Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, everybody, Welcome to the Christenegopian Show. Shout outs from
everybody here in Studio B as we connect with our
syndicated stations coast to coast via the Biz Talk Radio Network.
Greetings to you all. I'm Chris Agopian, author of Brilliant
Frugal Living, syndicated lifestyle columnist, highly caffeinated host of your
(00:21):
show dedicated to slashing your spending, growing your savings to
new previously unthought of heights, and demolishing your debt once
and for all. Imagine the debt that you've got. Everybody's
got it. Everybody's got it out there, guy that there's
no shame in it, you guys at all.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Everybody's got debt.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Imagine having no debt, perhaps just a mortgage, all right,
no card debt, no credit card debt, no student loan debt,
all that debt gone because your hard work has translated
into having no debt, which is the way hard work
is supposed to translate into. Not these days people think,
and it's not the way it's supposed to work. That
is the way it's supposed to work, all right, guys.
(01:01):
And here's where we get it all figured out and
hashed out for you, Thanks for hanging out. Huge welcome,
Holy smokes, biz Talk. I love you guys. Huge welcome
to all of our newest affiliates courtesy of biz Talk
Radio Network and the listeners. My gosh, the email's coming in,
the texts coming in, the notes on LinkedIn and Facebook.
(01:22):
You guys are the best. Many thanks, Hey shout outs.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Linda T.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Listening in from beautiful Portland, Oregon. I raise my mug
of coffee to you in salute. Thanks for the great
note about our podcasts, and a huge shout out to
you know who you are. I love you, guys. Mitchell
Meek's and Linda E. Super fans listening in from super
Talk Mississippi coast to coast, possibly beyond that as of
this week, saving America's wallets one hour at a time.
(01:49):
Sitting here, coffee in hand, Tony says hello, as we
tackle today's trendy topics. If you're not drinking coffee at
the moment, that's okay. I'll do enough for both of us,
because that's just the type of team player I am.
So I'm surrounded by the usual huge piles of paperwork.
I promise you we recycle and the responses I got
(02:09):
to last week's show were so amazing and so heartening.
I say that very often, but this past week was
really quite something. You know what we were talking about.
We were talking about one of the biggest steps you
got to take to financial freedom. And a lot of
you guys already know this. Forgive me if I'm telling
you stuff you already know, but you'd be amazed how
many people don't know it. When I'm hearing from people
(02:32):
who have gotten it done, it's so heartening and wonderfully
enlightening in some cases to learn what their biggest what
their biggest touchstones were, their biggest go to moves were.
And I'm talking about people of all earning levels. I'm
talking by people of all education levels. I'm talking about
(02:54):
people with all kinds of family backgrounds all over the
map all right, all kinds of jobs, all kinds of earnings,
some on the lower end, some on the higher end.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
These people have all made it. These people have all.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Retired exactly the way they want to, with just the
money in the bank they're looking for oftentimes six figures,
seven figures, all kinds of holdings, and they've a lot
of times I'm hearing from people they've broken the mold
when it came to their family or their friends and
how their family and friends handled money, oftentimes not quite
the way you'd want to. And they've broken the mold
and gone their own way and the result has been
(03:26):
remarkable financial freedom. I'm loving some of the basic bullet
points as to how they did it, and it's not
some sophisticated crazy money scheme with the latest blockbuster seller
personal finance.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Heres exactly how you want to do it. Hm hmm.
It's all basic moves.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And I'm going to go into deep specifics here because
I don't want to be vague, but one of the
biggest things I learned from all of these self made successes,
I'm talking seven figure successes with very basic incomes.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
The biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
They did, the biggest move they made, they went from
trying to impress others to just impressing themselves. Okay, when
you think about the last thing you spent money on,
maybe you were out to a great meal, Maybe it
was a fun you know, a celebration to it. Maybe
it was going to a kid's birthday party for one
of your kid's friends, or a relative's kid's friends.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Whatever it was.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
When you get up in the morning and you're making
your decisions, what kind of a car to buy, what
kind of a house to buy, what kind of a
sweater to buy, what kind of a swimsuit to buy,
what kind of a magazine to buy, what kind of
food to buy? Are you doing it to impress others
or are you doing it to impress yourself? Are you
doing it to get yourself a nice little selfie with
your food that you can then post. My god, if
(04:46):
I see I have some great friends I'm hearing from people. Actually,
my friends and my family members really do not put
a lot of pictures of their food up, and I'm
so grateful for it. A lot of people do, and
that's fine, Honestly, it's fun stuff. I love going out
and having a fun time and a fun meal, celebrating
an incredible family member or a friend.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
That's all fun.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
But I notice a certain segment of society out there,
and it's coming back at me via our listeners as well.
Our listeners are saying, oh, my god, I love my
family so much. I got this one cousin, though, keeps
taking pictures of their food and these fancy swank restaurants,
And the next day we get together. He's talking about
how brokey is that kind of thing. That's the kind
of thing I'm talking about. You're looking. You're driving to
(05:27):
work in your clunker the way I do, my beloved
blue Bomber. You guys know this car, my blue station wagon.
There are no more blue station wagons on the road,
very very few, and I get waves from some people.
This thing runs. It's going to keep running forever. Very
basic car. There's no TV that pops down from the
back of the you know, for this back of the ceiling.
It has power windows, which I'm very proud of. Other
(05:48):
than that, it's old school and I absolutely adore it.
I drive it to impress me. I drive it because
we bought it with cash for very few dollars, I
mean less than five grand and this was years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
And it runs like a dream with basic maintenance. Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I wear the clothes that I wear because they're comfortable
because I got them all on Crik's List for about
ninety five percent off. They're stylish without being crazy over stylish.
I have this summer, guys, my summer birthday's coming up.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
All of the friends that I.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Know my age spend about ten times as much on
makeup as I do now. I'm not ready to walk
down the catwalk on the Miss America contest or, right,
that's just not going to happen. But I feel very
comfortable in my own skin every decision I make. I'm
not some misperfection when it comes to personal finance.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Give me a break.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
My biggest lessons that I learned, I learned the hard way,
just like everybody else out there. You know, no one's
born with the brilliant knowledge on how to save money.
You learn through all the hard knocks, and you learn
through all the hard lessons, and you lose tons of
money along the way, but you find yourself on a
path sooner or later where you are getting exactly where
you want to be in your personal finance goals. You're
(06:56):
getting your house paid off, your credit card balance is
zero each month, you have everything paid off. It's just
an amazing feeling to wake up in the morning and
know that your hard work is translating into complete financial
freedom for you and your family. When's the last time
you got up and realized that you were working just
for you, not for a credit card company, not for
(07:17):
a car payment, not for you know, the fancy schmancy
restaurants or even the fancy schmancy grocery stores. Can I
put that out there for a minute. You were working
just for you. Stop trying to impress other people.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
That is the number one rule, not just of me,
but I'm talking huge self made personal finance success stories.
Truck drivers and school teachers and people who are not
bringing in a huge salary and they are retiring with
solid six figure retirement accounts that they're going to live
(07:50):
off of. I know people making six figures now well
into the six figures that have zippo saved for the future.
Why Because the vast majority of the time they're trying
to impress other people rather than impressing themselves. And there's
a psychiatry behind that that's just too deep for me
to grasp.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
But honest to God, we don't need to grasp it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
It's a simple fact. A lot of us go out
there and we do it. And let's be honest, when
we first go out in the world, we're in our twenties,
maybe our thirties, you know that kind of thing. You're
maybe you're not married yet, you don't have a family yet,
and you're going out there. You're kind of having some
fun with your own money for the first time. I
love that. I dig that. That is all very very cool.
It's something all of us go through. It's very liberating
(08:33):
and enlightening and educational. When my kids get to that phase,
you know, a decade or two from now, they will
also have in their brain data banks the knowledge on
how to save money and buckle down and get it
taken care of later on down the road too. That's
what you want. That's the kind of balance that you're
looking for. So when people were telling me, and a
(08:53):
lot of them went into serious, deep detail about their
upbringing and their lifestyle, it's fantastic. I love the underlying
message with this. Stop trying to impress other people. That's
the number one rule of a vast majority of self
made personal finance success stories. And at first glance that
rule might seem obvious or easy. But step back for
(09:15):
a moment and think about all of your purchases and
all of my purchases through the lens of how that
purchase is intended to make you appear in the eyes
of others. Are you buying books to impress your friends?
Do you buy clothes to look good to others, beyond
the basic dress code of your workplace or your comfort
clothes at home. Here's the big thing, buying things to
(09:37):
impress other people. The gadgets, Holy God, the gadgets of
people are buying these days. Have you ever bought the
obvious a phone with the thought of how others will
be impressed by it? Okay, that one move alone in
my household. I've got a track phone. I proudly carry
a track phone. I've got phone service everywhere. It piggybacks
(09:58):
on every single phone system out there. Okay, I can text,
I can email, I can log onto all the websites.
I can make calls from anywhere. I can make texts
from anywhere. I can take videos. I can take pictures.
I've taken thousands of pictures. I can do map quest.
I can get from point A to point B on
my phone. I can do all this. It cost me
(10:19):
five bucks a month. It cost me five bucks a month.
My track phone. I adore it. I am talking to people.
I get so many wonderful emails from people who are
just pouring their hearts out with regards to all that
they spend. The first thing I talk about what's your
phone cost and I get dead silence? Hundreds of dollars
a month, thousands of dollars a year. You know what
(10:41):
that turns into in five ten years, a down payment
on a house, zero credit card debt. You know what
I'm talking about. Tony's giving me the wave. Here, guys,
hang out for a second. We get back the go
to moves that people near you have done to make
their financial dreams of reality. Right after this, and we
(11:05):
are back with the Christian and Agopian Show. Talking today
about your plans for retirement. Sounds kind of dry and boring.
But you know what's not dry and boring retiring with
this huge, fat amount of money in savings that lets.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
You live a lifestyle that you deserve. That's what I'm
talking about.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
And whether you're listening in your twenties, in your nineties,
somewhere in between, you've got retirement plans. Whether you say
them out loud or not, you don't have to say
them out loud. I'm going to say them out loud
for you. When I connect with people, it's always a
magic number, a million dollars in the bank. Sometimes some
people like I love them when they say I'd love
to have a half million in the bank, very doable.
(11:44):
I don't know your age, you know my age, and
I'm here to tell you that if you're starting at fifty,
starting at twenty, starting at seventies, starting it later, there
are tips and tricks and strategies you can put into
play that are going to make it far easier than
you ever thought possible. This is and this is info
and advice straight from middle income Americans who got it done.
(12:05):
And one of the biggest things they recommend, they talked
before the break, knock out that credit card debt.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You're better than that, You're above that.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
And why are you paying for these credit card companies
to ride around and stretch limos instead of keeping the
money in your bank account. Enough set about that. Next up,
the biggest tip from people who have gotten it done,
start early rather than later. If you're in your fifties,
start now. If you're in your twenties, start now. If
(12:33):
you're in your seventies, nothing is too late. Start now.
Here's some numbers you ready for this, here's the dream
boat numbers. First of all, is I talk about my
own kids. They're in their high school. Starting very early
with them, people are already talking about college plans for
their kids as well.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
They should be.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Here's some interesting ways to use that money. If you
were one of the Americans out there that have maybe
a couple couple of shillings put together for your kids' education,
you're wondering the best place to put them. You guys
already know I'm a huge fan of the smaller satellite campuses.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
The community college.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Is that kind of thing very easy for the kids
to handle their own school debt. It's a great way
to kind of introduce them into paying off debt. What then,
do you do with say the ten thousand you have
saved up you were thinking about allocating for the kids,
Think about putting it into a retirement account for them.
Do you want to know the beauty of compound interest?
(13:26):
Here are some delicious, downright sexy numbers. Okay, throwing them
out there. Say you've got twenty five grand ready to go.
Maybe that's Pine the s guy. Maybe it's not a
lot of people I know they have the means to
put together twenty five grands for their kids college education.
They go to a community college instead, graduate with zero debt,
go to work right away. Fantastic careers you put that
(13:48):
twenty five grand into a standard six and a half
percent fund, which is what historically it's getting. You start
that fund at twenty one, and you don't add another
penny ever. You do that at twenty one. By the
time your kids retire at age seventy, that twenty five grand,
(14:08):
which would maybe pay for a half a semester at
some of the price yer over price schools out there,
That twenty five grand at a standard six point five percent.
You put it into an account when they're twenty one.
They take it out when you're when they're seventy six
hundred fifty thousand dollars. That's the power of compound interest.
Do you want to start a little later. Maybe you
(14:30):
started at fifty. Maybe you've been you know, you've been
to college. Maybe you went and did other things. You've
got debt going on, you're fifty years old. You're thinking,
there's nothing I can do. That is crap. You want
to try something else. Say you're starting at fifty years old,
you put a very reasonable amount of two hundred bucks
a month into an account like this at six point
five percent. Thirty years later, maybe you're retiring in your eighties.
(14:52):
That's going to be two hundred twenty five two hundred
twenty five thousand dollars, two hundred dollars a month starting
when you're fifty, and I'm sorry, just about everybody out
there can do two hundred bucks a month, all right,
when you're fifty, the grownups put in at least two
hundred a month at six point five percent, that's about
a quarter million. You want to go a little more
grown up style and say you're starting at fifty, you
(15:15):
don't have a penny in the bank yet, or the
people you love don't have a penny in the bank yet.
You go to five hundred dollars a month, just taken
straight off your pay straight into this untouchable account, making
this standard average of six point five percent, that in
just a few years is five hundred thousand dollars. All right,
You start when you're fifty, leave it in there for
(15:36):
three decades, because I hate to tell you if you're
not if you're not saving anything right now at age fifty,
you will be working until at least age eight. I'm
planning on working till at least age eight, and I've
got my ducks. Someone in a decent row regarding finances.
You just want to stay in the workforce. But what
you want as you stay in the workforce is the
solid knowledge that at age eighty you can stop being
(15:59):
in the workforce. And if you don't have a penny saved,
and you're at age fifty right now or close to it,
five hundred bucks a month put into an account. You
keep it in there for thirty years. You keep going
each month, five hundred a month, five hundred thousand dollars.
That's a beautiful thing. And you want to up your
game just a little bit. You want to go big
or go home. You want to cut out the dinners out.
(16:20):
You want to cut out the pricey vacations and go
for something a little more standard. You want to drive
your car a few more years rather than go out
and buy a new one. And you want to go
big with one thousand dollars a month starting at age fifty.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
All right, imagine if you start earlier. Gang.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I'm just talking age fifty because that's my age right now.
And I know a heck of a lot of people,
good people, hardworking, unbelievable people who don't have a penny
save for retirement. They're putting that oxygen mask on everybody
else's face in case of emergency before they put on
their own and they're getting ready to financially pass out.
Don't pass out, guys, put the mask on your own face,
(16:57):
and for the sake of your kids in the next generation,
taking care of your own retirement. Here's how you do it.
Go bigger, go home, guys. One thousand dollars a month.
That's thirty bucks a day. That's one leg. You know,
you don't buy the car so quickly. You don't go
out to the expensive vacations. You don't buy the crazy
dinners out every week like so many people I know
and love do. A thousand dollars a month, you got
(17:20):
nothing saved age fifty one thousand dollars a month for
thirty years. That's going to bring you to a cool
one point one million dollars in just a few short decades.
You and I both know how fast the last few
decades have flown by. The next ones are gonna fly
by even faster. You want to be in the cap
bird seat. Put pen to paper, Drive to the bank
(17:42):
that needs you far more than you need it. Put
it to work, making your hard earned money grow. You
deserve it. The next generation deserves it. Put your money
to work for you, not at the you know, not
at the oh, god, you name it. How many things
are we all wasting money on. We've all done it,
and that's not going to lead to a solid retirement.
(18:02):
The very people who turned a middle class income over
decades into a million dollar, sometimes multimillion dollar retirement, this
is their advice. When they've done it, they've gotten it done.
That's what you got to do. Next up, somewhat related,
take advantage of your retirement plans. A lot of people
out there know everything about cars or cooking, or kids,
(18:25):
or landscaping or whatever it is, and they're too shy
to pick up the phone or go to maybe their
company's you know whatever counselor or financial counselor you've got there,
and they're too shy or nervous about asking about retirement plans.
Go to your bank and talk about a retirement plan.
Because all of these numbers I've been throwing out of you,
that's just standard savings accounts. You want to know something
(18:47):
that's going to goose your investment huge. Let's talk about
a four h one K where not only are you
putting money in there, your employer is matching part of it.
It's free money. Not only is it free money from
your employer, it's free money combined with compound interest. I'm
gonna say that again because it feels so good. Free
(19:10):
money from your employer combined with compound interest. You want
to get to that million dollar retirement just a little faster,
just you know, put down the shy button, march into
whatever bank or counselor or what our HR director because
they live for this crap, and get your money in
(19:31):
line to work its butt off for you the way
you do for it, and get the absolute gas pedal
floored on this million dollar retirement. And I want to
hear from you guys too if you've got go to
moves that maybe everybody should know about but doesn't find
me Brilliant approvalliving dot com. And we are back with
(20:07):
a Christen Egopian show. And I have been looking so
forward to our next guest. You have seen and heard
him in too many fantastic roles to count, and I
put the word out about interviewing him again, and my
social media just absolutely blew up. Joe Montana joins this
VR newsmaker line to tell us more about his role
(20:28):
in co hosting I love this show, guys, the upcoming
PBS National Memorial Day Concert.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Joe, welcome, Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
Thanks for having me on once again.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Well you've got a busy schedule. Thanks for joining us.
And I briefly mentioned it before. When I bragged on
social media about having you on, it exploded.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You are so beloved.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I had people sending in their favorite quotes of years
from The Money Pit and quotes from Criminal Minds and
The Godfather three. I went on and on to coast.
People love you, and they are delighted that they'll be
able to see you and so many others at this
year's annual National Memorial Day Concert. It's going to be amazing. Again,
tell your fans a bit more about the upcoming concert
(21:12):
if you would.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Well, you know, this is I think it's like my
twenty third consecutive year doing this. I did the first
one in two thousand and two, and all I can
say is that, as I've said often, it's the most
important thing I do every year. It is. It is
a I think it's the best way to explain what
Memorial is. And all I would do is I would.
I would just recommend that people carve out your Memorial
(21:35):
Day and do the things you do. Have your barbecue,
watch the Indianapolis five hundred, have your family friends over
enjoy the day. But carve out ninety minutes and catch
up an airing of this concert because you don't do
it live, you know, on the West London Capitol, which
we'll do on Sunday to Sunday the day before Martley,
but they'll also be repeated showings of it. You watch
(21:56):
this concert and you'll understand why I firmly believe that
Memorial Day is the most important holiday we celebrate in
this country because it is the one that allows us
to have all the other holidays in this country. And
so it's a combination of music, of dramatic readings of
it's just the whole thing, the fact that it's done
(22:17):
on the West Launda Capital, and it's got nothing to
do with politics. It's all just about the service of
our men and women throughout the history of this country,
which has allowed us to be the country that we
live in, you know what I mean. And look, we're
not a perfect you know, as much as we say,
you know, to have a more perfect union. We've never
been a perfect union, but we try in every day,
(22:39):
every year, every you know, every hundred years. You know,
we're a very young country as countries go on this planet.
But we due to the sacrifices of these men and
women throughout our history, we're still here and we're still
in We're still at the top of the ladder of
in terms of we're still a beacon of light for many,
many other people in this planet. And these are the
(23:01):
sacrifices that allow us to have that position.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Oh amen to that. And I'm writing notes. I started
off writing notes as you're talking, scribbling furiously, and finally
I just put the pen down because you just you
nailed it. I come from a long line of proud veterans,
and your words are so spot on. Without Memorial Day,
none of the other ones are really possible. And we
think and are so grateful to all of our veterans.
(23:24):
And when again, when I was bragging about having you
on one last note on name dropping, when I was
mentioning today's interview, I had the most charming response from
a listener in Salt Lake City who mentioned that they
of course loved you and everything, but they were also
a fan of the sitcom The Middle something I've watched
too many years to count. And Trina from Salt Lake,
(23:46):
Hello to you, dear, mentioned that one of her favorite
characters in it, Devin Levin, was actually your daughter, and
that never clicked for me, and that I watched it again,
I'm like, oh, my god, of course that's a starter.
I've watched every episode of that fabulous show.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Never knew that.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
How is your family doing as we prep for another summer?
Any fun family summer projects planned? I always have a
long list of projects and maybe get ten percent of
them done.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, there you go. Well, ironically you mentioned my daughter.
That's my daughter Gia, and ironically she'll be with me
and that Memorial Day weekend, her and her boyfriend will
be you know, her boyfriend h We adore him and
we took him with us last year and he had
never been to Washington, d C. Before and so when
(24:32):
he was so taken by the concert that when I
gave them both my daughter Ga and he the opportunity
to once again, Hey, you want to come again this
year because it has to be a quick trip from him,
because I'll actually be in production for Criminal Minds, and
so I'm just going to be flying in doing the
concert and flying out. They said, no, we're in absolutely,
you know, we want to be part of that. The
concert is so important, has become so important to them.
(24:54):
You know. My daughter's been doing it, like I said,
for most of her life, and as I was aware
of it. But this this young man, you know, once
he experienced it last year, it just kind of blew
him away. And have the opportunity to be there once again,
you know, you know, in person and experience it with
something they really want to do. So Devin Levin will
(25:14):
be there with me, her boyfriend, and will experience of
course my wife and another daughter of it. Because the
trip is going to be so quickly, they're not going
to make the trip this year, but I'll of course
be watching as well.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Oh that's brilliant.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Well, Please let her know that we're a fan of
hers as well. And now the last.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Time you and I spoke, God, it feels like it
was a blink ago, but it was years ago. We
were deep in COVID gear, couldn't do the concert live.
You know, it is what it is. It was still superb,
but it's always so special with everybody there in person.
You're going to be right there on the west lawn
of the US Capitol. I mean, there's just no better
gorgeous backdrop, and you and your partner in crime, Gary Sinise,
(25:58):
who we also adore, will be keeping things running smoothly.
And one of the aspects so many of us appreciate
is your tribute to our military heroes and America's gold
Star families.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
God bless them all.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
And I heard it's amazing you guys were You're sharing
the story of a US Marine veteran who fought at
the bloody thirty six day Battle of Ewajima, which is
just incredible. We all learned about it in school, but
how many of us have you know, a deeper knowledge
of it like you do.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
As well as the fifty.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Year commemorations of the Vietnam War, so many of us
no family and friends who served in those eras as well.
Tell us a bit about I don't know, maybe the
stories that perhaps touched you the most.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Yeah, I mean, as usual, there's going to be moments
when you watch this show that you're just going to
you won't be able to control yourself because the tears
will come because you're going to hear them. I am.
This is not a script, this is not make believe.
I realized that what I did the first time I
did the cost when I was on that stage, and
as you said, with that backdop here, I am looking
at something. Sometimes we get a quarter of a million
(27:06):
people show up for this concert, and behind them, all
behind this massive humanity, stands the Ulice Capital with the
flag flying on top of it. And behind me I
have the Washington National Orchestra playing you know, movie kinds
of music. And I almost levitate off the stage when
(27:28):
I'm up there, because it's it's that thing of like
I'm not I'm not doing the performance here, I'm recounting
history and this is And so the stories you will
hear at the concert will be those those kinds of stories,
like you said in particular. So you'll have one of
the ones will be a gold star family about a
gold star wife and she tells her story. Gretsen Mall,
(27:50):
the actress, will be doing that. That's an incredible story
about the sacrifices her husband made and how she can
carries on in such a noble way with her two
her two sons, and what she does to give back,
and we have like Robert Patrick telling the story about
you know, based on the experiences of love, as you said,
(28:11):
of somebody would participated in the Battle of the Regima.
Uh So it's these these stories. Again, it's not that
this doesn't make believe, This isn't This isn't a TV
you know war movie. Uh you know a film about
about it. This is the real deal. So to be
able to see these stories being told that we count
(28:32):
these real historical moments and the lives of the real
people and many instances, but those people are there, you know,
those moments when we get to often come off the
stage and greet the people that we're talking about. I
can't even I can't even explain the emotions that that creates,
not just with ourselves but anybody who's watching the show
(28:54):
because they realized this is the real deal. This isn't.
This doesn't make believe. This is part of our history
and such a vital part of it.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Oh it is.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
And you know, and you touched on something so important there,
because not only does it check so many boxes for me,
the entertainment is top notch, and I love the patriotic
We don't have enough of these wonderful patriotic shows.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I feel like we could use more.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
But in all seriousness, you know, every time I think
of myself as a really you know, I'm a top
notch American. Look at me, paying my taxes and keeping
my mailbox painted and you know, being a law abiding citizen.
And then I watch and I see the sacrifices that
so many other Americans have made so that I could
live in this great country, and I just I walk away,
like God, I suck. I mean, you want to you
want to reapply yourself just a little bit more to
(29:39):
getting some stuff done. And I sure you must hear
that kind of feedback from other people as well, and
I knew the time would fly. Joe Montana, this is fantastic.
Always great to connect with you guys. Set your DVRs
for PBS this Sunday, May twenty fifth, eight pm. Joe,
thank you so much for all that you do to
help honor our troops. It is noticed, it is it
(29:59):
is so a pre shiated, it is loved. Have a
fantastic time at this year's show. All the best to
you and your amazing family, and you've got an open
mic anytime, please join us whenever you wish.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Thanks so much much, pleasures, you've.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Bet we'll be right back gang right after this small
and not to.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
The best of all.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And we are back with the Kristen a Goopian show.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
And I've been looking so forward to our next guest
because so many of us have people we care about,
you know, maybe people we work with, or neighbors, or
perhaps even people in our family tree who are living
with ADHD. And as more and more of a spotlight
gets shined on this condition, you know, as we all
(31:01):
learn more about it, we learn that people with ADHD
often face unique struggles that can contribute to the development
or you know, maybe just exacerbation of other conditions, you know,
maybe perhaps mood or anxiety disorders, even substance abuse disorders.
But knowledge is power, and joining us via our Newsmaker line,
(31:24):
we have doctor Greg Chepke joining us to tell us
the latest advancements in the treatment of ADHD just amazing.
So it can serve as a further tool we can
all use for understanding and empathy and support. Doctor Chepke, welcome,
Thank you so much for having me today. So doctor Chepke,
people hear the phrase ADHD, people of all ages, and
(31:48):
for all of our advanced awareness of it, compared to
even you know, just one generation ago, there is still
so much misunderstanding about the condition. So first off, if
you would please take a minute to just define ADHD
and perhaps those that are living with it right now.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Sure thing. So ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
It replaces a similar term that is very commonly known ADD,
so ADD is kind of an obsolete term. We now
call it ADHD. And so it has three different symptom clusters.
Two are obvious from the name attention, but it's called deficit,
but really it's that they either can't focus enough on
(32:28):
things they're supposed to or focus too much on things
they shouldn't be focusing on. So it's really a dysregulated attention.
And I think the other is hyperactivity. Now not everyone
has equal portions of both. Some people are more weighted inattentive,
some are more weighted to hyperactivity, or that some people
do have both equally. And then the third symptom cluster
that didn't make the name but is still very important
is impulsivity. So both a verbal impulsivity people who don't
(32:52):
have a filter, and that gets them into trouble, or
it could be physical impulsivity doing dangerous or reckless things,
could be getting into fights, things of that nature. But
all of those three symptom clusters are very problematic for
those who live with them.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, it's so true, and you touch on something so
important there that I want to kind of revisit just
a little bit, because even in this advanced day and age,
there is still so much misinformation out there. Talk to
our listeners a bit about the possible stigmas that a
person with ADHD, even in these advanced times, you know,
(33:27):
what they can face in their lives right now.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
Yeah, that's a great question. I get asked quite a bit.
And we don't believe it's that there are more people
with ADHD, that there's some increase in the medically, people
are changing, anything like that.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
It's just that.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
There's an increased awareness of it now that we're looking
for it more, especially in women and girls, when it
used to be considered mostly a diagnosis that was for
young boys. And furthermore, with greater understanding of the science,
we realize now that kids don't grow out of it
when they get to be teams. Teens don't usually grow
out of it when they become an adults, it just
(34:01):
does generally persist like something along the lines of other
things that we know are enduring, like autism or dyslexia,
and so the combination of those two factors, the diagnosis
is being made more often. But it's just that we're
diagnosing those appropriately who just would not have gotten diagnosed
to generation ago.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
So people are tuning into you right now. They're listening
to you right now, and they may be thinking, Okay,
you know, he's describing someone close to me that maybe
exhibiting some of those exact symptoms. You know, they don't
know if it's simply a mood, maybe it's something deeper.
So you've got our listeners out there. They're not professionals.
(34:39):
I'm not a professional. You are. When is the right
time to take that next step, you know, to consult
with the doctor, a professional and maybe see if a
more pronounced diagnosis is called for. You know, when does
that moment occur?
Speaker 5 (34:55):
I'm really glad you asked that, because the answer is,
as soon as they have that thought that they are
a loved one could exhibiting ADHD or some other mental condition.
Because all too often, I certainly see this in my
own practice. People wait and wait and wait until they're
on the on the edge of a cliff that they
may When I see adults, it might be that they
are about to lose their job, lose their marriage, kids,
(35:17):
might be about to fail out of school, things of
that nature. And don't wait to the last minute. If
anyone's listening, who is in this boat. As soon as
you have these concerns, go and speak with a healthcare professional.
And it may be ADHD, it may be ADHD plus
something like anxiety or mood issues, because eighty percent of
people with ADHD do tend to have more than at
least one other diagnosis. But or it could be that
(35:40):
they have a depression by poor disorder or anxiety and
that is causing the problems with focusing and it's not
ADHD at all. So a healthcare professional is the person
who can help sort all that out and make sure
the right diagnosis is made and the right treatment plan
is initiated.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Okay, So now we have people listening and they're going
to take your advice. They're putting pen to paper, they're
going to start researching some doctors. They're going to maybe
talk to friends and loved ones, maybe some relatives as well,
and they're finally getting ready and they want to prep
to speak with this doctor. What are some of the
topics that you want to discuss with your doctors when
(36:18):
you're receiving treatment for ADHD, when you're just starting on
that path. What are some of the questions that they
should be asking, What are some of the things that
they should be talking about with them, you know, paint
a picture for us how that conversation should go.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
Absolutely so, it's so important to talk to your healthcare
provider about your specific treatment plan because it can include
things like therapy, ADHD coaching and for some medication and
there's many choices out there, but for my patient's one
treatment that's been effective for many of them is called
a staris. It's a proof for people ages six years
and up through adulthood, and it's the first and only
ADHD treatment to combine two forms of medication, which let's
(36:53):
it take effect quickly in the morning to control the
symptoms throughout the day and we're off gradually in the evening.
I just want to make sure everyone's aware. Seeenes stimulants
like as stars have a boxed warning for a high
potential for abuse, misuse and addiction. People who take a
Stars should be monitor for serious cardiovascular or circulatory side effects,
picks and slulling of growth and children. The Stars may
couser worse than certain psychiatric symptoms, so it's important to
(37:14):
talk to your own healthcare provider about all the potential
risk and benefits. To find out more information about ADHD
and the Stars, you can visit www dot s Stars
dot com, a Z S T A r y s
dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Absolutely, we will put links to all of that important
information on our website and our social media as well.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Doctor.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
I love having you on for these types of important topics.
You really know how to explain it in a way
that all of our listeners coast to coast, myself included,
can take it in and can perhaps help a loved
one with it.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
This is great stuff.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
You've got an open mic anytime. Please do join us
again and you Ken, we'd love to have you back.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
My pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
You bet until next week, save those pennies, pay with
cash and you all stay frugal out there.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
I'm not to steal the best of all chips. Cheap
circumstance suppose my hand to be a combat person and
a little body learn sign by we also FA. I
just gotta learn to recall my I'm a love badget.
(38:28):
I'm a love I'm not a sheep. You understand. I'm
just a cut last person and a low badget
Hey, everybody, Welcome to the Christenegopian Show. Shout outs from
everybody here in Studio B as we connect with our
syndicated stations coast to coast via the Biz Talk Radio Network.
Greetings to you all. I'm Chris Agopian, author of Brilliant
Frugal Living, syndicated lifestyle columnist, highly caffeinated host of your
(00:21):
show dedicated to slashing your spending, growing your savings to
new previously unthought of heights, and demolishing your debt once
and for all. Imagine the debt that you've got. Everybody's
got it. Everybody's got it out there, guy that there's
no shame in it, you guys at all.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Everybody's got debt.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Imagine having no debt, perhaps just a mortgage, all right,
no card debt, no credit card debt, no student loan debt,
all that debt gone because your hard work has translated
into having no debt, which is the way hard work
is supposed to translate into. Not these days people think,
and it's not the way it's supposed to work. That
is the way it's supposed to work, all right, guys.
(01:01):
And here's where we get it all figured out and
hashed out for you, Thanks for hanging out. Huge welcome,
Holy smokes, biz Talk. I love you guys. Huge welcome
to all of our newest affiliates courtesy of biz Talk
Radio Network and the listeners. My gosh, the email's coming in,
the texts coming in, the notes on LinkedIn and Facebook.
(01:22):
You guys are the best. Many thanks, Hey shout outs.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Linda T.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Listening in from beautiful Portland, Oregon. I raise my mug
of coffee to you in salute. Thanks for the great
note about our podcasts, and a huge shout out to
you know who you are. I love you, guys. Mitchell
Meek's and Linda E. Super fans listening in from super
Talk Mississippi coast to coast, possibly beyond that as of
this week, saving America's wallets one hour at a time.
(01:49):
Sitting here, coffee in hand, Tony says hello, as we
tackle today's trendy topics. If you're not drinking coffee at
the moment, that's okay. I'll do enough for both of us,
because that's just the type of team player I am.
So I'm surrounded by the usual huge piles of paperwork.
I promise you we recycle and the responses I got
(02:09):
to last week's show were so amazing and so heartening.
I say that very often, but this past week was
really quite something. You know what we were talking about.
We were talking about one of the biggest steps you
got to take to financial freedom. And a lot of
you guys already know this. Forgive me if I'm telling
you stuff you already know, but you'd be amazed how
many people don't know it. When I'm hearing from people
(02:32):
who have gotten it done, it's so heartening and wonderfully
enlightening in some cases to learn what their biggest what
their biggest touchstones were, their biggest go to moves were.
And I'm talking about people of all earning levels. I'm
talking by people of all education levels. I'm talking about
(02:54):
people with all kinds of family backgrounds all over the
map all right, all kinds of jobs, all kinds of earnings,
some on the lower end, some on the higher end.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
These people have all made it. These people have all.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Retired exactly the way they want to, with just the
money in the bank they're looking for oftentimes six figures,
seven figures, all kinds of holdings, and they've a lot
of times I'm hearing from people they've broken the mold
when it came to their family or their friends and
how their family and friends handled money, oftentimes not quite
the way you'd want to. And they've broken the mold
and gone their own way and the result has been
(03:26):
remarkable financial freedom. I'm loving some of the basic bullet
points as to how they did it, and it's not
some sophisticated crazy money scheme with the latest blockbuster seller
personal finance.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Heres exactly how you want to do it. Hm hmm.
It's all basic moves.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
And I'm going to go into deep specifics here because
I don't want to be vague, but one of the
biggest things I learned from all of these self made successes,
I'm talking seven figure successes with very basic incomes.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
The biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
They did, the biggest move they made, they went from
trying to impress others to just impressing themselves. Okay, when
you think about the last thing you spent money on,
maybe you were out to a great meal, Maybe it
was a fun you know, a celebration to it. Maybe
it was going to a kid's birthday party for one
of your kid's friends, or a relative's kid's friends.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Whatever it was.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
When you get up in the morning and you're making
your decisions, what kind of a car to buy, what
kind of a house to buy, what kind of a
sweater to buy, what kind of a swimsuit to buy,
what kind of a magazine to buy, what kind of
food to buy? Are you doing it to impress others
or are you doing it to impress yourself? Are you
doing it to get yourself a nice little selfie with
your food that you can then post. My god, if
(04:46):
I see I have some great friends I'm hearing from people. Actually,
my friends and my family members really do not put
a lot of pictures of their food up, and I'm
so grateful for it. A lot of people do, and
that's fine, Honestly, it's fun stuff. I love going out
and having a fun time and a fun meal, celebrating
an incredible family member or a friend.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
That's all fun.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
But I notice a certain segment of society out there,
and it's coming back at me via our listeners as well.
Our listeners are saying, oh, my god, I love my
family so much. I got this one cousin, though, keeps
taking pictures of their food and these fancy swank restaurants,
And the next day we get together. He's talking about
how brokey is that kind of thing. That's the kind
of thing I'm talking about. You're looking. You're driving to
(05:27):
work in your clunker the way I do, my beloved
blue Bomber. You guys know this car, my blue station wagon.
There are no more blue station wagons on the road,
very very few, and I get waves from some people.
This thing runs. It's going to keep running forever. Very
basic car. There's no TV that pops down from the
back of the you know, for this back of the ceiling.
It has power windows, which I'm very proud of. Other
(05:48):
than that, it's old school and I absolutely adore it.
I drive it to impress me. I drive it because
we bought it with cash for very few dollars, I
mean less than five grand and this was years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
And it runs like a dream with basic maintenance. Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
I wear the clothes that I wear because they're comfortable
because I got them all on Crik's List for about
ninety five percent off. They're stylish without being crazy over stylish.
I have this summer, guys, my summer birthday's coming up.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
All of the friends that I.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Know my age spend about ten times as much on
makeup as I do now. I'm not ready to walk
down the catwalk on the Miss America contest or, right,
that's just not going to happen. But I feel very
comfortable in my own skin every decision I make. I'm
not some misperfection when it comes to personal finance.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Give me a break.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
My biggest lessons that I learned, I learned the hard way,
just like everybody else out there. You know, no one's
born with the brilliant knowledge on how to save money.
You learn through all the hard knocks, and you learn
through all the hard lessons, and you lose tons of
money along the way, but you find yourself on a
path sooner or later where you are getting exactly where
you want to be in your personal finance goals. You're
(06:56):
getting your house paid off, your credit card balance is
zero each month, you have everything paid off. It's just
an amazing feeling to wake up in the morning and
know that your hard work is translating into complete financial
freedom for you and your family. When's the last time
you got up and realized that you were working just
for you, not for a credit card company, not for
(07:17):
a car payment, not for you know, the fancy schmancy
restaurants or even the fancy schmancy grocery stores. Can I
put that out there for a minute. You were working
just for you. Stop trying to impress other people.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
That is the number one rule, not just of me,
but I'm talking huge self made personal finance success stories.
Truck drivers and school teachers and people who are not
bringing in a huge salary and they are retiring with
solid six figure retirement accounts that they're going to live
(07:50):
off of. I know people making six figures now well
into the six figures that have zippo saved for the future.
Why Because the vast majority of the time they're trying
to impress other people rather than impressing themselves. And there's
a psychiatry behind that that's just too deep for me
to grasp.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
But honest to God, we don't need to grasp it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
It's a simple fact. A lot of us go out
there and we do it. And let's be honest, when
we first go out in the world, we're in our twenties,
maybe our thirties, you know that kind of thing. You're
maybe you're not married yet, you don't have a family yet,
and you're going out there. You're kind of having some
fun with your own money for the first time. I
love that. I dig that. That is all very very cool.
It's something all of us go through. It's very liberating
(08:33):
and enlightening and educational. When my kids get to that phase,
you know, a decade or two from now, they will
also have in their brain data banks the knowledge on
how to save money and buckle down and get it
taken care of later on down the road too. That's
what you want. That's the kind of balance that you're
looking for. So when people were telling me, and a
(08:53):
lot of them went into serious, deep detail about their
upbringing and their lifestyle, it's fantastic. I love the underlying
message with this. Stop trying to impress other people. That's
the number one rule of a vast majority of self
made personal finance success stories. And at first glance that
rule might seem obvious or easy. But step back for
(09:15):
a moment and think about all of your purchases and
all of my purchases through the lens of how that
purchase is intended to make you appear in the eyes
of others. Are you buying books to impress your friends?
Do you buy clothes to look good to others, beyond
the basic dress code of your workplace or your comfort
clothes at home. Here's the big thing, buying things to
(09:37):
impress other people. The gadgets, Holy God, the gadgets of
people are buying these days. Have you ever bought the
obvious a phone with the thought of how others will
be impressed by it? Okay, that one move alone in
my household. I've got a track phone. I proudly carry
a track phone. I've got phone service everywhere. It piggybacks
(09:58):
on every single phone system out there. Okay, I can text,
I can email, I can log onto all the websites.
I can make calls from anywhere. I can make texts
from anywhere. I can take videos. I can take pictures.
I've taken thousands of pictures. I can do map quest.
I can get from point A to point B on
my phone. I can do all this. It cost me
(10:19):
five bucks a month. It cost me five bucks a month.
My track phone. I adore it. I am talking to people.
I get so many wonderful emails from people who are
just pouring their hearts out with regards to all that
they spend. The first thing I talk about what's your
phone cost and I get dead silence? Hundreds of dollars
a month, thousands of dollars a year. You know what
(10:41):
that turns into in five ten years, a down payment
on a house, zero credit card debt. You know what
I'm talking about. Tony's giving me the wave. Here, guys,
hang out for a second. We get back the go
to moves that people near you have done to make
their financial dreams of reality. Right after this, and we
(11:05):
are back with the Christian and Agopian Show. Talking today
about your plans for retirement. Sounds kind of dry and boring.
But you know what's not dry and boring retiring with
this huge, fat amount of money in savings that lets.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
You live a lifestyle that you deserve. That's what I'm
talking about.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
And whether you're listening in your twenties, in your nineties,
somewhere in between, you've got retirement plans. Whether you say
them out loud or not, you don't have to say
them out loud. I'm going to say them out loud
for you. When I connect with people, it's always a
magic number, a million dollars in the bank. Sometimes some
people like I love them when they say I'd love
to have a half million in the bank, very doable.
(11:44):
I don't know your age, you know my age, and
I'm here to tell you that if you're starting at fifty,
starting at twenty, starting at seventies, starting it later, there
are tips and tricks and strategies you can put into
play that are going to make it far easier than
you ever thought possible. This is and this is info
and advice straight from middle income Americans who got it done.
(12:05):
And one of the biggest things they recommend, they talked
before the break, knock out that credit card debt.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You're better than that, You're above that.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
And why are you paying for these credit card companies
to ride around and stretch limos instead of keeping the
money in your bank account. Enough set about that. Next up,
the biggest tip from people who have gotten it done,
start early rather than later. If you're in your fifties,
start now. If you're in your twenties, start now. If
(12:33):
you're in your seventies, nothing is too late. Start now.
Here's some numbers you ready for this, here's the dream
boat numbers. First of all, is I talk about my
own kids. They're in their high school. Starting very early
with them, people are already talking about college plans for
their kids as well.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
They should be.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Here's some interesting ways to use that money. If you
were one of the Americans out there that have maybe
a couple couple of shillings put together for your kids' education,
you're wondering the best place to put them. You guys
already know I'm a huge fan of the smaller satellite campuses.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
The community college.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Is that kind of thing very easy for the kids
to handle their own school debt. It's a great way
to kind of introduce them into paying off debt. What then,
do you do with say the ten thousand you have
saved up you were thinking about allocating for the kids,
Think about putting it into a retirement account for them.
Do you want to know the beauty of compound interest?
(13:26):
Here are some delicious, downright sexy numbers. Okay, throwing them
out there. Say you've got twenty five grand ready to go.
Maybe that's Pine the s guy. Maybe it's not a
lot of people I know they have the means to
put together twenty five grands for their kids college education.
They go to a community college instead, graduate with zero debt,
go to work right away. Fantastic careers you put that
(13:48):
twenty five grand into a standard six and a half
percent fund, which is what historically it's getting. You start
that fund at twenty one, and you don't add another
penny ever. You do that at twenty one. By the
time your kids retire at age seventy, that twenty five grand,
(14:08):
which would maybe pay for a half a semester at
some of the price yer over price schools out there,
That twenty five grand at a standard six point five percent.
You put it into an account when they're twenty one.
They take it out when you're when they're seventy six
hundred fifty thousand dollars. That's the power of compound interest.
Do you want to start a little later. Maybe you
(14:30):
started at fifty. Maybe you've been you know, you've been
to college. Maybe you went and did other things. You've
got debt going on, you're fifty years old. You're thinking,
there's nothing I can do. That is crap. You want
to try something else. Say you're starting at fifty years old,
you put a very reasonable amount of two hundred bucks
a month into an account like this at six point
five percent. Thirty years later, maybe you're retiring in your eighties.
(14:52):
That's going to be two hundred twenty five two hundred
twenty five thousand dollars, two hundred dollars a month starting
when you're fifty, and I'm sorry, just about everybody out
there can do two hundred bucks a month, all right,
when you're fifty, the grownups put in at least two
hundred a month at six point five percent, that's about
a quarter million. You want to go a little more
grown up style and say you're starting at fifty, you
(15:15):
don't have a penny in the bank yet, or the
people you love don't have a penny in the bank yet.
You go to five hundred dollars a month, just taken
straight off your pay straight into this untouchable account, making
this standard average of six point five percent, that in
just a few years is five hundred thousand dollars. All right,
You start when you're fifty, leave it in there for
(15:36):
three decades, because I hate to tell you if you're
not if you're not saving anything right now at age fifty,
you will be working until at least age eight. I'm
planning on working till at least age eight, and I've
got my ducks. Someone in a decent row regarding finances.
You just want to stay in the workforce. But what
you want as you stay in the workforce is the
solid knowledge that at age eighty you can stop being
(15:59):
in the workforce. And if you don't have a penny saved,
and you're at age fifty right now or close to it,
five hundred bucks a month put into an account. You
keep it in there for thirty years. You keep going
each month, five hundred a month, five hundred thousand dollars.
That's a beautiful thing. And you want to up your
game just a little bit. You want to go big
or go home. You want to cut out the dinners out.
(16:20):
You want to cut out the pricey vacations and go
for something a little more standard. You want to drive
your car a few more years rather than go out
and buy a new one. And you want to go
big with one thousand dollars a month starting at age fifty.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
All right, imagine if you start earlier. Gang.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
I'm just talking age fifty because that's my age right now.
And I know a heck of a lot of people,
good people, hardworking, unbelievable people who don't have a penny
save for retirement. They're putting that oxygen mask on everybody
else's face in case of emergency before they put on
their own and they're getting ready to financially pass out.
Don't pass out, guys, put the mask on your own face,
(16:57):
and for the sake of your kids in the next generation,
taking care of your own retirement. Here's how you do it.
Go bigger, go home, guys. One thousand dollars a month.
That's thirty bucks a day. That's one leg. You know,
you don't buy the car so quickly. You don't go
out to the expensive vacations. You don't buy the crazy
dinners out every week like so many people I know
and love do. A thousand dollars a month, you got
(17:20):
nothing saved age fifty one thousand dollars a month for
thirty years. That's going to bring you to a cool
one point one million dollars in just a few short decades.
You and I both know how fast the last few
decades have flown by. The next ones are gonna fly
by even faster. You want to be in the cap
bird seat. Put pen to paper, Drive to the bank
(17:42):
that needs you far more than you need it. Put
it to work, making your hard earned money grow. You
deserve it. The next generation deserves it. Put your money
to work for you, not at the you know, not
at the oh, god, you name it. How many things
are we all wasting money on. We've all done it,
and that's not going to lead to a solid retirement.
(18:02):
The very people who turned a middle class income over
decades into a million dollar, sometimes multimillion dollar retirement, this
is their advice. When they've done it, they've gotten it done.
That's what you got to do. Next up, somewhat related,
take advantage of your retirement plans. A lot of people
out there know everything about cars or cooking, or kids,
(18:25):
or landscaping or whatever it is, and they're too shy
to pick up the phone or go to maybe their
company's you know whatever counselor or financial counselor you've got there,
and they're too shy or nervous about asking about retirement plans.
Go to your bank and talk about a retirement plan.
Because all of these numbers I've been throwing out of you,
that's just standard savings accounts. You want to know something
(18:47):
that's going to goose your investment huge. Let's talk about
a four h one K where not only are you
putting money in there, your employer is matching part of it.
It's free money. Not only is it free money from
your employer, it's free money combined with compound interest. I'm
gonna say that again because it feels so good. Free
(19:10):
money from your employer combined with compound interest. You want
to get to that million dollar retirement just a little faster,
just you know, put down the shy button, march into
whatever bank or counselor or what our HR director because
they live for this crap, and get your money in
(19:31):
line to work its butt off for you the way
you do for it, and get the absolute gas pedal
floored on this million dollar retirement. And I want to
hear from you guys too if you've got go to
moves that maybe everybody should know about but doesn't find
me Brilliant approvalliving dot com. And we are back with
(20:07):
a Christen Egopian show. And I have been looking so
forward to our next guest. You have seen and heard
him in too many fantastic roles to count, and I
put the word out about interviewing him again, and my
social media just absolutely blew up. Joe Montana joins this
VR newsmaker line to tell us more about his role
(20:28):
in co hosting I love this show, guys, the upcoming
PBS National Memorial Day Concert.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Joe, welcome, Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
Thanks for having me on once again.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Well you've got a busy schedule. Thanks for joining us.
And I briefly mentioned it before. When I bragged on
social media about having you on, it exploded.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
You are so beloved.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I had people sending in their favorite quotes of years
from The Money Pit and quotes from Criminal Minds and
The Godfather three. I went on and on to coast.
People love you, and they are delighted that they'll be
able to see you and so many others at this
year's annual National Memorial Day Concert. It's going to be amazing. Again,
tell your fans a bit more about the upcoming concert
(21:12):
if you would.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
Well, you know, this is I think it's like my
twenty third consecutive year doing this. I did the first
one in two thousand and two, and all I can
say is that, as I've said often, it's the most
important thing I do every year. It is. It is
a I think it's the best way to explain what
Memorial is. And all I would do is I would.
I would just recommend that people carve out your Memorial
(21:35):
Day and do the things you do. Have your barbecue,
watch the Indianapolis five hundred, have your family friends over
enjoy the day. But carve out ninety minutes and catch
up an airing of this concert because you don't do
it live, you know, on the West London Capitol, which
we'll do on Sunday to Sunday the day before Martley,
but they'll also be repeated showings of it. You watch
(21:56):
this concert and you'll understand why I firmly believe that
Memorial Day is the most important holiday we celebrate in
this country because it is the one that allows us
to have all the other holidays in this country. And
so it's a combination of music, of dramatic readings of
it's just the whole thing, the fact that it's done
(22:17):
on the West Launda Capital, and it's got nothing to
do with politics. It's all just about the service of
our men and women throughout the history of this country,
which has allowed us to be the country that we
live in, you know what I mean. And look, we're
not a perfect you know, as much as we say,
you know, to have a more perfect union. We've never
been a perfect union, but we try in every day,
(22:39):
every year, every you know, every hundred years. You know,
we're a very young country as countries go on this planet.
But we due to the sacrifices of these men and
women throughout our history, we're still here and we're still
in We're still at the top of the ladder of
in terms of we're still a beacon of light for many,
many other people in this planet. And these are the
(23:01):
sacrifices that allow us to have that position.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Oh amen to that. And I'm writing notes. I started
off writing notes as you're talking, scribbling furiously, and finally
I just put the pen down because you just you
nailed it. I come from a long line of proud veterans,
and your words are so spot on. Without Memorial Day,
none of the other ones are really possible. And we
think and are so grateful to all of our veterans.
(23:24):
And when again, when I was bragging about having you
on one last note on name dropping, when I was
mentioning today's interview, I had the most charming response from
a listener in Salt Lake City who mentioned that they
of course loved you and everything, but they were also
a fan of the sitcom The Middle something I've watched
too many years to count. And Trina from Salt Lake,
(23:46):
Hello to you, dear, mentioned that one of her favorite
characters in it, Devin Levin, was actually your daughter, and
that never clicked for me, and that I watched it again,
I'm like, oh, my god, of course that's a starter.
I've watched every episode of that fabulous show.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Never knew that.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
How is your family doing as we prep for another summer?
Any fun family summer projects planned? I always have a
long list of projects and maybe get ten percent of
them done.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
Yeah, there you go. Well, ironically you mentioned my daughter.
That's my daughter Gia, and ironically she'll be with me
and that Memorial Day weekend, her and her boyfriend will
be you know, her boyfriend h We adore him and
we took him with us last year and he had
never been to Washington, d C. Before and so when
(24:32):
he was so taken by the concert that when I
gave them both my daughter Ga and he the opportunity
to once again, Hey, you want to come again this
year because it has to be a quick trip from him,
because I'll actually be in production for Criminal Minds, and
so I'm just going to be flying in doing the
concert and flying out. They said, no, we're in absolutely,
you know, we want to be part of that. The
concert is so important, has become so important to them.
(24:54):
You know. My daughter's been doing it, like I said,
for most of her life, and as I was aware
of it. But this this young man, you know, once
he experienced it last year, it just kind of blew
him away. And have the opportunity to be there once again,
you know, you know, in person and experience it with
something they really want to do. So Devin Levin will
(25:14):
be there with me, her boyfriend, and will experience of
course my wife and another daughter of it. Because the
trip is going to be so quickly, they're not going
to make the trip this year, but I'll of course
be watching as well.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Oh that's brilliant.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Well, Please let her know that we're a fan of
hers as well. And now the last.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Time you and I spoke, God, it feels like it
was a blink ago, but it was years ago. We
were deep in COVID gear, couldn't do the concert live.
You know, it is what it is. It was still superb,
but it's always so special with everybody there in person.
You're going to be right there on the west lawn
of the US Capitol. I mean, there's just no better
gorgeous backdrop, and you and your partner in crime, Gary Sinise,
(25:58):
who we also adore, will be keeping things running smoothly.
And one of the aspects so many of us appreciate
is your tribute to our military heroes and America's gold
Star families.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
God bless them all.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
And I heard it's amazing you guys were You're sharing
the story of a US Marine veteran who fought at
the bloody thirty six day Battle of Ewajima, which is
just incredible. We all learned about it in school, but
how many of us have you know, a deeper knowledge
of it like you do.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
As well as the fifty.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Year commemorations of the Vietnam War, so many of us
no family and friends who served in those eras as well.
Tell us a bit about I don't know, maybe the
stories that perhaps touched you the most.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
Yeah, I mean, as usual, there's going to be moments
when you watch this show that you're just going to
you won't be able to control yourself because the tears
will come because you're going to hear them. I am.
This is not a script, this is not make believe.
I realized that what I did the first time I
did the cost when I was on that stage, and
as you said, with that backdop here, I am looking
at something. Sometimes we get a quarter of a million
(27:06):
people show up for this concert, and behind them, all
behind this massive humanity, stands the Ulice Capital with the
flag flying on top of it. And behind me I
have the Washington National Orchestra playing you know, movie kinds
of music. And I almost levitate off the stage when
(27:28):
I'm up there, because it's it's that thing of like
I'm not I'm not doing the performance here, I'm recounting
history and this is And so the stories you will
hear at the concert will be those those kinds of stories,
like you said in particular. So you'll have one of
the ones will be a gold star family about a
gold star wife and she tells her story. Gretsen Mall,
(27:50):
the actress, will be doing that. That's an incredible story
about the sacrifices her husband made and how she can
carries on in such a noble way with her two
her two sons, and what she does to give back,
and we have like Robert Patrick telling the story about
you know, based on the experiences of love, as you said,
(28:11):
of somebody would participated in the Battle of the Regima.
Uh So it's these these stories. Again, it's not that
this doesn't make believe, This isn't This isn't a TV
you know war movie. Uh you know a film about
about it. This is the real deal. So to be
able to see these stories being told that we count
(28:32):
these real historical moments and the lives of the real
people and many instances, but those people are there, you know,
those moments when we get to often come off the
stage and greet the people that we're talking about. I
can't even I can't even explain the emotions that that creates,
not just with ourselves but anybody who's watching the show
(28:54):
because they realized this is the real deal. This isn't.
This doesn't make believe. This is part of our history
and such a vital part of it.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Oh it is.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
And you know, and you touched on something so important there,
because not only does it check so many boxes for me,
the entertainment is top notch, and I love the patriotic
We don't have enough of these wonderful patriotic shows.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I feel like we could use more.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
But in all seriousness, you know, every time I think
of myself as a really you know, I'm a top
notch American. Look at me, paying my taxes and keeping
my mailbox painted and you know, being a law abiding citizen.
And then I watch and I see the sacrifices that
so many other Americans have made so that I could
live in this great country, and I just I walk away,
like God, I suck. I mean, you want to you
want to reapply yourself just a little bit more to
(29:39):
getting some stuff done. And I sure you must hear
that kind of feedback from other people as well, and
I knew the time would fly. Joe Montana, this is fantastic.
Always great to connect with you guys. Set your DVRs
for PBS this Sunday, May twenty fifth, eight pm. Joe,
thank you so much for all that you do to
help honor our troops. It is noticed, it is it
(29:59):
is so a pre shiated, it is loved. Have a
fantastic time at this year's show. All the best to
you and your amazing family, and you've got an open
mic anytime, please join us whenever you wish.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Thanks so much much, pleasures, you've.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Bet we'll be right back gang right after this small
and not to.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
The best of all.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And we are back with the Kristen a Goopian show.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
And I've been looking so forward to our next guest
because so many of us have people we care about,
you know, maybe people we work with, or neighbors, or
perhaps even people in our family tree who are living
with ADHD. And as more and more of a spotlight
gets shined on this condition, you know, as we all
(31:01):
learn more about it, we learn that people with ADHD
often face unique struggles that can contribute to the development
or you know, maybe just exacerbation of other conditions, you know,
maybe perhaps mood or anxiety disorders, even substance abuse disorders.
But knowledge is power, and joining us via our Newsmaker line,
(31:24):
we have doctor Greg Chepke joining us to tell us
the latest advancements in the treatment of ADHD just amazing.
So it can serve as a further tool we can
all use for understanding and empathy and support. Doctor Chepke, welcome,
Thank you so much for having me today. So doctor Chepke,
people hear the phrase ADHD, people of all ages, and
(31:48):
for all of our advanced awareness of it, compared to
even you know, just one generation ago, there is still
so much misunderstanding about the condition. So first off, if
you would please take a minute to just define ADHD
and perhaps those that are living with it right now.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Sure thing. So ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
It replaces a similar term that is very commonly known ADD,
so ADD is kind of an obsolete term. We now
call it ADHD. And so it has three different symptom clusters.
Two are obvious from the name attention, but it's called deficit,
but really it's that they either can't focus enough on
(32:28):
things they're supposed to or focus too much on things
they shouldn't be focusing on. So it's really a dysregulated attention.
And I think the other is hyperactivity. Now not everyone
has equal portions of both. Some people are more weighted inattentive,
some are more weighted to hyperactivity, or that some people
do have both equally. And then the third symptom cluster
that didn't make the name but is still very important
is impulsivity. So both a verbal impulsivity people who don't
(32:52):
have a filter, and that gets them into trouble, or
it could be physical impulsivity doing dangerous or reckless things,
could be getting into fights, things of that nature. But
all of those three symptom clusters are very problematic for
those who live with them.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, it's so true, and you touch on something so
important there that I want to kind of revisit just
a little bit, because even in this advanced day and age,
there is still so much misinformation out there. Talk to
our listeners a bit about the possible stigmas that a
person with ADHD, even in these advanced times, you know,
(33:27):
what they can face in their lives right now.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
Yeah, that's a great question. I get asked quite a bit.
And we don't believe it's that there are more people
with ADHD, that there's some increase in the medically, people
are changing, anything like that.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
It's just that.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
There's an increased awareness of it now that we're looking
for it more, especially in women and girls, when it
used to be considered mostly a diagnosis that was for
young boys. And furthermore, with greater understanding of the science,
we realize now that kids don't grow out of it
when they get to be teams. Teens don't usually grow
out of it when they become an adults, it just
(34:01):
does generally persist like something along the lines of other
things that we know are enduring, like autism or dyslexia,
and so the combination of those two factors, the diagnosis
is being made more often. But it's just that we're
diagnosing those appropriately who just would not have gotten diagnosed
to generation ago.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
So people are tuning into you right now. They're listening
to you right now, and they may be thinking, Okay,
you know, he's describing someone close to me that maybe
exhibiting some of those exact symptoms. You know, they don't
know if it's simply a mood, maybe it's something deeper.
So you've got our listeners out there. They're not professionals.
(34:39):
I'm not a professional. You are. When is the right
time to take that next step, you know, to consult
with the doctor, a professional and maybe see if a
more pronounced diagnosis is called for. You know, when does
that moment occur?
Speaker 5 (34:55):
I'm really glad you asked that, because the answer is,
as soon as they have that thought that they are
a loved one could exhibiting ADHD or some other mental condition.
Because all too often, I certainly see this in my
own practice. People wait and wait and wait until they're
on the on the edge of a cliff that they
may When I see adults, it might be that they
are about to lose their job, lose their marriage, kids,
(35:17):
might be about to fail out of school, things of
that nature. And don't wait to the last minute. If
anyone's listening, who is in this boat. As soon as
you have these concerns, go and speak with a healthcare professional.
And it may be ADHD, it may be ADHD plus
something like anxiety or mood issues, because eighty percent of
people with ADHD do tend to have more than at
least one other diagnosis. But or it could be that
(35:40):
they have a depression by poor disorder or anxiety and
that is causing the problems with focusing and it's not
ADHD at all. So a healthcare professional is the person
who can help sort all that out and make sure
the right diagnosis is made and the right treatment plan
is initiated.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Okay, So now we have people listening and they're going
to take your advice. They're putting pen to paper, they're
going to start researching some doctors. They're going to maybe
talk to friends and loved ones, maybe some relatives as well,
and they're finally getting ready and they want to prep
to speak with this doctor. What are some of the
topics that you want to discuss with your doctors when
(36:18):
you're receiving treatment for ADHD, when you're just starting on
that path. What are some of the questions that they
should be asking, What are some of the things that
they should be talking about with them, you know, paint
a picture for us how that conversation should go.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
Absolutely so, it's so important to talk to your healthcare
provider about your specific treatment plan because it can include
things like therapy, ADHD coaching and for some medication and
there's many choices out there, but for my patient's one
treatment that's been effective for many of them is called
a staris. It's a proof for people ages six years
and up through adulthood, and it's the first and only
ADHD treatment to combine two forms of medication, which let's
(36:53):
it take effect quickly in the morning to control the
symptoms throughout the day and we're off gradually in the evening.
I just want to make sure everyone's aware. Seeenes stimulants
like as stars have a boxed warning for a high
potential for abuse, misuse and addiction. People who take a
Stars should be monitor for serious cardiovascular or circulatory side effects,
picks and slulling of growth and children. The Stars may
couser worse than certain psychiatric symptoms, so it's important to
(37:14):
talk to your own healthcare provider about all the potential
risk and benefits. To find out more information about ADHD
and the Stars, you can visit www dot s Stars
dot com, a Z S T A r y s
dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Absolutely, we will put links to all of that important
information on our website and our social media as well.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Doctor.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
I love having you on for these types of important topics.
You really know how to explain it in a way
that all of our listeners coast to coast, myself included,
can take it in and can perhaps help a loved
one with it.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
This is great stuff.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
You've got an open mic anytime. Please do join us
again and you Ken, we'd love to have you back.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
My pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
You bet until next week, save those pennies, pay with
cash and you all stay frugal out there.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
I'm not to steal the best of all chips. Cheap
circumstance suppose my hand to be a combat person and
a little body learn sign by we also FA. I
just gotta learn to recall my I'm a love badget.
(38:28):
I'm a love I'm not a sheep. You understand. I'm
just a cut last person and a low badget
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