SPEAKER_0 [00:00:00]
Dramas, please.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:13]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:20]
This is life
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:22]
with a twist of lemon.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:24]
Alright, John.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:25]
We are recording a little bit early again because
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:28]
Yeah. We gotta move fast now. Okay. There's a lot to cover, isn't there?
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:33]
There is. And we have a hard deadline. Last week. We have a hard deadline. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:37]
The reason we have a hard deadline is because,
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:39]
winter is coming.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:41]
Winter is here. Winter is here. Well, I mean, it'll be here at nine central, eight eastern. Right? Or no. Nine eastern, eight I got that mixed up mixed up. So we're referring to HBO Game of Thrones. This is the final season.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:55]
I feel like it's been forever. Six episodes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:58]
Oh, really?
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:00]
Yeah. But they're long. Okay.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:03]
Well,
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:04]
the bottom line is this is the conclusion of a story that began many years ago. We've been hanging in there for a while. You actually suffered through the books. Did you not?
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:14]
I read the first three, I think. Okay. And missus Lemon read how many have ever been written. She is one of the And she likes them. Yeah. She does.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:24]
She's one of the the bitter fans that is upset that the show is going to finish before the books,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:29]
which Alright. Still seems I think the show has been better than the books. Yeah. That's the alright. I think a lot of people think that actually.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:36]
Yeah. In my mind
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:39]
what is his name now? I'm drawing a blank. The author's name.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:43]
George r r Martin. Yeah. Thank you. Martin, I think, wants to be the next Tolkien. Like, when I hear him talk,
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:49]
that's what I think when when he describes, like, himself, the story writing he's done, his skill and talent. And
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:57]
I I don't I just don't think that's true. You know? Yeah. And Tolkien would never talk like that. And Tolkien had this big focus on the eucatastrophe.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:08]
So it's like this good
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:10]
surprise thing where Martin, his world is very, very dark. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:16]
So I think now that's not to diminish, like, Martin's
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:20]
story construction. World building. Yeah. Yeah. I I won't I I don't want Story construction
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:25]
is
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:26]
not great. I mean, he comes at it in the books, he comes at it in a cool way where he follows characters
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:33]
and then switches between the characters rather than a sort of linear thing. He handles that things going on at the same time pretty well.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:41]
His writing style is not great. Exactly. So what I was trying to say is I think, like, this his storytelling,
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:48]
I'm not a fan of. I I tried reading the first book, couldn't get into it. The writing style
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:52]
was like, oh my word. Just get through it. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:55]
Yeah. But I think this this universe he's constructed, the characters he's constructed,
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:01]
the dynamics between them,
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:03]
I think I think he's good at that. Right? And I think that that's what HBO's managed to capitalize. You disagree though?
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:09]
So his characters are hit or miss.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:13]
He doesn't write very well
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:16]
when it comes to female characters. So like Arya is a whole lot cooler
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:21]
in
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:22]
the
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:23]
TV show than she is in the books. Okay. Mhmm. But so I don't know. He he doesn't do great with character development either. Know there's gonna be a ton of people who disagree with me on that, but yeah. I think the bottom line is this is a really awesome show.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:37]
It is
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:38]
not for
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:40]
the
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:42]
oh, what's the word I wanna say, John? Missus Kollmeyer
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:46]
does not watch it. There you go. Lots of blood, lots of guts, lots of other inappropriate material.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:51]
I watch it for the story.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:54]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:54]
And, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:56]
it's really well produced too. Like, the production value is super high. Yep. They've had to put tons of money into it, but they've got tons of money out. HBO took that to a whole new level, and I I mean,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:08]
listen.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:09]
Like, this is the only reason I signed up for HBO. You know? Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:14]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:14]
So winter's coming, but more importantly,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:17]
the reason that we are recording early is less about winter coming and more about Easter coming.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:23]
What? It's around the corner. Am I even allowed to say this? I know this is, like, taboo in Lutheran circles to even talk about Easter
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:30]
before the visual.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:32]
Oh, really? Yeah. You can say whatever you want. I always got angry because I couldn't say hallelujah during the Oh, you gotta bleep that out. You definitely gotta bleep that out. No. I'm good, man.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:42]
Life with a twist of lemon is free, freer than previous podcasts where we had to follow all these rules. Well, I I, you will not hear me drop the a bomb.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:51]
Henry referred to that as the bad Lenten word,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:54]
about a week ago. The constant cuss word is what I used call it. Yeah. He comes up to me. He's like, daddy, can I I could I don't remember what I told him? It was something about church. We were, like, going again. He's like, can I say the bad Lenten word? I'm like, what are you talking about? He goes, the a word? I'm like, you may not say the a word. Actually, in my head, think it's something else.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:10]
And he goes, please daddy. And I look over at Lucy, and she's like, he means hallelujah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:15]
And Henry was like, oh, you said it. So, you know, this is like this is life in the lemon household. But Nice. We we got church every night this week.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:24]
So Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:26]
divine service, and then Thursday is obviously Maundy Thursday. Good Friday, we've got a double feature. We've got chief service at noon and Tenebrae in the evening. And then we have on Easter vigil,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:38]
the service that my pastor affectionately calls the service of readings and readings.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:44]
Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:45]
So but So it's always a good time.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:47]
We could spend the whole episode you explaining what you just said to our noninitiated
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:52]
listeners,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:53]
aka
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:54]
nontraditional
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:56]
Lutherans.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:57]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:58]
but we don't have time for that, Stan. I know we don't. So here's here's the bottom line. Right? This is what we call holy week, and it, culminates in Easter morning. But Easter morning, right, is basically
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:10]
the,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:12]
I don't know. I almost call it the epilogue to holy week. Right? Because
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:16]
it's all post resurrection. Like, the resurrection, we actually talk about that on Easter vigil Saturday night, which is a really long running service. We actually start outside the church with a bonfire. We sing tons of hymns, read lots of lessons,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:29]
and then we do a remembrance of our baptism,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:32]
ultimately, divine service,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:34]
and then we go to bed, and we wake up the next morning for,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:39]
kind of Easter morning service and breakfast and all that good stuff. But prior to that, right, you've got Good Friday, which the date that we use to celebrate the crucifixion. Before that, you have Bondi Thursday, which comes from the word of mandate in Latin. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:53]
And that
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:55]
is where we celebrate the institution of the Lord's Supper. And then everything else before that
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:59]
is just like prep service. Right? It's like gearing up. Right. So the volume is is getting turned up a notch on your Lenten preparation.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:09]
You threw out the word Tenenbrae.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:11]
Any idea what that means?
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:13]
I should know that, actually.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:15]
So It's in a darkness or something. I believe that's right. Darkness. And so
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:19]
that that's the evening service. So in the in the morning
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:23]
or not in the morning, afternoon, we'll do the chief service, which is the divine service. So there's holy communion. It's a longer service. We get some longer readings. And then the Tenebrae service, I think there are two characteristics that people
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:35]
who
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:36]
aren't Lutheran, don't normally do a Good Friday service, might be familiar with. One is the stripping of the altar. Right? So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:43]
you know, usually pastor and,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:46]
sometimes people will assist him
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:48]
will physically remove the paraments, which is the, like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:52]
the the pretty,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:54]
table cloth, if you will, from the altar, along with the the,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:58]
pieces of cloth, the drape, the pulpit, and the lectern.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:03]
And then sometimes candles, like different churches take off different things, but basically, you're you're cleaning off
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:08]
the altar. Right? And so this the lights get darker,
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:11]
the altar gets stripped, you wind up with, just this really stark,
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:19]
I I don't know. Feng Shui? Feng Shui?
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:22]
I don't know how to describe this. I don't think
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:25]
alright. I don't know about that. It's it's just a really stark moment. Right? And then a lot of times too, there will be a loud
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:31]
noise
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:32]
that is supposed to symbolize the ceiling of the tomb. So it'd be like a loud crash.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:38]
I think when I was growing up, my pastor did one of two things. He slammed the door to the sacroste, which is where the pastor gets stressed. Right? Or he took Strong's Concordance. Are you familiar with Strong's Concordance?
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:49]
I'm not. Okay. Strong's Concordance is like I'm guessing it's a really, really big book. A really big book, and and basically, there are versions of the King James Bible well, other bibles too, but which are numbered. Right? Each each word Mhmm. In English, and so you use that to then go look in Strong's Concordance and learn about what was going on in the Greek, basically, or the Hebrew or whatever. Got it. And so it's a huge book, and he he would take it and he would just slam it down on the ground as hard as he could. It always caught everybody off guard, but it's it's just like a I think a really
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:16]
for lack of a better word, a powerful moment in the culmination
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:20]
of the, like, you know, pre Easter festivities, if you will. And so,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:26]
you know, I'm I'm I I love this. Right? Like, basically, have nothing else going on this week in the evenings. Right? Right. Like, all eyes to the cross. We are making our way to Good Friday,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:36]
which all ultimately
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:37]
brings us to Easter Sunday. So this is this is a big week. This is a big week for my family. It's a big week for our church, and I'm I'm stoked, which is why we are recording early because I'm not letting anything distract me from
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:50]
Easter.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:51]
Not even podcast recording. Not even podcast recording. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:56]
we were gonna talk about things, some big announcements this week
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:00]
coming out of Disney, really. Yep. Yep. But Disney owns everything. So They do now, which is actually a really big factor in their first announcement. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:10]
the first announcement, right, is the streaming service.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:14]
And correct me if I'm wrong here. It comes out November 12?
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:19]
It's in November. I don't remember the right date. I think it's the twelfth. And what was the price tag?
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:25]
I have not seen that. It's $6.99.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:29]
$6.99?
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:31]
So For everything ever? Well, for for most everything ever. This this is actually a little mind boggling. Right? Because CBS's
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:38]
streaming service, the commercial
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:40]
version, not the commercial free version, the commercial version is $6.99.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:44]
I don't even know, like, how how much is Hulu these days? The the streaming service, the Hulu. So the commercial version, I think, is probably around that or $8.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:53]
$5.99,
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:54]
it says.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:55]
$6? Yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:58]
It's a it's a hair more expensive
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:01]
than
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:02]
Hulu with ads,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:04]
which is interesting. Right? Mhmm. But as far as I know, there are no ads in the new Disney service. It's just Yeah. Their content. So it's like Netflix,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:14]
but for the vast majority of television out there, I mean Of everything? Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:20]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:21]
there's a bunch of new content. Wanna talk about that. But one of the things that blew my mind
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:25]
when I was looking at the list of material that they plan to roll out is this Fox deal, this buyout
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:33]
of Fox that they
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:35]
just executed on Twentieth Century Fox. Yeah. Fox is ginormous, and they didn't buy all Fox. Right. But So but but they got a content catalog that is substantial. Right? The things that I care about,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:47]
obviously, are certain Marvel movies,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:50]
namely x men, right, which are all under the banner. Yep. I care about that not because of Disney plus, but because I'm really looking forward to the next set of Marvel movies to come out after Endgame.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:00]
They also though So got star Dark Phoenix Dark Phoenix is coming out, has Sansa playing
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:08]
Jean Grey. Is that
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:12]
tied in with the MCU at all? I don't think so because I I I I mean, we we need do a little bit of research, but I think that was all started
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:21]
pre merger or pre acquisition. So my guess is that it does not have the same shared content universe,
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:29]
which will be interesting to see. Like, I think a lot of these things that are in development right now. Right? Like, they might not actually
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:35]
kinda evolve into a longer story play,
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:39]
or Marvel Studios may say, hey, actually, that content was pretty good, and and we'll pivot it. I I think I look at, like, the last
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:45]
what was the one with the Egyptian gods? The x Men with the Egyptian gods? Do you remember that?
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:50]
I might not have seen it. Oh, it was terrible. I mean, it was like it was like legitimately bad.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:55]
I cannot believe that I can't remember what this is now.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:58]
The the title of this movie,
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:01]
the
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:02]
it it was it was not great. And I think that that's the kind of thing was it apocalypse?
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:08]
Yeah. This is x men apocalypse released in 02/2016.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:12]
It it was I haven't seen it. Yeah. It was bad. The CGI was terrible too. I I would suspect that that's the kind of thing that the MCU is gonna look at and say, hard pass. We don't need to incorporate that into our universe.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:23]
So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:23]
you know, we'll see. But okay. The Fox acquisition.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:27]
I I was never a fan of The Simpsons. Did you watch The Simpsons?
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:32]
I did. Well, I've seen bits and pieces. Okay. I don't know I watched it. The Simpsons is an interesting show because people who watched it were, like, passionate. I mean, like, super passionate about it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:43]
And there
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:44]
is an element of, like, pop culture that flows out of The Simpsons. Like, there are lines and references that people use that I don't even think they realize come from The Simpsons. It's kinda like Seinfeld in that regard, and it's been around forever.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:57]
Apparently,
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:58]
the entire corpus
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:00]
of The Simpsons will be available on Disney plus.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:03]
That That's thirty seasons? Something like that. That's a huge play. Right? Like, if you think about
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:09]
there's a whole set of demographics that you're gonna get to subscribe to Disney plus that you did not get before simply because of The Simpsons.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:17]
So it
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:18]
was not a surprise to me that Disney stock hit an all time high this week,
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:23]
as a result of this news. Now couple couple other things I think that are worth noting. This will be an unlimited subscription to Lizzie McGuire,
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:30]
which, you know,
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:32]
I dig. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:34]
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:36]
Oh, come on. You didn't watch Lizzie McGuire?
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:38]
It was after my time, so I have no idea how you watched it. Now now I feel old.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:43]
Well, I had a sister, John, and she watched Lizzie McGuire. I had a sister too. She watched Lizzie McGuire. That's why I know who she is. Exactly. So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:51]
nonetheless,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:53]
I'm excited because that was that was a childhood crush right there.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:57]
Late childhood crush. Oh my word.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:00]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:01]
I mean, you would have been well into high school by that point. Right? No. No. No. No. I was thinking junior high.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:07]
Still still too old, but nonetheless.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:11]
The other thing that I'm excited about is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:14]
which
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:15]
I'm a big fan of the animated version. Evelyn's probably gonna grow out of it before it makes sense to to, you know, watch it, but I'm I'm holding hope.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:23]
Other thing that I'm excited about
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:26]
is
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:27]
all of Clone Wars,
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:29]
including apparently 12 new episodes
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:32]
being done by the original writers with the original cast as far as I know, like Ahsoka Tano's making a comeback and everything.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:39]
That's huge. Nice. You've not actually seen Clone Wars. Right? I've seen bits and pieces. That was on Netflix for a while. Rebels, have not seen at all. Both are fantastic. I think the the writing quality
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:51]
of both
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:52]
is
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:53]
it's the kind of thing that I now expect from star
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:59]
it's the kind of thing I expect from Marvel,
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:02]
and I wish we got more of in
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:05]
Star Wars. Speaking of which, John, maybe that's a segue.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:10]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:11]
big Star Wars convention was happening in Chicago this week,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:16]
culminating in
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:17]
the episode nine
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:20]
panel.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:21]
So I didn't watch any of the panel, did you? No. I don't. This is Star Wars celebration. It's a thing that happens every year. It's a pretty big deal. You gotta register for tickets for this thing way in advance.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:32]
I mean, it's I I don't even call it cosplay because this is a whole different level, and Disney is all in on it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:38]
Yeah. So they had the panel at the end of the panel, trailer,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:43]
and
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:44]
the revealing of what episode nine will be called. Okay. Hold up now. It wasn't actually labeled a trailer, John.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:51]
Teaser trailer? I think it's just called the teaser is what it was. Yeah. So Okay. This
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:57]
I think this is important to call out because if it if it's not a trailer,
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:02]
it supposedly doesn't tell us anything, which I think is true
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:05]
with what they they put out. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:07]
True. This is literally a mashing of
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:10]
scenes,
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:12]
and I'm not knocking it. Right? Like, it's
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:15]
it's I think interesting nonetheless.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:18]
Yeah. It's called it's just labeled the rise of Skywalker teaser.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:21]
So there you go.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:22]
Now you let all of our listeners who don't know already that the name is the rise of Skywalker. Oh, I'm sorry, John. I I I took away your big reveal.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:31]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:32]
we watched that very shortly after it was released to the interwebs.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:38]
Did so let's let's back up. This is again, friend of the show, Patrick Sturtevant, Texas.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:43]
The the rise of Skywalker,
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:45]
and he's like I was in a meeting. Yeah. He's alarmed by the name. Right? We have no context.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:50]
When
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:51]
you get out of your meeting, what's the first thing you do?
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:56]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:58]
I think I I saw the trailer before that,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:02]
and then Patrick
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:03]
didn't watch the trailer at all. He was just upset about the name. He was upset about the name. So I pull it up.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:11]
I watch the trailer.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:13]
Cool trailer.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:14]
And,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:18]
yeah, I don't even remember. So I didn't have any context.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:21]
Right? But I thought, Right. This must be important.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:24]
And I thought, well, if if Patrick picked this up, where did he pick it up? Maybe I should go to the source. So I pulled up Reddit, and I searched for the rise of skywalker,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:32]
and I found a trailer through Reddit.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:35]
So there there you go. That was So you were on Reddit? No. No. No. I just pulled it up, the search for the rise of Skywalker, because I figured that's where where Patrick had found it. So congratulations, Patrick. You got me on on Reddit for a hot minute, but that moment has now passed.
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:50]
Right. What struck me about this teaser?
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:55]
What?
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:56]
First of all,
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:58]
opening sequence was awesome. It was really long.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:01]
It was very long. So, yeah, what the teaser itself ran over two minutes. Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:09]
But the opening sequence is really
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:11]
focused on Rey
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:13]
and
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:14]
lightsaber's back,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:16]
and she takes on a freaking TIE fighter. It's probably not really a TIE fighter, but whatever the real name is. Stan, you can correct me. I don't actually know what this one's called. It's probably a TIE fighter variant. Just just to, like, put some numbers to this. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:31]
The teaser's two minutes and three seconds. That opening scene with Ray,
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:36]
basically, down the tie fighter, and then doing this crazy wicked
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:42]
backwards flip over it with a lightsaber,
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:44]
That's a minute and eight seconds long.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:48]
Well, there's other things going on. There's those, like, whispers behind her from
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:53]
what we would assume are the Jedi masters of old,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:57]
talking about
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:00]
how they've
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:01]
taught her everything she needs to know and every generation has her hero or whatever. Has a legend. Every generation has a legend, which is one of the black screens with text. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:12]
But, I mean, like, think about it. This is a that's a long that is a long opening scene to a teaser. This is not normal
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:20]
teaser material.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:22]
After that, we wind up with a bunch of really fast,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:26]
short succession clips.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:29]
I'm not even sure how much of this we're supposed to recognize or know,
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:33]
but we we basically get all of our characters. Right? And we get a a helmet repair scene with Kylo.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:38]
We get
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:40]
John Boyega
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:41]
in the desert, it looks like. And then trying to think what else goes on. We've got Finn for those playing at home. Finn. Yep. Sorry.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:50]
And then we've got our Millennium Falcon scene. I was actually wanting to check this. Has every trailer had a Millennium Falcon scene?
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:59]
I don't know. Be interesting. I would think The Force Awakens, the first trailer probably didn't, but the second one had that infamous
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:06]
Chewy, we're home. Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:08]
So but but there's no there's no Han or Han.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:12]
Right? There's no Han. But who do we get? We get the one, the only
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:17]
Lando Calrissian.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:18]
We do. And he's looking a little aged. I don't know where we picked him up,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:23]
but He is like, he's almost 80 years old, isn't he? Yeah. He's he's
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:27]
yeah. He's he's up there. So but he pops in
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:32]
right as the the I think the next text after his initial scene is the saga comes to an end,
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:38]
you know. And then Yeah. You've got some more fight scenes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:42]
You've got
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:44]
what I mean, I don't it'd be really really interesting to see where these desert scenes happen. I'm kinda hoping for Tatooine, but I I don't think that's likely.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:52]
Then we've got a Jakku.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:54]
Yeah. It could be Jakku. I that seems unlikely to me too though.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:58]
But
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:59]
last but not least, right, we've got a clip with Leia, which presumably was filmed before
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:04]
she passed away.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:06]
Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:07]
What's the what's the fighter pilot, the x wing guy? What's his name?
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:11]
Poe?
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:12]
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Poe Dameron. Poe Dameron. So there's this cool field scene with Finn and Ray and Poe,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:20]
c three p o, r two or no. I don't think r two is there, but b b eight is there, and then you got Chewy in the back. Right? So there's like, they're all together at some point. That's exciting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:30]
Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:31]
Then right near the end, right, presumably some progression from
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:36]
after they have walked together, the whole group, we see what took me a second to register. Did you know that what this was when you first saw it? That that end scene where she's looking out over this body of water?
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:49]
Yeah. I I did not get that at first. It wasn't until you said something about it that I caught on. It's a chunk of the death star,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:56]
which Yeah. I don't know. Does that mean that they're at,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:59]
what's the
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:01]
oh, my word. The the second planet with the little furry guys.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:06]
Endo? Thank you. Yeah. Endar. Why am I Endar. Endar. There it Endar. There we go. Alright. Were I was gonna say, why am I giving you all the Star Wars trivia, Stan? You're much more involved than that. I'm I'm having all kinds of brain farts. So this makes me wonder for Endor, which is interesting too if you rewind, you look at all the lush greenness that happens.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:24]
I I think, like, if the planets we're seeing are Tatooine and Endor,
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:29]
it could be a really kinda nice way to tie up the saga. So I I dig it. I I think this is a cool piece of imagery though. I'm I'm excited about this. This got me
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:39]
pretty pretty stoked.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:42]
So there's at least two things that you didn't touch on,
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:45]
in those flashes. I think they both happen. One,
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:49]
they show b b eight and there's a new droid next to him. So another droid introduction.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:55]
So Christmas toys, be ready.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:58]
And second, there is what looks like a medal that is awarded to Han and Luke
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:05]
at the end of A New Hope. Oh, right. That's right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:09]
That it happened so fast, John. I that's impressive you picked that up.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:14]
That's that's the thing. There's a ton of stuff packed up in the the last, like, you know, fifty seconds of this thing. And then so
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:23]
to me, maybe the most significant part of this teaser
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:27]
happens
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:28]
after we see the Star Wars logo.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:30]
And it's it's this cackle, this god awful cackle.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:35]
And missus Lemon thought it was Darth Maul, and I was a little bit ashamed. Like, no. It's not Darth Maul.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:41]
Does Darth Maul even speak really in Phantom Menace? No. But he speaks a ton in Clone Wars. And right. Yeah. That was unequivocally
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:49]
Palpatine.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:50]
Yep. Now that guy's still alive, isn't he? So yes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:54]
So back to the Star Wars celebration panel,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:56]
my boss, Josh McNary,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:58]
watched
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:59]
some of it. So they show this teaser.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:03]
That guy walks out and says,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:06]
run it again.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:07]
Nice. Okay. So that's awesome. So that means that in theory, right, he's gonna be there or in the the movie potentially.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:14]
Right. I mean,
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:16]
maybe just as a
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:18]
would he be a red sparkly guy? I don't know. I really don't know. But again, like, know, as as any good Star Wars trailer,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:26]
this opens up more questions than
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:29]
Than answers. Right. And and that's fine. Like, I dig it. We've got we've
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:34]
got eight months
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:35]
to noodle on this. But bottom line is I'm excited. I agree with our friend Patrick. I'm not sure that the name of this movie
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:44]
is
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:45]
really great,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:46]
But you know what? I thought the last movie, the name was really great, and the movie was terrible. So, you know Right. Your mileage may vary. So the fact that we're excited about Star Wars again after the last movie is a good sign. Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:59]
My biggest thing here is that our hope is left in JJ Abrams,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:04]
creator of Lost.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:06]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:07]
I'm gonna talk about the worst way
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:09]
cinema could end.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:11]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:13]
I won't get my hopes too high, but
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:16]
this looks really interesting. I'm
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:18]
definitely ready to see it. Yep. So interestingly, I think we will get access to some other Star Wars content before this movie comes out, namely, just harkening back to that Disney plus reference, two of the shows that are in the works for the Star Wars brand. One is called The Mandalorian,
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:36]
which
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:37]
I'm most excited about because John Fav Favreau I can't even say his name right. Is apparently doing the production of it. Do you remember who he is?
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:46]
He is the director of
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:49]
Iron Man.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:50]
Iron Man. And, yeah, I wonder if you got the first Avengers too, but he plays Happy in Iron First Avengers was, Josh Sweden, wasn't it? Oh, that's right. Okay. But he got Iron Man one and two.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:02]
Might have gotten three. I'm not sure. But basically, like, there's some deep Marvel Cinematic Universe,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:07]
roots there, and there's also just some really great quality
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:11]
production content. So excited about that. I forgot to mention too, when we're talking about Disney plus,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:17]
Marvel has a couple of shows coming out.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:20]
And I did you see any of these?
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:22]
I didn't. So WandaVision,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:24]
and it's actually gonna be starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Betony,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:27]
which yeah. That's that's pretty cool. There's also and this might I might be the most excited about this, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and it's actually gonna have Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. Yeah. So That's awesome. I think that's gonna be, like, a lethal weapon kinda,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:42]
ride along style show. That's my that's my guess. Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:45]
And then last but not least, there's a Loki series that has Tom Hiddleston.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:51]
Man. So they're charging
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:53]
$6 a month for all of this. 7 because it's $6.99, but yes. 7. $7 a month for all of this. Netflix is what now?
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:02]
12? I thought it was well, my my version was $14.99 because I wanted Yeah. You got the 80 or whatever. Yeah. 4 k. Yeah. It's this is a power play, man, especially because Disney has been progressively pulling their catalog from Netflix.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:14]
And and that, like, that was a huge blow to Netflix. Right? So they specifically also said that Endgame,
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:21]
the new Star Wars, these would only be released exclusively on Disney plus for streaming. Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:27]
And Disney owns them, so they'll probably be there the day they come out. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I'm I'm maybe not the day they come out, but I could see them doing you know, they've done pre release stuff on iTunes before, right, where they released iTunes before they do DVD.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:42]
Yep. They will definitely do that. Interestingly, Pixar is also in that game, and National Geographic is also in that game. So, you know This this is what I was hoping that Apple TV would end up being,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:54]
but with everything, not just Disney owned stuff. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:59]
so, you know, like, you can buy all these different services, right, and spend more than cable.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:05]
But I don't think that people that cut
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:07]
the cord
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:08]
think about well, I don't I don't think they, like, amass
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:12]
service after service after service. I think they make very specific decisions. Right? So either Yep. I have Netflix or I have Hulu. Right? Yep. Or in my case, right, I have CBS All Access and Amazon Prime, and that's it. So I'm on the, like, low end of And CBS All Access, you will be canceling
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:30]
anyway, because your shows that you got is done. Real soon. Yeah. Oh, man. Don't even get me started on Star Trek Discovery. What a waste of a season.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:37]
I'm glad I haven't started watching the first season yet. The first season was frustrating. The second season started off so good. And then I'm just gonna here's here's I'm gonna sum up for you how I feel on the second season.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:50]
Better or worse than Voyager?
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:52]
Oh.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:53]
It's it's definitely trying to take that bottom spot at this point. The here's the thing. The first half of that season was awesome. They're they're messing with time travel. Right? And so they they find this crystal that basically helps them manipulate or travel through time. And what do they call it, John?
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:11]
A time crystal. The time trap. Yeah. A time crystal. Like, your writers can't come up with anything better than time crystal. Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:21]
It'll be okay, Stan. I just I'm afraid that Star Trek is dead. That's that's my biggest fear.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:26]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:28]
That's possible. So different worlds now. Disney plus, I'm I'm all in. I'm gonna do Disney plus when it comes out. I have no regrets. They're actually gonna like, the price is even cheaper if you pay for the whole year too.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:41]
Really? Yeah. I actually think Man. I'm And they're still gonna make money on this. They're gonna make a ton of money.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:46]
I'm pretty sure that
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:48]
my annual Disney plus subscription will be less than my Backblaze subscription.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:53]
Yep. So Man. Figure that out in the budgeting conversation. Right? Which one do we cut first?
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:02]
Speaking of budgeting, Stan, I guess this isn't really budgeting, but you budget to pay in New Year investment accounts.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:08]
I I do. We were gonna talk about Wealthfront last week
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:12]
and
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:12]
why you
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:14]
aren't going all in on Wealthfront and you've extended
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:18]
into
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:19]
more traditional
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:20]
investing platforms.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:22]
I wouldn't necessarily call it more traditional.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:25]
No?
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:26]
I there's a tradition around what I'm doing. So okay. Let's let's back up. Right? In the world of investment, if you look at like, let's set aside the
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:36]
the we'll call it the wrapper, whether it's,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:38]
retirement. Right? So four zero one k, IRA. Let's set that set that stuff aside for just a minute.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:43]
There are mutual funds and there are stocks.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:47]
Right? Stocks are individual shares of a company. So, you know Like Apple. Like Apple or Disney.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:53]
Right? Like, if you wanted to buy an Apple share at close of business on Friday, it was a $198.87
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:59]
for one share. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:01]
And then there are mutual funds, which are a grouping of
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:06]
shares at a particular weighted ratio to each other. Right? And
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:12]
a mutual fund has a manager. A manager is responsible for saying, these are the shares that make up this portfolio, this mutual fund, and they will actively trade those shares day in and day out to try and balance it, and to make gains, and do all those kind of things. Right? So you can say, I want a mutual fund that is, you know, in the technology industry, or in the medical industry, or you
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:34]
want a large cap, or a medium cap, or small cap, and all that means is,
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:38]
the size of the business. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:40]
Right. So large cap is gonna be, you know, the Apples, the Googles, the Amazons, the Microsofts of the world. Small cap is gonna be, you know, significantly
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:48]
smaller. I don't wanna say
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:52]
mom and pop shops, probably bigger than that. Right? But
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:55]
Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:56]
Don't know. So, like, bigger grocery store change, like a Kroger maybe?
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:00]
Yeah. I don't know. I I I don't know what what Kroger's capitalization is. Kroger is. Yeah. They seem like they're probably pretty big. I I I'm trying to think of a good small cap,
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:09]
and I'm one's not coming to me. So I'll I'll think about that and maybe Buffer.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:13]
Buffer Buffer didn't do an IPO yet. I don't think Buffer went IPO. In fact, actually, a lot of the big unicorns I it this would IPO. Fall into
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:22]
the large cap stuff. I small cap tends to be riskier.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:26]
Right? Because smaller companies are just easier to fold up. That's that's just, like, fact. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:32]
And so
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:34]
you choose mutual funds when you're investing based upon your, like, interest and risk. Right? What you wanna dabble with, and then you also have domestic and international.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:44]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:46]
investing
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:46]
typically in the past was like you pick what you wanna target, and then you throw money into mutual funds, and you've got a company that runs those funds,
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:55]
and you're kinda like committing to them. And then the thing that happens is,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:00]
you know, if I buy a share in, you know,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:04]
this mid cap mutual fund. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:07]
It's like if I put a dollar in,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:10]
I'm I'm only getting maybe like 95¢ on the dollar or something like that. I these numbers are not accurate. Right? I'm just to to illustrate that, basically, part of your investment goes to an advisory fee or it factors into the expense ratio. So if you look up stocks, there are a number of numbers or stocks I'm sorry, mutual funds. There are a number of, like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:29]
important numbers that you should look at. Expense ratio,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:33]
the advisory fee,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:34]
front loading, or I I can't remember what's called back loading maybe,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:38]
and turnover rate. These are things that I look at. Right? Right? Right. And so
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:43]
expense ratio is like, how much of my investment
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:46]
goes to the manager
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:48]
and gets caught up in, the expense of making trades? Because every time that manager
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:52]
sells a stock and buys a different one, that costs money. Right? And there's also tax implications,
SPEAKER_1 [00:34:57]
and all that gets bundled up in the mutual fund. So the higher the expense ratio, right, the less of your actual investment you're getting out of it. Now the mutual fund could be wildly successful.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:08]
Right? But if it's really expensive,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:11]
you're it's you're not as successful as the overall fund. That's that's basically the the penalty, if you will, of an advisory fund.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:19]
Now that's one number I look at a lot, and then the other number I look at a lot is turnover rate. Meaning, the amount of time that
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:27]
shares are being sold and bought within a fund. Right? So if you look
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:32]
what is it? The Fidelity Magellan Fund is like one of the the great all time funds that
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:37]
beat the S and P five hundred for years on end.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:40]
And if you look at the turnover rate on the Magellan Fund, it's like a 110%. Like, it's it's absurd. Yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:46]
So, you
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:48]
know,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:49]
Wealthfront, I think, is neat because it
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:52]
kinda targets this middle ground called ETFs,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:55]
which are exchange
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:57]
traded funds.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:58]
Okay?
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:59]
And
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:00]
they're a mutual fund essentially that is exchanged on the open market like a stock is,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:07]
and it allows for you to turn it over really quickly. Right? And so Wealthfront can do neat things like rebalancing your portfolio
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:14]
in an almost automated
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:16]
fashion. Rebalancing is like, okay, I've got 20% in small cap, I got 20% in medium cap,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:22]
and or mid cap, and now because of growth, it's a 25 and,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:27]
you know,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:28]
- So I wanna rebalance this. I move five of mine over, that that kind of thing. And
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:33]
ETFs allow it to do that pretty painlessly. ETFs
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:37]
are
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:38]
they tend to have a lower turnover rate, and they're similar to a thing called indexed funds.
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:44]
K? And an indexed fund is basically like, rather than having manager that is making or developing a strategy for investment,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:52]
I'm just gonna follow an index,
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:53]
which means like the S and P 500 or the Dow Jones is an index. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:36:59]
And when you have an index fund,
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:01]
they buy shares in that index
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:04]
by the kind of the weight that they have to the index.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:08]
So a larger company has a heavier weight in the S and P 500 than a smaller company. The S and P 500 is
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:16]
it it consists of 505
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:18]
shares or 505, like, tickers, if you will, for the 500 largest companies on the stock market.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:24]
So a lot of times, you'll hear people say, like, I wanna beat the market. Alright?
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:28]
And if you look at most mutual funds,
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:30]
they don't usually beat the market very long. Right? They beat the market for a small window of time, kinda gets their claim to fame, and they they get bigger and and all that jazz. But it's it's, I think, hard for a fund to beat the S and P 500 over the long tail.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:47]
I'm a believer in, and I think you are too, you buy it and you hold on to it. Right? Yep. Because I'm I'm just not smart enough to be trading actively.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:56]
And this is what I love about about this
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:00]
is what I love about Wealthfront. Right? Like, you put your money in, and it's gonna manage your portfolio for you, and it is mostly a hold it strategy.
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:08]
Right? Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:10]
I though
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:11]
look at Wealthfront,
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:12]
and I realized that I don't like, their their investment strategy is based upon a risk
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:19]
profile that they develop for you.
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:22]
And
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:23]
you can't really, like, monkey with the levers, if you will. Like, you can adjust your risk portfolio, but all that does is adjust the percentages of the various categorizations.
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:32]
And I'm at a point where
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:34]
I I now feel like I know enough, maybe,
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:38]
to want to You read a book, Stan.
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:41]
I wanna pick my categories.
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:43]
The other thing is that I wanna go all in on index funds.
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:47]
Index funds have the lowest expense ratios and the lowest turnover of everything out there. So, you know, you pick some random Vanguard ETF that is being used in wealth for today. The turnover rate is probably
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:57]
33%
SPEAKER_1 [00:38:58]
ish. Right? Like, I'm just I'm making numbers up, but it's it's less than a 100, way more than 10%.
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:05]
And, the expense ratio is probably, like, point 2.3
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:09]
ish.
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:10]
Right? Right. And then,
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:12]
Wealthfront has their advisory fee over top of that. Basically, the the cost they're charging you to manage their service.
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:20]
And
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:21]
what what I look at is, okay, I'm going to put my money directly into an index fund that matches the S and P 500. My expense ratio is going to be point 01%.
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:30]
My turnover rate is going to be 3%. I'm just gonna hold on to it. I'm a hold on to it, you know, for a long time, and I'm gonna do most of my portfolio in that. It's a 100% domestic. It's a 100% S and P 500.
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:42]
Actually, I'm sorry. I
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:45]
I also have bond funds that I use. I use an index bond fund too, but that's like the strategy that I'm moving towards. And and you may be thinking, well, what what made you come up with that? And I started reading a lot of material by this guy called John Bogle,
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:57]
b o g l e. He's the guy that basically created Vanguard.
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:01]
Right? Huge brokerage firm.
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:03]
He also invented the index fund, and he's got a really neat book
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:08]
that I read that really I think
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:11]
turned the corner for me in terms of, like, the way I was thinking about this. It's called the Little Book of Common Sense Investing,
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:19]
and I I highly recommend it to everyone to read. It's an easy read, but he just takes some basic numbers and promotes
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:26]
mediocrity.
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:29]
Right. Which which what I mean by that is, like, he basically says, most people don't beat the market. Right? Right. And so the the the thing you should hope for is to stay with the market. Well, the market is the S and P 500.
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:42]
So if you're using an indexed fund, you're gonna perform pretty close to the market. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:47]
And if you look at the S and P five hundred index funds or even the Dow Jones index funds, you'll see that they are within a hair
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:54]
of
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:55]
the S and P five hundred. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:58]
So I'm still a huge believer in Wealthfront. I think for most people, that's the right place to start,
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:04]
and they they should totally check it out.
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:06]
The
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:08]
the asterisk for me is that most of my savings, most of my retirement savings is in my four zero one k, which is not with Wealthfront because that's, like, not something that Wealthfront does for people. Right? Mine's with Fidelity, and I get to make selections,
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:23]
choices
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:24]
on how my $4.00 1 k is invested.
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:26]
And so I had to be somewhat smart, right, or somewhat knowledgeable. I won't say smart. I have to be somewhat knowledgeable to be able to do those
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:35]
selections.
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:36]
And that's kind of what led me down this road. Alright. Got it. I gotta take a breath. What kind of questions do you have?
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:44]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:46]
basically,
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:48]
all my retirement stuff is through Wealthfront.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:52]
I do Wealthfront because
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:54]
it's pretty much on autopilot for me.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:57]
It takes the deposit out of my account at the beginning of the month and invests it and we're happy.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:05]
So I don't think I have the same problems that you have here.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:08]
I do remember when I was on
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:12]
403 with
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:13]
my last employer,
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:15]
I was able to go in and make selections or whatever,
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:19]
and I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Yep. And that's that's really frustrating, isn't it? Like Yeah. Because they basically give you this long list of funds, and it's not it's not five funds. It's like 30 funds.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:31]
Right. Right? And they've got, like, what are you supposed to do? Read all the prospectuses?
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:37]
You know? And and that's really that's really frustrating.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:40]
And those funds, the vast majority of the funds you're looking at are those typical manager based
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:46]
mutual funds. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:48]
Right. I
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:50]
think it's a really
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:51]
unreasonable
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:52]
expectation
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:53]
to give most people a selection of funds and tell them, go for it. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:59]
I think that Keeps the financial advisers and and business standpoint. Exactly.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:04]
Exactly. Well, no. You're you're a 100% right. Right? Because those funds are expensive.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:08]
You need to pay somebody to help you pick them out, and then once you pick them out, each of those funds is also charging you a premium. Right? So this is part of the thing that led me to the whole index
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:17]
fund strategy.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:19]
Now Wealthfront sits at this really interesting place where it's like, okay. You wanna do a traditional
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:24]
or somewhat traditional balancing across different capitalizations at different markets. You wanna be,
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:30]
you know, both domestic and international.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:32]
So so Wealthfront meets that need without you having to worry about, all that other stuff, all that selection process.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:40]
And that's really what your advisory fee is paying for.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:43]
Your advisory fee is is basically taking care of the decision making for you. And again, I think for most people,
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:51]
that's great. Like, you should totally do that. And I again, I'm still a huge believer in the robo advisor strategy.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:58]
I I do think that
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:00]
it's
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:02]
there's there's a bit of faith required,
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:04]
but I do think it is probably a better long term strategy
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:08]
for even less expensive
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:10]
funds
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:11]
that follow indexes. Like, I I've drank the Kool Aid on that front. So, you know, I I think about it like this. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:19]
If the
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:21]
process of figuring out what to do is overwhelming to you, then you should totally start in something like Wealthfront.
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:28]
Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:28]
If Mhmm. It's not overwhelming,
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:31]
then you should take a look at index funds as a strategy if you wanna, like, be that hands on with it. But it is it is better to do something like a robo adviser than to not do anything at all. It is better to do something like a robo adviser than to just, like, log in to a brokerage and start buying a bunch of mutual funds.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:49]
Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:50]
That's that's kinda my nutshell. I should say I am not a financial adviser. I have nothing to gain from this, and I can't actually legally give you advice. I'm just telling you what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:00]
But you give me advice all the time, Stan, but I'm still gonna stick with Wealthfront because it's easy, and
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:07]
I have more faith that I would mess something up than Wealthfront.
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:11]
Well, that's fair. Like, I I have spent a considerable amount of my time
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:16]
reading and researching this. Like, this has been a long haul, and it I find it I find it interesting. Right? Like, categorize this as one of my hobbies.
SPEAKER_0 [00:45:25]
Yeah. You you have gone all in on the financial hobbies recently.
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:28]
So Well, you know, I I I they're just they're fascinating to me. And
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:34]
I I will say this, even if you wanna stay with the wealth fund forever, and that's totally cool,
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:39]
go get this book, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:42]
by John Bogle and read it. Because he just deals with real simple straightforward math
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:47]
to show how the traditional mutual fund model,
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:50]
like, doesn't
SPEAKER_1 [00:45:52]
it doesn't help you as much as you might think it does. Again, ETFs are in this weird world. He he just deals with them in passing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:01]
ETFs kinda balance out this
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:04]
bifurcated investment strategy.
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:07]
Got it.
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:09]
Well, cool, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:46:11]
I don't know if I have any other questions on investing. Well I don't have that much money to invest. I'm just trying to max out my Roth IRAs.
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:20]
There you And that's so
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:22]
what I always tell friends, I've told you. Right? If you have a four zero one k,
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:27]
you absolutely first max it out to the match that your employer gives.
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:32]
If they don't match, you then look at, like, what is the overall expense of having that four zero one k through the company plan. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:40]
Right. In my case, there is no overall expense. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:44]
My company uses Fidelity,
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:46]
and
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:47]
like, that's great. Like, I've I'm there's no reason not to use Fidelity
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:52]
at that point.
SPEAKER_1 [00:46:53]
So then you have a higher legal limit on your four zero one k than you do on any other type of vehicle. Yep. And so,
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:01]
you know, throw as much in there as you can. If you have a Roth option, you always go Roth first, and then you go with your non Roth. Unless
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:10]
your like, you can use your non Roth option to lower your total income to, drop a bracket. Like, you can play those kind of games. Right? Most of that is too complicated for people. You just,
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:21]
you know, reach your federal limit on your Roth, which is $6 a year, and then you put it into your traditional savings, which if if it's
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:28]
a regular non Roth IRA, that's again $6 a year. If it's in the four zero k four zero one k world, it's 19,000 a year.
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:36]
Right? And
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:38]
you just you try and max out those those vehicles. Most people, like, that's that's it. Right? Like, you don't have to think about anything else. You just go for that, and you gotta make sure you got, you know, a healthy savings
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:49]
so you give yourself some liquidity.
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:50]
But Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:52]
If you're doing your own thing on the IRA,
SPEAKER_1 [00:47:55]
then Wealthfront's a really great option. Like, it is a is a really good option that people should take a look at or Betterment.
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:01]
I
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:02]
think Schwab has an Yeah. Interesting
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:05]
robo advisor that's coming out now too. They're gonna switch to a monthly subscription, which is also kind of interesting. Right? So
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:12]
I think these robo advisors are
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:15]
a positive thing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:16]
I do think there's a way to potentially
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:20]
make a little more with your money.
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:22]
Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:48:24]
But
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:25]
to each his own. Right, Stan? Exactly. One day. And and everybody's investment strategy, everybody's risk tolerance is different. Right?
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:32]
Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:33]
And so you gotta look at that. Right? Like, one of the things that appealed to me about this this index fund model is back in, like, I don't know, 02/2013,
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:40]
Warren Buffett in his letter that he sends out to investors every year, which is like a big deal. Like, there's a lot in that, and he covers a lot of ground.
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:48]
Basically says, like, hey, look, when I die,
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:51]
the estate is instructed for to take my wife's investments and put it in a ninety ten ratio between an indexed fund and a mutual bond fund.
SPEAKER_1 [00:48:59]
Right? Yep. And and so I I that's another thing that, like, kinda
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:04]
backs up this whole John Bogle thinking that I'm I'm drinking the Kool Aid on right now. Right. And and it's again, like, teach his own. Everybody's got their own
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:13]
level of risk tolerance and things that they wanna do, and, you know, the the other thing that factors in is maybe you wanna invest in a company because you like what they do.
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:22]
Right? And that's a whole different kind of investment strategy than I'm considering myself with at the moment.
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:29]
Right. We can talk about that some other time, Stan, because we gotta go.
SPEAKER_0 [00:49:33]
Game of Thrones starts soon. Winter is here.
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:36]
Winter is here. Alright, John. I will see you fight us some white walkers. I will see you on the other side of Holy Week, my friend.
SPEAKER_1 [00:49:44]
I I won't person. Yeah. In person. I won't say Well, we gotta record before we see you in person. I won't say the happy thing, but happy thing. Right. Alright. Happy thing. Alright. Enjoy the rest of the lunch, Talk you later. See you, buddy. Bye.