Watch the Nerds Sweat It Out: Hot Wings Meet Hot Money Takes (Video Episode)

8:00Sean Pyles:That's my hot take. That would be a nice little safety net.

8:04Elizabeth Ayoola:It would be.

8:05Sean Pyles:And it kind of reminds me of the Trump accounts that were announced. I didn't want to say that. Yes, but it's only for a very limited amount of time. It's$1 ,000. And it's essentially like a retirement account for kids that are born within like a year or so. But there aren't parameters. Excuse me. Spicy? Sorry. I don't want to interrupt your digesting.

8:33Elizabeth Ayoola:Just ignore me.

8:34Sean Pyles:No, I agree with you. I think that people aren't given a lot of financial education. We all know that. We talk about it a lot because we didn't have that growing up.

8:42Elizabeth Ayoola:What are your views on a trust? Oh, thank you so much. I personally have a trust for my son. I do not believe children or young people whose brains are not fully developed can handle large amounts of money unless they got that financial education from when they were younger and just have really good impulse control. So I like the idea of being able to determine the terms of when and how they receive that money. And I know that if I received an inheritance at the age of 20, it'd be all gone now. But if I received it now, now that I'm working and I have the education that I have, I know exactly what I would do with it.

9:20Sean Pyles:You've got that fully developed prefrontal cortex that kicks in when you're around 25. That's right. There you go.

9:27Elizabeth Ayoola:Now, what happens if they were able to pass your financial literacy course, but they just go ahead and blow the money? Then that's on them. We can't blame the government. It's not the government's fault. It's not capitalism fault anymore. that's on you right because you got the education you got um the funds and you still chose to blow it so all right how's that sauce elizabeth this is a trickster you were coughing earlier so it

9:51Sean Pyles:seems like but you're kind of liking it you're eating a lot it's heating up but i'm nigerian

9:55Elizabeth Ayoola:we eat really spicy food so i don't know if y 'all are gonna beat me i think two was spicier than

10:00Sean Pyles:three i was gonna say the same thing switch them yeah it's really good to me this seems like a good everyday kind of sauce yeah yeah i could have it on like eggs in the morning on tacos pretty versatile all right round four steven kick us off what's the sauce round four we have lucifer's last

10:15Elizabeth Ayoola:blast okay lucifer has uh if you can see that he has a fireball part so i mean i'm assuming this is something diarrhea kind of blast got it okay i'm liking this i think this is gonna be the

10:28Sean Pyles:one that's gonna break a sweat let's see i'm sweating currently i also need to take off my sweater why am i wearing this good idea yeah oh and it's taking a while to oh yeah this might

10:40Elizabeth Ayoola:it's thick for a blast oh okay oh it blasted let's see it blasted now this hot take right

10:52Elizabeth Ayoola:this one is good spicy this is the one okay well not really spicy but it is good okay not spicy

11:00Sean Pyles:What do you mean? Not yet. It has like a little tingle. I'm wondering if this is the kind of hot sauce that builds up over time. And then in a minute, you're going to be really sweating and regretting that you said it wasn't spicy. I don't know. This ain't Lucifer. It ain't as hot as they said.

11:14Elizabeth Ayoola:But we'll see. For the hot take.

11:17Sean Pyles:Yeah.

11:18Elizabeth Ayoola:I believe in the next, let's say, I'll do 15 years. Our, if the dollar is still present, I believe it's going to be backed by cryptocurrency. to tell why do you think this um we already have some plans in effect to make it a reserve so have a bitcoin reserve and then i think that if you look at a inverted chart right and you look at real estate versus let's say something like a bitcoin you can see that right now it takes way more dollars to purchase real estate but it takes less bitcoin to purchase real estate so i would just say that it's an asset that is getting really really huge right now and i think it might actually be the thing that can solve our issues with inflation oh this is a tricky for smart money

12:09Sean Pyles:we need to call an economist this is one that's we we are conservative when it comes to yeah i know i was just speaking i watched speaking with our producer who was saying that uh they were speaking with an economist saying that they predict crypto to... There we go. You tried the hot sauce. I think this will be the one. I think that kind of sums it up. That's going to happen to crypto. That's what's going to happen. According to many economist predictions.

12:42Elizabeth Ayoola:What you said.

12:46Sean Pyles:You know... Wow. Okay, okay. I just had my first bite of this.

12:53Sean Pyles:So the celery is certainly making everything a lot sweeter, but the physical effects of this burning in the back of my throat are really kicking in.

13:02Elizabeth Ayoola:I got you.

13:03Sean Pyles:You didn't get any of that? I'm from New Orleans.

13:05Elizabeth Ayoola:So this is just ketchup to you, basically. I've been eating crawfish my whole life. I'm solid. Elizabeth, your eyes are watering. I'm scared of you. No reaction. Yeah, you were completely unfazed by this, Stephen. I went to Vegas and tried every single hot chicken place that they put in front of me. Ghost pepper, whatever. It wasn't enough.

13:29Sean Pyles:So what do you do? I'm concerned. I don't know. Is your digestive system okay? Do you take a fiber supplement? You know what's crazy, though?

13:39Elizabeth Ayoola:I will probably still have the Lucifer later. But right now... It hurts. Have some more.

13:47Sean Pyles:I want to see how much you can have.

13:49Elizabeth Ayoola:Can you have another wing with Elizabeth? I'll save it for the last one. And then after we're done, I'll probably put some on the side.

13:55Sean Pyles:This because the third was probably my favorite. I think I need some more milk. Elizabeth, can you grab? We got some milk right out of frame.

14:05Sean Pyles:You're singing a little song over there. Ow, ow, ow. Did your lips do the thing?

14:12Elizabeth Ayoola:I can't talk right now.

14:15Sean Pyles:Just speaking through breaths and whispers. because Elizabeth's gone nonverbal over here.

14:21Elizabeth Ayoola:I also live in Vegas, too.

14:24Sean Pyles:Yeah, it's hot. It's hot. I don't get how people can live in places like that, the temperature. I say as we're in Scottsdale. It's too hot. I wear sunscreen, and I'm black. So you can imagine how hot that will be.

14:38Elizabeth Ayoola:Yeah.

14:39Sean Pyles:I'm choking on milk. Yeah. So you're taking precautions. You're saying that you're not impervious to all heat. The heat from the sun, you don't mess with that. But from hot sauce, you're not fazed? Hot sauce, no. Can I get my apple juice, please? I have some apple juice around here. Thank you, Hillary. The Hillary Georgia we shot out in the credits just passed me some apple juice. Thank you.

15:07Elizabeth Ayoola:Thank you.

15:09Sean Pyles:That's a tea. It's great. You want to sip? This is really helping. It's sweet. Get down that wing. There you go.

15:23Sean Pyles:Elizabeth is lightly shaking.

15:26Elizabeth Ayoola:Okay. Is it my turn or your turn? I think it's your turn.

15:30Sean Pyles:You know, do you want the honors of doing the spiciest one?

15:33Elizabeth Ayoola:What?

15:35Sean Pyles:It's my turn in that case. Oh, thank you, Shy. Our other producer, Shy, brought us some dry bagels. We were laughing at these bagels earlier. We said only a baby needs a bagel. We're the babies now.

15:45Elizabeth Ayoola:There's something reviving about the sauce. It just...

15:48Sean Pyles:It's exhilarating. It goes through your whole system. There's a adrenaline rush.

15:51Elizabeth Ayoola:Yeah. Okay. What's your hot take, Sean?

15:55Sean Pyles:I haven't even gotten to the hot sauce yet. Can you pass it? Oh, I did all that.

15:59Elizabeth Ayoola:You didn't have it yet?

16:00Sean Pyles:No.

16:01Elizabeth Ayoola:Oh, my God. What's the name of that one?

16:04Sean Pyles:This one is called Fervor. It has a Reaper chili, which I think is the hottest pepper, if not... It's one of the hottest peppers, if not the hottest. The hottest. The hottest. Okay. well 2.2 million on Scoville my producer tells me um and so Stephen I kind of want you to kick this off but it's my turn to do it I could this is the final sauce of the five and um and we'll see how it goes I think because this is the last one we gotta all share our spiciest take and Elizabeth um you know I wish you the best here you go Stephen you don't mean it I do. I sincerely, you know I look out for you. I let Elizabeth borrow my cardigan earlier because I'm so selfless.

16:51Elizabeth Ayoola:That was so sweet.

16:54Sean Pyles:Oh, I'm not worried. It's fine. Everyone in the background is saying too much sauce on this. And I say, we're fine. Okay. So, I kind of wait. I want us all to have it at the same time. Okay, Stephen just chomped right in. Well, you need twice as much as us just to get to the baseline. I'm sorry. You're good. You're good. It is good, though. It is good. I continue to be really concerned.

17:19Elizabeth Ayoola:No, I think you guys will really like this one. I think the last one was spicier, honestly.

17:23Sean Pyles:Ready, Elizabeth? Three, two, one. Right?

17:31Elizabeth Ayoola:Oh, that's milder. I deserve it. I almost died.

17:35Sean Pyles:Okay, it's starting sweet.

17:37Elizabeth Ayoola:Wait.

17:45Sean Pyles:yeah yeah i like it

17:53that one actually okay might be my favorite i think that one is the best one

17:59Sean Pyles:you know i'm still i'm liking the mango one the most um but this one i i was kind of expecting to be like I thought it was gonna yeah I was expecting this to really hurt your feet supposed to start tingling that's how you know it was good I think no okay okay okay I'm gonna give my hot take and it's also a structural one like you like uh you had earlier Elizabeth and it's that it's entirely too easy to get into consumer debt in this country everywhere you go you have debt options thrown at you in fact people who file for bankruptcy and right after they file for bankruptcy they are given loads and loads of credit card offers because the credit card companies know that they can't file for bankruptcy for another seven to ten years and that puts people into a lot of debt we're encouraged to use clarna at uh chipotle nowadays it's just ridiculous and i think

18:44Elizabeth Ayoola:it makes it too accessible you use clarna at chipotle i don't use i don't use clarna period but you can use buy now pay later for for uh food delivery so i know why later oh wow

18:55Sean Pyles:yes um and i think we just accept it as a given in how we manage our finances in this country and it's pretty twisted and puts people in a lot of serious problems and they can't get out of this debt.

19:07Elizabeth Ayoola:I think it's a problem when you use that for gas. I've seen that too now, where it's like you have to finance your gas.

19:13Sean Pyles:Yeah. That goes back to what you were saying earlier about income not keeping a pace with the cost of living.

19:19Elizabeth Ayoola:Yes.

19:20Sean Pyles:Elizabeth, you seem like you have some thoughts over there.

19:25Elizabeth Ayoola:Well, I mean, in a previous episode, I did say, I said, what did I say, Sean?

19:32Sean Pyles:You said that buy now, pay later can be a good tool for budgeting.

19:35Elizabeth Ayoola:Yeah.

19:35Sean Pyles:And you got some heat for that from listeners.

19:37Elizabeth Ayoola:I did get some real heat and there's heat in my mouth right now. And I still do think that buy now, pay later can be a useful tool for people who have self-control and for people who pay their payments in four. I don't know about Chipotle, but if you're struggling with your grocery bill or you have a big bill and you don't want to get charged interest on your credit card and you know that you can responsibly play in for, and FYI, give me a second, FYI, they will be included in credit scores come fall. I think that's very soon. So for people, this could be a tool that they can use, and I know I'm probably going to get more hate mail.

20:13Elizabeth Ayoola:That's all right. And, you know, in order to boost their credit score. However, I'm only saying this hot take for people who have a handle on budgeting and are not prone to impulse spending. But that's it. Yeah, I don't think you should rely on it, but it's a tool that you can use.

20:25Sean Pyles:And we've talked about how debt is just a tool, but it's so accessible that it's easy for a lot of people to get in over their heads and then spend years and years and years paying off this debt. Oftentimes for things that they may just need to get by like gas. Oh, my mouth is burning and, uh, and it's not right. And we shouldn't live with that, but we have to challenge you all to one more hot take.

20:46Elizabeth Ayoola:Yeah. If you had,

20:47Sean Pyles:um, allergies,

20:49Elizabeth Ayoola:this is what you would need. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a challenge. I'll take, can you take it?

20:55Sean Pyles:Give us what you got.

20:59Elizabeth Ayoola:I think. Well, no. No, that's not how it's going. Get you another celery. Get you another celery. You thought you wasn't going to take some more sauce? So, sis, for me, this was the spiciest one. Lucifer's last blood of wit. I can't talk. The wiki reaper sauce. This is going to be the finale. Okay?

21:16Sean Pyles:All right.

21:17Elizabeth Ayoola:I'm shaking a little, guys.

21:20Sean Pyles:I see your hands shaking, Elizabeth. Don't drop that bottle. I don't want to stain in your white sneaks.

21:26Elizabeth Ayoola:Thanks. always looking out close.

21:29Sean Pyles:Which one did you think was the spiciest, Steven? Definitely this one.

21:33Elizabeth Ayoola:This one was definitely the spiciest.

21:35Sean Pyles:You have yet to break a sweat. Your hands seem pretty stable. You're stronger than us. We have to say it. We have to acknowledge it.

21:41Elizabeth Ayoola:No, this is just training from youth. Okay. Alright, everyone. Final bites. Okay.

21:55Sean Pyles:No! The spirit has taken Elizabeth. Lucifer is in the building. I will note that Elizabeth is doing this completely of her own free will. She's not being coerced into doing this.

22:12Elizabeth Ayoola:Living life on the edge.

22:14Sean Pyles:You're a thrill seeker. You're an adrenaline junkie. We all know this. I might work with this later.

22:19Elizabeth Ayoola:Okay. That would be a good hot take. My final hot take is I think people should blow up their budget at least once in their life, especially people who are penny pinchers. Spend a dollar, okay? Or spend a hundred or spend a little more. So I'm not saying spend your way into poverty or a deep hole, but I do think that we need to remember that money is there to be spent. And also our relationship with our finances ebbs and flows. Sometimes we're doing everything perfectly. Sometimes we're not, right? Also, our budgets are very tied to seasons that we're in in life sometimes and how we spend our money.

22:54Elizabeth Ayoola:And sometimes you're going through a hard time and you overspend. But that doesn't need to be the end of the road. So spend a little money. Don't say Elizabeth told you to go spend all your money. I'm not telling you to go and spend all your money at the mall today. Or maybe I did just say that. Maybe it's the hot sauce talking. I don't know.

23:09Sean Pyles:Blow up your budget like you're blowing up your digestive system with this hot sauce.

23:13Elizabeth Ayoola:Oh, I got it. I got it. Set a budget for blowing up your budget. That's the hot thing.

23:18Sean Pyles:Responsibly irresponsible.

23:19Elizabeth Ayoola:I like that.

23:23Sean Pyles:Stephen, do you want to give us another? Do you have anything else?

23:26Elizabeth Ayoola:Let me see. Oh, well, this is probably not really a hot take, but I think that money is a construct. It's not real. The only thing that has value is labor. People are valuable. And that's it. I really think that it's the most fictitious thing, and it's just made up, and we all just are agreeing to the same lie. It's a shared fantasy. But yet we still got to pay that rent, don't we? Oh, dear.

23:58Sean Pyles:Did you know that credit actually existed before money did? Yes. Before we had dollars or whatever it was called back in Mesopotamia, we just had a credit system. And that's all it was built on is kind of trust with each other and also a tally system. Oh, my, this hurts. Well, thank you guys so much. This has been really quite a physical and mental experience, a test of our endurances in many capacities. And I think Elizabeth and I, we're going to have to go for a walk and get something to calm us down. I don't know if I'm going to make it. I don't know. Stephen, thank you for joining us on this.

24:35Sean Pyles:Your first time on the podcast. I'm sure we'll have you back. I do want to say that our opinions today are just our own personal opinions and are not a reflection of house views of the company NervWallet, Inc. So do not take them as such.

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26:04Sean Pyles:That's quince.com slash smart money for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash smart money. Today's episode is sponsored by Shopify. If you've been sitting on a business idea, Shopify makes it easy to make it happen. Everything you need to start selling is included and ready from day one.

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26:57Sean Pyles:That's Shopify.com slash smart money. We're back and answering your money questions to help you make smarter financial decisions. This episode, we're coming to you from a studio in Scottsdale, Arizona, where we're joined by a listener, Sandra, who has some questions about whether she should keep repairing her car or get a new one. Sandra, welcome to Smart Money. Thank you. It's great to be here. So talk with us first about Scottsdale. I've never been here before. Now there is Elizabeth. What's your favorite thing to do or what's something that is beautiful in Scottsdale folks might not be aware of?

27:27Yeah, well, Scottsdale is known for, I think, a couple of things. So hiking and golf.

27:32Sean Pyles:Okay. Yes, that tracks. Not golf. Okay, got it. Do you have any favorite hikes that you recommend? Everybody's pretty familiar with Camelback. So that is a good one. But be aware that it can tend to be a little traffic-y. Okay. So there is that and a bit more difficult as well. But it is very much fun. Cool. Well, let's dive into your questions. I want to hear about your car a little bit. What kind of car do you have and why are you thinking of getting rid of it? Yeah. So I have an Acura MDX. I have had the car for about nine years now. And it has a little over 92 ,000 miles on it. And it's overall in great shape.

28:12However, I did just take it for an oil change. And they did tell me that there's about$2 ,700 of repairs that I need to do. That aren't things that are necessarily wrong, but are things that based off of the mileage, I need to look into fixing. Oh, I've been there.

28:33Elizabeth Ayoola:I recently had that happen with my car issues as well. So is that the main driver for you wanting to change your car or thinking about it? Well, it's that as well as knowing that the next car that I would like to get is an EV. So the house that I just got in January does have solar and it's working very well for me. So I know that by utilizing that, I'd be able to save on gas.

29:00Sean Pyles:OK, so you're thinking maybe of making some quick moves and getting an electric vehicle. Is that right? OK. Yes, yes. But I'm also unsure when I think about opportunity costs based off of the looming tariffs that will at some point start to also impact the cost of a vehicle. But knowing that I am putting my savings into a high yield savings account right now. So which one is better to continue to save until I have enough money to just pay for it in cash? or based off of the current situation, thinking about the cost of the new car, but then outweighing what the current trade-in value is, how do I figure out what that perfect point in time is for me to get the new vehicle?

29:48Sean Pyles:Well, I love to hear that you have a high-ealth savings account. As you know, we're big fans of those on Smart Money. There are a few different rules of thumb that people consider when they're debating whether to trade in a car that needs maintenance or keep repairing it. And one is whether your repair costs are greater than the value of your car. So effectively your car is totaled. Another one is whether your repair costs would cost more than the monthly payment on a new car. And that might be kind of hard to hit because the average car payment for a new car in July of 2025 was just under$750.

30:21Sean Pyles:So you have a few thousand dollars of maintenance. A few months of a car payment would well surpass that. But you also, I mean, you might be a person who just likes having a new car. Is that you? Do you like trading in cars every so often? I don't. This is probably the longest that I've had a car. I do have my eyes out, though, for all the additional safety features that come with new cars, especially when I think about the EVs.

30:48Elizabeth Ayoola:And then what have kind of been, I'm curious to know your patterns, because I was going to ask you that earlier in terms of if you're the type of person who likes to drive a car into the ground. So what made you shift to keeping this car for nine years and how long have you kept your previous cars for? My previous car was a coupe. So it was two doors and I was pregnant with my first daughter. So I did not want to manage putting the car seat in.

31:13Sean Pyles:Not very practical. Not practical at all. So therefore, I got this vehicle as an SUV to be with me longer term. So it has treated me really well. I have not had a lot of car maintenance, but I did just put in January new tires on it and there was an additional maintenance expense. So I've already spent about twenty five hundred dollars this year. And an Acura, that's a luxury vehicle. Do you have to put premium gas in your car? You have to put premium gas. Yeah, correct. I have to put premium gas in my car and I feel kind of like an idiot every time I do it because I have a luxury vehicle, but it makes the car last longer.

31:51Sean Pyles:So it's well worth the money, just like any kind of repairs that you're going to be putting into your vehicle. It'll make it last that much longer. In doing some research into an Acura MDX ahead of this conversation, I saw that they actually have lower repair costs than other cars in that category. So you have a great ride there and they can last quite a long time. So I did some sort of cost benefit analysis numbers myself. So buckle up, no pun intended, because I have some things for you to think about here. So your car has like 92 ,000 miles on it, right? It's about 10 years old is what I mentioned nine, but I was running with 10.

32:22Sean Pyles:And so you're putting about 9 ,200 miles in your car each year, which is actually less than the average, which is around like 12 ,000 a year. So that means your car could last you quite a long time. The average lifespan of an Acura MDX, according to some measures, is around 250 ,000 miles. That means it would take you 17 more years to actually hit that point. So you could have a good long life with this car. And then you could save however much monthly that you put toward a new car payment and put that into other financial goals like saving for retirement or savings account for your kids education.

32:57Sean Pyles:How have you thought about the financial goal, maybe buying a new car as it compares to other things you might want to do with this money? Yeah, I've definitely considered that because things that I'm saving for include for sure the kids, whether that be when they need a vehicle, which is not going to be thankfully for another eight years ish. So that's when that would occur. And then also for their education, obviously, my savings, I do have enough in my savings. So that is not something that I'm concerned about. I have more than six months worth of expenses in my savings. So I feel like that's all really good.

33:36The one thing that I'm also considering, though, as I determine shifts with how I spend my money is that I did, like I mentioned, buy a house in January. So that interest rate, I was able to get around a six four. OK.

33:53Sean Pyles:And I mean, not bad for January 2025. Yeah. So by talking with my mortgage broker, I'm currently able to think about refinancing closer to like a five, five, if not less. And you must have a good credit score.

34:09Elizabeth Ayoola:I do have a good credit score.

34:11Sean Pyles:We're just all on track.

34:12Elizabeth Ayoola:We have our six months emergency fund. We have a good credit score going like, well done. Thank you. Yeah. So I'm considering because I did refinance from, unfortunately, I had it like around a 2.2 percent.

34:25Sean Pyles:Yeah, that must have hurt to lose. Yeah, a lot. Yeah, I had refinanced the 2.2 back then and was able to maintain my mortgage payments to go to a 20 year. And so having 17 years left on that to go to now a 30 year with the same payment, I'm definitely looking at do I pay a little bit more each month, have refinanced into about a 5.5 ish and go to either 20 or 15. Mm hmm. Well, a rule of thumb that our mortgage nerds recommend is that if you can get about like three quarters of a percentage point off your mortgage with the APR, then it may be worth refinancing. It seems like you would be able to hit that.

35:05Sean Pyles:But it's also a matter of breaking even because you have a lot of costs that are associated with refinancing. So if you're going to stay in the house long term, that might be a smart move for you, too. Do you have five two nines for your kids for college savings? I do. But I feel like that situation is a little complex. So that's why I've been now putting more of my money into just a separate high yield savings account for them. So say more about it being complex for you. Yeah. So with my situation, I'm divorced and we jointly put money into 529s for the kids. And he has continued to put some money as well.

35:45However, his mother has quite a bit of money. And she has shown that she is not shying away from spending on the kids. And so what could happen is that she might decide to pay for, you know, a good amount of the kids. We don't know. And so it because I know five twenty nine, it kind of limits you in terms of how you're going to spend that money. I'm erring on the side of going a different route.

36:13Elizabeth Ayoola:Well, I have good news. I don't know if you heard that money inside of a five twenty nine can be rolled into a raw. four kids. I didn't know if you knew that that change has happened. Were you aware of that? I was not aware of that. Yeah. Cause I was also on the fence about 529s because we don't know my child is seven, um, where the world is going to be in 20 years. Right. So I was like, well, what if he doesn't want to go to college or he takes a different route? Um, but now, you know, there are limitations around it. Money can be put into a Roth for them. So you can start saving for retirement for them.

36:43Sean Pyles:I also want to know, so say you buy a new car, it seems like you have expensive taste, which I can relate to, what else could you do each month with$750? Well, I could travel. That's a good goal. We haven't talked about that. Yeah. So that's not really a goal, but I do like to travel. But no, I would not be spending$750 a month towards travel. Have some nice trips. Very nice trips.

37:11Elizabeth Ayoola:I did want to pivot quickly because Sean did that awesome analysis and you didn't give us feedback on what you thought about it. So what did you think about the cost analysis he did in terms of you? I personally would not want to keep a car for 17 years, despite what I'm saving, but what were your thoughts on that? Yeah, I agree. I don't think that I would keep it for 17 years. What went on in the back of my mind is, is, is there though that opportunity of again, not knowing what my ex is wanting to do to continue to drive it for that long. And then when my oldest who in eight years will be able to drive, do I pass the vehicle along to her instead?

37:47And do I wait that long and then buy myself the new vehicle?

37:51Sean Pyles:Yeah, that might be a smart move, too, because the car by that point will still have some legs on it. And you probably don't want to give your kid a brand new car, right? This one will already be this car is paid off, right? So you could think about putting the money that you would theoretically put toward a new car payment into a brokerage account or a high-eld savings account specifically for this goal. Because your time horizon is eight years, that's beyond the five-year minimum that we recommend for people to invest. So you'd be able to weather the ups and downs of the market, hopefully have this money grow a little bit, and then you could either potentially buy a car outright in cash or at least put a huge chunk down and have a very minimal car payment.

38:27I like that idea. Yeah.

38:29Sean Pyles:In the meantime, though, maintenance is super important. Are you staying on top of these regular like mileage milestones that you're hitting in terms of like spark plugs, tires, all of that stuff? Yes, I am. I was considering that if I don't go forward with buying a new vehicle right now, as I think about that high amount of repairs, I would probably want to talk to the mechanics and understand if this is something that I can kind of separate out and then do one right now, wait and do another in six months. How can I break this up a little bit? Because I really don't want to pull much from my savings.

39:07Sean Pyles:Yeah. And that's just because of the sort of emotional hit of it. It seems like you're making a decent amount. You could theoretically put enough toward a car payment, but paying all of that out of pocket,$2 ,200 something dollars, just doesn't feel good. Is that what you're coming at it from? Exactly. I would say that I'm a bit more conservative when it comes to money. I really want to feel financially secure. And that is the most important thing to me, which is probably why I'm not that person that likes to get new cars all the time, as well as why this is weighing so heavily on me right now.

39:43Sean Pyles:Yeah. I'll share that. I have a car that is about as old as yours. It's a 2015, or I guess it's a 2016, but you know, they come out in 2015. I just rolled over 70 something thousand miles on it. I personally am planning on driving it into the ground, um, in part because it has a CD player, which I love a little bit of vintage charm. I have my CD collection in my car and I just don't like having a car payment. I just paid off my car in February. And the idea of going back to having some debt hanging over me doesn't feel great, especially because APRs for car loans have gone up as interest rates have stayed pretty elevated.

40:15Sean Pyles:So even if you have great credit, which you do, it seems you're still going to be paying a decent amount of interest. And that's money you could be putting towards something else instead of paying interest.

40:25Elizabeth Ayoola:And I always find this conversation interesting because I was going to ask you how much does, and I don't want to say social pressure, but sometimes we just want something new and shiny, right? And I think there's sometimes a lot of shame around that when there doesn't necessarily have to be if you can afford it and it's not wrecking your finances. Money is there to bring you joy too, as I always say, right? So I guess you kind of answered that with saying that you're conservative, but I'm somewhere in the middle. I pay off my car loan next year. So my son asked me the other day, when are you getting a new car?

40:53Elizabeth Ayoola:And I was like, well, do you have$25 ,000 to buy me a new car?

40:57Sean Pyles:If you're lucky, that'd be a cheap car.

40:59Elizabeth Ayoola:I know, right? In this economy, exactly. That's how much I bought mine for though. But similar to you guys, I think me being financially stable or just using that money for other things is more important than me having a new car at this time. So I will pay it off next year and like Sean, keep driving it until it can't drive anymore. Yeah.

41:15Sean Pyles:And you have nine years until your son's going to be driving.

41:18Elizabeth Ayoola:Exactly. Oh, no, he's expensive. He says he wants a Tesla truck. So that, yeah, that's what he wants.

41:23Sean Pyles:Good luck. OK, how are you feeling about this sort of cost benefit analysis currently? Or do you have any other questions around car buying that we haven't touched on yet? I think the only other thing that I think about is as I've looked into interest rates based off of my credit score and some things that are out there right now, is that it does look like there is opportunity for me to have an interest rate on a car payment that is lower than what I am able to get back from my high yield savings. So how does that play into it? That, that would be nice if you could get that. What kind of interest rates are you seeing?

42:00Just out of curiosity, there's, um, there's some out there that's based off of the dealership where it's zero.

42:07Sean Pyles:Oh, okay. And, and so, yeah, so it's basically a free car, free financing. Whereas others are closer to about a 2.5%. Again, these are like all through dealerships. And I would want to look in terms of all of the different avenues to refinance before pulling the trigger. And so as I think about that, if I am able to get at a lower interest rate and knowing, you know, the future costs will be going up, is that still something based off of the analysis that I should hold on to and potentially give my car to my oldest daughter? Get zero APR financing on a car, that would be great because for the best credit scores right now, we're seeing interest rates around 5 % or above.

42:49Sean Pyles:So that's a tough call too, because we don't know where interest rates are going to be going. We don't exactly know where car payments are going to be going, but we assume up, right? but you could still probably get a better return for your money by investing it over the long term or just holding on to that cash because as you said you're someone who likes to retain your liquidity and you are conservative so i think for me i wouldn't want to see that money going out each month just for a depreciating asset like a car payment and yes again you want to get a good deal when you can but just trying to guess and speculate about what you might have to pay in the future, it could be less.

43:27Sean Pyles:The car market could totally shift and we don't know where it's going. You could actually find a more affordable car in the future. So I wouldn't make any big decisions based on where you think it might go just because things are kind of trending one way currently, when you do have so much more time potentially with your car. But that's just me. And I tend to be conservative around debt payments.

43:44Elizabeth Ayoola:And also you're in a good position. You have a great emergency fund. You have savings. You can afford a car if you want a new car. So I think you have a lot of good options and that's a good place to start from. So based on our conversation, where are you leaning towards Sandra? Where are you more leaning towards? I think I'm leaning towards running it in the ground or passing it over. Cause that's what I would do.

44:10Sean Pyles:I love that. Um, and there's something that feels kind of noble about that too, where you're like, look, I'm saving money. I don't need to put money into this new shiny thing, as tempting as that is. And I'm sure your daughter would be able to get some good use out of it and see where the market goes. And again, what else would you do with that money each month? Have those vacations.

44:32Elizabeth Ayoola:Exactly. Well, we would love to hear about if you do change your mind and get the shiny new car, please let us know. And we'd love to know how that works out financially for you as well.

44:40Sean Pyles:Well, thank you for coming out and talking with us, Sandra. Thank you, Sean and Elizabeth. If you enjoyed our conversation and you're interested in getting a financial strategy tailored specifically to your needs, then you may want to consider working with a financial planner. You can get matched with a financial planner for free using NerdWallet Advisors Match. You can find a link to that in today's show notes.

44:57Elizabeth Ayoola:And that's all we have for this episode. Remember, listener, that we're here to answer your money questions. So turn to the nerds and call or text us your questions at 901-730-6373. That's 901-730-NERD. You can send us an email too at podcast at nerdwallet.com.

45:14Sean Pyles:Join us next time to hear about how to set your child up for financial success.

45:17Elizabeth Ayoola:And our brief disclaimer, we are not your financial or investment advisors. This nerdy information is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes, and it might not apply to your specific circumstances.

45:29Sean Pyles:This episode was produced by Tess Vigeland and Anahel Hosky with help from Shai Ronan. Hilary Georgie helped with editing, Nick Karisimi mixed her audio, and a big thank you to NerdWallet's editors for all their help. Join us next time to hear about how to set your child up for financial success. Follow Smart Money on your favorite podcast app, including iHeartRadio, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

45:47Elizabeth Ayoola:And until next time, turn to the nerds.

45:55Elizabeth Ayoola:Every Sunday, we talk tech news on This Week in Tech. Hi, this is Leo Laporte from the Twit Podcast Network, inviting you to join me this week with Patrick Beja, Lou Mareska. He's a co-pilot with Microsoft. and Wesley Faulkner. We're going to talk about the big Apple versus OpenAI lawsuit. This one could be a blockbuster. And why Meta says the lawsuit against it could be life-threatening. It's coming up this week on This Week in Tech. You'll find it at twit.tv and wherever you get your podcasts.

46:26Sean Pyles:Today's episode is sponsored by Shopify. If you've been sitting on a business idea, Shopify makes it easy to make it happen. Everything you need to start selling is included and ready from day one.

46:36Elizabeth Ayoola:including the moment your first customer is ready to pay. Shopify checkout helps more of them finish their purchase. And when they come back, their details are already saved. And one tap and they're done.

46:48Sean Pyles:Because Shopify handles the setup and checkout, you have more time to focus on growing your business and the tools to do it.

46:54Elizabeth Ayoola:Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to small businesses just getting started.

47:01Sean Pyles:With Shopify, nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one.

47:06Elizabeth Ayoola:Start your free trial at shopify.com slash smart money.

47:10Sean Pyles:That's shopify.com slash smart money.