“Something’s gotta be done about these outrageous gas prices, Jim.”
That’s what an old friend said to me over the weekend, after he had just paid nearly $7 per gallon for premium fuel near his home on the Westside of Los Angeles. Now, I’m a bit farther east from my friend, but I still paid nearly $6 per gallon on Sunday for premium. The total fill-up cost on my Porsche SUV was nearly $125!
Nationwide, the average cost of a gallon of regular is about half of what we pay here in Southern California. Still, that national average represents the highest price Americans have had to pay since 2023. What makes the price surge in gasoline so uncomfortable is that it happened so expeditiously.
Almost immediately after the United States began bombing Iran, gas prices spiked. And while this price surge is understandable given gasoline prices are acutely sensitive to oil supply metrics, the bite out of our wallets at the pump still stings.
So, I totally understand the sentiment calling for the need to find a solution to, as my friend describes, “these outrageous gas prices.” Unfortunately, we as individuals can do virtually nothing about the supply side of the oil equation. We also can’t do too much about demand, as all of us need to go out and live our lives, and that means using energy.
Yet, there are a few ways I’ve uncovered to, in essence, “hack” these high gas prices so that we can blunt the negative effect on our wallets. Before we dig into these hacks, I want to thank my colleagues at Sevens Report Research for supplying much of the details you’re about to learn.
Hack 1: Buy gas early in the week. A GasBuddy study reports Sunday and Monday are the best days of the week to buy gas (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are the worst days).
Hack 2: Download a free gas-price finder app. GasBuddy is the most popular app to find the cheapest gas station(s) in your area.
Hack 3: Download a free “cash-back on gas” app. The Upside app provides cash back on gas (up to 25 cents/gallon at participating stations) and does the same for grocery stores and restaurants.
Hack 4: Pay in cash. Some gas stations offer lower prices if you pay by cash (usually advertised on price boards). This is one that I’m fond of doing. Perhaps it’s because I’m “old school” when it comes to using cash, but where I came from, cash was king, and to a large extent, it still is.
Hack 5: Use a credit card with max gas rewards. NerdWallet keeps an updated list of cards (currently, offering up to 6% cashback or 5x rewards rates).
Hack 6: Purchase discounted gas gift cards online. Sites such as Gift Card Granny and CardCash offer them.
Hack 7: Sign up for a gas station reward program. Most gas stations (Exxon Mobil, Shell, Speedway, etc.) offer them.
Hack 8: Take advantage of warehouse clubs. Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s price gas cheaper (typically 5 cents to 30 cents per gallon) as an extra membership incentive. This is another hack I am partial to. The only caveat here is that there’s usually a long line at the pump near my local Costco. That said, the line is efficient and quick, so it never takes more than a few minutes extra to fill up.
Your editor, hacking high gas prices at the local Costco.
Hack 9: Keep your car in good condition. Maintain a clean air filter, keep tires properly inflated/aligned, stay on top of oil changes and use the recommended grade of gas for your vehicle (basically, stick to a regular maintenance schedule). This is the easiest one for me, as my “car guy” ethos causes me to be obsessive when it comes to the upkeep of my vehicles.
Hack 10: Drive sensibly. Speeding and jackrabbit starts and stops hurt fuel economy (using cruise control when possible is a plus). Also, removing heavy, unnecessary items from your car can help. Now, if you know me and my driving proclivities, you probably know that this hack is the hardest hack for me to follow.
Hack 11: Use GPS. A navigation app such as Waze, Google Maps or Apple Maps will provide the most efficient route to a destination.
Hack 12: Buy oil and energy stocks and ETFs. This is perhaps my favorite way to hack high gas prices, because it’s the one thing you can do to put yourself on the right side of a supply-demand equation driving oil, gasoline and energy prices higher. By owning stocks such as the ones we recommend in my newsletter advisory services, including Exxon Mobil (XOM), Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), LandBridge Company LLC (LB) and Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC), you can watch your money climb higher while you see those gas prices climb.
So, there you have it. A dozen ways to help you, and my old friend, do something about these outrageously high gas prices.
*************************************************************
Tax Hunger
“The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.”
–Lao Tzu
Even in fifth-century B.C. China, philosopher Lao Tzu knew that confiscatory policies by government, kings, warlords, emperors, etc., made citizens poorer. These confiscatory policies can be cloaked in many shrouds and go by many names. Today, they’re called license fees, Mello-Roos fees, sales tax, income tax and, yes, tariffs.
And while those in power always claim to have good reasons why they need to raise “revenue” from the people in order to make things great, the reality is that when those in authority eat up too much of the people’s money, the people are the ones who become hungry. Remember this the next time you hear someone argue in favor of a wealth tax on “greedy millionaires and billionaires,” or when someone says “tariff” is the “most beautiful word.”
Wisdom about money, investing and life can be found anywhere. If you have a good quote that you’d like me to share with your fellow readers, send it to me, along with any comments, questions and suggestions you have about my newsletters, seminars or anything else. Click here to ask Jim.
In the name of the best within us,
Jim Woods
