WEBVTT - Money Monday with Brian James

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<v Speaker 1>805, fast approaching 806 here at 55K, our CD talk station.

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<v Speaker 1>It is that time of week I always look forward to.

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<v Speaker 1>Financial information from Brian James from Allworth Financial. He's a

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<v Speaker 1>financial planner, and we get him every Monday for a

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<v Speaker 1>couple of three segments to talk about money matters. And

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<v Speaker 1>welcome back, Brian James, for another edition of Money Monday

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<v Speaker 1>here on The Morning Show.

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<v Speaker 2>Good morning, Mr. Thomas, and I hope you are doing

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<v Speaker 2>well as well.

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<v Speaker 1>I am trying to be. it's a bit gloomy and

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<v Speaker 1>doomy out in the political world. If you haven't noticed

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<v Speaker 1>Brian James and considering I have to deal with this

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<v Speaker 1>every single day of my life, it's hard to, it's

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<v Speaker 1>hard to find a happy place.

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<v Speaker 2>Coffee and headlines at three in the morning or whatever

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<v Speaker 2>your life is.

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<v Speaker 1>It does seem a bit stressful.

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<v Speaker 2>No.

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<v Speaker 1>And I go to bed basically with the same thing,

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<v Speaker 1>not the coffee, but the headlines and the news stories.

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<v Speaker 1>And I take those to bed with me at night

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<v Speaker 1>and have nightmares about them. Get up in the morning,

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<v Speaker 1>get ready for the show. And then inundated with what

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<v Speaker 1>happened after 8 PM at bedtime and, 2 30 in

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<v Speaker 1>the morning when my eyes woke up at any event

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<v Speaker 1>that's my troubles and i'll i'll deal with them but

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<v Speaker 1>the troubles we are dealing with now as we fast

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<v Speaker 1>approach an election which has really been impacted on inflation

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<v Speaker 1>and affordability inflation it's rearing its pesky head it has

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<v Speaker 1>been for quite some time not as bad now as

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<v Speaker 1>it was but and i know you're going to talk

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<v Speaker 1>about it in the context of corporate corporate profits but

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<v Speaker 1>you know it's this this word out there affordability seems

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<v Speaker 1>to be independent of inflation because i think you even

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<v Speaker 1>pointed out a bunch of times here brian Yeah, the

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<v Speaker 1>price of the bag of chips is more expensive now,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's never going to go back to where it

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<v Speaker 1>was before. The increase in price just slows down as

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<v Speaker 1>inflation rolls back or is dealt with. And so we

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<v Speaker 1>just have to get used to where we are now.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't see prices getting rolled back anywhere.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and that's not very likely to happen because if

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<v Speaker 2>you think about where those actually come from, those prices

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<v Speaker 2>are all budgeted in by companies that are out there

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<v Speaker 2>trying to maintain their profit margins and trying to continue

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<v Speaker 2>to exist and keep their employees paid and all those

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<v Speaker 2>other things that we all want to do. And the

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<v Speaker 2>companies themselves are experiencing inflation just on things like office supplies.

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<v Speaker 2>Wages have increased a bit, and it's been tougher to

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<v Speaker 2>keep employees. So it's costing everybody more everywhere. So for

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<v Speaker 2>a company to come in and say, hey, we want

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<v Speaker 2>to do everybody a solid, and we're going to drop

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<v Speaker 2>prices by 20% just to go back to 2022 or

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<v Speaker 2>whatever the date is, it's just simply going to exacerbate

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<v Speaker 2>the problem that is causing all this anyway. that does sound,

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, I hear what that sounds like. That does

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<v Speaker 2>sound like, you know, it's, it's simply companies keeping profits for,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, for themselves. But at the end of the day,

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<v Speaker 2>inflation affects absolutely everybody. And they're, they're for sure. There's

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<v Speaker 2>always a little bit of profiteering that goes on anywhere

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<v Speaker 2>that just comes along with, with capitalism. But at the

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<v Speaker 2>same time, you know, it's not limited to just consumers.

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<v Speaker 2>Anybody trying to function in this economy is experiencing more

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<v Speaker 2>expenses to keep things going.

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<v Speaker 1>Exactly. And, The practical reality is Republican, Democrat, independent, libertarian,

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<v Speaker 1>it doesn't matter who's in office, no one can deal

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<v Speaker 1>with that concept. As long as we live in an

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<v Speaker 1>environment or in a system that allows the companies to

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<v Speaker 1>fix pricing, to establish what the prices are, the companies

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<v Speaker 1>that have to compete with their competitors and otherwise maintain

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<v Speaker 1>some sort of reasonable price compared to the other guys,

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<v Speaker 1>that never goes away, which is always something I like

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<v Speaker 1>to point out. But if you start taxing these companies

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<v Speaker 1>at a much higher rate because, well, we need to

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<v Speaker 1>tax those evil corporations because if they make all that money,

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<v Speaker 1>That doesn't solve the problem either, Brian, does it?

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<v Speaker 2>No, because all corporations do is simply pass it through.

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<v Speaker 2>That's the difference between consumers and producers. When you're the consumer,

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<v Speaker 2>which is everybody, and oftentimes corporations themselves are the consumers

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<v Speaker 2>because they can be at the end of the chain

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<v Speaker 2>just like anybody else. They have to go buy raw

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<v Speaker 2>materials with which they make stuff for other people to consume.

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<v Speaker 2>So everything rolls downhill. The price increases or tax increases

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<v Speaker 2>or whatever we want to do to handle this simply

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<v Speaker 2>just get passed on to the end payer.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, and also the other thing is I think we're all, including,

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<v Speaker 1>I guess, corporations, living perhaps in a short attention span

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<v Speaker 1>theater because the statistics bear out that inflation-adjusted family income

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<v Speaker 1>is 70% higher than it was in 1970. More people

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<v Speaker 1>are graduating from school. More people are attending college. More

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<v Speaker 1>people are spending more. And that's one of the things

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<v Speaker 1>that I saw this article did not change. In spite

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<v Speaker 1>of the fact that everybody's fed up and looking for

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<v Speaker 1>some sort of quick fix, people are still spending. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>they're keeping the economy afloat. So poverty rates have declined.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just compared to, see, a moment in time ago,

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<v Speaker 1>we're all so much better, but we don't appreciate it

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<v Speaker 1>within the context of how we used to live versus now.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and I like to call that phenomenon grumble and swipe.

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<v Speaker 2>And what I mean by that is, I think you

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<v Speaker 2>know where I'm about to go.

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<v Speaker 1>I do, go ahead. I've probably said it before, yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>But that's, you know, all of us, even people who

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<v Speaker 2>are doing just fine, we will look at the cost

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<v Speaker 2>of a nice steak at Kroger or wherever you happen

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<v Speaker 2>to shop, and we will grumble about it, and then

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<v Speaker 2>we swipe their credit card anyway. Because many people, while

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<v Speaker 2>there's a lot of people out there who truly are

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<v Speaker 2>suffering and can't make ends meet, can't get their hands

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<v Speaker 2>on $ 1, 000 if the car dies, something like that, there's

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<v Speaker 2>a huge amount of people who are doing just fine

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<v Speaker 2>other than they have to grumble at the credit card machine.

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<v Speaker 2>And this is where we keep coming back to this

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<v Speaker 2>K-shaped economy, where there's really two groups of people in

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<v Speaker 2>the United States. There are people... who have the ability

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<v Speaker 2>to live on less than they are making, and there

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<v Speaker 2>are people who have no choice except for to spend

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<v Speaker 2>absolutely every last nickel that comes in the door, or

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<v Speaker 2>worst case scenario, have to sell assets or just run

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<v Speaker 2>up credit card debt to make ends meet. So there's

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<v Speaker 2>a group of people out there doing just fine, and

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<v Speaker 2>I can verify from my own experience sitting at my

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<v Speaker 2>table doing financial plans. There are just as many people

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<v Speaker 2>talking about buying that second home or the acreage in

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<v Speaker 2>Kentucky or Indiana, middle of nowhere or whatever, and a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of that is coming from the wealth that has

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<v Speaker 2>grown over the decades. People have said, I want to

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<v Speaker 2>do things differently. and I have the money to do it.

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<v Speaker 2>The headlines tell me I'm supposed to not be able

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<v Speaker 2>to sleep at night, but I'm doing okay, and nothing

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<v Speaker 2>has really caused me to change my spending outlook. So therefore,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm going to go ahead and do these things anyway.

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<v Speaker 2>And that's why I believe real estate prices have stayed

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<v Speaker 2>pescally high, because people still have the ability to pay.

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<v Speaker 2>It's just like anything else in the market economy. Prices

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<v Speaker 2>settle where people are able to pay.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, and you know, Live on less than you are making. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>of course, if you're truly on life's margins, you're eating

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<v Speaker 1>everything that you make or all that's going to life's necessities, clothes, food,

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<v Speaker 1>and shelter. But if you have the ability to not

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<v Speaker 1>spend everything you're making, that's where, well, sound financial planning

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<v Speaker 1>comes in because that's the money you need to sock away.

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<v Speaker 1>I wanted to spend the 401k allocations that I've been

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<v Speaker 1>socking away my whole life Every month that they were

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<v Speaker 1>taken out of my check, boy, if I only had

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<v Speaker 1>that extra money, you know, but I tried to maintain

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<v Speaker 1>a measure of discipline along with my wife in not

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<v Speaker 1>doing that. So you act and you spend as though

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<v Speaker 1>you are not making nearly as much as you're making.

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<v Speaker 1>The rest of it goes into your future. That's the

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<v Speaker 1>only recipe for success, isn't it, Brian James?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. And honestly, I think that goes all the way

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<v Speaker 2>back to when we quit being hunter gatherers and we

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<v Speaker 2>learned to grow stuff ourselves and therefore we could store

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<v Speaker 2>it for the winter. And that all of a sudden

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<v Speaker 2>created what we know as free time. And we got

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<v Speaker 2>art and we got leisure and we got all this

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<v Speaker 2>other stuff. Obviously, I'm going back thousands of years. But

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<v Speaker 2>to keep that ball rolling, then, yeah, you absolutely have

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<v Speaker 2>to find ways. So, for example, if you if you

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<v Speaker 2>if you are raising young people who are just getting

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<v Speaker 2>out there in the world, The sooner you can convince

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<v Speaker 2>them that they need to be putting 15% to 20%

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<v Speaker 2>of their paycheck into a 401k, into a retirement plan,

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<v Speaker 2>the better off they're going to be. Yeah, money's going

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<v Speaker 2>to be tight for those first few years, but after

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<v Speaker 2>they work hard, they maybe switch jobs or get raises

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<v Speaker 2>and those kinds of things. It starts to come out

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<v Speaker 2>of the wash, and that also primes the pump. They

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<v Speaker 2>will start to see that first comma show up in

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<v Speaker 2>their net worth. And then all of a sudden it's

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<v Speaker 2>five digits and then it's six digits. I got a

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<v Speaker 2>hundred thousand dollars in my 401k and I'm 26 years old.

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<v Speaker 2>That's a pretty good role to be on. That's how

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<v Speaker 2>you prime the pump to get people going. But we

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<v Speaker 2>can't wait till we're in our forties and fifties to

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<v Speaker 2>do it.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, if you had to just, and I don't mean

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<v Speaker 1>to put you on the spot, but you deal with

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<v Speaker 1>people every single day, you're the financial planner, you provide

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<v Speaker 1>recommendations on how to reach a comfortable retirement. If there

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<v Speaker 1>is a category that you could point to, or a

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<v Speaker 1>big mistake area that you run into when trying to

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<v Speaker 1>convince people to try to hit that target savings percentage

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<v Speaker 1>per month, what would you say it is? Where are

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<v Speaker 1>we collectively making our biggest mistakes in terms of our spending?

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<v Speaker 2>By convincing ourselves that we can't afford to save. If

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<v Speaker 2>you're in a situation where you have convinced yourself that

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<v Speaker 2>you don't have the money to save, then you probably

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<v Speaker 2>need to save more than the average person. That is

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<v Speaker 2>something that if that kind of mindset takes hold in

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<v Speaker 2>our early 20s, it will never go away because that

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<v Speaker 2>can kick in as soon as you're trying to make

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<v Speaker 2>that first rent payment and things feel a little tight. Well,

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<v Speaker 2>a few years later, now you're maybe making a little

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<v Speaker 2>bit more money, but maybe there's a marriage, maybe there's

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<v Speaker 2>kids in the mix, and things just get progressively more expensive.

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<v Speaker 2>We can always, always, always look at stuff and say

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<v Speaker 2>that that's going to cost money. I cannot afford to–

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<v Speaker 2>I have to put out my long-term goals because short-term

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<v Speaker 2>takes precedent. We can do that right up until we're

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<v Speaker 2>in the grave, and a lot of people do tend

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<v Speaker 2>to do that. I would also point to people who

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<v Speaker 2>are of some means and have some assets. They tend

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<v Speaker 2>to have no idea what they're spending on things because

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<v Speaker 2>they've never been forced to have a budget. Right. Having

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<v Speaker 2>a budget is work, it's a pain in the butt,

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<v Speaker 2>but unless you're, if you're not forced to do it,

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<v Speaker 2>you may have no idea how much more you're spending

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<v Speaker 2>on gas right now or a steak at the grocery

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<v Speaker 2>store than you used to.

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<v Speaker 1>Brian James, we'll pause, we'll bring him back, and we'll

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<v Speaker 1>talk about the price of gas. Even after the tax holiday, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I know, it was $ 85 to fill my 16, 15-gallon

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<v Speaker 1>tank the other day. Not a very happy feeling when

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<v Speaker 1>I walked away, or when I drove away from the pump.

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<v Speaker 2>815-5KRC, the talk station.

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<v Speaker 1>818-55-KRC, The Talk Station, Brian Thomas with Money Monday's Brian

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<v Speaker 1>James from Allworth Financial. Hey, real quick, Brian, I know

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<v Speaker 1>I mentioned price of gas. I know it's on the

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<v Speaker 1>topic list, but can I do the third topic first?

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<v Speaker 1>Because it kind of dovetails a little bit more closely

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<v Speaker 1>with what we were just talking about previously. Retired Americans, well,

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<v Speaker 1>not spending money because they're afraid of running out of money.

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<v Speaker 2>Is this.

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<v Speaker 1>They think they don't have enough or are being too

0:10:13.990 --> 0:10:17.480
<v Speaker 1>cautious with spending, or do they really not have enough,

0:10:17.540 --> 0:10:19.120
<v Speaker 1>or is it just impossible for people to figure out

0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.580
<v Speaker 1>whether whatever they've got saved away is going to make

0:10:21.620 --> 0:10:22.660
<v Speaker 1>it for the rest of their life?

0:10:23.790 --> 0:10:25.410
<v Speaker 2>Or D, all of the above. All of the above.

0:10:25.429 --> 0:10:28.830
<v Speaker 2>That's in the situation. Yeah, there are people out there

0:10:28.870 --> 0:10:32.490
<v Speaker 2>who truly can't afford it, and they know that, right?

0:10:32.670 --> 0:10:34.230
<v Speaker 2>There are folks out there who are trying to make

0:10:34.270 --> 0:10:37.309
<v Speaker 2>it on just a Social Security check or just a

0:10:37.350 --> 0:10:40.280
<v Speaker 2>couple Social Security checks. And that might be as low as–

0:10:40.460 --> 0:10:42.200
<v Speaker 2>that can be a couple thousand dollars even lower for

0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:44.400
<v Speaker 2>certain people. There's also other people out there who have

0:10:44.500 --> 0:10:47.060
<v Speaker 2>simply never– and this is where I– this is why

0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.700
<v Speaker 2>I have a job. People who have simply never stood

0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.390
<v Speaker 2>back to look at what they've built for themselves and

0:10:52.450 --> 0:10:55.590
<v Speaker 2>cannot see the entire forest because they're staring at one tree,

0:10:55.929 --> 0:10:58.130
<v Speaker 2>which is somebody telling them that they're about to run

0:10:58.190 --> 0:11:00.280
<v Speaker 2>out of money. And that's usually a politician or the

0:11:00.300 --> 0:11:03.099
<v Speaker 2>media or something like that. And, you know, so the

0:11:03.260 --> 0:11:05.000
<v Speaker 2>so yeah there there are plenty of people out there

0:11:05.020 --> 0:11:07.470
<v Speaker 2>who are not living their lives I often say that

0:11:07.770 --> 0:11:11.110
<v Speaker 2>my career after three decades has turned into sitting at

0:11:11.150 --> 0:11:13.710
<v Speaker 2>a table, begging people to go spend their own money,

0:11:14.050 --> 0:11:16.720
<v Speaker 2>because we've put a plan together, you've built a you're

0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.600
<v Speaker 2>really solid nest egg and yes the headlines are scary

0:11:19.660 --> 0:11:22.340
<v Speaker 2>out there, but it hasn't it doesn't necessarily affect what

0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:25.339
<v Speaker 2>you need to do so. Yeah, this research out here

0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.270
<v Speaker 2>comes from Prudential, and they found that about 61% of

0:11:28.390 --> 0:11:31.550
<v Speaker 2>retirees who have at least a half million dollars in

0:11:31.590 --> 0:11:36.250
<v Speaker 2>investable assets still feel uncomfortable spending for that enjoyment. So

0:11:36.309 --> 0:11:40.320
<v Speaker 2>about 3,000 Americans of ages 50 and older, some retired

0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.679
<v Speaker 2>and some approaching retirement. But yeah, so almost two-thirds of

0:11:43.700 --> 0:11:47.820
<v Speaker 2>people say that they're not ready to retire psychologically because

0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:48.540
<v Speaker 2>of the financial concerns.

0:11:48.950 --> 0:11:51.900
<v Speaker 1>Well, I suppose, and I don't know what $ 500, 000, what

0:11:52.100 --> 0:11:54.870
<v Speaker 1>does that get you in terms of interest generated annually?

0:11:54.890 --> 0:11:57.290
<v Speaker 1>Because I think many people are sort of reluctant to

0:11:57.350 --> 0:11:58.480
<v Speaker 1>tap into principal.

0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.560
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's absolutely true. There is a notion– so people

0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:07.730
<v Speaker 2>retiring today are coming– having been raised by a generation

0:12:08.130 --> 0:12:11.770
<v Speaker 2>that retired off of pensions, which was one thing, and

0:12:11.809 --> 0:12:14.500
<v Speaker 2>another mindset was dividends. Every now and then I'll hear

0:12:14.530 --> 0:12:16.800
<v Speaker 2>somebody come up with the old idea that I don't

0:12:16.820 --> 0:12:18.980
<v Speaker 2>want to spend my principal. I want to only spend

0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.800
<v Speaker 2>the dividends. Well, dividends aren't as much as they used

0:12:21.860 --> 0:12:24.480
<v Speaker 2>to be because if I am the leader of a

0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:26.800
<v Speaker 2>publicly traded company and my job is to increase that

0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:30.540
<v Speaker 2>stock price, I can't tell a sexy dividend story and

0:12:30.590 --> 0:12:33.150
<v Speaker 2>get as much pop for that stock price as I

0:12:33.210 --> 0:12:36.569
<v Speaker 2>can a growth story. So dividends are not the focus anymore.

0:12:36.590 --> 0:12:41.200
<v Speaker 2>You really can't get... 3%, 4%, 5% across a diversified portfolio,

0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:42.800
<v Speaker 2>lots of things. You can get it here and there,

0:12:43.420 --> 0:12:45.699
<v Speaker 2>but you're also going to see a volatile portfolio. So

0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:49.580
<v Speaker 2>stocks bounce a lot more. So not spending my principal

0:12:49.620 --> 0:12:51.920
<v Speaker 2>doesn't mean what it used to mean because I can

0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.000
<v Speaker 2>spend only the dividends and then the stock can drop

0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.480
<v Speaker 2>by 10%, 15% anyway, just because the market is more volatile.

0:12:57.540 --> 0:13:00.439
<v Speaker 2>So yeah, there is a mindset out there that I

0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.599
<v Speaker 2>want to pretend that I have some kind of guarantee

0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.100
<v Speaker 2>and I can't find it. Therefore, I must not have

0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:06.950
<v Speaker 2>enough money and therefore I'm not going to retire a.

0:13:07.510 --> 0:13:10.300
<v Speaker 1>So how is a retired American who's concerned about spending

0:13:10.340 --> 0:13:12.860
<v Speaker 1>any of that money to be convinced that it's okay

0:13:12.900 --> 0:13:15.219
<v Speaker 1>and it's safe to do so? There can't be a

0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:17.400
<v Speaker 1>magic number. You would have told the whole world about

0:13:17.420 --> 0:13:18.490
<v Speaker 1>it prior to now, Brian.

0:13:19.210 --> 0:13:21.429
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, as I often say, if there was a black

0:13:21.450 --> 0:13:24.210
<v Speaker 2>and white 10-step program that everybody should follow, we would

0:13:24.230 --> 0:13:26.390
<v Speaker 2>all retire based off of TikTok advice. It would be

0:13:26.429 --> 0:13:29.900
<v Speaker 2>just that simple. But, you know, so everybody has their

0:13:30.059 --> 0:13:33.520
<v Speaker 2>own number depends on your own situation. And that starts

0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.120
<v Speaker 2>with knowing what you spend in the first place and

0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.380
<v Speaker 2>then figure out and run a couple scenarios. First off,

0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.620
<v Speaker 2>figure out what's the hunky dory outcome. Here's my assets.

0:13:42.980 --> 0:13:45.990
<v Speaker 2>Here are my income streams, social security, pension, maybe a

0:13:45.990 --> 0:13:47.950
<v Speaker 2>little bit of part time work, rental income, whatever else

0:13:47.970 --> 0:13:49.949
<v Speaker 2>you've got. And then here's what I need to do

0:13:49.990 --> 0:13:53.010
<v Speaker 2>with it. The variable in all that that we cannot control,

0:13:53.070 --> 0:13:55.030
<v Speaker 2>nobody gets to, is what are the investments going to do?

0:13:55.100 --> 0:13:56.540
<v Speaker 2>We just know the one guarantee I can give is

0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:57.720
<v Speaker 2>they're going to go up and they're going to go down.

0:13:58.059 --> 0:14:01.160
<v Speaker 2>So run the hunky-dory outcome. If nothing bad ever happens again,

0:14:01.179 --> 0:14:04.809
<v Speaker 2>here's how inflation looks in my world over time, and

0:14:05.090 --> 0:14:07.950
<v Speaker 2>here's how my assets grow. and then run it again,

0:14:08.230 --> 0:14:11.350
<v Speaker 2>but knock off 20% to 25% as a stress test. Basically,

0:14:11.370 --> 0:14:14.690
<v Speaker 2>you're pretending that you retired in 2007, and then the

0:14:14.730 --> 0:14:17.120
<v Speaker 2>market punched you in the face immediately. See if your

0:14:17.150 --> 0:14:21.900
<v Speaker 2>ship still floats. If you are, then simply understand market history.

0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.260
<v Speaker 2>If your plan cannot take it, if the ship sinks

0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.000
<v Speaker 2>and you run out of money earlier than you run

0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:29.860
<v Speaker 2>out of life, then that's a problem. It might mean

0:14:29.900 --> 0:14:32.580
<v Speaker 2>you need to adjust your spending or your retirement expectations.

0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:33.760
<v Speaker 2>Something needs to change.

0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:36.340
<v Speaker 1>Well, at minimum, get a financial planner to help you

0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:40.920
<v Speaker 1>navigate the psychological challenges, apparently, as well as give you

0:14:40.980 --> 0:14:43.400
<v Speaker 1>sound advice. And finally, something over which we seemingly have

0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:46.680
<v Speaker 1>no control, the high price of gasoline, even after we

0:14:46.710 --> 0:14:49.670
<v Speaker 1>got a relief from the gas tax holiday here in

0:14:49.690 --> 0:14:51.250
<v Speaker 1>the state of Ohio. I know other states have done

0:14:51.270 --> 0:14:54.390
<v Speaker 1>it as well, but I paid $ 5. 60, I think, a

0:14:54.430 --> 0:14:56.150
<v Speaker 1>gallon the other day. Yes, it was premium, but this

0:14:56.230 --> 0:14:59.270
<v Speaker 1>is my world. But that's higher than before. Brian?

0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.570
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it absolutely is. But if you notice there recently,

0:15:03.610 --> 0:15:06.730
<v Speaker 2>it's actually come off its peak. So gas has dropped

0:15:06.810 --> 0:15:09.570
<v Speaker 2>a little bit. But, you know, but also we're hearing

0:15:09.590 --> 0:15:12.720
<v Speaker 2>the drumbeat that gasoline is pushing prices higher. So the

0:15:12.740 --> 0:15:15.660
<v Speaker 2>latest CPI index was up three point seven percent over

0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:19.220
<v Speaker 2>the past year. That's up from 3.4% in August. So

0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.940
<v Speaker 2>not only are we well off the 2% that we

0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.720
<v Speaker 2>were shooting for, the Federal Reserve really likes, we actually

0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.920
<v Speaker 2>seem to be accelerating. So prices increased about 0.6% in

0:15:29.100 --> 0:15:32.160
<v Speaker 2>September alone, and gas was responsible for about half that

0:15:32.220 --> 0:15:34.420
<v Speaker 2>monthly increase. Now, literally the last couple of weeks, it

0:15:34.470 --> 0:15:37.590
<v Speaker 2>has pulled back a little bit, but it's still central

0:15:37.650 --> 0:15:40.730
<v Speaker 2>to this entire report. Those price pressures, though, Brian, it

0:15:40.970 --> 0:15:45.630
<v Speaker 2>goes beyond fuel core inflation, which excludes food and energy, which, again,

0:15:45.650 --> 0:15:47.590
<v Speaker 2>this is why we do it. People hate that, you know,

0:15:47.610 --> 0:15:49.510
<v Speaker 2>that there's a number that excludes those. But we have

0:15:49.530 --> 0:15:52.590
<v Speaker 2>to separate things out because gas is extremely volatile. Those

0:15:52.730 --> 0:15:55.700
<v Speaker 2>core inflation numbers were up point three percent in September,

0:15:55.790 --> 0:15:58.680
<v Speaker 2>two point six percent over the year. So gas is

0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.280
<v Speaker 2>driving everything further, but it's not the only culprit out there.

0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.960
<v Speaker 1>Brian James, appreciate your sound wisdom and your willingness to

0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.180
<v Speaker 1>talk about these important issues every Monday on the 55K

0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.440
<v Speaker 1>RC Morning Show. We'll do it again next Monday, between

0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:12.500
<v Speaker 1>now and then. Thanks to all of you for learning out.

0:16:12.540 --> 0:16:15.350
<v Speaker 1>Have a great week, my friend. Happy fall to you.

0:16:15.370 --> 0:16:17.110
<v Speaker 1>We'll talk to you in a week. Thanks, man. It's 820.