: also won. Yes. [00:29:34] Paula: Yeah. Woo. We gotta Paula [00:29:38] OG: win more. She has a lot of energy around women. Now, who are you? [00:29:40] What’s going on here? I like this. The Paula dance and everything. All [00:29:44] Paula: that health and wellness spending is finally paying off. [00:29:47] Jesse: Is that, is that a dab? Did you just dab somebody? Paula, you should petition for getting two points. [00:29:52] Paula: Ooh, [00:29:53] Jesse: right. One for the guests and one for the what? I would’ve guessed, guess petition denied. [00:29:58] OG: Wow. [00:30:00] Joe: Wow. OG Quick with a. Quick with the veto on that one. All right, well, Paula, I’m making it a run, at least for second. Woo. We’ll see what happens next week. Getting a little drama, not closing in [00:30:11] Paula: on [00:30:11] Joe: second. Not less. Yes, not less. You say, I got a chance. Let’s go to the second half of this discussion, and I said, uh, during the second half of our, uh, health and wellness chat here, and which really is more important, the chicken and the egg, what sense does it make to have more money if you can’t spend it all? [00:30:27] I think about this idea, Jesse, of the HSA. And how you go into any, any forum online, and everybody’s like HSA, the, the Heavens opened up and the HSA was formed and there’s this whole story about how, you know, Noah parted the, the, uh, the, the, the, the [00:30:45] Jesse: Bearing Strait [00:30:47] Joe: Yes. Something and created the HSA, I don’t, I don’t know, [00:30:51] Jesse: I think it’s Moses and the Red Sea, but keep going. [00:30:53] Joe: Oh, oh, Moses, [00:30:55] OG: I like it. Somebody skipped out on, uh, Genesis, but all right. It’s [00:30:59] Joe: all, it’s all that Catholic school education. [00:31:02] OG: Yeah. [00:31:02] Joe: Exodus, maybe all those years of Catholic school education, but seriously, the issue that I’ve always had with the HSA is money nerds get so excited about the long-term value that money that we may go, yeah, I’m not going to the doctor. [00:31:16] I can just limp for a while. Right. I mean, is there a danger of us misusing the HSA. [00:31:23] Jesse: Oh, probably. And, and for what it’s worth, I think there’s a danger, something I tell people even upfront in the, the assumptions of why you have an HSA in the first place, it’s because you have a high deductible health plan, which isn’t maybe as, as nice as some of the other platinum plans out there. [00:31:39] The HSA is part of the, the government’s way of saying like, yeah, you’re kind of paying a pretty high deductible here for your health plan, and we know that’s not ideal, so we’re gonna give you some tax breaks if you decide to save some money in this HSA, it’s, it’s better than a kick of the pants, but it’s also, it’s, it’s the government’s way for making up for a less than ideal health plan in the first place. [00:31:57] So I think that needs to be made clear. Personally in the last couple years, there have definitely been a few dental things or a few, there have been a couple health bills that we’ve decided to pay out of our HSA, not every single time, but just sometimes we, we thought it made sense to say like, okay, just for monthly cashflow purposes, let’s just use the HSA in this particular case and we’ll leave the rest of it invested for the long run. [00:32:18] And I think overall in my financial plan, I do kind of view it as the medical emergency fund. That’s part of the way I view it, and I’m very open to the idea that there might come a day when we need to spend it well before retirement, [00:32:31] Joe: but is your health emergency? I mean, don’t we wanna be proactive and get to it before emergency? [00:32:37] Jesse: Sure, sure you do. But I guess all else being equal, what I’m saying, Joe, is if I have a $500 doctor’s appointment that I need to go to today, I’m gonna go no matter what. Am I gonna pave that for my bank account today, or am I gonna pay it for my HSA today? Well, that becomes a function of my. Monthly cashflow. [00:32:54] And if I can pay it for my bank account without really putting myself in any undue financial stress, all else being equal, I, I think that’s probably the right move. Uh, what you’re referring to, it sounds like is people being extra stingy with their own medical wellness simply to maintain HSA dollars. [00:33:10] And I, I agree with you. I think that’s a bridge too far. [00:33:12] Joe: Let me give you an example, a hypothetical example. Paul Pant. Mm-Hmm. Very hypothetical. Let’s say a guy went to Peru on a really high end vacation. Alright. Just completely hypothetical. [00:33:21] Paula: So is this guy like early fifties, [00:33:24] Joe: very handsome? Yes. Hmm. Great, great, great guy. [00:33:28] He, uh, went with ventures by Disney and anybody that knows Adventures by Disney knows it’s a great trip and it’s 1500 million bags of money, right? Mm-Hmm. It’s a lot of money. The hotels on this trip or this guy’s favorite thing left to his own devices. If he had to pay for that hotel individually, there’s no way in hell he would’ve stayed there. [00:33:50] Right? No way in hell he would’ve stayed there just over the top. But because it’s included, I. As part of the Disney vacation. You know, he stayed there. He took advantage of like, he, you know, went to drank all the [00:34:02] OG: mini bar [00:34:02] Joe: I did, drank all the mini bar. I did. I had so much fun at that hotel. Like, uh, every, this [00:34:08] OG: hypothetical person did [00:34:09] Joe: every, I’m sorry. [00:34:10] Yeah. This hypothetical person had so much fun because it was included, right? Mm-Hmm. And the ridiculousness is this hypothetical person who did this hypothetical trip. He paid for it anyway. Mm-Hmm. So HSA versus full coverage. If I’ve got full coverage and I’m like, you know what? I’m gonna get better medical treatment because I’m gonna take care of myself because it’s quote included in my fee. [00:34:35] Like, which one’s better? [00:34:37] Paula: Well, a lot of this is gonna depend on if you have employer sponsored healthcare in which your employer is gonna be paying for a piece of that. Or if you’re buying the whole thing out on the open market. And if you are buying it on the open market, then it’s gonna be a function of what state do you live in? [00:34:52] Because the like state of shock. Yeah, state of shock. Yes. But also, which of the 50. These United States [00:35:01] Joe: marketplace? Yeah. [00:35:02] Paula: Yeah. Because sometimes the discrepancy between a bronze plan versus a a silver versus a gold versus a platinum is like, wow, cartoon bulging eyes here. And so it then becomes a function of spreadsheeting it out and seeing if paying that additional premium is worth it. [00:35:26] I, I find in, in some cases it can be the case that it makes the most sense to get the lowest tier a CA plan and then supplement that with private concierge care. Hmm. Right. Because if you can get a, a membership to one of those private concierge, you, you get access to a primary care physician. And you get that private treatment, but it is, you know, it’s not loaded in with the a CA approved plan. [00:35:53] You get additional medical treatment, you get that access to a physician for any kind of primary care purposes, and you don’t have to go through the whole insurance rigmarole. Another potential option would be to get both an a, CA plan, as well as also enroll in a private, in, in a, um, health share. Like a A, either a religious or a non-religious health share. [00:36:17] Again, it seems a little bit redundant because now you’ve got two plans, but it means that you don’t have to pay the tax burden associated with violating the individual mandate, and yet for the sake of certain expenses that you know is going to be a huge insurance headache or rigmarole, you can just go with the medical share plan instead. [00:36:37] Joe: The thing that always worries me about the health share plans and not the plans themselves. ’cause I feel like the plans themselves are very honest about what they do and what they don’t do. Yeah, it’s people that advocate for them. Often Paula on, not just on podcasts, but blogs that I read, like they’re like, these things are great. [00:36:52] Why would you get traditional insurance when right across the top of these plans it says, not actuarily sound. [00:36:57] Paula: Right? Yeah. Like it sets it immediately. They’re supposed to be a supplement. Exactly. Yeah. The other thing that I do is I often just tell doctors, Hey, I’m a cash payer. I’m uninsured. Like, you don’t have to give them your insurance information, and if you just go there and say, I’m a cash payer, I’m uninsured. [00:37:14] They will give you the cash price and that’s, they’ll kick you out quickly. No, I’m kidding. Yeah. Yeah. They will hire a goon to pick you up by the, the scruff of your collar and she’s gone. Um, yeah. But if you go in there and just say, I’m uninsured, I’m a cash payer, um, they give you the cash price and oftentimes it’s fairly reasonable. [00:37:32] So all of those are ways that you can access higher level medical care without necessarily having to pay the surcharge associated with getting a top tier a CA plan. [00:37:44] Joe: The idea OG of the low cost, a CA plan with a concierge medical on your own. What’s your take on that strategy? [00:37:52] OG: Well, we do something very similar. [00:37:53] We, we have a group plan for our employees. It is a high deductible plan. All of the stuff that Paula mentioned, absent the health share option is what we evaluate whenever we have a healthcare expense in our family. So we have a, a group plan that’s for us and our employees now, frankly, I’m writing the check for all of it, so it’s like, you know, it’s, even though it’s an employer sponsored plan, it’s like, well, okay, maybe it is, maybe it’s not. [00:38:19] Then we do have the concierge physician, which gives us access to all the stuff that we want, and in terms of communication and regular. Consultations and a main point of contact. But then a lot of times, especially ’cause with the kids, it’s like it’s a lot easier to just go, yeah, what, what’s the cash deal here? [00:38:35] You know? And I’ve told the story before about my son who broke is whatever he broke arm, foot, like, I don’t remember. And, and one of the, some body part, one of the casts dead of the year [00:38:45] Doug: right here. [00:38:45] OG: Yeah. That we’ve, uh, well we’ve, we’ve been there many times. And I said, well, how much is it? And they, they just said, well, we don’t know until you submit it to insurance. [00:38:52] And I was like. How do you not know this? Is this your first day? Have you never casted an arm before of a 8-year-old? Like how? How do you not know what the price is until you submit it to insurance? That doesn’t make any sense to me. And so I said, well, I’m just gonna pay cash. And I said, all right, you gotta pay a deposit. [00:39:07] It’s $500. Okay, fine. Let me know The bill. That was the bill, the total thing was 500 bucks, but if I would’ve gone through insurance, it would’ve been 2000. We’re a high deductible health insurance plan, so I would’ve paid 2000. To count it as part of my deductible for the year. Yearly deductible. Which, which is crazy. [00:39:22] So, you know, one of the things, not to go too political, but one of the things that I would really appreciate is some pretty open pricing on what stuff costs. You know, it’s like, why does a major hospital in Texas who undoubtedly puts a thousand casts a day on little kids, not have an idea of how much it costs to put a cast on a kid’s arm. [00:39:40] Joe: I don’t think that’s political at all. I think that’s just common sense. You pay for anything else. And there’s a price list. Yeah. You go into a hospital, we, you know, we’ve had two discussions with health experts, Scott Heiser, and they were just fantastic. We’ll link to these, uh, to the YouTube live that we did and the episode that we did with Scott. [00:39:57] And that’s Scott’s big thing. You don’t have to go to Mexico or Turkey or wherever the heck you’re gonna go for your treatment. You can go across town and I think the price is gonna be widely different. You know, in [00:40:07] OG: our group, Doug, I’m probably not throwing it in the wind too badly, but you had a. MRI, maybe two of them done. [00:40:12] You had some, you know you’re old, so stuff breaks. And I said, well, my wife just had an MRI and it was like, four grand. You’re like four grand. I did two of them for 1800 bucks or whatever the number was. It was even less than that. You know, it was some it, it was a relative. And I go, did you guys have a different MRI machine? [00:40:27] Like, did you have the 1970s model? And ours was the 20? No, no. Just different doctors in different states and different pro, you know, it’s like, that’s ridiculous. Doug’s doctor gave him two MRIs and threw in Green Day tickets. Yeah, exactly. But my point with all of this is like Paul has said, sometimes the best option here is to kind of combo all those things. [00:40:45] I know how much my primary care doctor costs because he charges a bill every quarter. But it also doesn’t cost anything to show up to his office. [00:40:51] Joe: Jesse, any other, sorry, I know [00:40:52] OG: that that’s, that’s the included [00:40:53] Joe: piece. Yeah. Any other, uh, healthcare best practices? [00:40:56] Jesse: No, there’s been a lot of learning for me. I’m, I’m interested ’cause I’m not as familiar with some of these different ideas as, as what you guys have been talking about. [00:41:02] I mean, maybe the one best practice that perhaps I even talked about it here before, I just think back to, um. Last open enrollment season, so this is going back 11 months. Last November, we knew that my wife was pregnant. We knew she was expecting in in June of 2024. So that was a big part of our conversation was, okay, we know we’re gonna have all these extra expenses here in 2024 with the birth and the pregnancy, and we did what Paula? [00:41:23] Talked about, which was we spreadsheeted it and it was really interesting and a little bit eye-opening to say like, well, with the bronze plan, sure the deductible is way higher, but the premiums are way lower versus the platinum plan, the premiums are higher, the deductible’s non-existent. And actually for us, we ended up basically saying that unless there’s like a really weird corner case, the bronze plan was actually the cheapest for us. [00:41:45] Even with. The fact that we are gonna have the expense of a delivery this year. [00:41:49] Joe: Yeah, you’re not talking about cheapest insurance premium. You’re talking about cheapest total out-of-pocket. Total costs, correct. [00:41:55] Jesse: Total cost. The amount of money that is leaving our financial ecosystem and going into the healthcare world. [00:42:01] So add up your premiums and your deductibles and your out-of-pockets and blah, blah, blah. Everything. [00:42:06] Joe: Quality of care being completely the [00:42:09] Jesse: same. The same across the board. Exactly the same. Yeah. And, and basically the idea is for our options, the Platinum Plan provides some like peace of mind and it provides some certainty where it’s like you just know everything is covered, but you, you really do pay for it. [00:42:23] So anyway, I think it’s, especially if a particular family out there knows that they’re getting themselves into, uh, they just know that they’re gonna have a lot of healthcare costs in coming years, I think it can be worth trying to spreadsheet it out or still spreadsheet Yeah. Working with someone who can help you with that spreadsheet to make sure that you’re making the, the smart move. [00:42:41] Joe: We had a healthcare expert really challenge us, and rightly so, a long time ago when we first started talking about HSAs on the show. Mm-Hmm. And he said, you know, you guys talk about it. If you’re healthy, go with the HSA. He goes, even if you’re not healthy, the high deductible plan might end up being a great, great, great way to go. [00:42:57] So I love the idea of spreadsheet. Uh, Jesse, let’s stick with you for just a second because I wanna talk about one more thing about health and wellness, which is. You know, buy a pair of running shoes, buy yourself a Peloton, buy the gym equipment, stick it in a room in your house, or do you join the gym and get the trainer like again, more expensive to get the trainer, but that trainer is waiting for you, or that gym class is waiting for you. [00:43:21] Where heck, you know, on a random Thursday, I instead go hang my laundry from the Peloton versus, uh, actually use the thing. [00:43:29] Jesse: I think we each have to know ourselves well enough to know if we have the. Personal intrinsic motivation to tie up those shoes every day and go running on our own or hop on that Peloton every day without anyone looking over our shoulder and make it worthwhile. [00:43:44] ’cause I, I certainly know myself well enough to be like, yeah, I’m not sure I have the motivation. Joe, you’ve talked about you’re running before. I’m not sure I have your kind of motivation for running, but if I, oh, [00:43:54] Joe: I don’t go unless my running buddies are going. Yeah. I mean, let’s be clear, right? If my running buddies aren’t going, I don’t go. [00:43:59] But if I know that Troy or Trevor are waiting for me at 5:00 AM or 6:00 AM I’m getting my butt out there. [00:44:05] Jesse: Totally. And that’s, I mean, going back to the racket sports, I still play a lot of racket sports. If I know that I either have like a two on two doubles match or just a one-on-one singles match, and I know that there are other people who, without me, the match doesn’t happen. [00:44:17] That for me is all the motivation I need to get out and go do it, but without it. Yeah, I, I, I think it is important. For people to know themselves and, and if they need that extrinsic motivation to get out and get their butt moving. Speaking of, uh, sorry, earlier Joe, you said how uh, working out is a pain in the butt. [00:44:34] Joe: Yeah, [00:44:35] Jesse: and for me, I just stopped doing squats and it just took care of all that. [00:44:40] Joe: He’s here all week folks. Tip here. Does somebody got the, [00:44:43] Jesse: Hey now, there it is. Yeah. [00:44:46] Joe: Now it’s just pain in the arms or painting the whatever. Correct. Painting the core, whatever. Oh, gee. It is funny. I think Jesse makes a great point, is know yourself. [00:44:53] ’cause you, you prefer to work out by yourself, right? [00:44:56] OG: Yes. There’s no doubt about that. In a room [00:45:01] Joe: alone with the door closed. [00:45:03] OG: Yes. No, we, I mean, I don’t think that the Peloton is working out by yourself. It’s just like, uh, you’ve said a million times. The hardest part is like just putting your shoes on. [00:45:11] There’s been many a times where I’ve sat with my cycling shoes on in the room where the p like literally just sat with the shoes on going, I can probably do this. I just have to turn it out. Like I literally just have to press the power button and it will come to life, and Robin will start yelling at me, and the club music will start jamming and I’ll get after it, but, but I just don’t feel like moving right now. [00:45:34] Joe: So it’s kind of a halfway thing though. ’cause you’re still, technically it’s just you. You don’t have a person waiting for you. Robin’s not gonna notice if you’re not on today’s thing. Oh, she notices. Oh, she [00:45:45] OG: notices. I hear her say all the time. I know that you’re [00:45:48] Joe: here. [00:45:48] OG: Like get after [00:45:49] Joe: it. [00:45:49] OG: Wow. You know, [00:45:50] Joe: I. So for you, it’s kind of, I guess it’s halfway. [00:45:53] You’ve got the group motivation, but you still, [00:45:55] OG: yeah. Let’s be clear. I don’t do the Peloton anymore ’cause I do outside biking, but that I do by myself completely. Yeah. [00:46:01] Joe: Paula, how about you? Where do you stand on expensive gym membership or expensive equipment? [00:46:06] Paula: Oh, uh, well I live in 600 square feet with two people, so I don’t have space for equipment, but I specifically decided to live, wait, you’re not just bench pressing, Paulette. [00:46:17] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Right. But I specifically decided to live in a building that had an amazing gym in that building so that I don’t have to, you know, it takes away the friction of having to even leave the building. But do you have, but do you have partners? No, no, I do not have any workout partners or anything like that. [00:46:35] I don’t have a trainer. I just go to the gym. So the other thing that I do though, so I alternate between going to the gym that’s in my building, and I also go to, there’s a, a group workout class called Solid Core. It’s kind of similar to Pilates. It’s not exactly Pilates, but, uh, it’s in that family. And so I. [00:46:55] Had a solid core membership. Now I use ClassPass, but I will access solid core classes a couple of times a month just to do something that’s a little bit different than going to the gym that’s in my building. [00:47:05] Joe: That’s fine for me. The gym in the building, I would never go to, mm, I would tell myself I’m going to, when I signed up, I would never go, but the solid core thing I would go to nonstop because for me, you put me in a room with a bunch of people, I’m gonna do the thing If, if I’m not in a room with a bunch of people, I won’t. [00:47:18] I love the idea, Jesse, coming back to where you started this, uh, know thyself, I think it’s a great place to leave this. I think it’s so important that when we’re talking about our wallet and our money, having more years to be able to spend with it, or at the very least, you know, you never know when it’s coming for you, appreciating the years that you have now and being healthy in those years. [00:47:38] It’s as healthy as you can be to take advantage of uh, having a healthy wallet. Let’s talk about, because each of you guys are doing things that help people have a healthy wallet. See, another one, another segue, just incredible. I know. You’re welcome. America and beyond. I. og, what do you got going on this amazing October weekend? [00:47:57] Oh, [00:47:57] OG: well, I’m hoping that I have a healthy wallet by winning a golf tournament with my, uh, fantastic golf partner. Uh, we started on Wednesday. By the time you guys listen to this on Friday, we’ll already be three days into a four day tournament. So probably knock on wood, probably [00:48:11] Joe: so far out in the [00:48:12] OG: lead that nobody can catch you [00:48:14] Doug: three days into a four day bender. [00:48:17] OG: Also that [00:48:19] Joe: you’ve, you’ve never heard somebody swear as much as OG swore in the past three days. Yeah. og back off that, man. There’s truckers around. You’re gonna, that’s a, like a Jeff Foxworthy joke. Jesse, what’s happening at the Best Interest podcast? [00:48:34] Jesse: Cool Things are happening. We’re coming off of a September, I think it was our best month ever for the podcast and the momentum Keeps building. [00:48:41] We’ve got, uh, Steve Adcock. Dan Otter and Notorious Scooter boy, Joe Saul-Sehy coming up and oh bam, upcoming episodes, [00:48:50] Joe: man. What a great lineup. Especially that last day. Pretty [00:48:53] Jesse: great lineup. [00:48:54] Joe: It’s amazing actually, you and I have a lot of fun. We do kind of, uh, the same type of thing, OG, that you and I have done in the past. [00:49:00] Uh, a fair amount, which is we came up with our top fives. We both had, yeah, top five. We both had a top five. What was. I won’t give it away. It [00:49:07] Jesse: was interesting, the top secret, top five people have to go figure it out for themselves. [00:49:12] Joe: Yes. By tuning into the best interest podcast. And while you’re doing that, you also want to tune in to afford anything. [00:49:19] ’cause there’s a bunch of awesomeness happening over there. Paula pant. [00:49:21] Paula: Yes. So I just came back from the Bogleheads conference, which is, and boy, your arms tired. I didn’t, I I, I didn’t even say that I flew, I just said that I came back. Of course. But yes, the bogo, I did fly, uh, I went to the Bole Heads conference in Minneapolis. [00:49:36] While I was there, I interviewed Big Urn ER stands for Early Retirement. Now his real name is Carsten Ska. We talked about economics. We talked about early retirement, safe withdrawal rates. Wait, what did I tell you ahead of time about big? I said, you’re, I said you’re gonna love that guy and Paula. I love him. [00:49:54] I absolutely love him. Yeah. So that interview is coming up on the Afford Anything Podcast, October 11. And then after that, about a week after that, we’re airing an interview with Christine Bens, she’s the Director of Personal Finance and Retirement Planning for Morningstar. Uh, I also interviewed her. At the BOGLEHEADS conference. [00:50:13] So yeah, all of that is coming up. And then we’re ending October with a three day series three episode series with Dr. Brad Klontz, a financial psychologist. Never heard of him. [00:50:23] Joe: No, I’m kidding. We had Brad Klontz in a, uh, round table discussion we had, if people are nervous about the election coming up. We have Brad Klaw on with experts from Fidelity and t Rowe Price talking about how to cope with this last year. [00:50:38] And if you actually go listen to that episode in Brad Klons. What I love about Brad, Paula is that he never says anything outrageous. Brad Klaus always says things that are outrageous, but then he backs it up. Paula? [00:50:49] Paula: Yeah, he does. He does. [00:50:50] Joe: And that’s at the Afford Anything Podcast. Well, thank you so much. No matter whether you’re hanging out with us, live on YouTube, live on Twitter, or x, whatever you want to call it today, thanks to Tina who made sure we went live ’cause we almost didn’t make it. [00:51:04] You can see us on Wednesday afternoons. Usually you can hang out with us while we make the podcast. So come join us, say hello and watch the podcast being made. Thanks to everybody who’s left as a review of this show, and thanks to Doug who’s going to tell us. What our takeaway should be from this episode. [00:51:24] Doug: That’s right Joe. Here’s what’s stacked up on our to-do list for today. First, take some advice from OG your retirement spending will vary wildly between your go-Go slow-go and no-go years. Make sure you account for those changes while you’re building your plan. Second, don’t forget that hilarious joke Jesse made when he said he’d replace his cardio workouts by walking behind the. [00:51:47] Stroller, dude, it’s over. Just accept it. It’s it’s time to start shopping for pants with stretchy waistbands. Those are nice. The dad bods right around the corner. But the big lesson, no matter how funny or joke is, do not tell Joe’s mom that she’s the next Tina fey. Everything goes to that woman’s head, and now she’s sharing the world’s worst jokes. [00:52:11] Seriously. She just told me that she now wants to be cremated because it’s her last chance to have a smoking hot body. Don’t, don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Just feed the bear. Thanks to the Jesse Kramer for joining us today. You’ll find his best interest podcast wherever you are listening to us now. Seriously, I know it’s in the same app. [00:52:37] If you don’t believe me. I’ll also include links in our show notes at Stacking Benjamins dot com. But how hard can it be to find a podcast these days? Really? Want something else? Incredible. How about this? Paula Pants? Incredible. Afford Anything. Podcast is also in the same app. Are you kidding me? I’m blown. [00:52:55] You’ll get it wherever you listen to Finer podcasts. And thanks also to OG for joining us today. Looking for good financial planning help. Head to Stacking Benjamins dot com slash OG for his calendar. This show is the property of SB podcasts, LLL C, copyright 2024, and is created by Joe Saul-Sehy Joe gets help from a few of our neighborhood friends. [00:53:19] You’ll find out about our awesome team at Stacking Benjamins dot com, along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello. Oh yeah, and before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don’t take advice from people you don’t know. [00:53:37] This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor. I’m Joe’s Mom’s neighbor, Duggan. We’ll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin Show. [00:53:55] I.
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