5/5/26 Smarter 401(k)s, Surprising Money Truths & a Bakersfield Symphony Spotlight

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Tuesday, May 5th BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Radio Show & Podcast" call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management LinkedIn: Moneywise_Wealth_Management Guest: Nick Gonzalez, Executive Director Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra website: https://www.bsonow.org/ The opinions voiced in this podcast are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision. Nick Gonzalez & The Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra are not affiliated with nor endorsed by LPL Financial or Moneywise Wealth Management].

• 0:00Speaker 00

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

• 0:05Speaker 01

  Call or text in at 661-396-1000.

• 0:09Speaker 02

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

• 0:37Speaker 00

  Now, let's start the MoneyWise Show.

• 0:40Speaker 03

  Welcome to the MoneyWise Show. We are live from the basement of the historic Woolworths Building in downtown Bakersfield. For the next hour, you are on News Talk 96.1 and 1230 AM, KERN, streaming at MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can call or text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. We are your hosts. I'm Sharad Waite and

• 1:03Speaker 04

  Sammy Abiyawie.

• 1:04Speaker 03

  Dream team. Here we are. Sammy, we get so many great comments and questions from listeners and we want to thank our listeners for that. 661-396-1000. Thank you so much for sending in your questions and comments. I think it's the lifeblood of this show.

• 1:21Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 1:21Speaker 03

  We do, between all of us at MoneyWise, financial advisors and employees, there's over 100 years of experience in dealing with personal finances and dealing with investing and dealing with financing and business. So, I'll give ourselves a little pat on the back and say, we do know some things and we've experienced some things.

• 1:45Speaker 04

  Definitely, and if we don't, we bring experts like Alan Dersch yesterday. Having that person on the show on a regular basis, Chad Hathaway and others, just gives us an edge too.

• 1:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, I hope we're humble enough to know when we don't know something. We try to bring on experts like the ones you mentioned, as well as Dr. Gerhart. We bring on economists. We bring on people that are specialized in their fields. But our specialty has been, for the past 25-plus years,

• 2:16Speaker 03

  But working with blue collar families, basically.

• 2:19Speaker 04

  That's correct.

• 2:19Speaker 03

  Blue collar individuals, the, the, the heart and soul of Kern County is predominantly who our client base is. Obviously, we have clients who are very wealthy. We have clients who are not wealthy, but the vast majority of our clients look like and act like the other members of our community that are here.

• 2:40Speaker 04

  Average American family or family member that works and eventually wants to retire and live a certain lifestyle.

• 2:48Speaker 03

  And with that brings a lot of experience where we don't have to learn from our own mistakes. We can learn from other people's mistakes.

• 2:56Speaker 04

  That's correct.

• 2:57Speaker 03

  And I think that gives an edge. And so we want to thank all of our listeners for tuning in and of course, take advantage of the opportunity to give us some feedback, tell us how we're doing, but also give us your questions and give us your comments. We'd love to get them. We'd love to address them. And if we don't get to them in this show, we'll get to them eventually. And again, it's 24 hours a day. You can send that message in. So we have several that we woke up to this morning and let's start.

• 3:25Speaker 04

  Yeah. Hey guys, great show. I hope I'm not off topic, but I've got a 401k through work, but honestly, I don't pay much attention to it. Um, am I doing enough just contributing? Or should I be doing more? What else should I do?

• 3:40Speaker 03

  Ah, perfect. I love this. Great question. I love how it's worded. You were, you were in the majority of people that don't look at their 401k. By the way, I don't look at my 401k. Do you look at your 401k?

• 3:52Speaker 04

  No.

• 3:53Speaker 03

  I don't look at it. I, I have looked at it, obviously, but I've got it pretty much on cruise control. I know, I know where it's going. I know how much I'm contributing. I know the investment strategy that I've chosen inside the 401k. And so I, I don't think about my 401k ever. I, I mean, once a year, once a year, I'll take, I'll take a deep dive and I'll, I'll, you know, look at a statement and, and, you know, check on things. But for the most part, listener, you're doing the right thing by not even thinking about it. That's and, and contributing as long as you're contributing. Contributing.

• 4:26Speaker 04

  That's correct.

• 4:27Speaker 03

  That's the secret sauce to accumulating wealth, I think, is getting things on automation, getting it automatically, either whether it's your, how much you're contributing, how it's being invested, automating the increases. That is by far the most important strategy because even if you didn't know how it was invested, at least it's going somewhere. At least that money is coming out pre-tax or coming out in a tax favorable way. And so I would say, congratulations, you're doing the most important part, which is just make sure you're contributing and that you're not, some people just mess with it too much. They're, they're chasing returns. Generally, what I've seen the general public do on their 401K is they'll look at the list of options

• 5:10Speaker 03

  and then sometimes if that shows what the performance is, then they'll just compare performance. They'll say, well, how much, how well has it done over the last year?

• 5:17Speaker 04

  Correct.

• 5:18Speaker 03

  Or five years and then they'll go, okay, well, that's mine. And that's a huge mistake, huge mistake. You do not want to just chase returns, as we call it in our industry. There are going to be, for the most part, most 401Ks have at least a few options that are good and good enough. And if you don't know what those are, then ask your boss to get a new 401K provider because that's their job.

• 5:43Speaker 04

  Correct.

• 5:43Speaker 03

  Is to educate the, the, the account holders on what the different options are and why they should do.

• 5:48Speaker 04

  And I, and I think what else should I do as, as a question from, from the listener personally? It really depends on what age group you're in. So when I was younger, I really did not pay any attention to the 401K. As I got older, I started like, okay, let me just see what's, what's, what's going on. And as I got older, I got a little bit more conservative. But the one thing that you have available to you, if your job is actually matching or at least providing a 401K type of plan, definitely you have a plan administrator, correct?

• 6:20Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 6:20Speaker 04

  So that's a resource. If you have questions, if you want to sit down with that, with that person or whomever is the administrator, you have that available to you through your employer. Take advantage of that if you have questions. But to your point, you start with your boss and then you go.

• 6:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 6:35Speaker 04

  To the next.

• 6:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, but don't be afraid to ask that because we, this is something that we deal with at MoneyWise. We have a whole division, the Business Services Division with Justin Leland who runs that. And that is all focused on employer-sponsored retirement plans. So we see a lot of these out there, especially here in town. There's a lot of really terrible 401ks and there's a lot of really great 401ks. And then right in the middle is this section of 401ks where nobody really even knows anything about it, including your boss, including the owner of your company. They don't know. And we see it because we see that we go and we propose 401ks all the time. And I'm just shocked at how an employer will go years paying exorbitant fees, hidden fees that they didn't know about.

• 7:20Speaker 04

  Correct.

• 7:21Speaker 03

  And you know, there has to be a whole due diligence on the employer's side. But that doesn't, that doesn't mean that you're powerless as the employee. You know, talk to your HR, talk to your boss. See if there's ways that they can upgrade your, your 401k. Or just see if they've done a recent upgrade or if they've even had somebody come and bid on it. I would say there's a few things that all of us should be paying attention to at least once a year on our 401ks. And if you're not, consider doing some of these, like make sure that you're at least getting the match. You want, you don't want to leave free money on the table. That's too expensive to do. So make sure you're contributing at least to get the full free money match that your employer offers.

• 8:00Speaker 04

  I, I like what you said this, I think, last week or the week before. Let's remind ourselves that that match is basically free money. Even if you, you need the money ahead of retirement and you pull it with penalties and taxes, it's still free money.

• 8:17Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 8:17Speaker 04

  So take advantage of the match.

• 8:19Speaker 03

  Take advantage of that match, take advantage of any free money that's available there. Make sure that the money's actually invested. You'd be shocked, I know some recent laws have been passed to make it automatic, go into at least some strategy because I think what was happening is somebody's working 20, 30 years and they realize all their money was going into a money market account or a government cash account. Terrible, right? They missed out on 20 years of gains and it's, it's just sad. So make sure that the money is actually invested that that in your 401k. And then check whether or not you should go the traditional versus the Roth option. There's a lot of people where it makes sense to do a Roth 401k, not your traditional 401k.

• 9:02Speaker 03

  That may be because you don't really care about the current tax benefits. You're not in the high tax bracket. You're not really getting a much of a break now. Then don't do a traditional. Go with the Roth. Go all in on that Roth, then you get the tax-free growth. You don't need to worry about the upfront deduction. And then you need to make sure that you are at least keeping up with the the pace of your earnings. Meaning you want to increase those contributions. As you get older, you're allowed to put more into the 401k. So for example, if you're over 50, there's another $8,000 on top of the $24,500 that you can contribute to your 401k. That's huge. That's a great incentive for the government that the government's given us to catch up and and make up for those years when we weren't making as much.

• 9:48Speaker 03

  And then you want to, as you get through and as you get older, make sure that you are, you know, reviewing your other accounts and the fees that you have both on your on your current 401k, but your other investments. Again, something very common that we see at MoneyWise is somebody's got a 401k that they had when they were in their twenties. There's maybe a few, they maybe put a few thousand dollars into that when they were with that company and then they literally just forget about it. They're called orf- there's a whole name for it, orphaned 401ks. So if you've got some accounts or 401ks that are orphaned out there,

• 10:27Speaker 03

  there's some really great options for you, which could include even rolling it into your current 401k that you're at, or rolling it into your own individual retirement account, which then gives you a lot of flexibility and there's some benefits there, too.

• 10:42Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:42Speaker 03

  Good question. Good question.

• 10:44Speaker 04

  Good question. Yes. Can we go to the next one?

• 10:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 10:47Speaker 04

  Is there an easy way for regular people here in town to lower the taxes? Or is that mostly just for higher income folks?

• 10:55Speaker 03

  This is a question that I read into saying, how can somebody who is not wealthy take advantage of the tax code?

• 11:06Speaker 04

  Correct.

• 11:06Speaker 03

  I think that there's this idea that wealthy people are somehow hacking the system and that they are somehow getting by, you know, what the average person has to pay in taxes, that they are, you know, find loopholes and things like that. The reality is, is that that's not necessarily the case.

• 11:30Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 11:30Speaker 03

  That there are parts of the tax code that are specifically geared towards those who are not wealthy. There are things, for example, the child tax credit. That's something that somebody who has a lot of money doesn't get really any benefit from, or it's very minimal. And so there are ways that you can certainly take advantage of the tax code at whatever level you're at. The problem is, and we talked about this yesterday.

• 12:00Speaker 04

  A little bit. Yeah, we touched on it a little bit as far as just ways of people to basically not, not, not create a tax shelter, basically, right, for an individual. Some of the, some of the things we've talked about, and I think you've mentioned this yesterday, and you mentioned it today, is the 401K. Make sure that you're contributing to your 401K if, and especially if your employer is matching, providing some type of a match, right? So the 401K is one. We talked about HSA's or Health Savings Account. If, if, if your employer, again, provides that or sponsors a plan like that, then that's something that you want to take advantage of.

• 12:42Speaker 04

  We talked about the standard deduction yesterday, and in 2026, it's $32,000, right? $32,200 for married filing jointly and $16,000 for single filers. Those are things that you, we can take advantage of. And you talked about the catch-up contributions to the 401K. Child tax credit is, is another one. It was increased to $2,500 now?

• 13:11Speaker 03

  I'm not sure, I can't remember what the new number is for the child tax credit, but it's certainly something if you qualify for it, that's huge. Because that's a credit. Remember, a credit is so much better than a refund or a deduction. A credit is like money in your pocket, direct dollar for dollar. So if it's 2,500 bucks per kid, that's huge. Make sure that you're doing that. There, go ahead.

• 13:38Speaker 04

  No, I was just, those are some of the thoughts that come to, yes, so average folks like me, you, Sherrod, yes, we have ways for us to manage that tax liability somehow and get some ways to help us.

• 13:52Speaker 03

  Yes. So just remember that for those who are in lower tax brackets, there are different advantages and perks that the IRS allows you to have that those who are wealthy cannot participate in. Now, it doesn't mean that they don't get to participate in other benefits. There are, obviously, because they have more money, they can do other things. But there is a, there is an issue, a bigger issue here, Sammy, that I wanted to address. And I think that it's, it's, it's this idea that being poor is expensive. It's so expensive to be poor.

• 14:26Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 14:27Speaker 03

  And that seems counterintuitive because it's those who can least afford it. But if you don't have a savings, emergencies become loans. And then if you don't have credit, borrowing costs more. And if you don't have transportation, work becomes harder. And if you don't have time, you pay for that convenience. If you make just one small mistake, those fees pile up very, very quickly.

• 14:54Speaker 04

  Yes, I agree with you, and I've seen it when I was a banker. The people that suffered the most from, I'm going to say, being low income or even using the word poor is insufficient funds, like the fees.

• 15:09Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 15:10Speaker 04

  You get, you get overdrawn. And some laws have come out to, to help with that, especially after 2008. But still, you know, you overdraw your account, then there's substantial fees.

• 15:22Speaker 03

  Yes, and that's a big problem. That's why some of the laws have changed to try to alleviate some of those overdraft fees.

• 15:30Speaker 04

  Some banks were taking advantage of that, you know, how they paid, in the order they paid the items. And so regulators came out and said, no, we're not going to do that. We're going to pay the items that are going to cost more at the end. So that's just one of the things. But to your point, a low-income person might not buy or be able to buy things in bulk, for instance, at Costco.

• 15:52Speaker 03

  Correct, right. Which, yeah, they just don't have the money to buy it, even though it's cheaper to do that, you don't have, yeah.

• 16:00Speaker 04

  Correct. So you end up going to a convenience store and buying things in, you know, like a roll of napkin at $2 each versus buying the 24-pack at Costco.

• 16:11Speaker 03

  Right.

• 16:11Speaker 04

  Right? And there are multiple examples like that.

• 16:14Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 16:15Speaker 04

  All throughout. Insurance, just insurance, both car and health insurance.

• 16:20Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 16:21Speaker 04

  The fact that you're paying, you know, monthly on your car insurance, you could be saving money if you pay for the whole premium for the whole six months, for instance, or for the annual, like wealthy people do.

• 16:35Speaker 03

  Right.

• 16:35Speaker 04

  Right?

• 16:36Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 16:36Speaker 04

  And one of the things, one of the major items, I think, us as consumers, we forget is, we forget to shop for things. Like, we get onto this, you know, payments, and we're like, okay, this is what I need to live with. No, take time to shop, especially on insurance. It pays for you to pin companies against each other. It's like, well, hey, Geico is charging me this, and you're charging me all of this? I'm going to move to them. And all of a sudden, the conversation changes.

• 17:03Speaker 03

  Well, this is another problem that comes with being poor, is that you don't have time to do that. Somebody who is wealthier can take the time to shop around. They can negotiate things because they're not preoccupied with the two or three jobs that they're doing. And the fact that they're living paycheck to paycheck.

• 17:27Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 17:27Speaker 03

  And by the way, living paycheck to paycheck, I believe, can create incredible health problems, mental health problems. You get into a, that's what I think creates a sort of cycle of poverty for a lot of people. But it's not just for those who are live or make a little bit of money. You might, I didn't share this with you yet, Sammy, so I'm curious what you think of this. But if you look at all of Americans, there are roughly three quarters of the people who earn under $50,000 are living paycheck to paycheck. So again, roughly two thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck overall.

• 18:08Speaker 04

  Mm hmm.

• 18:09Speaker 03

  But that doesn't mean that they're all poor. About three quarters of the lower income households, about two thirds of middle income households, and surprisingly, about half of households making over $100,000 a year are living paycheck to paycheck. So think about that. That, somebody's making six figures and they're still living every two weeks. They're living to the next paycheck.

• 18:35Speaker 04

  And I think Alan Medeiros talked about this yesterday. It's what happens, I think for, I've seen it. People get increases, even though small increases to their salaries. What happens next is crucial. Either you start saving or you upgrade your lifestyle, right? They're like, oh, I have a little bit more money, I'm gonna spend it. Versus, hey, I'm making a little bit more money, let me put some. Extra this extra into the savings account so I can have a little bit of breathing room.

• 19:07Speaker 03

  Yes, that's the biggest thing is building up that emergency savings because again, coming back to what really hurts the poor. These payday loans, high interest rate loans.

• 19:17Speaker 04

  By the way, when you go to a payday loan, you're paying between three and 5% on the check that you're carrying with you.

• 19:22Speaker 03

  Right, yeah.

• 19:24Speaker 04

  It's a substantial amount.

• 19:25Speaker 03

  Huge, it's huge and that and then it can balloon into, you know, 300 or 400% of what you borrowed. Same thing with credit cards. I know we have a listener question about credit cards we'll get to in a minute. But it's an example of how somebody's living off of their credit cards, how expensive it is to be poor. Cause you're paying interest rate to the, you know, paying 20% interest rate.

• 19:46Speaker 04

  Yeah, the average interest rate, I mean, it's between 20% up to 32% depending on the credit score and your credit history and what have you. That's a substantial, substantial interest rate.

• 19:59Speaker 03

  Do the, so part of this, you know, this cycle of poverty includes these payday loans, overdraft fees, high interest credit card balances, late fees. You also have some other spending issues. Again, this is, we're not even talking about earnings issues. This is about people's spending issues and this would be rent to own purchases. That's a nightmare. I mean, that's so short sighted, right? You're paying, you're looking at just, you know, how much you can afford for the next month and you're not doing the math and realizing you could buy that TV 10 times over.

• 20:29Speaker 04

  Or, or your, or the rims on your car.

• 20:31Speaker 03

  Or the rims on your car, yeah.

• 20:33Speaker 04

  Imagine you're renting your rims, man. Oh, they're 22s, man. They are 22s. But hey, they're not paid off yet.

• 20:41Speaker 03

  It looks good.

• 20:42Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 20:43Speaker 03

  You do get bad car loans too. I mean, cause you're gonna pay high interest rate on your car loans and these subprime car loans are nasty.

• 20:51Speaker 04

  No, I think the spending.

• 20:54Speaker 04

  It's been a while since I touched on this. We have a Louis Vuitton pandemic.

• 20:59Speaker 03

  Oh.

• 21:00Speaker 04

  People don't make enough money, but they want to be seen with the Louis Vuitton purse. And the Louis Vuitton this and Louis Vuitton that.

• 21:07Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 21:07Speaker 04

  Man, Louis Vuitton owner lives in Paris is one of the wealthiest people on earth.

• 21:12Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 21:12Speaker 04

  Probably the second or the third wealthiest person on earth.

• 21:15Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 21:16Speaker 04

  And here you are in Old Bakersfield, struggling to make rent, but I got a Louis Vuitton, man.

• 21:22Speaker 03

  Get rid of that.

• 21:22Speaker 04

  You know, seriously, that's just one of those habits that we really need to kick off.

• 21:27Speaker 03

  There are so many miserable millionaires out there that are also living paycheck to paycheck. In fact, for people who make over $200,000 a year, over a third of them are struggling to pay their bills. That means they're living paycheck to paycheck. Thirty-six percent of those who make over $200,000 are living paycheck to paycheck. I mean.

• 21:48Speaker 04

  I, I, I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say this self, what, what was that word? Self-inflicted wound?

• 21:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:57Speaker 04

  In this case, I mean, you make $200,000.

• 22:02Speaker 04

  That's probably lifestyle, I'm gonna guess.

• 22:04Speaker 03

  It's, it's the same issue that comes down to somebody who's making less than $50,000. It's that same mentality. It's that same sort of short-sightedness. And, and it's, there are ways out of it.

• 22:17Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 22:18Speaker 03

  So let, let's give some tips on, on how to fight out of the poverty trap. You gotta stop the financial bleeding first.

• 22:26Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 22:27Speaker 03

  Focus on these things, some of these things we just talked about. You gotta avoid credit cards, you gotta avoid payday loans, overdraft fees. The best way to do that is build up a tiny emergency fund.

• 22:36Speaker 04

  Yep.

• 22:37Speaker 03

  When I say tiny, I mean, literally, start with like 500 bucks, 200 bucks or 500 bucks. That is enough to prevent one of those payday loans, or it's enough to prevent your utilities from getting shut off, or from your credit card, from your bank account having an overdraft. So start there. What, you know, the first win is stopping the cycle from getting worse. So just stop the bleeding first. If you don't have a bank and you don't use. A bank account, get a bank account.

• 23:07Speaker 04

  Yes, there are some free accounts that you can get. A lot of the major banks provide those now. And even smaller banks and regional banks have those. Just get a checking account, hopefully where you can, with no fees or little fees.

• 23:22Speaker 03

  Yep, get ruthless about your housing. That's obviously usually the biggest expense. But this might mean a temporary roommate or temporary moving in with family. You got to get real with that because that's the biggest expense for most people. And then don't forget the ways that you can increase your income. It's not just cutting expenses. You can only cut expenses so much, but there are ways that you can do that. Ask for more hours, get another job, learn a trade, get a certification that's tied directly to pay. A lot of employers will do that. They'll incentivize you and they'll pay you to get certain certifications. Community colleges, we have a wonderful one here with Bakersfield College.

• 24:03Speaker 03

  They have a lot of programs that you can, you can enroll in and to increase your own ability to earn money.

• 24:11Speaker 04

  And if you have Netflix Prime and other things, just use one. You don't need three, you know, streaming services.

• 24:19Speaker 03

  Wait till you build up your savings a little bit. Get that emergency savings before you get that second Netflix Prime subscription.

• 24:29Speaker 03

  There are ways out of it. It's not, none of it's easy. None of it's going to be handed to you, but there are ways of getting out of that poverty trap. It's too expensive to be poor, so don't fall into those traps. We're going to take our first break. We come back, we're excited to talk to our guest from the Bakersfield Symphony Opera Orchestra. We'll be right back.

• 24:59Speaker 03

  Thanks for tuning in. We're Money Wise. We're your hosts. I'm Sharred here with Sammy. We're also joined by our guest, Nick Gonzalez. He's the Executive Director for the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra.

• 25:11Speaker 04

  I am your father.

• 25:14Speaker 03

  That music that you hear.

• 25:16Speaker 04

  Steven Shikley.

• 25:20Speaker 03

  That reminds me of Tracy Morgan always says, "James Earl Jones is my biological father." So, welcome, Nick. Welcome to the show.

• 25:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, thank you for having me.

• 25:34Speaker 03

  Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra. This is a landmark legend of a nonprofit that we've had here in Bakersfield since 1932 for over 94 years. The Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra has been bringing world-class talent and experiences to our community. This Saturday, the orchestra will be highlighting the works of John Williams. That's the music you just heard from Star Wars was composed by John Williams, including there'll be music, well, I don't know if it's going to be played on Saturday, but Harry Potter from the movies, Harry Potter, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost

• 26:18Speaker 03

  Ark, Schindler's List, The Patriot, I mean Jurassic Park, I mean it goes on and on. John Williams, I'm always shocked at just how much he's done.

• 26:28Speaker 05

  Yeah, I mean, you got the whole gauntlet right there. I mean, when, you know, you say epic scores, when you think of epic, it's like, it's a little hyperbole, but no, in the case of John Williams, I mean, all of these songs you can recognize from the movies and, you know, people instantly, it's instantly familiar for them, so.

• 26:46Speaker 03

  You know, I'm, now, I don't want to go out too much on John Williams, but I remember learning a little bit about him and the fact that he's not like a traditional, classically-trained musician. I think he sort of stumbled into the position that he's in, mostly from sort of his ability to...

• 27:08Speaker 03

  Visualize, you know, see what's going on or have somebody explain something to them. Okay, this is the sounds, these are the sounds that should be around there. But he's not like technically skilled. Does that, do you know anything about it?

• 27:21Speaker 05

  You know, I'd imagine, and of course, I'm not necessarily the expert on John Williams. But, but yeah, I mean, I think from interviews that I've heard, you know, it's, it's, yeah, it didn't come maybe the traditional sense of being classically trained. But, but of course, you know, he has this depth of knowledge and really just like understanding, you know, the, the emotions behind it and how to elicit those feelings. I mean, that's something you can't really learn or can't really be trained, you know, it's, you know, yeah, but, but like I said, you know, Stilian Kirav, so our conductor, normally I know he joins us and, you know, he has kind of that breadth of knowledge on, on John Williams. But, but I'd imagine, you know, it'd be interesting to learn about that.

• 28:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, fascinating individual. And I mean, this is such a piece of Americana too, these, this sound like we just heard, the Star Wars sound, but also Jaws, like everybody knows that, everybody knows those two notes and, and it's just, you know, pervasive and as much as, you know, a Beatles song.

• 28:22Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm, you know, I keep telling myself I'm not artistic at all, but this genre, and I'm going to actually to your event on Saturday.

• 28:30Speaker 03

  Great, now that's awesome.

• 28:32Speaker 04

  My kid is into Star Wars, he's a Star Wars aficionado and he saw the, we were driving on the freeway and he saw the advertisement that we have the event this Saturday and he's been asking, so we're definitely, definitely going this Saturday, I'm very excited for it.

• 28:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, no, that's amazing. The orchestra, you know, world-class musicians, I've known a few musicians over the years that have played for the orchestra and they've, they've just lived here temporarily, you know, they maybe moved from Philadelphia or they moved from, you know, LA where they have big towns where they were part of a big orchestra or a music scene there. And then they come here for a little while and it's like, wow, we get these like geniuses basically that, some of them stay, obviously, but how is the, how is the makeup of the orchestra currently?

• 29:16Speaker 05

  Yeah, you know, of course, you know, we consider everyone on the orchestra, or that's in the BSO, a local musician. But of course, you know, there are people that come from different areas, from LA, from Fresno. But, you know, here with the symphony, it's, I mean, they're all world-class musicians. And it's really incredible to see, you know, the diversity of makeup of people that come in. And, you know, like I said, we're all part of one family. And we're really, we're really blessed to have a community orchestra here in Bakersfield of the caliber that we have. You know, a lot of people don't realize that we're one of the longest continually running symphonies in the country. You mentioned 94 years. Ironically, I looked up John Williams' age, and he's actually 94 this year.

• 30:00Speaker 03

  How about that?

• 30:01Speaker 05

  Yeah, so.

• 30:02Speaker 03

  That's cool.

• 30:03Speaker 05

  Yeah, so he's been around as long as the Bakersfield Symphony, which, which is really incredible. And I think, you know, like you mentioned, it's really a cultural institution here in Bakersfield. And we're really, you know, proud to be a part of it.

• 30:14Speaker 03

  I grew up here, Bakersfield. I was a student in the Bakersfield City School District. So at that time, I remember going to the Civic Auditorium and listening to the orchestra. I don't know if it was part of the orchestra's program or not, but it was huge for me.

• 30:31Speaker 05

  Right.

• 30:32Speaker 03

  To, you know, experience that and see what, you know, what it's like to hear a full live orchestra. And this is a program that is still happening today. Can you talk about that?

• 30:46Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 30:47Speaker 03

  Bakersfield Next? Or BSO Next?

• 30:48Speaker 05

  Yes, BSO Next. So, yeah, we, we have a program called BSO Next, where we bring students from all over Kern County to the symphony. And it's, it's really cool. We, we do like a pre-concert dining experience at different, different cultural venues throughout, throughout Bakersfield. And it's really neat. We're actually going to be doing an event here.

• 31:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:09Speaker 05

  This Saturday.

• 31:10Speaker 03

  Bringing some kids to the Woolworths on Saturday.

• 31:11Speaker 05

  Yeah, exactly. It's going to be a core memory for them, for sure. And, you know, we, we really just want to make sure that we, you know, introduce them to culture and, you know, provide them, you know, a three-course meal and a dining experience and something that, you know, many of these students have never been to the symphony. And so, it may be Their first time seeing the live performance. And you know, a lot of these students, they come from as far as California City and Delano, Shafter, you know, the KRV. And it's really cool to bring kids from all over Kern County to the Symphony. And especially for this concert, we were proud to say that we have over 800 students currently signed up to attend this event through that program.

• 31:50Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 31:51Speaker 05

  And the incredible part too is that, you know, all of these tickets are subsidized through our generous donors. So it's at no cost to the students to attend the concert.

• 32:01Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:02Speaker 05

  So we're really excited to be able to offer that for the next generation of music lovers.

• 32:06Speaker 03

  Oh, it's huge. It's huge. So many of these kids, especially in the outlining areas, they never go out to eat either. Like, they don't know where. They never go out to eat. And I understand, I grew up in a family with lots of kids, we hardly ever went out to eat. And so they get to get a meal and then go to the orchestra. I think that's such a cool program.

• 32:25Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 32:25Speaker 03

  So it's a nonprofit, obviously, so you're fully reliant on donations, 100% donations.

• 32:32Speaker 05

  Right. I would say, you know, maybe 70%. You know, we get, you know, of course, we have our ticket sales and whatnot and different programs where we have our earned revenue. But, you know, a lot of it is reliance on, you know, community support, you know, through the city and the county. And we're so grateful to our generous donors from all over Bakersfield and beyond that have supported the Symphony. And so, you know, we definitely appreciate, you know, anyone that would, you know, want to sponsor, you know, whether it's through a concert, whether it's through our BSO Next program. We also have another program called the Sustain Campaign. And this is a new initiative that we launched this year where you can sponsor a musician's chair.

• 33:17Speaker 05

  So for example, if you wanted to sponsor our principal oboe for a year or for a five year endowment, you have the ability to do that. And those funds actually help support our general operations and ultimately the musicians that perform on the stage, which, you know, like I said, we're very grateful for that wealth of support.

• 33:40Speaker 03

  Very cool. Again, we're joined by Nick Gonzalez. He's the Executive Director for the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra. Nick, you've been in this position since late last year.

• 33:48Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 33:49Speaker 03

  Where'd you, how'd you get into this? How'd you get into like, working for a nonprofit?

• 33:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, you know, I mean, that's, that's a great question. You know, I was born and raised here in Bakersfield. I moved away to, to college at UC Berkeley. Great, great experience. I moved to the, the East Coast for a little bit. Hated the humidity. I moved back immediately.

• 34:09Speaker 03

  Where were you, back east?

• 34:10Speaker 05

  I was in DC.

• 34:11Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. I have a son who lives in DC.

• 34:13Speaker 05

  Oh, nice.

• 34:14Speaker 03

  Loves it. He loves it.

• 34:15Speaker 05

  Yeah, no, it's, it's great. I mean, it's, I mean, the museums are free, which is incredible. Like, you don't get that many other places in the United States. And so, anyway, yeah, so I moved over there and I moved back because, you know, I wanted to, you know, give back to the community, you know, after going away. And, you know, I was looking how to, looking at how to get involved. So I started working in a nonprofit. We were helping mentally disabled and elderly individuals with financial services. So I was working there for about 10 years doing operations and outreach. And so I was looking for something new. You know, just, you're always trying to grow and, you know, try new things and challenge yourself a little

• 34:56Speaker 05

  bit. And someone mentioned that this position opened. And, you know, me being a musician, though I'm not classically trained, I have a deep appreciation for music. They said, well, this might be a perfect fit, you know, with your music background and, you know, your nonprofit experience. And so, so, yeah, it's kind of been like a perfect blend of my two passions, you know, giving back to the community and, and music. So, so it's, it's really great. So I'm very newly minted in this, in this role. But, but everyone involved in the symphony, you, you can tell right away, it's, it's a very, very great family. And so a lot of support around this role. So I appreciate it.

• 35:38Speaker 03

  I have so much respect for any nonprofit that can continue to exist after any number of years, let alone 90-plus years. There's something that's going, that's done right. And we have a few of these in town, a few of these, like, Legendary nonprofits that just, just keep at it. I mean, we're talking 93 years, you hit like four generations, you know, of people that have continued to carry the torch. Like, there's something behind that. There's something meaningful there.

• 36:05Speaker 04

  Yeah, I was just gonna say, this community is a very given community. Our Bakersfield community is good. The Kern County in general is a very given community. And in fact, today is Give Big Kern.

• 36:16Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah.

• 36:17Speaker 04

  And I just wanted to give a shout out to everybody that's involved in that, but also if you do have passion for any type of organization, today is the kickoff and just, just open, open your wallets. Bakersfield Symphony is one of them.

• 36:33Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:34Speaker 04

  You know, and it's listed there. So, so if art is your passion, if music is your passion, definitely, definitely go to Big Kern website and donate.

• 36:45Speaker 03

  Givebigkern.org. I'm looking at it right now. Today is the day, the big day for fundraisers. They're almost at a million dollars raised so far.

• 36:54Speaker 04

  That's amazing.

• 36:54Speaker 03

  Eighteen hundred donors, 121 organizations are benefiting from this, including the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, which is on the list here. Every little bit counts. If you are at all interested in supporting nonprofits in Kern County, today's a great day to give. Again, givebigkern.org. Nick, thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it.

• 37:18Speaker 05

  Yeah, no, I appreciate it. Thanks so much.

• 37:19Speaker 03

  I'm assuming there's still tickets available for Saturday's show?

• 37:22Speaker 05

  Yeah, so if you go to bsonow.org, tickets are available. You can also go, you can go to the symphony office, go to the box office at Dignity Health Theater. Yeah, we hope to see you. It's gonna be a really incredible concert and yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun.

• 37:37Speaker 03

  Great stuff, great stuff. Again, you can go to Bakersfield Symphony's Orchestra's website, bsonow.org, or get tickets at the box office. There's plenty of seats there at the, I still caught the Civic Auditorium, but it's not, it's...

• 37:52Speaker 05

  Yeah, Dignity Health Theater.

• 37:53Speaker 03

  Dignity Health.

• 37:55Speaker 05

  Robobank, Centennial Gardens, you know, one of those.

• 37:58Speaker 03

  Changed its name. Anyways, thanks so much, Nick. We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back.

• 38:06Speaker 03

  Thanks for tuning into Money Wise. I'm Sharad here with Sammy, 661-396-1000. Thank you so much for your questions, comments, messages. Keep them coming our way 24 hours a day. Good luck with the symphony this Saturday. Sammy, I'm sad I won't be there, but you'll be there with Gabe and...

• 38:22Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm very excited. I'm very excited. I went last year and it was a great experience. Money Wise had sponsored that night. And this time, I'm just going because the theme...

• 38:34Speaker 03

  Cool theme. I mean, John Williams, legend. So good. This is not a John Williams song, by the way.

• 38:41Speaker 00

  This is my Cinco de Mayo song.

• 38:42Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. Happy Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo.

• 38:46Speaker 04

  Cinco de Mayo.

• 38:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, I lived in Mexico for a couple of years. And so I spent two Cinco de Mayo's down in Mexico. And it is not a celebration down there, believe it or not. It's not really, at least where I live. They were like, I mean, there are streets named after it and that, but most of them are like, ah, what is it? The Battle of Puebla? Or I don't know what this is.

• 39:05Speaker 00

  I'll tell you, I lived in Louisiana for Mardi Gras, and it is nothing like I thought as a teenager. I will tell you that.

• 39:11Speaker 03

  Very different. We got a listener message.

• 39:15Speaker 04

  Yes, we do. Hey, guys, quick, quick question. How much credit card debt is too much? I don't think I'm in a hole but listening to the show. At what point should I really be worried? LOL.

• 39:26Speaker 03

  Well, that's a quick question. The quick answer is, any debt that you are carrying on a credit card is too much debt.

• 39:32Speaker 04

  Yes. I was gonna say the same thing.

• 39:34Speaker 03

  Right. I mean, that doesn't mean, but however, you use a credit card. I use a credit card.

• 39:40Speaker 04

  I do.

• 39:41Speaker 03

  How much interest do you pay?

• 39:42Speaker 04

  Zero.

• 39:43Speaker 03

  How much fees do you pay?

• 39:44Speaker 04

  Zero.

• 39:45Speaker 03

  So then what do you get? Why do you do it?

• 39:48Speaker 04

  The points.

• 39:49Speaker 03

  And the protections.

• 39:50Speaker 04

  Yeah, I got Costco last year. I got a little check from Citi.

• 39:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 39:56Speaker 04

  You know, because I ran some business expenses through that.

• 39:59Speaker 03

  Yeah. And it was probably enough to take a little vacay. A little family vacay.

• 40:04Speaker 04

  No, I just went to Costco and I just bought a roll of toilet paper and I got the rest in cash.

• 40:10Speaker 04

  I'm serious, man.

• 40:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 40:12Speaker 04

  I mean, to your point, any credit card debt is bad debt. Now, if you're in the business of paying interest rate on credit cards, might as well donate to Bakersfield Symphony.

• 40:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, right.

• 40:26Speaker 04

  At least you're getting a tax.

• 40:28Speaker 03

  Right off.

• 40:29Speaker 04

  Right off.

• 40:31Speaker 03

  Yeah, this is, we were talking earlier about the traps of poverty. And one of those traps is because you're living paycheck to paycheck, you're only thinking a week or two in advance.

• 40:41Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 40:42Speaker 03

  And with a credit card, you've got to think a month in advance. Poor people cannot think a month, not to say they can't think of a month, but it's, you're only, you're thinking about when your next payday is. For most people, that's every two weeks. That's the most that you can go. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's the best place to start. If you are in financial trouble, don't worry about a month-long budget. Just start with a week's budget. Start with whatever is, however many days until your next paycheck, start there, because even there, you might find 20 bucks or 40 bucks that you can put aside.

• 41:17Speaker 04

  I'll start with just us, like the luncheonette. We have, you know, people working at the luncheonette, some minimum wage, some making a little bit more, some like some servers making a little bit more. And I started talking to some of our cooks. I see they come in and they come in with a cup of coffee, $6, $7 cup of coffee. And I did the math for them. I was like, hey, this is how much money this could earn you.

• 41:41Speaker 03

  Right.

• 41:41Speaker 04

  If you just place it in the market.

• 41:43Speaker 03

  Right.

• 41:43Speaker 04

  Save it and place it in the market over a period of time.

• 41:46Speaker 03

  Right.

• 41:47Speaker 04

  Now, you want coffee, right? Guess what? I'm gonna brew you a cup of coffee here for free.

• 41:52Speaker 03

  Right.

• 41:53Speaker 04

  I'm paying for it.

• 41:54Speaker 03

  And it's reverb coffee.

• 41:55Speaker 04

  And it's reverb coffee. I'm brewing reverb coffee for you.

• 41:58Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 41:59Speaker 04

  So you don't be spending $6, $7 on your cups.

• 42:02Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 42:03Speaker 04

  And then like one of our employees did it for one day, the following day he was in line at Reverb and he was looking at me looking the other side.

• 42:11Speaker 03

  You shamed him. You shamed him into saving.

• 42:14Speaker 04

  He's like, I know, I know Sammy, I know, but I'm treating myself today. I'm like, okay. All right. If you're treating yourself once a week, whatever, that's fine. But if you still want to spend the money, it's your money. I'm just telling you, if it's just coffee, here it is. I'm making it for you.

• 42:27Speaker 03

  Right. Yeah. So that, I mean, again, for our listener, if any credit card debt is bad debt, because on average, we've said this before, paying about 20% is the national average for credit card interest rate. That is insane return. That's a guaranteed return on your dollar. For every dollar that is not going to interest to the credit card company stays in your pocket.

• 42:48Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 42:48Speaker 03

  Where else can you get a guaranteed 20% return on your dollar?

• 42:51Speaker 04

  Well, the average American family carries about between $8,500 to about little, little over $8,500.

• 42:59Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 42:59Speaker 04

  On credit card debt for household.

• 43:01Speaker 03

  Right.

• 43:02Speaker 04

  $8,500 now time that by 20% on average. Right?

• 43:07Speaker 03

  And then, and then if you're just making the minimum payment, so the problem with credit card debt, isn't that it's just debt that you owe the company. It's just revolving.

• 43:14Speaker 04

  Correct.

• 43:15Speaker 03

  It's, it doesn't have an end to it.

• 43:17Speaker 04

  No.

• 43:17Speaker 03

  It's, the minimum payment will take you 20 years or whatever to pay off. And then you end up paying more in just interest than what you borrowed.

• 43:26Speaker 04

  That's correct.

• 43:27Speaker 03

  That's insanity.

• 43:29Speaker 04

  It is. It is. So, so to the listener, I feel you. You know, I was there in my twenties and when I first started, but there is a way out.

• 43:37Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 43:38Speaker 04

  Okay. If you change your spending habits.

• 43:40Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:40Speaker 04

  Okay. To your point from earlier, maybe look at an additional income source to help until you get rid of this. And then now change your spending habits, change your, how you, you, you cash flow. You manage your cash flow on a monthly basis.

• 43:56Speaker 03

  Yep. And, and I'll also reiterate that there are some of us who should not be using a credit card. And that's okay.

• 44:03Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 44:03Speaker 03

  Just like there's some of us who should not be drinking. There's some of us who should not.

• 44:08Speaker 04

  Be gambling.

• 44:08Speaker 03

  Be gambling.

• 44:09Speaker 04

  I don't, I don't go to the casino.

• 44:10Speaker 03

  Exactly.

• 44:10Speaker 04

  On purpose, because I know I have that personality. See where I'm might get hooked.

• 44:15Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:15Speaker 04

  So guess what? I do not.

• 44:16Speaker 03

  Just avoid it.

• 44:17Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 44:17Speaker 03

  And and I I think there's a problem with us demonizing that. I think we have to accept that some of us are are that way and that's okay. We just you don't want to ignore that trait that you have. And some of us have that trait. That if a credit card, we just tend to use it.

• 44:32Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 44:33Speaker 03

  And so if that's the case, Dave, I don't care how many points you get. If you're paying anything in interest.

• 44:38Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 44:38Speaker 03

  The points and the perks are never going to offset.

• 44:41Speaker 04

  They don't wash.

• 44:42Speaker 03

  They don't wash. Exactly. Like, don't go buy that Costco sized toilet paper just for the points. You're going to pay way more in interest.

• 44:49Speaker 04

  Louis Vuitton.

• 44:50Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:51Speaker 04

  Yeah, Louis Vuitton, man.

• 44:54Speaker 03

  Well, want to thank all of our listeners again for tuning in. If you would like to listen to this show or any of our past programs, go subscribe to the Money Wise Podcast. It's commercial free and it's on all major podcast platforms like iTunes, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. We will be reminding everybody, go to Big Give Kern right now. It's available. Give to your local charities. It means a lot. Remember these three things. Be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.

• 45:25Speaker 02

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