February 27, 2025 • 26 mins
Host of ‘How to Money’ Joel Larsgaard joins the show to discuss a new report highlighting some of the worst places to go when you need a loan, DOGE’s potential dividend, and why being a ‘loyal’ traveler doesn’t mean you’re saving. President Trump’s supporters among those losing U.S. jobs. Host of ‘Later with Mo Kelly’ on KFI joins the show to talk about what you need to know about this weekend’s Oscars, from presenters to performers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
KFI Handle Morning Crew on a Thursday morning, February twenty seven.
If you listen to the show, when we open up
the show at six am, I always say good morning
to the crowd because I can see them. I'm looking
at Cono and Neil and Ann and Amy. Since I
don't see Will in front of my face, I forget
(00:27):
to say good morning, So.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Will, Good morning Will.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, good morning Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
There you go next week, I promise.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, yeah, I just you know, stuck your stick your
face in front of a camera someplace.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Okay, all right, and then you get a quick.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And then you get a hello, because Will is a
rather important part of the show in the morning, and
so I don't want to uh yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Had to say that. I really don't think that Will.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
But in any case, people were to go, you do.
And that's the whole point. If you tell people. Now,
I tell people where to go, but not in the
same way that you tell people where to go. Okay,
good morning, all right, we're done. It is time for
How to Money with joelars Guard. Because Joel also happens
to be the host of the cleverly titled how to
(01:14):
Money with Joel lars Guard Sunday from twelve to two
pm here on KFI and his social addresses at how
to Money Joel.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
All right, good morning, Joel, morning Bill.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Okay, as we start today, we do this every Thursday,
and I look forward to this.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
There is a new report.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I this I want to share with everybody because this
one hit really hit home.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
When you go to get a loan?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
What are some of the worst places you can go to?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I love immediately starting with one of the worst. What
are the worst? So let's do it. What are the
worst places you can go to to get alone?
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I do too.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
I love instead of like, oh, let's go let's talk
about the best places to borrow, let's talk about the
absolute worst, like the scum of the earth kind of
places to go grab some money.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
And I have kind of a nuanced to take on debt.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
I just want people to know that from the outset,
there are some people who think like any sort of
debt is the worst thing you could do, and don't
ever take.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
On debt for anything.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
And then I think there are other forms of debt
that are super nefarious.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
They're super bad for you.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
But when we're talking about there's this new report from
this company called Solo and they highlighted some of the
worst places to borrow. And these are places I've talked
about or a long time, like subprime credit cards, payday loans.
And then there's this thing bill it's called Earned Wage Access.
There are these apps essentially that allow you to get
paid early, but when you factor in, they ask for
(02:38):
tips most of the time for you to get access
to your pay early and then those tips. If you
were to figure it out what the interest rate would
be if instead you were actually paying them a legitimate
rate of interest to borrow to get your money early,
it would be significant. It would be up there with
the payday loans and how bad they are so people
they're just payday loans by another name with slicker marketing.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I've often thought is that in many, many cases, you
are going to be paying less an interest if you
pay vig to the loan shark that loans you money
and threatens to break your legs if you.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Don't pay on time. We used to have usery laws.
No one knows what the hell usury is anymore, but.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There used to be laws that limited the amount of
interest that any organization can charge. Now it becomes insane.
Some of these car title loans, for example, one hundred
and forty percent interest. I mean, it just the insanity.
And they're allowed to do business.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
And part of it is how they frame the payment
that you're making. So when I'm talking about those those
earned wage access apps where you get access to your
pay a little bit earlier, they because they're asking for
money from you in the form of a tip, and
they make a kind of suggested donation right there to you. Well,
you're saying, well, you're doing a solid for me, you're
(03:56):
helping me get my money earlier, so let me do
you a solid and time lost you a tip. Now,
when you phrase it in the form of a tip
and it's not mandatory, it's not required, then it's not
actually charging somebody interest. So I think that's how companies
like this are able to kind of skirt any sort
of insight from regulators or from government because yeah, hey,
(04:18):
it's no harm, no foul, it's a suggested tip.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Although most people feel like they need.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
To tip because of the fact that this app, this
company's helping them out. A couple of other places by
the way that were listed on the Worst Places to
borrow were peer to peer lending sites and then buy now,
pay later, because by now pay later, it's one of
those things where it seems pretty harmless. You're just paying
in installments and they're not charging you interest. But if you,
(04:43):
let's say, don't make a payment on time in one
of those installments, you could find interest in fees or
equivalent to something like a forty five percent interest rate.
So what seems like no harm, no foul on the surface,
and people are abusing that by now pay later, which
I hate. I load those things. I think people should
avoid them like the plague. And especially if you end
(05:03):
up making a payment later than you otherwise would, you
could start to see those additional cost skyrocket.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Hey, you would think, because not only are these predatory loans,
and they straight out are and they take advantage of
the vulnerability of people who are both financially that are
in trouble financially as well as not particularly sophisticated when
it comes to money. There is it's amazing to me
(05:29):
that they are allowed to function the way they.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Would that they are allowed to I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
It's it's as close to fraud as you can humanly get.
And I don't get why there aren't more laws protecting individuals.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Yeah, no, I'm with you, and I think when we're
talking about when we were talking about debt back in
twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, it was a different conversation because
of where interest rates were, and I think things have
changed so much in in the macroeconomic sense over the
past couple of years. Interest rates on everything have increased significantly.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
I'll have listeners talk.
Speaker 5 (06:08):
About the helock that they took out a few years
ago and the interest rate was reasonable, and now it's
nine percent. And so people just have to be even
more careful in today's environment when they're taking out debt.
Whether it's like, look at what happened with credit card
interest rates over the past years.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
They've skyrocketed.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Yeah, we get paid a little more on savings, but man,
for anybody out there who's borrowing, there are all sorts
of potential pitfalls, and so you just have to be
really careful before taking out debt these days.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
All right, Joel, I am right now in the middle
of checking out. Matter of fact, let me get it.
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
It's just got one in the mail it's my new
Chase credit card that I got. Now, okay, I'm going
for miles on this one, and I'll tell you why.
And it may not make any sense because because I
have a Costco card that gives me back money, and
what happens when I either get cash or I credit
(07:06):
it towards buying something at Costco that disappears instantly. You know,
a couple hundred dollars you spend, you're done. But if
you get miles and you save those up, ah ha,
even though you don't do as well, you get miles
and that translates into a trip or an upgrade, and psychologically, well,
(07:27):
they got me because I'm going for the miles and
not for the money.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Yeah, I'm I'm.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
I'm a fan of credit cards that offer you travel rewards.
And you know, when you're deciding whether or not it
makes sense to get a cash back credit card or
a travel rewards credit card, so much depends on your lifestyle,
your interests, and then how dedicated you're going to be
to actually, you know, using that credit card and following through,
because when you rack up those miles, the sign up
(07:54):
bonuses can be really significant on those travel rewards credit cards.
If you meet like the minimum spend threshold in those
first three months typically of receiving that card, like you
might get something like seventy five thousand bonus miles, which
could translate to two or three you know, free round
trip flights, which is pretty incredible all for just using
a credit card, as long as you're not like going
(08:15):
out of bounds and spending more than the otherwise would.
But the other thing you have to be aware of,
especially these days, is not letting those miles linger too long.
So some people will get that travel rewards credit card,
they'll get the six sign up bonus. But recent data
found that people get the credit card rewards, they get
the sweet miles, and then they just let them linger.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
And guess what.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Inflation is impacting your travel miles too, So if you
don't use those miles in the near future, they become
worth less over time, and so they're just Yeah, your
points have the they're getting devalued if you don't use them.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, the comparison I make so let's say money versus
travel rewards. Financially it makes far more sense, or the
money part. But really to compare them, you'd have to
take the money segregate it, invest it, and make some
kind of a return relative to the miles you're actually
(09:13):
saving there in a way that you can actually touch
and feel and experience. And this is one of those
psychological issues, for example, hanging on to your house and
not having a mortgage. It makes no sense financial sense
whatsoever to hang onto your house, especially when interest rates
(09:34):
are low. Yet it's the emotional appeal of waking up
in the morning and not having a mortgage. And I've
always been there, and I've killed myself to get rid
of my mortgage is stupid, stupid, stupid, But I like it.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
And how many people feel that way?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
It feels good.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, And you mentioned investing the credit card rewards.
There's actually one credit card in particular that makes that
really easy. It's the card that I've had longer than
any other credit card that's in my wallet. It's the
Fidelity two percent cash Back card. And Fidelity makes it
easy to turn those rewards into investment dollars, So you
(10:10):
then funnel them from a Fidelity account that a settlement account.
Right after you've earned that two percent cash back on
whatever you spent that month, and you can funnel that
into an investment account straight from there. So that makes
the process even even more simple, and I think that's
a really cool way for people to go about investing,
to say, listen, all right, I'm just going to use
this credit card two percent cash back on everything I buy,
(10:30):
which I think is a great card, a great catch
all card for people to use when they're not trying
to maximize rewards on other credit cards. And then when
we're talking about some of those travel credit cards, Bill,
I really I really like the non airline or non
not non hotel specific cards. So the credit cards from Chase,
(10:51):
like the Sapphire cards that they offer or the Capital
one Venture Venture cards, those cards in particular, offer more
flexibility when you're using those points instead of let's say
I've got this proprietary airline card and so I'm racking
up miles, but I can only use them for that
one airline. Then you're talking about just a narrow set
of rewards unless you just are a frequent flyer and
(11:13):
you like the additional perks of Hey, I fly Delta
all the time, so I'm gonna get the free checked bags.
That makes sense. The only exception to that, I love
the Southwest credit card and the Southwest credit card. Part
of what makes it so appealing is if you spend
a crew a certain number of points in a given
time period, you can get what's known as their companion Pass,
which means that like your favorite person, you can have
(11:35):
them fly for free with you. And essentially if you
game it correctly, We've got an article about this up
on the side of how.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Tomoney dot com.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
But if you game it correctly, they can essentially fly
for free with you for almost two years. And so
if you're going to max out the benefit on that
Southwest card, it can be incredibly rewarding.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
What if you don't have a favorite person.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
That's a problem for Nil Sevedra to help you with.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I think, yeah, I guess so I'm going to end
in ter terms of the best credit card.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
What's in your wallet?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
So again that Fidelity card? Was I love that Fidelity card?
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Right?
Speaker 5 (12:09):
So fly two percent cash back card. I love the
Costco card. If you're a cost Come member, yeah why not?
You know you get the five percent cash back on
gas at Costco four percent elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, that's and then that's real money when you're talking
five percent and you have a gas guzzler Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Now you're talking.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Uh, I mean you can buy a lot of frozen
burritos at the end of the year with that one
or at the end of every quarter, I think is
the way they do it. Yeah, Joel, exactly, Yeah, no,
I was just say goodbye but finish out.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
I love the Southwest card.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
And then I think for other people, if you're if
you're rotating to get some of those some of those benefits,
that can be a great way to approach it. And
there's a there's a actually a credit card tool to
help you find the best credit card for you up
on my website at how to money dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
All right, uh, isn't it how to Oh yeah, hout
of money dot com is your website?
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yep, houdo money dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You know what, we should press that and put that
in the on my thing paper I see. If I
don't have a paper in front of me, if I
don't have the upcoming topics, I'll never know what the
hell is going on. And if I don't have it
written Thursday, February twenty seventh, I would never know what
day of the week or what day of the month. Joel,
thank you, We'll catch you this weekend Sunday twelve to two.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Sounds good. Thanks Bene, right, take care all right?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
La Times article that I was reading and I had
to do with folks in government that voted for Trump.
Now there's no numbers here. I don't think this is apocryphal.
I think there's a number of real people here, but
sort of an indication of a group of people which
I anticipated, and it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And these are federal workers that voted for.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Trump, and for all the good reasons government was too bloated.
They believe Trump was going to change the way America
goes and the way that where we are going in
our thinking and our philosophy. And they got caught up
in this and they've lost their jobs. And strangely enough,
(14:10):
there's a group that still believe in Trump, voted for
him and do not regret voting for him, except their
job has been terminated, and their job they believe.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Is crucial to the running of the federal government.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And by the way, I agree with that. There's a
story of a black woman and they don't give names,
of course, because no one wants to. Actually in her case,
she did Jocelyn Stewart.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
She sat for.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
This this interview a black woman. She's a health insurance
specialist the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, and she
voted for Trump in three straight elections and believe that
those job cuts, which she knew was coming, was going
to be for people who are right near retirement or
(15:05):
people who clearly underperformed. And she's saying, wait a minute,
I'm doing a great job, and my job is crucial
helping military veterans understand their benefits. And her job was cut.
And there is a thinking, particularly Elon must be involved.
And it's a really interesting reprise of history.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
And I'm going to go into a little handle.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
History here, going back to the turn of the last
century in Russia.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
This happened in nineteen oh five.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
There was a huge disparity between the wealthy and the
poor in Tsaris, Russia, and the poor were starving and
they believed if.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Only the Czar knew our plight, he would in fact
save us.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
And there was a huge demonstration and they it was
Saint Petersburg and by the thousands they demonstrated, and instead
of the Tzar the father of our country, but literally
the father seeing our plight and helping us the troops.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
The Russian troops mow them down. Hundreds, dozens were killed.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And the thinking was if the Tzar knew, if the
Tzar had advisors, who would tell him the truth. And
this is the argument about Elon Musk. If only the
president didn't listen to Musk. This is Musk's fault, not
the president. If the president really knew the kind of
(16:45):
job we're doing, if the president understood how valuable our
job is, this would never happen. He's listening to the
worst advisor and giving way too much credit to Elon Musk,
who is the bad guy for everybody. I mean, it
is easy to blame Elon Musk, and he should be blamed.
(17:06):
And because one of the arguments that is, you can't
argue that this is a legitimate. For those of you
that think the government is bloated, which it is, there
has to.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Be a reworking of the government.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I mean, the number and the speed at which this
is going on is unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I mean, just the.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Wholesale firing of so many federal workers. And maybe, and
the argument is going to be for those that support Trump,
maybe it's time for that kind of wholesale culling of
the workforce. There's two point three million federal employees. How
many of those are critical? Well, at one point, for example,
(17:51):
those part time workers at the national parks were not
critical and they were let go. And then someone realizing
that the minute, wait a minute, the parks are going
to close.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
We're not going to have open national parks.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And the Trump administration turned around and said, oops, go ahead,
We're going to allow the workers to come back. We're
rescinding the recision of the offer originally that seasonal workers
get every year. And then the Nucleartory Agency mean that
is the poster child of oops, maybe we went too far,
too fast. These are people who safeguarded a nuclear weapons
(18:30):
and they were let go until someone realized.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Ooh, well maybe not.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So this is happening very very quickly. This is being
done with the broadest broom you can ever imagine.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And is it necessary?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Well, the Trump administration is pushing for a one point
eight trillion.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Dollar deficit this year.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
If you look at the budget, and this is every
press that we have had the last time we had
to allow that we've had well, basically since Dwight Eisenhower
and FDR we went into huge debt because well, first
of all, there was a depression. Government got in there
and saved everybody, or saved many people's asses. Then came
(19:18):
World War Two, where the country went into enormous debt,
which no one argued with. And then we had a
couple of years of the Eisenhower administration where there was
no deficit, and then it was deficit after deficit, getting
bigger and bigger and bigger. There was one year where
we had a balanced budget, and that was in the
middle of the Bill Clinton presidency, and that's because the
(19:42):
economy was so hot. The government was getting so much
money that it couldn't get out of the way of
money being thrown at it. And then we went back
to normal hundreds of billions of dollars in debt in deficit,
and that turned into a trillion dollars and now it
is approaching two trillion dollars of deficit. I mean, we
(20:05):
are talking about numbers that heretofore were unfathomable.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
It's unsustainable, yet we sustain it over and over and
over again. So maybe it's time, and it probably is,
But do you go about it in a different way?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Thinking it through. Yeah, I would think so. See everything's gray.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I mean, there really are no black and whites in
this world, all right, And it is time for Okelly Moe,
who is host of Later with Mo Kelly, and that's
tonight and every weekday night Monday through Friday, seven pm
to ten pm. And his address socially at mister Mokelly
and his addressed Literally, I have no iDEMO where you live.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Morning Moe.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
It's a little bit outside of Englewood, but I won't
tell you exactly where because you might stalk me.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Oh yeah in a heartbeat. Now even you know what
am I saying? Yeah, I'm in Orange County, I'll say that.
And having lived in La County for most of my life,
here is one that we of course always do with you, Moe.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
And because you know more about this than anybody I know.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oscars are coming up this weekend and what's gonna happen?
Your prognostication, who's gonna win? I understand these are guesses.
Sometimes you're right on. Sometimes it's a sleeper that comes in.
So Mo, I'm gonna throw it to you and I'm
gonna go get a sandwich. Okay, okay, Because there are
no questions I can ask you other than Moe talk
(21:38):
about the Oscars.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Well, let me just say this, I think it's going
to be a very muted Oscars.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
And that was even before the news of Gene Hackman's passing.
Gene Hackman, he's won two Academy Awards, He's been nominated
five times. He's one of the most legendary actors in
excuse me, movie history, and he probably won't be In fact,
I know he won't be a part of the Memoriam
Real because it's outside the eligibility window for the movies
(22:05):
this year and the people who pass this year. But
there will be some acknowledgement. The show is going to
be hosted by Conan O'Brien. This is his first time
doing it. We don't see a lot of Conan O'Brien,
but he has said that there will be some politics
in his humor and monologue comes Sunday, because he said
that we cannot ignore the moment, and also the moment
has to do with the fires in Los Angeles and
(22:28):
those who are in the audience, those who may not
even be intending, in fact that Conan O'Brien as well
have been impacted by the fires. Conan O'Brien did not
have his house burned down, but it is I guess
it's yellow tag that his family cannot go back to
the house. So we're gonna see a lot of acknowledgment
of the fires, and it's gonna be a solemnity of
acknowledge of this moment.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
It's not going to be as festive, I think as
in previous years.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Huh, all right, that's the festive part of it. Is
there gonna be any politics regarding the oscars themselves, for example,
not enough minority representation. It's all white foreign representation, which
has been astronomical the last several years.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
I would think that there probably would be equip or
two from Conan O'Brien, because if he acknowledges the moment,
I think everyone knows that that's usually a point of
contention or a point of discussion when the OSCARS rolls around.
Will it be a big to do, Probably not, because
I think the focus is going to be on other things,
not the Oscars themselves, but the people who have been
(23:34):
impacted by the fires. The passing of Gene Hackman that
no one could have seen coming. And I think there
will also be some moments to celebrate. As far as predictions,
I think, to me, More is going to have a
big night and almost a coronation for her career.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Okay, so now the guess is all right, Best Picture,
Best Actor Male, Best Actor Female, Best after well trends
until the law changes, which way it's going to go.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
I don't know which way it's going to go. I
think Millia Perez is going to have a huge night.
I said to me, Moore is going to have a
huge night, and after that, Wicked could have a big night.
But I don't have the sense that it has the
type of momentum that other pictures, well nominated pictures have.
So this is one of the few times I think
it is more open than ever before.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
And I know that.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Sounds like a cop out, but usually you can use
the preceding award shows to kind of predict what it's
going to happen during the oscars. And the only person
I think that that has been true is with to.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Me More, okay, and just real quickly, by the way,
just to give you a quick story, I never buy
films on streaming, and I broke down and bought Wicked,
mainly because of my daughter, and so I spent twenty
bucks on Wicked, and exactly three and a half minutes
later it was free. And let me tell you how
happy I spent on that, or the hell happy I
(25:00):
was on that one. All right, Mo, we'll probably talk
about what did happen next week at the Oscar see
if there are any surprises. And I'm assuming you're going
to be talking a fair amount over the next couple
of days over what's going to happen later with Mo.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yeah, I think you can afford Wicked. You'll be all right.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
It's not the point, but thank you for that. I appreciate. Also,
it's not a good movie. I love the musical. I
didn't think the movie was particularly good.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I didn't like how they broke it up into two parts.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
You basically ended at the end of act one in
this movie, and I felt very incomplete and unsatisfied.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Okay, Mo, A delight as always.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Tonight Later with Mo Kelly seven to ten o'clock, I'd say, guys,
we are done. Coming up Gary and Shannon at ten
fifty they're going to talk about the LAUSD, the school system,
cello phone ban and is it working Tomorrow morning, Amy
wake up Call, from five to six, and then the
rest of us are here right up until nine. This
(26:01):
is kf I am six point forty. You've been listening
to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my Show Monday through
Friday six am to nine am, and anytime on demand
on the iHeartRadio app
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
KFI Handle Morning Crew on a Thursday morning, February twenty seven.
If you listen to the show, when we open up
the show at six am, I always say good morning
to the crowd because I can see them. I'm looking
at Cono and Neil and Ann and Amy. Since I
don't see Will in front of my face, I forget
(00:27):
to say good morning, So.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Will, Good morning Will.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, good morning Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
There you go next week, I promise.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, yeah, I just you know, stuck your stick your
face in front of a camera someplace.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Okay, all right, and then you get a quick.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And then you get a hello, because Will is a
rather important part of the show in the morning, and
so I don't want to uh yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Had to say that. I really don't think that Will.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
But in any case, people were to go, you do.
And that's the whole point. If you tell people. Now,
I tell people where to go, but not in the
same way that you tell people where to go. Okay,
good morning, all right, we're done. It is time for
How to Money with joelars Guard. Because Joel also happens
to be the host of the cleverly titled how to
(01:14):
Money with Joel lars Guard Sunday from twelve to two
pm here on KFI and his social addresses at how
to Money Joel.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
All right, good morning, Joel, morning Bill.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Okay, as we start today, we do this every Thursday,
and I look forward to this.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
There is a new report.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I this I want to share with everybody because this
one hit really hit home.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
When you go to get a loan?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
What are some of the worst places you can go to?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I love immediately starting with one of the worst. What
are the worst? So let's do it. What are the
worst places you can go to to get alone?
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I do too.
Speaker 5 (01:52):
I love instead of like, oh, let's go let's talk
about the best places to borrow, let's talk about the
absolute worst, like the scum of the earth kind of
places to go grab some money.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
And I have kind of a nuanced to take on debt.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
I just want people to know that from the outset,
there are some people who think like any sort of
debt is the worst thing you could do, and don't
ever take.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
On debt for anything.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
And then I think there are other forms of debt
that are super nefarious.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
They're super bad for you.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
But when we're talking about there's this new report from
this company called Solo and they highlighted some of the
worst places to borrow. And these are places I've talked
about or a long time, like subprime credit cards, payday loans.
And then there's this thing bill it's called Earned Wage Access.
There are these apps essentially that allow you to get
paid early, but when you factor in, they ask for
(02:38):
tips most of the time for you to get access
to your pay early and then those tips. If you
were to figure it out what the interest rate would
be if instead you were actually paying them a legitimate
rate of interest to borrow to get your money early,
it would be significant. It would be up there with
the payday loans and how bad they are so people
they're just payday loans by another name with slicker marketing.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I've often thought is that in many, many cases, you
are going to be paying less an interest if you
pay vig to the loan shark that loans you money
and threatens to break your legs if you.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Don't pay on time. We used to have usery laws.
No one knows what the hell usury is anymore, but.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There used to be laws that limited the amount of
interest that any organization can charge. Now it becomes insane.
Some of these car title loans, for example, one hundred
and forty percent interest. I mean, it just the insanity.
And they're allowed to do business.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
And part of it is how they frame the payment
that you're making. So when I'm talking about those those
earned wage access apps where you get access to your
pay a little bit earlier, they because they're asking for
money from you in the form of a tip, and
they make a kind of suggested donation right there to you. Well,
you're saying, well, you're doing a solid for me, you're
(03:56):
helping me get my money earlier, so let me do
you a solid and time lost you a tip. Now,
when you phrase it in the form of a tip
and it's not mandatory, it's not required, then it's not
actually charging somebody interest. So I think that's how companies
like this are able to kind of skirt any sort
of insight from regulators or from government because yeah, hey,
(04:18):
it's no harm, no foul, it's a suggested tip.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Although most people feel like they need.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
To tip because of the fact that this app, this
company's helping them out. A couple of other places by
the way that were listed on the Worst Places to
borrow were peer to peer lending sites and then buy now,
pay later, because by now pay later, it's one of
those things where it seems pretty harmless. You're just paying
in installments and they're not charging you interest. But if you,
(04:43):
let's say, don't make a payment on time in one
of those installments, you could find interest in fees or
equivalent to something like a forty five percent interest rate.
So what seems like no harm, no foul on the surface,
and people are abusing that by now pay later, which
I hate. I load those things. I think people should
avoid them like the plague. And especially if you end
(05:03):
up making a payment later than you otherwise would, you
could start to see those additional cost skyrocket.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Hey, you would think, because not only are these predatory loans,
and they straight out are and they take advantage of
the vulnerability of people who are both financially that are
in trouble financially as well as not particularly sophisticated when
it comes to money. There is it's amazing to me
(05:29):
that they are allowed to function the way they.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Would that they are allowed to I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
It's it's as close to fraud as you can humanly get.
And I don't get why there aren't more laws protecting individuals.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Yeah, no, I'm with you, and I think when we're
talking about when we were talking about debt back in
twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, it was a different conversation because
of where interest rates were, and I think things have
changed so much in in the macroeconomic sense over the
past couple of years. Interest rates on everything have increased significantly.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
I'll have listeners talk.
Speaker 5 (06:08):
About the helock that they took out a few years
ago and the interest rate was reasonable, and now it's
nine percent. And so people just have to be even
more careful in today's environment when they're taking out debt.
Whether it's like, look at what happened with credit card
interest rates over the past years.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
They've skyrocketed.
Speaker 5 (06:25):
Yeah, we get paid a little more on savings, but man,
for anybody out there who's borrowing, there are all sorts
of potential pitfalls, and so you just have to be
really careful before taking out debt these days.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
All right, Joel, I am right now in the middle
of checking out. Matter of fact, let me get it.
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
It's just got one in the mail it's my new
Chase credit card that I got. Now, okay, I'm going
for miles on this one, and I'll tell you why.
And it may not make any sense because because I
have a Costco card that gives me back money, and
what happens when I either get cash or I credit
(07:06):
it towards buying something at Costco that disappears instantly. You know,
a couple hundred dollars you spend, you're done. But if
you get miles and you save those up, ah ha,
even though you don't do as well, you get miles
and that translates into a trip or an upgrade, and psychologically, well,
(07:27):
they got me because I'm going for the miles and
not for the money.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Yeah, I'm I'm.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
I'm a fan of credit cards that offer you travel rewards.
And you know, when you're deciding whether or not it
makes sense to get a cash back credit card or
a travel rewards credit card, so much depends on your lifestyle,
your interests, and then how dedicated you're going to be
to actually, you know, using that credit card and following through,
because when you rack up those miles, the sign up
(07:54):
bonuses can be really significant on those travel rewards credit cards.
If you meet like the minimum spend threshold in those
first three months typically of receiving that card, like you
might get something like seventy five thousand bonus miles, which
could translate to two or three you know, free round
trip flights, which is pretty incredible all for just using
a credit card, as long as you're not like going
(08:15):
out of bounds and spending more than the otherwise would.
But the other thing you have to be aware of,
especially these days, is not letting those miles linger too long.
So some people will get that travel rewards credit card,
they'll get the six sign up bonus. But recent data
found that people get the credit card rewards, they get
the sweet miles, and then they just let them linger.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
And guess what.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Inflation is impacting your travel miles too, So if you
don't use those miles in the near future, they become
worth less over time, and so they're just Yeah, your
points have the they're getting devalued if you don't use them.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, the comparison I make so let's say money versus
travel rewards. Financially it makes far more sense, or the
money part. But really to compare them, you'd have to
take the money segregate it, invest it, and make some
kind of a return relative to the miles you're actually
(09:13):
saving there in a way that you can actually touch
and feel and experience. And this is one of those
psychological issues, for example, hanging on to your house and
not having a mortgage. It makes no sense financial sense
whatsoever to hang onto your house, especially when interest rates
(09:34):
are low. Yet it's the emotional appeal of waking up
in the morning and not having a mortgage. And I've
always been there, and I've killed myself to get rid
of my mortgage is stupid, stupid, stupid, But I like it.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
And how many people feel that way?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
It feels good.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Yeah, yeah, And you mentioned investing the credit card rewards.
There's actually one credit card in particular that makes that
really easy. It's the card that I've had longer than
any other credit card that's in my wallet. It's the
Fidelity two percent cash Back card. And Fidelity makes it
easy to turn those rewards into investment dollars, So you
(10:10):
then funnel them from a Fidelity account that a settlement account.
Right after you've earned that two percent cash back on
whatever you spent that month, and you can funnel that
into an investment account straight from there. So that makes
the process even even more simple, and I think that's
a really cool way for people to go about investing,
to say, listen, all right, I'm just going to use
this credit card two percent cash back on everything I buy,
(10:30):
which I think is a great card, a great catch
all card for people to use when they're not trying
to maximize rewards on other credit cards. And then when
we're talking about some of those travel credit cards, Bill,
I really I really like the non airline or non
not non hotel specific cards. So the credit cards from Chase,
(10:51):
like the Sapphire cards that they offer or the Capital
one Venture Venture cards, those cards in particular, offer more
flexibility when you're using those points instead of let's say
I've got this proprietary airline card and so I'm racking
up miles, but I can only use them for that
one airline. Then you're talking about just a narrow set
of rewards unless you just are a frequent flyer and
(11:13):
you like the additional perks of Hey, I fly Delta
all the time, so I'm gonna get the free checked bags.
That makes sense. The only exception to that, I love
the Southwest credit card and the Southwest credit card. Part
of what makes it so appealing is if you spend
a crew a certain number of points in a given
time period, you can get what's known as their companion Pass,
which means that like your favorite person, you can have
(11:35):
them fly for free with you. And essentially if you
game it correctly, We've got an article about this up
on the side of how.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Tomoney dot com.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
But if you game it correctly, they can essentially fly
for free with you for almost two years. And so
if you're going to max out the benefit on that
Southwest card, it can be incredibly rewarding.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
What if you don't have a favorite person.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
That's a problem for Nil Sevedra to help you with.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I think, yeah, I guess so I'm going to end
in ter terms of the best credit card.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
What's in your wallet?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
So again that Fidelity card? Was I love that Fidelity card?
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Right?
Speaker 5 (12:09):
So fly two percent cash back card. I love the
Costco card. If you're a cost Come member, yeah why not?
You know you get the five percent cash back on
gas at Costco four percent elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, that's and then that's real money when you're talking
five percent and you have a gas guzzler Okay.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Now you're talking.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Uh, I mean you can buy a lot of frozen
burritos at the end of the year with that one
or at the end of every quarter, I think is
the way they do it. Yeah, Joel, exactly, Yeah, no,
I was just say goodbye but finish out.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
I love the Southwest card.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
And then I think for other people, if you're if
you're rotating to get some of those some of those benefits,
that can be a great way to approach it. And
there's a there's a actually a credit card tool to
help you find the best credit card for you up
on my website at how to money dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
All right, uh, isn't it how to Oh yeah, hout
of money dot com is your website?
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Yep, houdo money dot com.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
You know what, we should press that and put that
in the on my thing paper I see. If I
don't have a paper in front of me, if I
don't have the upcoming topics, I'll never know what the
hell is going on. And if I don't have it
written Thursday, February twenty seventh, I would never know what
day of the week or what day of the month. Joel,
thank you, We'll catch you this weekend Sunday twelve to two.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Sounds good. Thanks Bene, right, take care all right?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
La Times article that I was reading and I had
to do with folks in government that voted for Trump.
Now there's no numbers here. I don't think this is apocryphal.
I think there's a number of real people here, but
sort of an indication of a group of people which
I anticipated, and it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
And these are federal workers that voted for.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Trump, and for all the good reasons government was too bloated.
They believe Trump was going to change the way America
goes and the way that where we are going in
our thinking and our philosophy. And they got caught up
in this and they've lost their jobs. And strangely enough,
(14:10):
there's a group that still believe in Trump, voted for
him and do not regret voting for him, except their
job has been terminated, and their job they believe.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Is crucial to the running of the federal government.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And by the way, I agree with that. There's a
story of a black woman and they don't give names,
of course, because no one wants to. Actually in her case,
she did Jocelyn Stewart.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
She sat for.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
This this interview a black woman. She's a health insurance
specialist the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, and she
voted for Trump in three straight elections and believe that
those job cuts, which she knew was coming, was going
to be for people who are right near retirement or
(15:05):
people who clearly underperformed. And she's saying, wait a minute,
I'm doing a great job, and my job is crucial
helping military veterans understand their benefits. And her job was cut.
And there is a thinking, particularly Elon must be involved.
And it's a really interesting reprise of history.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
And I'm going to go into a little handle.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
History here, going back to the turn of the last
century in Russia.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
This happened in nineteen oh five.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
There was a huge disparity between the wealthy and the
poor in Tsaris, Russia, and the poor were starving and
they believed if.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Only the Czar knew our plight, he would in fact
save us.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
And there was a huge demonstration and they it was
Saint Petersburg and by the thousands they demonstrated, and instead
of the Tzar the father of our country, but literally
the father seeing our plight and helping us the troops.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
The Russian troops mow them down. Hundreds, dozens were killed.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And the thinking was if the Tzar knew, if the
Tzar had advisors, who would tell him the truth. And
this is the argument about Elon Musk. If only the
president didn't listen to Musk. This is Musk's fault, not
the president. If the president really knew the kind of
(16:45):
job we're doing, if the president understood how valuable our
job is, this would never happen. He's listening to the
worst advisor and giving way too much credit to Elon Musk,
who is the bad guy for everybody. I mean, it
is easy to blame Elon Musk, and he should be blamed.
(17:06):
And because one of the arguments that is, you can't
argue that this is a legitimate. For those of you
that think the government is bloated, which it is, there
has to.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Be a reworking of the government.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I mean, the number and the speed at which this
is going on is unbelievable.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
I mean, just the.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Wholesale firing of so many federal workers. And maybe, and
the argument is going to be for those that support Trump,
maybe it's time for that kind of wholesale culling of
the workforce. There's two point three million federal employees. How
many of those are critical? Well, at one point, for example,
(17:51):
those part time workers at the national parks were not
critical and they were let go. And then someone realizing
that the minute, wait a minute, the parks are going
to close.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
We're not going to have open national parks.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And the Trump administration turned around and said, oops, go ahead,
We're going to allow the workers to come back. We're
rescinding the recision of the offer originally that seasonal workers
get every year. And then the Nucleartory Agency mean that
is the poster child of oops, maybe we went too far,
too fast. These are people who safeguarded a nuclear weapons
(18:30):
and they were let go until someone realized.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Ooh, well maybe not.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So this is happening very very quickly. This is being
done with the broadest broom you can ever imagine.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
And is it necessary?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Well, the Trump administration is pushing for a one point
eight trillion.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Dollar deficit this year.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
If you look at the budget, and this is every
press that we have had the last time we had
to allow that we've had well, basically since Dwight Eisenhower
and FDR we went into huge debt because well, first
of all, there was a depression. Government got in there
and saved everybody, or saved many people's asses. Then came
(19:18):
World War Two, where the country went into enormous debt,
which no one argued with. And then we had a
couple of years of the Eisenhower administration where there was
no deficit, and then it was deficit after deficit, getting
bigger and bigger and bigger. There was one year where
we had a balanced budget, and that was in the
middle of the Bill Clinton presidency, and that's because the
(19:42):
economy was so hot. The government was getting so much
money that it couldn't get out of the way of
money being thrown at it. And then we went back
to normal hundreds of billions of dollars in debt in deficit,
and that turned into a trillion dollars and now it
is approaching two trillion dollars of deficit. I mean, we
(20:05):
are talking about numbers that heretofore were unfathomable.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
You couldn't believe it.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
It's unsustainable, yet we sustain it over and over and
over again. So maybe it's time, and it probably is,
But do you go about it in a different way?
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Thinking it through. Yeah, I would think so. See everything's gray.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
I mean, there really are no black and whites in
this world, all right, And it is time for Okelly Moe,
who is host of Later with Mo Kelly, and that's
tonight and every weekday night Monday through Friday, seven pm
to ten pm. And his address socially at mister Mokelly
and his addressed Literally, I have no iDEMO where you live.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Morning Moe.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
It's a little bit outside of Englewood, but I won't
tell you exactly where because you might stalk me.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Oh yeah in a heartbeat. Now even you know what
am I saying? Yeah, I'm in Orange County, I'll say that.
And having lived in La County for most of my life,
here is one that we of course always do with you, Moe.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
And because you know more about this than anybody I know.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Oscars are coming up this weekend and what's gonna happen?
Your prognostication, who's gonna win? I understand these are guesses.
Sometimes you're right on. Sometimes it's a sleeper that comes in.
So Mo, I'm gonna throw it to you and I'm
gonna go get a sandwich. Okay, okay, Because there are
no questions I can ask you other than Moe talk
(21:38):
about the Oscars.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Well, let me just say this, I think it's going
to be a very muted Oscars.
Speaker 6 (21:42):
And that was even before the news of Gene Hackman's passing.
Gene Hackman, he's won two Academy Awards, He's been nominated
five times. He's one of the most legendary actors in
excuse me, movie history, and he probably won't be In fact,
I know he won't be a part of the Memoriam
Real because it's outside the eligibility window for the movies
(22:05):
this year and the people who pass this year. But
there will be some acknowledgement. The show is going to
be hosted by Conan O'Brien. This is his first time
doing it. We don't see a lot of Conan O'Brien,
but he has said that there will be some politics
in his humor and monologue comes Sunday, because he said
that we cannot ignore the moment, and also the moment
has to do with the fires in Los Angeles and
(22:28):
those who are in the audience, those who may not
even be intending, in fact that Conan O'Brien as well
have been impacted by the fires. Conan O'Brien did not
have his house burned down, but it is I guess
it's yellow tag that his family cannot go back to
the house. So we're gonna see a lot of acknowledgment
of the fires, and it's gonna be a solemnity of
acknowledge of this moment.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
It's not going to be as festive, I think as
in previous years.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Huh, all right, that's the festive part of it. Is
there gonna be any politics regarding the oscars themselves, for example,
not enough minority representation. It's all white foreign representation, which
has been astronomical the last several years.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
I would think that there probably would be equip or
two from Conan O'Brien, because if he acknowledges the moment,
I think everyone knows that that's usually a point of
contention or a point of discussion when the OSCARS rolls around.
Will it be a big to do, Probably not, because
I think the focus is going to be on other things,
not the Oscars themselves, but the people who have been
(23:34):
impacted by the fires. The passing of Gene Hackman that
no one could have seen coming. And I think there
will also be some moments to celebrate. As far as predictions,
I think, to me, More is going to have a
big night and almost a coronation for her career.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Okay, so now the guess is all right, Best Picture,
Best Actor Male, Best Actor Female, Best after well trends
until the law changes, which way it's going to go.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
I don't know which way it's going to go. I
think Millia Perez is going to have a huge night.
I said to me, Moore is going to have a
huge night, and after that, Wicked could have a big night.
But I don't have the sense that it has the
type of momentum that other pictures, well nominated pictures have.
So this is one of the few times I think
it is more open than ever before.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
And I know that.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
Sounds like a cop out, but usually you can use
the preceding award shows to kind of predict what it's
going to happen during the oscars. And the only person
I think that that has been true is with to.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Me More, okay, and just real quickly, by the way,
just to give you a quick story, I never buy
films on streaming, and I broke down and bought Wicked,
mainly because of my daughter, and so I spent twenty
bucks on Wicked, and exactly three and a half minutes
later it was free. And let me tell you how
happy I spent on that, or the hell happy I
(25:00):
was on that one. All right, Mo, we'll probably talk
about what did happen next week at the Oscar see
if there are any surprises. And I'm assuming you're going
to be talking a fair amount over the next couple
of days over what's going to happen later with Mo.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yeah, I think you can afford Wicked. You'll be all right.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
It's not the point, but thank you for that. I appreciate. Also,
it's not a good movie. I love the musical. I
didn't think the movie was particularly good.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I didn't like how they broke it up into two parts.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
You basically ended at the end of act one in
this movie, and I felt very incomplete and unsatisfied.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Okay, Mo, A delight as always.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Tonight Later with Mo Kelly seven to ten o'clock, I'd say, guys,
we are done. Coming up Gary and Shannon at ten
fifty they're going to talk about the LAUSD, the school system,
cello phone ban and is it working Tomorrow morning, Amy
wake up Call, from five to six, and then the
rest of us are here right up until nine. This
(26:01):
is kf I am six point forty. You've been listening
to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my Show Monday through
Friday six am to nine am, and anytime on demand
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