00:00:00.000 –> 00:00:05.000
Alright folks, hit the download button on our Survivalist Podcast.
00:00:05.000 –> 00:00:14.000
And as always folks, you can catch all of our old episodes at our website, survivalinfo.org.
00:00:14.000 –> 00:00:22.000
Or you can always go ahead and check us out on soundcloud.com/survivalistpodcast.
00:00:22.000 –> 00:00:28.000
Or any place really where fine podcasts are available.
00:00:28.000 –> 00:00:36.000
So folks, I said possibly we might do one more episode before the Christmas holiday or maybe even after it.
00:00:36.000 –> 00:00:39.000
But either way, I said we could get a show out this week.
00:00:39.000 –> 00:00:47.000
This one’s actually, well they’re all pre-recorded I guess, but this one’s actually, I’m actually recording this one a little bit early.
00:00:47.000 –> 00:00:51.000
Only because I got the time to do it right now.
00:00:51.000 –> 00:00:56.000
So I figured, well let me get this recorded, pulled out my little recorder here and my microphone.
00:00:56.000 –> 00:01:01.000
Figured let me get this recorded before the holiday season.
00:01:01.000 –> 00:01:06.000
Especially since I’ve composed it. Because once the holidays really start, things get kind of crazy.
00:01:06.000 –> 00:01:12.000
And you know, my wife, those of you that have to work half a day over on Christmas Eve,
00:01:12.000 –> 00:01:16.000
I want to point something out to just everybody.
00:01:16.000 –> 00:01:21.000
A lot of people complain they have to work half a day or a couple hours on Christmas Eve or whatever.
00:01:21.000 –> 00:01:26.000
But my wife works in the medical industry and they’re open.
00:01:26.000 –> 00:01:28.000
That’s a ministry that they never shut down.
00:01:28.000 –> 00:01:34.000
Doctors, nurses, first responders, they all work Christmas and Christmas Eve and all that.
00:01:34.000 –> 00:01:38.000
So those kind of places don’t shut down ever.
00:01:38.000 –> 00:01:47.000
So those of you that have off on Christmas, feel very fortunate to have it because there are some professions where you pick and you’re going to work the holidays.
00:01:47.000 –> 00:01:54.000
So those of you that have off on it, feel grateful to have it off because not everybody actually does.
00:01:54.000 –> 00:01:58.000
But my wife, my wife luckily has off Christmas Day.
00:01:58.000 –> 00:02:04.000
But she’s working second shift Christmas Eve so we won’t be doing much on Christmas Eve.
00:02:04.000 –> 00:02:08.000
But at least we should be off on Christmas Day.
00:02:08.000 –> 00:02:14.000
One time she had to work Christmas Day years ago. She hasn’t had to in a while.
00:02:14.000 –> 00:02:20.000
So feel fortunate if you don’t have to work the holidays because there are some people that actually are.
00:02:20.000 –> 00:02:27.000
So some of these folks, I always get a lot of messages so I put it out in the front of every single podcast.
00:02:27.000 –> 00:02:31.000
If you want to go ahead and support the show, go to the website, survivalinfo.org.
00:02:31.000 –> 00:02:37.000
You’ll see the Amazon affiliate. Click on that and then do your shopping.
00:02:37.000 –> 00:02:41.000
It’ll cost you nothing extra. It costs us nothing extra.
00:02:41.000 –> 00:02:47.000
Amazon just gives us a little bit of whatever you buy. They’ll give us a couple of percentage of it for pushing you over to Amazon.
00:02:47.000 –> 00:02:52.000
Again, at survivalinfo.org, just click on the little Amazon link before you do your shopping.
00:02:52.000 –> 00:02:58.000
Also to you folks when you’re on there, you’ll see we also have a gear section there.
00:02:58.000 –> 00:03:03.000
That is actually all stuff that I have actually tried and tested and I wrote reviews about it.
00:03:03.000 –> 00:03:07.000
And there are Amazon links in there. If you click on it and buy it through our site, we do get a little bit.
00:03:07.000 –> 00:03:13.000
Like I said, there’s no cost to you or anything like that. Just help support the show and keep it free.
00:03:13.000 –> 00:03:18.000
And again, it’s survivalinfo.org. That’s how you can support the show and I really do appreciate it.
00:03:18.000 –> 00:03:21.000
We’re not making any money on this. I’m really not.
00:03:21.000 –> 00:03:26.000
I just would like to make enough to cover the hosting and stuff like that for the website, the podcast, all that.
00:03:26.000 –> 00:03:31.000
So I really appreciate you guys helping out with that.
00:03:31.000 –> 00:03:37.000
So other things folks going on. Like I said, I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit coming out here before.
00:03:37.000 –> 00:03:41.000
Like I said, in between the holidays and all that kind of stuff, kind of give you guys something to listen to.
00:03:41.000 –> 00:03:46.000
I know one of the things I said to my wife was I said I want to do a podcast when you give these guys something to listen to.
00:03:46.000 –> 00:03:50.000
Because this time of year, everybody is always traveling this time of year.
00:03:50.000 –> 00:03:56.000
And so you have something to listen to or something to stick your, something to listen to when you’re there.
00:03:56.000 –> 00:04:00.000
And you only feel like listening to your relatives talk about their ailments or anything like that.
00:04:00.000 –> 00:04:03.000
So you can pop your earbuds in and listen to us a little bit.
00:04:03.000 –> 00:04:06.000
So I just wanted to drop a quick podcast on you.
00:04:06.000 –> 00:04:10.000
So this way at least you had something to listen to.
00:04:10.000 –> 00:04:13.000
And I really enjoyed doing this too, so I’m happy to do it.
00:04:13.000 –> 00:04:16.000
One thing I do want to say folks, I did get a tweet from somebody.
00:04:16.000 –> 00:04:20.000
I really tried not to call out the tweets as far as the person’s name.
00:04:20.000 –> 00:04:26.000
But somebody did tweet me and asked me about, again if you want to tweet me, KB3YUA, my call sign.
00:04:26.000 –> 00:04:30.000
Talking about starting a podcast.
00:04:30.000 –> 00:04:35.000
And one thing I will say folks, this particular person had said something.
00:04:35.000 –> 00:04:41.000
He said he wanted to start a podcast because he doesn’t like his job and he wants to do something else.
00:04:41.000 –> 00:04:44.000
And I can tell you one thing folks, you’re not going to get rich on doing it.
00:04:44.000 –> 00:04:49.000
You do have a lot of people out there like Corolla, Podcast One.
00:04:49.000 –> 00:04:52.000
A lot of people out there do make money on it.
00:04:52.000 –> 00:04:58.000
But you as a person starting the show right off the bat, it’s not something you’re going to make money on.
00:04:58.000 –> 00:05:01.000
I can’t see, I mean I can see you making some money on it.
00:05:01.000 –> 00:05:03.000
I can’t see enough maybe to quit your job.
00:05:03.000 –> 00:05:10.000
But if you’re planning to start a podcast because you want to quit your job, I don’t think that’s a good financial decision right off the bat.
00:05:10.000 –> 00:05:17.000
We’ve been doing this a while. We’ve got tons of episodes and we’re still not even making enough money to cover expenses yet.
00:05:17.000 –> 00:05:22.000
So like I said folks, I’m not sure if that’s a good financial decision for you.
00:05:22.000 –> 00:05:25.000
But if it’s something you want to do, you don’t need much.
00:05:25.000 –> 00:05:27.000
I actually just use it right now.
00:05:27.000 –> 00:05:31.000
An i-Mic rig I bought at Walmart that was on sale.
00:05:31.000 –> 00:05:39.000
And I use my old iPod touch I have as a little recorder.
00:05:39.000 –> 00:05:43.000
And there’s an i-Rig app. You download it and you can start podcasting right there.
00:05:43.000 –> 00:05:44.000
It’s that easy.
00:05:44.000 –> 00:05:49.000
I use SoundCloud only because it integrates with everything. You don’t have to.
00:05:49.000 –> 00:05:52.000
But that’s what I use. There are bunches of other different ones you can get out there.
00:05:52.000 –> 00:05:57.000
But I’m actually using SoundCloud because it seems to work with everything.
00:05:57.000 –> 00:06:00.000
It works with Instagram, it works with Twitter, it works with everything.
00:06:00.000 –> 00:06:03.000
So it just makes it a little bit easier for me. I don’t have a lot of time.
00:06:03.000 –> 00:06:08.000
So when things work easily, actually it makes life a little easier for me.
00:06:08.000 –> 00:06:14.000
But I use SoundCloud because SoundCloud’s hosting depends on what you get.
00:06:14.000 –> 00:06:17.000
It could run $10, $16 a month. It really depends on what you do.
00:06:17.000 –> 00:06:20.000
If you look at the plans and all that, it’s not a really tough thing to get started.
00:06:20.000 –> 00:06:23.000
If you really want to do it, it’s just the time to have to do it.
00:06:23.000 –> 00:06:27.000
I’m fortunate enough I do a lot of traveling so I’ve got a lot of time in the car to kill.
00:06:27.000 –> 00:06:34.000
So like I said, just a hands-free mic and an old iPod and you can kind of get on your way.
00:06:34.000 –> 00:06:39.000
It may not sound the greatest, but at the beginning you’re just trying to get yourself going.
00:06:39.000 –> 00:06:44.000
But like I said, it’s one of those things if you want to do it, it’s not hard.
00:06:44.000 –> 00:06:50.000
If you have any questions on how to start a podcast or anything like that, go ahead and send it to my Twitter and I can help you out.
00:06:50.000 –> 00:06:57.000
So one of the things I wanted to talk to you guys about, we talked about holiday travel tips the last time.
00:06:57.000 –> 00:07:02.000
Today I actually want to talk to you guys about buying a used vehicle.
00:07:02.000 –> 00:07:07.000
The reason I want to talk to you guys about that is that’s something you can really lose your shirt on.
00:07:07.000 –> 00:07:12.000
You can either sometimes get a good deal or sometimes you can really lose your shirt.
00:07:12.000 –> 00:07:19.000
A prime example, I’m actually looking to buy an old Ford Bronco right now that I really like.
00:07:19.000 –> 00:07:22.000
I really like this old Ford Bronco and I’m looking at it right now.
00:07:22.000 –> 00:07:25.000
I found it, saw it on the side of the road, I pulled over to look at it.
00:07:25.000 –> 00:07:27.000
I looked at it twice already.
00:07:27.000 –> 00:07:33.000
I called the guy, messaged the guy, and I’ve been looking at it.
00:07:33.000 –> 00:07:40.000
The thing you really want to think about when you’re buying a used vehicle, you want to ask how long they’ve owned it, why they’re getting rid of it.
00:07:40.000 –> 00:07:45.000
Unfortunately you have to hope people are honest, which obviously that’s a problem in this day and age.
00:07:45.000 –> 00:07:53.000
Has it been in any accidents? Did it pass inspection last year?
00:07:53.000 –> 00:08:00.000
All the questions you need to ask. I actually got under it and looked in the rear well to see if there’s anything underneath the rear well’s rust.
00:08:00.000 –> 00:08:04.000
Obviously on an old 95 truck there’s going to be some rust.
00:08:04.000 –> 00:08:08.000
But I got under there to see what the frame is. You’ve got to check to make sure the frame is not flimsy.
00:08:08.000 –> 00:08:11.000
Hit it with your hand or whatever. See if there’s any rust falling off it.
00:08:11.000 –> 00:08:15.000
See if it’s cracking, if the frame is cracking or bending.
00:08:15.000 –> 00:08:20.000
Check the rear well to see if there’s any rubber around the behind the rear well’s vehicle like that.
00:08:20.000 –> 00:08:27.000
If somebody’s peeling out, somebody sees a lot of rubber, look through the rear well’s, look at the brakes, look at the calips.
00:08:27.000 –> 00:08:32.000
Look at the oil, see how long it’s been, check the oil, look at all that stuff.
00:08:32.000 –> 00:08:43.000
Check the interior. You’ve got to look at the mileage. What you should do folks, I always tell people, look at the Golden Kelly Blue Book and pull up what the vehicle’s worth.
00:08:43.000 –> 00:08:45.000
A lot of people sometimes ask more than what it’s worth.
00:08:45.000 –> 00:08:52.000
You don’t want to pay more than what it’s worth. If you can, try to get a deal.
00:08:52.000 –> 00:08:56.000
This particular vehicle has about 100 and some odd thousand miles on it.
00:08:56.000 –> 00:08:58.000
So I’m trying to chew the guy down a little bit.
00:08:58.000 –> 00:09:03.000
Sometimes if you go in there and just give people what they want, that’s not always the best way to negotiate.
00:09:03.000 –> 00:09:09.000
What I like to do, I like to go, I like to try to negotiate a little bit, negotiate the price.
00:09:09.000 –> 00:09:15.000
Sometimes they can get a little more if they’ve got the big tires on it, the big rims, all that kind of stuff.
00:09:15.000 –> 00:09:20.000
A special grill like this one has, they can ask a little more money because they’ve got a lot of the extras, not just factory.
00:09:20.000 –> 00:09:30.000
But you want to see how much a vehicle’s worth. Sometimes people ask 3, 4, 5 thousand for something and it’s only worth like 2.
00:09:30.000 –> 00:09:35.000
So you’ve got to try to go ahead and really look.
00:09:35.000 –> 00:09:41.000
And you’ve got to really inspect the vehicle to see. A couple people have said to me, “Why don’t you get a Carfax on it?”
00:09:41.000 –> 00:09:51.000
I probably will, but the only problem with Carfax is that only brings up, Carfax only really works if you put a claim into your insurance.
00:09:51.000 –> 00:09:58.000
Like if I have a head-on collision with somebody and I don’t want to put it, I mean obviously head-on collision is a little bit ridiculous.
00:09:58.000 –> 00:10:00.000
Say I had a tree, okay?
00:10:00.000 –> 00:10:12.000
And I don’t want to put it into my insurance. If I’ve got a couple grand sitting around, I could put a couple grand into that vehicle and have it fixed and it won’t show up on the Carfax.
00:10:12.000 –> 00:10:18.000
As long as I go to the body shop, pay cash, he fixes it and it won’t show up on the Carfax.
00:10:18.000 –> 00:10:28.000
Carfax only really shows up if the vehicle’s been in an accident, it’s been reported obviously, or it’s been a claim against your insurance.
00:10:28.000 –> 00:10:35.000
So that’s the only issue with Carfax. The one thing Carfax will tell you is how many owners it has, because if it changes ownership, it actually has to say that.
00:10:35.000 –> 00:10:39.000
So it will tell you how many owners it had, that’s the nice thing about a Carfax.
00:10:39.000 –> 00:10:47.000
I recommend, I usually try to do a Carfax for people if I’m trying to sell a vehicle privately. I don’t do it that often, but I have.
00:10:47.000 –> 00:10:52.000
Just because it kind of puts the person that’s buying it in mind at ease, that you’re telling the truth a little bit.
00:10:52.000 –> 00:11:03.000
But I will say though, definitely, if you’re going to be looking to buy a vehicle, like I said, I like to do a Carfax on it.
00:11:03.000 –> 00:11:12.000
At least it will tell you, first of all, I’m the only owner and you do the Carfax, you see there’s like five owners in the vehicle, you know something’s going on and maybe that might not be the right vehicle for you.
00:11:12.000 –> 00:11:21.000
Also, two folks, when you’re going to be buying a used vehicle, obviously you want to make sure you go to a title place, have a title properly, you don’t want any issues down the road.
00:11:21.000 –> 00:11:28.000
If you’re looking to get a change, if the guy should let you look, if you’re wanting it used, the guy, you know, he should have a title for it.
00:11:28.000 –> 00:11:35.000
Maybe not paying a lot of money for it. Take a look at the title, look at the title, see if it’s an R title, meaning it’s been restored.
00:11:35.000 –> 00:11:42.000
Sometimes, you know, if you don’t want to pull a Carfax on it, at least take a look at the title and you can see how many owners it had, how many miles were on it.
00:11:42.000 –> 00:12:02.000
You want to be careful with the mileage folks, sometimes people really get pissy. I hate to say, I hate to use the curse word, but people get really upset, you know, I’ve had times where I look at the title and it says it’s got 70,000 miles, or 70,000, you know, the car says it’s got 70,000 miles and the title says it’s got 170,000 because somebody changed the speedometer out.
00:12:02.000 –> 00:12:13.000
So, again folks, all this very, very important information for all of you to know about a used vehicle like that.
00:12:13.000 –> 00:12:17.000
Check to make sure everyone’s on it when it’s time to pass inspection, ask the person can it pass inspection.
00:12:17.000 –> 00:12:25.000
If you have a buddy that’s a mechanic, you know, I’d have him come and look it over, that’s always a good idea.
00:12:25.000 –> 00:12:33.000
I’m not going to spot everything, but at least it will give you kind of an idea. Like I said, always look it over, always test drive, always look into the hood.
00:12:33.000 –> 00:12:45.000
All that stuff is very important by buying a vehicle, look at the rust, look if there’s any paint that’s covering up rust, all that kind of stuff, you know, is really, really important.
00:12:45.000 –> 00:12:54.000
I think anyway. So, you know, really do your homework with these things, very, very, very important.
00:12:54.000 –> 00:12:59.000
Any of this stuff you want to, you know, do your homework on, you know, look at things.
00:12:59.000 –> 00:13:03.000
Like I said, spend the money, pay the 16, 20 bucks, do the car facts on it.
00:13:03.000 –> 00:13:10.000
At least that gives you a little idea. You know, spend the 20 bucks, spend it on the 2500 and get screwed on it.
00:13:10.000 –> 00:13:23.000
You know, the main thing is to really to go under it, look under it, because especially if you’re in Florida or in Pennsylvania where you have a lot of salt water or a lot of salt in the roads in the winter, that’s when things really get rotted and all that.
00:13:23.000 –> 00:13:30.000
If you ask to look at the title, see where the vehicle’s been. Sometimes you can actually see if a vehicle’s been across country, why’d it come across country.
00:13:30.000 –> 00:13:38.000
You know, why, you know, if you see it’s had a lot of owners, why? If you see it’s, you know, the mileage doesn’t look right.
00:13:38.000 –> 00:13:44.000
You know, all that stuff. You really got to really look over the vehicle really, really well.
00:13:44.000 –> 00:13:47.000
And sometimes you can get, you know, you don’t want to get screwed on it.
00:13:47.000 –> 00:14:00.000
Sometimes, now this is only if you’re going to drive. Now if you’re somebody who is just buying a vehicle to redo it because you want a little project and you know you’re going to be putting time and money into it, you know, maybe that’s unimportant to you.
00:14:00.000 –> 00:14:07.000
But some people, you know, some people, you know, they think they need a reliable transportation.
00:14:07.000 –> 00:14:11.000
But some of you are looking to buy something just to fix it up. Maybe that’s not a concern for you.
00:14:11.000 –> 00:14:18.000
Same thing goes with motorcycles, all that kind of stuff. You got to make sure you really double check, really, really look over the vehicle.
00:14:18.000 –> 00:14:26.000
Check the tires. You want to make sure you look at the… because remember too, folks, you hate to have to buy a vehicle used and have to put a thousand dollars into buying four tires.
00:14:26.000 –> 00:14:30.000
You know, look at the tires, see if they’re worn. Because that’s the thing too. You could use somebody to hang it up.
00:14:30.000 –> 00:14:33.000
Somebody says to you all, you know, I want five grand for this vehicle.
00:14:33.000 –> 00:14:39.000
And then you say, well, I need to put these tires and these brakes. That’s going to be, you know, seven, eight, nine hundred dollars for me.
00:14:39.000 –> 00:14:42.000
You know, you got to come down a thousand dollars on the price. That’s going to cost me money.
00:14:42.000 –> 00:14:46.000
You know, you want to try to negotiate a little bit, depending on if the vehicle has or needs anything.
00:14:46.000 –> 00:14:53.000
And, you know, you really want to try to, you know, really try to, you know, negotiate, really, you know.
00:14:53.000 –> 00:14:59.000
Because you don’t want to have to buy something, you know, a lot of people don’t… aren’t a haggler.
00:14:59.000 –> 00:15:04.000
I like to haggle a little bit. You know, I like to save myself money. I’m frugal by nature.
00:15:04.000 –> 00:15:09.000
So you want to haggle a little bit. You want to try to, you know, save, you know, save yourself money.
00:15:09.000 –> 00:15:12.000
You know, don’t spend five grand for a thousand dollars on this one. Try to chew the guy down a little bit.
00:15:12.000 –> 00:15:15.000
Maybe go down five hundred bucks even. Maybe go down two hundred dollars.
00:15:15.000 –> 00:15:18.000
And remember, you’re buying the vehicle from him.
00:15:18.000 –> 00:15:22.000
Now the only problem is, a lot of people that want this vehicle, you may not get the best bargain.
00:15:22.000 –> 00:15:25.000
Because, you know, a lot of people want it supply and demand.
00:15:25.000 –> 00:15:28.000
But again, that’s just something I want to bring up to you guys.
00:15:28.000 –> 00:15:33.000
Because, you know, it’s really important that you try to get the best, you know, it’s your money.
00:15:33.000 –> 00:15:38.000
And you’re going to be paying the cash. And once you buy the vehicle and exchange the cash, you can’t get it back.
00:15:38.000 –> 00:15:41.000
I mean, yes, you can go back to go to small claims court and stuff like that.
00:15:41.000 –> 00:15:44.000
So you got to, you know, but that’s going to cost you a couple hundred dollars.
00:15:44.000 –> 00:15:47.000
And you’re not always guaranteed to win. A lot of times those…
00:15:47.000 –> 00:15:50.000
I like to point something out to you folks. When you take somebody to small claims court…
00:15:50.000 –> 00:15:55.000
I hate to say this, but I’ve been in small claims court a few times because I own some rental property and some of that.
00:15:55.000 –> 00:16:01.000
Generally, if you’re suing for a thousand… if you’re suing for a thousand and the other people have a pretty decent case,
00:16:01.000 –> 00:16:03.000
the judge will split it and give you half of it.
00:16:03.000 –> 00:16:07.000
I hate to say that, but that’s the way the business works around here in general.
00:16:07.000 –> 00:16:14.000
Generally, if they’re suing you for two thousand and you got a good case, the judge will award them, you know, eight, nine hundred dollars, thousand dollars.
00:16:14.000 –> 00:16:18.000
You know, unfortunately, small claims court, they’re trying to make everybody happy.
00:16:18.000 –> 00:16:22.000
And they never really do. There’s never going to be a time where you go to small claims court and the judge…
00:16:22.000 –> 00:16:25.000
I mean, unless you have a tenant that’s really, really back on rent.
00:16:25.000 –> 00:16:30.000
Generally, when you go to small claims court, I mean, if somebody’s really behind on rent, that’s a different story.
00:16:30.000 –> 00:16:33.000
Because generally, they owe it to you, so they’ll side with you.
00:16:33.000 –> 00:16:40.000
But generally, you go to small claims court about something like a car, they’re going to split the difference with you, possibly, if that.
00:16:40.000 –> 00:16:44.000
So… and you want to be careful when you sell a car because there are people that pull those scams.
00:16:44.000 –> 00:16:49.000
They’ll say, “Okay, well, you know, it’s three grand.”
00:16:49.000 –> 00:16:55.000
And then all of a sudden, a couple of months goes by and all of a sudden you get a letter in the mail saying the person did something wrong with the car.
00:16:55.000 –> 00:16:58.000
And then you go back and they have a good case and the judge will award you.
00:16:58.000 –> 00:17:02.000
You have to award that money back. There are people that become… it’s like a business to them.
00:17:02.000 –> 00:17:11.000
They’re like professional, you know… they’re like professional… I don’t want to say tenants, but they’re professional scam artists.
00:17:11.000 –> 00:17:17.000
So, I want to point that out to you because that’s kind of something you should know and something that’s really important.
00:17:17.000 –> 00:17:25.000
I’m driving and my car keeps binging at me because I have a heavy bag over in the passenger seat.
00:17:25.000 –> 00:17:32.000
And it keeps binging at me because I think it thinks there’s a person over in the other seat.
00:17:32.000 –> 00:17:34.000
So, I think that’s kind of funny.
00:17:34.000 –> 00:17:38.000
But, you know, very, very important. I don’t want to point all this out to you.
00:17:38.000 –> 00:17:44.000
I always make sure you go… like I said, I always go to a title and tag place, folks.
00:17:44.000 –> 00:17:48.000
Always because I like to make sure the title gets transferred right.
00:17:48.000 –> 00:17:51.000
They can just sign the title over to you. I don’t like doing that.
00:17:51.000 –> 00:17:55.000
I’d rather just get it titled right then and there with the person.
00:17:55.000 –> 00:17:59.000
You know, I think they can’t sign a title over to you, but if I’m going to hand you that kind of money, I want to go to the title.
00:17:59.000 –> 00:18:05.000
Because I want the title of my damn name before I leave. I want that title of my name if I’m giving you a couple of grand.
00:18:05.000 –> 00:18:10.000
So, you know, that’s just me. That’s just the way I am.
00:18:10.000 –> 00:18:17.000
You know, it’s… you know, it’s… fortunately in the world we live in today, you got to really watch out for this kind of stuff.
00:18:17.000 –> 00:18:24.000
There’s a lot of scam artists out there and, you know, there’s a… you know, there’s a lot of people out there that are out to screw you.
00:18:24.000 –> 00:18:30.000
I hate to say it. And unfortunately you see more with… more and more nowadays with Craigslist and Facebook.
00:18:30.000 –> 00:18:34.000
Well, you can get great deals on stuff and I’m always for a deal. Like I said, I’m frugal by nature.
00:18:34.000 –> 00:18:38.000
But, you know, it’s… you got to really be careful because not…
00:18:38.000 –> 00:18:41.000
sometimes if a deal is too good to be true, sometimes it truly is.
00:18:41.000 –> 00:18:45.000
So, I really want to… I really want to point that out to you.
00:18:45.000 –> 00:18:51.000
So, you know, you got to be careful. You got to use a little common sense. You got to use those street smarts.
00:18:51.000 –> 00:18:54.000
I know not everybody has those things. And it’s not a bad thing, but I’m not putting anybody down.
00:18:54.000 –> 00:18:57.000
Some people just don’t have a lot of street smarts. Some people are very trusting people.
00:18:57.000 –> 00:19:02.000
Some people are just… you know, they’re very… they don’t have a lot of common sense.
00:19:02.000 –> 00:19:08.000
It’s not… it’s not a bad thing, folks. Some people… hey, I wish I could be one of those people that would trust everybody.
00:19:08.000 –> 00:19:10.000
You know, I love those kind of guys and I’ve met those kind of guys.
00:19:10.000 –> 00:19:14.000
And especially up where I live here in the mountains, you got guys all the time that’ll say, you know,
00:19:14.000 –> 00:19:16.000
I’ll take a… you know, their dad just got a load of wood from a guy.
00:19:16.000 –> 00:19:20.000
A guy goes, “Oh, you look like a trustworthy guy.” You know, don’t worry about it.
00:19:20.000 –> 00:19:23.000
Come back and give me the money when you got it. You know, and those are people…
00:19:23.000 –> 00:19:26.000
I love those people because, let me tell you something.
00:19:26.000 –> 00:19:32.000
They are a dying breed. And they are such honest, good-hearted people.
00:19:32.000 –> 00:19:36.000
And you don’t find that anymore in this world. And it’s unfortunate that those people a lot of times get screwed.
00:19:36.000 –> 00:19:40.000
And that’s a shame because those are the great people of this world.
00:19:40.000 –> 00:19:45.000
And unfortunately, you come by less and less of them. And, you know, that’s unfortunate because…
00:19:45.000 –> 00:19:48.000
you come by less and less of them because they’re more and more of them are getting screwed.
00:19:48.000 –> 00:19:52.000
And those are the great people of this world. Those are the people that you need to…
00:19:52.000 –> 00:19:57.000
you know, when you see them, you need to take care of them because they’re honest, truthful, hard-working people.
00:19:57.000 –> 00:20:03.000
And there’s not enough of them in this world, which is part of the problem that we have in this world right now.
00:20:03.000 –> 00:20:12.000
So, you know, it’s one of those things when you’re doing any type of private business like this, you really got to watch yourself.
00:20:12.000 –> 00:20:17.000
And a big purchase like this, it could be all the money you have in your savings.
00:20:17.000 –> 00:20:21.000
That could be all the money you have in your savings.
00:20:21.000 –> 00:20:26.000
That could have been, you know, all the money you have in your bank account.
00:20:26.000 –> 00:20:29.000
That could be, you know, some money you’ve saved.
00:20:29.000 –> 00:20:34.000
Remember one thing, folks, when you’re buying anything, that is your hard-earned money.
00:20:34.000 –> 00:20:39.000
If you make $10 an hour and you’re paying $100 for something, that means you worked 10 hours to give that hundred…
00:20:39.000 –> 00:20:41.000
or probably more than that because of taxes.
00:20:41.000 –> 00:20:45.000
You know, you worked 11, 12 hours to give that $100 for that particular service.
00:20:45.000 –> 00:20:49.000
So that’s… I want you guys to all realize that. Okay? Remember one thing.
00:20:49.000 –> 00:20:55.000
Money is… like they say, they’re still saying, “Easy come, easy go.” It’s not.
00:20:55.000 –> 00:21:02.000
It’s not easy come. It’s hard come, easy go. That’s what that saying should be. Okay?
00:21:02.000 –> 00:21:07.000
And always realize, you know, whatever you’re buying…
00:21:07.000 –> 00:21:12.000
You know, if you make $35,000 a year and you’re buying a car for $35,000,
00:21:12.000 –> 00:21:17.000
you have pretty much committed to over five to seven years giving a year of your salary for that vehicle.
00:21:17.000 –> 00:21:22.000
So I like to point that out. And a lot of people don’t think about that.
00:21:22.000 –> 00:21:25.000
They just… they don’t think about what, you know…
00:21:25.000 –> 00:21:32.000
You know, prime example is what we… the crisis that we’ve gotten into with these homes and these mortgages and stuff like that.
00:21:32.000 –> 00:21:40.000
I don’t get a little off topic, but you know, what that was was people buying stuff and…
00:21:40.000 –> 00:21:42.000
not really thinking about where the money is going to come from.
00:21:42.000 –> 00:21:45.000
Just, “Okay, we got it. We want this house. We got it.”
00:21:45.000 –> 00:21:49.000
And then, you know, we can afford it until the first time the water heater goes.
00:21:49.000 –> 00:21:52.000
Is it the first time we got to pay a heat bill? The heat bill…
00:21:52.000 –> 00:21:58.000
I believe a lot of folks in America here, like I think they said 70% of foreclosed homes are electric heat.
00:21:58.000 –> 00:22:01.000
I want to point that out to you. And it’s like, “Okay, well, guess what?
00:22:01.000 –> 00:22:04.000
We can afford this house until we got a big heat bill.”
00:22:04.000 –> 00:22:07.000
You know, we can afford this house until we had the first repair.
00:22:07.000 –> 00:22:10.000
We can afford this house until, you know…
00:22:10.000 –> 00:22:17.000
And maybe, you know, if more people would think about where money comes from before they purchase something,
00:22:17.000 –> 00:22:21.000
you know, maybe things would be… you know, maybe a little bit…
00:22:21.000 –> 00:22:24.000
you know, maybe people wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in.
00:22:24.000 –> 00:22:28.000
You know, I’m not gonna lie. I got some credit card debt. I think everybody does in this crazy world.
00:22:28.000 –> 00:22:34.000
But, you know, the key is paying… not just paying minimum payments, paying more than what’s worth.
00:22:34.000 –> 00:22:36.000
Get it paid off so you don’t have that extra bill.
00:22:36.000 –> 00:22:40.000
You know, I mean, it’s… you know, that’s part of the problem.
00:22:40.000 –> 00:22:45.000
Especially, you get… you know, my wife and I, we have friends of ours that they love living in the city.
00:22:45.000 –> 00:22:48.000
They don’t want to live out here in the mountains where it’s a little bit cheaper to live.
00:22:48.000 –> 00:22:50.000
And they like the city life.
00:22:50.000 –> 00:22:53.000
And the other day, my wife said, you know, she was telling my wife,
00:22:53.000 –> 00:22:56.000
“Oh, yeah, we have to buy groceries on our credit card. We can’t afford it.”
00:22:56.000 –> 00:22:58.000
Well, that’s a real big problem then.
00:22:58.000 –> 00:23:00.000
Then you’re living really behind your… beyond your means.
00:23:00.000 –> 00:23:05.000
If you’re buying groceries through your credit card, that’s a really big issue.
00:23:05.000 –> 00:23:09.000
Because, I mean, that stuff should come out of your daily budget.
00:23:09.000 –> 00:23:11.000
I mean, not… you know.
00:23:11.000 –> 00:23:15.000
And, you know, then you have the other side of this too, where you have people that…
00:23:15.000 –> 00:23:19.000
that never really get out on their own, never really buy anything on their own.
00:23:19.000 –> 00:23:23.000
They’re gonna live in their parents’ house as long as they possibly can,
00:23:23.000 –> 00:23:25.000
save as much money as they possibly can,
00:23:25.000 –> 00:23:28.000
and then all of a sudden, you know, those are the people that are 40 years old and saying,
00:23:28.000 –> 00:23:35.000
“Hey, you know, we bought our house for cash, you know, and we don’t own anything, and we’re retired at 40/50.”
00:23:35.000 –> 00:23:41.000
So, yeah, you’re retired at 40/50 years old, but you mooched off of other people for 20 years.
00:23:41.000 –> 00:23:45.000
And there are people out there, folks, that are professional moochers.
00:23:45.000 –> 00:23:50.000
I hate to say that, folks. There are people that are professional moochers.
00:23:50.000 –> 00:23:53.000
I had a buddy of mine one time. He invited somebody to come live with him for a few days,
00:23:53.000 –> 00:23:55.000
because he got kicked out, and he was there for two and a half years.
00:23:55.000 –> 00:23:58.000
He actually had to evict him out of his own home.
00:23:58.000 –> 00:24:03.000
Think about that. He had to… he invited a friend to live with him and had to evict him out.
00:24:03.000 –> 00:24:05.000
That’s how… I mean, so…
00:24:05.000 –> 00:24:09.000
And there’s nothing wrong with trying to live with somebody to save money, especially in the early days,
00:24:09.000 –> 00:24:13.000
but, you know, if you want to build yourself a homestead and you want to be self-sufficient,
00:24:13.000 –> 00:24:16.000
being self-sufficient means financially being self-sufficient, too.
00:24:16.000 –> 00:24:22.000
So, I’d like to point that out. If your self-sufficiency plan is just to live with your parents forever,
00:24:22.000 –> 00:24:26.000
you know, think about this. You know, if your mother’s paying all the bills,
00:24:26.000 –> 00:24:28.000
and something happens to her, how are you going to pay those bills?
00:24:28.000 –> 00:24:30.000
I’ve seen that a couple times, too, folks.
00:24:30.000 –> 00:24:35.000
I’ve seen friends of mine that, you know, they didn’t think financially where money was coming from,
00:24:35.000 –> 00:24:37.000
and they said, “Well, I’m living with my parents. I can afford it.”
00:24:37.000 –> 00:24:40.000
And then all of a sudden, the mother dies. They’re not getting their Social Security check anymore.
00:24:40.000 –> 00:24:44.000
And all of a sudden, “Oh, crap. Where’s this extra $1,000 a month that supports this house going to come from?”
00:24:44.000 –> 00:24:48.000
You know, so that… and I’ve seen people actually lose homes because of that, too.
00:24:48.000 –> 00:24:52.000
It’s not always people bought homes to lose. Some people inherited homes and couldn’t afford it.
00:24:52.000 –> 00:24:55.000
Some people couldn’t afford the inheritance tax.
00:24:55.000 –> 00:24:59.000
You know, all that kind of… so there’s a lot of reasons why financial problems happen,
00:24:59.000 –> 00:25:04.000
and unfortunately, being prepared, being a prepper, means you’ve got to be prepared and try to…
00:25:04.000 –> 00:25:09.000
think of the… I hate to say it, but you have to think of these worst-case scenarios, not just…
00:25:09.000 –> 00:25:13.000
it’s not just, “Oh, crap,” you know. The world’s coming to an end.
00:25:13.000 –> 00:25:18.000
Sometimes it’s, you know, just your own disaster of money.
00:25:18.000 –> 00:25:22.000
And I see a lot of that, especially… I see a lot of people that get into money issues
00:25:22.000 –> 00:25:26.000
because they’re just not thinking worst-case scenario. They think their situation is never going to change.
00:25:26.000 –> 00:25:29.000
And then when it does, they’re in trouble.
00:25:29.000 –> 00:25:34.000
And it could be a minor thing, too. You know, my wife’s girlfriend’s a single mom.
00:25:34.000 –> 00:25:38.000
She works hard, works two jobs, trying to keep a roof over the head of her kids.
00:25:38.000 –> 00:25:43.000
And, you know, the father’s a deadbeat. And, you know, she…
00:25:43.000 –> 00:25:49.000
you know, she had… her landlord, the building she was living in got bought by somebody else,
00:25:49.000 –> 00:25:52.000
which I never knock anybody for buying investments.
00:25:52.000 –> 00:25:57.000
And, you know, new landlord, her rent went up $250, and she had to think of, “What am I going to do?”
00:25:57.000 –> 00:26:00.000
You know, she was barely making it as she was.
00:26:00.000 –> 00:26:03.000
She ended up having to, you know, tell the landlord she couldn’t afford it
00:26:03.000 –> 00:26:06.000
and that she was eventually going to have to move. She was looking for a place.
00:26:06.000 –> 00:26:08.000
She had to wait till she got her tax return to move.
00:26:08.000 –> 00:26:12.000
And I hate to say it, but that, in its own world, when you have kids,
00:26:12.000 –> 00:26:18.000
and that’s where you live, the roof over your head, that’s a… that’s a mini disaster, okay?
00:26:18.000 –> 00:26:22.000
Now, we’re in… it’s not on, like, you know, you know, shit hits the fan, but…
00:26:22.000 –> 00:26:25.000
in her world, that’s a mini disaster.
00:26:25.000 –> 00:26:30.000
You know, look at all… you know, and… and those are financial disasters that, unfortunately,
00:26:30.000 –> 00:26:35.000
it doesn’t affect everybody, but it affects you, and sometimes you gotta try to fend them off.
00:26:35.000 –> 00:26:41.000
And there’s some stages you can’t. You can’t stop somebody from selling the apartment building you live in.
00:26:41.000 –> 00:26:43.000
Okay? You can’t.
00:26:43.000 –> 00:26:48.000
The only thing you can do is try to get your own place where you can get a fixed mortgage
00:26:48.000 –> 00:26:51.000
and control what you’re paying every month. Now, unfortunately, some people don’t have credit.
00:26:51.000 –> 00:26:54.000
Some people don’t have the… don’t have financial means to do that.
00:26:54.000 –> 00:26:56.000
They don’t have the down payment. They don’t…
00:26:56.000 –> 00:27:01.000
Okay? So, in this case, you have to try to plan for what happens if my rent goes up.
00:27:01.000 –> 00:27:05.000
And… and sometimes, it’s a tough thing sometimes. You can’t control…
00:27:05.000 –> 00:27:10.000
because you can’t control that your rent goes up. You can’t control that the landlord sold the building.
00:27:10.000 –> 00:27:17.000
So you have to try your best to try to control what happens. And sometimes, it’s not easy.
00:27:17.000 –> 00:27:24.000
So… and these are, fortunately, things you have to think about, you know, when you’re…
00:27:24.000 –> 00:27:30.000
when you’re prepping. It’s not always just end of the world gas masks and weapons.
00:27:30.000 –> 00:27:36.000
It’s sometimes little disasters, like prime example. Like, I had a friend of mine the other day.
00:27:36.000 –> 00:27:40.000
She had her own little disaster and she was, like, panic-stricken over it. She didn’t know what to do. She called me.
00:27:40.000 –> 00:27:45.000
And she had no… you know, her computer crashed. No backups and she needed the stuff off the data.
00:27:45.000 –> 00:27:48.000
Now, it’s going to cost her a fortune to get that stuff back off the hard drive.
00:27:48.000 –> 00:27:55.000
Where we could have done something very, very easily and just had a system, you know, a backup system.
00:27:55.000 –> 00:28:02.000
And just, you know, backed her stuff up, you know, using something like Backblaze or something like that.
00:28:02.000 –> 00:28:06.000
That was… that’s a prime example of not being prepared.
00:28:06.000 –> 00:28:12.000
And she didn’t do anything wrong. She’s a nice girl and all that. And she just didn’t think about that.
00:28:12.000 –> 00:28:18.000
She never thought about what the consequences. And, you know, unfortunately, stuff like that happens sometimes.
00:28:18.000 –> 00:28:22.000
So, it’s a shame. But, again, that’s not a big end of the world disaster.
00:28:22.000 –> 00:28:27.000
But to her, her finances are on that for her business and all that. That is a little mini disaster.
00:28:27.000 –> 00:28:33.000
And she would have been just a little more prepared. You know, now she’s coming to the end of the year and she doesn’t have…
00:28:33.000 –> 00:28:38.000
She needs that data and she’s going to have to pay a thousand bucks to get that data back, if not more, if not less.
00:28:38.000 –> 00:28:45.000
But that’s a disaster where $7 a month… I should actually get a sponsor for the show for backup stuff for software.
00:28:45.000 –> 00:28:52.000
But she could have done like Backblaze for $7 or FileHip… I think it’s JungleHippo or something like that.
00:28:52.000 –> 00:28:56.000
One of those is Backblaze. You have so many of them. Carbonite. There’s a million backup solutions nowadays.
00:28:56.000 –> 00:29:01.000
But, you know, that’s a prime example of “crap, I messed up.”
00:29:01.000 –> 00:29:06.000
So, I just wanted to point all that out to you guys because it’s really important that we…
00:29:06.000 –> 00:29:12.000
You know, we kind of… I don’t want to say go over these things, but just something for you to think about when you talk about disaster recovery.
00:29:12.000 –> 00:29:17.000
Sometimes a disaster is always a big thing. Sometimes it’s just a personal thing, but it’s a disaster.
00:29:17.000 –> 00:29:23.000
So, and like I said, especially when you’re buying a vehicle, that could actually be a disaster.
00:29:23.000 –> 00:29:29.000
And you gotta think of… try to do your best to try to avoid that disaster. Try to sometimes get ahead of it.
00:29:29.000 –> 00:29:36.000
And sometimes maybe if you have doubts, maybe you shouldn’t buy that vehicle. Maybe you should move on.
00:29:36.000 –> 00:29:41.000
Some people say, “Oh, I love that vehicle.” Well, yeah, but is it worth it?
00:29:41.000 –> 00:29:46.000
Is it worth spending all that extra money? Do you have to have that particular vehicle?
00:29:46.000 –> 00:29:49.000
You know what I’m trying to say, folks? You gotta try to…
00:29:49.000 –> 00:29:53.000
You know, and like I said many times, if something looks too good to be true, it truly is.
00:29:53.000 –> 00:30:01.000
And sometimes you have to think about stuff like, you know, “Maybe I shouldn’t have done this. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.
00:30:01.000 –> 00:30:08.000
Maybe I should have bought the different vehicle. Maybe I shouldn’t have put all that money into it. Is it worth the money?”
00:30:08.000 –> 00:30:15.000
You know, prime example, sometimes you get people that buy stuff and it needs a new transmission or it needs a new this.
00:30:15.000 –> 00:30:25.000
You know, that is going to financially put you in a hole. And since the vehicle is not under warranty, you’re going to have to come up with $900,000 for a transmission to get it fixed, repaired, or a new one is going to be a couple grand.
00:30:25.000 –> 00:30:28.000
You know, and you’ve only spent $500 on the car.
00:30:28.000 –> 00:30:32.000
So it’s… you know, again, buying a used vehicle can be a disaster.
00:30:32.000 –> 00:30:36.000
It could be some other good deals out there too, but it can be a big disaster.
00:30:36.000 –> 00:30:49.000
And it’s something you really got to try to fend off and try to do your absolute best due diligence on because it’s a lot of money and you don’t want to risk something happening.
00:30:49.000 –> 00:30:55.000
And, you know, I’m not going to lie, I’ve gotten burned a few times on some used vehicles.
00:30:55.000 –> 00:31:11.000
If you aren’t, you know, sometimes, folks, I will say this, sometimes you’re better off going… maybe not even buying a used vehicle privately, but sometimes you’re better off buying a used vehicle from a car dealership.
00:31:11.000 –> 00:31:17.000
And the reason is, generally those cars are looked over and you can get a guarantee with them.
00:31:17.000 –> 00:31:20.000
Even if it’s only 60 or 90 days, you can get some kind of guarantee with them.
00:31:20.000 –> 00:31:25.000
Or if you buy a used vehicle privately… and maybe I’m trying to buy a used vehicle privately right now.
00:31:25.000 –> 00:31:35.000
So… and I know that there could be… you know, but my point is though, if you are somebody who says, “Okay, I only have a couple thousand. I can’t afford to have any problems with this vehicle.”
00:31:35.000 –> 00:31:45.000
You may not want to buy it from Joey the Used Car Guy or, you know, Dave, you know, the Dave’s Used Cars or maybe just Joe Schmo you found on Craigslist.
00:31:45.000 –> 00:31:57.000
You know, you may want to, you know, possibly go to an accredited car dealership, you know, and see what they have for cheap on the used lot.
00:31:57.000 –> 00:32:03.000
You know, something that’s a thousand, two thousand, something like that because they’re going to look over the vehicle and they’re going to, you know, they’re going to sell the vehicle.
00:32:03.000 –> 00:32:10.000
You know, remember when a car dealership has a reputation to maintain, Joe Schmo off the street may not.
00:32:10.000 –> 00:32:28.000
So, you know, if you only have… if you’re in a situation like this, you may want to say to yourself, “Okay, I’m going to have to, you know, maybe I’ll go to, you know, ABC Ford that sells brand new Fords to see what they have used on the lot for a couple thousand.”
00:32:28.000 –> 00:32:35.000
That might be a better plan for you. That might be a way for you maybe to get that used vehicle and get something that’s… I’ve done that. I’ve done that a couple times.
00:32:35.000 –> 00:32:41.000
Almost all my vehicles, I usually go to an accredited Dodge or accredited Ford dealership and I buy the used vehicle right from them.
00:32:41.000 –> 00:32:45.000
Now, I have bought a couple vehicles privately, but that might be something you might want to do too.
00:32:45.000 –> 00:32:52.000
And that might be your safer bet. You can ask them, “Can I have a little couple… can I have a 30 or 60 day warranty on it?”
00:32:52.000 –> 00:32:55.000
You may be able to buy a warranty on the vehicle, stuff like that, and they can bundle it in.
00:32:55.000 –> 00:33:02.000
You know, there’s a lot… there’s still kind of things that might be your safest option. That might be the safe option for you in general.
00:33:02.000 –> 00:33:11.000
So, that’s another option as well. So, I think I’m going to wrap it up. I want to wish everybody a happy holiday, and we’ll see you in the next episode. Thank you very much.