December 4, 2025 • 23 mins
(December 04, 2025)
Host of ‘How to Money’ Joel Larsgaard joins the show to discuss the vast majority of American’s having unused gift cards, not buying a home if you can’t, and financial advisors’ advice. ChatGPT’s meteoric rise by the numbers. Cash-strapped shoppers opt for essential and buy-now-pay-later services.
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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 (00:08):
KFI AM A six forty Bill Handle Morning Crew, Thursday Morning,
December fourth.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I just want to share with you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I have a monitors on my in the studio that
I look at and one of the channels I have
is Fox, and this one absolutely floored me. Fox covers
obviously the major stations, the major stories around the world,
of course, and are local, well actually regional and national stories.
(00:37):
There was a headline that went across the bottom of
the screen that said, Travis Kelsey reveals.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
That he and Taylor Swift do not fight.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
That is a headline that is being covered by a
major network.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Wow. What does that tell you? Uh? Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
It's just I was stunned when I saw it. I said,
come on, seriously, okay, surprised that MSNBC or CNN didn't
cover that. All right, it's time for How to Money
with Joel large Guard, Good Money, Joel, Good.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Morning, Jody, Morning Bill. What you got against true love
over there?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Man? Yeah, I just don't think it's a national story
that one person does not fight with someone else. And
by the way, I don't believe that for a minute yeah, no, kidding,
all right, Joel heard every Sunday twelve to two pm
here on KFI social address at how to money Joel.
His website is howtoomoney dot com. Now this one kind
(01:40):
of surprised me. Now, I know a lot of people
have unused gift cards, and I know a lot of businesses,
particularly restaurants, love gift gift cards because people don't use them.
But the number of people that have unused gift cards
in America is astronomical.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So what's going on with that?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, I mean it's true, like there's just an insane
amount of unused gift cards in this world floating around.
And I think it's because, like gift cards became the
go to gift where it feels like you're being intentional. Oh,
I remember that you like this store, and so I
got you a forty to fifty dollars gift card to
your favorite place or something like that, and so it
(02:22):
just became like, well, this is more intentional than cash.
But I also don't have the time or the energy
to buy you a real present that I think you
would like, and so I think they've just become ubiquitous
for that reason. And so the average American, and not
everybody has un used gift cards, so this is just
some people have like more than this amount. But the
average American has almost two hundred and fifty dollars in
(02:42):
unused gift cards, and when you look at it, something
like a third of those are either about to expire
or the retailer has already gone busted. And so some
of that money is just basically worthless that's sitting there
on those gift cards that are in your underwear drawer
or wherever you keep them.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And the other side of that is that the store
gets free money that otherwise would not And to your
point about unused gift cards.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
When Handle On the Law went into syndication.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Maybe twenty five years ago, the president of Premiere Radio
who syndicated the show, who now is a very dear
friend of mine, because I dressed like a slob and
he always dressed mean spectacularly, he actually gave me a
two hundred and fifty dollars gift certificate for close, a
(03:37):
gift certificate at a closed store, a very small, very
high end men's store in Encino. So I here, I
am two hundred and fifty dollars gift card and I
said so wow, And I looked at his pants. I go, so,
how many pairs of pants? Two hundred and fifty dollars by?
He said one. I went two hundred and fifty dollars
for a pair of pants. He goes, yeah, it's a
(03:59):
good store. Sure, I don't have four suits that costs
two hundred and fifty dollars if you combine them all.
And the point is, there was no way on God's
Earth I was going to spend two hundred and fifty
dollars for a pair of pants. And the store went
out of business a few years later, and then there
(04:19):
it was two hundred and fifty bucks gone.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
You're not the only one to experience that. My rule
of thumb is always this that like, get a gift card.
If gift cards are being discounted, that's a great time
to get one for somebody. If you're trading one hundred
dollars in cash for one hundred dollars in gift cards,
you're essentially taking money that can be used anywhere in
the United States right that accepts cash money, which is
(04:42):
pretty much everywhere and the But if you turn it
into a gift card, you're turning it into something that's
incredibly limited and that somebody is more likely to misplace,
forget about not used. Just like I said, the average
American has so much money and unused gift cards, and like,
for instance, this weekend has ten percent off all their
gift cards. And so if you're like I want to
(05:04):
be thought, you know, my friend loves Target, and Target
is one of those stores where you can get a
bunch of different things too, it's not highly specialized. Get
a ten percent off Target gift card for that friend.
That's a good use of gift cards. But I think
just trading in straight up hundred bucks for a hundred
bucks or fifty bucks for fifty bucks, that to me
is what doesn't make that much sense, especially when we
look at those numbers.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, you got a Costco for example, But these are
limited to certain restaurants, certain theme parks where you buy
the gift cards and you can get a twenty percent discount.
Even stamps, even US stamps, you can get a discount.
But then again, loose Seal's Barbecue or Magic Mountain gift
(05:45):
cards at a twenty percent discount. You're right, you know,
you're guessing that they're going to go all the time.
So what I do, And it's pretty cheesy, by the way,
because people don't think of it.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
How can you do that?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And I said, it's the most valuable gift you can
give someone, and that is, as you say, a Master
card or a Visa gift card.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Here you go. You enjoyed your careful with those two
though bills. Oh yeah, that's right. The fraud that goes on.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Well, that and the fees, like lots of times there's
an upfront fee for buying it. And some of those
Visa gift cards come with like maintenance fees every single
month after you after you haven't used it for a while,
so you don't have to be careful. You might find
that some of those over time become completely worthless if
you take too long to use them. So interesting, if
you were a recipient of one of those cards, make
sure you use it asap.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Oh, I didn't know that. I did not know that.
And to your point, by the way, when you said
that they expire. Not in California. California passed the law
that says gift cards go on forever. It's the gift
that keeps on giving, except of course, when the business
goes south.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Or goes under. Then you have the other thing.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
By the way, about those gift cards, if you have
just a little bit left, you can turn them into cash.
In the state of California, I believe up to ten
dollars worth of leftover gift card money can be turned
into I think maybe next year it's going up to
fifteen dollars.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
All right.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
One of the things that we even covered this morning
is millionaires. A couple of things. They don't think they're millionaires.
It's amazing the number of people don't think that a
million dollars is basically worth enough to feel rich. And
then a lot of millionaires have financial advisors because and
(07:29):
I go to a financial advisor for some advice. And
that's because you know, I don't want to spend my
time doing the research that it really takes to understand
what's going on in the market. It's just not my wheelhouse.
So if you would comment on both of those.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Issues, I will.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I think the reason that people don't who are millionaires
don't feel as rich as maybe a millionaire sounds like
it should feel like if you have a million bucks
or a million dollar net worth, you should feel like
you're crushing it. And it just doesn't quite feel like that.
I think part of that is rising prices, but I
think the other part of that is that so many
(08:10):
people as they move up the income scale, Yeah, they're
saving and investing maybe a little more of their paycheck,
but they also just don't quite feel like they have
much wiggle room, right, Like, so much of their money
is going towards payments for more expensive goods, whether it's cars,
whether it's homes, and so they don't feel like they
(08:30):
have a lot of optionality. And I think the people
who actually who have that million dollar net worth and
tend to feel richer are the people who have higher
savings rates, and so it feels like maybe they have
more liquidity, they have more options because they're not dedicating
as many of the resources coming in towards immediate spending.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
So that would be my take on.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
How why some millionaires maybe feel richer and others don't
is the ones who feel like they're spending is really
keeping up, like their lifestyle is increasing at the same
rate as their income is. Those are the folks who
aren't feeling quite as wealthy. And then, all right, what
was the second one you want to tackle?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Well, hang on.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Let me spend a minute talking about that in terms
of millionaires, because when we make more money, and let's
say over the years we make more money, lifestyle increases
commensurate to the money.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I mean, that's what we do.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So you're basically in the same percentage, and you know,
vis a vis income to lifestyle. And then one other
thing about millionaires, which I completely forgot about, is the
financial advisor part of it with millionaires. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, so one last thing on the millionaires. One of
my friends who advise, he helps doctors figure out their money.
He tells them to live like a resident after they
become a full fledged doctor, and their income skyrockets. And
so if you can live like a resident for a
few years and maybe take the same sort of mindset
as a new college graduate would like, where hey live
like a college student for just two or three years,
(10:05):
and that sort of mindset that you develop, and also
the sort of savings rate you can achieve can help
you significantly when it comes to your you know, building
wealth for your future. When it comes to financial advisors.
It's interesting. There was this new survey and it found
that like a big chunk of people who have a
million dollar net worth. They don't value their financial advisor
(10:28):
in the way that you think they would. They value
their trainer, or their personal trainer, or their therapist a
lot more than they value their financial advisor. I just
thought that was kind of fascinating, and I think that
reflects a couple of things. One that advisors can be
really expensive, and so if you feel like you're giving
a big chunk of money to your advisor every single year,
(10:50):
whether that's in the form of a direct payment per
hour or whether that is in the form of an
assets under management fee, you might be like, what are
they doing on my behalf for this money? And so
if that feels true, it doesn't mean that you should
not have an advisor. It means that you might need
to find a new one. And the variability between a
great advisor and a not so great advisor can be significant,
(11:13):
but typically the fee you pay them isn't that significant.
So you might find that you're paying even less and
you're getting ten times better service from a different advisor.
If you don't love your advisor, definitely think about going elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Now, how do you know, because most of the time
people have advisors simply look at the kind of money
advisors make for you.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, so I would not base it based on, well,
how did my portfolio perform this year. If let's say
the stock market was up eighteen percent this year and
your portfolio is up three percent, you should really question, well,
what are you investing my money in? But the other
thing you should be saying is how well, how much
are they talking to me about my goals for the future.
How much are they asking me about what I want
(11:55):
my money to do for me, like my life goals.
And it's interesting that I said that the those millionaires
value their therapists more than they value their financial advisor.
The best financial advisors, and I was just talking to
one earlier this week. He said, the best financial advisors,
actually you have more like therapist kind of qualities. They're
talking to you, they're talking you down off the ledge
(12:15):
right when you're feeling like you need to make a
big change in your investment portfolio because you're worried about
the AI bubble.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Are they sitting down.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And like talking to you about your worries and concerns,
and are they helping you plan out the future based
on multiple different scenarios. If they're just kind of investing
your money and kicking their feet up on the desk,
and you don't feel like you're hearing from them or
they're getting back to you in a timely manner or
addressing your concerns. That's when you know you need to
find a new one.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Also, I want to point something out in terms of
financial advisors, is we all look at how much money
they make us on an annual basis, and if the
market is up twelve percent and they only make six percent,
you go, oh, come on, or make us six percent?
You go, come on? Yeah, I mean you kept up
with the market. But the other side of that, when
the market dries ups twelve percent, how much do you lose? Yeah,
(13:03):
and if you lose eight percent in a twelve percent market,
your advisor's doing a good job for you.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Right, And that's well, that's where you need to You
and your advisor need to have a discussion about goals
and risk tolerance and so yeah, if you're if your
portfolio is underperforming this year because you have chosen less
risky investments on purpose because you need that money, you know,
in the next few years, not twenty years from now,
then you can rest easy and say they're doing their
(13:31):
job even though I'm not beating the market or even
meeting the market returns.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
And the people we're talking to clearly have money in
the bank, and that's a fair number of people. I mean,
if you're living paycheck to paycheck, you're not talking about
money hundreds of thousands or even a good healthy retirement
plan where a financial advisor kicks in. Just one quick
last one, we did a story on where where do
(13:57):
you consider saf yourself wealthy?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
What's a number? Joel? For you? Is there a number
or a lifestyle where you go, Okay, I'm rich. See.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
For me, it is being able to kind of choose
what I want to do with my time and like,
if I don't want to talk to you next week, Bill,
I don't have to, but I do because I like
hanging out with you, and so like, for me, it's
not necessarily a number. It's just knowing that I have
enough liquidity, that I have investments working in my background
so that I can kind of live the life currently
that I want to leave lead and also kind of
(14:29):
lead that in the future too.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I'm not worried about that.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, that's pretty close to we all came to except
for Amy, who decided good relationships and loving people and
her loving people are makes you rich.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I mean that's vomitous. I mean, truly, it doesn't sound
like it's in the spirit of now now.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
It really doesn't. It's just very strange. All right, Thanks Joel,
we'll catch you this Sunday.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Sounds good. Thanks Bill.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Now I'm reading a story from tech dot Yahoo dot
com and to do with open AI's chat GPT, which
launched November thirtieth, twenty twenty two, basically three years ago.
It now has eight hundred million weekly active users. I mean,
(15:16):
you talk about a company that has gone from valuation
of during that time when they valuated at what one billion,
then forty billion, Now it's over one hundred billion. It's
actually reached a five hundred billion dollar valuation, making it
the most valuable startup in history. So with the jat GPT,
(15:39):
and usually I use Siri, so I'm trying with chat
just after talking to Demurow. Also, keep in mind that
everything I ask, I ask, everything I look at, everything
I experience is all about b and Neil will tell
you that that even I asked you what do you
think of me?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Because that's what my life is about. So with that,
I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Play with this and I'm not having the easiest time
of the world because it's tech. But let me try.
I'm in jack, I'm in chat EPT ask anything. Why
is Bill Handle hated so much? Okay, I'm waiting. I'm waiting.
(16:22):
I'm waiting. What's happening. It's doing its thing. It's not
going to talk to me. I press something that here.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Now, that's not right. I hate that.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Talk radio host often attracts strong reactions, both positive and negative.
Rather than saying he's hated, it's more accurate to say
he's polarizing. Oh stop it blunt, confrontational style okay, darker,
edgie humor, long career, more opportunities for friction, is what
(16:57):
chat GPT is telling us to radio incentives.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Oh okay, and that is it keeps more people listening.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
You build a royal loyal audience when you can irritate others.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
I think I figure out why you hate Trump so much.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
You guys are the same person. Uh yeah, it could be.
It could be Hello, robot, what do you think of me?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, yeah, pretty much. I want to ask another question,
what do you.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Think why is KFI Morning show tanking?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I don't know if they're gonna get that. Now that
didn't work.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I didn't please see Gary and Shannon. Uh oh, that's true. Okay,
what is uh the tho?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I mean, I'm just stopping this and I don't know
how to do the voice either. I'm going to figure
it out by next week because you've also choose all
these voices and uh, I'm still trying to figure this out.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You should have a hasidic rabbi respond, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, let me let me ask another question here? What
is Okay, let me do this again.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, I know. What is Neil Savedra known for? Oh?
I need do a comment.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
What is Neil Savedra known forb Oh?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Come on verbally abusing Bill handle? Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Now, when I do spots for Lear Capital, one of
the things I talk about is how the market is
way up and at the same time, consumer confidence is
way down, and of course the value of gold is
astronomical because you know, everybody's waiting for the shoot. So
(19:00):
what happened on Black Friday, which is now Black Monday
through Thursday, and it'll be happening through the end of Christmas, well,
holiday shoppers took a more judicious approach to spending, even
though a lot more money was spent. It's on what
was being spent, because as we're moving forward, confidence in
(19:24):
the economy is dropping fairly quickly. For example, what's happening
with the administration. It has pivoted. It is no longer
prices are low. It's no longer we have made prices.
We've cut prices in half, which was ridiculous when Trump
was running, of course, but have you noticed a pivot.
(19:47):
It's yes, prices are low. Look what we've done for
prices too. Now we're the affordability and we're going to
make society more affordable. Recognizing that prices are up and
at the same time the market is up, and at
the same time confidence is down, and at the same
(20:10):
time sales are up. I mean, a lot of this
doesn't make sense. But I'll tell you what is happening
as a result of this. Buy now, pay later services
are going through the roof this car.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It's effectively a credit.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Card, and buy now, pay later is no credit, which
makes it so absolutely wonderful to purchase. But the problem
is you add them up because if oh, I'm gonna
buy a two hundred dollars item and I'm only have
to pay twenty five dollars a month, that's only twenty
five dollars a month. That's not two hundred dollars. Well
(20:47):
you add that up cumulatively, and man, all of a sudden,
people are in major debt. It's the same crowd of
people that for somehow credit card debt. That's not real
money either. Do you know, buy now pay later used
to be buy now and get later. The plans would
be you would walk into a store and I remember
(21:08):
this growing up.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Lay away. Yeah, it was layaway. It was layaway.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
You would walk in and you would put down X
dollars and then they put down X dollars and at
the end of that you got the purchase.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
You got what you purchase.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Now, look at this, the store got all the money
for a longer period of time. But waking up and
knowing that that new refrigerator that you are and that's
now in your house, you own and you don't owe
any money on it, I'm gonna tell you that's kind
of a neat thing to do. But the problem is
you have to come up with all the money unless
(21:46):
you put it on a credit card, which the interest
rate is basically economic astronomical or buy now, pay later,
And that trend is just exploded.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
And what else is.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Going on, Well, we have a lot more sales in general,
but the discounts are much deeper, and people are buying
more essentials, and we're just thinking more in terms of
long term. We're getting away from short term. In other words,
we're moving into not a depression, but a recession. Like
(22:21):
thinking is we're spending money as if we're not going
to be as well off a month, a year from now.
So you know, I mean, that's certainly.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
The way I buy.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
I do not well, I buy on a credit card,
but I tend to pay my credit cards off at
the end of the month, which is a great way
to use credit cards. But man, if you have a
balance foo and in order to get astronomical credit ratings,
guess what you have to have is a balance.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
You know, they don't like it when you pay.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Them off the when you pay off the credit cards
at the end of the month. So if you're one
of those people that do internet shopping, oh believe me,
you're not alone. Those sales are still exploding year after year.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
And you know what's slumping. What slumping is in.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Store sales, and we'll talk more about that certainly over
the next few days. 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 (00:08):
KFI AM A six forty Bill Handle Morning Crew, Thursday Morning,
December fourth.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
I just want to share with you.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I have a monitors on my in the studio that
I look at and one of the channels I have
is Fox, and this one absolutely floored me. Fox covers
obviously the major stations, the major stories around the world,
of course, and are local, well actually regional and national stories.
(00:37):
There was a headline that went across the bottom of
the screen that said, Travis Kelsey reveals.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
That he and Taylor Swift do not fight.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
That is a headline that is being covered by a
major network.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Wow. What does that tell you? Uh? Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
It's just I was stunned when I saw it. I said,
come on, seriously, okay, surprised that MSNBC or CNN didn't
cover that. All right, it's time for How to Money
with Joel large Guard, Good Money, Joel, Good.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Morning, Jody, Morning Bill. What you got against true love
over there?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Man? Yeah, I just don't think it's a national story
that one person does not fight with someone else. And
by the way, I don't believe that for a minute yeah, no, kidding,
all right, Joel heard every Sunday twelve to two pm
here on KFI social address at how to money Joel.
His website is howtoomoney dot com. Now this one kind
(01:40):
of surprised me. Now, I know a lot of people
have unused gift cards, and I know a lot of businesses,
particularly restaurants, love gift gift cards because people don't use them.
But the number of people that have unused gift cards
in America is astronomical.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So what's going on with that?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, I mean it's true, like there's just an insane
amount of unused gift cards in this world floating around.
And I think it's because, like gift cards became the
go to gift where it feels like you're being intentional. Oh,
I remember that you like this store, and so I
got you a forty to fifty dollars gift card to
your favorite place or something like that, and so it
(02:22):
just became like, well, this is more intentional than cash.
But I also don't have the time or the energy
to buy you a real present that I think you
would like, and so I think they've just become ubiquitous
for that reason. And so the average American, and not
everybody has un used gift cards, so this is just
some people have like more than this amount. But the
average American has almost two hundred and fifty dollars in
(02:42):
unused gift cards, and when you look at it, something
like a third of those are either about to expire
or the retailer has already gone busted. And so some
of that money is just basically worthless that's sitting there
on those gift cards that are in your underwear drawer
or wherever you keep them.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And the other side of that is that the store
gets free money that otherwise would not And to your
point about unused gift cards.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
When Handle On the Law went into syndication.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Maybe twenty five years ago, the president of Premiere Radio
who syndicated the show, who now is a very dear
friend of mine, because I dressed like a slob and
he always dressed mean spectacularly, he actually gave me a
two hundred and fifty dollars gift certificate for close, a
(03:37):
gift certificate at a closed store, a very small, very
high end men's store in Encino. So I here, I
am two hundred and fifty dollars gift card and I
said so wow, And I looked at his pants. I go, so,
how many pairs of pants? Two hundred and fifty dollars by?
He said one. I went two hundred and fifty dollars
for a pair of pants. He goes, yeah, it's a
(03:59):
good store. Sure, I don't have four suits that costs
two hundred and fifty dollars if you combine them all.
And the point is, there was no way on God's
Earth I was going to spend two hundred and fifty
dollars for a pair of pants. And the store went
out of business a few years later, and then there
(04:19):
it was two hundred and fifty bucks gone.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
You're not the only one to experience that. My rule
of thumb is always this that like, get a gift card.
If gift cards are being discounted, that's a great time
to get one for somebody. If you're trading one hundred
dollars in cash for one hundred dollars in gift cards,
you're essentially taking money that can be used anywhere in
the United States right that accepts cash money, which is
(04:42):
pretty much everywhere and the But if you turn it
into a gift card, you're turning it into something that's
incredibly limited and that somebody is more likely to misplace,
forget about not used. Just like I said, the average
American has so much money and unused gift cards, and like,
for instance, this weekend has ten percent off all their
gift cards. And so if you're like I want to
(05:04):
be thought, you know, my friend loves Target, and Target
is one of those stores where you can get a
bunch of different things too, it's not highly specialized. Get
a ten percent off Target gift card for that friend.
That's a good use of gift cards. But I think
just trading in straight up hundred bucks for a hundred
bucks or fifty bucks for fifty bucks, that to me
is what doesn't make that much sense, especially when we
look at those numbers.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, you got a Costco for example, But these are
limited to certain restaurants, certain theme parks where you buy
the gift cards and you can get a twenty percent discount.
Even stamps, even US stamps, you can get a discount.
But then again, loose Seal's Barbecue or Magic Mountain gift
(05:45):
cards at a twenty percent discount. You're right, you know,
you're guessing that they're going to go all the time.
So what I do, And it's pretty cheesy, by the way,
because people don't think of it.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
How can you do that?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And I said, it's the most valuable gift you can
give someone, and that is, as you say, a Master
card or a Visa gift card.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Here you go. You enjoyed your careful with those two
though bills. Oh yeah, that's right. The fraud that goes on.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Well, that and the fees, like lots of times there's
an upfront fee for buying it. And some of those
Visa gift cards come with like maintenance fees every single
month after you after you haven't used it for a while,
so you don't have to be careful. You might find
that some of those over time become completely worthless if
you take too long to use them. So interesting, if
you were a recipient of one of those cards, make
sure you use it asap.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Oh, I didn't know that. I did not know that.
And to your point, by the way, when you said
that they expire. Not in California. California passed the law
that says gift cards go on forever. It's the gift
that keeps on giving, except of course, when the business
goes south.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Or goes under. Then you have the other thing.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
By the way, about those gift cards, if you have
just a little bit left, you can turn them into cash.
In the state of California, I believe up to ten
dollars worth of leftover gift card money can be turned
into I think maybe next year it's going up to
fifteen dollars.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
All right.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
One of the things that we even covered this morning
is millionaires. A couple of things. They don't think they're millionaires.
It's amazing the number of people don't think that a
million dollars is basically worth enough to feel rich. And
then a lot of millionaires have financial advisors because and
(07:29):
I go to a financial advisor for some advice. And
that's because you know, I don't want to spend my
time doing the research that it really takes to understand
what's going on in the market. It's just not my wheelhouse.
So if you would comment on both of those.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Issues, I will.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
I think the reason that people don't who are millionaires
don't feel as rich as maybe a millionaire sounds like
it should feel like if you have a million bucks
or a million dollar net worth, you should feel like
you're crushing it. And it just doesn't quite feel like that.
I think part of that is rising prices, but I
think the other part of that is that so many
(08:10):
people as they move up the income scale, Yeah, they're
saving and investing maybe a little more of their paycheck,
but they also just don't quite feel like they have
much wiggle room, right, Like, so much of their money
is going towards payments for more expensive goods, whether it's cars,
whether it's homes, and so they don't feel like they
(08:30):
have a lot of optionality. And I think the people
who actually who have that million dollar net worth and
tend to feel richer are the people who have higher
savings rates, and so it feels like maybe they have
more liquidity, they have more options because they're not dedicating
as many of the resources coming in towards immediate spending.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
So that would be my take on.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
How why some millionaires maybe feel richer and others don't
is the ones who feel like they're spending is really
keeping up, like their lifestyle is increasing at the same
rate as their income is. Those are the folks who
aren't feeling quite as wealthy. And then, all right, what
was the second one you want to tackle?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Well, hang on.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Let me spend a minute talking about that in terms
of millionaires, because when we make more money, and let's
say over the years we make more money, lifestyle increases
commensurate to the money.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I mean, that's what we do.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
So you're basically in the same percentage, and you know,
vis a vis income to lifestyle. And then one other
thing about millionaires, which I completely forgot about, is the
financial advisor part of it with millionaires. Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yeah, so one last thing on the millionaires. One of
my friends who advise, he helps doctors figure out their money.
He tells them to live like a resident after they
become a full fledged doctor, and their income skyrockets. And
so if you can live like a resident for a
few years and maybe take the same sort of mindset
as a new college graduate would like, where hey live
like a college student for just two or three years,
(10:05):
and that sort of mindset that you develop, and also
the sort of savings rate you can achieve can help
you significantly when it comes to your you know, building
wealth for your future. When it comes to financial advisors.
It's interesting. There was this new survey and it found
that like a big chunk of people who have a
million dollar net worth. They don't value their financial advisor
(10:28):
in the way that you think they would. They value
their trainer, or their personal trainer, or their therapist a
lot more than they value their financial advisor. I just
thought that was kind of fascinating, and I think that
reflects a couple of things. One that advisors can be
really expensive, and so if you feel like you're giving
a big chunk of money to your advisor every single year,
(10:50):
whether that's in the form of a direct payment per
hour or whether that is in the form of an
assets under management fee, you might be like, what are
they doing on my behalf for this money? And so
if that feels true, it doesn't mean that you should
not have an advisor. It means that you might need
to find a new one. And the variability between a
great advisor and a not so great advisor can be significant,
(11:13):
but typically the fee you pay them isn't that significant.
So you might find that you're paying even less and
you're getting ten times better service from a different advisor.
If you don't love your advisor, definitely think about going elsewhere.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Now, how do you know, because most of the time
people have advisors simply look at the kind of money
advisors make for you.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah, so I would not base it based on, well,
how did my portfolio perform this year. If let's say
the stock market was up eighteen percent this year and
your portfolio is up three percent, you should really question, well,
what are you investing my money in? But the other
thing you should be saying is how well, how much
are they talking to me about my goals for the future.
How much are they asking me about what I want
(11:55):
my money to do for me, like my life goals.
And it's interesting that I said that the those millionaires
value their therapists more than they value their financial advisor.
The best financial advisors, and I was just talking to
one earlier this week. He said, the best financial advisors,
actually you have more like therapist kind of qualities. They're
talking to you, they're talking you down off the ledge
(12:15):
right when you're feeling like you need to make a
big change in your investment portfolio because you're worried about
the AI bubble.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Are they sitting down.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
And like talking to you about your worries and concerns,
and are they helping you plan out the future based
on multiple different scenarios. If they're just kind of investing
your money and kicking their feet up on the desk,
and you don't feel like you're hearing from them or
they're getting back to you in a timely manner or
addressing your concerns. That's when you know you need to
find a new one.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Also, I want to point something out in terms of
financial advisors, is we all look at how much money
they make us on an annual basis, and if the
market is up twelve percent and they only make six percent,
you go, oh, come on, or make us six percent?
You go, come on? Yeah, I mean you kept up
with the market. But the other side of that, when
the market dries ups twelve percent, how much do you lose? Yeah,
(13:03):
and if you lose eight percent in a twelve percent market,
your advisor's doing a good job for you.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Right, And that's well, that's where you need to You
and your advisor need to have a discussion about goals
and risk tolerance and so yeah, if you're if your
portfolio is underperforming this year because you have chosen less
risky investments on purpose because you need that money, you know,
in the next few years, not twenty years from now,
then you can rest easy and say they're doing their
(13:31):
job even though I'm not beating the market or even
meeting the market returns.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
And the people we're talking to clearly have money in
the bank, and that's a fair number of people. I mean,
if you're living paycheck to paycheck, you're not talking about
money hundreds of thousands or even a good healthy retirement
plan where a financial advisor kicks in. Just one quick
last one, we did a story on where where do
(13:57):
you consider saf yourself wealthy?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
What's a number? Joel? For you? Is there a number
or a lifestyle where you go, Okay, I'm rich. See.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
For me, it is being able to kind of choose
what I want to do with my time and like,
if I don't want to talk to you next week, Bill,
I don't have to, but I do because I like
hanging out with you, and so like, for me, it's
not necessarily a number. It's just knowing that I have
enough liquidity, that I have investments working in my background
so that I can kind of live the life currently
that I want to leave lead and also kind of
(14:29):
lead that in the future too.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
I'm not worried about that.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, that's pretty close to we all came to except
for Amy, who decided good relationships and loving people and
her loving people are makes you rich.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I mean that's vomitous. I mean, truly, it doesn't sound
like it's in the spirit of now now.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
It really doesn't. It's just very strange. All right, Thanks Joel,
we'll catch you this Sunday.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Sounds good. Thanks Bill.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Now I'm reading a story from tech dot Yahoo dot
com and to do with open AI's chat GPT, which
launched November thirtieth, twenty twenty two, basically three years ago.
It now has eight hundred million weekly active users. I mean,
(15:16):
you talk about a company that has gone from valuation
of during that time when they valuated at what one billion,
then forty billion, Now it's over one hundred billion. It's
actually reached a five hundred billion dollar valuation, making it
the most valuable startup in history. So with the jat GPT,
(15:39):
and usually I use Siri, so I'm trying with chat
just after talking to Demurow. Also, keep in mind that
everything I ask, I ask, everything I look at, everything
I experience is all about b and Neil will tell
you that that even I asked you what do you
think of me?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Because that's what my life is about. So with that,
I'm trying to.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Play with this and I'm not having the easiest time
of the world because it's tech. But let me try.
I'm in jack, I'm in chat EPT ask anything. Why
is Bill Handle hated so much? Okay, I'm waiting. I'm waiting.
(16:22):
I'm waiting. What's happening. It's doing its thing. It's not
going to talk to me. I press something that here.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
Now, that's not right. I hate that.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Talk radio host often attracts strong reactions, both positive and negative.
Rather than saying he's hated, it's more accurate to say
he's polarizing. Oh stop it blunt, confrontational style okay, darker,
edgie humor, long career, more opportunities for friction, is what
(16:57):
chat GPT is telling us to radio incentives.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Oh okay, and that is it keeps more people listening.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
You build a royal loyal audience when you can irritate others.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
I think I figure out why you hate Trump so much.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
You guys are the same person. Uh yeah, it could be.
It could be Hello, robot, what do you think of me?
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, yeah, pretty much. I want to ask another question,
what do you.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Think why is KFI Morning show tanking?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
I don't know if they're gonna get that. Now that
didn't work.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I didn't please see Gary and Shannon. Uh oh, that's true. Okay,
what is uh the tho?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
I mean, I'm just stopping this and I don't know
how to do the voice either. I'm going to figure
it out by next week because you've also choose all
these voices and uh, I'm still trying to figure this out.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
You should have a hasidic rabbi respond, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, let me let me ask another question here? What
is Okay, let me do this again.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Yeah, I know. What is Neil Savedra known for? Oh?
I need do a comment.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
What is Neil Savedra known forb Oh?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Come on verbally abusing Bill handle? Okay.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Now, when I do spots for Lear Capital, one of
the things I talk about is how the market is
way up and at the same time, consumer confidence is
way down, and of course the value of gold is
astronomical because you know, everybody's waiting for the shoot. So
(19:00):
what happened on Black Friday, which is now Black Monday
through Thursday, and it'll be happening through the end of Christmas, well,
holiday shoppers took a more judicious approach to spending, even
though a lot more money was spent. It's on what
was being spent, because as we're moving forward, confidence in
(19:24):
the economy is dropping fairly quickly. For example, what's happening
with the administration. It has pivoted. It is no longer
prices are low. It's no longer we have made prices.
We've cut prices in half, which was ridiculous when Trump
was running, of course, but have you noticed a pivot.
(19:47):
It's yes, prices are low. Look what we've done for
prices too. Now we're the affordability and we're going to
make society more affordable. Recognizing that prices are up and
at the same time the market is up, and at
the same time confidence is down, and at the same
(20:10):
time sales are up. I mean, a lot of this
doesn't make sense. But I'll tell you what is happening
as a result of this. Buy now, pay later services
are going through the roof this car.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It's effectively a credit.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Card, and buy now, pay later is no credit, which
makes it so absolutely wonderful to purchase. But the problem
is you add them up because if oh, I'm gonna
buy a two hundred dollars item and I'm only have
to pay twenty five dollars a month, that's only twenty
five dollars a month. That's not two hundred dollars. Well
(20:47):
you add that up cumulatively, and man, all of a sudden,
people are in major debt. It's the same crowd of
people that for somehow credit card debt. That's not real
money either. Do you know, buy now pay later used
to be buy now and get later. The plans would
be you would walk into a store and I remember
(21:08):
this growing up.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Lay away. Yeah, it was layaway. It was layaway.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
You would walk in and you would put down X
dollars and then they put down X dollars and at
the end of that you got the purchase.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
You got what you purchase.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Now, look at this, the store got all the money
for a longer period of time. But waking up and
knowing that that new refrigerator that you are and that's
now in your house, you own and you don't owe
any money on it, I'm gonna tell you that's kind
of a neat thing to do. But the problem is
you have to come up with all the money unless
(21:46):
you put it on a credit card, which the interest
rate is basically economic astronomical or buy now, pay later,
And that trend is just exploded.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
And what else is.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Going on, Well, we have a lot more sales in general,
but the discounts are much deeper, and people are buying
more essentials, and we're just thinking more in terms of
long term. We're getting away from short term. In other words,
we're moving into not a depression, but a recession. Like
(22:21):
thinking is we're spending money as if we're not going
to be as well off a month, a year from now.
So you know, I mean, that's certainly.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
The way I buy.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
I do not well, I buy on a credit card,
but I tend to pay my credit cards off at
the end of the month, which is a great way
to use credit cards. But man, if you have a
balance foo and in order to get astronomical credit ratings,
guess what you have to have is a balance.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
You know, they don't like it when you pay.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Them off the when you pay off the credit cards
at the end of the month. So if you're one
of those people that do internet shopping, oh believe me,
you're not alone. Those sales are still exploding year after year.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
And you know what's slumping. What slumping is in.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Store sales, and we'll talk more about that certainly over
the next few days. 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.
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