12/3/24 HolidayLights at CALM: The Tech Evolution and Lessons for Retirement Planning

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Tuesday, December 3rd 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: Steve Sanders & Josh Barnett - Holiday Lights at CALM website: https://calmholidaylights.org/

• 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 02

  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. Welcome to the Money Wise Show. We are live from the padded radio room off Stockdale Highway. Like I said, we are live 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. That's 661-396-1000. And today I'm with... Sammy Abiao, your lead host, and... Dustin Weaver. Dustin, our first show together. This is our first show together. I was gonna ask. That's our first show together, Stephen. Oh, I didn't bring the champagne or anything. Yeah, shame on you.

• 1:24Speaker 00

  And we're in the holidays, too, and you forget the champagne. Let me see what I can find. Yeah, we've probably got some sparkling apple cider or something in the kitchen and around somewhere. Welcome to the show. It's good to be here. Yeah, we have a guest come in today, Steve Sanders. Couple. Couple of them with Mr. Barnett. Steve Sanders works for the school district. The Kern County Superintendent of Schools. He's also a Rotarian with me in the Downtown Rotary Club. Oh, very good.

• 1:55Speaker 03

  And he also is a board member at Calm.

• 1:58Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 1:58Speaker 03

  And that's the reason he's here today. So we're going to talk about the lights at Calm, which is one of our highlights in this community. So I'm very excited to have him today to talk about.

• 2:07Speaker 04

  Yeah, that'll be great.

• 2:08Speaker 03

  Some other events that are coming up in the month of December for them as well. So let's start with a little market update, see what's going on. I think yesterday the market closed with NASDAQ and S and P at record territory. I think that carried into today.

• 2:26Speaker 04

  Yeah, S and P was up a little bit, up just a couple of points here, up 0.05%. The Russell 2000, which is small companies, ended down a little bit by 0.73%. NASDAQ, which has a bent towards tech, is up 0.4. So about 77 points there.

• 2:43Speaker 03

  That's cool. That's cool. Now, we have a question from a listener that talks about the.

• 2:52Speaker 04

  The S and P?

• 2:52Speaker 03

  S and P. So I wanted to start with that, Dustin, since I have you on today because you're a financial advisor. We did not want to address some of these questions yesterday because we wanted a.

• 3:02Speaker 04

  A real advisor.

• 3:03Speaker 03

  A real advisor.

• 3:04Speaker 04

  Yeah, I saw that.

• 3:04Speaker 03

  Not a fake one like me.

• 3:06Speaker 04

  I saw that.

• 3:06Speaker 03

  Somebody that's licensed.

• 3:07Speaker 04

  Yep. It says, what is the return of the S and P index? And most likely what they're referring to is the S and P 500, which a good place to start is to go back to the basics and say, well, what is that? What exactly is the S and P 500? So that is a stock index that follows 500 of the largest companies in the United States. So what do they mean by largest? Well, to get into that right now, today you have to be worth at least $18 billion. So big companies, right?

• 3:42Speaker 00

  And you said billion with a B.

• 3:43Speaker 04

  With a B.

• 3:44Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 3:44Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 3:45Speaker 03

  Yeah. Yes, even with the B. I don't think we have one in Bakersfield that qualifies for that. I don't know if some of the oil companies might be. I don't know.

• 3:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, some of them have offices here like Chevron, right?

• 4:00Speaker 03

  That's right. Berry Petroleum used to be, wasn't it? And now they moved out of state. I think they went to Colorado, but I think they used to be.

• 4:07Speaker 04

  They do have a local office.

• 4:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 4:09Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 4:09Speaker 03

  The headquarters moved.

• 4:12Speaker 04

  Yeah, so when they're asking about returns here, really that can mean a lot of different things, you know, the return over what time period, you know, because the S and P has been around since 1957, so, you know, 67 years now. And so what's most common for people to look at is recent, like, you know, what has it done year to date? What has it done over the last one year, three years, five years, for example? So over the last 11 or so months, right? So year to date, it's up 26.78%. If you go back and include December of last year, it's up 31.6. So a pretty healthy return the last year, you know? And then

• 4:56Speaker 03

  We still have one month in the year, though.

• 4:57Speaker 04

  Right.

• 4:58Speaker 03

  To your point earlier, you said we're at 20, what, 27% year to date?

• 5:02Speaker 04

  Yeah, so from January to

• 5:04Speaker 03

  November.

• 5:04Speaker 04

  Now, right, through yesterday, it's up 26.78%. And then the one-year return is 31.6. So the difference between those two is, including December of last year, which was a good, good month.

• 5:17Speaker 03

  I see.

• 5:18Speaker 04

  But for longer-term perspective, you know, go over, over the last five years, it's at 14.2. The 10-year number is 11.3, 11.33.

• 5:27Speaker 03

  So it's, it's, it's in the double digits return, which is great, I think, in my opinion, compared to some of the other things that you can be in. I have people that are friends that are in real estate, or they invest in real estate, and the return is, the cap rate right now in certain properties is, has lost 4%. I mean, office buildings are at 7%, according to some of the friends I know. So it's, compared to others, it's, it's done well.

• 5:54Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, it certainly has. And that, I think, a lot of people keep turning to it because, and why that's looked at often as like the metric or the, the standard that you're trained to compare your investments to is, over time, it's, it's produced a lot.

• 6:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:09Speaker 04

  Right? And the large companies tend to produce well over time. You know, like for comparison, you can look at the Russell 2000, which we don't hear about that one as much. And if you asked, well, what is that? It's the 2,000 smaller companies that are still listed, but not quite as large.

• 6:27Speaker 03

  I see.

• 6:27Speaker 04

  So, you know, the average size is 4 billion in that index. So less than that $18 billion minimum to even get into the, the S and P 500, right?

• 6:37Speaker 03

  Yeah. That's cool. That's cool. We have another listener question if we can jump onto that too, Dustin, since we're on questions. How can someone close to retirement know if they should put off taking income by using a 401k or similar plan? Love the show and great to hear you guys live.

• 6:59Speaker 04

  No, that's a great question. So why would they put off taking income? The way that reads, I hear that as should I contribute while I'm in the years close to retirement? Is that how you'd read that?

• 7:12Speaker 03

  That's how I read it too.

• 7:14Speaker 04

  Yeah, obviously if the budget allows for it, you gotta always start there, right? You've got money in, money out. And if there's enough coming in to justify sending some dollars aside, you know, most people I've talked to are very glad that they've saved more.

• 7:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, and for me, because again, I'm not a financial advisor, but I'm not close to retirement, but I always put money away for retirement. To me, what comes to mind is what type of lifestyle I want in my retirement years. And then sit down with someone like you who's licensed, and you can create a plan for me that with an idea in mind, hopefully I can achieve that.

• 7:51Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 7:51Speaker 03

  Is that how?

• 7:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, no, absolutely. I think that you've got a good handle on it, you know, as you're thinking forward and you say, okay, well, what might my income in retirement look like? I think sitting down and penciling it out, you know, the numbers do matter, right? And then having a conversation about taxes and

• 8:09Speaker 03

  Leverage that you have, right?

• 8:10Speaker 04

  Yeah. How much access to this do I need over what timeframe? And there's different schools of thought on how fast to draw the money down. So that's, you know, there's at least three different methods that I follow personally, but you talk to 10 advisors, you're gonna get 10 different opinions.

• 8:25Speaker 03

  That's right. That's true. You talk to 10 different bankers, you'll have 10 different

• 8:31Speaker 04

  Right.

• 8:31Speaker 03

  answers as well. Like I think in every industry.

• 8:36Speaker 03

  Keep the questions coming. We have another question.

• 8:40Speaker 03

  While you are speaking numbers, how is crude oil year to date? Go Money Wise, can't wait for you guys to be at World Wors next year. We missed the burgers and shakes. Oil Dell Trash. Yes. Oil Dell Trash.

• 8:53Speaker 04

  I'm a long time listener. I love this guy.

• 8:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, and we can't wait to be at the World Wors as well. Construction, just a little quick update, construction is going well. We are expected to move in the end of March, early April. With the restaurant, with a soft opening for the restaurant around that same time. So we're super, super excited as a company, as individuals working for the company, but also as just Bakersfield folks that want to go downtown and get back into a building or fixture in this community. That's been closed for a couple of years for construction purposes, but we can't wait. And we cannot wait to show it to our community when it's all said and done and open for business. We're super excited.

• 9:33Speaker 04

  Definitely. So to answer their question, crude oil is up about 2.75%. So nice pop up today.

• 9:40Speaker 03

  Well, you know, it's interesting. A lot of stuff. I listened to the news this morning with my with my son before I dropped him off to school. The biggest news for me from going from, coming from overseas is South Korea declaring martial law. The president last night at 10:30 decided to declare martial law without telling his inner circle, which caught a lot of people by surprise, drove stocks a little bit down in Southeast Asia, and caught a lot of the people that are friends with South Korea off guard. He eventually lifted it. I just read that. And why did he do that? Why did he do it in that timeframe? A lot of people are still asking those questions and there are not a lot of answers.

• 10:23Speaker 03

  So there's talk about some people that are supporting North Korea, that he wanted to flush out and this and that, but truly it was like a for a democracy in that part of the world, a true democracy. It was a big shock that kind of like shook the market a little bit. Not just in Asia, but eventually in Europe and a little bit here in America. But eventually we, you know, he, I don't know, he caught up to himself and decided to lift it, which is great. Great news.

• 10:53Speaker 03

  So what else in the news today, Dustin, before we get ready for Stephen Sanders and his guest?

• 11:02Speaker 03

  The market, market is doing well. Locally, we talked a lot about yesterday about just budgeting about for Christmas and buying. And so we had a lot of good questions. If you're listening, keep those questions coming. We have a financial advisor that's licensed today that can answer some of these questions. If it's a banking question, I'll be more than happy to jump in and help with that. So.

• 11:28Speaker 04

  You know, I think someone had a question yesterday that you guys didn't get to. We could look at that.

• 11:33Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:33Speaker 04

  It says, how can individual investors protect themselves from unknowingly being involved in schemes, especially when working with major firms that they trust? I think that last word there, trust, is really the first thing that came to mind for me is trust, but verify.

• 11:51Speaker 03

  Yes, I agree. I can't agree more. I think your due diligence as an investor.

• 11:56Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 11:57Speaker 03

  Regardless of what you're investing into, right? You want to do your due diligence.

• 12:02Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 12:03Speaker 03

  There's, there's, there's, there are people out there that are crooks. I mean, unfortunately.

• 12:08Speaker 04

  Right.

• 12:09Speaker 03

  And they exist, again, in every industry. So you want to be careful. I mean, I've, I've experienced fraud with an escrow company once, my brother and I, and a group of investors. And the lady that owned the escrow company, over the weekend, she flew to Mexico.

• 12:29Speaker 04

  She took the money and ran, or what?

• 12:31Speaker 03

  Yeah, with a multimillion dollar with her. And eventually, you know, we sued the escrow company and the insurance company, but we did not get everything back. And the reputation with investors, because we were doing business with other investors in real estate, it took a hit. And, and that's not, that's not good. So do your due diligence, always, you know, verify. Make sure that you're on top of things.

• 12:59Speaker 04

  One of the things that you can verify when working with different advisors that are bringing up different investment options, there are a couple of different sources online, BrokerCheck, and the other is an IAPD check that you could look at the background history of the advisors you're working with. I mean, it's all there if they're licensed.

• 13:15Speaker 03

  Public info.

• 13:16Speaker 04

  See the public history, yep. How many years of experience, what type of firms they've been with.

• 13:21Speaker 03

  So what are those two?

• 13:23Speaker 04

  Yeah, so BrokerCheck is for anybody that's what's considered a registered representative.

• 13:28Speaker 03

  And you can verify their license, if it's current, if it's not current, if it's suspended.

• 13:32Speaker 04

  That's correct.

• 13:33Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 13:33Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 13:34Speaker 03

  Okay. Yeah, cool. That's great. That's great. Hopefully, we answered that that question. We're at our first break. Stephen will take a break and we'll hopefully we'll be ready for Stephen Sanders when he shows up.

• 13:44Speaker 00

  Have you been putting off your finances? Seize the day. Call the Money Wise office at 661-847-1000, or email [email protected] for more information on how our financial advisors can help your financial situation.

• 14:12Speaker 03

  One of my favorite singers. Unfortunately, we can't let it explicit for radio.

• 14:17Speaker 04

  It's a radio edit.

• 14:18Speaker 03

  That's awesome.

• 14:19Speaker 04

  I prepped for it.

• 14:21Speaker 03

  Yeah, this is awesome.

• 14:22Speaker 04

  But I will, I was not ready for the dancing I saw.

• 14:25Speaker 03

  Oh, the moves.

• 14:26Speaker 04

  The moves. He's throwing us under the.

• 14:28Speaker 03

  Oh, you brought back memories with this song, man. The moves came out.

• 14:31Speaker 04

  Video is coming next year, so.

• 14:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't wait. Can't wait. Can't wait for people to see that. We're back. We're back with the Money Wise Guys. I'm Sammy Abiyawu with Dustin Weaver here at the padded room on Stockdale Highway. Dustin, since we have you on today.

• 14:47Speaker 04

  Yes, sir.

• 14:48Speaker 03

  Yesterday, we started the conversation about the things to do for planning purposes at year end from a financial planning standpoint. And we started talking about things, Debbie and I. However, we did not want to dive into things that we're not licensed to talk about.

• 15:03Speaker 04

  Let's look at it.

• 15:04Speaker 03

  So let's talk about this. So 2024 year-end financial planning checklist. We started talking about required minimum distribution, AKA RMDs in our industry.

• 15:13Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 15:15Speaker 03

  Talk to us a little bit more about that. What are RMDs?

• 15:18Speaker 04

  So an RMD, as you just called it, required minimum distribution is just that. It's a minimum distribution that's required to be taken out. Yeah, but from what? From all tax-deferred retirement plans.

• 15:32Speaker 03

  So it's like your 401K that you've been putting money into?

• 15:35Speaker 04

  That is one, absolutely. So 401K, a 403B for our schoolteacher and nursing friends out there.

• 15:41Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 15:42Speaker 04

  A 457 deferred comp plan, right? So if you work for the state and have a 457 deferred comp plan, that's all in that same category.

• 15:51Speaker 03

  What age does do the RMD start?

• 15:53Speaker 04

  So it's changed a lot over the years. It used to be 70 and a half. And the Secure Act bumped it up to age 72. And then the Secure Act 2.0 bumped it again. So now it's 73.

• 16:05Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 16:06Speaker 04

  So 73.

• 16:07Speaker 03

  So the required, when we say required minimum, that means, is there like a number that's pre-calculated for you?

• 16:14Speaker 04

  Yes. And so how they look at the calculation, and when I say they, it's the custodian where you, where your account is held, will look at your balance on December 31st for the previous year.

• 16:26Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 16:26Speaker 04

  And then they divide that by a certain number that's put out by the IRS. And that number changes every year.

• 16:33Speaker 03

  I see.

• 16:34Speaker 04

  So it's a little under 4% if you wanted to put a number to it. So for example, if you had $100,000, it'd be, you know, around $3600, $3700 that you'd have to pull out for that required minimum, beginning at age 73. But let's say you're age 90, well, you gotta pull a lot more money out.

• 16:52Speaker 03

  I see.

• 16:52Speaker 04

  Because really what they're doing is they're saying, hey, how many more years are you going to be around to draw down on this account? That's really what they're trying to estimate.

• 16:58Speaker 03

  So they deferred the taxes? And you pay taxes, I'm gonna presume. That's why you have these RMDs.

• 17:04Speaker 04

  That's right. And that's why.

• 17:06Speaker 03

  They're recouping that deferred tax that you've been putting away for, since when you were working?

• 17:11Speaker 04

  Yeah. Another way to say it, they say, hey, you've deferred the taxes for a while. We've let you do that. Now it's time to pay in full Sam.

• 17:18Speaker 03

  So let's say somebody passes and they have not met that RMD. What happens to that money?

• 17:25Speaker 04

  So it depends on if it's a spouse or a non-spouse, then in here it's the money.

• 17:29Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 17:29Speaker 04

  So a spouse can take it over as if it's their own IRA, their own retirement plan and treat it. You know, now they fall under the rules of what, based on their age? So if they had an RMD, they'd have one as well. But if they're younger, they can defer it until that later date. But if it's a non spouse, let's say you inherited a retirement account from someone like a parent. The rule now for someone that passed after the end of 2019, which obviously we're in 2024, so if somebody passed now, that's under the new rule. You have 10 years to pull the money out and pay all the taxes.

• 18:05Speaker 03

  I see.

• 18:05Speaker 04

  So.

• 18:07Speaker 03

  I see. Cool. Some other things that that came up is Roth IRA conversions.

• 18:15Speaker 04

  Yeah. Have you heard of that before?

• 18:16Speaker 03

  No, I mean, I've heard it, but I don't know.

• 18:19Speaker 04

  So if there's dollars that are in a tax-deferred retirement, those that we just talked about have these RMDs, right? You can move some of that money into a Roth account as long as you realize the taxes on it now. So it's like, using that same example, say you had 100 grand in a traditional IRA, and you wanted to convert part of that into a Roth, let's say $10,000, right? You pay the taxes on the $10,000 and you can put that money into the Roth through this Roth conversion process. And it is complicated. You definitely want to work with someone that knows what they're doing and a custodian that knows what they're doing as well. So that's something we help with here at MoneyWise, obviously.

• 19:01Speaker 04

  But I would say not all advisors are very comfortable with it.

• 19:06Speaker 03

  529 contributions, something else that that showed up in this article.

• 19:11Speaker 04

  Yeah, so a 529 plan is specifically for college education. So this is for either a child or a grandchild. You can set aside some dollars into this plan. And as long as those dollars go towards higher education expenses, any growth that you had in the account between now and when the money is spent actually becomes tax-free. So example, I take five grand today for a one-year-old, and it grows to $10,000, right? By the time they go to college, as an example. That $10,000 they can spend completely tax-free.

• 19:49Speaker 03

  On their college education.

• 19:50Speaker 04

  On higher education-related expenses. So yes, college is one of the qualifications, but.

• 19:56Speaker 04

  You know, trade schools, you can use it on even like the computer or laptop while you're going to school. It's pretty generous, the amount of things that you can spend it on. And in recent years, there's been some exclusions as well for private school to an extent. There's a limit on it, but private school and either elementary or high school can actually have some benefits from the 529 plan, too.

• 20:21Speaker 03

  Cool.

• 20:22Speaker 04

  A lot of moving parts with this stuff.

• 20:23Speaker 03

  Yeah, what other, you know, year end tax plan or just financial planning that that comes to mind, Dustin?

• 20:31Speaker 04

  I always recommend that people take a look at their beneficiary designations and make sure that's up to date. That's definitely something to review at least annually. Whether it was somebody passed away or there was a separation or divorce kind of situation. You know, that's life in 2024, right? Circumstances change and you want to review and make sure your beneficiaries are up to date. So that's always on the list.

• 20:54Speaker 03

  Yeah, I talked briefly about this yesterday because we experienced something here at Money Wise where one of our clients passed and he never changed his beneficiary. And he had gone through a divorce, but he never changed that. So his former wife is the one that ended up as the beneficiary of his. Yeah, I've seen that happen. Yep, so, so yes, definitely take, take the time to review your documents, your trust documents. If you have a CPA, sit down with your CPA. Tax plan, now you still have, you know, almost a month in the 2024, especially if you're a business owner. Take advantage of some, maybe some depreciation and some tax planning with your CPA like I stated.

• 21:36Speaker 03

  Estate planning for married couples, gifts, reallocate assets, things of that nature. More importantly for me, I'm not a financial advisor. Sit down with a financial advisor that's licensed, that you trust, like we stated earlier, and have them look at your global or big financial picture.

• 21:57Speaker 04

  Look at the big picture for you.

• 21:58Speaker 03

  So they can, so they can give you some ideas and some, some, some feedback that could help you, not just in 2025, but for years to come.

• 22:06Speaker 04

  That's right. That's good advice.

• 22:08Speaker 03

  That's, that's why financial planners are, like you, you're a certified financial planner.

• 22:13Speaker 04

  Right.

• 22:14Speaker 03

  Right? You're not just a financial advisor. You have that designation, which is a little bit more than just a regular financial advisor.

• 22:22Speaker 04

  There is a lot of education that goes behind it, certainly. Yeah. And a, and a difficult test at the end, but.

• 22:29Speaker 03

  That's what makes you smart, Dustin.

• 22:31Speaker 04

  Oh, stop.

• 22:32Speaker 03

  And I trust you.

• 22:33Speaker 04

  Well, thank you.

• 22:34Speaker 03

  With all these great comments to Dustin, because I can see his head getting bigger and bigger, it's not going to fit the room.

• 22:39Speaker 04

  Help Stephen.

• 22:40Speaker 03

  Yeah, those headphones are not fitting him anymore. We're going to take a, a quick break. When we come back, we'll have Steve Sanders.

• 22:47Speaker 00

  If you're a business owner who provides a retirement plan for your employees, contact Money Wise Wealth Management to see if you're maximizing your options and minimizing your liabilities. Money Wise 401K plans are customized to you and your company's needs. 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 23:21Speaker 03

  We're back. Money Wise Show. Here in the padded room on Stockton Highway, Sammy Abiyawi and Dustin Weaver.

• 23:28Speaker 04

  That guy's got a great voice. Sorry.

• 23:31Speaker 03

  Yes, yes. Stephen, who's that?

• 23:34Speaker 00

  This would be G Money, Gero Ellis.

• 23:36Speaker 04

  Mr. Gero.

• 23:37Speaker 03

  Mr. Gero. Mr. Gero Ellis.

• 23:41Speaker 00

  And every time I play this, he gets a, I believe, a sit and a half.

• 23:45Speaker 03

  Is that right? Can you put it in autoplay?

• 23:49Speaker 00

  I try, every year.

• 23:51Speaker 03

  We're joined here in the padded room by Stephen Sanders and Josh Barnett. Stephen, friend of ours, friend of the show. And I belong to the same Rotary Club.

• 24:02Speaker 05

  That's right.

• 24:03Speaker 03

  And also, you have a primary job besides just being on the Board of Calm.

• 24:07Speaker 05

  Yeah, I do. I'm the Chief of Staff at the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. And one of my duties is to get to work with Calm.

• 24:14Speaker 03

  That's awesome. And I remember I attended one of your classes where you trained us at the Housing Authority Foundation on basically serving as a board member. And the responsibilities that that carries here in the state of California, which was an eye opener for me. I took that teaching, that class, and I went on to talk about it to multiple people. Friends, family, members that are on boards, but they really did not have a clue of the responsibility they carried.

• 24:48Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's definitely an important, it's the most important job in a nonprofit. And yeah, I remember that, so.

• 24:56Speaker 03

  So, Calm, how long have you served as a board member at Calm?

• 25:00Speaker 05

  So I've been, the Superintendent of Schools took over Calm in 1995. And then probably the last 20 years I've been involved with Calm.

• 25:09Speaker 03

  Cool.

• 25:10Speaker 05

  Through my job, and so it's been an amazing ride.

• 25:14Speaker 03

  It has. For me, I love, I love what you guys do, especially during the holidays. And today, we're joined by Josh Barnett, right?

• 25:23Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 25:23Speaker 03

  So Josh, what do you do for Calm? I hear you're the man.

• 25:27Speaker 06

  So we help produce holiday lights.

• 25:29Speaker 03

  So you put them together?

• 25:31Speaker 06

  Yep. We're actually starting now for next year. So it takes all year to design.

• 25:36Speaker 00

  I believe it. How many lights is there total?

• 25:39Speaker 06

  More than 3 million.

• 25:41Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 25:41Speaker 05

  That's a PG&E bill right there.

• 25:44Speaker 03

  Yeah, it is. It is. But hey, I'll tell you what, man. When I go out there with my kid and it's becoming a tradition for us. It's amazing.

• 25:53Speaker 00

  Same here. My son's been going for eight, nine years. And I remember when he would fit in the little train at the top of the hill and now he's bigger than me. So.

• 26:02Speaker 03

  Yeah. And hot chocolates at the entrance.

• 26:04Speaker 00

  It's a staple.

• 26:05Speaker 03

  It's, it is. It is. And even during COVID, we had drive through.

• 26:09Speaker 05

  Yeah, we transitioned to the drive through and we did that three years. Now we're back inside the zoo. But like Steven was saying, it's a family tradition. That's one of the cool things is, you know, people that came as kids are now bringing their kids. And we've had a lot of weddings and engagement, you know, proposals and lots of things that have happened at Calm. So yeah, we have.

• 26:31Speaker 00

  How many people you think come through each year?

• 26:34Speaker 05

  Well, last year was a record year. We had 75,000 people that came through during the 37 nights that we were open. So we hope to beat that this year.

• 26:42Speaker 03

  Do you have, do you have an idea that we have people come in, not just from Bickersfield, but surrounding area?

• 26:47Speaker 05

  Definitely. We hear, you know, we, we hear people come from all over. We were recognized as one of the top 10 light shows in the country by USA Today and one of the top 10 light shows in the Western US by LA Times. So that brought a lot of people from, you know, Southern California, from Lancaster and Antelope Valley and Fresno and Hanford and all over.

• 27:09Speaker 03

  75,000 people. That's quite a number.

• 27:12Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's great.

• 27:13Speaker 03

  You're, you're trying to beat that this year?

• 27:14Speaker 05

  Definitely.

• 27:15Speaker 03

  Any, any special stuff going on this year that, that we should tell the listeners about so we can get them out?

• 27:20Speaker 05

  Yeah, definitely. Well, Josh has done an amazing job, him and his crew, creating, you know, new displays. So we always have things that are new and, and in different locations. And so there's lots of surprises there. We're doing a wreath making.

• 27:37Speaker 05

  Event this Sunday, actually, in our, we built a wedding venue out at Calm, or a wedding and event venue called The Willows. And so that event will happen, people can make a wreath, visit the lights, and then pick up their wreath on the way out. We're selling Christmas trees, we're doing a New Year's Eve family party with Mentoburu, a legendary band here in Bakersfield that's always supported Calm, so.

• 28:05Speaker 03

  That's great.

• 28:06Speaker 05

  Try to add all kinds of new things.

• 28:08Speaker 03

  Yeah, I'm excited for the workshop, so let's talk about that. What's, what does that entail?

• 28:12Speaker 05

  Yeah, so it's a separate event, so I believe it's $98 a ticket, but people will get entrance to Holiday Lights, they'll make a wreath, and it's a partnership with House of Flowers. They'll teach folks how to do that, and then they'll go enjoy the lights, and then come back and pick up their wreath on the way out, so.

• 28:29Speaker 03

  Is this a wreath that's like?

• 28:31Speaker 05

  Like a Christmas wreath, like the front, you know, that you would hang on your front door.

• 28:34Speaker 03

  Like real, real plants?

• 28:35Speaker 05

  Absolutely.

• 28:36Speaker 03

  Oh, that's awesome.

• 28:36Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah.

• 28:37Speaker 03

  That's awesome, that smell.

• 28:38Speaker 05

  Yeah, exactly.

• 28:39Speaker 03

  That smell, man, yeah.

• 28:41Speaker 04

  And House of Flowers, great, wonderful, local flower shop there, too.

• 28:45Speaker 05

  Yeah, they've been partnering with, with us on The Willows, and so, yeah. So just lots of events like that.

• 28:51Speaker 03

  Well, Josh, how long have you been with Calm?

• 28:53Speaker 06

  So, since Holiday Lights began 22 years ago.

• 28:57Speaker 03

  Wow, and you've been the guy putting this thing together for 22 years?

• 29:00Speaker 06

  And it's flown by, it really has.

• 29:02Speaker 03

  So you've been the guy behind the curtains that I'm glad to meet today, because it's amazing, like every year.

• 29:09Speaker 04

  It really is amazing.

• 29:09Speaker 03

  Yeah, it is.

• 29:10Speaker 04

  I'm curious, how old were you when you realized you had this creative knack or interest in this, when it really, where did it come from?

• 29:17Speaker 06

  I loved Christmas lights just as a kid. I used to ask for Christmas lights from Santa when I was seven, eight. I loved to string up the lights on my Nana's house. She lived in Kern City, so I would love to decorate her house, and that eventually grew to my parents' house, which eventually grew out to Steyer's RV, which then jumped over to Calm.

• 29:35Speaker 04

  Oh, that is so neat. That's great. Has the technology changed much over the 22 years?

• 29:40Speaker 06

  Every day it changes.

• 29:41Speaker 04

  Really?

• 29:41Speaker 06

  So, from incandescent lights to LED, the way we animate the displays now, the techniques for applying the lights, even the way we build our displays has changed. So, we love the growth. We're 3D printing, we're doing CNC plasma cutting, so we're kind of enhancing everything we do with that new technology.

• 29:59Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 29:59Speaker 03

  How many people do you have on the crew, just for the light displays and the buildup and stuff?

• 30:04Speaker 06

  So, we'll bring in about 15 or 20 people to help put up the lights.

• 30:07Speaker 03

  Seasonal, these are seasonal?

• 30:09Speaker 06

  Summer seasonal, summer full-time.

• 30:11Speaker 03

  Wow. When you started, you said for next year, or you started?

• 30:13Speaker 06

  We're thinking about next year already. Yeah, we have to. So, while it's up, we're walking the grounds, thinking about, okay, where can we change this land to, what can we do here? And starting to really see what's gonna kind of be our footprint for next year.

• 30:26Speaker 03

  That's great, that's great. Steve?

• 30:28Speaker 05

  It's an amazing success story. I like to tell people, you know, you think about it. Here's a young kid with a passion for something, who turns it into a career and an amazing business.

• 30:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, it is. It's an amazing story. 22 years and, like, you started 7 years old. So, you're not working, really. It's not a job.

• 30:48Speaker 06

  It's not a job. No, this is so much, I wake up every day and have the time of my life. Even this morning, I got to go in the shop, talk with my employees about what we're gonna be doing today, what we're doing next year. This is our chance to kind of dream of next year, what we're gonna be doing.

• 31:02Speaker 03

  Well, you're doing an awesome job, because this community and generations in this community seem to have this connection with COM. You know, Steve, you talked about now people are bringing their kids.

• 31:16Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 31:17Speaker 03

  You know?

• 31:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, we got a comment actually on that. Kathy says, she remembers her first field trip a number of years ago, and she said she really appreciates all the hard work that goes into it every year. And she said, "Thank you. I won tickets to take my grandchildren on the Money Wise Show last week." Thanks, Kathy.

• 31:33Speaker 06

  Awesome.

• 31:34Speaker 03

  Great job, Kathy, and thanks for the comments. We have some tickets today, too?

• 31:39Speaker 04

  We gave them away last week.

• 31:41Speaker 03

  Last week, okay. All right.

• 31:42Speaker 04

  They go quick every year.

• 31:44Speaker 03

  Yeah, they're very popular. They're very popular.

• 31:46Speaker 04

  And one of Kathy's questions was, "How long has the Christmas lights been going on at COM?"

• 31:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, this is our 22nd year, as Josh mentioned, and so we're closing in on quarter of a century here.

• 31:59Speaker 04

  Me and Dustin are getting old, man.

• 32:00Speaker 06

  That's right.

• 32:02Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 32:04Speaker 00

  While Sammy's doing the Benjamin Button and getting younger.

• 32:08Speaker 03

  Hey, man. I'm trying. I'm trying to do that reverse thing that billionaire is trying, but it's just too expensive. I can't afford it. He's trying to get back to 18 years old. I don't know why. I don't know why. Dustin, would you want to go back to 18 year old?

• 32:24Speaker 04

  I don't think so.

• 32:26Speaker 03

  I'm fine. I was in Morocco when I was 18. I'm glad I'm here. So I'm good.

• 32:29Speaker 04

  We're glad you're here too.

• 32:31Speaker 00

  Yes, yes.

• 32:32Speaker 03

  We'll take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk a little bit more with Steve.

• 32:36Speaker 00

  Don't forget, Money Wise is more than a radio show. We're an independently owned local wealth management firm with 60 plus years of collective experience. Our financial advisors are here to help you, Kern County. Together, let's be smart, be safe, be money wise.

• 32:57Speaker 03

  What a Money Wise Show. We're back. If you'd like to listen to the show or any of our past programs, subscribe to the Money Wise Guys podcast, commercial free on all podcast platforms like iTunes, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. We're back in the room with Dustin Weaver, Stephen, and Josh, talking about Calm and the holiday lights of Calm. So we wanted to just ask a couple of more questions about about the lights and events coming up.

• 33:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, you know what came to mind? Steve, you mentioned Calm and that obviously Calm does things other than just the holiday lights. How are the two connected or how does the holiday lights help support Calm?

• 33:37Speaker 05

  Yeah, so Holiday Lights is our largest fundraiser. So for people that don't know, I assume most people do, but Calm is our local zoo. We feature only California native animals and we're all about education and making sure people in the community know what's in their own backyard as far as native plants and animals. So Holiday Lights raises a few hundred thousand dollars to help support Calm each year and we put that money right back into the zoo and that's what helps us grow and thrive. So I always tell people when they buy a ticket to Holiday Lights and it's an investment right back into Calm.

• 34:13Speaker 04

  Well, that's fantastic.

• 34:15Speaker 03

  And Josh, I mean, you've been with Calm for 22 years, but you do things outside of Calm.

• 34:23Speaker 06

  Right, so again, I'm very, very lucky to be able to do this Christmas light business. We have a show in Texas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Indiana.

• 34:33Speaker 03

  All on the top 10, do you ask, I'm assuming?

• 34:36Speaker 06

  We try to be the best, but Calm is definitely number one that we have. There's nothing like Calm.

• 34:42Speaker 04

  So obviously you started with Calm, is that what kind of got the word out for these other opportunities?

• 34:46Speaker 06

  That's right, yeah.

• 34:47Speaker 03

  These are just other nonprofit organizations or private?

• 34:51Speaker 06

  They're all different locations, baseball stadiums, city parks, fairgrounds, they're all different.

• 34:58Speaker 03

  That's cool, that's cool.

• 34:59Speaker 04

  And those are all during the same season?

• 35:01Speaker 06

  During Christmas time, yeah, they're all open right now, yeah.

• 35:03Speaker 04

  You're busy.

• 35:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, we, I wanted to go back to the Willow's wreath, Steve, and the workshop, because I think that's a cool event. Especially, you know, I think families can go and build a wreath, that's a memorable thing. So you said it was $98 per person? And it's this Sunday?

• 35:23Speaker 05

  This Sunday, I believe, I don't have the time in front of me, but, you know, early evening.

• 35:28Speaker 03

  5:30 PM to 7:30 PM.

• 35:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, and it's, I believe there's 70 spots available for the, for folks, so 70 tickets, and I know that there's still tickets left. And so that's just, like you said, a great way to celebrate, you know, as a family, enjoy the lights, make your wreath. A couple of weeks or about a week ago, we did a photo shoot, so people could go and get their Christmas pictures done. So just always trying to think of new things to bring out the community, yeah, keep it fresh, and really, we look at it as it's part of our mission to bring family-friendly entertainment to the community, and that's what Holiday Lights does.

• 36:10Speaker 03

  Love that.

• 36:10Speaker 04

  That's so cool, and I know we're talking about Holiday Lights now, but as you look down the pike, you know, maybe upcoming quarters or the next year, anything you're excited about?

• 36:19Speaker 05

  Very excited, we have a new master plan that we've done in the last year or so with the preeminent zoo designers in the world, CLR Designs, and, you know, Calm is 43 years old now, and we have big plans for Calm over the next 40 years, and so we look forward to sharing more of that plan with the community, and really making Calm a destination, not only for Kern County, but for the surrounding areas as well.

• 36:47Speaker 03

  We have a listener question or message. Is the zoo park still open at Kalm during the day and how many animals are still around for the community to come see? Thank you, Steve.

• 36:57Speaker 05

  You bet. Definitely. The zoo is open. We're open Tuesdays through Sundays, nine to four. And I don't know the exact number of animals, couple hundred that we have there. You know, it's changing all the time. But we're always looking to add to the zoo and continue that mission of educating the community about California native plants and animals.

• 37:19Speaker 04

  That is so neat. And you know, we've said that word, educating, a couple of times. Early on, he said, you work with a school district too, and somehow they're connected to Kalm. Can you tell us a little more about that?

• 37:30Speaker 05

  Sure. So in 1995, Kalm approached then Superintendent Kelly Blanton to potentially look at taking over Kalm. And at the time, he was looking to get kids out of the classroom and really do some more hands-on learning. So Superintendent of Schools took over the Kern County Museum, which is Pioneer Village, and then Kalm operated both. And then in 2010, we worked with the county to form a nonprofit to run the Kern County Museum, which Mike McCoy runs now. And then we were able to focus more on Kalm. And so the Superintendent of Schools runs Kalm with the help of our foundation, which is our nonprofit arm that

• 38:14Speaker 05

  raises the money to support what we do.

• 38:16Speaker 03

  And that has its own separate board. I think you said 14 board members?

• 38:21Speaker 05

  Correct. We have 14 board members, just people in the community that are passionate about Kalm. One of our board members is Stan Eschner, who's one of the founders of Kalm. And Stan is actually the guy that found Josh Barnett and brought holiday lights. He had visited the Denver Zoo, and they did a light show. And he thought, we should do the same in Kern County. And that was 22 years ago. And we've been making magic happen ever since.

• 38:46Speaker 04

  That's awesome. Well, thank you both so much for coming today.

• 38:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, definitely. Great to have you, Josh. Great to meet you. I'm gonna talk to my son. I'm gonna say, hey, you're gonna see these lights. I met the guy that made them. So that's awesome.

• 38:57Speaker 05

  Exactly.

• 38:58Speaker 03

  Post a little bit. We have another message just before we turn it over to Stephen. I love hearing the new generation of Money Wise. Longtime listener. And I remember asking the other Money Wise guys, how were you introduced to trading? ED. Well, I'm not a trader. I'm not a financial advisor. I'm not licensed. I'm the managing director of MoneyWise. I'm not a financial advisor per se. However, we do have seven financial advisors on staff. Amongst them is Dustin Weaver, who is present with us today.

• 39:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, I can give you the 30 second.

• 39:31Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 39:31Speaker 04

  I actually started on the other side of money first as a loan officer, but then, you know, the global financial crisis and everything, you know,

• 39:40Speaker 03

  2008.

• 39:41Speaker 04

  shutting down 07, 08. I ended up working for a local credit union that you'd probably recognize, and they gave me an opportunity to get on this side of money, helping people invest it and plan for their long-term goals. So just kind of an opportunity that came up. I always knew I wanted to help people, and this was an opportunity to take that math brain and helping people and marry them together.

• 40:02Speaker 03

  What I've heard from multiple finance guys or gals is that this job was not like, hey, I was born to do this. We kind of stumbled on the financial world. That's my story in the banking. My dad found me like a summer job. That was 27 years ago, and I'm still in the finance world today.

• 40:24Speaker 04

  Yeah, if you would have asked me in high school, I would have worked with computers or pharmacist or become a pharmacist, but.

• 40:28Speaker 03

  My, my, my, I'll still, I'm gonna go flip burgers one of these days and have my.

• 40:33Speaker 04

  Maybe at the Woolworth.

• 40:34Speaker 03

  At the Woolworth, exactly.

• 40:35Speaker 04

  There you go.

• 40:36Speaker 03

  That's where I was leading with. Steven, back at you, brother.

• 40:40Speaker 05

  Who? Who?

• 40:47Speaker 03

  Be MoneyWise.

• 40:56Speaker 02

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