The Best One Yet - 🥸 “Rice & beans forever” — Dave Ramsey’s financial advice. Scrabble’s new game. BMW’s electric surprise.

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

✅ Vote for TBOY to win the “Best Business Podcast” Webby Award: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2024/podcasts/shows/businessDave Ramsey has created a $200M fortune by giving out financial advice on the radio, but now he’s facing a backlash — So we’ll share our #1 rule for personal finance.Scrabble just unveiled “Scrabble Together”, which is less competitive, more for fun — Purists were furious, but this reminds us of Coca-Cola’s new sodas and the backlash they received (or didn’t). And the surprise car brand that’s catching up to Tesla? BMW — Beamers are doing one thing on the assembly line that no other car company is, and its electric cars are thriving.Plus, the #1 new office accessory is the couch — But have we hit peak office comfort couch?The Saturday Newsletter:https://news.tboypod.com/p/best-newsletter-yet-da5e $HAS $SPY $BMWYY $TSLASubscribe to the best newsletter yet: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, April 16th. Then today's pod is the best one yet. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. What a week? Jack just landed in sunny San Francisco. Jack, you're looking fantastic.

Yeah, we got a T-Boy offsite here in San Francisco. But why are you really here, Jack? To get out the vote. Jack and I are literally going door to door to get out the vote for the best business podcast Webby Award. As you know, we were nominated for the best business podcast, Webby Award. As you know, we were nominated for the best business podcast, but now this is the final week of voting. We're in second place, Jack and I, and the best one yet, T-Boy is currently behind Keras-Swisher and Scott Galloway of the Pivot podcast. Now, we're a couple of percentage points back, but voting closes Thursday so we can take the lead again.

Jack and I are literally going door-to-door. We are knocking and asking all the techies in San Francisco to vote for T-boy. Much easier? You just have to click the link in today's episode description, and you can vote now. In the meantime, Jack, we've got a fantastic show. So what are three stories for today's T-Boy? For our first story, it's Scrabble. Mattel's top board game just launched a new Gen Z version of Scrabble that some are calling

woke. So Jack and I whipped up the takeaway about change with a capital C, literally. For our second story, it's BMW. The new hot car and electric cars isn't Tesla. It's a beamer. BMW has become the number two in electric cars because it was inspired by Burger King. And our third and final story is the radio host, Dave Ramsey. This is the pastor of personal finance, and he faces a backlash.

Jack, if you want to tell this story, then you're going to have to go on a budget for the next 33 years. He has some austere financial recommendations. Next caller, why are you even buying shirts these days, Jack? But yet is, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories today? Looking fantastic. Really, you look great after the flight, Jack. Nick and I are in the same office right now.

Yeah, we are. But we've never seen your office. No, Jack and I have not seen your office, but we know what is in your office. And the one thing that is in your office is... A couch. It's a couch. A sofa. A deep dream cushion.

She's lounge. I don't know what you're rocking with. That's what you're saying, Jack, because Jack and I are 100% certain that your office has a big, comfy couch and we have the data to back it up. According to the Wall Street Journal, offices are getting cushier,

with sofas, couches, armchairs everywhere. Apparently, we've hit peak office couch. One office architecture firm called Gensler has seen a 25% increase in the number of sofas in the office. Get this. room and board, they've also seen a 25% surge in office couch sales. Because the number of office lounge spaces has doubled since the pandemic.

Jack, let's be honest, no one's a work meeting in a windowless conference room with a wooden chair hurting your butt. I'd rather crunch ideas from a couch. I would rather brainstorm from a daybed. Or figure out the finances with Frank from a futon. Frank, come over here. You're right next to me. After all, Yeties, we've all experienced work from home at this point.

And work from home is cozy. So they're bringing the high fabric. counts to the office floor, baby. Just to compete. And according to architects, the ideal dimensions for an office sofa are 22 inches deep and 18.5 inches high. Too deep and you'll fall asleep. But too low and the ideas don't flow.

I know, of course. The only problem with a work couch is if you accidentally fall asleep. Oh, Jack, you're saying that the only risk of the work couch is the work nap. Because you can wake up an intern, and you probably should wake up an intern. But what if your boss took a nap by accident? I mean, Jack, just don't spell an ice coffee on that work couch. Big Stain, small bonus. Yeties, if your office has a couch, send us a pick of that thing.

Let's see if it competes with Nick Sofa. Oh, that's true. He has a Joanna Gaines approved couch at his apartment. Yeah, Jack's sticking my house. He's crashed at my place this weekend. And you're basically staying on her couch, so it's a work couch now. Cozy is the new cubicle. Happy T-boy Tuesday.

Let's see those work couches. And Jack, let's in our three stories. 15 years before this song, two boys from the northeast met in the don't. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm Jack Nick, that's it I don't even think they need to practice 50% that's a fat tip

T-boy City on your at list If you know you know because we're ready to go We can't wait no more so just start the show Start the show First a quick word from our sponsor For our first story Mattel just made its first change to Scrabble the board game in 76 years.

Risky move. But we'll tell you why woke Scrabble is going to pay off. But first, we like to tell you our favorite fact about Scrabble. I didn't know this until tech. He's a good fact. Scrabble was invented by a man whose last name was Butz. B-U-T-S and no you can't buy a vowel. Yet he's the best word to describe a game of Scrabble is I-N-T-E-N-S-E or L-O-N-N-G.

The man's name was Butts. He had a natural resentment. for spelling and letters. Can I get two teased? But yeah, Scrabble is a long, intense game. You're signing up for an hour and a half of intensity. Oh, yeah. And Scrabble is actually co-owned by two rival toy companies, isn't it?

Yeah. Classic corporate Ebonye outcome. Mattel owns Scrabble worldwide. Hasbro owns it in the United States. Well, since the pandemic, board game sales have been struggling. Board games are the worst performing division at Mattel, with sales falling 24% last year. Not cozing up with a backgammon board and a Candyland tournament,

are you, Jack? This isn't 2021. No, it's not. So, to switch things up, Mattel is making a pivot. P-I-V-O-T. Mattel just launched a new version of Scrabble called Scrabble Together. But the reason Mattel did this is their research, which shows that Genzi prefers collaboration to competition. You want to work with a teammate to solve that grammar problem, don't you, man? So new Scrabbles, it includes help, prompts, and clues, depending on the player's chosen, like, ability level. It's almost like the worst player gets a handicap. Yes. So they can compete with like the Phi Beta Kappa.

And we should point out that Scrabble is being sold on a two-sided board. That's right. The new Scrabble, it's going to come with the two-sided board. So on one side, you can play the classic Scrabble. And on the other side, you can play this new thing, which is called Scrabble together. So not too much is changing. You got the same hourglass timer and a wooden tile letter like you used to have. But the board comes with two sides.

One side, if you want like an intense competition to see. who can win. And the other side, if you're just trying to have fun. But yet is, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Oh, the change yielded some responses. Unsurprisingly, Scrabble purists are furious about this. Some are even calling this woke Scrabble. All right, Jack, can I read you the headline in the Financial Times yesterday? Tampering with Scrabble is a losing strategy. That was in the Financial Times. I know, but that's an old school institution. Like, that's the Wall Street Journal of England. The Brits are like, this is our language. We'll make the rules around here.

But if you ask Nick's therapist, he'll tell you that people hate changes in life. Yeah, yeah. In general, you know, whether it's like a graduation stress or like a new Scrabble board, when there's changed people's routines, they tend to resist it. So we shouldn't be surprised that Scrabble is now caught up in some kind of a culture war. It's all mixed up in like generational finger pointing and work ethic. Aider said this is like the Wussification of America. It eliminates competition. It's a Soviet-Russia Scrabble. Seems like gratuitous outrage. If you like the old Scrabb, First of all, you probably have the old scrabble.

And it's on the other side of the board. And it's on the other side of the board. So the new Scrabble comes with both the old Scrabble and this new collaborative version. But I'm sorry, Jack, one second. Do you have a T, an A, a K, a takeaway? Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Mattel? If you want to understand how to change a product, drink a Coca-Cola. Yeah, it is in business.

The one inevitable thing about change. is the response. Consumers often hate it when you change something they love. But when it comes to adding something new, instead, consumers often love it. Coca-Cola shows us both examples. Here we go. Back in 1985, Coca-Cola introduced something called New Coke. Coca-Cola changed their recipe after 100 years and rebranded themselves to New Coke. There was so much outrage that Coke returned to the original recipe with their tail between their legs after just three months. On the other hand, in 1983, Coca-Cola launched a new drink called Diet Coke, which was beloved. It got the opposite response.

People loved it. Diet Coke surprised classic Coke fans, and it became a success by the end of the year. So the way Jack and I see it, the Coca-Cola case study tells us so much about change. First, that changing a beloved product gets a bad response. We're seeing that now with angry Scrabble purists. But adding a new product to the old product, that doesn't affect the beloved product. and that gets a more favorable response. Scrabble did the latter.

They introduced a new product and they didn't touch the old product. And that's why in the long run, we think new Scrabble is going to get Diet Coke love, not new Coke hate. For our second story, the real surprise of electric vehicles this year, it isn't Tesla's decline. It's BMW's rise. BMW has proved something even more important

than what Tesla proved in electric cars. But yeah it is yesterday, Tesla's stock fell 4% because of an internal memo. Elon announced he's cutting 10,000 employees to try to boost profits and cut costs. But honestly, frankly, besties, the more interesting electric vehicle story that Jack and I found was who's catching up to Tesla. It's BMW. Jack, we should point out full disclosure. I'm co-hosting here with a German and econ double major. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Go on. You love cars growing up and so you've been studying them and you worked with them years ago. I was pumped that BMW was one of my clients when I was like 26. And Jack, when I visited you in Berlin, study abroad, what did you tell me about BMW? BMW was the company that Germans wanted to work for. It was like the Apple of Germany. When Tesla started innovating with electric cars, that deeply wounded the pride of Germans who believed that they were the number one car nation in the world.

Innovation in cars were supposed to come from Germany, not California. Nick, they were deeply wounded by Tesla's success. Well, perhaps that. was the motivating factor behind BMW's surprise EV success. Here's the news. BMW just became the second Western car company to actually profit off of electric cars. Get this, BMW produced almost 376,000 electric cars last year. That is up 76% from the year before.

More impressive than the growth is that they actually turned a profit on those cars. Because Yetis, General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, they haven't made a profit on EVs. Only Tesla and BMW have ever accomplished this. Nick and I found the unique electric car strength that BMW has. It's actually inspired by Burger King. That's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Have it your way is BMW's strategy for electric cars. Most car companies have one assembly line for gas powered cars and one for electric.

But BMW's factories, they can do both. In fact, BMW told the New York Times that customers should be able to choose their power train as easily as they choose a color. Whether you want a three series, a five series, a seven series, and X series, you should be able to get any one of them in gas, hybrid, or electric. Have it your way just like the Wopper. And that equal treatment of gas and electric and hybrid, it's been beneficial to BMW in two ways.

Okay, first, it's helped BMW because that's helped them handle like fluctuations in demand. When electric cars are hot, BMW can pump out mostly electric cars from the assembly line. And when electric cars are not hot, BMW plops gas engines on that chassis. The second way it's beneficial for BMW is that it lets their electric cars look the same as they're not electric cars. Look, one complaint of would-be electric car buyers is that they look annoyingly futuristic. My dad, not a fan exactly of our model-wise look. Not everyone wants to be driving a Prius and have everyone know if they're driving a Prius.

But BMW's cars all look alike, gas or electric because they're made on the same assembly line. And that's an advantage to people who don't like the EV look. Now, Jack and I should point out that BMW plans electric-only car models and factories that are electric only to scale in the future. But during this crucial transitional phase, the flexible factories they have is their competitive advantage. So Jack, hit that accelerator and tell us what is the takeaway for our buddies over at BMW.

The pioneer is important, but so is the first convert. Yeties, back in 2020, Tesla showed us that it was possible to profit off of electric cars. Tesla was the pioneer. But equally important, BMW just showed that a vet. veteran car company can do the same. Look, until now, it looked like a legacy gas car company just couldn't transition to electric vehicles and make money on those electric vehicles. But now we have a second profitable electric car company, and there are BMW who converted

from gas only before. Now, in the United States, that is hugely important because the United States wants cleaner cars, but they don't want to damage the existing car industry. This news means that we don't have to let America's legacy car companies die. Amazing. BMW converted successfully. so can Detroit car company. And that is why Jack and I think the pioneer is important,

but so is the first convert. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Dave Ramsey has become America's $200 million financial advice guru. But Dave Ramsey hates us millennials. So we're looking at the most important piece of financial advice you'll ever hear. All right, first of all, Jack, you just flew to San Francisco. and Dave Ramsey is pissed at you, man.

He does not approve. He thinks I should have zoomed in or taken a bus. Yet he's 63-year-old Dave Ramsey is the pastor of personal finance. This is an evangelical Christian man from Tennessee who hosts the radio show and preaches financial responsibility.

He listens to people's money questions and then he prescribed solutions like a drill sergeant. He once said that you should only find yourself inside a restaurant if you work there as your second job. Okay. I heard an episode over the weekend where he advised a family in debt to only eat rice and beans for the next three years. Only rice and beans. That's it. Because that family had $800,000 of debt.

Dave Ramsey finds out your fiance has a credit card balance. He's going to break off the engagement for you. He's going to tell you not to marry her. He'll show up at the wedding and be like, I object to the wedding. Yeah, it is. Dave Ramsey has a personal reason for his no-nonsense, tough love financial preaching. Because when Dave Ramsey was in his... 20s, he gained a great fortune through real estate and then he lost it all through bankruptcy. So he hates debt because he suffered from it personally. And so he tells his audience to avoid debt at all costs. Then in 1992, Dave Ramsey launched a radio call-in talk show. And today he has 20 million listeners. Okay. A thousand employees. Not too shabby. A financial advice empire. Yeah? And a net worth estimated at

$200 million. Sit down, stand up, and keep it in a savings account, Jack. And he has one of the biggest impacts of any fin influencer. Can we call him a finfluencer? He'd probably hate being called a fin influencer. He's not a fan of it, but it's the fact. Yetis, when Dave Ramsey speaks, people listen, they change their finances and the data backs it up. A University of Copenhagen study showed that when Dave Ramsey's radio show entered a new market between 2004 and 2019, spending in that new market fell by 5.4%. David Ramsey literally affects GDP. He reduces GDP because he's tells everyone to stop splurging. Right, because Dave Ramsey is famous for his taglines, his philosophy like, I hate credit cards. The only plastic in Dave Ramsey's wallet is his driver's license.

And he's famous for saying that credit scores don't matter. So don't use your credit card. Pay with the debit card instead. Oh, and also, Dave Ramsey discourages you from borrowing money to go to school. He just thinks you shouldn't do that. Because he hates debt that much. I hate debt that much. But after 30 years, Dave Ramsey is now facing a bit of a TikTok backlash. First, it was because of the criticism. that he's just out of touch with the economy. His advice hasn't changed to reflect the inflation economy. Dave Ramsey is not growing with the rate of inflation is what we're saying. For example, he says you should only take out a mortgage to buy home if it's 15 years and you

could afford those payments. Does he see how unaffordable homes are right now, though? I just listen to this Dave Ramsey episode where someone shared their child care and Dave Ramsey was shocked by the price of the child care, but it was like, Dave, that's the price of childcare. Like you're getting a nanny or you're going to daycare. Like, that's just the price these days. So Dave Ramsey kind of comes off as a boomer telling millennials how to handle their money like he did back in the day.

But it might have been different back in his day. Yet is what really caused this backlash against Dave Ramsey was an interview he did on Fox business. Jack, we roll the clip. The truth is that this Gen Z generation and the millennials who caught a bunch of crap are excellent generations. What we're seeing with both of them is there is a segment of them that is very serious and very good with their money. They believe in it. They believe in saving. They believe in investing.

They believe in the free enterprise system. And then there's a segment of them that just sucks. They're just awful. I mean, their participation trophy, they live in their mother's basement, and they can't figure out why they can't buy a house because they don't work. Like we said, some of us millennials, let's just say he's not impressed with it. He's preaching like a drill sergeant. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy, Dave Ramsey? The best rule of financial advice?

There's no one rule for financial advice. Yeah, it is the way Jack and I see it, just one size does not fit all when it comes to personal finance. The reality is that everyone has their own circumstances. There's too many variables for one rule to rule them all. Like, show us a financial rule, and Jack and I will show an exception. A home purchase for a family of Ford in Fresno

is very different than a couple of dinks living in Dallas. And a student loan for a surgeon is different than a surgeon. is different than a student loan for a history major and the ROI for a student loan for a plumber. We actually think Dave was right about that family that shouldn't go to the restaurant. Right, because that one specific family was $800,000 in debt. They probably shouldn't be having so many nights out. But his blanket statements like debt is bad that doesn't consider the person's situation, we disagree with those blanket statements.

Besties, Dave Ramsey's commandments of finance have been successful for him, and they've helped a whole lot of people out there. But the best rule of financial advice we think, It's that there's no one rule of financial advice. One size does not financially fit all. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Scrabble introduced a new version of the game called Scrabble together that doesn't affect the old Scrabble.

And that's why we think this will get Diet Coke love, not new Coke hate. Our second story was BMW. It's the only Western car company outside of Tesla to turn a profit on electric cars. Because the pioneer is important, but the first convert is two. And our third and final story is Dave Ramsey. He's built an empire of personal finance advice, but he's facing a bit of a backlash. The best finance advice, we think it's that there's no one rule for financial advice. But yeties, this pod's not over yet.

Here's what else you need to know today. First, despite shots fired between Israel and Iran over the weekend, oil prices have surprisingly not spiked to start the week. Escalating conflict in the Middle East could have huge impacts across the world, especially since the oil market is kind of epicentered in the Middle East. Now all eyes are on whether Israel retaliates, which is something the United States has advised it to not do. Our second story, Tesla's bad news. We didn't tell you at all.

They cut the price of their model Y. They cut the price of their self-driving feature. And they laid off 10% of their staff. Over the weekend, I got an update that I'm getting free self-driving suddenly, Jack. Really? So you and I are actually going to self-drive home and try this out. I haven't done it yet. Well, they actually renamed it from fully self-driving to supervised self-driving, which is an

acknowledgement that fully self-driving was kind of a misleading name. And then the stock fell another 5% for Tesla on Monday. And finally, we all paid some taxes yesterday. So did Mark Cuban. He tweeted that he paid $288 million in taxes this year. Yeah, Mark said he's proud to pay his taxes. This country has done so much for me is what he said, so I pay what I owe. Should point out, most of those taxes were long-term capital gains. Yeah. Because he's a hold and buy guy. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one from our Saturday, T-Boy newsletter. We dropped six tricks for winning at Scrabble in our newsletter.

And here's our favorite. It's actually a trivia question. What is the highest scoring word with the letter X in it that you can score in Scrabble? And it doesn't include triple letter, double letter, double word, or anything like that. This is your straight up X word. What do we got, Jack? The longest best X word is jukebox. Grab those Js and hoard those X's, baby.

The J gets you eight points. The K gets you five. If the B gets you three, the vowels are kind of throwaways, but the X gets you eight as well. It's a 24 point word. Hold on to that cue, though. You may want to save it. If you triple score that thing, that's 72 points right there. Yeties, you look fantastic for T-Boy Tuesday.

Before Jack and I retired to that couch, not a work couch, a home couch, we are got a canvas, man. We've got to get out there in the street, start knocking on some doors. I'm just going to say it on this pot because this is our best chance to get votes. Let's do it, Jack. Click the link in the episode description and vote for the best one yet. Take T-Boy the best business pod to win the Webby's. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait to vote.

And before we go, we got a special shout-out for what sounds like T-boy matchmaking. Jack, get this. Cliff and Michelle just got married in lovely San Mateo, California. And how did they meet, man? They met because they both listened to the show. Apparently they whipped up the takeaways together, and then they got down in one knee and whipped out a ring over there. I would love to hear the full story.

Oh, guys, we can't wait to see the couple of. pictures. Congratulations on the wedding. You both look fantastic. And happy birthday to Jason Munn, the best PR person who listens to the show, we guarantee you. And Will Yan is getting his executive NBA in lovely Los Angeles. Congratulations, Will. Huge shout out to Jacob Trett. This boy has turned him five years old in Scottsdale, Arizona. Happy birthday, Jacob. And versus Jay's got a 10-year birthday in Alambrough, California. Celebrate that win. Happy 35th birthday to Kiwukhuan in San Mateo, California. And Stefan Kelly's turning 40 years old in St. Louis, he's a dinkwad ass celebrated with some succulents in Mexico. Happy fifth birthday to Mary McCall, who just turned five in San Francisco,

celebrating on Stinson Beach. And she's hanging out with her brothers taking great care of me. Happy 30th birthday to Molly Brown in Nashville, Tennessee. And Daniel Baker's turning 33 years old in Nashville, North Carolina, been listening to T-Boy for three years straight. That's a hat trick. This is Jack. I own stock of Ford and Nick and I both on stock of Apple. You noticed I said, your therapist. Nick has this rogue therapist who practiced some kind of dark art.