Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - 100th EPISODE! Featuring Money Rehabber Success Stories

Episode Date: August 20, 2021

Today is Money Rehab’s 100th Episode! To celebrate, we’re sharing updates from some of the Money Rehabbers you’ve met so far, and some new voices. Plus, some fun facts about $100 (we had to). Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg. The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. Today is a super special day here at Money Rehab,

because today is the day we publish our 100th episode of Money Rehab. 100 episodes. Can you guys believe it? I will say, with The Daily Show, 100 episodes does go by so, so quickly. We launched back in April, which feels like yesterday, but we have covered so much ground. We have nailed some money basics and ventured into some deeper financial waters. deeper financial waters. We've heard from inspiring changemakers. And we've had interventions with you, our amazing listeners. We're actually going to check in with those listeners at the end of this episode to see how they're doing. But in the meantime, I want to take you for a ride on my thought train. So I've been getting in my feels thinking about

the 100 episodes you've listened to so far. And I say you've listened to all 100 episodes because I know you've listened to all 100 episodes. You would never, ever skip a day of money rehab, obviously. And so I was thinking about these episodes. Well, you know me. I've always got my mind on my money and my money on my mind. But long story short, I went down some pretty nerdy rabbit holes. You want to come with me? Of course you do. So all aboard the thought train. This is how it started. I woke up thinking our 100th episode. And then because I'm me, I started thinking about the $100 bill and that this is the Benjamin of episodes. Obviously, the term Benjamin's has become slang for $100 bills because Benjamin Franklin is on the bill. He actually is

the OG face of the bill and has been sitting pretty on our $100 bill for over 100 years. The first $100 bill was minted in 1914. But in 2013, as you may remember, the bill had a little glow up and added two more security features. As I was reading the casual history of the $100 bill, I thought about running to the bank and taking out a few hundos just to take a look at the imaging firsthand. But it wasn't in my spending plan, so I just did a Google image search instead. And you should too if you want to follow along. The first security feature is a blue ribbon that cuts vertically right next to Mr. Franklin's pretty mug. The blue ribbon has a holographic look to it. And the cool feature is that depending on which way you tilt the bill, the ribbon displays

bells or the number 100. The second security feature is a fancy bell inside what I'm told is an inkwell. But to me, it just looks like a regular old pot you would see at a gardening supply store. Similar deal as the other security feature, the fun part of this image is that depending on how you tilt the bill, the bell moves up and down in the inkwell. You may be thinking, uh, what makes these things security features, Lappin? Last time I checked, if I needed to recover my email password, I need a code sent to my cell phone, not a peekaboo inkwell. Well, these optical illusions are super hard to replicate, which makes it harder to counterfeit

and also easier to spot a fake. If you think the front of the bill is cool, like Doja Cat says, wait till you see it from the back, back, back, back, back. The back of the $100 bill features the picture of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. When the bill was created in 1914, the clock pictured in Independence Hall was set at 410. In 2013, the number was changed to 1030. And get this, no one knows why. This is actively driving me so super crazy. But if you try to track down an answer, the internet basically shrugs you. If you have any ideas, please DM us at Money Rehab Show. We want answers. Some historians think that 410 was just the time of day the designers created the image in 1914. But we don't buy it. And not to start a conspiracy theory, but

maybe. But I think it's some sort of national treasure-esque clue. Now for a real tone shift to talk about cocaine. Did you know that traces of cocaine are found on 80% of bills in circulation? 80%! If you've seen Wolf of Wall Street, maybe this number doesn't surprise you, but I am shook! And now I'm really glad that this Pollyanna did not go to the bank to take out a Benjamin. After digging into this research, I started to think about the value of $100 and how much that money could grow if you were to take that Benjamin and index fund and chill. If you invest $100 in an index fund and reinvest everything you earn from that investment,

how much do you think you'd have after 100 years? And are you counting with your fingers now or trying to count it out? Well, remember, an index fund should follow the trends of the market, and the market has historically grown around 8% every year. If that 8% growth rate holds for the next 100 years, that $100 you put in an index fund will grow to over $200,000. Yes, now are you finally going to listen to me when I say index funds and chill? If that doesn't make you want to run to the nearest brokerage and go in on index funds, I don't know what will. Let's get back to the thought train because we are heading to another station. This index fund dream got me thinking about myself in 100 years. 200 grand richer,

maybe living on the moon with Jeff Bezos. And then I started thinking about the world 100 years in the past. 100 years ago, there was no Venmo, no Bitcoin, no online banking, because there was no online anything. The financial landscape looked a lot different back then. We also know that the dollar was valued differently. If you went back in time a hundred years, you'd be living in a house which you bought for $6,300. When you went to the grocery store, you would take your car, which you would have bought brand new for $500. And you would buy a steak for $0.40 and three pounds of macaroni for 25 cents. Yes, those numbers are real. 100 years ago, $100 was equal to $1,500 today. The value of the dollar

has changed over the last century, of course, due to inflation. So pretty much across the board, your spending plan looks lower in 1921. However, I will note one exception, which is that in 1921, a radio cost $35. And in present day, you're listening to this podcast for free. And I don't think you even have a radio. And it all comes back to money rehab. Full circle, baby. Yep. That is how this crazy money rehab mind works. And I hope you enjoyed a little peek behind the scenes. Hold on to your wallets, boys and girls. Money rehab will be right back. Now for some more Money Rehab. At the top of the episode, I mentioned that we would be hearing from how my guests have been doing post their Money Rehab intervention.

And I am so excited to share their incredible progress. I started this show because I wanted to make a difference in your life. I wanted to help you get it together and get it all. And it's been working. And it's not a flex because I'm not saying I did this. I'm saying you did this because you took the first step of recovery and admitted that you had a money problem. I didn't change your life. You changed your life. But I'm just here to read you on. Let's see how Angelica is doing. She wanted to know whether she should pay off debt or save for retirement. Hey, Nicole, Angelica here. I wanted to follow up on our amazing conversation on your podcast. Thank you again so much for taking the time to impart your wisdom on me and give me

some insights because I've already gained so much from just taking action on what you talked to me about. So the very first thing that I did after our chat was look into my 401k with one of my very first employers. I won't say how long ago, but I had about $5,000 in that 401k, which is awesome. And because it had been so long since I worked with them, they actually already distributed it through a third party into a safe Harbor IRA. The next thing I did was open my 401k with my current employer. And I have 10% going straight into that every single month. At first, I was a little bit worried that I might miss that money from my take-home pay, but I'm actually not. So we have reworked our monthly budget so that we can incorporate not just having our regular savings, but also having more investment opportunities for ourselves. So we're working through the details of what we want our portfolio

to look like and making sure that we're, that we're having our emergency fund nicely padded, having our regular savings set up, but also diverting more funds into our investment fund because we really want to grow our money, make our money work for us, not just depend on us working for our money. So we're excited to continue to develop that and see what different investment opportunities would be best for us. And I just wanted to thank you again for providing so much wisdom and accessible information for people, everyday people like me who did not grow up learning about money and never really thought that they would be interested in it. I know that I really appreciate, you know, how easy to digest and take action on the information that you provide is and I know a lot of other people feel that way too. So thank you for everything that you do. And I can't wait for your next book. Thanks, Nicole.

Did Adam get those tattoos? Okay, let's circle back. Hey, Nicole, thanks again for having me on the show. I had a lot of fun. So here's my update. I've been trying to incorporate some of the stuff that you said. So what I did was I made a sub savings account that's just Adam Tattoo Fund. And I looked at my spreadsheet. I track all of my expenses. And last year, it was a very comfortable year for me too. My expenses were around $30,000. Even though that was a comfortable year, I basically am cutting that off as my emergency fund. So the rest, which was a little over $10,000, is going into my tattoo fund, which makes that, I believe, a little over $11,000. So that makes me feel a lot better, and I feel a lot less pressured and kind of tight with money on that.

And I have made a couple appointments for the sleeve. So thank you again. And I hope our paths cross again someday. And how much has Sunny saved by negotiating so far? Hi, my name is Sunny and I came on Money Rehab to share my negotiating stories. I listened to the negotiation episode of Money Rehab and heard Nicole talk about taking the opportunity to negotiate things that honestly I'd never really considered. So I decided what the heck, I'll give it a whirl. And first up to bat was my homeowners association fees. Based on some of the techniques that Nicole had suggested, I was able to reduce the amount that I was paying per month. I, from that point, went on to my cell

phone service and consequently I was able to get a much better rate on my cell phone service. One of the best hints that Nicole had discussed was the idea of not waiting until you need to negotiate the interest rate on credit cards, but doing it while you still, you know, before you even need to take advantage of a lower interest rate. So I did do that. And although I do, I'm able to pay my bill every month, totally clear it out. If there comes a time when I'm not able to, I have a much reduced interest rate. Thank you so much to

Nicole. Congratulations on your 100th show. And I continue to look forward to all kinds of really good advice and suggestions from Money Rehab. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. If you have a question that hasn't been covered in any of our 100 Money Rehab episodes, DM us at Money Rehab Show, and we will make sure that it's answered within the next Benjamin. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartMedia your host nicole lappen our producers are morgan lavoie and katherine law money rehab is edited and engineered by brandon dickert with help from josh fisher executive producers are mangas hatikader and will pearson huge thanks to the og money rehab supervising producer michelle lamanz for her pre-production and development work.

And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all. You spend my money, money. You spend my money, money, money. You spend my money, money, money.