i want to talk today about a firm and
why you should never
ever ever ever ever ever use it
a firm is a company that recently went
public their initial ipo
was i think sometime last week and it
went crazy
it doubled in price their valuation
tripled whatever went crazy
and i wanted to talk about it because i
thought it was kind of interesting
because it's sort of
what i talk about a lot on this channel
and it happened to go public so i
thought it was kind of interesting to
talk about
if you don't know what a firm is a firm
is basically a really
really large credit card company that
technically doesn't operate like a
credit card company
they claim that they're like the
anti-credit card company but they
basically just allow you to buy things
you don't have the money for
and they charge you interest on it
that's how it works
that's basically a firm in a nutshell
and
it's kind of scummy i'm not a huge fan
of it but i want to talk about why
i didn't like it and what my thoughts
about are
going around it the whole thing with a
firm when you go to their website
it's the buy now pay later company
that's what it is pay at your own pace
when you buy with a firm
you always know exactly what you'll owe
and when you'll be done paying
there are no hidden fees not even late
fees
sounds pretty good right you could buy a
tv that you really want to buy for the
super bowl
and pay for it in 2025 if you want
because there's no late fees however
when they don't charge in late fees they
do charge in
interest so that's sort of how a firm
works they say it's
the buy now pay later company but all it
does is support
an entire country in the united states
that it's like the largest debtor nation
in the world right now and something i'm
vehemently opposed to which is buying
stuff
on credit credit is really good for a
very
specific purpose it's good typically
for banks to lend out money to companies
that they will then pay back
as opposed to lending money out to
consumers to purchase
like phones or a camera or a television
and have them pay that back month over
month because the most expensive way to
buy
anything is on credit when you purchase
a tv
at 15 interest and you pay it for it
over 12 months
not only are you buying the tv but
you're also paying additional 15
interest over the course of the year and
lots of people
use those like zero percent interest
financing options and
from what my understanding is is that
they either make money when people don't
pay it off in time
or they just up charge you a little bit
to get you to sign up for those so
you're pretty much paying the interest
on the product in the first place
but a firm as a company is interesting
because they claim to be sort of the
anti-credit card
company and when i was researching a
firm because i was kind of curious as to
what it was i had seen it before but i
didn't know that they were as large as
they were and that they were going
public all this stuff sort of happened
i started looking at their website and
it's pretty interesting it's
the first thing when you click on the
about for a firm it says it's all about
helping you say yes
yes to the things that will make your
life easier more fulfilled and more fun
the interview outfit the trip of a
lifetime the new matches for a good
night's sleep
their whole idea is that you purchase
these things
on credit and then pay them back later
don't worry about enjoy the mattress
today get the more expensive mattress
because
heck it's i mean you're paying over a
month over a month it's just a 40 extra
dollars a month if you buy with a firm
and you buy this mattress there was a
time in america
well before i was alive where the
country and the people in the country
were not so deeply invested into debt
and the idea of debt wasn't
oh it's a tool to create wealth that's
what a lot of people that comment on my
videos say they say that oh it's a great
way to create wealth it opens up funds
i'm not going to pay for my iphone
right up front because i might i could
use that money and invest in to make
more money
yeah i get it you're the smartest guy in
the room and that's just
that's wonderful you're the smartest guy
in the room but when you lose your job
and you have zero dollars in your bank
account because you've been investing it
so heavily into
crypto currencies and then that market
dips
no but if you invest all this money that
you say you're going to invest and then
you lose
your job you still have the debt the
debt's still going to be there no matter
what happens the debt's going to be
there you have to pay it off
month over month over a month so no
matter how smart you think you're being
i feel like maybe i'm not being smarter
but at least i'm safer i have no debt i
don't know anybody a single penny except
my rent pay every month
and obviously the basic utilities but
that's it i don't know anybody any money
for anything i could cut a few things
out probably maybe lower my phone bill a
little bit but
none of these things that i owe are
debts it's basically stuff i need to
keep paying for to live in america
the next thing that they say on their
website under it's just about helping
you say yes
it says yes isn't always easy when
you're trying to save for the future or
meet financial goals
it can seem smart to put off those big
purchases but sometimes waiting can mean
months
or years or never sometimes because you
can't save the money
it means you'll never be able to buy it
that right there was the reason i made
this video it's the most contradictory
statement
of all time so here's what they're
saying if you have to save
for something it could take months or
years or never that means you might
never be able to save the money
to purchase this thing but they're
saying that if you buy it through a firm
you'll be able to pay them off so by
nature of using a firm they directly
contradict themselves
you will be able to save up for it
because had you just instead of made
those purchase
payments plus 15 you would have been
able to buy the thing
and as long as it takes you to pay it
off so if it takes you 12 months to pay
it off
you lost out on the 15 that you gave to
a firm to borrow the money
and then you also paid it off so they
say that you could never pay it off
why would they let you buy it if if in
their about they say
that you might never be able to pay this
off do you think it's something you
should really be doing
oh some people can't something some
people don't have the privilege to buy
the camera they can't
save the money for it it's like then
they can't they gotta find different
ways i just showed in a video
my last video the 30 minute long video
that i made a thousand bucks starting
from 50 flipping computers
yes i have an expertise in it but that
doesn't mean that you can't build the
same expertise
that's the thing with the firm is all it
does is it's like
giving drugs to a drug addict and saying
yeah but if i don't give him drugs he
gets uncomfortable when he gets all he
gets all irritated it's like
he's a drug addict why are you giving
that to him it's so different than
somebody that's addicted to debt and
spending money that they don't
have a firm is awful not a fan
obviously the next thing they say is
credit cards were supposed to help as
many of us learn the hard way late fees
compounding interest
and penalties make it way too easy to
spiral into debt this is how credit card
companies make money
this is the same way that they make
money they make money on charging you an
interest
a firm is a better buy one specifically
designed to help you say yes to the
things you want while keeping you out of
unhealthy debt
in my opinion if you're buying a tv it's
unhealthy debt if you're buying a camera
it's unhealthy debt if you're buying a
phone if you're buying a mattress all
this stuff is unhealthy debt
you could deal without that specific
good they are
pushing consumer purchases it's not
pushing like
even something i'm not a huge fan of
paying for college with debt obviously
my wife had 30 000 student loans
not a fan of it not a fan of paying it
off we got it paid off it's gone now
but it's interesting that they're so
just they're saying that it's almost a
good thing to invest in consumer debt
and not a good thing to invest in at
least student loans i mean i don't think
you should do student loan debt
but if you're gonna choose a debt i
would choose something that's
at least could potentially help you make
more money as opposed to
buying a new tv because all that's going
to do is make you less productive
next i'd say that they're transparent
we'll tell you the the upfront total
amount that you paid the numbers will
never go up
unless i imagine if you don't pay on the
certain schedule
flexible you choose the payment schedule
that works for you fair we won't charge
you late fees or penalties of any kind
ever that's basically the whole company
in a nutshell their whole thing is
because life could use a little bit more
yes
and they claim that this whole thing is
to promote a better
financial future but that's simply not
true any debt especially consumer debt
is the worst kind of debt
there was a time in america and world
war ii where
the country was able to issue bonds to
its
people and the people were actually able
to purchase the bonds with cash and give
the government money to go fight a war
if we were to do that in 2021 there
would be like
15 people able to buy the bonds and
obviously the bond market right now not
something you want to get invested in
but
it's just the idea is that people don't
have cash in where they can't buy
anything anymore
because we've been told that debt is
such a powerful tool you've got to use
that you've got to use that you've got
to use debt
and that's simply just not the case as
we've talked about on this channel a
million times and a firm
just affirms our suspicions even more
they're not out here to help you
they're a multi-billion with a b
not an m or t this isn't the government
we don't talk about trillions with the
government but a multi-billion dollar
company
their interest is not helping you their
interest is making money off of your
snap decisions bad purchases that's why
a firm is there
and they're not there to help you get a
better financial self if they were there
to help you get a financial self what
they would do
is when you're about to buy that thing
on credit they would say don't do it
cancelled but then they wouldn't be a
company because they couldn't generate
any money from telling people to not
buy stuff which is why it's tough to
make youtube videos because like how do
you trade like a business
if uh you can't ever tell anybody to go
buy anything as minimalist and you're
cheap
cheap cheap guy like myself but uh i'd
rather help
people i feel like than make a quick
buck so i have my own ways of making
money that aren't youtube and i just
enjoy making the videos
see look at how great of a guy i am now
if you want to support my channel go to
the patreon link down below
i used to have a patreon i think i still
technically have it don't put money into
it just don't do it
okay so after reading a little bit more
on the company i
it doesn't make any sense to me i don't
know how this company is in business
so they say that you can either select a
3 6 or 12 month and there's no penalty
for paying it off early
it doesn't charge you any late penalty
or annual fees which could add to the
principal balance
but i don't understand so if from what
it sounds like
it seems like people are able to get
exceptionally easy loans
through an app and then
what they do is if you don't pay it
it doesn't matter so
how is this company in business wait how
do they make money
if there's no late fees wait wait what
i guess what i'm saying is don't sign up
for a firm i don't believe it's a good
idea i've expressed my opinions in this
video
the only positives i think that could
potentially come forward is that if
you're purchasing something
that will guarantee make you money if
you have something lined up where you
just can't afford it right now and
you're getting payment for it afterwards
i would tell you just to figure it out
or maybe you're not ready for that
certain thing
a firm is just basically another
americanism
i call them at this point it's how do i
get something without having to work for
it how do i get something now
without having to pay for it there are
lots of people out there
there who make lots of money who are so
bad with it doesn't matter
and there's lots of people who don't
make a lot of money and are so bad with
it it doesn't matter
i've purchased computers from guys who
were trying to pay their rent that day
because of the computer and they drove
40 000 trucks bad decisions affect
everybody affirm these sites like that
and these companies like that are not
out there to help you they're out there
to harm you and to get you to buy
something today
right now at this exact immediate moment
and i'm telling you
that if you sign up for these things you
either a can't afford it
or b if you can't afford you're gonna be
killing yourself just to pay for it the
best way to do is just to save up cash
and buy used i'm a big used guy i know i
didn't purchase my phone used
phones used i'm i'm sticky on those it's
a little bit tougher i think because
people won't pay their phones off and
they try and sell the phone there's lots
of sketchy stuff i can have with the
phone
used so i tried to go with the cheaper
option that i was comfortable with 600
bucks was
a lot but it was cheap enough where i
was comfortable with it
just make sure you're buying stuff used
the camera you're looking at was used
the monitor over here is used my
computer was used my keyboard was used
the mouse was used
the uh laptop over there was used most
things i owned were used or i built them
like this desktop i built it
this microphone right here was used buy
stuff used
don't be afraid to purchase things used
it's the best way to do it i think and
you don't use credit cards to do it you
buy with cash you don't owe anybody any
money ever and typically
most things you purchase use especially
tech products can be sold at a later
date at a very similar price so if
you're looking to upgrade
you basically borrowed that camera phone
ipad macbook for 100 bucks or something
and you could use it for two or three
years i know i've done stuff like that
this monitor i bought for 170 bucks i
think
three years now i think three years ago
in 2018
at this point and i know if i wanted to
i could sell for probably 300 bucks so
it just be patient find a good deal and
make sure you have the cash for it so
don't sign up for a firm
don't buy stuff new don't be afraid to
buy stuff used i hope you enjoy this
video see the next one
and uh peace out