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The Truth About Longevity, A Hidden World and How Cats Are a Secret Weapon · The Bill Handel Show

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM640, the Bill Handel Show on
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: demand on the iHeartRadio app.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: A couple of stories we are looking at.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Six Flags, it's not the first time Six Flags has
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: been accused of poor maintenance, defective design with the manufacturer
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of that roller coaster ride as a result of all
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the attention it's received as a result of that gentleman
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: who was thrown from the... rollercoaster ride and died it
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: turns out there's a whole history of this over the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: years of at least accusations of people getting injured and
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: so we'll cover that at some point and then some
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  Speaker 1: bad news especially for amy jackie uh the california bald
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: eagle who is the star of the eagle cam uh
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: has died uh she died two months ago then why
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: are they doing it now because.
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  Speaker 2: They just released her what The results of why she died.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, oh. And by the way, I know she wasn't
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  Speaker 1: to be vaccinated. Do eagles have autism?
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  Speaker 2: I'm just curious. Can they become autistic?
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  Speaker 1: Maybe there was a fear of that because she was
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  Speaker 1: not vaccinated against, she did not have the Asian flu shot.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, moving on.
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  Speaker 1: There is, and we've been talking about this and for
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  Speaker 1: anybody that wants to live a long time, you pay
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  Speaker 1: attention to the longevity experts. And we've heard a whole
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  Speaker 1: bunch of different theories posited. One of them is we
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  Speaker 1: are living longer because of nutrition. That's probably true. Modern
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  Speaker 1: medicine is making us live longer. That is true. People
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  Speaker 1: have long searched for a way to extend life. But, oh,
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  Speaker 1: I've reported on this. We've talked about this. This obsession
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  Speaker 1: has gone berserk in the last few years. A 2026
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  Speaker 1: report by this XRC brand capital fund, longevity inspired web searches,
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  Speaker 1: four times as high in late 2025 as they were
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  Speaker 1: a year earlier. I mean, you've got YouTube, TikTok teaming
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  Speaker 1: with anti-aging hacks. Look at, go on the internet, go
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  Speaker 1: online and just put anti-aging. and see how much stuff
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  Speaker 1: is being hawked at you. All these pills and creams
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  Speaker 1: and lotions and potions, all of them, and none of
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  Speaker 1: them work, by the way, it's all fraud. So here's
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  Speaker 1: what you think, that the goal of longevity research is
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  Speaker 1: to make people live longer.
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  Speaker 2: It is not. There's one myth. What is it about?
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  Speaker 1: It's to not extend the lifespan, according to the experts
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  Speaker 1: who are really in the know here, What do they
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  Speaker 1: want to do is expend the length of time people
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  Speaker 1: remain healthy. That's known as health span, not lifespan. And
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  Speaker 1: that makes a lot of sense.
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  Speaker 3: Why?
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  Speaker 1: Well, because if you look at modern medicine, so much
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  Speaker 1: better at making people live longer, but as basically not
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  Speaker 1: touched quality of life issues. So let's say because of
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  Speaker 1: modern medicine, you are able to live five years longer.
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  Speaker 1: But those last five years are basically worthless. Medicine can
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  Speaker 1: keep you around for five years, but dementia, I haven't
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  Speaker 1: done much about that.
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  Speaker 2: Alzheimer's, no. You live a crap quality of life.
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  Speaker 1: And that, according to the longevity experts and surveys that
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  Speaker 1: found out, you know, no one wants that kind of life.
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  Speaker 1: My mother lasted until she was 98. She should have
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  Speaker 1: died at 93. And I know that sounds cruel, especially
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  Speaker 1: since I was writing the check every month to keep
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  Speaker 1: her alive, damn it.
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  Speaker 2: Uh, it's, uh, because the last five years of her
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  Speaker 2: life were just horrible. She was in bed.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, she ended up, uh, effectively being a vegetable. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: and it was, uh, you know, I'm watching this happen and, uh,
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  Speaker 1: you know, what are you doing alive? And I couldn't
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  Speaker 1: kill her. Well, I couldn't, you know, and I just
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  Speaker 1: went through my mind, uh, what I would have done
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  Speaker 1: or I should have done.
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  Speaker 2: We won't deal with that. All right.
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  Speaker 1: So the other, uh, couple of, uh, A couple myths
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  Speaker 1: I want to explode. Drugs and supplements can extend lifespan.
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  Speaker 2: They cannot. They do not.
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  Speaker 1: Women stay healthy longer than men do. Well, women do
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  Speaker 1: live about five years longer than men. But those last
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  Speaker 1: five years, a huge proportion suffering from illness and disability.
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  Speaker 1: That's the problem. And again, your quality of life, does
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  Speaker 1: that make sense? Weight loss is always good for you
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  Speaker 1: if you're overweight. You want to know something? Not necessarily.
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  Speaker 1: Some studies have linked weight loss with a lower risk
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  Speaker 1: of death.
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  Speaker 2: Others have not. Others have absolutely not.
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  Speaker 1: There is no connection in many studies with weight loss
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  Speaker 1: and the longevity. It has a lot to do with...
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  Speaker 1: Matter of fact, it has a lot to do with genes. Now,
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  Speaker 1: it is now sort of a given.
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  Speaker 1: That people over 100, it's a question of genes. So
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  Speaker 1: recent data suggests that genetics shape half of your personal lifespan.
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  Speaker 2: But if you look at people who live.
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  Speaker 1: 95 or older, genetics play even a more important part.
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  Speaker 1: And people who live to be 95 are not as healthy,
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  Speaker 1: by the way. They don't live healthier lives. They just
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  Speaker 1: live longer miserable. Remember those commercials, Dannon yogurt commercials, where
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  Speaker 1: they went to some village up in the highlands of
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  Speaker 1: Greece where everybody was 200 years old? And if you
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  Speaker 1: eat Dannon, you'll live longer. And the FTC shut them
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  Speaker 1: down pretty quickly.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: So here's the bottom line. You're probably not going to
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  Speaker 1: live longer. If you do live longer, the end of
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  Speaker 1: your life is going to be crap. Have a good life.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Now I want to talk about something that is fun.
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  Speaker 1: And that is the world's oldest mall, 500 years old.
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  Speaker 1: I've been there several times. I have some great stories
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  Speaker 1: to share with you on that one. Some personal stories
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  Speaker 1: I thought I would jump into.
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  Speaker 2: Do you remember when it was new? I do, actually.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, I remember it was new. Now, it's not the
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  Speaker 1: kind of mall. It's the precursor of malls. But I'll
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  Speaker 1: explain to you how you can have a 500-year-old mall
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  Speaker 1: that still is vibrant today. It's not shutting down like
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  Speaker 1: most other malls are around the country. We'll be right back.
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  Speaker 4: You're listening to Bill Handel On Demand from KFI AM640.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Less than three weeks out before the midterms.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: And I will, I think probably next week or the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: week after, give you my handle voting guide and tell
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: you the way I vote and the rules still apply.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: They always have since I've broadcast. If you follow my
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: voting guide, you are fired as a KFI listener. You
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: are not allowed to look at my voting guide as
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: any kind of a guide for you. Just I'm telling
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: you why, and this is the way I'm going to vote. Now, Oh,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: a story we're covering. The president just announced that the
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: execution by firing squad of Nidal Hassan, the psychiatrist who
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: at Fort Hood several years ago killed 13 service people,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: which is just god awful. And he's going to be executed.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Vance had said it was going to be live streamed. Now,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: it never was going to be a live stream. And
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: the president made up his mind and he said, nope,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: not going to be live streamed.
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  Speaker 2: OK, a fun story.
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  Speaker 1: And this just came up when it was described as
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  Speaker 1: the oldest mall in.
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  Speaker 2: The world, 500 years old. Now, is it a mall? Well,
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  Speaker 2: it actually is a mall.
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking about the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. Istanbul is
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  Speaker 1: a bucket list place to go. I guarantee you, you
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  Speaker 1: will love it at some point in your life. If
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  Speaker 1: you have the opportunity to go to Istanbul and you
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  Speaker 1: have to visit the Grand Bazaar.
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  Speaker 2: It is a covered.
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  Speaker 1: Building that goes for hundreds and hundreds of yards of
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  Speaker 1: covered building. And it has all kinds. There's 11 entrances.
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  Speaker 1: There are all streets and alleyways through it. And on
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  Speaker 1: either side of every street is a shop. And some
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  Speaker 1: of these shops, and there's goldsmiths. There are tinsmiths. There
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  Speaker 1: are people that sell carpets. And folks that sell spices.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, this has been going on for hundreds of years.
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  Speaker 1: And so I've been there twice and I've bought twice. Now,
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  Speaker 1: there is a there was a store and I noticed it.
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  Speaker 1: It was down one of the main drags and it
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  Speaker 1: sold Judaica. you know, Jewish stuff, you know, because I
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  Speaker 1: was a Jew collector, not only in terms of my family,
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  Speaker 1: I collect Jews, but also in terms of pieces, menorahs, mezuzahs,
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  Speaker 1: you know, antique Jew artifacts.
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  Speaker 2: And so I go in there and I see the store,
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  Speaker 2: I go, whoa, okay.
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  Speaker 1: And I start talking to Jacob was his name, the proprietor.
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  Speaker 1: And I look at Jacob and he's obviously Turkish and
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  Speaker 1: he's speaking to me. I go, Jacob, you speak flawless English.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, flawless English. Where did you learn it? And
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  Speaker 1: he looked at me and said, MBA, UCLA.
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  Speaker 2: Why do you ask? I went, okay.
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  Speaker 1: And then he went back with his MBA and ran
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  Speaker 1: one of the stores that his family had. To give
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  Speaker 1: you an idea of longevity, they have three stores, this family.
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  Speaker 1: The first of which... was built right as Abraham Lincoln
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  Speaker 1: had been elected president. That was the first of the
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  Speaker 1: stores the family had. They now have three and he
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  Speaker 1: sold this Judaica. So I go in there to sell
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  Speaker 1: and I start negotiating because everybody negotiates. And we're starting
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  Speaker 1: to talk about a particular piece.
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  Speaker 2: And he goes, I'm giving you the shirt off my back.
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  Speaker 2: And of course he is. So I negotiate.
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  Speaker 1: And then when I came back years later and he
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  Speaker 1: said he remembered me, which of course he didn't, and
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  Speaker 1: we were negotiating for something else. And uh he said
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  Speaker 1: i said wait a minute uh you're wearing a shirt
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  Speaker 1: you told me you were giving me the shirt off
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  Speaker 1: my back anyway he's negotiating i'm negotiating and then on
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  Speaker 1: the way out uh and i was with my ex
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  Speaker 1: at the time he then pulls out a tray full
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  Speaker 1: of diamond rings And says, what do you think of these?
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  Speaker 1: And they were diamonds from Russia, pre-revolutionary Russia, before the
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  Speaker 1: Bolsheviks came during the Russian Revolution. And these aristocrats had
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  Speaker 1: to take their jewelry out because that's all they could
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  Speaker 1: have because the banks were all closed. So what they
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  Speaker 1: did is they took their jewelry with them. and then
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  Speaker 1: sold it just to keep alive. A huge amount of
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  Speaker 1: it ended up in the bazaar, the Grand Bazaar.
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  Speaker 2: And there they were.
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  Speaker 1: And they're not worth as much today because those diamonds
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  Speaker 1: were miner's cut, not the diamond shape we look at.
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  Speaker 1: They were cut in the middle, so they were very
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  Speaker 1: broad at the top and not much at the bottom.
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  Speaker 1: And then they're put on reflective foil so they look brighter.
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  Speaker 1: And so miner's cut are not as valuable, but it's
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  Speaker 1: kind of neat. And so I'm looking at one and
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  Speaker 1: I said, wow, are these real diamonds? And he said, What,
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  Speaker 1: you question? You question this is a real diamond? I said, yeah, Jacob,
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  Speaker 1: I do question it. I said, let me make it
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  Speaker 1: real clear. By the way, Jacob's Jewish. Let me make
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  Speaker 1: it real clear, Jacob. The fact that if you're a Muslim,
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  Speaker 1: I'm convinced that 90% of your diamonds are fake.
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  Speaker 2: The fact that you're Jewish, 100% of your diamonds are fake.
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  Speaker 1: So I said, let's check out, give me a diamond tester,
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  Speaker 1: a hardness tester.
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  Speaker 2: He goes, why would I have one of those? I said, well,
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  Speaker 2: I'm willing to bet you do.
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  Speaker 1: And if you don't whip one out right now, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to walk out the store. So he immediately takes one.
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  Speaker 1: He goes, here, here's the diamond tester. And I walk
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  Speaker 1: outside the store with it. And I grabbed some American,
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  Speaker 1: clearly an American woman with a big ring. And I said,
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  Speaker 1: excuse me, can I test the hardness of your stone?
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  Speaker 1: And I explained to her what was going on. She goes, sure.
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  Speaker 1: So you put the diamond tester, it's a device that measures,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: it's like a little pin, if you will, like a
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  Speaker 1: fountain pen at the end, and you press down on
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  Speaker 1: that against the stone, and that measures the hardness with
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  Speaker 1: diamonds at a 10.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, so hers, of course, was a real diamond.
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  Speaker 1: I went back, and I said, okay, Jacob, let me
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  Speaker 1: see the ring, and tested it out, and son of
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  Speaker 1: a gun, it was a real diamond. It's register 10. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: that's my grand bizarre story. Uh, it is definitely a
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: place to see the original mall, uh, in Istanbul. All right,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: coming up, uh, hardware stores, a secret weapon they have
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  Speaker 1: for marketing.
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  Speaker 2: And it seems to be working.
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  Speaker 1: And I don't know if you're going to guess this
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  Speaker 1: is KFI AM six 40.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: You're listening to bill handle on demand from KFI AM
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: six 40.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: A lot going on today. The U.S.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: Military has drawn up options for renewed strikes on Iran.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: And it looks like this war is expanding like crazy.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: And that's very unfortunate for Republican for Republicans running for office,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: not voting very well. Matter of fact, that's the other
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: part of the political story is Republicans are scrambling now
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: trying to save the Senate. They've pretty well given up
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: on the House. It looks like it's just how many
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: seats are going to be lost to the Republicans in
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the House.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: And can they save the Senate? Probably.
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  Speaker 1: OK, let's have a little bit of marketing fun for
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  Speaker 1: a moment. If you're in business, you have to market
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: your business. There's no way around it these days. Used
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: to be word of mouth. Not not really. You have
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: to go online. You have to figure out some kind
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: of marketing tool. Well, hardware stores have come up with
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: some of the most brilliant marketing tools. And this has
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: to do with what a lot of people do. What
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  Speaker 1: do they watch online? What's like the number one other
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: than porn, of course? What's the number one viewership? Cat videos, right?
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  Speaker 1: We make fun of cat videos. Cat ladies. Well, how
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  Speaker 1: about cat videos at hardware stores?
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  Speaker 2: What is that about? Well, here's an example.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel, who lives at Shopper's True Value Hardware, he is
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  Speaker 1: the mainstay of their marketing. The hardware store's owners just
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  Speaker 1: let Daniel be part of everything that happens. And a
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  Speaker 1: lot of customers come in to their Portland main store
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  Speaker 1: specifically to see Daniel the cat. And while they're there,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: they buy something. Usually you go to a hardware store
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  Speaker 1: not to hang out. That's just not someplace you go. Well,
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  Speaker 1: what these hardware stores have done, you put up a cat,
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  Speaker 1: that's a friendly cat named Casper. You put up a
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  Speaker 1: cat and they become part of the stores and they
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  Speaker 1: become part of the community.
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  Speaker 2: And boy, is it working.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel has become such a draw that the store now
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  Speaker 1: has Daniel branded merchandise.
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  Speaker 2: So cats used to be a big part of hardware
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  Speaker 2: store owners. in their stores.
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  Speaker 1: Why? Because hardware stores, particularly out in the boondocks, have
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  Speaker 1: grass feed, grass seed, bird feed, and they had cats
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  Speaker 1: come in.
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  Speaker 2: To deal with it. That's sort of a given for many,
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  Speaker 2: many generations.
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  Speaker 1: And it wasn't too hard to figure out the customers,
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  Speaker 1: their kids specifically bonded with the cats and they inspire
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  Speaker 1: people to come back to the store to be, to
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  Speaker 1: hang out with the cats.
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  Speaker 3: You know, there's a DIY in big bear right there
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  Speaker 3: on big bear Boulevard. And they have a cat that
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  Speaker 3: roams around and everybody comes in and talks the cat
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  Speaker 3: and pets the cat.
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  Speaker 2: And it, It, boy, does it seem to be working.
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  Speaker 1: His story in the Wall Street Journal, which has a
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  Speaker 1: lot of business stories, obviously, said this thing is the
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  Speaker 1: secret weapon and it doesn't cost anything. You're not paying
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  Speaker 1: for marketing. You're not paying for Google ads or banner ads.
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  Speaker 1: All you're doing is putting up your cat and what
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  Speaker 1: the cat does. And one of them, actually the owner
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  Speaker 1: of Daniel, people come in from all over the world
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  Speaker 1: just to see Daniel. There's Daniel wears a bow tie
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and there's the store's other cat, Bigfoot, wears a necktie.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that is kind of a neat way of
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: doing it. There is a story of a cat in
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Grand County, and this was, I think, Grand County, Michigan,
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  Speaker 1: that one of the cats at the store, Morris, got
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  Speaker 1: so popular one year he was tongue in cheek named
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  Speaker 1: best shop cat in all of Grand County. And he
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  Speaker 1: even made headlines, statewide headlines, after he disappeared in 2022.
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  Speaker 1: So the owners posted a Facebook plea for a safe
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  Speaker 1: return to They were looking at security footage, and it
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  Speaker 1: showed that Morris the cat being scooped up from a
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: nearby parking lot by a couple driving a blue Subaru,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: tracing down the license plate number. The police tracked down
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  Speaker 1: the couple in Denver, and the police drove about four
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  Speaker 1: hours to retrieve the cat.
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  Speaker 2: These are the cops. To celebrate Morris's return, the mayor.
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  Speaker 1: Officially designated September 14th as Morris the Cat Day. And
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  Speaker 1: right after that, unfortunately, Morris disappeared again and he hasn't
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  Speaker 1: been seen since.
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  Speaker 2: But it was, no one has any idea.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. Really?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: You know, there's a Home Depot on Sunset that has
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  Speaker 3: the cutest little homeless guy ever. And he just goes through,
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  Speaker 3: not potty trained, but he goes through the store drooling.
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  Speaker 3: It's just, yeah, it just brings people in. They want
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  Speaker 3: to pet him.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we used to have, when we were at Ardmore.
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  Speaker 1: And that's not to say that the Ardmore studio wasn't
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: falling apart before we had moved into Burbank. But let
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  Speaker 1: me put it this way. We had pet rats that
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  Speaker 1: we would name that would be running all through the building.
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  Speaker 3: At 6th and Ardmore, I would sit there in my
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: office and I often worked late. And I'd see them
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: scurry across the doorway all the time.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: We had so many rats at the old station. Yeah.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: And since the station knew it was moving, did they
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: bring an erratic sermonator?
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Not a chance. Did they replace any of the carpeting?
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Not a chance.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: The place was literally falling apart.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: You had to be careful where you stepped. You go
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: through the floorboards.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: But we had the homeless people, too. We had our
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: own homeless people in front of the building. We would
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: talk and say hello and– Anyway, so cats, cats are
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the secret weapon in hardware stores, specifically cats, because of
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: what they do. Their job is to keep the mice away,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: but boy, have they become heroes.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: For sure. OK, we're done with that.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Let's finish up the show with how your kids are never,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: ever going to afford a house. And the only way
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: for them to be able to maybe kind of is
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: for you to cough up some money, help them with
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: a down payment, because that's what many people do.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: And that's their only shot.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: And I'll dive into that and we'll finish the show
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: up with that when we come back.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: You're listening to Bill Handel On Demand from KFI AM 640.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: A lot going on outside in the world about us.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: One of them, the war in Iran, looks like it
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: is expanding. Inflation hit record numbers yesterday. Not good news
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: at all, certainly for the Republican, the legislators and those
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: that are running for office. Have you noticed that before
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: when the president ran, and won. Virtually every Republican who
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: was also running or trying to go for reelection aligned
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: himself or herself in lockstep with the president? Whatever the
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: president says, I am there and I'm on his side.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: People are backing away from that. They're looking at President
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Trump as a liability. In many instances, his approval, his
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: numbers have just collapsed. Okay, and we'll talk more about
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: that because we've got less than three weeks to go
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: before the midterms. Now, a story I want to do,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: this came out of the Wall Street Journal. I love
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal, and I love talking about finances
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and our world and what's going on economically. And this
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: has to do with first-time homebuyers, why there are so
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: few of them because no one can afford it. And
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I've told you my ongoing conversation with my daughter, Pamela,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: who said, Dad, there will never be a time when
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I can afford a home.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: It's that simple. Certainly here in Southern California, it's just
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: too out of reach. And as my ex and I
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: have said, well, we're going to help you out with
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the down payment. And Pamela comes back and goes, it
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter. Interest rates are so high. Mortgages are so
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: insanely high that if you buy a million dollar house,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: I have to come up with $ 200, 000 down and an
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: $ 800, 000 mortgage at 7.5%.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: It's tough.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: So the share of homebuyers, 25 to 34, who use
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: an older co-signer, that's mom or dad or both, That
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: went up from 1.6% of homebuyers that age that go
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: to a parent as a cosigner, and that doubled from 1994.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: And here is the problem. How do parents deal with this?
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Well, they can outright gift the down payment to a child.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: There are tax ramifications because the most you can give
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: in any given year is.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: $ 19, 000. After that, there is a gift tax that kicks in.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: You can loan the money, but it has to be
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: at commercial rates, which is at least 5%. You can't
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: charge less than 5%. So what can you do? Well,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, what would I do if my daughter could
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: come up and I would be like any other lender?
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: If my daughter could come up with enough money to
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: pay the mortgage, has a good job for enough time,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: would I come up with a down payment? Yeah, probably.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: I would try to help her out. Now, is it
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: a gift? It would have to be. I'm sure as
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: hell not going to co-sign. And that's what parents do. Unfortunately,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: I get questions like this all the time on Handle
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: on the Law. I co-sign for my daughter for her
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: rent for a house. You know, what can I do?
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I go, you can pay it. That's what you can do.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: You got screwed. So Handle on the Law. Here is
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: my advice for people that are trying to help out
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: their kids with home purchases. Advice number one, don't. Let
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: the kids rot. I always find that to be a
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: very good philosophy. You don't get in trouble doing that.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Advice number two, if you loan the money, make sure
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: you don't cosign because you're on the hook forever. Make
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: sure you get interest. Make sure that there is a
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: written instrument. I mean, what happens if there's a divorce
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: and you're loaning it to your son or your daughter
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: and they get married? What happens when they get divorced?
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Who signs the borrowing agreement? I mean, all of it
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: is just a mess. You got to be very, very
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: careful about that. And the reason I'm talking about that,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: these things are going through the roof. The number of
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: people that are helping kids because there's no other way
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: of doing it.
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: I hear another show coming this weekend. Handle on the life.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: Where you give marginal family advice. I become a life coach.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The problem is it would- Bill, handle life coach.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Here's the problem.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: It wouldn't last very long because the first question that
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: I would be asked, so what do you think, Bill?
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: I go, end your life. That's the only answer here.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: Just go ahead and blow your brains out. See, that's
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: why I can't fill in for Jesus on the Jesus
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: show on Sunday.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, there's more than one reason.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I have constantly asked, can I give marginal spiritual advice?
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: And the answer has no.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: If you ever listen to The Jesus Show, there are
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: people that are suicidal who have called that show. And Jesus,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: as Jesus, the person that plays Jesus, we won't mention
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: his name, is actually very gracious and very caring and
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: walking through it. Now, if I were the host of
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: The Jesus Show... on Sunday and someone called up and said,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: you know, Bill, I'm thinking, or Jesus, I'm thinking of
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: killing myself.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: What do you think I'd say?
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Do it now on the air and we can use
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: the ratings or better yet, wait till next week so
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: I can promote it the whole week. Coming up Sunday
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: on the Bill Handel Filling in for Jesus show, a suicide. Okay,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I'm done. That's just a fantasy I have. And why
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: did you get my hopes up, Neil? This is KFI
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: AM 640. You've been listening to The Bill Handel Show.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Catch my show Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.