October 9, 2025 • 25 mins
(October 09, 2025)
Host of ‘How to Money’ Joel Larsgaard joins the show to discuss consumers adopting BNPL into their lives, the rise in ‘accidental landlords,’ and chatbots tapping into a goldmine of your personal information. Don’t shoot the bride and groom: Crazy wedding traditions from around the world. Wild horses are trampling Mono Lake landscape; the feds plan a round up.
Host of ‘How to Money’ Joel Larsgaard joins the show to discuss consumers adopting BNPL into their lives, the rise in ‘accidental landlords,’ and chatbots tapping into a goldmine of your personal information. Don’t shoot the bride and groom: Crazy wedding traditions from around the world. Wild horses are trampling Mono Lake landscape; the feds plan a round up.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI A
M six forty Thursday morning, October ninth, Handle here and
the Morning Crew on.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Peace breaking out in the Mid East. Really good news,
Israeli spokesperson in this Fox News reporting peace plan has
been finalized. The last part of it was that the
Israeli Cabinet had to vote, but that was a given
that was going to happen, and so hostages will be
returned over the weekend, probably Sunday to Monday, both sides,
(00:40):
Israeli hostages going back to Israel, Palestinian prisoners going back
to Gosam, and so this is just phase one. Interestingly enough,
Hamas caved completely on this. I never thought that was
going to happen. All right, let's move into our Thursday segment,
(01:00):
How to Money. Joel Larsguard a host of How to
Money Sunday twelve two pm here on KFI. His address
at how to Money Joel and howdomoney dot com. So
that's Joel. I pretty well done it all. So you
can wear all the bases, Yeah, I certainly have. Okay,
we've got a few things starting to I want to
(01:21):
start covering.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Chatbots.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay, you use chatbots, and you're basically giving up all
of your information. But my question is you do anyway,
So why would you be more concerned with chatbots than not?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Okay, so you're right, like I think I am just interesting.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
I mean, from a philosophical standpoint, it's just interesting that
chatbots are trained on material that other people have created
throughout the years, much of which has not really been
given permission. So that's why there's you know, a flory
of lawsuits and and deals partnerships being made with some
of the AI companies and large publishers like The New
(02:05):
York Times. But and obviously we know about like chatbots
or turning to artificial intelligence. We've talked about this before,
you and I about getting your financial advice. There there's
some hallucinations, there's some incorrect information. You have to be
really careful, and oftentimes the best way to use AI
is if you already have a firm grasp of the
(02:25):
subject and you're kind of looking for additional help. But
there was this interesting article in the Verge about how Facebook,
which is known by Meta, is going to use your
AI chats that you do under their platform to personalize
the advertising that it serves up to you and when
(02:46):
you see I mean, we've all seen the trend too
of people getting a little more personal with some of
these chatbots. There are like chatbot boyfriends and girlfriends, which
weirds me out.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
But it's even hard to have them. That's really a thing.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
But it really is people doing therapy with chatbots, which
has I think certain pros and cons.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
And to think that all.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
Of that stuff is going to be used then against
you to sell you stuff or to serve you at bads,
I guess it freaks me out. It feels like another
frontier that we're crossing.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
It's weird. I mean, it's a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Is every time I go on whatever website looking for information,
two things happen. Number One, I'm asked, can we use
your information for cookies? I will say yes, never got
a cookie from them, Ever, say no, I know I'm
not going to get any cookies. By the way, that
is just a horrible joke that I wanted to share
(03:38):
with you. But I don't even know why we bother
at this point. And you're right, the AI has so
screwed up everything. Anybody who looks at AI for financial advice,
and I'm going to follow what A has to say. Considering,
as you said, you got hallucinations where they make stuff up.
(04:01):
They'll talk about companies that don't exist that somehow have
interfered or influence the company that you're interested in. Is
are people being warned by the financial companies leave this
stuff alone?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Let the experts do this.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
No, I not really, And like I think even some
of the financial companies are trying to be first to
adopt utilizing AI inside of their platforms, like Robinhood is
working on this right where you can get AI advice
on the spot about trades you're hoping to make, or
financial advice that you're curious about. I was on chat
(04:38):
GBT recently and I was asking it about five twenty
nine accounts and tax breaks in a particular state, and
it was wrong. And I just knew that the information
that served up was wrong because I was familiar with it,
and it was just interesting to see that if you
took that as gospel truth from the AI, you might
miss out on some tax breaks you otherwise would have
(04:58):
gotten in a particular state because of that donation. So
it's just because of the money you contribute to that account,
and you just have to really be careful using. I'm
also amazed by it, Like there's if you and I
haven't used AI a whole lot. I try to I
try to limit my usage. I'm amazed at some of
the wonderful things that can spit out in the ways.
It can be helpful, but it's truly a user beware situation,
(05:21):
and especially when the stakes are ramped up and you
could get served ads and be sold things based on
some of those private interactions that you didn't realize about
sensitive issues. We're going to then lead to product placement
that you can find yourself in a weird place as
a consumer.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
There all right, Joel lars Guard how to Money every
Sunday twelve to two pm here on KFI. And so
here's what happens is Joel sends me ideas to talk
about because he thinks these are what's happening in the
world of finance and the economy. And I go, okay,
So the one that I really enjoy consumer has been
(05:59):
a being bnpls into their lives.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Okay, I don't know what that means, right.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I have no idea what a BNPL is none whatsoever. Okay,
how about telling.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Me maybe this is a generational thing.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Uh, and I might be straddling it right in the
middle as an elder millennial. But by now, buy now,
pay later is what you know about?
Speaker 3 (06:22):
All yeah to do is say buy now, pay later.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I like to abbreviate things, bill, no kidding, So now
I sound like a moron, Thank you very much. Uh.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And I didn't have to.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Okay, we've been buying two consumers way too many bnlbs, bnlps, bnpls, bnpls.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, that too. Yeah, and let's talk about that for
a moment.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
This is something I've been warning about for a long time.
And it's interesting, like the it feels like the chickens
are coming home to roost. And I really don't want
to be the guy that says I told you so,
but I told you so and uh. And it seemed
like this harmless thing, like this new way to pay,
How bad could it really be? And basically it was like, yeah,
just break up is like a modern version of layaway,
but you get the item when you want it, and
(07:08):
then you pay for it later after the fact. And
guess what, you don't pay interest like you would if
you didn't pay your credit card bill on time, So
what's not to love. Well, there are interestees if you
don't make your payments on time. They can be up
to thirty six percent, even higher than your average credit
card interest rate. Then there can be other fees if
you don't make make payments on time as well, late fees,
(07:30):
and so in addition to that, you're just seeing a
whole group of young consumers who didn't really have the
understanding of what they were getting into, start to just
get used to buying stuff with buy now, Pay Later,
which is like Klarna, an after pay that you'll see
when you're shopping at various websites.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
And so they just say, yeah, I'm gonna get.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
That new handbag, I guess because I can pay for
it for easy installments. And the credit limits from buy now,
pay later companies are much higher than they have been
from credit cards tradition, and so people are just getting
themselves into tons of trouble and they're ruining their finances
from something that seemed like it was kind of harmless
and ultimately was about as harmful as I said it.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Was going to be. Well, you could say the same
thing with credit cards.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
You can know that are relatively harmless, except when you
start racking up the amount of money and making minimum
payments and you're in a world of hurt. But to
your point about this being a generational and as a
kid when I was growing up and my parents and
in your case, your grandparents came out of the depression
(08:32):
and the thought of not paying for something and paying late.
Other than mortgages, you just bought stuff and you paid
for it in advance or you paid for it right there,
and it's just a it's just a way of thinking where.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
It's so old school though.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, and but you don't get in trouble and yet
you live a weasonable life. Why are our our parents
my case, grandparents, how come they have money and retired
with money and you're not going.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
To right, Yeah, that's a huge part of it.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
And you mentioned credit cards, and you're right, like something
like fifty percent of Americans use credit cards really poorly,
like they have a recurring balance. The average recurring credit
card balance is something like seven thousand dollars a month,
and you're paying twenty two percent interest on that balance.
And I am very very much against that, and I
want people, if they're going to use credit cards, to
use them wisely, And I guess potentially there's a way
(09:32):
to use buy now, pay later wisely, I just don't know.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
What the use case is for it.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
You're really just trying to delay the pain, And with
credit cards, you're not just trying to delay the pain.
You're actually there are other reasons to use credit cards.
For instance, right, there are rewards that you can garner
from using credit cards that you don't get when you're
using debit cards. There are protections that you get when
you use a credit card. Let's say an item that
you bought wasn't as advertised or didn't get delivered. You
(09:58):
can do a chargeback with the credit card our company.
You have legal rights when you pay with a credit card.
And there's even buy now, pay later for travel is
becoming more of a thing, And there was this new
nerd Wallet study that found something like one in five
travelers you're planning on using buy now, Paid later to
spread out their payments for travel. Well, you just you
don't have the same recourse if your travel it take
(10:20):
goes to hell, like you just don't, and so you
have to be careful when you're using this as a
form of payment.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, my thing is that debit cards where I am
so adamantly against debit cards because first of all, you
have to have the money inside your account to use
a debit card. And to your point, let's say someone
hacks in there, or something is wrong or someone gets it.
That's your money you're chasing. Credit card company, is their
(10:45):
money you're chasing.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
And so if fraud happens and your your money is gone,
your money is gone. If fraud happens and you owe
two thousand dollars on a bad or, they say, yo,
two grand and someone has defrauded you, you're off THEO.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
And if you can use your credit card like it
is a debit card, use it in that way where
you're only spending money that you actually have, and you
keep yourself safe in that way, then I think credit
cards are that best of both worlds because of those protections,
because the benefits you get. But yeah, buy now, pay later,
it's literally just an attempt to be able to buy more.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
And the retailers know this.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
The reason they offer buy now, pay later upon checkout
is because people end up adding our stuff to the card.
People buy something like ten percent more if they have
a buy now, pay later option.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
So we are literally consuming more because we have this
at our disposal.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
And then it's what we're hamstering ourselves and messing ourselves
up and harming our finances.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Also, you have a new product that you use, and
you've got five easy payments or three easy payments over
the course of the next six ones, and all of
a sudden, it's not as good as you thought it was. Yeah,
And now what you're paying for something? And you know,
I just bought an air fryer and it was you know,
I paid for as an Emerald Lagasi or something, and it's, uh,
(12:04):
it's a piece of crap for me. What am I
doing here? You know, it's just this.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
It got great reviews, and I think the reviewers were
all drunk.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
In any case, I think the airs are overrated too.
Oh no, I love air friers. I hear fright. Oh yeah,
I hear fry everything. Yeah, I love stuff air fried.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
All right, I'll have to give another shot.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
No, no, I I even air fry products. I say,
do not air fry.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It's just.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Okay, Joel finish, Okay, We're done. Sunday morning, well, Sunday
afternoon twelve to two address social address at how to
Money Joel and the website howtomoney dot com. Joel, You
have a good one. It is a Thursday morning, October ninth.
I saw a video a couple of days ago that
I thought was kind of interesting. He has to do
(12:53):
with a wedding in Syria and the wedding party and
they're going down the street and it's your typical mid
Eastern web and they're dancing and singing a lot of
food and the obligatory.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Is what they do because that's just that's what the
women do.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
And the other thing that happens a lot is the
guns come out and the guns get shy, and of
course no one gets hit and they just shoot the
guns in the air. And you see that all the
time in celebration. Now, a couple of things happen. I
don't know if they understand that bullets come down after
they go up, and people get hurt and people get killed,
(13:33):
which is why. I don't know if it's a myth
that on New Year's Eve all the cops go underneath
the bridges because people shoot guns in the air.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I don't know if that's an urban myth or not.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
But the point is that's gonna be very dangerous stuff,
and it's just something in Syria they're trying to stop
it because under a sod you weren't allowed to do that,
but it didn't matter. Everybody did anyway, and so there's
a real problem. The new regime in Syria is trying
to put a stop to it because it's it can
be dangerous.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
So then I started looking at kind.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Of crazy ways that people get married and the wedding
rituals around the world. Now my wedding, and Neil will
attest to this, and you can go to the at
Bill Handle Show and there's a little.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Snippet of it about a minute.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I did a typical Jewish wedding, and a typical Jewish
wedding means that you eat, and you eat a lot,
and there is food from start to finish because the
mantra of Jews, as you know, is they came, they
killed this, let's eat. That's what we do and it's
big part of weddings. Now, let me tell you what's
(14:45):
going on in the rest of the world. In Scotland,
there is something called the blackening of the bride and groom,
and it's not what you think it is not politically incorrect.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's a pre wedding custom called blackening.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Friends and family members throw substances at the bride and groom, mud,
rotten food, feathers, and that's believed to prepare the couple
for challenges they may face and married life in case
anybody throws feathers at you.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Okay. In Germany, log cutting, the Julia Weeds.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Worked together and they saw through a log in front
of their wedding guests. It symbolizes the couple's ability to
overcome obstacles like logs that are in the front of
the house they have to saw through. In Roma, the
Gypsy culture, it's kidnapping the bride. Common for a man
to kidnap the woman he wishes to marry, and then
(15:41):
with the help of friends, the groom to be abducts
his wife, takes through his house and then they negotiate,
and of course everybody's happy. And that's just a ritual thing.
African culture, African American culture. Jumping the broom. Now you've
seen that, and this comes out of the slavery when
(16:01):
the blacks weren't allowed slaves weren't allowed to marry each other.
I mean just didn't have ceremonies, wasn't allowed, So it
became jumping the broom, where literally a broom was put
on the ground and the bride and groom would jump
over it and that signifies the entrance into a new
life together. Indonesia is my favorite one. No bathroom for
(16:22):
three nights. The tiag Don community of Indonesia confines couples
a couple to their house, family and friends smear the
couple with a mixture of rice flour ash. That's symbolizing
the transition from single to married life. You go figure
that one out. They're not allowed to use the bathroom
for three days and ostensibly this helps the couple bond
(16:48):
and to develop a strong foundation for their marriage. Really, okay,
that would work for me, you know, just my bride
to be squatting in the corner. I don't think so.
In Sweden, there is the kissing tradition. All the male
(17:09):
guests are allowed to kiss the bride if the groom
leaves the room. If the bride leaves her seat, the
female guests can line up to kiss the groom and
if they both leave, then a full blown orgy occurs
with every guest at the wedding hundreds of people India
(17:33):
stealing the groom shoes. This is where the bride's sister
and female cousins attempt to steal the groom shoes and
hide them. And then the groom negotiates with the women
to get his shoes back, and they bargain and they
have a good time, and it's just a ritual that
they do.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Grease plate smashing.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Of course, everybody knows that in Greece you smash the
plates and wedding guests break the dishes. That wars off
evil spirits, brings good luck to the newly weds as
well as a lot of shards. The couple then cleans up,
puts the broken pieces together, and it symbolizes the ability
to handle life's challenges. Then you have in South Korea.
(18:17):
Those South Koreans are a boy, They're a barrel of fun.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
The groom's feet beating wedding tradition.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
There is a ritual known as ball and bay or
the groom's feet beating. So after the wedding ceremony, the
groom's friends and family remove his shoes and socks, tie
his ankles together, and proceed to beat the soles of
his shoes with a stick, a rod, or even dried fish.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
I want to make a point here. Okay, I know
that having.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
The soles of your feet being beaten with dried fish
sounds a little bit weird, but don't try it till
you don't knock it till you've tried. Okay, I can
tell you from personal experience it ain't bad. And this
is to serve as a bonding experience for the newlyweds.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Hey don't we like getting married? Okay?
Speaker 2 (19:16):
A topic that I've sort of been pitching for a while,
and I've been making fun of this when I say
Elmer's Glue is a factory is going to be built here,
and some Pyranda dog food factory is going to be
built here, and it has to do with horses.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
And as I joke, this is absolutely true. Okay. Mono Lake.
I don't know if you've ever been to Mono Lake.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It's in the Sierra on Nevada Mountain and it's this
lake area's beautiful and it has these rock columns that
are unique and they look like mars.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Well, horses are all over them.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And the government, the federal government says we had to
movies out and boy, what an emotional disagreement about the
future of this herd. The Mono Lake Committee had this
Bart Shay Miller said, these horses deserve a place to
roam and be free, but.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Not around on a lake. This is a tourist place.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
This is a piece a landscape that exists only here,
and we do not need want horses to trample it
all over it, all over this place. So earlier this year,
the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approved a
plan to round up and remove hundreds of these wild
horses beyond the two hundred thousand acres give or take,
(20:34):
designated for these horses along California and Nevada border. Now
it makes sense because environmentals say the horses are degrading
the landscape, including the bird habitat which is disappearing, and
that tufa rock columns, which are unique. Ranchers say the
animals are gobbling down the plants needed to sustain the cattle.
(20:57):
Federal officials say the safety hazard posed by horses alone
is a problem. Is a wander onto highways. Now the
other side of the coin, this is a travesty. Now,
one method that the government is proposing and has been
used before, is to use helicopters to drive them into
(21:20):
a trap where they are then trapped and then handed
over to elmworst. No, that's not true, and then they
are dealt with, usually shipped away to a horse sanctuary
or to a place where it's not Mono Lake and
they don't do that kind of damage. Animal welfare groups
say that's dangerous, deadly for the horses, and there's even
(21:42):
a pending federal bill that says no to that. So
local tribes and nonprofits have prevented a partner to fight
the roundup plan, saying that the indigenous community should be
tapped to manage the animals that rome ancestral lands. Then
you have another group of planets suing the government saying
(22:04):
it is your job to protect those horses, and you're
renigging on that that you are breaking the law.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I mean, some of this is crazy.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Ronda Kak, who is a member of the Mono Lake Kutsaduka,
forget me if I'm pronouncing it wrong. The Kutzaidoka tribe said,
we're all living spirits and it's sad that people just
don't care about another living thing because they think it
doesn't belong there By the way, she died of a
rattlesnake bite right after saying that. I just want to
(22:36):
point that out. We're all wonderful living creatures. So today,
if you go to warm springs on the eastern edge
of Mono Lake, pounds of horse manure are there.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
It is a mess.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
The vegetation has been nibbled down to nothing and it's
it's a real problem. The Mono Lake Committee's Eastern Sierra
Policy Director and Jeff McQuilkin said, as he said, look
at what's happening. He did this tour and he said,
there's a limited water supply here. The wildlife all compete
(23:10):
for it. The birds that would have a safe hayden
and be hidden away from the raptors and predators don't
have the opportunity to hide anymore. And this all started
in twenty fifteen. Now Here is the fun part, Okay,
This is the part that I really love, and that
is there is a group of Indians, the one tribe
(23:33):
Utu Goada Guya to pay you tribe, sorry again about
the pronunciation, are among the coalition wants to pause these roundups.
They want to secure land back to set aside a
sanctuary for horses to roam.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
They want to say, we'll take care of it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
What we're going to do is we're going to dart
the horses with birth control. We're going to limit their growth,
and we're going to take the existing horses and put
them to work at pack stations, equine therapy and.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Rodeo schools for the kids.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Now that segues right into the glue factory, because that
makes more sense, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
We're done. That's it, peenee.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Tomorrow is Friday, as you probably know, and to we
come back tomorrow, we start all over again.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Wake up, call Amy and Mike Morris. I think is
still here tomorrow he is.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
One more day, one more day. And then we have
Will comes back. Will doesn't yet know that he doesn't
have a job when he comes back, but he'll find
out on Monday.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
He'll be a surprise. And then Neil and I come.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Aboard at six o'clock to right now, and then of
course Kono and Ann who have a reasonable chance of
being here on Monday.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Gary and Shannon up next. This is KF I am
six forty. You've been listening to the Bill Handle show.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
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 A
M six forty Thursday morning, October ninth, Handle here and
the Morning Crew on.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Peace breaking out in the Mid East. Really good news,
Israeli spokesperson in this Fox News reporting peace plan has
been finalized. The last part of it was that the
Israeli Cabinet had to vote, but that was a given
that was going to happen, and so hostages will be
returned over the weekend, probably Sunday to Monday, both sides,
(00:40):
Israeli hostages going back to Israel, Palestinian prisoners going back
to Gosam, and so this is just phase one. Interestingly enough,
Hamas caved completely on this. I never thought that was
going to happen. All right, let's move into our Thursday segment,
(01:00):
How to Money. Joel Larsguard a host of How to
Money Sunday twelve two pm here on KFI. His address
at how to Money Joel and howdomoney dot com. So
that's Joel. I pretty well done it all. So you
can wear all the bases, Yeah, I certainly have. Okay,
we've got a few things starting to I want to
(01:21):
start covering.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Chatbots.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Okay, you use chatbots, and you're basically giving up all
of your information. But my question is you do anyway,
So why would you be more concerned with chatbots than not?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Okay, so you're right, like I think I am just interesting.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
I mean, from a philosophical standpoint, it's just interesting that
chatbots are trained on material that other people have created
throughout the years, much of which has not really been
given permission. So that's why there's you know, a flory
of lawsuits and and deals partnerships being made with some
of the AI companies and large publishers like The New
(02:05):
York Times. But and obviously we know about like chatbots
or turning to artificial intelligence. We've talked about this before,
you and I about getting your financial advice. There there's
some hallucinations, there's some incorrect information. You have to be
really careful, and oftentimes the best way to use AI
is if you already have a firm grasp of the
(02:25):
subject and you're kind of looking for additional help. But
there was this interesting article in the Verge about how Facebook,
which is known by Meta, is going to use your
AI chats that you do under their platform to personalize
the advertising that it serves up to you and when
(02:46):
you see I mean, we've all seen the trend too
of people getting a little more personal with some of
these chatbots. There are like chatbot boyfriends and girlfriends, which
weirds me out.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
But it's even hard to have them. That's really a thing.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
But it really is people doing therapy with chatbots, which
has I think certain pros and cons.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
And to think that all.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
Of that stuff is going to be used then against
you to sell you stuff or to serve you at bads,
I guess it freaks me out. It feels like another
frontier that we're crossing.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
It's weird. I mean, it's a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Is every time I go on whatever website looking for information,
two things happen. Number One, I'm asked, can we use
your information for cookies? I will say yes, never got
a cookie from them, Ever, say no, I know I'm
not going to get any cookies. By the way, that
is just a horrible joke that I wanted to share
(03:38):
with you. But I don't even know why we bother
at this point. And you're right, the AI has so
screwed up everything. Anybody who looks at AI for financial advice,
and I'm going to follow what A has to say. Considering,
as you said, you got hallucinations where they make stuff up.
(04:01):
They'll talk about companies that don't exist that somehow have
interfered or influence the company that you're interested in. Is
are people being warned by the financial companies leave this
stuff alone?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Let the experts do this.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
No, I not really, And like I think even some
of the financial companies are trying to be first to
adopt utilizing AI inside of their platforms, like Robinhood is
working on this right where you can get AI advice
on the spot about trades you're hoping to make, or
financial advice that you're curious about. I was on chat
(04:38):
GBT recently and I was asking it about five twenty
nine accounts and tax breaks in a particular state, and
it was wrong. And I just knew that the information
that served up was wrong because I was familiar with it,
and it was just interesting to see that if you
took that as gospel truth from the AI, you might
miss out on some tax breaks you otherwise would have
(04:58):
gotten in a particular state because of that donation. So
it's just because of the money you contribute to that account,
and you just have to really be careful using. I'm
also amazed by it, Like there's if you and I
haven't used AI a whole lot. I try to I
try to limit my usage. I'm amazed at some of
the wonderful things that can spit out in the ways.
It can be helpful, but it's truly a user beware situation,
(05:21):
and especially when the stakes are ramped up and you
could get served ads and be sold things based on
some of those private interactions that you didn't realize about
sensitive issues. We're going to then lead to product placement
that you can find yourself in a weird place as
a consumer.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
There all right, Joel lars Guard how to Money every
Sunday twelve to two pm here on KFI. And so
here's what happens is Joel sends me ideas to talk
about because he thinks these are what's happening in the
world of finance and the economy. And I go, okay,
So the one that I really enjoy consumer has been
(05:59):
a being bnpls into their lives.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Okay, I don't know what that means, right.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I have no idea what a BNPL is none whatsoever. Okay,
how about telling.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Me maybe this is a generational thing.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
Uh, and I might be straddling it right in the
middle as an elder millennial. But by now, buy now,
pay later is what you know about?
Speaker 3 (06:22):
All yeah to do is say buy now, pay later.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I like to abbreviate things, bill, no kidding, So now
I sound like a moron, Thank you very much. Uh.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
And I didn't have to.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Okay, we've been buying two consumers way too many bnlbs, bnlps, bnpls, bnpls.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, that too. Yeah, and let's talk about that for
a moment.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
This is something I've been warning about for a long time.
And it's interesting, like the it feels like the chickens
are coming home to roost. And I really don't want
to be the guy that says I told you so,
but I told you so and uh. And it seemed
like this harmless thing, like this new way to pay,
How bad could it really be? And basically it was like, yeah,
just break up is like a modern version of layaway,
but you get the item when you want it, and
(07:08):
then you pay for it later after the fact. And
guess what, you don't pay interest like you would if
you didn't pay your credit card bill on time, So
what's not to love. Well, there are interestees if you
don't make your payments on time. They can be up
to thirty six percent, even higher than your average credit
card interest rate. Then there can be other fees if
you don't make make payments on time as well, late fees,
(07:30):
and so in addition to that, you're just seeing a
whole group of young consumers who didn't really have the
understanding of what they were getting into, start to just
get used to buying stuff with buy now, Pay Later,
which is like Klarna, an after pay that you'll see
when you're shopping at various websites.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
And so they just say, yeah, I'm gonna get.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
That new handbag, I guess because I can pay for
it for easy installments. And the credit limits from buy now,
pay later companies are much higher than they have been
from credit cards tradition, and so people are just getting
themselves into tons of trouble and they're ruining their finances
from something that seemed like it was kind of harmless
and ultimately was about as harmful as I said it.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Was going to be. Well, you could say the same
thing with credit cards.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
You can know that are relatively harmless, except when you
start racking up the amount of money and making minimum
payments and you're in a world of hurt. But to
your point about this being a generational and as a
kid when I was growing up and my parents and
in your case, your grandparents came out of the depression
(08:32):
and the thought of not paying for something and paying late.
Other than mortgages, you just bought stuff and you paid
for it in advance or you paid for it right there,
and it's just a it's just a way of thinking where.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
It's so old school though.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, and but you don't get in trouble and yet
you live a weasonable life. Why are our our parents
my case, grandparents, how come they have money and retired
with money and you're not going.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
To right, Yeah, that's a huge part of it.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
And you mentioned credit cards, and you're right, like something
like fifty percent of Americans use credit cards really poorly,
like they have a recurring balance. The average recurring credit
card balance is something like seven thousand dollars a month,
and you're paying twenty two percent interest on that balance.
And I am very very much against that, and I
want people, if they're going to use credit cards, to
use them wisely, And I guess potentially there's a way
(09:32):
to use buy now, pay later wisely, I just don't know.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
What the use case is for it.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
You're really just trying to delay the pain, And with
credit cards, you're not just trying to delay the pain.
You're actually there are other reasons to use credit cards.
For instance, right, there are rewards that you can garner
from using credit cards that you don't get when you're
using debit cards. There are protections that you get when
you use a credit card. Let's say an item that
you bought wasn't as advertised or didn't get delivered. You
(09:58):
can do a chargeback with the credit card our company.
You have legal rights when you pay with a credit card.
And there's even buy now, pay later for travel is
becoming more of a thing, And there was this new
nerd Wallet study that found something like one in five
travelers you're planning on using buy now, Paid later to
spread out their payments for travel. Well, you just you
don't have the same recourse if your travel it take
(10:20):
goes to hell, like you just don't, and so you
have to be careful when you're using this as a
form of payment.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, my thing is that debit cards where I am
so adamantly against debit cards because first of all, you
have to have the money inside your account to use
a debit card. And to your point, let's say someone
hacks in there, or something is wrong or someone gets it.
That's your money you're chasing. Credit card company, is their
(10:45):
money you're chasing.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
And so if fraud happens and your your money is gone,
your money is gone. If fraud happens and you owe
two thousand dollars on a bad or, they say, yo,
two grand and someone has defrauded you, you're off THEO.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
And if you can use your credit card like it
is a debit card, use it in that way where
you're only spending money that you actually have, and you
keep yourself safe in that way, then I think credit
cards are that best of both worlds because of those protections,
because the benefits you get. But yeah, buy now, pay later,
it's literally just an attempt to be able to buy more.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
And the retailers know this.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
The reason they offer buy now, pay later upon checkout
is because people end up adding our stuff to the card.
People buy something like ten percent more if they have
a buy now, pay later option.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
So we are literally consuming more because we have this
at our disposal.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
And then it's what we're hamstering ourselves and messing ourselves
up and harming our finances.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Also, you have a new product that you use, and
you've got five easy payments or three easy payments over
the course of the next six ones, and all of
a sudden, it's not as good as you thought it was. Yeah,
And now what you're paying for something? And you know,
I just bought an air fryer and it was you know,
I paid for as an Emerald Lagasi or something, and it's, uh,
(12:04):
it's a piece of crap for me. What am I
doing here? You know, it's just this.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
It got great reviews, and I think the reviewers were
all drunk.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
In any case, I think the airs are overrated too.
Oh no, I love air friers. I hear fright. Oh yeah,
I hear fry everything. Yeah, I love stuff air fried.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
All right, I'll have to give another shot.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
No, no, I I even air fry products. I say,
do not air fry.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It's just.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Okay, Joel finish, Okay, We're done. Sunday morning, well, Sunday
afternoon twelve to two address social address at how to
Money Joel and the website howtomoney dot com. Joel, You
have a good one. It is a Thursday morning, October ninth.
I saw a video a couple of days ago that
I thought was kind of interesting. He has to do
(12:53):
with a wedding in Syria and the wedding party and
they're going down the street and it's your typical mid
Eastern web and they're dancing and singing a lot of
food and the obligatory.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Is what they do because that's just that's what the
women do.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
And the other thing that happens a lot is the
guns come out and the guns get shy, and of
course no one gets hit and they just shoot the
guns in the air. And you see that all the
time in celebration. Now, a couple of things happen. I
don't know if they understand that bullets come down after
they go up, and people get hurt and people get killed,
(13:33):
which is why. I don't know if it's a myth
that on New Year's Eve all the cops go underneath
the bridges because people shoot guns in the air.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I don't know if that's an urban myth or not.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
But the point is that's gonna be very dangerous stuff,
and it's just something in Syria they're trying to stop
it because under a sod you weren't allowed to do that,
but it didn't matter. Everybody did anyway, and so there's
a real problem. The new regime in Syria is trying
to put a stop to it because it's it can
be dangerous.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
So then I started looking at kind.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Of crazy ways that people get married and the wedding
rituals around the world. Now my wedding, and Neil will
attest to this, and you can go to the at
Bill Handle Show and there's a little.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Snippet of it about a minute.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I did a typical Jewish wedding, and a typical Jewish
wedding means that you eat, and you eat a lot,
and there is food from start to finish because the
mantra of Jews, as you know, is they came, they
killed this, let's eat. That's what we do and it's
big part of weddings. Now, let me tell you what's
(14:45):
going on in the rest of the world. In Scotland,
there is something called the blackening of the bride and groom,
and it's not what you think it is not politically incorrect.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
It's a pre wedding custom called blackening.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Friends and family members throw substances at the bride and groom, mud,
rotten food, feathers, and that's believed to prepare the couple
for challenges they may face and married life in case
anybody throws feathers at you.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Okay. In Germany, log cutting, the Julia Weeds.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Worked together and they saw through a log in front
of their wedding guests. It symbolizes the couple's ability to
overcome obstacles like logs that are in the front of
the house they have to saw through. In Roma, the
Gypsy culture, it's kidnapping the bride. Common for a man
to kidnap the woman he wishes to marry, and then
(15:41):
with the help of friends, the groom to be abducts
his wife, takes through his house and then they negotiate,
and of course everybody's happy. And that's just a ritual thing.
African culture, African American culture. Jumping the broom. Now you've
seen that, and this comes out of the slavery when
(16:01):
the blacks weren't allowed slaves weren't allowed to marry each other.
I mean just didn't have ceremonies, wasn't allowed, So it
became jumping the broom, where literally a broom was put
on the ground and the bride and groom would jump
over it and that signifies the entrance into a new
life together. Indonesia is my favorite one. No bathroom for
(16:22):
three nights. The tiag Don community of Indonesia confines couples
a couple to their house, family and friends smear the
couple with a mixture of rice flour ash. That's symbolizing
the transition from single to married life. You go figure
that one out. They're not allowed to use the bathroom
for three days and ostensibly this helps the couple bond
(16:48):
and to develop a strong foundation for their marriage. Really, okay,
that would work for me, you know, just my bride
to be squatting in the corner. I don't think so.
In Sweden, there is the kissing tradition. All the male
(17:09):
guests are allowed to kiss the bride if the groom
leaves the room. If the bride leaves her seat, the
female guests can line up to kiss the groom and
if they both leave, then a full blown orgy occurs
with every guest at the wedding hundreds of people India
(17:33):
stealing the groom shoes. This is where the bride's sister
and female cousins attempt to steal the groom shoes and
hide them. And then the groom negotiates with the women
to get his shoes back, and they bargain and they
have a good time, and it's just a ritual that
they do.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Grease plate smashing.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Of course, everybody knows that in Greece you smash the
plates and wedding guests break the dishes. That wars off
evil spirits, brings good luck to the newly weds as
well as a lot of shards. The couple then cleans up,
puts the broken pieces together, and it symbolizes the ability
to handle life's challenges. Then you have in South Korea.
(18:17):
Those South Koreans are a boy, They're a barrel of fun.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
The groom's feet beating wedding tradition.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
There is a ritual known as ball and bay or
the groom's feet beating. So after the wedding ceremony, the
groom's friends and family remove his shoes and socks, tie
his ankles together, and proceed to beat the soles of
his shoes with a stick, a rod, or even dried fish.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
I want to make a point here. Okay, I know
that having.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
The soles of your feet being beaten with dried fish
sounds a little bit weird, but don't try it till
you don't knock it till you've tried. Okay, I can
tell you from personal experience it ain't bad. And this
is to serve as a bonding experience for the newlyweds.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Hey don't we like getting married? Okay?
Speaker 2 (19:16):
A topic that I've sort of been pitching for a while,
and I've been making fun of this when I say
Elmer's Glue is a factory is going to be built here,
and some Pyranda dog food factory is going to be
built here, and it has to do with horses.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
And as I joke, this is absolutely true. Okay. Mono Lake.
I don't know if you've ever been to Mono Lake.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It's in the Sierra on Nevada Mountain and it's this
lake area's beautiful and it has these rock columns that
are unique and they look like mars.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Well, horses are all over them.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And the government, the federal government says we had to
movies out and boy, what an emotional disagreement about the
future of this herd. The Mono Lake Committee had this
Bart Shay Miller said, these horses deserve a place to
roam and be free, but.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Not around on a lake. This is a tourist place.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
This is a piece a landscape that exists only here,
and we do not need want horses to trample it
all over it, all over this place. So earlier this year,
the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approved a
plan to round up and remove hundreds of these wild
horses beyond the two hundred thousand acres give or take,
(20:34):
designated for these horses along California and Nevada border. Now
it makes sense because environmentals say the horses are degrading
the landscape, including the bird habitat which is disappearing, and
that tufa rock columns, which are unique. Ranchers say the
animals are gobbling down the plants needed to sustain the cattle.
(20:57):
Federal officials say the safety hazard posed by horses alone
is a problem. Is a wander onto highways. Now the
other side of the coin, this is a travesty. Now,
one method that the government is proposing and has been
used before, is to use helicopters to drive them into
(21:20):
a trap where they are then trapped and then handed
over to elmworst. No, that's not true, and then they
are dealt with, usually shipped away to a horse sanctuary
or to a place where it's not Mono Lake and
they don't do that kind of damage. Animal welfare groups
say that's dangerous, deadly for the horses, and there's even
(21:42):
a pending federal bill that says no to that. So
local tribes and nonprofits have prevented a partner to fight
the roundup plan, saying that the indigenous community should be
tapped to manage the animals that rome ancestral lands. Then
you have another group of planets suing the government saying
(22:04):
it is your job to protect those horses, and you're
renigging on that that you are breaking the law.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I mean, some of this is crazy.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Ronda Kak, who is a member of the Mono Lake Kutsaduka,
forget me if I'm pronouncing it wrong. The Kutzaidoka tribe said,
we're all living spirits and it's sad that people just
don't care about another living thing because they think it
doesn't belong there By the way, she died of a
rattlesnake bite right after saying that. I just want to
(22:36):
point that out. We're all wonderful living creatures. So today,
if you go to warm springs on the eastern edge
of Mono Lake, pounds of horse manure are there.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
It is a mess.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
The vegetation has been nibbled down to nothing and it's
it's a real problem. The Mono Lake Committee's Eastern Sierra
Policy Director and Jeff McQuilkin said, as he said, look
at what's happening. He did this tour and he said,
there's a limited water supply here. The wildlife all compete
(23:10):
for it. The birds that would have a safe hayden
and be hidden away from the raptors and predators don't
have the opportunity to hide anymore. And this all started
in twenty fifteen. Now Here is the fun part, Okay,
This is the part that I really love, and that
is there is a group of Indians, the one tribe
(23:33):
Utu Goada Guya to pay you tribe, sorry again about
the pronunciation, are among the coalition wants to pause these roundups.
They want to secure land back to set aside a
sanctuary for horses to roam.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
They want to say, we'll take care of it.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
What we're going to do is we're going to dart
the horses with birth control. We're going to limit their growth,
and we're going to take the existing horses and put
them to work at pack stations, equine therapy and.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Rodeo schools for the kids.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Now that segues right into the glue factory, because that
makes more sense, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
We're done. That's it, peenee.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Tomorrow is Friday, as you probably know, and to we
come back tomorrow, we start all over again.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Wake up, call Amy and Mike Morris. I think is
still here tomorrow he is.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
One more day, one more day. And then we have
Will comes back. Will doesn't yet know that he doesn't
have a job when he comes back, but he'll find
out on Monday.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
He'll be a surprise. And then Neil and I come.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Aboard at six o'clock to right now, and then of
course Kono and Ann who have a reasonable chance of
being here on Monday.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Gary and Shannon up next. This is KF I am
six forty. You've been listening to the Bill Handle show.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Catch my show Monday through Friday, six am to nine
AM and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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