From Beaches to Budgets: Marcy's Guide to Summer Fun, Financial Savvy, and Debunking Credit Myths

Ever wondered how to take full advantage of a summer in Chicago? This week, I recount my delightful Monday at Oak Street Beach and a pampering session with an affordable, yet luxurious, massage at a nearby massage school. As I basked in relaxation, I also mulled over the significance of early retirement planning and the benefits of wise investing. Plus, I couldn’t help but share my frustrations over the renewed political debates surrounding contraception and abortion, which feel like a step back in time.

Have you ever come across frozen goat carcasses from Australia at Costco? I did, at a Business Center Costco in Illinois! Join me as I explore this treasure trove of unique items, from restaurant-grade appliances to exotic meats. The episode also takes you to Ravinia, where I enjoyed a James Taylor concert albeit with some disruptions from noisy attendees. And as a critical reminder, we discuss the importance of monitoring your credit card statements for errors and the proactive steps needed to dispute inaccuracies to safeguard your finances.

Do you know the real impact of new credit card applications on your credit score? Or the consequences of not meeting minimum payments? In this episode, I debunk common credit card myths and offer practical tips for managing your credit effectively. Reflecting on a fantastic week filled with gym visits and a newfound love for aquasculpt, I also encourage you to find your joy and live your best life. Don't miss out on Nita Wenrick's valuable insights on Medicare from episode five, and remember, you can always reach out to me for more advice and inspiration.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:19

We're going to talk about a whole lot of things. I've been keeping notes this week. I thought you know what makes this podcast different than my other podcast, and the point of this podcast was what's inside my mind. So I've been keeping notes during the week of things that I want to talk about just quickly. But our main topic today, when we get into the main body of the podcast, is going to be about credit cards and disputing credit cards and debunking some myths about credit cards, cause I do have a younger audience as well and I really think these are important things and I think it's important for people my age as well. Not going to lie, I don't think a lot of us do check our credit card statements and such. But with that being said, obviously I'm going to get into my week and what I've been thinking about. So hang in there, grab that diet Coke, coffee, iced tea, whatever it is you're planning on drinking. If it's in the evening, maybe you're having some wine or a beer. Let's see, I started out this week. So one of my goals here in Chicago is we have a very short window of really great weather, but when we have it it is great, and it's about a hundred days of summer. They say so this year. My goal with the hundred days of summer is to spend as much time as I can outside. I've been spending a lot of time at our pool and then this week the beach is only a half a block from my gym. So on Monday I went to the beach they have a concierge service got myself a lounge chair, was sitting there lounging and enjoying myself and then all of a sudden, after a couple hours I was like, oh my God, I have a massage. This is the life of a retired person. So I jumped up, looked at the clock, had plenty of time to make it back for my massage. The greatest thing about my massage is attached to my condo building is a business building, and since I've been living in Chicago and this is a hot tip if you've never gone to a massage school, I'm telling you now, they're the best. So River North Massage School is here in Chicago. They used to be up on Clark, about three blocks up from me, and they moved into the building that's attached to my building. I couldn't ask for anything better had my hundred minute massage, which I will also have today, and it was a hundred bucks. It's a hundred bucks for a hundred minutes. It's the best and the students do a great job. I've not had a bad massage yet and I can tell you I've paid a lot more money for a crummy massage. So there you go. That was how my week started out on Monday. But if you and that's a funny thing Some of my friends in California have said I didn't know there were beaches in Chicago, well heck, we're on a lake that is the size of an ocean.

Speaker 1: 3:07

We have some of the most beautiful beaches, and I think I might have mentioned it that the beach I go to, oak Street Beach, was Travel and Leisure's top 25 beaches in the United States. It's gorgeous and it's a wonderful way to spend the time, and literally it's three blocks from my house. I can walk wonderful way to spend the time, and literally it's three blocks from my house. I can walk. So. And we have other great beaches here too. All of them have restaurants, all of them have concierge service. They're just, they're great beaches. They have volleyball, the young people are there. I don't know. I just I can't talk enough about the beaches here in Chicago and this year I'm going to enjoy them when the weather permits.

Speaker 1: 3:44

Today is cloudy and it's cool, so there will be no beach today, but maybe Thursday is looking like a good day and, um, you know, when I used to work or had kids and all was running around with a life of everybody else and not my life, I couldn't plan things like this, but I can plan my beach days now. So so that's what I do, and so that was part of this week. This week has been, honestly, a really great week. Um, retiring is is a great thing, and if you're young and you're working, work hard now, put your money away so you can retire the best possible way. Um, if your job gives you matching funds for a 401k, do it.

Speaker 1: 4:29

Craig and I planned for our retirement. Probably could have planned better, but we didn't see like pandemics and the 2008 downturn of the economy coming Took a couple hits in our planning, but we're still fine and I want to make sure that you young people that listen to me make all the best choices towards your retirement, because it'll be here and you want it to be fun. You want to plan beach days. You don't want to have to work until the day of your funeral. I see that a lot on social media Young people saying retire, how can I retire? I'm planning to work until the lunch on the day of my funeral, and that's sad and it is funny, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can invest a little now for a great return later. So that's my soapbox about that.

Speaker 1: 5:16

I received an email from our head priest, lisa, and she wanted to talk to me. I feel like you're being called into the principal's office, right, but in the email she said that she has a major leadership role in the church she wants to talk to me about. So I'll let you know next week how that goes. I'll be meeting with Lisa tomorrow. I adore Lisa. Lisa is the reason that we chose this church. Lisa Hackney, james or James Hackney I can't get it right, sorry, lisa. Anyways, she is an amazing woman and she is what drew me to our church.

Speaker 1: 6:02

Speaking of women, this is something in the news that really bugged me this week. Why are we talking about contraception in political arenas? Again, I haven't these debates. Abortion wasn't all of this settled? What the hell old white men that's? Who's bringing up this information? And again, this is what's on my mind, so you're going to hear it and if you don't like it. Don't listen, you know. But why are we giving old white men these decisions again? I don't understand it. Yes, I understand there's women in. We're not the majority people and we're not the ones bringing up this information, that's for sure. Um, again, just had to mention that that's on my list of things to talk about. I don't understand why contraception is a debate again, why people are telling us what to do with our bodies.

Speaker 1: 6:58

I stay out of my life. I'll stay out of yours. Like, get off my body. I don't get it and I don't want this for our daughters. I don't want this for our young people. You wonder why young people aren't engaged in politics? Look at what they have to. Look at Two geriatric presidential candidates. I don't care who you're for I don't care if you're well, I do care, but nonetheless, this is what the young people have to look at the two geriatric presidents, and obviously 80 isn't the same for everyone. Look at Mick Jagger. I'd rather have him run. My country Seems to have energy Anyhow. Sorry, that was my other rant, so just I couldn't believe that that's a debate again.

Speaker 1: 7:40

I started on TikTok and it's on my Instagram too. You can find it Marcy Backus on both of them TikTok, instagram. I'm doing a year of positive thinking from Cindy Spiegel and you can see why I need it, because all these things can really get you fired up. I read the passage for the date from her book and give a little blurb about it, trying to work on that, trying to work on being positive because, honestly, in this world it's, it's a lot of negativity coming at you at all directions. It can be negativity from your own family, it could be negativity from your job, it can be negativity from your friends. You know people are fired up and again we have the democratic convention coming here in Chicago and I will be gone because I don't trust it. Not that I don't trust the Democrats, I don't trust people, find any reason to riot, be angry, throw fits, throw temper tantrums and I just don't want to be here for it.

Speaker 1: 8:40

Oh, this was another great thing Craig and I found this week. So last week we were at Costco, craig's favorite store. For those of you that know Craig, he loves a Costco. He loves to pack his groceries in the boxes afterwards with his little architectural mind and he gets them all fit in just right and has to go get another box. It's a whole thing. It's a whole thing.

Speaker 1: 9:00

Anyways, when we were there, when he was checking out, the gal mentioned to him that there he had mentioned he couldn't find the meat he was looking for, I believe. So she said there is a business center Costco that has meat like a lot of meat, and so we looked it up. There's only one in Illinois and it's a. It was a short drive from us. There's several in California, but it's the Business Center Costco. Now, what makes it different is, first of all, it's for businesses, so it's open from 7 am to 4 pm. It has no pharmacy, no bakery, no books, no clothes. What else didn't it have? What else didn't it have? A lot, all that falderal stuff, that middle stuff, all that crap. Anyways, it I'm sorry I'm looking over pickles is stocking. Craig's hat fell off the shelf in his closet and she's stocking it. It's a hat pickles. Anyhow, this business costco is pretty cool and it has like, instead of buying regular appliances, you you can buy, you know, restaurant supply appliances, instead of having the regular pots and pans. It has restaurant size. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 1: 10:15

And then the meat is a giant walk-in room with giant things of meat, just meat everywhere. Meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, giant things of meat, just meat everywhere. Meat, meat, meat, meat, meat. And it has, um, also has all your vegetables and produce and such like that. So there is just it's, it's, it's interesting and you should check it out. And then it has like tons of candy, tons more candy, tons more packaged items. It had a full on goat carcass, says, hanging in a freezer. Um, it had a full on goat carcass, says, hanging in a freezer. Frozen goat carcass is from Australia. I felt kind of bad. I said a little prayer for the goats and then they had like cubed goat meat, cubed lamb in the freezer. They just have a lot of different things. So if you've got one in your area, it's worth a check out. So that was something else we did this week.

Speaker 1: 11:11

Last night went to Ravinia and if you don't know Ravinia, look it up. It is a fabulous concert venue that's open in the summer here in Chicago. It's up north of the city in an area called Winnetka and it is in a forestry area and it has like a amphitheater bowl covered and then it's got all kinds of tree area for picnicking and we saw James Taylor and it was just awesome. He was awesome. What a great night. What you know. You just hearing his music brings back memories when we hear these people that have been around forever. But let me tell you something people that have been around forever, but let me tell you something.

Speaker 1: 11:47

The one negative about being in a venue like that is I love to be in the picnic area. We go to dinner there and then we sit and we have coffee and dessert at our area. But there was a group of young people there was probably about 20 of them. I say young, they were in their 40s, that's 20 years younger than me, so that's young. And I don't think these girls had ever heard of James Taylor. They're drinking their wine and they're talking and it was so disrespectful, so disrespectful and I couldn't get to them to tell them to be quiet. The security usually is pretty good there and tells them to be quiet, but here you have this legend playing with many legends and these girls are just yapping their gums off. So that was a little bit of a bummer, but it was a great night.

Speaker 1: 12:32

It's always fun to go to Ravinia and it's kind of. We used to always go to the Hollywood bowl, so I equate it to the Hollywood bowl, only better no stack parking and if you know, if you know, you know, um, what else here? Um, I think that's all I have to tell you. Uh, let's get into our, our um topic today, which is is credit, and I think this is really important. No matter how old you are young, old, um, I think there's a lot of credit myths that we grew up with that aren't true anymore. I think that, um, there's a lot of fraud, but we're not going to really talk about fraud, but we're going to talk about disputes like how to dispute your credit card. All right, so we're talking about credit cards and disputing your credit card. How many of you so? I grew up.

Speaker 1: 13:27

First of all, let's talk about this. I grew up in an age where your checking account, you received your checks back, you balanced it. Now, I know a lot of you still do that out there. That's not something I do, because, first of all, we don't write any checks, but I do check daily what our debit cards have been used for. I look at that all the time Again, looking for mistakes. You should be doing that. I also do it with our credit card statements. I know a lot of people do not do that anymore that I also do it with our credit card statements. I know a lot of people do not do that anymore and I think that it's a huge mistake. I have found credit card mistakes at least once a year and you know that's money out of my pocket and again being retired. Our money is a finite, so let's talk about that.

Speaker 1: 14:14

So you're looking at your credit card statement and if you're not checking them, you better start, because there are a lot of mistakes. The biggest mistake I see are double charges double charges from restaurants, double charges from stores. That, for me, is the mistake that I find the most. None of it is nefarious. It's just mistakes and if you're not checking and you're not looking, you're not going to find these mistakes and you're going to pay double for something. So first of all, let's talk about quickly If you suspect fraud, if your card is stolen or you see purchases you didn't make, contact your credit card company immediately.

Speaker 1: 14:49

Excuse me, they'll put you through to the fraud department and they'll handle it. Yes, you're going to have to get a new credit card. Yeah, anytime there's a problem like that, you're going to have to get a new. They'll get you a new number, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, you have to go through all that, but it's worth it.

Speaker 1: 15:04

What do you do if you suspect just an error? Errors including being charged twice for a purchase, being charged the wrong amount. I've had that. I think those are my two number ones that they mentioned right here in this article is that I've been charged the wrong amount or I've been charged twice. Here's another one Craig and I once had ordered an Uber to take us to the airport when we lived in California. The Uber didn't show up and Uber charged us. Well, if you've ever tried to get through to Uber hence the reason we use taxis here in the city and not Ubers anymore you can't get through to anyone, but you can dispute it on your credit card. So all you people with problems with DoorDash or any of these delivery services that are impossible to get through, when they make a mistake they do make mistakes Dispute it with your credit card company, and I'm going to talk to you about how to do that.

Speaker 1: 16:00

So the first thing you're going to want to do is you do notify the merchant. So I was in Arizona, drove through a Chick-fil-A. I don't know how it happened. All I got was a Diet Coke. There was my Diet Coke charge. And then there was a $50 charge, like the car behind me somehow got charged on my credit card or whatever. I called the Chick-fil-A right away. They were not very helpful. So again, I disputed it with my credit card company. But you go to the merchant first. Give them a chance to rectify it, figure it out.

Speaker 1: 16:37

One of the other things I'm going to tell you is a lot of times there's two charges. Look at one might say pending, and before you start getting your knickers in a twist and you start making all these phone calls that I'm going to tell you to do, give it a couple of days. The pending usually falls off. That's one of those times they've made a mistake when they were doing the. Whatever One will be charged, one will say pending. If you see that, give it a couple of days. So you're not wasting your time. But all of this needs to be done. That being said, all of this needs to be done in a timely manner. If you don't do things, there's usually a window of opportunity. So if you don't check your credit card statement for like three months and then you look, it may be too late. So check your credit card statements monthly.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Every week I look at my debit card because we use that a lot for small purchases. You know that's. I use my. To be honest, here in the city I don't carry cash, don't carry a purse when I walk around. Obvious reasons I live in a big city. I carry my phone and I use my phone for buying everything and that's all the quick coffees and things like that in the city. So, um, I do look at that weekly. So once you've contacted um the merchant and if you don't want to, you don't have to, but I think it's good to start with the merchant then call your credit card company.

Speaker 1: 18:01

To preserve your right to dispute a billing error, you need to reach out to your credit card company in writing within 60 days of the statement in which the error appeared. I also will call. But if you go to your app or your website, I also will call. But if you go to your app or your website immediately, do that. If you're not going to call, so that there's a record of the problem. Most financial institutions you can initiate that dispute through their website or by telephone.

Speaker 1: 18:29

Also, what are the things you're going to need? Don't just call up and not be prepared. That's not helpful to anyone and it's a waste of your time. I don't know about you, but my time is precious. My time is money, people. So make sure you know your name Good thing Credit card number, the dollar amount and the date of the suspected error. Know that the name of the merchant or vendor as it appears on your receipt or billing statement. This is another thing.

Speaker 1: 19:01

Before you dispute something on your credit card, make sure it's a real dispute, because Susie Jones Donut Store could come up as an LLC on your credit card statement or what have you. So just make sure to think about that day. Look at what you're doing. Does it match up with your receipts? I've also started keeping all my receipts. I keep them in an envelope in my purse monthly so that I can, if there's a $1.99 dispute for argument's sake, I can. On June 6th, I can look at my receipt and go oh yeah, it's just got a different name. So if you're not keeping your receipts, have an envelope in your purse, handbag or on your desk. I will put them in my pocket.

Speaker 1: 19:46

If I'm using my phone or I do a lot of emailing, I email them to me and I have a file in my emails for receipts. So if you're out and it says you want a receipt or email, I email it and then I just pop it in that file and then I go through that file every couple of months and I get rid of receipts I don't need. So if you want to keep it all non-paper, you can do that. You can take a picture of a receipt If you're at dinner, put it in that file On your phone. To be honest, you can hit the scan button. There's this if you swipe right, you angle swipe, a little screen comes up and there is a scan button there. You can do that. All right, let's get back to what we need for our credit card company. Sorry, diversion there.

Speaker 1: 20:35

A description of the error and explanation on why you believe you received this error. Details of any attempts to resolve the problem with the merchant, because they're going to ask you have you contacted the merchant most of the time? Copies of any receipt, statements or other proof of the transaction. So if you have a proof of the transaction and you're not going to buy something twice, they're pretty reasonable transaction and you're not going to buy something twice, they, they, they're pretty reasonable. I want you to also know that there is a fair credit billing act.

Speaker 1: 21:02

So there is, there is some legal precedence behind you. Um, they cannot report anything that is contested, no matter how big the amount is. They cannot report it. They cannot expect you to pay for it while it's in dispute, nor can they report it as a non-payment to your credit bureau. So I think there's a lot of people well, if I'm disputing it and then it goes, it's not going to go on your credit, not until if they find out it's right, then it'll go to your regular billing and then you'll be expected to pay it. But they're not going to say, if it took 90 days to dispute it, that you're 90 days late on your payment.

Speaker 1: 21:37

Make sure you receive a reply. So, any of these things that you're doing, especially if you've sent an email, make sure you get a timely reply. If not, send it again, don't just go. Oh well, I sent it. You know, you never know that the web of fear out there, you know, sometimes has problems. And if they didn't get it and there is no active dispute, then and they will usually send you a reply after you call as well. So if there's no reply from any of this, then it's not an active dispute and you are on the hook for the money and the payments to your credit card company, which then, if you're not making, could be a negative a negative thing to your credit. So those are to see. It's super easy, but you do need to pay attention, you do need to make sure you're looking at these things. So there's some other things.

Speaker 1: 22:29

I want to debunk the myths. Seven facts about credit cards. The first one is a new credit card affects your credit, even if you don't use it. You might have heard that it's only after you use a new credit card that the account affects your credit score. That's wrong, just so you know. However, applying for a new credit compromises 10% of your credit score. It doesn't matter if you're approved for the card or if you use it.

Speaker 1: 22:52

It's the inquiry that counts. So if you're young, be aware. Every time you inquire for a credit card, it hits your credit card and it does ding. So if they do a soft, that's a hard check. A hard check means the credit card reporting agencies know if they're doing a soft check. They do not, but the more if you're declined for a credit card and you try for another one. You try for another one, you try for another one. Let me tell you it's taking a hit on your credit.

Speaker 1: 23:21

So make sure you're not being frivolous with your credit checks. And it's the worst, because you'll go to, you'll be checking out at a store. Well, you'll get 30% off if you get our credit card. You'll get 30% off if you get our credit card. Blah, blah, blah. Don't do it. You're also paying probably 30% in finance charges if you don't pay it off right away. So make sure you're making smart credit decisions too.

Speaker 1: 23:44

A fact paying less than the minimum is still a missed payment. So if you're not paying the minimum due on your credit cards, the fact is that is a missed payment. Do on your credit cards. The fact is that is a missed payment, no matter how small amount you, or if you're a dollar short because you screwed up, it's a missed payment and that is reported to the credit bureaus. Here's another fact.

Speaker 1: 24:05

Fact three your balance has more than one interest rate. Your account may include balances with different interest rates, um's for many reasons. So look, and also, credit card companies right now are raising their interest rates and you're going to get a notice, but you're going to ignore it. So if you're carrying balances and there was a period in my life where we carried balances. We don't anymore. Everything is paid off at the end of the month. I have them all set to automatically pay off. I don't want any interest, but interest rates are going up, up, up, up, up, up up on credit cards. So if you're carrying a balance and you think you bought that shirt on sale not anymore, you're paying for it in interest your car? Here's another fact. Your card isn't paid off If you pay only your balance. Make sure that there's no interest in there. You might accrue interest even after you've reduced your balance to zero. So just make sure if you it depends on where in the month you've paid it off, if you've paid it off right after it was due and you, you know, whatever, just check, just check Fact.

Speaker 1: 25:16

A high credit card limit is a good thing yeah, it is a good thing. But if you have a whole bunch of high credit card limits, they may is a good thing. Yeah, it is a good thing. But if you have a whole bunch of high credit card limits, they may. The credit card bureaus look at that as, like you have too much ability to get credit easily. It's all very wacky. So you know, don't always ask for a credit limit raise or anything like that. Live within your credit.

Speaker 1: 25:37

30% of your credit score is based on your debt to credit ratio. If you have high credit limit and you keep your balances low, that's a good thing. Your debt to credit ratio is low. So, like we have very high limits and we pay them off every month, that gives us a great credit score. I think my credit score right now is 845, which I don't think you can get much higher, and that's a good thing. And that's what you want to do as you build your credit. But you want to make sure you're keeping your balances low. You another fact is you don't have to carry a balance to build credit history. Use your credit card, pay it off at the end of the month. That's building great credit history. And fact number seven having more credit cards isn't always a good thing. That's a fact. Having lots of credit cards can hurt your credit. So there's a little bit about credit.

Speaker 1: 26:30

It was something that was on my mind this week and since this is called Inside Marcy's Mind, I thought I'd share that with you. Be smart with your credit. I saw this the other day. What did it say. It said a country that's trillions of dollars in debt is judging my credit, which is pretty funny when you think about it, but it is a truth. It's a system we have to live within. You may hate, love it or hate it. It's the system that we have in this country, but, used wisely, credit can be your best friend.

Speaker 1: 27:06

You may be thinking now well, I'm never going to afford a house, I'm never going to. Well, let me tell you, you never know. And right now, yeah, inflation sucks. It's going to flip again. Just an FYI in the 1980s, to buy a home, a home loan, I believe, was up into the 17, 18%. So you're looking at 6% and 7% and 8% and freaking out for a home loan. Well, of course, the houses weren't as expensive back in the 80s, but it's all relative right. Neither were wages. So back in the 80ies, interest rates were extraordinarily high. I think the interest rate for my first car was close to 20%. I want to say somewhere in there. I'll have to look that up and I'll report back to you next week.

Speaker 1: 27:56

Anyways, my goal now is to bring you information that you enjoy. You can always find my podcast on Apple, spotify, google, you name it, it's everywhere. Please share my podcast with your friends If you're enjoying it. Um, I love doing it and it's going to be Mondays every week, just like the last one. You can find um information. Oh yeah, let's talk about that real quick.

Speaker 1: 28:23

I hope you enjoyed Nita Wenrick last week. If you are anywhere close to Medicare or have someone in your life close to it, it was a great bunch of information. If you didn't listen to episode number five, this is episode number six go back, listen to five. If you have any questions about Medicare. We debunked a lot of myths on that one. Anita's information is on my website, insidemarci'smindcom. You can email me at InsideMarci'sMind. At gmailcom, you can find me on YouTube, at Marci's Mind, at Marci's Mind on YouTube. Put in Marci's Mind on anything and you're going to find me. So, again, I hope you had a great week.

Speaker 1: 29:07

My last week was so great, ended with that James Taylor concert last night, which was spectacular. I'm looking at a beautiful day heading to the gym. Oh, that's something else I did. I changed my gym from four days a week I am now my goal is five days a week and let me tell you I am grateful for my time at the gym, I finally found something. As you all know, I do aquasculpt. I found something that makes me happy, so I hope you find something that makes you happy this week. Go out, live your best life and talk to you next week.