Many times, in parenting, we are given one specific piece of advice, though it may be phrased in a variety of ways: "Go with your instinct." "Trust your gut." "You'll know in your heart what to do." The problem with that, sadly, is that most of our guts have pretty unimpressive track records when it comes to matters of money. What we need is to know when we should stop trusting our intuition.
So, for this episode of Motley Fool Answers, Robert Brokamp and Alison Southwick invited New York Times best-selling author Beth Kobliner into the studio to give all the moms and dads in the audience some great tips on how to raise financially savvy offspring -- tips that run counter to what your first instincts might be. But before they get to the kids, they kick things off with a "What's Up, Bro?" segment focused on a topic that sits at the other end of our financial life timeline: retirement accounts, and just how much of a return-on-investment boost their tax advantages really give us. And to close out the episode, they have a secret surprise guest who drops by to talk about companies she has her eye on for the very long term.
A full transcript follows the video.
This video was recorded on May 15, 2018.
Alison Southwick: This is Motley Fool Answers! I'm Alison Southwick and I'm joined, as always, by Robert Brokamp, personal finance expert here at The Motley Fool.
Robert Brokamp: Hello, Alison! Love your voice, by the way. Sounds good! Really, really good!
Southwick: Thanks! And you don't sound crackly at all. In this week's episode, we're joined by Beth Kobliner, the author of Make Your Kid a Money Genius [Even If You're Not]: A Parents' Guide for Kids 3 to 23. We're going to talk to her about the biggest mistakes parents make when teaching their kids about money. All that and more on this week's episode of Motley Fool Answers.
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Southwick: So, Bro, what's up?
Brokamp: Well, Alison, if you listen to our show [and I know you do]...
Southwick: I'm forced to...
Brokamp: ... you'll notice that we get a lot of questions from listeners about retirement accounts: things like IRAs, 401(k)s, and so on. Understandably, investors want to make the most of these accounts as they offer all kinds of tax breaks. But is it possible to actually quantify the value of a retirement account?
Southwick: Yes.
Brokamp: Well, I found someone who agrees with you. His name is Aaron Brask. He gave it a try, recently, in an article published on AlphaArchitect.com. Brask, who has a PhD in mathematical finance and runs his own investment advisory firm, started his study by breaking up the two tax breaks basically that are offered by retirement accounts.
The first is on the contribution to a traditional account you get a tax break and you don't report that income on your tax return. He actually doesn't spend much time on this in the article because the benefit really does depend on your tax bracket today vs. your tax bracket in retirement. This actually can be a wash tax-wise or even a detriment if you're going to be in a higher tax bracket in retirement.
The second tax benefit offered by a retirement account is that the capital gains, interest, and dividends generated by your investments in any given year are not taxed, and that leaves more of your money to grow over the decades. This, according to Brask, is really where retirement accounts provide the biggest bang.
To quantify it, Brask ran historical simulations using the rolling 20-year returns between 1968 and 2018, and he looked at various asset allocations, investment strategies, and tax brackets. The results were the value of investing in a retirement account is like earning an extra 0.7% to 2.7% each year with the average being 1.7%.
Now, the folks who benefited the most from retirement accounts are, first of all, those in a higher tax bracket. Obviously, it makes sense. Also, those who had higher allocations to bonds, because the interest from a bond is taxed as ordinary income. That's the highest tax rate. You don't get that favorable rate you would get on a long-term capital gain or a qualified dividend. You have to pay that each and every year, so those who have higher allocations to bonds actually benefit slightly more from being in a retirement account.
And also, those who did more trading, either through annual rebalancing or filing the typical asset allocation [what they call a "glide path"]. In other words, as you get closer to your retirement, you become more conservative, sell some of your stocks to buy bonds, but then when you sell those stocks you have to pay capital gains unless it's a retirement account, so the more you are doing that traditional glide path, the better off you'll be in a retirement account.
Now, earning just an extra 1.7% a year may not sound like much, but let's look at some numbers. Let's say you have a $100,000 portfolio. It's in an IRA. Earns 8% a year. After 20 years, you'd have $466,000. However, if it were outside of a retirement account, and you earned 1.7% less because of those taxes, you would have just $339,000 [in other words, a difference of $127,000], which is more than the $100,00 you started with.
Obviously, the key takeaways, according to Brask, is using an IRA or 401(k) to save retirement is an easy way to boost your after-tax returns and it makes sense, generally, to leave the money in there as long as possible, so when you retire, you should generally tap your non-retirement accounts, first, and leave that money in those retirement accounts to grow through the years.
And I'll add a couple of other conclusions that are implied by this article. First of all, if you think you'll be in a higher tax bracket in retirement, you're better off choosing the Roth over a traditional retirement account. He didn't talk about that in the article, but that's an important consideration, especially these days where tax rates are pretty low. And for money outside of retirement accounts, choose tax-efficient investments like non-dividend-paying stocks or tax-efficient funds that you'll hold for many years.
Southwick: You sound like that's it, but sometimes all this advice is so hard. There's so much advice out there, it's hard to be like, "Oh, wait. Now I'm not supposed to own dividends." It's hard to know how much you let this influence your portfolio.
Brokamp: Let's say there's a stock that you like and it pays a solid dividend. If you have a choice between putting it in an IRA or in a regular brokerage account, put it in the IRA, at least while you're saving for retirement. If you're going to choose to have some bonds or something that pays a good deal of interest, generally speaking it's better to have it in your IRA.
But you should definitely not make investment decisions based solely on taxes. If you find a good stock that's paying a good dividend, and you don't have, for some reason, room in your 401(k) or your IRA, go ahead and buy it outside. It's better to still have the good investment rather than just to avoid paying some taxes.
Southwick: Thanks!
Brokamp: You're welcome!
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Southwick: Beth Kobliner joins us in the studio, today, to talk about the biggest money mistakes parents make when teaching their kids. Beth is the author of Make Your Kid a Money Genius. Beth, it's so nice to have you back, today!
Beth Kobliner: Thank you! But part of the title is Even If You're Not. Make Your Kid a Money Genius [Even If You're Not].
Brokamp: If you actually read the book, you'll become a money genius.
Southwick: You can do it together. Head to the class together. Before we dig into today's topic, though, I wanted to talk to you first about a fun project you just completed for Financial Literacy Month. You actually enlisted Kate McKinnon from SNL...
Kobliner: How cool is that?
Southwick: ... to do a video.
Brokamp: That's pretty cool.
Southwick: That is so cool.
Kobliner: You know, it was kind of amazing. You guys know. Money can be a stressful topic [not around here with you fun Fools]...
Southwick: Oh, we have it all figured out.
Kobliner: ... but to most us, it can be stressful, it can be overwhelming, and I felt like Kate McKinnon... The fact that she agreed to do it was amazing; but having her break the ice with families and make it look like kids don't understand this topic. A lot of parents don't understand this topic, but let's learn about it together. She did an absolutely amazingly funny job, and it brings home the point that we need to talk to our kids and have these conversations about money.
Southwick: She's on it, and she's with like three kids, and they're talking about different money concepts. Rick, can we go ahead a play a clip from the show?
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Kate McKinnon: We'll begin with just what prize you want.
Little Girl: Mm-hmm. The big glasses.
McKinnon: That will be eight tickets, please.
Little Girl: I don't have enough.
McKinnon: We have a situation. I could give you the glasses if you choose to take out a loan. That means I'm going to lend you two tickets, but then you have to come back to my house next week with nine tickets. Here to explain more about that is The New York Times best-selling author, Beth Kobliner.
Kobliner: Hi, guys! Kate's offer may sound great, but be careful when you borrow. It can cost you lots of extra tickets come payback time. Later!
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Southwick: Oh, this is so much fun. You can watch the whole video at BethKobliner.com. It's also on YouTube and I saw a bunch of media outlets reported on it, too. So, if you google it, you'll stumble upon it.
Kate McKinnon -- I read an article. You did a little blog post about the background of creating the video and she told you this is the first time she'd ever worked with kids.
Kobliner: Which is crazy, because the kids loved her. I'm like, "Hi, kids!" They're like, "I'm not into you." They loved Kate McKinnon! She was so wonderful. I think it was just a fascinating time, of course, hearing out of the mouths of babes what crazy, funny things they say about money and her reactions to them. And getting at real issues, like delayed gratification, and where do you save money, and all that stuff was hysterical. It was a lot of fun, and I feel like it really is a great way to broach the topic with parents and kids.
Southwick: Yes, get them out there doing it. Of course, you have a career of working with kids of all ages and their parents to help them be better with money, so let's segue into today's topic.
Brokamp: When you talk about Financial Literacy Month, it's a great thing to do, partially because financial literacy is not actually so high in our country.
Kobliner: Correct.
Brokamp: So, what do parents do? They rely on their gut instincts, and you have five instincts that parents might have that actually are pretty flawed. Let's go over those. The first instinct is "I give kids money for chores."
Kobliner: Right. Parents think, "How else am I going to get my kids to do work around the house, and then I can give them money for that." The problem is when you give kids money for chores, you're giving them the wrong incentive to do things that they should be doing without being paid. Stressing the idea where a team -- where a family -- all do daily chores. Empty the dishwasher. Making the bed.
Southwick: No one pays me for that work.
Kobliner: Exactly. Exactly. Also, research shows that when kids do chores without being paid for those chores, those kids are more likely to hit milestones like graduating from school, and starting a career, even. It's the idea you're exercising that internal motivation, saying to your kid, "You're doing this because you're part of your family, and that's what you're doing."
And they learn to do things that have meaning and the sense of being a team player, rather than, "I'm doing it for the $4," because the next time they're going to start to negotiate. "I don't want to empty the dishwasher for $2 a week. I'm not going to do it anymore." I think it's important to make those rules clear to kids -- young kids -- and it's beneficial to them in the long run.
Brokamp: Should kids get any kind of allowance?
Kobliner: It's fine to give an allowance. I looked at the research -- dozens of studies -- and the bottom line is you don't have to give allowance. Sometimes parents get stressed out. I started allowance, and then I forgot to give it to them. That's OK, but then don't give allowance. Either do it, or don't do it. There's no one right answer, but if you do decide you want to give your kids money, keep it separate from chores.
But you do want to give them $10 a week, or whatever, to pay for their expenses, you have to do the four C's. You have to be clear on what it's for, you have to be consistent doing it regularly, you want to give them cash, because it's tangible. A lot of parents are asking me, "Should I do an app? Transfer money from my account to their account?" No, because then they don't see it. And the final thing is you don't want to tie it to chores, so those are the four C's.
Brokamp: I've always had a challenge with this with me, my wife, and our kids, because [a] I agree with everything you said, but No. 1, we don't always have cash. There are times when the kids want their allowance and we don't have the cash, and No. 2, some fuzziness about what they have to buy vs. what we, as parents, should be buying.
Kobliner: That's the tricky part, and that's the first C of being clear. I have definitely been guilty of this myself. First, my daughter is younger. "OK, we're going to give you an allowance." You have to buy your friends presents, and then we're like, "Oh, we're sending our daughter to a birthday party, and she's not bringing a present because she ran out of money." You have to be realistic in your sense.
Also, what things cost. When I babysat we used to get $1 an hour. Now kids get $15 an hour. So, things cost more and adjusting for inflation in your head. But if you are really clear and say, "When you go out with your friends for pizza, or you go out on the weekends, that's on you." And really sticking to that.
And we did that with our kids in college. Really, this is what you're expected to pay, and we're going to take care of healthcare and books, but if you want to eat out off the meal plan, that's on you. And you have to save if you want to go with friends on a spring break skiing trip or whatever. That's also on you. Once you run out of that money, that's it.
Brokamp: The second instinct. "I steer clear of paying for college talk. It can wait until eleventh grade. Any sooner will stress everyone out."
Kobliner: Here's why that's flawed. You need to start talking to kids early about college, and by early, I mean ninth grade, and even the end of eighth grade. The reason is it's such a stressful topic, and I think some schools have even adopted the idea. "We don't want to stress our kids out, so we're not going to talk about college until junior year or senior year." The problem with that is it's like the elephant in the room. Like we're not going to talk about college, but you have to take this class and you have to take that class.
And kids know what's going on. I think as a parent, saying to your kids, "Look, we know we're going to find a great college for you. You're going to work hard in high school. Your grades start to count in ninth grade, so pay attention. And we're going to find a school that's affordable for us."
I meet so many grown-ups today who say, "I remember. I worked so hard. I got into a great college, and then my parents told me, 'We can't afford it.'" That's pretty devastating.
Southwick: Heartbreaking.
Kobliner: Heartbreaking. And I even met a college counselor in Silicon Valley who said to me she's finding situations where parents are sort of keeping up the façade of being able to afford it for their kids because they're in an affluent community, and then the kid gets into a school and the parents have to admit to their kid at the end of the year, "Oops, sorry. We can't afford it." And that's devastating.
So, talking about it. Doing the groundwork. Parents have to look at the FAFSA4caster, which gives you a sense of how much your family will be expected to pay, and start acquainting yourself with what you need to know as a parent, and then talking to your child about it in a reasonable way. I think that will de-escalate the stress.
Brokamp: We touched on this a little bit the last time you were on the show, but what's your take on how much kids should be expected to contribute to their college education?
Kobliner: We do know from research that kids who contribute money to their college tend to have slightly higher GPAs. Usually kids either have to borrow and I think borrowing is fine. Sometimes parents feel guilty. Oh, we don't our kids to have to borrow. Most kids have to borrow, now. The median graduation debt load is $20,000 in student loans. The average is $37,000. You want to have your kids borrow, and your job is to do it in a reasonable way and only stick with federal student loans.
So, borrowing or your kids might work in school and that's great. Again, research shows when kids work in college, as long as they keep it under 20 hours a week and they have an on-campus job, those kids have slightly higher GPAs. Having skin in the game -- having a little bit of money -- how much that is really depends upon, I think, your financial situation.
It's like the health club thing. When you have to pay for a health club, you tend to go more than if you don't pay or you get a free period where you don't have to pay. I think it's the same for any kind of expense, and we know kids having skin in the game makes them do a little better in their grades, so having them contribute I think is smart.
Brokamp: The third flawed instinct is "paying my kid for a good report card is the best motivator."
Kobliner: I thought this was interesting, because the Association of CPAs did a poll that found that 50% of parents say they give their kids money for good grades. Have you guys ever done that?
Southwick: I got money for good grades growing up.
Kobliner: You did?
Brokamp: We sporadically reward them, especially at the end of the year. But we try not to tie it too closely because in any given year one kid is doing better than the other with curriculum.
Kobliner: Right. "Oh, you paid him $100!" There's this great professor who I've met with a couple of times. His name is Roland Fryer from Harvard. He's awesome. He did these randomized, controlled studies on does it work? And the answer is it doesn't really improve grades at all. It doesn't improve test scores. What you're doing is taking away, to some extent, that internal motivation of kids wanting to do well.
My guess, Alison, is you wanted to do well. You did well, but do you think you were doing it for the money?
Southwick: No, I don't think so. I remember I got $4 for an A and then I don't remember what I got for any other grades, because I never got any other grades. No! But I imagine it would have been stepped down, so like $3 for an A and $3 for a B. And the difference between $1 [between an A and a B] isn't going to make a huge difference, but my family didn't do an allowance, like you're saying, so that was really my only moneymaker as a kid, was a good grade. I was internally motivated to succeed...
Kobliner: Sounds like it.
Southwick: ... but I would not have turned away from that money. I wouldn't have turned it down.
Kobliner: It's interesting. Of course, here are these studies, but every family is different. Some parents say, "Oh, I do pay my kids for chores and that works great." If that works for you and it's not a stressful thing, then no problem. But it was interesting to know that these studies showed it didn't really work. And to me it made it kind of clear, just like with chores. When you're paying kids for things that you ultimately want them to do as part of responsibility, or as part of being a good student because you know that will help you in life, then the external motivation of money probably won't really do it for the long haul.
Southwick: It didn't put me over the edge, necessarily.
Kobliner: Exactly.
Southwick: I would have done it anyway.
Kobliner: Exactly. Get an A+. If you got $10, then we're talking.
Southwick: Well, maybe.
Brokamp: The fourth instinct. "I'm going to co-sign a credit card with my kid before he goes to college to help him build up credit."
Kobliner: This is one of the ones where I've been hearing horrifying stories. Again, parents come over to me after I talk, and they say, "You know, I co-signed a credit card with my kid because I thought that would help them build credit, and they messed up. And not only am I, as a parent, responsible to pay it back, but I also am finding it hurt my credit score."
Brokamp: Right.
Kobliner: So, I'm going to have more trouble getting loans, and a mortgage, and a lower-rate car loan. It's different these days. When I was in college, when you walked onto the campus, you'd see tables, and they would be handing out credit cards.
Southwick: Frisbee!
Kobliner: Frisbee! T-shirt. Why did we want frisbees and t-shirts so much? I don't know.
Southwick: People will do anything for a frisbee.
Brokamp: They used to give away free plane tickets. That's how a lot of my friends would get tickets home for the holidays.
Southwick: I love that.
Brokamp: Yeah, the good old days!
Kobliner: You know, you walk in, somewhere, and you sign your name. Nobody cared if you had a job. In 2009, President Obama stopped that, and he said in order to get a credit card you should either be 21, you should have some income, or you can have a parent co-sign. And it's the last one that's really still problematic.
The good news is college credit card debt has gone way down. Kids who have debt -- leaving college with lots of debt -- that's gone way down, but when it comes to credit card debt and also student loan debt, the kids don't get that much credit card debt in college anymore, but the problem is the idea that the only way you can get it is if a parent co-signs, parents have to say no. Parents should just say no to co-signing a credit card with theirs kid.
Tell your kid you can wait until you have the income to do it, or you're 21, and then you can get a credit card. And, of course, tell them pay it off in full each month. That's what you should be doing. I think also going to college freshman year is stressful for kids sometimes, and they're away from home for the first time. You don't have to put on top of that credit card debt and worrying about paying their bills. Wait until junior year, senior year.
I think in my day it was more difficult to establish credit. That was the hard thing. Nowadays if you're 21 and you're in college, you'll get a credit card.
Brokamp: But you make the point that you shouldn't wait until the kid is 21 to talk about building a credit score, and actually even checking their credit score before then.
Kobliner: Right. You should check it earlier with them and that awareness -- you can talk about it and educate your kid and say, "You know what? When you do get a credit card and you make a late payment, that is not just going to the professor and saying, 'Ooh, can I make that up?It will be on your credit score for seven years.'" I think those kinds of lessons that kids don't learn in high school or in college are important as parents to give those lessons and just talk to kids about that.
Brokamp: And now the fifth instinct. "If I let my post-college kid move home, she'll turn into an even bigger slacker."
Kobliner: Well, it could be true. I think increasingly as kids have so much student debt, moving back home is actually a great way to start paying off that debt, but you want to establish ground rules. Put it in writing. It sounds so crazy, but now as my daughter is about to graduate in May, I'm like, "Yeah, I'm going to put that in writing."
You want to say, "OK, you're home. We'd love to have you home, but that doesn't mean we're funding your lifestyle. We want you to start saving," and start saving for whatever your kid's goal is to help them start thinking about the future, because it's very easy of course, to move back home and feel like you're back home, and have Mom do the laundry and have everything taken for granted. So, putting it in writing and what those expectations are is important.
Brokamp: I actually moved back home for a brief period.
Kobliner: I did, too!
Southwick: I did, too! For a few months.
Brokamp: And for me it was like for six or seven months, and mom said, "It's fine. You have to pay rent." It was pretty nominal, but she still said it was important that I pay rent. Luckily, I had grown out of most of my sloppy ways at that point, so it was not a complete burden that way, but it was very helpful, and there are plenty of other people. I think Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, I think he moved home at some point or another. It is helpful. Obviously, there is that line, though, of where you're doing too much of what is called financial enabling, or financial codependency.
Kobliner: Absolutely. I remember the opposite. I called my parents and said, "OK, I'm graduating from college. I'm going to move out on my own." My mom was first like, "What are you talking about?" Then she said, smartly, "Oh, OK. What are you going to use to pay for moving out on your own?" I had $10,000 in student loans and then I had a low-paying job in publishing that wasn't going to pay for rent.
I think that experience of having to move back home -- I lived back home for a year. I paid off my student debt. You live so frugally. I was very careful with my money at that point. And it does put you on better footing. And I think the reality is to have kids assume often if they can, that they can move back home and start saving some money and maybe chipping away at that debt.
Southwick: It's kind of like training wheels.
Kobliner: Exactly.
Southwick: Eventually the training wheels have got to come off.
Kobliner: It's interesting. I was talking to someone. I was on a show, and the host of the show turned to me after it and she's like, "My grown sister got married and she moved back home with her husband." They were living in the parents' house and she was like, "I don't think that's a good idea." It's that enabling situation that really starts to get a little tricky. I think it is important to have these conversations, but if your kid is pushing 30 and they're still home and you're doing their laundry, it's time to reconsider.
Brokamp: Right. So those are the five flawed instincts, but I know something else you think is important to talk about is the money gap between boys and girls. Why don't you talk a little bit about that, if you don't mind?
Kobliner: I have to say. I was kind of amazed by this, because doing this for a long time, I had seen studies 10 years ago. Parents talk to boys about money more than girls. When I looked for 2017, and see that parents still talk to boys more than girls about money, about investing, about savings. It shocked me, because you feel like, "Why would that be the case?"
I think part of it might be parents aren't conscious of what they're doing. A guy I know [a really fair-minded guy] said he read my book and he realized, "Yeah, I do tease my teenage daughter about her shopping, and I talk to my teenage son about investing, and picking stocks, and the stock market." Somehow, we haven't, as parents, really come to the realization that you have to talk to boys and girls about money, and it's really important.
And I think that's probably one big explanation, also, why the Federal Reserve did a study and found that still in a household in 2017 men are saying they're the ones doing the saving and the investing, and women are the ones doing more the spending and the budgeting. So, I think we have to start talking to our girls about money and really being clear on these lessons and maybe that also means that moms and dads have to get more of this financial education so they can talk to both girls and boys about these issues.
Brokamp: It's been great to have you back on, again, Beth!
Kobliner: It's been so good to be here! Thank you, guys!
Southwick: Thank you! And again, Beth is the author of Make Your Kid a Money Genius [Even If You're Not]. You can do it together. I'll just echo what Bro said. Thanks, again, for joining us in the studio. It's always a pleasure!
Kobliner: This is always fun, you guys. This is always my favorite!
Brokamp: Oh, ho! Well, you can definitely come back again, now.
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Southwick: We have another special guest in the studio today, and she's Elvy Engdahl. Hello, Elvy!
Elvy Engdahl: Hi!
Southwick: Now, you look familiar. Are you related to someone I know?
E. Engdahl: Yeah.
Southwick: Who might that be? For those in the audience, she has pointed out the accused, Rick Engdahl. That's your dad, huh? So, what brings you to The Motley Fool today?
E. Engdahl: Um, we had a Bring Your Kids to Work Today day at my school, and it was like a week ago, but I had a field trip.
Southwick: So, you're doing a make-up class for Take Your Kid to Work Day, so your dad brought you here, and he set it up so that you could meet with some people? Do you remember who we met with today? Like was it Alyce? Did you meet with Alyce?
E. Engdahl: I don't remember names that well.
Southwick: That's OK. I think you met with Abi, Alyce, and Emily. And what did you talk to them about?
E. Engdahl: The company that made American Girl. Geico, Tesla, and Amazon. Stuff like that.
Southwick: You talked about Geico? The insurance company?
Brokamp: Good for you!
Southwick: You talked about the American Girl doll company, Geico...
Rick Engdahl: Which is Mattel, by the way. Mattel.
Southwick: OK. Mattel, Geico, Tesla, and Amazon.
E. Engdahl: And other stuff like that.
Southwick: Yeah, other stuff like that.
R. Engdahl: Disney.
Southwick: Disney. Is there a company that you like better? Was one your favorite company?
E. Engdahl: Not really, because I like how in Geico there's a wizard. That's what I like.
Southwick: And he just walks around and he's funny and silly.
E. Engdahl: Yeah.
Southwick: What do you like about Amazon?
E. Engdahl: A lot of people buy stuff from it and you can get a lot of stuff from it, and you can get like stuff that you actually want instead of going to like the local Target, which is another thing that we talked about. And instead of going there and finding the closest thing to what you want.
Southwick: So, you have more options at Amazon? Because at Target, it's like if they don't have it, they don't have it; but at Amazon they probably have it, huh?
Brokamp: Do you like going to Target? If you were given $20, would you prefer to go on Amazon.com and buy something, or would you prefer to go to a Target and go shopping?
E. Engdahl: I don't know. Probably neither. I would probably spend it on another store, or um... Something else like candy. Or a book or something.
Brokamp: Yes. Oh, books. Good.
R. Engdahl: She saw a really cool Tesla car that had doors that open...
Brokamp: Up like that.
Southwick: Tres Commas Club?
E. Engdahl: I didn't really see the point of the car. Um, of the doors coming up like that because I think you would probably be against the law to drive around like that, and I don't know if it's basically supposed to be a giant window or something? Or maybe that's like how you get out and in the car. Maybe it's like there are just regular cars that you open the door, and there are cars that the door slides open. It might be one of those other kinds of ways to open a car.
Southwick: Mm-hmm. And that was a Tesla? So, you're saying that you probably don't want to invest in Tesla, which is the company that made the car.
E. Engdahl: I probably do... except I don't really see the point of a car with things that go like that. I don't really see the point of doors that go like that.
Southwick: I don't either. I think it's silly. It is!
Brokamp: It looks cool.
R. Engdahl: It looks cool. That's it.
Brokamp: That's it. It looks cool.
Southwick: Men! It does not look that cool.
Brokamp: I think they would say that you could be parked next to a wall or another car and have the door go up rather than hit the car next to it.
Southwick: I guess they're just trying to have a new idea, huh? And be innovative, I guess? But it doesn't speak to me. It might speak to the men in the room but having doors that open a weird way just seems unnecessary to me.
E. Engdahl: It might help for people to make cars that fly around the sky, because in the future there will probably be cars that fly in the sky.
Southwick: Yeah, let's invest in that company.
Brokamp: Now, that would be cool.
Southwick: Let's figure out what company is going to invent flying cars and invest in them. What do you think?
E. Engdahl: I don't know.
Southwick: You don't know who it is? I don't, either. It's probably Elon Musk if I had to guess.
R. Engdahl: Uber?
E. Engdahl: I didn't know that was a thing.
Southwick: Uber is starting like a helicopter-ish rideshare. Or at least they're like thinking about it.
E. Engdahl: I thought Uber was like pick you up from the airport and drive you home.
Southwick: Yeah, but what if they picked you up in a helicopter and flew you home?
E. Engdahl: I would probably scream the whole time.
Southwick: I would, too. That sounds terrifying, but maybe we'll get used to it. So, you learned about a lot of companies, today. If you got to be the president of one company, what would it be?
E. Engdahl: I don't know. Amazon?
Southwick: Maybe Amazon? If they made a good offer?
E. Engdahl: I don't know. Maybe. Because then I could have a lot of money, so I could give a lot to people who needed money and to cure diseases. And to do stuff like that. Because I don't want to have a lot of money.
Southwick: Yeah? Well, I like your goal of having a lot of money, so you can give it away to people who need it. That's pretty cool.
E. Engdahl: I also don't want to have a mansion.
Southwick: No?
E. Engdahl: Because there are a lot of extra rooms and it would kind of be creepy if you're sitting in the middle of the night and there could be... You could think that there was a monster in any of them.
Southwick: That's a lot of rooms for ghosts and monsters to hide in. It's true. Well, I think you're going to have a nice, successful life ahead of you with the perfect-sized house and the perfect job.
E. Engdahl: I want to be a teacher, and a cook, and a bunch of stuff. And maybe a veterinarian and a lot of stuff.
Southwick: OK!
Brokamp: Wow, that's great!
Southwick: Go do it! I love it! Well, Elvy, thank you so much for joining us today! Was this fun or scary?
E. Engdahl: Fun.
Southwick: Yeah!
Brokamp: Yeah!
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Southwick: Before we call it a show, Bro, remember how last week I complained about some jerkster who left a bad review of our show on iTunes?
Brokamp: Yeah. You mean someone who was giving us constructive feedback, maybe?
Southwick: It wasn't that constructive, but the point is that last week I was, "Oh! Someone left a mean review of this show and I'm sad."
Brokamp: And they didn't like our voices, in particular.
Southwick: Well, yeah, they didn't like our voices. So, then I was like, "Boy, it sure would be nice if some of our listeners maybe went and left us some nice reviews." And they did!
Brokamp: They really did.
Southwick: Within 24 hours of the show, we had like over a dozen new reviews, which is so heartwarming it's great.
Brokamp: It made our week.
Southwick: Yeah. So, I want to thank Neil, and Mike, and I don't know. People just kind of create names on iTunes for leaving reviews, so it's kind of like trying to read Twitter handles. But WorkerSatty, OldSchoolMike, Bruce, GuessingFool, Doug, Ronald, DaveWitha4, A6Forever, Paul, Specula8, AntOnTheRun, RobMill. Sorry. That made for bad radio, but I wanted to thank every one of you individually for going and leaving a review. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much...
Brokamp: Yes, thank you!
Southwick: ... for hearing my pleas. So, that's the show. Our email is [email protected]. Obviously, you're more than welcome to go leave more reviews on iTunes if you want. Also, if you're going to be in the D.C. area on May 30th in the evening [maybe you're in town for FoolFest or maybe you just live in the D.C. area], we're going to have a listener Meet-Up for all the podcasts. It's going to be downtown in D.C., so mark your calendar. I'll have more details later, but for now just mark your calendar Wednesday, May 30th. Let's get together in the evening and have an adult beverage together. Or not.
Brokamp: Sounds wonderful.
Southwick: Or whatever Bro's going to drink.
Brokamp: Shirley Temples for everybody.
Southwick: No, we're not paying. It's buy your own. Just make that clear, Bro, before you go throwing Shirley Temples around.
Brokamp: I didn't say I was paying for all of them. I just said we could all drink them.
Southwick: Yeah. When you say blank for all, that makes it sound like you're paying for it. Right, Rick?
Engdahl: Bro can pay for it if he wants to.
Southwick: You can pay for all the Shirley Temples if you want. That's fine. Daddy Warbucks over here throwing his money around. Anyway, sorry. The point is mark your calendar. Evening. Wednesday. May 30th. Podcast listener happy hour. Everyone's going to be there except Dylan, as far as I know, so hope to see you there, as well.
All right. The show is edited paternally by R. Engdahl. Our email is [email protected]. For Robert Brokamp, I'm Alison Southwick. Stay Foolish, everybody!
