Prices are up. Budgets are tighter. And people are making some surprising choices about what stays and what goes. The woman skipping the new laptop and the graduation dress is still booked for a Disney cruise, a Bruno Mars concert, and a trip to Lake Erie. It turns out inflation doesn’t just squeeze your wallet — it forces a conversation about what you actually value. Joe, OG, Paula Pant, and Doc G dig into where people are drawing the line, why experiences outlast stuff in the happiness research, and what each of them refuses to give up no matter what.
What You’ll Walk Away With
- Why people cut the easy stuff first — and why that strategy relieves anxiety without actually solving the budget problem
- The research behind experiences vs. stuff: why the memory of a trip gets rosier over time while objects depreciate in more ways than one
- Doc G’s spending happiness continuum — from stuff to experiences to becoming a better version of yourself, and why the last one costs the least
- Why OG’s DoorDash experiment was a two out of ten in year-to-date success — and why four people pulling the rudder in the other direction matters
- The “build from zero” budget reframe that feels more empowering than cutting from the top down
- One roundtable member’s rule that nothing is ever truly off the table when cash gets tight — including the house and the private school
- What each panelist will never go cheap on — and one answer involving prescription medications that lands differently than you’d expect
- The expenses that are dead to each of them — and where Joe, OG, Paula, and Doc G land on first class flights and DoorDash
- Why the client who cut all Christmas spending had the best holiday season of their life
- Papa John’s quarterly earnings data that tells you exactly how inflation is changing behavior at the menu level
Why This Matters Now
If you’re in your 40s and you’ve started quietly trimming things — streaming services, delivery apps, clothing budgets — but haven’t touched the bigger stuff, this episode names what’s actually happening. The question isn’t whether to cut. It’s whether the things you’re cutting are the ones that matter least. That’s a values conversation, not a math conversation, and this roundtable is one of the better ones the basement has had.
From the Basement
Joe, OG, Paula Pant, and Doc G dig into a Wall Street Journal piece on how Americans are changing their spending habits — and the conversation quickly becomes about what money is actually for. OG reports that his attempt to eliminate DoorDash from the family budget has been going poorly. Doc G went to Bali in coach. The year-long trivia competition takes a dramatic turn as OG’s precise mathematical reasoning leads everyone to the wrong answer — and Doc G wins by going lower. Johnny Carson’s guest host strategy turns out to be the missing variable nobody accounted for.
Resources Mentioned
Stacking Benjamins Community — stackingbenjamins.com/basement
Wall Street Journal — “Where Americans Are Drawing the Line on Price Increases” by Rachel Wolff; linked at stackingbenjamins.com
Afford Anything podcast — Paula Pant; Joe joins most Tuesdays for listener Q&A
Earn and Invest podcast — Doc G (Jordan Grumet); recent episode with Carrie Jorn Grimes on The Joy of Money
Stacking Benjamins Vault — stackingbenjamins.com/vault
Our Topic: Inflation and spending priorities.
Where Americans Are Drawing the Line on Price Increases (Wall Street Jourmal)
During our conversation, you’ll hear us mention:
- Inflation cutbacks
- Spending priorities
- Values-based spending
- Habit spending
- Travel tradeoffs
- Clothing cutbacks
- Laptop replacement
- DoorDash costs
- Takeout habits
- Food delivery
- Online subscriptions
- Gas prices
- Premium gas
- Electric cars
- Free charging
- Experiences vs. stuff
- Nostalgia bias
- Hedonic adaptation
- Intentional spending
- Education spending
- Buying back time
- Cash crunches
- Budget constraints
- Discretionary cuts
- Christmas spending
- Health expenses
- Family spending
- Pet priorities
- First-class flights
- Restaurant add-ons
Our Contributors
A big thanks to our contributors! You can check out more links for our guests below.
Doc G
Another thanks to Doc G for joining our contributors this week! Hear more from Doc G on his podcast, Earn & Invest, on Apple Podcasts.
Check out his latest book The Purpose Code: How to unlock meaning, maximize happiness, and leave a lasting legacy.
Paula Pant
Check out Paula’s site and amazing podcast at AffordAnything.com
Follow Paula on Twitter: @AffordAnything
OG
For more on OG and his firm’s page, click here.
Doug’s Game Show Trivia
- On this date in 1992, Johnny Carson hosted his final episode of The Tonight Show, ending a legendary 30-year run. During those three decades as host, how many episodes did Carson personally host, not including reruns?
Mentioned in today’s show
- Papa Johns Announces First Quarter 2026 Financial Results
- stackingbenjamins.com/og
- The unmatchable brightness of doing: Experiential consumption facilitates greater satisfaction than spending on material possessions
Join Us on Monday!
Tune in on Monday when we share common misconceptions about how much you should be saving, how to figure out YOUR perfect savings rate, and how to find the money to get rolling.
Miss our last show? Check it out here: How to Plan the Perfect Theme Park Trip (Without Wasting Your Money or Your Day).
Written by: Kevin Bailey
Episode transcript
[00:00:00] opener: So, faced with the question, where do they go next with this podcast? The guys were recently joined by legendary musical genius Bruce Dickerson, who’s agreed to be the new producer of the Stackin’ Benjamins show. They were all excited to meet him. [00:00:21] opener: Hey, fellas. I’m Bruce Dickerson. Yes, the Bruce Dickerson. [00:00:26] opener: You have a dynamite sound, fantastic sound. I have only one suggestion. More cowbell. [00:00:46] Doug: Live from the basement of the YouTube headquarters, it’s The Stacking Benjamins Show. [00:01:02] Doug: I’m Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Doug, and as prices rise, how has your spending changed? One publication says that maybe inflation hasn’t been so bad after all. We’ll ask our roundtable how life has changed for them, and give you ideas to cut the right budget items. But that’s not all. OG is still racing for the record books, but Paula and Jesse have been tightening our year-long trivia race. [00:01:28] Doug: Who’s gonna win this week’s installment? We’ll find out. And now, a guy who just found out that it’s not only geckos who can save on their auto insurance, it’s Joe Saul-Sehy. [00:01:44] Joe: Hey there, Stackers. Who the heck knew? I didn’t know. Welcome back to the Stacking Benjamins show. I am Joe Saul-Sehy. This is the greatest show on Earth live on YouTube as we make our way into Memorial Day weekend already. [00:02:01] Joe: And, uh, it’s super exciting doing Labor Day. Uh, Labor Day? Why am I saying Labor Day? Memorial Day. I just ended summer, Doug. Summer’s over. [00:02:09] Doug: Everybody gets that wrong. It’s so strange how many people you’ll see pause and think, “Wait, which one?” Is it, uh- Beginning and end … can I wear white pants? [00:02:16] Joe: Can I not wear white pants? [00:02:18] Joe: Exactly. Do I have to wear pants at all? How are you, man? [00:02:22] Doug: I’m, uh, I’m really enjoying my time here, Joe. It’s been just delightful. It’s wonderful. It is so good. Is that because OG’s with us? Is that why? Uh- No. I would love to say yes to that, but no But it’s not … uh, it’s st- there’s a couple other people joining us here very shortly that I’m a l- slightly more excited about. [00:02:43] Doug: Oh, well. They don’t yell at me like OG yells at me. What? It [00:02:47] OG: comes from a position of love. Yeah. I just have high expectations. [00:02:51] Doug: Doug! God. [00:02:53] Joe: How many times? We were hoping for better. There’s love in there? Yes, and don’t you hate it, Doug, when you like get compared to, did your parents ever compare you to your brothers and sisters? [00:03:02] Joe: No. [00:03:03] Doug: Actually, I, they were telling my brothers and sister, my older brothers to be more like me. To be more like you? I was the goody two-shoes youngest little prince. Well, [00:03:12] Joe: on this show we wish you were more like Paula Pant from For Anything. If you could only- Aw … do that. The bar is high, Doug. No, I th- I think everyone should be themselves. [00:03:21] Joe: Oh, we- d- have you met Doug? Do we really want Doug to be himself, Paula? How are you today, Paula Pant? I am fantastic. How are you doing? I’m better now that you’re hanging out with us. Aw. So I’m sad, I was in New York City recently, and I notice that you strategically left town- … to make sure the restraining order stayed in place. [00:03:41] Paula: Exactly. Well, I, I had the opportunity to go to Italy with, uh, Camp FI, hang out with a bunch of financially independent people in, uh, uh, the land of pizza and gelato, so I took it. [00:03:52] Joe: I know, I think you texted me that you ate your weight in gelato. [00:03:56] Paula: Yeah, pretty much. There, uh, there was actually someone who got an alert from, uh, Monarch letting him know that his biggest spend of the week was gelato. [00:04:05] Joe: Hmm. And the guy who’s always hoping for more gelato in his life, from our brother podcast, Earn and Invest, Doc G, Jordan Grumet’s here. Are you a big gelato fan, Doc [00:04:15] Doc G: G? I am. When we were in Lisbon, we stayed in a Airbnb and the major gelato place was right underneath us. Oh, that’s dangerous. And so we had it w- we had it once or maybe twice a day. [00:04:29] Doc G: Maybe. [00:04:30] Doug: I’m so confused. Are we talking about the guy who made Pinocchio? That’s Giuseppe. I [00:04:37] Joe: don’t know. Same, same. Maybe a little different. Mm-hmm. Maybe slightly different. Well, guys, I’m glad you’re all here because today we’re gonna be talking about spending. And it’s interesting, as we look at the, uh, e- not just inflationary data, but just in our own lives, right? [00:04:52] Joe: I mean, you look at the price of gas. OG, you were telling me offline about, uh, putting gas in your car and it was a solid three figures. You were like over 100 bucks for gas. Is that true? [00:05:03] OG: Yeah. Yeah, 105, 110, something like that. It was to the point where I was wondering, you know, the pre-authorization on the credit card, I was like, “I wonder if they keep up with that?” [00:05:11] OG: I wonder if they keep, you know, do they, do they change it fr- you know, somewhat frequently to account for the fact that… And I don’t have a particularly large vehicle. It’s, I don’t know, I ran it down to empty though, so it was 22 gallons of gas, but I mean, you could easily have a truck that has a 40-gallon gas tank or something maybe. [00:05:29] OG: Yeah, [00:05:30] Doug: I, I have a 22-gallon tank in my truck, but I have to use premium, or it strongly recommends premium. And I will say that I’ve back- Of course you do … I’ve backed off the 93 octane and, uh, gone down to the 89 octane these days. [00:05:43] Joe: Mm-hmm. Doug has had to tell his truck that premium’s in the eye of the beholder. [00:05:46] Joe: Mm-hmm. Yes. [00:05:47] OG: Work harder. Be better, engine. Combust faster. [00:05:53] Joe: Well, I’m super happy we’re gonna talk about this topic because The Wall Street Journal recently did a story on this, and people are changing spending in their piece. And also, I’ve got some, uh, corporate reports from one company I’m sure we’ve all shopped at before as well saying, talking about this changing behavior. [00:06:11] Joe: People are changing, but not how we think that they might be changing. So we’re gonna get into that, but we have a couple sponsors who help us keep on keeping on. We’ve only a couple sponsor breaks in this show. One is now, and the next one, uh, during our trivia challenge, which we’ll have at the halfway mark. [00:06:26] Joe: So hang out here for a moment, and we’re going to hear from them. It’s the… Uh, what, what is the phrase, Paula? Uh, this show is free because of our sponsors and… Worth every penny. There it is. We’re gonna hear from them, and then Paula OG, Doc G, and Doug are going to chime in on, uh, on how we’re changing our spending [00:06:54] Joe: The piece that I got inspiration from is called Where Americans Are Drawing the Line on Price Increases, written by Rachel Wolff. And as I mentioned before the break, p- people are cutting back in ways that we did not expect. Rachel writes: “When Shannon Johnson George’s personal laptop went bust in February, she decided not to spend the roughly $1,000 it would cost to replace it. [00:07:15] Joe: She plans to re-wear an old dress to her son’s college graduation next month after being shocked by the $100 plus prices at the online retailer she frequents. Yet, over the next five months, the 40-year-old from Cincinnati has a Disney cruise, a visit to Lake Erie, and a trip to New Orleans for a Bruno Mars concert booked.” [00:07:33] Joe: She’s changing things, but she’s prioritizing what gets changed by, by what doesn’t. And it is interesting, as I see people around me, and also in my own life, I see the way that I’m cutting back, and I think in some ways I’m cutting back the same way. But I’m wondering what kind of stuff you guys have quietly given up in the past year, if anything. [00:07:53] Joe: So Paula, let’s start with you. Have you really given up anything in the past few months? [00:07:58] Paula: Phases. Like I, I went through a phase where I was buying a lot of clothing, then that sort of passed. But I don’t think that was a, a function of the economy or inflation or anything like that. I think I just sort of like went through that phase and then- You just bought the entire Quint’s [00:08:10] Joe: catalog so you were done? [00:08:12] Paula: I, I pretty much did, yeah. I bought the entire Quint’s catalog. This is Quint’s, my pants are Quint’s, yeah. And then I just ran out of Quint’s. There’s just, there’s nothing else that they’ve made. [00:08:22] Joe: OG, you said that you’ve been thinking hard, long and hard about DoorDash with your family. [00:08:27] OG: Yeah. I would like to report that this was a wildly successful, uh, enterprise. [00:08:31] OG: It was not particularly successful. Uh, the plan was to say if we are gonna o- order takeout, that you actually have to go get the takeout. Like, forget the, like- Yeah … extra markup and the delivery fee and the tips and all that sort of stuff. Just to, just to kinda draw a line in the sand of saying, you know, “If we really wanna go out to eat, like, let’s go out to eat. [00:08:53] OG: You know, let’s not just be lazy and have somebody shovel food to us.” You know? Like, like go out somewhere and enjoy company and, you know, the vibrancy of going out. It’s like, so I would love to report that that has worked magically. Um, I feel like it’s probably a two out of 10 in the success so far year to date. [00:09:13] OG: But at least I think about it. Does that count? I only get one vote out of five, though, so it’s kinda hard to steer the ship when four people are pulling the, the rudder in the other direction. [00:09:22] Joe: We’ve cut some of our online subscriptions, just because I don’t value how many channels I have, and I’ve decided to go more with just a couple channels. [00:09:29] Joe: I know I threatened to do that. I did it, then I, one by one I felt like over the past year I bought them all back because of certain shows I wanted to watch, and now I’m like, “What are we doing? Why are we not back there?” Doc G, uh, how about for [00:09:39] Doc G: you? So I had to think long and hard about this, but it is true. [00:09:44] Doc G: One of our cars is a electric car, and it has free charging ’cause we bought it in 2015. So especially my daughter, who for most of the time has, has a gas car, she’s been asking to borrow the electric car a lot, and then she’ll just go and, and charge it for free. And so I realize I didn’t think we changed our behavior a lot, but there is some change there on the, on the car choice. [00:10:05] Joe: Well, and it does make me ask some questions. If we’re feeling like there’s higher prices in an area, does it force us to ask whether we value the thing versus the habit, Paula? [00:10:14] Paula: I think that it forces us to… I mean, we’re reallocating money, so it forces us to just set priorities, and that means that we’re necessarily having a, a tough internal discussion with what is it that we value versus what has become a default. [00:10:29] Paula: So yes, I would say we do question values versus habits. [00:10:33] Joe: Does it surprise you, OG, that the woman at the, who kicks off this piece is she’s still doing all the traveling while she’s cutting back, like, on wardrobe? [00:10:40] OG: No. No, it n- doesn’t. I mean, y- I think when you can do anything, like, you’ll just do whatever. [00:10:46] OG: Like, you know, life expands into what you allow it to. But if you find some constraints, then yeah, I think like what Paula said, it forces you to have an assessment of what are the things that I really wanna spend this money on? It can’t be as willy-nilly. I, I remember a story of a friend of mine that, uh, worked in the mortgage business in, like, 2021. [00:11:08] OG: It was like fish in a barrel, right? Like if you … like you could get… You… If you could fog a spoon, you could be a mortgage broker. No offense to all the mortgage brokers out there, but there was a lot of demand, right? So there was a lot of demand for refinancing. He did really well. He had a great system and a great team, and I think that year he made, like, a million bucks, but his normal income was, like, 175, which is also great money, but it ain’t a million. [00:11:36] OG: He posted a picture on Instagram at the middle of the year of his, him and his family on some, like ridiculously crazy trip that probably cost him, like, $100,000 to take his entire family on this, you know, what… It was just like, it was like, “Hey, we rented out three, three over-the-water condo cabins in the Maldives, and everybody flew first class. [00:11:59] OG: We’re here for three weeks. If anybody wants to join.” Like that kind of vibe. Yeah. Wow. Right? Wow. And I was just like, “All right. Cool, man. Mad props to, like, just go big.” Also, like, seven lean years, seven fat years. Mm-hmm. So, like, what is the, what is it gonna feel like to have to rip that Band-Aid back off again and come live with normal people- [00:12:16] OG: for, for the rest of your life? Like, because that’s a vibe, which is cool, right? Like, if I go spend three weeks in the, you know, wherever, like, that would be awesome, in the Caribbean, or I guess the Maldives is in the Caribbean, but you get the idea. I just kinda texted him. I’m like, “Hey, man. Just make sure you set aside some money from taxes ’cause that’s gonna be a quarter million.” [00:12:33] OG: And he’s like, “No, that’s all squared.” He goes, “I know this is a once in a lifetime thing.” He’s like, “I’m living it up.” So he kind of embraced it, was like- YOLO Just leaned into it Maybe not the right answer Yeah. But- Mm … when you don’t have any limits, you just make stuff up to spend money on, and then when all of a sudden those limits happen, whether it’s through inflation or job change or whatever, now you’re forced to re- rethink about what’s important to you. [00:12:55] Doc G: I think there’s an ease factor that we have to think about here, too, because I think it’s more the threat than the reality. So there’s this threat that things are gonna go really sour, and we’re not gonna have enough money, and everything’s gonna be way too expensive. And we’re, like, in that in-between place where it’s going up, but it hasn’t reached that level yet. [00:13:12] Doc G: So what you’re seeing is a lot of people are willing to change the easy stuff because it relieves the anxiety of the threat that could possibly come. My daughter is willing to drive the other car and spend 30 minutes extra going to the car charger that she doesn’t have to pay for, but she’s not walking. [00:13:28] Doug: Yeah. [00:13:29] Doc G: Right? ‘Cause that’s much harder. But she’s willing to do the easy stuff, and I think the example you gave makes a lot of sense, too. It’s like, well, for her, the clothes is probably easy, but it’s not real easy to give up maybe something that would save her a lot more money, which is the travel. So it’s kind of like the threat of what could happen, and so I’ll do this easy stuff to relieve my anxiety. [00:13:48] Doc G: But a lot of people are still, the bigger-ticket items maybe they’re still spending on. [00:13:52] Joe: But does that make sense, though, to just kind of start off with you talk a lot about intentionality, and I think this is big when it comes to spending. At a time like now, when prices in some areas seem higher, to go, “Okay, is this intentional spending or is this wasteful spending?” [00:14:10] Doc G: I mean, ideally we’re always doing that, right? Regardless of inflation and what’s happening. But I think there is an emotional toll to thinking a lot about how much you’re spending and how you’re spending, and so it has to be worth the emotional toll. So again, when inflation is spiking and people are worried, then it’s worth the emotional toll to really think about it and be intentional. [00:14:33] Doc G: I think during better times, people don’t wanna spend the emotional time and energy doing that, and so then are more lackadaisical. [00:14:42] Joe: Paula, let’s move into this idea of experiences versus stuff, ’cause I found this to be kind of interesting. You know, she’s skipping the more expensive computer. She’s skipping out on some clothing, but she’s still booking cruises and concerts. [00:14:55] Joe: Is this, in your mind, a good trade-off? Keep the experiences, get rid of the stuff? [00:15:01] Paula: It’s not my place to judge another person’s values. Your discretionary spending is a reflection of your values, and that has to be a personal decision that every individual makes. For myself, I do tend to prioritize experiences over stuff, and there is research that indicates that if a person spends on experiences, then those experiences in the future are subject to what’s called nostalgia bias. [00:15:29] Paula: And so- They appreciate Yeah, the memory of that experience becomes rosier over time while those objects depreciate. So there is research to back the notion that people generally report higher levels of satisfaction having spent money on experiences as opposed to stuff over the long term. That research is out there. [00:15:51] Paula: That data is out there. That being said, it’s not my place to judge somebody else’s spending. [00:15:56] Joe: But Jordan, you know, at the end of life, and you wrote a book on this and also had a career in this area, at the end of life, I bet there’s almost nobody who says, “I wish I’d upgraded my patio [00:16:06] Doc G: furniture sooner.” [00:16:07] Doc G: First and foremost, I agree 100% with Paula. The data actually is there that people tend to find more happiness long term over experiences compared to things. And in my opinion, I think there really is kind of a spending or money happiness continuum. And so I think spending on things are, like, the cheapest thrills, right? [00:16:24] Doc G: We get the immediate dopamine hit, but we know because of the hedonic treadmill and hedonic adaption that that tends to go away fairly quickly. I think spending experiences takes you further down that kind of spending happiness continuum, like spending on experiences is probably better and has more lasting effect on you and your happiness. [00:16:42] Doc G: Ultimately, I believe, and this is just me personally, I don’t have data to back this up, in my experience, when you spend on being a better, more intentional person, when you spend on becoming a better version of yourself, I think that’s the best kind of spending, and I include in that spending on people you, that you love, right? [00:17:00] Doc G: So when you spend on people that you love, you give to charity, and you spend on becoming a better version of yourself, whether that means a better comedian or a better writer or a better world explorer, whatever that is, I think that has m- more enduring lasting happiness. And that’s, the beautiful thing about that is often spending on becoming a better version of yourself, you don’t really have to spend as much, right? [00:17:21] Doc G: So you can go to Italy or to Europe, and you can spend $100,000 for your whole family, or you can do a staycation and go to the city and stay at a hotel there and explore a neighborhood you’ve never seen and go on a bike trip with your family. And you find that you could spend maybe a 10th, and yet derive most of the same joy that you did from that bigger vacation. [00:17:41] Joe: It is interesting diving into experiences, OG, but I, w- we really don’t wanna pretend that every experience is a noble one. I mean, you and I know people that have taken experiences, taken the family to Disney. I think it’s one that’s come up on the show before where it’s gonna be financed with credit cards. [00:17:57] Joe: Mine was the first time I went to Disney. It was all credit cards, and it was, you know, “I just need a break.” And I felt awful afterwards. It’s like financing Coachella like it’s a medical emergency when truly it’s, it’s not. [00:18:11] OG: Yeah, if, you can’t use the experience thing as a crutch if you’re gonna- basically run up debt or not have a dedicated savings for it and, and pull from your future. [00:18:22] OG: I mean, that’s, that’s just kind of stupidity, so. But [00:18:25] Joe: is there an expense that’s expensive but you think is really worth paying for? [00:18:32] OG: Do I have a list of things- … that I think are expensive that I pay for? [00:18:36] Joe: Well, no, that you think are- How much time you got? … for the average person. [00:18:40] OG: Well, now, now we’re gonna fence around average person? [00:18:45] OG: Look, I think that spending money on education is important, if you have a chance to do that. Mostly because you can sometimes, if you do it the right way, in my opinion, you can have a better network potentially. You know, s- your circle becomes a little different. I think that’s a okay place to spend, and I’m not talking about, like, overspending ’cause you wanna go to the eclectic college or something. [00:19:09] OG: I’m, I’m, I’m thinking more, like, elementary, high school, whatever. Like, if you have the ability to spend there or you think that that would be helpful. I do think that spending on some experiences is a good idea, but again, you know, that’s a real tough thing to judge, especially if you’re trying to talk yourself into something. [00:19:27] OG: You know? Like, “Oh, this is just an experience,” you know? It’s- Right. Gotta have it. I’ll tell you, personally, my mom and I were gonna take a trip one year, and we didn’t because we had a death in the family, or at least we thought we were gonna have a death in the family, and it turned out that we did. And so, you know, looking back on that, I’m really glad that we didn’t do the experience, ’cause it would’ve been a really crappy experience. [00:19:48] OG: It would’ve been great time to be with mom, but a really crappy time to be with mom- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm … you know, at the same time. The thing I’m upset about as I look back on that is we never rescheduled it. It never happened again there, and, and now it’s pretty much at the point where it probably won’t ever happen again. [00:20:03] OG: So it was, like, this small window of timing that worked out for everybody’s schedule and money and all that sort of stuff, and it worked, and, and then we weren’t able to go. Sometimes people will say, you know, that, that was bad luck, or maybe it was just, you know, the Almighty looking down and going, “Now’s not the right time to be doing that,” you know, which is a different way of considering it. [00:20:22] OG: So I, I do have some regrets in that regard. Like, I, I wish that we would’ve been a little bit more particular about saying, “Hey, this isn’t the right time anymore, but I still wanna do this because I think this will be worth it in the long run.” Everything else is really just subjective. You guys and I have talked about when we fly, I don’t like flying in the back of the plane. [00:20:41] OG: I just don’t. Mm. And so I’ll pay extra to fly in the front. To me, it’s worth it. To Doug, I’ve flown with Doug before, and he’s like, “Put me in the back next to the bathroom. I’ll help hand out, you know, pretzels.” “I don’t even care.” Wow. I thought you were gonna refer to the bathroom there. Like, we’re all getting to the same place at the same time. [00:20:57] OG: Yeah. If that’ll save me 20 bucks, I’ll do that instead. Yeah, that’s fine. Like, there’s no right or wrong way, and you know, and I think the hard part when we talk about spending, like Paula said, is- Not inserting your own values judgment in other people’s conversations. You know, because it’s like, it’s like the things that I think are really stupid that you do, Joe, with money that I would never do in a million years, you think are a really great idea. [00:21:19] OG: And the things that I do, you probably think are, are there some dumb things that I do with money that I think are a really great idea, and I think every single person has one of those, those things. Well, probably just [00:21:27] Doug: me, but there sounded like an awful lot of judgment in there in describing where I prefer to fly. [00:21:31] Doug: And his pretzel handing out. It [00:21:33] Joe: was laced with judgment. Maybe just a smidge. I was about to say too, Doug, I’m still wondering where it is that I would actually spend money stupidly. I mean, I don’t spend any money stupidly. [00:21:43] OG: Precisely. That’s what other people do. Other people spend money stupidly. That’s right. [00:21:46] Joe: Other pe- yeah. I’m just scratching my head, like, “What’s he referring to?” [00:21:51] Doc G: But joking aside, isn’t it interesting how, and I, I think, you know, OG really brought this up, or at least in my mind, is a lot of times you don’t ac- don’t actually know whether it was money well spent or not until after the case anyway. [00:22:01] Doc G: Like, you don’t know whether that- True … vacation was worth it. You don’t know whether that, even that purchase, right? A lot of times it’s like, like, “Wow, I’m, aren’t I glad I bought that thing.” That’s happened to me before, but then there are also times where I’ll be like, “I really wanted something, spent a lot of money on it,” and years later I’m like, “Why did I even bother?” [00:22:16] Doc G: But [00:22:16] Joe: there are clues though, Jordan. And I think, you know, one cl- I, I, I agree with this idea of education. As Paula brought it up, and then again as OG said it, I was also wondering, is there a time when I paid for education that I regretted it? And sometimes it’s funny. It’s like the cheap online courses sometimes I did where, you know, I’m like, “Oh, I probably shouldn’t have spent that $100 on this poorly put together course.” [00:22:39] Joe: But when I truly dug into somebody that I knew was an expert in the area and I paid to be there, like, I don’t think I’ve ever [00:22:46] Doc G: regretted one of those. But that gets back into spending on becoming a better version of yourself. Sure. Spending to become a better version of yourself, to embrace an identity that’s important to you, to follow a version of purpose that seems exciting to you usually goes well, as well as it’s almost always when you spend on someone you love or spend to make someone else’s life better, those things almost always are money well spent. [00:23:11] Doc G: Whether that’s a charity or a family member, there’s just something innately good about spending on those things that you generally have lasting benefit, I believe. I think another place, [00:23:20] Joe: Paula, where there’s a clue, I think that as money nerds, we tend to value money, but we undervalue time. Mm-hmm. And I feel like when I’ve spent money to speed up the process of, or, or heighten the process, make a process better, supersize it so to speak, that’s often been money well spent too. [00:23:40] Paula: Mm. Yes. Some of the best use of money, but also the often most expensive use of money, and easiest for others to criticize use of money, is the use of money in a way that buys back your time. And it’s expensive because other people’s time is expensive, and it’s also easy to criticize because- We do live in a society that indoctrinates us with this notion that your own time ought to be free. [00:24:05] Paula: Right. You know? Every other, everyone else’s time is worth something, but yours is free. Right. [00:24:10] Joe: Yeah. I feel like espec- Well, that’s a whole whole different topic that we will save for another day. In the second half, I wanna dig into some other interesting things in this piece, but at the halfway point of our Friday shows, we have a trivia competition. [00:24:24] Joe: It’s been going on all year. Actually, we’ve done it for several years. Actually, Doug, we had Dottie in Wichita look up the record, and, uh, OG right now- Yeah … is chasing the record. What’s, what’s the most points scored in a year? [00:24:40] Doug: Yeah, we, we started to get worried that OG was running away with this, and we’ve tried to fight it for a little while and realized, hold on, we have a chance to break through the records books with- History in the making [00:24:51] Doug: history in the making. Charlie riding a glass elevator through the roof. Let’s see if it happens. The record was set two years ago by OG at 18 points total for the year. Jesse won it last year with 14 and a half points, but 18 is what he’s chasing, and here we are in May, kinda late May, and, uh, he’s not… [00:25:15] Doug: You know, he’s on a great pace right now for comparing this to, like, Roger Maris’ home run record- Yes … uh, Barry Bond’s home run record. He’s at nine wins so far, nine points so far. Both, uh, Paula and- We’re not even to [00:25:29] Doc G: the All-Star Game yet. I know. I know. Right. We’re not to the All-Star [00:25:33] Doug: Break. Great, great point, Doc. [00:25:35] Doug: And so Paula and Jesse are both at three points currently. So he has a chance to break his 18-point record. [00:25:42] Joe: I’m also surprised that, that, that Paula’s tied with Jesse at this point, who’s last year’s champion. Yeah. Paula, what the hell’s going on here? [00:25:48] Paula: You know, a broken clock is right twice a day. [00:25:51] Doug: Well, hold on. [00:25:51] Doug: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. A broken clock or guest sitting in for Paula- … are right. Is it two of the three or, or is it three of [00:26:01] Joe: three? It’s at least two of three. Possibly three of three. I think Sarah Catherine got two and, um- I was about to say, it, it wasn’t me. Yeah. [00:26:09] Doc G: They [00:26:10] Joe: wouldn’t [00:26:10] Doc G: torture you by having me fill in for [00:26:12] Doug: you, Paula, so. [00:26:13] Doc G: That’s [00:26:14] Doug: right. I do remember, Paula did get one. She had a smile on her face the size of, uh, Grand Canyon. But yeah, definitely two out of the three were from guests, so. Well, [00:26:22] Joe: let’s see what we’ve got, uh, this week, and we need a trivia question to see is OG gonna continue the march. Can Paula pull into second? [00:26:31] Joe: Can Jordan help Jesse, ’cause Jordan’s playing as Team Jesse this week, help Jesse fend off Paula Pant? What’s going on? Well, Doug, you’ve got it [00:26:43] Doug: Hey there, stackers. I’m Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Doug, and on this date back in 1992, an era came to an end as Johnny Carson hosted his final episode of The Tonight Show that stacked tons of Benjamins for him, the network, advertisers, and guests. Back when Johnny was host, not only did Joe’s mom watch like it was a religious ritual, the country tuned in for his topical monologues and interesting discussions with sometimes very thoughtful guests. [00:27:13] Doug: Here’s a question: During Johnny’s 30 years as host, how many episodes did he personally host, not including reruns of old episodes? I’ll be back right after I write my monologue to open up the trivia answer. It’s gonna be epic. [00:27:30] Joe: I recently watched a couple old episodes of Johnny Carson, and it’s wild looking at, uh, late night shows now just how thoughtful some of those discussions were, like, and how deep some of them actually were. [00:27:41] Joe: Mm-hmm. Like, we don’t get that on- Mm-hmm … late night TV anymore. All right, OG, you’re going first. Johnny Carson retired on today’s date. How many shows did he host himself? [00:27:55] OG: I like that they could smoke on TV. That was my favorite part. Isn’t that wild? Sitting [00:28:00] Doug: on set just with a cigarette. Dean Martin was a guest once. [00:28:03] Doug: He was drinking some scotch. I mean, it’s just- Yeah … it’s late night. Anything goes. Eh, [00:28:07] OG: anything [00:28:08] Doug: goes. [00:28:09] OG: Uh, so 30 years of the show, I mean, obviously… Oh, shoot, I was just like thinking it was a weekly show. Shit. Can… Am I allowed a calculator or I gotta do this in my head, guys? No, no. Use your big giant brain. [00:28:23] OG: Big giant brain, okay. So let me think through this. So I’m gonna assume that, um, that he worked at least 12 weeks a year, and there’s five shows, so that’s 60 times 30 years. So 60 times 30 is, um, 60 thirties, right? So that’s gotta be- … 1,800. But maybe he worked more than 12 weeks a year. Um, so I’m gonna say the answer is 5,400 shows. [00:28:57] OG: 5,400 [00:28:59] Doc G: shows. Oh. Jer, was that you wolfing? Yeah, ’cause he was pretty damn close to my calculation. So I was, I was digging it when he was saying 1,800. I thought, “Okay, good, he’s gonna be off.” And then he, then he pushed it up and, um- Yeah, he did notch it up a degree or five. Yeah, yeah. Is it my guess or it’s Paul’s? [00:29:19] Doc G: It is, it is your guess. He [00:29:20] Joe: goes next. And before we get to that, Eddie has never seen Johnny Carson shows. If you ever get a chance to go back, uh, Eddie, those, uh, those often hold up. [00:29:29] Doug: Look for ones in the ’70s and early ’80s. [00:29:32] Doc G: My calculations, I thought he was on every day of the week, five days a week, right? [00:29:36] Doc G: And I think it was most weeks of the year- So that would’ve been about 7,500, but then I agree, he obviously had some reruns and he had all sorts of stuff, so I was gonna think it was probably a third discounted, which takes me right about to 5,000. So the question is, I’m thinking 5,400’s a little high, but not far. [00:29:55] Doc G: I guess we could make sure that OG loses. Uh, I’ll leave that up to Paula, ’cause I’m gonna go with five… What did you say, 5,400? So I’ll go with 5,399 ’cause I think it’s below, but I think he’s close. Wow. He’s just- I think, I think he’s close. [00:30:12] Paula: Uh, if working 12 weeks a year is the equivalent of 1,800 episodes per year, then that means, that means 24 weeks a year would be, uh, 3,600. [00:30:22] Paula: So at 5,400 we’re talking about 36 weeks per year, right? 36 weeks per year of work would be the equivalent, times five days a week, times 30 years would be the equivalent of 5,400, if my math is correct. I actually, upon hearing the question, was thinking that he worked probably 40 weeks a year, so I think that 5,400 is a little bit low- [00:30:44] Paula: so I’m gonna go with 5,401. [00:30:48] Doug: Oh, [00:30:49] Joe: no. Oh, [00:30:50] OG: no. Wow. Wow. Holy cow. It’s not my fault, [00:30:54] Doc G: OG. [00:30:55] OG: Wow. I actually thought you were really close. Yeah. We need to go back to, uh, Price Is Right set. [00:31:02] Joe: Wow. The home run hitter getting squashed this week. All right. Let’s see who’s gonna win this one. We’ll be right back. All right, OG. [00:31:12] Joe: You opened up with 5,400, and it’s gonna be really cool if you nailed it. Well, I think you- Exactly on the [00:31:19] OG: money. Well, I just learned a lesson- And it’s over … which is… Yeah. I just learned a lesson, which is I can’t talk through my answer, ’cause then you guys evaluate the thinking process. I just need to do the thinking process in my brain, and I also can’t have a round number. [00:31:33] OG: I think the round number makes it too- Squishable? Yeah. Yeah. I just, I love being the meat in between the Paula and Jordan bread. So. All right. It is what it is. There’s, there’s a lot in life, and that’s mine. Mm. I’ll take it. There’s worse things in the world. [00:31:52] Doc G: Jordan, you took below. You feeling good? Yeah. So I resent OG thinking that I didn’t, wasn’t doing the math on my own while you were doing it out loud. [00:32:01] Doc G: So I, I was very actively doing the math. I think I’ve got a decent chance. I think f- I, that’s a lot of shows. I, the question is, right, did he show up two-thirds of the day or not? But I, you know, it could go either way. The [00:32:12] Doug: high-pitched voice does not convey confidence, Doc. “I think [00:32:17] Doug: I [00:32:18] Doug: have a chance.” [00:32:19] Doc G: You know. [00:32:19] Doc G: I’m just trying to let these two down easily, ’cause I know how important it is to [00:32:23] Paula: them. Paula, did [00:32:23] Joe: your gut [00:32:24] Paula: tell you that it was higher than 5,400? Well, no, I was just thinking 18, 36, 54, 72, right? I was thinking in those increments. The minute that he said 1,800 I was like, well, triple that, you know, we get to 54, and- Really, if he works 40 weeks a year, which makes sense ’cause then it’s like, all right, 52 weeks a year, he gets essentially a season off. [00:32:43] Paula: He gets- Yeah … the summer off. 40 weeks a year, that sounds about right. I would just [00:32:47] Joe: love to see all this complex math and decision-making you do actually work for once. That would be- That would be fantastic with our trivia. Doug, uh, tell us who won this thing. [00:33:02] Doug: Hey there, Stackers. I’m late night lover and guy who’s all about the double entendre. [00:33:09] Doug: Think about it. Joe’s mom’s neighbor, Doug. Okay, I promised a Tonight Show inspired monologue, but all I could come up with was, uh, my opening line. I mean, there just wasn’t enough time. So h- here, here it goes. Here it goes. Hey there, Stackers. You know, I was just thinking about it today, and purple is my favorite color. [00:33:27] Doug: I love it way better than blue and red combined. Any, any- Oh, wait a minute. Wait. [00:33:33] Doug: Fixing on. [00:33:35] Doug: Anybody? All right, we’ll get back to it. Paula’s still like, “Wait, what?” Could… Might still be on the double entendre. Well, let’s get back to it. Let’s get you the answer to today’s question. Johnny Carson stepped off the stage on today’s date back in 1992. [00:33:52] Doug: He was the longest running host in history, lasting a full 30 years. While he helped make stars of tons of actors, musicians, and comedians, Carson himself was always the biggest star with his deflective personality, charismatic question asking… Wow, this is sounding really familiar, and easy laugh. Easy laugh, yeah. [00:34:14] Doug: Today’s question was this: How many episodes, not including reruns, did Johnny host himself? And I think what’s important here, the big headline, is that Paula went in exactly the opposite direction she should have- … ’cause the correct answer is 870 episodes fewer than what Paula guessed, 869 fewer than what OG guessed, and just 868 fewer episodes than what Doc G guessed because the correct answer is 4,531 episodes, making Doc our winner. [00:34:45] Joe: There you go, baby. It was amazing- Go, Jesse … OG, how much your math led them to the promised land. [00:34:51] OG: Yeah, weird. Uh, I was just doing a quick, a quick Wikipedia search as Doug was, um- Uh-oh. Uh-oh … uh, doing- Yeah, I know … his stupid math. He’s gonna contest. He’s gonna contest. No, not at all. The missing link in this, and you guys will all think about this as well, wasn’t, wasn’t our math. [00:35:06] OG: The missing link was- Guest host … the guest host thing, the fact that from a contract standpoint, starting in the early ’80s- You know, he had been on for 20 years, so he was like, “I’m not doing this stuff five days a week anymore. Well, I’m gonna now knock it down to four days a week.” Yeah. And then subsequently three days a week of his own content and bringing in other people. [00:35:24] OG: We did the math and ran it out the entire time. Yeah. If we would’ve broken it up, we might could’ve got it. [00:35:29] Joe: That’s when we started seeing what? We started seeing Joan Rivers, and we started seeing the guy who- Jay Leno … ultimately [00:35:34] Doug: took over. Yeah, Jay Leno. Yeah. Letterman did a couple, I think, before he had his show. [00:35:39] OG: George Carlin. Did George Carlin? Really? Wow. Oh, yeah. I’d watch that. [00:35:45] Joe: Yeah. [00:35:45] OG: Yeah. It was, it was PG. It wasn’t as good. [00:35:48] Doug: Mm-hmm. [00:35:48] Joe: Well, let’s go back to the PG second half of our discussion about inflation. What inflation is really changing about us is the topic I want to get to next because I’m wondering, Paula, when we look at the people in this piece, well, I’ve, uh, I referenced one, but I feel like she’s thinking more about is this, is this important or not in my life? [00:36:14] Joe: Do you think that to some degree inflation makes us better spenders? [00:36:18] Paula: I think generally being cash-strapped makes us better spenders. I don’t think that it has to be inflation. It could be a job loss. It could be a pay cut. It could be a business that’s bringing in less revenue than it used to. Any situation that results in a cash crunch often makes you better. [00:36:37] Paula: When you have fewer resources, you often manage them better. Just constraints in general. [00:36:41] Joe: Yeah, exactly. I think that’s interesting. OG, when you’ve had clients that lose their job or they’re feeling cash-strapped, where do you see them largely begin to cut? [00:36:50] OG: Well, it’s definitely discretionary stuff. I mean, whoever was talking about this earlier, maybe Jordan was, about making it seem like you’re making cuts by, like, like, “Oh, I got rid of my $20 a month YouTube subscription. [00:37:03] OG: Look at all the cuts I’m making. Meanwhile, I’m still going on the cruise.” I think you have to be cognizant of that dynamic as well in terms of, like, trying to think through, like, what sort of impact are you having in your cash flow? The other thing I would say about this is when evaluating your expenses, or especially if there’s, like, a shock to the system, you have to recognize that everything is on the table, and I think that there’s a lot of times there’s items that we kind of reserve for, like, well, I have to do that. [00:37:33] OG: I have to have that sort of thing. And, like, literally short of food, which doesn’t even have to be that- expensive. Yeah. You know, I mean, like, you don’t have to have, like, the gourmet whatever. You know, there’s very few things that you have to have. You can move. You can sell your car. You can pull your kids out of private school. [00:37:52] OG: You can stop saving in your 401. Like, these, none of these are things you wanna do, but if it’s bad enough, everything’s on the table. And I think if you are evaluating your cash flow and build it up from the bottom, and really just lean on the, like, if I was doing this from scratch, what would I include? [00:38:07] OG: As opposed to thinking about it from the top down of what am I gonna cut to get down to where I need to be. Start building it up the other way, it feels a little bit more empowering because you’re now making choices as opposed to restrictions. [00:38:18] Joe: Yeah, I like that. I, I remember when I was cleaning out my closet and I just had a plethora of running T-shirts, and I was like, “Okay, it isn’t whether I like the T-shirt or not, I just have too many.” [00:38:27] Joe: So instead of starting with which ones do I cut ’cause I liked ’em all, I’m like, “I need 10.” So now which 10 are the ones that are the… And, and that made it so much, so much easier. And it’s interesting, Jordan, I mean, I think what we’re getting at is it can sometimes be these hard moments that help us clarify what matters. [00:38:44] Joe: Yeah, [00:38:44] Doc G: you know, if you flip the situation around, and instead of inflation is high or things are getting tight so I have to make this decision, what if you flip it around and say, “I’m shooting for financial independence,” or, “I’m shooting to buy that house.” Then we talk about values-based spending, but it feels much more optimistic and positive. [00:39:04] Doc G: It’s like, oh, you wanna get to financial independence faster, maybe you should cut those subscriptions. Maybe you should eat out less. Maybe you should do these things so that you can save and invest more, and that feels positive and exciting and values-based. On the other hand, when inflation is going up or you just lost your job, and you’re doing the same exact thing, it feels much more negative. [00:39:25] Doc G: So I like the way we’re talking about it right now ’cause it’s a, it’s a much more optimistic, positive spin- Yeah … on this idea of getting more in touch with what spending actually means to you and who you are as a person. [00:39:35] Joe: Paula, you’ve heard the phrase, uh, that authors use, kill your darlings. Mm-hmm. Yeah. [00:39:39] Joe: And, and who’s, who’s the Game of Thrones guy who’s good at that? Like, kills all his darlings. George R. R. Martin. Yes. Kills everybody. Kills all the people I like in the book. [00:39:48] Paula: I, I don’t think that’s literally what they mean by kill your darlings. [00:39:51] Joe: Well, he, he took it way too far ’cause he did. But I wonder if there’s a piece of this with our budget because I’m thinking about these clients that I had way back in the day who just needed money now, and the thing that they loved was the holiday season. [00:40:06] Joe: And we were getting into the holiday season, and they decided, they celebrated Christmas, they decided to cut Christmas spending 100% that year. [00:40:14] Doug: Mm. And it was [00:40:15] Joe: interesting talking to them in January. They told me, Paula, they had the best holiday season they’d ever had. [00:40:22] Doug: Huh. [00:40:23] Joe: Because when they cut the spending on stuff, they cut out the mall that it turned out they hated, all of the gift wrapping that drove them crazy, but the time together with people that they kept, which cost them nothing, was truly the thing that they liked the most. [00:40:38] Paula: And that’s a good spin on it because it’s like you get to reimagine all of the things that you love. You get to embrace the things that you love, but in a different way. [00:40:45] Joe: Yeah. So maybe kill it off. I’ve got two last questions for you guys, and Paula, we’ll start with you. What’s something you’re never gonna go cheap on, that is that rock that, “You know what? [00:40:56] Joe: I’m always gonna spend a bunch of money on this thing”? Ooh. Gelato? [00:41:01] Paula: Uh, any necessary medications. Ah. When I was younger, I used to… Y- I would get those, like, contact lenses, and I would wear them for way longer than I was supposed to. Just trying to, like, really stretch it out- Yeah … so that I wouldn’t have to refill as often. [00:41:16] Paula: And now, like, I, I don’t, uh… What’s, what’s the word? It’s not titrate. It’s, uh, when you stretch something out. Uh, anyway, I don’t, I don’t do that. Don’t stretch [00:41:26] Joe: things out. [00:41:26] Paula: Stretchiness. [00:41:29] Joe: Yeah. Put the fork down. [00:41:30] Paula: Yeah. I, I, I don’t stretch out my prescriptions anymore, like, in the way that I used to when I was, uh, like, in my early 20s. [00:41:36] Paula: So health and wellness- [00:41:37] Joe: Yeah, yeah … is something you’ll always spend money on. OG, how about you? What’s the thing? [00:41:42] OG: That’s a good one, Paula. Not trying to double-dip, so I gotta think of something different. What is the one thing that I will never not spend on? Can I generically say my kids? Does that count? [00:41:55] OG: Like, I don’t know. Like, that’s pretty… That’s kind of a cop-out. I think that’s a good one, ’cause as you say that, I’m with you there. Little bit of a cop-out. Like, kids doing what? Like, I will always make sure that if I, if I have anything to say about it, my kids will always have the best of everything that they can get. [00:42:11] OG: And I get that that’s in the eye of the beholder also, but yeah, maybe kids. Fa- I’d be, I’d maybe even extend that to family maybe. But, um, it’s too broad-based. Sorry. Best, best friends maybe? I’m pretty passionate about, like, our recent aggressive charitable contributions, but it’s hard to say that… I don’t know that I would say that I would never not do that. [00:42:33] OG: I feel like I always wanna do that. Yeah. Maybe to different, different organizations, like if the current one ticks me off or something . You know? Like, hopefully I’ll find something else that we’re equally enamored with. But, um- But wait, you wouldn’t do that with your kids? ‘Cause I’ve had those days. I, I mean, I do feel like the kids sometimes will ebb and flow. [00:42:50] OG: Like, I do keep the estate plan pretty handy- … with whiteout. Like- Yeah. … didn’t do the dishes today. You’re- You were at 34% split evenly. Now you’re down to 30. We’re rounding up for your brother. [00:43:03] Joe: D’Taz hanging out with us on, uh, YouTube as we make the show. By the way, if you wanna hang out with us while we make the show, it’s Monday afternoons reliably, but, uh, uh, DtoZ it is. [00:43:12] Joe: I thought it was D’Taz, but it’s DtoZ. “My allergist suggested I get rid of the dog because of allergies.” Oh. “I got rid of the allergist.” [00:43:20] Doug: Yes. Smart move, DtoZ. Pets are something [00:43:23] Doc G: people spend money on. Yep. People will not give up on their pets. Very rarely. Yeah. Uh, well, let’s stick with you, Jordan. Yeah. So I was thinking about this, and believe it or not, and I’m not a foodie- But I don’t wanna live a life where I have to be like, “Oh, I can’t go out and eat,” or, “I can’t buy that good steak at the grocery market,” or I… [00:43:42] Doc G: So, so for us actually, uh, you know, I haven’t faced this. I’ve never been at the point in life where I had to really cut down on my food costs, but I feel like there’s something to not having to worry about food, and I don’t, I don’t wanna worry about, like, if I’m out and I wanna grab something at a restaurant or whatever, I don’t wanna have to, like, second and triple and double and triple guess myself on that. [00:44:03] Doc G: So to me, that’s kind of a hard stop line is I, I give up a lot. I’d rather not have to worry about how I’m gonna pay for food. [00:44:10] Doug: Doug, how about you? Uh, y- you just hit on it. The first thing to go for us is eating out and, and those kind of food related things, the first thing to go for us. And would absolutely always focus on the dogs. [00:44:24] Joe: I thought Doug’s was gonna be premium mustard. [00:44:26] Doug: Yeah, right. The Grey Poupon mustard. Uh, no, it’s, yeah, it’s the, the dogs. The, the kids have moved out. They’re doing fine. They’re taking care of themselves, so the dogs have absolutely taken over priority. [00:44:39] Joe: What is a purchase then that’s dead to you? I’ll start this one. [00:44:43] Joe: I will never DoorDash. I never have. Yep. I never will. I, I don’t get it. I don’t understand. I don’t like lukewarm food. I don’t need it delivered to my house. DoorDash just does not, does not do it for me. But Paula, how about for you? [00:44:56] Paula: Wow. Hot take. I feel the opposite. If, yeah, a very hot take. If I can, if I can save, like, 30 minutes of my time by the food coming to me, that’s a good trade, time trade-off, right? [00:45:09] Paula: See, I don’t- It’s a, it’s a time saver … I don’t think it is, [00:45:11] Joe: but that’s a longer, that’s a longer discussion. We actually had a guest on last year talk about how the French live and how they spend more time around their food, and how productivity number-wise w- when you look at the, the data, they’re every bit as productive. [00:45:23] Joe: ‘Cause we tend to value sitting at our desk looking stuff up on YouTube, and they tend to value the relationships they have over food. [00:45:29] Paula: Yeah. I don’t know. When you’re a small business owner, you’ve got to nose to the grind. [00:45:34] Joe: If only I were a small business owner. Yeah. But, but, [00:45:37] Paula: but- Exactly … Paula, [00:45:38] Joe: what’s your… [00:45:38] Joe: So what’s yours? [00:45:40] Paula: An expense that I would just never pay. The stuff that doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m trying to think of something that’s, like, way out there. Uh, you know what? Like, big screen TVs, like that sort of a thing. Home entertainment system [00:45:56] Joe: would never- Well, that’s a shock. Yeah, yeah. The queen of watching movies and TV shows. [00:46:00] Paula: Yeah, exactly, [00:46:02] Doug: exactly. I refuse to buy a Betamax machine. [00:46:05] Joe: Yeah. Is that still a thing? Imagine, you could probably get one of those now, Doug, for about 12 bucks I would think- Right … somewhere. Uh, Doc, how [00:46:13] Doc G: about you? In this crew, people are gonna think I’m crazy, but, uh- I just can’t seem to get myself to pay for first class flights or even for business class, so- You just took mine [00:46:25] Doc G: like we went to Bali- I’m with you, [00:46:26] Doug: man … [00:46:26] Doc G: we went to Bali in coach because I wasn’t gonna… Well, it was gonna be like 10,000 extra per ticket. But it is hard. I would rather spend $1,000 a night at a hotel than spend 1,000 extra dollars to fly first class. I don’t know what it is, but it, it takes a lot. I won’t say never. [00:46:42] Doc G: Like, if e- if the price was really right, we would do it. I think coming home from Mexico City once, I think we paid 50 bucks extra for first class tickets. 50 bucks. So I’ll do that. [00:46:52] Joe: If it’s $50 more- I’ll pay 50, yeah … you get myself a first. And I, [00:46:55] Doc G: and it was for a speaking engagement, so I didn’t even pay for the flight. [00:46:58] Doc G: I only paid for the upgrade. But yeah, that’s, that’s pretty dead to me. All right. OG, I haven’t asked you. He’s he’s having [00:47:05] OG: trouble with my answer. So I don’t know the answer to this because there really is nothing that I would not spend money on. But so I needed help, so I put this into Claude, and I was like, “What is the one expense that you think, based on what you know, that I would never spend?” [00:47:19] OG: That’s the thing, right? What would I never spend money on? And it goes, it goes, “You would never spend money on a cleaning service or a housekeeper because you’re disciplined and self-sufficient. The kind of person who views paying for someone to clean your house is soft.” Never in a million years. Like, do it yourself. [00:47:37] OG: Like, okay, that one’s not me. Like, we have a house cleaner. Or how’s this one? A meal kit delivery service. [00:47:45] Doug: You were [00:47:45] OG: eating one this week. I literally was just eating a Factor meal five minutes ago. Or, or a personal stylist, which I have, despite my hoodie today, have had in the past. So yeah, I don’t know that there’s, I don’t know that there’s a limit right now, honestly. [00:47:58] OG: I can’t think of anything. Doug, help me with this one. You and Joe know me m- as well as anybody. Like- Well, I think- … what is the thing that I wouldn’t spend money on? I think coach class tickets are dead to him, Doug. Well, no, that’s not true. So we did it… So I’ll tell you, we had to fly that way to our ski trip. [00:48:14] OG: The only reason was ’cause they didn’t have any seats available. There was just no inventory. So like, it was that or drive, so I mean, we d- we, we took it, but. [00:48:22] Doug: Yeah, the things that you’re gonna refuse are not because of the cost. Yeah. It’s gonna be because of some other thing you value more than the money. [00:48:31] Doug: Because as an entrepreneur, and a successful one, you have that attitude, that aggressive attitude of, “I can always make more. I’ll find a way to find the money, but I want this thing ’cause it’s gonna enhance the experience or whatever, so I’m gonna just get the stuff I want.” Yeah, I would, [00:48:45] OG: I would say the things that really kind of hit it for me are, uh, value-based, like it’s gonna free up time, energy, or free up money or increase the quality of the experience. [00:48:55] OG: That’s where I would spend money. So I guess if it doesn’t do those things, like I probably wouldn’t be- [00:49:00] Doug: But nobody’s better than you- … super interested … at justifying- Oh, yeah … spending. Well, there’s that. You, that is your superpower, for sure. [00:49:08] OG: Well, it helps me help you guys spend your money because- … like I said 500 times, like, what is the point of having all this money and you don’t actually do it for anything? [00:49:16] OG: Like, it’s as frustrating for a financial planner to see clients who don’t save enough money as it is to see the person who does save enough money but then never actually consumes it- Mm … or never uses it to make their life or the people around them or their family or whatever’s important to them, like, a better experience or better, you know, whatever you wanna look at that as. [00:49:33] OG: It’s like, like, if you wanna die with 10 million in the bank, you better tell me a good reason that you’re gonna spend that 10 million when you die. Like, what are we building, a children’s hospital? Like, what are we doing with the 10 milli? ‘Cause if you’re just like, “I don’t know, I’m just gonna accumulate cash ’cause uh, I don’t know,” [00:49:48] Doc G: that’s soft. [00:49:48] Doc G: The point is to take it out in hundreds and video yourself jumping on a bed of $100 bills. That’s, that’s, that’s it. That’s the whole point of money. Yeah. That’s it. [00:49:58] OG: Spendy, spendy. Yeah. If anybody needs any help on spending their money, I’m an expert. Well, he’s, he’s- Let’s see this … he’s got a side hustle. He, he’s [00:50:05] Joe: ready to start now. [00:50:07] Joe: I think that’s gonna do it for today. I really like this piece. It’s interesting to see. As inflation goes up… By the way, one more thing that I neglected to get to, Papa John’s, in their latest quarterly report, showed that people are still buying Papa John pizzas, but they’re not going for the specialty pizzas. [00:50:24] Joe: They’re going for just the basic pizzas. ‘Cause I like pizza, but I just, spending more on the, you know, the supreme or whatever doesn’t make it better in their eyes, so they’re trying to figure out different ways to get people, money out of people’s wallet. But if you like [00:50:38] Paula: pizza, why would you order Papa John’s? [00:50:41] Paula: Wow. Damn. [00:50:42] Doug: When you’re looking at the menu and you see that it’s, like, 2.50 or $3 for each additional item you wanna throw on, you start to do math in your head pretty fast and realize… You know, I was getting a burger the other day and saw that, you know, whatever, a buck 50 for lettuce and tomato. I’m like, “Hold on. [00:50:59] Joe: What are we doing?” A buck 50 each. A buck 50 for lettuce- Yeah … a buck 50 for tomato. [00:51:04] Doug: Yeah. Like, they had a list of all the things you could add, and each one of them was $1.50 or s- some it was over a dollar, and I thought, “This is crazy.” [00:51:12] Joe: That- So, so Doug went with just the bun, just the bun- Yeah … ’cause they didn’t charge extra for that. [00:51:17] Joe: I would love to hear, where are you cutting back? Uh, write me, joe@stackingbenjamins.com. We have a sh- on our Monday, Wednesday shows, we have a part of the show we call the Back Porch, and on our Back Porch segment, we’d love to hear actually from you. Uh, how are you cutting back, and what are some of the expenses that are maybe dead to you, or what, what do you draw a line in the sand on, going, “You know what? [00:51:36] Joe: I will always spend money on this.” Love to hear some of those, ’cause I’m sure while we’re here live on YouTube there might be some good ones that we either didn’t get to or we’ve, we’re forgetting. All right, let’s find out what’s going on where all you guys are because it’s Memorial Day weekend. I can’t believe it. [00:51:51] Joe: OG, how are you spending Memorial Day weekend? [00:51:54] OG: Riding my bicycle, obviously- … ’cause it’s the weekend, and there’s six weeks left before this bike race, so. ‘Cause it’s a [00:51:59] Joe: day ending in Y. [00:52:01] OG: That’s right. Riding your bike. Uh, [00:52:03] Joe: maybe [00:52:03] OG: doing a little, uh, [00:52:03] Joe: barbecue outside. Come on over. That sounds like a good time. I am there. [00:52:08] Joe: Paula Pant, what’s going on at Afford Anything? [00:52:10] Paula: On the Afford Anything podcast, of course, on our Tuesday episodes, Joe, you join us, and, uh, the best ones are the ones in which we disagree. So we answer- Like we do on DoorDash, is that what we’re saying? Exactly, exactly. So if you wanna hear more of Joe and I taking opposite takes- Yeah [00:52:26] Paula: join us on the Afford Anything podcast. Uh, Joe, you’re, you’re there every Tue- most Tuesdays, I should say. You’re there most Tuesdays. We answer listener-submitted questions on every topic, from investing to debt payoff, to, you know, “I’ve got these two priorities. How do I juggle them?” So yeah, there’s a wide range. [00:52:43] Joe: It’s on the Afford Anything show, where you will never hear a Papa John’s advertisement. Uh, course probably now no DoorDash on this one. Doc G, what’s going on at the [00:52:55] Doc G: Earn and Invest podcast, my friend? So on Monday we interviewed Carrie Joy Grimes. She wrote a book called The Joy of Money. She talks about how to get good with money yourself, but she has a really interesting history. [00:53:06] Doc G: She, her first job pretty much out of school was to be a union organizer, so she talks about how we as communities can get better with our money too, so real interesting conversation. [00:53:15] Joe: Wow. As always, it’s the Earn Invest podcast. Both Afford Anything and Earn and Invest, if you don’t have those on your playlist, you should, uh, hit pause right now, subscribe to both of those shows, because if you’re not, you’re missing out on some great, great podcasts. [00:53:29] Joe: All right, big thanks for hanging out with us, everybody at YouTube. You guys showed up as usual. It was so fun, uh, seeing all the things that you would not spend money on or that you would spend money on or making fun of me while my internet decided to take a dump right in the middle of this live episode- [00:53:45] Joe: which nobody who wasn’t live will not hear. But what you will hear this episode, like you do at the end of every episode, Doug, what should we have learned on today’s show? [00:53:55] Doug: Well, Joe, first take some advice from Paula. If price increases are impacting your long-term goals, it’s time to start questioning your values versus your habits. [00:54:06] Doug: Second, never fail to remind yourself about the OG principle, TM. That maxim states that everything is on the table. I mean, you don’t even really need to eat, do you? At least stop DoorDashing the slushie from 7-Eleven. But the big lesson, don’t ask Joe’s mom about the Johnny Carson monologue. She’ll start her own monologue about the, about the monologue, and i- I mean, in fact, she’s upstairs right now still monologuing while I’m down here… [00:54:34] Doug: Oh, I guess I’m monologuing to you about monologuing. How do I get out of this? Wow. Thanks to Doc G for joining us today. You’ll find his Earn and Invest podcast wherever you listen to finer podcasts. We’ll also include links in our show notes at stackingbenjamins.com. Thanks to Paula Pant for hanging out with us today. [00:54:58] Doug: You’ll find her fabulous podcast, Afford Anything, wherever you listen to finer podcasts. And finally, thanks to OG for joining us. Looking for good financial planning help? Head to stackingbenjamins.com/og for his calendar. This show is the property of SB Podcast, LLC, copyright 2026, and is created by Joe Saul-Sehy. [00:55:20] Doug: You’ll find out about our awesome team at stackingbenjamins.com, along with the show notes and how you can find us on YouTube and all the usual social media spots. Come say hello. And oh yeah, before I go, not only should you not take advice from these nerds, don’t take advice from people you don’t know. [00:55:40] Doug: 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, Doug, and we’ll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjaminsshow.
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