2/3/25 Planning for Retirement & Heart Health – Plus, Can AI Fix Traffic?

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Monday, February 3rd BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" podcast call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management instagram: MoneywiseWealthManagement Guest: Dr. Rasham Sandhu, MD, FACC - Interventional Cardiologist website: https://cacvinst.com/

• 0:00Speaker 00

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

• 0:09Speaker 01

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

• 0:30Speaker 02

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

• 0:40Speaker 00

  Now, let's start the Money Wise Show.

• 0:42Speaker 03

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

• 1:04Speaker 00

  Sammy Abiyawi.

• 1:05Speaker 03

  Sammy Abiyawi. We have a lot to cover today, and we have several listener questions and comments. But before we get to that, I've got to mention, and just real quickly, mention today's market moves. Now, major indices are all down between half a percent to one and a quarter percent. The S and P leading that downward charge. Basically, what's going on is the market's digesting the tariff move by President Trump. It's, you know, there's so much happening at such a quick pace, there's no way that we'd be able to cover this, even if we did the whole show dedicated to tariffs.

• 1:46Speaker 03

  The gist of it was that over the weekend, it was anticipation of these tariffs kicking in, specifically tariffs for China, Mexico, and Canada, our three largest trade partners. China, about 10% tariff, Mexico, 25, Mexico and Canada both 25% tariff. And during today's news cycle...

• 2:15Speaker 03

  President Trump had a conversation with the President of Mexico and from that conversation, the President has backed off on the tariff, for Mexico at least for a month. And President Trump has scheduled to talk to the Prime Minister of Canada. And that was, that was going to happen, or supposed to happen sometime this afternoon. We would anticipate there could be some potential move for, for the markets, depending on how that conversation goes through. The gist of it, Sam, I mean, I think the most important thing for our client, for our, our listeners to understand is that there is, any time a, a President is just taking office, there's going to be a period of time where there's executive orders and there's a lot

• 3:00Speaker 03

  of posturing. And this is because there's been, they're fresh off the campaign trail and they're ready to, to, to satisfy their constituents.

• 3:11Speaker 04

  Yeah, they got promises to make, to, to uphold to, or promises that they need to fulfill. And some of them, he's doing through executive orders, regardless if a judge might come, come, come out and say, no, you can't do this, you can't do that. But as far as his, the people that voted for President Trump, he's satisfying the base.

• 3:30Speaker 03

  That's it.

• 3:31Speaker 04

  And saying, hey, I promised this and I'm doing it.

• 3:33Speaker 03

  He's really pushing the limits as, as, he's not alone. Every President that takes office wants to make their mark and get, get things going. And I, I would advise people to, to take a deep breath.

• 3:44Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 3:45Speaker 03

  And, and let's, let's, let's, let's let some of this stuff play out, you know?

• 3:50Speaker 04

  I want to remind the, the listeners about something you said prior to the election, way prior to the election, way prior to who, who, who was going to take office. Regardless of who's in office, the market function as an independent body.

• 4:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 4:05Speaker 04

  Regardless, and you gave statistics about Democrats being in office versus Republicans, versus Republicans being in charge of all the, the Congress, the, the, the, the, the executive branch. And, and the market still functions. On its own, like it reacts to certain things that the president is doing. Yes, there's no if or buts about that, but it's still a body of its own. And the ma- the I think what you said back then, the major thing is stay the course, whatever course you have, investments plan you have, stay the course because the markets is don't, don't, I don't know how you said it, don't time the market.

• 4:42Speaker 03

  It's time in the market, not timing the market.

• 4:44Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 4:44Speaker 03

  And yeah, and there are always going to be some sort of political upheaval or law or you know, executive order that's going to impact the markets. That is generally a short term move. You want to look at the markets in a long term view and recognize at least our belief is that the free market and free market capitalism and those powers that are inherent in a free market are far more powerful than anybody in the White House, any, any political party.

• 5:15Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 5:16Speaker 03

  At the end of the day, you have to have economic prosperity and you know, I think I think that I I'm optimistic about how this will all play out. I'm, I'm not a fan of tariffs. I don't know anybody who's a fan of tariffs, but I, I, I believe that at the end of the day, I'm not too concerned about these short term moves in the markets like we saw today. I can see a lot of people looking and pointing a finger at the markets go, see the S and P was down one and one and a quarter percent today. Thanks, Trump. You know, it's your fault. You know, it's like, okay.

• 5:47Speaker 04

  The only thing that comes to my mind, why he back backed off and delayed it by a month, maybe he's negotiated for negotiating for us to have more eggs coming from Mexico because we've got a big shortage here in America.

• 5:57Speaker 03

  We need eggs. We need avocados. Yeah. You know, this is the, the president doesn't have a lot of other tools to be able to use to try to negotiate with other countries and tariff is just one that all presidents have used in the past to try to get their way.

• 6:13Speaker 04

  And, and, and with those three countries specifically, I, I think I read some statistics, I think yesterday, like it's 80% of the export from Mexico go towards America or some big number like that.

• 6:24Speaker 03

  It might be.

• 6:25Speaker 04

  Canada, the same 70 to 80%.

• 6:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, we're their biggest partner.

• 6:29Speaker 04

  We're their biggest trading partner. So I think him using this lever kind of like makes sense to attain certain things. I'm hoping that. We're not, we don't get to, to, to the point where we're actually increasing these tariffs.

• 6:43Speaker 03

  Right, that, cause yeah, that's what, that's the, that's the fears we get into a, a battle of a tariff war here. Let's go right to our listener question, Sammy. You wanna run a read the first message there?

• 6:55Speaker 04

  Yes, is that, uh, thank you for allowing me, yeah. Thank you for allowing me to text, but I'm asking because I know you guys deal with a lot of local retirees. But is it normal to be almost afraid to retire with all these ongoing changes in California?

• 7:08Speaker 03

  Okay, great question, right Sammy?

• 7:10Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 7:11Speaker 03

  You and I were talking about this and I think you said, well, it's always scary to retire.

• 7:15Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 7:15Speaker 03

  And I think that's the answer to this question is if, if you weren't in California, if you were in some other state and you were close to retirement, there would be something else going on that I guarantee would still make you nervous. There's always going to be something that's gonna make you nervous and, and rightfully so, because retirement's a big step. But retirement is so, it's such a broad word. You and I were just talking about our retirement. We both said, well, we're not retired.

• 7:39Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 7:39Speaker 03

  We're never gonna retire, right? Because in our world, retirement probably means you're not working at all. You're just sitting on the beach with a Mai Tai.

• 7:48Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 7:49Speaker 03

  And you're, you're golfing every day, whatever it is that you wanna do. Well, that, that's, that's, you know.

• 7:54Speaker 04

  I wanna do that now.

• 7:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 7:57Speaker 04

  Yeah, part of it, some of it now.

• 7:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, you, you want to hopefully stay engaged and stay involved in being productive. And so I think that retirement for some, some people means not being productive. I would say, don't ever retire. If you're gonna retire and not be productive, or at least involved or engaged in something, I promise you, you're gonna have mental health issues, you're gonna have physical health issues, your, your, your, your, your life will suffer.

• 8:27Speaker 04

  I agree with you a hundred percent and I've experienced that in my own family with my mom. So my mom and dad both retired almost at the same time, right? My dad stayed involved in things, like he's, he still does side projects, little construction here, little construction there. And he's very, thank God, fit.

• 8:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 8:41Speaker 04

  And mentally, my mom, on the other hand, just decided, hey, I'm gonna retire, I'm just gonna stay home and I'm not gonna see my friends anymore. I'm not gonna have any social, and then the decline.

• 8:51Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 8:52Speaker 04

  And substantially decline and she's younger than my dad.

• 8:55Speaker 03

  We'll pick on your mom a little bit because this I I see this frequently with somebody who is in a career. I don't know if your mom felt this way, but she was a school teacher.

• 9:02Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 9:02Speaker 03

  Teacher, right?

• 9:03Speaker 04

  So almost forty years.

• 9:04Speaker 03

  For forty years and I know a lot of teachers. Uh, I can, I can pick out some other careers. Uh, you have, um, uh, law enforcement. You have, um, the, um, correctionals officer. The high stress jobs that most of the, a lot of the, a lot of those in those careers are clocking in and clocking out. And that, and they're counting the days down to where they're not, they don't have to do it anymore.

• 9:33Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 9:34Speaker 03

  So it's literally just a job to go in and get it done. Maybe to get to your pension level, maybe to get to a certain financial status. And then they're spending their career dreaming about that day that they're no longer doing that. But it's requiring everything from them in the meantime. And I, I would caution here, we're talking generally about money. So, you know, you want to do more than just preparing yourself financially for how you're going to retire, retire. You need to prepare yourself mentally for what your next thing is going to be. The good news is that financially for a lot of people, it's really great to have a side gig. Have something else that can create a little bit of money for you.

• 10:17Speaker 03

  So now you get the benefit, not only getting a little bit of extra added income. So maybe you don't have to do that job you don't like about so, for so long. But then now you have something else you're engaged in that maybe you're passionate about, like a, like a craft or.

• 10:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, I agree. I agree. I'm, I'm getting excited here because we were doing our give back, right?

• 10:34Speaker 03

  Yeah, our, our, our company, Money Wise Give Back on Friday.

• 10:37Speaker 04

  On Friday and we were at Cap K, Stephen and I were outside.

• 10:41Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:41Speaker 04

  Right with in the drive through and the two individuals we were working with, one of them was, uh, an older gentleman, seventy eight years old. He's a veteran, he's on social security and so what are you doing here? He said, well, it's a side gig. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I still get, make a little bit more money, but more important for me. I'm involved.

• 10:58Speaker 03

  Yeah, I get out of the house for a little.

• 11:00Speaker 04

  I get out of the house and I got a purpose. I got, I got something to wake up.

• 11:03Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 11:04Speaker 04

  And I look forward to.

• 11:05Speaker 03

  I've had this frequently with Uber, my Uber drivers and sometimes it comes up, hey, you know, what are you, what are you doing? And they're all, I just do this for fun. I retired, you know, five years ago, but I just got to get out of the house. I'll lose my mind. And I just like this because it gets me out and get to meet people. And I was, oh, that's fantastic.

• 11:23Speaker 04

  Great.

• 11:24Speaker 03

  What a great, there's all these side gig economy that you can, you can do something and, and find something you're passionate about. So great question. We appreciate our listeners. Do you want to go through the next one?

• 11:33Speaker 04

  Yes. Good afternoon. A family member's house burned down in the recent fire. What should they do first to get their money and insurance stuff figured out? And how do they make sure they get the insurance claim handled properly? I know this is probably a long question, but they are freaking out.

• 11:47Speaker 03

  Yeah, I would freak out too. This is, I, I have a cabin, an old cabin that's been in our family now for over 10 years. Up in Alta Sierra, just a couple of years ago, we, that, there was a fire up there that, that came within about 30 feet of our cabin. I was watching it like a hawk. I thought for sure it was going to lose everything. It's the closest I've ever come to losing something. So I had to do a little research myself. Oh, boy, what's my insurance? What's going on? So, you know, first of all, here, there's, there are a couple of things that you want to be aware of and, and you can, you can tell your friend this. If you've been affected by the fires, the, the first thing, obviously after you've, you want to prioritize, prioritize your safety and your immediate needs.

• 12:29Speaker 03

  That's, that's a no brainer, but you want to contact the insurance company immediately. It seems like common sense, but I can see maybe somebody feeling like, well, I don't want to talk to the insurance company. Notify the insurer, you'll get a claim number. And the good news is that the insurance, your insurance company will want to work with you. Many of them will, will accommodate and, and if you request an advance to help with some of the necessities, many of them will accommodate for that. And, and this can be deducted from the final settlement. So they don't have to settle the whole process right away. Way they can advance some of that.

• 13:10Speaker 03

  And then when the, when the settlement is finalized, it's just going to be deducted from that. So, you know, make sure that they're contacting the insurance company. And getting that claim number. You want to keep track of that number become very important because that's what you're going to use. As you start documenting the, uh, the, the

• 13:28Speaker 04

  Process.

• 13:29Speaker 03

  Process, which, you know, they're generally, they're going to ask for an inventory. So you, you may want to tell your friend to start listing the things that were damaged or lost. And you got to include the descriptions if you have receipts or purchase dates. Estimated values, photos are great. Um, then, then that's something that they, is, the insurance company is going to request. The, uh, the other, uh, uh, issue to deal with is the insurance adjuster is going to become your frenemy. Very quickly, you're going to be very good friend, but at the same time, you're going to be, you know, okay. You understand that they're working for, for the insurance company to protect their bottom line. You've got your own bottom line, but you want to be involved and stay engaged.

• 14:14Speaker 03

  Be present during the inspection, get things in writing.

• 14:17Speaker 04

  Take photos.

• 14:18Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 14:19Speaker 04

  Make sure that you're documented really well through the photos, videos. I, I liked what you said, the detailed inventory of, of, of, of stuff because hopefully you can assign some type of value to that.

• 14:31Speaker 03

  That's right. Now understand what's covered. So look at your homeowner's insurance policy and start, you know, start doing some, some homework and deciding. And trying to determine what, what will actually be covered. Remember a lot of these policies have what they call ALEs, additional living expenses. This is what will cover temporary housing and meals during displacement.

• 14:52Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 14:52Speaker 03

  And there's always, there's usually

• 14:54Speaker 04

  Keep your receipts though.

• 14:55Speaker 03

  Yeah. Keep your receipts. Yeah, that's right. Because you're probably spending that right now and you haven't even talked, talked to the insurance company. So, um, so there you have it. Those are a couple of suggestions that we would have. The, uh,

• 15:09Speaker 03

  You know, for those who have not had a tragedy or a disaster, it's a good time for you to reevaluate your homeowner's policy, see where your coverage lies, and go through your house with your phone. This is my suggestion. Take a video and just walk around and talk about the things that you see in your home. And that, you may never know when you have to go back to that. I've done this a couple of times with my properties. I just take, you know, 10-minute videos. I tour my house. I point out the items and I talk about what's there because you want to go back and look and see. You've got a video and you can go back and find that.

• 15:52Speaker 04

  That's a very, very good idea.

• 15:53Speaker 03

  Good suggestion. Let's take our first break of the day, Sammy. When we come back, we've got much more to cover, including a few more listener questions. We're Money Wise. We'll be right back.

• 16:01Speaker 00

  Have you been putting off your finances? Seize the day. Call the Money Wise office at 661-847-1000, or email [email protected].

• 16:18Speaker 03

  Welcome to Money Wise Show. I'm Sharad Waite here with Sammy Abbi Ali. We're answering your questions. 661-396-1000, that's the number you can call or text 24 hours. I want to answer this question right now, Sammy.

• 16:31Speaker 04

  Yeah, one more question. What are the disadvantages of 403B? Thank you.

• 16:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, okay, so a 403B is very similar to a 401K. When you hear any of these lettered retirement plans, 457, 529, 403B, 401K, there's 401A, there's 401B, there's all these different numbers, all those are tax code numbers. And it's a way that you can essentially tag or title an account so that the company knows how it's taxed. What are the tax rules with this? So, a 403B is an interesting one. A lot of people are familiar with 403Bs because they primarily are dealing with,

• 17:20Speaker 03

  403Bs are retirement savings tools for public schools, nonprofits, certain religious organizations. And that's what the retirement plan that most of those types of organizations offer. Now, the reason why they don't use a 401k is because, again, those companies that use a 403B, like public schools, they generally have a separate primary retirement pension plan.

• 17:51Speaker 04

  Plan.

• 17:51Speaker 03

  And that's what most of those employees are participating in. And so the 403B is sort of like the extra income that somebody could save if they're an employee of a public school or a nonprofit or a religious organization. So the disadvantages for a 403B would be, there are disadvantages that are similar to any other type of retirement plan, which is the money that goes into those plans are going to be, you're going to be restricted on when and how you can pull that money out. And when you do pull that money out, now you have taxes that you're going to have to pay.

• 18:28Speaker 04

  So it's deferred taxes, really.

• 18:30Speaker 03

  Deferred taxes. And those deferred taxes can really take some people off guard. It's, remember, it's a retirement plan, so the plans are designed to help you save for when you're generally over 65 or over 60, depending on what plan you've contributed. A couple of things, though, that are unique to 403Bs is that they generally have a narrow range of investment options compared to 401ks or an IRA. A 401k, especially an IRA, you're almost not limited to the type of investment. You can go to any, almost any type of investment. You can even have self-directed, so you can have, you can be invested in rental properties

• 19:13Speaker 03

  and commercial real estate, and you can be invested in stocks or bonds, you name it. 403Bs are generally limited to a narrow scope of investments that, that means you're not necessarily going to get the best, I would say. It's not always the best investment. For example, a lot of 403Bs are annuities or mutual funds. Nothing wrong with annuities or mutual funds, other than there are lots of fees, they're more complex. And so people can get into trouble. Yeah, you don't have the variety. You're stuck with more limited investments with the 403B.

• 19:52Speaker 04

  Does that create a little bit more risk shared when you don't have that variety?

• 19:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 19:56Speaker 04

  Like when I hear less variety, that means that your risk is concentrated.

• 20:01Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 20:01Speaker 04

  It's not divided amongst a bunch of other things.

• 20:03Speaker 03

  I've seen this mostly in the 403B world with schoolteachers or bus drivers, janitors. There are salespeople essentially. They're not financial advisors. They're sometimes not even licensed to offer investment products. They're only insurance licensed, which is the only license that they need to be able to offer an annuity. And these annuities are generally fixed annuities that are sold to younger people that really, it's not always appropriate for somebody.

• 20:37Speaker 04

  I see.

• 20:37Speaker 03

  And you have higher fee products that are not the best use of your retirement funds. So you just have to be a little bit more aware that there could be higher fees, administrative costs. And those are the things that came to my mind in terms of the question.

• 20:58Speaker 04

  Very good question, very good question too.

• 21:00Speaker 03

  Well, now let's just shift gears. Since we've got our guest here, really excited to have with us Dr. Sandhu. He is a medical professional of over 20 years of experience as a cardiology specialist here in Bakersfield. Again, with over 20 years in the medical field, Dr. Sandhu, welcome to the show.

• 21:20Speaker 05

  Thank you. Thanks for having me.

• 21:21Speaker 03

  It's really great having you. You know, before we get to our own personal medical issues and get our free medical advice, I know you have been involved for years with charitable giving nonprofits. And you are involved in a nonprofit called Thrive and Purpose Foundation. Can you talk about what this is?

• 21:49Speaker 05

  So this is over the years in treating people, one thing I realized, there is a gap. And so our middle income seniors, middle class seniors, when they retire.

• 22:03Speaker 05

  The medical care can become very expensive, very fast. And the insurance, the Medicare, or some plans will cover some, but the little amounts, okay, fifty here, hundred here, two hundred here, for someone who is on a fixed income, that can add up to a sizable chunk every month if you've got a couple of chronic conditions. And I saw people struggle with this over the years. So this is something I wanted to do for a long time, but fortunately now, we were able to put some legs to it. And Thrive on Purpose, that's primarily the purpose. This is our first year operating, and we are looking to help people initially to sort of streamline our procedures.

• 22:48Speaker 05

  We are looking to help people with heart failure first, with their medical condition, and by the end of the year, over the next two quarters, we hope to add at least two other chronic conditions, be it be diabetes or atrial fibrillation, to try to help people with some of those expensive medicines. And some people who need to travel out of town for some medical care with the gas cards.

• 23:13Speaker 03

  Wow, this is, obviously, it's got to be difficult as a physician when somebody needs care and, you know, they've got the copay, they've got the prescriptions, travel costs, and now they're forced, I'm sure you've seen this, where a family is forced to make a decision whether they're going to go through a procedure or get some care because they're on a fixed income?

• 23:37Speaker 05

  Certainly. I mean, this is a story, unfortunately, that plays out every other day in medicine. And making hard choices in terms of, okay, do I do this this month? Can I cover this medicine? Or flat out say, I can't afford this.

• 23:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:52Speaker 05

  This medicine, and they just decide to go without it, or if they can't find a cheaper alternative.

• 23:58Speaker 04

  And sometimes if they do decide to go with the medicine, this is why it strikes very close to my heart personally. That's why I'm involved with Dr. Sandu and this foundation. I sit on the board with him on this foundation. It's because what he told me is there are some seniors, some people, that if they do make the choice to buy the medicine, then they're giving up food, or they're giving up some other aspect of their life that is still needed, but they truly can't do both.

• 24:27Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 24:28Speaker 04

  So we're hoping that through this, the foundation, we can, through grants, given grants, and there's a process and things, that we can dive into that a little bit. But raising some funds to help this specific segment of the population that is in much need of what we're trying to provide.

• 24:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's almost like there's this donut hole, or this, this lack of, for those who are, don't have any resources, you generally can find social safety network programs like Medi-Cal and other programs that can help with the deductible, or help with the copays. But then you have this other section of people who have, who have, have just enough money through, let's call it just social security or fixed income, and they have Medicare, which a lot of people think that Medicare would just cover everything, but they don't, it doesn't, doesn't cover everything.

• 25:31Speaker 05

  No, it does not.

• 25:32Speaker 03

  And so then what happens, you know, what happens, what do you see is generally when, what are the, what are the biggest costs for somebody outside of Medicare that they're stuck with that is hard for them?

• 25:46Speaker 05

  So, day-to-day cost-wise, medicines are a big one. And a lot of newer medicines are really, really good at treating conditions, but they are also very, very expensive.

• 25:57Speaker 03

  Right.

• 25:58Speaker 05

  And, I mean, the cost can go anywhere from fifty, seventy dollar per medicine copay for a few of these medicines to a couple hundred dollars.

• 26:07Speaker 03

  Right. Even though, so Medicare will cover it, and you still could have a couple hundred dollar copay on that prescription?

• 26:13Speaker 05

  Correct.

• 26:14Speaker 03

  Just, that's insane. If you didn't have the coverage, I'm sure some of these medications get into the thousands?

• 26:21Speaker 05

  They, they would probably, but, I mean, it's just the craziness of how our medical system works sometimes. For someone who does not have any coverage, whatever the cost may be, if you have insurance, you've got to cover a certain amount, and that amount could be substantial and prohibitive for certain people before the insurance actually will kick in. So all these arcane rules, which a lot of our seniors are not familiar with. So that's the third part of what we hope to do with the foundation is provide a little bit of navigation through our volunteers. To these seniors as to how to navigate the complexities of medical system.

• 27:01Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:02Speaker 05

  Because a lot of these medicines, the pharma companies may have grants which can help them.

• 27:07Speaker 03

  I've seen, I've seen the commercials for the pharmaceutical pharmaceutical commercials drive me crazy because they're, you know, they're generally really long and half the commercial is telling you about the horrible side effects.

• 27:19Speaker 05

  Correct.

• 27:19Speaker 03

  But then there's usually something at the very end that says, oh, by the way, if you can't afford this medication, contact us and there maybe we can help. What, what is that? Like, what, what, what is, what does that mean?

• 27:30Speaker 05

  So a lot of these pharma companies do have foundations that can help. The problem is, one, they have to work within certain rules and parameters. And second, the process of getting to that point can be very complex for a seventy-five, eighty-year-old person to go online, fill an application, do this. They will need help with this.

• 27:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:51Speaker 05

  And that help, a lot of times, is not forthcoming.

• 27:54Speaker 03

  Right, yeah.

• 27:55Speaker 04

  So the foundation provides some, some type of help.

• 27:59Speaker 05

  Yes, that assistance.

• 28:00Speaker 04

  Through volunteers that could, could be available through an eight-hundred number or phone number that these people can call or even come in to the office.

• 28:07Speaker 05

  Correct.

• 28:07Speaker 04

  And walk them through the process of, application process or help with navigating a website.

• 28:13Speaker 05

  That, that's the sort of the third part of it that we are hoping to establish. That's still not fully functional, is be able to go on the website, register your interest. This is what you need and connect you to a volunteer.

• 28:27Speaker 04

  Mm-hmm.

• 28:27Speaker 05

  So that'll be a pretty automated process. The, this is not, the foundation is not restricted to people who see us in the office. They could be anywhere. We are open to helping anyone in Kern County who will need help, primarily age over fifty, chronic medical conditions, who are non-insured or underinsured, so to speak. And that's a large population.

• 28:50Speaker 04

  And there is a, there is like a, a, a process that they have to go through to qualify for these grants that are going to be available through the foundation, correct?

• 28:56Speaker 05

  Correct.

• 28:57Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 28:58Speaker 03

  We're going to take a break right now. We're joined by our guest, Dr. Asham Sandhu. He is a cardiologist specialist here in Bakersfield. I have a few more questions for you about this nonprofit or this foundation, plus some other questions for you. We're Money Wise. We'll be right back.

• 29:14Speaker 00

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

• 29:39Speaker 03

  Thanks for tuning in. I'm Sharad Waite here with Sammy Abiyawi. We're joined by our guest, Dr. Sandhu, cardiologist and specialist here in town. Dr. Sandhu, I'm always fascinated by physicians who already have so much on their plate. You're already doing so much in terms of client care and work. And then you find, somehow find time to create a foundation to do this. How do you, how do you as a physician manage or able to manage your time where you can also do this kind of stuff? It just seems, because in my world, it's just a simple minded patient. I'm like, my poor doctor doesn't have any time to do anything, you know?

• 30:23Speaker 05

  Well, I think it's a combination of things. I'm blessed with very good partners and a very supportive family at home. So because it takes sort of, you have to take it out of somewhere. A little from work, a little from home. And I mean, all of us get 168 hours a week. And how we deviate up is kind of, but I believe if I do feel passionate enough about it.

• 30:50Speaker 05

  We will be able to find time and fortunately for me, I found a lot of support for this. I mean Sammy joined the board. He's a great help. Jaclyn, she's with me. Jason Wells, Adventist president. He joined our board and he's been very supportive of us.

• 31:07Speaker 03

  Jaclyn.

• 31:08Speaker 05

  Yeah, Jaclyn.

• 31:09Speaker 03

  Is Frank Woolridge too?

• 31:12Speaker 05

  Frank Woolridge and so we are able and I just met with Mr. Ken Keller. He, we are hoping he will and he's expressed a lot of support, so very grateful for that.

• 31:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:26Speaker 05

  So there's a lot of support. All of us want to do the right thing and.

• 31:31Speaker 03

  Yeah, you you mentioned good partners, you know, part your your your practice is California Cardiovascular Institute, which has a lot of overlay with Adventist Health. Is that right?

• 31:47Speaker 05

  Actually, we work closely with both systems. Dignity Health and Adventist Health, both.

• 31:53Speaker 03

  And Ridgecrest Regional Hospital.

• 31:55Speaker 05

  Ridgecrest Regional, we do help those patients who are transferred from there. The cardiologist there, Dr. Morrison, we have a very close relationship with him. We just opened up our satellite clinic in Tehachapi a couple of months ago.

• 32:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:12Speaker 05

  And there is, we are in the process of going live in San Luis Obispo end of February.

• 32:20Speaker 03

  Wow, yeah.

• 32:21Speaker 05

  And hopefully a couple more exciting news coming this year.

• 32:24Speaker 03

  Well, again, it sounds like you're you're getting out, you're getting spread out even more so. As a cardiologist, this is, I believe, still our number one killer is is heart disease, right? Is it, are we making any progress as a as a community, let's say, start with there? Are are you seeing, as a physician, seeing better outcomes, better? Is it getting worse or is it getting better?

• 32:53Speaker 05

  So I I think as a community, I mean Kern County, of course, in terms of health, we don't rank particularly high.

• 33:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:02Speaker 05

  And multiple factors do affect that. But in terms of medical care, I think things are getting better. We have access to quality specialists in town. There are good systems in town to help people. Um. In terms of patient involvement, I have seen over the years, there is more awareness and desire to do better and be healthier.

• 33:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:28Speaker 05

  As a part of, uh, sort of, in terms of from organizational level, we are also reaching out more. So my group, at least, we are trying to get out and educate our community ambassadors. So we just did a series of talks with Bakersfield Fire Department. Then we, um, did the same with Bakersfield Police Department to educate our first responders, who in fact, I mean, one, they need the education and help. And second, they are kind of the branch points which come in contact with tens of hundreds of people.

• 34:08Speaker 03

  Right.

• 34:09Speaker 05

  So, and then now we are in the process, uh, uh, about a week ago, we did four talks with the school system. So we are in the process of educating our teachers who can affect the students and the parents alike. So that push, and that's not just our organization. I've seen in town, other organizations also diving into it and doing their part. So I think this is all a process of creating a healthier community.

• 34:36Speaker 03

  We've got a message here from a listener.

• 34:37Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 34:38Speaker 03

  Says, is Kern County really short on doctors or is that something people just say? I've had a few friends that have had to set up surgeries outside of town because of either insurance wouldn't cover it or cover it here, or doctors were overbooked. What would you say about that, Dr. Sandu?

• 34:53Speaker 05

  So in certain specialties, yes, we are short and that's a fair statement to make. We have a lot of patients who need help and not enough doctors.

• 35:03Speaker 03

  Is that the case with cardiologists?

• 35:05Speaker 05

  That is somewhat the case with cardiology too. And, uh,

• 35:11Speaker 05

  It's, I think it extends across the spectrum in general, but cardiology care compared to a lot of other specialties, still, we, we are blessed to have a number of good cardiovascular groups and cardiologists in town.

• 35:23Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:24Speaker 05

  And a very good skill set.

• 35:27Speaker 03

  Yeah. I, I, I hear frequently from friends and family, I guess they're sort of complain, or there's an overall complaint about the way that medicine is practiced in, in the United States, where there's a feeling of doctors aren't treating the, they're just treating the symptoms and not the, not, not the actual sort of lifestyle problems. Instead, it's more, oh, here's, here's the medication and just get out, you know, go on your way. That hasn't been my experience, and the doctors that I, I talk to tend to spend a lot of time talking to their patients about lifestyle. You know, it's not just, you know, here, take this pill or go through this procedure.

• 36:10Speaker 03

  How, how much of your practice is involved just, literally just telling somebody to, you know, don't eat donuts, or, you know, what lifestyle change?

• 36:18Speaker 05

  Yes, I, I think that is a pattern shift that we are starting to see, especially with, I don't want to misspeak, a lot of our previous generation doctors pushed on that too, but there is more of a push on wellness, so to speak, now. And in turn, it's a two-way street with the patients and the doctor. I mean, to an extent, a lot of our population has had that mentality, we just want a pill rather than doing the hard yards, a lot of us, and a lot of us want to do better. So, the ones who are willing and motivated, there is always a significant part of conversation, how to fix the day-to-day life. What can be cut out?

• 37:03Speaker 05

  What will be particularly useful to you in terms of diet, exercise, supplements? What kind of exercise? That is always a part of conversation. Because unless I'm able to do that, if I am not able to get a heart failure patient to understand what's creating or exacerbating his problem in the first place, I can throw any number of medications on it. It's just not gonna work.

• 37:26Speaker 03

  So that has to be difficult sometimes, difficult. Maybe you're used to it, but had it like also weight, you know, telling somebody, you probably have to tell people a lot of the times you're basically you're overweight. You gotta lose weight and and that could be that that doesn't. We don't like to hear that.

• 37:45Speaker 05

  Well, it's it's and it's human not to want to hear that. Yeah, I totally get it. But I think a reasonable way to start that conversation is not to put a label on where you are, but let me show you the way where we need to go to and start with, okay, let's talk about your diet. What do you eat day to day? Let me get first three offenders here. Do you drink sodas? Yes, let's cut that out, please. Do you drink juices? And contrary to popular belief, juices are not the healthiest option.

• 38:16Speaker 03

  Right, full of sugar.

• 38:17Speaker 05

  Exactly. Fructose, the human body is just not built to metabolize that level of fructose. So it mean a big cause of fatty liver is our addiction to fructose and sugars. And fatty liver is projected to be the number one cause of liver transplant overtaking alcoholic liver disease in a few years in the United States.

• 38:37Speaker 03

  Wow, wow, yeah.

• 38:38Speaker 05

  So I think, I mean, once I start the conversation there and then, I mean, moving on to, okay, carbs wise, what's what's breakfast, what's dinner? Or can we do time restricted feeding, time restricted eating?

• 38:52Speaker 03

  Right.

• 38:53Speaker 05

  And surprisingly, a lot of people are open to it when you talk to them.

• 38:59Speaker 03

  Yeah, and a lot of people will pay attention when it's their doctor talking to them.

• 39:04Speaker 05

  Yes, right.

• 39:05Speaker 03

  And and when it's our heart, that's that's an important organ.

• 39:08Speaker 05

  That's right.

• 39:09Speaker 03

  Take care of it. Well, thank you so much for coming. On the show, we really appreciate it. You've got your time is sacred and important. You're out there literally saving lives, but thank you so much, Dr. Rasham Sandhu. He's a doctor here with California Cardiovascular Institute and friend of Money Wise. Thank you.

• 39:27Speaker 05

  Thank you. Thanks for having me.

• 39:28Speaker 03

  We're going to take another quick break and we'll be right back.

• 39:30Speaker 00

  Are you curious to learn more about how you can be money wise? Check out the Money Wise website at MoneyWiseGuys.com to get more info.

• 39:41Speaker 03

  Welcome to the Money Wise Show. I'm Jared. Sammy's here with me. Want to thank Dr. Sandhu, just a good, solid human being right there.

• 39:50Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 39:51Speaker 03

  Saving lives, helping hearts.

• 39:54Speaker 04

  Saving people.

• 39:55Speaker 03

  Saving people. Sammy, we got a great listener question. Shout out to David out there. David is one of those listeners that, that is just has the most thoughtful questions. And I want to read this question, get right to it and answer it says, "What positive effects do you think AI could have on traffic lights? I'm tired of quote dumb lights. I want smart lights that can adjust all throughout the day to traffic needs. Could AI calculate mathematically the best way to run traffic lights at busy intersections and maximize the fastest movement possible of all cars in all lanes? People can't do that." Yeah. So David, this is really interesting because I don't know anything about traffic lights other than I do notice that a lot of traffic lights are really dumb.

• 40:40Speaker 03

  I have one mic by my house that I get, when I get into the turn lane to go get into my neighborhood, it will, I know there's a sensor there that's supposed to know that it's me turning left, but it will let other cars that got there after me in another lane go first. And I'm sitting there waiting and frustrating.

• 40:59Speaker 04

  That's, that's the, that's what the sensors are for, Jared.

• 41:02Speaker 03

  You would think the sensors would tell you, okay, this car is here. We're going to let them go.

• 41:06Speaker 04

  They're first.

• 41:07Speaker 03

  Yeah. And they don't. Bakersfield does, is making efforts and I've seen some improvement over the last 10 years, especially in Bakersfield improving this. I don't believe Bakersfield is yet in using any of the AI technologies, but there are other cities already in the country that are using AI to make the lights much more.

• 41:30Speaker 03

  Effective and efficient. For example, in Los Angeles or in Pittsburgh, the AI assisted smart lights have reduced traffic times by 25%. And they've reduced idling time by 40%. Think about that, Sammy. In a city like Pittsburgh, 40% less idling.

• 41:53Speaker 04

  Wow, that's a big number.

• 41:54Speaker 03

  Huge.

• 41:55Speaker 04

  And that's probably synchronizing the lights like on major streets. Like I see it on Rosedale sometimes. You're driving on Rosedale and you see green light all across.

• 42:04Speaker 03

  Right.

• 42:05Speaker 04

  And that's cool because I like it. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna catch every green light.

• 42:09Speaker 03

  That's, that makes it way better. If, you know, if AI really can revolutionize how traffic lights operate and they can make our daily commute so much smoother. The idea of these smart traffic lights has been around for a long time. But using AI, I think, just takes it to another step because AI driven sensing is using the cameras and, and, and AI algorithms to adjust the traffic lights in real time according to actual time flow rather than just, you know, the dumb lights that we have now that are just waiting for me to pull up onto the sensor.

• 42:42Speaker 04

  So I, I read this article a long time ago. It just popped in my head again. It's about a Japanese research that was done for the city of Tokyo. So what they did is they put the map of Tokyo and they put some type of bacteria. And how the bacteria spread and bacteria is very efficient. They mimic that in creating the light system for the whole city of Tokyo. Now, I'm not, I'm not, I'm just paraphrasing here, but that was a very interesting concept and how they did that.

• 43:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:10Speaker 04

  Now, we're talking about AI, which might probably have a better impact on this citywide, not just like area or maybe area by area.

• 43:19Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:19Speaker 04

  That's, I mean, that's, that's, that's a very good question, actually.

• 43:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, super good question. I'm excited how AI is going to, you know, make us more efficient, save us money. David also emailed us a similar question. I'll read it, says, is Google AI assistant replacing need for Wikipedia? Any question I put in the search, the AI assistant has an answer. And so far, it's been. And pretty accurate. I wonder if Google AI could be copyrighting infringing because where does it get its information? So there's a lot to this question, but you and I use AI every single day. We use the especially the large language model chatbots like ChatGPT are phenomenal.

• 43:59Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 44:00Speaker 03

  Really just mind blowing how helpful it can be. Is it replacing Wikipedia? Yeah, I think it is. I think essentially it is. It's also replacing just Google. You know, so used to just Google something and the AI is a much better searcher. Cause it goes beyond the internet and it really can put the information in a much more accessible and accurate way. It's not perfect though, and and.

• 44:27Speaker 04

  It can summarize the stuff that it finds for you as well, like right there. It's like, hey, do you want to summarize? Yes, I just want the major points. Great.

• 44:34Speaker 03

  Yeah, wondering if this is going to have some sort of copyright infringement lawsuits. They're already happening.

• 44:40Speaker 04

  Oh, they are.

• 44:41Speaker 03

  Yes, and in particular with music, right? Because you have these AI bots that can generate a song based off of your description. And now music companies, record labels are going, hold on a minute. That sounds awful lot like Stevie Wonder or whatever this song here.

• 45:01Speaker 04

  She gives me money.

• 45:06Speaker 03

  They're going, wait, this is this is copyright infringement. Where is this? What's in your black box? And that's what a lot of the AI companies don't want to reveal is what's in their black box. Where is this? Where are they putting? Where are they scraping data from to give you these answers?

• 45:20Speaker 04

  That's a very good question too, Sherid. Now, now you read about the Chinese company that came up with this, the competitor of ChatGPT.

• 45:29Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, yeah. DeepSeek.

• 45:31Speaker 04

  DeepSeek.

• 45:31Speaker 03

  DeepSeek.

• 45:32Speaker 04

  Did you talk about this on the show last week?

• 45:34Speaker 03

  Yeah. So I don't know if you know this, but a couple, a couple of days after DeepSeek came out, rocked, you know, Nvidia's world. Five, six hundred billion in market cap lost. They're still out of the top 12 AI bots. They're like number 11. And it's still very inaccurate, but that isn't what people should be scared of because they can improve that.

• 45:58Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 45:58Speaker 03

  What they should be scared of is the fact that the Chinese could do it for five cents on the dollar.

• 46:02Speaker 04

  That's right. Five million bucks is the cost to develop that?

• 46:05Speaker 03

  Yeah, versus, you know, 500 million.

• 46:08Speaker 04

  Wow.

• 46:09Speaker 03

  You know, you have thousands and thousands of these, tens of thousands of the GPUs versus just, you know, a small group of them.

• 46:14Speaker 04

  That's scary.

• 46:15Speaker 03

  It's super scary. Chinese are gonna make us.

• 46:19Speaker 04

  I'm telling you.

• 46:20Speaker 03

  They're gonna make us a lot better. I'm still waiting for our $10,000 electric vehicle, you know, like they're making in China.

• 46:27Speaker 04

  I don't think they're gonna make it to the US, though.

• 46:28Speaker 03

  No, but US could do something.

• 46:31Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 46:31Speaker 03

  Something we could do and get these, get things cheaper for us.

• 46:34Speaker 04

  Great show, Sherrod, great show.

• 46:37Speaker 03

  It was a great show. We covered a ton.

• 46:39Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 46:39Speaker 03

  And why don't we do it again tomorrow?

• 46:41Speaker 04

  That's right, we are.

• 46:43Speaker 03

  If you missed any of these, any of these shows, go to MoneyWiseGuys.com and remember these three things: be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.

• 46:52Speaker 02

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