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A Fun Interview with Stacking Benjamins’ Host, Joe Saul-Sehy

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I recently met with Joe Saul-Sehy to talk about his new money podcast, Stacking Benjamins, which debuts this week. We had just finished recording his final Two Guys and Your Money show, and I figured it would be clever to conduct the interview via Skype instant messaging -- that way I could reduce my workload by cutting and pasting our conversation directly onto my blog. Bad idea. Unfortunately for Joe, I have really poor typing skills. Thankfully, he's a patient guy. -- Len Len Penzo: How ya been, Joe? Joe Saul-Sehy: Fantastic, Len! How you been? This is weird sitting here talking with each other and typing stuff back and forth at the same time. LP: Say ... How did you type that so fast? JS: I took a typing class in high school. Sixty words a minute, baby. Eat it, Mr. Morris! (Mr. Morris was my typing teacher.) LP: That's great, Joe. You know, I learned how to type from two boobs named Hunt and Peck. JS: I can see that. Don't give away all your trade secrets, dude. LP: Right. So we had another fun Two Guys and Your Money podcast today. You're going to spend a lot of time editing my, um, contributions this week. JS: I'm a little sad it was our last one! At least we'll have a competent new contributor to save our sorry butts on the new show; Kathryn from Makin' Sense Babe agreed to join. I'm really not sure why. When someone says "Sure, I'll join!" I don't ask too many questions. LP: I think everybody wants to be a part of your show. As you mentioned, you're putting the kibosh on Two Guys. It's being replaced by a brand new podcast that debuts later this week called Stacking Benjamins. Care to tell all six of my loyal readers about it? JS: You're too funny. The Stacking Benjamins podcast is a magazine-style show. That means that although it runs about 60-70 minutes long, every segment is only about 10-15 minutes, so the time flies. This isn't a hard-hitting financial show. Think more along the lines "Car Talk"; if you don't really like cars but like to laugh, you listen to the hosts, Click and Klack. In the same manner, if you like finance but would rather be entertained as we discuss trends, interesting financial stats and interview fun guests, I think our show is for you. LP: Unlike me, you're not some two-bit hack masquerading as a personal finance expert. You've got real credentials. JS: I'm not sure about the "two-bit hack" thing. You're more savvy than most pros I worked with over my career! I was a financial advisor for 16 years working with about 150 families to reach their goals. I helped people manage about $60 million dollars in-house and then another $120 million-ish that were in 401k plans and elsewhere. I know that makes me sound like some kind of money savant, but I was a lot like our listeners. I knew very little about money before I entered the field. I had huge credit card debt and solved it. I spent one year without much income at all -- my family of four lived on about $8000. So, I know the strain people feel who are just starting out and need good firm advice. LP: What do you think sets your podacst apart from other personal finance shows? JS: We're the only show that broadcasts from my mom's basement! I love comedy podcasts, and while we aren't comedians, I think that influenced me to keep it light. We have quick segments; during the hour, if you don't like one segment, you might like the next. Each episode starts with an interesting statistic. (On our second Stacking Benjamins episode we discuss a Bank of America stat that says 91% of people aren't worried about the stock market this summer, and think there isn't a risk of interest rates going up quickly). Then we talk to a cool guest. In the past we've chatted with Pat Flynn, Jean Chatzky, Adam Baker and Luke Landes, just to name a few. LP: So far so good. Of course, there's more. JS: It only gets better from there! Yes, PK from DQYDJ and Kathryn (Makin' Sense Babe) both have segments, and finally our roundtable of finance bloggers, including you, Dominique Brown from Your Finances Simplified, and different guest bloggers each week discuss a topic, like "Is All Debt Bad?" LP: Well, I'm glad to see you saved the best for last! But seriously, your podcast format is extremely easy to digest and I think the pace of the show is terrific. JS: Thanks! The longer we talk the more conceited I sound! Seriously, though, it's a blast. More than anything we want a listenable podcast. I want to make a show I'd listen to. Although there's definitely an audience for hard-hitting financial shows, that's just not me. LP: Do you have an old Two Guys podcast you're particularly fond of? JS: I thought we all did our best work on the Pat Flynn episode. LP: Interesting. Of course, I wasn't on that show, Joe. I'm sure that's not a coincidence. Ahem. You know, one thing I really like about your podcast is that you've got a real gift for money talk. You make complex topics easy to understand. JS: Don't you hate talking head jargon? I do. I don't want to talk about "large caps and QE2" ever! Let's just stick with big company stocks and how interest rates work. I'm not a car fix-it guy. My mechanic is awesome because he can tell me in my terms how it all works without boring me to tears. I want a money podcast that talks the same way. LP: I know. When listening to the show, your past experience working in broadcast media is readily apparent too. JS: For nine years I was on television as the Detroit WXYZ "Money Man," appearing twice weekly on the news. (Note from Len: Here's a thrilling clip of Joe from back in the day.) LP: And you're no stranger to print media either. JS: I hate doing the laundry list of "Joe's media resume." LP: I know you do, Joe, but just play along with me. There's a method to my madness. JS: OK. My advice has appeared in magazines like Bride, Child, and Best Life, in newspapers like the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, and Baltimore Sun. I've been on WSJ.com too. So, I'm used to working with the media on financial topics. LP: Ah, yes, the Los Angeles Times. I started blogging because I got tired of the LA Times continually rejecting my op-ed submittals. Hey, do you ever worry about one of your podcasts being a real train wreck? JS: I’m neurotic about it. Here's the way it works: Every week as we're putting together the next week's podcast I think it's just a horrible pile of trash. That's confirmed when I edit the show and send it to iTunes and Stitcher. There's a huge knot in my gut. I think I should just throw it away instead of sending it out. Then the reviews pour in and they're generally really good. I think that's confirmed by the numbers because our audience has grown quickly. The following week? I think that last week's show is a brilliant piece of art that we'll never, ever achieve again -- so you learn to ignore your feelings and just put it out there. LP: Speaking of neurotic, let me just say that I consider myself fortunate to be a part of your show. But you've got to level with me: Do you ever get tired of having to heavily edit my contributions to your podcast? JS: I thought it was awesome that you agreed to be on our show! I'll ignore your question and tell everyone the story of "How We Suckered Len To Be On The Podcast." I'd asked a mutual friend of ours, Dr. Dean Burke (now Georgia State Senator Burke -- we both rub elbows with influential people) -- and he replied, "Did you ask Penzo if he'd be on?" I thought, Why the hell would Len "effing" Penzo want to be on my little podcast? Then Dr. Dean said, "Tell Len that I said that he can't be on the podcast if I'm on it. He'll get the humor and agree to come on. So I wrote you an email that said, "I have this podcast and Dr. Dean said that he would only appear if you promised NOT to be on it." And you immediately fired back this reply: "Well then, I'm on it!" The rest is history. It's been a fun ride through 53 episodes so far. LP: That's funny. JS: That is a funny story. LP: No, not the story, Joe. I'm talking about the fact that you typed that big ol' paragraph in just 26 seconds. Amazing. Anyway, so does this mean you're still going to let me take part in your live Stacking Benjamins podcast at FINCON13 in St. Louis this October? JS: Won't that be awesome? I'm very happy that Philip Taylor (PT from PT Money, who is the conference organizer) is allowing me to help organize the entire podcast area. We'll have live broadcasts during the conference breaks so everyone can hear shows in progress. So it'll be you, Dom, OG & me onstage, along with appearances by Makin' Sense Babe and PK. That could get ugly. LP: Ugly? I see you're a glass-half-full kind of guy -- I think you're being way too kind. So if there isn't really a big change in the format, why change the podcast name to Stacking Benjamins? JS: Three reasons. First: Two Guys & Your Money is a decent name but doesn't speak to the fact that we're SO laid back. PT said that if he'd known how fun it was going to be, he'd have had two beers before coming on the show! So, Stacking Benjamins is a much more relaxed name that better fits the show. Second, we never had a real "launch" and although we get wonderful reviews from our listeners, this will give us the chance to reach the iTunes "New and Notable" section. Finally, we keep lying to ourselves, saying that we have all the kinks worked out and the show is finally ready for prime time. LP: That's easy for you to type. Stacking Benjamins debuts this week with three shows! Shannon Ryan from The Heavy Purse will be on the first show, PK from DQYDJ and Makin’ Sense Babe debuts on May 22nd, and the roundtable panel (including yours truly) makes its curtain call May 24th. You can subscribe to Stacking Benjamins on iTunes now and it should be available on the Stitcher, Blackberry and Windows Phone apps in the next few days. ...

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The Best Credit Cards of 2013

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This is a guest post by Logan Abbott. Logan is the editor of MyRatePlan.com, a leading comparison site for credit cards, mobile phones, phone service, insurance, and more. The New Year is upon us, and that means you probably made some New Year's ...

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The Scapegoat: GE Money Takes Your Cash and Stores Take the Fall

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by Angie Picardo “If you apply for a [store name] credit card today you can get [arbitrary number]% off your purchase.” I can’t remember the last time I was able to go to a mall without being bombarded with pitches for store credit cards. I always manage to escape with a subtle “maybe next time,” but it would be nice to leave a store in a little less awkward fashion. With the end of HSBC’s credit card business in sight, there doesn’t seem to be much competition in the store credit card market. Big names like Gap, Banana Republic, Amazon.com, and Chevron, to name a few, are backed by GE Money, a financial subdivision of General Electric that issues credit cards and handles all the financing for their consumer products. GE Money is a holding company, meaning it can issue and manage credit cards under another company’s name, but is able to dodge some important regulations since it isn’t an actual bank. If you suddenly find your credit limit has been reduced or there are some mysterious charges on your statement -- common complaints among dissatisfied customers -- don’t expect Old Navy or Walmart to be on the other end of the line when you ring customer service. GE Money has the power to raise interest rates, close accounts, and a million other things that can ruin consumers’ credit scores, and they rarely get any heat for it. They hide behind companies, letting them take the fall, sometimes severely affecting their consumer base. Customer (Dis)satisfaction Guaranteed GE Money is notorious for allegedly “losing” customers’ payments right before zero interest promos expire, and they are rumored to have stacks of identity fraud lawsuits to their name. Many of these issues supposedly arise due to miscommunication between GE Money, the store itself, and the consumer; sales associates will disclose information about their store credit card, but give some incorrect or insufficient information. Angry customers then come barging into the store, but come to find the stores are just as surprised and appalled. If you’re looking for a way to shop, save and earn rewards, you’re better off with a regular bank credit card. Store credit cards usually have higher interest rates that are often subject to change (in their favor, not yours). A lot of the time, they offer better deals at a store than their own credit card. Stick to the Basics For example, the Citi Forward card gives 5% back on all purchases made on Amazon.com, while you’ll only get 3% back with GE Money’s Amazon.com card. If you frequent Gap, Old Navy or Banana Republic, you’ll benefit more from an American Express Blue Cash Preferred card since its APR varies from 17.24%-21.24%, lower than the Gap credit card’s across-the-board APR of 23.99% (variable, current as of June 2011). So the next time someone tries to lure you into one of their “15% off the first purchase” traps, you now have a very good reason to avoid it. Angie Picardo is a staff writer for NerdWallet, a credit card website dedicated to helping consumers find the best credit card. Photo Credit: stevendepolo ...

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An Easy Way to Compare Credit Card Reward Programs

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I always assumed the cash-back card to be a better value than the one passing out airline miles, but I never did a detailed analysis to confirm my suspicions.   For me it just made better sense to get a dividend check a couple times per year that I could put to use for whatever I wanted. Since we always pay the card off in full at the end of the month, this is pure profit.   At a penny for every dollar I spend, the dividend isn't much -- but, hey, it's free money!     And who doesn't like free money?   ;-) In 2008, we charged $21,089.93 on our dividend credit card.   That is an average of $1757.49 per month.   The charges resulted in dividend payments to us of $210.89 just for buying things on the card.     :-) But what if I had chose airline miles instead? With my particular card, I would have been entitled to 1 mile for each dollar spent.   At that rate it comes down to a trade between a $250 dividend check for a round-trip ticket to anywhere in the continental US, or a $400 dividend check for a round-trip ticket to Hawaii.     Of course the airlines would restrict the days and times I could use those tickets, assuming I could get them at all, but that's life.   Right?   :-) A recent check on a national travel website showed round-trip airfare from Los Angeles to Hawaii for as little as $374.     Based on this unscientific survey I would clearly be better off collecting the dividend miles than saving for a flight to Hawaii. When it comes to cashing in miles for a trip within the continental US, this is not necessarily the case, as it all depends on the desired destination.   For example, at the time of this writing, the cheapest round-trip ticket from Los Angeles to Boston cost $414 -- clearly a better deal than the $250 rebate.   Then again, trips could be had to many other parts of the country for less than $250. Based on that observation, those of you who live near airline hub cities such as Dallas, Atlanta, Denver, and Salt Lake City may decide that the airline miles option would be less desirable because hub cities tend to have lower airfares.   It might not be a slam dunk rule of thumb, but it is worth considering. For those who are considering applying for a new credit card but are not so inclined to do all of this analysis themselves, there is good news.   While surfing the net the other day I came across this handy credit card rewards comparison tool at CreditCardFlyers.com. You simply enter a breakdown of your credit card spending habits and it returns a listing and complete description of the best rewards cards on the market.   After entering data such as how much money I charge per month, and estimating how I distributed that spending (e.g., how much I spent on groceries, how much I charged on gasoline, etc), it gave me a rated list of 17 different cards to compare. For those who don't want to break down their spending, it is sufficient to simply give your estimate of how much you charge per month.   Keep in mind, though, that this can affect the analysis because many cards give additional bonuses for buying groceries or gas, for example. The resulting credit card summary separated the winners by the type of rewards offered, be it rebate, points, or miles.   It also provided an estimated first year payout for each of the cards.     The payouts included bonuses and other incentives for signing up. CreditCardFlyers.com also includes comprehensive reviews on various credit card programs, including information on interest rates and annual fees, and a summary of credit card perks and benefits.   Although there are some low rated cards, the majority of the reviews seem to have a lot of 4.5- and 5-star ratings; still, all of the information is there for you to make an informed decision. Hopefully, CreditCardFlyers.com will take a lot of the mystery out of deciding which credit card program is the right one for you. If you liked this article, please be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed. ...

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Using a HELOC as an Alternative to Refinancing

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Recently I was talking with a buddy of mine, who happens to be a higher-echelon employee for a major bank, about my desire to refinance into a longer-term home loan in order to provide me with additional financial flexibility in the event I ever lost my job. Eventually, our conversation migrated over to when people want to remortgage with bad credit and then on to the case of my  mother-in-law.     I wanted to also refinance her mortgage for maximum flexibility because she has a very limited monthly income that will become even more limited when she finally retires.   Unfortunately, although she is 65, she has very little saved for retirement and therefore she will be almost entirely dependent on her social security payments in the coming years.   Here is an approximation of her current situation: Monthly Social Security Income:   $1000 Monthly Mortgage Payment:   $400 Remaining Mortgage Balance:   $40,000 Value of House:   $200,000 As you can see, once she retires her mortgage will eat up roughly 40% of her social security payments, making life quite difficult for her. After hearing these details, my banker buddy offered up what I think is an ingenious and brilliant alternative to refinancing that was just too good to believe.   I'll paraphrase his words to me:   Why don't you have your mother-in-law take out a home equity line of credit (HELOC) for the amount of the mortgage and then pay off the mortgage?   If minimizing her payment is the ultimate goal, she can pay only the monthly interest payment on the HELOC. What!   Why would anybody ever do that?   Isn't it true that the interest rate on the conventional fixed rate home loan is lower than a HELOC? It is true that the HELOC carries a higher interest rate than if she refinanced into a conventional fixed-rate home loan.   But the beauty of this plan is that unlike the mortgage on a conventional fixed-rate loan, the HELOC would permit my mother-in-law to pay only the interest due each month.   At current rates, this strategy would lower her monthly payment to somewhere in the vicinity of just over $100 per month. (As an aside: many folks may be interested to know that it is possible to get a HELOC, or even remortgage with bad credit.) But if you only pay down the interest every month you'll never pay off the house! I know what many of you are thinking:   Okay, Len, what is going on here?   Just the other day you were spouting off that for those who want to reduce risk by agreeing to trade the desire of making more money over the short run in exchange for the security and promise of a steady risk-free return, paying-off the mortgage was a no-brainer! And in most cases, that is still true.   But there are ALWAYS exceptions to the rule. In my mother-in-law's case, being a senior citizen with no nest egg to speak of and very limited income, minimizing her monthly payments easily trumps paying off the mortgage.   For many senior citizens with limited incomes who are still responsible for paying a mortgage for a home, it becomes logical to ask: what do they have to gain by paying it off, other than providing their heirs with a bigger inheritance? With all that in mind, for my mother-in-law it basically becomes a trade between these two options: 1) continue to work as long as she can continuing to pay down (for her) an expensive mortgage in exchange for owning the house free-and-clear by her 77th birthday, or... 2) pay off the existing mortgage with a HELOC and then make payments of just over $100 over the next ten years, using the resulting savings to build a small nest egg and give her more a little extra money in her pocket to boot. Of course, the key to implementing this strategy requires sufficient available equity exists to tap a HELOC in the first place.   Fortunately, even after the collapse of the housing bubble, my mother-in-law still has plenty of equity to qualify. So why not go with a reverse mortgage? Well, everybody's situation is different.   But in my mother-in-law's case, the HELOC allows her to avoid the steep fees and other loan costs (usually over $10,000) normally associated with reverse mortgages.   In fact, many lenders offer zero or near-zero closing cost HELOCs.   The high closing costs associated with reverse mortgages are attributed in part to FHA insurance required to cover the risk of the loan balance growing in larger than the home’s equity over time.   For my mother-in-law, the savings that the HELOC provides are just too big to ignore. True, unlike a HELOC, a reverse mortgage wouldn't have to be paid off until my mother-in-law moves out or dies.   But HELOC loan terms can run for as long as 10 years.   When that term is eventually reached, she can decide to either sell the house, repay the relatively small balance or refinance. In the mean time my mother-in-law, by using a HELOC to pay off her existing mortgage, can enjoy a little more financial freedom and hopefully some added peace of mind in her autumn years. If you liked this article, please be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed. ...

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