Kristen Hagopian Show - 07.16.2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Holy Everybody. Welcome to the Christin Agopian Show. Shout outs
from everybody here in Studio B as we connect with
our two hundred plus stations coast to coast via the
BIZ Talk Radio and BBS Radio Networks. Greetings to you all.
This week's show is brought to you by our caring
sponsors at Elite Rehab Guys, because everyone, everyone knows a

(00:24):
family that is fighting the effects of today's substance abuse epidemic.
Every generation had something to fight, whether it was polio
or with some other ailment, some other thing affecting that generation.
This one, it's the substance abuse epidemic. And if you
or someone you care about needs help, pick up the phone.
Help is waiting. Call the professionals at eight hundred nine

(00:46):
three two for zero A two. That's eight hundred nine
three two for zero a two. Help the ones you
love put that chapter behind them. Eight hundred nine three
two four zero A two. Sitting here with my caramel
macchiato with a little too much heavy cream, and I
say that is a good things, staying good. Got this

(01:07):
lower voice thing going on right now. We just came
back from traveling, had a fantastic time my voice is
just it's crazy low. It was so worn out. We
laughed till we were sick. We were with family and friends,
had a great time. So now this week you've got
the Demi Moore voice and joy frugal related headline number one.

(01:27):
And I got more comments on this than I thought
I would. The lady in Australia, beautiful, young lady, gorgeous,
she passed away after the extreme protein dieting she was doing.
I got a few comments on this. This was, first
of all, so sad. It started off so good. This
young lady, a new mom god bless, was trying to
get back in shape, got into the fitness craze, which

(01:48):
is good, so many great things from that. Upped her
protein intake another good thing, lowered her sugar intake, also
very very good, and then started to overdo on the
protein shakes that is what they're blaming on this, which
are great in moderation, but you can't overdo it. It's
like anything else in life. My big takeaway from this

(02:09):
and the frugal message is thank goodness, it's an easily
avoided danger. And another takeaway these protein powders. I've used
them myself a good number of times I'll stir the
protein powders like into my coffee and stuff. It's not
what you want to power your entire life. It's meant
to accent it. Go for the regular proteins that your

(02:31):
body can handle. Here's the frugal tie in. They're far
less expensive. The turkey, the eggs, the lean hamburger that
you buy in bulk when it goes on sale. All
of that, your body can recognize it better and take
it easy. Like any fad of any kind, whether it's
clothes or cars, or shoes or house designs. I think

(02:54):
the nineteen seventies avocado appliances. We all know somebody who
still has one of those. Never survive the long term. Okay,
keep it old school. Cook up an egg on your
still functioning, fabulous avocado stove, or maybe your stove is
in mustard yellow. You get the point. Keep everything in perspective.
It's less expensive, it's healthier, it is much much more sustainable.

(03:20):
Lowering your weight is honestly just like lowering your debt.
There are no quick fixes. They don't exist. Now listen
to me preaching here when it comes to lowering your debt.
I'm your gal lowering your weight. Run in the opposite
direction if I start giving you some advice on that,
because I got to practice more what I preach on that.
But in all seriousness, if you're keeping it old school

(03:43):
and you keep your head and you keep your patience
when it comes to your weight and your finances, there
are no quick fix. Take your time and you will,
you will, you will get the results you need. I
got an interesting note one of the reasons I bring
up this whole subject matter to begin with. Doctor Nika Jay, Indianapolis,

(04:06):
chimed in via email, Nica, thank you so much, a
very long email. I'm gonna summarize it. He has some
great comments, saying, flat out, this is so brilliant. If
it's a food source that didn't exist one hundred years
ago or more before the big explosion of machine made
expensive machine made products, I might add, you want to

(04:27):
keep those to a minimum. Keep it to the food
sources that existed one hundred years ago or more, the
complex carbs, with the multi grains and the vegetables and
the fruit and the lean proteins, and some dairy thrown
in there. If your body tolerates dairy, well, don't I
sound like an old lady. When I talk like that,
nobody gets me here in the studio. But in all honesty,

(04:49):
if it's food that existed one hundred years ago, go
for that. Find those items on sale. They go for
sale far more often than you might think. Stock up
on those for you, for your health, for your family's health,
and you're gonna find, you know my earlier comments, eggs,
high fiber fruits and veggies, the meats, the high fiber carbs.
That's what you want to lean into. Why because not

(05:11):
only of course, it saves you money, because those convenience
products are so hugely expensive per ounce. Just do a
little bit of you know, cost comparison, but it's gonna
save your health, and based on today's headlines, it may
just save your life. So frugal on with that one.
Next up, this week's Craig's List update. I got so many,

(05:31):
so many comments on this on social media. I got
some text regarding this, I got some great emails. I
am still working on the gray bathroom upstairs. It is
a huge bathroom in my Victorian fixer upper, so it
needs some furniture to flesh it out a bit. And
when I'm learning time and again. I got to stop
being so shocked by this, by how flippin' expensive furniture is.

(05:53):
It's ridiculous now in this bathroom, in this huge, oversized bathroom,
it used to be a different type of room than
in the fourties. Long before we owned it. It got
converted into a larger kind of bathroom. It's just a
thirty eight inch sink in there, but it works well
because the towel racks, you know, on the tile, to
the left and right. It balances it out. I got
great comments on last week's faux marble vanity makeover. I

(06:18):
took our truly ugly, ugly capital u ugly yet functional,
therefore we still love it Old English the heck out
of the sides, and it brought back the grain so beautifully.
Talk about old school Old English absolutely rocks. I just
love that stuff, the dings and the dense and the chunks,
the little things out of it. Old English, Old English,

(06:40):
a baby, you will love it. Then I took my
rolls of beloved faue marble contact paper, which I'm coming
to adore more and more and more, used it on
the Ugly seventies for Micah, Fake yet still tough and
rugged sink top, added some new pulls to the front cabinets.
It came out great. Guys, If you want to freshen

(07:01):
up some part of your house and you're thinking, I
need a new piece of furniture here, you know, you're
just dreaming about it. But then with like a thunderbolt,
you realize that you want the same size and dimension
on the next piece of furniture as you have. Right now,
take a good hard look at your existing piece, and

(07:21):
then put on your bold imagination cap, all right, and
realize that there are some spectacular products out there, new products,
products that didn't even exist, you know, ten years ago,
five years ago. The paints, the stains, the varnishes, the
contact paper. You know, I was gonna throw that in there.
Products you may not have even heard of that can

(07:43):
transform that old piece like you would not believe. I
took a crummy, truly crumby, yet functional, ugly old seventies
vanity and sink, and it's now exactly what I wanted
to buy. It looks antique, it looks Victorian, it looks fantastic,
and I did it for less than ten bucks. When

(08:04):
these new vanities out there, with a straight face, they're
saying that they would charge me like five hundred, seven
hundred ridiculous amounts. We did it for less than ten bucks,
all right, Susan T I love you. Susan listening in
from La reminds me, and she is so right, holy crime,
and me that I didn't even take into consideration that
the instant you're trying to update or upgrade anything in

(08:27):
a bathroom or a kitchen or anywhere with plumbing included,
that you will, without a doubt, whether you're in new construction,
you're in an old Victorian, anywhere in between, you will
run into problems. If it's involving pipes or anything else
you know, leaks, new pieces that won't line up, you
name it. And now this product is costing you know,

(08:48):
the project's costing even more, and she is so right.
So again, if you can upgrade your existing pieces with
some of the new products out there, go for it.
So we have the SYNC done. I am so happy
with how this turned out. It's now looking like this
antique dark wood vanity covered with Italian marble, topped with

(09:08):
I barely mentioned this a gorgeous large antique gilded detailed
mirror boom malicious. It's fabulous. So now I am looking
for a nice what do they call it, like an armoire,
you know, a nice larger wardrobe on the other side
of the bathroom that I can keep towels in. That
sort of thing. Victorians were not known for their storage space.

(09:30):
You know why, because they didn't have as much crap
as we have today. They thought they had plenty of
storage space for their time and their era, and they did.
But now we have far more crap, so now we
have to find a place to store it. So we've
got tall ceilings in this house, so I can go
tall with this thing. I saw gorgeous arm wairs and
cabinets online, some new, some antique, all leaning towards the

(09:52):
I can't say it, all leaning towards like the five
hundred dollars in up category, So clearly no No. Got
back on the Craigslist and within twenty minutes found a
lovely tall, darker wood with a good number of scratches.
This thing's been through stuff. I love it. Great upper
section that opens up like a classic arm Moore, lots

(10:13):
of shelves. Lower part has big wide cabinets for additional
towels and the soaps you name it. I love it.
It's exactly what I need. I checked the dimensions and
it's going to work perfectly in the back of the
blue Bombers. So no additional charge to rent a U
haul go me and they're only asking forty bucks, which
my research tells me is more than reasonable. So by

(10:33):
the time this is going to air and you're listening
to this, it is mine. It is installed. I'm going
to stain the heck out of it with the fabulous
old English as marble accents. It is officially Ahgopian piece proovlom.
That's what I'm talking about. You guys, hang out for
a minute more after this.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Not too the.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
Best and we are back with the Christian Egopian Show.
And ever since I was a kid, you know, I
loved taking these personality quizzes, you know the ones I'm
talking about, like what kind of dresser are you? What

(11:20):
kind of a student are you? What kind of a
driver are you? It's like we're at a middle school
sleepover all over again. Right, Well, here's a question for you.
What kind of money person are you? You know, what's
your money personality? Because for a lot of hard working
people out there, and I'm talking all ages, all backgrounds.
It's time for a money reality quiz. Are you ready

(11:42):
for these numbers? Guys, you're not going to believe this.
According to a new bank Rate study, forty seven percent
of gen zers and fifty percent of millennials say money
has a negative effect on their mental health. And that's
not good. You know why, because money is just a
tool to get us from point A to point B

(12:03):
nothing more. A tool is something in control in your
hand to make your life what you want it to be.
It's nothing to fear. You have nothing to fear from
a hammer. You have nothing to fear from anything. It's
just nothing you want to give control over your life.
You know, you are the one in charge of your life.
Money is just a tool to get you where you
want to go and struggles with I'm talking basic budgeting guys.

(12:27):
Here something that's never taught in school. But that's a
conversation for another day, financial planning. You know something kids
aren't learning from their parents. You know, I was very lucky.
I learned buckets of it from my parents. But it's
not happening in a lot of households. You know, kids
now think that they are at the mercy of money
rather than the other way around. Not good because when

(12:48):
you feel like you're not in control of your finances,
your future, your life, that's a bad nose dive that
you got to throttle back from. And with that in mind,
who better to join us via our Newsmaker line and
Jessica Patel from Groove with an even deeper dive into
these crazy numbers and some outstanding tools and resources that

(13:08):
can turn these numbers around. Jessica welcome.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
Thank you Kristin for having me.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
It has to be a little crazy making for you
when you read these numbers. You know you're just as
deep into this subject matter as I am. You know
it's something we kind of both study. Give me a
feel for your take on this, and you know what
your thoughts are on the ripple effects. You know, how
does poor financial health affect people's lives in the workplace?

Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yeah, your workplace is so affected and impacted by your
financial well being, and people oftentimes don't even think that
it goes together. And part of the reason is because
they think that, well, I can't pay this bill at home,
I'm just going to go to work and make more money.
But if your car breaks down and you can't get
to work, then you can't you can't make that money right,

(13:52):
or if you are so stressed that it makes you
physically ill, then you can't go to work. So that's
a really big impact that people don't often can put
those connect those dots and put those things together so
that they see those two things. So if you're not
financially confident and confident and have that wherewithal, then you
can't be getting to that point where you need to

(14:13):
be financially.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, you're right, And you know there's so many moving
parts to that, Jessica, there's so many different facets of
all these kids growing up today. You know, I could
be dating myself. You know, I grew up in a
time where and a lot of people still are today.
But you know, by the time I was out of
high school, I knew how to check the oil on
the car. You know, I knew how to change a tire.
It would take me about ten times longer than any

(14:35):
competent person, but I knew how to do it right.
And they teach you your money lessons. There's nothing like
your parents or like a strong family figure to teach
you this stuff. A lot of people don't have those
blessings and that's okay. Those problems can be surmounted as well.
But when we're talking in school today, and this makes
me nuts, So don't get me off on too much
of a crazy tangent, talk me down out of my tree.

(14:55):
But in these high schools where we're teaching kids how
to put condoms on bananas, but we're not teaching them
how to bounce to checkbook, I feel like we're going
down kind of a slippery slope. But there's got to
be ways that we can pull out of this. And
it's not up to the you know, we don't think
it is, but you think it's not up to corporate
America to teach kids how to handle money or to
use it as a good tool. You know, higher institutions

(15:17):
of learning. By the time you're eighteen twenty, you know,
in your post high school stuff, a lot of these
lessons are already ingrained. But if you're going to try
to reverse some of this damage and some of this
kind of poor thinking, those are the places that are
stuck with the job. You know, how can corporate America
and higher institutions of learning, and they've got their own
agenda they're trying to make some money and they're trying
to stay you know, afloat. But how can they help

(15:38):
with educating younger people? What do you think their job
should be.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
I think it's a really important piece here, right when
you think about this financial literacy, whether it be in
high school, whether it be in college, whether it be
after college, If you don't have those that financial knowledge
and that financial wherewithal, you're not going to be able
to do the things that you need to do to
succeed right. And like you said, you can look on Google,
or you can hope that your parents taught you, but
if they didn't, where you're left and a lot of

(16:01):
times to check that box you're just given. Here's a
bunch of text, here's a book to learn, here's a
quick video to watch, but it's not engaging and it
doesn't actually teach you how to do the thing right.
It doesn't teach you. Here's how to go into a
bank and open up a bank account. Here's how to
understand your finances. Here's who you are emotionally with your money,
and this is why you're spending the way you are.

(16:24):
And that's where it gets really tricky. And so with groove,
like we've created a product that really helps individuals to
learn exactly what their need to learn when they need
to learn it, because it's nice to have a safe
place to go to ask that you don't feel that
less than kind of place. And with corporations and businesses
and universities, if they offer this to their students and

(16:45):
they offer this to their employees, they're going to be
in a better place because you're going to have employees
who are actually knowledgeable, who are more financially stable, and
who want to be there because you're really showing them
that you care in a deeper way than just checking
that box.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
It's so true, It totally is. And I'm taking notes
as we're talking here because you're bringing up so many
important points and the mission of your organization is daunting.
You know. I love a good challenge, but what you
are facing, you know, the tiger that you're facing is
really remarkable. So I tip my hat for you, you know,
going after it and making this your you know, the
new reality financial literacy. You know, learning it younger as

(17:21):
young as you can, but you know, thirties forties, that's
fine too. But the earlier you know it, I seem
to think that it has a ripple effect that is
so powerful. You know, the people who have financial literacy
are going to be you know, these young ladies and
young men are going to be far more likely to
start their own business, to own their own home, you know,
to buy a car rather than lease it, all these
various things. You must be getting remarkable feedback for your

(17:43):
efforts so far. What's been the general you know, come
back from the from the public on this.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yeah, you know, what we found so far is that
people because of the different way we go about it,
because it's not just learn this or this is a
really like in depth spreadsheet for Excel. It really has
allowed us to open it up in a different way.
And people feel less fear around money because there is
so much fear, like you said earlier, and their stress

(18:08):
and there's anxiety, and we take that away and we
give them a place where they feel welcome, that they
can learn at their own pace. And when they do that,
you create this shift. You create somebody who instead of
like shutting down when they think about money, they are open,
They want to learn more. They ask people. They don't
feel fearful or less them because they don't know something.

(18:28):
They now are equipped with the tools to ask. They're
setting up money habits. They're creating goals that they're achieving
and not unattainable goals like save twenty percent of your paycheck,
but like they went from saving nothing to saving one
percent or five percent. And that's a big shift for
somebody who's never saved anything before. Because getting people to
go from zero to twenty when they've never done it before,

(18:48):
or fill out that excessive Excel sheet is a really
big difference, right, And it's hard to make that giant leap,
but it's really great to start people on small steps outstanding.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
It's so true. And I'm ad libbing this this Chinese proverb,
but they say a journey of one thousand miles begins
with a single step. And if you're getting you know,
one percent saved, that is a huge boon down the road.
You know, you and I can talk about compound interest,
you know, till we're blue in the face. That's just
sexy talk for you and I. But a lot of
people don't have that down yet. And what you're doing

(19:18):
is going to have a ripple effect for generations to come.
It's remarkable. I knew the time would fly give us
a website where our listeners coast to coast can go
to to learn more about this wonderful.

Speaker 3 (19:27):
Yeah, you can go to groovemoney dot org to learn
more and feel free to reach out with any questions.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Jessica Ptel, You've got an open mic anytime. Please join
us again when you can and have a fabulous summer.
Thank you, you'd be the same.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
Kristin, thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
You bet, and we'll be right back gang right after this,
not too and we are back with the Kristin Agopian Show.

(20:00):
Have passed the hour. You know what that means. Time
for another fabulous episode of Dad and Daughter Talk Real
Estate with the man here in studio in person, John
Harriet here to break down all of this week's headlines
and how they translate into a fantastic, unbelievable real estate
market for you.

Speaker 4 (20:17):
And hello again everybody, This is John Harriet with Keller
Williams Real Estate with another edition Oh Dad and Daughter
Talk real Estate, trying to give you some good direction
on what you need to know and think about with
respect to making the biggest investment of most people's investment lifetimes.
And sometimes people will buy two and three houses, occasionally
four and five houses in a lifetime or more if

(20:39):
you're thinking about investing. But Chrissy, what have some of
our listeners been coming in with questions about for this
last week?

Speaker 1 (20:47):
We have the most awesome listeners and we get these
wonderful collections of emails, text that kind of thing. Mainly
it's via Facebook and emailing. Right now, three really jumped
out of me because you've got a lot of people
out there. You hear all of the various news out there.
We've got jobs numbers, we also have interest rates. First question,
which once should we go with? First? Here we go

(21:07):
James in Montgomeryville still concerned, and this is valid. There's
economic news out there, but he is still concerned about
a potential housing You don't want to say collapse, but
let's face it, that is what we came out of before.
And he just needs a little reassurance that the numbers
right now are going in a good direction to continue
the fabulous real estate market with no huge looming real

(21:30):
estate collapse on the horizon.

Speaker 4 (21:32):
And James, this was okay. James, listen to concern is
very very well placed because I remember I was in
the real estate business back in two thousand and eight.
I got into the real estate business in two thousand
and In two thousand and eight, we were all fat,
dumb and happy thinking this this this gravy traine is
going to go on forever and blow and behold it
blew up, and we were on a roller coaster down

(21:53):
for the next five six years. Took us until twenty
twelve twenty thirteen to hit the bottom and then begin
to recover. But that was all because the federal government
made it so easy to get mortgage loans. And one
of these days we'll devote a whole program to that.
But it was nothing wrong with the housing market other
than the federal government goose the money supply to a

(22:16):
point where it was totally irrational, and that's what caused
that bubble to collapse. One way to look at this
is mortgage debt out of control, Because mortgage debt getting
out of control back in two thousand and eight is
really what what caused the problem becasey. And if you
take a look at history back in back in two
thousand and seven, the first part of two thousand and eight,
and I'm going to get a little bit policy wonky

(22:38):
here and get a little bit out in the weeds
with some numbers, But in that period of time late
two thousand and seven early two thousand and eight, mortgage
debt household debt service requirements for mortgages expressed as a
percentage of disposable personal income, in other words, taken nationwide,
how much money were people making and how much money
did they have to put up for their debt service

(23:00):
us on the mortgages in order to keep them current.
That percentage was seven point two percent. Now, that may
not mean much, didn't mean much to me when I
first read this article as I was doing the research
for answering your question. But that was the highest that
it has ever been in the United States in our history,
seven point two percent of disposable income being required to

(23:20):
pay off mortgages and keep them current. Now, there were
some times that got up fairly high. Nineteen ninety one,
for example, got up as high as six point two percent.
Nineteen ninety eight got up as high as five point
five percent. But if you look at that bubble, that
peak in two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight,
which really precipitated this disastrous, disastrous fall that we had,

(23:41):
and it was disastrous. Kids not being able to go
to college, people being forced out of their homes, Lots
and lots of bad stuff. Now, if you look at
what percentage of disposable income is required to keep mortgages
current in the United States, that percentage is four point
twenty five percent, about three full percentage points lower than
the seven point two percent we had back in two

(24:02):
thousand and seven two thousand and eight, so that is well,
well well below the levels at which we saw back
in two thousand and seven. In two thousand and eight,
disposable personal income is up a lot higher now than
it has been for a number of years, and mortgages
are a lot more secure now than they have been
for a number of years. You know, the personal disposable
income needed to service mortgage debt in this country and

(24:25):
keep it current, it's only four and a quarter percent,
lowest in a long, long, long, long time. And it
is true by the way that corporate tax rates were cut.
And some people think that any corporate tax rate cut
is a giveaway to the rich. Well, guess what, folks.
Those rich folks running the corporations are the same ones
who take those increased profits and reinvest them for more jobs.

(24:45):
And the cumulative effect of those kinds of increased profits,
that kind of increased investment over a ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty,
and forty year period is immense, and any people who
do not understand that and recogniz as it are just
operating from a very very immense and arrogant form of
ignorance about basic economics. There I said it, I'll probably

(25:09):
making a few people mad, but that's exactly the way
I feel about it, because that's what we are. So anyway,
to the person who asked that question, is mortgage debt
getting out of hand? No, not yet. Now I would
still as listeners to this program, perhaps recall, I would
still love to see a system that we get back
to a system where mortgage lending decisions are made locally,

(25:30):
something like a savings loan association or a bank focused
on mortgage lending, where they evaluate the applicant and they
decide on the basis of is this person probably going
to be able to repay me? And then their profits
and loss and their corporate livelihood really depend upon how
many of those loans get repaid and get repaid on time.

(25:50):
Right now, the way it works is about ninety five
percent of all mortgage loans that are made. You may
think that you're getting a mortgage loan from Wells Fargo
Bank or Waterston owned Bank or the local lender at
Berkshire Hathaway. Not the way it works, folks. As soon
as that loan gets settled, that lender, that broker actually
resells it to Fanny mayor Freddie Mack. Most likely Fanny

(26:11):
mayor Freddie And right now, their standards are not all
that liberal. They're a little bit too liberal in some situations.
But as soon as the politicians think they can buy
your vote in mine by easing those mortgage standards, guess
what happens they will Yep. But for right now, I
don't see it. The disposable personal income is at a
level that it's very, very capable of supporting the mortgage

(26:32):
debt in the country. And I don't see any real
chance for a bubble like we had developing in the
past coming true right now. And I hope that's reassuring.
And if you'd like to discuss that anymore or see
some more information on it, please give us a call
to Dad and Daughter Talk real Estate hotline and say, hey, John,
I'd like to chat with you some more about the
real estate mortgage debt and how that's being handled in

(26:53):
the country, and Chrissy, give them that, give them that
number again.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Absolutely that number is four eight four five seven four
zero eight eights.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
You can also go to Dad and daughtertalkrealestate dot com.
None of that is going to cost you a cent.
I tell people I give advice. It's free. That is
actually worth something, and it is okay, And it is
now Christy, how much time we got left in this segment?

Speaker 1 (27:15):
There, Kittle, We have got about three minutes left in
the segment. Plenty of time for one more question. This one,
this one grabbed me. This is from Richard in Lansdale. Now,
he has several renters in his family trade, not a
lot of homeowners. He has, however, for a good while,
had a dream to own his own home. Now, of course,
you sit around the dinner table with a lot of
people who rent, wonderful, well meaning people, and you might

(27:37):
get the impression from them that it's smarter to rent
than to own. And he's listened to your show for
a bit, he'd love a little reassurance on that, especially
with all the latest numbers out there. Let's talk him
down out of his tree and tell him why now's
a great time to own?

Speaker 4 (27:49):
Okay, good and Richard was the fellow in Lansdale. Okay, Richard,
I've I'm actually working with a young couple now who
have a home, but for family reasons, they want to
move out of it get in a little different school district.
Plus the fellow's parents are moving in with him, and
the house is going to be a little bit too small,
and so they're looking at selling this house and moving

(28:12):
into a larger home. And one of the things they're
now considering is, since selling may take a while, even
though we're in a very fast market, is they're considering
renting their house out for three or four or five years.
And I've told them, based upon the projections I see
in three, four or five years, their house that's now
worth probably three hundred thousand dollars is probably going to

(28:33):
be worth forty fifty thousand dollars more than four or
five years, and that might be worth sitting around waiting
for it. And these people are qualified enough so they
could go out and buy another house and then rent
this one out. And I asked them the last time
we were together, I said, how much is your mortgage payment?
They said, well, it about two thousand dollars a month,
and we believe we can rent the house for twenty
five hundred dollars a month. So guess what, There you go,

(28:55):
There you go, holding out of the house, renting it
is probably going to generate about five hundred dollars a
month positive cash flow.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
Brilliant.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
Okay. Plus they still get to retain all of the
tax advantages of owning. They have a tax leverage investment.
And that's what people are going to find just about
no matter where they look, the cost of renting is
going to be equal to or greater than the cost
of owning your home. True, you do have to come
up with a down payment. Christy, I'm going to talk
about ways to really minimize that down payment so if

(29:24):
people want to get into a home they own.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
They can do it. That's fantastic and we will definitely
touch on that next week. The time has flown, Guys,
hang out for a second. We're going to take a
quick break, pay a couple of bills. More of the
Christy Topian Show right after this. The best of them all.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Just got well, understand.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
I excuse my shoes.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
They don't quite fit the special offer and they hoot
me a bit even houses. I'll give you the jew
still the sales, so I should.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
And we are back with the Christian the Gopian Show,
talking about all of the latest stone cold hard facts
out there, straight from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They
live to crank out these sort of numbers, and I
live to share them with you in a way that
sizes what you're doing is pretty darn good. However, if
you're like the I'm telling you right now, the BLS

(31:07):
is backing me up. The vast majority of Americans who
don't have anything close to what they want in their
bank accounts, or their retirement accounts, or their kids or
grandkids' college accounts. They thought they'd have their house paid
off by now, they thought they'd be retired by now. Whatever,
We are all feeling the same way. The vast majority
of people out there are wearing themselves out every single week,

(31:30):
not only with work, but with worry. And there's a serious,
serious backlash to that kind of thinking. There's a ripple
effect to when you are constantly stressed out. You know
when the I'm getting slightly off point here, but no
one should be surprised by this. You know when all
of the palaeontologists say that our fight or flight system
was meant to get us to race away from a threats.

(31:50):
It was meant to help save our lives. It was
meant to be, you know, do this adrenaline rush to
help us race away from some man eating dinosaur sized
cougar or whatever it is. Okay, now, we have currently
got a state of being where we get up in
the morning waiting for the man sized tiger to pounce
on us at any time. That's the way we're all
feeling these days. And the man sized tiger is debt

(32:12):
all right, and we can't escape it. Why because all
of our practices are putting us further into debt. Oh,
you know what, I'm going to take the guys out
for a drink after work. We deserve it. We're all
stressed out till the next morning when you're hungover and
even more stressed out because you're even more in debt.
You get the point. With that in mind, back on point,
back on topic, more net worth statistics. See if this

(32:33):
sounds like you. If it does, take it to heart.
Take it as a badge of honor because you and
your neighbor and the obnoxious co worker and the crazy
person down the street, and the people that you see
that you think they're walking around with the rolex because
they're super rich. Chances are outstanding that they are not.
Thirty one percent of people. This is according to the

(32:53):
Bureau of Labor Statistics. They ask so many people these
questions they pretty much lose count said their biggest obstacle.
Thirty one percent of Americans said their biggest obstacle to
savings was living paycheck to paycheck. That means seventy percent
of people aren't living paycheck to paycheck. But chances are outstanding.
They're close NEXTEP median retirement savings and this is in

(33:18):
like a four oh one K or an IRA, well
below the recommended retirement savings by age. Does this sound
like anyone you know? Okay, the average American household has
between the house that they own and retirement accounts has
about one hundred and eighty grand in net worth. All right,

(33:39):
median savings and retirement account balances. You've got people saying
in their forties fifty sixties, Oh, I've got a zillion
dollars in my account balance for my retirement account. No,
the median savings and retirement account balances twelve grand for
the average American household. I'm going to say that again.

(33:59):
Median safe and retirement account balance for the average American
twelve grand. All right, you're not alone in this, you guys.
But let's turn it around. The top one percent of households,
one percent of which I myself am not a member,
but I long it aspire to be one day. The
top one percent of households have average savings of over

(34:19):
two million. Good for them, man, you know why nobody
handed it to them. They earned it. They got it
on their own. The bottom twenty percent average, oh my god,
the bottom twenty percent of households one in five. The
bottom twenty percent have an average savings of eight grand.
The vast majority of us are somewhere in between. Twenty
one percent of Americans have zero retirement savings, one in five.

(34:43):
And we're talking about hard working people out there. Now,
what's the difference between the hardworking people who have no
retirement savings and the hard working people who do a
couple of frugal you know, tricks and tips and ideas
that I have proven time and time again guys that
our blue collar you know, we work hard we earn
what we can and we spend as little as possible

(35:05):
while still living a luxurious lifestyle. We have made every
misstep in the book, but you know what, we learned
from it and we didn't repeat it again. Okay, I
want you guys to have the same thing. Man I had.
People sending me texts and emails. They are in dire straits.
And we're not talking about people who threw their money,
you know, off of lab or whatever. Hey take it whatever.
These are people who had to spend money on unexpected expenses,

(35:29):
things to their house, things to their car, things for
their kids, things for their parents. These people are earning money,
it's just leaving their household far faster than it's coming in.
I dig it, I totally do. Here's where we turn
that around. One in four Americans see if it sounds
like you. If it doesn't, pat yourself on the back.
If it does, no, you're not alone. One in four

(35:49):
Americans say they flat out every month do not pay
their bills on time. Twenty nine percent of Americans are,
I'm happy to say, saving more now than a year ago.
Sixty one percent of Americans added to their credit card
debt in the last year added to their credit card
debt in the last year. Fifty five percent of Americans.
Here's the funny part, fifty five percent of Americans. More

(36:11):
than half give themselves a grade of A or B
for their personal finances. That is how we have lowered
our standards. And you know what happens when we lower
our standards and we see other people lowering theirs. Hey,
I know they've got tons of debt and they know
least a new car. Hey, I know they've got tons
of debt, but they're still going on this incredibly expensive vacation. Hey,
I know they've got tons of debt, but they just

(36:33):
you know, you name it, whatever, wild, crazy, unnecessary expenditure.
They go out to eat five times a week here's
and it becomes the norm. You know what else is
becoming the norm, huge uncontrollable crazy stress. And you know
what stress does to you. It kills you from the
inside out. It kills your relationships, It kills your happiness.

(36:54):
That the simple things all about money. The good news
is you can reverse this. People, sit down, take a
quiet minute, the kindles off, the phones off, the television's off,
the telephones in another room, your housephone, if you still
have one. Take a quiet minute. What are your goals?
You want to retire before you're eighty? Are you on

(37:15):
path to do that? If you're not, let's talk. If
you're spending way too much on groceries. This is crazy,
all these prepackaged foods. My god, but I'm so busy.
Guess what we can fix that too with some simple,
simple ideas that are going to feed your family and
the people you love like kings, and we're gonna slash
slash your food budget. You know what I want for you, guys.

(37:35):
I want you to enjoy the personal finance loveliness of
going to bed at night and knowing that your hard
work translated into all of your bills being paid early,
into your house being paid off ahead of time. Forget
thirty years, forget even fifteen years. What if you'd like

(37:55):
to pay it off in ten half the time. Maybe
you're not in a house yet, you think it's impossible.
It's not. Maybe you want your kids to know a
household where you're not constantly bickering about money. You love
your spouse, they love you, but everybody's stressed out. And
when you get stressed out, the voices get loud. I
know this first day, we got a loud family. We

(38:16):
do anything for each other. We got a loud family here.
But you know what we have. We have a family
where the personal finances are on track. And I'm here
to tell you walking around in a body where your
personal finances are on track, it affects everything. It affects
your sleep, it affects your relationships, it affects your work ethic.
You're not working to pay off some credit card debt.
You're working to put money in the bank to buy

(38:37):
your next house, to put on your next vacation at
no cost to you. It's all cash, That's what I'm
talking about. And until next week, save those pennies, pay
with cash, and you all stay frugal out there.