October 24, 2024 • 25 mins
Host of ‘How to Money’ on KFI Joel Larsgaard joins the show to talk about too much debt impacting career choices of millennials and zoomers, home equity hitting record levels, and young people spending huge amounts on fitness. Toys aren’t just for kids: Mattel, Lego and others are catering to ‘Kidults.’ At LAFD Station 11, one of the busiest in the nation, far more overdose emergencies than structure fires.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yeah, this is KFI Bill Handle here on a Thursday morning,
October twenty four.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Next Tuesday, election day.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And we've got some big choices, obviously to say, one
huge choice, and then some props too. And tomorrow at
seven thirty, I'm gonna go through the props and talk
about how you're gonna vote yourself more taxes, because this
is California and we just love to tax.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Ourselves to death. Joel lars Guard how to Money. We
do this every Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
He has heard every Sunday twelve to two pm here
on KFI, and his social.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Is at how to Money. Joel. Good morning, Joel, morning.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Bill.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
All right, we haven't talked in a few weeks because
I was out, and so let's get into this because
there are a few topics and I'm right in the
middle of this. Too much debt okay, and it is
impacting career choices of millennials and zoomers, and let's talk
(01:05):
about that connection.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Oh, so this is like really really fascinating that I'm
kind of I'm not Every single kind of debt is
awful and you should avoid it.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
At all costs kind of person.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
There are some kinds of debt that can make sense
in your life, Like credit card debt sucks. But when
you're talking about getting some debt for college, like taking
on some debt to go to college to get a
higher education, that can make some sense, right, because you're
talking about taking on debt to be able to improve
your skills, your marketability so that you can increase your income.
But there was this new poll and found that a
(01:38):
big chunk, like almost half of millennials and gen zers,
they've said that their debt that they've taken on has
impacted the kinds of jobs or the decisions they have
to make around the work they're doing. So maybe like
they have to stick at a job they don't like
because it pays enough. They've got this massive debt they've
got to pay off and so there's nothing else they
can do. They feel like they have fewer choices because
(01:59):
of the massive debtload hanging over their heads.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, I mean there.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, let me give you an example in my world. Lawyers,
people that I went to law school with and became lawyers,
and by now or even a few years ago, they
were senior partners at major law firms, and they were
so caught up with their lifestyles, they were so caught
up with the cost of just living, they couldn't get
(02:24):
out of a practicing law even though they were burnt out.
And that is a problem on this side. And what
you're saying is, at the beginning of your process, what
you choose to do has to do with how much
debt you're walking in with.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Yeah, or think about this, like, let's say you feel
like you're in a dream job and you think that
there's room to grow and that maybe in a few
years you will be making signifilly more where you're at,
but you're like, I can barely make ends meet, and
a large part of it is because of all the
debt I've taken on in the interim to get to
this point, I might have to jump down the road
and a job I don't like as much, and maybe
it means working more hours and doing work that I'm
(03:04):
not as enthusiastic about, just because I got to pay
off this debt.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So I think.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
There's not a lot of suggestions for people who are already
in that boat. I think the crucial thing is that
for folks out there who have kids who are going
to school, or if you are a youngster out there
you're listening and you're like, I'm going back to get
another degree, you have to be really careful about how
much debt you're taking on to get that degree. I
think it can make sense, Like I said, it's not
a no debt ever sort of thing. It can make
(03:32):
sense to take on debt to get a higher education,
but you have to be careful about how much you're
taking on because it can really impact your choices and
the possibilities that you have going forward.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Okay, home equity is at record levels. We know that.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And if you bought a house two three years ago,
if you bought a house five years ago or ten
years ago, you're on paper pretty wealthy. Tapping into your
home traditionally. I mean, it made a lot of sense
when I'm assuming it has to do with interest rates.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Yeah, people are swimming in home equity these days. If
they bought their house five, ten years ago, like you said,
the further in the past you bought that home, the
more home equity you likely have built up. And I
think the average homeowner has something like three hundred and
fifteen thousand dollars in home equity, which is incredible, and
you're talking about just how much that's rocket shipped up
since twenty twenty, since COVID and housing price increases.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
It's a lot.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
And so that's the flip side of the fact that
a lot of youngsters who are saying I can never
afford to buy a house are the people who did
buy a house.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And they made out like bandits.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
And yeah, you're right though a lot of more people
are tapping those home equity lines of credit or they're
taking out a home equity loan. But as rates have risen,
it's less advisable than it was. You have to be
really careful what you're spending that money on, and you
have to have a really good plan to pay off
that money in quick order.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I you know, I sold the Persian Palace and I
had to buy another place. So because of the timing,
I bought at the absolute top of the market. Could
not believe what I was paying for this house. Just insanity.
It has gone up five six percent already. Yeah, and
(05:09):
I bought it at the beginning of the year. I
get what the hell is going on with that? I mean,
does it ever stop?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
I mean, that's a good question. That's the whole supply
and demand thing. And we don't have enough housing units
in this country. That's a bit, you know, and we've
got a lot of really strict building requirements that prevent
more supply or at least the amount of supply that
we need to come in to kind of balance the
supply demand equation. I think a lot of people, though, Bill,
are tempted. They look at that home equity and they
kind of they get dollar signs in their eyes and
(05:37):
they say, listen, I'm I don't feel like I'm able
to meet some of the spending needs that I have,
or that I'm able to save in the way that
I wants. So maybe it makes sense to tap into
this home equity and do something better with it. Even
some people are even tempted to invest, thinking that maybe
they can stupid. That's really stupid, rightly.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Give credit card debt or buying a car or.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
The only thing that makes sense, and I want you
to comment on this is taking that money and making
the home more valuable, redoing your bathroom, redoing your kitchen,
And even then you have to be careful. For example,
putting in a swimming pool does not add two cents
to the value of a house.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
You know, you're exactly right. I mean, you took the
words right out of my mouth. This is exactly what
I'm trying to tell people all the time. It's like, yeah, sure,
you've got four hundred thousand, six hundred thousand dollars worth
of value in your home, and you're like, man, this
gap is huge. What should I do with this money?
Most of the time you should just leave it put
And even when you look at kind of home renovations
and the payback timeline, most of them don't pay back
(06:37):
if you redo your kitchen unless you're kind of doing it,
doing some of the work yourself, and you're you're you know,
you're being really smart about the costs to go into it. Yeah,
you might do okay on that, but most of the
time you are going to put in more money into
the renovation then you're going to get out of it
if you're list to list it on the market.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, and the only ones that make sense, and even
then to your comment, and it probably doesn't or most
of the time it doesn't. Our kitchens and bathrooms, everything
else is a waste of time.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
The one random renovation I heard that actually, or according
to a study, makes the most sense replacing your garage door.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Oh yeah, because that's cheap. That makes sense.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
It's cheap, and it's a big piece of the visual
as you're driving to Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Now I walk every morning for an hour and three
days a week.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
I go to the gym, and I have a trainer.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
And the reason I have a trainer is I will
not do it on my own, and I just spend
the money because I know if I don't have a trainer,
I get one very cheap because she doesn't know what
the hell she's doing and she weighs.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Four hundred pounds, so she doesn't have a lot of clients.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
It's I won't do it without someone there. So people
are spending money on staying in shape. I'm spending money
to not stay in shape very much because I'm constantly eating.
Just ask the morning crew. As a matter of fact,
I just had my second meal of the morning.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So what's going on with that?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Gosh, that sounds like a worse proposition build to spend
money and not get in shape.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, you know what, I don't know how much shape
I'm in. I really don't, But you know, I mean.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
I like you're doing it sounds like you're doing a lot.
I mean an hour walk is pretty great. And get
into the gym three times a week. I mean that's
what I eat.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You know, I eat a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So but reality, you know, obviously I'm in much better
shape than I would be otherwise. But people are spending money,
and sometimes too much. Now, thank goodness, I make a
pretty good living, so it doesn't it doesn't break me.
I mean, there's certain things that you can spend that
they're not going to kill you. In my case, that's
the case. But you know, still, you know, people are spending.
(08:44):
Young people are spending tons of money, and that's what
it takes to stay in shape.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
It's it's motivation, isn't it. Well.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
I think gen z ors and millennials they've kind of
fallen prey to some of the marketing gimmicks in the
in the bulking up in the fitness space, and they
are spending some of these Some of these folks are
spending like one thousand dollars a month or ten plus
percent of their income, or they're going into debt in
order to get in shape. And you know, in some
ways that's great, Like what's better to spend money on
(09:12):
than your health and feeling good. I think that's a
great thing, but also think it's possible to overdo it.
And so there was some new stats about how young
people are more willing to go into debt for some
of their health goals, right, and some people literally are
spending fifteen percent of their after tax income or something
like that on gyms and on those protein powders and
(09:33):
stuff like that. I've got two buddies who are super
into fitness, and they're polar opposites on this. One of
my friends spends big bucks and he mixes together four
different like powder drinks every single morning. And those things are,
you know, one hundred bucks a month each, so that
adds up that's like really expensive, and he's you know,
trying to get all of his stuff in. One of
my other buddies who's a great runner, He runs all
(09:54):
the time. He literally like walks out of the garage
with a Carkland signature water bottle in his shorts that
are ten years old.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Runs.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
And so I think that some people think that you
have to spend money to get fit, and you have
to be part of this fancy CrossFit gym or something
like that. And it's not that I'm down on that
if you want to spend money in that way, but
going into debt for it is like something that I'm
really not in favor of.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Now, you look like you're in pretty good shape, You're
fairly thin. I mean it could be that's just genetics.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Do you work out?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I try to.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
I'd like I just try to kettlebells and dumbells and
some like body weight workouts. So all that stuff is
inexpensive to free once you own the equipment.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
And then the other thing.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
I actually ran my first half marathon this past weekend,
so you know, running is another one of those things
where you can you can spend a lot of money
to get all the gear, or you can literally just.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Go outside and run.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
And so I think you just have to be careful
to not get too obsessed with some of the gear,
some of the clothing, some of the fitness accouterments that
you can add in, because that can really blow your
fitness budget. But yeah, I love I love physical exercise.
I fallen in love with it over the past like
year and a half. But yeah, I've never really never
did anything before that.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, I'm never nderstod people that like physical exercise. I
mean I really don't. And running is basically a good
pair of running shoes. It's one hundred and fifty bucks
and that's the equipment. Tennis, you can spend hundreds of
dollars on those tennis rackets, and I mean it's depending
on the sport. Yeah, you can spend big money. So
(11:19):
people that run, I mean, obviously they are not going
to have knees in ten years.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And does anybody pay attention to that?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
I mean that's another yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Side effect I guess of overdoing it at the gym
is like you can find yourself hurt. You know, my
wife she does like some working out and then she finds,
oh man, I got a bum knee now, and I
got to go see, you know, to see if I
need some sort of surgery to remedy this. I think
sometimes that's actually part of the problem with some of
the more intense workout like the crossfits. I've heard from
a lot of a lot of physical therapists that hey,
(11:51):
guess what we're seeing a lot of crossfitters come in.
So not only is the is the gym expensive? And yeah,
hopefully you get in shape and you avoid, you know,
you avoid injury, but if you do end up going in,
like the healthcare costs out up too. You know what,
Jim's the healthcare costs on the opposite side, if you know.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, that becomes crazy. You know who Jim Fisk was? No,
is that name? This guy created basically.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
The running, the whole running culture, and he talked about
he wrote a book and he talked about how important
it was, and the whole jogging thing started with him.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
He was jogging and died of a heart attack. Oh wow, Right,
there was.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
That in like organ in the sixties because I don't
know what.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It was, but that, to me, that was the message
running will kill you every single time.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I better quit?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, you know kidding?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
All right, Joel, We'll catch you this weekend Sunday from
twelve to two, and of course next Thursday.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Sounds good. Thanks Bill?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
All Right, A story I want to do about adults
buying toys for themselves and they become not only collectibles,
people just do it. You know, Barbie is huge, not
for kids, but for adults. And I'm not talking about
Japanese blow up dolls that look like Barbie. I'm talking
about Barbie, the real Barbie's and adults are buying them
(13:11):
and they don't have kids, and that is getting huge.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Mattel Lego Group.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
All kinds of toy companies are catering to adults, and
they're known in the industry as kid adults. Mattel for example,
when the whole World of Harry Potter Pokemon Wicked Wicked
New figurines, and there's a.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Story here, and this was the La Times.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
A guy the name of Jerry Jeremy Hart played with
hot wheels as a kid, and it's what kids do.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And he didn't particularly collect them.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I mean, when you're done with your toys, you're done
with your toys. So his son gets into hot wheels
and he goes to a hot wheels convention and all
of a sudden he connects. Boy does he connect. He's
forty eight years old and he has already spent thousands
(14:04):
of dollars on hot wheels. He's on the hunt for
new ones, and he's part of a growing number of
adults who were buying toys for themselves and yeah, in
some cases reclaiming their memories from childhood. Some have really
moved and are actually building up a following and making
(14:26):
really good money, not only investment and turning around and
reselling them if you buy one, if you bought it
years ago and.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
It's a limited edition.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But also there's a couple of stories of people who
have actually developed the whole internet world with this. There
is a guy, sorry about the cough. There is a
fellow named Harrison Woodward, and he got a Lego technique
(14:58):
set a model car just as a gift, and boy,
that reignited everything about Lego for him. So he starts
building these Lego uh, these Lego products. He starts building
these various animals and architectural buildings with Legos, and you've
(15:18):
seen those. And he now makes enough money because he's
on TikTok and he has so many followers that he
quit his job as an insurance broker to just get
the money from his TikTok.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
He has sponsors, sells ads. Now, uh, you're gonna do
it right. We're not talking about your little tick, your
little Lego sets.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
This guy builds the Titanic, uh, the Eiffel Tower, the
Great Pyramid of Giza. You know.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
One of the great jobs in this world.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
And I remember doing a story on that is the
model builder for Lego and these people, I think they
have four of them, are hired and they go around
the world building these extraordinary Lego formations of buildings of
animals just in the environment, rivers and trees. I mean,
(16:18):
it's pretty interesting stuff. And so he ends up making
a chunk of money. In the twelve months ending in
June of twenty twenty four, US Adult Spot more than
seven billion dollars in toys, and some of the top
selling ones are Pokemon Star Wars Lego Star Wars sets.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
That whoever did that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
At Legos was a genius set up some kind of
a licensing issue. Funko Pop. What the hell is Funko pop? Cono,
you would know what Funko Pop is. You want to
explain that to me.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I want to explain it. They're little miniature figurines, big heads.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
And they're and they're called Funko Pop.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah. I get my brother then from Rick and Morty.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
But Rick and Mortis and okay, I has heard that,
all right, Figuring how about squish mallows?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I don't know what those are either.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
I don't know squish mallows.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
That's this story in the La Times from January to
April of this year, adults brought bought more toys than
any other age group, actually surpassing preschoolers for the first time.
And the real smart people looking for investment. Let me
give you a story of a friend of my brothers.
(17:39):
They went to junior high together. Uh. This guy bought
uh two sets of the first X Men comics. One
he just enjoyed, the other one. I guess he realized.
And I'm talking about a kid that was pretty young.
That's when X Men first came out. He bought the
first six and he put them in plastic and they're
(18:04):
in pristine condition. Those six X Men comics paid for
pharmacy school, which is not cheap. That's the investment, and
toys can be at the same level.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
And that is what's happening now.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
During COVID, a US toy company saw sales grow like crazy.
Of course, people who were stuck at home look for activities,
and you would think, and it makes sense. Overall sales
have dropped significantly. People who are at least eighteen years
old buying toys from themselves. That demographic has not dropped.
(18:49):
They are still buying toys.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
All right.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I mean, you know, I should I should have bought toys.
Can you realize how much this stuff is worth? And
there were things that I bought as a kid that
are now worth just buckets of money. You know the
other day I did a story on baseball cards and
you have the first Mickey Mantle card. I mean it
(19:14):
was early, it was in the early nineteen fifties, but
you know, you bought it, you put it in a drawer,
you forget about it, and you find out years later
the thing is worth eight hundred thousand dollars for a
Mickey Manto card that's not in particularly good shape. And
then that baseball that was just hit by okay name.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Just god? Did I just forget his name? I did?
It's a mental issue. Just sold for what five million dollars?
That's it? Show heyotany? Yeah, it was like four point
four million, I mean something crazy.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
And when you have original there was the original baseball
that Babe Ruth. I think they that exist if I'm
not mistaken. Do you remember when Babe Ruth pointed at
center field and it was going to be a home
run and he hit the home run?
Speaker 1 (20:12):
That ball?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I remember that ball went for a couple million dollars.
But one that was just hit a few months ago. Crazy,
All right, we're done show. Hey Otani, thank you very much.
Story that was in the La Times. There is a
columnist by the name of Steve Lopez, and boy is
he insanely liberal.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But that's besides the point.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And what he did is he spent some time at
LA Fire Department Station eleven down near MacArthur Park. And
Station eleven is the second most busy LA Fire department
in the city outside of skid Row. And I'm talking
about going out on medical calls. And I'm talking about
(20:58):
going out on medical calls for fentanyl and overdoses as
well as other medical problems. Because people live on sched
Row and live around MacArthur Park, they're not the healthiest
people in the world.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And there are a lot of drug addicts.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And you know, we've talked about this before, so hopefully
you haven't eaten yet for breakfast, because I want to
describe to you a drug that's being used more and more,
and it's called trenk. It is a tranquilizer big time.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
And what it.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Does is it creates these open, huge, festering sores that
you can see through the muscle in some cases right
to the bone. And people keep on doing it, and
it takes a pretty desperate person to do that. But
around those two areas, that's what the paramedics see.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
And it used to be, well.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
If you ever talk to people that work in the
world of fired depart because paramedics are part of the
fire department, they work thirty six hours straight or forty
eight hours straight.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And you get a little sleep. Fire men and now
fire people's they.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Got some sleep because you know, there weren't that many
calls two o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Today it's twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
A twenty four hour shift is twenty four hours of
forty eight thirty six hours is a shift that that's long.
And if you follow along, and Lopez did when he
followed along with the crew, it's not just going out
to a single incident. There's a fentanyl overdose. There's a
(22:42):
real problem. So the paramedics go out and from the
time they go out to the time they have dealt
with the person who is overdosing on whatever drug, they
get four other phone calls that they have to go
from place to place, and there are a couple of
things that are like completely.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Disgusting that the paramedics talk about.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
One of them is the trenk where people are just
they're not moving very much. They have these open sores,
their teeth have fallen out, and they're still taking it
a pretty desperate person.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
They also, when you talk about someone.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Who takes fentanyl a whole lot, and I didn't even
know this, they bend over and they call it the
fentanyl walk, where people's muscles actually are locked and they're
bent over at at the waist and they're dealing with this.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
It's easier dealing.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
With people who are overdosing on fentanyl or opiates. Their
problem is when people are overdosing on meth or they're
overdosing on other drugs because as these folks are basically
out of control. You've heard stories about police dealing with
people that are on meth and tasing them and it
(24:08):
does nothing, and several tases do nothing.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
All right, So if you.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Ever have a chance, LA Fire Department, Station eleven, see
if you can do a ride along.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
That sounds like a good idea.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
You know, I've been asked to do a ride along
with the LAPD I don't know, half a dozen times,
and I won't do it because I always ask the
same question will I will you let me shoot somebody?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
And they say no, of course not. I go then
why would I do a ride along with you? Guys?
By the way, that's that's a true story. All right,
we're done.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Phone calls, Handle on the law coming right up eight
seven seven, five two zero eleven fifty.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I'm going to take them off the air tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
We're back and I'm doing the voter guide what's going
on with the propositions and try to explain them a
little bit and mainly talk about how much they're going
to cost and how the voters of California don't seem
to care and we're voting ourselves out of the ability
(25:10):
to live here. And I'll go through that. All right, guys,
We're done until tomorrow. Week up call at five am
with Amy and the rest of us. I think Neil
comes back tomorrow. I know he's been sick all week,
So he comes back tomorrow and joins us and the
what did I say tomorrow? Is my take on the election,
(25:31):
the propositions, and then Tuesday is the election, and I
mean it's going to be a lot going on. All right,
We're done. This is KFI AM six forty Live. Everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app. 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 (00:05):
Yeah, this is KFI Bill Handle here on a Thursday morning,
October twenty four.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Next Tuesday, election day.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
And we've got some big choices, obviously to say, one
huge choice, and then some props too. And tomorrow at
seven thirty, I'm gonna go through the props and talk
about how you're gonna vote yourself more taxes, because this
is California and we just love to tax.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Ourselves to death. Joel lars Guard how to Money. We
do this every Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
He has heard every Sunday twelve to two pm here
on KFI, and his social.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Is at how to Money. Joel. Good morning, Joel, morning.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Bill.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
All right, we haven't talked in a few weeks because
I was out, and so let's get into this because
there are a few topics and I'm right in the
middle of this. Too much debt okay, and it is
impacting career choices of millennials and zoomers, and let's talk
(01:05):
about that connection.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
Oh, so this is like really really fascinating that I'm
kind of I'm not Every single kind of debt is
awful and you should avoid it.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
At all costs kind of person.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
There are some kinds of debt that can make sense
in your life, Like credit card debt sucks. But when
you're talking about getting some debt for college, like taking
on some debt to go to college to get a
higher education, that can make some sense, right, because you're
talking about taking on debt to be able to improve
your skills, your marketability so that you can increase your income.
But there was this new poll and found that a
(01:38):
big chunk, like almost half of millennials and gen zers,
they've said that their debt that they've taken on has
impacted the kinds of jobs or the decisions they have
to make around the work they're doing. So maybe like
they have to stick at a job they don't like
because it pays enough. They've got this massive debt they've
got to pay off and so there's nothing else they
can do. They feel like they have fewer choices because
(01:59):
of the massive debtload hanging over their heads.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, I mean there.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, let me give you an example in my world. Lawyers,
people that I went to law school with and became lawyers,
and by now or even a few years ago, they
were senior partners at major law firms, and they were
so caught up with their lifestyles, they were so caught
up with the cost of just living, they couldn't get
(02:24):
out of a practicing law even though they were burnt out.
And that is a problem on this side. And what
you're saying is, at the beginning of your process, what
you choose to do has to do with how much
debt you're walking in with.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Yeah, or think about this, like, let's say you feel
like you're in a dream job and you think that
there's room to grow and that maybe in a few
years you will be making signifilly more where you're at,
but you're like, I can barely make ends meet, and
a large part of it is because of all the
debt I've taken on in the interim to get to
this point, I might have to jump down the road
and a job I don't like as much, and maybe
it means working more hours and doing work that I'm
(03:04):
not as enthusiastic about, just because I got to pay
off this debt.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So I think.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
There's not a lot of suggestions for people who are already
in that boat. I think the crucial thing is that
for folks out there who have kids who are going
to school, or if you are a youngster out there
you're listening and you're like, I'm going back to get
another degree, you have to be really careful about how
much debt you're taking on to get that degree. I
think it can make sense, Like I said, it's not
a no debt ever sort of thing. It can make
(03:32):
sense to take on debt to get a higher education,
but you have to be careful about how much you're
taking on because it can really impact your choices and
the possibilities that you have going forward.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Okay, home equity is at record levels. We know that.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And if you bought a house two three years ago,
if you bought a house five years ago or ten
years ago, you're on paper pretty wealthy. Tapping into your
home traditionally. I mean, it made a lot of sense
when I'm assuming it has to do with interest rates.
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Yeah, people are swimming in home equity these days. If
they bought their house five, ten years ago, like you said,
the further in the past you bought that home, the
more home equity you likely have built up. And I
think the average homeowner has something like three hundred and
fifteen thousand dollars in home equity, which is incredible, and
you're talking about just how much that's rocket shipped up
since twenty twenty, since COVID and housing price increases.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
It's a lot.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
And so that's the flip side of the fact that
a lot of youngsters who are saying I can never
afford to buy a house are the people who did
buy a house.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And they made out like bandits.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
And yeah, you're right though a lot of more people
are tapping those home equity lines of credit or they're
taking out a home equity loan. But as rates have risen,
it's less advisable than it was. You have to be
really careful what you're spending that money on, and you
have to have a really good plan to pay off
that money in quick order.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I you know, I sold the Persian Palace and I
had to buy another place. So because of the timing,
I bought at the absolute top of the market. Could
not believe what I was paying for this house. Just insanity.
It has gone up five six percent already. Yeah, and
(05:09):
I bought it at the beginning of the year. I
get what the hell is going on with that? I mean,
does it ever stop?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
I mean, that's a good question. That's the whole supply
and demand thing. And we don't have enough housing units
in this country. That's a bit, you know, and we've
got a lot of really strict building requirements that prevent
more supply or at least the amount of supply that
we need to come in to kind of balance the
supply demand equation. I think a lot of people, though, Bill,
are tempted. They look at that home equity and they
kind of they get dollar signs in their eyes and
(05:37):
they say, listen, I'm I don't feel like I'm able
to meet some of the spending needs that I have,
or that I'm able to save in the way that
I wants. So maybe it makes sense to tap into
this home equity and do something better with it. Even
some people are even tempted to invest, thinking that maybe
they can stupid. That's really stupid, rightly.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Give credit card debt or buying a car or.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
The only thing that makes sense, and I want you
to comment on this is taking that money and making
the home more valuable, redoing your bathroom, redoing your kitchen,
And even then you have to be careful. For example,
putting in a swimming pool does not add two cents
to the value of a house.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
You know, you're exactly right. I mean, you took the
words right out of my mouth. This is exactly what
I'm trying to tell people all the time. It's like, yeah, sure,
you've got four hundred thousand, six hundred thousand dollars worth
of value in your home, and you're like, man, this
gap is huge. What should I do with this money?
Most of the time you should just leave it put
And even when you look at kind of home renovations
and the payback timeline, most of them don't pay back
(06:37):
if you redo your kitchen unless you're kind of doing it,
doing some of the work yourself, and you're you're you know,
you're being really smart about the costs to go into it. Yeah,
you might do okay on that, but most of the
time you are going to put in more money into
the renovation then you're going to get out of it
if you're list to list it on the market.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, and the only ones that make sense, and even
then to your comment, and it probably doesn't or most
of the time it doesn't. Our kitchens and bathrooms, everything
else is a waste of time.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
You know.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
The one random renovation I heard that actually, or according
to a study, makes the most sense replacing your garage door.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Oh yeah, because that's cheap. That makes sense.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
It's cheap, and it's a big piece of the visual
as you're driving to Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Now I walk every morning for an hour and three
days a week.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
I go to the gym, and I have a trainer.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
And the reason I have a trainer is I will
not do it on my own, and I just spend
the money because I know if I don't have a trainer,
I get one very cheap because she doesn't know what
the hell she's doing and she weighs.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Four hundred pounds, so she doesn't have a lot of clients.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
It's I won't do it without someone there. So people
are spending money on staying in shape. I'm spending money
to not stay in shape very much because I'm constantly eating.
Just ask the morning crew. As a matter of fact,
I just had my second meal of the morning.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So what's going on with that?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Gosh, that sounds like a worse proposition build to spend
money and not get in shape.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Yeah, you know what, I don't know how much shape
I'm in. I really don't, But you know, I mean.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
I like you're doing it sounds like you're doing a lot.
I mean an hour walk is pretty great. And get
into the gym three times a week. I mean that's
what I eat.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
You know, I eat a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
So but reality, you know, obviously I'm in much better
shape than I would be otherwise. But people are spending money,
and sometimes too much. Now, thank goodness, I make a
pretty good living, so it doesn't it doesn't break me.
I mean, there's certain things that you can spend that
they're not going to kill you. In my case, that's
the case. But you know, still, you know, people are spending.
(08:44):
Young people are spending tons of money, and that's what
it takes to stay in shape.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
It's it's motivation, isn't it. Well.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
I think gen z ors and millennials they've kind of
fallen prey to some of the marketing gimmicks in the
in the bulking up in the fitness space, and they
are spending some of these Some of these folks are
spending like one thousand dollars a month or ten plus
percent of their income, or they're going into debt in
order to get in shape. And you know, in some
ways that's great, Like what's better to spend money on
(09:12):
than your health and feeling good. I think that's a
great thing, but also think it's possible to overdo it.
And so there was some new stats about how young
people are more willing to go into debt for some
of their health goals, right, and some people literally are
spending fifteen percent of their after tax income or something
like that on gyms and on those protein powders and
(09:33):
stuff like that. I've got two buddies who are super
into fitness, and they're polar opposites on this. One of
my friends spends big bucks and he mixes together four
different like powder drinks every single morning. And those things are,
you know, one hundred bucks a month each, so that
adds up that's like really expensive, and he's you know,
trying to get all of his stuff in. One of
my other buddies who's a great runner, He runs all
(09:54):
the time. He literally like walks out of the garage
with a Carkland signature water bottle in his shorts that
are ten years old.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Runs.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
And so I think that some people think that you
have to spend money to get fit, and you have
to be part of this fancy CrossFit gym or something
like that. And it's not that I'm down on that
if you want to spend money in that way, but
going into debt for it is like something that I'm
really not in favor of.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Now, you look like you're in pretty good shape, You're
fairly thin. I mean it could be that's just genetics.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Do you work out?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I try to.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
I'd like I just try to kettlebells and dumbells and
some like body weight workouts. So all that stuff is
inexpensive to free once you own the equipment.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
And then the other thing.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
I actually ran my first half marathon this past weekend,
so you know, running is another one of those things
where you can you can spend a lot of money
to get all the gear, or you can literally just.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Go outside and run.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
And so I think you just have to be careful
to not get too obsessed with some of the gear,
some of the clothing, some of the fitness accouterments that
you can add in, because that can really blow your
fitness budget. But yeah, I love I love physical exercise.
I fallen in love with it over the past like
year and a half. But yeah, I've never really never
did anything before that.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, I'm never nderstod people that like physical exercise. I
mean I really don't. And running is basically a good
pair of running shoes. It's one hundred and fifty bucks
and that's the equipment. Tennis, you can spend hundreds of
dollars on those tennis rackets, and I mean it's depending
on the sport. Yeah, you can spend big money. So
(11:19):
people that run, I mean, obviously they are not going
to have knees in ten years.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And does anybody pay attention to that?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
I mean that's another yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Side effect I guess of overdoing it at the gym
is like you can find yourself hurt. You know, my
wife she does like some working out and then she finds,
oh man, I got a bum knee now, and I
got to go see, you know, to see if I
need some sort of surgery to remedy this. I think
sometimes that's actually part of the problem with some of
the more intense workout like the crossfits. I've heard from
a lot of a lot of physical therapists that hey,
(11:51):
guess what we're seeing a lot of crossfitters come in.
So not only is the is the gym expensive? And yeah,
hopefully you get in shape and you avoid, you know,
you avoid injury, but if you do end up going in,
like the healthcare costs out up too. You know what,
Jim's the healthcare costs on the opposite side, if you know.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, that becomes crazy. You know who Jim Fisk was? No,
is that name? This guy created basically.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
The running, the whole running culture, and he talked about
he wrote a book and he talked about how important
it was, and the whole jogging thing started with him.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
He was jogging and died of a heart attack. Oh wow, Right,
there was.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
That in like organ in the sixties because I don't
know what.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
It was, but that, to me, that was the message
running will kill you every single time.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
I better quit?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, you know kidding?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
All right, Joel, We'll catch you this weekend Sunday from
twelve to two, and of course next Thursday.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Sounds good. Thanks Bill?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
All Right, A story I want to do about adults
buying toys for themselves and they become not only collectibles,
people just do it. You know, Barbie is huge, not
for kids, but for adults. And I'm not talking about
Japanese blow up dolls that look like Barbie. I'm talking
about Barbie, the real Barbie's and adults are buying them
(13:11):
and they don't have kids, and that is getting huge.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Mattel Lego Group.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
All kinds of toy companies are catering to adults, and
they're known in the industry as kid adults. Mattel for example,
when the whole World of Harry Potter Pokemon Wicked Wicked
New figurines, and there's a.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Story here, and this was the La Times.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
A guy the name of Jerry Jeremy Hart played with
hot wheels as a kid, and it's what kids do.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
And he didn't particularly collect them.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I mean, when you're done with your toys, you're done
with your toys. So his son gets into hot wheels
and he goes to a hot wheels convention and all
of a sudden he connects. Boy does he connect. He's
forty eight years old and he has already spent thousands
(14:04):
of dollars on hot wheels. He's on the hunt for
new ones, and he's part of a growing number of
adults who were buying toys for themselves and yeah, in
some cases reclaiming their memories from childhood. Some have really
moved and are actually building up a following and making
(14:26):
really good money, not only investment and turning around and
reselling them if you buy one, if you bought it
years ago and.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
It's a limited edition.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
But also there's a couple of stories of people who
have actually developed the whole internet world with this. There
is a guy, sorry about the cough. There is a
fellow named Harrison Woodward, and he got a Lego technique
(14:58):
set a model car just as a gift, and boy,
that reignited everything about Lego for him. So he starts
building these Lego uh, these Lego products. He starts building
these various animals and architectural buildings with Legos, and you've
(15:18):
seen those. And he now makes enough money because he's
on TikTok and he has so many followers that he
quit his job as an insurance broker to just get
the money from his TikTok.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
He has sponsors, sells ads. Now, uh, you're gonna do
it right. We're not talking about your little tick, your
little Lego sets.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
This guy builds the Titanic, uh, the Eiffel Tower, the
Great Pyramid of Giza. You know.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
One of the great jobs in this world.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
And I remember doing a story on that is the
model builder for Lego and these people, I think they
have four of them, are hired and they go around
the world building these extraordinary Lego formations of buildings of
animals just in the environment, rivers and trees. I mean,
(16:18):
it's pretty interesting stuff. And so he ends up making
a chunk of money. In the twelve months ending in
June of twenty twenty four, US Adult Spot more than
seven billion dollars in toys, and some of the top
selling ones are Pokemon Star Wars Lego Star Wars sets.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
That whoever did that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
At Legos was a genius set up some kind of
a licensing issue. Funko Pop. What the hell is Funko pop? Cono,
you would know what Funko Pop is. You want to
explain that to me.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I want to explain it. They're little miniature figurines, big heads.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
And they're and they're called Funko Pop.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Yeah. I get my brother then from Rick and Morty.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
But Rick and Mortis and okay, I has heard that,
all right, Figuring how about squish mallows?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I don't know what those are either.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
I don't know squish mallows.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
That's this story in the La Times from January to
April of this year, adults brought bought more toys than
any other age group, actually surpassing preschoolers for the first time.
And the real smart people looking for investment. Let me
give you a story of a friend of my brothers.
(17:39):
They went to junior high together. Uh. This guy bought
uh two sets of the first X Men comics. One
he just enjoyed, the other one. I guess he realized.
And I'm talking about a kid that was pretty young.
That's when X Men first came out. He bought the
first six and he put them in plastic and they're
(18:04):
in pristine condition. Those six X Men comics paid for
pharmacy school, which is not cheap. That's the investment, and
toys can be at the same level.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
And that is what's happening now.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
During COVID, a US toy company saw sales grow like crazy.
Of course, people who were stuck at home look for activities,
and you would think, and it makes sense. Overall sales
have dropped significantly. People who are at least eighteen years
old buying toys from themselves. That demographic has not dropped.
(18:49):
They are still buying toys.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
All right.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
I mean, you know, I should I should have bought toys.
Can you realize how much this stuff is worth? And
there were things that I bought as a kid that
are now worth just buckets of money. You know the
other day I did a story on baseball cards and
you have the first Mickey Mantle card. I mean it
(19:14):
was early, it was in the early nineteen fifties, but
you know, you bought it, you put it in a drawer,
you forget about it, and you find out years later
the thing is worth eight hundred thousand dollars for a
Mickey Manto card that's not in particularly good shape. And
then that baseball that was just hit by okay name.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Just god? Did I just forget his name? I did?
It's a mental issue. Just sold for what five million dollars?
That's it? Show heyotany? Yeah, it was like four point
four million, I mean something crazy.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
And when you have original there was the original baseball
that Babe Ruth. I think they that exist if I'm
not mistaken. Do you remember when Babe Ruth pointed at
center field and it was going to be a home
run and he hit the home run?
Speaker 1 (20:12):
That ball?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
I remember that ball went for a couple million dollars.
But one that was just hit a few months ago. Crazy,
All right, we're done show. Hey Otani, thank you very much.
Story that was in the La Times. There is a
columnist by the name of Steve Lopez, and boy is
he insanely liberal.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
But that's besides the point.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
And what he did is he spent some time at
LA Fire Department Station eleven down near MacArthur Park. And
Station eleven is the second most busy LA Fire department
in the city outside of skid Row. And I'm talking
about going out on medical calls. And I'm talking about
(20:58):
going out on medical calls for fentanyl and overdoses as
well as other medical problems. Because people live on sched
Row and live around MacArthur Park, they're not the healthiest
people in the world.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And there are a lot of drug addicts.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
And you know, we've talked about this before, so hopefully
you haven't eaten yet for breakfast, because I want to
describe to you a drug that's being used more and more,
and it's called trenk. It is a tranquilizer big time.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
And what it.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Does is it creates these open, huge, festering sores that
you can see through the muscle in some cases right
to the bone. And people keep on doing it, and
it takes a pretty desperate person to do that. But
around those two areas, that's what the paramedics see.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
And it used to be, well.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
If you ever talk to people that work in the
world of fired depart because paramedics are part of the
fire department, they work thirty six hours straight or forty
eight hours straight.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
And you get a little sleep. Fire men and now
fire people's they.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Got some sleep because you know, there weren't that many
calls two o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Today it's twenty four to seven.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
A twenty four hour shift is twenty four hours of
forty eight thirty six hours is a shift that that's long.
And if you follow along, and Lopez did when he
followed along with the crew, it's not just going out
to a single incident. There's a fentanyl overdose. There's a
(22:42):
real problem. So the paramedics go out and from the
time they go out to the time they have dealt
with the person who is overdosing on whatever drug, they
get four other phone calls that they have to go
from place to place, and there are a couple of
things that are like completely.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Disgusting that the paramedics talk about.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
One of them is the trenk where people are just
they're not moving very much. They have these open sores,
their teeth have fallen out, and they're still taking it
a pretty desperate person.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
They also, when you talk about someone.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Who takes fentanyl a whole lot, and I didn't even
know this, they bend over and they call it the
fentanyl walk, where people's muscles actually are locked and they're
bent over at at the waist and they're dealing with this.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
It's easier dealing.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
With people who are overdosing on fentanyl or opiates. Their
problem is when people are overdosing on meth or they're
overdosing on other drugs because as these folks are basically
out of control. You've heard stories about police dealing with
people that are on meth and tasing them and it
(24:08):
does nothing, and several tases do nothing.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
All right, So if you.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Ever have a chance, LA Fire Department, Station eleven, see
if you can do a ride along.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
That sounds like a good idea.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
You know, I've been asked to do a ride along
with the LAPD I don't know, half a dozen times,
and I won't do it because I always ask the
same question will I will you let me shoot somebody?
Speaker 1 (24:31):
And they say no, of course not. I go then
why would I do a ride along with you? Guys?
By the way, that's that's a true story. All right,
we're done.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Phone calls, Handle on the law coming right up eight
seven seven, five two zero eleven fifty.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I'm going to take them off the air tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
We're back and I'm doing the voter guide what's going
on with the propositions and try to explain them a
little bit and mainly talk about how much they're going
to cost and how the voters of California don't seem
to care and we're voting ourselves out of the ability
(25:10):
to live here. And I'll go through that. All right, guys,
We're done until tomorrow. Week up call at five am
with Amy and the rest of us. I think Neil
comes back tomorrow. I know he's been sick all week,
So he comes back tomorrow and joins us and the
what did I say tomorrow? Is my take on the election,
(25:31):
the propositions, and then Tuesday is the election, and I
mean it's going to be a lot going on. All right,
We're done. This is KFI AM six forty Live. Everywhere
on the iHeartRadio app. 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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