Hank : Good Morning John! 

There's people with me on a couch. These are the creators of The Financial Diet, which is a website and Youtube channel. You guys talk about the personal finances.

Lauren: Yes. Yes we do.
Chelsea: Yes, That's true.

Hank: So I have some questions that have been asked, lots of people want the answer to. I'm also curious about the first one, "Is it better for your credit score to carry over some debt on credit cards month to month or just pay it off completely?"

Lauren: It is better to pay off you credit card balances in full if you have the money to do so. You don't want to necessarily, like, deplete your cash reserves because if an emergency comes up, then you'll have nothing to tap into.

Chelsea: And this is a four minute show so most of this is probably cut, but for the record, there is a part of your credit score that is determined by how much of your available credit you are using so obviously there's the argument to be made that when you pay off a credit card in full, you are reducing the amount of "credit utilization" as they call it which will help your score, but it is much worse for your score to miss a payment then to have a higher utilization.

Hank : But if I use all of my credit then that's not helping my credit score 

Lauren: No.

Chelsea: It's a bad thing

Lauren: That's a bad thing

Chelsea: So long story short, better to pay it off if you can, but if you can't pay it all off, the most important part is making that payment on time.

Hank : I still have like a three thousand dollar credit limit and I'm like, "What? Come on guys."

Chelsea: Did you just like, that doesn't make any sense.

[laughter]

Hank : "What are some resources for getting started in investing? Should I meet with a human, or just go on ETrade?"

Chelsea: Alright, now listen up... [laughter] There's very little regulation about who can advise you with your money. They could be giving you bad advice or unqualified advice. But also, when it comes to investment, you can start really really really small. Obviously, if you have a 401K, it's your job which many people do, that is investing.

If you are thinking more about, like, active investment, there are very very very easy low-cost ways that don't require you to potentially talk to a snake-oil salesman. I would personally recommend something like Fidelity, great reputation, they've been around forever. Super low-barrier to entry, like, you can invest a couple hundred dollars a year, and you can do it all online, really quickly. 

Hank: "How do I eat fast food and also spend less money on fast food?"

Chelsea: Stop driving by them, first and foremost...

Hank: What? How do I not drive by fast food? That's literally... they're on all the road!

Chelsea: Create an alternate route. Find the ones that tempts you the most and you avoid those things like the plague. 

Lauren: Also start cooking at home!

Chelsea: Yeah, right! Is this America...

Lauren: That's the easiest way. 

Lauren: Or, like, learn those copycat recipes from your favorite fast food places. 

Hank: How do I make a chicken McNugget. "Should I be investing in cryptocurrency?" No.

Chelsea: No.

Lauren: No.

Hank: "Why shouldn't I rack up my credit cards if it just goes away when I die?" [laughter] Like, there's all these years between now and when you die when they are going to take your stuff away. 

Lauren: When you get sent that bill and you don't pay it, like, you'll start to see those effects, like, almost immediately.

Chelsea: They'll come rob you in the grave!

Hank: Someone was asking, uh, they are changing job, and their, uh, 401K is rolling over to your new job, and they were wondering if they should just take their 401K out and pay off their student loans with it. 

Lauren: I would NOT recommend it!

Chelsea: Oooh, no, and also... Lauren: Hard no.

Hank: Whole point of the 401K is that it's a very good deal. And your student loans are probably at a fairly low interest rate already. It's really nice to get that off you back and not have to worry about your loans anymore, but financially, it's a much better decision to just pay them off as they come.

Last question, "Why are jeans so expensive?"

[Hank: Why are they so cheap?] Chelsea: Because you wear them so much and forever!

Lauren: It depends what kind of jeans you're buying though, like are they fashionable, or they just like work-horse jeans...

Hank: Do they have, do they have, giant holes in them.

Chelsea: I knew this was coming! These are Abercrombie! I am a cool kid in high school, how dare you. I will say though that jeans originated as, like, worksman's clothes and they are super durable. And good pairs of jeans can wear for five years. 

Hank: Thank you to people who make jeans.

Chelsea: Thank you. Except you forgot some spots on mine!

Hank: Thank you guys, if you wanna watch more of The Financial Diet, which you really should, it's a youtube.com/thefinacialdiet you guys are on twitter and you have a blog and all that stuff, well as others, links in description. Thanks for hanging. 

John, I'll see you on Tuesday. 

Endscreen! Check out the longer version of this video that I edited for Hankschannel and also a video I did called 6 Awkward Money Questions With Hank Green over on The Financial Diet.