Let's Talk Money

May 11th, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's nine o'clock on a Saturday, A regular crowd shovels. Well,
it's a great song, but it's not nine o'clock on Saturday.
It's eight o'clock on Sunday. Folks, Happy Mother's Day go.
All of your moms out there. I can't wish you
a happy Mother's Day enough. It's a special day, and

(00:25):
I'm telling you, for those of you listening, if you're
lucky enough to have a mom, please make sure don't
text her, do not send an email, call her, or
see her. Better yet, but make sure you wish your
mom a happy Mother's Day. No matter what kind of
a relationship you have with your mom, make sure you
go out of your way and wish her a happy

(00:46):
Mother's Day. I lost my mom when I was ten,
and to this day I wish I had a mom
to be able to wish happy Mother's Day too. And
as you know, I lost my Sue almost a year ago,
and I wish my kids had their moms so they
could wish her a happy Mother's Day. So it's a
special day in many ways, and all the mothers out

(01:08):
there you deserve to be treated and pampered special every day,
but especially this day, So happy Mothers Day, everybody here
we are. It's May, May eleven. You know, who would
ever think we'd be in May already? The year is flying.
It's been a volid a year as far as the

(01:31):
investment horizon goes. But you look outside, especially in Upstate
New York, the sun is out and shining. And if
you have any questions, please give me a call. I
would love to talk to you on this beautiful, beautiful
day Mother's Day and sunshine. How does it get any

(01:52):
better than that? The phone lines are open one eight
hundred talk WGY one eight hundred, eight five five nine
four nine. I'm telling you we have such a great show.
We have two producers today, Zach Harris, my longtime producer,
and I believe today is his last day. So Zach,
are you there? Can you get on the mike? Yes,

(02:17):
I'm here, Steve Well, Zach, I can't begin to tell
you enough how much I appreciate you being with me
by my side for all these years. I think this
is why we have probably the premiere talk show on money,
not only in the Upstate Capital Region area, but also

(02:37):
right across the country. And Zach, it's because of you,
so I can't thank you enough. I know you are
going to be spending more time with your family, and
I admire you for so many reasons. A lot of
the listeners don't realize what kind of a dynamic guy
you are. But Zach, thank you for being by my
side for all these years. Thank you for the those

(03:00):
kind words.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
And I'm not worried about you because Batman can survive
without Robin.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Oh man, I'm not sure about that, but we do.
We do have a new Robin. Delia, why don't you
introduce yourself to the to the listening audience because you're
going to be with me every weekend. You know it.
I'm going to be here each weekend with you. My
name is Delia, and I'm going to be the new producer. Delia.

(03:26):
I like that. So here we are, folks. You got
really help. Oh well, I can't thank you enough for
being there for the listening audience and especially me. So
on this Mother's Day, if you have questions, let's get
the show kicked off. Call in any questions whatsoever pertaining
to your financial decisions, if you're not sure what to do,

(03:49):
how to do it, whatever it may be. One eight
hundred eight two five, five, nine, four, nine, one, eight
hundred eighty two, five fifty nine, forty nine are the
phone numbers. And we had a good show yesterday, a
lot of callers. I'm hoping we have a good show
today as well. Actually, for thirty years I've been doing radio.

(04:10):
I hope every show is a good show and you
get something out of it. Although we did have a
caller yesterday, and you know, sometimes you wake up in
the middle of the night and you say, man, I'd
never really answered the second part of his question. He
asked me about the United Health Group. You know, they've
they've had a rocky road this year, down almost twenty

(04:32):
five percent year to date. On April seventeenth, United Health shares,
you know, basically just plummeted twenty two percent, making the
country's largest single day drop since nineteen ninety eight. The
sharp decline basically followed the announcement of first quarter earnings
I fell short of expectations and the substantial reduction in

(04:53):
the company's twenty twenty five profit forecasts. And you know,
I never really got a chance to answer that call.
But you know, it makes me realize that once again,
if you like healthcare and healthcare is really a pretty
good place to be in most times. Especially you know,

(05:16):
sometimes people look at it as a defensive holding because
in healthcare you think of all the great companies, and
in healthcare, you know, you need to do your thing right.
You need to take your meds, you need to brush
your teeth, you need to wash your hair. A lot
of healthcare companies are into all of these products. United

(05:38):
Healthcare is, you know, really one of those one of
those companies. But as I said yesterday, when it comes
to investing, rather than invest in any one company, and

(05:59):
believe me, folks, I believe in exchange trade of funds.
We managed almost one point five billion dollars that's billion
with a B, and we use literally exchange trade of funds.
I only have two individual stocks in the in the portfolio,
and it's Apple and Amazon, and they've had their rough

(06:22):
days as well lately. But I believe in those two companies.
They are two great companies. They're really the only two
individual stocks that we have in the portfolio. But as
I said yesterday, if you want exposure to healthcare rather
than you know, let's make believe you chose United health
you know, you're to date, you'd be down twenty five percent.

(06:45):
That's that's not good. You know, I know the market
is down, but it's you know, the market's not down
twenty five percent. You're to date, e SMP is down
about just less than four percent. So when you look

(07:06):
at healthcare, if you chose United health you'd be down
twenty five percent. If you chose the healthcare exchange traded fund,
where you have the top companies in the SMP five
hundred that make up the healthcare sector, that would only
be down three point you know, just about the same

(07:27):
as the market, about three point seven percent. And when
you look at if you were to buy XLV, if
you like healthcare rather than buy an individual stock, if
you were to buy XLV, the top ten holdings account
for fifty six percent, So you're getting a concentrated portfolio.

(07:47):
And you have sixty one healthcare companies that make up
that exchange traded fund, but the top ten make up
fifty six percent. You have Eli and Company, Johnson and Johnson.
United Healthcare is number three, that represents about seven percent
of the portfolio. A Labs have the MRK Intuitive Surgical

(08:10):
Thermal Fish or Boston Scientific Amgen Striker Corporation that's what
makes up the XLB, and the top ten holdings literally
literally are fifty six percent of it. So you can
get really good exposure to healthcare without without exposing yourself

(08:33):
to just one stock. Is exposing yourself to just one stock.
It's hard, it's hard to do. And that's the way
really you should think about investing, to be honest, that's
that's how you want to invest. One eight eighty two, five, five, nine,
four nine. As I said, if you're still in bed
listening to us, or if you got up and got

(08:54):
a cup of coffee, I can't thank you enough. On
this Mother's Day, yesterday the sun came out. So I'm
a big supporter of the American Cancer Gala, and I
was there last night. I'm part of what they call
the Ring of Honor because eight years ago I was
the honorary chair and we all get up on a
stage and as I said, the Lizzie Hunter, who kind

(09:17):
of runs the show, I said, Lizzie, that was my wife,
Sue that stuck her head out from the clouds and
had the sun come out just before the event kicked off.
Because that was really a year ago. I lost Sue
a year ago. This Friday and the American Cancer Gallo
was the last last time she had her picture taken,

(09:41):
and it was a bittersweet moment for me. Last night
I filled up with tears more than once, and all
I thought of was Sue. And when that sun came out,
I swear it was Sue kind of sticking her head
out and just saying, hey, everything's okay. So, as I
started the show with, if you have a mom, don't
text her caller, give her a call, wish her a

(10:03):
happy Mother's Day, and make it the best day possible.
One eight hundred and eighty five fifty nine forty nine.
So the only action you can get on the weekends
is I mean, you can bet horses. I don't prescribe it.
You know, bett as a sport, a hobby. Take a
couple dollars if you want these. More than likely you're

(10:24):
not going to win betting horses. But from an investment standpoint,
crypto is really the only other action you get on
the weekend. And I'm looking at bitcoin. Bitcoin, not too
long ago, was eighty four thousand dollars. Today as we
sit here, because bitcoin is a twenty four to seven thing,
it's almost one hundred and five thousand dollars. For those

(10:47):
of you that are into crypto. Bitcoin is at one
hundred and five thousand, So if you sold off out
at eighty four thousand, you're probably kicking yourself right in
the rear end because if you held on to it.
And this is what I say all the time when
there's lot volatility, folks, you can't have knee jerk reactions.

(11:09):
You can't panic. You can't be selling and saying I
can't risk anymore losing any more money, because once you sell,
you have risks. All of that money. You basically rode
off the loss you took, the loss you sold when
the market was down. I don't care if it's the
stock market. The SMP right now is down about eight

(11:31):
percent from its high. It was down almost twenty percent
not too long ago. And you can't get scared. You
have to use volatility as your print. You have to
use volatility. You got to go in with the blood
in the street, folks, take advantage of that. The market
goes up and down, up and down, up and down.
And I guarantee you the market goes down and it

(11:53):
will go down again. It's not if we'll have another correction.
Of bearing market or reset. And it's when will we
have the next correction, the next bear market, the next recession,
and when that happens, do not do not, do not sell,
if anything, reshape the portfolio, get rid of some holdings

(12:15):
that may be defensive in nature, maybe get into some
more growth or into the holdings. That's the time to invest.
When stocks are on, sell, go in and go all in.
The market does one thing that I know for sure,
it goes down. I guarantee you that. And you know what,

(12:36):
Guess what, the world has never come to an end.
The stock market always bounces back, always goes on to
make new all time highs. This is no different. It
will do this again. But there's nothing like a good sale,
So don't panic when there's volatility in the marketplace. I'm

(12:56):
going to take a quick fifteen second break. The phone
lines are open one eight hundred eight two five, five, nine,
four nine, Give me a call. I would love to
talk to you. Yeah, I like this jazzy music. I

(13:21):
always hate to end it, but there are other channels
where you can listen to just music. I'm Stephen Bouchet,
I'm live, and I thank you for taking time out
on this morning to listen, I need it to have
just a little sip of tea. I sip on this
cinnamon orange tea from Market Spice Company in Seattle, and
it's a great tasting tea. So I couldn't wait to

(13:45):
kind of wet my whistle and take a little sip
of that tea. So thank you for letting me take
that quick break. If you have any questions, folks, one
eight hundred eight, two, five, four nine, any questions whatsoever,
give me a call. I would love to talk to you.
So you know, you know, it's kind of a mixed

(14:05):
week in the markets, but even not out of all
the major indexes, the only index that was up was
the Russell two thousand, which really represents mid caps small caps.
It was up point one two percent, So believe me,
it's not like you made a lot of money, but
it was up and that's important. You hear me say often.
For this stock market really to broaden out and have

(14:28):
a really good rally, we need small caps and mid
caps and take part in it. It can't be just
the Magnificent seven. It can't be those seven great stocks
that have been responsible for the rise of the S
and P and as that over the last few years
and believing these seven stocks, the Magnificent seven, had been

(14:49):
accountable for most of the returns. So you had to
russell two thousand this week up point one two percent.
Year to date, we're down about nine nine point three percent,
to be exact, and all the other major indexes were down.
NANZDAK one hundred, that's QQQ. When you buy that, you're
buying one hundred largest companies in NANSDAC, all of our

(15:10):
clients own it. That was down point two oh percent.
The entire NANSDAC composite was down point two seven percent,
and the S and P was down just about a
half a percent. You're to date, as I said, the
SMP is down about three point eight NASDAK composite is
down seven point two, but QQQ one hundred largest companies

(15:34):
is down four point five, so a lot less than
the Nansdack composite. So you're to date, We're not starting
off good, and that's okay. I think, believe me, a
lot of people are afraid of tariffs, tariff's tariffs. You
know how many more times are we going to talk
about tariffs? Listen? Tariffs are I think at the end

(15:55):
of the day, and I'm not a Trumpster. I'm not
here promoting Donald Trump. I'm here promoting his policies. And
I've had heated debates about this because some people either
love them or not, and I could care less whether
you love them or not. I really don't, folks, I
don't care. I don't care what your politics are. I

(16:15):
don't talk politics, but I will talk policies, because policies
set the stage for where the markets are going. And
I truly believe that, you know, the policies of these teriffs.
At the end of the day, I think these tariffs
are going to be just fine. You know, when you

(16:36):
think about tariffs, and this is where you know, all
the conversation is going tariffs, tariffs, tariffs, you know it's
going to kill the economy. The consumer is going to
get hurt. Stop just stop, just stop, please, just stop.
It's not going to happen. I really don't think it's
gonna happen. We're going to have short term pain for
long term gain. From the seventeen nineties of the early

(17:00):
nineteen hundreds, tariffs were the federal government's main source of revenue.
There was no federal income tax folks until nineteen thirteen.
Just let that settle in for a second. What's wrong
with tariffs? And that's what this president says. If tariffs work,

(17:23):
because every other country around the globe they tax every
American product that they import into their countries. That's a tariff.
So tariffs really is where this government lived on. Now.

(17:44):
You know, this great country of ours is in debt,
thirty seven trillion dollars. There's twelve zeros at the end
of trillion, twelve twelve zeros, thirty seven trillion dollars. We
are in debt, keep spending more money than we bring in,
and a lot of the money we bring incomes from

(18:07):
personal income taxes and also corporate taxes. And believe me,
tariffs they made up the government's main source of revenue.
We didn't have an income tax until nineteen thirteen, and
then tariffs kind of disappeared. Tariffs on imported goods. It

(18:27):
funded most of our expenses in this country, military, infrastructure,
debt payments, everything. Tariffs paid for that debt payments. When
interest rates go up, it's a beautiful thing if you're
a saver. When the Fed raises interest rates, which they've done,
and instead of getting next to zero on your CDs

(18:49):
or treasuries or corporate bonds. Now you're getting you know,
the the US Tenure Treasury notice yielding about four point
four percent. And that feels good, But think of how
many bonds this country is sold. Think how many foreign
countries own Japan, China and so many other own our bonds.

(19:14):
And we're writing them a check for their interest. And
when they buy more of our debt at four or
five percent rather than one percent, that means we're spending
that much more to pay back that interest payment that
they're owed because they loaned us money. They loan us money,

(19:36):
they buy our bonds, and we're in debt thirty seven
trillion dollars. So tearies on imported goods, you know, believe me,
for a long time it really funded all of the
expenses that this country relies on. And you know, basically,

(19:58):
bottom line, the the reliance on tariffs allowed this great
country of ours to avoid direct taxation of citizens for
over a century. And then it changed. It changed nineteen
thirteen and let that settle in the sixteenth Amendment gave
Congress the power to levy an income tax on us.

(20:20):
You me, well, not all of us. There's I think
forty nine percent of the country don't pay taxes. But
for a lot of us, we're paying taxes. And over time,
income and payroll taxes replaced tariffs as the dominant source
of federal revenue. What did they do? They went to us,
those great people in Congress and Washington went to us.

(20:44):
They said, hey, let's tax the everyday person. Let's take
money out of their paycheck. Instead of them making a dollar,
maybe they'll make ninety cents, eighty cents, seventy five cents,
whatever it is. So, over time, income and payroll tax
access replace tariffs as the dominant source of federal revenue.

(21:04):
And by World War Two, tariffs made up less than
ten percent of the federal revenue compared to eighty percent
in the eighteen hundreds. How does that feel? Now? You
have a different viewpoint on terriffs, don't you? Now that
you understand what this president is doing. He's trying to

(21:27):
bring tariffs back to replace some of the income tax
we're paying. And wantn't that be a beautiful thing? At
foreign countries replaced you and I in the taxes we're
paying out of our paycheck weekend, week out. So Today,
tariffs are used more as a trade policy tool, basically

(21:50):
to protect domestic industries or maybe retaliate against unfair trade,
than as a revenue stream and present Trump wants to
change that. You know, right now, tariffs account for less
than two percent of total federal revenue compared to eighty
percent in the eighteen hundreds. And ironically, terrorists today they

(22:15):
can act like a hidden tax on consumers because you know,
some companies may raise prices on imported goods. So that's
the downside. But but, but right, it's a big butt
three letters. B Ut. But if you think that this
country ran entirely on tariffs, no income taxes at all,

(22:39):
should we return to that model or is it unrealistic
in today's economy? Let me let you answer that question.
That's why I'm not afraid of the policies this country
is going to. Folks, you're listening to Let's Talk Money,
brought to you by Bouchet Fin Andrew Group, where we
help our clients prioritize their health while we manage their

(23:02):
wealth for life. We're gonna take a quick break for
the news. The phone lines are open. Give Delia and
High a call one eight hundred eighty two, five five nine,
four nine one eight.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Hundred eight two five fifty nine forty nine.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
It's nine o'clock gone a Saturday.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Well well, well it's not nine o'clock yet, and it's
not Saturday. It's eight thirty six on Sunday, and it's
Mother's Day. It's a great holiday for all of you
moms out there. Happy Mother's Day, they said in the
first half of the show. Folks, call your mom, wish
your happy Mother's Day. I wish I had a mom.

(24:07):
I'd be calling her and I'd be seeing her. So
call your mom, wish her a happy mother Saint Stuart's
ninety nine cents. Mom, you can go get a nice,
nice scoop of ice cream for ninety nine cents. Does
it get any better than that? I said last night.
I'm a big sponsor in the American Cancer Gallon. We
actually honored Amy and Gary day of Stuarts. Gary is

(24:30):
the CEO of Stuarts, he and his dad. You know,
the Stuarts is like a you know, it's part of
the neighborhood, right There's a Stewarts in every neighborhood, every city,
every town, every village. There's a Stewart's and it's a
great place to go for milk, bread, for filling up
your car with gas. They're very fair, they're very friendly.

(24:52):
All of the Stuart's employees are part of an esop,
so they're all partners in Stuarts somehow, some way. But
we did honored Amy and Gary Dake last night and
it was a beautiful, beautiful night. We raised a lot
of money and hats off to Amy and Gary Dake.
They deserve being honored last night and it was a great, great,

(25:13):
great time. What's nice about the American Cancer Galilee is
one hundred percent of the proceeds stay right here in
the Capital Region area. They don't send any of that
money to the national organization. And that's not many, not
many not for profits can say that. Folks, Thank you
for tuning in, Thank you for listening through the news.

(25:36):
The phone lines are open one eight hundred eighty two
five five nine four nine, any questions whatsoever. I know
I took some time to talk about tariffs because so
many people are confused about tariffs. And it's not a
political statement, it's a policy statement. I think tariffs are
going to be good for this great country of ours.

(25:57):
I think at the end of the day, maybe, maybe,
just maybe we'll have more jobs brought back to this country.
More companies will instead of going to Vietnam, China, Mexico,
they will maybe open up some plants or expand their
plants in this great country of hours and put the
great people of this country to work, let them make

(26:19):
more money. I went to Steward's yesterday to buy my
Wall Street Journal and barons and there was a big
sign on the door seventeen to nineteen dollars an hour.
They're looking for cashiers with benefits, man oh Man. As
I said yesterday, it wasn't that long ago, those jobs
would be nine ten dollars an hour. Seventeen to nineteen

(26:40):
dollars an hour. And I don't care if you go
to Walmart, Amazon, Target, Starbucks, I don't care where you go.
You're being paid way more than ten dollars an hour,
almost closer to twenty dollars an hour. That's the market
environment we're in. And I'm okay with that. And you know,
I believe me. I know there's a lot of small

(27:02):
business owners out there that are finding it hard because
in order for them to retain good health they're paying
them more. But I'm okay with that. It's okay for
small business people like me and others to make maybe
just a little less money in order and order for
their people to be able to put food on the table,

(27:22):
pay rent, put gas in their car. I'm okay with
all of that. So I'm okay if the owner of
the businesses make a little less money and the worker
gets paid a little bit more money. And that's the
environment we're in eight eight, two, five, five, nine, four nine.
So I can't, you know, I can't not say how

(27:44):
happy I am about Cardinal Robert Provos being our new Pope,
Pope Leo the fourteenth. It really brought tears to my
eyes when that happened on Thursday. As you know, if
you listen to the show, I was in Rome. I
actually touched down, ironically, watched the movie Conclave on my

(28:06):
way to Rome, and touched down a couple of weeks
ago on Monday, and Pope Francis passed away just before
I touched down. I turned on my phone and that
was the news, and it was a chakra. But he's
On Tuesday, the Vatican was going to say a Mass
for me, and on Wednesday. I was going to have
a face to face with the Pope, but Pope Francis

(28:28):
wasn't doing well. I think, my personal opinion, I think
that Pope Francis knew that his days were really coming
to an end. And on Holy Thursday he went to
the prisons in a wheelchair. He's been going with the
prisons every year since he's been a pope on Holy Thursday,
and he did it again. We didn't see much of

(28:50):
the Pope over the last few months, but he went
to the prisons on Thursday. He was in Saint Peter's
Square on Saturday, and then again on Easter Sunday, he
was there. He got out of the car and talked
to some people and passed away on Easter Monday, because
day actually in Rome, there's eight days after Easter that

(29:12):
they celebrate Easter, So on Easter Monday we lost Pope Francis.
And I'm reading his autobiography right now. Took them six
years to write it. The name of the book is
Pope France's Autobiography, Hope, Hope. Now there's two books out there, Hope,
regarding Pope Frances but there's only one autobiography. It's a

(29:34):
white cover with a beautiful picture of Pope Frances on it.
And this man was a dynamic man. He was a
pope of all the people. He didn't care, He didn't
care who you were. He didn't There was nothing that
he cared about other than wanting to do good for
all the people of this country and world. And he

(29:57):
I think we have one point five billion people that
are you know, Catholic faith somehow, some way, and you
know that didn't matter to him. He cared for all
the people. So he was a good man. And I'm
I'm hopeful that our new Pope, Leo the fourteenth will
follow in us footsteps. So far, so good, I think

(30:19):
he will. One eight hundred eighty two five five nine
four nine one eight hundred eighty two, five fifty nine
forty nine. So we talked about tariffs. Enough about terriffs.
You now know not to be afraid of terroriffs. I
don't care what the talking points are out there. Tariffs

(30:40):
will be good for this country. It'll be better for
this country than not. And as I said, up until
nineteen thirteen, tariffs made up eighty percent of what the
government needed to live on, whereas now it makes up
two percent, and we you and I and corporations are
paying in taxes and a lot of money towards income taxes,

(31:05):
not only the payroll taxes, but income taxes and income
taxes are a killer. So some other hot topics. The
Fed's next move. Will the FED cut rates this summer
or stay put? How should investors position themselves? I think
you know, listen, we know that. You know these people,

(31:28):
the federal governors are you know, they mean well, but
sometimes they're just not realistic. If I go back a
few years ago when inflation was nine point one percent,
you know, listen, listen, you know this, this the last administration,
the last Treasury secretary in this Federal Reserve Board said

(31:51):
that inflation was transient, just temporary. Boy, how wrong were they?
You and I we knew inflation was real. You and
I were paying more money at the gas pumps. We
were paying more money in the grocery store. We were
paying more money to turn the heat on. We knew

(32:12):
inflation was real. They did not. It took them a
while before they started raising interest rates. Finally they did,
and we killed inflation. Inflation went from nine point one
percent down somewhere between two and three percent. Depending on
how you look at it. If FED wants it to
go to two percent, why I don't know. If I

(32:32):
go back, over the last almost one hundred years, inflation
averaged about three point four percent. So why why does
the FED have a two percent target? Because they're dopes.
They got used to this economy after the great financial
collapse of two thousand and seven through two thousand and
nine March of two thousand and nine, where the stock

(32:54):
markets were down fifty percent, we were in a recession.
Things looked bad. If you thought the world was coming
to an end. That was a time when people thought
the world was coming to an end. Guess what, The
world didn't come to an end. And not only did
it not come to an end, but if you had
the audacity they courage to put money to work, you

(33:15):
made a lot of money over the last you know,
the last fifteen years. Your average return in the stock market,
the S and P is about fourteen percent. And if
you have NASDAK in your portfolio, which show all of
our clients to almost nineteen percent a year, year in
year out, your average return year in year out. And
if you had money in bonds because you didn't want

(33:36):
to take any risk two point four percent so you
can do the math right. Would you rather make fourteen
or nineteen percent on your hard earned money or two
point four percent so you can sleep better at night. Listen, folks,
it's okay to be invested. It's okay to have risk
in the portfolios. There's risk in everything. There's risk in cash.

(33:57):
If you're getting less than inflation, you're losing money real dollars.
Your real rate of return is negative. So there's risk
in every asset class. I don't care if it's cash,
commodities like gold, real estate, bonds, stocks. There's risk in
every asset class, but stocks take the front of it.

(34:18):
People think stocks are risky, stocks are violatile, but over
time they're not risky. I'll take fourteen percent a day,
all day long, annual return over two percent all day long.
My clients know I'm invested just like they are. I'm
proud to say the only difference is I'm one hundred
percent invested in the stock market. I don't look at

(34:40):
my portfolio. I could care less that the market's down.
I know my investment team has me in good investments,
in my clients in good investments, and I know the
stock market. Guess what, every time it goes through a
correction or a bear market. Every time the stock market
goes negative, guess what, it always comes back and it

(35:01):
always goes on to make new all time highs. That's
why you can't get scared out of the market. So
I think the next bed move it should they should
cut interest rates because inflation is still out there. We're
still paying more than we should in the grocery stores.
Gases come down, but it's still Listen. You know, if

(35:21):
oil goes down to fifty dollars a barrel, like I
talked about yesterday, that means the price of gas goes down,
and that's that's one of the key items in everybody's pocketbook.
Eighty two five, five, nine, four nine. Let's go to
the phone lines. We have Alan in Glenville. Good morning, Alan.

Speaker 4 (35:41):
Good morning, Steve's great show. Will always enjoy listening to you.
Just want to get your thoughts on this. Instead of
having the politics of a tariff and all of the nonsense,
whether you're on the left or the right, wouldn't it
be a whole lot simpler for Treasury, for the Federal Reserve,

(36:02):
urban governance, the cash flow of our nation just to
impose a three percent national sales tex I'd like to
get your thoughts on that.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Yeah, well, that's that's too much common sense, Allan, And
we know politicians don't have a whole lot of common sense. Actually,
I'm all in favor of term limits as far as
I'm concerned. Everybody should have a chance to run for
office and then get the heck out of Washington or
on a state level or a local level. Term limits

(36:35):
should be enforced hands down. I'll debate that with anybody.
Some of these career politicians, they come out of school,
they've never had a real job. They're in politics. They're
spending our hard earned money and wasting our heart earned money.
And you know, having common sense in Washington is something

(36:57):
that just doesn't happen, Allan. I just don't see anybody
with common sense. I like what's going on now. I
like Elon Musk looking for waste and fraud and kind
of rooting out that. I like him cutting the deficit
by saving us money by looking for things in areas

(37:20):
that we're spending money where we shouldn't spend money. So
I don't know if we should have a three percent
national sales tax or not. You know. I know sometimes
people cross county lines or state lines because sales tax
is less. There's got to be a better way. I
spent a lot of time in the first half of
the show talking about tariffs. I'm not afraid of tariffs,

(37:42):
and you shouldn't be afraid of tariffs either, folks. Tariffs
will be good for this country at the end of
the day, even though we have a lot of emotions,
even though there's a lot of us that are on
one side of the fence or the other side of
the fence. As I said, I could care less what
your polyp tics are. I could care less, folks. Let's

(38:03):
talk about policy and just policy. Tariffs will be good
for this great country of ours at the end of
the day. I believe that with all the noise, with
all the emotions, with all the scare that people are
trying to put in our mind, at the end of
the day, when you think that tariffs account for two

(38:26):
percent of our federal budget, whereas in the eighteen hundreds
they accounted for eighty percent. Eight zero income taxes didn't
come to fruition untill nineteen thirteen. Let's go back to
those days where our income taxes may get reduced and
maybe foreign countries pay their fair share, because every foreign

(38:46):
country is taxing all of the goods that we export
out of this country, all of the goods that are
great workers in this hard working country of ours make.
Every time they go to a foreign country, it's there's
a terrif on them. So is this administration wrong for

(39:07):
putting tariffs on stuff coming in? No, not at all.
Sure you may pay a little bit more for your perfume,
your wine, your car, you know, all the stuff that
comes out of China. And listen, I've said this for years.
President Trump is a schoolyard bully. You may not like
him as a person. He's going to get in your face.
He's going to try to talk you down and scare you.

(39:30):
But you know he's whether you want to hear this
or not, he's a smart man, folk, he's a smart man,
so you know he talks tough. He talked one hundred
and forty five percent tariffs on China, and this morning
I read headlines that may be down to fifty percent.
That's how he is. He's a schoolyard bully, he's a narcissist,

(39:51):
he's pompous, in so many ways. But I think he's
got the best interest of this country of ours first
and forem and that's that's what matters. That's why I'm
not afraid of teriffs, and that's not That's why I
think the stock market will be better off, even though
we're going through some volatility. As I said, you're to
date the SMP is down about just less than four percent,

(40:14):
and as THATAK one hundred QQQ is down four and
a half percent, and before we know it'll be positive
on eight hundred eighty two five five nine four nine one,
eight hundred eighty two five fifty nine forty nine. So
I'm hoping the next FED move will be cutting rates.
They paused this past week when they met, and you

(40:36):
know they're they're watching every piece of data that they
can get their eyes on. But I'm hoping that their
next move will be cut We're writing it, you know.
We I think we have like four hundred and fifty
of the five hundred companies that make up the SMP,
and that's really the meat and potatoes of the stock market,
the S and P five hundred, those five hundred companies

(40:58):
account for just about the entire market. I don't look
at the dial. You don't even hear me talk about
what the doll's doing anymore. I kind of gave up
on it. And it's a popular index. Everybody likes to
recite the dial, but there's only thirty companies, and it's
a price weighted index, whereas the SMP is a market

(41:19):
weighted index. And you know, it's a better indication. If
you're looking at your portfolio, do not, do not let
your advisor compare it to the doll. Have your advisor
compare it to the SMP, especially for the stock portion,
or better yet, the total stock market, which takes into
consideration the four hundred mid cap companies and the six

(41:43):
hundred small cap companies. There you have it. You have,
you know, fifteen hundred companies that make up really the
entire stock market, most of it. Eight two, five, five, nine,
four nine. We got John and Latham. Good morning, John,
how's are going? It's gone? How about you?

Speaker 3 (42:06):
Great show? You're actually uh, you're actually the company I
deal with for my finances. I just have a quick
question for you. Why is it that when oil prices
go up, the pump goes up immediately, but when it
comes down, it takes forever. Is that just a dumb question.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Oh no, it's a great question. Uh oh, why.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
You don't have enough time to answer it?

Speaker 1 (42:41):
I don't know if I listen. I'm a pretty astute guy.
I've been helping clients for forty years. I've been in
business for thirty five. I've been I've been doing radio
for thirty Dasoline.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
Has done great for my family. I can tell you
that you've done great for my family.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
John.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
As a client, I can't thank you enough for putting
your trust and faith in us. As you know, John,
I ask you and every client, are we needing your expectations?
That's all?

Speaker 3 (43:10):
And then some good?

Speaker 1 (43:12):
That's all?

Speaker 3 (43:13):
Get end relationship with another financial company that's all over
the radio all the time, and then we switched to you.
I mean, we've got a big portfolio. It didn't do
anything for nine years during the biggest boom, and we
had had enough.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
Oh well, thank you, thank you, John. I can't thank
you enough for those comments. It's yeah, so gas prices
lag behind crude oil. You know, gas is made from
crewde oil. It takes time for low lower oil prices
to work through the supply chain from oil purchase to

(43:48):
refining to distribution. Retail gas stations may have bought a
lot of fuel when oil was higher, so they won't
lower prices until that inventory is sold, is probably the
best way of answering it. But you're right. When oil
goes up, boy, they're right out there raising the price
of gas.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Even before they buy it. One last quick question, one
last good question. I have a supplier to strut company.
I have a supplier and his prices went up. So
I said, why did your price go up? Because, well,
because of the tariffs. I said, Well, first of all,
you haven't these is stuff you've had on your shelf
that you bought a previous prices. When is it going
to become gouging?

Speaker 1 (44:29):
That's that's what we call greed, right John, Greed? Yeah,
that's what we call greed. And you know, once again
there's a lot of chatter out there that the consumers
are going to pay for all these tariffs. The consumers
aren't going to pay for all these terrfs. First of all,
President Trump's going to right any CEO that passes those

(44:49):
costs on to the consumer. This guy is not afraid
to make anybody, make people look greedy. And these tariffs.
I don't think they're going to affect the consumer as
much as we would think they do. But you're right.
You know, gas prices, it takes a while for them
to come down. So that's the logical reason is because retailers,

(45:12):
you know, they got all this inventory, and you know
they wait before they lower, but boy, when the price
goes up. And as you said, your supplier raised prices
because of terriffts. We don't even know what the real
tariffs are going to be yet, so why is anybody
raising prices because of terriffs. It's crazy? Hey, John, thank you,

(45:33):
Thank you for being a client. Thank you for your comments. Okay,
enjoy this Sunday. Thank you, John, Enjoy this Sunday. Stay healthy, John,
and more more importantly, thank you for putting your trust
and faith in my team and I to manage your wealth.
It's something I take very, very seriously. I don't take

(45:53):
what we do for a living lightly. And I tell
every client that I will show any client, and my
advisors know to show any client that wants to see
my portfolio because I always say I'm invested just like
my clients. The only difference is I'm one hundred percent
invested in the stock market, and I'm okay with that.

(46:14):
I'm not afraid of stock market corrections, in bear markets,
and even recessions. We need that in order for us
to continue to move forward. We need to have some
setbacks in life. So I'm not afraid of when there's
a correction or a bear market. A correction officially is
when the market goes down ten percent from a point,

(46:38):
and then a bear market is when it goes down
twenty percent. I'm not afraid of all of that, folks.
It's part of being invested and you shouldn't be afraid
of it either. And if you have an advisor who
doesn't know how to act during those times, you need
a new advisor. You can't have an advisor that has
knee jerk reaction. Folks, you're listening to Let's Talk Money,

(46:59):
brought the by Bouchet Finanswer Group, where we help our
clients prioritize their health while we manage their wealth for life.
Go to our website Bouchet dot com. That's b as
in boy O U C H E y dot com.
We got some great articles there. There's you know, I
was interviewed when I was in Rome to see the
Hope and there's you know, some good coverage there of

(47:22):
the interview. It's pretty enlightening. Go take a look at that.
It's right on our homepage, folks. Happy Mothers Day. Thank
you for tuning in today, Thank you for tuning in
every week. You have a great day. Come back next weekend.
Bye bye,