Your Daily Dad Joke

Why couldn’t the leopard play hide and seek?

Because he was always spotted.

Your years still count

If you teach, nurse, work for a city or a county, serve in the military or work at a nonprofit, and you’ve been making student loan payments for years toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness, last year may have put a knot in your stomach. A new rule said the government could decide that some employers no longer counted. A lot of people quietly wondered whether their years were about to disappear.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along.

You may have seen a headline this week that the administration dropped its legal fight over that rule. Here’s what it means for you.

Do my years still count? Yes. Two federal courts threw the rule out in June. Yahoo News reported that the government’s appeals in those cases have now been dropped, and California’s attorney general says it also dropped its appeal in the case brought by 22 states. So the old rules are still the rules. If your employer qualified before, this fight didn’t change that.

You may also have heard that the program never really forgives anybody. For a long time that was close to true. Yahoo reported that by 2021 only about 7,000 borrowers had been forgiven. It also reported that the program has now written off loans for more than 1 million people.

I know. Nobody needs a court fight hanging over the one promise that made a smaller paycheck easier to take.

The one small thing I’d do this week: log in to the PSLF Help Tool at studentaid.gov and certify your current employer, if you haven’t in a while. It puts your count on record now, instead of finding a problem in year ten. You don’t need anybody’s help to do it, and I wouldn’t pay anybody to do it for you. If someone calls offering to “protect your forgiveness” for a fee, hang up.

If you want to go deeper on what the judges said in June, I wrote about it here.

Anyway, I wanted to make sure you heard about it, especially if you’ve been carrying that worry since last year.

How many years of payments do you have in, or who in your life is counting theirs? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

If you’ve been carrying this one around, you can set it down for the weekend. Years of showing up for other people still count, and so does the time you just spent checking. I’ll see you Monday.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: why age alone won’t end old federal student loans, the court ban on the Accelerated Debt Settlement operation, who can claim in the Coast Dental calls and texts settlement, the ViaPath (Telmate) data breach settlement, and Damon Day’s first Instacart shop and the math on it.

A longer video from me: Can ChatGPT Really Fix Your Credit? I Graded It. I typed eight credit questions into ChatGPT the way a worried person types them at midnight, then graded every answer against the law.

The newest podcast episode is Still Paying for Last Christmas? The Holiday Debt Trap, if you’d like something to listen to before the shopping starts.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

Steve, the original Get Out of Debt Guy, and Damon Day, the new Get Out of Debt Guy, tackle holiday spending, credit card debt, and why a debt consolidation loan can leave you with another payment and a fresh batch of credit card bills.

Steve wants you to draw a line in the sand before buying another gift. Damon understands the “one last Christmas, then I’ll fix it” approach. We debate both, talk about making a realistic holiday budget, and revisit the year Steve gave people soup beans for Christmas. It tasted like affordability.

Along the way, we get into:

• Why cash flow matters when trying to get out of debt, and why moving balances around doesn’t fix the underlying problem.

• Debt consolidation advertising, debt settlement sales pitches, and the appeal of being “one payment plan away from happiness.”

• Buy now, pay later plans, including Klarna and Affirm, and using installment payments for groceries.

• Planning ahead, buying gifts throughout the year, setting expectations, and the pressure to spend money you don’t have.

• AI financial advice, the Ask Steve chatbot, and Steve’s videos grading ChatGPT’s answers about credit repair and bankruptcy.

• An Apple iPhone class-action settlement discussion and Steve’s experience submitting a claim.

• Making extra money with gig apps and Damon’s Giggleicious show on the Penny Stupid YouTube channel.

• Why looking wealthy and building wealth can be two very different things, with a nod to The Millionaire Next Door.

There are also Halloween candy stories, questionable dad jokes, and a rescue dog who may have already picked Steve. We even preview the conversation we keep meaning to have: helping adult children pay for college without sacrificing your own retirement. Maybe next time we’ll actually get to it.

If you’re juggling minimum payments, holiday expectations, and the hope that January will somehow fix everything, you’ll recognize yourself in this one.

Find more help and the Ask Steve chatbot at GetOutOfDebt.org. Damon can be reached at DamonDay.com, where you can schedule a free consultation.

Your Daily Dad Joke

What do you call a factory that makes OK products?

A satisfactory.

Picking a plan before December 7

I’m on a Medicare Advantage plan, and I love it. This year mine gives me a $4,000 allowance for dental care. Amazing.

But picking the right Medicare plan for you is complicated. Every plan is a different mix of doctors, drugs, extras and costs, and what works for me might be wrong for you.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along now. Open enrollment started October 15 and runs through December 7, and Medicare.gov says that’s the window to join, drop or switch plans for coverage that starts January 1.

You may have seen a warning this month that Medicare scammers are buying their way to the top of search results. That one comes straight from the FTC, which says “scammers and dishonest businesses sometimes pay to appear at the top,” with web addresses that look like the government’s when they aren’t.

So your question is probably a fair one. Who do I trust to help me pick?

Here’s what I’d tell a friend. Medicare itself and the insurance companies offer excellent research material to help you decide. Type medicare.gov into your browser yourself instead of clicking the first thing a search shows you, and scroll past anything marked “Ad” or “Sponsored.” The plan finder there lets you put in your own drugs and doctors and compare.

I’ve also seen people pick a plan by whatever an agent or broker told them. Keep in mind that agents and brokers are generally paid by the insurers, so they might not have your best interest in mind. Plenty of them are honest. But the same reporting says an agent who doesn’t offer every plan in your area has to tell you that. It’s a fair thing to ask.

If you want a person to walk through it with you, every state has a free counseling program called SHIP. SHIP describes itself as one-on-one help “at no cost to you” from “a trusted, unbiased source,” and the number is 877-839-2675.

And if someone calls you out of the blue asking for your Medicare number, hang up. Michigan’s regulators told WDIV to call 1-800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227) yourself to check, because caller ID can be faked.

I know. Nobody wakes up excited to compare insurance plans.

So here’s the one thing I’d do this week. Sit down with your plan’s paperwork, or your parent’s, and run it through the plan finder at medicare.gov. If you want to know what a plan will really cost you, this is what I’d look at past the star rating. It’s always best to do your own research and decide what works best for you.

Anyway, I wanted to make sure you heard about it while there’s still plenty of time before December 7.

Who helped you pick your Medicare plan, or who would you ask? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

A plan you chose on purpose, after looking for yourself, is worth more than one somebody sold you on a phone call. You’ve got time to do this right. I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: Snap Finance canceling $662 million in charged-off lease balances in 17 states, who qualifies for T-Mobile’s price-guarantee deal with New York, what to do when a hospital bill insurance should have paid ends up in collections, Village Capital’s servicemember case and the 6% cap letter, and Damon Day’s worst gig night in a long time.

A longer video from me: The Fastest Way Out of Debt Nobody Recommends. Everyone has a list of ways out of debt, and bankruptcy usually comes last, if anyone mentions it at all. I walk through each option, what it really costs you, and why the one nobody recommends is often the fastest way out.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

Your Daily Dad Joke

When I was growing up I wanted to be a monk...

but I never got the chants.

The phone in your pocket

I’m still carrying the iPhone 15 Pro Max I bought. It works fine. But there’s a new one out that folds in half, and I’ll admit I’ve been looking at it.

You know how that goes. The new one shows up, and the one in your hand starts to feel old even though nothing about it changed.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along before anybody, me included, buys anything.

You may have seen a headline about Apple paying $250 million to settle a lawsuit over Siri. The people who sued said Apple sold the iPhone 16 and some iPhone 15 models on the promise of a smarter, AI-powered Siri that didn’t show up. Apple denies doing anything wrong and settled anyway.

If you’ve been subscribed to my videos and this email, we already talked about the money Apple was going to owe you. That’s why you should subscribe for free right now.

Your first question is probably: does my phone count?

Here’s who’s in, according to the settlement details Engadget laid out. You bought a new iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 model (the 16, 16e, 16 Plus, 16 Pro or 16 Pro Max) in the U.S. between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025. And you were the original buyer.

Here’s the part the headline left out. A plain iPhone 15 doesn’t count, and neither does a 15 Plus. Only the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max from that year are in. If you bought the phone used, or somebody else bought it and handed it to you, it isn’t your claim.

The payment is per phone, so if you bought three eligible phones, you file for three. Engadget puts the estimate at about $25 a phone. It can go up or down depending on how many people file, with a top of $95. And nobody gets paid until the judge gives the settlement final approval, so this is money that shows up later, not this week.

I know. Twenty-five dollars won’t change your life. But it’s your money, and it takes a few minutes.

So here’s the one thing I’d do. If your phone is on that list, open Settings, then General, then About, and copy down the serial number. Then file at SmartphoneAISettlement.com by December 21. You don’t need anybody’s help to do it, and I wouldn’t pay anybody to do it for you.

I filed mine this morning. It was easy and painless, and honestly it took me less than two minutes. You can pick to be paid by PayPal or Venmo, and a paper check is always an option.

And if you’re shopping for a new phone like I am, here’s the test I’m using on myself. The people who sued said they paid for features that hadn’t arrived yet. The phone I’ve been eyeing, the iPhone Duo, arrives in stores Friday, and Apple’s own announcement says it starts at $1,999, or $83.29 a month for 24 months. The same announcement says Apple Pencil support comes “later this year.”

So I’m pricing it on what it does the day I’d buy it. If a feature is “coming later,” I’m treating it like it isn’t coming at all. If it shows up, that’s a bonus. And $83.29 a month for two years is still about $1,999 for a phone. It just doesn’t feel like it.

Anyway, I wanted to make sure you heard about it before the holidays eat December. It’s a short form, and the deadline is easy to forget.

What’s one thing you bought for a feature that never quite showed up? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

The phone you have is probably doing more for you than the ad for the next one says. Whatever you decide, deciding it on purpose is the good part. I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: what to do when a debt collector keeps calling about someone else’s debt, the myth that you can just wait out the IRS’s 10-year clock, Instacart’s $5 million settlement, which is about job applicants, not shopper pay, Damon Day’s night of DoorDash math, and a second robocall lawsuit against American Debt Protection.

A longer video from me: The Fastest Way Out of Debt Nobody Recommends. Everyone has a list of ways out of debt, and bankruptcy usually comes last, if anyone mentions it at all. I walk through each option, what it really costs you, and why the one nobody recommends is often the fastest way out.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

People ask me if AI is actually making anyone money, or if it’s all chatbots and hype. Here’s my honest answer, from my own business.

I’m a 67-year-old retired guy, and I run a small Amazon FBA business. Just me. No employees, no office, no team. I’m not going to tell you what I sell, because that’s not the point, and frankly it doesn’t matter. What matters is this: my business now gets work done every day that, not long ago, would have needed a room full of people or a stack of expensive software subscriptions. Most small sellers can’t afford either. I don’t have either. I have AI, and I have the right partner on the warehouse floor. Between the two of them, I spend about three hours a week on the business.

If you haven’t heard the term, FBA stands for Fulfillment by Amazon. You send your inventory to Amazon’s warehouses, and Amazon stores it, packs it, ships it to the customer, and handles returns. It’s how a one-person seller can offer Prime shipping to millions of buyers. But FBA only handles the last mile. Everything before that, what to buy, what to charge, and when to send more, is still on you. That’s where AI comes in.

This isn’t a how-to. It’s a look at how far one person can go right now, what I’ve actually built, and what I’m still working on.

Everything used to be done by hand

When I started, every part of this business was manual. I’d read a supplier’s catalog line by line. I’d look up each item’s sales history. I’d guess at what to buy and how many. I’d set prices and then forget to change them. I’d check stock levels when I remembered to, and build shipments in a spreadsheet.

Today, almost all of that runs on its own. On a normal day my system runs 79 different scheduled jobs, about 1,950 times. Every night it checks itself with more than 940 automated tests, and it tells me if anything is wrong before I’d ever notice.

Running my Amazon FBA business used to take me a full week of effort, and then some. Today it takes me about three hours a week. That turned out to be the biggest surprise of all, and I’ll come back to it.

I still make the calls that matter. I decide what to buy, and I approve every order that goes out. But I’m making those calls with information I never used to have, and I’m not spending my days doing the grunt work.

Buying smarter

Buying is where a business like mine lives or dies. Buy the wrong thing and your money sits on a shelf.

Now, when a supplier sends me a catalog, the AI reads every line. It pulls the sales history for each item, how prices have moved over time, how many other sellers are competing, and what every Amazon fee would be. Then it works out the most I can pay for each item and still make the return I want. Items get sorted into buy, make an offer, or skip.

And it doesn’t stop at the purchase. Every buy gets graded afterward. Did that item sell the way the analysis said it would? If it didn’t, that’s a flaw in the analysis, and the analysis gets fixed. That feedback loop is something I could never have done by hand.

Pricing with a gut feeling, not a rulebook

Most Amazon FBA sellers price with repricing software. You set rules like “beat the lowest price by a penny” or “never go above this number,” and the software follows them blindly, all day, for every product the same way. I don’t do that.

Instead, my AI and I worked together, product by product, on how I thought each one should move strategically. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I have opinions and painfully learned experiences. When should a product hold its price because buyers will pay it? When is it worth stepping down to get a sale moving? When should you sit tight and let the competition sell out first? I didn’t hand the system a list of rules. I taught it how I think about those calls.

Now it has its own trained gut feeling about the right move. It reads each product’s situation the way I would: how it’s been selling, who’s competing, what buyers have actually paid, and where the market is heading. Then it makes a judgment call. Not a formula. A gut feeling, built from mine. It does that for around 440 products, around the clock, which is something I could never do by hand.

It does have a couple of hard safety lines. It will never sell below what a product cost me, for example. But inside those lines, the decisions are judgment, not rules.

And I don’t just trust that gut. I check it. A lot of the “everyone knows” advice about selling on Amazon turns out to be wrong when you test it against your own sales, and a gut can be wrong too. So right now seven controlled experiments are running, where some products follow one approach and a comparison group follows another, so I can see which one actually makes more money. When the results come in, the system’s gut gets better. That’s the kind of thing big retailers have data science teams for. I have one AI and a laptop.

Restocking just in time

This is the part that would have been unthinkable for me a year ago.

My system watches stock levels in Amazon’s FBA warehouses against how fast each item sells. When something is about to run low, it builds the restock list, works out how many units to send, checks that Amazon will accept them, creates the shipping plan, and sends the order straight into my fulfillment partner’s system. No email. No spreadsheet. No phone call.

For the holiday season I’ve moved from one big weekly truck shipment to small orders on any weekday, so popular items get back in stock fast. When it makes sense, I still send bigger weekly shipments by freight truck, which costs less per unit but takes longer to be checked in. The system tracks how long each one takes so I can pick the right option instead of guessing.

Then, when the order ships, the shipment details flow back on their own, usually within the hour. This morning I got an email that an order was complete. By the time I asked about it, my system had already recorded the shipment, matched it to the plan, and logged it as on its way to Amazon.

Why the right fulfillment partner is everything

Here’s the part people underestimate. All the AI in the world doesn’t help you if the physical side of the business can’t keep up.

Carolina Prep & Ship is my fulfillment partner. They receive everything I buy, count it, store it, manage the inventory, prepare it to Amazon’s standards, and ship it out, to Amazon and to my other sales channels. They’re the yin to my yang. I handle the decisions. They handle the physical world. And it only works because both halves talk to each other.

For the record: CPS isn’t paying me anything to say this, and nobody asked me to write it. I’m a paying customer. I’m bragging about them because together we’ve been an awesome team.

I asked Matt Weschler, who owns CPS, why they built their own system instead of running on email and spreadsheets like a lot of warehouses do.

“Because email and spreadsheets lose things. A count lives in one person’s inbox, a shipment lives in another’s, and nobody sees the whole picture. … If Steve’s system can read our numbers directly and send orders straight to our floor, nobody retypes anything, and retyping is where most mistakes come from.”

That system is called Mission Control, and they opened it up so my system can talk to theirs directly. It can see their live inventory of my products. It can send orders. It gets notified when goods are received and when shipments leave. Their system and mine are, in a real sense, working together.

I was curious what it’s like on his end, having a one-person client whose orders come from an AI.

“Honestly, it holds us to a higher standard, and that’s a good thing. Orders show up complete and already checked. … What surprised me was how closely it watches. If a count is off by two units, it notices, and it asks. Early on it found problems that were ours, not his, like products we had received without the right identifier on file. We fixed them and told him so.”

Two systems that get better every day

This is the part I’m proudest of. The two systems don’t just pass data back and forth. They make each other better.

When my system notices that a number on my side doesn’t match a number on theirs, it flags it, and we sort it out together. When I needed shipping paperwork to come through the system instead of by email, their team built it the same day. When I wanted to route other kinds of orders through it, they built that too. I send them ideas. They send me ideas. Every week the whole thing gets a little tighter.

And some of what we fixed together now helps everybody they work with. Matt again:

“And the identifier problems his system caught changed how we receive: API clients now need a barcode on file at receiving, and every customer’s record flags stock with no identifier, so we catch it instead of the customer. That one helps every client, not just Steve.”

That’s not a vendor relationship. That’s a partnership. And I don’t think a one-person business could do what mine does without it.

How fast this has moved

What still amazes me is the speed. The system I vibe coded and run on today has had more than 8,800 changes since January. Things that were “someday” ideas in the spring are running every day now. Linking my system directly to CPS went from a request in September to live orders a few weeks later.

Here’s a number that still stops me. The software behind my business is now more than 500,000 lines of code, across nearly 1,900 files. I started it about nine months ago. That works out to roughly 2,000 lines of working code a day, every day, including weekends. No one person could write that by hand at that pace. The AI wrote the code. I decided what it needed to do, and checked that it did it.

And almost half of those lines aren’t the business logic at all. They’re tests: code whose only job is to check that the rest of the code is doing what it’s supposed to. That’s the part that lets me trust it with my money.

Before our system, I paid up to $700 a month for different software packages. I don’t pay that anymore. And that doesn’t even count the custom programming I used to pay for. In my life, I’ve paid over $100,000 for custom programs that specifically met my business needs. But here’s the thing: because of AI, I did all of this myself. It’s a great time to do something like this with AI.

What I am still working on

• Making my buying even more accurate, so every purchase is graded against what was predicted.

• Sharpening the pricing gut by testing its calls against real sales results.

• Shortening the time from a restock decision to the product being sellable on Amazon.

• Tightening how my system and CPS’s system stay in sync, so neither side ever has to chase the other.

The surprise benefit: I got my week back

Here’s the part I didn’t see coming. I set out to make my business smarter: better buys, better prices, fewer empty shelves. I wasn’t trying to get my time back.

But that’s what happened. Running my Amazon FBA business used to take a full week of my time, plus outside employee hours, specialty software packages, and more. Today it takes just me about three hours a week. That’s more than 90% of my working time back, while the business does more than it ever did when I did it all by hand.

I didn’t build this to step back from my own business. It just turned out that way. And honestly, that’s become the best part.

Would I sell it to you? No.

People ask if I’d sell access to the system I’ve built. The answer is no.

Frankly, I don’t want to provide support for other people’s issues. That might be a bit selfish, but it’s honest. This system was built around how I think and how I run my business. Turning it into a product would mean turning myself back into a full-time employee, just of a different business.

And I’m enjoying having my week back too much to give it away again. I’m going to enjoy the quality of life. Or maybe I’ll go start the next business.

But if you begin now, study how to vibe code, practice, fail, and learn, then you can do this too.

The honest part

AI isn’t magic, and it makes mistakes. It can be confidently wrong. So I built a lot of checks around it, and I still approve the decisions that spend real money. AI didn’t replace my judgment. It gave my judgment better information and took the busywork off my plate.

Matt put the limit better than I can. His team uses AI to build and run their own software, and he still says:

“But people still matter most on the floor. Somebody has to open the box, see the crushed corner, count the units and pack it right. AI can tell you a count is wrong. It can’t go find the missing case.”

If you’re running a small business, here’s what I’d tell you: the tools are here, they’re getting better by the month, and they’re within reach. But pick your partners carefully. The best AI in the world can’t fix a warehouse that loses your stuff. I found one that’s as serious about getting it right as I am.

And if you think you’re too old, or not technical enough, for any of this: I’m 67 and retired. If I can do this, a lot of other people can too.

You’ll notice I haven’t told you how much I sell. That’s personal, and I’m keeping it that way. But for one retired guy working about three hours a week, I’m proud of what I’ve built.

Share

Matt Weschler owns Carolina Prep & Ship in Apex, North Carolina (FBA and Walmart prep, order fulfillment, receiving and storage): carolinaprepship.com. CPS didn’t pay for this post and didn’t ask for it. I’m a paying customer.

Your Daily Dad Joke

What’s ET short for?

Because he’s got little legs.

Two memberships, one bill

The renewal charge shows up on your card, and you do the quick math in your head. Did I use that enough this year to make it worth it? Some years the answer is yes. Some years you’re not sure, and you let it ride, because canceling feels like one more thing to do.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along.

You may have seen a headline that Walmart is putting Walmart+ and Sam’s Club Plus together for $120 a year, which it says is almost $100 less than paying for the two separately. It started today.

Your first thought might be: is that a deal for me?

It depends on what you pay now. Here’s how Walmart’s announcement lays it out.

If you already pay for Sam’s Club Plus, Walmart says you can turn on Walmart+ at no extra cost.

If you pay for both today, Walmart says you link the two accounts, and most members are eligible for a prorated refund on Walmart+.

If you have the regular Sam’s Club membership, Walmart says it’s $60 more a year to move up to Plus, and Walmart+ comes with it. If you pay for Walmart+ by the year, it says it’s $22 more to add Sam’s Club Plus.

New members pay $120 a year. Fox Business reports there’s no monthly option and no free trial, so that’s $120 up front.

Here’s the part the headline left out. The “almost $100 less” only counts if you were going to pay for both anyway. By Walmart’s own numbers, if you only use Walmart+, the bundle costs you $22 more a year than you pay now. If you rarely use either one, $120 is still $120.

The perks come with fine print, too. According to Walmart’s announcement, free delivery needs a $35 order at Walmart and $50 at Sam’s Club. The streaming is the version with ads, Peacock or Paramount+, and you pick one. The gas discount is 10 cents a gallon at participating stations. And the 2% back in Sam’s Cash tops out at $750 a year.

I know. A membership has a funny way of making you feel like you should shop more to get your money’s worth. That’s the part I’d keep an eye on.

So here’s the one thing I’d do. If you pay for Sam’s Club Plus and Walmart+, link the two accounts in the Walmart or Sam’s Club app this week, and look for that refund on Walmart+. If you only have one of them, look at your last renewal charge and ask yourself whether you’d have bought the other one anyway. If the answer is no, the bundle isn’t a saving for you, and that’s fine.

Anyway, I wanted to make sure you heard about it before your next renewal comes around. If you’re paying twice for the same thing, you shouldn’t have to.

What’s one membership or subscription you pay for that’s worth every penny to you? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

You don’t need every perk somebody wants to sell you. You need the ones you’ll actually use, and you’re allowed to decide which those are. I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: what to do when a debt collector calls your job, homeowners suing Unison over home equity agreements, and Damon Day’s $73 Instacart order that paid $10.67.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

Your Daily Dad Joke

My wife asked if our kids were spoiled.

I said “No, I think most kids just smell that way.”

The Equifax email you may have deleted

You apply for a car loan, or a credit card, or a better rate on your insurance. The answer comes back no. Or yes, but at a number that stings. Most people take that quietly. They figure that’s just their score, and that it’s their fault.

For some people in the spring of 2022, it wasn’t.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along.

You may have seen a write-up this week saying the $100 million Equifax settlement is now taking claims. Back in August I told you about this case, and I told you there was nothing to claim yet and to wait for the notice. The notice has gone out.

Here’s what it’s about. The lawsuit claims that a coding error in one of Equifax’s computer systems sent wrong credit information to lenders, insurers and others between March 17 and April 8, 2022. That’s from the settlement papers filed with the court. Equifax says in those papers that it didn’t break the law, and the settlement doesn’t decide who was right.

And no, this isn’t the 2017 data breach. That was a different case. According to the court papers, this one is about scores and credit details that came out wrong for about three weeks in 2022.

So the question is the one you’d ask me. How do I know if I’m in it?

You don’t decide that, and neither do I. According to the court papers, Equifax’s own analysis from 2022 decides who is in the group. The people on that list were supposed to get a notice by email, or by mail when no email address could be found. The notice has a claim number and a PIN on it, and the claim form on the settlement website asks for them. The court papers say a reminder goes out later to people who haven’t filed.

How much is it? Nobody knows yet. After lawyers’ fees and costs, the rest gets split evenly among the people who file a valid claim, so the more people file, the smaller each share. And nothing gets paid until the judge gives final approval. That hearing is set for January 22, 2027.

I know. A three-week glitch from 2022 feels like a long time ago. But a no from a lender sticks with people longer than they let on.

Here’s the one thing I’d do. Search your email, including the spam folder, for “Equifax” from the past few weeks, and look through the mail you set aside. If you find it, go to the settlement website by typing the address in yourself, and file your claim before December 28. If nothing came and you think you should have gotten one, the site has a contact page for that. And nobody legitimate will charge you a fee to file.

Anyway, I’m the one who told you to wait, so I wanted you to hear from me that the wait is over.

Have you ever been turned down for something and found out later it wasn’t your fault? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

A credit score is a calculation somebody else ran about you, and calculations go wrong. If one went wrong on you, the no you heard was never a verdict on who you are. Have a good week, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Steve

Also on the site since Friday: 10 things to do after you file bankruptcy and why the 3.6% COLA isn’t 3.6% for every military retiree.

It’s Monday, so if you have a money question you’d like me to answer, send it my way and watch for the answer on the Get Out of Debt Guy Facebook page.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

I sometimes hesitate to tell people how much I use artificial intelligence.

Which is a strange position to be in when I use it all day, every day, and it’s become part of how I run multiple companies by myself.

I feel like a closet success story.

Say “AI” and some people picture made-up facts, lousy articles, and a threat to work they’ve spent years learning to do. I understand why. There’s plenty of evidence to support those concerns.

But I’ve also had an experience worth sharing.

Nothing I write is going to change the rotation of the earth or convince the neighbor’s dog that my front yard isn’t the best place in the world to take a dump.

But maybe we can have a conversation.

I Wasn’t Impressed Either

I’ve worked with computers since 1975. That doesn’t make me right about everything that comes next. It does mean I’ve seen a long line of advancements, disappointments, and things that were supposedly going to change everything.

When I first started using the current generation of AI tools, they got a lot wrong. The outright hallucinations were ridiculous. It was like dealing with someone who had an answer for everything and didn’t let being wrong slow them down.

There was a lot of room for improvement.

Then the tools improved, and I got better at figuring out where they helped and where they needed supervision.

I use them to explore questions, organize research, challenge ideas, and help me move projects along. Working on my own means there are limits to how much I can personally get through in a day. AI has become part of how I deal with those limits.

That doesn’t settle anyone’s concerns about jobs or how these systems were built. If you’re worried about your livelihood, my telling you that I’m getting more done probably isn’t much comfort.

Have You Seen the Internet?

One criticism of AI is that it produces things that aren’t true.

Yes. It does. Sometimes with astonishing confidence.

These systems learn from vast amounts of material, including material from the internet. Have you seen the internet? We weren’t exactly starting with a spotless collection of verified human wisdom.

That’s not an excuse. It’s a reason to check what comes back.

If I ask an AI tool something, accept the answer without checking it, and publish it under my name, I’m responsible for what I publish. “The computer told me” isn’t much of an explanation to a reader I’ve misled.

That responsibility is part of using the tool.

About Those Woodpeckers

Research is one area where I’ve found AI useful.

To explain how I approach it, let’s use woodpeckers. They’re pretty amazing, except when one is hammering on the side of my house. Then my appreciation of nature turns into, “Are you kidding me!”

I could open ChatGPT or another tool and type, “Tell me about woodpeckers.”

There’s nothing wrong with starting there. But if I’m researching something for an article or a script, I need to go further.

I ask for research, source links, and an explanation of where the evidence is strong or where there’s uncertainty.

Then I bring in my gang.

I’ve set up different AI agents and reviewers with different jobs. One checks factual claims. One is the contrarian, looking for holes in the argument. Another considers a different perspective and questions assumptions the others might have missed.

I want the argument challenged before I put it in front of a reader.

There’s a catch, of course. Three AI systems can agree and still be wrong. Giving one the job of fact-checker doesn’t magically make it reliable. And asking for another perspective doesn’t give a machine someone else’s lived experience.

Their reviews help identify things to investigate. The source still has to support the claim. Important facts still need checking.

That’s where my judgment comes in, and where my responsibility stays.

Why This Matters to Me

I remember what research used to involve. Going to a library, sometimes a university library. Requesting books from other libraries. Reading, taking notes, cross-checking, and following a lead that might turn out to be a dead end.

Days could become weeks.

There was satisfaction in that process. I also had questions I couldn’t pursue because I didn’t have unlimited time.

What excites me now is being able to explore more of those questions. I can get an initial view of a subject, find possible sources, and have an argument picked apart while I’m still developing it.

The checking takes work. So does deciding what matters. But I can get further into an idea before running out of hours.

For someone with more ideas than time, that’s a pretty big deal.

Getting feedback on my writing isn’t new, either. When I was younger and had an important paper to turn in, my AI engine was called Mom or Dad. As I got older, it was called Editor. And for others, I was the AI engine, under the title Ghost Writer.

This essay is mine. I asked AI to review the organization and the tone, the same way I once asked them. Love you, Mom.

So, Is It Slop?

Some of it absolutely is.

I don’t enjoy an article that wastes my time, repeats itself, or tells me something that falls apart the moment I check it. Producing a thousand more of those isn’t an accomplishment.

But I’d like to leave room for AI-made work that someone has thought about, questioned, checked, and shaped into something useful.

That’s the work I’m trying to do.

I’m enthusiastic because I keep finding uses for these tools in my own life. I’m still learning, and I still have to be willing to question what they give me.

You don’t have to share my enthusiasm. But I hope I can talk about what’s working for me without the conversation ending at “AI slop.” Maybe then I can be a little less of a closet success story.

And I’d like to hear what you’ve tried, too. Including the part where it went completely wrong. I probably have a story to match.

Share

Your Daily Dad Joke

What dessert has antlers?

Chocolate moose.

The check that looks like a scam

An envelope shows up with a check in it from a company you’ve never heard of. Most of us have learned to be suspicious of that. Good.

But some of those checks are real this fall. And the people getting them have more reason than anyone not to trust them.

The grandson who calls from jail and needs bail money. The sweetheart overseas who just needs help with one more fee. I’ve seen so many men and women who were older, lonely and most needed their retirement savings fall for these scams. It never ends well.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along.

You may have seen a story this morning about the Federal Trade Commission sending checks to people who were scammed through Walmart money transfers.

That’s real. The FTC says it is mailing 65,022 checks totaling more than $9.8 million to people who sent eligible money transfers at Walmart between January 2015 and December 2024.

The money comes from a $10 million settlement Walmart reached with the FTC in June 2025. The FTC alleged Walmart didn’t train its employees properly, didn’t warn customers, and didn’t have good enough anti-fraud procedures for money transfers. Back when it sued, the FTC said scammers used Walmart locations to collect money from grandparent, romance and other scams.

So how would you know if a check like that is the real thing?

Start with what the FTC won’t do. The FTC says it never requires people to pay money or provide account information to get a payment. It will never threaten you, tell you that you must transfer money to “get a refund,” or promise you a prize. Its page lists no form to fill out. The checks just come in the mail.

So a real one asks you for nothing. A fake one always gets around to asking for something.

How much is in one? The FTC hasn’t said. Divide the total by the number of checks and it averages out to about $150. I know. That may be a lot less than what was taken. But money sent this way is usually gone for good, and the head of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau said exactly that when Walmart settled: “once it’s sent, it’s gone for good.” So any of it coming back is rare.

Here’s the one thing I’d do. If you, or someone in your family, ever sent money from a Walmart counter to someone who turned out to be a scammer, watch the mail for the next few weeks. Before you toss an envelope you don’t recognize, look up the FTC’s refund page yourself and call the number you find there, not the one on the letter. And if the check is real, cash it within the 90 days printed on it.

If it happened to someone you love, this might be an easier way to bring it up. A check is a lot easier to talk about than the loss.

I put the details in my guide, including what the FTC’s pages don’t say.

Anyway, I wanted you to hear it from me before one of those envelopes ends up in the trash.

Have you ever gotten a check or a letter you were sure was a scam, and it turned out to be real? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

Getting taken by a scam isn’t a character flaw. It happens to careful people on a bad day, often to people who thought they were helping someone they loved. Sometimes, years later, a little of it finds its way back. Have a good weekend, and I’ll see you Monday.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: my money advice for strippers, escorts and OnlyFans creators, my lawyer dropped me and kept part of my deposit. Can they do that?, what happens to student loans when the borrower dies, if your paycheck depends on a work permit, the money calls to make before it expires, and the University of Phoenix settlement isn’t student loan forgiveness.

On the podcast this week: Damon and I walk through the 10 things you must do after bankruptcy.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

Steve, the original Get Out of Debt Guy, and Damon Day, the new Get Out of Debt Guy, walk through ten things to do after you file, in roughly the order you'll face them, plus one Bonus Tip they couldn't leave out.

The 10 steps:

1. Take a breath and let go of the shame.

2. Finish the second course, the debtor education class you take after filing.

3. Keep your discharge order and case papers forever.

4. Pull all three credit reports at AnnualCreditReport.com and fix the mistakes.

Bonus Tip: Feel like you should repay a discharged debt? Pay it forward to your own retirement instead.

5. Know what to do if a collector calls about a discharged debt.

6. Keep paying on what you kept, and know whether you signed a reaffirmation agreement.

7. Build a real budget and a cushion, even though budgets suck.

8. Step back into the credit game to rebuild your credit, slowly and on purpose.

9. Watch out for the post-bankruptcy predators.

10. Restart your retirement savings, because time is the thing that makes it grow.

Plus: a mortgage broker who shrugged at a bankruptcy a year later, a credit union trick for building credit with a small amount of cash, and why paying back creditors instead of saving for retirement can leave the burden on your kids later.

A note on the Bonus Tip: the law lets you repay a discharged debt voluntarily if you choose to (11 U.S.C. 524(f)), but the creditor can't pursue or collect it, and many won't accept the payment. When Steve tried, his creditors refused. You don't owe it, so put that money toward your own future first.

Steve is not an attorney. Ask your bankruptcy attorney about anything specific to your case.

Find more debt help and the free Ask Steve chat at GetOutOfDebt.org

Get Steve's free weekday email at YourMoneyActually.com

Talk with Damon Day about your situation at DamonDay.com

Watch the video version on YouTube: Get Out of Debt Guy, the Penny Stupid Project and Old Guy Insights.

Your Daily Dad Joke

The Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop and says...

Can you make me one with everything?

The ones who need it most keep the least

Here’s something that bugs me. The people who need the most help are the ones who keep the least of their raise. Because they need the help.

Picture someone on a fixed income who gets a little help with groceries and lives in a building where HUD helps with the rent. Prices went up on them like everyone else. In January their Social Security check goes up. Then the help goes down.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along.

You may have seen Fox Business report that Social Security is going up 3.6% for 2027. Social Security says the average retirement check goes up about $75 a month, starting in January. People on SSI see it on December 31.

That’s real. But it’s not the whole story.

So how much of that $75 do they actually keep?

SNAP counts Social Security as income and lowers the food benefit by 30 cents for every extra dollar of countable income. Because of how the housing-cost deduction works, it can take a bit more. HUD-assisted rent is built on 30 percent of adjusted income, so when the rent is recalculated, roughly another $22 a month goes there.

Run that on the average $75 and the person getting both kinds of help may keep around $30 of it. Sometimes less. The person getting no help at all keeps every dollar.

And SNAP already adjusted its own numbers on October 1. So the January raise only shows up on one side of their math, the side that says they have more income.

Help with the Medicare premium works differently, with income limits and its own rules for counting the raise. I walked through every program in this post to go deeper.

Nobody’s cheating anybody here. It’s how those programs count income. But nobody puts that part in the headline.

Here’s the one thing I’d do. When your raise letter comes, hold onto it. It shows up online in late November if you have a my Social Security account, or by mail in December. Some programs will ask you for it, and the ones that help you should each send their own letter with your new amount. If one program’s letter takes back more than half of your raise, I’d call and ask them to show you the math.

Anyway, I wanted you to hear it from me before the letters show up.

When your check goes up, do you actually notice it, or does it get eaten before you see it? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

If your raise gets eaten, that isn’t you doing something wrong. It’s the rules. Knowing them before January means the letters won’t knock you over. I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: budgets suck, so watch what’s left at the end of the month, look broke for a year so you’re not broke for 10 years, why another loan won’t fix your credit card debt, Damon and I on the math to run before you start gig work, and before you prepay your heating oil dealer, read the contract.

A longer video from me: Being Retired and Lonely Can Cost You Dearly. It’s about the phone call asking for money after the job is gone, how to keep helping family without putting your own future in trouble, and why a family safe word beats a cloned voice.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

Your Daily Dad Joke

What did the clock do when it was hungry?

It went back four seconds.

Money you left behind

Moving leaves a trail. A last paycheck mailed to the old apartment. A utility deposit nobody refunded. A bank account with forty dollars in it that you forgot you opened. A refund check that came back as undeliverable.

Over the years, I’ve found about $4,000 of my own money that way. Money that was mine, sitting in a state office, waiting for me to ask for it.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along.

You may have seen a story out of Indiana about who has unclaimed money there. NBA legend Reggie Miller. Former Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. Even Indiana’s attorney general, Todd Rokita, who the reporter found had $151.32 in refunds and donations he never claimed.

And this morning, Rokita’s office announced a record: nearly $90 million returned this year, with “nearly a billion dollars” still waiting to be claimed on Indiana’s search site.

So is any of it yours?

Maybe. It isn’t only Indiana. State governments hold most unclaimed money, and every state keeps its own list. Indiana’s office lists the usual suspects: forgotten bank accounts, uncashed wages, refunds, insurance money, utility deposits, and overpayments on things like a credit card or cell phone bill.

The part people miss is the old address. The money usually goes to the state where the business last had your address, not where you live now. That’s why the government’s own advice is to check every state you’ve lived in.

I know. A few dollars from an old gas bill doesn’t sound worth the trouble. But it’s yours, and sometimes it’s a lot more than a few dollars.

Here’s the one thing I’d do this week. Search your name, and any old last names, on each state’s unclaimed property site. This directory links to every one. It’s free and it takes a few minutes. You don’t need to pay anyone to help you do this. Most of the people who offer to do it for a fee aren’t doing you any favors, and plenty of them are scams.

Damon and I talked about this on the podcast last week, too.

Anyway, I wanted you to hear it from me. Some states do go looking for people, but mostly this money just sits there until you ask for it.

Have you ever found money with your name on it in one of these state lists? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

Not every money story starts with a bill. Some of them start with something that was yours all along, waiting for you to look. I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: shopping around for a car loan, and what it really does to your credit, and thinking of dropping Medicare Advantage when open enrollment starts October 15? Get the Medigap answer in writing first.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

“Oh man, look at that guy,” I said to Pam. “Doesn’t look safe.”

As we got closer, I realized.

“Oh crap. That’s my dad.”

We pulled over, and I urged him to get in the car. He was pissed.

“Dad, what are you doing?”

“You left me alone and I wanted some candy, so I walked to the grocery store.”

The grocery store was across a divided highway where the speed limit was 55 miles an hour. We caught him on the way back.

He’d already crossed it twice.

As he shakily got into the car, I learned why he was so annoyed. He had lost his glasses, and people kept stopping to ask if he needed help.

“Why can’t people mind their own damn business,” he said.

There was no sense even beginning that conversation. He was hot, a little dehydrated, and in no mood after his long walk along the road.

He had wanted candy. He’d gone to get some. And a bunch of strangers had made a nuisance of themselves along the way.

Meanwhile, I was trying to keep my father alive.

My dad was the first person to graduate with a PhD in political science from Michigan State. He was brilliant, although some common sense might occasionally have come in handy. People loved him. They respected him. When they saw him, they smiled.

When I was a kid and didn’t feel well, he would sit on my bed and read me stories. He made me feel cared for and loved.

That was my dad.

After my mom died of ovarian cancer, the responsibility for making sure he was safe and cared for fell to me. My first reaction was to bring him into our house. He needed care. We would care for him.

But eventually, he couldn’t be left alone. The trip for candy made painfully clear what that could mean.

Somewhere along the way, I felt as though I had lost my dad and become his father. I was responsible for his safety, his healthcare, and needs he could no longer manage himself. The man who had raised me was changing into someone I sometimes didn’t recognize.

I can’t give you a date for that first loss. There wasn’t a single goodbye. He was still there, and I was already missing him.

I didn’t know how to do this. I learned things along the way, sometimes after getting them wrong.

“Don’t you remember?” came out of my mouth more easily than I wish it had.

Of course he didn’t remember. That was why he was asking.

I eventually retired that question from my vocabulary. There was nothing useful waiting on the other end of it for either of us.

There was one strange advantage to the repeated questions. Dementia made me look like the smartest person in the room. By the next time he asked, I already knew the answer.

You take your little victories where you can find them.

Caring for someone with dementia is a tough, emotionally draining job that fucks with your own mental health.

It was just about all I could do to manage his care, and I wasn’t doing it alone. My wife, Pam, played a giant role. Without her, I’m fairly certain there would have been days when you could have found me curled up in a corner.

“I’m just going to skip today. Thanks.”

Except his needs would still have been there that day.

If you’ve lived through this, you probably don’t need me to explain the exhaustion. You may have your own version of the candy trip. Your own phrase you wish you hadn’t said. Your own person who helped you get through the day.

I wish I had a neat answer for what caregivers need. I know they need more support than we give them. I don’t know how a support group alone is supposed to make the rest of the week manageable.

Eventually, my dad moved into assisted living.

One night, sometime after one in the morning, the facility called. He was agitated, and they couldn’t settle him. They were going to call an ambulance and send him to the hospital.

“Don’t do that,” I said. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

I had no idea what I was going to do when I got there. I just couldn’t see how sending this frightened, confused man to an emergency room was going to make that night better for him.

“What are you going to do?” the night staff asked.

Then I walked into his room and saw him scared and alone.

I knew.

I told my dad to move over in his single bed. I took off my shoes, climbed in behind him, and wrapped my arms around him.

I told him I would tell him a story.

Eventually, dementia would take him all the way to his grave. That was the second time I lost him.

But that night, we fell asleep together in his single bed.

He was safe. He was loved. And so was I.

For one moment, everything was right in the world.

—Steve

P.S. If you’ve lived some version of this, you’re welcome to tell me about your person in the comments.

Your Daily Dad Joke

What’s a mountain’s favorite type of candy?

Rock candy.

Stuck at the gate

The board flips from DELAYED to CANCELED. The line at the counter is forty people long, and it’s getting dark outside. It is a terrible feeling to be stranded in an airport and have no idea what you should receive and how stuck you really are.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along before your next trip.

You may have seen a piece saying your plane can break and the airline may no longer owe you a hotel. That’s real. But it’s not the whole story.

So what changes on Sunday?

Most big airlines promise a meal voucher, and a hotel if you’re stuck overnight, when the delay is their fault. They call it “controllable.” That promise is the airline’s own, written into its customer service plan.

Starting Sunday, October 19, a new federal rule takes ten kinds of trouble out of the airline’s-fault column. Among them: repairs that can’t wait until the plane’s next scheduled maintenance, damage from extreme weather, a cyberattack, a government system going down, a medical emergency on board, and removing an unruly passenger.

The Department of Transportation says in the rule itself that fewer delays will come with meals and compensation. It calls that “a transfer of value from consumers back to air carriers.”

I know. A broken plane sure feels like the airline’s problem.

Here’s the part that did not change. If your flight is canceled, or delayed three hours or more in the U.S. (six for international), and you decide not to fly, you’re owed your money back, taxes and bag fees included. Not a voucher. That refund rule doesn’t care whose fault it was.

Here’s the one thing I’d do before your next trip. I’d look up whether the card I’m paying with has trip-delay coverage, the kind that can pay for a meal and a room after a long delay. It’s on the card’s benefits page, and it takes five minutes.

Anyway, I wanted you to know this before Sunday, not at the gate.

Have you ever been stranded overnight at an airport? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

Being stuck is still awful. But knowing what you’re owed, and what you’re not, turns a helpless night into a couple of clear choices. That counts for more than it sounds like at 11 p.m. in Terminal B.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: feeling unneeded after work, and the money decisions that follow, and flood damage from Isaias or Rachel: what your homeowners policy, FEMA and the SBA cover.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

I know how hard that can be, and I want you to know you’re not alone in this.

There was a time when I felt completely alone, even though I had people around me who cared about me. I still felt like I was on an island, cut off from the world. I’d lay awake at night staring at the ceiling, wondering what the hell was wrong with me. During the day I put on a good face, maybe cracked a joke here or there, but inside I felt hollow. Like I was in a room full of people and no one could really see me.

Those days were long and heavy. I won’t lie to you and say there was some big dramatic turning point where everything magically got better. But one day I woke up, the sun was shining, I felt the warmth of the day, and something inside me shifted just a little. It wasn’t that everything changed all at once. It reminded me that things can change even when you don’t expect them to. And little by little, the weight started to lift.

I don’t have magic words that will fix this for you. There’s no string of perfect phrases that makes everything better overnight. But here’s what I do know. You matter exactly as you are. You don’t need to perform or pretend.

And be kind to yourself. On our darkest days we’re our own toughest critics. Loneliness isn’t a failure. It’s part of being human. Treat yourself with the same patience and care you’d offer someone else.

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The advice that doesn’t help

Here’s something I’ve learned. Most of the advice about loneliness is crap. It’s nonsense.

When people say put yourself out there, or go make new friends, or make lemonade out of lemons, it sounds easy. When you’re in a tough place it feels damn impossible. And depending on other people to validate your efforts can set you up for disappointment. Connection is messy. It’s not always neat and it’s not always instant.

One of the most common questions I hear, especially from people who feel lonely, is “Steve, how do you even make friends as an adult?” It’s not always easy. But here are some things that worked for me. Maybe they’ll work for you too.

What worked for me

It starts with showing up. A local coffee shop, the gym, a class, or just walking the same trail regularly. Putting yourself out there in a consistent way is the first step. When people start recognizing your face, it creates familiarity, and that’s the foundation of connection.

Be approachable. A friendly smile, eye contact and a little small talk go a long way. I’ve met some of my best friends just by being the kind of person who says “Hey, how’s your day going?” and actually listens to the answer.

But here’s something I learned the hard way. Most people aren’t really listening. When I was in college we did a little class experiment. For an entire day, whenever someone said “How you doing?”, we answered “Dying. And you?” Most people didn’t even register it. They kept walking, or nodded like we’d said “Good.” People are so wrapped up in their own world that they don’t really hear what’s being said. You have to knock on the door, gently and consistently, to get them to wake up to you.

Be curious about other people. Genuine, interested questions open the door. You’d be amazed how much people appreciate being truly listened to. Start simple: “What brought you here?” or “What’s something you’re excited about right now?”

Don’t rush it. Not every interaction will lead to a friendship, and that’s okay. Trust takes time. Focus on small, consistent interactions and let the relationship grow naturally.

Making and keeping friends isn’t free or easy. It takes work and commitment. True friendships mean showing up for each other. Not everyone will become a true friend, and that’s okay too. Many will still become caring acquaintances who bring something good into your life.

Friendships come from unexpected places. I met one of my really good friends years ago because we rode the same kind of motorcycle. That small connection turned into something big, and nearly 20 years later we’re still great friends. Sometimes it’s the person who helps carry your groceries, or the one who strikes up a conversation while you’re both waiting in line.

Making friends as an adult isn’t about waiting for the perfect person to come along. It’s putting yourself out there with a little courage, a lot of kindness, and no expectations.

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The little things

What I’ve found really helps is the little things. Doing good for others without expecting anything back. Hold the door. Take the grocery cart back for someone. Smile, make eye contact, say hello.

I remember holding the door for an older man once. He stopped, looked me right in the eye and said, “You have no idea how much I needed that today.” I don’t know his story. But I knew I’d made a difference, and that small moment made a difference in me too.

Don’t expect people to see you for who you are the first time you meet them, or even the tenth. Not everyone is ready for a new friend or able to accept kindness, and that’s okay. It isn’t about you being broken. A lot of people are suffering in silence and sometimes they don’t have the capacity to let someone in. But you never know about tomorrow, so don’t give up.

There are three people in my life who are great friends, the kind who would come in an instant if I needed them. One I met when he came to do a job as a handyman. One was a random phone call about business. One was a local police officer I just kept running into. You never know where your friends are hiding. You have to mine for them, with effort and kindness.

When I go places over and over, I hear something a lot: “Oh, Steve, we love when you visit because you’re always so kind and friendly.” I think that’s a great compliment. It means I’m making the day better for the people I meet.

Open the door a little

Don’t underestimate vulnerability. Being vulnerable is scary and nerve-racking, but it’s also the key to meaningful connection. When you share even a small piece of yourself, it makes room for the other person to do the same. Sometimes it just takes a little courage to open the door.

Gratitude has helped me a lot too. Not the fake kind where you force yourself to be happy. The kind where you notice the small stuff. The warmth of the sun. The sound of the wind. The way a good laugh feels. And while we’re at it, let’s be grateful no one has invented telepathic texting yet. Can you imagine everyone accidentally sending their unfiltered thoughts?

Brains are like toddlers most of the time. They do amazing things, solve problems and make sense of the world. And sometimes they throw all your serotonin on the floor and leave you to clean up the mess. That’s okay. We all need a little help to get back on track sometimes, whether that’s talking to a therapist, checking in with a doctor, or taking tiny steps to care for yourself. It doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human.

Take a moment and think of one small thing you can do today. It doesn’t have to cost money. It can be something that feels like kindness toward yourself. Noticing something beautiful. A deep breath. Sitting still for a moment. Small steps can lead to big shifts.

The fact that you’re still trying, still open to connection, shows how much strength you have. You’re already taking steps toward something better, even if you don’t see it yet. This won’t last forever. Things can and will shift, even if it’s little by little.

Loneliness isn’t the end of your story. It’s one chapter, and the next page is yours to write. It can be filled with connection, kindness and hope. You’re not invisible. You matter.

— Steve

Your Daily Dad Joke

Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants?

In case he got a hole in one.

What heats your house

There’s a morning every fall when the heat clicks on for the first time since spring. The house warms up, and somewhere in the back of your head a little meter starts running.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along.

You may have seen a headline that home heating bills could rise 21% this winter. That’s real. But it’s not the whole story.

So is your bill about to jump 21%? Probably not.

That number is for homes that heat with oil. The federal government’s winter forecast puts those at about 3% of households, mostly in the Northeast. For them, it’s a real hit.

Gas is the most common way to heat a home in this country. CNBC, working from that same forecast, says a gas-heated home is expected to spend about $640 this winter, down 9%. Propane is expected to be down 3%. If your heat is electric, which is more than four in ten homes, it’s about 4% more than last winter.

I know. A forecast doesn’t pay the bill. These are averages, built on the weather the forecasters expect, and a cold January can change all of it.

Here’s the one thing I’d do this week. I’d find out what heats the house. The bill tells you, whether it comes from the gas company, the electric company, or the truck that fills the tank. Then I’d pull up last January’s bill. That’s your number.

If January was the month that hurt, it’s worth a call to ask whether they’ll spread the winter out into even monthly payments. And if paying for heat at all is the worry, the same CNBC piece points to LIHEAP, the federal program that helps with heating bills.

Anyway, I wanted you to have the real number before the first cold bill shows up.

What heats your house, gas, electric, oil or propane? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

Knowing your number before the envelope arrives is a small thing. It means you’re opening it to check, not to find out. That’s a different feeling, and you earned it just by looking.

— Steve

Also on the site since Friday: your insurance denial isn’t the last word, people spent less on chips, prices fell, and now some are going back up, a 4-star Medicare plan still won’t tell you what you’ll pay, your homeowners policy may not pay for the hotel if you evacuate, the math on Damon Day’s 27-item Instacart shop, and what the complaint against Better Tax Relief says.

Got a money question? Send it in, and watch for the answer on the Get Out of Debt Guy Facebook page.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

I had a comfortable belief: financial literacy classes for the masses don’t really work. I didn’t pull that out of the air. A big 2014 review of 201 studies found the classes barely changed what people actually did. Then I ran into a 2020 paper that pooled 76 experiments and more than 160,000 people and said they do. I promised I’d go read it and not just get pissed off.

So I read it. All of it. I even paid $37 for the journal copy, which tells you how my week went.

You don’t need to reach for your shocked face when I tell you the facts paint a different story when you dive deeper. The results don’t show what the headlines and people are saying they do.

But hold on. Before anybody gets comfortable, including me, it’s not what I said either.

Here’s the short version. The study people point to as support for financial literacy says the classes helped, on average. If you line up 100 people by how well they handle money, the class moved the person in the middle from number 50 to about number 54. That’s real. It isn’t nothing. What’s less clear is how long the benefit lasts. And that matters if we’re counting on a class at 16 to help someone make money decisions at 36.

Half of the effectiveness measurements were taken within about six months of the class. On whether it lasts, the authors called it “inconclusive.” Their word, not mine.

That 2014 review is worth a closer look. It came from a different team, six years earlier, and it found the classes explained only 0.1% of the difference in how people handle money. In their words, even big programs with many hours of teaching had “negligible effects on behavior 20 months or more” later. That’s the study I leaned on in March.

But most of those 201 studies weren’t true experiments, and the 2020 team says it found coding errors in the older numbers. So the older study isn’t the last word either.

And me? Back in March, I wrote that the benefits fade away in under two years, as if that were settled. The 2020 authors say nobody has shown the fade either. One study in Brazil followed 16,000 students for nine years and still found a small effect, about one percentage point.

Okay, a small benefit nine years later deserves a seat at this conversation. Especially after I said the benefits disappear. I still want to know how much the classes cost, and whether that was a good use of the money.

So the people quoting this study as proof were a little wrong. And I was a little wrong. That’s the least satisfying ending there is, and I called it last week. I put all the numbers and links here and fixed my March piece with a note at the top.

Those are the facts. Now here’s what I’ve actually been chewing on.

How do you tell someone that something they believe in might help, but might not do nearly as much as they hope?

Because nobody believes in these classes out of stupidity. It’s a lovely idea. Teach kids about money while they’re young, and they’ll be set. I think a lot of people support it because they hope it will inoculate kids against money trouble for life. I understand the hope. I’d like it to be true.

But hoping a financial literacy class will inoculate our kids against money trouble is like assuming every kid who takes high school English will be a literary whiz. We all took English. Look around. Read some emails.

I still find the promises hyped around that study to be dubious. Dubious is a nicer word than bullshit. And when I say bullshit, I get crazy looks.

Here’s a question I’d ask gently. If someone you know struggles with hoarding or gambling, what high school class would have prevented that?

So if someone struggles with overspending due to self-esteem, stress reduction, or financial codependency, what financial literacy class is going to change that?

Knowing how interest works doesn’t necessarily stop someone from spending money to feel better, keep a relationship together, or keep up with the damn Joneses.

After more than 30 years of talking with people about money, I find it hard to treat this mainly as a knowledge problem. The 2014 study pointed the same way. It said the effects of financial literacy “diminish dramatically when one controls for psychological traits.” People bring different habits, worries, memories, and amounts of give-a-damn to it. You’ve met your family. Want to know what your money personality is? Take this free test.

Now, the authors say these programs are cost-effective. I’m still not persuaded, but I need to be fair: a small benefit might be worth paying for if the cost is low enough.

I think we could teach most of what we call financial literacy better by teaching critical thinking, decision-making, how to use Claude, a calculator, and how to verify facts. Because the AI can be wrong too. That’s my opinion. I don’t have a study for it.

If you loved your kid’s personal finance class, or you teach one, I’m not coming for you. A class can teach useful things. If it helped you, good. And if you took one and still ended up in a mess, you didn’t fail it. It was never going to carry that much weight.

So how do you break it to someone? Here’s the best I’ve got after this week.

You go first. You say the part where you were wrong before you get to the part where they were. You say what’s true about their side out loud. You leave them a door to walk through that doesn’t have a sign over it reading “idiot.” And then you stop talking, which I’m still working on.

And here’s the uncomfortable question: if current financial literacy classes are ineffective, what will work? Maybe something else, but maybe nothing will fundamentally change the unconscious things that drive us. Worth pondering.

Getting it a little wrong and saying so didn’t kill me. It mostly cost me a journal article.

You’re welcome to check my work. That’s sort of the point.

— Steve

Your Daily Dad Joke

Last year I wrote a book on penguins.

In hindsight, it would have been easier on paper.

Who moved the price?

A price on a shelf tag feels like weather. It goes up, you grumble, and you pay it, or you put the thing back.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along.

You may have seen a headline that PepsiCo is raising prices on Doritos, Ruffles, SunChips, and some sodas. That’s real. But it’s not the whole story.

So is the grocery bill about to jump again? Not by much, from this.

The company says the increases will be in the single digits, percentage-wise, and that the new prices will still be lower than they were at the start of this year. That part is in the story. It just isn’t in the headline.

Here’s my own math, not theirs. Say a bag was $5.00 in January and got the full 15% cut. That’s $4.25. Add 9%, the top of “single digits,” and you’re at about $4.63. More than last week. Less than January. And not every bag got the full cut, so yours may look different.

Now the part I find more interesting. Why were those prices lower in the first place?

The Associated Press tells it this way. The company raised prices by double-digit percentages for eight straight quarters in 2022 and 2023. Then, in AP’s words, “Consumers revolted.” Sales of the chips and the drinks fell. So this February, right before the Super Bowl, the company cut prices on some snacks by up to 15%.

Nobody organized that. No petition. People just put the bag back. Enough of them, for long enough.

I know. It’s chips. Nobody needs me to explain a Dorito.

But it’s a good thing to remember the next time a price makes you feel like you have no say. Sometimes you do. It doesn’t work on everything. You can’t put the electric bill back on the shelf. It works on the stuff you can walk past.

The company says it’s raising prices now because fuel, aluminum, and farm goods cost it more. Its CEO said the lower prices brought some shoppers back, but the quarter still came in weaker than hoped, partly because of slow sales in Canada. Fair enough. That’s their side of the tag.

Here’s the one thing I’d do. This week, I’d pick one thing I buy without looking, and look at the tag before it goes in the cart. That’s all. If the number bugs me, it goes back once, and I see if I miss it.

Anyway, I wanted you to hear the rest of it before a headline had you bracing for another round at the checkout.

What’s one thing you quit buying when the price got silly? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

If the grocery store has started to feel like a test, it isn’t one, and you didn’t do anything wrong. The prices moved. And every so often enough ordinary people shrug and walk past, and a price comes back down. It happened this year. Have a good weekend. I’ll see you Monday.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: what a 160,000-person study of financial literacy classes really found, the last chance for Western Union scam victims to file, no, you can file bankruptcy more than once, the FTC is sending Cleo AI refunds, and how to tell if yours is real, your hurricane deductible may be a percentage of your home’s value, what the complaint against American Debt Protection says, and why Damon Day turned down low Walmart Spark offers.

New on the podcast this week: Credit Card Debt, Hospital Bills & the “Just Get a Loan” Trap.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.

Steve, the original Get Out of Debt Guy, and Damon Day, the new Get Out of Debt Guy, tackle credit card debt, medical bills, and the expensive decisions people make when financial stress takes over. No lectures about being a bad person because you owe money. Just an honest conversation about getting out of debt without making your next problem bigger.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Whether a parent’s nursing home bill could become your responsibility and what to watch for in admission paperwork.

• Hospital financial assistance and questions to ask before paying a medical bill.

• Class action settlement payments, refund scams, and finding unclaimed money.

• Old Military STAR Card debt and how it can come back to haunt your Social Security benefits.

• Why using retirement savings to pay off credit cards can create bigger problems.

• Living paycheck to paycheck on a six-figure income, lifestyle creep, and the rising cost of raising a family.

Plus, a $30,000 hospital bill, expensive burritos, and the ongoing challenge of enjoying your life without financing all of it.

Find more stories and debt help at GetOutOfDebt.org. Reach Damon at DamonDay.com.

Dad Joke

What do you call it when Batman skips church?

Christian Bale.

The fine print

When my dad needed additional care as his dementia got worse, it was almost unimaginable trying to balance getting him the best care, my guilt as a son, finding a good facility and balancing the finances. Honestly, reading the fine print was the least of my worries.

That’s why I wanted to pass this along.

You may have seen a story going around this week about grown kids being made to pay a parent’s bills. That’s real. But it’s not the whole story.

Here’s the real part. The reporters say nearly half the states have a law on the books that can make an adult child responsible for a parent who can’t pay. In Pennsylvania, a court held a son responsible for $92,943 of his mother’s nursing home bill.

So is your mom’s bill about to become yours? For most people, no.

These cases are rare. An advocate for older adults told the reporters they run in the low double digits a year across the whole country, though he suspects more get settled quietly. And the Pennsylvania law doesn’t apply to a child who doesn’t have the money. The same story mentions a woman there who was sued for $300,000 and didn’t have to pay once her lawyers showed she couldn’t.

There’s a second way a bill like this finds a son or daughter, and it’s the one you can do something about. It’s the signature.

On the day a parent goes into a nursing home, somebody hands you a stack of forms. I know how that day goes. You sign.

Here’s the part worth knowing before that day. A nursing home that takes Medicare or Medicaid is not allowed to make a family member personally guarantee the bill to get a parent in or keep them there. That’s a federal rule. They can ask the person who handles your parent’s money to sign, and agree to pay from your parent’s money. Not from yours.

So the words next to your name matter. “Responsible party” and “guarantor” are the ones I’d ask about.

Here’s the one thing I’d do. If you’ve already signed for a parent, ask the facility for a copy of the admission agreement this week and look at what it calls you. That’s all. If you haven’t signed yet, you’ll know what to look for when the stack shows up.

And if a letter ever does come asking you to pay a parent’s bill, the lawyer in that story said to talk to an attorney right away. I’d do the same before paying a dollar. I walk through the rest in my parent died in a nursing home and they say I owe the bill.

Anyway, I wanted you to hear the whole of it before a headline had you lying awake over a bill that isn’t yours.

Who in your family ends up with the clipboard? Share it in the comments so we can all learn from it. I read every comment.

If you signed something in a hallway on one of the hardest days of your year, that says you showed up for somebody. The paper can be looked at again on a calmer day, and you don’t have to look at it alone. I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Steve

Also on the site since yesterday: can I pay off debt with a promissory note or a strawman account, what the $300,000 paycheck-to-paycheck survey actually asked, the FTC is sending GOAT refund payments, and how to tell if yours is real, and what the complaint against Tax Network USA says.

SEE A SCAM? SAY SOMETHING. If one has landed on you or someone you love, tell me at tips@getoutofdebt.org. The ones that can warn other people may show up here. Leave out account numbers and passwords.

If any of this was new to you, somebody you know hasn’t heard it either. It’s free at yourmoneyactually.com, and I don’t sell the list. The places I actually use for my own money, and what I get out of telling you, are on one page where they’ll always be.

This is what I’m telling friends like you over coffee. But remember, you do you.