NerdWallet, Inc.

But I pulled some statistics and let's see here.

So 48 NerdWallet estimates that 48 to 66% of all U.S. adults live paycheck to paycheck.

Go a step further.

Goldman Sachs published a study that one third of individuals who own who earn over half a million dollars per year live paycheck to paycheck.

That can make immediate expense look more manageable, but dividing a bill does not reduce the price.

A Harris Poll survey for NerdWallet found that 38% of people planning holiday spending expect to use buy now, pay later.

That would include expenses beyond gifts.

More troubling to me, among those planning to use these services, 38% expect difficulty making their payments in full and on time.

Today, we continue the conversation around open enrollment.

Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds.

I'm Sean Pyles.

And I'm Elizabeth Ayoola.

But it's always a good idea to evaluate the life insurance options from your employer and then at the same time have those household family conversations with what your needs may be in case the worst happens in order to make those election decisions and decide if what I can get through my employer is enough Or do we need to go out on the market and kind of look at a policy that we can buy directly from an insurer?

Right.

And I'll throw in a quick plug for NerdWallet's own life insurance calculator.

It can help you understand exactly how much you might need and connect you with some providers that might be able to give you that coverage too.

With so many changes in 2026 and even more in 2027, we are talking about why you may want to add an airline credit card to your wallet.

Welcome to a special in-studio edition of NerdWallet's Smart Travel Podcast, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars.

I'm Meghan Coyle.

And I'm Sally French.

As always, we will talk about credit cards on this episode.

This episode is all about credit cards.

And many of the credit cards we are going to talk about are NerdWallet partners.

That does not influence how we discuss them.

Yeah, so how did you?

Yeah, so I did the next thing that NerdWallet recommended, which was to create a pitch deck.

Yeah.

And I was like, what's a pitch deck? And so I asked some of my friends and they were like, oh, you know, it's like a slideshow for your business and how you can like talk somebody into giving you money.

But if you got into a second-gen space, if it comes with furniture, if it comes with kitchen, there's a bunch of things that can help lower that number.

And so I had this number out there.

And NerdWallet said that it would take roughly four to six months to find a location.

And by that time, I had started applying for CDFIs, which are these community development fund-like ways.

Let's start with the big one, the 20% down payment.

I know I harp on this all the time, but a NerdWallet survey from this year showed that 63% of Americans still think you need a 20% down payment.

Damn, no wonder people think buying a home is impossible.

And according to the National Association of Realtors latest profile of homebuyers for 2026, the typical first time homebuyer put down 7% a few years ago, 8% to 9% last year and 10% this year.