November 6, 2025 • 24 mins
(November 06, 2025)
Host of ‘How to Money’ Joel Larsgaard joins the show to discuss workers planning ahead for a potential layoff, people refinancing into 84-month car loans, and ads infiltrating your fridge and car. Bed shortage could lead to release of mentally ill inmates; Orange County DA Todd Spitzer joins the show. A boy and his thousands of bees took on this California city… and won.
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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 than thanks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Can't by AM six forty Bill Handle.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
It is a Thursday morning, the sixth day of November,
and so stories were looking at Oh this just broke.
This morning, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she
is dead. No, actually, she announced that she is retiring
at the end of her term. It's really interesting a conversation.
(00:33):
She had to listen to an interview with her the
other day, and she talked about the possibility of retiring
and then some of the issues that she wants to
get involved with some political organizations.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
But she said, you know, if I.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Ran, I'd win automatically, it wouldn't even be an issue.
And she's right. She owns her district and owned the
House of Representatives. A speaker, extraordinary woman, such a powerful person.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Joe Larsguard is heard every Sunday here on KFI from
twelve to two pm. He is the host of How
to Money, and we entitled the two segments he does
with us very cleverly, how to Money.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Joel, Good morning, morning, Bill.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
All right, a lot going on today, all right, layoffs,
potential layoffs. We know what's happening with the federal government
and the government workers. But considering what happened to Amazon
workers and ups just unloaded a bunch of them, and
Target is unloading.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
What do people do?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Number one?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Do you anticipate it?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Sometimes you don't know, And if you do think it's
coming your way, what happens and how do you handle it?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
And I think the headlines are making people fearful, right
and understandably so, especially when you're seeing tens ten thousand
people let go that one employer tens of thousands at
another employer, and you're like, oh my gosh, this is
this and coming for me. And part of you know,
what people are feeling is the reality of AI taking
(02:07):
out some of those entry level positions. I think, in
particular young graduates. New graduates are feeling that specifically, what
do you do when it seems like there is downsizing
happening in the job market. I think the first instinct
I would have, and what I would encourage people to do,
is to look at their own personal finances, because you
(02:27):
kind of whether it's an industry thing, whether it's a
greater economy as a whole thing, or whether it's even
your specific employer thing. You want to make sure that
your personal finances are buttoned up, and so you know
we're talking about increasing that emergency fund, having more liquid cash.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Those Let me throw something at you, because we have
heard the formula is you should have six months of
expenses put away in savings or minimum three. But you're
paying a rent, you have, you're paying off the car,
you've got utility, these the kids. I six thousand dollars
a month is fairly I think that would not be
(03:08):
a figure that I'm overstating. Sure, well, that's thirty thousand
dollars or thirty six thousand dollars. Who the hell says
up thirty six thousand dollars. When you have a family,
especially living in southern California, how do you plan ahead
even if you know that you should.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
How do they do that? I guess you mean you
moved to Arkansas and you eat squirrels.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well I don't.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
I mean, I do think we are saying people move
in order to save money. I just heard from a
listener recently who said I was living in an expensive
part of the country and I moved to a less
expensive part was able to pay cash for the house
in relatively short order because I was moving to someplace
that was that much cheaper. It's not for everybody, and
your job is often attached to where you live, and
(03:52):
so it's a ridiculous assertion for ninety plus percent of people.
But there is a segment of the population where I
think that can make sense. And I think you highlight
six months of emergency savings. I think really the place
to start is essentially roughly three grand. That is going
to get you through most pinches. It's probably not going
to get you all the way from a layoff till
(04:12):
your next job without having any financial turbulence, but it's
going to get you through most financial emergencies and then
aim for three months right worth of savings.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And it's going to take.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
A while, I think for most people to get to
three months worth of savings. This might be like an
eighteen month long endeavor. But it is worth tightening the belt.
It is worth paying down some of those high interest
debts so that you create more room in your life for savings.
It's worth maybe even sticking to what I call a
bare bones budget for a hot minute, just so that
you can get to that three month level of savings.
(04:43):
And that is for a lot of people going to
be the bridge from oh my gosh, what am.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I going to do?
Speaker 4 (04:48):
I just got laid off today to I can rest
easy while I'm applying for new jobs and while I'm
getting my LinkedIn updated and while I'm tapping my network.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I've got a little bit of breathing room.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
And I just want people to have some more of
that breathing room, especially when it feels like the job,
the job situation is not looking as rosy as it has.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It has to be so depressing out there.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
My daughter is going through it with her computer science skills,
and I mean, it's just tough out there.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I mean, you and I are very lucky that you know,
we do. You have a contract by the way, now,
oh you don't have a contract? Wow? Okay, then you
and I are that lucky? Well I am, you know, so, Hey,
what can.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I tell you?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
That's just me being an ass, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Now, I'm gonna work on that. Have you know? Maybe
you can?
Speaker 5 (05:35):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Now's let me tell you something.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
There are some downsides and having a contract and being
protected for a period of time. I just can't think
of any Okay, Joel this story that I'm looking at,
or this headline I'm looking at, is people are buying
more expensive cars. I buy that because cars are more expensive,
you have no choice but refinding, dancing and financing in
(06:01):
eighty four month loans. Eighty four month loans, isn't that
for like twelve years.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It's something close to that.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
You have to we upside down from the minute you
buy the car until the moment it falls apart one
hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
You are upside down in the car for a really
long time, which presents other problems.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
To add fuel to the fire, though, Bill.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
It's not that people are just initially taking out a
really long loan in order.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
To afford the higher car and the higher interest rate.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Then what people are doing is a couple of years
into the loan, they're refinancing, and they're going back into
another seven year loan, into.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Another eighty four month term.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
And it's just it So it means that people are
not just choosing to be in debt for that new
car for seven years overall, which is way, way, way,
way too long in my opinion, Like I would love
to see people stick to a three year loan, and
if you can't, then you shouldn't be you need to
change your aspirations on what car you're willing to purchase,
but to refinance again back into another eighty four month loan.
(07:04):
People are on average, This is a report from refinance
company Cariboo. They're refinancing forty thousand dollars forty thousand dollars
worth of car debt. Maybe yeah, they're able to lower
their interest rate from something like ten and a half
to seven and a half, and they're able to lower
their monthly payment, of course, but this is the way
most Americans think.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It's like that. It's that payment byer mentality.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Oh, I can lower my payments by one hundred and
sixty bucks, let me go with that option. But ultimately,
what that does is it keeps you in debt so
much longer, and for so many people, it means they're
trading in a car they're upside down on at some
point in the future to buy another car, which just
compounds the situation even more so.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
The point is when we talk about upside down is
that the value of the car will always be less
than the amount that you owe, So under any circumstances,
you're going to owe money at the end of all this,
and I mean, can you imagine at the end of
eighty four months, right, you've paid it off and your
car is worth twelve dollars. I mean it's uh, and
(08:03):
you've repaired it for a number of years, which is
insanely expensive.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
New loans, I can I can actually remember.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
This because I've always done three year loans and it's
whatever car I could afford. I once did a three
year loan on a new uh actually I think I
say three year loan on used VW, but it went
to four years, and I go, my god, why why
would anybody you know get a four year car loan
as you pointed out, and then five and then six
(08:34):
and now seven years?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I mean, is there a limit to this? Does it stop?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well? I mean, I guess we'll find out.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
It's crazy enough to think that on a brand new
car you can get a seven year loan, and then
it's even crazier to think that you can refinance after
having paid for a while, into another seven year loan.
And I do think, you know, car refinancing is something
more people should consider, especially if you do have a
high interest rate.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
You could probably go to the local.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Credit union or go with one of those online shopping
sites that will help you find a better rate, but
just be super careful to not only fixate on your
ability to pay less in from month to month.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I would rather see you say, Okay.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
How much more can I put towards this payment? Maybe
I can even shorten the length of the loan going too.
I've got five years left. Maybe I go down to
four lower, and maybe my payment goes up a little bit,
but my interest rate goes down and so I'm able
to pay off that car more quickly. That's the way
I'd rather see people think, and then start saving up
once that car is paid off, so you can pay
cash for the next car, or at least have more
to put down now.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
The other side of the coin of what we're talking
about is the fact that cars last much longer today.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
They are wait' they're actually better built.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Even though a lot of them are plastic, and they
go one hundred and twenty one hundred and fifty thousand
miles without even blinking. And so that helps and give
me the analogy. This morning, I was tying my shoelaces
on my sneakers, and so there I am, and I
was thinking, when was the last time my shoelace. Shoelaces broke.
(10:06):
When I was a kid, they would break every two weeks.
You have to buy new ones today. When was the
last time you shoelace broke? Are you really talking about that?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
That's my point.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
I am no.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
The analogy, The analogy works.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I'm telling you, the analogy works well what.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You're driving at.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
I think you're right that overall, from a car perspective,
there's been more competition in the space. We've seen people
like to think that there's plant obsolescence in the car space.
I just don't think that's true. I think we have
seen greater reliability. And when you look at specifically at
a site like Consumer Reports, you can dig down into
makes and models and years and you can find which
(10:48):
which cars are.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Going to last the longest.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
They do such a good job with reliability ratings, and
so I think that's a really important thing to consider
when you're buying a car. Is not just like, hey,
that one looks cool, or yeah, that one does fit
my price point, but it's like, which one is going
to last you longer so that you can, yeah, be
driving that car for many more years.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah, today a car with sixty eighty thousand miles on.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
It is not an old, falling apart car the way
they used to be.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
By the way, in terms of shoelaces, you know those
little plastic ends of shoe laces.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, you know what they call those? Nope, well there
you are.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
I think our anklets is what they're called.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Really, Yeah, you can look that up. Yeah, learn something
new every day every day.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
We'll talk again next week, Joel, Sunday, twelve to two pm.
His address is how to Money, Joel, and the website
is howtomoney dot com.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Joel.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
You have a good one.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Thank you too. Thanks Bill.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
All Right, a story I think has become a national
story that happens to be out of Orange County where
some mentally ill suspects facing some serious charges or having
already been convicted of serious crimes are being released.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It's just crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
The DA's office, Todd Spitzer of course, all over this,
and he's being asked it with so many by so
many news outlets, and we're going to ask him. By
the way, Todd and I, Todd and KFI go back
thirty years, so we've been very good friends for a
very long time.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Todd, good morning, Thanks for hanging with.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Us, of course, Bill, thank you, good morning.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Good morning.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
All right, So tell me about this story and what's
going on, because it's the story itself is criminal when
you think about it.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Yeah, it's very upsetting. I've sounded the alarm. I've waited
as long as I can, but I'm in court tomorrow.
My prosecutors are in court tomorrow. Let me just give
the basics of how the system works. Somebody's charged with
a criminal act. In this case, these are very serious crimes.
At some point, the defense says, hey, we have a
doubt on the competency of our client. Either they don't
(12:53):
understand the nature and wrongfulness of their acts, or they
can't assist us as their counsel. So that goes out
to a doctors evaluate that person. We get various doctor's opinions,
and at some point the judge says, no, this person
cannot proceed. So the state has two years to restore
them to competency in order for them to stand trial
(13:16):
assist their counsel. Six Amendment issues things like that. At
the end of the two years, if the person cannot
be restored to competency so the criminal case can go forward,
the system then starts a civil commitment for a conservati
to keep this person locked up until they can be restored,
if ever, to competency. We're at that stage with numerous
(13:40):
very serious and violent felons tomorrow to are in court.
One an attempted rapist who is a very serious sex offender.
The other is a person who beat the hell out
of his neighbor almost to the point, you know, serious
bodily injury and elderly man. And then I have a murderer.
(14:01):
I have a whole host of these bill and then
in December, I have a man who cut up his victim,
an innocent victim, with a hatchet while he was wearing
a tinfoil hat and howling at the moon. Okay, I'm
not making this up. And so Mike County is responsible,
through the Office of the Public Guardian, to find lock
(14:24):
down beds to house these individuals while the system is
trying to restore them to competency. As of this morning,
there are no beds for these individuals. The two individuals,
the sex offender and the assaultive, very violent individual. Those
cases are on calendar tomorrow. We have no beds as
(14:47):
we speak, all.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Right, So the alternative or the answer is coming up
with beds. And now this is before straightening this out
to make sure everybody understands, this is before trial where
they're clearly going to please need not guilty by reason
of insanity, right, then they're going to argue with the
McNaughton rule, and this is before that happens, right.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Yeah, And this in the case I've just told you
these are individuals who have pending criminal garages, but they're
not competent.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
So what so let me ask you the two year rule.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Is that by statute or is that the Supreme Court
ruled on that.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Yeah, no, that's my statute. So the mental hospitals are
supposed to take these individuals, whether it's patent, NAPPA, you know, Tascadero.
They take these individuals in and they have two years
to restore them. But we are finding right with the
serious mental ill that in many cases they're not restored
to capacity. The problem in California bill is that the
(15:48):
legislature and the governor continue to create more and more
mental health off ramps, if you will, in the criminal
justice system, where everybody not these are very serious, but
there are so many now opportunities for mental health diversion
and other opportunities that there's a mental health bed necessary.
(16:10):
There's no beds in California. So the legislature creates all
these mandates on all of us as DA's to prosecute
these people but allow them to have all these various
defenses and the like, and yet they don't create the beds.
They want to close prisons, they want to create more
mental health diversion, but they're not creating the beds for
(16:30):
these people to get treatment. And what we find ourselves
at the local government level is we don't have lockdown
treatment facilities to treat these individuals. And the only option
because of court decisions, is the following. You either treat them, right,
because now they've more from the pending criminal case to
(16:52):
more of a civil commitment under a conservatorship, you either
treat them. And if you can't treat them because you
don't have a big society has failed in this responsibility,
and the courts have said you must release them back
to the street.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Whoa and that's uh.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Now, these are people that are in a facility once
this happens, and while a judge decide whether someone is
confident they're not walking the streets, the facility yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
So build these individuals. They went to the state mental hospital,
they were evaluated. They've been returned to the Orange County
Jail awaiting this hearing to determine if they're going to
become conservatives. That's what we are dealing with tomorrow with
these two offenders I spoke with you about, and so
we we we have to tell the judge, right, we
(17:43):
I only handle the criminal and now it gets handed
off to the Public Guardian to handle the conservative proceedings.
And the Public Guardian has dropped the ball in my county.
And they don't have beds for these people.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
So the answer is clearly creating the b and.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
I've got to create the beds. We're working feverishly to
try to get beds. But the fact of the matter
is we keep getting mandated to do these treatments. Fair
enough with these people, they should be treated, but the
state has not created many beds despite the mandates pushed
on us. And these beds are being filled by so
(18:22):
many other categories of the mentally ill, which the legislature
has created because they don't want anybody to go to jail.
They believe everybody either is not guilty, not responsible for
their criminal acts or they're so mentally ill they can't
be held responsible.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Welcome to California. Welcome to California, Todd, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
All right, Bill, thank you.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
It gives us some good information about what's happening. I mean,
Todd's on top of this stuff, like you can't believe.
All right, I'm going to switch gears for a moment.
I want to tell you a story about a ten
year old boy, Nicholas bard and in Santa Rosa and
his thing with.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Man.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
He likes bees, I mean really likes bee to the
point where I think therapy should be involved here. And
Santa Rosa ordered ten year old Nicholas to remove his
colony of thousands of European bees, and they said zoning
laws were violated. Now, Nicholas is really into his bees,
(19:23):
and he fought back with the help from the Sonoma
County bee Keepers Association.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
These are people.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Who clearly have never been laid in their lifetime and
they have become bee keepers.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And so here's what happened.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
The city of Santa Rosa receives an anonymous complaint about
some problem insects in the area, and so city officials
are looking at it. The insect controlled people will go on,
and they zero in on Nicholas's family, the Bard family,
and in particular the thousands of European bees. And it
(20:02):
turned out, as everybody looked at the law, keeping the
bees was considered an occupation, even for a kid, it's
an occupation.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
And Nicholas and.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
His parents were in violation of the law, and the
city said the.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Bees have to go. Goodbye bees.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Well, of course, the family instantly appealed because Nicholas was
going to be very upset, and so they called the
city and they talked to a city person and thought
they had a sympathetic gear because that city worker said,
you know what, I understand your position. I can't say yeah,
your nay, but I'll send it up the food chain
(20:42):
and I will tell them why.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
I think your bees should be allowed.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Then the city comes back the upper reaches of management.
The supervisors inform the Bards that not only were they
in violation of having a home business, but also having
nuisance insects on their property. Now we're not talking about
(21:08):
raising you know, we're not talking about raising mosquitoes, for example,
as pets, all right, We're talking bees. Bees are good
and so they said no, and the city is arguing
with him Nicholas and the bars go no, you have
to do it, and no, said he turned them down.
So now what do they do.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Do they give up the bees? They do not give
up the bees. They do not surrender.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
They went on and fought city Hall, which doesn't happen
very often, although they had the help of the Beekeeper Association.
So how does a kid get into bees like that?
There's a story, all right. He was part of the
local four h club teaches kids the fundamentals of farming
and science. Wow, I remember my involvement with a four
(21:57):
h club. No civic engagement and having a healthy balanced ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I don't even know what that is.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
By the way, Also the importance of the bees as pollinators.
I mean, we all know, no bees, no pollination. So
when Nicholas is seven, he goes to a local science
fair and then this woman gives a presentation on beekeeping.
He fell in love with bees, and he is a
(22:27):
friend of the bees. He grew the small swarm that
he started into a full colony. He cares for his bees,
He listens to his bees, he reads to his bees.
O there's an issue there. I think, But what happened?
The bottom line, they won. He got the city council
(22:49):
to turn around, and the city alternated to turn around
for a bunch of reasons. It turns out there are
plenty of backyard hives in Santa Rosa. And why should
the bards get extra scrutiny in terms of the beehive ban?
Not even the beat Keepers Association knew about this. No
way to know how many hives there are in Santa
(23:11):
Anna or Santa Rosa. Why because the numbers fluctuate it
each year because bees come in and then they leave.
And I'm talking about their beekeepers that do that.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
No threat.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
City Hall was innunated, inundated with letters, emails, newspapers, local
TV stations, and little Nicholas ten years.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Old won the battle.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
I just wanted to give you a sort of fun
up story because I've been talking about how you're gonna
die all morning long. All right, we're done, guys, coming up,
Gary and Shannon in the meantime, We're back again tomorrow.
It starts with Amy and Will with wake up call.
Does someone just say.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Whoo yeah me Will oh? Will Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I mean I forgot you were here? Okay?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
And Will who is here who? And then it's Neil
and Moa and we come aboard from six to nine.
And of course you've got and Kono who are always here,
and we can't do a damn thing about it no
matter what. All right, we're done, guys. We'll catch you
in the morning. Kf I am six point forty.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
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 than thanks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Can't by AM six forty Bill Handle.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
It is a Thursday morning, the sixth day of November,
and so stories were looking at Oh this just broke.
This morning, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she
is dead. No, actually, she announced that she is retiring
at the end of her term. It's really interesting a conversation.
(00:33):
She had to listen to an interview with her the
other day, and she talked about the possibility of retiring
and then some of the issues that she wants to
get involved with some political organizations.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
But she said, you know, if I.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Ran, I'd win automatically, it wouldn't even be an issue.
And she's right. She owns her district and owned the
House of Representatives. A speaker, extraordinary woman, such a powerful person.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Joe Larsguard is heard every Sunday here on KFI from
twelve to two pm. He is the host of How
to Money, and we entitled the two segments he does
with us very cleverly, how to Money.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Joel, Good morning, morning, Bill.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
All right, a lot going on today, all right, layoffs,
potential layoffs. We know what's happening with the federal government
and the government workers. But considering what happened to Amazon
workers and ups just unloaded a bunch of them, and
Target is unloading.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
What do people do?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Number one?
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Do you anticipate it?
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Sometimes you don't know, And if you do think it's
coming your way, what happens and how do you handle it?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
And I think the headlines are making people fearful, right
and understandably so, especially when you're seeing tens ten thousand
people let go that one employer tens of thousands at
another employer, and you're like, oh my gosh, this is
this and coming for me. And part of you know,
what people are feeling is the reality of AI taking
(02:07):
out some of those entry level positions. I think, in
particular young graduates. New graduates are feeling that specifically, what
do you do when it seems like there is downsizing
happening in the job market. I think the first instinct
I would have, and what I would encourage people to do,
is to look at their own personal finances, because you
(02:27):
kind of whether it's an industry thing, whether it's a
greater economy as a whole thing, or whether it's even
your specific employer thing. You want to make sure that
your personal finances are buttoned up, and so you know
we're talking about increasing that emergency fund, having more liquid cash.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Those Let me throw something at you, because we have
heard the formula is you should have six months of
expenses put away in savings or minimum three. But you're
paying a rent, you have, you're paying off the car,
you've got utility, these the kids. I six thousand dollars
a month is fairly I think that would not be
(03:08):
a figure that I'm overstating. Sure, well, that's thirty thousand
dollars or thirty six thousand dollars. Who the hell says
up thirty six thousand dollars. When you have a family,
especially living in southern California, how do you plan ahead
even if you know that you should.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
How do they do that? I guess you mean you
moved to Arkansas and you eat squirrels.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well I don't.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
I mean, I do think we are saying people move
in order to save money. I just heard from a
listener recently who said I was living in an expensive
part of the country and I moved to a less
expensive part was able to pay cash for the house
in relatively short order because I was moving to someplace
that was that much cheaper. It's not for everybody, and
your job is often attached to where you live, and
(03:52):
so it's a ridiculous assertion for ninety plus percent of people.
But there is a segment of the population where I
think that can make sense. And I think you highlight
six months of emergency savings. I think really the place
to start is essentially roughly three grand. That is going
to get you through most pinches. It's probably not going
to get you all the way from a layoff till
(04:12):
your next job without having any financial turbulence, but it's
going to get you through most financial emergencies and then
aim for three months right worth of savings.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
And it's going to take.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
A while, I think for most people to get to
three months worth of savings. This might be like an
eighteen month long endeavor. But it is worth tightening the belt.
It is worth paying down some of those high interest
debts so that you create more room in your life for savings.
It's worth maybe even sticking to what I call a
bare bones budget for a hot minute, just so that
you can get to that three month level of savings.
(04:43):
And that is for a lot of people going to
be the bridge from oh my gosh, what am.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I going to do?
Speaker 4 (04:48):
I just got laid off today to I can rest
easy while I'm applying for new jobs and while I'm
getting my LinkedIn updated and while I'm tapping my network.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I've got a little bit of breathing room.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
And I just want people to have some more of
that breathing room, especially when it feels like the job,
the job situation is not looking as rosy as it has.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It has to be so depressing out there.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
My daughter is going through it with her computer science skills,
and I mean, it's just tough out there.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I mean, you and I are very lucky that you know,
we do. You have a contract by the way, now,
oh you don't have a contract? Wow? Okay, then you
and I are that lucky? Well I am, you know, so, Hey,
what can.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
I tell you?
Speaker 2 (05:30):
That's just me being an ass, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Now, I'm gonna work on that. Have you know? Maybe
you can?
Speaker 5 (05:35):
Maybe?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Now's let me tell you something.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
There are some downsides and having a contract and being
protected for a period of time. I just can't think
of any Okay, Joel this story that I'm looking at,
or this headline I'm looking at, is people are buying
more expensive cars. I buy that because cars are more expensive,
you have no choice but refinding, dancing and financing in
(06:01):
eighty four month loans. Eighty four month loans, isn't that
for like twelve years.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It's something close to that.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
You have to we upside down from the minute you
buy the car until the moment it falls apart one
hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
You are upside down in the car for a really
long time, which presents other problems.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
To add fuel to the fire, though, Bill.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
It's not that people are just initially taking out a
really long loan in order.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
To afford the higher car and the higher interest rate.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Then what people are doing is a couple of years
into the loan, they're refinancing, and they're going back into
another seven year loan, into.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Another eighty four month term.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
And it's just it So it means that people are
not just choosing to be in debt for that new
car for seven years overall, which is way, way, way,
way too long in my opinion, Like I would love
to see people stick to a three year loan, and
if you can't, then you shouldn't be you need to
change your aspirations on what car you're willing to purchase,
but to refinance again back into another eighty four month loan.
(07:04):
People are on average, This is a report from refinance
company Cariboo. They're refinancing forty thousand dollars forty thousand dollars
worth of car debt. Maybe yeah, they're able to lower
their interest rate from something like ten and a half
to seven and a half, and they're able to lower
their monthly payment, of course, but this is the way
most Americans think.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It's like that. It's that payment byer mentality.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Oh, I can lower my payments by one hundred and
sixty bucks, let me go with that option. But ultimately,
what that does is it keeps you in debt so
much longer, and for so many people, it means they're
trading in a car they're upside down on at some
point in the future to buy another car, which just
compounds the situation even more so.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
The point is when we talk about upside down is
that the value of the car will always be less
than the amount that you owe, So under any circumstances,
you're going to owe money at the end of all this,
and I mean, can you imagine at the end of
eighty four months, right, you've paid it off and your
car is worth twelve dollars. I mean it's uh, and
(08:03):
you've repaired it for a number of years, which is
insanely expensive.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
New loans, I can I can actually remember.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
This because I've always done three year loans and it's
whatever car I could afford. I once did a three
year loan on a new uh actually I think I
say three year loan on used VW, but it went
to four years, and I go, my god, why why
would anybody you know get a four year car loan
as you pointed out, and then five and then six
(08:34):
and now seven years?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I mean, is there a limit to this? Does it stop?
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well? I mean, I guess we'll find out.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
It's crazy enough to think that on a brand new
car you can get a seven year loan, and then
it's even crazier to think that you can refinance after
having paid for a while, into another seven year loan.
And I do think, you know, car refinancing is something
more people should consider, especially if you do have a
high interest rate.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
You could probably go to the local.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
Credit union or go with one of those online shopping
sites that will help you find a better rate, but
just be super careful to not only fixate on your
ability to pay less in from month to month.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I would rather see you say, Okay.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
How much more can I put towards this payment? Maybe
I can even shorten the length of the loan going too.
I've got five years left. Maybe I go down to
four lower, and maybe my payment goes up a little bit,
but my interest rate goes down and so I'm able
to pay off that car more quickly. That's the way
I'd rather see people think, and then start saving up
once that car is paid off, so you can pay
cash for the next car, or at least have more
to put down now.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
The other side of the coin of what we're talking
about is the fact that cars last much longer today.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
They are wait' they're actually better built.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Even though a lot of them are plastic, and they
go one hundred and twenty one hundred and fifty thousand
miles without even blinking. And so that helps and give
me the analogy. This morning, I was tying my shoelaces
on my sneakers, and so there I am, and I
was thinking, when was the last time my shoelace. Shoelaces broke.
(10:06):
When I was a kid, they would break every two weeks.
You have to buy new ones today. When was the
last time you shoelace broke? Are you really talking about that?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
That's my point.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
I am no.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
The analogy, The analogy works.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I'm telling you, the analogy works well what.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You're driving at.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
I think you're right that overall, from a car perspective,
there's been more competition in the space. We've seen people
like to think that there's plant obsolescence in the car space.
I just don't think that's true. I think we have
seen greater reliability. And when you look at specifically at
a site like Consumer Reports, you can dig down into
makes and models and years and you can find which
(10:48):
which cars are.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Going to last the longest.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
They do such a good job with reliability ratings, and
so I think that's a really important thing to consider
when you're buying a car. Is not just like, hey,
that one looks cool, or yeah, that one does fit
my price point, but it's like, which one is going
to last you longer so that you can, yeah, be
driving that car for many more years.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah, today a car with sixty eighty thousand miles on.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
It is not an old, falling apart car the way
they used to be.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
By the way, in terms of shoelaces, you know those
little plastic ends of shoe laces.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, you know what they call those? Nope, well there
you are.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
I think our anklets is what they're called.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Really, Yeah, you can look that up. Yeah, learn something
new every day every day.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
We'll talk again next week, Joel, Sunday, twelve to two pm.
His address is how to Money, Joel, and the website
is howtomoney dot com.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Joel.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
You have a good one.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Thank you too. Thanks Bill.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
All Right, a story I think has become a national
story that happens to be out of Orange County where
some mentally ill suspects facing some serious charges or having
already been convicted of serious crimes are being released.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
It's just crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
The DA's office, Todd Spitzer of course, all over this,
and he's being asked it with so many by so
many news outlets, and we're going to ask him. By
the way, Todd and I, Todd and KFI go back
thirty years, so we've been very good friends for a
very long time.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Todd, good morning, Thanks for hanging with.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Us, of course, Bill, thank you, good morning.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Good morning.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
All right, So tell me about this story and what's
going on, because it's the story itself is criminal when
you think about it.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Yeah, it's very upsetting. I've sounded the alarm. I've waited
as long as I can, but I'm in court tomorrow.
My prosecutors are in court tomorrow. Let me just give
the basics of how the system works. Somebody's charged with
a criminal act. In this case, these are very serious crimes.
At some point, the defense says, hey, we have a
doubt on the competency of our client. Either they don't
(12:53):
understand the nature and wrongfulness of their acts, or they
can't assist us as their counsel. So that goes out
to a doctors evaluate that person. We get various doctor's opinions,
and at some point the judge says, no, this person
cannot proceed. So the state has two years to restore
them to competency in order for them to stand trial
(13:16):
assist their counsel. Six Amendment issues things like that. At
the end of the two years, if the person cannot
be restored to competency so the criminal case can go forward,
the system then starts a civil commitment for a conservati
to keep this person locked up until they can be restored,
if ever, to competency. We're at that stage with numerous
(13:40):
very serious and violent felons tomorrow to are in court.
One an attempted rapist who is a very serious sex offender.
The other is a person who beat the hell out
of his neighbor almost to the point, you know, serious
bodily injury and elderly man. And then I have a murderer.
(14:01):
I have a whole host of these bill and then
in December, I have a man who cut up his victim,
an innocent victim, with a hatchet while he was wearing
a tinfoil hat and howling at the moon. Okay, I'm
not making this up. And so Mike County is responsible,
through the Office of the Public Guardian, to find lock
(14:24):
down beds to house these individuals while the system is
trying to restore them to competency. As of this morning,
there are no beds for these individuals. The two individuals,
the sex offender and the assaultive, very violent individual. Those
cases are on calendar tomorrow. We have no beds as
(14:47):
we speak, all.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Right, So the alternative or the answer is coming up
with beds. And now this is before straightening this out
to make sure everybody understands, this is before trial where
they're clearly going to please need not guilty by reason
of insanity, right, then they're going to argue with the
McNaughton rule, and this is before that happens, right.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Yeah, And this in the case I've just told you
these are individuals who have pending criminal garages, but they're
not competent.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
So what so let me ask you the two year rule.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Is that by statute or is that the Supreme Court
ruled on that.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Yeah, no, that's my statute. So the mental hospitals are
supposed to take these individuals, whether it's patent, NAPPA, you know, Tascadero.
They take these individuals in and they have two years
to restore them. But we are finding right with the
serious mental ill that in many cases they're not restored
to capacity. The problem in California bill is that the
(15:48):
legislature and the governor continue to create more and more
mental health off ramps, if you will, in the criminal
justice system, where everybody not these are very serious, but
there are so many now opportunities for mental health diversion
and other opportunities that there's a mental health bed necessary.
(16:10):
There's no beds in California. So the legislature creates all
these mandates on all of us as DA's to prosecute
these people but allow them to have all these various
defenses and the like, and yet they don't create the beds.
They want to close prisons, they want to create more
mental health diversion, but they're not creating the beds for
(16:30):
these people to get treatment. And what we find ourselves
at the local government level is we don't have lockdown
treatment facilities to treat these individuals. And the only option
because of court decisions, is the following. You either treat them, right,
because now they've more from the pending criminal case to
(16:52):
more of a civil commitment under a conservatorship, you either
treat them. And if you can't treat them because you
don't have a big society has failed in this responsibility,
and the courts have said you must release them back
to the street.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Whoa and that's uh.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Now, these are people that are in a facility once
this happens, and while a judge decide whether someone is
confident they're not walking the streets, the facility yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:22):
So build these individuals. They went to the state mental hospital,
they were evaluated. They've been returned to the Orange County
Jail awaiting this hearing to determine if they're going to
become conservatives. That's what we are dealing with tomorrow with
these two offenders I spoke with you about, and so
we we we have to tell the judge, right, we
(17:43):
I only handle the criminal and now it gets handed
off to the Public Guardian to handle the conservative proceedings.
And the Public Guardian has dropped the ball in my county.
And they don't have beds for these people.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
So the answer is clearly creating the b and.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
I've got to create the beds. We're working feverishly to
try to get beds. But the fact of the matter
is we keep getting mandated to do these treatments. Fair
enough with these people, they should be treated, but the
state has not created many beds despite the mandates pushed
on us. And these beds are being filled by so
(18:22):
many other categories of the mentally ill, which the legislature
has created because they don't want anybody to go to jail.
They believe everybody either is not guilty, not responsible for
their criminal acts or they're so mentally ill they can't
be held responsible.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Welcome to California. Welcome to California, Todd, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (18:43):
All right, Bill, thank you.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
It gives us some good information about what's happening. I mean,
Todd's on top of this stuff, like you can't believe.
All right, I'm going to switch gears for a moment.
I want to tell you a story about a ten
year old boy, Nicholas bard and in Santa Rosa and
his thing with.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Man.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
He likes bees, I mean really likes bee to the
point where I think therapy should be involved here. And
Santa Rosa ordered ten year old Nicholas to remove his
colony of thousands of European bees, and they said zoning
laws were violated. Now, Nicholas is really into his bees,
(19:23):
and he fought back with the help from the Sonoma
County bee Keepers Association.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
These are people.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Who clearly have never been laid in their lifetime and
they have become bee keepers.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
And so here's what happened.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
The city of Santa Rosa receives an anonymous complaint about
some problem insects in the area, and so city officials
are looking at it. The insect controlled people will go on,
and they zero in on Nicholas's family, the Bard family,
and in particular the thousands of European bees. And it
(20:02):
turned out, as everybody looked at the law, keeping the
bees was considered an occupation, even for a kid, it's
an occupation.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
And Nicholas and.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
His parents were in violation of the law, and the
city said the.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Bees have to go. Goodbye bees.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Well, of course, the family instantly appealed because Nicholas was
going to be very upset, and so they called the
city and they talked to a city person and thought
they had a sympathetic gear because that city worker said,
you know what, I understand your position. I can't say yeah,
your nay, but I'll send it up the food chain
(20:42):
and I will tell them why.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
I think your bees should be allowed.
Speaker 3 (20:48):
Then the city comes back the upper reaches of management.
The supervisors inform the Bards that not only were they
in violation of having a home business, but also having
nuisance insects on their property. Now we're not talking about
(21:08):
raising you know, we're not talking about raising mosquitoes, for example,
as pets, all right, We're talking bees. Bees are good
and so they said no, and the city is arguing
with him Nicholas and the bars go no, you have
to do it, and no, said he turned them down.
So now what do they do.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Do they give up the bees? They do not give
up the bees. They do not surrender.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
They went on and fought city Hall, which doesn't happen
very often, although they had the help of the Beekeeper Association.
So how does a kid get into bees like that?
There's a story, all right. He was part of the
local four h club teaches kids the fundamentals of farming
and science. Wow, I remember my involvement with a four
(21:57):
h club. No civic engagement and having a healthy balanced ecosystem.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
I don't even know what that is.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
By the way, Also the importance of the bees as pollinators.
I mean, we all know, no bees, no pollination. So
when Nicholas is seven, he goes to a local science
fair and then this woman gives a presentation on beekeeping.
He fell in love with bees, and he is a
(22:27):
friend of the bees. He grew the small swarm that
he started into a full colony. He cares for his bees,
He listens to his bees, he reads to his bees.
O there's an issue there. I think, But what happened?
The bottom line, they won. He got the city council
(22:49):
to turn around, and the city alternated to turn around
for a bunch of reasons. It turns out there are
plenty of backyard hives in Santa Rosa. And why should
the bards get extra scrutiny in terms of the beehive ban?
Not even the beat Keepers Association knew about this. No
way to know how many hives there are in Santa
(23:11):
Anna or Santa Rosa. Why because the numbers fluctuate it
each year because bees come in and then they leave.
And I'm talking about their beekeepers that do that.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
No threat.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
City Hall was innunated, inundated with letters, emails, newspapers, local
TV stations, and little Nicholas ten years.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Old won the battle.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
I just wanted to give you a sort of fun
up story because I've been talking about how you're gonna
die all morning long. All right, we're done, guys, coming up,
Gary and Shannon in the meantime, We're back again tomorrow.
It starts with Amy and Will with wake up call.
Does someone just say.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Whoo yeah me Will oh? Will Yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I mean I forgot you were here? Okay?
Speaker 3 (23:49):
And Will who is here who? And then it's Neil
and Moa and we come aboard from six to nine.
And of course you've got and Kono who are always here,
and we can't do a damn thing about it no
matter what. All right, we're done, guys. We'll catch you
in the morning. Kf I am six point forty.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Catch My Show Monday through Friday, six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The Bill Handel Show News
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