Keep Your Mind Sharp and Your Money Safer

Our 2 Cents – Episode #233

Keep Your Mind Sharp and Your Money Safer

The holidays are just around the corner! On today’s episode of Our 2 Cents, the Lewits share tips for living longer, how to avoid being scammed during your holiday shopping, and answer the latest listener questions. Listen in now for insights that last well beyond the season!

1. Ways to Live Longer:
   • Want to live to 100? Start your day right with these seven morning habits that boost longevity and energy.
2. Holiday Shopping Scams:
   • The holidays are a time for giving, not for getting scammed. Be on the lookout for these scams.
3. Listener Questions:
   • “I’m holding TQQQ, with covered calls expiring in December, January, and March. What impact do you think the tariffs will have on the NASDAQ?” — John
   • “I feel like I need to get some professional help with my retirement savings, but I also don’t want somebody to tell me that I need to roll every dollar I have in my 401(k) over to some product that’s for sale. Is that just how having a financial advisor works?” — Mary

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Podcast Transcript

Announcer: You’re listening to Our 2 Cents, with the team from SGL Financial, Building Wealth for Life. Steve Lewit is the President of SGL Financial, and Gabriel Lewit is the CEO. They’re here to discuss all the latest in financial news, trends, strategies, and more.

Gabriel Lewit: Welcome, everybody, to Our 2 Cents. You’ve got Gabriel Lewit here. The loud one, I’ll explain that in a second. You’ve got Steve Lewit, the quiet one here with us. Can you say something, sir?

Steve Lewit: Yeah, I can. I’m really quieted. People really told you they can’t hear me?

Gabriel Lewit: They said that you were more quiet than I am.

Steve Lewit: I’m more quiet than you, that doesn’t mean that-

Gabriel Lewit: Maybe I have a more of a booming voice.

Steve Lewit: No, you’ve got a sharper edge to your voice, except when I sing, I have a sharp edge to my voice, but when I talk, you’ve got that nasal resonance.

Gabriel Lewit: Nasal resonance. Is that a compliment?

Steve Lewit: No, it is. It’s a great… Let me see-

Gabriel Lewit: It doesn’t sound like a good thing.

Steve Lewit: Here, I can get that too. I can have nasal residence… resonance.

Gabriel Lewit: I think you’re making something up here.

Steve Lewit: No, no, on radio, people that have a nasal resonant, even singers, some have more nasal resonance than others, but on radio it really cuts through and it’s a neat… You have a great radio voice.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay. So folks, we’ve gotten off tangent already, but apparently this is a thing. We pulled it up on the screen. Nasal resonance, according to AI, is the phenomenon where sound waves vibrate in the nasal cavity and the areas behind the nose, adding a humming quality to the voice.

Steve Lewit: It has like a resonant edge to it, which is great for radio. All the great announcers, they have this edge. You have a great radio voice, a lot better than mine. I haven’t heard you sing.

Gabriel Lewit: Better voice than face, as they say, right?

Steve Lewit: Yeah. Well, no, no. You’ve got it all, you got it all going for you.

Gabriel Lewit: Oh, stop. Oh, stop.

Steve Lewit: He’s got everything, folks.

Gabriel Lewit: All right, all right. Let’s move on.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, let’s.

Gabriel Lewit: Let’s move on to our financial show.

Steve Lewit: I will endeavor to speak louder and more clearly.

Gabriel Lewit: Well, we hope you’re doing well. We hope you’re doing great. We’ve got lots of great topics here. It’s now November. Can you believe it?

Steve Lewit: No.

Gabriel Lewit: Thanksgiving month, my favorite time of the year.

Steve Lewit: My favorite holiday.

Gabriel Lewit: Because I love Thanksgiving food, it’s my go-to. I could eat it for… I could have Thanksgiving twice a year, for sure. Maybe three times even.

Steve Lewit: Yeah. How about every day?

Gabriel Lewit: Then it loses luster, you know?

Steve Lewit: Yeah.

Gabriel Lewit: But we’re going to hold off on the Thanksgiving theme topics just for a couple more weeks. We’ve got some other things lined up for you here. We’re going to talk a little bit about here morning routines that will help you live to 100.

Steve Lewit: Or longer.

Gabriel Lewit: Or longer. Okay, so it’s been a little bit since we’ve talked about a non-financial topic. And of course, our goal here is to help you build wealth in all parts of your life. So, I saw this article and it spoke to me because I’d like to live to 100 or later.

Steve Lewit: It should speak to me more than it speaks to you.

Gabriel Lewit: Maybe it does. Maybe you’re already doing the things on this list.

Steve Lewit: It’s speaking to me now.

Gabriel Lewit: Who knows, right? Okay, so we’re going to cover that. Then we’re going to talk a little bit about, you might be starting your holiday shopping, so different potential scams or things to be aware of-

Steve Lewit: Big deal.

Gabriel Lewit: … when you start your holiday shopping.

Steve Lewit: It is a huge deal; that’s a great topic.

Gabriel Lewit: So, we don’t want you to fall victim to those. We do have a listener question we’re going to get to, and then if we have time, we’re going to talk about some pearls of wisdom from a, he actually passed away fairly recently, a Wall Street Journal journalist, a finance columnist that had a lot to say about personal finance, and we were going to celebrate some of his findings there by sharing those on the show. So, that’s what we got for today. Let’s go ahead and jump in here.

Okay. Living to 100. Good, good, good. Hopefully, if you’re feeling healthy.

Steve Lewit: Fastest growing population in America.

Gabriel Lewit: Percentage-wise?

Steve Lewit: Percentage-wise.

Gabriel Lewit: Yep, as we’ve talked about before.

Steve Lewit: Yeah. But yeah, why not? If you’re healthy, if you can stay healthy and not fall subject to dementia or illness where you can’t really live a good life. And more people are doing that because they’re doing what’s in this article here.

Gabriel Lewit: Well, let’s see. Yeah, let’s go into this. So we’ve got a guy named Dr. Jeffrey Egler, MD. Okay, I don’t know who he is, but he’s in the article. And he says that there’s a link between our morning routine and longevity. Okay, and I don’t know if this is a huge study or just his opinion, but I like the article either way. So he said that, “The things we do each morning are more significant than we know. Morning routines play a crucial role in regulating your circadian rhythms, which are essential for various body functions, including hormone production, metabolism, and sleep-wake cycles.” Okay, so consistent and healthy morning practices can enhance these functions leading to improved physical and mental health over time. Wow.

Steve Lewit: That’s a mouthful, huh? Yeah.

Gabriel Lewit: Basically, you follow these things in the morning, and you’ll live a long time.

Steve Lewit: Well, what he’s saying, and I’ve heard this before, is that the morning sets up your entire day, and if you get started on the right foot, your day is going to go better.

Gabriel Lewit: Yes, and there’s another guy here, Andrew Hogue, co-CEO at Neurofit, says, “Think of it as setting the trajectory of a ship at sea. If it’s aimed in the right direction early on, it’s much easier to stay on the intended path for the rest of the day.”

Steve Lewit: Echoing what Steve Lewit just said before.

Gabriel Lewit: Exactly.

Steve Lewit: Yes.

Gabriel Lewit: Exactly. What the great Steve Lewis said-

Steve Lewit: Yes.

Gabriel Lewit: … on Our 2 Cents podcast.

Steve Lewit: Am I in this article? No.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay. So what is the routine? Number one, hydrate right away. Okay? So, drinking a glass of water very first thing in the morning aids digestion, supports metabolism and helps eliminate toxins.

Steve Lewit: I read this about three years ago, and I was reading this article just on fitness and this guy who is like one… Every time you see these articles on fitness, you got this guy who’s ripped and they say they’re 65, 70 years old and ripped and got muscles and everything. But he was saying, “Get up in the morning. The first thing you do is you down a cup of water.” And what he likes to do is like a one or two minute squat where you really squat all the way down and hold that for two minutes.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay.

Steve Lewit: So-

Gabriel Lewit: Well, the water’s on this list, the squat is not on the list.

Steve Lewit: Yeah. So, what I want to say is, I really found drinking that water in the morning really changed something in the way I feel.

Gabriel Lewit: So, you’re saying you already do this?

Steve Lewit: I’m reporting a success.

Gabriel Lewit: Well, I’m asking.

Steve Lewit: Yes.

Gabriel Lewit: So, you do this, every morning you drink water?

Steve Lewit: Every morning. I get up, I drink a cup of cold water.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay.

Steve Lewit: While I’m squatting.

Gabriel Lewit: All right. We don’t need that second part.

Steve Lewit: Well, squatting is really healthy for you.

Gabriel Lewit: Well, yeah. So okay, here’s what they say. Drinking a glass of water, obviously important. It’s a way to, of course, make you feel better. And what this guy Hogue says is many people don’t realize that overnight dehydration is a thing and it’s a primary cause of morning brain fog and impaired focus.

Steve Lewit: Yeah.

Gabriel Lewit: And it doesn’t take much dehydration to feel the effect. So boom, keep that bottle of water or glass of water right by your bed, down that first thing in the morning, you’re off in the right direction.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, I never have morning brain fog.

Gabriel Lewit: Good, good. You’re

Steve Lewit: I’m fog-less.

Gabriel Lewit: I mean, you’re amazing, incredible.

Steve Lewit: All right, I keep saying that to myself too.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay, number two, no surprise, eat a nutrient dense breakfast. Okay, so does that mean Cocoa Puffs? Go Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs?

Steve Lewit: Yeah, I was wondering what he means by nutrient dense.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay. So essentially, a guy named Dr. Federica Amati, who’s a nutritionist and medical scientist says that a nutrient dense, fiber rich and plant protein focused breakfast is the key. And so he says high protein foods like natural yogurt, oatmeal with berries or mixed nuts and seeds.

Steve Lewit: I didn’t hear egg sandwich.

Gabriel Lewit: Egg sandwich was not on the list.

Steve Lewit: Which is my go-to breakfast is an egg sandwich.

Gabriel Lewit: A Starbucks muffin.

Steve Lewit: Not on the list.

Gabriel Lewit: Is not on the list.

Steve Lewit: A protein bar?

Gabriel Lewit: No, I don’t think so. That’s not a whole-

Steve Lewit: Nutrient, yeah.

Gabriel Lewit: A whole food type of nutrient dense option. No.

Steve Lewit: No.

Gabriel Lewit: Nope, okay. So good news is, I have recently started since I read this article, which was one day ago. So basically one day this morning, I did have a cup of water this morning. I don’t know if I feel better yet, but.

Steve Lewit: Well, you came in in a good mood.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, that’s a start

Steve Lewit: It’s good.

Gabriel Lewit: I do eat oatmeal for breakfast, but just oatmeal. No nuts, yogurt, and seeds

Steve Lewit: Berries, berries.

Gabriel Lewit: Or berries, just oatmeal, so. It’s the world’s most boring breakfast in the world.

Steve Lewit: Well, you’re halfway there.

Gabriel Lewit: So, I’m getting there.

Steve Lewit: You have to dress it up.

Gabriel Lewit: All right. This next one I definitely don’t do, stretching your body. Right, so I sit at a chair for like 12 hours a day straight, so I’m not doing this part right. Yeah, so daily physical movement, it doesn’t mean having to go to the gym. Starting the day with some form of movement, whether it’s stretching, yoga, or a brisk walk is key for boosting. Note that squat was not on here.

Steve Lewit: Yeah.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay, Steve? And it says it’s going to help to set your circadian rhythm if you can get outside in natural light. Well, good luck with that right now.

Steve Lewit: I wake up, and it’s pitch black.

Gabriel Lewit: It’s pitch black. You go home, it’s pitch black.

Steve Lewit: Let me go out into the night.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. And he says okay, so they say between brushing your teeth and eating breakfast, spend five to 10 minutes engaging in physical movement and you’ll be good to go.

Steve Lewit: I hate stretching.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay. The last few, because we won’t go through all of these in as much depth. Activate your nervous system. Okay, so there’s something called somatic exercises, like body tapping. I don’t even know what that is, right? Something that wakes up your nervous system to start the day and promotes healthiness.

Steve Lewit: Body tapping is a very, very popular therapeutic method of actually tapping on your body and it changes the rhythm of your emotions and so on.

Gabriel Lewit: I’ve really learned something actually brand new on this twice already. I’d never heard of this. What do we have? Nasal resonance and body tapping? What a show.

Steve Lewit: And you know what, folks? Because of this-

Gabriel Lewit: It’s not even over yet.

Steve Lewit: Because of this, the market’s going to go up.

Gabriel Lewit: Oh my gosh. Yeah, okay. So I’m going to have to research that one some more as you might, because I don’t think I’ll be able to verbalize exactly what that means. Okay, practice mindfulness, set intentions for the day, and last but not least, enjoy your morning coffee. Okay, coffee, they say is beneficial to your health. I think that’s now officially been solidified as true, although there was many years where they said coffee was bad for you?

Steve Lewit: Yes.

Gabriel Lewit: And then they came out and said it was good for you, and then I think they’ve continued to say it’s good for you. So, I think we’re in the clear.

Steve Lewit: Now, Gabriel, of all those things, which do you think is the number one most important of all those things that you just read?

Gabriel Lewit: Well, I think it’s waking up.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, not waking up is a big problem. Let me see, when is the last morning I didn’t wake up? Let me think about that. Other than waking up, on that list, what do you think would be the most important?

Gabriel Lewit: I don’t know. I’m going to start with the simple one. I’m going to start drinking water. I already got the oatmeal.

Steve Lewit: I think the-

Gabriel Lewit: I got the coffee. I got that.

Steve Lewit: I think the big thing on that list is mindfulness, because if you’re mindful, then you do all those things. So, and mindfulness plays into money and how you handle it with emotions and so on and so on. It’s a very broad way of being aware of what’s really going on.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, yeah. They ended this article saying to do all of this, you need four hours every morning to dedicate to this.

Steve Lewit: All right.

Gabriel Lewit: I’m joking, they didn’t.

Steve Lewit: I know.

Gabriel Lewit: But it says journal in the morning, exercise, walk, eat a healthy breakfast. Good luck.

Steve Lewit: Retire. Retire so you could do all this.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, retiring so you can do all this stuff and you’re good. Well, hopefully if you are retired, you do have the time to do all these things, and thus maybe that will help you stretch that longevity out to 100 or whatever age we can get you to.

Steve Lewit: But now you have the problem, okay, I’m going to live to 100, will my money last to 100? See, so living long creates more problems.

Gabriel Lewit: Well, yes. Yes and no.

Steve Lewit: Yes and no, yeah.

Gabriel Lewit: Depends on how much you spend, but.

Steve Lewit: That’s true.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. We’ll definitely talk more money, but good to talk about some health, right? Because what’s money without health? We got to keep you living long and healthy to get you to spend more of your money.

Steve Lewit: Absolutely.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay. Well, I don’t know if there’s much we could help you with on that.

Steve Lewit: Am I speaking loud enough this morning, guys? Yeah?

Gabriel Lewit: Sounds like it.

Steve Lewit: I’m monitoring myself.

Gabriel Lewit: There we go. Yeah, so if you do have questions on that or want the article, we’re happy to send it to you. Just let us know, email us info@sglfinancial.com. But hopefully, you can take some of those tips and implement them and feel a little healthier by the day. Okay?

All right, let’s talk about holiday shopping. If you’re anything like me, when you’re driving around, you’re already seeing a lot of Christmas lights. Has anybody else seen these? Just me? I’ve seen a substantial amount of-

Steve Lewit: All, all, all over the place.

Gabriel Lewit: Christmas lights already.

Steve Lewit: I’ve even got Christmas songs.

Gabriel Lewit: I was at a soccer game the week before Halloween and one of the guys was out on a ladder, told me, was telling all the soccer dads he was out on the ladder putting up his Christmas lights. And one other guy was like, “Dude, it’s not even Halloween yet.” “Oh, we’re getting started early this year.” So anyways, yes, the season for holidays is here. You’ve got obviously a lot of holidays with gifts, you’ve got Christmas coming up, and then dad, the Jewish holiday with gifts, seven days of gifts or something like that? Hanukkah.

Steve Lewit: Hanukkah.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah.

Steve Lewit: Oh, okay. I’m sorry.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay, just making sure it was the right one.

Steve Lewit: I was distracted here.

Gabriel Lewit: You’ve got Hanukkah, you’ve got Christmas, you’ve got festivists for the rest of us, right? So we’ve got the holiday shopping in full swing now because many people are going to be trying to gear up for deals that they can get. You’ve got the Black Friday that’s going to be coming up. But there’s also, of course, with opportunity for people purchasing lots of things, the opportunities for scams to pop up and rear their ugly head, is as always, very prevalent. Okay? And according to the FBI, there’s a whole category of scams that revolve around online shopping during the holidays because people tend to overlook red flags when they’re looking for great deals, and that can cause them to lower their guard in the hunt for a great deal, and thus fall victim to some of these scams.

Steve Lewit: Yeah. It’s the email you get that says, “30% off today only,” and if you look at the return address, it’s MXQ, PRTZFQWI, who is nobody, but people will click on it.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. So, let’s talk about some of the most common scams here. So put these on your radar so you don’t fall victim to them, because the number one thing that scammers dislike is people that know how to spot scams, because that will prevent them from being able to take advantage of you. Okay, so knowledge is power here, folks.

So number one is what’s called a non-delivery scam. And this is where the victim or the shopper, you in this case, you accidentally pay for a product online but never receive the order. Now, how would that happen? It happens because the fraudster set up a fake online store, in many cases resembling-

Steve Lewit: It looks-

Gabriel Lewit: … the exact thing you’re looking to buy.

Steve Lewit: I actually got caught in one of these and my meter didn’t catch it and it was a journal that you write in that I ordered. And guess what I never got?

Gabriel Lewit: The journal.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, and guess who I can’t find now?

Gabriel Lewit: Well, you’ll never be able to find them if you pay for it. So what happens is, you pay for this product, you think it’s a great deal, you’re excited, you’re waiting for that to arrive, and nothing comes in the mail.

Steve Lewit: That’s right.

Gabriel Lewit: And then you try to reach out to the phone number for customer support and whoops, nobody picks up.

Steve Lewit: Nobody.

Gabriel Lewit: Why? Because you bought the product probably from a scam site and there’s actually no product to be had and nothing will be shipped to you, but you did get paid.

Steve Lewit: It’s a terrible feeling to be duped like that.

Gabriel Lewit: It is, right? And so now, you could probably attempt to contest that charge right on your credit card if you used a credit card.

Steve Lewit: I did.

Gabriel Lewit: But you sometimes will realize that too late or not get something on time or otherwise just get very frustrated or even give out your credit card information to fraudsters, which is not good. So ,you do want to be aware on that particular item that you’re going to actual legitimate websites. Okay?

Now, real quick, because the goal of today isn’t to get into the whole world of preventing all scams, but how do you make sure you’re going to the legitimate website? Try not to click on things through your email, number one. That’s where a lot of these things happen, or text messages. Go to Google, type in the company name, click on the actual company’s website, straight on the first page of Google typically.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, this is a must, because they look like real deals.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, yeah. They do, they do. Okay, gift card fraud. All right? So here is this one, right? So if the vendor only accepts gift cards or other prepaid cards, they’re likely attempting what’s known as gift card fraud. Okay, so why-

Steve Lewit: What is that? I’ve never heard of that before.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. So it says, unlike debit or credit cards, there’s no way to trace the recipient of a gift card or reverse the payment after the transaction has been made. So you could contest the credit card bill and then the scammer may not get paid potentially, or you may not be charged, but gift cards don’t have that same necessary protections as the credit cards. Okay, so if the vendor only requests gift cards, prepaid cards, cryptocurrency, money orders or wire transfers, quick red flag, probably go somewhere else.

Steve Lewit: Now, does Zelle fit into that?

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, I would say possibly.

Steve Lewit: Zelle fits into that too.

Gabriel Lewit: Possibly, yeah.

Steve Lewit: Because once you pay on Zelle, you can’t get that money back.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, yeah. I would say that that would fall under that too.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, be very careful.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay, auction fraud. Okay, so if you happen to buy things at auctions, which a lot of people do, right? You might be drawn in by a fake ad for something that’s been seized by the government. Maybe you find an auction somewhere, but you’re always typically being misled about the details of the sale. Maybe things sound great, too great to be true. The price is too great and you buy it, but again, these all tend to come from things that seem like they’re a really good deal.

Steve Lewit: Yeah. I get these emails or ads on the web that they’re having an auction. I could go into an auction to get a computer and I really want… It looks so real, I’d like to bid on this $2,000 computer and it’ll say the highest price bid so far is $130. And you can go in and bid on it, but then I wonder if I win it, do I actually get it?

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. I’m not sure.

Steve Lewit: Will I get it? I’ll bid on it. They’ll say, “Okay, pay your bill. We’ll send you the computer,” but will I get it?

Gabriel Lewit: Don’t know.

Steve Lewit: Don’t know.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay. Another one would be related to buying things from other people, okay? So there are scams where essentially people are going to buy something from you if you were selling something. Let’s say you’re selling something, this may or may not be related to holiday gifts, although it was on this list, right? But essentially, let’s say you sell something, the buyer says, “Yep, just put it in this PO box or hand it to a family member and then I’ll send you the money.” But for whatever reason, people do this, and then the people don’t send them the money.

Steve Lewit: Why would anyone do that?

Gabriel Lewit: So, point being is, yeah, get paid first.

Steve Lewit: Yes.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. Make sure the money’s in your hand.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, that would be quite foolish, yeah.

Gabriel Lewit: Right, but they try to say things like they’re like a veteran overseas or something like that, that they can’t come in person. These people concoct these stories to make it seem legitimate and people do fall for them.

Steve Lewit: Yeah. So, I got a call from some guy. So this call, so my phone rings and it says potential… what is it called? Potential, what? Scam, yeah, a scam call. Now the guy calls seven times. So I finally pick up, I answer it and he says, “Sir, this is not a scam call, but you have won the Publisher’s Clearinghouse prize.” And he says, “Please do not hang up. This is not a scam call. I know I’ve called you several times,” and this guy sounds legit. I mean, he sounds so good and he explains it all and he says, “Okay, now here’s how you claim your prize. You got to go to a FedEx store, you know, a store, and you talk to the owner of the store and tell them I called you.” And it’s like, well, no, no, no, no. That’s not how I’m going to claim my prize.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, I thought he was going to say you needed to give him your bank account information so they can deposit the funds, right?

Steve Lewit: Yeah, I’m sure at the store the guy would say, “Oh yeah, we need some money from you first.”

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, yeah. So, you got to be cautious, folks. It’s the time of holiday season, the time of looking for great deals, saving a buck or two, but you don’t want to get taken advantage of. So keep some of these tips in mind. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. There are just things that you want to be more cautious on than not and help protect yourself from any of these scams coming your way.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, be mindful.

Gabriel Lewit: Indeed.

Steve Lewit: Indeed.

Gabriel Lewit: All right, so let’s move ahead. We’ve got a listener question here, a couple of them that we’re going to cover. One of them is from John. John says, “I’m holding TQQQ, with covered calls expiring in December, January, and March. And what impact do you think the terrorists will have on the NASDAQ?” Now, real quick folks that aren’t familiar, TQQQ is a three times leveraged NASDAQ 100 ETF. So John, it makes sense that you’re asking about what might happen to the NASDAQ if you’re holding TQQQ, because that might have a very distinct performance impact.

Steve Lewit: So, what a three times means is that if the NASDAQ goes up 1%, the TQQQ goes up three.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. It’d be more like if it goes up 10, you’d get 30, and if it goes down 30, you’d lose 90.

Steve Lewit: You’d lose 90.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay.

Steve Lewit: It works on the upside.

Gabriel Lewit: And leverage can be very, very risky.

Steve Lewit: So, who’s this John? John, John, that’s very risky, volatile.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. So John, you may already know that. Hopefully you do.

Steve Lewit: I’m sure you do.

Gabriel Lewit: Hopefully you’re aware of what you’re purchasing and why you’re doing it. So I guess your question is more so, well, what kind of impact will the tariffs have on the NASDAQ? So Steve, our resident economists especial here, what will tariffs do to technology companies that are typically listed on the NASDAQ?

Steve Lewit: Yeah, and smaller companies. Well, it has a tremendous effect. So tariffs, if you pinpoint where tariffs will have their greatest effect, you could pinpoint technology, because the whole idea of these special resources or the chips and all of that, there’s a battle going on about that and the tariffs affect the ability for IT to do what it wants to do. So I think that is, in terms of volatility, I would say that’s a volatile component of tariffs, and the TQQQ is a volatile component of investing.

Now, we’re not going to get into whether it’s a good idea to buy covered calls because that’s very technical, but from a tariff perspective, I would say this is a hedge, I’m sorry, but it could go either way good for you, or I don’t see that, but it could be very bad.

Gabriel Lewit: Well, and what I will say, John, is you’re asking a question that involves-

Steve Lewit: Predicting the market.

Gabriel Lewit: Predicting the future, right? And especially if it’s predicting it based on something that’s very hard to at all measure, right? Tariffs in the sense that, will there be more, will there be less? Because that’s all completely hidden to us regular folks, right? I mean, what Trump has planned or doesn’t have planned, we have no idea. And whether or not he’ll even be able to do whatever he has planned, we don’t know.

Steve Lewit: The Supreme Court may come down and…

Gabriel Lewit: Because the Supreme Court’s reviewing that literally as we speak and record this show. So all of those things, I mean, the Supreme Court could come out and strike down the tariffs and that could be a vastly different impact than if they came in and said, “Yeah, they’re fine.” All of those could have tremendously different impacts on the results that you receive. So, I hate to say we don’t know, but that is always going to be the answer when it comes to what’s going to happen to the stock market.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, and I think John, what you’re trying to get here, if I may, is support for your positions on the TQQQ because you have made a bet on the future. And you’re wondering if we support whether tariffs will help that bet or get behind that bet or not help that bet. So, it’s your bet. It’s not ours.

Gabriel Lewit: Yes, yes. I’d say that’s a good… Not knowing the rest of your overall plan and how much you’ve got in this or not, I’d say just be cautious with that too.

Steve Lewit: Oh, yeah.

Gabriel Lewit: So, it is pretty risky there, what you’re doing, at least in a general sense. Maybe not to you, but for most people, it probably would be considered very risky.

Steve Lewit: Yes, yes.

Gabriel Lewit: All right. We’ve got another listener question here. We’ve got the question is from Mary. Okay, Mary says that, “I need to get some professional help with my retirement savings, but I don’t want someone to tell me that I should roll every dollar I have in my 401(k) over to some product that’s for sale. Is that just how having a financial advisor works?” I’m guessing you’re asking Mary, do you always have to roll over your 401(k) to work with a financial advisor?

Well, it’s a question that’s a good one because I’ve had a few people ask me that before, right? They come to me and they say, “Gabe, we’re trying to map out our retirement. We want help creating a plan, but we don’t want to roll over our 401(k).” So, I think that’s always an interesting question, right? Because if we were to dig under the surface of that… Dad?

Steve Lewit: Yeah. I’m-

Gabriel Lewit: The question.

Steve Lewit: I know, I’m listening to you.

Gabriel Lewit: You’re listening? Okay.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, no, I was really… You see, folks, when I think, it’s like I get very inside myself and Gabriel has to-

Gabriel Lewit: I had to hit him on the shoulder because he looked like he was frozen, staring into the wilderness.

Steve Lewit: No, no. And this is such an interesting question because there’s so many parts to that question, but go ahead.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah. So, Mary, I think the question I would ask, I guess at a subconscious level is, does that mean you’re not sure that an advisor would be able to manage that better than a 401(k)?

Steve Lewit: Yeah, and that’s where I was going. I was thinking, it’s interesting the framing of this question that I’m going to roll my 401(k) into a product for sale, like somebody’s trying to sell this person a product.

Gabriel Lewit: Well, I had a client the other day that is coming on board as a client, they just signed our advisory agreement. And we’d had a couple meetings together and they said they’ve had some really bad experiences in the past with advisors where they felt they were a small fish in a big pond and they felt like they weren’t getting attention. And I think this might be related to that. Mary, maybe you’ve had bad experiences in the past, I’m not sure. Maybe you’ve heard people that have had bad experiences so you’re skeptical that someone’s going to take your IRA money and just throw it into something that’s not good for you.

Steve Lewit: Yeah. Where people are trying to sell you a deal or sell you a product.

Gabriel Lewit: I mean, you could go to us. There are seminars out there that, Steve, you host seminars, but we talk very holistically about planning, but you get a lot of comments from people that say you could go to these seminars and someone’s just pitching you a product.

Steve Lewit: Yeah, yep.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay, so I think the key is, Mary, before you make any decision about what to do with your 401(k) or whether to roll it over or not, you want to create a plan first, okay? So any good advisor should be creating an overall plan for you, for your retirement, talking you through different options. Not just having one product for them to sell you on, but rather a range. Think of it as you go to a restaurant, right? If you went to a burger house and the only thing they sold were burgers and they said, “What would you like to order? We have great burgers. We think you should order a burger.” Guess what you’re probably going to get?

Steve Lewit: Medium rare or rare.

Gabriel Lewit: I’m getting hungry.

Steve Lewit: I’m getting hungry too.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay, you’re going to get a burger.

Steve Lewit: You’re getting a burger.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay, if you go to a Wildfire restaurant here in the Chicago Burbs or downtown or your nearest location, well, what do they have on their menu? They have a burger, they’re actually quite good.

Steve Lewit: Yep.

Gabriel Lewit: And I like their fries a lot. Getting off topic here.

Steve Lewit: Me too, yeah.

Gabriel Lewit: Okay. They have chicken dishes, salads, steaks, seafood, vegetarian options, right? They’ve got a wide range of different choices and they’re going to ask you, “What do you think you would like? What would be a good fit for you for your meal today?” I think that’s how a good advisor should work, right? They’re going to get the time to know you, see what you like, dislike, explain the different options they have to invest your money. And at the end of the day, then you can decide, is that better than leaving it in my 401(k)? And most of the time with a good advisor, you should be able to outperform a 401(k), because inside of a 401(k), you get 15 options other than target date funds, which themselves are not great. Outside of a 401(k), you have the entire universe of funds and there’s been many articles that have come out and talked about the funds in 401(k)s oftentimes not being the best-in-class funds that are available. So, you typically should be able to do better than those outside of a 401(k).

Steve Lewit: Yeah. I think Mary, the question that you’re asking is really important because most advisors will say, “If you have a 401(k) and you can roll it over, oh, roll it over, get it out of the 401(k).” And what Gabriel said, the reason to get it out of the 401(k) is because of the limitations in the 401(k). But just getting it out is just one part of the problem. The question you’re asking is, where should it go? Well, it should go into a product eventually, but that product that it will go into as part of a bigger plan.

Gabriel Lewit: Or a portfolio instead of a product.

Steve Lewit: Or a portfolio instead of a product.

Gabriel Lewit: Product implies either a single fund or an annuity or something like that. But yeah, you’ve got to understand the options of where it would go, do your due diligence on them, make sure you understand how they work, compare that to what you’re doing now in your 401(k), such as a target date fund.

Steve Lewit: But I absolutely agree. If someone’s saying, “Hey, roll your 401(k) into this annuity. It’s going to be great for you.” I wouldn’t say that’s-

Gabriel Lewit: Without a plan-

Steve Lewit: Without a plan, how would you know?

Gabriel Lewit: … you’d want to punt on that, right?

Steve Lewit: Yes, definitely.

Gabriel Lewit: Yeah, exactly. So, hopefully that was a helpful discussion there for you. We’ve got obviously more listener questions. We’ll cover those at some point in the future. Otherwise, for now, we hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. We are thinking about you, we’ll be thinking about how to cover more great topics for you on our next show. If you have any questions for us, give us a call, (847) 499-3330, or go to sglffinancial.com.

Steve Lewit: We’ll be sipping water with you in the morning-

Gabriel Lewit: Exactly.

Steve Lewit: … and doing all of our exercises and journaling, and going outside and breathing in the fresh air.

Gabriel Lewit: Amen.

Steve Lewit: Amen.

Gabriel Lewit: All right, all, have a wonderful rest of your week. We’ll talk to you on the next show.

Steve Lewit: Stay well, everybody.

Gabriel Lewit: Bye-bye.

Steve Lewit: Bye, now.

Announcer: Thanks for listening to Our 2 Cents with Steve and Gabriel Lewit. For any questions about your finances, give SGL a call at (847) 499-3330, or visit us on the web at sglfinancial.com, and be sure to subscribe to join us on next week’s episode.

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