April 13, 2025 • 58 mins
On today’s program, Brooke Thomson CEO of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts talks about the declining business climate index. Greg Ryan Senior Reporter for the Boston Business Journal examines building activity in Metro Boston. Catherine D’Amato CEO of the Greater Boston Food Bank shares the organizations goals and challenges. Mike Marshall of Marshall Wealth Management offers advice on when to retire. And finally, Hadley Douglas, co-owner of the Urban Grape wine store in Boston talks about the challenges facing small businesses.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the New England Business Report with Joe short
Sleeve and Kim Carrigan, a weekly round up and discussion
of the top business news impacting our New England economy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning, everybody. It is Sunday, April thirteenth, and welcome
to the New England Business Report. I'm Kim Carrigan along
with Joe short Sleeve and good morning to you, mister
short Sleeve.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yeah, good morning. Lovely weather we're having these days, huh.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Renal man, what is this weekend number?
Speaker 4 (00:25):
What?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I three?
Speaker 5 (00:28):
Rain?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Nothing like you know spring in New England, I say,
But it's supposed to change this week, Kim, as we
start heading towards the marathon and Eastern it looks like
you know, I.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Don't know if I've ever told you this, Joe, because
we've known each other for a long time. But my
grandma always used to say, if it rains the first
weekend of the month, it will rain every weekend of
the month. And she seems to be right. She seems
to have had this right.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
She should get together with my mother. You know, I
used to say that summer's over on the fourth of July.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You know, both of them so positive, Oh, goodness, graces,
we want to talk about positive. Wow, what a week
this has been. Yeah, and for all of our dear
friends out there who are investors in the stock market,
you know exactly what we're talking about, and if you're
a small business owner, you also know what we're talking about. Obviously,
(01:21):
the ride changed midweek. The President decided that he would
put a hold on his tariffs short of China. But
of course, uncertainty is the word of the day and
it continues to be the case. So this week we
decided that it was appropriate to really take a look
at what the effects of this uncertainty might have on
(01:43):
local businesses, and most specifically.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Are reaching and they're everywhere, and they're in every corner
of the state at this point.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, and you know what, I don't think that's going
to change all that much for a while, Joe, because
again the word is uncertainty. It almost feels like sort
of the damage has been done and now we'll see
what time brings. So this morning, we're going to get
started with Brooke Thompson. She's the president and CEO of
AIM Associated Industries in Massachusetts. Brooke is understandably concerned about
(02:11):
the manufacturing and what possible tariffs and uncertainty might bring.
So we're going to talk to her about the impact
of that going forward here in Massachusetts. Then we're going
to be joined by Greg Ryan. He's of course a
senior reporter over there at the Boston Business Journal, our
good friends. He wrote this week about how you construction
(02:32):
in this state has been low and tapering off, and
now all of this uncertainty is putting yet another layer
on this. So we're going to talk to Greg Ryan
about where it stands. And I know that he met
with the governor and some of her cabinet members. There
was a big press conference, and we're going to talk
(02:54):
to him about what the governor is saying about this
moving forward.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, well, you know, I mean, and we're hosting the
Bloomberg Business radio show. It seems like every week we
do a story about oh, new lab space being built,
new lab space going up here and there, And there's
a line in his article, and we'll be talking with
him just you know, a short time here talks about
new office and lab starts have ceased, not slowed, have ceased, Okay,
(03:20):
so that should be you know. Also in the second
half of the program, we're going to talk with the
Catherine Demotto. She is, of course, the CEO of the
Greater Boston Food Bank. And you know, I learned quite
a bit here, Kim. I had no idea that the
Greater Boston Food Bank is in one hundred and ninety
cities across the state, right, and this is a staggering
how many meals they serve a year, ninety million.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Ninety million.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I mean talk about, you know, the business of a
charitable organization. So no one knows it better than Catherine
to Motto. We'll talk to her about, you know, what
this climate means for her goals and aspirations. And then
of course there's the stock market, and there's folks thinking
about tiring and you're nobody. Nobody wants to look at
their four oh one k Please don't open it. Uh,
(04:07):
we're gonna talking with Mike Marshall of Martial Wealth Management.
Of course, we always refer to it as the silver tsunami,
as this graying population heads towards retirement and staggering numbers
of how many people want to retire. But you know
what has all this volatility, and of course, you know,
these equity numbers not necessarily going in the right direction,
(04:27):
what does it mean for people making that decision? And
finally talk about small business impacts. The Urban Grape a
wine shop at Boston, and we we've had them on
when we were doing Bloomberg uh, and it's great to
get them back. And if anybody really has the pulse
of small business in Boston, it's these folks. And we'll
(04:47):
be talking with Hadley Douglas about Urban Grape. And you know,
they also have a shop down in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So it's got a sense of you know, both of
the the northeastern cities and what's happening here, which is
going to be a real interesting take. They also have
just recently been at a small business convention, so they've
heard from a lot of small businesses.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Okay, as promised, we want to welcome to the program
this Sunday morning, Brook Thompson. She is the president and
CEO of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Of course, AIM
represents thirty four hundred businesses across the state, across one
hundred and fifty different industries that employ some six hundred
and fifty thousand employees. So talk about somebody who has
(05:34):
their finger on the pulse of the business climate in
the state. It is Brook Thompson. Thanks Brook for joining us.
A lot of things to talk to you about. You know,
we have the Business Confidence Index, we have a statement
you put out on tariffs. We have this letter that
you sent off to the governor. Why don't we start
with the Business Confidence Index and get the bad news
out of the way out of the way first. Again,
when we talk about Kim and I are talked about
(05:56):
the use of the word plummeting. You know, we are
with our listeners what the BCI is and what has
happened to it.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
Sure, So we've been doing the BCI or the Business
Confidence Index here at Associated Industries and Massachusetts for several decades.
And what it is is it is what it says, right,
It's our way of measuring confidence from Massachusetts business leaders.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
So we do it from across the states.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
And we break it down by various industries because again
we know that depending on what's going on out there
in the world, right, you could see EBB and flows
in certain sectors, but things might be going better in
other areas. And so it's really a way that we
can track locally how Massachusetts employers are feeling and you're
right when you said it's pessimistic. The interesting thing is
(06:48):
that in the wake of the election, we started to
see the Business Confidence Index sort of go up, and
for listeners as a frame of reference, anything above is optimistic,
anything below fifty is pessimistic. And so we all know, right,
twenty twenty four was about uncertainty. We didn't know who
(07:09):
was going to win the election, we didn't really know
where the.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Direction of the country was going to go.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
After November we started to really see a positive movement
in the BCI. It continued to track upwards month after month,
and then we began to see in March February really
which was tracking sort of what we were seeing in March,
(07:34):
I'm sorry, in post inauguration sort of, you know, some
movement in the opposite direction. And within the last two
months we've seen a ten point drop. So we are
now in negative territory around covering around forty six and
that is just to give context, the largest drop, and
(07:57):
we're at the lowest level we've seen since COVID. And
let's also put that in perspective, right, COVID literally the
economy shut down. So if that gives you a sense
of the mindset of employers right now. They are not
thinking positively about the economy.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So you've talked about the numbers, and clearly this is
a real shift. I'm sure you've spoken to some of
your members. What are they saying about it?
Speaker 6 (08:29):
Sure, so it's that word uncertainty, but it's gotten amplified
to paralysis. And so there's a lot of factors underlying this.
And I think again, because this measures Massachusetts, there are
some national and some federal factors at play, but because
a lot of what we've seen begin to get implemented
(08:51):
from a policy perspective at the federal level having real
negative impacts on our court industries here in the Commonwealth,
that is why you are seeing businesses say, Okay, this
doesn't vote well for me. I'm not sure what this
means for federal funding. I'm not sure what this means
for my cost of doing business. And you have to
(09:13):
couple that on top of the fact that we were
already a high cost state where businesses were struggling with
a lot of these competitiveness factors that drive up cost
like the cost of energy, the cost of healthcare, right,
and so you've got this compounding of high costs at
the state level with uncertainty around funding costs, what the
(09:37):
international market is going to look like. And that's really
where you see again, moving from uncertainty to I've just
got to not do anything, hold on to my cash
and see what the future brings.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Talking with the CEO and President of the Associated Industry
of Massachusetts, Brook Thompson Rookie were one of the folks
who append the letter to the governor. He basically Associated Industries,
Massachusett's a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Massachusetts Business Roundtable
in Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Tell us about that letter and
your message to the leaders up there in Beacon Hill.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
Sure, so you know, we feel the folks over as
you said at AIM. But then my counterparts at the
Greater Boston Chamber Masses, its Roundtable and Taxpayers that we
have to speak with one united voice as.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
A business community.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
And so our goal with this letter was to say listen,
the legislator and the Heally Driscoll administration took great strides
last session to focus on the Commonwealth's competitiveness.
Speaker 7 (10:42):
Right.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
We got a one billion dollar tax cut, we got
ten billion dollars in bond authorization for housing and economic development.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
We got movement on.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
Pay equity, we got energy, siting and permitting reform, really
instrumental movement on the policy side at the state level
to help not just businesses but our overall economy. And
so our goal was again to speak with one United
Business voice and say please keep that up. And the
(11:14):
end is really looking at twenty twenty five, right where
do we need to focus? And we highlighted four major areas.
One labor and workforce right that remains at AIM what
I hear every single day from members that despite low unemployment,
they still have open positions and they're more worried than
ever are they going to be able to fill those
(11:35):
positions with qualified talent?
Speaker 7 (11:37):
Two?
Speaker 6 (11:38):
How do we keep our core economics sectors like higher ed, healthcare,
life sciences, clean energy strong, particularly in the wake of
some of these changes at the federal level. Then we also,
again always, always, always, if we're talking competitiveness, we have
to talk about cost. And we know we have high
housing costs, we know we don't have enough housing, we
(11:59):
know we have high energy costs, but we also have
to look at where we can make change, and certainly
around childcare and the progress we've made there, We've got
work to do on unemployment insurance, but these are areas
we have to be laser focused on if we're going
to continue to win. And then finally, really just sort
of saying what we know the legislature and the administration
(12:20):
already know, which is in these really uncertain fiscal times,
the state has to manage spending growth really responsibly. Much
like I just said, our businesses are right because we
don't know not just what the long term future brings,
but what next month might bring.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So Brooke, here we sit, we have these tariffs that
are now suspended for ninety days. Uncertainty really is the
word of the hour. What are your biggest fears when
it comes to the business community at this stage of
the game. What do you fear may happen? Or what
do you hope doesn't happen?
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Yeah, concerning the interesting conversation, because we keep getting fits
and starts with this, right, we heard it in the
presence in aaug duration that this might happen.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
We got notice.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
About Canada and Mexico in February, then it was put
on hold, and it happening in March, and then we
have the pause again yesterday.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
What I keep saying is.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
A pause is almost, if not as detrimental to employers
as the tariffs going into effect, because just like you said, Kim,
it creates uncertainty, it creates paralysis. So even though there's
a pause of ninety days, let's break that down what
that means for our businesses. So I actually spoke with
(13:41):
an industrial contractor who's been in business for decades and
has weathered a lot of recessions, weathered COVID and thought
going into twenty twenty five this was going to be
their best year on record. They literally now were in
the beginning of the fourth months of the year, fifty
percent of their contracts are on hold. So that is
(14:02):
the reality for a business watch these fits and starts
to do so again, even though it's paused, it has
real immediate impacts on businesses. And so you know, for
that business, they're saying, what do I do?
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Do I have to lay out people?
Speaker 6 (14:18):
Do I have to close? Right? And I get those
stories time and time again and again I think we
have to break it down. You can't go find start
up a new plant to produce aluminum in ninety days, right,
Maybe you can try to find some different sources for
some of these supplies. But ninety days in the business world,
(14:40):
when you're talking about suppliers and these international contracts right
impact on the market, it really isn't very much time.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
She's Brooke Thompson. She's the president and CEO of the
Associated Industries of Massachusetts and we appreciate you sharing your
time with us on this Sunday morning. Up next for
to talk with the senior reporter of the Boston Business
Journal about building activity in Metro Boston.
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Speaker 2 (17:23):
Affiliated welcome back everybody to The New England Business. Report
we want to continue our conversation about the effects of
the uncertainty in the, markets you, know which have resulted
in the tariffs that were, announced and then we'll pulled
back for a. Bit our next guest is the senior
(17:43):
reporter at The Boston Business, Journal Greg. Ryan he's a
regular here and it's great to Have. Greig like. Always,
creig you wrote a piece this week about building activity
in Metro boston is already low and should these tariffs
take a fact and we're gonna we've sort of gone
from talking about the tariffs to uncertainty this. Morning there
(18:04):
could be no building. Whatsoever, so And joe pointed out
earlier there's a line here that, says you, know essentially
there's been no building. Anyway so where do we stand
on all of?
Speaker 12 (18:14):
This, yeah, this this is really. Significant so, Yes President
trump this week did hit the pause on. Tariffs but
THE us it's a lot of it's building materials From.
China so you, know home builders are certainly not breathing
aside of. Relief you, know as it is the materials
are you, know they increase significantly in, price you, know DURING,
(18:35):
covid and now you have the tariffs that are still
in place that are increasing. Prices so, yeah as you,
mentioned home building In massachusetts is, low is down forty
percent so far this, year and last year was was
already a depressed. Level so there's real concern among developers
and among contractors about what impact is going to have in.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Activity, YEAH i mean pausing the tariffs as he has
in some cases with some. Countries, uh you know THAT
i wonder how that you, know moves along in terms
of impacting exactly what you're talking about building. ACTIVITY i,
mean because then you'll stow line in your. Story And
kim AND i just talked about it, says, uh lab
starts have. CEASED i mean you.
Speaker 13 (19:16):
Didn't say slowed.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Down you didn't, say you, know are crawling, along you said.
CEASED i mean, that as you pointed, out that's pretty.
Speaker 12 (19:23):
Significant oh, yes, yeah, yeah office and lab there's there's nothing.
HAPPENED i, mean there are there are projects that, began you,
know a year or two, ago you, know when you,
know you, know shortly after the rate, hikes that are
wrapping up. Now so there are there's some work going.
On but in terms of new, STARTS i, mean there
is so much vacancy in both office and labs that
(19:47):
there's just there's just nothing, happening you. Do you know
there are still apartment buildings going, up although we just
talked about that that is, depressed and you are still
seeing some like industrial, buildings logistics, facilities that sort of.
Thing you, are you are seeing some construction. There and,
then AS i mentioned in the, story you, know usually
in in downtime for the real estate, industry contractors can
(20:10):
rely on you, know government and higher ed and hospitals
meds and eds right to pick up activity or as
a as a. Backstop but you, know because of you,
know of the funding cuts and the funding threats that
The trump administration has made in the higher ed and
healthcare sectors and as well as you, know CUTTING aids.
(20:31):
Estates that's in question.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Too.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
Now you, know.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
We've talked a lot with, You greg about the idea
of conversion in the, city you, know taking some of
this office, space turning it into, housing because housing is
such an. ISSUE i, mean it's certainly not good news
that housing starts are are you, know. Stopped do you
think this will have a big impact on that idea as? Well?
Speaker 12 (20:55):
Yeah Absolutely. So you, know, Uh hilly administration came out
a few months ago and said we need to build
two hundred twenty two thousand homes in the next ten, years,
so you, know twenty two thousand homes a year across
the state in order to address this housing. Crisis you,
know we were a few thousand below that even when
things were going pretty well a few years ago in
(21:16):
terms of construction, activity and now we're you, know if
we're half that, that you know THAT i might be
fortunate so and things could could get worse from. Here so,
yeah it's it's not looking good at the. Moment and
you mentioned. Uncertainty the other thing here Is it's not
just uncertainty over tariffs and how much building materials are
(21:36):
going to, cost but, this this new trade war is
also causing uncertainty what The fed is going to, Do,
like you, know are they going to cut? Rates are
they gonna you, know they have to balance you, know
concerns about inflation because of tariffs with you, know an
economic slowdown and job. Loss so that's another thing that's
that's making it hard for projects to move.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Forward Greg, Ryan senior reporter of The Boston Business, Journals our. Guest.
Great you, know obviously in the news business as we all,
are there are plenty of stories as a result of,
This And i'm, curious as someone like yourself who looks at,
this what are you looking at? NEXT i, mean as you,
said you, know this could get worse from, Here so
(22:16):
what are you looking?
Speaker 12 (22:16):
At the Thing i'm looking at now is how are
businesses going to react to this ninety day? PAUSE i
went to this. WEEK i went the governor held a
a meeting with business leaders across the state at the
State house to talk about, tariffs and ironically, enough during
the meeting is When trump announced the tariff. Clause But
i'm talking to business leaders as they came. Out they,
(22:38):
said you, know you, know one benefit of this pause
is that it does give you, know manufacturers and others
time to try to find new. Supplier, like for, instance
if they, were you, know getting a supply From, china
getting a product From, china And china's facing terris over
one hundred, percent you do have a few months to
try to try to find an alternative. Source So i'm
(23:02):
going to see to what extent that businesses are doing,
that if that's helping. Businesses but there's also also you,
know all sorts of problems around you, know you, know,
delays you, know long. Backlogs So i'm looking at the
fallout from you, know how this is impacting local.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Businesses apply a chain And, Greg i'm interested in what
the governor had to say to these small. Businesses, yeah you.
Speaker 12 (23:25):
Know SHE i was very interested to hear after the,
announcement you, know with with with you, know how how
much she thought the paracause would change, Things and she
said not at. All you, know she said, that you,
know the internity is still, there it's still. Chaos businesses
can predict what's going to happen in ninety, Days so
how are they supposed to? Invest so you know that
she said that the state in the coming days is
(23:46):
going to roll out some programs to help manufacturers and other.
Businesses she didn't have any details when she spoke at
the press, conference but she, yeah hear. Her she is.
Justice sounds like she's just as concerned as she, was
you know at the beginning of the.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Week you are also at another press conference last week
as well with the with the mayor and what was that. Message,
yeah you, know.
Speaker 12 (24:09):
The the global uncertainty certainly played a big role in
that conversation as.
Speaker 7 (24:13):
Well you, know the mayor.
Speaker 12 (24:15):
Is proposing to increase the city's budget a little over
four percent this. Year that's last year was eight, percent
so you, know the spending growth is going, down and she,
said you, know we're going to cut down on discretionary
spending like employee. Travel she mentioned that this budget breakfast
that's the you, know the breakfast platter wasn't quite as.
(24:36):
Robust but other than you, know sounds like she's not
looking at. Layoffs she, said if things really you, know
things go poorly over the next few, months you, know
maybe there will be a hiring. Freeze but that's where
she's beginning.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
The conversation at least all, Right, well these are uncertain,
times that's for, sure And, greg no doubt we'll be
talking about this for quite some. Time senior Reporter Greg
ryan from The Boston, Business, well thanks so much for
being a part of the show. Today up, next federal
budget cuts and skyrocketing food prices are putting pressure on
local food. Banks we're going to speak to the head
(25:09):
of The Greater Boston Food bank when we come back
right here on The New England Business, Report.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Kim And joe will explore more business news that impacts
Our New england economy when they.
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Speaker 14 (26:21):
Com hi, Everybody I'm Kim kerrigan And I'm Joe.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Shortsley if you want to be part of The New
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Available you can email us at Any Business radio at
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Speaker 3 (26:50):
Too and welcome back to The New England Business report
on This sunday, Morning april the. Thirteenth and this is
the spot in the program Where kim AND i pick
out a business story that we wanted to share with
you that perhaps wasn't really necessarily on the front. Page
and but you know this actually has been on the front.
(27:12):
Page and it's about the travel industry right and in
particular not only The United, states but The New england
region AND us expected a big travel, year but overseas
visitors are heading. Elsewhere according to The Associated, press THE
us tourism industry expected twenty twenty five to be another good,
year but international visitors so far in the first three
(27:34):
months they used the word. Plummeting. Kim you when you
use the word, plummeting.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It's it's that's not, good that's that's.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Never a good. Thing but as you dig a little
deeper into these, numbers they say that the traveler is
off twelve percent In march. Nationally But, boston As i'm
sure you're, No, kim it's all about The canadians and
they're coming To Cape cod but they're also coming To.
Boston and in terms Of, canada it is the largest
(28:06):
share of international business For. Boston and when you look
at some of these folks up there In. Canada they
quote this owner of a tour group Called Comfort Tour
canada based In. Toronto he said his company is canceling trips.
Regularly and then they quote him and he, says our
bookings have completely come to a. Halt there's no.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Interest, well you, know and this is one of those
far reaching situations that maybe people aren't thinking about they're
thinking about the stock, market or the thinking about their grocery,
bills but they're not maybe necessarily thinking about how far
reaching some of this trade war can, be.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Right because you think about when you pause the, Tariffs,
yeah the equities go, up but people make travel plans way.
OUT i, mean here we are In. April if you
ever went To Cape, cod you made your. Plans and
right now it doesn't look like people are.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Well, joe our next, guest knows all too well how
these difficult times are affecting. Individuals THE Us department Of
agriculture is canceled two point three million dollars worth of
food assistance to The Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance. Program now
those dollars are dollars that go to The Greater Boston Food.
Bank keep in mind that The Greater Boston Food bank
(29:20):
In New england is the largest hunger relief, agency distributing
more than fifty million pounds of food annually to over
six hundred. Agencies here to talk a little bit more
about this is THE ceo of The Greater Boston Food,
Bank Catherine. Dematto and it's, Great, catherine to have you
with us here this. Morning you guys are being affected
(29:41):
pretty dramatically by some of these cuts and these high.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Prices there have been major cuts in The Sedral Commodity
program known AS. Tafap this app is The State Commodity
program and it is two point three million in. Food
these are future orders that we had placed. Already for The,
commonwealth it's about three point five million in. Food and
the four food banks In massachusetts that serve over a
(30:07):
thousand organizations have alread been receiving federal commodities for, years
and these are products that would be highly. Desirable, aches, salmon,
chicken a number of can, goods and so these are produce.
Items these are all things that we will have to make.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Up talking with The Catherine, demodel she, is of course
the president of The Greater Boston Food, Bank, CATHERINE i
was fascinated AS i was reading about your. Organization Obviously
i've heard your name for, years, right BUT i had
no idea about your reach that you're in a one
hundred and ninety. Cities can you give us an overview
of The Greater Boston Food bank in terms of you,
know what is your what's your annual, budget how many
employees do you have.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
It's a, great great, Question. Joe we're a very large
organization with the largest food distribution program In New england
and we have about one hundred and thirty five team.
Members we serve one hundred and ninety cities in. Towns
that's about seventy five percent of the. Commonwealth and it
goes we go From Cape an all the way down
(31:12):
To Cape cod and the island so very diverse when
you're serving trying to get to The Margins vineyard at
trying to get To. Dorchester in terms of distribution as,
food and it's about one hundred million pounds a, year
almost ninety two ninety three million meals just For Greater.
Boston and that's FOR i apologize For Eastern, MASSACHUSETTS i should.
(31:34):
Say and these are, pantries meal, programs traditional, soup kitchen,
shelters after school. Programs any organization that's a federally packs
exempt nonprofit providing food to a population of, need either
here's a box of food to take home and cooked your,
meal or sit, down here's a, meal is eligible to
(31:56):
get food from The Greater Boston Food. Bank all that
food is. Free so that puts the budget about one
hundred million a, Year so we buy about fifty million
dollars worth of product that gets distributed out free along
with donated, foods federal, commodities state. Commodities so it's a
very big. Operation so if you could think of your
(32:18):
local food pantry in whatever city or town you live
in In eastern mass think of us as the, supplier
think of us as the entity putting on average about
eighty two percent of the food in that pantry comes
from The Greater Boston Food thing and about six hundred
thousand people are served each and every month through this.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Network, So, catherine you know prices were already pretty, high
AND i know that that was resulting in the fact
that there was a greater need and now you have
these cuts that you're. Facing you said off the, top
here we have to make this. Up how do you
go about doing?
Speaker 6 (32:57):
So so that three.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Five million across the state will have to be either
raised financially or we are talking to the state legislature
about looking at some possible growth in the state commodity
program to make up that. Difference but it will be,
harder as you both have noted so, well there's inflationary
(33:23):
price on food and as these tariffs go on, again off,
again on, again off. Again we are seeing an increase
between seven and ten percent on the wholesale buying that
we do right. Now And, massachusetts while it has a
terrific agricultural, community it has a very limited growing season
(33:45):
and limited. Products we don't grow oranges In, massachusetts so
we have to buy them from other places in The United,
states and those brokerage houses also bring them in from
other countries Like canada And, mexico so we will see an.
Increase the dollar just doesn't go as. Far and one
way to put it is PRE, covid your, dollar let's
(34:09):
call it was a, dollar but now where we are
five years, later you need a dollar twenty five for
that dollar to be able to deal with all the increased. Expenses,
also we had about one in seven individuals that were
food and secure BEFORE covid. Started it's now one in.
Three that has been at one in three for the
(34:31):
last several. Years we all anticipated we go back to.
Speaker 7 (34:35):
Normal we.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Didn't and this is true across so many, businesses not
just pantries and the emergency feeding system Across. Massachusetts it's
a new. Normal it hasn't. Rescinded it's a very high.
Need so we'll fundraise. More we'll talk to individuals like
talking to, you to share the story and seek also
(34:58):
both state and federal assystem and on these commodity programs
to do and you get the message out that this.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Matters, Yeah, catherine those are interesting stats. THERE i, mean
talk to us about the need and it is now
one in three and it was one in. Seven what
has happened sure that.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Difference you, know we all understand food, inflation and we
understand the gas, pumps we understand the cost of. Eggs you,
know those become really significant indicators of what's occurring with
your wallet and what you have to do to. Stretch
during THE covid, years there was federal dollars coming into
states to, help you, know to bring the economy. Back
(35:42):
but what we've seen is THE covid caused a lot
of folks to seek food that had never sought it.
Before we all remember the lines of cars and parking
lots going through and getting, food fearful of GETTING, covid
fearful of, dying fearful of losing a.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
Job and what.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Happened is those many of those roles off now and
where we are today we're seeing continued, inflation there's continued.
Fear it's, different but there's also continued. Pricing And, boston
you too know very well That boston And massachusetts is
(36:24):
a high cost of living city and, state and therefore
how much you need to be able to buy a
meal in this state is much different than other. States
we import eighty seven percent of our food Into. Massachusetts
we're not an agricultural, state so we have to pay for,
that to pay for that, transportation that, storage and we're
(36:46):
just in a very, uncertain challenging. Time inflation is not
going to go. Away need is not going to dramatically.
Decrease it will be in this uncertainty. Rider Boston Food
bank is committed to making sure that if you need,
food you get the food you need across Eastern.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Massachusetts, Well, catherine, listen thank you so much for sharing
these numbers with. Us they're important numbers and important for
people to, know and we appreciate you being a part
of The New England Business. Report, well we call it
the Silver.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
TSUNAMI a number of people that are turning sixty five
every day in this country and one guy who is
guiding people to retirement in this chaotic world Is Mike
marshall Of Martial Wealth. Management you, Know, Mike i'm really,
curious so what it's like in your office these, days
people screaming about their four to oh ONE k and
(37:42):
up and down and mostly down at this. Point and
what that's doing to people's train of thought is they
think about.
Speaker 7 (37:47):
Retirement it's a great. Question it's obviously a very very scary,
time especially for those folks that are already retired or
folks that are just about to get ready to. Retire
they've more than likely taken a very large hit to
their four oh ONE k or their nest egg in.
General so the problem with, That joe And, kim is
(38:10):
that when the market is falling and you're, retired the
income that you receive every month from your investments is
coming out at lower. Prices you're selling them each month
at lower, prices which is depleting your nest. Egg and
the scary part about that is that when you are
withdrawing money for retirement income during a fallen, market if that,
(38:33):
continues you can literally wipe out your nest egg in
a matter of. Time and that's the scary part is
that people need the income they don't have a. Choice
they've got to have this income to. Live so people
in retirement right now are really really frustrated and really,
scared to be quite. HONEST i, Mean i'm getting calls from,
people you know That i've had for clients for fifteen
(38:55):
twenty years that never call in during you, know a
correction in the. Market but this is a little bit.
Different the whole world is really taking notice of What
President trump is, doing and he's disrupting, everything and he's
certainly making a statement to the world that The american
(39:17):
people and The american businesses will not be taken advantage of.
It but you know this thing With, china there are
largest trade, partner and it's going to trickle down to everybody,
eventually not just. RETIREES i, mean everything is going to
cost more if you think about, it, Right tarris is
nothing but. Attacks it's a weapon for the country to.
(39:38):
Use and his, Message Donald trump's message To american Big
american business and, hey, listen we want manufacturing back in this,
country and we're going to give you a differ incentive
to import goods and services From, China, Mexico vietnam or.
Whatever but you can't just wean the country like THE
us off of that. Immediately it takes, time right because
(40:03):
think about the trickle down effect from you, know you
take an electronics, company just, say for, Example sony or you,
Know samsung or any of those big electronic Companies apple,
Especially they're getting a lot of their electronic parts and
other things to make their products Through, china Through. Vietnam
(40:24):
so it's an expensive. Proposition who do they pass these costs.
Onto did they pass it on to you, know the,
consumer or do they eat the cost of the tariffs
and make their profit. Less so it's a difficult. Situation
as you can, see the economy and the, markets two different,
animals are both being affected by this right.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Now so my going back to some of your. Retirees
obviously you know you don't want to get out while we're,
down by any stretch of the. Imagination but it seems
like to me this is a perfect. Example and we
had this example pull back in two thousand and. Seven
it really AROUND covid as. Well for, retirees the market
(41:06):
is not necessarily the safest place to be as certainly
with a lot of your.
Speaker 7 (41:10):
Dollars absolutely. NOT i MEAN i know myself PERSONALLY i
do not want my retirement success based on the performance
of the stock. Market, obviously you, know retirees do need
a piece of their nest egg in the market for you,
know to outpay taxes and, inflation but the bulk of
(41:31):
their nest egg in retirement should be in a principal
protected account where you cannot lose. Principle that, way, there
even during a bad time in the, market your nest
egg is staying solid and not falling with every withdrawal
that you. Take so it's one of those things where, Again,
(41:51):
kim this should be done three to five years before you,
retire not the year you're going to. Retire and that's
why a lot of folks who have not done WHAT
i call their transition, planning and that is when you're
transitioning from full time work to, retirement that needs to
be done over a period of thirty six to sixty, months,
(42:13):
Right and so once you get five years from, retirement
what we do is we start toning down the equity
positions for our clients well before they're ready to pull the.
Plug and so that way there as we get closer
to them actually, retiring we don't have the exposure that
a lot of folks have who did not do transition.
Planning if your full equities right up until the day you,
(42:35):
retire you're taking a, very very big risk because a
twenty or twenty five percent correction is very common these.
Days and so if you have a million dollars in
the market in your nest dad getting ready to, retire
and you take a twenty or twenty five percent, hit
you've got to make thirty four percent to make up
(42:56):
the two hundred and fifty thousand that you lost on
your nest. Day so if you lose twenty five, percent
that doesn't mean twenty five percent is going to get
you back to. Hole that just means that you need
to make thirty four percent to get back to your
even million. Dollars and that's that's a situation where if
you're pulling money out at the same time the market is,
(43:17):
falling you're creating an absolute nightmare scenario for yourself down
the road where you're probably going to run out of
money at some.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
Point Mike marshall's our Guests Martial Wealth management running a
long time, Here, Mike But i'm just, curious because you,
know these people are so stressed out at this. Point
how Does Mike marshall calm them.
Speaker 7 (43:36):
Down, well WHAT i say to them is, that, listen
nothing is, permanent, Right this is a temporary, situation so
we've got to weather this storm the best we. Can
What i'm doing with my client Is i'm, saying, listen
we've allocated x amount of dollars in your safety net
at the bank or in a money, market and rather
than pull money out of the market to provide your
(43:58):
monthly income right, now let's take it out of your
emergency savings every month for the next few, months so
that we're not depleting shares out of the market at low.
Prices this way, here it's more like WHAT i talked
to you about, earlier which is a principal protected. Account
they've got the money in the, bank that's what it's.
For they should use it during times like this when
(44:21):
to draw money out of their. Investment Nest egg makes
absolutely no sense at these. Prices and Hopefully President trump
will come to an agreement with these, countries but it's
going to take a little. Time it might take six
months to negotiate these tariffs. Away and you, Know President,
trumps he's not playing a game. Here he's. SERIOUS i,
(44:41):
mean he really wants to shake up these countries and
let them know that The american economy And american businesses
are not going to be theirs for the, taking and
they're going to have to you, know they're going to
have to do the right thing or otherwise we're not
going to do. Business all.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Right He's Mike marshall Of Marshall Wealth. Management up, next
we're going to be talking with the co owner Of Urban,
grape a wine store right here In.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
Boston you are listening to The New England Business report
on The voice Of BOSTON wrko six.' eighty Joe and
kim will be. Right back.
Speaker 10 (45:20):
Are you a brother or sister of One Of greater
boston's local trade unions and finally thinking about getting ready
to hang up your tools after thirty five years of working? Your,
tailoff congratulations you worked hard to build your retirement. Nest
egg but Now what let me help you break through
the nonsense and financial speak so we can get to
the questions that are important. To you as, you know
nothing gets built without a set, of plans and neither
(45:41):
will your. Financial future my Name Is, Mike marshall PRESIDENT
and Ceo Of Marshall wealth management and creator Of The,
marshall plan a comprehensive customized plan that will help you
answer important questions in all seven. Key areas you don't
have to do. It alone there is no cost. Or
obligation call us at eight five seven three four to two.
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(46:05):
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Speaker 2 (48:05):
Dot com as we continue our discussion about recent threats,
of tariffs, of course now on hold and the uncertainty
that that brings and the impact that it has. On
businesses right Here. In massachusetts we're joined by the co
owner of a lovely. Wine shop This Is, hadley Douglas
(48:28):
and hadley and her Husband Own urban grape and we're
so glad that you could be. With, us hadley, YOU
know i know that one of the tariffs that have
scared the living daylights out of me is the Idea of.
French wines I'm a. Sansa drinker the Idea that french
wines might, you know see. These tariffs obviously everything on hold,
(48:50):
right now but this impacts, your business.
Speaker 5 (48:52):
It does thank you so much for having me on
today to talk. ABOUT this i think that the more
we talk, about tariffs the more understanding there is from
the consumer about the impacts that they'll have on the
goods that we. All love, and yes wine is a.
Luxury good it's not an, essential item but it employs
In The, united states it's one hundred billion dollar economy,
(49:13):
and industry and so it employs a lot of people
in small businesses and obviously has a lot of fans.
And consumers so it really does impact a lot. Of
people when we talk about wine tariffs and tariffs.
Speaker 3 (49:24):
In, general well, You Know hadley KIM and i would
argue that wine. Is, essential okay let's just. Start, there okay,
YOU know i guess let's talk a little bit about.
Customer spending our customers spending at? This point are you
are you noticing a pullback or what are? You saying there's.
Speaker 5 (49:43):
Been a general Pullback. In massachusetts we also have a Store, IN,
Washington dc so in those, TWO areas i would say
there actually has been was a general pullback right before,
the election And then november was really very slow and
things picked up for. The holidays we've actually not seen
(50:05):
reduction in customer spending so far. THIS year i think
customers are very anxious to support small businesses and so
that maybe is making up for any shortfalls that there.
Might be people really are trying to move their dollars
from the larger box stores, to smaller more, independent owners
(50:25):
so that probably is making up some of. The shortfall
but what we are hearing about a lot is just
a crisis of. Consumer confidence so even, though yes the
tariffs might have been partially, rolled back all of this
bouncing around, and uncertainty it's really creatoring consumer confidence and
(50:45):
that ultimately is the real.
Speaker 13 (50:47):
Story.
Speaker 4 (50:48):
Here.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
Yeah absolutely what do you think that this could mean
to your business as far as passing on prices to?
Your consumers? How much what do?
Speaker 15 (51:00):
You, anticipate, well all the reality of tariffs is it
is a, consumer tax and the tax the tariffs that
were announced last week and then put into implementation were
the single.
Speaker 5 (51:14):
Largest tax Hike in. American HISTORY and i think that
it's really important for people to. Understand that and so
these are taxes that will end with. The consumer they
get passed on through all of the levels of, distribution
wholesale move, to, retail restaurant and then they end up on.
(51:38):
The consumer so it's very important for everyone to understand
that the end tax is. The consumer that means for
us that there could be fewer, People buying they could
be buying less, expensive bottles they could be buying. Less
regularly it also makes it a lot harder for us
to secure the wines that people we know people. Really
(52:02):
love so maybe our importers are not Bringing in, Sancere,
anymore kim and then we can't find it and we
can't offer it.
Speaker 4 (52:08):
To you so.
Speaker 5 (52:10):
Even though our store works in a way to have
many replacements for let's say specifically, on there, you know
we can find similar, bodied wines wines of similar. Similar
profiles there are a lot of people that love very
specific products and it does make the supply chain harder
to find thus.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
For people Talking With, hadley douglass a co owner Of
The urban Grape in Boston, and WASHINGTON. D c talking
about the impacts a business climate is having on, small
businesses you tell us about your visit TO the Us
A Small business chamber meeting you were.
Speaker 5 (52:45):
Just, at, YEAH, so tj, MY husband TJ and i
just got Back, From. Jacksonville florida really interesting, growing city
lots of innovation going on, down there and we were
there with the members OF The Us Chambir Commerce Small
business count for our annual meeting where we just talk
all things. Small business, and obviously, you know the main
(53:07):
topic of the two days where was tariffs and the
effects that. It's happening and we're very bipartisan group and
have small businesses that run the gamut from retail, to hospitality,
to manufacturing to, service services, travel companies things. Like that
it's very wide diversity in our small business group and
(53:29):
we don't always agree, on EVERYTHING but i can say
that one of us are in full agreement that this
tariff confusion is extremely bad for business in general and
particularly hard on. Small businesses so when, you see, you
know shoulder to shoulder alignment between all of the companies
(53:50):
and the people that are representing these, small BUSINESSES then
i think it's pretty safe to say that these are
policies that are not working for small businesses across the
country from coast.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
To coast and what was was there? Any conclusions, was there,
you know any kind of moving forward decisions made there
during that two. Day, conference well it really.
Speaker 5 (54:14):
Is less it's more, this trip this particular conference was
a bit more of, a therapy giant, THERAPY session i,
would say, you know just everyone really sharing stories about
the realities that. They're FACING but i think that what
a message of hope that came out of it is
that we are, all entrepreneurs we're all very creative, business
(54:34):
owners and we all will figure. This out but it's.
VERY scary, i mean we are all very nervous about
how to run our, businesses effectively because to run a,
great business you need to be able. To plan and
when there are tariffs on things you have on the
Water on monday and then they're Gone, on tuesday but
(54:55):
then they're Back on wednesday and maybe gone Again. By
friday you have no ability to plan, your pricing lock,
in contracts things. Like that so even though we all
are cautiously optimistic about the support that we will give
each other to see ourselves through this time and also
have a lot of belief in our customers to shop
(55:17):
small and support, smaller businesses you know we. Cannot plan
none of us can grow our businesses and add additional
dollars into the economy in this type. Of environment it's just.
Speaker 7 (55:30):
Not.
Speaker 3 (55:30):
POSSIBLE yeah, i mean we just Heard From, brook Thompson
THE president's ceo Of The associated Industries, in massachusetts and
she was, talking about well when, they paw When the
president paused the tariffs, last week that, you know the
market was, obviously positive but she said a pause actually
makes it worse in some ways because because it has become.
SO chaotic i assume you.
Speaker 5 (55:51):
Agree the chaos is. Just brutal, you know there is no,
clear vision there is no way to align your business
practices with the directives from. The GOVERNMENT and i think
you know this is not particularly an issue For The,
urban grape but one of our small businesses that we
were there with moved all of their Production from China,
(56:14):
to cambodia, you know basically at the request OF the.
Us Government then cambodia is getting tax. You know it's
like they're not leaving anyone any ability to follow the
directives that we're all trying to follow because the directives
are muddled, and chaotic and that chaos just makes it
(56:34):
extremely hard for businesses. To grow and the more, businesses
grow the more taxes we put into, the economy the
more jobs. We provide so this is really this policy
is really shooting our economic growth as a country in.
The foot.
Speaker 2 (56:49):
All right She Is, hadley douglas the co Owner Of.
Urban grape we thank you so much for being a
part of the show. This morning.
Speaker 3 (57:00):
That means it's time to talk about. Next week and,
of Course The boston Marathon, Is monday april the, twenty
first so we're going to be talking with the, Race
director dave mcgilvrey about this. Year's race but Of course
KIM and i want, to know, you know how does
this impact Business in boston. And Beyond so dave is
somebody who certainly knows the ins and outs of that
(57:22):
in the twenty six mile route there so That next
sunday On The New England, business report that is at
eight AM on Rko on, sunday Morning the Voice OF
boston am sixt eighty
This is the New England Business Report with Joe short
Sleeve and Kim Carrigan, a weekly round up and discussion
of the top business news impacting our New England economy.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good morning, everybody. It is Sunday, April thirteenth, and welcome
to the New England Business Report. I'm Kim Carrigan along
with Joe short Sleeve and good morning to you, mister
short Sleeve.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yeah, good morning. Lovely weather we're having these days, huh.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Renal man, what is this weekend number?
Speaker 4 (00:25):
What?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
I three?
Speaker 5 (00:28):
Rain?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Nothing like you know spring in New England, I say,
But it's supposed to change this week, Kim, as we
start heading towards the marathon and Eastern it looks like
you know, I.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Don't know if I've ever told you this, Joe, because
we've known each other for a long time. But my
grandma always used to say, if it rains the first
weekend of the month, it will rain every weekend of
the month. And she seems to be right. She seems
to have had this right.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
She should get together with my mother. You know, I
used to say that summer's over on the fourth of July.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
You know, both of them so positive, Oh, goodness, graces,
we want to talk about positive. Wow, what a week
this has been. Yeah, and for all of our dear
friends out there who are investors in the stock market,
you know exactly what we're talking about, and if you're
a small business owner, you also know what we're talking about. Obviously,
(01:21):
the ride changed midweek. The President decided that he would
put a hold on his tariffs short of China. But
of course, uncertainty is the word of the day and
it continues to be the case. So this week we
decided that it was appropriate to really take a look
at what the effects of this uncertainty might have on
(01:43):
local businesses, and most specifically.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Are reaching and they're everywhere, and they're in every corner
of the state at this point.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Yeah, and you know what, I don't think that's going
to change all that much for a while, Joe, because
again the word is uncertainty. It almost feels like sort
of the damage has been done and now we'll see
what time brings. So this morning, we're going to get
started with Brooke Thompson. She's the president and CEO of
AIM Associated Industries in Massachusetts. Brooke is understandably concerned about
(02:11):
the manufacturing and what possible tariffs and uncertainty might bring.
So we're going to talk to her about the impact
of that going forward here in Massachusetts. Then we're going
to be joined by Greg Ryan. He's of course a
senior reporter over there at the Boston Business Journal, our
good friends. He wrote this week about how you construction
(02:32):
in this state has been low and tapering off, and
now all of this uncertainty is putting yet another layer
on this. So we're going to talk to Greg Ryan
about where it stands. And I know that he met
with the governor and some of her cabinet members. There
was a big press conference, and we're going to talk
(02:54):
to him about what the governor is saying about this
moving forward.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, well, you know, I mean, and we're hosting the
Bloomberg Business radio show. It seems like every week we
do a story about oh, new lab space being built,
new lab space going up here and there, And there's
a line in his article, and we'll be talking with
him just you know, a short time here talks about
new office and lab starts have ceased, not slowed, have ceased, Okay,
(03:20):
so that should be you know. Also in the second
half of the program, we're going to talk with the
Catherine Demotto. She is, of course, the CEO of the
Greater Boston Food Bank. And you know, I learned quite
a bit here, Kim. I had no idea that the
Greater Boston Food Bank is in one hundred and ninety
cities across the state, right, and this is a staggering
how many meals they serve a year, ninety million.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Ninety million.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I mean talk about, you know, the business of a
charitable organization. So no one knows it better than Catherine
to Motto. We'll talk to her about, you know, what
this climate means for her goals and aspirations. And then
of course there's the stock market, and there's folks thinking
about tiring and you're nobody. Nobody wants to look at
their four oh one k Please don't open it. Uh,
(04:07):
we're gonna talking with Mike Marshall of Martial Wealth Management.
Of course, we always refer to it as the silver tsunami,
as this graying population heads towards retirement and staggering numbers
of how many people want to retire. But you know
what has all this volatility, and of course, you know,
these equity numbers not necessarily going in the right direction,
(04:27):
what does it mean for people making that decision? And
finally talk about small business impacts. The Urban Grape a
wine shop at Boston, and we we've had them on
when we were doing Bloomberg uh, and it's great to
get them back. And if anybody really has the pulse
of small business in Boston, it's these folks. And we'll
(04:47):
be talking with Hadley Douglas about Urban Grape. And you know,
they also have a shop down in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
So it's got a sense of you know, both of
the the northeastern cities and what's happening here, which is
going to be a real interesting take. They also have
just recently been at a small business convention, so they've
heard from a lot of small businesses.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Okay, as promised, we want to welcome to the program
this Sunday morning, Brook Thompson. She is the president and
CEO of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Of course, AIM
represents thirty four hundred businesses across the state, across one
hundred and fifty different industries that employ some six hundred
and fifty thousand employees. So talk about somebody who has
(05:34):
their finger on the pulse of the business climate in
the state. It is Brook Thompson. Thanks Brook for joining us.
A lot of things to talk to you about. You know,
we have the Business Confidence Index, we have a statement
you put out on tariffs. We have this letter that
you sent off to the governor. Why don't we start
with the Business Confidence Index and get the bad news
out of the way out of the way first. Again,
when we talk about Kim and I are talked about
(05:56):
the use of the word plummeting. You know, we are
with our listeners what the BCI is and what has
happened to it.
Speaker 6 (06:04):
Sure, So we've been doing the BCI or the Business
Confidence Index here at Associated Industries and Massachusetts for several decades.
And what it is is it is what it says, right,
It's our way of measuring confidence from Massachusetts business leaders.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
So we do it from across the states.
Speaker 6 (06:23):
And we break it down by various industries because again
we know that depending on what's going on out there
in the world, right, you could see EBB and flows
in certain sectors, but things might be going better in
other areas. And so it's really a way that we
can track locally how Massachusetts employers are feeling and you're
right when you said it's pessimistic. The interesting thing is
(06:48):
that in the wake of the election, we started to
see the Business Confidence Index sort of go up, and
for listeners as a frame of reference, anything above is optimistic,
anything below fifty is pessimistic. And so we all know, right,
twenty twenty four was about uncertainty. We didn't know who
(07:09):
was going to win the election, we didn't really know
where the.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Direction of the country was going to go.
Speaker 6 (07:13):
After November we started to really see a positive movement
in the BCI. It continued to track upwards month after month,
and then we began to see in March February really
which was tracking sort of what we were seeing in March,
(07:34):
I'm sorry, in post inauguration sort of, you know, some
movement in the opposite direction. And within the last two
months we've seen a ten point drop. So we are
now in negative territory around covering around forty six and
that is just to give context, the largest drop, and
(07:57):
we're at the lowest level we've seen since COVID. And
let's also put that in perspective, right, COVID literally the
economy shut down. So if that gives you a sense
of the mindset of employers right now. They are not
thinking positively about the economy.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
So you've talked about the numbers, and clearly this is
a real shift. I'm sure you've spoken to some of
your members. What are they saying about it?
Speaker 6 (08:29):
Sure, so it's that word uncertainty, but it's gotten amplified
to paralysis. And so there's a lot of factors underlying this.
And I think again, because this measures Massachusetts, there are
some national and some federal factors at play, but because
a lot of what we've seen begin to get implemented
(08:51):
from a policy perspective at the federal level having real
negative impacts on our court industries here in the Commonwealth,
that is why you are seeing businesses say, Okay, this
doesn't vote well for me. I'm not sure what this
means for federal funding. I'm not sure what this means
for my cost of doing business. And you have to
(09:13):
couple that on top of the fact that we were
already a high cost state where businesses were struggling with
a lot of these competitiveness factors that drive up cost
like the cost of energy, the cost of healthcare, right,
and so you've got this compounding of high costs at
the state level with uncertainty around funding costs, what the
(09:37):
international market is going to look like. And that's really
where you see again, moving from uncertainty to I've just
got to not do anything, hold on to my cash
and see what the future brings.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Talking with the CEO and President of the Associated Industry
of Massachusetts, Brook Thompson Rookie were one of the folks
who append the letter to the governor. He basically Associated Industries,
Massachusett's a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Massachusetts Business Roundtable
in Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Tell us about that letter and
your message to the leaders up there in Beacon Hill.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
Sure, so you know, we feel the folks over as
you said at AIM. But then my counterparts at the
Greater Boston Chamber Masses, its Roundtable and Taxpayers that we
have to speak with one united voice as.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
A business community.
Speaker 6 (10:28):
And so our goal with this letter was to say listen,
the legislator and the Heally Driscoll administration took great strides
last session to focus on the Commonwealth's competitiveness.
Speaker 7 (10:42):
Right.
Speaker 6 (10:43):
We got a one billion dollar tax cut, we got
ten billion dollars in bond authorization for housing and economic development.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
We got movement on.
Speaker 6 (10:52):
Pay equity, we got energy, siting and permitting reform, really
instrumental movement on the policy side at the state level
to help not just businesses but our overall economy. And
so our goal was again to speak with one United
Business voice and say please keep that up. And the
(11:14):
end is really looking at twenty twenty five, right where
do we need to focus? And we highlighted four major areas.
One labor and workforce right that remains at AIM what
I hear every single day from members that despite low unemployment,
they still have open positions and they're more worried than
ever are they going to be able to fill those
(11:35):
positions with qualified talent?
Speaker 7 (11:37):
Two?
Speaker 6 (11:38):
How do we keep our core economics sectors like higher ed, healthcare,
life sciences, clean energy strong, particularly in the wake of
some of these changes at the federal level. Then we also,
again always, always, always, if we're talking competitiveness, we have
to talk about cost. And we know we have high
housing costs, we know we don't have enough housing, we
(11:59):
know we have high energy costs, but we also have
to look at where we can make change, and certainly
around childcare and the progress we've made there, We've got
work to do on unemployment insurance, but these are areas
we have to be laser focused on if we're going
to continue to win. And then finally, really just sort
of saying what we know the legislature and the administration
(12:20):
already know, which is in these really uncertain fiscal times,
the state has to manage spending growth really responsibly. Much
like I just said, our businesses are right because we
don't know not just what the long term future brings,
but what next month might bring.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So Brooke, here we sit, we have these tariffs that
are now suspended for ninety days. Uncertainty really is the
word of the hour. What are your biggest fears when
it comes to the business community at this stage of
the game. What do you fear may happen? Or what
do you hope doesn't happen?
Speaker 6 (12:58):
Yeah, concerning the interesting conversation, because we keep getting fits
and starts with this, right, we heard it in the
presence in aaug duration that this might happen.
Speaker 5 (13:09):
We got notice.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
About Canada and Mexico in February, then it was put
on hold, and it happening in March, and then we
have the pause again yesterday.
Speaker 4 (13:16):
What I keep saying is.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
A pause is almost, if not as detrimental to employers
as the tariffs going into effect, because just like you said, Kim,
it creates uncertainty, it creates paralysis. So even though there's
a pause of ninety days, let's break that down what
that means for our businesses. So I actually spoke with
(13:41):
an industrial contractor who's been in business for decades and
has weathered a lot of recessions, weathered COVID and thought
going into twenty twenty five this was going to be
their best year on record. They literally now were in
the beginning of the fourth months of the year, fifty
percent of their contracts are on hold. So that is
(14:02):
the reality for a business watch these fits and starts
to do so again, even though it's paused, it has
real immediate impacts on businesses. And so you know, for
that business, they're saying, what do I do?
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Do I have to lay out people?
Speaker 6 (14:18):
Do I have to close? Right? And I get those
stories time and time again and again I think we
have to break it down. You can't go find start
up a new plant to produce aluminum in ninety days, right,
Maybe you can try to find some different sources for
some of these supplies. But ninety days in the business world,
(14:40):
when you're talking about suppliers and these international contracts right
impact on the market, it really isn't very much time.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
She's Brooke Thompson. She's the president and CEO of the
Associated Industries of Massachusetts and we appreciate you sharing your
time with us on this Sunday morning. Up next for
to talk with the senior reporter of the Boston Business
Journal about building activity in Metro Boston.
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Speaker 2 (17:23):
Affiliated welcome back everybody to The New England Business. Report
we want to continue our conversation about the effects of
the uncertainty in the, markets you, know which have resulted
in the tariffs that were, announced and then we'll pulled
back for a. Bit our next guest is the senior
(17:43):
reporter at The Boston Business, Journal Greg. Ryan he's a
regular here and it's great to Have. Greig like. Always,
creig you wrote a piece this week about building activity
in Metro boston is already low and should these tariffs
take a fact and we're gonna we've sort of gone
from talking about the tariffs to uncertainty this. Morning there
(18:04):
could be no building. Whatsoever, so And joe pointed out
earlier there's a line here that, says you, know essentially
there's been no building. Anyway so where do we stand
on all of?
Speaker 12 (18:14):
This, yeah, this this is really. Significant so, Yes President
trump this week did hit the pause on. Tariffs but
THE us it's a lot of it's building materials From.
China so you, know home builders are certainly not breathing
aside of. Relief you, know as it is the materials
are you, know they increase significantly in, price you, know DURING,
(18:35):
covid and now you have the tariffs that are still
in place that are increasing. Prices so, yeah as you,
mentioned home building In massachusetts is, low is down forty
percent so far this, year and last year was was
already a depressed. Level so there's real concern among developers
and among contractors about what impact is going to have in.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Activity, YEAH i mean pausing the tariffs as he has
in some cases with some. Countries, uh you know THAT
i wonder how that you, know moves along in terms
of impacting exactly what you're talking about building. ACTIVITY i,
mean because then you'll stow line in your. Story And
kim AND i just talked about it, says, uh lab
starts have. CEASED i mean you.
Speaker 13 (19:16):
Didn't say slowed.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Down you didn't, say you, know are crawling, along you said.
CEASED i mean, that as you pointed, out that's pretty.
Speaker 12 (19:23):
Significant oh, yes, yeah, yeah office and lab there's there's nothing.
HAPPENED i, mean there are there are projects that, began you,
know a year or two, ago you, know when you,
know you, know shortly after the rate, hikes that are
wrapping up. Now so there are there's some work going.
On but in terms of new, STARTS i, mean there
is so much vacancy in both office and labs that
(19:47):
there's just there's just nothing, happening you. Do you know
there are still apartment buildings going, up although we just
talked about that that is, depressed and you are still
seeing some like industrial, buildings logistics, facilities that sort of.
Thing you, are you are seeing some construction. There and,
then AS i mentioned in the, story you, know usually
in in downtime for the real estate, industry contractors can
(20:10):
rely on you, know government and higher ed and hospitals
meds and eds right to pick up activity or as
a as a. Backstop but you, know because of you,
know of the funding cuts and the funding threats that
The trump administration has made in the higher ed and
healthcare sectors and as well as you, know CUTTING aids.
(20:31):
Estates that's in question.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Too.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
Now you, know.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
We've talked a lot with, You greg about the idea
of conversion in the, city you, know taking some of
this office, space turning it into, housing because housing is
such an. ISSUE i, mean it's certainly not good news
that housing starts are are you, know. Stopped do you
think this will have a big impact on that idea as? Well?
Speaker 12 (20:55):
Yeah Absolutely. So you, know, Uh hilly administration came out
a few months ago and said we need to build
two hundred twenty two thousand homes in the next ten, years,
so you, know twenty two thousand homes a year across
the state in order to address this housing. Crisis you,
know we were a few thousand below that even when
things were going pretty well a few years ago in
(21:16):
terms of construction, activity and now we're you, know if
we're half that, that you know THAT i might be
fortunate so and things could could get worse from. Here so,
yeah it's it's not looking good at the. Moment and
you mentioned. Uncertainty the other thing here Is it's not
just uncertainty over tariffs and how much building materials are
(21:36):
going to, cost but, this this new trade war is
also causing uncertainty what The fed is going to, Do,
like you, know are they going to cut? Rates are
they gonna you, know they have to balance you, know
concerns about inflation because of tariffs with you, know an
economic slowdown and job. Loss so that's another thing that's
that's making it hard for projects to move.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Forward Greg, Ryan senior reporter of The Boston Business, Journals our. Guest.
Great you, know obviously in the news business as we all,
are there are plenty of stories as a result of,
This And i'm, curious as someone like yourself who looks at,
this what are you looking at? NEXT i, mean as you,
said you, know this could get worse from, Here so
(22:16):
what are you looking?
Speaker 12 (22:16):
At the Thing i'm looking at now is how are
businesses going to react to this ninety day? PAUSE i
went to this. WEEK i went the governor held a
a meeting with business leaders across the state at the
State house to talk about, tariffs and ironically, enough during
the meeting is When trump announced the tariff. Clause But
i'm talking to business leaders as they came. Out they,
(22:38):
said you, know you, know one benefit of this pause
is that it does give you, know manufacturers and others
time to try to find new. Supplier, like for, instance
if they, were you, know getting a supply From, china
getting a product From, china And china's facing terris over
one hundred, percent you do have a few months to
try to try to find an alternative. Source So i'm
(23:02):
going to see to what extent that businesses are doing,
that if that's helping. Businesses but there's also also you,
know all sorts of problems around you, know you, know,
delays you, know long. Backlogs So i'm looking at the
fallout from you, know how this is impacting local.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Businesses apply a chain And, Greg i'm interested in what
the governor had to say to these small. Businesses, yeah you.
Speaker 12 (23:25):
Know SHE i was very interested to hear after the,
announcement you, know with with with you, know how how
much she thought the paracause would change, Things and she
said not at. All you, know she said, that you,
know the internity is still, there it's still. Chaos businesses
can predict what's going to happen in ninety, Days so
how are they supposed to? Invest so you know that
she said that the state in the coming days is
(23:46):
going to roll out some programs to help manufacturers and other.
Businesses she didn't have any details when she spoke at
the press, conference but she, yeah hear. Her she is.
Justice sounds like she's just as concerned as she, was
you know at the beginning of the.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Week you are also at another press conference last week
as well with the with the mayor and what was that. Message,
yeah you, know.
Speaker 12 (24:09):
The the global uncertainty certainly played a big role in
that conversation as.
Speaker 7 (24:13):
Well you, know the mayor.
Speaker 12 (24:15):
Is proposing to increase the city's budget a little over
four percent this. Year that's last year was eight, percent
so you, know the spending growth is going, down and she,
said you, know we're going to cut down on discretionary
spending like employee. Travel she mentioned that this budget breakfast
that's the you, know the breakfast platter wasn't quite as.
(24:36):
Robust but other than you, know sounds like she's not
looking at. Layoffs she, said if things really you, know
things go poorly over the next few, months you, know
maybe there will be a hiring. Freeze but that's where
she's beginning.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
The conversation at least all, Right, well these are uncertain,
times that's for, sure And, greg no doubt we'll be
talking about this for quite some. Time senior Reporter Greg
ryan from The Boston, Business, well thanks so much for
being a part of the show. Today up, next federal
budget cuts and skyrocketing food prices are putting pressure on
local food. Banks we're going to speak to the head
(25:09):
of The Greater Boston Food bank when we come back
right here on The New England Business, Report.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Kim And joe will explore more business news that impacts
Our New england economy when they.
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Speaker 14 (26:21):
Com hi, Everybody I'm Kim kerrigan And I'm Joe.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Shortsley if you want to be part of The New
England Business, report sponsorships are still.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Available you can email us at Any Business radio at
gmail dot.
Speaker 13 (26:42):
Com that's Any Business radio all one word at gmail
dot com and we'll get your business on the show.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Too and welcome back to The New England Business report
on This sunday, Morning april the. Thirteenth and this is
the spot in the program Where kim AND i pick
out a business story that we wanted to share with
you that perhaps wasn't really necessarily on the front. Page
and but you know this actually has been on the front.
(27:12):
Page and it's about the travel industry right and in
particular not only The United, states but The New england
region AND us expected a big travel, year but overseas
visitors are heading. Elsewhere according to The Associated, press THE
us tourism industry expected twenty twenty five to be another good,
year but international visitors so far in the first three
(27:34):
months they used the word. Plummeting. Kim you when you
use the word, plummeting.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
It's it's that's not, good that's that's.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Never a good. Thing but as you dig a little
deeper into these, numbers they say that the traveler is
off twelve percent In march. Nationally But, boston As i'm
sure you're, No, kim it's all about The canadians and
they're coming To Cape cod but they're also coming To.
Boston and in terms Of, canada it is the largest
(28:06):
share of international business For. Boston and when you look
at some of these folks up there In. Canada they
quote this owner of a tour group Called Comfort Tour
canada based In. Toronto he said his company is canceling trips.
Regularly and then they quote him and he, says our
bookings have completely come to a. Halt there's no.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Interest, well you, know and this is one of those
far reaching situations that maybe people aren't thinking about they're
thinking about the stock, market or the thinking about their grocery,
bills but they're not maybe necessarily thinking about how far
reaching some of this trade war can, be.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Right because you think about when you pause the, Tariffs,
yeah the equities go, up but people make travel plans way.
OUT i, mean here we are In. April if you
ever went To Cape, cod you made your. Plans and
right now it doesn't look like people are.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Well, joe our next, guest knows all too well how
these difficult times are affecting. Individuals THE Us department Of
agriculture is canceled two point three million dollars worth of
food assistance to The Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance. Program now
those dollars are dollars that go to The Greater Boston Food.
Bank keep in mind that The Greater Boston Food bank
(29:20):
In New england is the largest hunger relief, agency distributing
more than fifty million pounds of food annually to over
six hundred. Agencies here to talk a little bit more
about this is THE ceo of The Greater Boston Food,
Bank Catherine. Dematto and it's, Great, catherine to have you
with us here this. Morning you guys are being affected
(29:41):
pretty dramatically by some of these cuts and these high.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Prices there have been major cuts in The Sedral Commodity
program known AS. Tafap this app is The State Commodity
program and it is two point three million in. Food
these are future orders that we had placed. Already for The,
commonwealth it's about three point five million in. Food and
the four food banks In massachusetts that serve over a
(30:07):
thousand organizations have alread been receiving federal commodities for, years
and these are products that would be highly. Desirable, aches, salmon,
chicken a number of can, goods and so these are produce.
Items these are all things that we will have to make.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Up talking with The Catherine, demodel she, is of course
the president of The Greater Boston Food, Bank, CATHERINE i
was fascinated AS i was reading about your. Organization Obviously
i've heard your name for, years, right BUT i had
no idea about your reach that you're in a one
hundred and ninety. Cities can you give us an overview
of The Greater Boston Food bank in terms of you,
know what is your what's your annual, budget how many
employees do you have.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
It's a, great great, Question. Joe we're a very large
organization with the largest food distribution program In New england
and we have about one hundred and thirty five team.
Members we serve one hundred and ninety cities in. Towns
that's about seventy five percent of the. Commonwealth and it
goes we go From Cape an all the way down
(31:12):
To Cape cod and the island so very diverse when
you're serving trying to get to The Margins vineyard at
trying to get To. Dorchester in terms of distribution as,
food and it's about one hundred million pounds a, year
almost ninety two ninety three million meals just For Greater.
Boston and that's FOR i apologize For Eastern, MASSACHUSETTS i should.
(31:34):
Say and these are, pantries meal, programs traditional, soup kitchen,
shelters after school. Programs any organization that's a federally packs
exempt nonprofit providing food to a population of, need either
here's a box of food to take home and cooked your,
meal or sit, down here's a, meal is eligible to
(31:56):
get food from The Greater Boston Food. Bank all that
food is. Free so that puts the budget about one
hundred million a, Year so we buy about fifty million
dollars worth of product that gets distributed out free along
with donated, foods federal, commodities state. Commodities so it's a
very big. Operation so if you could think of your
(32:18):
local food pantry in whatever city or town you live
in In eastern mass think of us as the, supplier
think of us as the entity putting on average about
eighty two percent of the food in that pantry comes
from The Greater Boston Food thing and about six hundred
thousand people are served each and every month through this.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Network, So, catherine you know prices were already pretty, high
AND i know that that was resulting in the fact
that there was a greater need and now you have
these cuts that you're. Facing you said off the, top
here we have to make this. Up how do you
go about doing?
Speaker 6 (32:57):
So so that three.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Five million across the state will have to be either
raised financially or we are talking to the state legislature
about looking at some possible growth in the state commodity
program to make up that. Difference but it will be,
harder as you both have noted so, well there's inflationary
(33:23):
price on food and as these tariffs go on, again off,
again on, again off. Again we are seeing an increase
between seven and ten percent on the wholesale buying that
we do right. Now And, massachusetts while it has a
terrific agricultural, community it has a very limited growing season
(33:45):
and limited. Products we don't grow oranges In, massachusetts so
we have to buy them from other places in The United,
states and those brokerage houses also bring them in from
other countries Like canada And, mexico so we will see an.
Increase the dollar just doesn't go as. Far and one
way to put it is PRE, covid your, dollar let's
(34:09):
call it was a, dollar but now where we are
five years, later you need a dollar twenty five for
that dollar to be able to deal with all the increased. Expenses,
also we had about one in seven individuals that were
food and secure BEFORE covid. Started it's now one in.
Three that has been at one in three for the
(34:31):
last several. Years we all anticipated we go back to.
Speaker 7 (34:35):
Normal we.
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Didn't and this is true across so many, businesses not
just pantries and the emergency feeding system Across. Massachusetts it's
a new. Normal it hasn't. Rescinded it's a very high.
Need so we'll fundraise. More we'll talk to individuals like
talking to, you to share the story and seek also
(34:58):
both state and federal assystem and on these commodity programs
to do and you get the message out that this.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Matters, Yeah, catherine those are interesting stats. THERE i, mean
talk to us about the need and it is now
one in three and it was one in. Seven what
has happened sure that.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Difference you, know we all understand food, inflation and we
understand the gas, pumps we understand the cost of. Eggs you,
know those become really significant indicators of what's occurring with
your wallet and what you have to do to. Stretch
during THE covid, years there was federal dollars coming into
states to, help you, know to bring the economy. Back
(35:42):
but what we've seen is THE covid caused a lot
of folks to seek food that had never sought it.
Before we all remember the lines of cars and parking
lots going through and getting, food fearful of GETTING, covid
fearful of, dying fearful of losing a.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
Job and what.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Happened is those many of those roles off now and
where we are today we're seeing continued, inflation there's continued.
Fear it's, different but there's also continued. Pricing And, boston
you too know very well That boston And massachusetts is
(36:24):
a high cost of living city and, state and therefore
how much you need to be able to buy a
meal in this state is much different than other. States
we import eighty seven percent of our food Into. Massachusetts
we're not an agricultural, state so we have to pay for,
that to pay for that, transportation that, storage and we're
(36:46):
just in a very, uncertain challenging. Time inflation is not
going to go. Away need is not going to dramatically.
Decrease it will be in this uncertainty. Rider Boston Food
bank is committed to making sure that if you need,
food you get the food you need across Eastern.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Massachusetts, Well, catherine, listen thank you so much for sharing
these numbers with. Us they're important numbers and important for
people to, know and we appreciate you being a part
of The New England Business. Report, well we call it
the Silver.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
TSUNAMI a number of people that are turning sixty five
every day in this country and one guy who is
guiding people to retirement in this chaotic world Is Mike
marshall Of Martial Wealth. Management you, Know, Mike i'm really,
curious so what it's like in your office these, days
people screaming about their four to oh ONE k and
(37:42):
up and down and mostly down at this. Point and
what that's doing to people's train of thought is they
think about.
Speaker 7 (37:47):
Retirement it's a great. Question it's obviously a very very scary,
time especially for those folks that are already retired or
folks that are just about to get ready to. Retire
they've more than likely taken a very large hit to
their four oh ONE k or their nest egg in.
General so the problem with, That joe And, kim is
(38:10):
that when the market is falling and you're, retired the
income that you receive every month from your investments is
coming out at lower. Prices you're selling them each month
at lower, prices which is depleting your nest. Egg and
the scary part about that is that when you are
withdrawing money for retirement income during a fallen, market if that,
(38:33):
continues you can literally wipe out your nest egg in
a matter of. Time and that's the scary part is
that people need the income they don't have a. Choice
they've got to have this income to. Live so people
in retirement right now are really really frustrated and really,
scared to be quite. HONEST i, Mean i'm getting calls from,
people you know That i've had for clients for fifteen
(38:55):
twenty years that never call in during you, know a
correction in the. Market but this is a little bit.
Different the whole world is really taking notice of What
President trump is, doing and he's disrupting, everything and he's
certainly making a statement to the world that The american
(39:17):
people and The american businesses will not be taken advantage of.
It but you know this thing With, china there are
largest trade, partner and it's going to trickle down to everybody,
eventually not just. RETIREES i, mean everything is going to
cost more if you think about, it, Right tarris is
nothing but. Attacks it's a weapon for the country to.
(39:38):
Use and his, Message Donald trump's message To american Big
american business and, hey, listen we want manufacturing back in this,
country and we're going to give you a differ incentive
to import goods and services From, China, Mexico vietnam or.
Whatever but you can't just wean the country like THE
us off of that. Immediately it takes, time right because
(40:03):
think about the trickle down effect from you, know you
take an electronics, company just, say for, Example sony or you,
Know samsung or any of those big electronic Companies apple,
Especially they're getting a lot of their electronic parts and
other things to make their products Through, china Through. Vietnam
(40:24):
so it's an expensive. Proposition who do they pass these costs.
Onto did they pass it on to you, know the,
consumer or do they eat the cost of the tariffs
and make their profit. Less so it's a difficult. Situation
as you can, see the economy and the, markets two different,
animals are both being affected by this right.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Now so my going back to some of your. Retirees
obviously you know you don't want to get out while we're,
down by any stretch of the. Imagination but it seems
like to me this is a perfect. Example and we
had this example pull back in two thousand and. Seven
it really AROUND covid as. Well for, retirees the market
(41:06):
is not necessarily the safest place to be as certainly
with a lot of your.
Speaker 7 (41:10):
Dollars absolutely. NOT i MEAN i know myself PERSONALLY i
do not want my retirement success based on the performance
of the stock. Market, obviously you, know retirees do need
a piece of their nest egg in the market for you,
know to outpay taxes and, inflation but the bulk of
(41:31):
their nest egg in retirement should be in a principal
protected account where you cannot lose. Principle that, way, there
even during a bad time in the, market your nest
egg is staying solid and not falling with every withdrawal
that you. Take so it's one of those things where, Again,
(41:51):
kim this should be done three to five years before you,
retire not the year you're going to. Retire and that's
why a lot of folks who have not done WHAT
i call their transition, planning and that is when you're
transitioning from full time work to, retirement that needs to
be done over a period of thirty six to sixty, months,
(42:13):
Right and so once you get five years from, retirement
what we do is we start toning down the equity
positions for our clients well before they're ready to pull the.
Plug and so that way there as we get closer
to them actually, retiring we don't have the exposure that
a lot of folks have who did not do transition.
Planning if your full equities right up until the day you,
(42:35):
retire you're taking a, very very big risk because a
twenty or twenty five percent correction is very common these.
Days and so if you have a million dollars in
the market in your nest dad getting ready to, retire
and you take a twenty or twenty five percent, hit
you've got to make thirty four percent to make up
(42:56):
the two hundred and fifty thousand that you lost on
your nest. Day so if you lose twenty five, percent
that doesn't mean twenty five percent is going to get
you back to. Hole that just means that you need
to make thirty four percent to get back to your
even million. Dollars and that's that's a situation where if
you're pulling money out at the same time the market is,
(43:17):
falling you're creating an absolute nightmare scenario for yourself down
the road where you're probably going to run out of
money at some.
Speaker 3 (43:25):
Point Mike marshall's our Guests Martial Wealth management running a
long time, Here, Mike But i'm just, curious because you,
know these people are so stressed out at this. Point
how Does Mike marshall calm them.
Speaker 7 (43:36):
Down, well WHAT i say to them is, that, listen
nothing is, permanent, Right this is a temporary, situation so
we've got to weather this storm the best we. Can
What i'm doing with my client Is i'm, saying, listen
we've allocated x amount of dollars in your safety net
at the bank or in a money, market and rather
than pull money out of the market to provide your
(43:58):
monthly income right, now let's take it out of your
emergency savings every month for the next few, months so
that we're not depleting shares out of the market at low.
Prices this way, here it's more like WHAT i talked
to you about, earlier which is a principal protected. Account
they've got the money in the, bank that's what it's.
For they should use it during times like this when
(44:21):
to draw money out of their. Investment Nest egg makes
absolutely no sense at these. Prices and Hopefully President trump
will come to an agreement with these, countries but it's
going to take a little. Time it might take six
months to negotiate these tariffs. Away and you, Know President,
trumps he's not playing a game. Here he's. SERIOUS i,
(44:41):
mean he really wants to shake up these countries and
let them know that The american economy And american businesses
are not going to be theirs for the, taking and
they're going to have to you, know they're going to
have to do the right thing or otherwise we're not
going to do. Business all.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Right He's Mike marshall Of Marshall Wealth. Management up, next
we're going to be talking with the co owner Of Urban,
grape a wine store right here In.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
Boston you are listening to The New England Business report
on The voice Of BOSTON wrko six.' eighty Joe and
kim will be. Right back.
Speaker 10 (45:20):
Are you a brother or sister of One Of greater
boston's local trade unions and finally thinking about getting ready
to hang up your tools after thirty five years of working? Your,
tailoff congratulations you worked hard to build your retirement. Nest
egg but Now what let me help you break through
the nonsense and financial speak so we can get to
the questions that are important. To you as, you know
nothing gets built without a set, of plans and neither
(45:41):
will your. Financial future my Name Is, Mike marshall PRESIDENT
and Ceo Of Marshall wealth management and creator Of The,
marshall plan a comprehensive customized plan that will help you
answer important questions in all seven. Key areas you don't
have to do. It alone there is no cost. Or
obligation call us at eight five seven three four to two.
Ten thirty that's eight five seven three four two. Ten
(46:05):
thirty well check us out Online at marshalwealth, Dot com
marshall with Two ls Marshalwealth.
Speaker 11 (46:11):
Dot com advisory services Offered Through capital Analysts Or Linkeln
Investment Registered. Investment advisors securities Offered Through Lincoln Investment broker
dealer MEMBER. Finras Ipc lincoln Investment, Dot Com Marshal wealth
management and the above firms are independent and. Not affiliated
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Speaker 2 (48:05):
Dot com as we continue our discussion about recent threats,
of tariffs, of course now on hold and the uncertainty
that that brings and the impact that it has. On
businesses right Here. In massachusetts we're joined by the co
owner of a lovely. Wine shop This Is, hadley Douglas
(48:28):
and hadley and her Husband Own urban grape and we're
so glad that you could be. With, us hadley, YOU
know i know that one of the tariffs that have
scared the living daylights out of me is the Idea of.
French wines I'm a. Sansa drinker the Idea that french
wines might, you know see. These tariffs obviously everything on hold,
(48:50):
right now but this impacts, your business.
Speaker 5 (48:52):
It does thank you so much for having me on
today to talk. ABOUT this i think that the more
we talk, about tariffs the more understanding there is from
the consumer about the impacts that they'll have on the
goods that we. All love, and yes wine is a.
Luxury good it's not an, essential item but it employs
In The, united states it's one hundred billion dollar economy,
(49:13):
and industry and so it employs a lot of people
in small businesses and obviously has a lot of fans.
And consumers so it really does impact a lot. Of
people when we talk about wine tariffs and tariffs.
Speaker 3 (49:24):
In, general well, You Know hadley KIM and i would
argue that wine. Is, essential okay let's just. Start, there okay,
YOU know i guess let's talk a little bit about.
Customer spending our customers spending at? This point are you
are you noticing a pullback or what are? You saying there's.
Speaker 5 (49:43):
Been a general Pullback. In massachusetts we also have a Store, IN,
Washington dc so in those, TWO areas i would say
there actually has been was a general pullback right before,
the election And then november was really very slow and
things picked up for. The holidays we've actually not seen
(50:05):
reduction in customer spending so far. THIS year i think
customers are very anxious to support small businesses and so
that maybe is making up for any shortfalls that there.
Might be people really are trying to move their dollars
from the larger box stores, to smaller more, independent owners
(50:25):
so that probably is making up some of. The shortfall
but what we are hearing about a lot is just
a crisis of. Consumer confidence so even, though yes the
tariffs might have been partially, rolled back all of this
bouncing around, and uncertainty it's really creatoring consumer confidence and
(50:45):
that ultimately is the real.
Speaker 13 (50:47):
Story.
Speaker 4 (50:48):
Here.
Speaker 2 (50:48):
Yeah absolutely what do you think that this could mean
to your business as far as passing on prices to?
Your consumers? How much what do?
Speaker 15 (51:00):
You, anticipate, well all the reality of tariffs is it
is a, consumer tax and the tax the tariffs that
were announced last week and then put into implementation were
the single.
Speaker 5 (51:14):
Largest tax Hike in. American HISTORY and i think that
it's really important for people to. Understand that and so
these are taxes that will end with. The consumer they
get passed on through all of the levels of, distribution
wholesale move, to, retail restaurant and then they end up on.
(51:38):
The consumer so it's very important for everyone to understand
that the end tax is. The consumer that means for
us that there could be fewer, People buying they could
be buying less, expensive bottles they could be buying. Less
regularly it also makes it a lot harder for us
to secure the wines that people we know people. Really
(52:02):
love so maybe our importers are not Bringing in, Sancere,
anymore kim and then we can't find it and we
can't offer it.
Speaker 4 (52:08):
To you so.
Speaker 5 (52:10):
Even though our store works in a way to have
many replacements for let's say specifically, on there, you know
we can find similar, bodied wines wines of similar. Similar
profiles there are a lot of people that love very
specific products and it does make the supply chain harder
to find thus.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
For people Talking With, hadley douglass a co owner Of
The urban Grape in Boston, and WASHINGTON. D c talking
about the impacts a business climate is having on, small
businesses you tell us about your visit TO the Us
A Small business chamber meeting you were.
Speaker 5 (52:45):
Just, at, YEAH, so tj, MY husband TJ and i
just got Back, From. Jacksonville florida really interesting, growing city
lots of innovation going on, down there and we were
there with the members OF The Us Chambir Commerce Small
business count for our annual meeting where we just talk
all things. Small business, and obviously, you know the main
(53:07):
topic of the two days where was tariffs and the
effects that. It's happening and we're very bipartisan group and
have small businesses that run the gamut from retail, to hospitality,
to manufacturing to, service services, travel companies things. Like that
it's very wide diversity in our small business group and
(53:29):
we don't always agree, on EVERYTHING but i can say
that one of us are in full agreement that this
tariff confusion is extremely bad for business in general and
particularly hard on. Small businesses so when, you see, you
know shoulder to shoulder alignment between all of the companies
(53:50):
and the people that are representing these, small BUSINESSES then
i think it's pretty safe to say that these are
policies that are not working for small businesses across the
country from coast.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
To coast and what was was there? Any conclusions, was there,
you know any kind of moving forward decisions made there
during that two. Day, conference well it really.
Speaker 5 (54:14):
Is less it's more, this trip this particular conference was
a bit more of, a therapy giant, THERAPY session i,
would say, you know just everyone really sharing stories about
the realities that. They're FACING but i think that what
a message of hope that came out of it is
that we are, all entrepreneurs we're all very creative, business
(54:34):
owners and we all will figure. This out but it's.
VERY scary, i mean we are all very nervous about
how to run our, businesses effectively because to run a,
great business you need to be able. To plan and
when there are tariffs on things you have on the
Water on monday and then they're Gone, on tuesday but
(54:55):
then they're Back on wednesday and maybe gone Again. By
friday you have no ability to plan, your pricing lock,
in contracts things. Like that so even though we all
are cautiously optimistic about the support that we will give
each other to see ourselves through this time and also
have a lot of belief in our customers to shop
(55:17):
small and support, smaller businesses you know we. Cannot plan
none of us can grow our businesses and add additional
dollars into the economy in this type. Of environment it's just.
Speaker 7 (55:30):
Not.
Speaker 3 (55:30):
POSSIBLE yeah, i mean we just Heard From, brook Thompson
THE president's ceo Of The associated Industries, in massachusetts and
she was, talking about well when, they paw When the
president paused the tariffs, last week that, you know the
market was, obviously positive but she said a pause actually
makes it worse in some ways because because it has become.
SO chaotic i assume you.
Speaker 5 (55:51):
Agree the chaos is. Just brutal, you know there is no,
clear vision there is no way to align your business
practices with the directives from. The GOVERNMENT and i think
you know this is not particularly an issue For The,
urban grape but one of our small businesses that we
were there with moved all of their Production from China,
(56:14):
to cambodia, you know basically at the request OF the.
Us Government then cambodia is getting tax. You know it's
like they're not leaving anyone any ability to follow the
directives that we're all trying to follow because the directives
are muddled, and chaotic and that chaos just makes it
(56:34):
extremely hard for businesses. To grow and the more, businesses
grow the more taxes we put into, the economy the
more jobs. We provide so this is really this policy
is really shooting our economic growth as a country in.
The foot.
Speaker 2 (56:49):
All right She Is, hadley douglas the co Owner Of.
Urban grape we thank you so much for being a
part of the show. This morning.
Speaker 3 (57:00):
That means it's time to talk about. Next week and,
of Course The boston Marathon, Is monday april the, twenty
first so we're going to be talking with the, Race
director dave mcgilvrey about this. Year's race but Of course
KIM and i want, to know, you know how does
this impact Business in boston. And Beyond so dave is
somebody who certainly knows the ins and outs of that
(57:22):
in the twenty six mile route there so That next
sunday On The New England, business report that is at
eight AM on Rko on, sunday Morning the Voice OF
boston am sixt eighty
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