9/10/26 Good Debt vs Bad Debt, Sports Predictions & A Portrait of a Warrior Gallery

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Thursday, September 10th BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Radio Show & Podcast" call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com https://www.moneywiseguys.com/ facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management https://www.facebook.com/moneywiseguys/ LinkedIn: Moneywise_Wealth_Management https://www.linkedin.com/company/moneywise-wealth-management-bakersfield/ Guest: Jeff Salters, President of A Portrait of a Warrior Gallery & Owner of, Salty's BBQ websites: https://www.kern-warrior.org/ https://www.saltysbbq.com/ The opinions voiced in this podcast are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision. A Portrait of a Warrior Gallery, Salty's BBQ & Jeff Salters are not affiliated with nor endorsed by LPL Financial or Moneywise Wealth Management

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Live from the basement inside the historic Woolworth Building in downtown Bakersfield. 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? Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through LPL Financial. LPL Financial and MoneyWise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.

• 0:37Speaker 00

  Now, let's start the MoneyWise Show.

• 0:41Speaker 02

  That's right. Welcome to the MoneyWise Show. As Stephen mentioned in the intro, we are live from the basement of the historic Woolworth Building in downtown Bakersfield. For the next hour, you are on News Talk 96.1 and 1230 AM, KERN, streaming live at MoneyWiseGuys.com. Check out our website. You can click the button and listen live. You can also find podcasts after the fact, cut up, chopped up, and ready for action. Thanks to Stephen Nicholas over there behind the glass. Hi, Stephen.

• 1:14Speaker 03

  Hi.

• 1:15Speaker 02

  I'm your host today, Chris Pelster with?

• 1:16Speaker 03

  Dustin Weaver.

• 1:18Speaker 02

  Mr. Dustin Weaver. Hey, this is like, we're like on a regular basis now.

• 1:22Speaker 03

  Hey, I think we were here, we were here last Thursday.

• 1:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, I don't know how common it is to do like a radio show, kind of like we do where we kind of have rotating times and slots. And I don't know if people knew this, but this isn't our full-time gig or?

• 1:33Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 1:34Speaker 02

  You know, some people are really good at this stuff and they do it like this is their job. So maybe that maybe makes sense. Whenever you, whenever you listen to this, you're like, I don't, do these guys do this for a living? No, luckily this is not completely how we make money. We, we have wonderful clients that we love and adore, and we've been able to do that for 20 years, over 20 years here in this community.

• 1:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, over 20 years.

• 1:56Speaker 02

  Yeah. So, uh, so yeah, welcome to the show. You can always call or text the show 24 hours a day, 661-396-1000. Again, 661-396-1000, most popular way. People shoot text messages. Stephen puts those in here and we answer those. We have a few of those to get to in just a second. But we love live calls. We're, we're back on KERN. Call live talk. We used to have, you know, regular guests.

• 2:24Speaker 03

  Don't be scared.

• 2:25Speaker 02

  I think about oil-filled trash, you know, love you, JR. Uh, man, we, we've had some great guests call in with great questions. And so if there's something on your mind or a thought on your mind?

• 2:34Speaker 03

  You're gonna have to explain that. I have not heard about Mr. JR. Did he call himself oil-filled trash?

• 2:39Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was, it was, it was endearment. And lots of great folks have made their living out there in the old oil patch. And he, he affectionately called himself oil-filled trash. And, and you know what? He is furthest thing from trash, my friend. He is a, he is a, a local legend. And so, uh, love that he's been around the MoneyWise, uh, crew and, and the radio show for a long, long time. So?

• 3:02Speaker 03

  I saw in the notes, somebody called yesterday, called themselves Jumbo.

• 3:05Speaker 00

  Yeah, he's been listening for a long time as well.

• 3:08Speaker 03

  Is that right?

• 3:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, way back.

• 3:10Speaker 02

  There you go. Well, hey, you guys are what make the show great. So that's why we spent a second and just invite you to send those in. But before we get to the questions that already did come in that we're going to answer, uh, we're going to talk a little bit about the market news. Market is cooling down. Um, stocks sank, uh, today, uh, this morning as oil prices and treasury yields continue to climb. And as investors are assessing fresh wholesale inflation numbers. So wholesale inflation numbers would be more like business-to-business, uh, inflation or kind of like the manufacturing process. So maybe not necessarily what you're seeing in the, um, grocery store or the retail inflation.

• 3:51Speaker 02

  Obviously, if wholesale inflation is going up, eventually it's going to make its way to?

• 3:56Speaker 03

  Retail.

• 3:57Speaker 02

  Retail, and we get to pay the higher prices for it. Typically, uh, companies don't like eating the higher cost for goods and services.

• 4:04Speaker 03

  Say what?

• 4:06Speaker 02

  No, they want to keep that profit margin right where it is. So as they're having to pay more for goods and services?

• 4:11Speaker 03

  They pass it on.

• 4:12Speaker 02

  They want to, they want to pass that buck right on to you. So, and they do it and they've been doing it. And that's why we eventually always see it. And, uh, and so, yeah, inflation numbers, they're, we're, we're looking at what wholesale inflation data is doing. Obviously, it's not looking great because the market's cooling off. The market's pulling back a little bit, not majorly. Um, but it's pulled back a little bit from some of the numbers we've seen so far this year. The S and P 500 is down about six tenths of a percent. Uh, during this trading day, of course, we haven't closed. The Dow is down about 0.7% and the NASDAQ, just like the S and P is about six tenths of a percent. So negative, red on the screen, all markets are in negative territory right now. Obviously, we're not done with trading day.

• 4:55Speaker 02

  Uh, just for a little bit of perspective, like we always like to bring out there, we always kind of use the S and P 500. Because typically that's what most people refer to when they're talking about what the market is doing or is the market up and down. There's different indexes, there's scoreboards, there's different types of stocks. The S and P 500, we always mention it's the 500 largest companies. Year-to-date, just below 11% positive. So again, year-to-date, 10.94% there on the S and P 500.

• 5:24Speaker 00

  A little negative today, but the one year is positive, close to 11.

• 5:29Speaker 02

  Right. And then if you go back 12 months, we're up about 16.2%. So the reason why I bring that up is it's always good to just have a little bit of perspective, a little bit of thoughts. Um, we, we tend to, uh, highlight negative news or negative experiences. I've had more than enough people tell me like, I feel like all I ever do is lose when I invest. And it's like, now possibly, but if you're diversified or if you have a big mix of investments and you kind of just let it ride?

• 6:00Speaker 03

  Likely not.

• 6:01Speaker 02

  There's no reason that it should always be losing. But typically, the reason why people feel that way is because when the markets are going up, we tend to not really pay attention. We tend to not really look at our account or when we do, we kind of go, hey, it seems like it's going in the right direction.

• 6:15Speaker 03

  Well, the other thing that happens is when accounts are down, sometimes people have a tendency to sell, which would mean they realize that loss, right?

• 6:23Speaker 02

  Right.

• 6:23Speaker 03

  And then what happens?

• 6:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:25Speaker 03

  By the time they're confident to get back in, usually that markets have usually gone up quite a bit by the time that you get confident again.

• 6:33Speaker 02

  Yep. And we've talked about that as the emotional spin cycle that people can get caught in is, is if you do feel like you're always doing the wrong thing, that can happen. Like you just said, you sell at the wrong time, you finally gain up the confidence because the market's been doing good for a few years. You put money back in. Obviously, that's not what, what MoneyWise thinks that you should do. There should be lots of different thoughts on how you're investing, short-term money, long-term money, retirement, uh, wealth-building types of strategies.

• 6:59Speaker 03

  And we've talked about bucketing before.

• 7:01Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah. And you should definitely do that. And for a lot of folks, uh, a lot of their wealth is in like 401Ks, long-term money. You want to have a great investment mix. It's comfortable for your risk profile and let it work for you. Don't get caught up in the emotions and the news cycle and everything else going on. So, um, any other things? Uh, I don't know, um, you know, President Trump came out today. Um, I don't, was it just today that was announced? He was mentioning the?

• 7:28Speaker 03

  Are you referring to that $5,000 dividend?

• 7:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:32Speaker 03

  Yeah, I saw a headline about that too. So, uh, what is he offering? 5,000 to every, was it every adult citizen in the U.S.? Is that what I saw?

• 7:40Speaker 02

  I think so.

• 7:41Speaker 03

  Yeah, that's a lot of money.

• 7:42Speaker 02

  It is a lot of money.

• 7:43Speaker 03

  We're talking billions and billions of dollars.

• 7:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, I would like, I would like to say that it's, oh, it's because our balance, our budget's balanced and things are going in the right direction. And I don't, I don't know, uh, if maybe, uh, some of this is, is coming out of a thought of the tariffs and some of the things that have been going on the last couple of years, but?

• 8:02Speaker 00

  Do they have a, do they have a name for it?

• 8:04Speaker 02

  No, no, I don't think they have a name for it yet, but I'm sure somebody will come up with a catchy name for Mr. Mr. Trump's, uh, $5,000. Um, you know, it's one of?

• 8:16Speaker 03

  I remember a while back, they were trained to call it a Doge dividend, but I think they changed it from that.

• 8:21Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 8:21Speaker 00

  That's what I was wondering if it was the same thing.

• 8:24Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 8:24Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah, I think he's offered this a couple of times. So it's not, it's not new. Um, love to get, get into the nuts and bolts. Maybe we'll be able to clear, uh, you know, talk about that a little bit more in depth, uh, either later this show or on a different show, but?

• 8:38Speaker 03

  A quick search, guess what they're calling it? The Trump dividend.

• 8:43Speaker 02

  Trump dividend, of course.

• 8:44Speaker 03

  Not a surprise.

• 8:45Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah. I mean, hey, and the, the thing that we mentioned, we were talking about a little bit before the show, it's just, it's just one of those things where, um, you know, this is something, we, we've been doing the show for a long time. We've been through different political regimes and different things. And this just seems like something that Trump fans wouldn't have liked big time if it was from an alternative presidency or, or, right?

• 9:10Speaker 03

  Like, there's a lot of finger pointing either direction when lots and lots of money is spent in the economy. And what we've seen, lots of money pumped into the economy actually contributes to that inflation that we're feeling and don't like. So?

• 9:21Speaker 02

  Right. And they're already talking about raising interest rates because of inflation concerns. And this, the, you know, love it or hate it, I, I might sound like I'm negative towards this. I, I want everybody out there to have 5,000 bucks. But when it's, comes out of thin air, which is printing, which is government, uh, surplus or, or, uh, whatever you call this, um, that adds fuel to the fire of inflation is, is what we're talking about. So, uh, you might see, uh, and we were just talking about recently, you know, mortgage rates have gone back up over 7%. They're, you know, um, historically maybe not horrible, but definitely difficult for those trying to still get into housing or wanting to refinance, which some people use as a, a way to kind of reassess their financial world.

• 10:04Speaker 02

  And when you have interest rates going up, those options are not necessarily on the table.

• 10:09Speaker 03

  Especially at a time we have some recency bias, we call it, of very low rates five years ago, right? During the COVID time, it was not uncommon to get under 3%, 2.75, 2.625. So to your point, seven, you know, over the last 100 years is not high, but in recent years, it feels high. It is for recent years.

• 10:32Speaker 02

  Yep. So, you know, we talked about the, uh, you know, consumer, um, inflation or producer price index. Uh, it, it did rise, uh, about five point to 5.4. I think this time last year it was at 4.6. So it has definitely crept up, um, but largely in line with expectations. Uh, so, uh, so there you go. That's kind of market news and, and, uh, kind of go over all that.

• 11:01Speaker 03

  I know we have a guest coming in soon, but we're, I think we're headed into this first break. But when we have, when we come back, we've got some really good questions to dive into.

• 11:08Speaker 02

  There you go. We'll be right back.

• 11:16Speaker 02

  Welcome back.

• 11:19Speaker 02

  It's like you can't, can't mess up the song.

• 11:23Speaker 03

  It's hard to not move your head to it.

• 11:26Speaker 02

  There you go.

• 11:30Speaker 02

  Going redneck hip hop here.

• 11:34Speaker 02

  This is the Money Wise Show. I'm Chris Pelster with Mr. Dustin Weaver today. He mentioned a guest. We are going to be joined here in a little bit by another local legend. Mr. Jeff Salters, and he's actually going to be coming on behalf of the Portrait of a Warrior Gallery, which is near and dear to my heart. I've talked about it on the show before. So really excited to get an update. I think they got some big changes going on, so we are going to jump into that here in a little bit. But I'll jump into the question that we got. It said, hey, guys, funny you were sharing some, some debt isn't all bad. When I was growing up, my parents told me to avoid debt, completely all debt. But with the cost of everything these days is all bad debt? Are there types of debt that can actually make sense? Thanks.

• 12:18Speaker 03

  I like that. Debt that can actually make sense.

• 12:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:23Speaker 03

  Yeah. So this is a classic good debt versus bad debt argument, right?

• 12:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:28Speaker 03

  So not all debt, we can't, it's not all or nothing.

• 12:33Speaker 02

  Yeah. Well, do you subscribe to Dave Ramsey or do you subscribe to Robert Kinoshita?

• 12:37Speaker 03

  Yeah. I think he's got over a billion in debt.

• 12:42Speaker 02

  I just read an article, so we're sitting here talking about this, and there's an article, the headline is, you know, Robert Kinoshita is $1.2 billion on debt on, you know, on purpose. So, um, yeah, I mean, it's, it's an age old question, and some people have been able to use debt phenomenally and build massive amounts of wealth using debt. But, uh, but, you know.

• 13:03Speaker 03

  And that type is more what we can call like leveraged debt, right? So something like a mortgage. Most people, when they're going to buy a house, don't have a stack of cash to pay cash for a house. Right? So most of us, especially that first house, when you're building, you come in with a down payment and you borrow the rest, and that is debt. And a lot of people would call that good debt. You know, you're leveraging to purchase a home. Because, you know, renting isn't necessarily debt free. The alternative to having that mortgage is you're paying essentially money to somebody else that's not yourself, not going towards equity.

• 13:42Speaker 03

  That could be looked at as debt in a way, even though it's not a loan, it's money that's leaving your account that's not going towards an asset that could accumulate in value like a property.

• 13:52Speaker 02

  Right.

• 13:52Speaker 03

  Right?

• 13:53Speaker 02

  Yeah. And another asset some people don't think about when you're talking about debt is just increasing your ability to make more money. Training or education or, you know, those kinds of things. So then we get into the discussion of like college loans and college debt, which there's a, there's a big percentage of folks nowadays that, you know, oh, college is a scam. And there's kind of like that, um, that mentality out there. And, and I, I understand that. I get that argument. We've talked about it before. I think I read an article the other day. It talked about that only seven or eight percent of careers or jobs out there like absolutely require a degree, like nursing, doctors, law, even taxes, different things, but which.

• 14:36Speaker 03

  I mean, those four that you just mentioned, I want all four of those people to be educated if they're opening, right?

• 14:41Speaker 02

  Correct. And so if you're going into debt, to be able to accomplish a degree that is going to give you a real ability to make some more money and to do a good serviceable action in our community.

• 14:51Speaker 03

  Good value.

• 14:52Speaker 02

  It can be great value. But what has happened and why people would say it's a scam, I think, is because not, not all, not all education is equal. And so you have to remember that, like, there are lots of degrees you can get that don't necessarily translate into a great career path. Now, can you still go accomplish great things if you have a degree that's not necessarily needed in some sort of career path? For sure, you know? I, I have a communications degree, which is funny that now I'm on a radio show and stuff like that, but I didn't like graduate college and go, okay, I'm going to go work for television or, you know, some sort of communications degree. I just had a degree and I still kind of ended up finding my path. Funny enough that I end up on a radio show because it's a communications degree.

• 15:34Speaker 02

  But I didn't even really know what that was when I selected it. It was kind of like a check a box thing. And so you just have to be careful with those kinds of things. But all that goes back to your discussion here, your question about good debt versus bad debt. What are you using the debt for and how are you using it? How are you managing it?

• 15:52Speaker 03

  Yeah. So mortgages, student loans, another one is some auto loans, right? Sometimes those can be at low promotional rates, which can free up the cash to invest elsewhere at a potentially higher return. Keyword potential, right? Comes down to opportunity cost there, right? Every dollar has an opportunity. It can go towards debt. It can go towards an investment. But if you get a low promotional rate, like zero or 0.99, we've seen from time to time, that can be a good way to leverage cash.

• 16:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 16:23Speaker 03

  Right?

• 16:24Speaker 02

  Yeah. Another, uh, great way that people build major amounts of wealth is by owning businesses. And so if you're a talented person in, say, a trade and you want to build out a business, you might have to use some debt to build out a business. Now, there's risk. You can mismanage it, those kinds of things, but, um, you know, that's, that's kind of one of those things where it could be smart debt. If you're building up, uh, you know, buying a business or you're buying some equipment that's going to help you scale a business. You just have to be very careful, but low rate business loans can be a phenomenal tool if used correctly. You know.

• 17:02Speaker 03

  It's an investment.

• 17:03Speaker 02

  Yeah. It's an investment and you have to manage it as such. What are some examples of bad debts?

• 17:09Speaker 03

  So the first one that comes to my mind is credit card debt, which yes, credit cards can help you bridge a gap, right? If you're in a bind and checking account is, is low and, and need comes up, you know, you need gas in the car, you blow out a tire on the car, need to replace a tire or something. Sure. Short term, uh, they can get you out of a bind, but long term, this is a classic wealth destroyer, right? We're talking about interest rates, a lot of times 20% and up, and almost nothing that you buy on a credit card and carry a balance, right? Pays for itself, right? So you're talking about 20, 25, 30% interest sometimes that'll just erode your, your cash over time. Not good to have long term.

• 17:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:52Speaker 03

  The other one, payday loans. These are, obviously they have high fees. It's easy to spiral down from, you know, um, jumping from one company to another.

• 18:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:03Speaker 03

  Right? We've seen that, talked about that before.

• 18:05Speaker 02

  Yeah. And sometimes people even, you know, sometimes people do this by jumping from 0% to 0%, not realizing there's a little bit of a fee by jumping from card to card to card. And sometimes that can be a way to navigate through a thing, but it's, uh, it's almost like when you talk about Vegas, that I do compare to Vegas, like the house always wins. Credit card companies, they, they make those introductory prices because they know there's a high likelihood or a high percentage of folks that are going to end up not being able to pay it off in time, and they're going to end up paying all the interest. Even some of those loans, and I, I, we've all done it. I've done it, like the 0% interest loans on furniture. It's like, oh, it's 0%. Well, then if you don't pay it on time, then all the interest is assessed going all the way back to the beginning.

• 18:50Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 18:51Speaker 02

  Of the loan. And a lot of people don't realize that, like, you don't just pay on the interest that, that moving forward. It goes all the way back to the beginning. And, and the interest rates are usually pretty high on those, so it can be a huge amount. Before we go into the next, uh, concept, uh, had a couple of comments come in and, and you mentioned Jumbo. It says, I'm still here, been listening since 2012. How often can we expect the Fed's corrections? Can we expect the Fed's two corrections? Jumbo. They, they meet quarterly, right?

• 19:20Speaker 03

  So throughout the year, uh, there are eight meetings, so a little bit more often. It's about every six weeks.

• 19:28Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 19:28Speaker 03

  Yeah. And when we say that, that's the Federal Open Market Committee, Committee, the FOMC. And, um, yeah.

• 19:36Speaker 02

  And then somebody, uh, somebody reached in with a thought on maybe what we could call the, the, instead of the Trump dividend or whatever it's called.

• 19:43Speaker 03

  I didn't see it.

• 19:43Speaker 02

  It says, we are calling it Make America Shop Again.

• 19:48Speaker 02

  There you go. There you go. But yeah, so good bit, good debt, bad debt, payday loans, you know, um, also financing depreciating consumer goods, furniture, electronics, vacations, high interest credit. All those things, memories are great. And sometimes, you know, maybe it's thought of as you have to, but the difference between financing real estate, which is going to be an appreciating asset. All those other things are rapidly depreciating. Even your car is depreciating, right? And so when you're financing that, you have to be very careful, but there could be some low interest options or something like that.

• 20:25Speaker 02

  So you just have to manage it well and be thoughtful about it, uh, because the credit, the credit, uh, world is great at just offering you more and more debt. And people get into trouble and then it's very, very hard to dig yourself out of it. And it's better to try to have that emergency savings set to the side and so that you're not having to use high interest debts and those kinds of things, but.

• 20:47Speaker 03

  Yeah. I think it's good to ask yourself, would this debt still make sense if you had to pay it off slowly at the, this current interest rate, right? So if it's something that is an asset that goes up in value, like a house that we've talked about, it generates income like that business, right? Or it increases your earning power, like the student loans, sometimes that could be good debt. So yeah, it's good, good, great question, actually.

• 21:11Speaker 02

  And you do have to remember that some generations were dealing with double digit savings rates and, and higher interest rates on different things. And so a lot of people have different opinions on debt. The reality is, is if you manage it well, uh, and, and you keep saving and, and putting money into investments for your future, you know, it can still, uh, still be used. So, hey, like I mentioned, when we come back, we are going to be joined with Jeff Salters, and we do have another great question from a listener. So stick around.

• 21:45Speaker 02

  Welcome back. This is the Money Wise Show. You guys are what make it great. Thank you very much for the last question that we jumped into. Good debt, bad debt. Um, man, you know, I always tell people too, like simplify, uh, getting ready for your financial future. Anytime you're paying debt down or building assets up, you're doing good.

• 22:08Speaker 03

  You're headed the right direction.

• 22:09Speaker 02

  Yeah. And you can, you can be a little bit more efficient with it. You can be a little bit better with it, but any two of those things, you know, I'm a fan of. So, um, put yourself in a little bit of a better situation. But, uh, yeah, we've seen, we've seen everything across the board. We've seen people use debt good, use it bad. We've seen debt create great wealth for people. We've seen debt ruin people's financial world. So, so it all just depends on how you manage it. But, um, Mr. Jeff Salters is on his way to the studio. I'm going to, I'm going to guess he's probably checking out a couple of buildings right in here.

• 22:42Speaker 03

  He's doing a delivery, actually.

• 22:43Speaker 02

  Oh, there you go. He's dropping off food, huh? He's, is he not bringing any in here for us? We'll have to see in a second. So we'll go ahead and jump into the next question because it's a good one. It says, this is a random question, but with Cali legalizing sports gambling, do you happen to know how much money people gamble away in sports bets? My son is constantly making small bets on one of these sports apps and we have been trying to explain to him that that stuff catches up and he should always stay away and put us, put in a side account that can grow. The second question is that type of account that is, uh, is there a type of account that is easier for a 19 year old to put his tips and side cash in that can grow over a long period of time? Judy H. Lot going on here.

• 23:26Speaker 03

  There is.

• 23:27Speaker 02

  First off, a little bit of clarity.

• 23:29Speaker 03

  Yeah. So has California actually legalized sports betting yet or?

• 23:36Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 23:37Speaker 03

  Not.

• 23:37Speaker 02

  Kind of.

• 23:38Speaker 03

  Kind of. They call it, they don't call it gambling. They call it projections, predictions.

• 23:42Speaker 02

  Prediction markets.

• 23:44Speaker 03

  Yeah. There's these prediction market apps. I've seen like Polly Market, Calshi, right? That's what you're talking about?

• 23:49Speaker 02

  Yeah. So it's different than just sports books betting like Vegas, but, but kind of. And so, um, gambling is, it's unfortunately it's taken over. I mean, it, it, it's crazy. I think, what was it? A hundred and 50 million dollars or so?

• 24:05Speaker 03

  So about, I, I saw a hundred and 50 billion with a B, but that's just sports betting. I mean, the, the actual gambling number is a lot bigger than that, but her question was about sports betting.

• 24:14Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's what I mean.

• 24:16Speaker 03

  A hundred and 50 billion, that's the amount that's wagered each year. What we have to keep in mind. So there's a, you know, there's, there's two sides of each wager. The house, the one taking the, you know, taking the bets, they're, they're collecting, you know, eight to 10% of that. So really, you know, there's 15 billion or so being made by these companies. But, um, yeah. So on average, you know, 90% of that money is coming back to somebody on one side of the wager, right?

• 24:46Speaker 02

  Yeah. Um, yeah. And it's, we throw out that big number too. In 2025, Nerd Wallet, uh, did a survey and found Americans who bet on sports, uh, in the last year. So this was a survey that they did last year. Uh, it was an average of $3,284 on average on gambling. Uh, so one in seven sports betters say they'd gone into debt to gamble. So.

• 25:09Speaker 03

  Oh, there's some, there's another example of bad debt then. We were talking about debt.

• 25:12Speaker 02

  Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and you have to remember that, you know, like we, we've said forever, you know, Vegas wasn't built because everybody wins, right? It, it's built because everybody loses. And so you just have to be very, very careful. Uh, but I like the advice, um, you know, uh, of that it can catch up to you. And I think a lot of folks, um, are losing small amounts. And I guess at the end of the day, if somebody goes, well, I'm losing a couple hundred bucks a month on gambling, but I enjoy it. Uh, it's just like if I was spending a couple hundred bucks doing some sort of other activity. Uh, but you have to understand that, uh, it's addictive. Uh, the people that put these apps together

• 25:50Speaker 02

  down, uh, no human psychology, no, uh, no, our issues with, as humans, as far as addictive type things. And so it is definitely something to not be played with. I myself am, have never been into gambling or enjoyed it all that much. I mean, I'm not saying I've never done it, but, uh, just, just don't do it. And I'm glad because I have seen the impact of some people who can get caught up in it because of that thought that I could hit it big or I could win, you know, whatever I lose back. And sometimes it can spiral out of control. And you're thinking that the way out is by continuing to bet more. So be careful.

• 26:28Speaker 03

  I love the other part of this question that says, okay, for an 18 year old, what's a good teaching moment here? What, what are some alternatives? And we can use your example, 200 bucks a month. Where can a 19 year old put 200 bucks a month? What are some of the accounts that come to mind for you, Chris?

• 26:44Speaker 02

  Well, it depends a lot on, on their situation. I mean, as much as possible, a 19 year old could start, if they, if they have earned income, could start throwing money into a Roth IRA.

• 26:54Speaker 03

  One of my favorites.

• 26:55Speaker 02

  And, uh, you know, you have to have, you know, can't be over a certain income level and a couple of different factors. And you do have to have earned income. Uh, but you know, if you make 10 grand a year, 20 grand a year, 30 grand a year as a 19 year old, you can definitely put up to the max, uh, into a Roth IRA. That money will grow tax free for the rest of your life. Uh, it is a retirement account. So the principal that you put in there needs to stay in there until you're 59 and a half, or you are subject to a penalty. But after five years that the money's been in there and the account's been opened, you actually can bring, uh, the growth out without taxes or penalties. So it has a couple of caveats. It's a great way to start throwing some money into in a tax efficient

• 27:40Speaker 02

  way for your future. Um, if you're somebody who does not have, uh, an emergency savings or no savings set aside or that kind of a thing, you can open just a regular brokerage account. So it's not a retirement account. It's not anything like that. If this is somebody that does apps, there's apps that you can open up very simply and easily.

• 28:02Speaker 03

  Just a regular taxable brokerage account.

• 28:04Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 28:04Speaker 03

  They call it.

• 28:04Speaker 02

  Yep. So it's just a savings account, but instead of going into banking products, it can actually buy maybe a mix of different types of stocks or different, you know, or you could all the market or you could buy the S and P 500. And, you know, there could be different things that somebody just to start educating themselves on, uh, could start to open up an account like that very easy. So a couple of different, very easy things to open up is just a regular brokerage account. A lot of people don't realize it's just a savings account, but instead of being limited to savings rates and savings, uh, types of, um, options like that are available at the bank, you can actually buy stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs inside of there. And it's a great way for somebody young to start to learn and to start to educate themselves.

• 28:49Speaker 03

  And get potentially higher returns, right? Keyword potential there. But even as you're building an emergency fund as an 18, 20 year old, right? A high yield savings account comes to mind too, is another option.

• 29:00Speaker 02

  Yeah. Um, if this, uh, 19 year old also has a job that happens to have a 401k and offers a match, that would be pretty hard to beat as well.

• 29:10Speaker 03

  Always take a match.

• 29:11Speaker 02

  Yeah. Cause if you can put a hundred bucks in there and they match you a hundred bucks based on your, what you get in a company's 401k. I mean, a lot of companies nowadays have to offer, uh, at least Cal Savers or some sort of retirement plan. And if they do happen to have a 401k that has a match, that's also hard to beat. Cause like I said, if you have a match up to a certain percentage of your income, you throw a hundred bucks in there, it's very likely that if the 401k does have a match, they're going to throw a hundred bucks in there for you.

• 29:39Speaker 03

  I'm always shocked, I'm always shocked when I see the stats on this because not everybody takes advantage of that.

• 29:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:43Speaker 03

  And it's a missed opportunity.

• 29:45Speaker 02

  Big time missed opportunity.

• 29:46Speaker 03

  Worth looking at. You know, I can't help but go back to, you know, one of the basics of compound interest here with this example. If you take 200 bucks a month, right? And you compound that for 45 years. Let's say you are, you know, a 20 year old and you're saving until you're 65, you know, at seven to eight percent interest, you're talking three quarters of a million to over a million dollars.

• 30:07Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 30:07Speaker 03

  And that's at seven to eight percent. And that's certainly not a guarantee that you're going to get that. But you look back in history, there's a lot of different investment strategies that can get you that or more. And so you start thinking, you know, early on and start saving young that even at 200 bucks a month, it's just so powerful.

• 30:23Speaker 02

  The eighth wonder of the world, right?

• 30:24Speaker 03

  Compound interest. That's right.

• 30:26Speaker 02

  It really is. And, uh,

• 30:27Speaker 03

  Invest early and often.

• 30:29Speaker 02

  Yeah. And, you know, the, the frustrating thing is, is a lot of times what you see is you instead see people try to get to a point, um, later in life because they're playing catch up or they have all these different expenses and raising a family or doing whatever they're doing. And then they're getting serious at 50 or 45 even. And you don't get to see the power of compound interest. It's still worth doing. It's still worth getting tax write offs or putting money into 401ks, especially getting the match. It's still worth doing all that stuff. But sometimes people say, well, I don't, I don't feel like, you, you used to throw out all these numbers and this and that. And it's like, well, you didn't take savings young, serious. And that is one of the good things. Like I'm able to sit, uh, you know, hopefully on the side of my clients and sit here and look at their

• 31:13Speaker 02

  situations. And some folks that got started serious and got started young, they actually can hit cruise control as they get close to retirement because they did a lot of that heavy lifting is when they were young and they learned how to live on less than they made. And they put the money away in their early twenties and they're, they're starting to see that stuff take off. And they can actually slow their career down a little bit. They actually can, hey, you know what? I actually, this job's really stressful. What if I got a job making a little bit less? It's awesome to see that happen. It's not all the time. And I'm not putting judgment on anyone who, you know, wasn't able to do that. But we definitely say, when you say, uh, young and often or whatever, like wherever you're at, when's the best, when's the best day to plant a tree? Yesterday.

• 31:53Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 31:53Speaker 02

  Right?

• 31:54Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 31:54Speaker 02

  You know, like, like do it, you know, just get started wherever you're at and understand that it does, it is a little bit more complicated when you're 50, because you only have 10 years to grow that money, 15 years to grow that money. You're not going to see a lot of that compound interest, but it is absolutely still worth doing.

• 32:11Speaker 03

  Absolutely. Great question. So glad they sent that in.

• 32:14Speaker 02

  Yeah. I don't know if there was anything else that you wanted to talk about gambling or?

• 32:17Speaker 03

  Somebody else had a question that maybe Stephen knows about, uh, Kern County Fair tickets. Are those, is that something that's coming up?

• 32:24Speaker 02

  Yeah. Any chance you guys will be hooking up your loyal listeners with some Kern County Fair tickets this year?

• 32:30Speaker 03

  I told him I will keep them in the loop. As soon as we know, we have, uh, reached out for, uh, media passes and we'll, uh, well, as we get closer, we're still a couple of weeks away.

• 32:41Speaker 02

  We're getting there. And I'm going to start, I'm going to start advertising it right now. If you do go there and you are a person that enjoys beer. B-PAL, B-PAL, Bakersfield Police Activities Leagues has a little tent out there and we have been very blessed by, you might see some officers out there, the wonderful people that run Bakersfield Police Activities League and the Officer Jose Lara, they've been on the show before, they're out there and it's a good time to, to show the, the, the police officers and the B-PAL organization some love. That money goes back into the programs that they have for the kids, boxing, basketball, leader groups. They actually have a horse, uh, division now that they do

• 33:25Speaker 02

  out there for the kids. So doing some great things and it's really actually grown into much more than when I first got started on the board there, um, in the sense that, uh, you know, they're actually involving a lot of the parents and stuff too. It's kind of becoming more of like a community center, um, uh, English lessons they're, they're bringing on, um, they've partnered with, I forget which, uh, medical division, but they actually have a bus come there. So some folks that it's hard for them to get to the hospital or to the doctors and stuff. They actually have a bus that can get blood work done and stuff like that right there in the parking lot.

• 33:57Speaker 03

  How cool. They're doing some really great things. So the way to best support is, um, they're involved in those few different things there at the fair this year.

• 34:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:06Speaker 03

  That's great.

• 34:06Speaker 02

  Yeah. If you like beer, they will sell you one.

• 34:09Speaker 03

  I think there's a lot of people that like beer.

• 34:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, there might even be some of those vodka drinks and stuff too. So it's always a, who knows, right? But hey, we were going to take a break right now and hopefully when we come back, we are going to have Mr. Jeff Salters on the show. If not, we are going to have some great comments and topics for us to go over. We'll be right back.

• 34:31Speaker 02

  Welcome back. This is the Money Wise Show. I'm Chris Pelser with Dustin Weaver.

• 34:37Speaker 03

  Sir.

• 34:37Speaker 02

  Jeff Salters is still going to be running in possibly. If not, it's okay. Cause we have a great topic to jump into that I've always, uh, it's been interesting as a, as a, as a veteran, um, helping folks plan for retirement, transition into retirement, manage their wealth, deal with family estate issues and all these different things is inheritances.

• 34:58Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 35:00Speaker 02

  Um, I think it's only, I don't, I want to say 10 or 15% of folks even get inheritance. Maybe it's 20. I don't know what the stat is on it. We used to talk about it, you know, a lot and I think that's where it was.

• 35:11Speaker 03

  Isn't that low? 10 to 15?

• 35:12Speaker 02

  I think it's, it's pretty low and, and the, the average amount that people get is, is not all that impressive either. I think it's, it's way down there. But anyways, you may be somebody who, you know, laughing right now because inheritance is just not even, it's not even in the cards for you. And, and if that's the case, then it's easy for you to adjust how you plan for your retirement based on whether or not you're getting inheritance because you're not getting one. Um, other people I see maybe depend on it too much. Um, or maybe don't know how to correctly calculate it. And it's also a difficult thing to talk about because it's a moving target in the sense that you don't know how long maybe a mom or a dad or, or somebody's going to live and, and it's, it's a challenging

• 35:56Speaker 02

  thing to plan for, um, and, and know what to do. All right. Okay. We're going to switch gears then because we have a guest here now, Mr. Jeff Salters. Hello, sir.

• 36:08Speaker 04

  Hey.

• 36:09Speaker 02

  I thought you were next door, maybe checking out the building. What's the deal? You're making deliveries?

• 36:13Speaker 04

  Yeah. You know, all those things. Everybody high school wanted some food for the staff today for something. So.

• 36:17Speaker 02

  Oh, there you go.

• 36:18Speaker 04

  There's one of those last thing, my, my son, Robert, and you know him, he had to, he had to go to Lost Hills on his deliveries. I'm like, okay.

• 36:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, you'll take it?

• 36:26Speaker 04

  I'll take it. You know, hey, we'll, we'll love it.

• 36:28Speaker 02

  You can't just, you can't just get like six Ubers and send them all over to Liberty?

• 36:31Speaker 04

  Exactly.

• 36:32Speaker 03

  Mini hats of business ownership, right?

• 36:34Speaker 02

  Yeah. Well, everybody knows Mr. Jeff Salters, Salty's, uh, barbecue. So welcome. That's kind of what you're out there doing today. That's what you do for a living. But, uh, but you were going to come in today and you were going to share a little bit about the, uh, Portrait of a Warrior Gallery, which is near and dear to my heart. And, and you were going to talk a little bit about that. And a big announcement came out this last week. Why don't you talk a little bit about that?

• 36:55Speaker 04

  Yeah. So, uh, we're going to be neighbors.

• 36:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:58Speaker 04

  How exciting is that? Um, right next door here to the, the furniture store just across the street. And, you know, next week we should have some, some really cool information on it. We're, we're working with the contractors, Heart Construction.

• 37:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:09Speaker 04

  Uh, they're on our advisory board. And so we're laying out this plan of how it's going to look. And so next week we're supposed to meet with them and really get, get the vision and be able to cast that vision out there.

• 37:20Speaker 02

  Yeah. I was able to chit chat a little bit with Mr. Hart. Uh, we went to the B-PAL, um, fundraiser last week. Um, they did some generous donations to, we had to do some, um, ADA upgrades to our parking lot and it was not necessarily in the budget, but we did a couple of other things to the, the, the, the facility there. So then they said you had to do this. And so we were kind of like figuring out how to do it and, and they were nice enough to jump in. And so he was talking about how excited he was because he helped with the original Portrait of a Warrior Gallery.

• 37:47Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 37:48Speaker 02

  And, uh, obviously it was a little bit of a space constraint.

• 37:51Speaker 04

  Yep. Yeah. And with it, with the way that the gallery has grown now, right? I mean, and the vision originally was a place to honor the 27 and, and that's what it began. And then it's kind of grown into now it's a space that we honor the, the Vietnam, the 181 Vietnam veterans from Kern County who lost their lives. You know, we have the, the team room for the, you know, the post nine 11 vets that you walk into. We have the, the Vietnam memorabilia room. You know, we got the, they call themselves the Portrait of Warrior Gallery Vietnam Rat Pack.

• 38:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:18Speaker 04

  And it's a great group of guys that they volunteer and they work. In fact, they were today taking the mobile portraits out to the fire station on Buena Vista for the tomorrow ceremony for nine 11.

• 38:28Speaker 02

  Awesome.

• 38:28Speaker 04

  As we, you know, recognize, remember the 25th anniversary of nine 11.

• 38:32Speaker 02

  Right.

• 38:33Speaker 04

  So it's a, there's a lot of stuff. Today's actually the eighth anniversary for the gallery. So eight years ago today, we opened the gallery.

• 38:38Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 38:39Speaker 03

  Do you mind going back for just a second? You said, uh, the, the 27, some of the listeners might not know what that is. What's the 27?

• 38:45Speaker 04

  So Kern County has 27 men who lost their lives post nine 11 in the war against terrorism. And so, you know, that, that day we all remember, you know, that, you know, 2001, you know, nine 11, it was the day that, you know, I know what I was doing. I got up and I had the little clock radio in the bathroom that was my alarm, right? And it, it would come on and the news would come on, listening to Kern radio and it would come on. And then, and then all of a sudden, you know, you know, breaking news, you know, plane hit the tower. You know, I was like, oh, that's terrible. You know? And my first thought was a commuter plane, some guy up there and his, you know?

• 39:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:18Speaker 04

  And then obviously it wasn't that. And so in the gallery, we have these beautiful portraits, hand painted, uh, portraits that honor the men from Kern County who, who did die and serviced our country in combat related. Um, there's also a space we call the Hall of Honor. And the Hall of Honor has 25 pencil portraits that are absolutely incredible. When you look at these things, you, you look at them like that's, there's no way that's just by hand. That's gotta be AI or whatever, but it's all my hand by a gentleman that's actually losing his sight.

• 39:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 39:48Speaker 04

  And he does amazing job and we honor the, the non combat related, uh, post nine 11 vets as well that lost their lives that, but that served our country faithfully. And, uh, it's just another place that, so it's kind of grown.

• 39:59Speaker 02

  And that's, that's where Travis Flanagan is in that hallway. That's my brother in law. So, so yeah, um, yeah. So that's why it's, like I said, it's been near and dear to my heart. Like I used to be a fan of the Portrait of Warrior Gallery and this and that. And I never realized that like my family would actually become involved in it.

• 40:13Speaker 04

  A part of it. And that's, that's what, you know, like, um, so my, my uncle, my mom's side of the family, um, his nephew is Clay Patrick Farr.

• 40:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:23Speaker 04

  And so when we were kids, my boys were kids, you know, his niece and nephew on that side of the family would, you know, when they'd have a birthday party for their son, you know, cousins from mom's side, cousins from dad's side, we'd all be there together. And so it's just, it's just, uh, the connection that happens in Bakersfield. I mean, like you, you don't sneeze and look around and find out you're not talking to somebody's cousin.

• 40:44Speaker 02

  Right.

• 40:45Speaker 04

  Right? And just, but that's the beautiful part of Bakersfield, right? That we're all kind of somewhere intertwined. There's a, there's a relationship, a connection somehow. We know somebody, know somebody that's, that kind of says, okay, let's help each other out.

• 40:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 40:55Speaker 04

  You know, that's, I always tell people the best thing about Kern County, Bakersfield is the community.

• 40:59Speaker 02

  Yeah. So you've always been a big fan of first responders and veterans. And so how did you end up getting connected with Portrait of a Warrior Gallery?

• 41:07Speaker 04

  Retired Sergeant Major Jason Geis.

• 41:09Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:09Speaker 04

  Jason and I have been friends for a long time and, uh, he came to the restaurant years ago and said, hey, we got this gallery. I think you would love it. And, uh, I went down there and went on a tour and I'm like, yeah, I love it. How can I help? What can I do? Um, just to be able to honor their memory and their sacrifice. And then what I love about it now is that the way it's kind of grown, right? Like yesterday, there was probably a group of 20 Vietnam veterans that, that met the other PTSD meetings every Wednesday and they get together and they, and they got together and they sang happy birthday to a 105 year old World War II veteran.

• 41:43Speaker 03

  Oh, wow.

• 41:43Speaker 04

  And it posted a video. It's just the stuff that we do down there.

• 41:46Speaker 02

  Yeah. And the cool thing is, is, uh, just not that long ago, they added all the dog tags. So 82,334 personalized dog tags recognizing, uh, American MIA's and POWs from World War II.

• 42:01Speaker 04

  Yeah. It's, I'm telling you that, that room, have you been in that one yet?

• 42:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:05Speaker 04

  Incredible.

• 42:06Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 42:07Speaker 04

  Um, it's, it's a, it's just a, uh, I think about a deep room. I guess is a good word, deep. When you walk in there, you feel the, you feel the sense of what, what this life that we get to live.

• 42:19Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 42:20Speaker 04

  Costs.

• 42:20Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 42:21Speaker 04

  When you look at that, those tags, I think there's 82,000 people that don't know where their family or loved one is. That's an incredible number.

• 42:28Speaker 02

  Yeah. So, um, how, how many, uh, Portrait Warrior Galleries are, are in the country? Do you know? Only two?

• 42:36Speaker 04

  The original one is in Houston, Texas.

• 42:38Speaker 02

  I thought there was more than that.

• 42:39Speaker 04

  No, there's only two. Um, Lily Marsh, one of the founders of the, you know, the help, found it with Jason. Um, I don't, I don't remember the story exactly how she found it.

• 42:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:49Speaker 04

  She, she saw it.

• 42:50Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 42:50Speaker 04

  And was like, we need to do that.

• 42:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:53Speaker 04

  And so she began that, that process and then her and Jason got the, you know, the 511 C3 going.

• 42:58Speaker 02

  You know, by the way, um, because, because Travis is in the portrait, I got a phone call about two months ago. They were letting all the family members know. And I was like, you do realize I have a podcast, right? I'm on a podcast, I'm on a radio show. And you want me to keep a secret? And I, uh, love, you know, so, so grateful for all you've done. So.

• 43:16Speaker 04

  It was super important for us, you know, so everybody knows this, but we did, as soon as we signed the agreement, we told, we contacted every family member.

• 43:24Speaker 02

  Yep. Awesome. They got the word out and they're going to be neighbors. So can't wait to show it off to everybody.

• 43:29Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 43:29Speaker 02

  Hey, thank you guys. Thanks Jeff for coming in.

• 43:31Speaker 04

  Thanks for letting me roll in on the late side.

• 43:33Speaker 02

  Thanks guys. Have a good day.