7/29/25 Energy Markets, Bitcoin Basics, and Building Hispanic Business Community

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Tuesday, July 29th 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 Guest: Jay Tamsi, President/CEO of the Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce website:: https://kchcc.org/

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From the Garo 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. Money, money, money, money.

• 0:43Speaker 01

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

• 1:06Speaker 02

  Dustin Weaver.

• 1:07Speaker 01

  Dustin Weaver, D-Dub.

• 1:08Speaker 02

  That's right.

• 1:09Speaker 01

  Hey, we have a few listener questions, Dustin. I don't know if you have them pulled up.

• 1:13Speaker 02

  I do. Yeah, I've got one.

• 1:15Speaker 01

  Let's go with the first one.

• 1:16Speaker 02

  Yeah. Hey, guys. I'm a longtime fan of your show. Going off the oil discussion and with Kern County fast-tracking thousands of new oil wells while we're paying $4.85 a gallon, will this local production boom actually lower gas prices for us as local residents?

• 1:30Speaker 01

  All right. So, I mean, neither of us are oil energy experts, but we do know a little bit about the Central Valley. And the kind of oil that we produce here in the Central Valley is generally heavy, or sometimes called sour crude. But it's heavy crude, which is not refined here. It's for transportation fuels, not refined here for gasoline. Instead, the refineries, most refineries that are producing gasoline are importing or bringing in light crude. And if they were to produce gasoline from our Central Valley's heavy crude, they

• 2:14Speaker 01

  would have to retrofit their refineries. Very expensive, and I don't know that anybody does that.

• 2:19Speaker 02

  So, do you know where most of it goes?

• 2:21Speaker 01

  Of our crude?

• 2:21Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 2:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, it does go, it, it, it, a lot of it gets shipped out. Some of it stays here. In fact, we had Chad Hathaway on last week, who produces, you know, local crude. And he ships, I mean, I don't know if it ships it, but he, he, he sends it to San Joaquin refinery. You know, it's just right here.

• 2:40Speaker 02

  Oh, right, Bakersfield.

• 2:41Speaker 01

  Right here in Bakersfield. And they, they don't, my understanding is they don't turn that into transportation fuels. Those are different, like, oils and byproducts that they use, like vacuum, like for transformers and, you know, oil, different oils that are used for different, it's not for filling up your car.

• 3:02Speaker 02

  An enormous amount of things that are created by the oil.

• 3:06Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:06Speaker 02

  If you, yeah, look up a list sometime if you're curious.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, and the other thing that could be confusing for us Californians, or let's say central, you know, Central Valley people, is that, you know, you look around and you see oil wells everywhere, you see the, you know, you see the pumps, and you see the, we call them derricks, but, you know, you see all these, all this oil production happening everywhere. And then you look at the, the fuel prices, and it's oftentimes we're more than places that don't have any of that.

• 3:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, like I said, at 485, you know, do we see the potential boom actually lowering prices for us locally? It's like, well, there's a, a big part of it too is the, the tax, right?

• 3:49Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:49Speaker 02

  At the state level.

• 3:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 3:50Speaker 02

  Which is not just a local thing.

• 3:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's a statewide or a federal thing. You have your federal tax, then you have your state tax. And California has some of the highest fuel taxes. And then California also makes it more complicated because they have their own blends that, that come and go, depending on what time of the year it is. And the requirements are very strict in terms of what kind of additives and things that they can have inside the fuel. And so it makes it even more expensive to

• 4:20Speaker 02

  Right.

• 4:20Speaker 01

  refine. And so it's, it's, it's too much of a

• 4:27Speaker 01

  A globally transported commodity that it's, you know, it's just, it just doesn't have any,

• 4:38Speaker 01

  the, the, the, the price of crude oil or the availability of crude oil in the Central Valley has a very minimal, if any, impact on the cost of fuel in the state. Even though we're the top producing county, it's not the kind of fuel that's necessarily used for that.

• 4:56Speaker 02

  When you bring up a good point about the cost to create the fuel too, I mean Chad shared that what, two out of the eight or nine refineries in the state have gone under.

• 5:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:06Speaker 02

  Recently.

• 5:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's, it's just a big, big problem with our limited.

• 5:10Speaker 02

  There's a lot of pressure.

• 5:11Speaker 01

  Ton of pressure, the limited refining infrastructure that we have. And it's, you know, there's, there are a few Central Valley locations, but most of it's down in LA or up in the Bay Area, which is why sometimes you'll go down to LA and it's like, gas is cheaper. Fill up your car, it's cheaper to fill it up in LA than it is here. I mean, I was just this weekend driving through Lake Isabella and gas was cheaper there in Lake Isabella than it is here in Bakersfield, which is kind of a head scratcher. Like, why?

• 5:40Speaker 02

  Right.

• 5:41Speaker 01

  Like, they have to bus it or they have to truck it up there. Why is it, why is it cheaper? It just, I haven't, I've never understood that. And I don't know if like some rural areas get a break in their pricing or I don't, I don't understand what it is, you know?

• 5:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's a head scratcher. I'm normally at Costco for, for my gas.

• 6:02Speaker 01

  Can't go wrong with that.

• 6:04Speaker 02

  Seem to be a little more affordable.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  Did I hear that Costco is expanding their fuel, like they're going to have a gas station? It's just a gas station?

• 6:13Speaker 02

  Oh, I hadn't heard that.

• 6:13Speaker 01

  Like, so you don't have to like go to a Costco?

• 6:15Speaker 02

  I did not hear that.

• 6:16Speaker 01

  I don't know if it's going to be here or if it's somewhere else in the country.

• 6:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's neat though.

• 6:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, because it's so popular. It's very, when I've seen the gas station at Costco, it's like, why is a line?

• 6:26Speaker 02

  Absolutely. Well, they did that renovation too. They added a lot of stations. I feel like the lines are a little better.

• 6:31Speaker 01

  Oh, that's good.

• 6:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:32Speaker 01

  Yeah. You go to the one on, on Rosedale?

• 6:34Speaker 02

  Mostly Rosedale.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  Very cool. Well, we got another comment or question. You got that, Dustin?

• 6:39Speaker 02

  Have a weird question, but how was Bitcoin started and how long has it really been around?

• 6:46Speaker 01

  This is really good. This is a fascinating story. I don't know how much you know about the history of Bitcoin.

• 6:51Speaker 02

  I know it was around 2008, 2009.

• 6:54Speaker 01

  Yep, yep. And it was a person that has a pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Does that name ring a bell?

• 7:04Speaker 02

  I feel like I saw something about a video game character, or it was names of people that created a video game.

• 7:09Speaker 01

  Oh, interesting. It might be. I'm not sure what the history is behind the name, but this person is legend. It's kind of this mysterious figure that people aren't sure if they still exist or what's going on. So essentially what happened in 2008, there was an anonymous person or a group of people that were using this name Satoshi Nakamoto. And they released a white paper that was titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. It was published in October of 2008. And essentially outlined this, this idea behind a decentralized digital currency that could operate without banks or intermediaries.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  This was, of course, you know, right when the Great Recession was in, in full swing.

• 7:57Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 7:58Speaker 01

  And all the pushback for the, you know, the bailouts, the too big to fails. Bitcoin Network officially launched in January of 2009. And Nakamoto mined the first block, which are, which they called the Genesis block. So they, he was the first miner to go and get these blocks of, of these tokens, Bitcoin tokens. The block, you know, was, you know, that's.

• 8:27Speaker 02

  Do we know how many he created?

• 8:28Speaker 01

  Yes, and I can't remember how much it, I mean, there's, there is a limited amount to the, to the number of tokens that can be mined.

• 8:37Speaker 02

  1920, 21 million, something like that.

• 8:39Speaker 01

  Something like that. And, and I can't remember the figures that they think that this Satoshi Nakamoto has, but it's, you know, it's in the, it's, it's like. Hundreds of millions of dollars.

• 8:51Speaker 02

  If not in the billions, right?

• 8:52Speaker 01

  If not in the billions. There was also that famous story of the Bitcoin Pizza Day, which now is an annual thing.

• 8:58Speaker 02

  Ten thou- he paid ten thousand Bitcoin for a couple pizzas, right?

• 9:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, so this was in May of 2010. There was a programmer who paid ten thousand Bitcoins for two pizzas. And at that time, um, those Bitcoins were worth about forty dollars. But in, you know, in today's.

• 9:19Speaker 02

  Hundreds of millions.

• 9:20Speaker 01

  Hundreds of millions. I don't know, I can't even do the math, on ten thousand Bitcoin, when, you know, Mao's trading at, say, a hundred thousand dollars, so. That's what, a hundred, a hundred million dollars?

• 9:29Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 9:29Speaker 01

  So fifty million dollars per pizza?

• 9:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:33Speaker 01

  That's what it was paid for.

• 9:34Speaker 02

  Been hungry.

• 9:36Speaker 02

  Shooting yourself in the foot.

• 9:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, that, so that we essentially saw, you know, that, that time Bitcoins were worth about forty dollars. This is in 2010. There's been, you know, some key milestones in Bitcoin's development, including the Bitcoin Exchange. So now this, you know, created like a market, and that was in 2010. And eventually Nakamoto withdrew from the, from the project and from, from the public. And handed over the control to other developers. And he, and he, he just disappeared, you know, from, from, from public involvement. And then we, he didn't really see much action in Bitcoin until its first surge in 2013, when it reached over a thousand dollars before crashing.

• 10:20Speaker 01

  And then, you know, we've had these, these increases, these, these fast increases and big drops. Since then, has happened several times. In 2017, it got to twenty thousand. And then in 2020, it, it got up to almost seventy thousand. So it's, it just continues to face a lot of challenges, including regulatory scrutiny. That's one of its biggest risks that I think is the regulatory risks. And, you know, we also have gone through periods of concern about the environment. Because it just consumes an enormous amount of energy to mine.

• 10:56Speaker 02

  Right.

• 10:56Speaker 01

  These things and to keep that going.

• 10:58Speaker 02

  And then if it's something that a lot of nefarious activity is, uh, attracting, you know.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:05Speaker 02

  A lot of the bad actors and folks that are trying to move money in a hidden way or to avoid taxes.

• 11:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:12Speaker 02

  You know, that's a major concern, too.

• 11:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, the, the, the fact that it is inherently private and anonymous. You know, you can, you can completely remain anonymous and yet it can be tracked in terms of its, its value and where it is is. Yeah, it's just like a, it, it can create like a, I guess, a currency that can be used on the dark web. You know, in the, in the black market.

• 11:41Speaker 02

  Right.

• 11:41Speaker 01

  And, and so, yeah, there's all kinds of, there's all kinds of issues and challenges there. But it really is a fascinating story and it's fairly new. And the technology is phenomenal. I mean, I think it's so great that we have an alternative to the centralized system that, you know, banks and the economy runs on. I love that there's like this alternative.

• 12:04Speaker 02

  And they're talking about the blockchain itself and the way that it can, you know, store data or transfer data. That technology can be used for other things, too, not just for the money or currency.

• 12:16Speaker 01

  Right, you know, which, which is, you know, you, you hear about stable coins. Or, you know, you, or you have a, a real, a real currency that it can, you know, remain stable and then be tracked. So it could replace a, a true currency, you know, that like a government uses.

• 12:35Speaker 02

  It'll certainly be interesting to watch.

• 12:37Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 12:38Speaker 02

  How it all plays out over time, right?

• 12:39Speaker 01

  No doubt, no doubt. We've got one more there, Dustin.

• 12:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm a married retiree into hatchet fee and our household income's around 155,000. With this new deduction for seniors, do we get anything at all or are we completely phased out? I'm trying to plan ahead before tax season hits. Thank you, Cyrus.

• 12:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, great. Thank you, Cyrus. Great question. We talked about this last week and a lot of people are now starting to learn about this extra. Credit, tax credit that anybody over the age of 65 is entitled to. However, like the listener mentioned, there are income limits to this. So you, first of all, besides being over the age of 65, then you also have to have, if you're single, you know, or married, or single, filing your taxes as a single person, then you get the full $6,000 deduction up to $75,000 of income. And that's modified adjusted gross income.

• 13:42Speaker 01

  So modified adjusted gross income means that you have to add back certain deductions that you may have taken from your income, say like IRA contributions, 401k contributions. So you had to add that back into your income. If you're single and you make over $75,000, well, then it starts to phase out your ability to receive that deduction and it phase out at a 6% rate above the income thresholds. So if you're a married couple, instead of that $75,000 limit, you have a...

• 14:21Speaker 02

  150, is it twice as much?

• 14:22Speaker 01

  175.

• 14:23Speaker 02

  Oh, 175.

• 14:24Speaker 01

  It's a little bit more than twice as much, right? Cause, yeah. And, so, and then, um, so, actually, it phases out at 175 for single filers. So that means between 75, if you're below $75,000 a year in income, you get that full $6,000 deduction. If you are above $175,000, you don't get any. In between that...

• 14:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, it starts to phase out at 150 and then it's gone at 175, I think, for married couples.

• 15:02Speaker 01

  Married couples is 250 and then it starts to phase out.

• 15:06Speaker 02

  Oh, okay.

• 15:06Speaker 01

  Right? Oh, wait, no, no, you're right, you're right. 150 and then it phases out at 250. So that means, so we'll take our listener's question. They make 150,000, you're a married couple, then you qualify for the full deduction.

• 15:21Speaker 01

  Right?

• 15:22Speaker 02

  I'm thinking that over the 150, it might phase out a little bit.

• 15:25Speaker 01

  Once you go over that.

• 15:27Speaker 02

  At 150, not 250. So at 155, they'd be five grand over.

• 15:31Speaker 01

  Okay, okay. So if they're five grand over, then 6% of five grand.

• 15:36Speaker 02

  300.

• 15:37Speaker 01

  300 bucks. So that means you would be entitled to a, that deduction, extra deduction of $5,700. So 6,000 minus the 300 bucks, because they're 5,000 over in that income as a married couple, right? So that's, that's how it will work. So again, we threw out a bunch of numbers, it's kind of hard to do this on the radio.

• 15:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:59Speaker 01

  We need a whiteboard, a radio version of a whiteboard.

• 16:02Speaker 02

  I'm all for that.

• 16:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, me too. So again, if you're, if you're married, filing jointly, $150,000 or less, you get that full $12,000 deduction, right? Because you get 6,000 per person. If you make over $150,000 as a married filing jointly couple, then for every dollar that you make over that $150,000, you deduct it by 6%. If you make over 250,000, forget about it. You don't get any credit. So nobody gets any credit if they make over 250,000 as a married couple, as a single person. If you make over $175,000, you don't get any credit.

• 16:44Speaker 01

  And so, this is actually pretty, gonna be pretty substantial, because 90% of tax filers just get this, just do the standard deduction.

• 16:52Speaker 02

  Exactly. Yeah, it's a very, very high percentage.

• 16:55Speaker 01

  So now, a married couple's gonna get an extra $12,000 of deduction of their, from their income.

• 17:00Speaker 02

  It's a win.

• 17:01Speaker 01

  Yeah. If you're in the, you're in the 20%, you know, effective tax rate.

• 17:07Speaker 02

  Might even get down to the 12, right?

• 17:09Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:09Speaker 02

  Oh, you're saying, yeah, effective.

• 17:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, effective. 20% effective tax rate, and you have $12,000.

• 17:19Speaker 01

  That's like $2,400 of money in your pocket.

• 17:24Speaker 02

  Right.

• 17:24Speaker 01

  It's, literally, it's gonna come, like, stay in your, coming right back to you.

• 17:27Speaker 02

  Couple hundred a month in cash flow.

• 17:29Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, that's huge. Between that and the windfall.

• 17:32Speaker 02

  The windfall is huge for our teacher friends especially.

• 17:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, for our teacher friends are getting anywhere between three and extra three or 600 bucks a month. It's like, holy cow.

• 17:41Speaker 02

  I know, and a lot have gotten that back pay and it's, you know, a few thousand dollars.

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:46Speaker 02

  Extra, right up front.

• 17:47Speaker 01

  Big chunk.

• 17:47Speaker 02

  It was retroactive.

• 17:49Speaker 01

  It's really cool. I mean, I'm a fan about all of that.

• 17:53Speaker 01

  Lower taxes is better for sure.

• 17:56Speaker 02

  More money in clients' pockets.

• 17:57Speaker 01

  That's right. That's right. All right. Well, there we go. We did that, Dustin.

• 18:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, we've got a guest coming up here after the break.

• 18:05Speaker 01

  I believe so. We'll see. We'll see what happens. First time? Well, first, let's just take a break and then we'll be right back.

• 18:12Speaker 00

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

• 18:37Speaker 01

  Welcome to the Money Wise Show. We're your hosts today. I'm Sharad. That's Dustin.

• 18:41Speaker 02

  Yes, sir.

• 18:41Speaker 01

  Hey, Dustin, it's a busy week on Wall Street. There is a lot happening this week.

• 18:48Speaker 02

  There was a big, this is a big earnings week, isn't it?

• 18:50Speaker 01

  Huge earnings week. I think there's 150 companies of the S and P 500 reporting this week, just like a heavy load.

• 18:56Speaker 02

  30%.

• 18:57Speaker 01

  It might be the busiest week of the earnings season, which of course happens every quarter.

• 19:02Speaker 02

  Right.

• 19:03Speaker 01

  It kind of ramps up and then eventually slows down. But besides earnings, we also have a announcement coming tomorrow by the Federal Reserve. They're meeting today and tomorrow, and after their meetings tomorrow, there'll be a press conference. I don't think that there is an expectation of a change.

• 19:21Speaker 02

  What's the Magic 8-Ball say?

• 19:22Speaker 01

  Uh, yeah, good question. Here it is right here.

• 19:25Speaker 02

  There it is.

• 19:25Speaker 01

  It is, um, it's not expected for the interest rates to change over the, oh, the Magic 8-Ball says it is certain.

• 19:37Speaker 02

  It's certain that they will make a decision.

• 19:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's true. That's what it's answering. Yes, there's definitely going to be a decision regarding the interest rates by our Federal Reserve tomorrow. And I think more importantly, investors are just going to be looking to see what the Fed's opinion is on the, on the economy and whether or not. Interest rate decrease might be coming.

• 20:00Speaker 02

  Right.

• 20:00Speaker 01

  I haven't looked at the expectations on Wall Street in terms of if it's changed from one rate cut to two or three, or how many they're expecting this year.

• 20:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, I haven't seen a whole lot of that. I know that they're expecting it to be flat most likely again.

• 20:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, so we're like somewhere around four and four and a half percent or four and a quarter percent is right now what the Fed rate is at. But you know, this is historically has been a significant period in the in the year when the Federal Reserve, you know, comes out and gives their guidance. And then Jerome Powell will have an opportunity to answer questions, which he usually takes questions from the press to see if there's anything else.

• 20:43Speaker 02

  Right.

• 20:44Speaker 01

  That's going on that they can ask, including today, we had, so we have the, we have the earnings coming out, we have the Federal Reserve meeting, and then today, we we received other economic data from consumer confidence. And that actually saw an uptick in July, which really surprises me. It feel, and this is anecdotal, but don't you get the feeling that people are, especially, you know, a few months ago, very, pretty anxious about, overall anxious about the economy, whether it was tariffs or inflation or?

• 21:20Speaker 02

  Certainly a few months ago, the tariffs were a topic of conversation often.

• 21:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:26Speaker 02

  You know, what impact they're going to have.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  Well.

• 21:28Speaker 02

  And then I think some of that subsided a little bit when the market rebounded quickly.

• 21:33Speaker 01

  Right.

• 21:33Speaker 02

  We saw about a 10% correction right away, but then things got a little bit better. It wasn't, you know, a couple of weeks went by that it bounced back.

• 21:42Speaker 01

  Just bounced back, which is usually the case, usually comes back pretty quickly.

• 21:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, markets today down, you know, point three, S and P 500, point four six on the Dow Jones, so.

• 21:53Speaker 01

  This is, it snaps a six day winning streak for the S and P 500 at least. And that's, that's a good thing, you know, we'd like to see these wins and the. The stock market and winning streaks are always nice, but they eventually do stop.

• 22:12Speaker 02

  Right.

• 22:12Speaker 01

  Kind of win every single day.

• 22:13Speaker 02

  Markets do their thing, don't they?

• 22:15Speaker 01

  They definitely do their thing. Again, it's nice to see consumer confidence go up. There's also kind of looming large is this Friday is the deadline that President Trump had set for trading partners to strike deals. Or face a blanket tariff rate and but, you know, as we have seen with previous declarations about tariffs. The, the White House usually sort of backs down or gives more time. And that's, I think, probably what the media is expecting, at least is that President Trump is going to make a final call. To just extend that, that tariff truce with China. That's the big one that's still pending out there.

• 22:59Speaker 01

  And, um, you know, they had a 90 day deadline that again is supposed to end this Friday. And, you know, in the meantime, it's kind of interesting to look at earnings and look at some of these companies. Big companies like Boeing, uh, United Health, Merck, uh, they've reported today. Uh, weaker, uh, earnings report from Spotify, which I'm a big fan, not necessarily the stock. I'm not endorsing one way or another, the stock.

• 23:26Speaker 02

  But the service.

• 23:27Speaker 01

  The service is awesome.

• 23:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's great.

• 23:29Speaker 01

  Really, really like Spotify. Spotify is under a lot of pressure because of the. There, I guess the complaint that for from shareholders that they haven't increased prices quick enough. You know, just like, let's get going, you know, jack up the prices is where we get our money.

• 23:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, you bring up a good point. Everybody's looking at the earnings because at the end of the day, when you're buying a stock, it's ownership in a company. Right. And what drives the values of the company are those earnings.

• 23:54Speaker 01

  Right.

• 23:55Speaker 02

  That's why they're important.

• 23:56Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 23:56Speaker 02

  See that they're increasing. What usually happens with the values of the companies over time?

• 24:00Speaker 01

  Usually goes up and if you have continued to have increased earnings.

• 24:03Speaker 02

  Right.

• 24:04Speaker 01

  That's where it's all, that's what it's about. You gotta have the earnings.

• 24:07Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 24:07Speaker 01

  Starbucks reports its sixth straight US sales decline.

• 24:12Speaker 02

  Is that right?

• 24:13Speaker 01

  Six straight quarters.

• 24:14Speaker 02

  Six quarters in a row.

• 24:14Speaker 01

  In a row where sales have declined. They've got this new fancy CEO who took over not too long ago, but he took over from the founder. His name's Brian Nicole and he's continuing these, uh, these turnaround efforts at this coffee giant, but you know, same store sales falling, basically, you know, sales dropping all over. I know people just drinking less Starbucks coffee. I don't know why.

• 24:39Speaker 02

  Yeah. I mean, I know here locally, we keep seeing some other competitors pop up. What's that one all the kids are into?

• 24:45Speaker 01

  What is it?

• 24:46Speaker 02

  It slipped my mind right now.

• 24:47Speaker 01

  Uh.

• 24:47Speaker 02

  The Dutch?

• 24:48Speaker 01

  That's the one.

• 24:49Speaker 02

  Dutch Bros.

• 24:51Speaker 01

  Dutch Bros.

• 24:51Speaker 02

  They're definitely getting some of the younger crowd especially.

• 24:54Speaker 01

  I wonder, yeah, I wonder it's because they can also get donuts.

• 24:58Speaker 02

  I think it's the fancy energy drinks too.

• 25:00Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 25:02Speaker 02

  Which one of them? It's funny. Uh, you know, the big energy drink Red Bull.

• 25:06Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 25:06Speaker 02

  They have a drink called the Rebel.

• 25:08Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 25:09Speaker 02

  So it's like, if you say Red Bull fast.

• 25:11Speaker 01

  No, it's Rebel.

• 25:12Speaker 02

  Rebel.

• 25:13Speaker 01

  Oh, gosh.

• 25:14Speaker 02

  Energy drink. Yeah.

• 25:16Speaker 01

  That's clever. Very clever.

• 25:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, we're coming out with an energy drink. How we, how should we name it? I don't know. It's something like a Red Bull. Oh, there you go. Rebel.

• 25:25Speaker 01

  Rebel. Just say it, just say faster. Make it one word.

• 25:28Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:28Speaker 01

  Oh, gosh. That's crazy. All right. We're gonna do this. Dustin, we're gonna take a break. Our guest is here. We're gonna get right to him. Jay Tamsi, he's the CEO and president at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Got lots of questions for Jay right after the break. Don't go anywhere.

• 25:41Speaker 00

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

• 26:00Speaker 01

  Welcome back to Moneywise. I'm Sharad, your host today with Dustin. Dustin Weaver, D-Dub.

• 26:08Speaker 02

  D-Dub.

• 26:08Speaker 01

  We are joined right now by our guest for today, Jay Tamsi. He is CEO and President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Welcome back to the show, Jay.

• 26:18Speaker 03

  Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

• 26:20Speaker 01

  Great having you here. You just mentioned, just before we got back on the air, that the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has been around for 40 years.

• 26:31Speaker 03

  Yes, 40 years, so 1985.

• 26:35Speaker 01

  You might need to get like, get up close to that mic. You're, you got, there you go.

• 26:39Speaker 03

  Yeah, so we've been around since, um, uh, since 1985. So, yeah, a, uh, 10 members came together, Hispanic Business Zone members, and they felt the need for a Hispanic Chamber, and they, uh, supported, um, Hispanic small businesses. And, uh, here we are, let's fast forward to 2025, and we celebrate 40 years later. So, I've been in this role for 12 years as President and CEO.

• 27:04Speaker 01

  Holy cow.

• 27:05Speaker 03

  And-

• 27:06Speaker 01

  12 years as the, as the CEO and President?

• 27:08Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 27:09Speaker 01

  What, what did you do before?

• 27:11Speaker 03

  I worked, um, well, I worked for the, a large, uh, multi-billion dollar corporation. That's what I could say.

• 27:19Speaker 01

  That, that which shall not be named, it sounds like. We don't talk of that company anymore.

• 27:25Speaker 03

  Uh, well, yeah. I guess I signed some clause or something like that a long time ago. I don't know why it's still in effect, but, um, yeah. So I was in, I was working for corporate, uh, for 13 years.

• 27:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:36Speaker 03

  Yeah, and so, you know, I know what you're both probably wondering is why are you, why did you leave a multi-billion dollar company to work for a nonprofit?

• 27:43Speaker 01

  Uh-huh.

• 27:44Speaker 03

  Um, so I think that's like the, uh-

• 27:47Speaker 01

  That's the question of my lifetime.

• 27:49Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 27:50Speaker 01

  Well, here you are 12 years later.

• 27:52Speaker 03

  Yeah, so I represented the board at the time for this corporation, yeah. And so a lot of folks think I've been there for like 25 years.

• 28:01Speaker 01

  I see.

• 28:01Speaker 03

  Uh, no, that's not the case. I represented the company. I became chair of the board and then after that and then, um, you know, the president, CEO job came up and, um, uh, yeah, they offered it to me. So I've been there for 12 years. So it's, it's, it's been a great 12 years. Uh, we've seen the chamber, Kern County Hispanic Chamber, we've seen it flourish and we've seen it grow. We continue to grow and expand our business services. And so when I became the president and CEO, uh, 12 years ago, I just really wanted to, um, it to reflect what Kern County was about. I know that we have the Hispanic name in there, understanding that 66% of our county, um, is Hispanic, but I also understand that, you know, we're

• 28:42Speaker 03

  surrounded by, uh, you know, in the number ones, right, of oil and ag and agriculture. And also, uh, the thriving drive behind our, our, uh, this entire country is small businesses.

• 28:58Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:58Speaker 03

  So, you know, I, I really got in, in a deep dive and, and, and made sure that, uh, we made the Kern County Hispanic Chamber Board of Directors and its foundation. So there's two organizations, a brother sister, um, organizations, make sure that it really reflected what Kern County was all about.

• 29:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:17Speaker 03

  So now our, our boards are, are very strong, um, our leadership, um, staff as well as, um, you know, our, our diplomat volunteers, which are ambassadors as well. Make sure that they, everything reflected around what Kern County is all about.

• 29:36Speaker 01

  Now you've been in it, you've been doing this for, you know, over a decade and how have you seen the Hispanic Chamber evolve? Like, you know, specifically what's, what's sort of changed? In in the last twelve years.

• 29:50Speaker 03

  Well, you know, as I mentioned, not only the the percentage and of Hispanics in Kern County, right? I mean, I think that you've seen lots of lots of businesses and lots of other folks who hire Hispanics. I think you've seen the the that shift in a different direction, right?

• 30:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, demographically, there's just far more Hispanics.

• 30:13Speaker 03

  Right.

• 30:13Speaker 01

  It continues to be a growing demographic.

• 30:16Speaker 03

  Right, but we also, our membership is sixty sixty percent Hispanic right now and forty percent are non Hispanic.

• 30:23Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 30:23Speaker 03

  So we've built this, you know, what I would say this transition over the last decade. We've built we've built it to where, you know, our motto is we're the we're the community in the county's chamber.

• 30:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:39Speaker 03

  You know, we we not only represent Bakersfield, but we also we work with Arvin, Shafter, Delano, Wasco, Tahatchapi, Taft. And so, you know, those are also the chambers that we work with and and we have members from those different cities. So, you know, coming being born and raised in Delano, a rural area, you know, I understand, you know, what the business owners have have overcome, have achieved, you know, it's not it's not easy. But at the same time, you know, we want to be resourceful for the rural areas in Kern County as well as Bakersfield. There's lots of barriers that folks have

• 31:21Speaker 03

  to overcome when they're when it comes to business or finances. And so we want to make sure that they're our business and our membership is well prepared. And so that's really important, not only to me, but the board. And then our goals and our mission is obviously to promote and enhance our businesses with the resourceful opportunities to help help grow and expand and and also open new doors. As I mentioned earlier, we have a small business academy that has been going on for twelve years since I've.

• 31:53Speaker 01

  Since you started, huh?

• 31:54Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 31:55Speaker 01

  And I imagine the business academy is a way to. To to be involved in the community and supporting the entrepreneurship or or you know just business ownership in general?

• 32:05Speaker 03

  Yes, absolutely. So you know what, uh, we have four academies per year. And when I say four academies, we have actually two uh per uh session. So we have a a a winter, a spring, a summer, and a fall. And we have an English and a Spanish one. Um, they go hand in hand for each session. So it's an eight week long next level of small business cert- uh certified a course.

• 32:33Speaker 01

  And and is that that's a course to essentially train or educate on what it takes to start a business?

• 32:40Speaker 03

  What it takes to start a business, to um own a business, how to incorporate your business, all the tools and the resources that you need. Um, so we have three levels that I would say you have those who are considering becoming an entrepreneur. And then when you have those entrepreneurs that are like still, you know, thinking about what they want to do, or maybe they ha- they know what they want to do, they just need the resources.

• 33:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:03Speaker 03

  Um, and how to do it. And then you have the small business owners too. So that's what our academies are made of. Um, they're uh, it's it's a combined group. And so.

• 33:14Speaker 01

  Who teaches it?

• 33:14Speaker 03

  Um, we have facilitators that are SBA certified. So.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  Oh, nice.

• 33:18Speaker 03

  Um, they have to actually take online courses and they have to get certified to.

• 33:23Speaker 01

  I guess they have some experience too.

• 33:25Speaker 03

  They have, yes, yes.

• 33:26Speaker 01

  Personal experience in business.

• 33:27Speaker 03

  Yes. Uh, our current facilitator um has been managing um uh uh EDD for for quite some time now.

• 33:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:35Speaker 03

  Uh, so very much e- e- experience within the the workforce and development portion of it.

• 33:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:41Speaker 03

  And so, you know, uh, he is um certified uh to the SBA to uh teach these courses. So there's a curriculum that they follow and a guideline and um and books. And so, you know, we're we're very fortunate, you know, we have. Our financial institutions that have CRA money, they're, these-

• 34:02Speaker 01

  You said CRA?

• 34:02Speaker 03

  Yeah, CRA. CRA money, it's, CRA money is federally, it's mandated by the federal government that these monies are given to nonprofit, five of one C three organizations. So it's, you know, they get credit for it as a tax write-up, but also they're mandated by the federal government to provide that CRA money.

• 34:27Speaker 01

  I see. Again, we're joined by Jay Tamsi, he's CEO and President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Jay, we've had on the show the Black Chamber of Commerce, the Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce, the Asian Chamber of Commerce, of course, the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce. And each one of them has, you know, has, has a role and, you know, part of their role is sort of being a connection to that community or being a, you know, more of a connection to that specific community that they may, that's inside their name, right? Whether it's Middle Eastern or, or Black and Hispanic.

• 35:09Speaker 01

  And I've asked them all this same question, which is what, what is unique, what is uniquely challenging or rewarding to Hispanic community that, you know, that, you know, that is, would be different than, you know, one of these other chambers?

• 35:24Speaker 03

  So what I'll say is that, that, yes, we, as I sit on the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce at the, at the state level as an executive board member and another board member on the foundation at this California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and we really do, really do get involved politically at the, at the, at the level, at the state level, as far as having, being involved in the PAC, Political Action Committee. So we really are up there advocating for our small businesses here in the Central Valley. I'm the Central Region Chairman and oversee thirty-three chair, thirty-three chambers.

• 36:06Speaker 03

  My, my region is from Bakersfield to Chico, but I'm in, in, in actuality, um, you know, we're, we're, we're up there smiling, uh, uh, you know, we're pro-business, fighting for business and advocating for businesses and making sure that every bill that is run through, run through the, um, the, through the assembly and through the senate, that we make sure that those are all pro-business and they're not going to be harming our businesses. And I think that that, that truly goes for as far as our agricultural workers, um, and also those Hispanic and minority owned businesses. Uh, and what I will say as well as I go on

• 36:46Speaker 03

  other shows and, and media, um, I say, you, I say everyone should join a chamber. Everyone should join a, a business, uh, based organization. Wherever you feel comfortable joining, joining, whatever feels comfortable for you as a person, whatever can help your business thrive and grow, that's the chamber that you should be a part of. Yes. Uh, you know, we have many different, um, events going on. I, I mentioned we have our 28th annual, um, Hispanic Business Conference and Expo. Everyone is invited to attend, not just Hispanics. We have our Kern County Energy and Ag Academy, uh, that's round through our

• 37:26Speaker 03

  foundation. And I think that's really what kinda sets us aside, is that we have a chamber that provides the advocacy portion for small business owners. Um, we have the Government Relations Committee meetings. We have our, you know, quarterly, um, our quarterly seminars that we provide. And all of this is, uh, uh, all complimentary and it's all included in your membership. Yeah. Right? Our Small Business Academy is really huge, something that nobody does here in this county. Right. Uh, we have people from Los Angeles come in and take these courses, um, uh, for eight weeks. And then we also have our foundation. So our foundation focuses more on our cultural

• 38:06Speaker 03

  awareness. Also, we have a scholarship fund that we provide. Um, I think over the, the last, we've been given probably half a, half a million dollars away.

• 38:16Speaker 01

  In like grants?

• 38:18Speaker 03

  In scholarships.

• 38:20Speaker 01

  Oh, wow.

• 38:20Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 38:21Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 38:21Speaker 03

  And so, um, in scholarships, and so we've helped many students. Um, we don't ask if they're DACA students, we don't ask if they're, um, Middle Eastern students. That doesn't really matter, uh, to us. We allow everyone that is going into college first year or going into, um, a trade school. Um, and so we have that. Our Energy and Ag Academy, obviously focused around agriculture, um, and energy, making sure that we, we incorporate those, um, mythbusters that are out there, you know? Some folks think that fracking is, is very harmful, some, some aren't.

• 39:00Speaker 03

  But we want to make sure that at the age of, you know, seventeen and eighteen, while you're that senior in high school or that first year freshman at Bakersfield College, CSUB, CSU Fresno, we want to make sure that you, that, that they gain the knowledge and understand that there are other, there are other options other than working on a rig, um, uh, or working in, in, in office, um, setting, uh, to be in agriculture or, or, or in, in, uh, the energy sector, you know? Uh, and now in agriculture, you know, my parents worked in the fields and you, you picked grapes by, with your hands, now there's machinery and engineering that does that for you.

• 39:44Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 39:44Speaker 03

  Um, so that's what our Energy and Ag Academy is about, uh, through the foundation. So, you know, with both of them, the 501(c)(3) and the 501(c)(6), um, you know, it's, it allows us to do so much more, uh, for our community. So, yes, we are the Hispanic Chamber, but we're also Kern County. And so, um, I don't think that we'd have the forty percent non-Hispanics, um, i- if we, um, didn't have the values, uh, and the resources to provide, um, not only entrepreneurs, business owners, but our community in, in general.

• 40:18Speaker 01

  Yeah. It, yeah, I, the, you know, you mentioned that there's, you know, sixty percent of the population is Hispanic in Kern County, though, you know, it's, I think. So it's the majority.

• 40:30Speaker 03

  It is.

• 40:31Speaker 01

  It's the it's it's the majority of it and yet what what do you see as some of the what are the biggest obstacles when it comes to just the Hispanic population that's unique to the Hispanic population that is perhaps the challenges that they face?

• 40:49Speaker 03

  I would say the language barrier. I would say, you know, there's lots of barriers, you know, it just depends on which way you're gonna

• 40:58Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 40:59Speaker 03

  approach it. You know, if you're an agriculture worker, obviously, we have barriers, you know, we have and lots of insecurities and and not having access and and mobile access to get to our healthcare appointments, to get to our appointments, to to go to work. And that's why, you know, there's carpooling. And if you're a Hispanic business owner, there's a lot of time when we have those mom and pop shops, right? And so they're not able to read your mail coming from the

• 41:27Speaker 01

  From the R S or whatever.

• 41:30Speaker 03

  The three letters I never want to want to ever get in trouble with were the I and the R and the S. I always been taught that since I was growing, you know, as a little kid. And so, you know, those letters that you receive that your child is reading to you and trying to translate that. So we really try to enforce that in our in our Spanish Business Academy classes. And so I think that there's just a lot of barriers that we have had to have to overcome. And there's lots that we see as well. Trending, Facebook, TikTok, you know, turning and listening towards a podcast. I mean, but at the end

• 42:07Speaker 03

  of the day, I think that we're we're providing more resources out there, resources that I know growing up that I didn't have, my parents didn't have. And I think that it's it all gears towards the work of the chamber.

• 42:25Speaker 02

  You know, you mentioned farm labor. There's the seasonality aspect to where the work sometimes isn't available all year. Right. There's only certain seasons that it is.

• 42:36Speaker 03

  Correct.

• 42:37Speaker 02

  Where have you seen an opportunity for someone that has that particular career? Where hey, there's a chance that you're working for three months, but then you're out of work for a period of time. What do those folks do? What have you seen?

• 42:50Speaker 03

  Yeah, well, I've seen them. I mean, there's lots of other opportunities out there too. Locks, you know, locksmith, construction, painting. And as well as, you know, perhaps, and I'll say this because I'm half Filipino. So I have the best of both worlds. I'm an American, I'm a Hispanic, and I'm Filipino. But also those, I know some of my relatives. They'll go to Alaska for three months and work over there until it's time to come back. You know, I think the Hispanic community, I think that we have our hustle.

• 43:34Speaker 03

  I think that we're going to make ends meet the best way that we can. And also making sure that everyone wants to do it the right way. You know, and I know that we see a lot of stuff coming down the pike. And something that I really don't want to get into. But at the end of the day, I think that we all want to do it the right way. And make sure that, yes, it's a seasonal work. But then when there isn't seasonal work, we always have that plan. We always have that plan and what's next and what's going to put food on the table for our kids. What's going to pay for that college tuition for that first generation who is going to college?

• 44:15Speaker 03

  And so, you know, yes, seasonal work, but I always think that we have a plan. And we make it work somehow and frugal with our money. And I will say. That a lot of, perhaps if it's, you know, the male dominant thing, you know, is to be working in the fields. You know, we have women farm workers as well, but also we have seen an increase in Latinas who are owning businesses, businesses, left and right.

• 44:49Speaker 01

  It's exciting.

• 44:49Speaker 03

  It's very exciting.

• 44:51Speaker 01

  You might be familiar with this. I've talked about this study on our show about Latinas in, in United States and how much they outperform their peers in terms of productivity. And there's, there's several metrics essentially where they just are just blowing it out of the water in terms of mostly productivity and how incredibly hard worker, hardworking they are compared to their peers. And it's, it's just phenomenal study that I, that I read just a couple of years ago. You've probably witnessed this.

• 45:32Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yes. In fact, the last three grand openings and ribbon cuttings that, that we have hosted have all been women owned businesses and they're either in the beauty industry, the, the essential, beauty essential industry, or they're in the hair industry and opening hair salons and, and things like that. So, you know, I know that someone who's graduated our small business academy, you know, we have, they purchased a liquor store and turned it into a liquor store slash convenience store. And after graduating with our current county's planning chamber, small business academy, we then referred them

• 46:16Speaker 03

  to the baker's launch pad. Also very resourceful.

• 46:21Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 46:21Speaker 03

  Very resourceful. So they went through a couple of courses with the Bakers of Launchpad.

• 46:26Speaker 01

  That's a T Johnson's organization, right?

• 46:28Speaker 03

  Yes, T Johnson. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, we were very great partners. And, you know, they were able to provide them a grant to these females. So we had one female, two female business partners, one Hispanic and one African American, who took over this liquor store, who wanted to transform it also into a convenience store. When with this grant through the B C Launchpad, you know, they had zero knowledge of opening a business. I mean, you're talking entrepreneurs.

• 47:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 47:06Speaker 03

  You're talking about they, we provided them resources and we helped them along the way with their business plan, with incorporating their business, marketing, taxes, you name it.

• 47:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, payroll, HR, all that stuff.

• 47:22Speaker 03

  And so they're very grateful for that. And so as I said, you know, just, it's just trending along the way. You're seeing, as you mentioned, the statistics on Latinas only opening up businesses. It's minority owned businesses that are really thriving right now. So we're very excited about it, you know, it's in.

• 47:43Speaker 01

  Part of owning a business or starting up a business is, you know, if you're the one doing it, you're the owner, you're doing everything. You're wearing multiple hats. So you're going in, you're unlocking it in the morning, you're stocking the shelves, you're running the cash register, you're running payroll, you know, you're handling all the banking, you're doing everything, you know, and that, you know, kudos to anybody who's willing to just jump in there. And thank goodness, there's some support like this, like the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce offers and other chambers offer to sort of like, you know, we'll give you some, we'll give you some guidelines here. We'll give you some help and that, that's what our, most of our economy is run off of, our small businesses.

• 48:27Speaker 03

  Absolutely.

• 48:28Speaker 01

  How cool to say.

• 48:28Speaker 02

  See that come full circle, right? Somebody who comes with a dream and they just need a little help on seeing it through and then these resources can help them get there and and become successful.

• 48:39Speaker 03

  Right. And I think, you know, like a lot of folks that come in and take our our small business academies, I'll be the first one, like during their orientation, I'll say, you know, if you if you take this eight week course and you learn all about all these different resources and all the different techniques and everything that it takes to to run a small business. And at the end of the day, it was your hobby and and after all this, you didn't know what it took to own a small business. It's okay. Then then let's just keep it a hobby and and we won't add to the unemployment rate. But but I but in all actuality, you

• 49:23Speaker 03

  know, as you mentioned, I always say, a small business owner, you're the first one to wake up and you're the first one to get there. You're the first one to open the door and you're going to be the last one to leave. So, you know, and sometimes small businesses, you only have just, you know, two folks working there or just just yourself. And so you're going to be that person. And so you have to be all in it. And you're going to go through some hard times. But, you know, you're surround yourself with some good folks and make sure that you have a chamber that's going to support you or a business organization.

• 49:58Speaker 01

  Well, there are great chambers out there and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is one of them. If anybody wants more information or wants to find out more, kchcc.org. That's Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce abbreviated by just its first letter, kchcc.org. You can find out more about these activities and what's going on with that chamber. Jay Tamzey, CEO and President, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. Remember these three things, be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.

• 50:27Speaker 04

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