In-N-Out Burger vs. Five Guys Burgers and Fries

We have been doing a lot of talking about financial capital, and I figured it was time to cover a divisive topic - burger capital. More specifically, In-N-Out Burger vs. Five Guys Burgers and Fries. There are opinions all over the place, but this blog aims to set the record straight.

Fortunately my little family lives not far from both a Five Guys and multiple In-N-Out locations, so my taste buds can be treated with both. I will say that Five Guys has had a hold of my (burger) heart long before In-N-Out came to town.

When In-N-Out came to town, it was all the rage. Lines for hours, literally hours, for a hamburger. I felt like Five Guys was being neglected and I wanted to protect her like the little sister I never had. When I finally did break down and eat at In-N-Out, I really didn't give it a fair shake. I thought, this is it?! People waited hours for this?? Ridiculous, I declared, Five Guys wins hands down!

In preparation of this post, I have since given In-N-Out several more chances to redeem itself...and it has! In comparing these two, I am pulled in both directions - the decision is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Below you will see how I un-jumbled my burger feelings.

vs

Atmosphere: In-N-Out
Winner is In-N-Out by a slight margin, and it all comes to down to the crowd. Almost any time of day, In-N-Out seems to have people flowing in and out. This is appealing to me. It is fun and exciting to be where the action is, so for that reason I had to go with In-N-Out. Both places were clean, had friendly workers, and were family approved.

The Beneficiary Form - Don't Treat Lightly

To most, when you mention estate planning, a will is the first thing that comes to mind. What we tend to forget about can be one of the most valuable assets we have: our retirement savings accounts. Because we typically put these on autopilot and forget about them, the beneficiary forms, in particular, are neglected and rarely thought of after we fill them out.

This is financially dangerous because these forms carry tremendous power. They can trump designations in wills and override other legal agreements. What is even more troublesome is that when your employer changes 401(k) plans, your beneficiary instructions may or may not carry forward.

Too Good To Be True

It won't be this obvious.

First off, sorry for the delay in posts...got out of the groove for a week and then pretty sure I entered a time warp. No idea what happened to January, but I'm back to kick off February!

Let's talk about one of those sayings that you have probably heard your entire life: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." This phrase must have been coined specifically for the financial services industry. If you are promised something that just simply sounds too good to be true, you can bet that it is!

One TV show that we DVR is American Greed. It covers various scams that have been pulled off here in the U.S. Many of them have to do with bankers, brokers, or accountants - money guys. Most of these financial scams have one thing in common: the victims all thought they had found that one miracle deal, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and they all seemed to feel that it was just too good to be true. They had that correct gut instinct, but they didn't listen to it.