Pod Insights The Moneywise Guys 2/5/25 Egg Prices, AI Disruptions, and Camp Okihi’s Next Chapter About this episode The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Wednesday, February 5th 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: Darron Nilsson, Donor Relations with White Wolf Wellness Foundation website: https://whitewolfwellness.org/
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 From the padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, here is Money Wise. Call or text in at 661-396-1000.
0:09 Speaker 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?
0:29 Speaker 02 Securities offered through SCF Securities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through SCF Investment Advisors, Inc. SCF Securities, Inc. and Money Wise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.
0:40 Speaker 00 Now, let's start the Money Wise Show.
0:42 Speaker 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?
1:03 Speaker 02 Emmy's in the house.
1:04 Speaker 03 Hey, Emmy in the house. Good seeing you, as always. I want to go right to our listener questions and comments and encourage anybody out there that's listening, today's a great day to send in your comments or questions, so let's go.
1:18 Speaker 02 Yeah, let me start with a comment here. Heard you guys on the morning show on Kern, great job. Also, will be checking out the Murray interview this evening on my long haul. And it's sent by Truck Driver Dawn.
1:31 Speaker 03 Hey, Truck Driver Dawn, thanks for listening.
1:32 Speaker 02 Yeah, love having those listeners on those road trips.
1:35 Speaker 03 I was on Scott Cox's show this morning.
1:38 Speaker 02 Yeah.
1:39 Speaker 03 And we'll have somebody from Money Wise on Scott's show. Every Wednesday. Weekly, every Wednesday. 7:30 in the morning, it's a great time. We've got a lot of drivers out there. And I always have a good time with Scott.
1:53 Speaker 02 Yeah, so you can tune in there as well.
1:54 Speaker 03 Yeah.
1:56 Speaker 02 Okay, got a question here, Sharad.
1:57 Speaker 03 Okay.
1:58 Speaker 02 How much did Nvidia lose after DeepSeek, and how has it done since?
2:03 Speaker 03 Great question. DeepSeek was the news that broke out last week, back in the end of January. And it is an AI, large language model company, research company. Very small company, actually, made up of researchers, Chinese researchers, professors. And the day that they announced, that the company announced their model, their AI model.
2:34 Speaker 02 Okay.
2:35 Speaker 03 We saw Nvidia's share price drop 17%. It was on paper, on paper alone, it was a, it was a loss of market capitalization of approximately $589 billion.
2:51 Speaker 02 That's a big number.
2:52 Speaker 03 It's the biggest single day loss in US market history. Let me repeat that. There's never been another time where a company has lost so much money in one day. That amount of money, a publicly traded company, nearly $600 billion.
3:11 Speaker 02 This is like a competition thing?
3:13 Speaker 03 Hmm, no, it's, well, I mean, there's competition right now among the AI companies.
3:19 Speaker 02 Right.
3:20 Speaker 03 And, yeah, so what freaked investors out with Nvidia was the fact that this company could do it for pennies on the dollar compared to what it was costing Nvidia to do it.
3:32 Speaker 02 Lower barrier of entry?
3:34 Speaker 03 Yeah, far lower barrier of entry. Now, it wasn't nearly as good of a product. In fact, that, that day or the next day, Latroy and myself were on the show, preparing for the show. We, we, we signed up for DeepSeek and immediately were starting to test it, comparing it to ChatGPT. And right away, we could tell it wasn't anywhere close. Hallucinating, incorrect information. And there are services out there that can rate these models, these, these chat models.
4:03 Speaker 02 What kind of services? Other AI?
4:06 Speaker 03 Probably, probably, but they're, but it's really fascinating because they, you need to have some sort of standard. To understand how effective the models are.
4:16 Speaker 02 Sure.
4:16 Speaker 03 And there's about 12 different widely used companies that are that provide these services or have this technology. And DeepSeek came in 11 out of 12. And it was, I don't remember the statistics now, go back and listen to the show with LaTroy and myself. But it was, you know, a large percentage of the answers were coming in incorrect. And it was having a lot of what they call hallucinations where it just like
4:48 Speaker 02 Doesn't make any sense.
4:49 Speaker 03 Random stuff that doesn't make sense. Yeah, or is not related to it. And that, so, but that didn't matter because the fact that they could, the company could create the model so cheaply. And still, you know, it's still good. I mean, if that was the, it was, it was far better than the first OpenAI or ChatGPT model that came out. You know, this is their first run at it.
5:10 Speaker 02 Plus, my understanding is that it gets better with time.
5:14 Speaker 03 Yeah, they get better.
5:15 Speaker 02 It learns.
5:16 Speaker 03 Yeah, exactly. I, I wanted to see how, now, part of our listener question is, well, how has Nvidia's stock done since then? Well, let me give you just a little bit of history about Nvidia's stock. It, it, back in January 23rd, so just before the announcement, the, the share price was about $147. And then we saw it drop down to a low of $118 approximately on Monday, January 27th. We had a little bit of recovery, but today it's sitting at 118,
5:57 Speaker 03 which is essentially where the price that it dropped down to from the scare, from the DeepSeek scare.
6:04 Speaker 02 Yeah.
6:04 Speaker 03 The past month, the share price has dropped about 24 bucks. That's about a 16% drop. And there is, this is where we sit. This is where we sit right now in terms of the, in terms of the, of the value of the company. Looks like the share price peaked January 6th at nearly 150, about $149 a share is, is where we hit an all time high for Nvidia. It is one of many examples of the inherent risks in investing in technology stocks.
6:41 Speaker 02 Yeah.
6:42 Speaker 03 You you run the risk that another company.
6:44 Speaker 02 Everything's changing so so fast.
6:47 Speaker 03 Yeah, it's so competitive.
6:48 Speaker 02 Sure.
6:49 Speaker 03 Because you have it, you have one tech company that's coming up with some widget. And all you have to do is have some other company across the world come up with that same widget, but cheaper and better. And now you could go out of business. It's a similar issue that we find.
7:04 Speaker 02 Market disruption.
7:05 Speaker 03 Yes, we find this issue with biotech companies. Where they pharmaceutical companies, they say, we've got this potential cancer curing drug. And it just needs to get through the FDA approvals. And everything looks good until it gets to that final stage. And then it doesn't. And then, you know, so there's always inherent risks in in investing in any single company. This is an argument for diversification. Yeah, exactly. Then you don't have, it can, it can reduce the amount of risk that you're taking. And you can diversify not just across several different kinds of tech companies, for example, but you could have tech companies that are from all over the world.
7:48 Speaker 03 Or you can also go beyond just the tech sector and have multiple sectors.
7:54 Speaker 02 Sure.
7:54 Speaker 03 From different geographical locations. And that gives you a nice diversified portfolio. So you're not too concentrated and in one area. What's what is tempting, though, for a lot of investors is to is to go with one company. Or or just a few companies. Because with more risk, the expectation should be more reward. And that is what people are looking for. But our advice, our money wise advice always is to take a an academic approach. And that would mean being diversified and having your assets allocated across many different sectors. And and.
8:39 Speaker 02 So you don't have to stress about this kind of stuff.
8:40 Speaker 03 And you don't have to stress about this kind of stuff. That's exactly right. So there you have it. Great answer, or great question.
8:47 Speaker 02 Also a great answer.
8:48 Speaker 03 And a great answer. I wanted to talk, I've been, this has been on my mind for a bit, but it's not, it's kind of old news. But we have been experiencing a massive bird flu epidemic.
9:01 Speaker 02 Right.
9:01 Speaker 03 And it's been impacting, especially here in the United States, our laying hens.
9:07 Speaker 02 The eggs.
9:08 Speaker 03 Chickens, the eggs. There are approximately 400 million laying hens in the country.
9:16 Speaker 02 In, in the United States?
9:17 Speaker 03 In the United States.
9:18 Speaker 02 Okay.
9:19 Speaker 03 But there have been, as I mentioned, a epidemic among chickens.
9:25 Speaker 02 Yeah.
9:26 Speaker 03 And it comes from just waterfowl, mostly, wild waterfowl. The chickens end up getting, they're contagious to it.
9:33 Speaker 02 You have to eliminate the whole.
9:35 Speaker 03 You gotta kill it.
9:36 Speaker 02 Crowd.
9:36 Speaker 03 That's right.
9:38 Speaker 02 Of chickens.
9:38 Speaker 03 Yep, you just gotta, you gotta kill the chicken.
9:40 Speaker 02 Flock.
9:41 Speaker 03 The whole flock.
9:42 Speaker 02 Yeah.
9:42 Speaker 03 And the United States has been doing that. Approximately 160 million poultry have been affected or culled in the United States. This is according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. That's 160 million. Yeah, like.
10:00 Speaker 02 Almost.
10:01 Speaker 03 Almost a third, maybe. And of course, the out, the outcome of that would be an increase in.
10:10 Speaker 02 Cost of eggs.
10:10 Speaker 03 Cost of eggs.
10:11 Speaker 02 That's the supply and demand that we learned about in our economics.
10:14 Speaker 03 Yeah, that's right.
10:15 Speaker 02 Class in high school.
10:16 Speaker 03 That's exactly right. These numbers are just mind blowing to me, that, that, that there are that many millions of chickens out there. Like egg laying chickens.
10:25 Speaker 02 It's one of those things you just don't think about.
10:27 Speaker 03 No. It, it could get real scary. The virus has not only affected chickens, but now it's starting to affect dairy cattle. With nearly a thousand dairy herds across 16 states have been impacted as of just a couple of days ago. And there is, there is a risk now for it can't be transferable to humans by eating, you know, I'm guessing you could get sick, but you're not going to get the bird flu in that way. So that's the good news. The bad news is that the virus could could easily mutate and evolve. And it's not that far away, according to scientists for it to evolve
11:10 Speaker 03 where it could now start spreading to humans. And that's a pretty scary scenario if that if that happens. But the economic out the economic outcome from the bird flu is the
11:24 Speaker 02 Rising cost.
11:25 Speaker 03 Rising cost of eggs. And now you're seeing yesterday, it was announced the Waffle House is adding a 50 cent per egg surcharge. Did you hear about that?
11:33 Speaker 02 People are mad. The article I read said the guy, the server had been cussed out several times that day.
11:39 Speaker 03 Oh, my gosh.
11:40 Speaker 02 From people who were upset about the rising cost.
11:44 Speaker 03 Uh, yeah, I mean, what do you do? You got, you know, that's how much?
11:49 Speaker 00 Costco.
11:50 Speaker 03 Are they still cheap, cheap at Costco?
11:52 Speaker 00 They're cheaper when you get them in bulk.
11:54 Speaker 03 I wonder.
11:55 Speaker 00 Yeah, I've, I've seen it grocery shopping. People just, I'm not getting eggs. This is, this is outrageous.
12:00 Speaker 03 It's crossed my mind that some people may want to go buy their, go buy their own chickens for their backyard, which is.
12:07 Speaker 02 I'm sure it's crossed more than just your mind.
12:10 Speaker 03 I did do a little research. There were, there were a few articles that I could find of, of a slight increase of people buying chickens.
12:20 Speaker 02 Yeah.
12:20 Speaker 03 And the backyard chickens.
12:23 Speaker 02 Just so they can get their own eggs.
12:24 Speaker 03 So they can get their own eggs. But how do you think the math works out?
12:28 Speaker 02 I bet, I bet it's, it's not quite as easy as it sounds.
12:32 Speaker 03 Right.
12:32 Speaker 02 As most things are not.
12:33 Speaker 03 And that is mostly because you have to buy the coop. You have to buy the food. You have to buy the chicken.
12:40 Speaker 02 And then you need watering scenarios. Yeah. And then you have to regularly buy their food.
12:47 Speaker 03 Right. And so you have maintenance for these birds, which, you know, according to, I've never, we've never owned chickens, but according to resources, it can cost anywhere between. Ten and thirty dollars a month to take care of a chicken. But that's just, you know, like feeding it, water, you know, what the things that it needs. But you have the setup costs that's going to be the biggest cost.
13:14 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:15 Speaker 03 You know, even a cheap coop could be a thousand dollars.
13:18 Speaker 02 Or, or more.
13:19 Speaker 03 Or more.
13:19 Speaker 02 Yeah.
13:20 Speaker 03 How long is it going to take you? How many eggs?
13:23 Speaker 02 Plus you've got, yeah, you've got, there's like the time it takes to get used to making sure the chickens are happy. So they'll lay eggs and there's probably like a lot of time involved in figuring it out. I know it would take us a while to figure it out.
13:35 Speaker 03 Yeah, I think so. I, although it's, you know, we have lots of friends who raise chickens and they just swear about how easy it is. But it, it also is, they are delicious. Anytime we get eggs from our friends.
13:48 Speaker 02 Oh, the eggs are amazing.
13:50 Speaker 03 They're so good. They're, they're generally way better than the store bought eggs.
13:54 Speaker 02 They're delicious.
13:55 Speaker 03 And so, you know, you have, you have these other, it's mostly the initial setup costs for your backyard hens. That is going to just take forever for you to recoup that savings.
14:07 Speaker 02 Yeah, there, there was an article here shared that on the Associated Press that I read about this lady who's kept chickens for the last five years and she estimates her startup cost is about, was about twenty five hundred dollars.
14:20 Speaker 03 Yeah.
14:20 Speaker 02 And then she spends approximately sixty dollars a month on her flock. So, I mean, depending on how many eggs you eat, it's not cheaper.
14:28 Speaker 03 No, exactly. Depending, unless you're, even if you're eating a, well, maybe if you're eating a ton of eggs and eventually it starts to work out.
14:36 Speaker 02 But it's a long-term thing.
14:38 Speaker 03 Yeah.
14:38 Speaker 02 It's like a long-term investment.
14:39 Speaker 03 It's a long-term investment. I, I think there's lots of other reasons to, to get egg laying hens.
14:44 Speaker 02 Sure, yeah.
14:47 Speaker 03 Deliciousness of it, plus they're fun. They're just, chickens are so cool.
14:50 Speaker 02 Great things about it, but just economically speaking, I don't know if that's like the, should be the primary driver.
14:55 Speaker 03 We're not there yet. We're not there yet, even if it's costing.
14:59 Speaker 02 There's code things depending on where you live.
15:02 Speaker 03 Yeah.
15:02 Speaker 02 If it's even legal to have them.
15:03 Speaker 03 Right.
15:04 Speaker 02 You gotta figure out all that stuff, too.
15:06 Speaker 03 Yeah, and then you, you know, you're still, we're still dealing with the bird flu. And so, you know, you could be buying these chickens and then they just get, they just get sick and now you're, yeah.
15:15 Speaker 02 Yeah, and then you, and then you, you might be. I would be nervous.
15:20 Speaker 03 I'd be nervous.
15:21 Speaker 02 I'd be nervous about catching it myself.
15:23 Speaker 03 Well, we got a lot more to cover on today's show. I want to encourage anybody who's listening, text or call in with your questions or comments, 396-1000, area code 661. We're Money Wise. We'll be right back.
15:33 Speaker 00 Need to get your financial fix on the go? If so, subscribe to the Money Wise Podcast and catch up on all past shows whenever.
15:52 Speaker 03 Welcome back to the Money Wise Show. I'm Sherrod. I'm here with Emily.
15:57 Speaker 02 Hello.
15:58 Speaker 03 Got a lister, lister comment here.
16:00 Speaker 02 Yes, we do. This is the comment we had somebody send in. Costco has been hit and miss lately with eggs, and they now have put a limit on how many you can buy. It's funny you bring this topic up because my husband brought up raising chickens. I wonder if this person will tell their husband about what we talked about, about potentially raising chickens.
16:20 Speaker 03 Yeah. So, you know, just doing some quick math here, you would have to
16:25 Speaker 02 Fast math.
16:26 Speaker 03 Fast math. If you would have, let's say you have your initial setup costs of just $500. So like, very simple, like cheap to get the birds coop, whatever.
16:37 Speaker 02 Yeah.
16:37 Speaker 03 500 bucks, and you're saving five bucks a month compared to buying store bought eggs, it would take 100 months to break even.
16:44 Speaker 02 You did that.
16:45 Speaker 03 Yeah, about eight years.
16:47 Speaker 02 Okay, so don't do it just for the cost savings. Do it for other reasons.
16:50 Speaker 03 Yeah, do it for other reasons.
16:51 Speaker 02 Deliciousness, the fun of chickens in your yard.
16:54 Speaker 03 Right. Eggs would have to like double in price or triple in price from now, and then even then.
17:00 Speaker 02 What price did you have them at right now? In your mathematical calculation?
17:06 Speaker 03 The price for
17:07 Speaker 02 For a dozen eggs?
17:09 Speaker 03 Between $26 and $32 a month.
17:12 Speaker 02 Oh.
17:12 Speaker 03 For
17:13 Speaker 02 I see.
17:14 Speaker 03 Yeah, for the monthly cost for store eggs. But right now, they're at about $4 a dozen.
17:19 Speaker 02 Mm hmm. Sometimes up to nine.
17:21 Speaker 03 Okay, so even at nine, though, instead of eight years, it would take just under four years for you to break even.
17:27 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:28 Speaker 03 You know, so in that time, my guess is we're going to find eggs come way down in price because that's what usually happens when you have a shortage. Like, I've been predicting a huge drop in price of electrical panels because they, and transformers, because we had a huge shortage during COVID because of the supply chain. And so now you have a bunch of opportunists who are going to go, well, I gotta start manufacturing panels.
18:01 Speaker 02 And eventually, they'll have a bunch of leftover that aren't needed anymore.
18:04 Speaker 03 Yeah.
18:05 Speaker 02 That hasn't happened yet.
18:06 Speaker 03 No, but it could. It could eventually happen.
18:10 Speaker 02 Yeah, at some point, it's likely, I'm guessing.
18:14 Speaker 03 That's right. At some point, it is, it is very likely. There's something, you know, we've been talking about a lot on the show about President Trump's tariffs and the potential impact that it could have on the economy and on the stock market. There's something really fascinating that's happening in terms of this, these tariffs. Now, we already know that it's been, the tariffs have been delayed or pushed back for, for, for Canada and Mexico, our two most closest trade partners. But then China, it's still there. We still have the embargo, or not the embargo, but the tariffs, new tariffs on all Chinese products.
18:54 Speaker 03 Where this is really going to start impacting some people unless things change is with online, Chinese online marketplaces like Temu and Shine. These are-
19:06 Speaker 02 Or Shein.
19:07 Speaker 03 I don't know how you say it.
19:08 Speaker 02 I don't know either.
19:09 Speaker 03 But they're-
19:10 Speaker 02 It's cheap, it's fast fashion. Those are both fast fashion things or household things.
19:14 Speaker 03 Do you know why it's so cheap? Why those companies are so cheap?
19:17 Speaker 02 I'm guessing it has something to do with the tariffs.
19:19 Speaker 03 It kind of. There is a de minimis rule that is a trade law, which was, which was, if a, if a product is under a certain value- It doesn't go through customs. It can just be delivered directly from the manufacturer, from the factory to the United States. And it doesn't go through customs and you don't have to pay a tariff on it.
19:41 Speaker 02 Okay.
19:42 Speaker 03 It went from $200 to $800. So if you're buying anything less than 800 bucks, guess what? Timu will hook you up and you'll you'll buy it directly from the factory. And that's why it's so cheap.
19:54 Speaker 02 So cheap.
19:55 Speaker 03 But that is now not the case.
19:57 Speaker 02 Okay.
19:57 Speaker 03 And as of just
19:58 Speaker 02 Trump?
19:59 Speaker 03 Because of because of the tariffs.
20:00 Speaker 02 Okay.
20:01 Speaker 03 And and now there is a tariff on everything. And so now the US Postal Service has announced that they're not taking. They're not delivering these products from China because they don't have the systems in place or the manpower in place to figure out how they're going to
20:19 Speaker 02 Okay.
20:19 Speaker 03 run these through the the proper channels to charge the the tariff on them. And so you have, at least for now, at least now we're just a couple of days into this. You have a panic with a lot of people who are used to buying cheap goods directly from China, directly from the manufacturer.
20:41 Speaker 02 So this is what I was gonna ask. Timu and Sheen or Shine, however you say it. These are just two examples of this, right?
20:48 Speaker 03 Yeah.
20:49 Speaker 02 These aren't the only ones.
20:50 Speaker 03 No, no, there's there are other examples. They're just kind of the ones that I know that I've heard of the most. Timu was the one who was at the last Super Bowl that they had the super annoying commercials.
21:02 Speaker 02 Oh.
21:03 Speaker 03 Like really annoying commercials.
21:05 Speaker 02 Yeah, I think it was Timu. I don't think it was the other one.
21:08 Speaker 03 It was they've got this terrible jingle and whatever, but the
21:13 Speaker 00 Timu.
21:14 Speaker 02 Was that it, Steven?
21:15 Speaker 00 Yeah.
21:16 Speaker 03 Yeah.
21:16 Speaker 00 They were very annoying and they were all over the Super Bowl last year.
21:19 Speaker 02 Okay.
21:21 Speaker 03 It's it's
21:22 Speaker 00 Hopefully that's why they raised the price. I I doubt it, but that's probably why they raised the price of the commercials.
21:27 Speaker 02 Yeah.
21:28 Speaker 03 Well, they have to figure out this 10% tariff tax on all of these products. Or, you know, what China is doing is China is countering and they are gonna try to go through legal channels to stop the the tariff. But the other The other tool that countries have to combat a tariff that the United States is imposing is they just do the same thing on our goods.
21:55 Speaker 02 Right.
21:55 Speaker 03 So anything that we're sending over is going to cost an extra.
21:58 Speaker 02 Yeah.
21:59 Speaker 03 What they'll do more. Okay, fine. You're going to charge us 10%? We'll charge 20%, you know, and then you have a tariff.
22:03 Speaker 02 I'll call and I'll raise your bid.
22:04 Speaker 03 Yeah, that's right. That's right. So this is, this is something that we're going to continue to watch. And it's just shaping, at least for now, it's reshaping the global move and transportation of these goods and services. I can't, it's almost impossible to keep up with.
22:24 Speaker 02 It's got to be always changing and like, it's going to affect lots of things, like the supply chains, right? Prices.
22:31 Speaker 03 That's right.
22:32 Speaker 02 Employment?
22:33 Speaker 03 Yeah.
22:34 Speaker 02 Who knows?
22:35 Speaker 03 Yeah, and housing costs today, there are lots of headlines about housing costs going up on the, you know, the materials that we use. It's not just, and it's not just the tariffs that is going to cause this, but also the fires down south and all of the rebuilding that that is going to cost. We talked yesterday about the increase in insurance and the request by State Farm in the state of California increased their premiums by 22% across the board.
23:02 Speaker 02 Jeez.
23:02 Speaker 03 And, you know, even, even if that is a, is a yes, and the state regulators allow that, the state's in trouble with the fare plan, the, the insurance of last resort. So it seems as though we have a lot of pending inflationary.
23:19 Speaker 02 Yep.
23:19 Speaker 03 Risks.
23:20 Speaker 02 Yeah.
23:21 Speaker 03 That are, some of them are, are avoidable or could be avoidable, hopefully.
23:28 Speaker 02 How?
23:28 Speaker 03 Well, I mean, with the insurance, that's a, that's a mess that the, that the state has gotten, gotten us into because the state has been trying to protect the, the consumers from paying too much.
23:41 Speaker 02 Right.
23:41 Speaker 03 But at the, but at the cost of. Not allowing the insurers to charge enough so that they run out. Now they don't have enough money to cover their claims.
23:51 Speaker 02 Right.
23:51 Speaker 03 And now they just stopped doing business in California.
23:54 Speaker 02 It's a complex.
23:55 Speaker 03 Very complex.
23:55 Speaker 02 Dynamic issue.
23:56 Speaker 03 The tariffs could go away by just stopping it.
24:00 Speaker 02 Hmm, that's a good idea.
24:02 Speaker 03 Just say, oh, never mind, you know, like that's what happened with the tariffs on Mexico and Canada. He has a phone call with the president of Mexico and president of Mexico says, okay, fine. We'll send some troops up to the border, whatever, and boom, we'll do it. Now, the tariff on China is a little bit more complex and could be much, I think, a little bit more justified because of so much of the unfair trading practices that China does. They have, they, they take our, our intellectual property. They take our, our, their, their, uh, human rights.
24:39 Speaker 02 Yeah.
24:39 Speaker 03 Records are horrific.
24:41 Speaker 02 Right.
24:42 Speaker 03 And so, and then I think there's a real issue with the fact that China can send over here packages un, unscreened essentially. And if, you know, if they're sending fentanyl over here directly from the factories, that's not good.
25:01 Speaker 02 No.
25:02 Speaker 03 We don't want that.
25:02 Speaker 02 It's bad, bad news.
25:04 Speaker 03 There are some cases, you know, where you gotta, you gotta impose these tariffs because that's how you can, that's how you could maybe get some change. So very fascinating stuff, lots to talk about there. We're going to take a break though. Now, when we come back, we're going to be joined by our guest. We're super excited to have with us Darren Nielsen from Okihi White Wolf Wellness. We're going to talk to him about what's going on out there in the current river. We're Money Wise, we'll be right back.
25:25 Speaker 00 If you're a business owner who provides a retirement plan for your employees, contact Money Wise Wealth Management to see if you're maximizing your options and minimizing your liabilities. Money Wise 401k plans are customized to you and your company's needs. 661-847-1000.
25:48 Speaker 03 Thanks for tuning in to Money Wise Show. I'm Sharad, your host.
25:51 Speaker 02 I'm Emily.
25:52 Speaker 03 Emily, your other host. Joined right now by Darren Nielsen. Darren joins us as a
25:59 Speaker 02 The Director of Donor Relations.
26:00 Speaker 03 Director of Donor Relations for White Wolf Wellness Foundation, or Camp Okihi for us who are from here and remember it by Darren, welcome to the show.
26:11 Speaker 04 Hey, thank you so much for having me here. I really appreciate it.
26:14 Speaker 03 It's really great having you on the show because we're very excited, passionate about, we love White Wolf Wellness, but Okihi in particular, and this riverfront property that the county has leased out to this nonprofit is one of the greatest hidden gems in our county.
26:34 Speaker 02 Yeah, we've had Stephen Winters and Catherine Winters on to talk about what they're doing out there. You're coming here with sort of a different approach with what you're doing out there at Okihi.
26:46 Speaker 04 Yeah, so I am new to the foundation. So happy to be here. My history with the Okihi property goes way back.
26:56 Speaker 02 Yeah.
26:56 Speaker 04 Take your minds back 37 years.
26:59 Speaker 02 Yeah.
27:00 Speaker 04 Picture me as a Cub Scout, like a bobcat and a wolf, not quite a wee below. And one of the amazing things that we got to do was our first overnight campout trip, which was a really big deal. And where did they take us? They took us out to Camp Okihi. And we got to play by the river. And I remember fishing. I remember catching crawdads and doing a crawdad cookout, camping with the, with all the boys, and just having an amazing experience 37 years ago. And then visiting Okihi multiple times from that point as a scout on the big campere days where you're earning as many merit badges as fast as possible. And then
27:46 Speaker 04 graduating to adulthood and becoming a leader in the Boy Scouts.
27:51 Speaker 02 Yeah.
27:51 Speaker 04 And then having all of the kids out there.
27:54 Speaker 02 Including your own.
27:55 Speaker 04 Including my own kids. Yes. So that came full circle. And all through the years, I always loved that place. Well, this last summer, due to some shifts in my work world, I was able to work out at Okihi for White Wolf Wellness Foundation as an outdoor education teacher.
28:16 Speaker 02 Yes.
28:16 Speaker 04 And that changed everything for me. I loved it. I fell in love with the vision, what they're trying to accomplish out there. And so after that wrapped up, I immediately met with the board and said, hey, what do you guys need? How can I be more involved with the foundation to make this happen? For the community?
28:39 Speaker 02 Yeah.
28:39 Speaker 04 Cause I could see the benefits. And they said, hey, we need, we need funds, we need money, you know? And so I said, I can do that. I can do that. I can raise money for Okihi and, and make the dream come true. So that's, that's why I'm here. I'm, this is my anniversary day, day 20.
28:59 Speaker 02 Oh.
28:59 Speaker 04 In my new role as Director of Donor Relations, and I'm having an absolute blast in the community.
29:05 Speaker 03 It is, it takes a special person to be able to raise funds. How, you know, I, I personally have served on boards or serve on boards and it's my biggest challenge or weakness.
29:19 Speaker 02 It's not, it doesn't come easy for everyone to ask for money, to ask for donations. And it, it is a specific skillset, which I think you have.
29:29 Speaker 04 Yeah, well, I, look, I like people in general and I am not afraid to, to have those conversations when I believe in them. And when I know that it matters. And so, yeah, don't be offended if I ask you for money. I'm doing it because it's for a good cause. And it's the right thing to do.
29:46 Speaker 03 So you went from the, the private, you're still in the private sector, I guess, but you went to the for-profit world.
29:53 Speaker 02 From for-profit to non, what is that about?
29:55 Speaker 04 Yeah. So I've been an entrepreneur here locally for the last 20 years. I've had several businesses, many you'd be familiar with, including Rivers End Rafting, out at the mouth of the canyon. I did Peak Power, Solar Electrical. Um, I still own FoodX, which is a food delivery company here in town.
30:14 Speaker 02 Yeah.
30:15 Speaker 04 Yeah, but that's the dark side.
30:17 Speaker 02 You've, you've learned that, you've learned that from recently, right?
30:20 Speaker 04 Well, the thing, the thing about it is I needed to make changes for myself internally. I needed to find a way to kind of like, Feel really good and motivated about what I'm doing. And I've known inside that I was gonna shift over to the nonprofit world for 10 years.
30:39 Speaker 02 Oh, okay.
30:40 Speaker 04 I mean, I've had ideas in my own head and, and getting involved at the camp this past summer, it like solidified those feelings. And I was just like, oh, this is what I'm built. This is what all of my education and all of my experiences in the community have been leading me to. It's time. This is it. Let's go. And so now I feel like I'm complete.
31:04 Speaker 02 Very, very cool.
31:05 Speaker 03 We're joined by Darren Nielsen. He has donor relations, donor relations with White Wolf Wellness Foundation out at Camp Okihi or just Okihi. So Darren, you make this transition career change from for-profit to nonprofit, but also just not just in the nonprofit, but the fundraising world or the, what is it called?
31:26 Speaker 02 Yeah. What does it mean? The role? What is your role specifically as Director of Donor Relations? What are you trying to accomplish?
31:31 Speaker 04 So I'm, I've come in, you know, we have, we have fundraising events. We invite the community out to support us and, and those are amazing events. Typically in the fundraising world, events don't make a ton of money. You know, they, they barely, barely cover costs in a lot of cases. You might walk away with, if you're lucky, a couple thousand dollars, which is great. Everybody needs a couple thousand dollars.
31:52 Speaker 02 Sure.
31:53 Speaker 04 But my role coming on is, is the big picture. I'm, I'm going to help the foundation become a staple for the community for the long haul. In order to do that, I need to raise real funds. I need to be able to, to bring enough money in that not only can we sustain our base level operations, but hopefully build like an endowment fund, a really large fund that we can live off the interest of.
32:20 Speaker 02 Yeah.
32:21 Speaker 04 So that no matter what happens with the economy or the, the area, Okihi has a foundation that it gets to operate from at a, at a base level that's known. We're not wondering if there's going to be enough money. We know there's enough money and that's the job and it's a hard job.
32:38 Speaker 02 Yeah.
32:38 Speaker 04 It requires a lot of hard work and a lot of very generous donors in the community to help us get there. But it's pretty simple when you look at it, because if, if we're able to raise, let's say a million dollars. That that would be an amazing endowment fund for a small organization like us.
32:58 Speaker 02 Yeah.
32:58 Speaker 04 You put that in the bank and you live off the interest, which means like, let's say it's 5%.
33:02 Speaker 02 Yeah.
33:03 Speaker 04 That guarantees us $50,000 a year, no matter what.
33:08 Speaker 03 They can count on.
33:09 Speaker 04 That we can count on and that million dollars never goes away. And it just keeps getting the additional interest on top of that 5%. And so our operating budget actually goes up and up and up. That is how nonprofits exist for the long haul.
33:23 Speaker 02 Sure.
33:24 Speaker 04 And that is what Oki is going to get.
33:27 Speaker 03 We have.
33:28 Speaker 02 That's what it needs for sure.
33:29 Speaker 03 There's really a lot of really good examples in Bakersfield of nonprofits who have gotten to that point where they have an endowment. And they are, it has, it takes them a long time to to get to the point where they can, where they can do this. And but once you can get there, it's, it's, it's life changing for a nonprofit. What, talk specifically about what it, what it takes to be a fundraiser, to be a, or a, yeah, I guess of, of like, about, I don't know, a professional fundraiser.
34:00 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, you have to register with the Attorney General of California. You have to, there's a lot of paperwork involved. We have a lot of agreements between myself and the foundation. A ton of education involved, which I'm still in the process of learning the things that I need to learn in order to be good at this. And then beyond the, the legal and the, the technical side of it, then you need to either have established or be ready to start establishing relationships within the community that you're funding in.
34:34 Speaker 02 Yeah.
34:34 Speaker 04 That you're raising funds in. And then, and then from there, it's, it's just a matter of do it again. Figure out what works for your foundation, which is finding the right match in the community. The like minded individuals or organizations that want to support what you're doing in the community. Building that bridge, obtaining the, the necessary funds.
35:00 Speaker 04 From them and then doing it again and you're doing it as many times over as you need to build up that endowment fund or to build up whatever source of funding you may need for a given project or event. It just depends.
35:15 Speaker 02 Yeah, yeah. And what are the, what are the types of people or organizations or corporations out there that you feel like align with what Okihi is doing?
35:28 Speaker 04 So many.
35:29 Speaker 02 And why?
35:30 Speaker 04 Yeah, that's kind of the beauty of, of kind of why it lit a fire under me is because we're local here in Kern County, literally Okihi is 20 minutes from downtown Bakersfield. Fifteen if you drive like me.
35:42 Speaker 02 People don't even know. It's out there.
35:43 Speaker 04 It's, it's right across the river from the soccer park, um, Hart Park area. It's right there. Um, the work that's being done is mostly based in the education sector. So we're having, um, school aged children come out from, from different districts. Uh, right now we've, we've been doing a ton of work with Fairfax School District.
36:02 Speaker 02 Yeah.
36:03 Speaker 04 Um, they bus the kids out to us and then we, we do environmental outdoor education with those kids, which is in line with the curriculum that they have for the given grade.
36:14 Speaker 02 Yeah.
36:14 Speaker 04 So we're doing a lot of work with third graders where we're teaching them about the waterways.
36:18 Speaker 02 Yeah.
36:19 Speaker 04 And it's really fun. We have not only the river out there, but we have an active stream that we can turn on and off as we need. Um, and then we teach them about the butterfly life cycle, chicken life. I heard you guys talking about chickens.
36:30 Speaker 02 Right.
36:31 Speaker 04 Okihi has lots of chickens.
36:33 Speaker 02 And eggs, yeah.
36:33 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we can teach them about, uh, the tortoises and, uh, we have horses and goats and sheep and dogs and cats out there already. Uh, plus all the natural fauna, which is amazing. And it's coming back in a big way because we're rehabilitating the area. That is what we're doing. We're bringing it back to how it should be naturally because it's, it's fallen by the wayside.
37:01 Speaker 02 And this, this, um, education is so important because how else are these kids going to access nature in their, in their educational careers?
37:10 Speaker 04 Yeah, it is, it is fundamental, uh, for their education in ways that most people don't quite understand. The benefits of getting this outdoor education, just, just the fact that they get to be outside.
37:23 Speaker 02 Right.
37:24 Speaker 04 Get their hands dirty?
37:25 Speaker 02 Yeah.
37:26 Speaker 04 And not get in trouble for it, but be congratulated for getting muddy and dirty.
37:30 Speaker 02 Yeah.
37:31 Speaker 04 That's what we're after. We want these kids to really experience the outdoors in a way that they may have never had the opportunity to do in the past.
37:40 Speaker 02 Yeah, and my, my understanding with, with the education programs they had so far is that has been the experience. A lot of these kids have never had the opportunity to experience this kind of nature.
37:50 Speaker 04 Yeah, I think, uh, here's a really good analogy that will bring you at home for every, everybody listening. And that's, um, you've heard of Camp Keep.
37:58 Speaker 02 Yes.
37:59 Speaker 04 I say that and it's like, well, yeah, I know at Camp Keep, all sixth graders in, in Kern County get to go to Camp Keep.
38:05 Speaker 02 Yeah.
38:06 Speaker 04 Now, we are going to be a similar organization, so, but we're, think like Camp Keep them local.
38:14 Speaker 02 Yes.
38:15 Speaker 04 We're not gonna, we're not busing the kids, uh, to the, the coast. And we're not in competition with Camp Keep. Keep, keep sending the sixth graders, right?
38:24 Speaker 02 Sure.
38:25 Speaker 04 But give us the first, second, third graders and overnight. So it's, it's all inclusive, right? Everybody can come. Nobody, parents won't keep their kids away from this because they don't want them to stay away for a week, which is hard for a lot of, even the sixth graders, right?
38:41 Speaker 02 Sure.
38:41 Speaker 04 And so it's more inclusive, uh, and it gives, it gives all these kids a base, a foundation to work from. So that when they do go to Camp Keep, they're, they're already used to being outside and experiencing these types of lessons. And the things and the, the hard times and the good times that come with outdoor education.
39:00 Speaker 02 Right.
39:01 Speaker 03 There is so many benefits to not, to everybody for just being outside the, you know, the, the, the just, everybody just needs to be outdoors, uh, significantly more. The health benefits are just off the charts. One of them, including that, this is kind of a little off subject, but I was, I was reading about this recently. About a hundred years ago, there were only about 20% of, of Americans that wore glasses, that needed glasses. You know what it is today?
39:30 Speaker 02 Uh, probably much higher.
39:31 Speaker 03 It's about 70%, almost 70% of Americans.
39:33 Speaker 02 It's gotta be because of our tech.
39:35 Speaker 03 You would think, you would think that's what everybody thought. That's what I thought too. Oh, it's because of screens, you know, TVs. It's not it. It's not it.
39:42 Speaker 02 What is it?
39:43 Speaker 03 It's the, the lack of, uh, being out, outside essentially, and forcing your eyes to look out into the horizon.
39:53 Speaker 02 And perspective.
39:54 Speaker 03 Yes. And, and being outdoors, your eyes are forced to sort of work in a different way than just being indoors. Obviously. So it's, it's the decrease, and especially among children, right? Cause that's when your eyes are really developing. That's when you can do it. So what we're seeing is a, is a, is a more and more children not getting outside enough. And, and that's the number one recommendation based off of these studies is get your kids outside. Go outside, literally just stand out there. Keep your eyes open.
40:29 Speaker 04 So I think the moral is, parents, if you, if you want your kids to have good vision, it's time to support Oki.
40:36 Speaker 03 That's right.
40:38 Speaker 02 We dare, you probably have some other stats that, that involve why education, outdoor education for kids is so important.
40:44 Speaker 04 Yeah, there's all kinds of things and I've, I've got a list, but I don't give you too many cause it's, it's makes, I don't know. But nature boosts brain power. So kids that spend time outdoors obviously will perform better in this, in, in the actual classroom.
40:59 Speaker 03 Yeah.
40:59 Speaker 04 Which you, we want our kids performing good in the classroom, send them outside.
41:03 Speaker 03 Yeah.
41:03 Speaker 04 That's really interesting, right? It's almost like an oxymoron.
41:06 Speaker 02 Right.
41:07 Speaker 04 Uh, hands-on learning leads to real-world skills.
41:10 Speaker 02 Oh, yeah.
41:10 Speaker 04 Yeah. The more you actually get to experience in life, the more you're going to understand how life works.
41:15 Speaker 02 It was like problem solving and like.
41:17 Speaker 04 Exactly.
41:18 Speaker 02 Yeah.
41:18 Speaker 04 Creativity, teamwork.
41:19 Speaker 02 Yeah.
41:20 Speaker 04 Right? He, great opportunity for teamwork out at Oki. Uh, and then mental health. This is huge.
41:26 Speaker 02 Big time.
41:26 Speaker 04 I mean, you could do 20 radio show segments on, on the improvement of mental health when it comes to time in nature.
41:36 Speaker 04 And then of course, health in general, right? The more time you're spending outside, walking, running, playing, climbing, whatever, whatever it may be, that's going to improve your, not just your mental health, but your physical health, lower OBCD rates, stronger immune systems, better sleep, right? Get those kids tired. That was one of my favorite things to do as a parent was get my kids tired. Alright, kids, time for bed.
42:07 Speaker 03 That's, yeah. Then you could go to bed.
42:09 Speaker 04 Exactly. So that's another moral, parents, send your kids to Okeechobee so they can come home tired.
42:17 Speaker 03 We got a message from a listener here, it says, your guest sounds familiar. Where is this land he is talking about, Okeechobee? Is that where the old AYSO soccer fields were back in the late eighties? It's not, it's across from the AYSO soccer field, right?
42:31 Speaker 04 Direct, I mean, if you were standing at those soccer, at the soccer park, I think it's now called the Kern County Soccer Park.
42:37 Speaker 03 Yeah.
42:37 Speaker 04 If you were to throw a rock across the river, it would hit me while I was standing at Okeechobee.
42:42 Speaker 02 Right.
42:42 Speaker 04 So you take Round Mountain Road out.
42:44 Speaker 02 Yeah.
42:44 Speaker 04 And then you, you exit right off that road down a little path and then you're at Okeechobee.
42:49 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's really so much closer than people think.
42:53 Speaker 04 And I might sound familiar because I've been on this show several times in the past.
42:57 Speaker 03 Yeah, you have.
42:57 Speaker 04 For different organizations and different past lives now, but.
43:00 Speaker 02 Right, yeah.
43:01 Speaker 03 So now let's talk about how people can support. What, what can people do? What, what, what, what do we need?
43:10 Speaker 04 Well, bottom line is funds. It's easy, it's easy to support an organization that you believe in. So my, my first recommendation would be for folks out there to look at our website, which is whitewolfwellness.org, very simple, whitewolfwellness.org.
43:28 Speaker 04 That will show you in picture form and video form who we are and what we're all about. The vision, the goals, the mission.
43:37 Speaker 02 Yep.
43:37 Speaker 04 So that's step one. I think everybody should do that before they they donate. Step two is, once you fall in love with the organization and you believe in the mission that we stand for, then the best thing you could do for the organization is reach out to me directly, because that's my job. My job is to then meet with you, talk to you about the best, get to know you, and then figure out the best way to help you make a donation that'll make the most meaningful impact. I can be reached at a very simple email. It's Darren, D A R R O N, at white wolf wellness.org.
44:14 Speaker 02 We can add that to our show notes as well.
44:16 Speaker 04 Yeah, please.
44:16 Speaker 03 White wolf wellness.org, Darren at white wolf wellness.org. The, there are opportunities for somebody to make a tax deductible contribution donation. And there are even opportunities where others can match, right? So you could, this is a benefit of talking to you, is that there can be, if it's, maybe it's you or your employer. That's, that's great. Corporate sponsorships are very welcome, I imagine. And so there's lots of opportunities here to be able to contribute just money. There are also a lot of events and activities that happen out at Okeechre. And recently, the property acquired some RVs, which can be rented out.
45:01 Speaker 02 Yes, they've got camping out there in, in different levels of, of camping comfort.
45:07 Speaker 04 Yeah, it depends on what you're into. You know, there's the tent camping, which is my personal favorite.
45:12 Speaker 02 Yeah.
45:13 Speaker 04 And then there's glamping, which is a permanent canvas tent with a bed in there and a heater. It's beautiful, on a platform. And then if, if you really want to be outside, but not outside at the same time, then you, you'd use the RV, which we, we call our premium.
45:30 Speaker 02 Yeah, and if you're new to camping or have little kids, it could be like a dip your toe in the water kind of a thing.
45:37 Speaker 04 Yeah, the whole point, look, there's only one other place to camp on the current river, and that's Lake Meem. Campground. That's the only other place.
45:45 Speaker 03 And it's not really, I mean, it's kind of the river, but it's more like the lake.
45:49 Speaker 04 Yeah. And so we, we are creating a space for the entire community to come out and enjoy. It's, it's, anybody can come out at any time and enjoy this space. Info at white wolf wellness.org is a great email if you just want general information.
46:09 Speaker 02 Yeah.
46:09 Speaker 04 Uh, if you have questions about what we're doing or how to get there or anything like that. Uh, but we also have memberships which allow you to come and enjoy the property. Um, anytime between Thursday and Saturday. For any reason.
46:25 Speaker 02 Right.
46:25 Speaker 04 And if you, if you want to do the whole family, it's $360 a year for a complete annual pass to enjoy the space. We really want people out there.
46:35 Speaker 02 Yeah. You could see the animals. You can enjoy the river. You can relax.
46:39 Speaker 04 Absolutely.
46:40 Speaker 02 Hammocks. You can go hiking. You can, a lot of people bike in that area. You can hop on the round mountain road and go biking.
46:46 Speaker 04 You can pet the horses.
46:48 Speaker 03 Hey, we've got a listener comment here, Darren. It says, your guest has a sexy voice. So you got an admirer out there.
46:53 Speaker 04 That's because I have a cold. No.
46:55 Speaker 02 I think I know who that is.
46:57 Speaker 03 Well, here's another one. Ask your guest if any amount is too much of a donation or if any naming rights exist.
47:04 Speaker 02 This is not who I thought it was.
47:07 Speaker 04 That's a great question.
47:09 Speaker 03 Can you donate too much money?
47:10 Speaker 04 The answer is yes. $50 billion would be, that would be a little hard for me to count out the, because they give it to me in ones.
47:19 Speaker 03 Takes a long time to count the money.
47:19 Speaker 04 I, I don't want to do that, but anything less than that is, is super. No, of course there's not a, a maximum. No, no, the more the better.
47:26 Speaker 03 How, naming rights though. At 50 billion, you can change it.
47:29 Speaker 02 No, less than that. You can, you can, you can do less than that if you want naming.
47:32 Speaker 03 We'll name the camp. We'll name it from Oki to your name if you donate $50 billion.
47:37 Speaker 04 Absolutely.
47:38 Speaker 03 You get the name.
47:38 Speaker 04 We have a six tier donor benefit package, which I can send to anybody. They just have to ask me and I'll send it out.
47:46 Speaker 02 Awesome.
47:46 Speaker 04 Name, permanent naming rights start at $100,000. And then we have multiple areas for less donations that we can also do temporary names.
47:56 Speaker 02 Uh, awesome. And spread the word.
47:58 Speaker 04 Please spread the word.
47:59 Speaker 03 Oh, Darren Nielsen, thank you so much for joining the show.
48:03 Speaker 02 Yeah, and thanks for the work you're doing for that very important organization.
48:06 Speaker 03 Nonprofits are incredible resource here in our community. And again, this is our only outdoor Kern River facility that we have nonprofits. So go check them out, white wolf wellness.org. Remember these three things, be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.
48:23 Speaker 02 See ya. 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.
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