12/2/24 Mastering Holiday Budgets: Black Friday, Loans & Smart Shopping

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Monday, December 2nd BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" podcast call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management instagram: MoneywiseWealthManagement

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From the padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, here is Money Wise. Call or text in at 661-396-1000.

• 0:09Speaker 01

  I need a dollar, dollar, dollar, that's what I need. Hey, hey. Well, I need a dollar, dollar, dollar, that's what I need. Hey, hey. Said I need a dollar, dollar, dollar, that's what I need. And if I share with you my story, would you share your dollar with me?

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  Securities offered through SEF Securities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through SEF Investment Advisors, Inc. SEF Securities, Inc. and Money Wise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.

• 0:40Speaker 00

  Now, let's start the Money Wise Show.

• 0:45Speaker 03

  Let's start, Stephen.

• 0:46Speaker 00

  Let's do it.

• 0:47Speaker 03

  I was hoping for you to get me going.

• 0:49Speaker 04

  Hut, hut, hut, hut.

• 0:51Speaker 03

  Get up, wake up.

• 0:52Speaker 04

  Hut, hut.

• 0:54Speaker 00

  What day is it?

• 0:55Speaker 03

  Are you, are you, is that football?

• 0:57Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 0:58Speaker 03

  No, I only play the other football, the real one.

• 1:00Speaker 00

  Fantasy?

• 1:03Speaker 03

  Ah, good one, good one. Yeah, it's funny you bring that up when you're winning, Stephen, not when you're losing.

• 1:09Speaker 00

  Well, after you beat me three or four times, I have to get one win. But no, we are the Money Wise Show, right here on the padded radio room off Stockdale Highway. I'm Stephen Nicholas, over in the unpadded radio room, across from the padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, and I am joined by...

• 1:27Speaker 03

  Sammy Abia, we and...

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  Debbie Lewis.

• 1:29Speaker 03

  And you can call or text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. That was 661-396-1000.

• 1:40Speaker 00

  We've been gone since Wednesday, so we've, we've got some questions stacked up from listeners.

• 1:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'll start with just a quick update on the markets, which was an amazing day for S&P and NASDAQ, ended up at record levels, led by tech companies. And then we were, I just wanted to talk a little bit about sports. You know, the Jets are still bad, even after they fired their coach. I don't think the coach was the reason why they, they're bad.

• 2:07Speaker 00

  No, they're just the Jets.

• 2:09Speaker 03

  They're just the Jets. And Aaron Rodgers, I don't, I think he ran out of excuses. You know, I'm not a big fan of him.

• 2:16Speaker 00

  Me neither, but happy birthday.

• 2:20Speaker 03

  Does not change the fact that they are still very bad, which is, you know.

• 2:27Speaker 03

  What do we got going today? Debbie, we have a show, we have a stacked up show, we have a couple of things that we want to talk about. But before we start, we have a couple of questions from our listeners. We want to start with that?

• 2:36Speaker 04

  Yeah, let's see. The first one, you want to start with the bank question?

• 2:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, yes, since it's my world, yes.

• 2:44Speaker 04

  Yeah, let's rock it. Okay, so how can I increase my chances of getting a bank loan? And would it be best to apply for a loan now or wait until the new year? Thanks.

• 2:54Speaker 03

  This is not being facetious, you just have to have a very good credit. You know, that's the first step, good credit, and it's not, some banks don't really go by credit score, they just go by credit history. So if you have a good credit history, a lot of the banks will definitely

• 3:10Speaker 03

  take a look and lend money. They are in the business of lending money, so.

• 3:13Speaker 04

  Right.

• 3:14Speaker 03

  If you qualify for the loan, they will make you the loan now.

• 3:17Speaker 04

  What about if somebody's gonna blew it out on Black Friday? Or are going to blow it out today on Cyber Monday? Should they maybe?

• 3:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, so that's a very, very good question, very, very good question, because banks, by regulation, in order for you to make a loan, you have to have a purpose.

• 3:33Speaker 04

  Right.

• 3:34Speaker 03

  To make the loan. So you have to have a clear stated purpose for why the borrower needs the money. So you have to put that in the application, either consumer or retail loan or a business loan. Now, if you're borrowing money, you have to have that purpose and you want to invest that money somewhere. If you're buying a house, you're buying a car, if you're consolidating your credit card debt from high interests to lower interest, those are all good purposes. Now, if you're planning on going to Vegas, that is not a good purpose, and I would definitely say maybe refrain from applying for that loan. And just, you know, just don't do it. The timing of applying for a loan, this interesting question, because we're in the month of December. A lot of the bank bankers, if they have not met their loan goal,

• 4:18Speaker 03

  definitely they'll make you a loan and they'll make it very quick. If they have met their loan, we call, we call that sandbagging when I was a banker, because you've already met your goal.

• 4:27Speaker 04

  Right.

• 4:28Speaker 03

  So you want that number to go into the following year, especially if it's, if it's a good quality loan. However, the, the good part, again, from a regulatory standpoint. From the time you apply, you have thirty days for the bank to make a decision. So they cannot go beyond unless there is a missing piece of paper from the loan package.

• 4:53Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 4:53Speaker 03

  If you're a consumer, it could be a W two, it could be a pay stub, whatever the case is. If it's a business loan, it could be an updated financial statement or a missing balance sheet or an income statement. So the clock starts ticking from when you have a complete package to make a loan decision. And you only have thirty days to make a decision.

• 5:16Speaker 04

  Are there any negative implications if you start that process? And say, for instance, for whatever number of reasons it might got, it might get tripped up or something pops up and you decide, never mind, I don't want the loan.

• 5:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 5:31Speaker 04

  Does that negatively impact you in any way?

• 5:34Speaker 03

  If you have, if the credit has been run, that you see an impact on your, not credit score, maybe by a couple of points, but it's, it's, it's, it's an inquiry that appears on your credit report, if it's a consumer, consumer loan.

• 5:51Speaker 04

  Right.

• 5:51Speaker 03

  Again, some banks make the decision not to report to the credit bureau. And whenever they look at credit reports, they're not looking at credit scores, but they're looking at credit history.

• 6:04Speaker 04

  Like your spending habits?

• 6:06Speaker 03

  Um, could be, could be.

• 6:08Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 6:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, it could be because a lot of the questions they, that a lot of the banks, if you're a consumer, if you're, that's differentiate between the two. If you're a consumer, the bank is looking to, into a income to debt ratio. That's what they go by. If you're a business, then you're, the bank has a little bit more leeway. You know, you can not massage the numbers, but there's story behind the numbers. There's sometimes a company might have an expense that is not gonna happen again next year. So as, as an underwriter, you can just add back that expense or make the case that, hey, this is a non-recurring expense, so we can take that into consideration when making a loan decision.

• 6:47Speaker 04

  Okay. So can you, is it a, oh, this is interesting. So you can actually be creative?

• 6:54Speaker 03

  Well, not creative, two thousand eight creative, but you can be creative in a sense where you have a little bit more leeway. So. That's why it's hard for me to see AI, for instance, taking over business lending. Because there's a little bit more of accounting, accounting involved, CPA involved. You have to do your due diligence as an endoriter, as a loan officer, as a relationship manager in order for you to understand the business, the expense of the business. Are these things are gonna happen again? Are these a one-time expense? What's the impact of this depreciation this year and all that?

• 7:32Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 7:32Speaker 03

  So a lot of going to that decision. Yes, not, uh, uh, creative has like a negative connotation.

• 7:39Speaker 04

  Says who?

• 7:41Speaker 03

  Says the regulators.

• 7:44Speaker 03

  Um, but you wanna know the ins and out of a balance sheet and income statement to make a good, solid loan decision if, if you're applying for a business loan.

• 7:54Speaker 04

  Gotcha.

• 7:55Speaker 03

  Um, good question, very, very good question.

• 7:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, thank you.

• 7:59Speaker 03

  We have another, uh, uh, question. Good afternoon, MoneyWise. How can individual investors protect themselves from unknowingly being involved in schemes, especially when working with major firms they trust? Love the show and have a great day. I drive to LA back and forth every day, so I enjoy listening to the podcast version. Very good question. Unfortunately, Debbie and I are not financial advisors, so we're gonna hold off on answering this question until tomorrow when we have Justin Leland here. He's a certified financial planner.

• 8:27Speaker 00

  Dustin, we'll have Dustin tomorrow.

• 8:29Speaker 03

  Justin, I said, did I say?

• 8:31Speaker 00

  Dustin with the D.

• 8:32Speaker 03

  Oh, Dustin is here tomorrow?

• 8:33Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:34Speaker 03

  Oh, even, he's a certified financial planner as well, so.

• 8:38Speaker 04

  Or did you say Guston?

• 8:40Speaker 00

  Yeah. With a G.

• 8:42Speaker 03

  Now I'm confused. Now you guys are native speakers. My English is gonna get all mixed up. I'm gonna start saying some other words.

• 8:49Speaker 00

  Just like your fantasy team.

• 8:50Speaker 03

  You don't want me to be saying on the radio live.

• 8:52Speaker 00

  I have a dumb button. That's all good I got you.

• 8:56Speaker 03

  So yes, we'll answer, we'll be able to answer this question tomorrow when we have a financial advisor on, on, on, on the radio show. I would just say, do you do diligence with any type of investor? As an investor myself, I always do my due diligence. Who am I getting in bed with? That's the short version of the answer, but we'll definitely delve into it tomorrow with Dustin with a D.

• 9:19Speaker 04

  And thank you for your support and listening to the show regularly. You're amazing, whoever you are.

• 9:25Speaker 03

  That's what we, we enjoy. We enjoy the questions. We enjoy the, the, the back and forth with our listeners. So please keep them, keep them coming.

• 9:33Speaker 04

  What about the markets?

• 9:35Speaker 03

  Yeah, the markets ended up, you know.

• 9:37Speaker 04

  Positive.

• 9:38Speaker 03

  Yeah, the NASDAQ and, and, and S and P record levels today.

• 9:45Speaker 03

  Led by tech stocks. So there's a bunch of good things happening. I'm very interested in, in the rates and how they're gonna do next year. Now, the, the, the feds are, are saying that short-term rates will be cut gradually going into 2025.

• 10:08Speaker 04

  Short-term rates meaning what as an example?

• 10:11Speaker 03

  Tied to prime. So when you have, when you have prime rate is the short-term rate, the Fed rate is a short-term rate. So whenever you have a line of credit, your credit card debt, they're all tied. You have a HELOC on, on your house. Those are all rates that are tied to variable rates.

• 10:27Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 10:28Speaker 03

  Okay. The, the, the, however, the impact that I've seen today is the, the, the, the long-term rates. Two to 10-year treasuries have inched higher by about three bips, three basis points today. Uh, signaling that investors are seeking a little bit more

• 10:48Speaker 03

  safety into the long-term, uh, uh, rates. Because that's kind of like a, an answer whenever the short-term rates are very, very volatile or expected to go into a lower environment going forward.

• 11:04Speaker 03

  So I'm very interested in seeing what that impact is going to be because short-term rates are going to help us, we're going to help our manufacturing companies, construction companies, because all of those borrow using a variable rate.

• 11:18Speaker 04

  Right.

• 11:19Speaker 03

  When you do real estate transactions, SBA, some real estate SBA loans, those are all tied to long-term rates, which have been high. You know, compared to four or five years ago, a business owner or our mortgage rates were in the threes, sometimes even high twos. Now we're looking at sixes and some sevens. So people are really looking for that, for those rates to adjust, because it's going to have an impact on our real estate market, in my opinion.

• 11:51Speaker 04

  And Sammy, was any of that impacted by the announcement by soon-to-be President Trump with announcing, you know, the tariffs with Canada, Mexico?

• 12:03Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's very interesting. That's a very good question.

• 12:06Speaker 04

  That was over the holiday, right? Or like right before the Thanksgiving holiday?

• 12:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, so he's made a lot of announcements, a lot of announcements. So he's tapped future potential FBI director. We're talking about the Treasury Secretary as well. But I think that the experience of the Treasury Secretary, at least the one he's talking about, the market actually reacted positively to that announcement because of the experience this person has. So the tariffs, definitely, definitely. There's some mixed feelings about the impact of those on our economy, how it's going to impact, you know, the middle class and us, like 90%, 95% of the population. Are we going to get hit by higher prices when we go shopping?

• 12:54Speaker 03

  Because now most of the stuff that we import from China, Canada, Mexico and the rest of the world, tariffs are going to be 30, 40% higher. Is that going to stimulate our local manufacturing capacity? I really hope so, but I don't know. I really, really don't know. Well, I'm hoping.

• 13:12Speaker 04

  Yeah, well, it does appear that the American consumer, you know, is feeling pretty confident. Record sales on Friday with Black Friday. I mean, I'm consistently flabbergasted by our culture and how we are a walking contradiction. We one day are complaining about everybody's struggling and inflation, this and that, and then we just blow these sales numbers out of the water.

• 13:38Speaker 03

  I'm interested in knowing the actual credit card debt. You said $6.1 billion?

• 13:47Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 13:47Speaker 03

  So how does, what's the impact of our credit card debt after Black Friday is something I want to, I want to touch on after the break. We will be right back.

• 13:58Speaker 00

  Are you an employee with a company sponsored retirement plan? Do you fully understand how you're invested and whether or not you are maximizing your retirement plan's options? For more information on a free assessment, contact MoneyWise's 401K specialist, Justin Leland at 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 14:28Speaker 03

  We're back. We're back at the Money Wise Show. I'm your host, Sammy Abiyawi with Debbie Lewis. We have a listener question, Debbie.

• 14:37Speaker 04

  Uh, yeah, we had somebody send in just a quick comment. Uh, Black Friday was pretty dead this year here around town, uh, but wondering if Cyber Monday is going to be big for consumers.

• 14:49Speaker 03

  So I am guilty of Black Friday shopping.

• 14:53Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:53Speaker 00

  Costco?

• 14:54Speaker 03

  Actually did not go to Costco.

• 14:55Speaker 00

  Oh, nice.

• 14:56Speaker 03

  There's a store here. So I woke up very early. I was going to go to the outlets and then my garage just, just got messed up. Gabe put something on the, on the way of, and it went out of track. So it was open. So I stayed behind, but my wife went. And she told me it was not the greatest sale. She said that we had better sale during the summer months versus the Black Friday.

• 15:19Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 15:20Speaker 03

  Which kind of kind of makes sense. If I'm a company that's selling and I know people are shopping for Christmas gifts, I'm not going to give you a good sale. It's just a smart thing to do.

• 15:28Speaker 04

  I think it's, yeah.

• 15:29Speaker 03

  From a retail standpoint.

• 15:30Speaker 04

  I think it's all cycle. Most of it's a typical discount that they'd be giving throughout the year anyway.

• 15:35Speaker 03

  Correct. But I also think that there's a little shift in our shopping in general. People are going from the Black Friday brick and mortar stores into more, you know, online.

• 15:47Speaker 04

  Yeah, Cyber Monday, right? They're anticipating today to be pretty big.

• 15:51Speaker 03

  They're anticipating sales to be at, to be thirteen point two billion dollars, a six point one increase from previous year, which makes sense. People are more comfortable now in front of their screens, especially with how easy it is to return stuff. I returned a TV yesterday I bought from Target. The box came open.

• 16:10Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 16:11Speaker 03

  I didn't like it, so I returned it. But.

• 16:14Speaker 00

  I have a buddy that, uh, used to buy, you know, former football player, used to buy three or four TVs, Super Bowl weekend, and then return them. And he would call me and say, you know, go to this store tomorrow because the open, open box sale.

• 16:29Speaker 04

  Was this Gero Ellis?

• 16:30Speaker 00

  No, but Gero was close with it.

• 16:33Speaker 04

  That man has like twenty televisions. He sold me one at a discounted price.

• 16:38Speaker 03

  Well, no, the one that I received was an open, like, the box was open and I didn't trust it. So I returned it, but then I, I had two Thanksgiving dinners this week, one at my house and the other one at my sister's house in Costa Mesa, where her husband had a TV in the box that he won. And he was like, just take this one. I'm like, okay.

• 16:58Speaker 00

  Nice.

• 16:59Speaker 03

  You know, it's four hundred dollars back in my pocket. I call that smart shopping, Debbie.

• 17:04Speaker 00

  And stupid shopping is, you know, me, a buddy of mine in, in the radio business, used to go Black Friday shopping just for the fun of it.

• 17:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:13Speaker 00

  This is, you know, 10, 12 years ago. And we still have a couple of things that we stupidly bought just thinking, oh, this is gonna be the best deal you're ever gonna see.

• 17:23Speaker 03

  Frankly, I miss the actual Black Friday stuff.

• 17:26Speaker 00

  That was the fun part of it.

• 17:27Speaker 03

  You go like early and stuff and you stand in line. I've done it.

• 17:31Speaker 00

  We, we stopped many years ago.

• 17:33Speaker 03

  I'm an immigrant Debbie, that stuff is just amazing to me. What do you mean? George Foreman for $10? How can I miss that?

• 17:39Speaker 04

  We were talking about this off air, that Black Friday transcends the United States at this point. Our, our consumer mentality has, I'll say, infected other areas of the world.

• 17:50Speaker 03

  You know what?

• 17:51Speaker 04

  But I had a friend traveling in Africa. She sent a picture at the airport in Cape Town and they had not just a Woolworth advertisement for a Woolworth building. I don't know if that's an off-market thing or whatever. But they were also, they had signs up for Black Friday sales in Cape Town, South Africa.

• 18:09Speaker 03

  I, my family in Morocco, hey, what are you doing today? How are you doing today? Oh, we're shopping, we're at the mall, it's Black Friday. Can you even spell Black Friday?

• 18:18Speaker 00

  Ouch.

• 18:19Speaker 03

  Well, I'm, I'm sorry, man. Like, do you know what the, you know, the story, what's behind it and stuff? Like, no, it's Black Friday, sale.

• 18:25Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:26Speaker 03

  You know, we exported that. We exported the idea of Black Friday to other countries. I mean, it's, it's amazing that you have the mall culture. And now countries like, I visited the Philippines, the mall culture in the Philippines is huge.

• 18:40Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:40Speaker 03

  Malls are like, people are like ants.

• 18:42Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 18:43Speaker 03

  Morocco, the same thing. This, it's like malls here in the United States 25, 30 years ago.

• 18:49Speaker 04

  Hmm.

• 18:50Speaker 03

  Now people are just getting into that.

• 18:51Speaker 04

  Have you ever been to the Mall of America?

• 18:53Speaker 03

  No, I have not.

• 18:54Speaker 04

  In Minnesota, in St. Paul? Woo, it is wild.

• 18:58Speaker 03

  I have not.

• 18:59Speaker 04

  I walked in, saw the roller coaster, walked out.

• 19:02Speaker 03

  I've been to the Mall of Asia in the Philippines, it's a big mall.

• 19:05Speaker 04

  Yeah, oh, I bet.

• 19:06Speaker 03

  It's a big mall, you know, but, but I have not been to, to the one in Minnesota.

• 19:11Speaker 00

  I remember when this Valley Plaza Mall was two stories.

• 19:14Speaker 03

  I'm, I'm afraid to get shot. I'm sorry.

• 19:18Speaker 03

  I'm sorry.

• 19:19Speaker 00

  A couple of years in a row, a couple of years in a row. It's, it's. You can say that about Target.

• 19:24Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 19:25Speaker 00

  Target's getting ghetto now too, but.

• 19:27Speaker 03

  It's, it's, it's, you know, for such reasons, frankly, I go during the day, I don't go at night. That's, it's, and I, and I watch myself, I don't let my wife or kid go unless I'm with them. So it's just, it's, it's been bad.

• 19:38Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 19:38Speaker 03

  It's been bad.

• 19:39Speaker 00

  Are you a Cyber Monday shopper?

• 19:41Speaker 03

  I'm just a shopper.

• 19:42Speaker 00

  Computer this morning?

• 19:43Speaker 04

  I, I was a sad Sunday shopper and a Cyber Monday. I'm still in the process. I'm pulling the trigger on a couple of things.

• 19:50Speaker 03

  I, I throughout my, you know, being a banker and all, I've kind of like, you know, matured a little bit. I don't just look for the sale and buy the sale.

• 19:58Speaker 04

  No, buy what you need.

• 20:00Speaker 03

  When I need something, I buy. You know, and frankly, I get better sale throughout the year versus Cyber Monday or Black Friday.

• 20:07Speaker 04

  Oh, I want to share a couple of points regarding holiday shopping and the opinion um, and kind of exploring the concept that it, it really does have uh, some positive impacts on our economy. Um, and it provides the largest portion of the annual retail sales in our country. So a couple of points that this frenzy around Thanksgiving and the Christmas New Year kind of brings. Significant revenue generation. Job creation, so you get the seasonal workers that are picking up side hustles, working at retail shops. Uh, we have supply chain stimulation. Boost for small businesses, which I want to shout out, we're talking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

• 20:52Speaker 04

  I love that people have kind of um, claimed Saturdays to encourage people to go out and support the local independent stores in the town that you live. That is just kind of like we talk about politics, like you can't control a lot. But if you can control your local government and if you pay attention to your local, your, your home ground, you can have a bigger impact and same thing goes with the shopping. So I love small, small business Saturdays. Um, let's see, consumer confidence impact, which we're seeing, you know, we kind of talk about that dichotomy of inflation is crushing everybody's confidence in the economy and our political

• 21:34Speaker 04

  system. Well, I think the shopping, the shopping data is showing we get over things very quickly. You know?

• 21:42Speaker 03

  You know, one of the things you've, you've mentioned, we have the culture, you know, we're talking about recession, but people are spending money. One of the things I love about the holiday season is people, though they have little, they spend and they help others, especially in this community. This community is big on giving back. Shout out, shout out to this community. I've seen it.

• 22:01Speaker 04

  Kern County strong.

• 22:02Speaker 03

  Yes. When people still, they have little, but they still go and buy the extra toy or the extra whatever and they put it in a box somewhere and, and give back. It's huge. I don't see it at other places, but I see it here, which is great. And I wanna, I want us to continue doing that as a community, which is awesome to see.

• 22:23Speaker 04

  And we have so many local nonprofits that are just in a very, I say this with love. They are relentless. They are so consistent with their communications on what they need, what they need, what, what demographics they're trying to help. And, you know, we love to utilize our resources here at Money Wise to highlight these nonprofits to try to help in any way we can. I encourage you all, if there's something you're passionate about, just go online and look up local nonprofits, Kern County, find something that speaks to you and maybe donate, donate something, donate your time if you don't have the extra funds. Um, there are so many people that need help out there and

• 23:04Speaker 03

  Well, a couple of things, yeah, a couple of things you said are, are, you know, just, just with, with the, um, sales tax, revenue during the season and payroll tax because of the job creation during the, the, the month of December and November, going into a little bit into, into January. So definitely, definitely there's some positive impacts. Yes, there's a culture of spend, spend, spend. And when we come back after this break, I would like to talk about just how we can budget, still spend, but with conscience of budgeting. So we don't get in trouble, credit card trouble, or what have you. We'll be right back.

• 23:40Speaker 00

  Money Wise Wealth Management is the only locally owned independent firm that uses a comprehensive wealth, tax, and estate approach, working closely with a highly trusted CPA and attorney. For information on how Money Wise can help you invest and plan for your future, call 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 24:14Speaker 03

  That's a good song. I like it. We're back with the Money Wise Show. Sammy Abiyawi and Debbie Lewis. What do we leave it at, Debbie? Talking about Christmas shopping, holiday shopping.

• 24:26Speaker 04

  Supporting local nonprofits and small businesses.

• 24:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, we have a comment.

• 24:31Speaker 04

  Which should happen all year round. I encourage you, don't just save that for the Saturday after Black Friday. Every week, support your local businesses because they are grinding.

• 24:42Speaker 03

  Yes. Great, great reminder. And we have some really cool local businesses to support. So yes, great message. Support it 100%. In fact, we have a listener message exactly about that. Debbie hit it out of the park. We stopped Black Friday shopping when it turned into Thanksgiving shopping. But we go on Saturday morning and only shop locally.

• 25:02Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 25:03Speaker 03

  Great. It's awesome to hear. Good for you. Encourage your family members, friends to do the same.

• 25:10Speaker 03

  And we'll keep talking about it on the radio, hopefully to support local, local businesses. Awesome.

• 25:14Speaker 04

  Love it.

• 25:16Speaker 03

  We started talking, we stopped, we started talking about shopping and then we started talking about maybe budgeting for the holidays. So we don't get into some bad habits and maybe create a problem, financial problems for ourselves.

• 25:28Speaker 04

  Yeah. You know, with budgeting, it seems like such an elementary level thing. And you know, we're a financial advisor show and we talk about dense concept, you know, backdoor rofts and required minimum distributions and estate planning and this and that. But honestly, at the, the base of any. Anybody with a good, healthy financial life, it just starts with the basics, right? Budgeting, budget. So how like, I thought maybe it'd be kind of cool to just touch on some very simple surface reminders of like, things you can do during this holiday season to maybe keep your budget in check.

• 26:11Speaker 03

  I love it. And you know why I love it? Because we are financial advisors. You know, in a way, we are creating a budget for our clients. And we are putting them in a plan that they can accomplish a dream or survive on, or what have you. So I equate, both to me are equitable almost.

• 26:30Speaker 04

  Yeah, you gotta start with the fundamentals. And then the layer on the nuanced, more complex stuff as life evolves.

• 26:37Speaker 03

  Yes, yes.

• 26:38Speaker 04

  But yeah, you know, I pulled up this Forbes article. And they were throwing around maybe the concept of a reasonable approach to allocating about 1% of your annual income towards holiday expenses.

• 26:55Speaker 03

  And do that on like, on a monthly basis? Put money aside?

• 26:58Speaker 04

  Yeah, you can automate that, just like anything else. Maybe just start with 50 bucks a month, put it aside. And you know, by the end of the year, you have about 600 bucks for gifts. I like this article because it kind of also takes in those other complexities of the holiday season. No matter what you celebrate, there tends to be multiple celebrations around maybe that one big holiday. So they kind of explore dividing your budget up into categories. So we're looking at for gifts, about 50% of that budget. And then you go on to take into consideration all of these holiday parties and gatherings that maybe you're invited to through work,

• 27:42Speaker 04

  or your cousins, or a friend of a friend. And you're sitting around and you're bored on a Thursday night. You just want to get out. So maybe about 30% of your budget goes towards eating out at restaurants and going to parties and bringing a bottle of wine or some sort of dish.

• 27:59Speaker 03

  That's a very good point, Debbie, because it sneaks up on you.

• 28:01Speaker 04

  Oh, my goodness.

• 28:02Speaker 03

  No, you have a budget for buying gifts, but then all of a sudden, during the holiday season, hey, I want to go to Luigi's.

• 28:07Speaker 04

  I just told you, I spent half of my paycheck at Luigi's.

• 28:10Speaker 03

  I want to go to Luigi's, man. I want to go to Luigi's, the whole town is in Luigi's.

• 28:14Speaker 04

  And then we went to Luigi's and had lunch.

• 28:16Speaker 03

  I love it, but but those things can sneak up on you. Now, talking about shopping local and eating local, Ouija is a fixture of this community.

• 28:24Speaker 04

  It's an institution.

• 28:25Speaker 03

  Especially during the holidays, man. You see everybody. I want to be there.

• 28:29Speaker 04

  And then you want to buy so and so a drink. You're feeling good. I'm like, I love you. Send, you know, whatever.

• 28:35Speaker 03

  Then you end up with two, three hundred bucks.

• 28:37Speaker 04

  Ooh, what did I just do?

• 28:38Speaker 03

  That sneaks up on you. I agree with you. That's a very good point.

• 28:41Speaker 04

  Guilty, guilty.

• 28:42Speaker 03

  Go ahead. I love it. Go ahead, Debbie.

• 28:44Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 28:46Speaker 04

  Um, okay, some more categories that you might want to take into consideration for your allocated budget. Um, about 10% for decorations. People like to deck out their house and make it look festive. So, you know, you get your inflatable abominable snowman and your Rudolph's and your lights and your trees and the that that stuff adds up.

• 29:09Speaker 03

  Hey, by the way, talking about that too, electricity bill during the holiday goes up.

• 29:13Speaker 04

  Yeah. Oh, yeah.

• 29:14Speaker 03

  Because of all the decoration you have.

• 29:16Speaker 04

  I mean, I love you people that leave your Christmas lights on all night.

• 29:20Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 29:21Speaker 04

  Like, it's amazing when I go for 11 o'clock.

• 29:23Speaker 03

  Walk.

• 29:24Speaker 04

  Walk and I get to enjoy your lights, but ching.

• 29:27Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. That's a good, not a good point.

• 29:30Speaker 04

  Um, okay, some other ideas. Okay, so set a spending limit for your gifts. Um, they actually encourage you to maybe sit down after the holiday season, which I know that's going to be tough to do, but maybe like assess how you did and make notes for next year. Different things, things you could do differently, do better at. In general, you always want to improve, right? Um, take advantage of the holiday sales and discounts. We've already covered that, but don't don't overdo it. I like the approach of shopping throughout the year.

• 30:05Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 30:06Speaker 04

  If you see some, if you're a gift giver, you see something that reminds you of somebody in your life, just buy it.

• 30:12Speaker 03

  No, me too. I love that.

• 30:13Speaker 04

  And then put it aside and then it has meaning and you're not scrambling like a psychotic person at the end of the year like I do occasionally like.

• 30:21Speaker 03

  I agree with you.

• 30:22Speaker 04

  Just buy some, if you see something that reminds you of somebody you love, get it for them at the, in the moment.

• 30:28Speaker 03

  Just buy it in the summer and tell them, hey, this is for Christmas or just hide it.

• 30:32Speaker 04

  Just keep it, keep it aside.

• 30:34Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 30:34Speaker 04

  Keep it aside, save it for the holidays if that's your jam.

• 30:37Speaker 03

  Because if, in my family, if you give it to them in summer and tell them it's, this is for Christmas, comes Christmas, my brother was like, hey.

• 30:44Speaker 04

  They forget, amnesia.

• 30:45Speaker 03

  Where's, where's, where's my gift?

• 30:46Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 30:47Speaker 03

  I bought you one in August. No, that doesn't count. That's for August.

• 30:50Speaker 04

  Right. I also like the approach of giving. Not everybody's love language is gift. Gifting and receiving gifts, so maybe it's experience based. I personally love that for myself and I tend to do that with people that I like to spend time with. But gifting something that-

• 31:11Speaker 03

  We're overdue for a Campai trip, you and I, so we'll do that for the, for the holidays.

• 31:15Speaker 04

  Our love language is food.

• 31:17Speaker 03

  Food.

• 31:17Speaker 04

  You and I love to sit and break bread and talk BS.

• 31:21Speaker 03

  We'll go see Randy and hi at Campai and get some really quality-

• 31:25Speaker 04

  Don't give away the secret. We don't, we don't want everybody clogging up the sushi bar.

• 31:29Speaker 03

  Friends, so I want to encourage.

• 31:32Speaker 03

  We'll take, we'll take Steven maybe if he behaves with us. He's never been. He's never been, so we've got to take him with us.

• 31:39Speaker 00

  Is that better than PF Chang's?

• 31:41Speaker 03

  Oh, God.

• 31:42Speaker 00

  Everyone looks at me when I say, you had sushi at where?

• 31:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, there's no, there's no comparison. There's no comparison. Yes. Once you go there, you're gonna see Debbie was not a believer in local sushi until she went with me to Campai. Right, Debbie?

• 31:57Speaker 04

  It's true. I'm very picky with the sushi quality. I don't like things deep fried with mayonnaise.

• 32:04Speaker 04

  That is not sushi. That is not sushi.

• 32:07Speaker 03

  Costco carries that.

• 32:08Speaker 04

  You're covering up the quality of the fish, my friend.

• 32:10Speaker 03

  Costco carries that on a, with coupons sometimes.

• 32:13Speaker 00

  So we can buy sushi at grocery stores.

• 32:16Speaker 04

  Unless you're at-

• 32:17Speaker 03

  Viata is a good one.

• 32:19Speaker 04

  Unless you were at the Japanese market down in Gardena, which is actually like Michelin starred level sashimi. Like, in general, no.

• 32:29Speaker 03

  I was at Costa Mesa over the weekend and they have a Japanese grocery store. You go in and they have fish galore. And you get the fresh fish and cut in front of you and-

• 32:39Speaker 04

  Ten bucks for a box of like incredible sushi.

• 32:43Speaker 03

  Yes, it's amazing.

• 32:44Speaker 04

  Um, this is something my dad taught me. Um, and sometimes we make fun of him for this, but it's an old school way of keeping your spending in check. You pull out that cash that is your allotted budget for the season and only pay with cash. That is a great way to not go over budget. Credit cards are so easy.

• 33:04Speaker 03

  Oh, it's easy. Avoid credit card debt. That's something I read during the holiday because it can easily sneak up on you.

• 33:10Speaker 04

  Yeah. I know it's easy to justify, right? At this point, we all have cards that kind of give us some sort of incentive to spend on them with whatever rewards. But keep your spending in check. Like you really.

• 33:25Speaker 00

  It sounds like my dad. My dad would always give us a hundred dollar bill. You get your own gift. Cause if I got the, the game that you already had or whatever, we'd just get our hundred dollar crisp a hundred dollar bill. And we would just go spend it at Toys R Us and it'd be like, that was gone now. Thanks.

• 33:43Speaker 03

  I used to order two dollar bills.

• 33:46Speaker 00

  Nice.

• 33:46Speaker 03

  For my nephews and my nieces and I put them in envelopes, like a hundred dollar worth. And I order it from the bank and they come. They still have some of those after 20 years.

• 33:55Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 33:57Speaker 03

  After 20, they still have some of those. Yeah, it's, it's, it's.

• 34:00Speaker 00

  And I remember Gero used to always, around this time, he would always talk about what he did to stay money wise on Christmas. And that's when each family member, since the adults were grown, that they would pick like, uh, almost pick a name out of the hat type thing. And that would be who you bought Christmas for. And a lot of the big families, instead of trying to buy, you know, your three or four kids and, you know, the eight or nine grandkids that are gonna be all over.

• 34:29Speaker 04

  Oh yeah. And then you're the single person. You don't have any kids. You buy 20 and you get one.

• 34:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly.

• 34:35Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's not, that's not a good feeling. That's not a good feeling. Are you sure, Debbie?

• 34:42Speaker 03

  Stay focused and disciplined is something else I read.

• 34:45Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 34:46Speaker 03

  That's, that's, I think that's what you're talking about. Even after the season is over, sit down and go over what you've spent.

• 34:51Speaker 04

  Look at what you actually, look at what you did, what you do.

• 34:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah. So, um, great. I love, I love the article. I love the ideas. Uh, I hope our listeners enjoyed that. Uh, we will be right back.

• 35:05Speaker 00

  Are you nearing retirement and currently working with a financial advisor? Are you not sure if you're invested appropriately? Call our offices at 661-847-1000 to sit down with a Money Wise financial advisor for a no obligation assessment of your investment.

• 35:26Speaker 03

  Brought some memories, Stephen.

• 35:29Speaker 04

  Are you a Britney Spears fan?

• 35:31Speaker 03

  I was, back when she was sane. When she became a little bit out there, I was like, mm.

• 35:39Speaker 04

  Hey, if you were forced into a conservatorship against your will, after you were the sole breadwinner for everyone and their extended family around you, you'd probably go a little cuckoo too.

• 35:49Speaker 00

  She's been through a lot.

• 35:50Speaker 03

  She has been through a lot.

• 35:51Speaker 00

  A small amount of time.

• 35:52Speaker 03

  I like her, I like her.

• 35:53Speaker 04

  She's great.

• 35:54Speaker 03

  She was a good entertainer.

• 35:55Speaker 04

  She's great.

• 35:56Speaker 03

  So, with the Money Wise Show, we're back. I'm Sammy Abiyawi with Debbie Lewis. Uh, if you would like to listen to the show or any of our podcast programs, subscribe to the Money Wise Guys Podcast, commercial free on all podcast platforms, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Debbie, where did we leave it at? We were talking about budgeting, we were talking about good habits and things like that. So it's year end for us, so.

• 36:21Speaker 04

  Yeah, why don't we kind of like explore some ideas, um, you know, working from the financial advisory perspective on maybe like your financial retirement planning checklist and, and things to take into consideration, you know?

• 36:39Speaker 03

  Good time as any.

• 36:39Speaker 04

  Don't stress out your CPA, uh, you know, the, in the 12th or 25th hour, whatever that saying is, but.

• 36:47Speaker 03

  I have a good friend and also my CPA, Tom Maxwell, he's already contacted me two weeks ago. He's like, put your stuff together, let's plan. And he saw me at the gentleman last week and he's like, when are you gonna sit down with me? I'm like, alright, alright.

• 36:59Speaker 04

  Funny, I saw him at Luigi's too.

• 37:05Speaker 04

  Hi Tom.

• 37:06Speaker 03

  Tom, awesome, awesome dude, awesome CPA. Yeah, good time to take, take, take the time to plan to, so what are some of the things that you want, we want people to pay attention to?

• 37:18Speaker 04

  So it's kind of centered around tax efficiency, which most people are obsessed with their taxes and what they can be doing. So kind of touching on charitable giving, estate planning. A big one is your required minimum distributions if you are an investor and you have, you know, an IRA, an inherited IRA, and you are of that special age, which I believe is 73 this year. It has changed a little bit over the last couple of years. But more or less you are required to take out a certain percentage from your investment accounts. And you can do whatever you want with that, but the IRS will always get their money.

• 38:02Speaker 04

  So you, you make sure you want, you talk to your financial advisor's office. Make sure you, you are in line with what you need to be taking out by the end of the year.

• 38:14Speaker 03

  Charitable giving is something that comes to my mind. Year end, like I said, we live in a very given community. So a lot of the people gave or are still giving, so keep a record of that stuff. Especially if you're giving to a 501(c), get a receipt because those are tax deductible expenses that you can run through your expenses that you ran through, especially if you're a business or you run a business.

• 38:41Speaker 04

  Or if you need to take out an RMD, that is an, you know, that's another part of that. You can just take that money out and donate it to, to a nonprofit. And there, I can't get into the specifics because I'm not an advisor, but there are special types of movement that you can do that will benefit you dearly. And they're pretty high caps on the amount that you can defer.

• 39:04Speaker 03

  That's a good question. Maybe we'll save this one for Dustin tomorrow.

• 39:06Speaker 04

  Yeah, I like that.

• 39:09Speaker 04

  What else?

• 39:10Speaker 03

  Designations, you know, we, we, we have beneficiaries for a lot of our assets. So make sure that you, you update. So if you had, if you've gone through a divorce, guess what you need to do? You really need to go and update your beneficiary. Because we've seen it happen here at MoneyWise, where the person had gone through a divorce. Then eventually that person passed, but they've never changed the beneficiary. And guess what? The beneficiary remained the first wife. The second wife did not have anything. Not by design, it was just a miss.

• 39:43Speaker 04

  Right.

• 39:43Speaker 03

  That's an unfortunate event. So please, if you have, talk to your financial advisor, update your beneficiaries. Not with just, not just with financial advisors, but at the bank level.

• 39:53Speaker 04

  Across the board too, right? Make sure you, why not just look at your trust or your will? If you have not done that in the last, you know, four or five years, just take a peek at it. Make sure it reads the way you want it to now.

• 40:07Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 40:07Speaker 04

  And it's allocated the way you want it to, to be now.

• 40:11Speaker 03

  This is a good one. Health savings account. So HSAs, you know, you contribute by the end of the year, you have to use the money. So make sure that you've, you go through your HSA and utilize the money accordingly. So that's, that's, that's a big one, especially for the people that are using HSAs.

• 40:27Speaker 04

  Remind me, what's the difference between an?

• 40:30Speaker 03

  Don't be asking me difficult questions now.

• 40:32Speaker 04

  FSA.

• 40:33Speaker 03

  Uh, hea- health savings account?

• 40:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm blanking.

• 40:37Speaker 03

  I don't know what, what, which, what FSA, but I was referring to health savings account.

• 40:42Speaker 04

  Yeah, okay.

• 40:43Speaker 03

  Which are a benefit offered through some employers at times.

• 40:49Speaker 03

  Business, if you're a business, definitely sit with your CPA and go over your tax planning. Maybe there is opportunities for you to maybe buy an asset, depreciate, take advantage of the section 179.

• 41:02Speaker 03

  That's definitely big income tax planning for both individuals and business owners.

• 41:08Speaker 03

  And, and, and just, just have a plan. Just, if, if, just sit down, even if you don't really have a lot, like I don't. But I still want to sit down with, with, with, with Tom and go through a planning session. I want to sit here with my financial advisor here at MoneyWise and go through a plan. So I can have something to execute upon going into 2025.

• 41:29Speaker 00

  That reminds me, that it's a perfect time to get him back on.

• 41:33Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 41:33Speaker 00

  Especially because I know in the next week or so, we're going to get these, these text messages.

• 41:38Speaker 03

  Right.

• 41:39Speaker 00

  So it'll be a perfect time to get him back on.

• 41:41Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 41:41Speaker 04

  Make sure he brings us Luigi's.

• 41:45Speaker 03

  To Tom?

• 41:46Speaker 04

  Yeah, Tom.

• 41:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, he loves, he would love that.

• 41:50Speaker 03

  Um, great show. We covered a lot today. Um, thank you. Thank you for the listeners, for all the comments and, and, and questions. Please keep them, uh, keep them coming. Again, uh, Money Wise Show, uh, 661-396-1000, uh, 396-1000. Steven, uh, uh, end the show for us, please. Um, um, that's where you lose me.

• 42:13Speaker 00

  You had it. Now, uh, we'll be back live tomorrow, uh, beginning from, uh, two to three. We'll have Steve Sanders and, uh,

• 42:22Speaker 03

  Holiday Lights at Com.

• 42:24Speaker 00

  Yes, and he is bringing the, uh, the genius that put all the lights together with him. And we may have one final family four pack of Com tickets to give away.

• 42:35Speaker 04

  Ooh.

• 42:35Speaker 00

  So, uh, until then, be smart, be safe, be money wise.

• 42:50Speaker 02

  Securities offered through SCF Securities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through SCF Investment Advisors, Inc. SCF Securities, Inc. and Money Wise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.