Don't Tell the Car Dealer Your Budget (And Other Money Moves That Actually Work) SB1904

A $12,000 emergency room bill for popping a dislocated shoulder back into place. A car-buying strategy that saved one family $4,000 with a single text message. A college athlete's first taste of NIL money and the tax questions that come with it. Joe and OG spend today answering real questions from real Stackers, the kind of specific, practical situations that don't always fit neatly into a textbook, but come up constantly in real life. What You'll Walk Away With Why you should never tell a car dealer your monthly budget, and the exact three-rule negotiation process that saved one family thousandsA real, word-for-word example of how to negotiate a hospital bill down, including the specific questions that actually get resultsWhat to know before buying stock in a private, employee-owned company, including the questions to ask about liquidity and getting your money back outWhy a college athlete earning NIL revenue-sharing income needs a specialized tax professional, not a generic preparerThe real difference between qualified and ordinary dividends, and why it matters less than most investors assumeA nonprofit resource that helped one young Stacker eliminate a $43,000 hospital bill entirelyWhy asset location (which accounts hold which investments) only matters once your portfolio is diversified enough across account types to make a difference Why This Matters Now Financial advice often gets taught in tidy, general categories, but real financial life shows up as messy, specific situations: an ER bill with no clear price tag, a car dealer who won't budge on your trade-in, a new source of income nobody prepared you for. Having a framework for these moments, knowing what questions to ask, who to loop in, and where the leverage actually sits, turns a stressful surprise into a solvable problem. None of these situations require perfect expertise, just knowing enough to ask the right question at the right moment. From the Basement A Good Neighbor Day detour uncovers the legendary origin of the first-ever Stacking Benjamins meetup: a group of miners in Healy, Alaska, who listened to the show while at work and reached out when they heard Joe was headed to Denali. Resources Mentioned Stacking Benjamins Field Kit https://stackingbenjamins.com/fieldkit — the all-in-one budgeting and net worth tracking toolDollar For https://www.dollarfor.org — nonprofit that helps eliminate medical debt for qualifying patientsSB1808: How She Eliminated a $43,000 Hospital Bill https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/how-she-eliminated-a-43000-hospital-bill-sb1808/ — referenced episode on medical debt reliefSB1899: Should You Graduate From Index Funds to Individual Stocks? https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/beyond-index-fund-investing-1899/ — referenced episode with Brian FeroldiYell Down the Stairs https://stackingbenjamins.com/yelldownstairs — submit a question for a future episode FULL SHOW NOTES: https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/money-rules-worth-questioning-1904/ Deeper dives with curated links, topics, and discussions are in our newsletter, The 201, available at https://www.stackingbenjamins.com/201 Enjoy! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:15Speaker 01

  He's the type of guy you get halfway home from the theme park before you're like, oh, where's Doug? Oh, no, we have to go back. My wallet's in his fanny pack, so. Oh, do not feel bad for Doug. He's terrible. Every time he tells a story somewhere, a child loses a balloon.

• 0:37Speaker 02

  Live from Joe's mom's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin Show.

• 0:52Speaker 02

  I'm Joe's mom's neighbor Doug, and today we're moving that spotlight and shining it at you. That's right, Joe and OG are answering your questions. Today, I predict you'll ask us about negotiating bills with hospitals, survivor benefit options on a pension, buying a new car, how to claim income as an athlete, stock purchase plans at work, and more. You're bringing the heat today, stackers, and Joe and OG are ready for the challenge. But that's not all. At the halfway point, we'll take a break so that I can regale you. Yes, regale is a real word. Look it up. I will regale you with my trivia question. And now, two guys who are all stretched out and ready to field your questions.

• 1:38Speaker 02

  It's Joe and O, Juj, Juj, G.

• 1:45Speaker 02

  Hey there, stackers, and happy Wednesday to you. Welcome to the greatest money show on earth. Sit back, relax. Don't relax too much because we're going to be answering a bunch of questions, some of which might apply to you. So get something out there to take some notes. And a guy who I've taken note of is still sitting across the card table from me today. Mr. OG is here. How are you, man?

• 2:09Speaker 03

  No notes for me. I'm just going right off the top of my head.

• 2:12Speaker 02

  That is the way he runs, comes in hot, and he's going to give you the best thing that he can think of.

• 2:18Speaker 03

  Scores to earth policy. If I was a marine general, poof.

• 2:22Speaker 02

  It's going to be exciting today to hear what OG comes up with for all of these stackers. Well, normally, if you are new here, we have another certified financial planner. Anna Anna Ellam joins us for these, but OG, she's sick today. Apparently, the team went to a conference and on the way home. It is hard to go to these conferences and not get the conference crud. Sounds like she got it.

• 2:50Speaker 03

  And we all hope that she feels great soon enough because lord knows you guys would all rather hear from her than me.

• 2:58Speaker 02

  These episodes.

• 2:59Speaker 03

  Sometimes I feel like I'm filling in for Anna as opposed to the other way around.

• 3:04Speaker 02

  I think we're all filling in for Anna. But today, you've got OG, Doug, and I. We are super excited. First, we have a couple of sponsors who make sure that we can bring this to you for the value price of free. We're going to hear from them and then OG, Doug, and I answering all your stacker questions. And man, you've got some great ones today. Finally, an app that lets you live and not spend all day with your face buried in it. It's called the Field Kit. It's important to protect your identity, stay away from unused subscriptions, and now also budget better, track your expenses, and track your net worth all in one place.

• 3:45Speaker 02

  One app, open it, take care of business, go on living your life. That's why it's called the Field Kit. Check it out at stackingbenjamins.com/fieldkit. Well, you may know that chaos is the name of the game here in mom's basement with guests coming in and out, Cooper the cat getting in the way, Doug being, well, being Doug. The holidays make it even worse because it's all about food and big meals. And the problem is prepping for those takes forever. But what about those between meals, right? The meals between those huge, huge, huge bookends? Well, that's where Factor comes in. Factor is made with high-quality ingredients that you recognize and trust with over 175 banned ingredients.

• 4:29Speaker 02

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• 5:10Speaker 02

  For Cheryl and I, Factor has been a great way for us to stay busy and focus on family life and beating mom at card games. I use Factor, and you should too. So let's eat real, stackers. Head to factormeals.com/sb50off. Use code SB50OFF. And you know what? You're going to get 50% off and one free breakfast item per box for one year while supplies last until December 31st, 2026. That is code SB50OFF at factormeals.com, SB50OFF at factormeals.com. See website for more details.

• 6:01Speaker 02

  Let's get into it. Let's start off with JD. JD, hoping to wreck the show.

• 6:09Speaker 04

  Hey, guys. I have a quick question for you. Love the show, and I know you can help me out. I recently received my dividends for the end of the second quarter into the first half of the year and noticed that some funds that I've held for over 60 days, some of them for years and years, were issued as cash dividends or ordinary dividends, whereas individual stocks that I have were issued as qualified dividends. Now, I know I could Google this and get the answer, but I want to try to help Doug get a T-shirt since I already have one.

• 6:48Speaker 04

  And so hoping you can give him mine and also answer my question. Thank you.

• 6:56Speaker 02

  My brother. JD, wrecking the show. We just started the episode and JD laying it down.

• 7:04Speaker 03

  Coming in hot.

• 7:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, I got to start off with the fact that that's not the way the show works. When Doug calls in with his own question, JD, he will get his T-shirt. So Doug's going to have to call the, call the line. But we do have an answer to your question. And OG, some of these dividends, one way, some look another way. What's going on here?

• 7:25Speaker 03

  Well, I think JD is looking at this through two different sides of the equation. Dividends are paid as a return of profit. If you own a company and the company makes money, the board of directors has to decide what to do with the money that it made. Sometimes it says, well, we're going to give some of this money to our shareholders. Sometimes they say, we're going to spend this money on R and D. Sometimes we're going to buy back our own stock. You know, there's lots of different options they can do with their profit. But dividends is one way that they return that capital to shareholders. So if you have a mutual fund or you have a stock fund or an individual stock, the stock will issue it when they do. You get that as in your brokerage account. If you have an ETF or a mutual fund, sometimes ETFs will aggregate them all and just say,

• 8:08Speaker 03

  okay, we're going to pay them all in one day just to make it easy for accounting purposes so you can see, not spread it out throughout the quarter. But those are all cash dividends. Then what you decide to do with the cash dividend, sometimes, in fact, most of the time, I'd say most people have it listed as auto reinvest. So you get your dividend and then you just turn around and buy more shares or buy more, you know, whatever shares the ETF. The other side of the dividend question is, how is this going to be taxed? So what JD is looking at is, hey, I got cash dividends, which all of your dividends are, well, 99.99999% of dividends are cash dividends. On occasion, companies will issue dividends in the form of stock, which is very weird. But let's just say it's always cash dividends.

• 8:50Speaker 03

  When he sees qualified dividends, that's relating to how it's taxed. So some cash dividends are taxed as qualified dividends, which is a more preferential tax rate. Some dividends are not qualified dividends. So why the brokerage company that he's looking at lists two different things for the same thing? Tough for me to answer that. But dividends are dividends. Some are taxed more preferentially, and you find that out at the end of the year when you get your 1099.

• 9:21Speaker 02

  Is that something that's important to know before you invest in a company?

• 9:26Speaker 03

  I don't think so. No. I mean, the dividend amount on your portfolio might be as high as 2-ish percent, you know, if it's a regular stock account. For most people, this is a relatively insignificant part of their overall return. Even if you say, well, I've got $5 million in my brokerage account. It's like, okay, well, it's still 2%. Now it's 100 grand, you know? So that's still some cash. But the, the, the market growth of your 5 million is going to be way, way, way more than the, generally speaking, than the, than the dividends. Largely speaking, companies that are headquartered in the U.S., you know, your routine S and P 500 type of stocks largely are qualified dividends.

• 10:11Speaker 03

  This isn't something that you would necessarily pay attention to from an investing standpoint.

• 10:16Speaker 02

  I have another follow-up question while we're talking about this. You know, a lot of people pay a lot of attention to asset location when it comes to their tax strategy, something that pays dividends, being in a place where you're not going to pay tax on that dividend, like an IRA account or a Roth, versus having money in a brokerage account where you are going to get taxed, like JD is referring to here, you're going to get taxed if it's in a regular brokerage account. How much attention do you pay to asset location in your practice, OG, based on tax ramifications versus just based on when you're going to need the money? Which one's more important?

• 10:59Speaker 02

  And do you pay a lot of attention to either or both?

• 11:04Speaker 03

  I would say we'd pay attention to both for sure. It largely depends on the value of each one of these buckets. If you've got a $2.5 million IRA and 50K in your brokerage account and 25K in your Roth, there's not a lot you can do from a tax standpoint and an asset location standpoint.

• 11:25Speaker 03

  Because the vast majority of your wealth is already in one of those buckets. You know what I mean? The more spread out and the more diversified those buckets are, the more value you can bring out of being smart about the taxation of the individual positions or the asset location in terms of girl's potential. You know, if you've got a $5,000, $25,000 Roth position against a $3 million total household net worth, I'm not going to diversify that 25. It's just going to be one single ETF and it will be an aggressive ETF. But the weight of that relative to the weight of the rest of the portfolio is so miniscule that it's the, what would they say? The attribution ratio?

• 12:06Speaker 03

  Like how much, how much energy can you put onto this one particular fund and its performance in your tax situation when it's, you know, 1% of your portfolio? It matters, but not always.

• 12:20Speaker 02

  Thanks for the question, JD. And Doug, when you call in with your question, you'll get the shirt. JD, we can send you another shirt or we can maybe find some other swag to send your way.

• 12:30Speaker 05

  Well, it looks like this is just proof of how good my vocal capabilities are because you know, I'm a master of accents. You don't know that JD.

• 12:41Speaker 02

  You JD is the same person?

• 12:43Speaker 05

  Maybe. I mean, you have no proof.

• 12:47Speaker 02

  You can neither confirm nor deny that that's actually you.

• 12:50Speaker 05

  You might be able to figure it out by the mailing address that I give you for the, I mean, that JD gives you for the T-shirt.

• 12:56Speaker 02

  Speaking of people, some of you did a great job of leaving us your name. Other people do not. They have anonymous. So apparently this one is from Wonder Woman, I guess. If she does, I mean, if you're a superhero, don't you want to be, leave your name, people call you anonymous? I don't know. So our next question comes from the amazing Wonder Woman.

• 13:22Speaker 06

  Hi, Joe, OG and neighbor Doug. I have a question about a future car purchase. I bought my Honda Pilot new 12 years ago and it's at 195,000 miles. While I've kept up with the maintenance, it's starting to have a couple of things that make me think it'll need to be replaced in the next couple of years. I'm looking at buying new again, since the used Pilots in the area that I've seen are pretty close to the new price and have 25 to 60,000 miles on them. I don't think I'll have enough to buy the car outright, so I'm trying to determine the financing part. In the past, Joe has said, don't tell the dealership how much you want to pay per month and instead determine ahead of time, how much car you can afford. So how do I calculate how much car I can afford?

• 14:08Speaker 06

  Based on current prices, I think I can put down 30 to 50% and then just need to finance the remainder. Any guidance you guys have on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help.

• 14:21Speaker 02

  I think instead of saying Wonder Woman, we'll say WW just to make it easier. But WW, thanks for the call. Let me define what I mean here by how much car you can afford. What I'm really, what we really want to solve for first is we do not want the dealer to focus on payments. But that was the spirit of what I was saying by don't focus on payment. You of course are going to want to focus on your payment, but deal with payments later through the dealership. Don't deal at the beginning because what the dealership will do is get you into, oh, you could afford this much per month and they will maximize that.

• 15:02Speaker 02

  So maybe you're in a longer term loan than you want to be in because of that car payment and you didn't successfully negotiate a lot off the purchase price. So you want to focus on the purchase price first. So what I would do to figure out how much money you can afford is look up online what auto payments are going to be. And then work out from there, how much car you can actually afford. And then look at models that fit that. Or if you're working with a specific model car you want, look at how much it costs and what the maximum amount is that you could possibly pay for that car to get it within your price range.

• 15:42Speaker 02

  I just don't want you walking into a dealership, W, asking that question or, or leading with, I can afford $700 a month or $500 a month. That OG, I think is where people run into problems.

• 15:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, we get questions a lot from people like this as it relates to how am I going to deal with this car purchase down the line? You know, in terms of should I finance it? Should I take assets from my brokerage account? Should I, you know, all these different things? You have to solve that somewhat in real time. And what I mean by that is you don't know what the market's going to look like. It's a little, at least I've found, the car market is a little backwards as to regular markets. And what I mean by that is when the economy is really crappy, you can get some banger deals on cars, you know, both the purchase price and the rate in which you pay for it because it's subsidized by the manufacturer. It also helps to be brand agnostic and say, you know, I'm solving for a midsize SUV.

• 16:41Speaker 03

  I don't care if I'm buying General Motors, if I'm buying a Lexus, if I'm buying a Hyundai, if I'm buying a Toyota, you know, like I gotta find the one that's the best deal for me right now. If you have that flexibility, some people are like, well, no, the family works for GM. So we're buying GM stuff. That's the message I got when I was a kid, you know, until I was like 40 something. And it's like, okay, you know, everybody's been retired long enough that now I can cheat on GM a little bit, you know, and there's deals and stuff like that when you're, when you've got a family member. So I think some of that comes into play as well. But I wholeheartedly agree. When it comes to purchasing vehicles, it is the absolute, eh, hospital visits suck pretty bad too, but I just hate it. Like there has never been a time where I've gone, you know what? That, that process was great.

• 17:26Speaker 02

  It was so fun.

• 17:27Speaker 03

  And I just don't understand why it's like that. I feel like, you know, a nice, a nice high-end steakhouse owner could take over a car dealership. And we'd all be like, you know, we need to buy cars from.

• 17:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:41Speaker 03

  Del Frisco's, like those guys, you know, they know how to treat you with the Mater D and the like, thank you for coming and you know, a lot of service. And I'm sure there's places out there. I just haven't, I haven't found it yet.

• 17:52Speaker 05

  It's such a notoriously bad experience that it's a time honored tradition for parents to take their kids, especially like adolescents to the dealership with them to watch them negotiate so that the kids, hopefully if the parents are doing it right, the kids can see, here's the way to do this because you know, going in, you can expect this kind of shenanigans when you're sitting down. So if you are educated.

• 18:17Speaker 02

  Wait a minute, Doug, you're saying you want to give your teenagers nightmares in an early part of their life?

• 18:21Speaker 05

  Well, not if you do it right. So for instance, I mean, and one of the other reasons you don't want to go in talking about, here's what I can afford per month is because there are so many ways behind the scenes that a dealer can manipulate the cost to get you to your monthly number, some of which are obvious and, and you can figure out or you know about ahead of time. Other times there's backend deals between them and the OEM, meaning the, the maker of the vehicle that you never see. One thing they'll do is either change the value of your trade-in, they'll change the term of the loan. They can get you to 589 a month. If you go to 84 months on a loan instead of 60 or something ridiculous like that, they

• 19:03Speaker 05

  can change financing costs for them to, there's just too many pieces that you don't see. Too many levers. And that's why we all hate it because we never feel like we're getting a fair shake. Even if we get to the number that we thought we wanted long-term, it could end up costing us a lot more and we didn't even know it. So I would suggest, yeah, start with the out the door price first. And you can either say, I want that car with that VIN number for this much money, whatever it takes to get to your total price that you want to afford or can afford. Then go, oh, by the way, I have a trade-in. Don't tell them about the trade-in upfront because the trade-in is one, the value of

• 19:47Speaker 05

  your trade-in is one of the places they can manipulate to try to get you to a price you want or to a monthly payment that you want. So the dealers know now people are educated on this and they're going to roll their eyes a little bit when you go, oh, by the way, I totally forgot that car out there.

• 20:02Speaker 03

  But they're still, but they still have the option at that point in time on the trade-in to just be like, oh yeah, so we'll give you 3,500 bucks for it.

• 20:09Speaker 02

  But after you've locked in the price of the car, I think that's a more honest negotiation. Because then I know if it's 3,500 and let's say that W's Honda pilot she was talking about, she thinks it's worth six grand. Well, then there's no way she's gonna, you know, turn it in versus if it's maybe 4,000 to 4,300, there's what's the cost versus the time I'm gonna have messing around with this.

• 20:34Speaker 03

  It's a terrible experience across the board. I'm glad that we're buying cars once every 12 years. It sounds like, you know, for her call in like, you know, it's just like, once a decade I have to deal with this. The other thing that exists today that neither of you guys talked about that is, that didn't really wasn't as easy to do is just purely the, the price shopping. There's no geographical restrictions anymore. You can literally buy a car anywhere. You can have it shipped anywhere for a pretty reasonable fee. If buying it in frigging Portland is a better deal and you live in Mississippi, then buy it in Portland and make it a road trip across the country. Doug hates this idea, but he wants to go down and haggle with the haggled need to be in eye to eye,

• 21:18Speaker 03

  using his boomerism to like argue with people about $200 off the undercoat cost. But let's hear it, Doug.

• 21:25Speaker 05

  No, no, I don't, I don't hate that. And you're right. Because of the access to information, we can go find the VIN we want of a very specific vehicle with the trim package we want in Portland, even though you live in Atlanta. All of that's possible. But what you may find is, and this is one of the things that most consumers of vehicles don't know is how the OEMs, the GMs, the Fords, the, and so forth, how they incentivize their dealers often has some regionalism to it because they have, first of all, the, the dealers have unit volume per month that they need to meet in order to meet some financing obligations. And so, A, there is some truth to going to a dealer or starting a negotiation

• 22:08Speaker 05

  with a dealer towards the end of the month, because if they haven't met how many units or vehicles they need to move off the lot in that month, they're going to be more agreeable to your pricing because that's more valuable to them to just make their number of, of number of cars that rolled off the lot versus the price. So that's the thing. But secondly, there are often from their regional and zone management policies, there are often incentives for them to have a certain amount of market saturation in the Pacific Northwest. And so that Portland dealer may be less incentivized to sell a vehicle to Atlanta, even if you're willing to come and get it, because they take a hit if that unit didn't stay in the

• 22:49Speaker 05

  area because the OEMs want their cars to be seen all over the roads, all over the different regions. And so you could potentially find some reluctance to getting a dealer to sell you a car across the country. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

• 23:03Speaker 02

  Well, I think it's a good point. You don't know what the incentives are on their end. And so sometimes you're surprised when they don't want to negotiate where you think that they might. We saved thousands on our last car purchase, which was a new Volkswagen Tiguan. And I also walked people through this process because I learned it here on stacking Benjamins from someone from Edmunds.

• 23:23Speaker 05

  A Tiguan.

• 23:24Speaker 02

  And it's, and it's worked for me now in three separate car negotiations, two for us and one for one of my kids. I look at dealerships, OG, that are close to me. And by close to me, when we're in Texarkana, last time it was a dealership in Little Rock, this last one, a dealership in Little, Little Rock's two hours away. So by close to me, not necessarily all that close, an hour and 15 minutes in Shreveport and our local car dealership in Texarkana. Now, I wanted the ability to bring it into Texarkana, although, OG, to your point, the dealer in Shreveport, at the end of the negotiation, when they found out that they lost, they were like, hey, we will always come and pick it up for

• 24:07Speaker 02

  service. Like, like we'll pick it up. You don't have to do anything. We will take care of servicing it, even though you're a long ways away. So the dealers are willing to get rid of some of that restriction of how close you are to provide service. But rule number one was, I reached out to three different dealers. That was after I decided what model I wanted to buy. Exactly what I wanted to buy, all the way down to what extras I wanted on it. So we went into the local dealer. We're like, yeah, we were just, would like to test drive. We'll do the negotiation later. Cheryl did all of that herself because she was going to be driving the car. Once she got done with that, then I reached out to

• 24:48Speaker 02

  the guy that she met with at our local dealer, one from Shreveport, one from Little Rock. And I said, three rules. First rule is, don't call me or we're done. We're going to do all this via text back and forth. We're not going to have phone calls because, you know, this process is not going to be based on me liking you. This process is going to be based on what I'm purchasing. Second is, give me your best price upfront, because if you don't give me your best price upfront, then I need to eliminate you because I really don't have time to play a lot of games. I just need to make this, this work. And I really don't want to have, you know, this game back and forth. And of course, you guys

• 25:30Speaker 02

  already know what happened when I said that. There were still games back and forth. Third rule was, don't negotiate if you don't think you can make any money. If you think I have you over the barrel, then just say no. Because I really don't want this to be a process where you, as the car dealer, are going home and you can't feed your family. So if you can't make the deal, you can't make the deal. There'll be another one. So I get it. Which came into play later on in the negotiation. So we started off with the local person who told me, OG, there were going to be no incentives. There's just nothing. The person in Little Rock tried to call me, they were gone immediately. Just gone. The woman in Shreveport came in

• 26:09Speaker 02

  $4,000 less expensive, 4,000 bucks. It blew me away. And so I went to the Texarkana guy and all I did was a screenshot. And I said, why is she $4,000 less than you? Because of the fact that for service reasons, I wanted to do this locally. And the guy said, oh, those are a bunch of incentives, like first responder discounts and stuff that you probably won't get. And so I just took his answer and took it back to the woman in Shreveport. And I said, sounds like these are a bunch of things I won't get. She goes, oh, no, no, you get all those. It's not first responder. By the way, even before that, I said, my wife is a first responder. So, uh, do we get those? And he started to back off those.

• 26:55Speaker 02

  He was like, oh, well, uh, I don't, uh, so then, uh, I just wrote that back to him and said, no, uh, turns out that that 4,000 bucks is all stuff we can get. And he wrote me back immediately. If we do the deal today, I will match that deal. And it was that easy. It was two back and forths. And then I got the price I wanted through the local guy. And by the way, the guy, at one point during this, he goes, you really don't have to shop me and beat me up. And I wrote to him and I said, well, remember what we talked about? I'm not trying to beat you up. Number one, if you can't make money on this deal, just drop out. And number two is, this is a really expensive thing for my family. This is a

• 27:35Speaker 02

  big purchase for my family. So I'm not trying to quote shop you or beat you up. I'm just trying to make sure that in this huge purchase of our budget, that I don't step in it. Made it go much, much better. I didn't have to beat anybody up, just pitted the dealers against each other. In hindsight, I probably should have went with the woman in Shreveport who dealt with me fairly and honestly from the very beginning. But I didn't know, OG, to your point earlier, that I could get service from Shreveport as easy as I could from Texarkana. Who knew? Instead of a road trip too, by the way, they would have delivered the vehicle. I didn't know that either. Now I know.

• 28:10Speaker 05

  Wow. They really needed to meet their unit number for that month.

• 28:14Speaker 02

  Don't worry about it's places an hour and a half or two hours away. Bring in two or three places. Saved a bunch of money. So Wonder Woman, who's, that's clearly who you gotta be Doug, if you're anonymous, she must be Wonder Woman.

• 28:29Speaker 05

  I don't know how you got there, but okay.

• 28:31Speaker 02

  She doesn't want to disclose her identity.

• 28:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, dude, she's got an invisible plane she can fly around in. She's not worried about buying a Honda.

• 28:39Speaker 02

  May or may not be. Uh, stacker Tracy has been a friend of ours for a while. It was great to hear her voice. Tracy, what's happening?

• 28:50Speaker 07

  Hi Joe, OG, Doug, Anna, Len, and everybody else. I have a question. My daughter is a D1 athlete for volleyball. She's going to get revenue sharing from the school, which I'm imagining is going to be paid as a 1099. And I was just wondering if you had any suggestions on what to do with that money? That income she'll be receiving. We were thinking, maybe we could set her up as a sole proprietor?

• 29:26Speaker 07

  And then use the money that she spends on personal training and physical therapy as expenses to offset her income? I know you're not tax professionals and that you're not giving me financial advice, but I was just kind of curious if you could give me ideas on what you would do if it were your kid to set them up for financial success? Thanks. Bye.

• 29:56Speaker 02

  Tracy, thank you.

• 29:57Speaker 05

  Why'd she have to end with that? Bye.

• 30:01Speaker 02

  Tracy, thank you so much. And congratulations to your daughter. Just being a D1 athlete. How about that? Earning some money from NIL.

• 30:09Speaker 05

  Here's how the world has changed. It used to be, it'd be like, yeah, my kid got an email from a D1 program or they might be. Now it stepped up to, oh yeah, she's getting revenue sharing too.

• 30:20Speaker 02

  Right.

• 30:21Speaker 05

  That's a flex.

• 30:22Speaker 02

  I talked to two CPAs about this Tracy, since you called in, but OG, what do you think about this? Can Tracy's daughter start a business or become a business if she's getting 1099 income?

• 30:35Speaker 03

  Yeah. I mean, technically if you're getting a 1099, you are already a sole proprietor, right? You are a business according to tax rules. So absolutely asterisk to all of this. Get with the CPA and find out what their particular angle is on it. But generally speaking, if you're a business owner, which you know Tracy's kiddo is, if you get a 1099, things that are ordinary and necessary in your course of business are, are able to be deducted from your revenue. Now, the thing that you have to be careful about with this is that the IRS is also onto this, right? Like say, well, I need sneakers. It's like, okay, well, but sneakers are not unique to volleyball.

• 31:15Speaker 03

  So you're going to have a hard time defending off, you know, writing, writing off sneakers. Or I need to have a gym membership. It's like, okay, so does Joe. You know, he doesn't get to write his off. Doug absolutely needs to get in the gym. And even if they gave him a write-off, he wouldn't go. So, you know, so that's, that's going to be hard.

• 31:38Speaker 05

  Cold hard cash at the door.

• 31:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, they could do that. You still wouldn't show up. You'd be like, well, how many egg quiches are involved?

• 31:45Speaker 05

  When's your pizza night?

• 31:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly. So you have to be careful on those things, but other things like contributing to a solo 401k plan, contributing to getting a match, you know, because you can kind of match yourself in there. Depending on how much we're talking about of annual revenue, you know, that could be pretty attractive. I also would say this, this is a unique time in young people's lives, especially those who, you know, suddenly, you know, now probably have more money than they thought existed in the universe. And I think it's right to also have like a bucket of, you know, I'm just going to go have fun. We spend so much energy on like going, oh, I can't like, I can never, everything has to be exactly to the penny optimized. And that's important and definitely setting money aside, especially when you are an athlete.

• 32:31Speaker 03

  And, you know, as we saw in the NFL games this past week, like sometimes those, those careers end like that. And that's in the professional world, you know, in the collegiate world, it's even a shorter timeframe. And being aware of that, I think is super important, but also let's not like take the joy and humanity out of money either. And it's like, cool. You have this great opportunity and you want to go on spring break with your friends? Like go on spring break. Probably don't go on spring break to like the four seasons at Bora Bora for a, you know, 10 day period. And, you know, fly private. That's probably a little too much. But, you know, if you're going to Panama City Beach, like let your hair down, you know?

• 33:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, I would definitely work with the pro on this one.

• 33:15Speaker 03

  Yeah, I guess I should say this is not a DIY project for sure.

• 33:19Speaker 02

  A hundred percent not because the first thing that both of these CPAs I talked to brought up OG is that just where the income goes. Like for many things, if it is the stuff that you talk about, like hiring your manager, like website branding, graphic design, like those things are all Schedule C income, but they talked about sometimes you get money and you're not expected to do anything for it. Well, that would actually be Schedule E money, which would be royalties, which would be a whole different thing. So just knowing where it goes on the form is a reason to work with, work with a pro. Plus all those gray areas, things that you talked about, like is this something I do in my normal daily life?

• 34:00Speaker 02

  That happens to involve volleyball? Or is this something that I can really defend is a cost of me doing business? It's a, it's a difficult place.

• 34:09Speaker 03

  You need a good team in your corner. The IRS is not stupid to this. They know what's up. And there's a bunch of, a bunch of newly minted earners out there, you know, some of which are making all sorts of money. So, and to your point, I didn't even think about the passive versus active thing. You know, if your income, where that goes on, on the basically passive side of the equation or active side of the equation, you can't use active expenses to offset passive income. So, you know, you might be thinking, oh, I can write all this stuff off. And then you go get your taxes and you find out you can't. And now you owe a tax bill. That would be another piece of, you know, engaging a pro here is if you have the opportunity to think about this stuff in advance, there's not the April surprise, right? It's like, oh, hey, by the way,

• 34:53Speaker 02

  Wait, what?

• 34:54Speaker 03

  So where's the, where's the 30 grand you owe to the G right now? You're like, whoa, I didn't know I was going to know that.

• 35:00Speaker 02

  It's a great place to be, to your point. OG, it's a, it is a great problem to have, but there's so much gray area here. And it's fairly new. I want to talk lastly about where to look because this is where you need a good lead. I think you don't want just any CPA. I think that your daughter's coach may be a good resource because he's dealing with all the team members. Some of the team members that you would guess are probably the people that have more NIL money than anybody else. See who they work with, might be good people to interview, but I still think there might be an interview process there because this is all so very new. Any other places they should look, OG?

• 35:40Speaker 03

  I mean, this is an area where specialization really matters. This isn't like wander into H and R block and try to get tax advice. This is,

• 35:48Speaker 02

  Yo, right?

• 35:49Speaker 03

  Find the specific financial planner, the specific tax CPA that works with athletes.

• 35:56Speaker 02

  Great stuff. Congratulations again, Tracy. Great to hear your voice and good luck to your daughter. We are at the halfway point of today's show, just over the halfway point. We're going to take a break here for just a moment because Doug is chomping at the bit. He's got today's amazing trivia question. What are we talking about today, Doug?

• 36:19Speaker 05

  Hey there, stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor Doug and check out all of you and your brilliant questions. It's incredible. I asked a brilliant question once. I asked OG, if a credit score is private, why are three different agencies gossiping about it and disagreeing? I'm not really sure why he started shaking his head, but I'm pretty sure it was because of all the RESPECT he had for my question. Know what I mean? Well, lots of stackers are meeting up on this show, just like they meet up around the country at our Benjamin After Dark groups. So here's today's question. Where was the first ever stacking Benjamin's meetup? I'll be back right after I go ask Joe an unrelated question.

• 37:05Speaker 05

  Totally don't have to ask him exactly where that was because like I already, I already knew it. I mean, you should know it too. Probably. Anyway, I'll, I'll be right back.

• 37:20Speaker 02

  Well, you may know the chaos is the name of the game here in mom's basement, what with guests coming in and out. Cooper the cat getting in the way, Doug being, well, being Doug. The holidays make it even worse because it's all about food and big meals. And the problem is prepping for those takes forever. But what about those between meals, right? The meals between those huge, huge, huge bookends? Well, that's where factor comes in. Factor is made with high quality ingredients that you recognize and trust. With over 175 banned ingredients, you always know you're eating something that's good for you, even when you don't have time. It's ready in two minutes, whether it's lunch between meetings or dinner after holiday shopping.

• 38:04Speaker 02

  Factor requires zero prep cleanup or effort from you or mom. So you can focus on everything else in your day. Factor even has heart smart options like the green goddess bear on Monday with tomato, rice, peas, kale and green beans. Or the enchilada style chicken and sweet potatoes. Those are so good. They're crafted with lean proteins, fiber packed fruit and veggies and healthy fats. Try those out. Your heart and your taste buds will thank you. For Cheryl and I, factor has been a great way for us to stay busy and focus on family life and beating mom at card games.

• 38:46Speaker 02

  I use factor and you should too. So let's eat real stackers. Head to factormeals.com/sb50off. Use code SB50OFF. And you know what? You're going to get 50% off and one free breakfast item per box for one year while supplies last until December 31st, 2026. That is code SB50OFF at factormeals.com, SB50OFF at factormeals.com. See website for more details.

• 39:16Speaker 02

  There is a financial conversation that's coming to millions of American families and there's a pretty good chance, nobody wants to be the person who starts it. Inheritance. And here's why that matters. An estimated $124 trillion to heirs and charity is expected to be transferred by Americans over the next 20 years. It's an extraordinary amount of money, but Kiplinger's research found that 51% of adults and their parents, get this, never talk about money. And there's a pretty big disconnect. 47% of parents expect to leave a meaningful inheritance, while only 24% of adult children expect to actually receive one. Nearly 30% of parents don't even have a will in place. Maybe it's

• 40:01Speaker 02

  time we talked. Kiplinger calls it the trillion dollar talk, a conversation about inheritance, estate planning, wills, and the questions families should be asking before those decisions become urgent. Because knowing what your family wants and having a plan for it can be one of the most important financial conversations you will ever have. Ready to start yours? Visit kiplinger.com to learn more about the trillion dollar talk and what this historic wealth transfer could mean for your family.

• 40:33Speaker 02

  It's incredible, at a small company like Stacking Benjamins, how one, one hire makes all the difference in the world. If you're a small business, the right hire can be make or break. Hoping the right people see your job posting isn't the best growth strategy. When the pressure's on, you need the right hire. This is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed Sponsored Jobs is a boost whenever you need to find quality talent, when workplace chaos hits and you need the right hire. This is a job for sponsored jobs. Hiring indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post even seen at other sites. Get matched with and hire quality candidates who can drive the results you need. Reach candidates

• 41:14Speaker 02

  that meet your specific criteria like skills, certifications, or locations. Sponsored jobs boost your job post on search results so you can reach the people that can help your business thrive. Plus, with Indeed Sponsored Jobs, you only pay for results. People are finding quality hires on Indeed right now. In the minute I've been talking to you, listen to this. Companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed, according to Indeed data worldwide. And sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. So spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results.

• 41:56Speaker 02

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• 42:36Speaker 05

  Hey there, stackers. I'm Guy who loves meetups and loves them better when you're buying Joe's mom's neighbor Doug. Stacking Benjamins meetups have happened all over the USA, from a cozy one in Bar Harbor, Maine, to a huge meetup in Philadelphia. They've gone so well that finally, there are groups meeting regularly now in two different spots in Minnesota, and also in Tucson, and Boston, and Seattle, and two more are getting ready to roll in the Bay Area and Washington DC. Fingers crossed. But today's question was about the first meetup ever. Where was it held? Well, after he happened to mention that

• 43:15Speaker 05

  he was heading there on vacation, which covers a lot of ground, by the way, Joe's first Stacking Benjamins meetup was at Denali National Park with some miners, with an ERS, not ORS, don't worry.

• 43:32Speaker 05

  I felt the need to specify that, Joe, for your benefit, so your parole officer didn't come running, with some miners from nearby Healy, Alaska, who listened to the show while they worked and I wasn't there. I'm sure everyone was sad about that. But I have it on good authority that they met near the top of the mountain, a little place with some great views. Wait, no?

• 43:57Speaker 02

  Maybe not, maybe not.

• 43:58Speaker 05

  I think we should just go with it, Joe. I mean, everybody knows you're a guru. Probably live in a little cave up near the top of the mountain. Anyway, it was a legendary meetup. Hard to top that one. See what I did there? And now, while that might not be how the meetup actually happened, apparently, what we know happens next is that Joe and OG will answer more of your questions.

• 44:20Speaker 02

  It was a legendary meetup. And yeah, miner, people that worked in a mine.

• 44:24Speaker 05

  Not minors.

• 44:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, just to be clear about that one. Although, if kids want to get started on their money, I mean, it was great talking to students at Minnesota State University a few weeks ago, and we just did a live show that you'll hear in the next couple of weeks with our friend Lauren Williams, who was the first American woman to medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympics here at Texas A&M Texarkana. So some minors there that were hopefully setting out on the right track right away. But that was a weird meetup, Doug, because I remember when these, when these guys reached out to me when they heard I was coming to Denali, I told Cheryl, I'm like, I don't know why people want to meet me. Like, if, if I don't come home in the next hour and a half,

• 45:15Speaker 02

  you may want to call the authorities, because I'm not sure. Turns out, they were just some absolutely great people. All right, let's get back to your questions. JJ up next. JJ with, well, a medical question, OG.

• 45:32Speaker 04

  Hi, Joe and OG, and of course Doug. This is JJ from California, a long-term listener and third-time caller. I've got a medical billing question. My teenage son dislocated his shoulder while visiting friends in Southern California and had to go to the emergency room. He was there for less than two hours. They took an X-ray before and after the procedure, and the doctor simply popped the shoulder back into place. The total bill submitted to my insurance was almost $1,200, and my share is about $3,500 with, you know, with the deductible and everything, which I feel is pretty atrocious. However, you know, that's probably the game of how emergencies work. After hearing OG talk about his son's, you know, some procedure where, on a recent episode, I followed his advice and called both the

• 46:17Speaker 04

  insurance company and the hospital. I asked the hospital whether they would offer a discount if I paid in cash, but instantly they just offered me a payment plan. Do you have any other strategies I could use to negotiate or reduce what I owe? Is there anything else I should be asking the hospital or the insurance company before I pay? I can afford the payment, but I just don't want to pay so much. Thanks for everything you do and keep up the great work. By the way, I had pasted my original version to ChatGPT for suggestions before recording. After responding with better version, it also said, if this is for the Stacking Benjamins voicemail, this version should fit comfortably within their typical time limit if read at a normal pace. That freaked me out.

• 46:58Speaker 02

  JJ, thank you.

• 47:01Speaker 03

  We and OpenAI are like this.

• 47:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, about that. Immediately says, oh, this must be for Stacking Benjamins. That's great. But boy, JJ, that just seems like a ton of money to just pop a shoulder in. OG, what do you, what do you think? And you may want to go back for people that did not hear the advice that you had, because JJ just kind of offhand referred to it. Really, what advice you had for people when they go into a hospital or a medical center?

• 47:31Speaker 03

  Well, I don't exactly remember what I said, but I'm sure it was very good. But I can say that when it comes to anything that's medically related, here's the problem with emergency rooms. You're kind of committed at that point. There's a reason you're at the ER. So I think that we're going to set that aside for a second. But, you know, if you have a high deductible health plan, you know, you've got the HSA going, you have a high deductible, right? And so you have to evaluate every time you go to have something medically done. Does it make more sense to find out the cash rate and have it not count as part of my deductible? Or do I go through the insurance and maybe my out-of-pocket's

• 48:13Speaker 03

  more, but it counts as part of my deductible, right? And many, many, many times, the ratio of, of how much you'd have to pay versus how much you pay in cash is very profoundly different. And I can just use an anecdotal recent story for me. I mean, last spring, I had an MRI done on my shoulder for a rotator cuff issue. If we go through the insurance, it was going to be 3,500 bucks. My deductible is $7,500 a person, so I'm on the hook for 3,500, right? The good news is, is that I'm halfway through my deductible before insurance really kind of kicks in, so to speak. Or I could pay 325 cash. Didn't make any move on my deductible, but I'm saving, you know, 20, whatever that is, $3,200 or whatever.

• 49:01Speaker 03

  You have to evaluate piece by piece. The challenge, of course, is that in many of these situations, it just doesn't seem like they have any idea how to answer this question in real time. There's like, I don't know. Like, well, how much is the cash option?

• 49:13Speaker 05

  Meh.

• 49:14Speaker 03

  Yeah. We don't have any idea. It's really, uh, it's really quite comical because it's like going to the restaurant and, and like you says, you know, our special says, says, you know, the lobster freshly flown in from Maine, you know, and it says MP, market price. And you're like, cool. What's the price? They're like, it's the market. Like awesome. But I really want lobster. I'd love to have some idea of what we're talking about.

• 49:39Speaker 05

  They gotta go back to their Bloomberg terminal in the back in the restaurant to see what the market price is.

• 49:44Speaker 03

  It's the market price. Now, related to the emergency room thing, I think the best course of action is to just call them and say, is there anything we can do about this total cost?

• 49:55Speaker 02

  Besides a payment plan?

• 49:56Speaker 03

  Yeah. I mean, payment plan, that could be good, too. Honestly, you know, just spreads out the cash flow.

• 50:01Speaker 02

  Zero percent.

• 50:01Speaker 03

  Well, generally it is, right? They don't, you know, maybe that helps kind of spread out the cash flow, but I don't think you're going to get anywhere in arguing about the value, right? It's like one of those like, well, your kid had a busted shoulder and I fixed it. So I could almost charge you whatever I wanted, you know, or you could walk around with a busted shoulder. But I think just talking to the business manager escalating it and saying, hey, is there anything we can take off the top here? This is a big number for me and my family. And sometimes they're going to say, no, this is, this is back to like the car question, right? Like you said, give me your best price. Like, is this the best number we can do?

• 50:36Speaker 05

  Right.

• 50:37Speaker 03

  And let them say, well, I mean, honestly, if you could write us a check right now, we'd take 2750. Boom. Like bang, make it happen. Right?

• 50:46Speaker 05

  I wouldn't endorse what I'm about to say that you should do. Nice sentence, Doug.

• 50:52Speaker 02

  I wouldn't endorse what I'm about to say.

• 50:54Speaker 05

  Yeah. I cannot confirm nor deny the illegality of what I may or may not have done. But we had an MRI bill that we, it's funny how we, that's always the example, right? MRIs are just crazy expensive, but MRI that the doctor said they couldn't use. And we had to go get another MRI that wasn't going to get covered. So we disputed the first MRI. I worked for months with the hospital, trying to say, look, we're not paying for it because the doctor said it wasn't good enough quality to even use. And they're like, no, it was good enough and you're paying for it. So I sat on it for a while. And finally, you know, when they said my portion was going to be like, uh, almost 800 bucks, I think, after

• 51:38Speaker 05

  our insurance paid. I talked to a person and said, yeah, I can't do that. What can you do for me? The first number she threw out was a 45% discount on that.

• 51:49Speaker 02

  First number?

• 51:50Speaker 05

  First number. I didn't even negotiate. I just said, eh, can't really feel like, what I should have said is don't feel like paying almost 800 bucks for an MRI we can't use. But I just said, yeah, don't like that. What else you got? And massive discount, which I decided, all right, I'm not going to look this gift horse in the mouth.

• 52:09Speaker 02

  Just go with it.

• 52:10Speaker 05

  And chose to pay that. But my point is, and it's a little bit of a tag along to OG saying, who knows how they come up with their numbers? I'm not sure they know how. But she, right off the bat, had authority to give me like a 45% discount. Yeah. So I sat on the bill for a little bit and got a big discount, allegedly.

• 52:26Speaker 02

  We received a question in the basement for a different, but related question that I wanted to make sure that we covered as well, which was someone had a monster hospital bill and wasn't able to pay it, was asking about that, asking in particular about a recent episode where we covered that. Stacky Benjamins 1808, just put in SB 1808 into any search engine and you'll find how she eliminated a $43,000 hospital bill. You guys remember this. This was Amani Vance, who was a young Coast Guard person who ended up with appendicitis

• 53:06Speaker 02

  and had an eventual appendix removal, but had a huge $43,000 bill. And she actually got help from a nonprofit that helped her eliminate that bill, which was really important, I think, for a lot of people. That group was called Dollar Four. This is definitely a different situation. Amani didn't have any money just out of, you know, not that far out of high school and all of a sudden has this huge bill. So dollarfor.org was the organization, the nonprofit. All right. We're going to end this one with a caller. Apparently this one is, if that was Wonder Woman, Doug, apparently this is Batman. So instead of doing a bat signal, they decide to call us, which I think is more appropriate.

• 53:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's the right move.

• 53:53Speaker 02

  A hundred percent. Uh, Batman, apparently looking into company stock, or Bruce Wayne, rather.

• 54:02Speaker 06

  Hey, Joe and OG, long time listener, first time caller. Got a question about my employer's potentially unique stock purchase program and curious about your thoughts. My employer, a private employee owned company, lets me buy company stock once a year. Let's say last year they offered me up to 5,000 shares at $8 a share. The minimum down required is 10% and they will loan the rest of the amount at the lowest allowed IRS rate. No payment due until vesting, prepayable anytime with no penalty. The stock is illiquid, no public market, the company is the only buyer and gains are taxed as capital gains as sale. I'm pretty confident in the company's future and they've performed very well historically,

• 54:47Speaker 06

  but I know it's not the same as low risk. I'm curious your thoughts on how does this rank against my other investing and saving priorities? How does it compare to putting the, for example, 4,000 down into a normal diversified portfolio instead? And how many shares do you think I should buy? And should I put more than the 10% minimum down? Curious to hear your thoughts and love the show. Thanks.

• 55:13Speaker 02

  Great question from Bruce, from Bruce Wayne. OG, he can borrow money to get into his ESPP, but it's a private company. How should he think about this?

• 55:24Speaker 03

  Well, and he's borrowing it from the company itself, right?

• 55:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 55:27Speaker 03

  At a pretty attractive rate. So here's the thing, the narrower the company or the smaller the company, the better the expected rate of return needs to be for it to make sense. So my question would be what, you know, what's the historical performance of this organization? And is it on par with the risk associated with investing in this organization? For example, if they said, hey, you can buy $40,000 of company stock, we'll lend it to you, you can write a check, whatever you want. And historically, we grow at a really awesome five and a half percent rate of return. It's fantastic. It's really great. I'd be like, hmm, five and a half percent return. I could get that in US Treasuries

• 56:07Speaker 03

  right now. That's backed by the entire United States. Or I can have it with this company that's backed by exactly nothing. Right? That's not a good risk return profile. What I would expect to see is they're probably growing at 18 or 20% a year, you know, or 15% a year, something that's higher than publicly traded markets. The other question that I would have as you're thinking about this is what's the end goal? Like, where do we go with this share ownership? Do they have a process for liquidation in the future? Do they have a simple formula for how do they consider the share price? It sounds a lot like a phantom stock plan type of concept. And maybe it's a employee stock ownership

• 56:48Speaker 03

  plan type of program, not an employee stock purchase plan. Those are different ESPP versus ESOPs. Maybe it's that, but I would want to know like, okay, cool. So I invest in this. I love the company. I love the direction we're going. Like, how do I get out? Like, what happens? And a lot of times they'll say, oh, well, we have mandatory distribution starting at this time when you reach age 60 or when you retire, you have 90 days, we liquidate, you know, like, I want to know what the process is for the backend. So assuming that the rate of return historically has been good, assuming that you believe in the organization and that you're going to be there for a little while, I think it's a very attractive proposition to be part of the organization that you're helping to grow. You know, like you're, when you're an owner, you're going to want to get after it a little

• 57:30Speaker 03

  bit harder. And that's part of the value that they're hoping that you get out of the fact that you're a shareholder is that, you know, we're going to grow faster because we got all the oars in the, in the water row and in the same direction. Those would be my restrictions or, you know, just some questions like, what's the backside look of this? Borrowing the money from the company at a favorable interest rate also is fairly attractive. Not super unique. That's pretty common, especially when you're talking about large dollar purchases. And then obviously you just have to look at it from your own personal financial standpoint. Like, do you even have the money to do it? Can you afford to have another loan payment come out of your paycheck every month? Or is this going to affect your other savings opportunities, that sort of thing? So that's something to consider as well.

• 58:12Speaker 02

  Yeah. The first thing I was thinking about was if this were a public company, would you buy this versus getting cash, right? From the company, number one. Number two is especially because it's private OG, you don't have any way to look at the books. You don't have any way to look at any of the public information. That's not going to be available for you. It's going to be more of a struggle to make a decision. And then third is, I think, sizing it correctly. Like, how do I buy the right amount of this, which you alluded to as well? By the way, we did a whole episode just on buying individual stocks versus sticking with index funds. In general, that was Stacky Benjamins 1899. Should you graduate from index funds to individual stocks? That's a roundtable discussion. Brian

• 58:56Speaker 02

  Feraldi joined us and it's interesting because he teaches people about individual stocks. And for most people, OG, of course, he said, no, you just want to still stay away from individual stocks as much as possible. But I think they do a lot of great framing. So you may want to use that as a resource. Hey, thanks, everybody for the questions. We still have some more questions. So we're going to have another one of these soon. If you, though, would like us to answer your question, it's stackybenjamins.com/yelledownsstairs. StackyBenjamins.com/yelledownsstairs. Or you can just go.

• 59:28Speaker 02

  More meats, more questions.

• 59:31Speaker 02

  And if that's too much, just go to stackingbenjamins.com/voicemail. That will also get you there. Big thanks to everybody who called in and made today's special episode. We appreciate you very much. And it sounds like our stackers doing some wonderful things from buying a car to helping a kid with NIL to, you know, negotiating with hospitals, which I think is important. The employee stock ownership program or employee stock purchase program. Some really cool stuff you're all doing.

• 59:59Speaker 05

  If you're calling in, in the future, if you're calling in with maybe medical related, we don't need the details. I didn't need to hear like popped the shoulder back and play. Like my stomach turns over. Let's just talk about the billing. I don't need to know how much blood there was or how dislocated things are.

• 1:00:19Speaker 02

  Doug is a little queasy, but man, I gotta say, just knowing that that's all that had to happen for that amount of money. We're in the wrong business. Yeah. All right, Doug. We go to you now. What should we have learned on today's episode?

• 1:00:33Speaker 05

  Well, Joe first, take some advice from you and OG. If you have a unique situation, get professional help. Playing volleyball for a school and getting NIL money? That's pretty much the same thing as being the host of an award winning personal finance podcast. And I've gotten help from a pro as well. My pro, but therapist, by the way, says I'll still be okay. Just stick with the program. I mean, the professional helps really, really paying off. It will eventually. Second, buying a car. First, get the total price of the vehicle and don't fall prey to talking monthly payment. Work on payments after you've locked down the price of the car. But the big lesson, never ever tell these guys you're thirsty

• 1:01:16Speaker 05

  for a shirt. That'll be the last you ever even get to sniff that incredible smell of new cotton right out of a plastic bag. Come on, guys. Let me sniff the shirts. That's all I'm asking for. I won't even try to put it on. Did that sound right?

• 1:01:33Speaker 05

  Huge thanks to you for helping us make today's episode. Want to have Joe and OG dive into your question? Call it in at stackingbenjamins.com/ y'all downstairs.

• 1:01:46Speaker 05

  This show is the property of SB Podcast LLC, copyright 2026, and is created by Joe Saul Sehi. 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. 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 Benjamin Show.

• 1:02:36Speaker 02

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• 1:03:59Speaker 02

  need the right person to cut through the chaos, that's a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And guess what? Our stackers are going to get a $75 sponsored job credit. That's you to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com/podcast. Just go to indeed.com/podcast right now and support stacking Benjamins by saying you heard about Indeed in mom's basement. Indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.

• 1:05:19Speaker 02

  Welcome to the after show, the part of the show that doesn't exist. If you're new here, this didn't happen. We didn't have this discussion. No need to talk about it. It is purely a figment of your imagination. Today's after show, by the way, may not be appropriate for young children. So you may want to, may want to stop the show and listen to this with your earbuds on before you listen. We're not going to swear, but might not be appropriate. If you're also somebody looking for financial talk, generally this is not the place. We're talking movies. We're talking fun. We're talking board games. I know how much OG likes talking board games. So we make sure that he gets his board game fix in. That's important.

• 1:06:04Speaker 02

  But today, OG, especially for you, you just went to Disney again, had a great time.

• 1:06:11Speaker 03

  I mean, three and a half months ago. So I guess that qualifies as just.

• 1:06:16Speaker 02

  But I saw this, I saw this piece. You know how at Disney, the music is always engaging and upbeat. Like, listen to this.

• 1:06:41Speaker 02

  You know, the Disney parades and all the Disney upbeat music.

• 1:06:44Speaker 05

  Little bit of Monica in my life, a little bit.

• 1:06:51Speaker 02

  It's just how you just feel your body start to move and you get really excited. Well, one dad that I saw on Tik Tok recently just went to Disney. This is kind of what many of us are thinking as you're fighting the crowds at Disney with that upbeat music.

• 1:07:20Speaker 05

  I would lose my mind in that place. I can't stand it when a group of people walk down like three and four wide down a sidewalk. Just, I have to say something under my breath as I walk by, hoping they hear me.

• 1:07:34Speaker 02

  It just drives me crazy.