Pod Insights The Moneywise Guys 3/26/25 Bargain Hunting and Insights from the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra About this episode The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Wednesday, March 26th 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_Manageme instagram: MoneywiseWealthManagement Guests: Stillian Kirov, Music Conductor of the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra & Holly Arnold, Executive Director for the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra website: www.bsonow.org/ email [email protected] before Friday, March 28th for giveaway
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?
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0:39 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 Garo Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway on ESPN Bakersfield, 1230 a.m., 101.1 FM, and always streaming at MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. Today, we're your hosts. I'm Sharad Waite and...
1:03 Speaker 04 Latroy Dinkins.
1:04 Speaker 03 Latroy Dinkins, LD.
1:05 Speaker 04 Yes, sir.
1:06 Speaker 03 It is good to have you today on the show. I want to first talk about some of the headlines. The first thing that caught my eye today, at least, was the report on consumer confidence.
1:18 Speaker 04 Okay, what's going on there?
1:19 Speaker 03 Well, this is what's interesting, what I find fascinating about this consumer confidence index, or any reports on consumer confidence, is at the end of the day, the economy is just people buying stuff. That's 2/3 of the economy.
1:30 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:31 Speaker 03 It's just consumers buying crap. And today, we had, or actually yesterday, the Conference Board reported that its confidence number fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9. This is the fourth straight monthly decline, and it's lowest reading since January of 2021. They were expecting it to come in at 94.5. It came in at 92.9. So, that's really depressing, right?
1:59 Speaker 04 So, how do they, how do they track this metric?
2:01 Speaker 03 They, they actually poll consumers. They, like, they get their sentiment. How do you feel about the markets? And they, that, then... They put those numbers together and they do it all different. I think the Fed, I can't remember the confidence, conference, the conference board, I think is in Michigan.
2:17 Speaker 04 Gotcha.
2:17 Speaker 03 I can't remember where they're headquartered, but they, they, I think they do a national survey on this. And it's not just consumers. They also, they also poll business groups. And the business groups found that the measure of American's short-term expectations for income, business and the job market fell 9.6 points to 65.2, which is the lowest reading in 12 years. It's, you know, well below an 80, which the, the, the conference board says can signal a potential recession in the near future. Meaning if that gets below 80, historically, they said this, this could be an indication of recession.
2:56 Speaker 03 The proportion of US consumers anticipating a recession is at a nine-month high right now.
3:03 Speaker 04 Yeah.
3:03 Speaker 03 It's.
3:04 Speaker 04 Two straight, what's that, two straight quarters of decline in GDP?
3:08 Speaker 03 Yep. That's the, that's the technical definition of recession, which we're not there.
3:12 Speaker 04 Not there. We're like 2.8 right now.
3:14 Speaker 03 Yeah.
3:14 Speaker 04 GDP year over year.
3:17 Speaker 03 Yeah. We haven't gotten first, first quarter's not over yet, so we don't know where, you know, this quarter is going to end up. Some analysts expect that we could be in a retraction next quarter, or at least one of the quarters of this year, but it's just a prediction.
3:32 Speaker 04 It's less than a coin flip because I think that we looked up some, you know, those analysts, they, they're normally accurate about what, like 40% of the time?
3:40 Speaker 03 Yeah.
3:41 Speaker 04 Something around there.
3:41 Speaker 03 Yeah.
3:42 Speaker 04 Yeah.
3:43 Speaker 03 Well, it just depends on what analysts are talking about. But.
3:46 Speaker 04 In aggregate.
3:47 Speaker 03 We, you know, we saw in today's markets at least a, a pullback. S and P was down.
3:53 Speaker 04 Yeah.
3:53 Speaker 03 Oh, what, a percent or so?
3:55 Speaker 04 But looking at it right now, it did, it had a pullback, but it reclaimed that 200-day moving average, which is pretty significant.
4:03 Speaker 03 We'll talk about that. What do you, explain?
4:06 Speaker 04 Yeah. So the 200-day moving average, like the, the greatest Wall Street titan, Paul Tudor Jones always said, he said, I never, he said, I never buy anything under the 200-day moving average. That's his quote, okay?
4:17 Speaker 03 That's a weird quote.
4:19 Speaker 04 This is. This is not financial advice or anything like that, but it's just a sentiment of saying like, okay, the market is in uptrend or downtrend. If it's below that 200 day moving average, normally when we have our crashes and things of that nature, we usually see like, you know, price peak below this moving average, but now we're reclaiming. So that could be bullish territory, but we'll see, you know, none of us have a crystal ball. Only thing we can do is just do the smart thing, the most academic thing and hold on, right?
4:48 Speaker 03 That's right.
4:49 Speaker 04 Yeah.
4:50 Speaker 03 But, you know, thinking about this, the 200 day moving average
4:55 Speaker 03 has, it just recently dipped below the 200 day moving average and then now, now today or yesterday came back.
5:01 Speaker 04 One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, seven days underneath that 200, it flirted around.
5:06 Speaker 03 Yeah. So what's interesting, I just saw an article about this. If you're going back to 1946, there were 11 times when the S and P 500 went more than 200 sessions above its 200 day moving average and then dropped below it between five and 15 sessions before reclaiming it.
5:23 Speaker 04 Yeah.
5:24 Speaker 03 So, so that's what we're in now. This has only happened 11 times since 1946.
5:29 Speaker 04 Yeah.
5:29 Speaker 03 Three months after this happened, the mean return was a da- a negative 2.9%. Six months after this event has happened, these past 11 times, it was down 1.1%. And one year later, it was still down 1.1%.
5:49 Speaker 04 So it has significant, significant implications there, right?
5:52 Speaker 03 I mean, it has, it's significant in the sense that history, that's what has happened historically when we've gone more than 200 sessions where the S and P 500 200 day moving average was up.
6:05 Speaker 04 Yeah.
6:05 Speaker 03 Was above its 200 day moving average and then dropped below it between for five to 15 sessions. We're talking about a very narrow definition, but it, you know, and history is no indication of future results. There's, I mean, and then it's just, it just as well could be, you just don't make any sense of it, but it is kind of interesting to know. You can't, it doesn't necessarily mean because we've come out of the 200 day moving average. It's only, we were only down below it. We were only below the 200 day moving average. For how many days?
6:38 Speaker 04 Seven days.
6:38 Speaker 03 Seven sessions?
6:39 Speaker 04 Seven sessions, yeah.
6:40 Speaker 03 And it's interesting, I'm surprised that that's only happened 11 times since 1946.
6:46 Speaker 04 Right.
6:46 Speaker 03 But those times, the mean return on a, on a three six, a three month, six month and a one year, they all, the markets were still down, or the S and P 500 was still down. That's, that's fascinating.
6:57 Speaker 04 Yeah, it is. And you know, it's funny, you say that, you know, a lot of people have this thing about the summer months, you know, because right now in Bakersfield, yesterday, I don't know what was going on, it was like 94 degrees.
7:07 Speaker 03 Yeah.
7:08 Speaker 04 Today's 84, so the summer heat is coming and the summer is around the corner and when it's hot, the market's not. That, that whole little theory where like, you know, you don't get that much gains.
7:18 Speaker 03 Well, we've heard this sell in May, go away.
7:21 Speaker 04 Yeah.
7:21 Speaker 03 Or whatever.
7:22 Speaker 04 I like that. Yeah. Sell in May, go away.
7:23 Speaker 03 Go away.
7:24 Speaker 04 You know, you got, you, you got the market fatigue during these times. You got fewer catalysts out there, you know, fewer Fed meetings and things of that nature. So summer's like a vacation season, I guess, for everything.
7:35 Speaker 03 Yeah.
7:36 Speaker 04 Yeah.
7:36 Speaker 03 Yeah. Again, it's.
7:38 Speaker 04 It's just, it's just, you know.
7:40 Speaker 03 That, that, something else that's moved the markets today is we, we just still continue to have the markets focused on President Trump's talk on tariffs and what, what he may or may not do. Today, we saw auto manufacturers, for example, taking hits because of the assumption that, yeah, that there's still going to be some, you know, tariffs on, on, on autos or on, it looks like now, except the White House is accelerating its plans for copper levies or copper tariffs. So all of these things that go into making cars.
8:14 Speaker 04 Yeah.
8:15 Speaker 03 Um, I, I was, I was joking, I wasn't joking, I was laughing with you about GameStop today, which I cannot believe this is meme stock is still around. It's like become a we it's always been a weird thing ever since meme memes took over. But GameStop jumped over 11% after the video game retailer said that they've approved a plan to buy Bitcoin with its cash.
8:42 Speaker 04 Oh, that's so that's so game that's that's so GameStop is just to do something like that, man.
8:48 Speaker 03 So GameStop.
8:49 Speaker 04 Like meme on top of meme, man, you're talking about.
8:52 Speaker 03 So weird.
8:53 Speaker 04 Bitcoin, that's like that's like a meme meme heaven right there.
8:58 Speaker 03 Yeah, it's like the meme matrix. Speaking of matrix, the production company that produced the Matrix movies just a couple of weeks ago. It's like it was just about the second week of March filed for bankruptcy. This is unbelievable.
9:16 Speaker 04 Didn't they make like a billion dollars off that movie?
9:18 Speaker 03 I don't know, they had to have.
9:20 Speaker 04 Yeah.
9:20 Speaker 03 It was a huge, a huge movie at the time and there was three of them.
9:25 Speaker 04 Yeah.
9:25 Speaker 03 Uh, that came out, the trilogy for for the the Matrix. It blew my mind when that movie first came out. I was like, wow.
9:32 Speaker 04 Crazy.
9:32 Speaker 03 It was so good and um, but I it was like, well, how could how could a production company?
9:38 Speaker 04 Yeah, for real. You don't really hear about that.
9:40 Speaker 03 No, uh, well, yeah, I mean, I guess you, yeah, yeah.
9:44 Speaker 04 Not nothing prominent, like you could you usually hear about it like small films and things of that nature, but nothing major like.
9:50 Speaker 03 A franchise like the Matrix, they also were responsible for the Joker and oceans, the ocean series. So they filed bankruptcy protection in the United States. This is in part due to a lawsuit, a battle that they've had going on with Warner Brothers. And Warner Brothers was a a partner with them that they co-produced.
10:16 Speaker 03 And they've been in a legal dispute with them. And the result of this legal dispute, which came from Warner Brothers releasing The Matrix Resurrections simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in December. This is back in 2021. And Village Roadshow alleged that this move breached their co-production agreement, leading to a long legal battle that has cost Village Roadshow about $18 million in legal fees. And so this dispute, as well as a string of unsuccessful independent productions, which I looked up to see what Village Roadshow's independent productions have been, and I don't recognize any of them.
10:58 Speaker 03 They've done 99 feature films, 230 television series, and I couldn't recognize a single one. I'm not a big TV person, but that on top of the accumulated debt that Village Roadshow has, has all pushed them to declare bankruptcy.
11:15 Speaker 04 So what is their debt? What do they owe?
11:18 Speaker 03 They owe, they owe, debt is ranging between $500 and a billion dollars.
11:25 Speaker 04 I mean, you don't get into a fight with Big Brother, you know? Warner Bros., you know, you hear that, Bros? That's Brother.
11:30 Speaker 03 Yeah.
11:33 Speaker 04 You can't mess with them, man.
11:35 Speaker 03 No, I mean, like the movie industry, just in general, is cutthroat.
11:41 Speaker 04 So cutthroat.
11:41 Speaker 03 Yeah, it's a big, it's a big risk, obviously. You know, you just, you just never know. You can lose a lot of money real quick trying to produce a film.
11:52 Speaker 04 Well, it seemed like it was that they were trying to, you know, invest in that small, what, the small, short film or what's you call it? Small film industry?
12:02 Speaker 03 Yeah, like the independent.
12:03 Speaker 04 Independent film industry?
12:05 Speaker 03 Yeah.
12:05 Speaker 04 And that's, it didn't go well.
12:08 Speaker 03 Well, I want to take our first break. Latroy, when we come back, I want to talk about the Dollar Tree, which is selling family dollar.
12:15 Speaker 04 Oh, wow.
12:16 Speaker 03 We'll talk about not only what's going on with Dollar Tree and these dollar stores in general, but you know, what you would want to avoid buying at the dollar store? And then what is really a good deal to buy at the dollar store? We're going to cover that when we come back right after the break.
12:31 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.
12:41 Speaker 04 We're supposed to play this on Friday, man. This is supposed to be the weekend song.
12:47 Speaker 03 Welcome back to Money Wise. That's Latroy. I'm Sharon. Latroy, Dollar Tree is just such a weird, it's such a weird business.
12:55 Speaker 04 You know why? I'm gonna tell you why. I gotta put some folks on blast. You know why Dollar Tree is weird? It's because my mother-in-law and my wife love to go shopping there.
13:05 Speaker 03 We used to take our kids there when they were real young because you know, you give them, you know, five, 10 bucks. You pick out any five things that you want, you know, any 10 things that you want.
13:14 Speaker 04 Yeah. Those balloons come in handy though, for parties.
13:16 Speaker 03 Oh, yeah.
13:17 Speaker 04 I'll tell you that much.
13:18 Speaker 03 Well, you know, before we talk about what's good to buy and bad to buy at the dollar, at the dollar store, just in today's news, Dollar Tree is selling its Family Dollar business for just a fraction of what it paid for it 10 years ago. So it's, it's selling it for a billion dollars.
13:35 Speaker 04 Sounds like a huge cost basis.
13:36 Speaker 03 Yeah. Oh, yeah. A huge tax break. I'll tell you how much of a tax break Dollar Tree is going to get for this sale. But they're selling it to, no shocker, a couple of private equity firms.
13:46 Speaker 04 Of course.
13:47 Speaker 03 For a billion dollars. Family Dollar had 7,600 stores as of February of this year. So they're selling it for a billion. What do you think they paid for it in 2015? It's almost 10 years. You haven't read this article yet, you know?
14:04 Speaker 04 I'd say, how much they bought it for? Maybe like, what, 5 million?
14:09 Speaker 03 Hmm, 8.5 billion. So they lost their lunch on this one in the last 10 years. So they paid eight and a half billion for it. Now they're selling it for a billion.
14:22 Speaker 04 Oh, wow.
14:22 Speaker 03 And according to their latest operating, their latest fiscal year, Dollar Tree's finances, which ended in February 1st, showed an operating loss of 1.8 billion dollars. So they were, they were losing 1.8 billion.
14:42 Speaker 04 That's crazy.
14:43 Speaker 03 They're still selling, or somebody's buying them for a billion dollars. A private equity is buying them for a billion dollars. But the, the Dollar Tree. Which again is, you know, selling off this, this other dollar franchise that it bid for. And, and a bidding war against Dollar General back in 2015 is anticipating that this is going to bring them about 804 million dollars in net proceeds from the sale and 350 million in tax breaks from the losses of the sale.
15:17 Speaker 04 Nice. They got the tax breaks.
15:19 Speaker 03 There's the tax breaks that they're getting. Dollar Tree's stock, what do you think was up or down today?
15:25 Speaker 04 Probably because the private equity, anytime private, that's like the Grim Reaper. So it was down.
15:29 Speaker 03 It was up, actually. It was up. Yeah. Because this is good news for Dollar Tree. It's like they're like, they get the tax write off, they get the proceeds and they get rid of a business that was bleeding.
15:38 Speaker 04 Normally when private equity take over, you know, you usually see like, like some.
15:43 Speaker 03 It kind of depends. It depends on what, it depends on what they're like. In this case, because they're losing an asset, they're selling an asset that's just bleeding so much money.
15:52 Speaker 04 Yeah.
15:52 Speaker 03 Wall Street really liked that.
15:54 Speaker 04 Gotcha.
15:54 Speaker 03 They're, it's fascinating though, the history of dollar stores in, in America. They really started by yours truly's Woolworths. When they created, that was the first retail store that created fixed pricing. It was early 1900s. Everything in the store was either five cents or 10 cents. That's where the five and dime came from. So that was revolutionary at the time. So that's the OG dollar store was Woolworths. Of course Woolworths had to ultimately change their pricing. They couldn't make everything just be five or 10 cents for very long. And then eventually they just went to just like a discount store, similar to like Walmart is today.
16:33 Speaker 03 But in 1955, that's when the true dollar store was created. Dollar General was founded in Kentucky by J.L. Turner and his son Cal Turner, senior. These, these two gentlemen started the, the real dollar store in 1955 and they introduced a store where everything was a dollar or less. This is, this was an innovation for post-war American retail. And then it really started to take off. When you have the dollar store boom in the eighties and nineties.
17:06 Speaker 04 Yeah.
17:06 Speaker 03 Concept really exploded and then you had chains like Family Dollar.
17:10 Speaker 04 Nine nine cent store.
17:11 Speaker 03 Ninety nine cent store, Dollar Tree, Only a Dollar. These stores targeted low budget, uh, low income, budget conscious shoppers.
17:20 Speaker 04 Yeah.
17:21 Speaker 03 And then in the two thousands to twenty twenties, there was an expansion and diversification. That's where you got into other, other store, like basically dollar stores that shifted away from everything being a dollar to sort of more of a multi-price, uh, format and dollars, Dollar Tree, interesting, remained, everything was a dollar below until late twenty twenty one.
17:44 Speaker 04 Yeah.
17:44 Speaker 03 They actually were able to keep.
17:45 Speaker 04 It's a dollar twenty five now.
17:46 Speaker 03 Yeah, it's a dollar twenty five, which I, I was curious, there's another test for you, do some math, the math wizard. If it remained a dollar in nineteen fifty five.
17:58 Speaker 04 Ooh.
17:59 Speaker 03 What would it be today? What would it be if it, if it kept up with?
18:03 Speaker 04 Inflation.
18:03 Speaker 03 Inflation, yeah. So instead of it being like, they're saying it's a dollar twenty five store, but if you're just talking about pure inflation, a dollar in nineteen fifty five would be how much today?
18:12 Speaker 04 Uh, it'll be a dollar times, uh, three, three to the fifty five, to the seventy fifth power.
18:20 Speaker 03 Okay.
18:20 Speaker 04 Three, well, two percent inflation to the seventy fifth power, maybe, I don't know, like, what, fifteen bucks?
18:26 Speaker 03 Oh, you're pretty dang close. That's really good.
18:29 Speaker 04 Wow.
18:29 Speaker 03 Eleven dollars and thirty four cents.
18:31 Speaker 04 Eleven dollars thirty four cents, yeah.
18:33 Speaker 03 That, that is incredible, I think. Like, it was able to keep the dollar store where everything is a dollar for seventy years?
18:44 Speaker 04 Yeah, seventy four.
18:46 Speaker 03 That's crazy.
18:47 Speaker 04 Seventy five, seventy five, seventy four, seventy four years.
18:50 Speaker 03 Seventy four years. Like, what the heck, Latroy?
18:53 Speaker 04 Yeah.
18:53 Speaker 03 I guess it wouldn't, doesn't roll off the tongue, $11.34 store.
18:59 Speaker 04 No, thank God.
19:02 Speaker 03 This is a testament to how inflation is nuanced. It's so much more than just the inflation of prices because along with inflation of prices, you do have the decrease and the lowering costs of manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies. So that's why they were able to keep it to everything to a dollar below until 2021.
19:29 Speaker 04 I don't know, Sher, man, if they can keep things to a dollar and below, man, that means there might be some inferior product there.
19:35 Speaker 03 Well, there definitely are some inferior products. So let's talk about what you don't want to buy at the dollar store.
19:42 Speaker 04 Oh, man. Mayonnaise?
19:45 Speaker 04 You don't want to buy no mayonnaise.
19:47 Speaker 03 That's hilarious.
19:48 Speaker 00 I don't know there are any food for the dollar.
19:49 Speaker 03 Why not? Why not mayonnaise, Troy?
19:51 Speaker 04 I just think it's castor oil whipped up.
19:57 Speaker 04 I couldn't do it. Like Steven said, man, that, like, just look at the ingredients. That's all you gotta do. Just look at the ingredients when you go in there. Hamburger is probably made of like cat and dog.
20:10 Speaker 03 Canned goods. I mean, food in general, like, I think some of the food is either on the edge of being expired, or if it doesn't have an expiration, it's like something's funky about it. So you want to be careful about foods.
20:22 Speaker 04 The Reese's Pieces taste like chalk, breaking them up like chalk, like powdered ice.
20:27 Speaker 03 Also batteries. Apparently batteries have a bad reputation being sold at dollar stores, at dollar stores.
20:32 Speaker 04 I buy them all the time.
20:33 Speaker 03 Oh, really?
20:34 Speaker 04 Yeah.
20:34 Speaker 03 How are they? They haven't had any leaking or like?
20:37 Speaker 04 I have talked to my kids about that. They put them in their Xbox remotes and stuff.
20:40 Speaker 03 Okay, well, ask them about it. Because, you know, they're probably not alkaline. Electronics and extension cords because of like fire and shock hazards.
20:50 Speaker 04 Oh, wow.
20:50 Speaker 03 And of course, they could just like short.
20:53 Speaker 00 Something you want to be safety wise, you probably don't want to get at the dollar store.
20:57 Speaker 03 Yeah, like tools.
20:58 Speaker 04 I bought a can opener and I was like cooking and I opened up a can and it broke.
21:03 Speaker 03 Tools.
21:04 Speaker 04 Blew out.
21:04 Speaker 03 Tools is another one that's on the list. Like you said, anything that you're, you're, you're just better off going to Home Depot.
21:09 Speaker 00 So what do you buy? Maybe we just swap that question. What do you buy?
21:13 Speaker 04 Balloons, gift bags, Q tips, balloons.
21:15 Speaker 03 Party supplies.
21:17 Speaker 00 Q tips either. I, I learned when I was younger, the, the cheap Q tips, they, uh, they come off in your ear.
21:23 Speaker 04 Yeah.
21:24 Speaker 00 So I have to buy the name brand Q tips, but.
21:26 Speaker 03 Yeah, don't go cheap on Q tips.
21:28 Speaker 00 So things like that. So maybe gift bags.
21:30 Speaker 04 Yeah, I'm making me look bad here.
21:31 Speaker 00 Tape.
21:33 Speaker 03 Greeting cards.
21:35 Speaker 00 Greeting cards, yeah.
21:36 Speaker 03 They're, they're a buck and normally like in a store, they're four to seven dollars.
21:40 Speaker 04 Please tell me balloons is on.
21:41 Speaker 03 Balloons, party supplies, plasticware, gift bags, decorations, seasonal decorations or decor.
21:48 Speaker 04 Yeah.
21:48 Speaker 03 Like Halloween or Christmas stuff. Uh, believe it or not, cleaning supplies. Also.
21:54 Speaker 04 They got like common in there. They got common in Ajax.
21:57 Speaker 03 There you go. There you go. There's also brands like LA's Totally Awesome, which is a basic bleach and disinfectant. Have you heard of that? Totally Awesome, one of the terrible names.
22:07 Speaker 04 Totally Awesome.
22:08 Speaker 03 Yeah.
22:08 Speaker 00 I know my, my wife buys the Fabuloso.
22:11 Speaker 04 Oh yeah, that's good.
22:12 Speaker 03 From the dollar store?
22:14 Speaker 00 Big one.
22:15 Speaker 03 Uh, office supplies, school and office supplies, like notebooks, pens, folders, tape. One of you mentioned tape.
22:21 Speaker 00 You had tape.
22:21 Speaker 03 Wrapping paper, gift bags. Um, those are, those are some of the pro tips here from, uh, Money Wise.
22:28 Speaker 04 Don't buy toilet paper. Oh no.
22:30 Speaker 03 Oh no. Or ketchup. I bet ketchup would be terrible.
22:33 Speaker 00 Go back to the mayonnaise. I don't think I'm gonna eat mayonnaise for a while now. I just thought of it and like, no. You don't mess around with ma- bad mayonnaise.
22:41 Speaker 04 What about medicine? What about like?
22:42 Speaker 03 No, don't buy medicine.
22:43 Speaker 04 You don't wanna buy medicine there?
22:44 Speaker 03 No, you don't wanna buy medicine there.
22:46 Speaker 00 Not the ZZZ Quill?
22:50 Speaker 04 And knock you out.
22:51 Speaker 03 Oh man. Uh, I haven't been to the dollar store in a while, I have to admit. Like I said, the last time we went, where, when our kids were young, cause it was like a fun, like family getaway. It was a cheap, it was a cheap family date.
23:03 Speaker 00 See, there's a, there's a way big difference. I live over by La Troye. There's a Dollar General.
23:09 Speaker 04 Yeah.
23:09 Speaker 00 That, uh. Would put all these dollar stores to, to rest because these Dollar Generals actually aren't too bad.
23:17 Speaker 04 They're not bad at all.
23:18 Speaker 00 And they're not a dollar, but they're like five dollars or less.
23:21 Speaker 04 Yeah.
23:21 Speaker 00 But they have way better quality stuff there.
23:23 Speaker 04 Yeah.
23:23 Speaker 03 Well, part, part of the reason that this bankruptcy is, is happening is because of inflation, obviously, but also Target and Walmart are, and I've noticed this when I've gone to Target, is they have a whole section that's like five dollars or less. So they're just like basically competing with the dollar stores.
23:44 Speaker 00 Right when you walk into Target.
23:46 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I know, cause that's where I get my stocking stuffers.
23:50 Speaker 00 Me too.
23:51 Speaker 03 It's really great. All right, we're gonna take another break today. We're Money Wise, we'll be back.
23:57 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. That's 661-847-1000. Hello, this is Steven with the Money Wise Guys radio show and podcast. We're gonna do something a little bit different for our podcast listeners. If you'd like to go to the Mozart and Beethoven Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra Show this Saturday, March 29th, at the Dignity Health Theater, just email me, [email protected] . That's Steven with a V, not a P-H.
24:40 Speaker 00 And if you'd like to go to the show, just email me your first and last name, as well as your date of birth. And I do have a pair of tickets that I will give away by Friday, so you can be able to pick up those tickets before the Saturday night show. Just email me, [email protected] . And we appreciate you guys listening to us for over 20 years, right here. Be smart, be safe, be money wise.
25:08 Speaker 03 Welcome to the Moneywise Show. We're back. We're your hosts. I'm Sharad Waite here with Latroy Dinkins. We are now joined by today's guest, Stilian Kiraf. He is the music conductor for the Bakersfield Symphony and also Holly Arnold. She is the executive director for the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra. Welcome to the show.
25:26 Speaker 02 Thank you for having us.
25:27 Speaker 05 Thank you. So great to be here.
25:28 Speaker 03 Great to have you both here. So in preparing for the interview, I relearned how long the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra has been around since 1932.
25:40 Speaker 02 Yes.
25:41 Speaker 03 That's over 93 years.
25:43 Speaker 02 Yes.
25:44 Speaker 03 Holy smokes.
25:45 Speaker 02 Amazing, right? And so many people still aren't really aware that we're here.
25:49 Speaker 03 Right.
25:50 Speaker 02 Yeah.
25:51 Speaker 03 I know one area that a lot of people, maybe their only introduction to the Symphony is the annual Nutcracker. Does the Symphony still do the Nutcracker?
26:00 Speaker 02 That's not ours anymore. That did change hands a little bit, but absolutely, that was a real tradition.
26:06 Speaker 03 Yes. I mean, at least there's some exposure to orchestra and Symphony Orchestra.
26:10 Speaker 02 Yeah, they went on recorded music for a while, and I think they still put together a little orchestra. But it's still lovely, no matter what. You can't not love the Nutcracker.
26:19 Speaker 05 And what we decided to do is we have our own holiday show now, which has been a great new tradition that we are very excited about.
26:26 Speaker 03 Yeah, it's fantastic. So tell us what's going on with the Symphony.
26:31 Speaker 05 Well, we have a very exciting concert this week, again, with some of the greatest works ever written. It is more on the classical side, although I can say that we like to mix things up. And actually, our next season that will be coming up soon, we will have these fusion concerts. But this week is pure classics. We have Mozart and Beethoven. And I'm very excited because we are performing not just any piece by Beethoven, but we are performing the Ninth Symphony, also known as Ode to Joy.
27:02 Speaker 03 This is the, this is, I don't know anybody who wouldn't know Ode to Joy.
27:06 Speaker 02 Right.
27:07 Speaker 03 Seems like every piano student on the planet.
27:09 Speaker 02 It's just beautiful.
27:11 Speaker 03 Yeah.
27:12 Speaker 05 Yes, there are many versions of it, but we are going to perform the actual original score. That includes so many choruses and I'm very excited about this because there is always a great collaboration. So we have the Bakersfield College, we have the master choral, we have the CSUB singers, we have the Meridian voices.
27:31 Speaker 03 Wow.
27:31 Speaker 05 And we have some absolutely phenomenal local soloists. So it's a great celebration of music for the whole community.
27:40 Speaker 02 Yeah, there's over 240 choir members that are going to join our orchestra. So we'll have over 300 people on stage.
27:46 Speaker 03 Oh, wow.
27:47 Speaker 02 It's going to be spectacular, just a wall of beautiful sound.
27:49 Speaker 03 Now, this is at the, at the Dignity?
27:52 Speaker 02 It's now called Dignity Health Theater, formerly Mechanics Bank Theater.
27:56 Speaker 03 Formerly Mechanics Bank Theater, or also known as the Civic Auditorium.
28:00 Speaker 02 Yeah, Bravo Bank, Centennial Garden.
28:02 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah. So that's a great venue. Obviously has a nice accommodations there for people. So this is coming up on?
28:12 Speaker 02 This Saturday.
28:13 Speaker 03 Saturday.
28:13 Speaker 02 This Saturday, yes. Just in a couple of days.
28:16 Speaker 03 Yeah. So this is exciting. This is the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Is that correct?
28:24 Speaker 05 Close to. I will call it 201, probably.
28:28 Speaker 03 Okay. Depending on your historian.
28:31 Speaker 02 Depending on the month.
28:31 Speaker 05 No, it was, it was last year in May that it was premiered. So, yeah. So, but, yeah, Beethoven, Beethoven 9201, I think it's great. Well, this piece has been really immortal throughout, throughout time. And I think the message in the piece about brotherhood, about love between people, about us coming all together is more needed today than probably any time in history, if you think about it. So, so we are, we are very excited about this as well. And that's why I love this piece.
29:02 Speaker 03 Yeah. Live music can do that. All types of live music can bring people together. Something we love, I love personally about it. You just, you're, you're all there, no matter what political party, what religion, you're just sitting there and you're all, when it's good, you're all tuned in.
29:20 Speaker 02 It's just a beautiful shared experience that you're just really, like you say, you're tuned in. You're not distracted all over the place. It's just that really nice. Shared experience.
29:29 Speaker 03 So Holly, as the executive director, how long have you been?
29:33 Speaker 02 I've been there about six years now.
29:34 Speaker 03 Holy smoke.
29:35 Speaker 02 I know.
29:35 Speaker 03 Well, you got it dialed in then, right?
29:37 Speaker 02 I don't know if I ever have it dialed in. It keeps changing and it's never the same.
29:41 Speaker 03 What are the challenges involved in just keeping the orchestra going and keeping the organization up?
29:48 Speaker 02 Well, you know, we work as a team. We're a very small but mighty team. So, you know, there's a lot of apples in the air all the time because to do what we do, you know, we depend on sponsors and donors. So there's always that because we're a nonprofit.
30:01 Speaker 03 Yeah.
30:01 Speaker 02 And so we're very careful about, you know, how we spend our money and making sure that we're bringing beautiful performances to the community. We don't want to shortchange the community because this is really just a gem in the community and I'm honored to be part of it.
30:14 Speaker 03 Yeah.
30:15 Speaker 02 When I first moved, I was transferred to Bakersfield in the early 90s and I was this young, single mom, didn't expect to be single, but I ended up here and it was like, I came from LA and it was like, I wasn't used to the good old boy country scene, you know?
30:28 Speaker 03 Yeah.
30:28 Speaker 02 And I looked up like, what arts and culture is there here? And I found the symphony and I started taking my young kids at that time. And it's just really a gem that needs to be celebrated and I, we all do our best to keep it going and to keep it thriving. And what Stilian brings to the table, the fact that we have Stilian is amazing. I mean, he is like a rock star of conductors. And one of our board members, Jennifer Self, who you might know.
30:51 Speaker 03 Yeah.
30:51 Speaker 02 When I interviewed her for, you know, we were over coffee about joining our board. She goes, Holly, having Stilian is like having the Beatles. And I said, Jennifer, if you can just help me share that message, you are on the board. Because it's really true. Stilian, he has conducted globally. He's just a phenomenal genius in what he does. And he's so much fun on stage. Because when I started going way back in the day, it was kind of like you walked in and you kind of like heard the music and you maybe dozed off and you walked out. We have a whole vibe going on, right? And to watch Stilian on stage, I mean, you see his hair today, but
31:23 Speaker 03 I'm working on it constantly.
31:25 Speaker 02 Before the concert starts, you know, we're backstage and I'm like, mess up your hair, Stilian. Because he's a show all in himself. I mean, he, you can feel the music just by watching him. It's not boring, it's exciting. You walk away with that aha moment as if you've been to the biggest theater production. And it's just great. It's just fantastic. So we work together as a team to bring that.
31:46 Speaker 05 We are, we are a team. It's for sure. And I feel very lucky to be here because it's a beautiful community. We have some absolutely phenomenal musicians. Holly is a big mastermind behind the scenes who, who makes all the crazy ideas come to life. And, and in, and I'm serious in all different elements. So it has been, it has been a real joy. And I think especially now as we are coming out of the pandemic, we are looking into growing into adding additional performances, into really reaching out to all demographics in the community that we can, we can make an impact and we can help bring inspiration.
32:26 Speaker 02 Absolutely. That's another thing that I'm really proud of because we're a very diverse orchestra. And I think it's really important to mirror the community. And we have a huge education program. For instance, at this next concert, we have over 500 students from rural schools, Title I schools, coming to the concert to experience this. And I want those students to sit there in their seats. And we have all kinds of learning materials. So they're, they know what to expect there and they really understand. But I want them to look at that stage and say, I look like that person. That person looks like me. And I could maybe be on that stage someday. You know, it's not the old school symphony. It's, it's really quite diverse and quite lovely. And we do blind auditions and we have spectacular musicians, spectacular musicians.
33:09 Speaker 03 How many musicians are there in the orchestra?
33:11 Speaker 02 We have about 66 chaired musicians.
33:13 Speaker 03 And is that, is that, how does that compare to other symphony orchestras? Is that?
33:19 Speaker 05 Pretty much in line.
33:20 Speaker 03 Yeah. Are there any instruments? Are, are there any challenges in terms of like not being able to find certain artists or certain musicians? Or pretty much you can find it all?
33:31 Speaker 05 It depends. I mean, sometimes there are busy times of the year where a lot of musicians take additional engagements, which is fabulous. And, you know, there are some, some musicians in our orchestra who travel from out But also our musicians are collaborating with other orchestras, which is fabulous, because that's exactly what we want. We want music all around Kern County and beyond. So there are sometimes, sometimes, let's say, you know, you might be, we might be struggling finding one particular instrument or filling up a section, but usually, usually we are, we are able to do that.
34:10 Speaker 03 Usually you can do, Latroy plays the triangle.
34:12 Speaker 05 Oh, excellent, yes. Actually, we might need it. There you go.
34:17 Speaker 04 I can play a triangle in basketball, that's about it.
34:22 Speaker 03 You see, you mentioned other orchestras that the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra collaborates with. Could you mention who some of those are?
34:29 Speaker 05 Not in particular. What I wanted to say is that our musicians travel around.
34:34 Speaker 03 Oh, I see.
34:35 Speaker 05 And musicians who are based in Bakersfield would go and play with other symphonies, and musicians from out of town would also come and play with us. So it's a big family, the way I see it. And we are all in this together of bringing arts to different demographics in our communities. And this is a very exciting part of our job, that we get to perform in different places and we get to present all this. But of course, our focus in the, in the BSO is here, and how we can make Bakersfield a better place for inspiration, for cultural growth. This has been always very inspiring.
35:09 Speaker 03 So, Stellian, you have been with the symphony now as its music conductor for, how many, six years, you said?
35:15 Speaker 05 Oh, about eight, nine, nine, maybe.
35:18 Speaker 03 Is this home, is this home for you?
35:20 Speaker 05 It is. It's one of my musical homes, for sure. I travel around. I also conduct another orchestra in Illinois. And I also, you know, I live in Sarasota in Florida, but you know, home is everywhere, pretty much. United Airlines. And I, yeah, and I live on the plane as well. But also, I feel that these days, you know, artists are becoming more global, and with the development of technology, it's easier to maintain relationships, it's easier to connect with people, even if you're not in the same room. And that's a big part of my job, actually. A part of the music, you know, is connecting with the community. We are fundraising together with Holly, so that we can...
36:06 Speaker 05 Have funds to create exciting projects and we are always looking for these these relationships that can bring something exciting to the community.
36:16 Speaker 03 What do you find in your travels and in your other other gigs is unique to Bakersfield, unique to Kern County?
36:26 Speaker 05 I think the position of Bakersfield is unique in a way because we are an orchestra that has, you know, a little over a million dollar budget. But I think this is all, this also is a huge opportunity for us to grow because of our demographics. The fact that we are not so close to LA, not so close to Fresno, not so close to San Francisco. We have our own real town.
36:52 Speaker 03 Right.
36:52 Speaker 05 And very often orchestras on a smaller scale, they would, you know, they will be close to a big city. And so there will be a second to another orchestra and I don't think we are, we are it.
37:03 Speaker 03 Yeah.
37:04 Speaker 05 In Bakersfield and.
37:06 Speaker 03 And you're drawing from a population of nearly a million people, which we, Kern County has nearly a million people.
37:10 Speaker 02 And you know, you know, our demographics are changing rapidly, especially since post-COVID. You know, the people that move here are coming from areas that are used to having arts and culture. And so they're looking for something like this.
37:20 Speaker 03 Yeah.
37:21 Speaker 02 Yeah.
37:21 Speaker 05 And I see huge potential for growth because, you know, if you look cities like Pittsburgh, actually, we were talking with somebody the other day. We have the potential to grow to this size and we are talking about a $25 million orchestra. And this is what I would love to see for us to, as we advance to the future. Of course, not overnight, but with the time, I really want to see a major orchestra here in Bakersfield that we are proud of.
37:44 Speaker 03 I would love to see that. So Holly is executive director, you'd probably love to see that too.
37:49 Speaker 02 Oh, absolutely.
37:49 Speaker 03 How can the community support?
37:51 Speaker 02 Well, you know, one, come to our concerts and learn who we are, right?
37:55 Speaker 03 Yes.
37:55 Speaker 02 And fall in love with us. I always say, you know, once you're in the seats, you're going to want to come back.
38:00 Speaker 03 Yes.
38:00 Speaker 02 So, you know, you can reach out to our office and set up meetings with, you know, Stilian or myself to find out how to donate. You can go on our website to find out how to donate. You know, there's lots of ways to help. You can volunteer with us. I do want to give a shout out though to MoneyWise. Because at our upcoming concert, Money Wise is the wine sponsor and our conductor's circle there in the lobby, so we appreciate you and we've got several people from Money Wise gonna be there.
38:25 Speaker 03 You know, Money Wise has been a big supporter of the arts for many, many years here in Bakersfield and it's in part because it's a little self-serving, to be honest, because we recognize the value that arts bring economically speaking to any community.
38:41 Speaker 02 Absolutely.
38:42 Speaker 03 It's not just, it's so easy to think, oh, you gotta have arts because people want to have fun. It's not, it's, there's an economic benefit to having the arts.
38:51 Speaker 02 Absolutely. I'm glad you touched on that. And it's really true. You know, when I go to some of our major businesses and you know that, you know, the hospitals are struggling to have doctors there and, you know, the recruiting is an issue. And so I talk to some of these big businesses and I say, you might even have, you know, a budget in your HR department for this because to be supporting the arts, you know, it helps with their recruitment and retention because they might be able to recruit that doctor or that engineer, but the family's gonna say, what's there for me in Bakersfield, California?
39:18 Speaker 03 Just like you did when you moved here.
39:20 Speaker 02 Yes, absolutely. So I, that resonates with me so much.
39:23 Speaker 03 Yeah, it does for us too. My, we have three children. They're all adults and out of the house now, but our middle child was very much into classical piano and went through the whole masters learning with that. And in college, got to play piano concerto in college and just fantastic. You know, we definitely want to have our town be a place that our kids want to come back to.
39:54 Speaker 02 Right, right.
39:55 Speaker 03 You know, where we can have, attract good doctors and recruit these kinds of people.
40:01 Speaker 02 Absolutely. It's so important. It's so important. And it's so great when you talk about, you know, your child, you know, being exposed to music because it really does change the outcome. It really helps them with the outcome. And that's why we work so hard to reach these rural, rural communities and get these kids, you know, building cultural capital with our local youth.
40:18 Speaker 03 Well, Holly Arnold, Executive Director for the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, and Stilyan Kirav, the music conductor there at BSO, want to thank you so much for taking the time.
40:28 Speaker 05 Thank you for having us.
40:29 Speaker 03 We'll encourage all of our listeners to participate and get involved with the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra. You can go to bsonow.org. That's the correct website, right?
40:38 Speaker 02 Absolutely.
40:39 Speaker 03 Bsonow.org. There you can find information. I'm sure you're on social media as well. And then, don't miss, it's still tickets available.
40:47 Speaker 02 Tickets are still available, and we're going to be selling them out of our office through tomorrow up until 4 o'clock, and that's the cheapest way to get tickets for any concert, because you don't pay the third-party fees when you come directly to the symphony.
40:59 Speaker 03 Very nice. And the office is on Truxton.
41:02 Speaker 02 It is.
41:02 Speaker 03 1,001 Truxton.
41:03 Speaker 02 No, it's 2,300 Truxton.
41:05 Speaker 03 Okay.
41:05 Speaker 02 Right across from Mercy Hospital. Truxton and B as in boy.
41:08 Speaker 03 I think there's a sign out there.
41:10 Speaker 02 With Stilyan's mug, big, big, 8 by 10 picture of Stilyan.
41:15 Speaker 03 Yeah, so that's coming up this Saturday, March 29. Doors open for the conductor circle at 5:15. The concert starts at 6:30. It's at Mechanics Bank. Well, it's Dignity.
41:25 Speaker 02 Dignity Health.
41:27 Speaker 03 Theater? I don't know what it is.
41:28 Speaker 02 Theater, yes, we're in a theater.
41:29 Speaker 03 Oh, there you have it.
41:30 Speaker 05 It has a beautiful ring to it.
41:31 Speaker 03 We'll get it down eventually. Thanks so much again for coming on the show.
41:36 Speaker 02 Thank you for having us.
41:36 Speaker 03 Appreciate it. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
41:38 Speaker 00 Have you been putting off your finances? Seize the day. Call the Money Wise office at 661-847-1000, or email [email protected] for more information on how our financial advisors can help your financial situation.
42:00 Speaker 03 Thanks for tuning into the Money Wise Show. I'm Sharad here with Latoya today, taking your messages. Those were great guests, by the way. Yeah. That was really fun. Let's go right to the message board. Yes, sir. It's so crazy that GameStop is still around. The last time I went in there, the store was empty. I'd be surprised if they make it much longer. Yeah, I mean, I'm surprised they made it this long. Yeah. The store's been empty for... Couple of years, seems like.
42:28 Speaker 04 It's gotta be something to do with that kitten kid.
42:31 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah.
42:32 Speaker 04 I'm just saying.
42:33 Speaker 03 Yeah, there's something, there's something else going on in there.
42:37 Speaker 04 So empty.
42:38 Speaker 03 It's so empty, yeah.
42:39 Speaker 04 Just like the stock market, when it went up in, what, 21?
42:43 Speaker 03 Yeah.
42:44 Speaker 04 There was no catalyst behind it, it was just.
42:46 Speaker 03 Yeah, when there's no, yeah, when there's no fundamentals behind what the company is actually doing, you know?
42:51 Speaker 04 Yeah.
42:52 Speaker 03 Uh, we've got another message here. It says, "A friend sent me this message and talked to me like I was an idiot." The message said, "Savings account are paying five and a quarter percent." "If you simply put $2 million in one, you can literally make $225,000 a year to live on." "Why aren't more people doing this?" He has jokes, but I figured you guys would laugh.
43:13 Speaker 04 FDIC.
43:16 Speaker 03 Yeah, you got FDIC, I didn't even think about the FDIC part, but this is the, you know, the reason why money market or savings, you're not gonna, well, savings account, maybe, I don't know, you might find some online bank that's paying that high, but money markets, you know, close to 5%, 4% or 5%, CDs are paying, you know, 4% or 5%, but this is the misunderstanding of interest rate risk.
43:40 Speaker 04 Yeah.
43:40 Speaker 03 Which is, the fluctuation up and down of interest rates, you know, you're not gonna, you're not gonna live off of that.
43:47 Speaker 04 Yeah, that will, that will, will run dry.
43:51 Speaker 03 Real quick.
43:52 Speaker 04 Yeah.
43:52 Speaker 03 I mean, I mean, I'm not gonna say real quick, who knows how long interest rates will remain at the levels that they are, but if you're looking for long-term growth, there's nothing that's beat US equities in the long run.
44:06 Speaker 04 And it keeps it with inflation.
44:07 Speaker 03 Yeah, and inflation, that's the other thing, is these are basically,
44:11 Speaker 04 Yeah.
44:11 Speaker 03 Savings rates are start, are trying to mimic essentially the inflation rate.
44:16 Speaker 04 Exactly.
44:16 Speaker 03 It's lagging a little behind if you've got a CD or, or if it's money market. Another comment here, it says, "My aunt plays with the orchestra," so that's always cool to hear about the orchestra on the show. "It reminded me to ask you guys if you know anything about AB1349." That'll be a ban on fake ticketing in California. I actually hadn't heard of this. I do, I know nationally, there's been a move towards but more transparency in ticketing, but in a quick search online, it does appear that there is on schedule for the 2025, 2026 session in, in the assembly, the California Assembly, to address some of the consumer protections around ticket sales. The bill is basically
44:57 Speaker 03 aiming to regulate the practices of original ticket sellers, event presenters, ticket resellers, a prohibition on speculative ticketing. This is just a way to try to get a hold, get a grip on the crazy reselling, resale prices of tickets, of live music events. There, you know, there has to be, something needs to happen because it's just, it's just insane.
45:24 Speaker 04 You can sell me your football seat for cheap. That's fine.
45:26 Speaker 03 Yeah, that's right.
45:28 Speaker 04 Well, they'll be selling it for more.
45:29 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah. Anyways, there you go. Troy, thanks so much. Thanks for your help today on the show.
45:35 Speaker 04 Yeah, it's always a joy.
45:37 Speaker 03 We will be back tomorrow. If anybody missed this or any of our previous shows, wherever you stream your podcasts, you will find us there. In the meantime, remember these three things. Be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.
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