7/17/25 From Dream Jobs to Classic Burgers: Money Talk That Matters

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Thursday, July 17th BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" podcast call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management LinkedIn: Moneywise_Wealth_Management

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From the Garret Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, here is Money Wise. Call or text into the show 24/7 at 396-1000.

• 0:39Speaker 00

  Here is Money Wise.

• 0:40Speaker 01

  Money, money, money, money.

• 0:44Speaker 01

  That's right. This is the Money Wise Show. We are live from the Garret Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway. I'm Chris Pelster with...

• 0:54Speaker 00

  Seth Perry, happy to be here, Chris.

• 0:55Speaker 01

  Mr. Seth Perry, your Thursday dream team, making it happen. And before we get into anything, I'm going to throw this out there because I think it's that good of a topic.

• 1:05Speaker 00

  Let's do it.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Me and Seth were just talking right before it started and it just, we're doing it.

• 1:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:11Speaker 01

  You could make any amount of money, or you could make just a ton of money, so like money's not an issue. But what would you do then? But you did have to do it like an eight to five.

• 1:21Speaker 00

  Yep, every day.

• 1:22Speaker 01

  Because, so here's why I thought about it. I thought, even like, oh, I'll play video games and get paid. Could you imagine, like, literally, you had to play video games from eight to five every day?

• 1:34Speaker 00

  Every day.

• 1:34Speaker 01

  Now, I imagine it's going to be like what I experienced with some of my clients who retire, and they play golf, and then they play some more golf, and then they kind of go, I'm over it.

• 1:45Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 1:46Speaker 01

  And so like, you'd be really excited. You'd be playing video games, day three, after your next eight-hour session. So yeah, you're making good money. You got to pick playing video games, but do you think it would...

• 2:01Speaker 00

  But you're stuck with it. You have to do it every day. That changes the conversation.

• 2:04Speaker 01

  Every day until you're 62. And in case you guys were wondering, Seth said he would clean pools in a tank top out in the backyard.

• 2:11Speaker 00

  I can see that. There it is.

• 2:13Speaker 01

  Cabana boy back there.

• 2:14Speaker 00

  I can see that.

• 2:15Speaker 01

  Just, just working on his...

• 2:16Speaker 00

  Checking those chlorine levels, huh?

• 2:18Speaker 01

  Working on his shoulders and his chest.

• 2:19Speaker 02

  He must work out.

• 2:21Speaker 01

  So there you go. Now you know about Seth. You know what he would want to do if money was no object. He'd be cleaning pool walls.

• 2:28Speaker 00

  Steve, you're not immune to this.

• 2:30Speaker 01

  Yeah. What's up, Steven? What are you gonna do?

• 2:32Speaker 00

  It's an eight to five. Money's not a, money's not an object. Eight to five every day, dude.

• 2:39Speaker 02

  It's tough. I think I would do, I would have to play some type of sport.

• 2:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:44Speaker 02

  I maybe like play basketball or.

• 2:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:47Speaker 00

  That's a lot of hoops.

• 2:49Speaker 01

  You're at the YMCA, dude. Eight o'clock every morning. Check in.

• 2:54Speaker 02

  I mean, that would burn my, uh, my, my belly a lot quicker than what I'm doing now.

• 2:59Speaker 01

  Steven be down to 79 pounds. Playing eight hours of basketball. Oh my goodness. I think I've taken us off the rails here today, but.

• 3:08Speaker 02

  Uh. Clean pools with Seth?

• 3:10Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 3:13Speaker 01

  I don't, I don't know. Well, cause honestly, like that was what made me think about it. He said he'd clean pools or like joking or something like that. And I go, I was thinking, oh man, I play video games. But then I thought about it. I'm like, could you imagine after five days of 40 hours?

• 3:25Speaker 02

  Of video games?

• 3:26Speaker 01

  Of video games?

• 3:27Speaker 00

  This guy playing hoops, man. That's 40 hours a week of hoops, but you would be so good. Imagine 40 hours a week at something.

• 3:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:34Speaker 00

  You're gonna be good at it.

• 3:36Speaker 01

  Have you seen?

• 3:36Speaker 02

  I just can't get taller. I just get swatted about 40 times a day.

• 3:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, I don't know. I really don't know. I'm gonna have to think about this.

• 3:44Speaker 00

  You need, you need, we need an answer by the end of the show.

• 3:46Speaker 01

  I'm gonna do some soul searching. Uh, when we get to our first break, I'll go, I'll go do some contemplation.

• 3:51Speaker 02

  You're in some type of pickle, I'm sure.

• 3:52Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Hey, sorry listeners to go completely off the rails before we even started the show. This is the Money Wise Show. You guys make the show great. You can join the conversation. Tell us what you would do if money was no object and you, but you did have to do it 40 hours a week. So you're not off the hook. I mean, it's, it's a commitment. You can't just, uh, do nothing. Uh, 661-396-1000 is the number you can let us know what you would do. I, I'm curious. Let us know, listeners.

• 4:17Speaker 00

  Yes, please send it in.

• 4:19Speaker 01

  And while you think about that and send in your answer, we're going to jump in and we're going to talk a little bit about the markets. It has been green on the screen. The markets have, you know, they pulled back a little bit going into the third quarter, a little bit like we started the second quarter with, but definitely a little bit of a jump there. Today, the market, or at least the S and P 500, we always talk about, up six tenths of a percent, 0.65% up in one day. That's a pretty significant move. To put a little perspective on it, year to date, the S and P 500 is at 7.5%. And over the last year, about 13.7%. I think those are such good numbers to remember and think about. Because sometimes, if every time you end up turning and

• 5:04Speaker 01

  looking at the news, or listening to the news, the market's down, you can convince yourself that the market's always down. On the opposite end, I guess you could convince yourself that the market is always up. The weird thing is, statistically, the person who thinks that the market is always up, is more accurate. Did you know that? Yeah. About eight out of 10 years, stock market is up. That's right. Day by day, it's always up. Almost.

• 5:32Speaker 00

  What's driving all this, KP? It looks like tech. There's a lot of tech usually leading the way. And same thing here, a lot of good earnings coming out. Pepsi is flying up. United Airlines is flying up. Retail is strong. June retail sales rose 0.6%, well above expectations. So I think, maybe it was Prime Day. I don't think that would be reflected yet, but.

• 5:55Speaker 01

  So all you people out there expecting boxes on your doorstep, congratulations, you've helped move the ticker on the old economy. Way to go.

• 6:03Speaker 00

  Tell you about my box that showed up on my doorstep? I think I did the other day.

• 6:07Speaker 01

  What box is that?

• 6:08Speaker 00

  That nifty little package my wife bought on Prime Day?

• 6:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, what's that?

• 6:12Speaker 00

  The sauna?

• 6:13Speaker 01

  Sauna?

• 6:14Speaker 00

  The two-person sauna that was flipping heavy, dude.

• 6:18Speaker 00

  It was actually, uh, it's a great investment. It's an investment for our health.

• 6:21Speaker 01

  Hmm.

• 6:22Speaker 00

  But man, that thing was heavy. It was like 350 pounds. The first box, the second box is about buck 20. So we have a, we have a.

• 6:29Speaker 01

  So you're getting your workouts, getting ready to be a pool boy.

• 6:32Speaker 00

  Maybe. It does take 30 minutes to heat up and I know that, uh, heating things with electricity is very expensive. So I, I predict my true up bill will be very, much higher next year, but.

• 6:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:43Speaker 00

  That's what it out. You have to a long day at work.

• 6:45Speaker 01

  That's one of those purchases that keeps giving.

• 6:47Speaker 00

  It does.

• 6:48Speaker 01

  You buy it once and you think, okay, check paid for it.

• 6:51Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 6:52Speaker 01

  And then you turn it on.

• 6:53Speaker 00

  And then it keeps paying.

• 6:55Speaker 01

  Keep paying.

• 6:56Speaker 00

  It's kind of like, uh, uh, fast food sometimes.

• 6:59Speaker 01

  Yeah. Now like, are you like a traditional sauna user, like old school, like prawn leaves or all the way or?

• 7:05Speaker 00

  No, cause there's kids running around, you know, and stuff like that. But I guess, yeah.

• 7:10Speaker 01

  You gotta, you gotta frost that window on that door if you're gonna do that.

• 7:16Speaker 00

  I didn't know where you're going with that. You know, I've been to Finland, Chris, and it is customary over there that every house has a built in sauna and they don't play games over there. They, they crank those things up.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 7:26Speaker 00

  Super hot. And I remember, uh, just a real quick side note, one thing they do in their culture is they'll have like, uh, I don't know how they cool it down, but they have like, uh, like the equivalent of a ice bath, but just really, really cold water. And then a, a sauna right next to it and they'll dip their bodies down in the water for two or three minutes and then get in the hot for two or three minutes and go back and forth. Pretty, uh, pretty invigorating.

• 7:48Speaker 01

  Yeah. Is that where you're getting back in touch with your, uh, your roots? Was that like going back to motherland or?

• 7:55Speaker 00

  In Finland? I, I think, I don't know.

• 7:59Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 8:00Speaker 00

  Oh, boy.

• 8:00Speaker 01

  Yes. So took us off the rails again. So you did say that, uh, consumer sales, that's where this all goes back to Amazon spending.

• 8:09Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 8:10Speaker 01

  Uh, US dollar strengthened after President Trump dismissed rumors he'd fire, uh, he's going to fire Fed Chair Powell with Treasury yields, uh, Jay Powell.

• 8:22Speaker 00

  Jay Powell.

• 8:23Speaker 01

  That, that was, uh, owed, uh, G money.

• 8:25Speaker 00

  Yes, sir.

• 8:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, sir. Uh, Treasury yields stayed relatively unchanged. Uh, back to the technology discussion, chip sector lifted. Um, TSMC's record Q2 profits fueled gains and, uh, the chip related names.

• 8:45Speaker 01

  There we go, Technologia, pushing Nasdaq and S and P futures higher in early trading. Sectors were mixed, so not all retail and tech sectors outperformed everything. But there was some healthcare and travel names that did drop, even though you mentioned United Airlines having some good performance. Might be because they've come off of a little bit of a rough patch and their stock is moving in the positive direction. But healthcare and travel names were seeing a little bit of mixed reports and so pulled back a little bit there, so.

• 9:29Speaker 00

  We got a lot of good questions that came in, Chris.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 9:32Speaker 00

  Lot of good questions that came in, so.

• 9:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, let's jump into questions.

• 9:35Speaker 00

  Let's just hammer through these things, all right. Do you think these new Fed cuts will break our local food banks? I know they are already hurting, but this looks like it will hit them hardest. And you are absolutely correct and we have some boots on the ground. We work with Cap K. It's part of our monthly give back to the community here at Money Wise to go out and help prepare food and just help package and help in any way we can over there. And we've seen with our own eyes, the shelves are a little bit leaner. We did a little homework for you and Cap K has seen 13 USDA food deliveries canceled this year, translating to a 33% drop in emergency food supplies.

• 10:17Speaker 00

  About three and a half million pounds less food than in 2024. That boggles my mind.

• 10:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's been so cool being part of Cap K and even, you know, the history of Money Wise. Seth, you're newer here to the team at Money Wise. I remember going back before some of the facilities were built out. And so we've watched this whole progression of Cap K and their facilities and their expansion in trying to meet the hunger issues and food insecurities here in our local community. And it's been awesome and it just seemed to really ramp up and with these changes. It was like overnight, things changed and I know that everybody out there likes some of the things that Doge did as far as trying to identify

• 11:04Speaker 01

  waste and trying to identify inefficiencies. I don't think anything's against, anybody's against that. Uh, but this is like one of those negative impacts that it has because, um, you know, they're going to look at that and go, hey, well, we can cut all this spending here, here and here. And a lot of people don't understand that when you cut that, you say, yes, we cut that spending. We were seeing actually food, you know, go into these facilities. And, uh, I mean, there was a whole heart behind Cap K. Uh, I remember when we just did our training not that long ago. I forget what his name is, but, um, he brought us in and he was like, man, this is like, we're wanting to, to help people with food inefficiencies. Try to get them trained up, try to, uh, get them ready to go out. We're money wise. So he was joking that

• 11:48Speaker 01

  I want to help make people be money wise. So maybe that they can not be, uh, getting these, um, you know, these, these, uh, boxes and stuff for, for long, because maybe we can help them climb out of needing those services, which would be the ultimate goal. Um, so yeah, we actually boots on the ground, watched this whole thing unfold. So.

• 12:08Speaker 00

  That's what I always wonder, you know what, where's the, and I know Cap K does some education, but where's the education piece? You know, you have the, the, the folks sometimes driving really nice cars in to pick up the food and we don't know everyone's circumstance, but you do tend to wonder and, and think to yourself, well, you know?

• 12:26Speaker 01

  Yeah. So, you know, what's interesting here is where is the education piece? I volunteer there. And it would be, it'd be great to have clarity on, on, um, what circumstances, uh, warrant that? And, you know, what are those criterias? And I think if, if everybody was educated, it's one of those things where like, as a taxpayer, I used to complain about taxes a lot, a lot more back when I actually didn't make a whole lot of money and didn't pay a whole lot of taxes. Um, as you grow and dual income and Jamie went back to work and different things, like all of a sudden you're paying a little bit more taxes, but as you grow and you start to see like where tax dollars do go, uh, You know, hospitals and EMS services and roads and different things.

• 13:11Speaker 01

  You start to get, I think, a little bit of peace with taxes in some ways, but obviously wanting efficiency. Same kind of a thing there. You know, just wanting to educate people on, hey, how do you qualify for those things? Because then more people might be mad because I'm sure everybody would assume, oh, it's all waste. Well, I can tell you that lots of the families that have food inefficiencies and they're grabbing those boxes of foods. You know, I don't know where that line is. A lot of people's lines might be different. Some people may say that's not the government's job at all, which I don't know if I completely agree with, you know, at all. You know, like, I mean, the government can organize and use resources, hopefully efficiently, and try to help food inefficiency.

• 13:55Speaker 01

  It's crazy that we live in what's considered the breadbasket of the world here in, you know, San Joaquin Valley and Kern County, and we have as high of food inefficiency as we do. So, long story short, you know, it has definitely, you know, impacted things. There's a cut to SNAP. It's causing gaps in nutrition and food choices for those that need it the most. And a lot of times, too, the kids are what you have to think about and remember that, that, yeah, maybe parents aren't making the wisest choices or being the best with their finances, but sometimes it's the kids that end up paying for those unfortunate circumstances. So, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about a few other great questions that came in. Stick around.

• 14:38Speaker 02

  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.

• 15:03Speaker 01

  Welcome back. This is the Money Wise Show and we are having some fun talking about some cool stuff, some great comments that came in. And just to let you know, since we are on ESPN, little topic at the beginning that was in the chatterbox here. Forty-nine days to the NFL kickoff, but who's counting, right, Steven?

• 15:27Speaker 02

  Me.

• 15:28Speaker 00

  I was in my office eating some seaweed, looking out the window, and I thought, man, how much longer till football? Because we're in that dry season, but now it's coming. It's not like it's June.

• 15:37Speaker 01

  Dry season. You are blasphemy to a Dodger fan, dude.

• 15:43Speaker 00

  Playoffs are cool. Playoffs are fun. Not a big golf-watching guy or tennis. Didn't Wimbledon, Australia, which one was it?

• 15:52Speaker 02

  Wimbledon? Yeah, they just finished last week.

• 15:55Speaker 00

  Who won?

• 15:56Speaker 01

  Speaking of Wimbledon.

• 15:58Speaker 02

  I know it, but.

• 16:00Speaker 01

  Game's set, safe, huh? Did you guys hear about this? Some financial basics for teens. If you've got some teens out there, I've been watching some advisors here at Money Wise putting this stuff together. It's going to be amazing. Love it.

• 16:14Speaker 00

  Life-changing.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  Heart of teachers wanting to help teens. We all say, oh, I wish I would have known this younger. I don't know if you can get your teens to listen or pay attention, but the class is going to be at the racket club.

• 16:26Speaker 00

  Free.

• 16:27Speaker 01

  Free.

• 16:28Speaker 00

  No charge. They'll be throwing out candy bars too, man. Paydays.

• 16:31Speaker 01

  What do you do? Go to MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can.

• 16:34Speaker 02

  You can.

• 16:35Speaker 01

  847-1000.

• 16:36Speaker 02

  Details. It's all over our social media.

• 16:38Speaker 01

  There you go. It's going to be at the racket club. It's going to be August 6th. 5:30 is a 6:30-ish. If you've noticed anything about Seth, he'll probably go a little long. But anyways. So.

• 16:51Speaker 02

  It is gonna be Seth, right?

• 16:52Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 16:53Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 16:54Speaker 01

  And D-Dub. And D-Dub. Hey. Mr. Weaver's gonna be in there.

• 16:58Speaker 00

  Um, you have to fill us in on this message, Steve, because it says, I think this might be a carryover. It says, "Classic burgers plus shakes."

• 17:05Speaker 01

  Oh, hey.

• 17:05Speaker 00

  What's there to hate on?

• 17:06Speaker 02

  So, Sharad was talking about all the hate we're getting through the Woolworths. And, uh, he was talking, we had an update the other day and we didn't get to our text yesterday with Sammy and Dr. Dev going hard about plastic surgery.

• 17:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, you know, you know, uh, yeah. Classic burgers and shakes. What's there to hate on? I don't know, man.

• 17:31Speaker 00

  What was the hate? Fill us in, Steve.

• 17:33Speaker 02

  It's just look at any social media, you know? They hate on anything and everything, but we were talking.

• 17:39Speaker 00

  Trolls?

• 17:39Speaker 02

  Sharad, yeah, pretty much. The, uh, what are they called? Keyboard Warriors? But they, uh, they were talking about, you know, everybody has their own memory of the Woolworths diner and luncheon.

• 17:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:50Speaker 02

  And, uh, you know, you can't just please everybody.

• 17:53Speaker 01

  Yeah. It's, I'll tell you this. Um, you know, we've, we've been kind of on this, uh, heading towards the Woolworths thing. We're, we're just gonna be upstairs.

• 18:02Speaker 00

  It's gonna be awesome.

• 18:03Speaker 01

  Yes. But it has been very interesting, public, seems like most public is fine with it and cool with it and kind of thinks it's a cool thing. Everybody has their concerns about downtown. It's part of the reasons of what we're wanting to be is part of the change and part of the cleanup and, and, and loving our town. Um, but it is really interesting how people, uh, can, man, hate.

• 18:25Speaker 00

  Haters gonna hate.

• 18:26Speaker 01

  You know, and, and I understand everybody has their different opinions and, uh, different things, but it has been really interesting watching some folks and how they've treated this. And, uh, you know, it's like you try to do something good. It reminds me of that, that quote about, uh, it's, it's not the, uh, the guy in the stands throwing the insults, it's the one that stands in the middle of the arena.

• 18:46Speaker 00

  Hmm.

• 18:47Speaker 01

  Even in, even in loss.

• 18:49Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 18:49Speaker 01

  Even with sweat and tears.

• 18:51Speaker 00

  I got a little meat for those haters.

• 18:54Speaker 01

  What's that?

• 18:55Speaker 00

  Louis Lassen, New Haven, Connecticut, 1900. Louis's lunch claims that Louis Lassen first served ground beef between two slices of bread to a customer in a hurry. There's a lot of, uh, hot takes on who had the first hamburger out there.

• 19:11Speaker 01

  Louis guy, hot takes.

• 19:12Speaker 00

  Hot takes. You like that?

• 19:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:14Speaker 00

  But basically it comes from Hamburg, Germany, the term because they had a type of minced beef steak called a Hamburg steak, popular in the 19th century, in case you guys were wondering.

• 19:26Speaker 00

  But yes, it's an American invention, slapping that thing between some buns and tomatoes.

• 19:32Speaker 01

  It is funny. There's a lot of, you know, the, the actual classic burger, cause I guess there was a guy that he allegedly flattened meatballs and served him on a piece of bread so that people could walk around the fair and eat it. That was back in 1885. Uh, the Minchi brothers, uh, ran out of pork at a fair, so they used grand beef instead, naming it after Hamburg, like Hamburg, Germany.

• 19:54Speaker 00

  Bingo.

• 19:54Speaker 01

  Um, you also had Fletcher Davis in Texas in 1880s. They called him Old Dave. He served a meat patty on bread with mustard and onions at his lunch counter. And so, uh, so some of the history of the old.

• 20:08Speaker 00

  But it became commercialized White Castle in the 1920s. We don't have a White Castle. I'm from California, so I, I don't know that I've ever been to a White Castle.

• 20:17Speaker 02

  I have the, right at the, uh, border of Nevada, there's a gas station that has White Castle. I had it.

• 20:24Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 20:25Speaker 02

  It's not as special as, as I was expecting.

• 20:28Speaker 01

  Can't you get them from the frozen section now?

• 20:30Speaker 02

  You can get a frozen one, but another thing is, I mean,

• 20:33Speaker 01

  Sure it's really healthy.

• 20:34Speaker 02

  A hundred years or whatever later, I mean, one of the big trending thing is right now, these kids are eating, uh, cheeseburger popsicles.

• 20:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:42Speaker 02

  It is a real deal.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:43Speaker 02

  What was it? Come again?

• 20:44Speaker 01

  Cheeseburger popsicle?

• 20:45Speaker 02

  Popsicles. Yes.

• 20:46Speaker 01

  Yikes.

• 20:46Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 20:47Speaker 01

  Okay. Here's the thing I had to look up. So, uh, I, I don't, I have a hard time believing this, but, but I don't know. Let, let me know if you guys agree. The average American eats about three burgers per week, which works out to about 150 to 155 burgers per year.

• 21:04Speaker 02

  I believe it.

• 21:04Speaker 01

  That is 50 billion burgers eaten annually in the United States of America.

• 21:11Speaker 00

  If you think about it though, between lunch and dinner, that's 14 meals a week. And if you cruise the streets of Bakersfield and you just, just glance around at the population, I think,

• 21:21Speaker 01

  Oh yeah.

• 21:22Speaker 00

  That's pretty accurate. Think that's pretty accurate.

• 21:24Speaker 01

  You know, when we have like a barbecue day and there's burgers sitting around, I might eat three burgers in one day. So I think it's definitely achievable.

• 21:33Speaker 00

  Now, the milkshake, you guys, if you know, late 1800s, it was not so sweet at first. It was originally an alcoholic eggnog-like drink made with whiskey, eggs and milk. It was more of a medicinal tonic than a dessert. In case you're wondering the origin.

• 21:48Speaker 01

  Room temperature or slightly warm. Sounds delish.

• 21:52Speaker 00

  It didn't, it didn't get turned into a, the soda fountain revolution happened in the early 1900s. And then when the electric blender came along, gee golly, 1920s and 30s.

• 22:02Speaker 01

  Game changer.

• 22:02Speaker 00

  The, the Hamilton Beach Cyclone of 1911 made milkshakes frothier and creamier.

• 22:08Speaker 01

  Creamier.

• 22:09Speaker 00

  There, there you go haters. Take that to the bank and drink it.

• 22:11Speaker 01

  And we're just trying to, we're just trying to push forward this rich legacy.

• 22:17Speaker 02

  You're making this fat American hungry.

• 22:20Speaker 01

  I had a couple of comments come in, I had to throw in there, going back to our original very opening session there of what would you do if money was no object? Well, here's what somebody said. I'm a pool cleaner and trust me, you wouldn't enjoy it after a few years lol. My dream job would be touring musician. If you need a pool cleaner, call us at Skinny Dippers. Hey dude, thank you for the comment and that was, that was funny. And I don't know, Seth may take you up. He may be looking for part-time work, working on them shoulders and tan.

• 22:52Speaker 00

  I could be a groupie. I mean, that would be a touring musician would be quite the gig. You're on the road. I mean, isn't that what a rock star was like? I don't know that it worked out for a lot of those guys.

• 23:00Speaker 01

  Touring musician, but see, it's like, you know, it's like proving the point of like, what if you like, you were just on stage from eight to five, like, like Carnival Cruise. Like imagine how like you're a comedian, like that would be so awesome. You're, you're thinking about all the other stuff about being a comedian. What if you're on a cruise and you're having to literally play the guitar for 70 and 80 year olds for eight hours every day? I don't know, you might get sick of it. Of course, if you're on a cruise, that would be kinda cool. So maybe there, but there you go. When you say touring musician, maybe it's gonna be on a cruise.

• 23:35Speaker 00

  Next one says, I'd, I'd go with, this is great. I'd go with pitmaster, just queuing it up all day, right? A pitmaster or being a pilot, traveling would be so cool.

• 23:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, pilot, pilot, you know, it's probably pretty boring, but certain, it's like a soccer game.

• 23:50Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 23:51Speaker 01

  It's like the very beginning and the very end is exciting, but there's probably like three or four hours.

• 23:55Speaker 00

  We're supposed to go see our friends in South Carolina and, man, I don't wanna fly KP.

• 24:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:00Speaker 00

  I'm getting old. I get a little anxiety around flying now, man. What's up with that?

• 24:03Speaker 02

  Well, you could do all those jobs by playing video games.

• 24:06Speaker 01

  I don't know. What, what would a pitmaster game do?

• 24:09Speaker 02

  Of course there is. Is it really? You could do a VR one, yeah.

• 24:12Speaker 01

  Wow. Why do you get anxious about being shoveled through a huge airport like a stinking animal, prodded along?

• 24:20Speaker 00

  Having no control going up in the air, 30,000 feet, cruising at 600 mph.

• 24:25Speaker 01

  In a can, in the air. What, what is nerve wracking about that? But anyways. Uh, another comment came in and said, what are the recommendations for the best burger in town? Thanks, guys. Man, I don't, um, what's the new place right down at the end of Stockton Highway that just went in the gas station there? They have a great burger. You know what I'm talking about? There's a, yeah, I wish I knew my streets and stuff.

• 24:48Speaker 00

  It's tough to beat an In-N-Out, In-N-Out double double. It's just hard to beat it.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:52Speaker 00

  You know what I mean? It's consistency. Every time, it's the same thing.

• 24:56Speaker 01

  I think it's in the Solis. They make a mean burger in there.

• 24:59Speaker 02

  Is it the one that replaced Harris Barbecue?

• 25:01Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no. The one, if you go all the way into Stockton Highway.

• 25:04Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 25:05Speaker 01

  And, uh, man, it, it, I'm not kidding you. It is a great burger.

• 25:09Speaker 02

  Really?

• 25:09Speaker 01

  Yeah. And it's, it's old school. It's like what we were talking about with the whole.

• 25:12Speaker 02

  I like the, uh, the smash burger, the, the taco trucks over there off of Rosedale. There's a smash burger one that's pretty good.

• 25:19Speaker 01

  Nice, nice.

• 25:20Speaker 02

  I don't know, though. The In-N-Out ones are hard to beat.

• 25:22Speaker 00

  It's tough to beat.

• 25:23Speaker 01

  Well, there you go.

• 25:24Speaker 00

  They have milkshakes too. There's no eggnog in them.

• 25:28Speaker 01

  Seth still makes the original dude. He goes, he takes it back. Old school.

• 25:33Speaker 00

  Get some work done around here. All right.

• 25:35Speaker 01

  All right. Next, next message that came in with the convo you guys had with people taking the high speed rail comes and people start hiring people out of LA to work here. Do you think that will rise the cost of homes here even more than they have already gone up to?

• 25:52Speaker 02

  So this one comes from, we had Christian Clegg on a couple of days ago and he was talking about the, that the real deal is the, the high speed rail. And he expects a lot of people to take the train to, out of LA to come here and to work.

• 26:07Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I mean, I mean, in, in theory, if you just think about it on surface, uh, yeah, I mean, it could a little bit, but it would also, uh, decrease the value of LA homes because now you can shoot back and forth between cheaper places. So it would be a combination of prices maybe going up a little bit. And then in more expensive places where you're actually able to commute to now quickly, maybe going down a little bit. So if that kind of makes sense, um, no way to completely tell, um, but just kind of if you understand that, but shoot, I don't have to buy an expensive house and be close to LA anymore because I can commute in and on a train in 45 minutes and I'm willing to live in Bakersfield. So it would be kind

• 26:50Speaker 01

  of a, a mix, I think, because it would free up real estate in LA, which means it would get cheaper in LA. Um, and then there'd be a little bit more competing for, uh, valley real estate, which would maybe push prices up a little bit. I'm really curious to see how the, uh, Tohone Ranch and the casino at the base of the grapevine and, and all the, the housing projects that they have planned there.

• 27:13Speaker 00

  That does, I mean, by the time we're, you know, 15, 20 years, that's a whole city, man. That's gonna be awesome.

• 27:19Speaker 01

  That doesn't even have to like, that doesn't include a high speed rail, which I don't even know if this is really, did he say it's going to become a reality?

• 27:25Speaker 02

  He just says they're working on it.

• 27:27Speaker 00

  So timeline.

• 27:28Speaker 01

  It's closer.

• 27:29Speaker 00

  Merced to Bakersfield testing starts 2028 passenger service 2030 to 2033, but they've been behind on this thing for years, billions. It, they're four times as much as they said they were going to spend on it. Personally don't see it happening for the next 10 years. And then that's, they haven't even got to LA yet. So.

• 27:46Speaker 01

  Do you know what I, you know what I picture? What I, what I picture at the end of this project? Do you remember in Dumb and Dumber when they opened up the briefcase and it was a bunch of IOUs?

• 27:57Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 27:58Speaker 01

  With Post-its?

• 27:59Speaker 02

  That's a good one. You want to keep that one?

• 28:02Speaker 00

  Flying somewhere?

• 28:03Speaker 01

  Two, two, 280,000 Lamborghini? Ooh, hold on to that one. Like, that's, that's this project, what this project feels like a little bit. Anyways, hey, we're going to take a quick break. Make sure to stick around. We've got some more to go over.

• 28:16Speaker 02

  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.

• 28:27Speaker 03

  What is this? What is this? Where's all the money? That's as good as money, sir. Those are IOUs. Go ahead and add it up. Every cent's accounted for. Look. See this? That's a car. 275 thou. Might want to hang on to that one.

• 28:47Speaker 01

  Oh, I don't know if you guys have ever ran your own radio show or podcast, but Stephen is the absolute rock star in the game, dude.

• 28:59Speaker 02

  The man.

• 29:00Speaker 01

  Oh, back to earlier when we were talking about the Fed cuts, you found a quote that many have said, "I always want to be compassionate for those that are struggling from food inefficiencies." And I would never want to have that hardened heart. And I don't know what it looks like to have a government that helps, but then ultimately has a plan to help get people out. And you found that cool quote that people say, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." And so, I don't know exactly what that looks like, but hopefully all of us could have a heart for those struggling with food inefficiencies.

• 29:43Speaker 01

  And, you know, be realistic that, yeah, there's some inefficiencies in our government and some waste and fraud and all kinds of things, but, but some way, shape, or form, hopefully we can all work together, private, government agencies, you know, small businesses, community leaders, community members, and, and we can all address those needs and teach people to fish, ultimately.

• 30:10Speaker 02

  We had a, we had another comment come in via text.

• 30:14Speaker 00

  Says, "Well, the topic of hamburger popsicles was gross." Laughing face. Cooper thought it was disgusting. So Cooper must be one of our star listeners out there. So, sorry Cooper, but that was Steven, man.

• 30:25Speaker 01

  I think Cooper should be the first to try a hamburger.

• 30:29Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm gonna have to bring you one there, Cooper Jack.

• 30:31Speaker 01

  There you go.

• 30:31Speaker 00

  That's a shout out to my son there. Sorry.

• 30:33Speaker 01

  So, uh, so yeah, I mean, the, uh, the

• 30:40Speaker 01

  the high speed rail was the, where we ended up. There's a little break there, a little.

• 30:44Speaker 00

  This has been quite the show, man. We've gone.

• 30:46Speaker 01

  I think it came back because you mentioned that, that Trump kinda talked about a little bit and says he's gonna cut funding to it and what it's gonna be. Um, I don't know if Bakersfield would become a bedroom community, but possibly. Um, you know, but, uh, but yeah.

• 31:01Speaker 00

  Define that for our listeners again?

• 31:03Speaker 01

  Just live here and commute somewhere.

• 31:06Speaker 00

  Sleep here and commute. That's the thing I wonder.

• 31:08Speaker 01

  Ninety minutes or less, you know, and you commute back and forth and.

• 31:10Speaker 00

  So the time to get to, so say you leave your house, you work in LA. You leave your house, you drive down to the station, right? That's, you know, 10, 15 minutes. You park. You go get in line and you get on the rail, then it's, I don't know how, how long it'll take to get from Bakersfield to LA, but then you don't have a car when you get there.

• 31:27Speaker 01

  You have a segue.

• 31:28Speaker 00

  Thirty minutes from Baco to LA?

• 31:30Speaker 01

  Yeah. So the thing I'll say too is it would also improve quality of life if it was a reality. The problem is, is we talked about how the, the budget has completely blown out of proportion from what all original estimations were. And so who knows? Um, you know, that's above my pay grade as far as where that whole project will go.

• 31:50Speaker 00

  This news did hit today, I believe. Trump, uh, sent this out. It just says, uh, "President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy both have slammed the projects as a train to nowhere. The railroad we were promised, Trump. The railroad we were promised still does not exist and never will." Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This project was severely overpriced, overregulated, and never delivered." And then I think he threw in a jab, uh, toward new scum in there somewhere, but keeping politics out of it, you know, uh, it's an interesting observation.

• 32:19Speaker 01

  Was that, was that a typo?

• 32:21Speaker 00

  I don't, I don't, it could have been.

• 32:22Speaker 01

  Just doesn't know, didn't know to spell it?

• 32:25Speaker 00

  Could have been.

• 32:25Speaker 02

  I haven't heard that one.

• 32:26Speaker 00

  Could have been.

• 32:28Speaker 01

  All right, we had another message come in and said, hey, guys, it's Anthony, longtime listener, and wondered what was the biggest budgeting mistake you personally made early in your career, and how did that failure teach you something valuable about money management? My son is wanting to get in the financial world and just wondering, have a good evening. Well, Anthony, that's a little personal, and I've made a lot of mistakes, and I don't know if I want to talk about it.

• 32:49Speaker 00

  Me neither. I'm not comfortable doing that, Anthony.

• 32:52Speaker 01

  So, just kidding, Anthony.

• 32:54Speaker 02

  But don't have your son sign up for that.

• 32:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's the first step.

• 32:58Speaker 00

  That's a great idea.

• 32:59Speaker 01

  Anthony, your son can go to the Bakersfield Record Club, August 6th, 5:30 to 6:30 ish, and it's going to be wonderful, and we would love to have you there, and we're totally kidding. It's a wonderful question to ask, and one that I will gladly talk about. I remember making the switch from education into financial, becoming a financial advisor. The first few years, I've talked about it before on the show, that the people that make it out of year five as a financial advisor is about a 10% success rate. 90% of people fail within the first five years and end up exiting the business.

• 33:39Speaker 01

  Most of the people that are part of that 10, you can assume, sons or daughters of people that are already in the industry and found their way, and some people have kind of a hand up in making their career. It is a very, very tough career to jump into because people are literally entrusting their hard-earned money and families' wealth and different things, seeking advice, seeking investment strategies, all kinds of different things, and it's very, very difficult. So anyways, I made the jump from financial or educator, special education here in town, over to financial advising. Well, my starting pay was a big pay cut from teaching, and so to make ends meet

• 34:24Speaker 01

  or to try to help my budget, not knowing, I mean, even going to be a financial advisor, not knowing a ton about sound financial decisions, full disclosure. So I put my... Car loan on a HELOC, which is an interest only loan, which means the amount I'm paying each month is not paying down the principal. I'm just paying the interest. So I ended up having to pay just the interest payment on that for a long time while I made my career work. I guess I figured my kids eating and diapers were more important than, uh, than you know what I was doing. So that's, that's what I had to do. And so

• 35:08Speaker 01

  looking back, it probably would have made more sense that if I just would have tweaked the budget a little bit more and just made the payment work. And then it would have been gone within two or three years. Instead, it probably hung out for about five or six years and I probably paid a great amount more in interest, even though it dropped my monthly payment down a little bit. Which by the way, full disclosure, this is seen on a very regular basis in all of our lives. If, if you do debt consolidation, that's all debt consolidation is. Hey, we're gonna consolidate all your debts and give you a lower monthly payment, but it's gonna drag out so long that you're gonna end up paying

• 35:43Speaker 00

  Way more.

• 35:43Speaker 01

  way more in the long run. And sometimes you might have to do that, you know, not the end of the world. I guess if it's last resort. But the thing that I want is to make sure that people are educated in the sense of, man, if you can avoid it, if you can just endure the pain, see your way through it, you're gonna end up actually paying much less in the long run. Uh, if you can stick to a budget or a plan or a debt payoff plan and those kinds of things because you know, in my attempt to make it work, which, which, you know, I guess in the long run it did end up working out as far as finding my way into, uh, into a great career and being able to work with some great clients. But, um, you know, that was one of my bigger ones. And I don't know if there was another way around it to tell you the truth. And sometimes we have to do certain things and,

• 36:28Speaker 01

  and the one thing I will say is I learned from it. And then every single time then I got put in another pickle, it definitely gave me the motivation to say, you know what? We're gonna tighten down the screws. We're gonna do this or do that. And we're gonna stick to our budget versus trying to take what might look like to be a little bit easier route.

• 36:45Speaker 00

  Yep.

• 36:45Speaker 01

  Which that's our whole economic system, our whole financial world is based on what looks to be an easier financial route. Many times ends up costing you big in the long run.

• 36:56Speaker 00

  You said it twice. You said sticking to it. And to me, when I read this question, that's the first thing I thought of was just. Pick, some people will analyze a thousand different budgeting softwares and never do anything. Pick one and stick to it. Give it 90 days. It takes 90 days for a budget to actually start working. So that was one of the, that was one of the things that stood, stood out. I don't have like any major aha moments, but I can tell you this. I wasn't on a budget. The first five or six years of my career out of college, I wasn't on one. And then in 2006, I got an Excel spreadsheet. And I wrote all my bills down, the day it was due, the amount and my logins and everything like that. I am still to this day. Using the exact same spreadsheet. It's now morphed into a, a, a Google Sheet.

• 37:41Speaker 00

  I'm a Google Sheet guy now, but I have not physically not missed a bill since 2006. And the mistake though, even though I'm a financial advisor and on the outside might look like I have things together, the things that get my wife and I in trouble now is when we don't look at the budget. We'll get to spending, you know, and, and you know, all this thing came up, let's do this, or let's do that. And then we almost kind of like, uh, it's, it's a little painful because we know when we quote unquote, do the budget, it's going to be like a little contentious, you know, should we have done this or that? And so we put it off. The longer we put it off, the more the spending, it's just, it's kind of a vicious cycle. So don't think.

• 38:19Speaker 01

  Just a little bit ago, you were like, you're like, oh, you know, on the outside, it may look like we have it all together. It's like, not really. I mean, you don't have to worry about people thinking.

• 38:31Speaker 00

  Just kidding. It's true because I ride a bike to work.

• 38:35Speaker 01

  Just kidding. We gotta, you know, gotta, gotta keep it real in here, no? Uh, but yeah, I mean, that, this has, uh, this has been a wild ride. Um, one of the things that's so crazy is, is how long we've been, Stephen, when did the radio show very first start MoneyWise? 2004? Do?

• 38:52Speaker 00

  2004 or five, yeah.

• 38:55Speaker 01

  So, there's been a lot of radio shows come and go. And to be on the show, you know, to have a show, to be on the radio, to be part of quote unquote, just think about how much the news has changed in a decade or two.

• 39:10Speaker 00

  How much the internet, I mean, when did the show start?

• 39:13Speaker 01

  I don't know, we were using typewriters though, um, no, 2002, 2003.

• 39:18Speaker 00

  I mean, that's kind of, I mean, the internet really got going 98, 99. So that's, that's incredible.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  I remember I went to CSUB and you had to go like down into the computer lab. Cause most people do not have a computer at their home.

• 39:31Speaker 00

  Three and a half inch floppy, you remember?

• 39:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, yes.

• 39:32Speaker 00

  Yep, yep, yep, yep.

• 39:34Speaker 02

  My first radio job, I used a reel to reels.

• 39:37Speaker 01

  What's, I don't even know what that is.

• 39:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's, it's like what you would record music on. It's like, it looks like a record, but it's got tape in it.

• 39:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:46Speaker 02

  And I would have to take it out and put in carts with commercials. It was a workout.

• 39:49Speaker 00

  Geez.

• 39:50Speaker 01

  So it is, it is pretty surreal to, to be sitting, you know, 20 years plus basically into this radio show and, and the presidencies that we've gone through, the economic cycles that we've gone through. Um, and, and working with wonderful, wonderful clients, uh, in, you know, here in our local community. And I joke with people that we are, you know, Kern County Bakersfield company, but we have clients in, in well over 30 states. Um, some families, some friends, some people have moved out of California. Uh, that actually has been a, a learning curve in the last five years as people have had mass exodus out of California. Uh, but a lot of the wonderful clients have chosen to still work with us, even though, uh, we love to sit down face to face with our clients.

• 40:32Speaker 01

  And it's kind of one of our things, but we're able to continue, uh, good money management and, uh, communication and conversations with them, even if they do choose to leave this beautiful state, which I will stand by. I just hope we can do something about the budget and stuff.

• 40:47Speaker 00

  Absolutely. I, I have something for the listeners and for you KP and for myself. We won't get to it today, but the next time we don't have a guest, I would love our show to be sharing your biggest financial mistake. I have a plethora of financial mistakes to draw from, but that's something that you as a listener, what was it? How old were you? Tell us about it. We'd love to hear about it. We'd love to talk about it because.

• 41:11Speaker 01

  You know what's funny is

• 41:13Speaker 02

  can learn a lot.

• 41:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, I brought up the one that like stuck out the most, but I guarantee you listeners, if you started sharing your stories, I'll be like, oh yeah, I did that too.

• 41:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 41:20Speaker 01

  I did that twice.

• 41:21Speaker 02

  Did that twice.

• 41:23Speaker 01

  So let's take a quick break before we shut down the show. Thanks for listening.

• 41:27Speaker 02

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

• 41:53Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 42:00Speaker 01

  Does seem odd.

• 42:01Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 42:04Speaker 01

  Welcome back. This is the Money Wise Show. This is the last segment. It has been a great show. We have talked about all kinds of things. And just in case you forgot, we were talking burgers and shakes. Again, mentioning 50 billion burgers eaten annually in the United States, which is pretty impressive because we only have 325 million people who live here. That is 154 burgers per person per year, about three a week. Just to throw that out, and beef per capita, that's 58 to 67 pounds of beef per capita annually. I mean, that's actually how you should, that's how you should judge a nation.

• 42:41Speaker 02

  Dude, that's like my monthly beef intake.

• 42:45Speaker 01

  So there you go. There you go. I think that's gonna, that's gonna close up the

• 42:51Speaker 01

  discussion. I was gonna try to think of a way you close a patty. I don't know. Anyways, the one, the one, the one thing that we were gonna talk about, it's kind of a hefty topic, but I think it's gonna be a quick discussion because a lot of times you'll hear about people talking about social security running out of money. It comes up a lot with clients. It comes a lot of people concerned and it is a concern and it is something to talk about. But I think a lot of times there's misunderstanding when people talk about social security running out of money. Some people call it a Ponzi scheme, some people hold different stuff. There's misunderstandings about Congress borrowing money against it because there was a slush fund. They've stolen the money. Well, they didn't steal the money. They actually borrowed against it and paid interest, which actually helped the system.

• 43:36Speaker 01

  And I'm not saying that they didn't do things wrong or whatever. I'm not, you know, on either aisle, but I try to break through all the junk to help you understand when people are talking about running out of money, what they're talking about. In the early stages of social security, people were paying into it and not very many people were taking out of it. And I'm not sure if you remember, um, uh, you know, lifespan was not as long. And so, uh, so what that ended up doing was, uh, a slush fund was built up. More money was coming in, a slush fund was built up. People were taking money out, not living as long. That slush fund is what is being talked about as far as quote unquote, running out.

• 44:19Speaker 01

  Um, that is what Congress and the government has borrowed against through the years. Paid interest, paid it back, I think. I don't know exactly where we're at with that. But it's that slush fund that is running out. So they have, you know, assumed that if nothing has changed with social security, that that slush fund will run out of money by late 2033. And they recently changed that to early 2033. The thing that I want to tell people that that can be used as a fear tactic by Congress to say, vote for me, I'm going to fix it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And a lot of people don't realize that that actually has already been a scenario that's played out before. Social Security back in the eighties already was starting

• 45:02Speaker 01

  to show signs of the slush fund is going to run out of money. So full retirement for social security retirement used to be age 65? They change that to age 66 to 67, depending on your birth year. So, everything that we all understand nowadays for social security retirement and our, what year we get it and what is considered our full retirement age, that was already part of social security trying to be fixed back in the 80s. Ronald Reagan was trying to shore up the system. So, small changes could be made still that would fix some of this, you know,

• 45:41Speaker 01

  and prolong the issue, change the retirement date, could increase taxes.

• 45:48Speaker 00

  It is significant. I mean, if they don't make changes, which you would think they have to, but if they don't, it will average out to be about a 23% cut in social security benefits. It's not that you're going to be getting a check and it goes to zero, but if they don't change anything, pretty significant cut, but to your point.

• 46:05Speaker 01

  And so, just to explain that, because that 23% that's cut right now is coming out of the slush fund. And so, once that runs out, they cannot no longer pay that 20%. Just to help everybody understand kind of the social security dilemma.

• 46:20Speaker 00

  And real quick, guys, just a heads up, unfortunately, we are out tomorrow, serving in the community, but we'll be back on live on Money Wise Monday from 2 to 3 p.m.

• 46:30Speaker 01

  And don't remember to tell that lovely teen in your life that they can become Money Wise, game set, save at the Racket Club, August 6th, 5:30 to 6:30 ish, with a couple Money Wise financial advisors. We want to help you, your teens, your parents, whoever's around you, become more Money Wise. Thank you so much for making the show what it is.

• 46:51Speaker 00

  Great, great questions.

• 46:53Speaker 01

  And since we won't be live tomorrow, we'll see you next week, but listen, there's still going to be a great show. No, there's going to be a podcast, go check out the podcast, wherever you like podcasts. Thank you, Stephen, you're an amazing, amazing dude. Be smart, be safe, be Money Wise.