January 22, 2026 • 27 mins
(January 22, 2026)
Host of ‘How to Money’ Joel Larsgaard joins the show to discuss credit card rewards optimization game, mocktails, and saving for retirement. Gov. Newsom sad he was not allowed to speak at the Davos global forum. We are losing the art of serving one another… why self-serve is community crushing.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
A M six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Kf I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Good Thursday morning to you, Neil Savada in the morning Crube,
and we'll be back tomorrow and we'll do uh ask
handle anything tomorrow. You can find your way to your
iHeartRadio app and on there is a little button, a
red button with a white microphone icon on it. You
(00:42):
press that you have thirty seconds to ask a question
and I'll go right to us and I'll make sure
he gets it tomorrow. Thanks to all of you who
have last left nice things about the show today. Always
happy to be here with you, and I don't take
it lightly. We'll get to Joel in a moment. I
want to remind you. Beach Live Festival is back this
(01:03):
year at Redondo Beach, Redonde, May one through the third,
featuring performances by Duran, Duran, The Offspring, James Blunt, Slightly Stupid, Chromeo, Jones, Jet,
and much much more so. Head to Beachliffestival dot com
(01:23):
for tickets and info. KFI AM six forty is the
official audio partner for Beach Life Festival. Twenty twenty six,
I'll be broadcasting line from that event as well. Good morning,
Joel Larsgard. Uh, hi, Neil, How are you? I'm fine?
How are you? I'm great? I didn't surprise you, did
(01:44):
I wake you? You did? I was like, wait, oh hey,
how's it going. Of course, you can hear Joel Larsgard
on how to Money Sunday noon to two, great show,
and you can find him at how to Money Joel.
The website is out of money dot com? All right?
Credit card rewards and all those games people play about
(02:07):
optimization and all of those things, are they to our benefit?
Do you jump around? Do you find the best deals?
Do you how do you manage credit cards to get
the best out of them outside of the fact that
you're using well them for credit? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
So I think that this question, the answer to this question,
has gotten much more complicated in the last couple of
years in particular, and I like in the years past,
I've been a big fan of and I still i'm
a fan of using credit cards for buying things you
already would have purchased, and paying those balances off on
time and then full at the end of the month,
and receiving whatever rewards and benefits you get. That's an
(02:48):
additional perk, but it's just a good way. Typically, it's
a good method of purchasing things you would have already purchased.
I like it better than debit cards because you're building credit.
There are a lot of reasons I'm down with credit cards.
But then again, you look at the vast majority or
half of Americans who have credit cards don't handle them
in that way, and they should probably cool it.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
But when we're.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Talking about rewards and optimizing rewards, it's just gotten so
much more complicated, right, so the hoops you have to
jump through in order to get the actual benefit that
the credit card companies are headlining and saying that you
can get, Oh man, open this credit card. It's got
this fairly low annual fee. But look at all these
perks we're going to give you the problem is that
(03:27):
some of those perks are harder to get than ever,
and people are signing up based on, oh, there's a
decent sign up bonus, and then it looks like I'm
going to start I'm going to beginning ongoing rewards that
are substantial, and then they find out based on how
they spend actually the juice isn't quite worth the squeeze.
So I think for a lot of people, more basic
credit cards, something like a two percent cash back card.
(03:49):
Credit cards that have lower stakes. I'm thinking of if
you're a Costco member. Costco is no annual fee, right,
it's like the five percent back on gas and the
additional three percent for travel two percent at Costco. Like,
I like kind of more basic cards, partly because just
the hustle gets a little intense.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, jumping around, I have I think I only have
one credit card? Me think now my wife probably has
more I have. I think I have one. There's only
one that I use, and it's got like an eight
percent rate on it, which is unheard from a credit union.
Then yeah, it's a credit union. Okay, Premiere America for
(04:30):
those that are curious. And I've loved them. I've been
with them for a year, but years, bought many cars.
I actually purchased a car once through them, got a
loan for a used car at less than two percent.
It was the freest money I've ever used. Wow for real? Yeah, right,
So I you know, I I think, like you that
(04:53):
doctor once told me toxicity is in the dose and
like and I hear that a lot from what the
advice you give. Credit cards can be great, but they
can also be you know, a lead ball around you
if you don't use them right, those kind of you know,
(05:15):
things that come out all the time like that. Let's
say you go to a home depot or you go
to a store. Are those seem like the ones that
might be? And I name two stores, but those might
be problematic because of the you know, Tyson's store. And
I've always been told, no, you end up they're not
as good as using just a regular credit card. Is
(05:35):
that true? Yes?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I don't like store cards very much because they're they're
really you know, you might get a ten percent discount
right or twenty bucks off or something like that of
your purchase, and it's just it's just not worth it because.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
The rewards are super weak. You'd be better off.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Going with a traditional credit card that's going to offer
ongoing perks that you can use anywhere. I think the
exceptions to that rule are like the Amazon storecard and
the Target Store card, because those, if you are regularly
buying things there, they're both no annual fee credit cards
and you can get five percent back on every purchase.
You make at either one of those stores, and so
(06:15):
if you're you know, hey, this a lot of my
shopping happens at.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
One of those two places.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I think those cards are the exception to that store
card rule that I mean, not loving them. I think
the other thing, too, is you have to kind of
know yourself, like how complicated are you willing to make things?
Are you going to cancel that card? If you're like, oh,
wait a second, I think I think it'll work for
a year the bonus, and maybe i'll because I'm doing
some renovation to my home or something like that, then
(06:40):
this card makes sense for me for the time being. Well,
you're going to cancel it when it no longer makes sense.
Or let's say you sign up for an airline specific
credit card, is it actually taking you down the path
of being more loyal to an airline that you otherwise
would have gotten a better deal by buying tickets through
a different for that next trip you're going to take.
(07:02):
And yet you because you had the credit card, you
felt like you were looped into the system and you overpaid.
So there's all sorts of, like you know, idiosyncratic ways
that you can use the credit card system to your advantage,
and then there's all these ways where you can especially
if you are not paying attention. Like I literally had
an email from a listener this week he created a
(07:23):
website to help him track all of his credit card
spending and his bonuses and the annual fees and when
that annual fee is coming up, what I'm trying to
say is it gets a little complicated, and if you're
not on top of it, it can come back to
bite you, all.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Right, So I get this question all the time, Joel
about the mocktails. Of course, we're in dry January and
people you'd think are going to save money by not
drinking a cocktail with alcohol. So I laughed when I
saw this on the rundown this morning, because as you know,
(07:58):
mocktails aren't cheap. No, no, not at all.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And it is one of those things where you're like, oh,
dry January, it's gonna you know one, it's gonna be healthier,
Maybe get some better sleep, give myself a break, especially
after our holidays. If you ever did it, and then
you're like, and on top of that, I all to say,
some money. And there was this study that was just
done about like the price gap between cocktails and mocktails,
(08:22):
And man, I've noticed this too when I go out,
I'm like, how come the mocktail, the non alcoholic version
of this drink is like twelve dollars and an alcoholic
version is fourteen dollars. I mean, the gap is pretty insignificant.
And so yeah, being sober dry January, if you're still
opting for those expensive mocktails, is just not going to
move the needle very much in terms of saving money.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Now from the food aspect of things, because I asked
this as well, how come they're still so expensive? One,
they still need to be mixed, they need to be
created in a smart manner. You're putting together ingredients. But
what a lot of people don't think is they assume
that the alcohol, which is usually the most expensive part
(09:06):
of the drink, that removing the alcohol is going to
save on the drink. But it's not necessarily true because
they're using zero ABV whiskeys, which are whiskey and that
have another step to them in an already long line
of steps where they have to remove the alcohol from
(09:29):
that beverage, which is costly. And two, if they're removing
that as an ingredient, they're often adding ingredients that are
similar and expense to make the cocktail taste good and
be layered and things like that. So it's not necessarily
oh they're still trying to gouge you. If it's being
done properly, you're still getting very good ingredients in there
(09:52):
that costs money as it is.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
So Yeah, like the non alcoholic versions of chin whiskey
whatever it is there, you know, similar price to like
a mid tier level beverage, right if.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
You were to buy the bottle, and sometimes more expensive.
Now you like beers, do you ever do you ever
go and have a like a non alcohol like near
beer and getting a fake fight, you and Matt, you
guys go out and just I.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Have tried a few non alcoholic beers, and I finally
had the first one that I actually thought was good.
It was from this small berry in North Carolina, and
I was like, that's that's actually a pretty good non
alcoholic I pa. But for the most part, I feel like,
I don't know, there's like an off putting flavor or
it just doesn't quite taste right to me. I guess
I could, you know, my taste buds could get accustomed
(10:39):
to it over time. If I wanted to, but I just,
I just I would rather drink better stuff and drink less.
Often do you get buzzy?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
What do you mean? Like like if I have a
few beers? Yeah? Sure, okay, so you get buzzy every
once in a while. Yeah, ever get crap faced? Just like,
screw it. I'm going on Amazon and A and stuff.
Bring TIMU up, let's do this. I just start spending.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Dude, I run so much now that like it's it
makes me. I drink less because of it, because I'm like,
if I'm gonna wake up the next morning and try
to go run for six miles, like I can't drink
four beers tonight.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Well you're much younger than I am. But I will
tell you that the reason why I asked you that
is because I love the flavor of a good cocktail.
I love mixing them even more than drinking them. There's
something about all the things that come with it and
going through it and the clear ice and all that
stuff that's fun. But I gotta tell you it's it's
not as fun. Like you know, getting a buzz from
(11:40):
beer is one thing because you can sip them for
long period of the cocktail you kind of are at
the bottom of the glass sooner than you are for
a beer. But I was just asking because I'm like,
I wonder what Joel's like when he's had a couple
of pops. If he's like, uh, well buy you necklace, baby,
like intention on and it's not, Yeah, I feel a
(12:02):
little spende Joel gets spendy what he's doing. I just cares. Man,
I'm all for a good cocktail.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
By the way, that is, I'm with you, but I
agree like you you're to the bottom, especially if it's
like fourteen fifteen dollars, You're at the bottom of the
glass pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And you're like, well, was that worth it.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
I've been making more at home and Neil, I've I've
just read a book about like the history of rum
oh yea fascinating and now I'm like on a rum keck.
So so I'm making rum cocktails at home. That's that's that's
my goal this year is to like make some delicious
rum cocktails and enjoy them at home.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
There's a great book called Cocktail Ratios by Michael Rohlman.
He also wrote a book called Ratios about cooking and
how everything in baking and cooking comes down to ratios
of certain ingredients. The specs is what they call recipes
for cocktails. The specs on a cocktail are built upon ratios.
(12:55):
You have a one to one to one ratio, you
have a one to two ratio, you have all these.
It's a rate read to understand how to build a
cocktail and understanding how they balance out. Okay, from me
to you. And then when you're in town next time.
My brother Craig, he and his husband have a full
working speakeasy in their home like legit. And so when
(13:20):
you're in town, uber your ass over or ride a
bike or run or whatever you do to save money,
I don't know, and it will get you in there
with the morning over there. Yeah, it'll be fun, all right, Joel.
You know little Buzzy Lars Guard how to Money Sunday
noon to two. You can find him how to Money, Joel,
(13:41):
if you're going to write him or Howdomoney dot com.
Thanks buddy, always nice to talk to you. Yeah, same agreed.
Thanks Neil Newsum, it's back in the news. Don't know.
I can't take that guy seriously. I will tell you,
and like I said, I will I just give my opinion.
I do not along tie either party anymore. I think
(14:03):
they're both necessarily they both have good and they both
have bad. But some guy wrote or sent a message
one time on the talk back and says, you always
say you don't lean one way or the other. That's
not true. That's impossible. I personally don't lead towards one side,
(14:23):
but of course I'm going to lead towards one or
the other depending on the issue. Does that make sense?
Let me explain to you, Kono. I'll talk slow. If
let's say there is an issue that is a big
Republican issue and I happen to agree with it, then
I'm leaning on that side on that issue. And then
(14:44):
if there's a Democrat issue that I agree with as
an issue, then I'm on that side. So yeah, I'm
going to lean one way or the other. But it's
not based on the R or the D. It's based
on the content of the issue. It's called reason. I'll
explain it late AnyWho. Newsom, at the very beginning of COVID,
(15:10):
I thought he was the most presidential. Quite honestly, I
don't think Trump handled it very well, but I thought
Newsom did. At first. He seemed to take it seriously
and say this was a current concern. The minute he
shut down California. I had a problem with him. I
thought that was unreasonable. So to be fair, I have
issues with Newsom from time to time and again hard
(15:32):
to take him serious. But he went, you know, he's
the governor of California. It's huge. We always say, what
is it like, the fifth largest economy. It's a massive.
We have a beautiful state here. It's run pitifully the
vast majority of the time on local and on the
(15:53):
state level. So he says, the Trump administration yesterday canceled
his appearance. What was no, No, Yes, Wednesday, they canceled
his appearance at Davos, and that they're in Switzerland as
a World Economic forum, all of these things. He was
(16:15):
denied entry on Wednesday. He had planned what he calls,
you know, the famous fireside chat with an editor for
the media outlet Fortune. Now this is at the US House.
It's an American venue that uses, you know, for forum
and all this stuff. I don't know the politics in
here and how it was shut down. Do I do
(16:37):
I put it past Trump and his coronies. No. I
think it's one thousand percent believable that Trump shut it down.
But that's not my issue with this. My issue is
what is it about politicians, local politicians on the state level,
(16:58):
on the local level, that makes them want to put
their stupid face in every global issue. Do I think
we are responsible to others? Yeah? Globally, yeah, everybody plays
a part, But I don't want somebody. It's like a
father who can't doesn't provide for his own family, the
(17:22):
needs of his wife or partner, the needs of his
own house, and then wants to go and oversee the
hoa for the town or something. It's like, mind your
house first. So we've got all these local politicians that
aren't doing a damn thing for us, that aren't where
(17:44):
they're constituents. Whether it's best going to Ghana and focusing
on those things. When she said she was never that
was what she was going to miss most about being
there is having to be local because her predecessor, Eric
was never to be seen. He was never around, sure
when there was a victory lap or the king's won
(18:07):
or something like that, baby, but never around for the
day to day. And Newsom's doing the same thing. And
I realize they're always courting something better, and it makes
you feel like that person at the party talking to
somebody and they're always looking over your shoulder to see
if there's someone more interesting to talk to, and you're like, hey,
(18:31):
I didn't vote for him, but we got you in office.
Focus on us again with the potholes. I'm telling you,
I'm very simple, very simple. Provide protection in law enforcement
and firefighters. Fill the potholes, make the streets and traffic
(18:54):
as easy to deal with as possible. Make the basics,
the governmental basics, infrastruct electricity, water clean, easy to get affordable.
That's your job. There's nothing worse. When I was a
manager here at KFI, and you would get people. I
(19:14):
don't mind people having goals and desires, but if you
get hired to be a producer, be a producer. Don't
you know if you want to be a host someday,
I get it, but don't be still do your job.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
It's like we would get people coming in and it's like, well,
I want to be on air. I want to be
on air. Okay, great, but there's very few of those positions.
We hired you to do this, do that job. And
if we can't get that out of politicians, I'm not
going to cry big alligator tiars for Newsom getting knocked
down by the bigger wing nut angry at him because
(19:52):
they're both wing nuts. So I can't shed a tear
for Newsome not getting You know, I was once told,
don't go sit at the king's table. Go sit somewhere
else and let the king invite you. Now, if he
had some meeting and he was invited, he was saying
(20:14):
he had some meeting. I get it. But you know what,
it's a global forum. He's not on the global level yet.
Enjoy that if and when you get there, Sir Lord
help us if he does. Garian Shannon up next, Nil
Savedra and the morning crew here with you. Handle will
(20:35):
be back tomorrow. Of course we'll be doing ass handle anything,
So get your calls in on the talkback on the
iHeartRadio app. Another reminder, Beach Live Festival is back this
year at Redondo Beach, May first through the third, returning
performances or featured performances by Duran durand the Offspring, James Blunt,
(20:56):
Slightly Slightly Stupid, Chromeo, janj and more so. Head to
Beachlife Festival dot com for tickets at info kay if
I AM six forty, the official audio partner for Beach
Life Festival. If you've not been, Holy Hell, it is
one of the best concerts I've ever been to. It's
on the sand. They've got great food and vibes, very
(21:21):
loving group. It just is, I don't know, it's insanely cool.
So I will be broadcasting that Saturday. It's just a
great time, all right. So I have you know, I
love philosophy. I like thinking about things. I don't know
if it always plays on the radio, but I was
thinking about something. What's that food? Thinking about food? You're
(21:45):
funny because I'm fat. I don't know. Do you think
about ladders? Dummy? I hope your new cars and a lemon?
It's like you, kono no. I was thinking about serving
one another, serving one another and taking care of each other. Now,
as a person of faith, that's a big deal, is
(22:07):
service to one another, you know, being kind to one another.
And I started thinking about I saw a story about
one more thing that's being automated, or one more thing
that's being taken away. And the song I heard in
my head was this song from Sesame Street. Oh, who
(22:29):
are the people in your neighborhood? In your neighborhood. In
your neighbor say, who are the people in your neighborhood?
The people that you mean negs day somewhere. Yes, I
hope you are young man. You want to sing with me? No,
(22:51):
you must be a librarian. Librarian, Okay, look that up here,
a librarian.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Well, holp you well.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Doesn't that saw make you happy? And I thought about
how we used to have people in our lives that
helped us and served us, and we appreciated them for
who they are because they were part of the community
that made us a neighborhood. And I know that seems esoteric,
but it's not. Think of the breakdown. You go to
a full serve gas station back in the day. Now,
(23:22):
we didn't stop all together having full serve gas stations
all at once, but the shift happened over years and years,
and by the nineteen seventies you had all kinds of
crazy stuff. So you break down that timeline. Nineteen forty
seven was actually the first self serve station opened in
Los Angeles, and basically it was offering five cent discount
(23:44):
for bumping your own gas and it would say something
like white pay more. Nineteen seventies rolls around and you
have the oil embargoes nineteen seventy three, nineteen seventy nine,
you got these shortages. I remember even as a kid
some of the fights breaking out, how you could only
go to the gas station if you have what was
it with odd or even number or whatever it was
(24:04):
on certain days. So then there was the price posting laws.
In the seventies, California law required visible price signs. So
the industry shifts. Oil companies start looking for more money.
So the service you remember, you'd go in Ding Ding,
and you'd roll in. They would not only you'd say
(24:24):
filler up, Sam or whatever you knew the person's name,
they'd fill you up. They'd check your windshel wiper fluid,
or they'd wash your windshoe wipers, they'd check your oil.
All those things goes away that community, that connection ATMs.
Concept for ATMs were first shown in San Francisco nineteen
sixty six Wells Fargo, then the California the California branches
(24:48):
in nineteen seventy four. They start popping up all over
the place, and then all of a sudden, by the
late seventies early eighties, the Express stopped for Wells Farg
everywhere Now you're not connecting with the teller anymore. You're
not saying, hey, Susan, yeah, this is my situation. Here's
my check. I need to catch whatever it is. Grocery
(25:10):
store self bagging. Self bagging starts. Now you're at self service.
So what is this leading to. It's leading to a
lack of connection. It's leading to a lack of community
and the neighborhood, which is more important than the savings
of the money. Had a long conversation with producer and
(25:31):
this morning about how every political system or every system
of government works at a different scale. I'm a socialist
at home. Okay, the money goes to everyone. My son
doesn't work, he goes to school. The agreement as we
pay for everything. I'm a socialist. You take that outside
of the home, it doesn't work anymore. Communism. I'm a
(25:55):
communist with my extended family, but outside of that, it
doesn't work. And now capitalism is in my view, the
best system. However, we've gotten to a place where we've
extended past opportunities for small business people, for the local person,
and it's grown into the amazons of the world, which
I use and then we use them. We get used
(26:18):
to the quick, cheap fix, and we are paying for
it in the community. Do you know the name of
the people that drop off your mail, your mail carriers?
Do you know the people at your library? Do you
even go anymore? Do you know the people at your
(26:38):
post office? And as silly as that sounds, in twenty
twenty six, that breakdown has created other problems, and we're
paying for it in the structure of the schools and
the structure of our everyday lives.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show, Catch My
Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am, and
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from kf I
A M six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Kf I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Good Thursday morning to you, Neil Savada in the morning Crube,
and we'll be back tomorrow and we'll do uh ask
handle anything tomorrow. You can find your way to your
iHeartRadio app and on there is a little button, a
red button with a white microphone icon on it. You
(00:42):
press that you have thirty seconds to ask a question
and I'll go right to us and I'll make sure
he gets it tomorrow. Thanks to all of you who
have last left nice things about the show today. Always
happy to be here with you, and I don't take
it lightly. We'll get to Joel in a moment. I
want to remind you. Beach Live Festival is back this
(01:03):
year at Redondo Beach, Redonde, May one through the third,
featuring performances by Duran, Duran, The Offspring, James Blunt, Slightly Stupid, Chromeo, Jones, Jet,
and much much more so. Head to Beachliffestival dot com
(01:23):
for tickets and info. KFI AM six forty is the
official audio partner for Beach Life Festival. Twenty twenty six,
I'll be broadcasting line from that event as well. Good morning,
Joel Larsgard. Uh, hi, Neil, How are you? I'm fine?
How are you? I'm great? I didn't surprise you, did
(01:44):
I wake you? You did? I was like, wait, oh hey,
how's it going. Of course, you can hear Joel Larsgard
on how to Money Sunday noon to two, great show,
and you can find him at how to Money Joel.
The website is out of money dot com? All right?
Credit card rewards and all those games people play about
(02:07):
optimization and all of those things, are they to our benefit?
Do you jump around? Do you find the best deals?
Do you how do you manage credit cards to get
the best out of them outside of the fact that
you're using well them for credit? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
So I think that this question, the answer to this question,
has gotten much more complicated in the last couple of
years in particular, and I like in the years past,
I've been a big fan of and I still i'm
a fan of using credit cards for buying things you
already would have purchased, and paying those balances off on
time and then full at the end of the month,
and receiving whatever rewards and benefits you get. That's an
(02:48):
additional perk, but it's just a good way. Typically, it's
a good method of purchasing things you would have already purchased.
I like it better than debit cards because you're building credit.
There are a lot of reasons I'm down with credit cards.
But then again, you look at the vast majority or
half of Americans who have credit cards don't handle them
in that way, and they should probably cool it.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
But when we're.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Talking about rewards and optimizing rewards, it's just gotten so
much more complicated, right, so the hoops you have to
jump through in order to get the actual benefit that
the credit card companies are headlining and saying that you
can get, Oh man, open this credit card. It's got
this fairly low annual fee. But look at all these
perks we're going to give you the problem is that
(03:27):
some of those perks are harder to get than ever,
and people are signing up based on, oh, there's a
decent sign up bonus, and then it looks like I'm
going to start I'm going to beginning ongoing rewards that
are substantial, and then they find out based on how
they spend actually the juice isn't quite worth the squeeze.
So I think for a lot of people, more basic
credit cards, something like a two percent cash back card.
(03:49):
Credit cards that have lower stakes. I'm thinking of if
you're a Costco member. Costco is no annual fee, right,
it's like the five percent back on gas and the
additional three percent for travel two percent at Costco. Like,
I like kind of more basic cards, partly because just
the hustle gets a little intense.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Yeah, jumping around, I have I think I only have
one credit card? Me think now my wife probably has
more I have. I think I have one. There's only
one that I use, and it's got like an eight
percent rate on it, which is unheard from a credit union.
Then yeah, it's a credit union. Okay, Premiere America for
(04:30):
those that are curious. And I've loved them. I've been
with them for a year, but years, bought many cars.
I actually purchased a car once through them, got a
loan for a used car at less than two percent.
It was the freest money I've ever used. Wow for real? Yeah, right,
So I you know, I I think, like you that
(04:53):
doctor once told me toxicity is in the dose and
like and I hear that a lot from what the
advice you give. Credit cards can be great, but they
can also be you know, a lead ball around you
if you don't use them right, those kind of you know,
(05:15):
things that come out all the time like that. Let's
say you go to a home depot or you go
to a store. Are those seem like the ones that
might be? And I name two stores, but those might
be problematic because of the you know, Tyson's store. And
I've always been told, no, you end up they're not
as good as using just a regular credit card. Is
(05:35):
that true? Yes?
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I don't like store cards very much because they're they're
really you know, you might get a ten percent discount
right or twenty bucks off or something like that of
your purchase, and it's just it's just not worth it because.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
The rewards are super weak. You'd be better off.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Going with a traditional credit card that's going to offer
ongoing perks that you can use anywhere. I think the
exceptions to that rule are like the Amazon storecard and
the Target Store card, because those, if you are regularly
buying things there, they're both no annual fee credit cards
and you can get five percent back on every purchase.
You make at either one of those stores, and so
(06:15):
if you're you know, hey, this a lot of my
shopping happens at.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
One of those two places.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
I think those cards are the exception to that store
card rule that I mean, not loving them. I think
the other thing, too, is you have to kind of
know yourself, like how complicated are you willing to make things?
Are you going to cancel that card? If you're like, oh,
wait a second, I think I think it'll work for
a year the bonus, and maybe i'll because I'm doing
some renovation to my home or something like that, then
(06:40):
this card makes sense for me for the time being. Well,
you're going to cancel it when it no longer makes sense.
Or let's say you sign up for an airline specific
credit card, is it actually taking you down the path
of being more loyal to an airline that you otherwise
would have gotten a better deal by buying tickets through
a different for that next trip you're going to take.
(07:02):
And yet you because you had the credit card, you
felt like you were looped into the system and you overpaid.
So there's all sorts of, like you know, idiosyncratic ways
that you can use the credit card system to your advantage,
and then there's all these ways where you can especially
if you are not paying attention. Like I literally had
an email from a listener this week he created a
(07:23):
website to help him track all of his credit card
spending and his bonuses and the annual fees and when
that annual fee is coming up, what I'm trying to
say is it gets a little complicated, and if you're
not on top of it, it can come back to
bite you, all.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Right, So I get this question all the time, Joel
about the mocktails. Of course, we're in dry January and
people you'd think are going to save money by not
drinking a cocktail with alcohol. So I laughed when I
saw this on the rundown this morning, because as you know,
(07:58):
mocktails aren't cheap. No, no, not at all.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
And it is one of those things where you're like, oh,
dry January, it's gonna you know one, it's gonna be healthier,
Maybe get some better sleep, give myself a break, especially
after our holidays. If you ever did it, and then
you're like, and on top of that, I all to say,
some money. And there was this study that was just
done about like the price gap between cocktails and mocktails,
(08:22):
And man, I've noticed this too when I go out,
I'm like, how come the mocktail, the non alcoholic version
of this drink is like twelve dollars and an alcoholic
version is fourteen dollars. I mean, the gap is pretty insignificant.
And so yeah, being sober dry January, if you're still
opting for those expensive mocktails, is just not going to
move the needle very much in terms of saving money.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Now from the food aspect of things, because I asked
this as well, how come they're still so expensive? One,
they still need to be mixed, they need to be
created in a smart manner. You're putting together ingredients. But
what a lot of people don't think is they assume
that the alcohol, which is usually the most expensive part
(09:06):
of the drink, that removing the alcohol is going to
save on the drink. But it's not necessarily true because
they're using zero ABV whiskeys, which are whiskey and that
have another step to them in an already long line
of steps where they have to remove the alcohol from
(09:29):
that beverage, which is costly. And two, if they're removing
that as an ingredient, they're often adding ingredients that are
similar and expense to make the cocktail taste good and
be layered and things like that. So it's not necessarily
oh they're still trying to gouge you. If it's being
done properly, you're still getting very good ingredients in there
(09:52):
that costs money as it is.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
So Yeah, like the non alcoholic versions of chin whiskey
whatever it is there, you know, similar price to like
a mid tier level beverage, right if.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
You were to buy the bottle, and sometimes more expensive.
Now you like beers, do you ever do you ever
go and have a like a non alcohol like near
beer and getting a fake fight, you and Matt, you
guys go out and just I.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Have tried a few non alcoholic beers, and I finally
had the first one that I actually thought was good.
It was from this small berry in North Carolina, and
I was like, that's that's actually a pretty good non
alcoholic I pa. But for the most part, I feel like,
I don't know, there's like an off putting flavor or
it just doesn't quite taste right to me. I guess
I could, you know, my taste buds could get accustomed
(10:39):
to it over time. If I wanted to, but I just,
I just I would rather drink better stuff and drink less.
Often do you get buzzy?
Speaker 2 (10:47):
What do you mean? Like like if I have a
few beers? Yeah? Sure, okay, so you get buzzy every
once in a while. Yeah, ever get crap faced? Just like,
screw it. I'm going on Amazon and A and stuff.
Bring TIMU up, let's do this. I just start spending.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Dude, I run so much now that like it's it
makes me. I drink less because of it, because I'm like,
if I'm gonna wake up the next morning and try
to go run for six miles, like I can't drink
four beers tonight.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Well you're much younger than I am. But I will
tell you that the reason why I asked you that
is because I love the flavor of a good cocktail.
I love mixing them even more than drinking them. There's
something about all the things that come with it and
going through it and the clear ice and all that
stuff that's fun. But I gotta tell you it's it's
not as fun. Like you know, getting a buzz from
(11:40):
beer is one thing because you can sip them for
long period of the cocktail you kind of are at
the bottom of the glass sooner than you are for
a beer. But I was just asking because I'm like,
I wonder what Joel's like when he's had a couple
of pops. If he's like, uh, well buy you necklace, baby,
like intention on and it's not, Yeah, I feel a
(12:02):
little spende Joel gets spendy what he's doing. I just cares. Man,
I'm all for a good cocktail.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
By the way, that is, I'm with you, but I
agree like you you're to the bottom, especially if it's
like fourteen fifteen dollars, You're at the bottom of the
glass pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And you're like, well, was that worth it.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
I've been making more at home and Neil, I've I've
just read a book about like the history of rum
oh yea fascinating and now I'm like on a rum keck.
So so I'm making rum cocktails at home. That's that's that's
my goal this year is to like make some delicious
rum cocktails and enjoy them at home.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
There's a great book called Cocktail Ratios by Michael Rohlman.
He also wrote a book called Ratios about cooking and
how everything in baking and cooking comes down to ratios
of certain ingredients. The specs is what they call recipes
for cocktails. The specs on a cocktail are built upon ratios.
(12:55):
You have a one to one to one ratio, you
have a one to two ratio, you have all these.
It's a rate read to understand how to build a
cocktail and understanding how they balance out. Okay, from me
to you. And then when you're in town next time.
My brother Craig, he and his husband have a full
working speakeasy in their home like legit. And so when
(13:20):
you're in town, uber your ass over or ride a
bike or run or whatever you do to save money,
I don't know, and it will get you in there
with the morning over there. Yeah, it'll be fun, all right, Joel.
You know little Buzzy Lars Guard how to Money Sunday
noon to two. You can find him how to Money, Joel,
(13:41):
if you're going to write him or Howdomoney dot com.
Thanks buddy, always nice to talk to you. Yeah, same agreed.
Thanks Neil Newsum, it's back in the news. Don't know.
I can't take that guy seriously. I will tell you,
and like I said, I will I just give my opinion.
I do not along tie either party anymore. I think
(14:03):
they're both necessarily they both have good and they both
have bad. But some guy wrote or sent a message
one time on the talk back and says, you always
say you don't lean one way or the other. That's
not true. That's impossible. I personally don't lead towards one side,
(14:23):
but of course I'm going to lead towards one or
the other depending on the issue. Does that make sense?
Let me explain to you, Kono. I'll talk slow. If
let's say there is an issue that is a big
Republican issue and I happen to agree with it, then
I'm leaning on that side on that issue. And then
(14:44):
if there's a Democrat issue that I agree with as
an issue, then I'm on that side. So yeah, I'm
going to lean one way or the other. But it's
not based on the R or the D. It's based
on the content of the issue. It's called reason. I'll
explain it late AnyWho. Newsom, at the very beginning of COVID,
(15:10):
I thought he was the most presidential. Quite honestly, I
don't think Trump handled it very well, but I thought
Newsom did. At first. He seemed to take it seriously
and say this was a current concern. The minute he
shut down California. I had a problem with him. I
thought that was unreasonable. So to be fair, I have
issues with Newsom from time to time and again hard
(15:32):
to take him serious. But he went, you know, he's
the governor of California. It's huge. We always say, what
is it like, the fifth largest economy. It's a massive.
We have a beautiful state here. It's run pitifully the
vast majority of the time on local and on the
(15:53):
state level. So he says, the Trump administration yesterday canceled
his appearance. What was no, No, Yes, Wednesday, they canceled
his appearance at Davos, and that they're in Switzerland as
a World Economic forum, all of these things. He was
(16:15):
denied entry on Wednesday. He had planned what he calls,
you know, the famous fireside chat with an editor for
the media outlet Fortune. Now this is at the US House.
It's an American venue that uses, you know, for forum
and all this stuff. I don't know the politics in
here and how it was shut down. Do I do
(16:37):
I put it past Trump and his coronies. No. I
think it's one thousand percent believable that Trump shut it down.
But that's not my issue with this. My issue is
what is it about politicians, local politicians on the state level,
(16:58):
on the local level, that makes them want to put
their stupid face in every global issue. Do I think
we are responsible to others? Yeah? Globally, yeah, everybody plays
a part, But I don't want somebody. It's like a
father who can't doesn't provide for his own family, the
(17:22):
needs of his wife or partner, the needs of his
own house, and then wants to go and oversee the
hoa for the town or something. It's like, mind your
house first. So we've got all these local politicians that
aren't doing a damn thing for us, that aren't where
(17:44):
they're constituents. Whether it's best going to Ghana and focusing
on those things. When she said she was never that
was what she was going to miss most about being
there is having to be local because her predecessor, Eric
was never to be seen. He was never around, sure
when there was a victory lap or the king's won
(18:07):
or something like that, baby, but never around for the
day to day. And Newsom's doing the same thing. And
I realize they're always courting something better, and it makes
you feel like that person at the party talking to
somebody and they're always looking over your shoulder to see
if there's someone more interesting to talk to, and you're like, hey,
(18:31):
I didn't vote for him, but we got you in office.
Focus on us again with the potholes. I'm telling you,
I'm very simple, very simple. Provide protection in law enforcement
and firefighters. Fill the potholes, make the streets and traffic
(18:54):
as easy to deal with as possible. Make the basics,
the governmental basics, infrastruct electricity, water clean, easy to get affordable.
That's your job. There's nothing worse. When I was a
manager here at KFI, and you would get people. I
(19:14):
don't mind people having goals and desires, but if you
get hired to be a producer, be a producer. Don't
you know if you want to be a host someday,
I get it, but don't be still do your job.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
It's like we would get people coming in and it's like, well,
I want to be on air. I want to be
on air. Okay, great, but there's very few of those positions.
We hired you to do this, do that job. And
if we can't get that out of politicians, I'm not
going to cry big alligator tiars for Newsom getting knocked
down by the bigger wing nut angry at him because
(19:52):
they're both wing nuts. So I can't shed a tear
for Newsome not getting You know, I was once told,
don't go sit at the king's table. Go sit somewhere
else and let the king invite you. Now, if he
had some meeting and he was invited, he was saying
(20:14):
he had some meeting. I get it. But you know what,
it's a global forum. He's not on the global level yet.
Enjoy that if and when you get there, Sir Lord
help us if he does. Garian Shannon up next, Nil
Savedra and the morning crew here with you. Handle will
(20:35):
be back tomorrow. Of course we'll be doing ass handle anything,
So get your calls in on the talkback on the
iHeartRadio app. Another reminder, Beach Live Festival is back this
year at Redondo Beach, May first through the third, returning
performances or featured performances by Duran durand the Offspring, James Blunt,
(20:56):
Slightly Slightly Stupid, Chromeo, janj and more so. Head to
Beachlife Festival dot com for tickets at info kay if
I AM six forty, the official audio partner for Beach
Life Festival. If you've not been, Holy Hell, it is
one of the best concerts I've ever been to. It's
on the sand. They've got great food and vibes, very
(21:21):
loving group. It just is, I don't know, it's insanely cool.
So I will be broadcasting that Saturday. It's just a
great time, all right. So I have you know, I
love philosophy. I like thinking about things. I don't know
if it always plays on the radio, but I was
thinking about something. What's that food? Thinking about food? You're
(21:45):
funny because I'm fat. I don't know. Do you think
about ladders? Dummy? I hope your new cars and a lemon?
It's like you, kono no. I was thinking about serving
one another, serving one another and taking care of each other. Now,
as a person of faith, that's a big deal, is
(22:07):
service to one another, you know, being kind to one another.
And I started thinking about I saw a story about
one more thing that's being automated, or one more thing
that's being taken away. And the song I heard in
my head was this song from Sesame Street. Oh, who
(22:29):
are the people in your neighborhood? In your neighborhood. In
your neighbor say, who are the people in your neighborhood?
The people that you mean negs day somewhere. Yes, I
hope you are young man. You want to sing with me? No,
(22:51):
you must be a librarian. Librarian, Okay, look that up here,
a librarian.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Well, holp you well.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Doesn't that saw make you happy? And I thought about
how we used to have people in our lives that
helped us and served us, and we appreciated them for
who they are because they were part of the community
that made us a neighborhood. And I know that seems esoteric,
but it's not. Think of the breakdown. You go to
a full serve gas station back in the day. Now,
(23:22):
we didn't stop all together having full serve gas stations
all at once, but the shift happened over years and years,
and by the nineteen seventies you had all kinds of
crazy stuff. So you break down that timeline. Nineteen forty
seven was actually the first self serve station opened in
Los Angeles, and basically it was offering five cent discount
(23:44):
for bumping your own gas and it would say something
like white pay more. Nineteen seventies rolls around and you
have the oil embargoes nineteen seventy three, nineteen seventy nine,
you got these shortages. I remember even as a kid
some of the fights breaking out, how you could only
go to the gas station if you have what was
it with odd or even number or whatever it was
(24:04):
on certain days. So then there was the price posting laws.
In the seventies, California law required visible price signs. So
the industry shifts. Oil companies start looking for more money.
So the service you remember, you'd go in Ding Ding,
and you'd roll in. They would not only you'd say
(24:24):
filler up, Sam or whatever you knew the person's name,
they'd fill you up. They'd check your windshel wiper fluid,
or they'd wash your windshoe wipers, they'd check your oil.
All those things goes away that community, that connection ATMs.
Concept for ATMs were first shown in San Francisco nineteen
sixty six Wells Fargo, then the California the California branches
(24:48):
in nineteen seventy four. They start popping up all over
the place, and then all of a sudden, by the
late seventies early eighties, the Express stopped for Wells Farg
everywhere Now you're not connecting with the teller anymore. You're
not saying, hey, Susan, yeah, this is my situation. Here's
my check. I need to catch whatever it is. Grocery
(25:10):
store self bagging. Self bagging starts. Now you're at self service.
So what is this leading to. It's leading to a
lack of connection. It's leading to a lack of community
and the neighborhood, which is more important than the savings
of the money. Had a long conversation with producer and
(25:31):
this morning about how every political system or every system
of government works at a different scale. I'm a socialist
at home. Okay, the money goes to everyone. My son
doesn't work, he goes to school. The agreement as we
pay for everything. I'm a socialist. You take that outside
of the home, it doesn't work anymore. Communism. I'm a
(25:55):
communist with my extended family, but outside of that, it
doesn't work. And now capitalism is in my view, the
best system. However, we've gotten to a place where we've
extended past opportunities for small business people, for the local person,
and it's grown into the amazons of the world, which
I use and then we use them. We get used
(26:18):
to the quick, cheap fix, and we are paying for
it in the community. Do you know the name of
the people that drop off your mail, your mail carriers?
Do you know the people at your library? Do you
even go anymore? Do you know the people at your
(26:38):
post office? And as silly as that sounds, in twenty
twenty six, that breakdown has created other problems, and we're
paying for it in the structure of the schools and
the structure of our everyday lives.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show, Catch My
Show Monday through Friday six am to nine am, and
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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