All Episodes

June 3, 2025 31 mins
Amy King hosts your Tuesday Wake Up Call. ABC News correspondent Jordana Miller joins the show from Jerusalem to discuss Mike Huckabee denying reports that IDF opened fire on Palestinians trying to access aid. ABC News national correspondent Jim Ryan talks about the FBI highlighting rising incidences of elder fraud. Sandy Steers, Friends of Big Bear Valley executive director speaks on Sunny leaving the nest for the first time. Bloomberg’s Courtney Donohoe updates us on the latest in business and Wall Street. The show closes with the host of ‘How to Money’ Joel Larsgaard talking about millionaires choosing to rent and workers cutting their 401K contributions
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty wake Up Call
with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio app
KFI and KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
It's time for your morning wake up call. Here's Amy King.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
This is your wake up call for Tuesday, June third.
I'm Amy King. We're flying high on wake up call
this morning. Not that way flying high. We're not high
because our little Sonny left the nest sunny West. Will
comes in this morning, sits down and goes, I'm a

(00:48):
little concerned, And I said why, and he goes, there's
only one bird in the nest. And I said, that's
because Sonny flew away. I know, but she did what
she was supposed to do. She's around, she's not far by.
She's not far away. In case you haven't heard, Sonny,
the older of the two sisters the eagles in Big
Bear Lake, left the nest yesterday. In fact, I found
out about it because I had just driven home from

(01:10):
work and I found out about it because I got
a text from Will. All it said was OMG ten
forty six fifteen, and that's when Sonny left the nest.
So you can go back and check it out and
I'm already on the YouTube at Friends of Big Bear Valley.
They are searching around now to try to find Sonny.

(01:34):
She was in one of the trees what they call
the roosting tree for Jackie in Shadow yesterday, but who
knows where she is this morning. But she Oh my goodness,
it was so cool to see her fly away.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
She looks like it was just casual.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
She did a great job. She did a great job.
I think all that practice helped. And then Gizmo's just
sitting there like, uh, hello, whe'd go. Isn't that cool?
There were like seventy thousand people watching it yesterday. Anyway,
we're talking to Sandy Steers, Friends of Big Bear Valley
at the bottom of the hour. You're gonna want to
stick around for that. I know she's making the rounds
on all the media stations. We get her first this morning,

(02:12):
and she's going to be telling us, you know, what's next.
Are we going to see Sonny again? When is gizmoment
going to maybe take off? There's lots of questions to ask,
so again we'll be talking to Sandy Steers at the
bottom of the hour. Here's what's ahead on wake Up call.
Police are looking for three robbers who broke into a
home in Delray and zip tied the people inside. Police
say one of the people was able to escape from

(02:33):
the home last night and ran over to a community
police station to get help. At least two of the
robbers are said to have guns. A judge has blocked
the Trump administration from using the seventeen to ninety eight
Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants in the LA Area.
Used District Judge John Holcomb, who was appointed by Trump
in his first term, issued the ruling yesterday, saying the

(02:55):
government hasn't promised the migrants due process. As I mentioned Sonny,
he's left the nests. The first of the two baby
eagles in the nest high above Big Bear Lake that
thousands have been watching every day has flown off. Sonny's
the older of the two that hatched more than twelve
weeks ago. The younger eagle, Gizmo's, expected to fledge or
fly away kinda any time. In the meantime, her parents,

(03:18):
Jackie and Shadow, continue to visit the nests to feed
Gizmo and protect her until she's ready to fly. Israel
says it is not randomly attacking Palestinians despite what hamas
led groups inside the Gaza strips say. ABC's Jodona Miller
is going to join us in about two or three
minutes to tell us more about that. If you've got

(03:38):
parents or grandparents, ABC's Jim Ryan says, bad guys are
going after them. He's going to tell us what they're
doing and what you can do to help keep your
parents and grandparents money safe. And an interesting new trend
for millionaires, they're renting instead of buying. Joel Larsgard is
going to join us at five point fifty and tell
us why that's happening. And again Sandy with friends of

(04:00):
Big Bear Valley talking about our little eagle who left
the nest. That's coming up at just after five point thirty.
Right now, let's say good morning to ABC's Jordana Miller,
who's in Jerusalem. Jordana reports out of the Gaza strip
are that Israeli troops fired on Palestinian civilians who are
trying to get humanitarian aid. US Ambassador to the UN

(04:23):
Mike Huckabee has pushed back on that.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
What's the saying, Well, Mike Huckabee is calling a lot
of the reporting by some of the main networks in.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
The United States.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
He named CNN and others as inaccurate. Here's what we
do know. Early this morning, in a scene that resembles
what happened on Sunday, about somewhere between half a mile
to three quarters of a mile away from the distribution
center that's been set up. There's been several of them.

(04:58):
This is a new initiative back by the Americans and
the Israelis to distribute food directly to gosins and try
to keep it out of the hands of Hamas early
this morning, thousands had gathered to go into that distribution
center when it opened at about six am. And it appears,
according to the Israeli Army, that some of this crowd

(05:21):
rushed one of the Israeli army positions outside of the
distribution center, and Israel opened fire warning shots, and then
it appears shots on the crowd to move them away
from this area, and in the end, about twenty seven
people were killed, several dozens of others injured. Again, this

(05:45):
isn't at the site where people are gathering or getting food.
It's not even in the perimeter right there of the
distri distribution center. But you know, some way some five
hundred to a thousand yards away from there. So it's
not civilians who are getting food, but it's people who
were waiting in line to go who The Israeli armies say,

(06:09):
we're rushing their positions, and the Israeli armies that their
troops were endangered. Clearly, this new system of distributing aid
has a lot of problems. And here's the main one.
That it to ask people to go through active combat zones,
to line up in areas that are not exactly safe,

(06:33):
and after almost two years of this conflict, to think
that there won't be some in the crowd who might
try to clash or engage with the Israeli army, I
mean it's likely, and then we have deadly scenes like
we have this morning, likely a version of what happened
on Sunday. The Israeli Army this time put out a

(06:54):
statement right away saying they did fire warning shots, they
people did approach godsans did approach their soldiers, and that
they know that there were, you know, some casualties.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Okay, So Jordana, if they're saying we're here to give
you aid and help and they're still getting rushed, by
the crowds. Is that just a factor of the of
the desperation or why aren't they Why aren't the people
listening and staying back and staying in line? What's causing

(07:29):
this to escalate?

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Well, first of all, I mean this is the first
week we've seen the system up and running, and clearly
it has some problems that have not and kinks that
have not been worked out, and there's you know, widespread
hunger and desperation. And again, the expectation that people would

(07:52):
quietly wait in line for hours and there would not
be any disturbances, you know, is in many senses dream
right when this is you know, almost two years into
a major war. So these issues have to be addressed,
and whether that is pushing the uh you know, creating

(08:13):
longer quarters for people to travel uh into the areas.
Because at the actual distribution sites, there hasn't been a
lot of violence. I mean, certainly people have been coming
in and taking aid. The center itself. The Gods of
Humanitarian Foundation says something like six million meals have been
distributed in a week. That may sound like a lot,

(08:36):
but when there's you know, over two million people, you know,
that's just three meals per person in a week, right,
it's not it's not a ton of food, but remember
a meal. Also, at the same time, there's about one
hundred trucks of ague going in and being distributed, you know,
along the old lines of distribution, that is going up

(08:57):
to warehouses and from there being just contributed to the
two gossms. So there's two systems working in tandem. All
of it together is still not enough though.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Okay, well, hopefully they'll get it figured out because they
this is not looking good, you know, for the Israeli's efforts,
and they're saying we're trying to help, we're trying to
get aid in and then shooting and killing people. So
ABC's Jordana Miller, thanks as always for the information. We
appreciate it. Tuck, all right, take care. Good morning. I'm
Amy King. Thanks so much for starting your beautiful sunny

(09:30):
day with us. Although we have drizzle in the forecast
in some areas, but beautiful in Burbank, and it's beautiful
in the skies above Big Bear Lake where Gizmo is
up and flapping this morning. Here's what we're following in
the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Some people who lost
their homes in the wildfire in January say they're not
sure they're going to be able to rebuild. It's not
that they don't want to, they say they're wary of

(09:51):
government officials not moving fast enough, and say leadership just
isn't there to get the job done. A project recovery
survey shows that for every year it takes to get
back in to rebuild, twenty percent will sell instead. Harvey
Weinstein's not expected to take the stand in his sex
crimes retrial in New York. Closing arguments are expected today

(10:13):
following about six weeks of testimony. He was convicted in
twenty twenty twenty twenty, but that conviction was thrown out.
Weinstein maintains that all the sex he had was consensual.
The twenty four witnesses in this trial have disputed that.
La County marks the start of Pride Month with a
flag raising at the City Administration Building in downtown La

(10:35):
this morning. It'll be followed with another Pride flag raising
at the County Department of Public Social Services in industry.
The theme of Pride Month this year Pride. It begins
with us the La Pride Parade that starts at sunset
and Highland happens on Sunday. Let's say good morning now
to ABC's Jim Ryan. So, Jim, if you have parents

(10:56):
or grandparents, you got to listen up because there's bad
guys out there and a lot of them are coming
after your parents and grandparents.

Speaker 5 (11:02):
Well they are and having some success Saturday. I may
if you look at the FBI statistics for twenty twenty four,
and that's the latest year they have, there were one
hundred and forty seven thousand complaints filed by people sixty
and up. Now his people are getting ripped off by
scammers out there. The total loss is four point eight
billion dollars. Do the math there and that's eighty three

(11:24):
thousand dollars the average laws to someone over sixty through
one of these scamps eighty three thousand dollars. That means
that some people got lost much much more than the
case out of Florida that just came to light. A man,
a ninety two year old man in Sun City, Florida,
got into an online relationship he thought a romantic relationship.

(11:45):
This person asked him for money time and time again.
He ended up emptying out his bank account eight hundred
thousand dollars. Turns out it wasn't a woman that you
know in this romance that he was expecting. It was
a prisoner, somebody in the Florida State prison, some guy
who had gotten hold of a cell phone in his
cell and was perpetrating these scams on people. And it's

(12:05):
pervasive across the country.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Okay, so guys, even when you're ninety two, you don't
probably unless you have a lot of money, probably aren't
going to have some young hot thing coming after you.

Speaker 5 (12:19):
Well, people want to believe what the heart wants, what
the heart wants, amy.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
All right, So that's that's one one what they want. Yeah,
so that's one of them. But there's other ones that
are a little less, a little more, I don't know.
They appeal to parents and grandparents where they say, hey,
your kids are grand kids are at risk, and it's
easy to.

Speaker 5 (12:39):
Do now, easier than it was ten fifteen years ago
because you have AI spoofing the voice of that loved
one on the phone, calling the grandparents and asking for
help and money. Fishing and spoofing scams are the number
one crime reported by people sixteen up to the FBI,
twenty three thousand of those followed by tech support scams,
which is kind of related to that, but they have

(12:59):
fish and spoofing and your writing. It's something that older
people are facing, and it's gotten easier for the scammers
to do.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, and so what about the tech support scams? What
are those?

Speaker 2 (13:11):
Tech support?

Speaker 5 (13:12):
So you get an email, you get some notification on
your Sometimes your computer will will flash a page that says, hey,
your computer's going to get locked down. You need to
call this number and talk to tech support. And you
call up this number, eight hundred number, and they may
even say, okay, yeah, this is a gig squad at
bounced by what do you need? Or this is Microsoft

(13:34):
the don't they shamelessly represent themselves as an actual company
using the actual name Microsoft or you know, gate Squad
or whatever, and then build trust with this person and say, okay,
well I'm going to fix this issue for you, but
there is a fee associated with it, and you need
to pay us, sometimes in gift card, sometimes in bitcoin,

(13:54):
never a legitimate means of payment or common means at least.
And yeah, so tech support scams are one that target
not only older people but just about anybody.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Okay, so should kids be talking to their parents and
grandparents and saying hey, mom, dad or grandma, grandpa, what
here's what to look out for.

Speaker 5 (14:14):
Yeah, that's why the FBI puts this out every year.
This is an elder Abuse Awareness Month, and that's kind
of the call from the FBI is for people who
have an older person in their lives, a parent, a grandparent,
an elderly neighbor, to keep tabs on them, keep that
line of communication open so that if this person is
getting ripped off, or if somebody is trying to abuse

(14:37):
them somehow neglect them, that you can help. Otherwise, people
are losing their life savings. They're sometimes losing much more
than that.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
So sad. And then of course you have to have
the talk with grandpa. Grandpa, the hot young blonde is
not coming after you. Yeah, all right, ABC instead Yeah
you can't play bingo instead if he sees Jim Ryan,
thanks as always for the info. Let's keep our parents
and grandparents and even us safe because the scams are
getting really good.

Speaker 5 (15:08):
We're going to be there one day, all.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Right, Thanks Jim.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Thanks Aby.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
When we come back, we're gonna be talking with Sandy
Steers with friends of Big Bear Valley about our little eagle,
who's left the nest and what's next in the life
of the young eagles in Big Bear Lake. Let's say
good morning to Sandy Steers with friends of Big Bear Valley.
A very exciting morning, Sandy.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
Hi, Yes, it is very exciting.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
I yeah, so tell us. So Sonny left the nest
at ten forty six fifteen yesterday morning. Her first flight
caught on video and she flew like a champ.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
She did. Yes, she jumped off and took off.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
And how long did she fly? Because I also saw
another view where they showed a kind of a wide
angle of her kind of swooping around and flying around
the tree. Basically, did she fly for very long or
did she? Was it a short one?

Speaker 4 (16:02):
It was? It was a long one for a first one.
But she flew around the tree and over to the
roof tree that Jackie and Shadow's favorite roofs tree. So
that's where she still lives.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Okay, So, and that's really interesting to me. Will and
I were talking about it earlier because we were like,
so did she do they watch them? So they kind
of like she had probably an idea like well that's
where mom and dad go or was that just kind
of where she landed. We don't really know because we
don't know what's in her.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
Head, right, We don't know, but I'm sure she's seen
them go there often, so it might have looked like
a destination.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Okay. And has she flown again since yesterday morning? Or
she just hanging out now?

Speaker 4 (16:41):
She's just hanging out still.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
And I saw a picture, Sandy of the three of
them all that same tree. Is that correct?

Speaker 4 (16:52):
Yes? Yeah, Jackie and Shadow spent the night there, and
she's there a little bit above where they are.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
And poor little Gizmos all alone for the very first time,
I've seeing him in the nest, seeing her in the nest.
She's been flapping around pretty good. So do we have
any Do we have any kind of idea how long
it's going to be before Gizmo takes off?

Speaker 4 (17:13):
No, we really don't. It's totally up to her. This
could make her leave sooner, it could make her wait longer.
We don't know.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Okay. And then what about Sonny, the older of the two,
heading back to the nest. Are we expecting that to happen?

Speaker 4 (17:30):
Well, we try not to set up expectations in general,
but all the other eagles have the eaglets. When they've left,
they did come back to the nest in sometimes a day,
sometimes a few days. So we'll see what she does next.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Okay. And now that she Sonny is out of the nest,
how does she get her food because she doesn't have
Jackie and Shadow bringing it up to the nest for
her anymore.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
Well, Jackie and Shadow will still be bringing her food.
We'll still be protecting her and guarding her and following
her around as she follows them around, so she can
learn how to live, how to fish, how to find
food in general. Yes, they'll be with her.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Okay, that's so, that's very reassuring. And then here's another
question for you, Sandy. Like the eaglets sleep in the
nest and they lay down, but now Sonny doesn't have
anywhere to lay down. So does she sleep just holding
on to the branch like mom and Dad do.

Speaker 4 (18:26):
Yes, she does, and she has, in fact, for the
past couple of weeks at least been off and on
sleeping standing up, and so has Gizmo. They learned that early,
and their talons, their toenails, their toes lock into place
when they fall asleep, so they're good standing on the branch.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
Okay, so this morning, Gizmo is already up, and Gizmo,
of course the eagle that's still in the nest, and
I've seen her flapping her wings. Are there any kind
of telltale signs, because like with Sonny, it looked like
Sonny was ready to go, I haven't seen that with
Gizmo as much yet.

Speaker 4 (19:04):
Right, Yeah, Gizmo hasn't looked as ready as Sonny did.
Gizmo seems to like to lay in the nest and
have mom feeder.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
She's lazy. She's lazy, But so far she looks really
like there's there's no concern or anything because there's still
a good window for her to fledge.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
Oh totally. And she's four days younger than than Sonny anyway,
so yes, there's plenty of time.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Okay. And with other eagles, have oh, she just kind
of hopped up into the attic with other eagles, have
you noticed that when one of them leaves the nest
that it spurs the other one to go.

Speaker 4 (19:40):
We haven't ever had two, so we don't know.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
So it's a wait and see. It's a wait and see,
all right, And what should be we should be watching
for in the next few days, Sandy, just.

Speaker 4 (19:52):
When you know her doing flapping and practicing and being
out on the different branches and h and also looking
for maybe Sonny. We'll come back and then we'll see
what they both decide to do. Their individuals, they get
to make up their own mind.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Okay, and I know that I've been obsessed with them.
I'm sure that you have been obsessed with our eagles
for the last few months. How does this all make
you feel?

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Like excited, a little sad that I won't get to
see them as much, A little bit of everything.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah, I was interested watching the comments yesterday, going by
people saying, oh my god, I started crying. I started
crying because we get so emotionally attached to these beautiful
creatures and they're going to go and fly off and
be free and it's amazing to watch. So thank you
to friends of Big Bear Valley for putting that camera
in and letting us take a little peek into nature.

(20:41):
We appreciate your time, Sandy. I know you're busy this morning.
You gotta make a lot of rounds on media because
everybody wants to talk to the lady who watches the eagles.

Speaker 4 (20:50):
Yeah, thank you very much. For having me.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
All right, thanks so much, Sandy Steers, friends of Big
Bear Valley, and always I like to mention this because
it is a nonprofit. They have this camera up and
they can't do it without donation. So whether and it
doesn't he have to be just money. You can go
to friends a Big Bear Valley. They have eagle calendars
and they have little plush toys and that kind of stuff.

(21:12):
So if you can make a donation and help so
we can continue to watch this beautiful event in nature unfolding.
It so cool. All right, Time to get in your
business with Bloomberg's Courtney Donaho. Good morning, Courtney. Geez there,
Hi Courtney, Okay, hello, Hi morning, good morning. Okay, let's

(21:34):
talk about chicken. Dave's Hot Chicken. Oh my gosh, I
love it has roots in La. It's turning up the
heat exactly because the private equity owner of Subway, Duncan
and Sonic jumping into Chicken were Capital is buying a
seventy five percent steak in Dave's Hot Chicken, which is
such a fast growing chain right now and it is

(21:55):
quite delicious.

Speaker 6 (21:56):
This would value the chain known for its Nashville style
Hot Chicken at a billion dollars. Dave's was launched in
twenty seventeen. It was a pop up in a parking
lot in LA but some of the big name investors
include Drake and Samuel L.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Jackson.

Speaker 6 (22:10):
Dave says it's going to use works franchise network to
continue to expand the chain quickly, and it's got a
pretty big one just knowing that it has so many
different chains under its belts.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
It also has Buffalo Wah Wings too, So in less
than ten years, the owner of Dave's could be a billionaire. Exactly.

Speaker 6 (22:27):
Nice exactly if you know, going from a parking lot
in twenty seventeen to this unbelievable. But you know, when
you have a good idea and it's managed relatively well,
this is where the money goes.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
So I got to talk to Dave one time. He
brought he'd brought chicken into the station and we were
just chatting about it, and he was telling me the
story of how they started in the parking lot and
then people came back the next day and said, as
in more chicken, and they just kept going and kept
going and it just spread from there. Pretty amazing story.
I love it.

Speaker 6 (22:57):
And another thing too, is they have such a great
so media profile and they have a lot of big
name celebrities so that are tweeting about them, talking about them,
and that keeps it top of mind, especially in social
media where so many things go viral and people are
saying hey, you know. And of course the hot chicken trend,
which Chicken has become now the thing that a lot

(23:17):
of fast food companies have been jumping on, and especially
after we had the chicken wars a couple of years ago,
remember with Chick fil A and Popeyes. So now another
company just coming into the whole entire mix here.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
Okay, And of course we don't have a ton of
time today because we had to talk about our little eagles.
But tell us about what we're expecting for the markets today.

Speaker 6 (23:38):
Yeah, So the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, they're
warning that the trade policies that we have from President
Trump have tipped the world into a downturn. This is
making people nervous, with the US among the hardest hits.
So the oecdc's growth in the US slowing to one
point six.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
Percent this year.

Speaker 6 (23:56):
They put out a forecast a couple of months ago,
and it's already down from there. But they say all
the uncertainty is hurting confidence, it's holding back investments. So
that's why we're seeing pressure on stocks this morning. Futures
down ninety points.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
And the good news is we started way down yesterday
and ended up.

Speaker 6 (24:12):
Yeah, we got a late day boost. We saw a
big rebound in tech shares. The S and P five
hundred rose twenty four points in the Dow game thirty five.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
All right, that is Bloomberg's Courtney Donahoe getting in your
business like we do every day at five point forty.
Thanks so much. We'll talk to you tomorrow, Cortney. We
see you later, all right, when we come back. An
interesting new trend for millionaires. They're not buying, they're renting.
Joe lars Guard is going to join us to tell
us more about that, and also, if you're tempted to

(24:41):
cash out your four to oh one k, he's got
a word or two for you. That's coming up next.
Let's say good morning to the host of How to
Money on Sundays from twelve to two right here on KFI.
It's Joel lars Guard. Joel, we have an interesting trend
among millionaires. They're renting instead. Of buying.

Speaker 7 (24:59):
What's up with a Yeah, this is a study of
people named Amy King who are just you know, loaded,
but they're choosing to rent.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
And I'm just kidding. This is this is fast.

Speaker 7 (25:11):
Is fascinating to see, and I think most people are saying,
I think that, oh, if you have millions of dollars, clearly,
clearly you're going to buy a home, right because it
just it just makes us why would you do anything
else in building home? There's this kind of mentality in
the United States of America that this is what leads
to significant wealth a big part and when you look

(25:33):
at the numbers, it's actually fairly true. For the average American,
a big chunk of their net worth lies in the
fact that they own a home. They've built up equity
over the years. But we're seeing more millionaires bucking this
trend and opting to rent instead of buy. And I
think that this reflects a couple of things. I think
it reflects the current state of the housing market and

(25:54):
just how expensive it's gotten. We're starting to see kind
of some softening and prices. We're seeing more sellers than buyers,
which is interesting because you're thinking about like three years ago,
it was the exact opposite.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
And we're also so when you look at like.

Speaker 7 (26:09):
The disparity between what you'd pay for an average apartment
these days versus an average house, you have to have
almost twice as much income to afford a mid priced home.
Then you need to afford a mid priced apartment. And
then a recent bank Rate study found that it's cheaper
to rent than to buy in all fifty of the
largest metro areas, which was not true eight years ago,

(26:31):
was not true six years ago. So it's just really
interesting to see as the market turns, people make different choices.
And I think it's a good thing. You can still
build wealth as a renter. And I think a lot
of people have heard amy that. Yeah, well people have
heard that renting is throwing money away, yeah, And I
just think that that's patently false. Renting is putting a
roof over your head and paying for it, and so

(26:53):
you have to think you're getting utility out of renting.
And if renting is going to save you money every
single month, the disparity between what you pay in rent
versus what you pay in your mortgage, well, if you
are taking what you would have paid to buy the house,
right and then the repairs on the house, which can
be significant. Don't understell those. Then you can invest in

(27:13):
your tax advantaged accounts in a much more significant way,
building wealth through your future. So I think people think, oh,
I got to buy the house to build the wealth.
The truth is as a renter, you might actually have
more capacity to build wealth.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Okay, And speaking of the future, the other thing we
wanted to touch on is that workers are cutting their
four oh one K contributions.

Speaker 7 (27:35):
Yeah, so this is some new data that just came
in from Morgan Stanley. And when I mean, you talk
about it every day, all the headlines that are coming
in just are not looking economically bright. There's tariffs, right,
there's cuts to government spending. So a lot of people
who work have federal jobs. They're like, they're freaking out

(27:55):
about their future. And so what happens when it feels
like recession predictions arising? Will people say I'm going to
invest less. And I think there's one good side of
this and one bad side to this. The good side
of this is if you're cutting back on your investing,
like let's say you dial your four one K contributions

(28:17):
back from eight percent to five percent, that's okay for
a time. If what you're doing with the extra money
is putting it into savings, right if you're building up
a liquid cash account to allow yourself to be prepared
for harder financial situations that might come down the pike,
that is okay with me. But sixty seven percent of
people in this study said they're not prioritizing savings either,

(28:39):
So they're dialing back on investments, they're not prioritizing savings.
And to me, that's the clutch move is if you're
going to dial back on investing, you have to increase
your savings. If you're not, then I want you to
keep investing where you are instead of just pulling money
back and investing less in those retirement accounts so you
can have more money to spend right now.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Okay, and then you do. You need to keep in
mind too that it's not like a dollar for dollar thing,
because I noticed that when I increased my four h
one K contribution by like three or four percent, it
was like less than a percent of my take on
pay that was reduced.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
So what do you mean by that?

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Well, I'm saying that if because it's pre tax that
the four to one k is taken out. It's it's
not like if I put an extra two hundred dollars
a month in, it's not two hundred dollars less on
my paycheck.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yes, that's exactly right. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (29:30):
And the other thing to note too is well, hey,
what is my workplace contribution amount? And what do I
have to do to earn the full match? So if
you're saying I'm at six percent right now and they'll
match three, I'm going to dial back to four. Well,
if it means your employer's only putting in two percent, now,
you've not just reduced your contribution amount by two percent,
you've effectively reduced it by three percent. And you've you've

(29:51):
taken free money off the table. So you have to
be aware of that too. And again it might be
wise if your liquid savings is paltry and you need
to beef that up because you're worried about your job,
you're worried about your industry, then that makes total sense
to me. You need to be prepared in liquid savings
are a huge part of that. If you go to
how to money dot com and you click start here,
I've got something.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Called the money gears.

Speaker 7 (30:11):
Find out where you are in the money gears and
that can help you know what to do next. I
don't love seeing people invest less, but if it's a
limited time only thing to boost your cash cushion, then
I think it could be wise.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
Okay. For more great money advice, listen to how to
Money on Sundays from noon to two right here on KFI.
You can also follow Joel at how to Money. Joel
It's Joe Larscard. Thank you so much for the great
advice and information as always.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Oh happy too, Thanks Amy.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
All right, talk to you next week. This has been
your wake up call. If you missed any wake up call,
you can listen anytime on the iHeartRadio app. You've been
listening to wake Up Call with me Amy King. You
can always hear wake Up Call five to six am
Monday through Friday on KFI Am six forty and anytime
on demand on the iHeartRadio app.

Wake Up Call with Amy King News

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

Crime Junkie

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Ridiculous History

Ridiculous History

History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.