10/16/26 Gold, Market Weekly Recap & Women's Tennis Open Returns to Bakersfield

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Friday, October 16th 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: Mark Fredrikcz, Director of Tennis for the Bakersfield Racquet Club website: https://www.brctennisclub.com/bakersfield-tennis-open-1 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. Mark Fredrikcz and The Bakersfield Racquet Club are not affiliated with nor endorsed by LPL Financial or Moneywise Wealth Management

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Live from the basement inside the historic Woolworths building in downtown Bakersfield.

• 0:05Speaker 01

  Call or text in at 661-396-1000.

• 0:37Speaker 00

  Now, let's start the Money Wise Show.

• 0:41Speaker 02

  Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Money Wise Show here on Friday. We are live from the basement of the historic Woolworths building in downtown Bakersfield. I've got my green tea, trying to take care of these seasonal allergies. Fall is the worst.

• 0:56Speaker 03

  No, no, it is not.

• 0:58Speaker 02

  Fall is the worst for me. Fall is absolutely the worst time of the year for me.

• 1:03Speaker 00

  Especially when it's 90.

• 1:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, from the allergy perspective, the entire month of October, I might as well just stay indoors.

• 1:12Speaker 03

  You can thank the Kern County Fair for that.

• 1:14Speaker 02

  Yeah, that and the fact that my house is completely surrounded by almond and pistachio orchards that are being shaken.

• 1:22Speaker 03

  Oh, right. There's that.

• 1:24Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah. So for the next hour, you're here on News Talk Live, 96.1 and 1230 AM K E R N, streaming live at MoneyWiseGuys.com. If you don't like listening to those commercials, just wait about 30 minutes after the close of the show and Stephen will get it up on podcast format.

• 1:41Speaker 00

  That's right, baby.

• 1:41Speaker 02

  Boom.

• 1:42Speaker 00

  Stephen.

• 1:44Speaker 02

  You can call or text in the show anytime, 24 hours a day, 661-396-1000. I can already tell this is going to be a fabulous show.

• 1:53Speaker 02

  We're on fire. We're 30 seconds in. We're on fire.

• 1:56Speaker 00

  How about them Dodgers, baby?

• 1:59Speaker 02

  Had to bring it up. Had to. Way to go, Debbie, Debbie Downer, buzzkill.

• 2:03Speaker 03

  Leave my name out of it.

• 2:07Speaker 02

  We're your hosts. I'm Justin Leland here with.

• 2:09Speaker 03

  Debbie Lewis.

• 2:10Speaker 02

  Debbie.

• 2:10Speaker 03

  And Stephen Nicholas.

• 2:11Speaker 02

  Stephen Nicholas, the trifecta.

• 2:15Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 2:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:16Speaker 00

  Let's go.

• 2:18Speaker 02

  Man, I tell you what.

• 2:18Speaker 00

  We also have a guest today. I know you're going to get into the markets. I know you're going to get into the messages, which you can text in anytime throughout the show, 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. But we do have a special guest coming in at 12:30. Who would that be?

• 2:33Speaker 02

  That would be Mark Fredericks.

• 2:35Speaker 00

  And why would Mark Fredericks be joining us?

• 2:38Speaker 02

  He's the director of tennis at the Bakersfield Racquet Club. There's like a tournament or something coming up, I believe.

• 2:44Speaker 03

  Kind of a big, kind of a big event.

• 2:46Speaker 02

  There's kind of something going on over there.

• 2:48Speaker 00

  Tell me more.

• 2:49Speaker 03

  My favorite, one of my favorite topics, tennis.

• 2:52Speaker 02

  Tennis.

• 2:54Speaker 02

  Debbie honestly believes that, and I don't necessarily disagree with her, that tennis players are probably the best athletes on the planet.

• 3:01Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 3:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

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  And the coolest.

• 3:04Speaker 02

  And the coolest.

• 3:05Speaker 03

  Stylish.

• 3:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:07Speaker 03

  Stylish.

• 3:07Speaker 02

  Maybe.

• 3:08Speaker 03

  Billie Eilish?

• 3:09Speaker 02

  Billie Eilish? Billie Eilish?

• 3:13Speaker 00

  But we'll hear more about that when Mark joins us at 12:30.

• 3:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, the bottom of the hour.

• 3:16Speaker 00

  Go ahead. How was the markets? How was everything else?

• 3:19Speaker 02

  Yeah. Well, Debbie, you want to hit us with the market numbers?

• 3:22Speaker 03

  It's been a weird week.

• 3:23Speaker 02

  It's been a weird week.

• 3:24Speaker 03

  Right. Inflation is up. Tech got hammered again. Oil spiked to $110 on the Iranian side of things and the boring stocks like utilities and groceries were the ones holding up.

• 3:39Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:41Speaker 03

  Dow had a good week overall. The NASDAQ had its worst week since June.

• 3:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:45Speaker 03

  Is that right?

• 3:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's right.

• 3:47Speaker 03

  So, yeah, this is a first for me, everybody. So bear with me.

• 3:51Speaker 02

  She's killing it.

• 3:52Speaker 03

  I'm basically reading and speaking Mandarin at the moment. Dow was down roughly 285 points. The S and P 500 down about 102. NASDAQ down about 642 points. And yeah, oil at 110 a barrel for the first time since May. And gold is up a little bit.

• 4:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:16Speaker 03

  What do you, what do you think about the gold that I was reading earlier as we were preparing that people are?

• 4:24Speaker 02

  We prepare for the show?

• 4:25Speaker 03

  I mean, you do.

• 4:29Speaker 03

  I'm pretending right now.

• 4:31Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 4:33Speaker 03

  But gold, it sounds like people are buying up a lot of gold at the moment. Is that right?

• 4:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, and I think that.

• 4:39Speaker 03

  Flying off the Costco shelves?

• 4:41Speaker 02

  Flying off the old Costco shelves, getting their one ounce. Yeah. The precious gold. Yeah, I'm torn. I go both ways on gold a little bit. I know that people will say it's a hedge. I know other people say it's a good investment. I would say that neither of those things are necessarily true in all situations. They can be true in little snippets here and there, but to say that gold is a hedge is, it's a misnomer. The way, you know, if you're looking at it as a hedge, okay, if, speaking purely on hedge, you know, terminology, what does that mean? You're expecting that gold is going to go

• 5:24Speaker 02

  up at the same time that the dollar is going down. Okay, that there's a negative correlation that there's the dollar goes down, gold goes up, and it should be close to a one to one ratio, right?

• 5:35Speaker 03

  So kind of like a bond?

• 5:37Speaker 02

  Right, correct.

• 5:37Speaker 03

  Right? Bonds and stocks.

• 5:39Speaker 02

  Correct. So stocks and bonds move.

• 5:41Speaker 03

  Correct.

• 5:42Speaker 02

  So, gold and the dollar, if you look at the gold and the dollar and say, okay, well, if I want gold to be a hedge, you would want it to go up as the dollar goes down by the same percentage as the dollar goes down. That would be a true hedge. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. It can hold true in certain instances, but it's not something that you can set your watch to. It's kind of, it doesn't necessarily hold water. Sometimes it can, sometimes it doesn't. So I'm a little bit leery about the whole gold thing.

• 6:16Speaker 03

  Stephen, can you get Glenn Beck on the line?

• 6:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, I'm good.

• 6:20Speaker 03

  Can we call Glenn?

• 6:21Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go with a no. Yeah, he's on speed dial.

• 6:25Speaker 00

  I know Hannity can.

• 6:27Speaker 02

  Oh, jeez. That guy hawks more gold. That guy hawks more gold than the guy that sells diabetes.

• 6:32Speaker 00

  I love my gold.

• 6:34Speaker 02

  My gold. Yeah, it's, yeah, it's a good, it's a good piece of your portfolio, but to say that it's going to be the whole piece of your, the whole thing, I know people that will go and put everything into gold. That is a bad strategy. Gold is actually more volatile. This is, this is, go back and check me on this. Gold is actually more volatile than the US stock market. I'm not going to check myself. I know, I know the facts.

• 6:59Speaker 00

  But isn't, I mean, isn't it not a good idea to put all of it in anything?

• 7:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's never a good idea to put all of your stuff in anything.

• 7:06Speaker 03

  Like technology, if you are heavily invested in tech right now, your 401K is down.

• 7:12Speaker 02

  You're, yeah, you're hurting, right? Gold is actually more volatile than the US stock market. If you plot the US S and P 500 versus gold, gold is actually more volatile. So people that say, oh, gold is a great hedge, yeah, go ahead and do that, but it's going to wind up being more volatile than the stock market. You're actually safer in the stock market.

• 7:32Speaker 03

  Interesting.

• 7:33Speaker 02

  In the long run. So anyhow, I'll get off my high horse for just a quick moment.

• 7:38Speaker 00

  Got them all heated up.

• 7:39Speaker 02

  Man, you got, got under my skin on that one. How about them Dodgers?

• 7:46Speaker 03

  It was so hard to watch. I'm very happy for the Brewers, though. They were great.

• 7:53Speaker 03

  I'm a Dodgers person. I'm not a diehard, but I'm a Dodgers fan. And I'm happy the Brewer, they won that series.

• 8:00Speaker 02

  They absolutely mopped the floor with them.

• 8:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 8:04Speaker 02

  I'm actually, I know that this is one thing that Major League Baseball absolutely does not want, but I want to see the Cleveland Guardians. I want to see the Cleveland Guardians and, and the Brewers.

• 8:17Speaker 00

  Yeah, they'll love that.

• 8:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, Major League Baseball is going to be like, oh, yes, the ratings.

• 8:22Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 8:22Speaker 02

  Are going to be amazing.

• 8:25Speaker 00

  They'll take it until the, the strike.

• 8:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, the lockout. I honestly, the reason I kind of want the Guardians is like every year, spring training breaks open and I watch Major League. It's like, it's like a ritual in the household. I'll watch Major League One, not Two or Three, you know, Back to the Miners. Those are horrible movies. Every, like every second of them, I want to, it's a horrible movie. But the first one, I will watch that. So, yeah.

• 8:53Speaker 03

  I grew up.

• 8:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's a great movie. And.

• 8:57Speaker 03

  Kirby Puckett was one of my favorite players growing up.

• 9:00Speaker 02

  Well, he.

• 9:00Speaker 00

  I was a Kenny Lofton guy.

• 9:01Speaker 03

  Oh, wait. No.

• 9:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, Kirby Puckett was a Twins.

• 9:03Speaker 03

  He was a, oh, man.

• 9:05Speaker 02

  Minnesota Twins.

• 9:06Speaker 03

  Oops. Same colors.

• 9:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, God, you know, God rest his soul, Kirby Puckett. That was a bad, that was a sad story that he was still playing good ball and he wound up losing his eyesight. I think he had like a diabetic kind of a thing and he lost his eyesight and he had to retire. And then he died just a few short years after he retired.

• 9:26Speaker 03

  A lot of diabetes in this show.

• 9:28Speaker 02

  I know, I know.

• 9:29Speaker 00

  You're making me hungry.

• 9:30Speaker 02

  I know.

• 9:34Speaker 03

  Opposite effect.

• 9:35Speaker 02

  Yeah. Oh, boy. That went off the rails. Speaking of off the rails, we're going to get back to the numbers here. The Producer Price Index is the number that the Fed looks at when looking at interest rates. We've talked about that before. And, you know, while inflation, the core CPI numbers came out and showed that we had a 3.7% inflation rate year over year. That's an important number because we were expecting 3.6, we got 3.7. Doesn't seem like a big difference, but it's a big difference. The bigger difference is the PPI, which is the Producer Price Index, which was actually announced yesterday. That

• 10:18Speaker 02

  is the number that the Fed pays more attention to when talking about federal, federal funds rates and interest rates. And that number came in like 6.3.

• 10:32Speaker 02

  And that is a massive year over year increase.

• 10:37Speaker 02

  What is that attributed to? Almost 90% of that has to do with diesel and the, the, the transportation of goods and services to your front door. Everything that you buy, everything that you purchase, everything that you consume comes to you via diesel in some way, shape or form. Whether by ship, by train, by truck. Unless you're on a Tesla truck, but even in the, in the, in the grand scheme of the supply chain, there's some point where it touches diesel.

• 11:06Speaker 02

  And diesel is up 70% in the last year, year over year. So the PPI number being 6.3 and possibly even higher, I think that's being under reported is going to be the thing that actually the Fed probably looks at more, uh, more deeply coming into their next meeting in two weeks.

• 11:27Speaker 03

  Which it's likely that they're going to raise rates again.

• 11:31Speaker 02

  Well, I'm looking at it right now and people are still saying there's an 80% chance that they stay put this time around. And I don't understand that for the life of me. The futures markets are still saying that the Fed is going to stay put right where they're at in two weeks and then they'll reevaluate when they have their next meeting.

• 11:50Speaker 02

  That would be tantamount to the same thing we had back in, uh, 2021 and 2022. When the Fed was like, oh, inflation is quote unquote transitory. Do you remember those words, Stephen? How many times did we say the word transitory in 21 and 22?

• 12:07Speaker 00

  All the time.

• 12:08Speaker 02

  It was the year, it was the year of transitory inflation. This isn't transitory.

• 12:15Speaker 02

  And what the Fed did then, I'm afraid they're probably going to wind up doing again, which is they're going to be behind the curve. They were too slow to act in 21 and 22, which then created the situation where the interest, the inflation rate topped out at 9%. And then all of a sudden they had to ramp up interest rates so fast that, uh, the bond yields came, you know, uh, the, the bond prices came crashing down, the stocks came crashing down. And 2022, everybody can kind of remember what happened. It didn't matter where you were invested commodities. Stocks, bonds didn't matter. You were losing money one way or the other.

• 12:58Speaker 02

  And, uh, that's kind of where I'm thinking is that the, the Fed needs to do something quicker, sooner rather than later. Because the PPI is what's going to really kind of drive that CPI later on.

• 13:10Speaker 03

  Do we have time to go? We just got a comment that, or a question that just came through and it's applicable to, to the segment. Uh, you guys are on one today. Oh, thank you. Love it. Uh, we're having a good time. We always do. Thanks, Ed. What is the year to date, say gold this year from last year? Is there something going on that is new because the media is really pushing gold more now than ever?

• 13:34Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah, big Ed. I, you know what? Let me, can you maybe pull that number up? Maybe Debbie while we're looking at it. So gold right now, I know gold is roughly what $4,200 an ounce, 4150 right now. 4165 I'm looking at. I know earlier in the year it had topped out near 5,000. It's actually come down quite a bit, even though the, um, the dollar has, has decreased in value as well. Again, going back to the hedge conversation I had. If you want gold to be a hedge, if the dollar's going down in value, i.e. with, um, inflation and all these other things, the, the dollar's getting less valuable. You would think that gold would be going up and it'd be more than $5,000 an ounce. It's not.

• 14:20Speaker 02

  It's a 4,200 roughly. I think it's relatively flat for the year.

• 14:24Speaker 03

  It says, uh, gold is down this year, not up.

• 14:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:28Speaker 03

  As of October 15th, gold was about 4,170 an ounce, roughly flat from a year earlier and down 3.5% so far in 2026.

• 14:38Speaker 02

  That's, that, that tracks.

• 14:40Speaker 03

  And that's from the World Gold Council.

• 14:42Speaker 02

  Yeah. So that's, that's tracking. So gold has basically been flat to down for the year. And the dollar's actually been down as well for the year. So that's a good, that's a, that's a great question. Um, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we want to talk a little bit about, uh, the social security cola that just came out and just how much of that, just how much of that cola is going to buy you with such inflation numbers, uh, when we come back.

• 15:20Speaker 02

  Welcome back.

• 15:21Speaker 03

  Happy birthday, Flea.

• 15:23Speaker 02

  I know, right?

• 15:24Speaker 03

  64 years young. He's a maniac.

• 15:27Speaker 02

  He is crazy.

• 15:28Speaker 03

  When are we going to listen to some of his jazz album?

• 15:31Speaker 02

  I know, right?

• 15:32Speaker 03

  I heard that show was great. He did a little mini tour.

• 15:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:36Speaker 03

  He's so talented.

• 15:37Speaker 02

  He is.

• 15:38Speaker 03

  And he owns a crazy house in Big Sur.

• 15:42Speaker 02

  Too bad the rest of the Red Hot Chili Peppers suck live.

• 15:45Speaker 00

  Watch it.

• 15:48Speaker 03

  No, they do not.

• 15:51Speaker 02

  Yeah. I, I love their studio albums. Uh, I've never been really super impressed with their, their live shows.

• 15:57Speaker 03

  I saw them play an acoustic set.

• 15:59Speaker 02

  That might not be bad.

• 16:00Speaker 03

  At the bridge school benefit years ago with my sister up, uh, Mountain View, whatever that venue is, I'm blanking. They were amazing.

• 16:09Speaker 02

  That would probably have been a better show.

• 16:12Speaker 02

  I don't know. I think.

• 16:13Speaker 00

  I had tickets and then COVID ruined it. So I, they're still on my bucket list.

• 16:18Speaker 02

  Still on the bucket list.

• 16:19Speaker 03

  Don't rain on Steezy's parade.

• 16:21Speaker 00

  I've, I've watched several live shows on my TV and they are great. So you don't talk about my Chili Peppers.

• 16:30Speaker 03

  You can like more than Tool.

• 16:33Speaker 02

  You know, I, I do. I actually like a lot more than Tool.

• 16:38Speaker 02

  So we got some messages that popped in here. So, uh, let's hit it.

• 16:43Speaker 03

  My wife wants us to pay the house off before we, we retire, but I keep thinking that money could be earning more if we invested it instead. Help me or am I way off? Question mark?

• 16:53Speaker 02

  Totally depends. Um, it depends on the interest rate. So if your interest rate is say less than, you know, 3% or less, I would be paying the minimum on the mortgage. Because right now, what we talk about, the inflation rate is 3.7%. Your bond yields right now for a 10 year bond is 5.1%. So you could invest that in additional, you can invest that additional money that you would be paying to pay off that mortgage. And that money could be earning you an extra two percentage points.

• 17:27Speaker 03

  This is an example of good debt.

• 17:30Speaker 02

  Right. It's a good debt.

• 17:31Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 17:32Speaker 02

  You know, you, you're getting an additional two percentage points on, um, that additional amount that you would be paying down the debt. So you're getting rid of a guaranteed 3% return versus getting a, basically a risk free 5% return. So that's where I would lean on that. Now, if it's 5% and there's kind of this weird kind of arbitrage between the two, maybe it makes sense to pay it off. If it's above 8%, by all means, pay it off as quick as possible. Nobody has an 8% mortgage right now. That, that's just, if you do, you got a really, either a really bad mortgage agent or, uh, you, you got sold something you didn't need.

• 18:11Speaker 02

  But if the mortgage rate is say seven, seven and a quarter, like where it's at right now, maybe you want to pay it off, right? Because you, you can't really get a guaranteed return that's, that's higher than 7%. So it really kind of depends on the interest rate. And maybe what you're, what you still owe on the house. If, you know, it, cause again, if you're, if you're still itemizing your taxes, which very few people are doing. If you're itemizing your taxes, then getting that interest deduction is still valuable to a certain degree. If you're not itemizing your taxes and you're taking the standard deduction, then you're really not getting anything for that mortgage rate interest. You're not, you're not able to write it off, right?

• 18:54Speaker 02

  So it, it, it's a, it's a depends kind of a question.

• 18:58Speaker 03

  In this instance, does age and or retirement timeline make a difference or not, not applicable?

• 19:05Speaker 02

  Not necessarily. I would say this is that you have to remember that probably two thirds of retirees are carrying a mortgage into retirement. It's not the way it was back in the 1960s and 70s where, hey, a paid off house was your retirement. Like, hey, I'm, you know, that's not the case anymore. Two thirds of retirees are carrying a mortgage into retirement. So it's not, it's not a failure on your part. It's just, you know, from a monetary standpoint, pay attention is, is the interest rate low? Can you get a better rate elsewhere? And two, if you're itemizing your taxes and you're still getting that, that tax deduction for your interest that you're paying, then, then yeah, take that.

• 19:47Speaker 02

  So that's that question.

• 19:49Speaker 03

  Okay. Next one. Great show with Miles, one of our local legends.

• 19:53Speaker 02

  Yes, he is.

• 19:54Speaker 03

  Wait, I missed who?

• 19:56Speaker 02

  My, Miles Museo was here yesterday, right? Yeah.

• 19:59Speaker 03

  Oh, lovely.

• 20:00Speaker 02

  The man, the myth, the legend.

• 20:01Speaker 03

  I love it. I didn't want to assume we only have one legend in town named Miles, but I guess I'm wrong. Okay.

• 20:09Speaker 03

  The reason I text is that my company just gave me a small raise and I'm trying to decide whether to put the extra money into my 401k or use it to pay down some debt. I don't want to miss out on retirement savings, but I also don't like owing money. What would you guys recommend?

• 20:26Speaker 02

  Man, oh, man. This is a, this is a question right after my own heart.

• 20:31Speaker 02

  Uh, yeah, I got one minute to get, yeah.

• 20:33Speaker 03

  Dig deep.

• 20:33Speaker 02

  Dig deep.

• 20:34Speaker 03

  And quickly.

• 20:34Speaker 02

  Yeah. Uh, basically the question is if, if you have debts, again, going back to what I said before, if the debt is say a higher than 8% interest rate. I'm, I'm assuming like credit card debt or a HELOC or something like that. That's an 8% or higher interest rate. Pay that off as soon as possible. You'd have to be disciplined. You have to be disciplined. So you have to make sure that, hey, that raise is specifically going to pay that extra amount for those debts. And do that debt snowball kind of a situation. If the debts are not really that expensive, I would split it. I would put half of it into the 401k, the other half paying off those debts. That's the easy answer. Um, obviously it may be a little bit more nuanced for, for any particular person. But that would be my first inkling is if you have high interest debt, get rid of that first.

• 21:18Speaker 02

  And then after you're done with that, then you can take that excess and put it into the 401k. So you can't, you can't serve two masters, man.

• 21:26Speaker 03

  Great questions.

• 21:27Speaker 02

  Great question. Keep them coming. We will be right back.

• 21:40Speaker 02

  Welcome back to the Friday edition of the Money Wise Show.

• 21:45Speaker 03

  The best edition of the Money Wise Radio Show.

• 21:48Speaker 02

  Well, anytime it's Justin and Debbie, you know, you got a show going on.

• 21:51Speaker 03

  And Stephen.

• 21:52Speaker 02

  And Stephen. Got to throw in the third wheel.

• 21:54Speaker 00

  And Mark.

• 21:55Speaker 03

  And Mark. And tennis.

• 21:58Speaker 02

  And tennis.

• 22:00Speaker 03

  So excited.

• 22:00Speaker 02

  Uh, yes, we are very excited, very excited to have Mark Fredericks joining us here from the Bakersfield Racquet Club. He is the director of tennis at the Bakersfield Racquet Club. And there's a, there's a slight, small tournament, I think, that's going on next week.

• 22:15Speaker 03

  Just a little something.

• 22:16Speaker 02

  Just a little something, something going on.

• 22:18Speaker 03

  Professional tennis coming to town.

• 22:20Speaker 02

  Mark, very good to see you.

• 22:21Speaker 04

  It's always a delight to be here.

• 22:23Speaker 02

  Thank you very much, joining us. And so, yeah, the, the, what, this, this tournament that's going on that I keep hearing about, when is it? What is it? Tell us the why.

• 22:33Speaker 03

  Who is it?

• 22:34Speaker 02

  Yes, the why, what, when, where, and who?

• 22:36Speaker 04

  We've got a lot of international players coming in. They're part of the USTA Futures Tour and also the International Tennis Federation Tour. We've got some fantastic talent coming here to Bakersfield. Uh, some of these players are ranked around 200 in the world and they go all the way down to about 400 or 500, but some incredible talent.

• 22:53Speaker 02

  Still world-class, world-class tennis.

• 22:56Speaker 04

  Absolutely. Yeah, just some great players.

• 22:58Speaker 02

  You're, you're burying the lead. This is, this is the Women's Tennis Open here in Bakersfield, the second annual.

• 23:03Speaker 03

  Third, technically, right?

• 23:05Speaker 02

  Third, right. Yeah. Third annual Women's Tennis Open here in Bakersfield. Now, we've been doing the Tennis Open for the men's side for years and years and years, the women's side now three years, and brings in world-class talent to our own backyard to watch, which is amazing.

• 23:26Speaker 03

  It's amazing, and it's free.

• 23:27Speaker 04

  Absolutely. The entire weekend's free. Just come on out and join us. And what's really nice about this event is that you get an opportunity to watch these talented, incredible players and athletes close up.

• 23:38Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 23:39Speaker 04

  Uh, they're, they're literally on the other side of the fence. You're about eight to 10 feet away from, from a gal that's incredible, like hitting 115, 120 mile an hour serves. So you get to get up close up and personal and, and, and just watch them interact and, and listen to the, to the regular sounds of tennis, you know? Sometimes when you're in a stadium and you're way up, you.

• 23:58Speaker 02

  Don't really hear it, yeah.

• 23:59Speaker 04

  Yeah, you don't hear the grunts, you don't hear that, that, you know, that fight and, you know, what they're saying under their breath. It's usually positive.

• 24:08Speaker 04

  But, uh, but it's really good. It's, it's, it's a lot of fun and it's a great thing for, for the spectator to come out and watch.

• 24:13Speaker 02

  Well, and I think one of the things you can actually say is, you know, you go watch these, these, these ladies playing in, here in Bakersfield, and you can say, when they're on the, the, when they're on center court at Wimbledon, you can say, I saw them win.

• 24:25Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. That's what's really neat about it. You know, you see some of these talented players and, you know, sort of in the beginning of their careers. And then, you know, as they develop and as they get better and stronger, you know, you begin to see the, the change and the maturity in their games. But to catch them when they're real early is, is fun to watch.

• 24:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:42Speaker 04

  You know, in the men's side, you know, when TFO came in here, he was a skinny little kid, you know? And then you watch him on TV now and it's like, my God, he's.

• 24:49Speaker 02

  What happened?

• 24:50Speaker 03

  He was pretty, pretty built when he was here as a teenager.

• 24:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 24:54Speaker 04

  But, but it's really amazing. It's fun. It's fun to catch them and it's very, very early, so.

• 24:58Speaker 03

  I mean, I, when Taylor Fritz played in town, I became buddies with he and his dad. And I, at that time, was working at Moo Creamery and I told them about this amazing restaurant that we had in town. And please come and visit me. I'll take care of, I'll give you the VIP treatment. You're my friends. And they sure, sure enough, they showed up the next day, had a great time, and then they came back like consecutive days after that.

• 25:23Speaker 04

  I love that. I love hearing stories like that, you know, where the community kind of reaches out and then, you know, the players just soak it up and take it in. Yeah, they, they love it, so.

• 25:32Speaker 03

  Can you maybe point out a couple of the players that you're excited about? I mean, obviously all of them, but can you pump us up a little bit?

• 25:39Speaker 04

  You know what? I'll, I'll, I'll start off with a couple of the wild cards first. I, I have an opportunity to choose some players, uh, some that are local and some that I feel that are somewhat outstanding talents that are available. And for the main draw wildcard, I've got a gal named, uh, Nika Herkrats. Her, her brother is actually in the top 10 in the world or top 15 in the world.

• 25:58Speaker 03

  I recognize that name.

• 26:00Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. He's a, he's a talented, a talented player, but, but Nika on her own is a fantastic player. She plays number one for Cal Berkeley, so, uh, we're excited to have her come down here and, and give it a go. She should do extremely well in this event. So we're looking forward. And for the qualifiers, I've got a gal right out of the club and, uh, her name is, uh, Gianna Gilbert. You know, she's.

• 26:21Speaker 03

  From Bakersfield, our racquet club?

• 26:23Speaker 04

  Yeah, from Bakersfield. And it's like, she's starting out and, and she, I, I picked her because she, she literally comes out three to four hours a day and trains hard with her dad and she's really friendly with the members. And she's just a fixture over at the club and, and we just wanna, just, I want good things for her to happen for her, you know? And so it's gonna be a pretty tough road. I'm not gonna lie there. She's gonna have a, a pretty tough time, but it's gonna be an incredible experience for her.

• 26:49Speaker 02

  Great experience, though.

• 26:50Speaker 03

  Will she be playing on, is that Monday or Tuesday?

• 26:53Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's gonna be on the qualifying, so she's gonna definitely be playing on Monday. I'm not too sure what time because they haven't done the, the draws and stuff yet, so. But, but, uh, the other talent that I have, great, great story. It's a girl named Yuktah Pandit. She's out of Fresno. She is a sophomore in high school.

• 27:10Speaker 02

  Wow, okay.

• 27:10Speaker 04

  And, uh, she's number seven in the nation.

• 27:13Speaker 02

  Wow. Are you kidding?

• 27:14Speaker 04

  No, no, no. She's an incredible player.

• 27:15Speaker 03

  Dang it, Fresno's got us again.

• 27:17Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah. And she's, she's won the, uh, the, she's won up in Ojai, uh, which is a huge prestigious tournament up there. And, uh, she actually got her start or wanted to become a professional tennis player. Uh, she was actually gonna do a coin toss over at Indian Wells and she walked out onto the stadium with Serena Williams as a, as a little girl.

• 27:40Speaker 02

  Oh, wow.

• 27:40Speaker 04

  And so, you know, Serena kind of went over to her and said, you know, take in this moment, look at this crowd and feel the energy. And as a little girl, she's like, oh.

• 27:49Speaker 02

  Oh, I could do this. I could do this. Yeah.

• 27:51Speaker 04

  So granted, she only had to flip a coin, but she was just so excited. And from that day on, she's like, I want to be on that court. I want to play. And, and so she's just worked her butt off and, and so I'm, I'm really hoping that she has a good show. She's played in a couple of satellite tournaments or Futures tournaments, so, uh, she's not, you know, immune, you know, she's not a rookie to it. But, uh, you know, this is a tough road, you know, as we all know, and she's very young. So there's gals that probably have more losses than she has matches.

• 28:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:22Speaker 03

  Right.

• 28:22Speaker 04

  You know, so she's gotta really kind of step up to the plate a little bit and, and just let it all happen. But in speaking with her over the phone, it was really exciting and refreshing to hear where she just goes, you know what? I'm just loving every minute of it. This is what I want to do. This is where I want to be. And, and, you know, win or lose, it doesn't matter. I'm just gonna love it and love the battle. And I was like, yeah, I'm a sophomore in high school. Thank you.

• 28:46Speaker 02

  That's the great, great mindset, yeah.

• 28:48Speaker 03

  What is her last name again?

• 28:49Speaker 04

  Her last name is Pandit, P-A-N-D-I-T. So she's just, uh, like I said, just a wonderful kid and, and she's just jacked up about.

• 28:57Speaker 03

  Oh, I can't wait. I'm gonna keep my eye out for her matches.

• 29:00Speaker 04

  Again, I don't know what time she plays. It's gonna be obviously, uh, after 10 o'clock on Monday. Uh, but, uh, it's, uh, it's definitely gonna be a good experience for her.

• 29:08Speaker 02

  That's gonna be awesome. Any others that are top of mind that are?

• 29:12Speaker 04

  Yeah, in the main draw, we've got a gal that won last year, uh, Vivian Wolf.

• 29:15Speaker 03

  Oh, right.

• 29:16Speaker 04

  She won last year and she's gonna be joining us again. She's at, uh, 245 in the world right now. And, uh, she just got back from Reading where she got into the quarterfinals up there. So, you know, she's been playing pretty active. She had a little stint over in Shanghai and, uh, I want to say, what is it? Uh, Shandu? I, I can't pronounce. There's another city over there. But, but, uh, and she played over there and, and had some pretty good matches there. She tried to qualify for the Shanghai and, and I think she came one shot, one match short of that.

• 29:45Speaker 03

  Oh, shoot, which just is wrapping right now, right? I think they're playing in Shanghai. Or they're in Wuhan and they were in Shanghai.

• 29:52Speaker 04

  There's like a swing over there with three or four tournaments and I know she participated in all of them, so. So she's gonna be coming back, kind of hungry as ever, and, and since she's won here before, she, she kind of knows the lay of the land. So she's pretty excited about coming back and, and, and joining us once again, so.

• 30:08Speaker 02

  That's gonna be awesome. And so this is happening all, basically all next week, right? When, when is the first match starting? Is that, uh?

• 30:16Speaker 04

  The main draw, the, the official draws are on Tuesday.

• 30:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:20Speaker 04

  It'll be at 11 o'clock in the morning.

• 30:21Speaker 02

  So some qualifying rounds that will go on Monday.

• 30:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 30:24Speaker 02

  And then Tuesday through the rest of the week is gonna be the, the main tournament.

• 30:28Speaker 04

  Correct, correct.

• 30:29Speaker 02

  What about some of the amenities and such that the listeners can go out there and get some libations?

• 30:35Speaker 03

  Yeah, let's paint a picture of what the experience is like.

• 30:39Speaker 04

  First of all, you're not paying anything to walk through the gates.

• 30:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 30:42Speaker 04

  That's a good.

• 30:42Speaker 02

  That's a given right there.

• 30:44Speaker 04

  Yeah. And then, you know, Delicious Kitchen is on our.

• 30:48Speaker 03

  Is that how you say it? I've been struggling with the hyphen and the.

• 30:51Speaker 04

  There's a hyphen.

• 30:52Speaker 03

  Delicious.

• 30:53Speaker 04

  Delicious, but.

• 30:55Speaker 02

  Delicious.

• 30:56Speaker 04

  It is. It's definitely good.

• 30:57Speaker 02

  I'm just gonna, whether or not the name is delicious.

• 31:00Speaker 04

  Yeah. And I know for dinner, they're planning on Taco Tuesdays, smash burgers on Wednesday. I think there's a tri-tip meal on Thursday.

• 31:08Speaker 03

  Or chicken and then a baked potato bar, I believe.

• 31:11Speaker 04

  I believe on Friday. Yeah. And it's always consistent. It's always good. So it's definitely a good deal. And I think you get that and some sides for like around 20, 22 bucks or so.

• 31:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 31:22Speaker 04

  But it's certainly a great meal and just sit back and have something to eat and then we'll have something to drink.

• 31:29Speaker 03

  Yes. Local favorite, personal favorite, Tiki Co.

• 31:33Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 31:34Speaker 03

  Will be out serving drinks all week.

• 31:36Speaker 04

  I don't know much about this, but they said that they had some tournament drink planned, so I know it's gonna be good.

• 31:43Speaker 03

  They're really good about signature cocktails.

• 31:46Speaker 02

  Signature cocktail kind of a thing. Yeah.

• 31:48Speaker 04

  I'm sure that's gonna be a hit. I'm definitely gonna be in line for a couple of those by the end of the night.

• 31:52Speaker 03

  I'll be locking elbows with you, Mark. We'll be side by side.

• 31:56Speaker 02

  Got a message that popped in, says, "Sounds like fun. I hope the rain stays away for a few days." We went to the men's for the first time and it's amazing how talented these kids are.

• 32:04Speaker 03

  Yes. And the men's tournament will be back in March.

• 32:07Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah.

• 32:08Speaker 02

  That's in March, yeah.

• 32:08Speaker 03

  I love that the club is ramping it up and you guys are doing, I mean, you are doing Bakersfield great justice in our local athletes. It's such a cool opportunity. And the kids, we haven't even mentioned, right? Isn't there, there's something around the student players?

• 32:26Speaker 04

  Events going on throughout the week. You know, we've got some things that are going on every night. I did say that we have matches that start at 11 o'clock every day, but we also have featured matches in the evenings, starting at 6 o'clock. And on Monday, we do have a little RSVP, sort of, you know, meet and greet with the players. And you have to call ahead to get into that. But on the 20th, we've got the USDA Player Recognition Night, where we're gonna recognize some of the players that participate in the leagues and stuff. So it's a lot of fun and a lot of local, a lot of local talent that we'll be mentioning as well. And on Wednesday, the high school recognition night, the high school teams will come on out.

• 33:07Speaker 04

  And I believe Flame Broilers is gonna be involved with that.

• 33:12Speaker 03

  Oh, nice.

• 33:12Speaker 04

  So they're gonna take care of the kids. And so that's always a fun night because it gets a little rowdy out there and they get to watch the tennis. And the crowds get a little bit bigger. So it's always fun. And the kids just, you know, they love it. So they soak it in. On the 22nd, Thursdays, it's gonna be College Player Recognition Night. So we're looking at some of the players from B.C., both the men's and women's teams. And, you know, they've got a lot of international players now. I know that the top players from the Czech Republic and I can't remember the other place. I want to say Bulgaria or something.

• 33:45Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 33:45Speaker 04

  But they're definitely a talented group and a lot of locals that are gonna be there that work with the team and stuff. So it's gonna be a fun night. And on Friday, we're gonna have the double semifinals. We've got two matches that evening, so it's gonna be a lot of fun as well. So.

• 34:02Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 34:03Speaker 04

  Because the finals for the, for the doubles is gonna be on Saturday.

• 34:06Speaker 03

  Afternoon, right? At 1 o'clock?

• 34:07Speaker 04

  Right, at 1 o'clock. Oh, no, it's at 5 o'clock.

• 34:10Speaker 03

  5 o'clock.

• 34:10Speaker 02

  A little bit further in the evening.

• 34:12Speaker 03

  Oh, great.

• 34:12Speaker 04

  And the two semifinal men's will be played at, starting at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, so.

• 34:18Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 34:18Speaker 03

  And then the singles.

• 34:20Speaker 04

  The singles final is gonna be at 1 o'clock on Sunday. Rain-free day. It's gonna be beautiful. The weather's gonna be great, so.

• 34:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:27Speaker 04

  Very hopeful.

• 34:28Speaker 02

  Yes, absolutely. It's gonna be great. I'm looking forward to it. I'll definitely be making it out to the Delicious Lounge and getting lunch or something like that and taking in some tennis at some point during the week.

• 34:40Speaker 04

  You know, two weeks ago, you know, remember how hot and humid that weather was?

• 34:44Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 34:44Speaker 04

  I was thinking, my God, I hope this burns off.

• 34:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:47Speaker 04

  Yeah. So we're looking forward to, you know, at least hopefully some good weather. So it should work out pretty well.

• 34:53Speaker 03

  I just want to say, and I say this every time the tennis tournament pops up, the men's or the women's, if you don't even fancy yourself a tennis person, it is still such an incredible amenity that the racket club puts. I mean, this is a huge effort. It's free. It's very casual to just go and sit down and relax for an hour and just kind of zone out and watch beauty, like physical beauty in front of you. And that's, it's in, since, excuse me, I just had like a little.

• 35:25Speaker 02

  Tongue tied, bro.

• 35:26Speaker 03

  It is, it's inspiring and it's exciting and it's relaxing. It's family friendly. You can cruise up by yourself and make new friends. Everybody is so friendly at the, at the club. I encourage you all to just swing by and check it out.

• 35:42Speaker 02

  It's gonna be a lot of fun. Mark, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been, it's been an honor to have you. And I'm definitely gonna make it out there. Debbie and I will definitely be making it out there at some point during the week. And we hope that many of the listeners will do the same.

• 35:56Speaker 04

  Awesome. Well, thanks for having me.

• 35:57Speaker 02

  Thank you very much. We'll be right back.

• 36:08Speaker 02

  Going into the weekend, just a couple of short minutes before we are off the air and it's the weekend.

• 36:19Speaker 03

  Um, speaking of the weekend, I want to plug one of my other favorite things.

• 36:24Speaker 02

  There's so many things going on. It's the time of year.

• 36:26Speaker 03

  Debbie loves in Bakersfield. No, this is another massive community event that's been going on for many years. It's the Chalk Art Festival known as Via Arte.

• 36:37Speaker 02

  That's going on this weekend.

• 36:37Speaker 03

  Done by the Bakersfield Museum of Art, but it's out at the marketplace all weekend and family friendly. It's free. It's still, you know, this is an incredible event that our community seems to really enjoy. So I just wanted to make sure everybody was aware of that.

• 36:54Speaker 02

  That's right. Hey, um, news came out that Social Security was gonna get a COLA adjustment. Yay, yay.

• 37:03Speaker 03

  Yay, yay.

• 37:04Speaker 02

  So anybody that's on Social Security is gonna get a, a little bump in pay shortly.

• 37:14Speaker 02

  And that number was, what was it? 3.7%? 3.6? Yeah. COLA adjustment was 3.6% cost of living adjustment.

• 37:24Speaker 02

  It's the largest hike in four years and nearly a full percentage point increase over the 2.8 that was slated for last year. So Social Security will do a COLA adjustment basically every year and they base it off of the, the October inflation numbers. Why they pick October? Your guess is as good as mine, but that's what they have in the law. They just, they picked the October number and that's what they use.

• 37:49Speaker 02

  And unfortunately, I think everybody that's hearing my voice right now says, "Yeah, but isn't inflation higher than 3.6%?"

• 38:00Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah, it is. So it is becoming more and more difficult for seniors to make ends meet.

• 38:09Speaker 02

  And there's lots of news stories out there about seniors struggling as, as inflation continues to outpace the Social Security benefits. So why is that? And, you know, most, most folks that are getting Social Security, it's, it's, there are many people are on a fixed income where it's, that's it. That's all they have. Right? Maybe they didn't save enough when they were working age. Maybe they had a pension that didn't pan out.

• 38:43Speaker 02

  Any number of different reasons why Social Security becomes the main or major part of a person's retirement planning structure, you know?

• 38:57Speaker 02

  I know that my grandmother, that was her only income, Social Security. She, she had everything written down as far as, to the penny, what every bill cost her. Because she knew that if she was over by any amount, she was not gonna be able to make it that month.

• 39:14Speaker 02

  And that's kind of unconscionable. When we have

• 39:21Speaker 02

  the, the Social Security COLA adjustment is based off of purely the COLA adjustment rather than looking at energy costs because COLA does not take into account, uh, energy, doesn't take into account gas, doesn't take into account.

• 39:34Speaker 03

  Healthcare?

• 39:35Speaker 02

  Healthcare.

• 39:35Speaker 03

  Medication?

• 39:36Speaker 02

  Nope. Because the raise that you just got, 3.6% that you just got, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Medicare is gonna, your Medicare premiums are probably gonna go up by the same amount. It tends to do that every single time. So the Medicare premiums right now for, I think it's A or B, is $202.90, depending upon whether or not you're in the IRMA category. But Medicare premiums are about $203 a month. If we go back and look at it, you're probably gonna get a 3.5% increase in your COLA adjustment. My guess is that the amount that you're going up might be $20 or $30 a month,

• 40:17Speaker 02

  but I'm guessing that the, uh, the Medicare premiums might be going up by the same amount. So are you, are you ahead?

• 40:26Speaker 02

  No, you're actually falling behind every month.

• 40:28Speaker 03

  This is such a downer to end the show, Justin.

• 40:32Speaker 02

  I know, but it's, it's the reality.

• 40:36Speaker 02

  I feel bad.

• 40:37Speaker 03

  Did you see, okay, on brighter side of things, did you see that I love Costco? And did you see that they're now going to start to offer healthcare?

• 40:47Speaker 02

  Yes. They're actually gonna be doing, they actually, so Costco is gonna be offering their own Medicare supplement in the future.

• 40:55Speaker 03

  Amazing.

• 40:56Speaker 02

  Starting next year, I believe. I don't know what the supplement's gonna cost or what, what, you do not have to be a member from what I, from what I gather when I saw this. It was, you do not have to have a Costco card to be a member of this.

• 41:08Speaker 03

  Interesting.

• 41:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:11Speaker 03

  Can Costco run for president?

• 41:13Speaker 02

  I wonder. Maybe the CEO of Costco might.

• 41:15Speaker 03

  A whole entity?

• 41:16Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:17Speaker 03

  Amazing. Costco for the win.

• 41:19Speaker 02

  They win. They are running things right. They pay their employees. They get good benefits.

• 41:24Speaker 03

  They're redistributing their tariff refund.

• 41:27Speaker 02

  Right. Properly to the business owners that paid it and to the purchasers.

• 41:32Speaker 03

  Lowering their prices.

• 41:33Speaker 02

  Right, exactly.

• 41:34Speaker 03

  I mean, I'm going, I think I'm going to dress as a Costco person.

• 41:37Speaker 02

  And you can still get a hot dog for a buck 99.

• 41:38Speaker 03

  Heck, yeah.

• 41:42Speaker 02

  Hey, you know what? Go get the Costco trifecta. Get yourself that, the hot dog and the pizza.

• 41:47Speaker 03

  We are not getting paid to pump up Costco, by the way.

• 41:51Speaker 02

  Have a wonderful weekend. Go do some of the wonderful things that are going out there. Via Arte, the women's business, Women's Tennis Open.

• 41:59Speaker 03

  Fortune theme star at the Fox.

• 42:01Speaker 05

  Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through LPL Financial. LPL Financial and Money Wise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.