7/8/25 When Crisis Creates Opportunity: Sonia Dhillon's Healthcare Vision

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Tuesday, July 8th 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: Sonia (Harpreet) Dhillon RN, BSN, Owner of Solace Healthcare Inc. website: https://solacehc.com/

• 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. Today, we're your hosts, I'm Sharad Waite and...

• 1:03Speaker 02

  Frank Lee.

• 1:04Speaker 01

  Hey Frank, how you doing?

• 1:05Speaker 02

  I'm doing fabulous.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  You know what today is?

• 1:08Speaker 02

  Today's the 8th.

• 1:09Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 1:09Speaker 02

  July 8th.

• 1:10Speaker 01

  And you know what that means?

• 1:11Speaker 02

  It means we're on the show together.

• 1:12Speaker 01

  That's right, yes. It also means it's Amazon Prime Day.

• 1:15Speaker 00

  Prime Day!

• 1:16Speaker 02

  Oh my gosh, thank you for reminding me.

• 1:17Speaker 01

  Oh, I'm sure you were just...

• 1:18Speaker 02

  I had a whole list.

• 1:21Speaker 01

  I'll bet, I'll bet you were just super excited. Are you, are you a Prime member?

• 1:25Speaker 02

  I am a Prime member, yes.

• 1:28Speaker 01

  Well, good.

• 1:28Speaker 02

  I think this is like the first ever, not going to be taking advantage of Prime Day. I just, I never really got into it.

• 1:34Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 1:35Speaker 02

  But now like with just reorganizing the house and having to, I'm just really looking through our list and like, man, I need a...

• 1:42Speaker 01

  You need some things.

• 1:43Speaker 02

  I need some things.

• 1:45Speaker 01

  Well, the Prime Day has turned into like a four day event. I think it goes through the 11th, which is kind of weird.

• 1:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, you should call it Prime Days.

• 1:54Speaker 02

  Exactly. Well, what's, because I know I was on it earlier too, like a week ago, and they were doing early deals, early Prime Day. I was like, dang, why don't you just have a Prime month then?

• 2:03Speaker 01

  Right, yeah. Why not just Prime, Prime Time all the time? Prime Day, Prime Day all days. That's like, Carpet Outlet Plus has got that figured out. Every single day is sale day. Why can't Amazon figure it out?

• 2:18Speaker 00

  Every day is sale day.

• 2:19Speaker 01

  Yeah. Well, actually, later in the show, if we have time, I want to get to talking about the pros and cons to Prime Day. Like, what are the, what are the pitfalls that we run into as consumers? What are the tricks that we run into from these major retailers like Amazon when they run these types of specials? And I want to get to that if we have time. But first, I want to answer our listener questions and comments. So let's start with this first question. Do you have it there?

• 2:43Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me pull it up real quick. So, first question is, "I've been putting cash into my 401K for years, but I keep hearing conflicting advice about when to take social security. As someone living in Shafter, where my dollar goes further than bigger cities, how could I figure out the right timing for everything?" Sharon?

• 3:01Speaker 01

  Thank you, Sharon. Very good, very good question. And there's a few parts to this, and I wanted to just, you and I just have a conversation, kind of what your thoughts. We haven't discussed this at all, so I want to get your thoughts. But I can see there being a conflict of somebody who is really close to retirement. I'm assuming Sharon is close to retirement.

• 3:20Speaker 02

  That's what it sounds like.

• 3:21Speaker 01

  Because she's, she is already thinking about taking social security.

• 3:26Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 3:26Speaker 01

  And so, I can see there being some conflict in terms of, well, why am I saving money, let's say in this case, in my 401K, when I'm just going to be needing it? You know, or I'm going to have, I'm going to have to pull it out, or then rely on social security. And I think that's, that's a very fair question. It can be, it can be a little bit confusing and nerve-wracking when you're in that retirement red zone. You know, when you're between five or 10 years of retirement. It's hard to know, like, if you're doing the right thing. And this is- Not this is a shameless plug for our industry of financial advising, which is it's a great,

• 4:12Speaker 01

  it's a great way to get out of your head, maybe out of your perspective a little bit, and get some perspective from somebody who's who's who knows and has seen people go through the process. And to get some insight can be incredibly beneficial so that you're not, you know, stressing about whether or not you're doing the right thing because there's there's no, as as Gero would always say, there's no cookie cutter approach to everybody. Yeah. And there's no, there's no one way to do it. And it certainly can make sense in my mind for somebody to continue to contribute to their 401k well into their 60s and even into their 70s.

• 4:52Speaker 01

  Because there are benefits to that 401k besides just your it going into your savings. Besides it's just being like a like a piggy bank. And one of those would be if your employer is matching, that's free money, that's free dollars for you. The other benefit is that you get the tax break, whether it's you or in this case, I don't know if you're contributing to a traditional 401k or a Roth 401k. But it may be something that Sharon, this listener should consider is that maybe you don't need the tax deduction right now because you because you're for whatever reason, you don't you don't necessarily pay a lot in taxes or in your in a low bracket.

• 5:35Speaker 01

  May may make a lot of sense to contribute to a Roth portion of your 401k rather than the traditional portion, which now that's, you know, that's available to most people. They have that Roth option. And those are just some of my thoughts. I don't know what what do you have?

• 5:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think this all boils down to, again, having perspective, second opinions from a financial advisor that does a lot of these plannings. Because yeah, there is no cookie cutter way to to say it. We need to know anything and everything, really. What are your goals? What when do you plan on retiring? What's your budget like, your expenses? We have to take everything into consideration. To give you an idea of like, okay, yeah, let's, let's wait until you take social security or let's put in more into your 401k. But, I mean, for me, my advice just boils down to like, do you need the cash?

• 6:31Speaker 02

  You know, are you, are you going to be retiring soon and you're, you're depending on that social security for the, the time being or that 401k? So that's how I see it.

• 6:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, the, the general question of when to take social security is, it can be totally separate from whether or not you should contribute to your 401k. Cause the, the 401k contribution question is really more like you said about cash flow and, you know, what's your savings level? What, what cash do you have available? What's your savings look like? Social Security is a little bit different about when you take, I guess it's, there's some similarities because social security, there's a benefit to delaying social security.

• 7:11Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 7:12Speaker 01

  Huge benefit. Eight, eight percent.

• 7:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:14Speaker 01

  A year.

• 7:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:14Speaker 01

  After your full retirement age. Now, if you take it before your full retirement age, let's say you take it at 62 and, and just waiting from age of 62 until your full retirement age, which is for a lot of people say 66, that four-year difference can mean close to almost a 50% increase in your monthly benefit.

• 7:35Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 7:35Speaker 01

  Just by waiting those five years.

• 7:37Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 7:37Speaker 01

  And then if you can wait another three or four years beyond that up till age 70, each year it's going to increase another eight percent per year. So we're talking about another 24%.

• 7:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:51Speaker 01

  If you can delay it, which is unbelievable. That's great money.

• 7:55Speaker 02

  Exactly. And I don't know anywhere else that can guarantee you an increase in eight percent.

• 8:00Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 8:00Speaker 02

  Every year.

• 8:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:01Speaker 02

  So for me, it's like, depending on the situation, I always, my go-to is like, let's see if you can hold off on the social security first.

• 8:09Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 8:10Speaker 02

  That's going to be the, the biggest benefactor in all this.

• 8:12Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 8:13Speaker 02

  And gaining eight percent every year. And then just take the cash from 401k.

• 8:17Speaker 01

  Yes, and then you can supplement your income from your 401k.

• 8:20Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  And the benefit to delaying that social security is great. Like we said, we, and we tell you these, these different percentages that people get. Is, I guess, the biggest factor in my mind of whether or not somebody should be delaying their social security is how long they think they're gonna live.

• 8:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:39Speaker 01

  It's like a morbid question.

• 8:40Speaker 02

  Right, right.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  Because it's all, social security is based off life expectancy.

• 8:43Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:44Speaker 01

  They're saying, they're taking the, like, the national average of life expectancies and they're saying, "This is how long we think you're gonna live." And so, if you delay that, you're giving up, let's say, three years of your social security payments. Let's say that's, you know, let's say it's $24,000 a year. You're getting $2,000 a month from social security, it'd be $24,000 a year. That means, three years, it would be, what's that, $73,000?

• 9:16Speaker 01

  That's a lot of money, $73,000 of income that you're deferring, and you may never recover that amount of money if you don't live as long as you're supposed to live. Now, if you live beyond where you're supposed, well, beyond what you're supposed to live, by another three years, now you're winning the game, because you're gonna get back that $73,000 very quickly by your higher income that you're gonna receive for the rest of your life. And so, that's a really tough, like, morbid question to ask, but you can look at your family history, you can, you can talk to your doctor about it.

• 9:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:52Speaker 01

  You know?

• 9:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:53Speaker 01

  You should, your doctor can help you know what your risk factors are, and, you know, we've, we see this sometimes, you and I see it, Frank, when we're dealing with life insurance and somebody applying for life insurance.

• 10:05Speaker 02

  Annuities as well.

• 10:06Speaker 01

  Annuities. That's like their jam. All they're doing, do is they're looking at your medical records, and they're, they're just, they're, they're, you know, making their bet on how long they think you're gonna live.

• 10:15Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 10:16Speaker 01

  And if they think you're not gonna live very long, it's gonna be a very high amount of money that you're gonna have to pay. If they think you're gonna live forever, okay, they're willing to make a cheap, cheap life insurance and, and, and everybody goes on their way.

• 10:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. They're trying to favor their odds, you know? Because like, if you think about it, all these life insurance is like, they can't just be handing out all these coverages for, for dirt cheap. They, they have to weigh their odds, and that's, I, I think the, the genius part about these life insurance companies is that they know what game they're playing.

• 10:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:48Speaker 02

  You know? And then, I, I don't know, many... Insurance companies that would just outright deny a claim, but I'm pretty sure there have been a couple like that, but.

• 10:58Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, you mean deny an application?

• 11:02Speaker 02

  Uh, deny applications, but also a claim as well.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, I, there are, there are a few things that can happen for a life insurance company. We're talking about life insurance, right?

• 11:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:12Speaker 01

  Make sure we don't talk about health insurance or something, but life insurance payout. If, uh, there are certain things that if they weren't disclosed, like you lied on your application, maybe you were a smoker, you said you weren't a smoker.

• 11:26Speaker 02

  Hundred percent.

• 11:27Speaker 01

  And the insurance companies have ways of, of finding out, you know?

• 11:31Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:32Speaker 01

  I know this is really morbid, but suicide, if it happens within a certain period of time, you know, which makes sense, you don't want people just, you know, getting a big fat life insurance policy just as they know they're going to take their own life.

• 11:44Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 11:45Speaker 01

  And so there's a time period there. I want to say it's a year, might be more, two years. Do you know?

• 11:50Speaker 02

  Um, I, for, for where, where I was working, there was no timeline. It's if they, if they, if they find that evidence point towards suicide, they won't pay it out.

• 12:00Speaker 01

  Ever?

• 12:01Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 12:01Speaker 01

  Indefinitely, like no matter how long they had the policy?

• 12:05Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think there's, I'll have to look over the break maybe, but there, I think there is, there's something.

• 12:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, I could be wrong.

• 12:11Speaker 01

  I'm trying to reach down to deep to 20, 30 years ago when I took the life insurance.

• 12:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cause that's what they told me.

• 12:19Speaker 01

  Ah.

• 12:19Speaker 02

  So I didn't read the fine print, but that was part of it. It's like, yeah, if it's suicide, they, they, they don't pay out.

• 12:26Speaker 01

  Oh, interesting.

• 12:27Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:27Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 12:28Speaker 02

  I mean, they could be wrong.

• 12:29Speaker 01

  We got another comment. Maybe we can read that before we take a break.

• 12:32Speaker 02

  Yeah. So next comment, we are so excited to see the Woolworths Diner open and big thank you for keeping it open. People will always hate on whatever they can, but not everyone is haters. Keep it local.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  Ah, that's awesome. Thank you. We don't, we have a, a non-hater out there.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, a little over a month, right? Until we?

• 12:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, just over a month. Well, maybe a month and a half before the lunch counter opens up at the Woolworths. So we're looking at the, you know, late August, early September. There is also, we're on, the, the, the building is on social media and it just kind of went, the website went live and some of the social media went live. It's historic woolworths.com or at historic woolworths and you can find it on Instagram or Facebook. And it's on Facebook that appears, I, I'm not on Facebook, but I, I do occasionally hear from others about what's going on in the comments. And apparently there are, there are some haters out there. They're not happy about the, some of

• 13:34Speaker 01

  the design choices and that we just, we, was posted some of the renderings. And I think maybe there's just some confusion about what is in the renderings. And then also, I think there's a lot of confusion about there, out there about how old the building is and what it looked like originally, which is, that's what we're restoring it to. What it looked like originally on the first floor and the lunch counter, including all of that stuff. And, you know, I think people, many people are remembering what it looked like in the 2000s.

• 14:09Speaker 02

  Oh, I see.

• 14:10Speaker 01

  And the 2010s, not what it looked like in the 50s and 60s.

• 14:18Speaker 00

  Fight you over it. Oh my gosh. I've stayed away after, after the first few.

• 14:24Speaker 01

  You kind of stayed out of it.

• 14:26Speaker 00

  Yeah, it's, it's, it's a no win battle. They, they know everything. It's a keyboard warrior world. So.

• 14:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:32Speaker 02

  Keyboard warrior.

• 14:33Speaker 01

  I, yeah, I think that's what the, you know, to our, to our listeners saying, yeah, not everybody's a hater out there.

• 14:37Speaker 00

  Thank you.

• 14:38Speaker 01

  Yes, we do, we do appreciate that because a lot of thought has gone into this. I think that's the other thing is that there's this perception that it's this multinational corporation or some private equity group down in, down in LA or in San Francisco that has bought this building.

• 14:53Speaker 02

  That's, that's what I got too, from one of the other like feedback is like, oh no, this not, it's local.

• 15:00Speaker 01

  It's local. It's super local. I'm, I'm proud to be from here. I was born and raised in this town. I graduated from Bakersfield High School. I graduated. From Bakersfield College, I graduated from Cal State Bakersfield. I raised, I raised my family here. My boys were all raised here. They all went to high school here. And we started this company Money Wise here, uh, almost 25 years ago. And I'm very much invested into this community. This is, this is where I will be buried. This is something that my, myself and my wife are very passionate about, about improving this town.

• 15:40Speaker 01

  This is our legacy. It's not something that we are looking to flip and make a bunch of money off of. We are, we will be thrilled to death if we can just make this financially sustainable. Cause it's enormously big project. It's huge. And it goes beyond just Money Wise. We have, Money Wise is certainly going to be occupying the second floor. But there's three other floors in this building that we have utility bills coming in. And we have people who we're hiring, who are going to be working in this building and contributing to the community. And that all costs money. And we've got to make sure that we're providing an environment that is good for our workers.

• 16:23Speaker 01

  And that it's good for the community and that we're, we're bringing value to people. We're, this is the last lunch counter in the world. The last Woolworth lunch counter is right here in Bakersfield, California. And this, we need things like this that draw people back to this town. And I've given this speech many times. I'm going to say it one more time. As part of our legacy of what we'd love to, to accomplish before I pass away. Is for my kids who all live out of town right now or out of the country would someday go, you know what? Bakersfield's not that bad. I, I could see myself living there. At a minimum, I can see myself coming back and visiting more frequently. Because there's things to do. There's things to see. And there's, there's, there's some cool things happening and there's good people here.

• 17:08Speaker 01

  And that's, that's our goal with this building. It's, it's not to turn it into a PF Chang's. As somebody commented on.

• 17:16Speaker 02

  Really?

• 17:16Speaker 01

  On there, yeah. They said it looks like a PF Chang's based off of a rendering.

• 17:21Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:22Speaker 01

  I, I'm actually kind of flattered by that, you know, because PF Chang's does, I think they do a good job in their design.

• 17:28Speaker 02

  So we just need a statue of the horse, right?

• 17:30Speaker 01

  Huge horse in the front.

• 17:31Speaker 02

  We just need that. Okay. Perfect. I'll get on it.

• 17:34Speaker 01

  I actually, I actually like PF Chang's. I like how they, how they, how they've designed their restaurant.

• 17:39Speaker 02

  Well, the, the, the building, the outside rendering has, it, it looks like the, the renderings in the, in the photos. So if people are driving by downtown, they could definitely check it out and see.

• 17:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, definitely.

• 17:51Speaker 02

  It's a huge difference. Just on the outside alone. Like, once you go inside, it's, it's another world.

• 17:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, definitely. And I, I think the misunderstanding comes from the renderings, them looking at, at a, at a picture and thinking, like, the basement, for example, is something that's on the first floor, so replacing the lunch counter.

• 18:08Speaker 02

  I see.

• 18:09Speaker 01

  You know, it's like, nobody's digging deep, like, into these comments.

• 18:13Speaker 00

  If they remember the last 20 years, I'm, I remember going to the Wors before you guys purchased it, and it was falling apart. And I will just say, what you guys have done so far, it is awesome.

• 18:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, thank you.

• 18:27Speaker 00

  The space, the, just, somebody that has, has the time to put something into this community like this, and keeping it around is, is just awesome.

• 18:37Speaker 01

  Wow, thank you.

• 18:38Speaker 02

  Steven was not paid to say that.

• 18:40Speaker 00

  No, I wasn't. No. I took my son there the last few months that it was open, and it was, uh, it was kinda sad.

• 18:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, it, it was, you know, it's 75-year-old building.

• 18:49Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 18:50Speaker 01

  This is its 75th anniversary this year of it opening up. And the, the amount of work that's going into this building to modernize it is gonna get it going another 75 years. It's the only way we're gonna make that building sustainable for another 75 years. And to be able to turn an old department store, which, back in 1950, there wasn't this shipping-on-demand deal that, that retailers had, where you could have things shipped very easily, and there was this network of, of, of transportation across the globe, and imports and all this stuff. They had to store their merchandise up on the top two floors,

• 19:30Speaker 01

  because it took so long to make orders, and for those things to come in, you know, the train only came into town so, so, every so often.

• 19:38Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 19:39Speaker 01

  And so, you know, there were no drones back then to deliver your stuff. There were no ro- Robots to to help, you know, organize your warehouse. You had to keep it inside the store. So what that did is it created half, basically half of that building being useless. It wasn't, it wasn't designed to be occupied by humans. It was designed to store merchandise. Yeah. So for us to upgrade that so that it can be used for other purposes. It meant it, it, it sent this cascade of decisions that we had to make, including upgrading the elevator. We had to make a passenger elevator. There was no passenger elevator before. It was just a freight elevator. We had to, we had to have another staircase brought in, turned so that it could exit out

• 20:23Speaker 01

  on at the bottom floor and not exit on the, into the inside of the, of the restaurant. All those two things alone, I think if people just understood and took a second to just understand that, they would recognize, oh yeah, it's not as simple as just like keeping the checkerboard floor in there and, you know, keeping the antique mall. And that's the other thing. We were very considerate to the antique, um, uh, business that was in there. The, the shops that were in there. We worked with In Your Wildest Dreams, which is another amazing antique store. They're over on F Street, not too far away. We had a sign up that made sure that people were pointed in that direction. There was plenty of, of warning given and the previous owners were retiring.

• 21:05Speaker 01

  The previous owners were needing to get out of the, of that business. They were selling the business. They were selling their, their building and they were selling that they were, they were no longer going to be working in the antique business. So what, you know, I understand that the, the hate is directed towards us. But really what we're doing is we're taking that and we're taking the legacy that the previous owners had. And now we're just, you know, here we are almost four years later, improving it and making it so it's sustainable. And it's something that's going to add value to our city, all the entire city. We believe that this is a project that will benefit not just those who go downtown, but it's going to benefit those who are in Oildale, those who in Rosedale, those who are on the east side. Shaftor.

• 21:49Speaker 01

  Even Shaftor, even Shaftor, which is now like we're connected to Shaftor. Just like literally, it's like right there.

• 21:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, it is.

• 21:56Speaker 01

  So, uh, thank you for the love. We really appreciate it. Uh, go check out historicwoolworth.com and, uh, historic Woolworth on your social media. And, uh, if you can throw a nice comment out there, that would be, that would be nice. And all you haters, uh,

• 22:11Speaker 02

  Keep on hating.

• 22:11Speaker 01

  Keep on hating. There's people that hate, uh, Taylor Swift too, which is kind of mind boggling. Like you're gonna, you're gonna find some reason to hate something.

• 22:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:19Speaker 01

  All right, let's do this. We take a break. We come back, we're gonna bring on our guest, Sonia Dillon. She is the owner and administrator, director of patient services at Solace Healthcare. We're gonna talk hospice and healthcare entrepreneurship, all that stuff when we come back. Don't go anywhere.

• 22:45Speaker 01

  Welcome back. We're the Money Wise Show. We are hosted today. I'm Sherrod Wade here with Frank Lee. We're joined right now by our guest for today, Sonia Dillon. She is the administrator and director of patient care services at Solace Healthcare. This is a company, a local company that provides professional and certified services for hospice and home healthcare. A big topic that, uh, I've got lots of questions for, but first of all, welcome to the show, Sonia.

• 23:14Speaker 03

  Thank you, Sherrod. Thanks Frank for having me here.

• 23:17Speaker 01

  Really great having you. We, we like to bring on local business owners and to primarily hear their story. And, and then obviously you're in a field that requires an enormous amount of expertise. You're also a, a registered nurse. And a B S, what's a B S N?

• 23:35Speaker 03

  Bachelor's in Science of Nursing.

• 23:37Speaker 01

  Oh, oh.

• 23:38Speaker 02

  That's what I have.

• 23:39Speaker 01

  That's what you have too.

• 23:39Speaker 02

  That's what I have, yeah.

• 23:40Speaker 01

  It's kind of like, is that like a nurse plus?

• 23:45Speaker 02

  Bachelor's degree. So there's that associate degree and then the bachelor. It's just a year of research.

• 23:52Speaker 01

  Oh, really? Just a year of research.

• 23:54Speaker 03

  So as an RN, you can work with an associate degree nursing?

• 23:58Speaker 01

  Uh huh.

• 23:58Speaker 03

  But then bachelor's is more administrative, you know, you learn a lot more of that end of it. So your roles can be case managers, like higher roles in your nursing field.

• 24:08Speaker 01

  As if nursing, just the RN, isn't hard enough? Because isn't that already like, is it four years or three years?

• 24:15Speaker 03

  It takes almost four years to do it, yeah.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I know for my, uh, my days in, um, in college, I had to take an anatomy and physiology class. And there were a bunch of nurse students in my class that were way smarter than I was. And I, I was so glad at that time that I was not going into nursing. It was so hard. I did well and it's one of my favorite classes, but.

• 24:37Speaker 03

  One of the hardest degrees, they do say that.

• 24:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, anatomy and physiology alone were one of the harder prerequisite classes, uh, really for all nursing students to take. And then you had some camp classes and everything like that. But that usually, you know, made or break some of the, uh, pre, pre-nursing students.

• 24:55Speaker 01

  Oh, I can imagine. Well, Sonya, you took it a step further and you started a company, uh, here at a local company in healthcare. What, what, uh, why'd you do that?

• 25:06Speaker 03

  It was actually COVID. I will have to thank that quiet, that time when I, during COVID time, I worked. Of course, as nurses, you never, not your essential workers, you went to work. So I did that, but all the extra noise was gone, like going here, doing this. And then I just sat there and said, this is it. That's what I'm gonna do every day. Go to work, come home, watch Netflix, go to sleep, go to work. So I just felt like, what else should I do? And we actually hung around with a lot of family members and I have business, um, owners and entrepreneurs in my family. And they were talking to me and they're like, why don't you do something? I said, me, I'm so comfortable. Life is great. Kids are doing great. My job is great. And they're like, come on, you should do something more. Open your own company.

• 25:51Speaker 03

  I said, with what? So they said, obviously in your own field, whatever your expertise are. How we were talking and then the whole idea that, you know, people couldn't go to hospitals. People couldn't go to places. I'm like, well, then we can go to their homes and help them. I thought I was coming up with a new idea, but. That idea was always there for a very long, long time.

• 26:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 26:13Speaker 03

  But that's kind of what led me into doing home health nursing and hospice nursing to deliver the care in patients' home during that time.

• 26:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a very much needed service and it's required. But I imagine when you decided that you're going to go and start your own company and your own home healthcare, you had to do some research and see, oh yeah, there's other firms out there that are doing this.

• 26:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:41Speaker 03

  Actually, there were a lot of competition in our community, but we have a lot of companies that come from LA and then also take care of a lot of our patients. And I'm just going to be biased and say not providing the best care. So I was like, well, I'm a nurse, I'm local, and me and my husband have been living in this community for 20 plus years. We know lots of Indian doctors.

• 27:04Speaker 03

  We have lots of circle of friends that, you know, it can be that hard. And then during that time, everybody walked and quiet. So I listened to every possible book that was available on home health nursing, how to start, business and, and just educated myself. But we did hire a consultant to help us start. And during that process, I learned every day from doing a specific job, I became like do it all, like a generalist, not had to learn everything.

• 27:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 27:33Speaker 03

  You know, business aspect of it too, HR, how to start. And then I had my own full-time job. So, you know, you always, I didn't just call it quits and just went and started a company. I continued working at my job and to keep our finances and my family not out of any league of their work or nothing changed their life. And then I jumped into this and slowly, slowly gradually, gradually increased our company and made it grow and.

• 28:04Speaker 01

  So how did you do? That's the trickiest part I have found with entrepreneurs is they, a lot of people have a great idea. Time is usually the difficult, time and money. And so they're, they're trying to make that leap, you know, from getting that paycheck from somebody else to the, now there's no paycheck coming in the mail and they gotta, they gotta go into their, whatever they're doing. How did you, how did you make that leap?

• 28:27Speaker 03

  That was actually the hardest part, you know, I was really burning at both ends. I was working day and night. I was a nurse on call for hospice 24 hours. I was definitely off balance. There was no balance. I couldn't go to the gym. I couldn't do my regular routine. And so, but I, I continued it for a year and a half. Then I really, once the company started getting some referrals and we were able to hire a couple nurses and get them going, I really had to make a decision. Like, do I, you know, leave that and put all in my business and grow it? Or just kinda delay my growth and keep working? So like this would have slowed down our progress if I continued to work.

• 29:11Speaker 03

  And it was very hard actually, Sherrod, because I was two years away from getting my full retirement at Kaiser.

• 29:18Speaker 01

  Oh boy, wow.

• 29:20Speaker 03

  So can you, you can probably imagine all the negative talk that I got from everybody. You're crazy. Why did you do that? Who does that? Who leaves Kaiser? Why would anybody do that? Like, I was, you know, struggling with that, a lot of noise from family members, friends, and not sleeping at night. And then just, you know, I woke up one day and I told my husband, I'm gonna quit. I trust myself. I can do this. We're gonna do it. Is it okay? Are you got me? Like, if I fail? And so, you know, I just didn't, I just wanted to ask him. I knew in my heart I could do it. Like, I had the grit for it. So I just did it, guys.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  You took the leap.

• 30:03Speaker 03

  I took the leap. But I didn't take it just, plan just jump right in. So I did slowly gradu- gradually went to that decision until I could financially manage. You know, that's the mistake I didn't wanna make, like, put my family through really hardship for my dream.

• 30:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, sure. But your dreams matter and how, how has it been?

• 30:24Speaker 03

  It's been... So great. I am so glad. I read the, the growth that we've seen in the last few years. It's amazing. And the best part was, I think, starting any business, building a team. Like bringing in a team that is, that does the job better than you. I feel like at this point at Solace, the team that I have is marvelous. They're amazing. And I'm very thankful. Took me a while to find the right people, but now they're in my life. And we can't wait to see our growth.

• 30:56Speaker 01

  Well, that's awesome. Again, we want to thank you for coming. This is our guest, Sonia Dillon. She is the Director of Patient Care and the owner over at the Solace.

• 31:11Speaker 01

  Solace Home Healthcare.

• 31:12Speaker 03

  Home Health and Hospice Care, yes.

• 31:15Speaker 01

  So Sonia, you mentioned a consultant that you worked with. Is this a consultant that's specific to the healthcare industry or home healthcare?

• 31:24Speaker 03

  Yes. So they come and help you kind of set up, you know, like get your certification from CDPH, from Medicare, just the paperwork and guys. So they guide you. You still have to do all the work, but they at least put everything in, you know, prospect, prospect for you, like go do this. They're like a step by step thing. Yeah.

• 31:43Speaker 01

  Yeah. Give you some guidance, industry instruction and how to get things set up. That had to be incredibly valuable.

• 31:49Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah. I, they were amazing. I have to then slowly when they were leaving me, I was so scared.

• 31:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:54Speaker 03

  Don't leave me.

• 31:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, right.

• 31:56Speaker 03

  We need you. But they go on. So that's their job. They start up companies. And we really also got really lucky. We were actually one of the last companies to get approval or certification for hospice. There is a moratorium in California. And actually was until 2025. And I think it's continuing still. Because there's a lot of startup hospice companies and like heavy areas like Los Angeles, San Francisco area. So, you know, and I'm sure you've heard, there's a lot of fraud involved with Medicare and hospice companies. So I think they put everything on hold. So we were one of the Of the last one, so I can say I was lucky.

• 32:38Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 32:39Speaker 03

  That we got that.

• 32:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think I was speaking to someone that worked in a lot of fraud. Forget where, but he said the number one industry that is involved in fraud is is medical industry. Which was surprising because you would think it'd be finance or anything related to to money. It was like, no, it's like. Medicine was like, oh, wow, that's crazy.

• 33:02Speaker 01

  It must be because of the complexities and the billing. There's so many different like codes and things.

• 33:08Speaker 03

  And people don't know what they're signing for. People come and sign them up for hospice services. Get all the money from Medicare when that patient actually doesn't even know what that person's what they're on and supposed to be on. And then when they really need it, that's when they find out, oh, you were already on hospice. They're like, no, we weren't. I'm like, yes, you were. We can see there, you know.

• 33:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:31Speaker 03

  Stuff. So it's really sad. It's very, very sad.

• 33:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, especially when it comes to hospice care, right? You're you're dealing with. A very vulnerable situation and you, you know, you don't. It's it's just it. It's too bad that. You know, you have to think about money for a little bit while you're while you're in a hospice situation, but you kind of need to know how it's going to be paid for and.

• 33:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:56Speaker 01

  And you know what's going to happen.

• 33:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 33:59Speaker 01

  So then have there been, what have been some of the surprises in terms of starting up your own business?

• 34:07Speaker 03

  Finding staff. You would think everybody's looking for a job, but really finding the right people. And healthcare industry, you know, finding nurses, therapist was it's really challenging. It still is.

• 34:22Speaker 01

  Like a physical therapist?

• 34:23Speaker 03

  Therapist, occupational therapist, speech, pathologists are unicorns. You can't find them anywhere.

• 34:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:31Speaker 03

  So my recommendation, if anybody's listening and if your kids are really confused. What career to go for? Become a therapist, become an occupational, physical, speech, any type of therapy.

• 34:46Speaker 03

  Industries really, really well for them.

• 34:48Speaker 01

  Yes, I I I've given that advice to my youngest son who is studying to be a physical therapist.

• 34:53Speaker 03

  Awesome.

• 34:54Speaker 01

  And that is that and he's smart. He's smarter than I am and he he saw the writing on the wall, too. He's heard this for years, the the lack of of people going into those fields has created an incredible need. And so that's job security.

• 35:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:10Speaker 02

  There's there's plenty of opportunities here in Bakersfield and since because like you've heard, there's a lot of hospice, home health cares in metro cities. So everyone is moving there. No one's moving in Bakersfield. So again, opportunities are lined up out the door.

• 35:25Speaker 03

  And we're still like underserved areas, still a community. So we actually, the pay is better than outlying areas. The, you know, you get paid better by living here and the job opportunities are there. So we do have a lot of people that move for housing and jobs here in Kern County.

• 35:42Speaker 01

  That's interesting. So do people get paid more here than they would say in the Los Angeles area?

• 35:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly. Cost of living, too, is way cheaper.

• 35:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was wondering, it's beyond cost of living. It's just like actual, they get paid more and it's cheaper to live here.

• 35:56Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 35:56Speaker 01

  That's unbelievable.

• 35:57Speaker 02

  Because it's so competitive in those metro areas. It's like every other physical occupational therapist, speech pathologist is gunning for that job. So it's like, okay, we have leverage versus here. It's like, we have nobody, so we'll we'll we'll pay you.

• 36:10Speaker 01

  We'll pay you. We'll pay you well and come check it out.

• 36:12Speaker 03

  It is.

• 36:13Speaker 01

  Are you from here, Sonia, or how long have you lived here?

• 36:15Speaker 03

  Actually, I've lived in Bakersfield since 2001. My husband and my in-laws are from here. They are from Delano, California. Actually, they migrated from India in 1980s.

• 36:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 36:27Speaker 03

  So I've lived around a few places. I came from India when I was 14, into high school in Pennsylvania, came to California. My uncle lived here. So and then how I went to nursing school, then met my husband, got married, got married at a young age. Old school Indian parents, you know, they're like, just get married first, then you can go to school, do whatever you want. Sure.

• 36:54Speaker 03

  So yeah, that's kind of how my life started here. And and at that time too, like nursing was also very popular schooling because you get jobs really fast. It was short and sweet. As every Indian, I just wanted to become a doctor too.

• 37:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:12Speaker 03

  But then the road was long and I got married and I didn't want to put the burden on my in-laws and or to support me. So I took the fastest, quickest route. I became an RN and I've never stopped working since then.

• 37:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, it seems like you just really enjoy work. And you mentioned off the air that you have other companies as well. So you it sounds like you've got an entrepreneurial spirit.

• 37:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 37:38Speaker 03

  I didn't even know I had it. Maybe I always did. I just didn't hone it on it.

• 37:43Speaker 02

  It just took COVID to like.

• 37:45Speaker 03

  Really bring it. Yes. I always did something extra, you know, when I was like even with work, I taught dance classes, like Indian Bangra classes to the kids in the community. But that was more like a fun thing, not a really a business, but I learned a lot from that. Like I always did little, little different projects on the side with my job. So this kind of just brought it out and I'm so happy and actually very proud of myself. Getting myself out of the comfort zone and now opportunities are coming left and right. And I'm not scared to take them.

• 38:18Speaker 01

  Wow, I love hearing this story. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. So our hope of this show is to educate people. Not everybody is interested in starting their own business, but a lot of people have have it in the back of their mind or they know somebody who's trying to start a business. So just hearing your story is inspiring. It's inspiring to me. This is this is such a big part of our community and it's part of our our country's backbone is this ability to be able to create a business and and employ other people and build on that like it's.

• 38:51Speaker 03

  Yes, it's amazing. It feels really good. I didn't know that, but it actually that part is really enjoyable. Like, you know, you're you do employ people and it's it's very exciting.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, it is. Super exciting. Well, thank you again, Sonia. Thanks so much for taking the time coming on the show. We really, really appreciate it. And we'd love to get an update on next time you come in.

• 39:16Speaker 02

  There'll be more of these.

• 39:18Speaker 03

  I would love to. I just want to say one thing. If you're really thinking about it, just do it. Just complete your to-do list. That's what I would say.

• 39:27Speaker 01

  Well, and to that, it's, it takes a lot of work to start your own business. And doing the hard work and being willing to go through the hard work is the majority of the challenge. But you also need to be smart. And you need to, you need to rely on people that are smarter than you. And you've shown that. You hide your consultant. You're hiring people who are, you say are better than you. And you create that team. And that, that is good. Kudos to you. That's, that's a really challenging part.

• 40:00Speaker 02

  Yeah. You highlighted a great point there is that for Sonia, you acknowledge some of the gaps between this and starting a business and saying, okay, this is what I don't know. I need to find someone to help me with this.

• 40:12Speaker 03

  Yeah. Instead of just saying like, oh, I know everything. I could do everything. No. You know, if I really want to grow, you have to have the right people and right group. And you've got to meet the right people. Networking, networking, networking is the key. Also, what I learned during my time, you know, you can't just build it from your home and your closet. You've got to go out there and talk about it. And be, and meet people, like such as Frank and you guys. You know, and talking about it and sharing your stories and learning theirs and learning from their experiences.

• 40:45Speaker 01

  Yes. Yeah. Very well said. Super great. Thank you again. That's Sonia Dillon. She is our guest or was our guest today. She is owner of Solace Healthcare. And we're going to take a break and we'll be right back.

• 40:56Speaker 00

  Are you nearing retirement and currently working with a financial advisor? Are you not sure if you're invested appropriately? Call our offices at 661-847-1000 to sit down with a Money Wise financial advisor for a no obligation assessment.

• 41:18Speaker 01

  Welcome back to Money Wise. I'm Sharad here with Frank.

• 41:23Speaker 01

  That is, uh, Taylor Swift.

• 41:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, big, big smile on your face.

• 41:27Speaker 01

  I think that's funny. Steven does a great job. Best, uh, radio producer in town, hands down. No question about it. Steven's the best. Uh, Sonia was such a great guest.

• 41:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, amazing story.

• 41:39Speaker 01

  Such a cool story.

• 41:41Speaker 02

  Yeah, the whole upbringing and everything. Especially moving from, uh, one country to another.

• 41:46Speaker 01

  Right.

• 41:46Speaker 02

  That's always hard.

• 41:47Speaker 01

  And then not only to one country to another, but moving, moving to the east, east coast, basically. Like Philadelphia is very different than California. And then Bakersfield is very different than California. So it's like, you've got these different moves. And then, you know, somebody who's come here is creating jobs, multiple businesses. We have to have her come back on because as she was leaving, she brought up two other businesses that she has started since then.

• 42:11Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 42:11Speaker 01

  And they seem to be thriving and really contributing to the community. So that's really cool. Really, really cool.

• 42:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, and local.

• 42:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, we got a message here from a listener just a little while ago. It says, "Money Wise, I was born in Bakersfield and now 65 years later, I still love our town. If people don't like what you're doing, then move."

• 42:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, if you don't like it, get out of here.

• 42:35Speaker 02

  Thank you for that message.

• 42:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, thank you. That's really, really sweet. All right. Well, we've got a few minutes here. Frank, I wanted to talk about Amazon Prime Day.

• 42:42Speaker 02

  Oh, we're gonna talk about your shopping list?

• 42:43Speaker 01

  Yeah, my shop, your shopping list. You're the one that's got the baby. So you've got the...

• 42:47Speaker 02

  Well, it's all just baby stuff. Nothing, nothing too...

• 42:51Speaker 01

  Nothing interesting?

• 42:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, nothing interesting, man. No 75-inch TV or anything like that.

• 42:56Speaker 01

  Amazon being one of the, the world's largest retailers has really dialed in that the psychology of the consumer.

• 43:07Speaker 01

  Amazon Prime is a perfect, and Prime Day is a perfect example of that. It's turned into a buying frenzy that is now bigger than black, than the, um...

• 43:20Speaker 01

  Cyber Monday or Black Friday, which is the Friday right after Thanksgiving. And Cyber Monday, which is like the Monday after Thanksgiving, those are, those are two other like big shopping days. Well, Prime Day is, is actually larger than those two holidays. We call them shopping holidays.

• 43:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:39Speaker 01

  And it makes sense because there are about 200 million Prime members in the United States. Just, just shocking. That's a, that's a lot of, that's a lot of people.

• 43:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:52Speaker 01

  Two, two, it's like, it's like 180 million. It's, it's, you know, it's not quite.

• 43:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:58Speaker 01

  200 million, but.

• 43:59Speaker 02

  Still a lot.

• 44:00Speaker 01

  It's a lot. And they're paying what you and I are paying also for Amazon, which is $139 a year. Or you can pay $15 a month, which is $180 a year. I'm sure there's some people that are doing that. And they've had the membership for years and years and they're still paying month to month. You can save yourself $41 a year if you just go ahead and pay the one time annual cost. And obviously they're, they're, they're plugging into the psychology of consumer, which, you know, Costco and Sam's Club have already dialed into, which is. You get, you kind of pay this money already to become a member. Now you're part of this club.

• 44:38Speaker 01

  And you feel automatically entitled to getting a deal, right? When you just walk into the store or open up the website or open up the app. And the truth is, is that you're not always getting the best deal, even though it may sound like it. And within their environment, they're telling you this is a great deal. I, I would just caution you that it's not always the best deal. So I thought maybe we could give a few tips, uh, what you can do to avoid sort of maybe a financial harm. Or, or non-prudence with your money when it comes to Amazon Prime Day. Uh, and one of them is we kind of already talked about is which I'd recommend this going into any store that you find yourself buying.

• 45:24Speaker 01

  Steven has talked about this when he walks into Costco, you can't walk out without, you know, a shirt and who knows a gallon of mayonnaise.

• 45:36Speaker 01

  Instead, what you should do, Stephen, is have a-

• 45:39Speaker 04

  Not go at all?

• 45:40Speaker 01

  Yes. Either avoid it, or you have your shopping list. I'm gonna go in, I'm just gonna buy that thing, and I'm gonna turn around and I'm gonna walk out. And that can help, that can help sometimes, help you stick to a budget.

• 45:54Speaker 04

  Well, they put the TV and all the electronics right when you walk in.

• 45:57Speaker 01

  I know.

• 45:58Speaker 04

  Keep going, keep going.

• 46:00Speaker 01

  All the fun stuff. If you have some items that you need to have, like your shopping list, then, you know, track those prices ahead of time. It's really helpful to know, do a little bit of research ahead of time. There's no rush that you have to buy that TV, for example. Do some shopping around first, and track it for a while, and see if, when Amazon Prime Day comes along, if that TV that you want really is a good deal. And there are apps that are available out there. I think Amazon even offers a price tracking for Amazon. Have you heard of Camel, Camel, Camel?

• 46:36Speaker 02

  I've heard of, not that one, but I've heard of Honey.

• 46:38Speaker 01

  Honey?

• 46:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, or Keepa. Keepa, K-E-E-P-A, Keepa. These are all apps or tools that can help track pricing for you on different, from different retailers. And, you know, that way you can check historical prices to confirm whether or not it's really a good deal or not.

• 46:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:56Speaker 01

  So you've heard of Honey, is that what it is?

• 46:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, Honey, it was like a little add-on extension on the web browser, and I used that. So it's great that you brought this up, because, yes, you should definitely track days before, before like Amazon Prime Day, if it really is on sale.

• 47:10Speaker 01

  Right.

• 47:11Speaker 02

  Because we've, we've hear about this, like Black Friday and everything, it's like, is it really on sale? Because like, even at, like Dick's or something, I, I saw Nike's shirt. It was like $25 a shirt for $50. But on Black Friday, they, they worded it to where, oh, Nike shirt deal, two for $50. It's like, what?

• 47:33Speaker 01

  But it's the same price.

• 47:35Speaker 04

  That's not a deal?

• 47:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 47:37Speaker 01

  Gosh dang it. My last bit of advice is if you're not spending, if you're not saving at least $140 a year with your Amazon Prime subscription- Maybe you can drop that and wait an extra day to have it delivered, right? You don't have to have the next day free delivery. Don't feel like just because you paid that membership, you have to go and spend the money. If you're not using it, you're not getting the benefits or the perks, and there's a lot of perks that come with Amazon Prime, then don't waste your money. And use your money more in a way that actually brings more enjoyment to your life.

• 48:13Speaker 02

  Wisely.

• 48:14Speaker 01

  All right, well, there we have it, Frank. We did it. We did this show. Want to remind all of our listeners, if they've missed this or any of our past programs, they can go subscribe to Money Wise Podcast, commercial-free on all podcast platforms like iTunes and Apple and Spotify. And also remember these three things: be smart, be safe, and always be money wise.

• 48:33Speaker 05

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