Episode Details

Are you struggling with the cost for tickets to see The Eras Tour? Still trying to decide if you need every variant of "1989 (Taylor's Version)" on vinyl or CD? 

The costs of being a Taylor Swift fan are high, but there are ways to manage your spending to keep from blowing your budget.  

On the latest episode of PennyWise, host Nat Cardona is joibed by Elizabeth Ayoola of NerdWallet to guide Swifties through getting the full Taylor experience without blowing swiftly though your bank account.

Read more on NerdWallet here!

About this program

Nat Cardona is host of PennyWise as well as Lee Enterprise's true-crime podcast Late Edition: Crime Beat Chronicles. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome to Pennywise Lee Enterprises podcast. I'm your host, Nat Cardona

Today's finance-ocused topic is Taylor Swift. Ah, yes, you heard that right. As of this recording, her mega-popular Eras tour is on the road and fans have shelled out unfathomable amounts of money to sit in seats worse than in the nosebleeds to dress like her while they attend and to collect every item under the sun that has Taylor's name stamped or attached to it.

Let's think beyond the life of her tour is chasing her ongoing music merchandizing a financial-friendly decision or more of a burden on your financial well-being. Thankfully, Nerdwallet personal finance writer Elizabeth Ayoola is here to help guide Swifties in the right direction. 

I am not a Taylor Swift fan. I don't get what is going on with this. I mean, I can understand fandom and stuff like that, so you're going to really have to help guide through the logic behind some of these purchases that people decide to make. Yeah. So today we're talking about Taylor Swift and the good old business woman that she is and her entertainment. Oh, my God. Mega stardom, whatever you want to call it that she has. Though the Eras tour is going on right now, very cutthroat market out there for those tickets and all of that jazz.

Whether you buy them directly from Ticketmaster, you're getting them at resale value. People are going insane and spending tons of money. Really, the first thing that came to my mind is when people are making these big purchases for a ticket for themselves for a Taylor Swift concert. What would be your suggestion in way of funding it? Like, should you really should you shop that much money from your checking account, or is this an appropriate time for a credit card purchase? 

Well, you got it. So I would say the latter. Credit cards can be very helpful when it comes to credit card rewards. Right. So people can take advantage of credit card rewards, which usually basically give you money for spending money. And yes, it's free money. So if you get the right card, specifically a cashback card and you use that card to buy your ticket, then at least, you know, you get some money back after spending all that money on the ticket. You know, assuming that it's expensive and even if it's inexpensive, you still get some money back. So you can be a Swifty and also get paid for being one. 

Mm hmm. Is there any element of restraint that you would suggest one would have? I mean, these people are really big fans and it is that big ticket purchase. I mean, I know you keep you're not in everyone's minds telling them what to do. But is is it okay to splur