1/22/25 Daddy Frank’s Debut: Credit Scores, Netflix Prices & Kern Asian Chamber

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Wednesday, January 22nd 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 Guests: Vivian Cao (President) & Jamila Ha (Secretary) of the Kern Asian Chamber of Commerce website: https://kernasianchamber.com/

• 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?

• 0:30Speaker 01

  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.

• 0:42Speaker 02

  Welcome to the Money Wise Show. We are live from the Garrow Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway on ESPN Bakersfield, 1230 AM, 101.1 FM, and always streaming at MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can call or text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. Today, we're your hosts, Shared Weight and...

• 1:04Speaker 03

  Frank Lee.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  Frank Lee. Great having you here, Frank.

• 1:08Speaker 03

  Daddy Frank.

• 1:10Speaker 02

  Congratulations, Daddy Frank, on the new baby.

• 1:13Speaker 03

  Proud, proud to be part of the daddy, the parenthood club now.

• 1:17Speaker 02

  Welcome.

• 1:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's amazing. It's a miracle. Can't get over it.

• 1:21Speaker 02

  It is a miracle, and it is amazing. And I'll speak for the other dads out there. The most rewarding title in my life and in many of us dads' life is that title of father. I mean, it is an unbelievably fulfilling and wonderful experience. It's really what, for me, what life is all about.

• 1:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 1:46Speaker 02

  You know, is having a life that's half you and half your wife. Yeah, right there.

• 1:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, couldn't agree more. It's definitely amazing. We're just grateful that it was a healthy baby. And just glad to be a part of it, you know?

• 2:01Speaker 02

  I didn't ask you this before the show, so I don't want to throw you off too much, but January 1st, this baby was, your baby was born on the 1st.

• 2:07Speaker 03

  New Year's Day.

• 2:08Speaker 02

  New Year's Day. You missed a tax deduction.

• 2:10Speaker 03

  I did.

• 2:11Speaker 02

  A double tax deduction by one day.

• 2:13Speaker 03

  We did. Oh, my God. I was, I was a little disappointed about that, but you know, we still love you, Theo, but.

• 2:19Speaker 02

  Come on, Theo. What time, what time on the 1st?

• 2:21Speaker 03

  He was actually towards the later end of the day. So one of like the last babies of New Year's Day.

• 2:27Speaker 02

  Of the year. Well, that, there's some comfort there. At least it wasn't like a few minutes.

• 2:32Speaker 03

  Exactly, exactly. But we're just like, oh, man.

• 2:35Speaker 02

  I've seen advertised on TV, I think it's an insurance company, it might be Prudential, that is advertising that babies born on January 1st, they, they're investing in a, like a, they're funding essentially a, like an investment account or a

• 2:52Speaker 03

  Oh, really?

• 2:52Speaker 02

  A savings account. Have you, you haven't heard about this?

• 2:54Speaker 03

  No, I haven't.

• 2:55Speaker 02

  I'll look, I'll look into it. I just saw the ads during the, the football game.

• 2:58Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 2:58Speaker 02

  And I think it, I can't remember what insurance company it was, but I was like, oh, that's interesting.

• 3:02Speaker 03

  As soon as we get his social security, I'm setting everything up.

• 3:05Speaker 02

  Yeah, baby.

• 3:06Speaker 03

  Everything.

• 3:07Speaker 02

  That's so cool. Congratulations.

• 3:08Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 3:09Speaker 02

  It's great having you on the show.

• 3:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:11Speaker 02

  Welcome back.

• 3:12Speaker 03

  Good to be back.

• 3:13Speaker 02

  We've gotten some great messages and comments from our listeners, so I want to start the show out, get right to it.

• 3:18Speaker 03

  Let's do it.

• 3:19Speaker 02

  Our first message is this. It says, "How fast do banks approve personal loans? Just random question, as I heard you have a former banker that works with you." Thanks, guys. So yeah, you're thinking of Sammy Abiyawi. He is our managing director here at Money Wise. He had decades of experience in the, in the banking world, in the business and commercial lending and banking world, previously with Mission Bank here in town, our local bank. And so Sammy's not here to answer this question, but you and I can answer this, because I think it's pretty straightforward.

• 3:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm not too familiar when it comes to personal loans in a sense, but I mean, it just would have to depend on certain criteria, right?

• 3:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, definitely. That's a good, good point Frank, is that personal loans with banks are tricky. I remember this as a, as a young entrepreneur, before I even started MoneyWise, I had another small business. It was a window washing business.

• 4:16Speaker 03

  Oh, really?

• 4:17Speaker 02

  And I thought, oh, this is great. Perfect. I'm gonna go start windows, clean some windows, start my own little business. And this was, I was, I was a young kid and naive, walked into a bank. I can't even remember what bank it was. It was over on Ming. It might have been a Bank of America. I was like, listen, just need a loan. I wanna, I wanna, you know, purchase some equipment. I'm starting a business. And immediately shut down, you know. I didn't have a home. I really didn't have any collateral. And I was turned away, other than I think I was maybe offered a credit card. Which credit cards, you know, that's, be careful, you know, getting into business, starting it with a credit card. So it was, it was

• 4:58Speaker 02

  my first introduction into the challenge that is getting a personal loan from a bank. I'm not saying it's impossible. It can just be difficult because generally you need to have something to back up that loan so that the bank feels like, and if you're, if, if something fails, they've got an avenue to recoup some of their money. But if you have all of the things in order, or you're looking for just sort of a standard loan, most banks, especially if they're online or a digital bank, will offer same day approvals, or at least a pre-qualification for their applicants. You even get this with mortgages. You can get a, you can get a pre-qualified, or, or, yeah, basically a pre-qualification for

• 5:40Speaker 02

  a mortgage, almost on the spot. Because nowadays, thanks to technology, you give your social security and birthday, and boom, it just, you know, it's gonna spit out, you know, everything that you need, right on the spot. And generally, that credit worthiness information is all that bank needs to be able to give you the money. So generally, you can get that almost with, you know, the same day or within a day. Traditional banks, if it's not an online or a digital bank, they can take one to three business days. And again, if the application, it depends on the application completeness. If you are looking at something that's maybe more complex, it requires a manual review.

• 6:21Speaker 02

  It can't just be a bot that's going to look at this, then it might be five to seven business days in terms of getting a loan. We're talking about personal loans. Other types of loans can be a little bit trickier. If you're looking at more complex loans, or maybe it's a purchase, commercial real estate, those types of things.

• 6:38Speaker 03

  Business loan in a sense.

• 6:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:40Speaker 03

  Because those are tricky because they're, they need evidence of, of your business making profits.

• 6:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:48Speaker 03

  Or something like that. You have to be in business for a certain years, I think.

• 6:52Speaker 02

  Right. That's right. And then want to look at your financial statements, your tax returns.

• 6:55Speaker 03

  Everything.

• 6:56Speaker 02

  Takes a little bit of time to.

• 6:57Speaker 03

  The whole shebang.

• 6:58Speaker 02

  Do an analysis on those. Great question. Thank you for that, listener. Got another message here and I'll go ahead and read it. It says, how could banning medical bills from credit reports affect access to credit? And what can individuals do to maintain their financial health under this new rule? Frank, you and I may have been on the show when we talked about this, but there is a recent change in the way that credit reports are no longer going to show debt, that's medical debt. This is a big, big deal. It's going to affect millions of people in the United States. And there's been a push for this for a few years for the outstanding medical debts to be taken,

• 7:43Speaker 02

  not taken into account when you're running your credit. And it sort of makes sense because if you have a medical bill or a financial situation that is because of your medical, your medical health, then you don't want to necessarily be.

• 8:02Speaker 02

  You know, bankrupt or impoverished because of that, sort of luck of the draw, whether or not you're going to get that cancer or whatever, you know, illness could come about you that could really financially devastate you. It's really an unfair practice, I think.

• 8:16Speaker 03

  Especially when you have certain insurances that don't cover a lot of the life-saving or cancer treating types of procedures.

• 8:25Speaker 02

  Right. Like, how unfortunate would that be that your employer's healthcare plan happened to not cover whatever ailment you're dealing with?

• 8:33Speaker 03

  Because I know I heard, was it United or Blue Cross, where they reduced the amount of coverage for the time under surgery? Like, if it's past an hour, they won't cover

• 8:47Speaker 02

  Oh, my goodness.

• 8:48Speaker 03

  the amount after that.

• 8:49Speaker 02

  Oh, come on.

• 8:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, so it's like, it's like, you know how long these procedures can take?

• 8:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:54Speaker 03

  And if it's life-threatening, it's like, it's gonna take long.

• 8:57Speaker 02

  You imagine the surgeon sitting there, you know, working on you and looking at the clock and getting up in an hour.

• 9:01Speaker 03

  It's like, oh, 39 minutes, alright, you know?

• 9:03Speaker 02

  Oh, well.

• 9:04Speaker 03

  We'll finish the rest tomorrow. I'm not gonna get paid. I'm not doing this.

• 9:08Speaker 02

  I want to give some insight, though, to this question because it's interesting. You know, how can the banning of medical bills from credit reports affect access to credit? Well, the positive impacts are pretty straightforward. You're gonna have improved credit scores because removing medical bills that you had in the past, or unpaid or disputed medical debt taken off, well, that's an immediate improvement on your credit score. I believe some are expecting it to be somewhere between 20 or 40-point increase in your credit score due to the removal of those bills. You also have the reduced financial stigma. A lot of people that incur medical debt because of certain, whatever circumstances,

• 9:51Speaker 02

  they can reflect sort of, it can give the appearance that it's reflecting bad financial habits when it's really not the case.

• 10:00Speaker 03

  Right.

• 10:00Speaker 02

  You can, the potential downsides are a little bit more nuanced because...

• 10:07Speaker 02

  If you no longer can take into account bills that are owed to medical institutions, there's a potential for a weakened risk assessment, meaning the lenders that rely on credit reports to evaluate their borrowers no longer have that information in there, right? So they're not, they're not, whatever impact that there is by those who regularly have unpaid medical debts, well, that's not great for lenders. It's also not great for the rest of us because the lenders are just going to charge more for those who are responsible versus those who are not. And so I can see that being a potential downside.

• 10:52Speaker 02

  You have other potential downsides being that if the lenders are no longer relying on these credit reports to evaluate their borrowers, they may turn to alternative data and things that require a more extensive income verification. That could complicate the borrowing process. Going back to our first caller saying, "How long is this going to take?" Well, it could take a little longer, potentially.

• 11:18Speaker 03

  Yeah, none of the same-day approval process anymore.

• 11:23Speaker 02

  Right, because maybe they need to do whatever else.

• 11:25Speaker 03

  They would, they would require like a pay stub or, or something like that.

• 11:29Speaker 02

  Right, potentially. That could then, "Well, it would have been easier if you'd have just kept my medical history, my medical debts in there because I'm fine with my, you know, I'm current in all of my debts."

• 11:39Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:40Speaker 02

  So, you know, in Money Wise fashion, let's give some tips here, how you can maintain health, financial health or credit health under these new rules. It's pretty straightforward. You want to monitor your credit reports regularly. That's really easy to do because you probably, like me, have gotten a letter in the mail from somebody who you've done business with in the past that said something to the effect of, "We've been hacked," or "We've been, you know, we've had some..."

• 12:13Speaker 02

  Let's see, what do you call it?

• 12:16Speaker 03

  Fishing?

• 12:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:17Speaker 03

  Fishing scams.

• 12:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, some fraud has happened within the company that now requires us to let you know that your private information may have been taken and therefore we are going to give you free credit monitoring service. I've got, I've getting these, it seems once or twice a year. Have you ever gotten this?

• 12:36Speaker 03

  Not that one.

• 12:37Speaker 02

  Man, you were lucky. How is that possible?

• 12:39Speaker 03

  Maybe, maybe I'm next in line. I don't know.

• 12:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, get ready. It looks like junk mail. I, I used to ignore them until I started to go, what is this? And that, because it's just so regular that it happens. I just got one last week from a local, a local business and I thought, okay, well, and I'll sign up for it every time because it's no, no, no, it's easy, you know?

• 12:59Speaker 03

  Right, right.

• 13:00Speaker 02

  But it's very inexpensive for, for anybody to do this. You can, um, there's a lot of different credit monitoring programs out there. So find a way to monitor your credit report regularly. You are entitled as, as the owner of your own credit to get your own credit report without it dinging your credit. Because remember, if you get a credit inquiry, that can cost you some points on your credit score, but you yourself are entitled to do that with no impact on your credit. Try to prioritize your debt management. Focus on reducing your non-medical debts like credit card balances, personal loans, those types

• 13:41Speaker 02

  of things, and build your emergency fund to avoid relying on credit in the first place. That's the best case scenario. You never want to have to borrow if you don't have to. There's a few things I'm all for borrowing. Your home, your car, education. You don't want to borrow to get, you know, a new set of tires. You don't want to borrow to get, you know, hopefully, or to get...

• 14:01Speaker 03

  Or a new PC or new gym equipment, which I definitely didn't.

• 14:05Speaker 02

  Yeah. And then strengthen your payment habits. Pay your bills on time and figure out a way, if you don't have sort of these healthy payment habits, figure out some systems and some technologies in there that can, that can assist you to avoid those problems.

• 14:27Speaker 02

  There you have it, Frank. Think we answered that?

• 14:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, those are some great questions.

• 14:31Speaker 02

  Great. Why don't we do this? Why don't we take our first break of the day? When we come back, we have another listener question. I'm going to read this question. When we come back, we're going to answer it. It says, it says, here we go. Thank you, and one more question. Can I set up a trust without a will? So we're going to talk about this. What's the difference between a trust and a will? Can you set up one without the other? We're going to answer that when we come back. We're Money Wise.

• 14:55Speaker 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 Money Wise's 401(k) Specialist, Justin Leland, at 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 15:23Speaker 02

  Thanks for tuning in. We're Money Wise. I'm Sharad Waite. I'm here with Frank Lee. We're your hosts today, answering questions, getting down to business this Wednesday. Happy hump day.

• 15:33Speaker 03

  Happy hump day.

• 15:33Speaker 02

  All right, we had a listener question that came in a couple of days ago. It says, can I set up a trust without a will? Can I set up a trust without a will, Frank?

• 15:41Speaker 03

  That's a great question.

• 15:43Speaker 02

  You can.

• 15:44Speaker 03

  The answer to that is?

• 15:45Speaker 02

  You absolutely can. Now, but be aware that generally, when you, when you set up a trust, it will come with a will. And there's a reason for that. Let me explain the difference first between a will and a trust. So a trust, which sometimes we refer to a living trust, is something that you establish, is set up. It, assets are placed in the trust. And these assets that are put in the trust can bypass probate. That means you don't have to go through the courts to decide how these assets are going to be distributed because they're inside the trust, which has a named beneficiary. And that's the, one of the primary reasons people set up trusts

• 16:27Speaker 02

  is they want to have a way to pass on their assets without it needing legal.

• 16:33Speaker 03

  It's a lot quicker versus going through the whole court system.

• 16:37Speaker 02

  Through the probate can take years and there's a cost to that. You have to generally hire an attorney and it's just not, no fun. Nobody likes going through probate. You can establish a trust fairly easily. And a standalone trust can also serve very specific purposes depending on what you're looking for. Maybe you're looking to manage the property or maybe you have a child that has special needs. And you need this trust to be able to provide income for that, that child going forward. You don't need a will to create or manage a trust. It can operate entirely on its own because the trust is that its own legal entity.

• 17:21Speaker 02

  There are some advantages though to having a will because a will essentially is the, is the, is the instrument that will, that's used to ensure that your specific assets and, and, and sort of act as a safety net for any assets that are not included in the trust. And it can also appoint guardians for minor children. So these are other parts of the trust that aren't, that are different, that have a different sort of benefit to people.

• 18:03Speaker 03

  It sounds like we can use them coincide with each other. Like trust can be used for this purpose. The will can be used for, you know, X, Y, Z.

• 18:13Speaker 02

  That's right. That's right. And a will can be even handwritten. It's called a holographic will and in the state of California, you can actually have a handwritten will, which is your, you are.

• 18:31Speaker 02

  Writing down certain things that you want, certain items or assets that you want to go to somebody, right? Essentially the instructions of who's going to get the china, who's going to get the, you know, whatever things you have inside your, your house that you want, that you want to, that you want to pass on. So there are definitely some downsides to not having a will. And, and so you want to be aware that if you're going to get a trust, it's, there's, there are some services that we sometimes recommend to people if you are looking to get a will, that can save you some money and you can generally get the, you

• 19:16Speaker 02

  know, the, the basis of what you need. There are services like legal zoom and wills and trust. Is it called wills and trusts?

• 19:27Speaker 03

  I'm not sure.

• 19:29Speaker 02

  But there are a few services, which are sort of do it yourself services. It's almost like the, the TurboTax version for, for estate planning.

• 19:37Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 19:38Speaker 02

  And if you have a, an estate that is straightforward and doesn't have a lot of complexity to it, that's a, it's a, and you feel confident about your ability to follow instructions, then there's nothing wrong with going that route.

• 19:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 19:52Speaker 02

  We have a lot of really good local attorneys that are specialized in estate planning and, and have a great knowledge in, in setting these up for you, depending on what your own specific circumstances are. And that's always a great avenue to go.

• 20:08Speaker 03

  Right. I think it's, if it's not a complex trust, then I think the whole do it yourself is great for anyone, you know? Same thing when it comes to investing, but having that professional set of eyes to look over it, they can, you know, address some questions, additional questions that you may not have thought of.

• 20:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:29Speaker 03

  Same thing with us in a sense. It's like, yes, you can do it on your own, but. You know, have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? You know, what are some plans? What are some, you know, things in that? So I, it's always good to have that second pair of eyes.

• 20:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'd recommend that for anybody who's just even slightly uncertain. Go, go to an attorney because then you just kind of know you've got somebody on the other side of the desk that has, uh, has, has a stake in making sure that it's done right and can ask questions and so on. So yeah, great question. Thank you to our listeners. We love getting these messages. Keep them coming our way. Let's talk about some of the headlines here.

• 21:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:08Speaker 02

  Frank, this is really unbelievable. The last couple of days, we've seen incredible increases in the market. Yesterday and today, of course, the first two days of President Trump's new presidency. He's clearly in the driver's seat right now for the markets as yesterday, President Trump announced a $500 billion private sector investment plan into AI. And what do you think the AI companies did yesterday?

• 21:36Speaker 03

  Oh, I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say it went up?

• 21:39Speaker 02

  Way up. I mean, we saw huge bumps in the, in tech even today. I saw the NASDAQ up dramatically. And just, in just a couple of days here, we've seen big ups, upticks in all major markets. And this is again, there's a lot of, there has been some concern about what President Trump was going to do specifically in terms of tariffs. And we look at economic policies, tariffs has been something that was on the campaign trail for President Trump, who was talking about some pretty large, you know, draconian measures towards tariffs globally. And, you know, I'm fortunate, I'm thankful and fortunately President Trump has toned that down.

• 22:25Speaker 02

  He's in two days already and so far what we're hearing is maybe by February. So we've got maybe another, what, week or two before he's talking about a tariff, kind of a broad stroke tariff against China. Canada, maybe Mexico. My guess is he's also getting a lot of people screaming in his ear from different industries pleading to not do this.

• 22:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:51Speaker 02

  Don't change this. Don't, don't mess with the, with the tariffs. There, there is a, there is a general misunderstanding, I think, among the American population about who pays for a tariff.

• 23:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:02Speaker 02

  And the, the short answer is that the consumer pays for the tariff.

• 23:08Speaker 03

  Unfortunately.

• 23:08Speaker 02

  Unfortunately.

• 23:09Speaker 03

  Taxes.

• 23:10Speaker 02

  It's just a tax.

• 23:12Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 23:12Speaker 02

  A tariff is just a tax and that taxes would be on our American citizens. Obviously, yes, it would hurt China too, but it's us that are, that are paying that price. And, and it's the, it's the consumer that would have to pay that extra 20 or 25%, whatever the increase is. And that can spook markets and it has spooked markets. But right now, what we're seeing is so far, thanks to the rhetoric of President Trump, the, the, we're, we're basically seeing a two day rally, especially the AI rallies, unbelievable companies like Nvidia, Oracle, these are, these are just, you know, hitting big, big numbers today.

• 23:54Speaker 03

  All time highs. Yeah, I'm kind of bummed out about the, well, cause I was telling you off the air, I got a, a graphics card from Nvidia. Those are the old 3080s. It's like, man, I should have just waited and gotten the new 50 series, man. It's like a third of the price for the amount of GPU power compared to like a 4090. I'm like, oh.

• 24:14Speaker 02

  Which is crazy. So the basically they've, they've cut the cost by two thirds and it's this, it's just as powerful.

• 24:21Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 24:21Speaker 02

  Do you know when it's coming out? How, how far away it is? Cause maybe that'll save you. It's not as bad as you think. It's still gonna be, you know, a year or something out. I have no idea.

• 24:31Speaker 03

  I think, uh, actually no, I don't have it here, but I'm not sure when. I just know they just announced it this January.

• 24:41Speaker 02

  Well.

• 24:42Speaker 03

  I'll be keeping my eyes on that. That's for sure.

• 24:43Speaker 02

  With the money you're saving and not buying that new GPU, you can pay for your Netflix subscription.

• 24:49Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 24:51Speaker 02

  They're increasing their plan for the first time since 2022. Netflix announced yesterday that they're going to increase their plan from 15.

• 25:01Speaker 02

  Dollars and 50 cents a month to $18 a month?

• 25:04Speaker 03

  Is that the base?

• 25:05Speaker 02

  That's the standard account.

• 25:07Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 25:07Speaker 02

  With ads, if you, so the standard account with ads will rise by $1 to $8. So that must be, is it $7 for the ad account?

• 25:20Speaker 03

  I think so, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 25:22Speaker 02

  The without ads will go from $1550 to $18. This is the highest priced premium tier, which includes 4K video, will increase by $2 to $25 a month.

• 25:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 25:36Speaker 02

  But.

• 25:36Speaker 00

  Boo.

• 25:37Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 25:38Speaker 03

  Boo, exactly.

• 25:39Speaker 00

  Exactly. When they just posted, you know, a biggest turnaround with live sports.

• 25:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:47Speaker 00

  They had NFL for Christmas.

• 25:48Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 25:49Speaker 00

  I know they got wrestling just started in January. So now, of course, when the ratings go up, let's, uh.

• 25:55Speaker 03

  Let's jack up the price.

• 25:56Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 25:56Speaker 02

  And, and they announced yesterday that they had a giant increase in their subscribers. It jumped 19 million new subscribers in the last quarter of 2024. And that is the biggest jump in, in that Netflix has seen. There's now 302 million subscribers on Netflix globally, which is like, that's a crazy number.

• 26:21Speaker 03

  It definitely helped that they cracked down on shared accounts.

• 26:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:25Speaker 03

  It's like, okay, we gotta, it just added, you know, like you said, 15 more million subscribers.

• 26:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, Netflix reported on Tuesday, yesterday, its revenue increased 16% last quarter, exceeding $10 billion for the first time in its history. While operating income total 2.3 billion, a 52% on-year increase. This is, this is just crazy. It's, it's mind boggling. Netflix also announced a $15 billion stock buyback. How do you think they feel about their stock, Frank?

• 26:58Speaker 03

  Oh, pretty good. I mean, it's at an all time high right now of, what, 953?

• 27:03Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah, it jumped 13% just yesterday. The, the share price, I believe it's up again today. They've had success for, but you said, Stephen, the, they've had NFL matches as well as the Jake Paul, Mike Tyson.

• 27:17Speaker 00

  And they just, uh, they just got in bed with the WWE. So now on Mondays, it's Monday Night Raw, live only on Netflix.

• 27:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:27Speaker 00

  For you wrestling nerds like me.

• 27:28Speaker 02

  They had two Christmas NFL games, which averaged 30 million global viewers. Did you watch it on Netflix?

• 27:36Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 27:36Speaker 02

  Did it, did it, no problems like the Jake Paul fight?

• 27:39Speaker 00

  It wasn't anything like the, the Jake Paul one. No, thankfully.

• 27:43Speaker 02

  Well, they're still, they're still calling it a success because between the Mike Tyson Jake Paul boxing match in November, uh, which said they, they said it drew 108 million viewers, making it the most streamed sporting event ever.

• 27:56Speaker 00

  I believe it.

• 27:57Speaker 02

  Yeah. Uh, this is just crazy. This is just insane. So.

• 28:01Speaker 03

  So does Netflix have, how does that work, Stephen, like with the contracts for sports?

• 28:08Speaker 00

  Um, I mean, it, it's with the NFL, it's just a bidding war. You know, there's certain games like the Thursday night games, Saturday night games, Sunday night games, and they all are sprinkled all over different, um, streaming apps. And now with the, with the NFL, this was the first year the NFL and Netflix did live programming. Um, and after that, they started doing, you know, specials with, uh, like the docu-series they do. Now they're doing NFL approved ones.

• 28:39Speaker 02

  Ah.

• 28:40Speaker 00

  I mean, the big one was the wrestling, to tell you the truth. Wrestling is huge. And not only have they been with the USA channel for, you know, 40 years, but now it's a live streaming, just like the, uh, the boxing match or just like the NFL game. And it's, it's, uh, not censored.

• 28:59Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 29:00Speaker 00

  So.

• 29:01Speaker 02

  Oh, so WWE Raw, which is live every Monday night on Netflix, it's live streaming?

• 29:07Speaker 00

  Yep. And it can go as long as it wants. It could be two hours one week. It could be four hours the next Monday.

• 29:13Speaker 02

  Oh, wow.

• 29:14Speaker 00

  It is, it's, it's pretty crazy.

• 29:15Speaker 02

  It is crazy. The subscriptions were also brought up by the success of Squid Games, season two.

• 29:21Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 29:22Speaker 02

  This is the, this is the, their biggest premiere to date. That, that meaning, this is the biggest premiere they've ever had on the, on the platform is Squid Game Season Two. The, it drew 68 million views in its first week.

• 29:39Speaker 03

  Holy.

• 29:40Speaker 02

  Which was earlier this month.

• 29:42Speaker 00

  Which they announced later that week that Season Three is coming out very soon.

• 29:47Speaker 02

  I remember Netflix was this cute little company that would send you DVDs in the mail.

• 29:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 29:53Speaker 02

  Those were the days.

• 29:54Speaker 03

  Who knew, right?

• 29:55Speaker 02

  I know.

• 29:55Speaker 03

  Geez, they made the right move.

• 29:57Speaker 02

  Boy, yeah, they're doing something right there. Congratulations Netflix. Uh, you've been enjoying Netflix with that new baby of yours.

• 30:02Speaker 03

  Definitely, yeah. Waking up 2:00 AM as I got nothing else to do, it's like, alright, I need to stay awake. Coffee and Netflix.

• 30:08Speaker 02

  I didn't have that with our newborns. We didn't have any streaming.

• 30:11Speaker 03

  How was that? That must've been really tough for you.

• 30:13Speaker 02

  It was horrible.

• 30:15Speaker 02

  Alright, we're gonna take another break right now. We're Money Wise, don't go anywhere.

• 30:18Speaker 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.

• 30:33Speaker 02

  Thanks for tuning in, we're Money Wise. Frank Lee is here, I'm Sharad Waite. We've had some guests today, we're really excited about our guests on the show. Vivian is President of the Kern Asian Chamber of Commerce and Jamila Ha is the Secretary of the Kern Asian Chamber of Commerce. This is a new Chamber of Commerce here, which is just surprising to me. Welcome to the show.

• 30:57Speaker 04

  Thank you so much for having us.

• 30:59Speaker 02

  I've gotta mention Frank too. Frank, what's your involvement?

• 31:01Speaker 03

  Yes, I am the board member for the Chamber as well.

• 31:05Speaker 02

  You are all the founding board members.

• 31:07Speaker 04

  Yes, we are.

• 31:08Speaker 02

  You gotta throw that founding part in there.

• 31:11Speaker 03

  Keep forgetting about that.

• 31:12Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:13Speaker 03

  It's just, it's amazing.

• 31:14Speaker 02

  It is amazing. And my first question, and I'll ask you too, uh, for this, because I've already asked Frank. Right when he told me that this was getting, getting to go, this was starting up here in Kern County. Why did it take so long to have an Asian Chamber of Commerce? This is a, this is a pretty significant percentage of our population. Um, what took so long?

• 31:35Speaker 04

  I'm glad. You ask, I I don't actually know because I'm, um, full disclosure, I am a transplant from Southern California. Which is why I feel like I bring kind of a, you know, different set of eyes when it comes to it. I will tell you that the Asian American communities have been in Kern County for over one hundred and fifty years. Which marks a huge, I mean, it's not just a milestone, but it's, you think about the impacts, whether it's a cultural impact, whether it's an economical impact. There has been such a huge impact and when you say Asian American communities, maybe that's part of it, right? That when you say Asian American, it's not just like one Asia, it's not just one country with one culture, one cuisine, one history. I mean, we have everyone from, you know, and they're, they're just amazing, incredible, inspiring stories of resilience.

• 32:20Speaker 04

  But you have our Japanese communities, our Chinese communities, our Wujabi communities, um, our Filipino communities. Every one of these communities with an S has such a create, like an amazing story, um, that truly is meant to inspire. So to answer your question, I don't know, but I'm glad we're here.

• 32:37Speaker 03

  I'm glad you're here now.

• 32:38Speaker 05

  And to add to that, I think too, we have to give credit to a lot of our board members who have been, um, living in Kern County, um, for a very long time. And there are a lot of community members out there, um, who have tried.

• 32:51Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 32:51Speaker 05

  So it's not like we created this thing from, you know, nothing. A lot of people had a vision, a lot of people had an idea. They just at the time might not have had the support of the community, might not have had the resources immediately in their access to actually make it happen. So we give a lot of credit to, you know, people who have had this vision. And I think we're just ultimately so happy and grateful that we have this board that can kind of bring that to light and to make it happen finally, you know? You know, lay that groundwork for everybody else.

• 33:21Speaker 03

  Exactly. I mean, to, to, you know, touch on her point, a lot of our board members have, are in diverse work fields. And to make those type of connections and really make this chamber work, I think has helped us a long way. And so I think I'm very fortunate to be a part of that group and, and just try to, you know, give as much as I can to it and help out in, in any sense, but. There's been a lot of attempts, from what I've heard from previous chambers, but I think all the stars are now aligning and then we're finally taking this moment to just go with it.

• 33:52Speaker 02

  Well, this is, Chambers of Commerce serve an incredibly important role in our community. I just came back, literally Frank and I just came back from lunch today with the Bakersfield Greater Chamber of Commerce's

• 34:06Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 34:07Speaker 02

  new induction of their new president and board. And we've been members of the Chamber for as long as I can remember, since we started the company, and have seen the benefits that the Chamber can bring to a community. What is your hopes, what is your, what are sort of your goals or your hopes for the new Asian Chamber of Commerce?

• 34:27Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm glad you asked. You know, honestly, for many of us, it's a, it's a passion thing, I think. And I don't mean to take that away from anyone else who hasn't tried or, you know, any of that. But when you say Asian Chamber of Commerce and you reflect on kind of the last, especially five years, not just the full history, but especially in the past, past five years during COVID and, you know, just kind of the aftermath and actually honestly, the entirety of like just political climate and everything else, right? You really saw, it's not necessarily an understated thing and maybe I'm like kind of delving into a little bit of my own experience, but you really saw the lack of

• 35:09Speaker 05

  camaraderie, support.

• 35:10Speaker 04

  I think there was camaraderie and support, but I think fundamentally, you look at the Asian communities and how everybody got here to America, not necessarily just Kern County, but America. And so there was a lack of, I don't want to say like fundamental distrust or anything like that, like not so severe, but it's just, you know, as a community, we're not necessarily always ready to jump on, you know, the resources that are available, let's say like PPP funding or whatever it was that was accessible to other ethnicities, whether they had wheelhouses or whatever it was. And so as a Chamber, I think one of our biggest, one of our biggest blessings that we have with the current board and kind of with the support of the community is that we Serve as trusted ambassadors.

• 35:55Speaker 04

  Um, our board is very unique in that it's all different ages and all different industries and then all different ethnicities, right? And we want to serve as trusted ambassadors where let's say, um, I'm Bennett Mees. And let's say somebody from the nail salon industry or from the restaurant industry, right? These people would typically not necessarily partake in a lot of these government funded, whether it's grants or opportunities, we could serve as those trusted ambassadors. Um, because there are amazing organizations and other chambers out there that do the same. And I think that one of the things that has been, eh, not necessarily eh, a hindrance, but it just hasn't been embraced yet was taking advantage of those resources through these ambassadors and that, you know, just making it happen.

• 36:39Speaker 04

  And to that point during COVID especially, there was so much money that was um appropriated specifically for AAPI owned businesses or employees that were just untapped into. And so our hope is that we have again a phenomenal board, but some with a lot of like municipality and grant writing um magic, if you will. Uh, the hope is that we're able to bring a lot of funding here and then make something out of it. So that's kind of my take on it. I don't know.

• 37:05Speaker 05

  Yeah, and I was gonna say too, you know, in addition to that, we want to be able to provide resources so that the underserved community, whether that be um, the Asian community, but also the community at large, right? We're here to serve the entire community. And I think that goes um towards, you know, scholarships, grant funding, even just learning how to file your taxes or doing simple tasks that perhaps the underserved community just does not know where to look. Um, and the fact that we are all from different fields, I think is amazing because if one of us doesn't have an answer, someone else might. Um, and I think that's really important and I think as a chamber,

• 37:45Speaker 05

  we want to also find ways to give back to Kern County as a whole. And we have a role to play in, you know, kind of immersing and and kind of bringing the Asian community into giving back to Kern County. And I think that's really important.

• 38:01Speaker 02

  We're joined right now by Vivian Cow. She's. President of the Asian Chamber of Commerce and Jamila Ha, Secretary and Frank, you are? Board member. Board member. Board, just board member. Just a board member.

• 38:12Speaker 04

  A founding board member.

• 38:16Speaker 02

  I hear Asian Chamber of Commerce and I'm like, Asia, like Asia, that's very diverse.

• 38:24Speaker 02

  Asia's all over the world, it seems like. And so, what a unique chamber to be able to involve all of these communities that have had enormous impacts. You think of the Punjabi population. I want to point out all of these, but the Filipino population that's up, especially we have enormous population of Filipinos in Delano and the Central Valley.

• 38:53Speaker 02

  Mong population up near Fresno. We have just these incredible legacies that these, these different groups have come over the last 150 years. How is this, is there a challenge then? And it's such a diverse group, so like, how do you, how do you bring, how are you bringing everybody together, I guess?

• 39:17Speaker 04

  That's an excellent question. I will tell you, just based on the Cal Asian Chamber of Commerce and their statistics. In the state of California alone, there are over 722,000 AAPI owned businesses. And of that, they've employed 910,000 Californians, again, employed by AAPI owned businesses, with a total impact in terms of annual revenue generated of $181 billion. So when you look at impacts, like there was a significant amount of impact. So, you know, to your point, what challenges do we have? I really, I think that there is, and please feel free to chime in, both Jamila and Frank. I think there is a myriad of different things, right? I think there is a They don't, Asians by default, and I don't mean to speak on behalf of anybody else,

• 40:02Speaker 04

  but maybe particularly just my family or the people that I've affiliated with. We, there's a history of resilience where, you know, no one's coming to save us. And so, you know, it's kind of like how Bakersfield feels when we talk about Central Valley, right? Like Fresno gets all the dibs and whatever's left over, we get, right? So there's kind of that mentality where it's like, look, no one's coming to save us. If there was funding out there, I don't know what, you know, strings are attached. And so we can do it on our own and, and what we have made, it's, you know, we've made it on our own. And so to be able to trust another person is difficult for some people. And I think that's where we come in, right? That's that trusted ambassadorship. That's the, you know, we, we hope to make an impact slow and steady, but make a true impact, whether it's in, you know, us integrating through the community, being able to share our cultural heritage

• 40:47Speaker 04

  through our events, whatever it is. But I think that kind of stuff takes time. And then also, um, I think, you know,

• 40:55Speaker 04

  as a community, I think we just like to see things before we invest our time and energy and talents and treasures. And so I think that's where part of it has been. Um, there hasn't been a model just yet specific for our AAPI communities. And so part of the challenge for us, not necessarily challenge, challenge accepted, but one of the things that we really want to accomplish is to have a better idea of what Kern County,

• 41:19Speaker 04

  in terms of numbers and EDC, and we're working with the county and the city and stuff. How many Asian owned businesses are there? And of those Asian owned businesses, how many are Korean? And how many are Japanese? And how many are Filipino? And what can we do to support each of these communities? Cause they're not the same. What a Vietnamese restaurant owner needs is not the same thing as what a Punjabi restaurant owner needs. And I think being able to identify that through, you know, whether it's,

• 41:42Speaker 04

  voluntary surveys or whatever it is, right? We really have to have a better idea of that before we can really embark on what it is that we want to do. And so as a board, we have embarked on a few strategy, strategic meetings to see what our goals are. And I think, you know, we've identified four main things in terms of for ourself that we want to accomplish as a chamber and then for our members. One of the perks, like why would you want to join, you know, when you have so many other choices out there? And so I think- Again, that identity and that just kind of feeling our, you know, passion project is one thing, but in terms of actual resources that are dedicated to API and not just API business, but anything that has to do with our community at large, I think we're all about, but the visibility, the networking, all of that stuff. And so I'm going to defer to my, my amazing board members here to kind of.

• 42:27Speaker 05

  And I think to go off of what Vivian said, there is like this underlying ingrained trait of resilience. And that also comes from, and I won't say all because everybody's life path and, and life history is different, but a lot of our parents, you know, immigrated here and so they had to figure it out on their own. So there's a sense of bond that the Asian community, whether you are Filipino, Vietnamese, whatever ethnicity you are within the Asian American community, there is a sense of bond of togetherness because we, we understand. We understand what that looks like. We understand what that means. And we

• 43:06Speaker 05

  understand that whatever we do from here on out, we have to put in that hard work, put in that grind and lay the foundation for, you know, the future years to come. And so I think that to answer your question, that's how we really kind of get everybody, not, not to buy in, but really to be motivated to join what we've created is really that understanding that we have to work hard and we can't do it without you.

• 43:35Speaker 02

  And, and you can't do it without money, which is a challenge for nonprofits. So starting up the Asian Chamber of Commerce has to be a challenge financially. How do you support? How, how, how are you supporting yourselves? And, and, and, and how, how is it working out financially? Or how are you going to make it work out financially?

• 43:54Speaker 04

  Funny, you should ask. Well, two parts. The first is that we have been completely embraced by the community. I can't tell you how much it warms our heart. Actually, it's almost overwhelming in the most positive way possible.

• 44:05Speaker 02

  By business owners supporting.

• 44:07Speaker 04

  Business owners. I mean, you're talking municipalities, our elects.

• 44:10Speaker 05

  Other organizations.

• 44:12Speaker 04

  When we had our launch, we had, it was the hottest day, like under the sun. We live in Bakersfield. It was the hottest day. All up through sweating.

• 44:18Speaker 05

  Our sound system melted that day.

• 44:20Speaker 04

  No, like literally physically melted. Sorry, Kwan, we'll replace that when we have more time. But no, with all that said, there were a hundred and fifty people that stood with us and they just celebrated with us. And I mean, it was like every media outlet, everybody was just there. I mean, you're talking nonprofits, big businesses, small mom and pops, everybody was there. And so just that alone gives us the adrenaline to continue. But in terms of the actual, like, how are we funded? Two primary components, I'm going to defer to Jamila for the second one. But in terms of membership, Frank is actually chair of our membership. Frank! I know, look at that.

• 44:52Speaker 05

  You are not just a board member.

• 44:54Speaker 04

  He's not just a board member. And so it's been really, really fascinating and just so honestly gratifying to have so many organizations preemptively just be like, "Hey, how can I help you? Can I be a legacy member? Can I help you start a new scholarship? How can I get involved? Do you have extra board positions, etc.?" So that part, our cup is full. I mean, if we've just impacted one person, which Frank, I'm sure, has a story to share about the Indonesian family. But in terms of how else we stay funded, Jamila, the stage is yours, my friend.

• 45:24Speaker 05

  I mean, perfect timing. We're having an event tomorrow. It's our inaugural event. It's the Lunar New Year Celebration. And events like these that we plan on, you know, putting on every year and doing a couple of different events every year, we are overwhelmed with the amount of support that businesses and organizations have shown us through their sponsorship, whether that be financial sponsorship or in-kind donations, raffle prizes. We have had everybody, it feels like, show up and say, "Hey, how can I help? What can I give you? What can I donate to you?" It's not a secret, we're a nonprofit, you know, we had to start from somewhere.

• 46:04Speaker 05

  And I'm sure all of us as board members can confirm that we've all kind of put in our own donations here and there to get us going. But the amount of support financially we've gotten, just even from sponsorships at this Lunar New Year Celebration, has been amazing and I have no doubt it's going to be a great event tomorrow. It's sold out, so if anybody wants tickets, sorry.

• 46:28Speaker 04

  Next year.

• 46:29Speaker 05

  Yeah, next year.

• 46:29Speaker 02

  What people can do though is they can follow the Kern Asian Chamber.

• 46:33Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 46:34Speaker 02

  It's kernasianchamber.com and because there will be more events coming up in the future. But that's great news that the event Lunar New Year Celebration, which is tomorrow at the Rice Bowl, is sold out. That's really cool.

• 46:46Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 46:46Speaker 02

  So, membership, Franks, what's that like? What's, what's, what's membership involved? How do people do it?

• 46:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, they can, again, access our website at kernasianchamber.com for more information about the different tiers of membership. If they have any other questions or, you know, things they want to ask us, they can email us as well. I think there's links in the website. But as far as individual memberships, I believe, like pricing, all of the pricing is listed on the, on the website, and then they can follow us on social media for more events or resources that they want to look into.

• 47:25Speaker 05

  And we do accept individuals who want to be members. You don't have to be a corporation. You don't have to be a business. You can be a single person or even running your own business yourself. So, you know, a lot of times we associate the term chamber with a business, but you don't have to have one, and you don't have to be one. So, you know, we're happy to accept and we're happy to offer resources and tools.

• 47:48Speaker 02

  You get that tax deduction for that donation regardless, right?

• 47:52Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 47:53Speaker 02

  So, if you want to contribute, you want to find out more, go to kernasianchamber.com. Like you said, give a donation, join a membership. You don't have to be a business owner. It's fantastic. This is, this is so great. This is, I love things that happen in our community that make us feel like those larger communities that are around us. Like LA has had an Asian Chamber of Commerce for probably decades, right? It's about time we have this here.

• 48:19Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 48:19Speaker 02

  And, and that we, we all benefit economically from this. And rising tide lifts all boats. We wish you all the best of luck.

• 48:27Speaker 05

  Thank you.

• 48:28Speaker 02

  Thanks so much for coming on the show. Again, we want to thank Vivian, Vivian Cow, she's president, and Jamila Ha, she's secretary of the Kern Asian Chamber of Commerce, taking your own personal time. Time to come into the show and promote this. Keep up the good work. Keep us informed and we're all for it. Thank you.

• 48:46Speaker 04

  Thank you so much.

• 48:47Speaker 02

  Want to thank all of our listeners for tuning in. If you missed any of these shows, good news, you can go back to wherever you listen to your podcasts and you can find us there commercial free. Plus, you can go to moneywiseguys.com, find out more about us there. In the meantime, remember these three things. Be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.

• 49:08Speaker 01

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