Spirit Airlines, Rising Insurance Premiums and the $165 Billion Annoyance Economy — Episode 188

May 7, 2026

AJ is in Minneapolis keynoting at NAPFA, so Shane holds down the fort with BKFi Tax Manager, Tiffini Parker. They kick off with the official end of Spirit Airlines and why its collapse is actually bad news for everyday flyers, then Tiffini gives a behind-the-scenes look at tax season at BKFi, four hundred plus returns filed and one of the smoothest seasons yet. From there, they dig into Deloitte and Zoom, trimming parental leave, rising home insurance premiums in unexpected places like Iowa and Duluth, and the Republican proposal to index capital gains to inflation and who it actually benefits.

They close on the annoyance economy, a New York Times piece revealing that the friction companies build into cancellations and subscriptions costs Americans $165 billion a year. Spoiler: the incentives are all pointing the wrong direction.

Topics covered:

• Spirit Airlines shutting down, and what it means for airfare competition
• BKFi tax season debrief: four hundred plus returns and what changed this year
• Deloitte and Zoom cutting parental leave, and the ripple effect on the workforce
• Rising home insurance premiums in unexpected Midwest and Southeast markets
• The Republican capital gains indexing proposal and who it really helps
• Backdoor Roths for high income households: still worth it?
• The annoyance economy and the $165 billion cost of friction

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro and welcome to Tiffini Parker, BKFi tax manager
• 00:45 Tiffini's background: Deloitte, Big Four, and her road to BKFi
• 01:54 Today's episode preview: Spirit, parental leave, insurance, capital gains and more
• 03:53 Spirit Airlines is officially done, and why that's bad news for flyers
• 07:16 Tax season debrief: how BKFi handled four hundred plus returns
• 09:10 Deloitte and Zoom trim parental leave and what it signals for everyone else
• 11:29 Rising home insurance premiums in places nobody expected
• 17:16 The Republican capital gains indexing proposal and who it actually benefits
• 24:12 Backdoor Roths for a $700K household: should they keep going?
• 25:29 The annoyance economy: cancellations, chatbots and $165 billion in friction

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