Funny Money with Comedian Josh Johnson: Senators Smooching, Lifestyle Creep and the Mental Gymnastics of Financial Goals

21:31It's like, OK, is this person making twelve dollars an hour? Then they probably, especially in a city like Chicago, they might not be able to afford to set aside like, you know, 30 percent of their income for investments or something like that. Like she was giving good advice. Don't get me wrong. But it was like it wasn't for you. Yeah. At the time. Yeah.

21:50Nicole Lapin:So you grew up in Louisiana. You moved to Chicago. You landed in New York. Besides eating some sketchy pizza, what's the wildest thing you did to save money? To save money. OK. I did this. This is. Yeah. I know you won't judge me. Judge me. But you. I'll make low key judge you. Yeah. Whenever people you tell people certain things, they do look at you differently after it. Um, there was a time where we were like pinched for enough pennies that my roommate and I were like, all right, we're just going to wear all of our clothes. We stretched it out to the point where we were basically didn't have money for the laundry downstairs.

22:39And so we were like, we're just going to wear all of our clothes as many times as we can. We won't stink. But like we did get down to like our actual suits. Like it was like it was like we're going to wear everything that we can to hold off this$1.25 for as long as possible. and what what usually would have been us like doing the laundry um you know every once a while we stretched it out for like a couple weeks longer because we were like oh yeah i never wear this shirt i never wear these pants and like our outfits didn't make sense nothing like nothing nothing matched forget matching outright and then finally um we were like okay it's time and we started washing our clothes and then we realized that we had saved nothing because now we had more clothes to wash.

23:36So it was like, all right, we made it through one payday. So we have the money. But like, it was one of those things where I was like, oh yeah, I don't know if I should move back to Louisiana.

23:45Nicole Lapin:I mean, my question on that is who was the judge? Who was the arbiter of stink? We were each other's, we were like each other's monitor. Wow. Yeah. And so luckily, made it through all guys yeah yeah i know i know so it does seem it seems like the barrier would be too low but it was actually pretty high because we were really trying to do each other a favor and so there were a couple times where i had to be like don't i thought what you were gonna say was you put on all your clothes so you didn't have to check a bag which is actually on my way to New York what my husband did kind of is put his backpack underneath his jacket and then brought another carry-on so that we didn't have to yes pay for yes check another thing so you've done that too easily easily that I okay yeah now we're now yeah now it's all out there I've also the The first winter I had in Chicago, I did just wear three layers top and bottom to not buy the coat yet because I didn't have the money for like a nice winter coat.

24:58Nicole Lapin:Yeah. So I did triple up on layers and then I've tripled up on layers for the flight, like what you're talking about there. I feel like as far as layers go, I've done it all. Now that you have made more money, you're able to operate the laundry at your leisure, order delicious pizza, I assume. Sure, yeah. So what's your relationship with money now? I think that now I understand the tool side of it a bit more. I think that, you know, so much about money in the way that people have a relationship with it before you feel like you've caught up or you can at least take a breath is so much more about survival.

25:49It's like, you know, to me, it's very much in the same category as like water. If there are people who are dying of thirst, they don't think of water as a as a tool, the way that they use dams to to power things and stuff like that. It's like water can be this tool, you know, but you can only picture it as one thing when you're when you're so thirsty. And I think that when I was once again, like when I was like really broke, I didn't see how money could be anything other than just like a vehicle to literally just survive. And now I think I have a better understanding of the ways that that people use money to improve their life for their future and everything like that.

26:34But I also think I have a much deeper understanding of how money has corrupted some people and how and how so much of greed is unnecessary. And I think that those things to me were kind of apparent when I was broke. And I'd look at people who who had a lot and weren't willing to part with any of it or felt like they needed so much more. But it's only like now that I get a real appreciation and understanding of what of what like greed actually is. And so I do everything in my power to not let myself become greedy and to even if even if I see it somewhere to try to hopefully address that underlying issue that is the cause of someone's greed.

27:21You know, I think that it's it's so easy to be like, oh, if you have a lot of money, you must have cheated or you must be doing something that you're not supposed to be doing or you must not be paying people well or whatever the things are. And some of those things definitely exist. But I also think that so much of our education around money, some things get taught as just good business sense and not greed or just good business and not exploitation. You know, at our absolute most pragmatic of what would get us from point A to point B, which is, let's say we have a startup and we want this billion dollar company.

27:59Well, the things that would within within some reasonable distance of what is legal, the things that will help us double down on all of our efforts and get to that money the quickest are going to be some form of exploitation. It is going to be some form of getting people to sign contracts that maybe if you read a little closer, it takes advantage of their of their efforts instead of like like fairly compensates them and everything. And then when you see that out in the world, you'll actually see a lot of people defend it as like just pragmatic business or just good business. But we've also seen, whether it's from other countries or other points in our own history as a country, where companies have been able to work in a way that really did benefit themselves, the workers at large.

28:48Like, I don't think that this sort of like consolidated effort around like one individual's goals is the way it has to be. And I think that now I'm I've made enough money to be able to take that deep breath, not just be surviving, look around, look at the way things are and just see that. Yeah, that thing right there is just greed or this thing is like, all right, the optics don't look great, but I see how they landed here. Or these people are actually doing the best they can with what they have.

29:24Nicole Lapin:To continue your analogy, you're now satiated. You're not thirsty and dying for water. So what's your hydroelectric dam, the equivalent? I think I think like food insecurity is probably one of the wildest things to have as a problem in a nation like the United States. I think that whether it's food deserts or it's just people not having access to healthy food, those things to me are like medieval level problems considering the technology that we have and the way that we're able to live on a certain tier. Like there's there's people who whether you want to call them like the top 10 percent of earners or whatever in the U.S.

30:10It's like the way that that they can live where they have so many choices around their food and so many choices of how their food is even sourced. I think that those things could very well become something that's. Accessible for way more people than than there are right now. And I think that a good example is you look at a sort of McDonald's. Right. And McDonald's will say they'll send out a spokesperson to say, well, look, you know, people have choices when it comes to food. We don't make anybody eat our food. And we also provide some healthy choices. It's just that these are the things that people like.

30:47And it's like on on an even enough playing field. All that is completely fair. All that's like. Yes. True. Free will. But love that for us. What ends up happening is you see when McDonald's goes in these places that are the sort of like food deserts or how there there is competition and not just competition from a from a business standpoint. But there are people who don't want McDonald's in a school. They're like, look, I understand the kids can make their choices, blah, blah, blah. But you're McDonald's and you also market to kids and you also you should you shouldn't be in the school. If the kids want you that bad, then they can ask for some McDonald's when I pick them up from school.

31:30But you being alone with with my kid in school and my kid choosing you every day is like that's a choice that you shouldn't lay lay at a kid's feet. Right. And so now there's going to be people who want the McDonald's out of the school. McDonald's wants to stay in the school. And so if I'm if I'm saying my goal is to give everyone as much access to healthy food as possible. It's like I'm going to at some point butt heads with McDonald's probably, you know, and and look, maybe not. Maybe maybe I'm completely wrong about this. And McDonald's would be like, oh, we had no idea the cholesterol. Oh, we'll back off.

32:07That's our bad. But I think that I I look at food as a thing that is like it's a yeah, it seems like an insurmountable thing to tackle. But I think that it's it's possible with the right efforts. And, yeah, I would hopefully be able to contribute to that. It's not as if people aren't already out there doing the work all the time. It's just I would like to figure out something that maybe hasn't been done yet and apply that.

32:37Nicole Lapin:Well, Josh, I love and probably I messed up this analogy, but the hydroelectric dam for me was like, what would you buy? Like, what's the fanciest thing you would buy? And you were like, I'm going to fix food insecurity. You are a good dude. You're a good man, Josh Johnson. I do my best. I mean, I'll say this. Okay. If I had to buy a thing, let's see. I moved into a new apartment and bought furniture. No. Not furniture. I'm saying, you know what I mean? Like, who knows? Some of it was actually. It got you in some trouble. My girlfriend actually saved us a ton of money because she got a couch for free.

33:18Like a new couch. Love her. Yeah, she, no, she's incredible. She's always getting the deals, which is also part of why I don't end up spending crazy money. There's probably things that would be very juicy on the list, but she probably, I don't know, she probably got it for free. So then.

33:33Nicole Lapin:I love her. Yeah, she's great. Oh, yeah. No, she's amazing. Well, I've heard you say, and you've quoted your friend's joke, saying that you just want enough money so that two senators would kiss. Oh, yeah, to make two senators kiss. Do you believe that? Is that what you want? I don't even know how much that is. You know, it's a little disappointing because I feel like that's a much cheaper number than people would be imagining. How much is it? And who are the senators? I haven't picked yet. Hmm. Well. I think maybe. Time is now. Maybe. Okay. You got to have Fetterman in there. Maybe Fetterman and Lindsey Graham.

34:18Wow. Yeah. Yeah. They'd have the height difference. They have the beauty and the beast thing going. That'd be incredible. But how much would that go for, do you think? I don't know. Probably like$20 ,000. I have no idea. Like, truly, like you, I don't know. You look at some, look, maybe some people's convictions genuinely just change over time. But I think that whenever people are becoming advocates for everything that they actually ran against within their term, There has to be like some sort of lobbying or some sort of money involved. And so I look at like a Kristen Sinema or something and I'm like, all right, you changed a lot pretty quickly.

34:57And it doesn't seem like I don't know her finances or anything. Maybe she's doing very well, but it seems like all she got out of it were those outfits. Like, I feel like for the most part, American house reps and senators are incredibly cheap to buy. It's like you look at Eric Adams. Eric Adams was probably one of the easiest. You just needed tickets to Turkey and you can get Eric Adams to do you a solid. Like if you're an elected official, you should be so hard to bribe. Moral convictions aside, you should be like, no, I'm giving you at least with what was it? Was it Menendez or who was it in Illinois who got like gold bars?

35:36That's what they caught it with was gold bars. Like actual Looney Tunes corruption is a type of corruption you need to be on if you are an elected official.

35:45Nicole Lapin:Have you been surprised like when you've seen and you don't have to go into it or we could bleep it out or whatever you want to say. Like when you've seen like one of these big juicy TV money wires hit. Have you been like. Damn. Honestly, no. It's like, you know, what's funny about it is that you luckily I've been blessed enough to be writing for long enough that honestly, even getting that step up and increase in pay, it was like an adjustment I felt ready to make because it was happening at the same time as other things were coming in. So it wasn't like there was just one big check that changed my life or anything like that.

36:32I also feel like, if anything, I didn't really start investing and didn't have the money to invest until I was about 29 and so I'm still feel relatively new and and fresh to like a lot of the tools and everything so I'm fingers crossed I'm just getting started as far as that that stuff goes but if anything what um what made me what gave me that reaction more so than any like one check was actually uh getting the returns on a structured note because that's when I was like, oh, geez, I don't know if this y 'all. I don't know if this is good.

37:14Nicole Lapin:He just pulled out structured note. Yeah. But this thing about structured note is that I think if if more people knew what it was, I think more people would be upset more than just want one. Do you have me like like I I understand that there's still risk with a structured note. But like the upside is so high that if you are investing and you don't have enough money for a structured note, like let's say I'm 25 again and I just have my poison pizza and like 18 extra dollars. I don't have structured note like access. OK, so let's pause for one moment. So first of all, starting at 29 is awesome to start investing.

37:54Nicole Lapin:Second of all, you have a friend that you can call at literally any time. Third of all, structured notes are basically principle protected products. There's all sorts of varieties of them. You get your principle protected. There's a downside cap and an upside cap. Continue. But I guess the issue is that when you are a regular investor, retail investor, whatever, you are in a position where you can't protect your principle. And I think that more people, if they if they were aware of what a structured note was, would be furious about the idea that people who already have this chunk get to protect their chunk and participate.

38:34And then people who have anything less than that chunk are like more on the hook for how the market behaves. And so I think just just from a place of more so fairness than from a place of like incredible gains, I was like really shocked.

38:54Nicole Lapin:I think the analogy for me on that one is like the more famous you get, the more stuff you get for free. Sure, sure. So you have to pay for stuff. And then when you can afford the stuff, you get it for free. Yeah. Which is upsetting to the people who don't have the money to pay for the product. That's very, very fair. I mean, right now, I'm at a level where the only things I really get for free are fries and napkins. If I go somewhere and somebody recognizes me. They go together. They go together exactly. I tell my husband all the time. They're important to go together. But when I tell you what I'm out with friends and we got to wait in a long line and they're like, tell them who you are.

39:41I'm like, I don't think they know. I also already spoke to them. So that was their moment to notice if they were going to know.

39:47Nicole Lapin:You got a napkin. I got a napkin too. Extra couple napkins with a wink too, which means that's how I know they're giving me the napkins because it's me. And I'm like, oh, thanks. Well, you're killing the game. So structured notes. Awesome. OK. Okay. Hell yeah. I will say, to be fair, I'll just put a small asterisk here for anyone listening who's confused about structured notes. We don't get into them often in the show. They're a little bit more advanced, but they're similar to what somebody can buy as a bond or treasury or CD. And those are accessible. Yeah. Yeah. FYI. No, that's fair. That's very fair.

40:27I feel like as far as like the actual financial instruments go, I'm like just dipping my my toes in. And then I try not to be I mean, you're very good about not being doom and gloom. Like sometimes I'll see something and then you'll have a post about it. That is like either the reason not to panic or the actual upside. But that being said, I'm I don't know. Oh, yeah, 100 percent. But I don't know what to think of this whole SpaceX thing. It does make me very nervous.

41:01Nicole Lapin:Why? Because I think that there is a large amount of speculation to the point of like fraud. Like we are doing NFTs again, but now with AI in a way where a company that was about to have a ton of layoffs because they did some overhiring and it's that seasonal thing of like we, you know, they bulk up for winter and then they get lean in the summer or whatever. They now get to do that with the at least the intentional misdirection of doing it because they're leaner because of A.I., which isn't really the reason they did it. Like they are laying people off that they lay people off seasonally. You can look back 10 years and it's like every year Microsoft does a little shedding.

41:52But now they get to be like, oh, we're just leaner because we replaced all these people with A.I. And it's like, OK, maybe that's true, but there's a high likelihood for a lot of companies doing it that it's not. Then they also have these these products that they use. There's like a there's like a self-imposed in the markets and in a lot of industries. A thing of like we use our AI tools, even if they aren't working and even if our current staff have to work around the bugs in the system. So what is being offered isn't actually better and it's not improving lives just yet. I'm not saying it's not going to get better, but just like for what it is right now.

42:31So to invest off of that, like that's the reason to me that so many people are comparing this to the sort of dot com bubble, not dot com in that we stopped using the Internet. Obviously, the Internet got bigger. We use it more than ever. But, you know, was it pets dot com was not like viable because it just because they put dot com things that are A.I. aren't viable just because they're they say AI like you see what happened with was it all birds or fly bird or whatever and they went from a shoe company to like now they're like oh we're an AI company and then their stock went up and it's like that type of that type of thing is dangerous to me so I think that there are bubble like qualities within the space for sure uh so it's yes and like

43:15Nicole Lapin:it technology that's going to be transformative yes and are there bubble qualities yes and are There are crazy SPVs and all sorts of charlatans that are coming out of the woodwork. Yes. So I think both things can be true with AI. So it sounds like you're not buying any of these IPOs right now. Yeah. I mean, I feel like, you know, I don't think I would buy just because I'm OK, you know, to what we talked about before. I'm OK making a little bit less money if I can understand it. You know, like, I don't know if I should jump in the water with a thing that is a trend that's making a lot of people a lot of money because I also won't know when to get out of the pool.

44:00Like, I won't know when the drain has been pulled and like, you know, now people are getting sucked to the bottom and drowning or whatever. Like, I personally feel like, OK, maybe I don't get why Jim and I make sense. But, you know, maybe maybe I won't invest. And that's OK because I didn't get it anyway. And so I think that.

44:21Nicole Lapin:this is an important lesson if you don't understand it don't put your money in it yeah because i think anything i'm missing out on it's like am i missing out because i wouldn't even understand why i got the money you're like like if i invested and then the ipo just like skyrocketed i think i'd be like all right that's good i think and then i then whether or not i stayed in would be according to some like sunken cost or or some belief that it was going to go even higher, but not anything connected to like a tangible understanding of what I'm investing in. So I don't know that that's why it makes me nervous.

44:59And I'm also nervous that it would pull a lot of the market down with it.

45:02Nicole Lapin:You're nervous about a lot of things I was going to say, by the way, your original definition to me about whether or not you're safe with your money. Start talking about the straight of Hormuz and like all this stuff. And by the way, like, no offense, Josh, I love you. I've loved you a long time. If something happens, if there's a war, you're not the only one whose tour is going to be affected. Oh, 100%. No offense. Like, I think it's going to. No, no. By the time they get by the time I'm affected, we're all in a bad way. I guess I'm just more thinking about, like, what would I do? Because I don't know how to grow food.

45:37So, like, what would I do next? Seamless. Seamless. Yes.

45:42Nicole Lapin:So I loved that the first time you were on the show, you really broke down the business of comedy. We're going to link that in the show notes so you can see where you're making money, where you're not making money. If somebody is an aspiring comedian, we do a segment called Funny Money on the show with comedians. So I'm going to be the money part. I'm going to give you some headlines. OK. And you as the funny expert are going to give me your take. Are you ready? OK. Man went viral after asking his date for a refund after their unsuccessful first meetup. He paid for her drinks on their first date.

46:19Nicole Lapin:And a few days later, he asked to go on a second date and she declined. In response, he asked her if she could Venmo him back for the payment for her drinks. Whose side are you on? I'm definitely on the woman's side because I've seen a thing like this happen before. My friend once went out with a guy and it wasn't working out. And after like two, three weeks, she was like, hey, I don't think we're meant to be. And he was like, well, you owe me forty five sixty two. What? And then she was like, what? And did she count her? No, no. She was like, well, you owe me three hundred dollars for my everything, hair, all that stuff.

46:55She didn't even get there because she didn't know where this number came from. But this number came from him getting her breakfast burritos. And he had counted up the italian, the breakfast burritos. And it was like in my head, I was like, all right, but what have y 'all been together longer? Do you know what I mean? Like, is he just is he just has so little faith in his own relationship that he tallyed every day in case six months or not, she's like, it's not working out. Well, you owe me twelve hundred and sixty five. Wow. So, yeah, no, I I feel like. So in those cases, you got to just understand that, you know, when you go out on a date, you're making this investment in the person that you're on the date with.

47:38And sometimes investment has no return. Kind of like an AI IPO. I don't know. I don't even know what I'm saying is right.

47:47Nicole Lapin:A woman says she cut over$15 ,000 in grocery costs in two years by going on frequent dates and letting her partners cover the bill.

47:59Nicole Lapin:What do you think of this strategy? And is this how we close the wage gap? I mean, this would actually be phenomenal if the first person met up with the second person like that. Wow. You got to bring people together. um okay 15 thousand dollars is a lot of money and i don't know even expensive dates i'm not that good with math but even at dates that are like 150 or like how much are you unless they are taking you the actual grocery store how many times are you going out because you got to be going out to eat quite a while because even over two years,$15 ,000. $7 ,500 a year. Yeah. I guess my thing is$7 ,500 a year, but you're only counting them taking care of your portion though.

48:55Like she's not saying that the whole date was this much. She's saying her part of it was this much.

49:00Nicole Lapin:That she saved on her grocery cost. Yeah. You're like, I need more receipts. It's a lot of days. And it's like that to me is like just just dates like it didn't work out with anybody. Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I feel like there's probably some therapy that would help you have that 75 covered by one person. If she went out with dude number one, she would have to. That was a loan. Oh, he would sue. He'd sue 100 percent. Victoria's Secret stock soared nearly 48 percent after swapping its ticker from VSCO to VSXY. With that case study, when OpenAI IPOs, what should their ticker symbol be?

49:50I don't know. I feel like whenever I see stuff like this, I'm like, men shouldn't have money. That to me is like the idea. Yeah. Just like, oh, wow. This I bet you this one's good. You know, it's like things like this and NFTs was what I was like. Oh, yeah. Like never never mind, like closing any sort of wage gap on some sort of moral standard or just like a like a an understanding of what what people's labor is worth, like job for job, effort for effort. But also just like, this is what we do. Like as guys, I'm like the NFTs and then stuff like this, because I guarantee you, it's like 12 ,000 dudes that were like one of the IP.

50:36One says sexy. I've always heard that sex sells. And so we should probably put thousands of dollars into that. Meanwhile, it's the same company. Nothing has changed but the letters. And it. Oh, Lord. OK.

50:51Nicole Lapin:But that's also like the stuff that goes into Tesla with all those nerds that are like, here's the fart mechanism. Yeah. Here's the whatever. No, 100%. I think OpenAI. Mad Max mode. Yeah, yeah. Now look, Mad Max mode, you will get a couple extra people who are like, this is awesome. I'm getting one out. I think OpenAI should be. Like nerd. O-A, dollar sign, dollar sign. No, no, you can't do dollar sign. But if you were able to do dollar sign, dollar sign, that would get all the money. They'd be like, there's literally a dollar sign in this one. I have to go with this one. The market says so. We'll allow it.

51:33Yeah. What were you thinking? Like NERD? NERD would work. I like yours. I mean, whatever the first IPO is to get a dollar sign in it.

51:43Nicole Lapin:It's going to crush. We're already like barely serious anymore as a market. As a society. So, like, why would we not just let the dollar side slip in? Totally agree. That's the best idea I've heard. Really? Take it to the SEC. Let's fucking go. Okay. A woman was scammed out of$80 ,000 after being catfished by someone who used AI deepfakes of soap opera actor Steve Burton. Have you ever fallen for a deepfake scam or a scam? I've definitely fallen for scams before. But as far as an AI deepfake scam, I don't know if I interact with enough people that I buy things from to have that happen. Like I'm sure that I one of the reasons I don't argue online, like I don't like if we want to have a like a conversation in person, happy to talk something out or even even if people are mad at me, happy to have a conversation.

52:49But one of the reasons I don't engage with like a lot of keyboard. Yeah, because you now don't know if they're real. So it's like obviously people get upset about things and if enough people are upset, then clearly real people are upset about this thing. But then if it's like when someone's just trying to straight up pick a fight, you don't know if that's a real person. And so I try to avoid some of the deep fakes by not engaging in like too much of an argument. But. That also probably means I've been swayed by a couple of deep fakes now that I think about it. If someone has something nice to say, I'll hear him out.

53:34And that that probably has led me to be there's probably a couple of deep fakes out there. They're like, I think you're hilarious. And and I'm like, wow, I'm going to take that to the moon. I think the issue with this thing, especially is they target a lot of older people.

53:51Nicole Lapin:I know there's a special place in hell for people who scam the elderly. Yeah. It's like those people, especially the soap opera. Cause that's one. When soap operas come on, everybody's at work with soap operas. Come on. Like, like when you, when a soap opera is playing, you are doing your job, whether you are working in an office or you're like a stay at home mom or something like that. Everybody's working when the soap operas come on. So the only people who really have the time to notice who, What's his name? Oh, my God. Hold on. Steve Burton. OK. The only like Steve Burton stands are a bit are a bit older and they're watching to follow the plot line.

54:33Nicole Lapin:It's a great point. OK. Fifty four percent of Gen Z taxpayers said filing taxes has either brought them to tears in the past or expect it to next year. Have taxes ever made you cry? Easily. 100 years of joy i think okay you know what taxes feel like and and this is this is like in part why i do understand when people are so um like obviously passionate about how their tax dollars get spent it's your money but i think that tax dollars are a lot like if you've ever owed somebody money or no sorry if someone's ever owed you money and then you saw like an Insta post of them partying. Right. And you're like, what money did you buy the drinks?

55:21Because some of that got to be my money. And so then when you see your government doing things that forget disagree with things that you are actively like horrified by, you're like, oh, I paid for. Oh, that's insane. And so not only am I a little bit broker because I had to pay the taxes, but you're not even using it for a thing that like benefits me directly. Like if it was like if you named each pothole in New York after the person whose taxes paid for then you would see the thing you would be like oh thank you so much this person for a smooth road but because you don't see any of that and like especially on a federal level you just see uh you know whatever whatever the next like um uh insane project is you're like oh this this is devastating me twice because one you made me count which is also crazy you know how much i owe Tell me how much I owe.

56:16That makes me so mad. Like the fact that we don't have to live like this. We don't. They could just send us the bill. Everyone else sends a bill. The doctor will send you a bill. Your lawyer sends you a bill.

56:27Nicole Lapin:You're not like, you figure it out. How long was that clavicle surgery? Imagine if your doctor was like, I don't know, how hard do you think I worked? Maybe you should decide how much I get paid. And maybe if the number's wrong, I'll call the police. Like that's what it is. it's so infuriating so it's like you made me do the work and then you checked my work which means you had the number the whole time then you use the money to then do something insane and and and i don't get a say in that thing because i elected the people who did the insane thing through a totally different process where they said they wouldn't do any of the insane things and so i i feel like whether no matter which administration you're talking about no matter uh uh which time period you're talking about, there is a there is a level of heartbreak when you are doing all the math yourself.

57:24Yeah.

57:24Nicole Lapin:Heartbreaking. Yeah. I mean, many tears. That's actually a lower number than I thought it would be like 54 percent means that some Gen Z that we know what's probably happening as well is that with with so many companies leaning towards A.I., a lot of them probably don't have to really file. They probably just need a file to get their refund or something. Yeah. Who are these 46 percent? I mean, probably recent graduates. Like, did you see the thing where the CEOs that were giving the commencement speeches were getting booed because they were saying the AIs, the future? And it's like I've never seen somebody read a room worse than than like a CEO whose company is like how much for your brain?

58:09You just paid all this money and you're graduating. This is the party to celebrate you graduate. And it's like, y 'all, y 'all have nothing.

58:17Nicole Lapin:Turn on the light. You'll never have anything. AI's taking everything. I win, you lose. Like they were getting booed so hard. The Trump administration is reportedly pushing a prototype of a$250 bill featuring President Trump's face. Yeah. Would you want your face on any currency? No, no. I especially don't want the like Trump's face on any currency is already insane. But the face that they chose of him making is worse. Like, did you see the bill, the proposed bill? Yeah. And it's also the first living. Think I. It's the one where he's like, oh, do you have me? Like that's his you. You see your look.

58:59Yeah. Now it is. But he used to have that big old smile. Remember that that first term he had that big old smile like he was like he just got two scoops of ice cream and now he's got the steak on because he's a felon. And now he's over here. And that that to me is is gross.

59:19Nicole Lapin:I like you're like, it's fine, but just bring back the ice cream picture. No, no, I hate that one, too. I don't I don't know if I've made it clear, but I I really do. hate Donald Trump with a passion and everything they does. But I also think that it's weird that we got Donald Trump on money before Harry Tubman. Remember those Harry Tubman 20s that everybody was pitching? When I saw the picture, I was like, oh, this is a joke. And then I think this is a deep fake. Yeah. Yeah. And I saw Scott Bessett holding it and I was like, oh, maybe this isn't a joke. And then I heard about the news and I was like, it's sad that this isn't a joke.

59:55Nicole Lapin:Kentucky has piloted a big relocation package to recruit new workers. Many offer$5 ,000 cash along with perks such as discounts on child care and a free monthly delivery of eggs. How many free eggs would it take for you, Josh, to move to Kentucky?

1:00:20Nicole Lapin:Carry the one. OK, so look, I think eggs are not going to be enough. I'm sorry. I just I I've been to Kentucky. I've worked in Kentucky. I've no wonderful people from Kentucky. But to get me to move there, I don't think eggs is going to cut it. I also don't think like here's the$5 ,000 is a lot of money to help along with a relocation. But if it's a one time thing, I don't know. That's a no for you. Yeah. Yeah. There's no amount of eggs. Yeah. How many eggs would take you? I mean, it would take some like eggs, like fertility eggs for me. It would take a whole other eggs for me to go. Sure, sure.

1:01:10But still like six figures worth of eggs.

1:01:13Nicole Lapin:Oh, yeah. I did my Kentucky time. I'm good. That's fair. That's fair. I put in my time. What part did you live in? In Lexington. Oh, okay. WKYT. Yeah. 27 News 1st. Was that the tagline? I remember I saw one of your old reports from it. Oh, my God. It was like a part of a compilation thing that you made. No. Yeah. It was adorable. Thank you so much. I was like 18 years old. That's very impressive. Running around trying to make it in this world, you know? Why are you saying, oh, no? It was adorable. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. The station was on Manowar. All the streets were named after horses. Mm-hmm.

1:01:53Nicole Lapin:I didn't. Anyway. But yeah, they got a whole derby. They got a whole thing. Yeah. Horses make sense there. They totally make sense there. Josh, since you're a veteran of money rehab. Okay. You know that we end all of our episodes by asking our guests for one final money tip they can take straight to the bank. So what's one lesson that you've learned about money that you can share with our listeners? Because of what it takes to sort of like make it in the U.S., a lot of people have turned all their efforts into like, oh, I'm building a brand or I'm building like I'm treating myself like a business and everything.

1:02:31And I think that one of the most important things you can do is that while all that stuff may be happening on like some sort of external level, that may be how people perceive you. I think it's very important that you yourself remember that you are a person and that you need your days off and you need your time off and everything like that and that you also don't look at every opportunity that comes for just the money and don't get swept up in crazes. I think that once again, it's very easy to see the money that was made in like 2022 with NFTs or with certain cryptos and and feel like you're missing out.

1:03:19Like as an example, I definitely felt like I was missing out at the time. And now I look back and I'm like, well, I didn't know. I didn't understand it. Yeah.

1:03:26Nicole Lapin:Joy of missing out. Yeah. And then also, where's all that stuff now? Like all of it, because a lot of those JPEGs don't work anymore. Like a like a ton of them don't work anymore. And people pay thousands of dollars. And some of them just that broken link with the little, you know, the little like house and the green and the blue in it and stuff like that with a question mark. That's as much as your money is worth now. And so, yeah, I think I think engaging in some more joy of missing out, because I think that some of these crazes are, you know, people's money grabs. and to miss out on it completely.

1:04:06There's nothing like missing out on a scam. I don't know if you've ever had somebody scam next to you.

1:04:12Nicole Lapin:Not once, not ever. To be like, oh, I didn't fall for that thing, not even because I'm smarter. I'm very scammable. I've done many things where I'm like, wait, I didn't even know it was bad. I'm sorry. Please believe me. That's why sometimes I'm not even outside like that because I'm like, I don't want to get involved in anything. But I genuinely take the fact that I missed out on a lot of that stuff as a lesson for how I'm going to move moving forward. And a badge of honor. Yeah, to a degree. I don't do any bragging about it because they almost got me. As far as the NFTs go, they could have gotten me.

1:04:57All they would have needed was like. Like a nice Space Jam NFT, and I probably would have been in a bad way. Like, I'd probably be on money rehab for a totally different reason. You have me on the couch crying right now talking about how I owe somebody named Dexter online eighteen hundred dollars still to this day. like no no I don't badge of honor I pass that off to the people who just knew it was dumb from the beginning I was more like oh I don't get it and I think that that's a different thing that being too smart to be taken with it because they almost got me they really did I think if you if you had had like the Looney Tunes as the Spartans from 300 that's an NFT

1:05:46Nicole Lapin:I would have bought immediately I would have bought. I'd be in trouble right now. Nobody would be able to get me out of this hole. It'd be very bad. So, yeah, yeah, I'm I'm doing my best to just be content. I guess that's the other thing. Sorry. I know you're only supposed to have one. But if I could cheat real quick, I think the best money tip is is is like practicing being content, because once again, all the money that you need to survive is the most money that you need. But also, if they had made an NFT with like Bugs Bunny as Batman, had the ears coming out where Batman's ears come out and everything.

1:06:30He'd be done. Problems.