Latest / Winning With Winans! / Ben Rowden e30 College Athletes Are Making MILLIONS! But Who's Protecting Their Money? 💰🏈
Transcript
- speaker-0: Well I guess it's another time for an episode of Winning with Winens. Let's go. Welcome back to Winning with Wine is Las Vegas, newest and coolest financial show. And I have a guest who's a good friend of mine, and we're not gonna get into all the fun stuff we do. We're gonna talk about a topic that's very important. And it is, with us now being one of the sports capitals of America, we have a lot of news happening right now about what's happening at collegiate and at high school sports when it comes to money. So, Ben Roden, who has a long history of dealing with kids, you yourself. a collegiate athlete as I was, coach, video phog you know, videographer, c you know consultant. speaker-1: come at it from just about every level with the exception of playing professionally. I never played professionally and my college playing was a little bit lower. You know, it was one double A football, so it wasn't anything what we're gonna be talking about today as far as getting paid. had I done well at that one double A level, maybe I could have gotten bumped up, you know, through the transfer portal and gotten paid. That's kind of how that would have worked nowadays. But yeah, a little different experience, but still quite a few experiences to kind of talk about what we're talking about today. speaker-0: You know, this topic came up because you and I were talking about just, you know, the the dollar amounts that we're now discussing. And certainly the fact that this has gone all the way to the the federal level at the legislature. and we can talk about the power grabs which we're going to cover. But Ben, I think that again, it it's we're trying to hit just the grassroot. This is about some common sense things that young athletes should be aware of. speaker-1: Yeah, and you know, there's lots of issues that go around what's happening in college sports today and there's lots of opinions that go along with that today too. But I think what we need to focus on, especially with your expertise, is for the families and athletes that are actually gonna go through this and going to be offered these different life changing monies in some cases, they need to know what direction to take with them. And that's kind of where I was coming at. I thought this was a perfect fit for you because I don't know if these families and athletes and then their NIL agents or whoever they're using. I don't know if they're using a money manager or even a financial planner or even a tax tr attorney or an accountant, right? Like they need to maybe be educated a little bit. And I thought you were a great person to kind of educate a little bit along the whole way of what they need to be looking for, what they need to be asking and, you know, kind of maybe ask you a few questions, let you answer them and hopefully, you know, pass this off to some, you know, athletes who are probably either in the process of making that money, currently making that money, or maybe making that in the next year or two. I actually know a few here in the valley, but they're they're nationwide right now. They're mainly in football and basketball, but it's it's pretty crazy. But one of the main things, you know, first and foremost, what's a money manager and, you know, what do you do? What how could you help, you know, an athlete or a family that's all of a sudden coming into some, you know, different life changing type money. speaker-0: Ben, before answer that, I want to just briefly bring up why this is important. Okay, this topic, regardless of who I am. I have managed money for some very well known celebrities who I can't talk about. I'm disclosed, you know, you're you're supposed to be very confident. But I distinctly remember this legendary actor, the first time I met him, he had had a problem with a previous agent where money had not been handled properly. And when I sat down with he and his family, I started talking and he was just kind of looking around. I was kind of kind of thinking about his next movie. And I said, Can I ask you a question? If you had a health problem, would you not want your doctor to explain to you what's going on? He goes, Well, well, yeah. I said, if you were getting sued or your agent, you were having a problem with something in the law, would you not want your attorneys? Well, of course I would. I said, if you the IRS was coming after you for back taxes, would you not want your accountant explaining to you? Well, it says Then when it comes to the investment of your money, why are you not paying attention? All it took. It's that important. Yeah. And you can't just say, I trust that person. they're my friend. Everything's fine. You can't do that. So what do I do? in our world, my job is the the slang term is I'm a money manager. My job is to after a strategy has been put together and then and the proper education, we can't emphasize it enough. You need to know what is happening to your money. my job is to implement a a strategy on what kind of investments we would buy. The investments range from stocks, bonds, which are a type of loan, commodities, gold, real estate. It can go in a lot of different directions. So but my job is to execute that game plan. speaker-1: You mentioned trust. That was a big word that stuck out in your in your answer right there. But how do you build trust with somebody you don't know? Somebody that's going to either advise you in matters of law, contract, money, somebody that maybe actually handling your money, handling, you know, actual transactions. What are some of the things that you would recommend in asking yourself, sitting down with an agent, with an accountant, how do you build that trust with somebody that you can actually sit down and and work with somebody? speaker-0: So the first thing, rule number one, you are the client, not them. Do not let them override you. Do not let them try to make you feel embarrassed. This is new. You know, it's actually interesting. One of the things that I care a great deal about, we've always heard these stories about people that again have had money mismanaged and they work very hard. They've sacrificed themselves to amass these amounts and they're gone. Or a big chunk of them are gone. And and sometimes it's it's illegal. Sometimes there's just terrible management of it. But trust comes from rule number one, really do listen to what they're telling you. Make sure you do, in fact, agree with them. You might not like them. I mean, personality does matter, but like should not override their capabilities. I would talk to your hey, talk to your ministers, talk to your parents, talk to whomever does their taxes. Make sure they agree that, hey, I like this person. What do you all think? It's so important. But get other people's opinions. And last but not least, hey, do a search. Go Google them. See what comes up. Make sure that they have had no problems with the law. Make sure things add up. Do your own homework. speaker-1: One of the questions I was gonna ask was with you have a lot of different people that can be helping out with the situations. Like we've talked about an NIL agent, you know, they're the actual ones finding the money, get bringing the deals in. They may or may not be an attorney. So then maybe having an an attorney on staff or on retainer, having an accountant, having whether that accountant's in a a tax attorney or not, having a tax attorney, having a financial planner or a money manager or both. Do you recommend making sure these people Know each other, work with each other, know each other previously, what kind of relationship should those people have with each other? speaker-0: It can be all the above, but what I would caution anybody about is when you're sold that we're a one-stop shop. We do everything. Hold it. Because what usually happens, and this happens with me, I actually have a firm that I might know that I've never met somebody. I have some firms out of places like Indiana. I've never met the clients. Now they tell the clients, we're a one-stop shop, but they're then they're turning around and hiring Wynans Investments. To manage a money for him, what it means is that client is paying a lot more in fees for that so-called convenience. Right. So I I don't think it's it. what you do want to make sure is that it's not meant to be a downer, it's not meant to be throwing cold water on on expectations, but your advisors should not be the cheerleaders. They should be there to give assessments. So assume that this is it. it's okay to go have fun with some money. Hey, you've worked hard, go up, go play a little bit. But you know, before you go out and splurge, just maybe think about it in terms of how much did I actually get? What percentage of that, what part of that am I really spending? And then don't forget, the big boogeyman that many of you probably have never had to deal with before, taxes. And even in Nevada, you still have federal taxes. Yes, we're state tax free, but you're gonna owe money starting the very first quarter you get that pay. So you need to have it all in place. speaker-1: With that being said, do you have kind of baseline percentages that you s you know tell people to put away for whether it's just straight savings, investing, fund money, family money, housing money? Do you have kind of a breakdown or percentage? Is that a sliding scale again based on how much you're making? speaker-0: I think it depends on the amount. I mean, percentages are tricky because if you ended up, let's say there's a big difference between a hundred thousand and five million. Okay. so if you're if you're looking at percentages, you know, ten percent of five million, that's quite a bit of bling. That's a lot of money in in cars and jewelry. Yeah, vacations and yeah, you want to be careful about that. and also more in taxes. You gotta remember taxes if you if you're talking about fifty, sixty thousand bucks, that's not that much. You start getting up there though, you could really be surprised at what you're going to get hit. So as a general rule, I just what I always tell people is say, look, don't do impulse buying. If you see something you want, fine. Just kind of put it in the back of your head. Think about it for a couple of days and then decide, do I really need it? Do I really want that? Same with loans. You know, favorite word to tell people, let me think about it. Just say I'm gonna think about it. speaker-1: Talk to me. Man. speaker-0: Yeah, or check with you, or or let me say no for you. I'll be happy to I've done that many times. But no, you you have to and this is a scary world. And you know, Ben, I'll say that I have been there myself, whether it's selling a business or it's it's you know a big investment that that hits a pay dirt, so to speak. And you get a big check, or you someone says, We're gonna send you many you probably don't know what a wire is, but it's money that goes directly into your bank account. it's you start to think, wow, that's a lot of money. I never thought I'd be able to have that. So you almost get a little s little shake a little bit when you get this. Right. There's nothing to be afraid of. Just don't, you know, just follow a good game plan and be smart about it. speaker-1: Coming back to you personally and your firm, you're a bit of a smaller firm compared to some of the big names that you see T V commercials that might even be on the Super Bowl or something like that, spending God who's now knows how much, you know, for their advertising. Yeah. But what is what are some of the advantages of sticking with a smaller firm like say yourself? speaker-0: Well, let me let me back it up this way. So if if you you all know the big firms, you know, you've all heard about JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley or Bank America. And you know, you see they're they're branches all over the place. There's nothing wrong with those folks. They're good people. They work very hard. But I do want you to think about this. They're employees. They work for that bank. In my case, I work for the clients, but I'm the one who the you know, my company, my name is on the letterhead. I left the big firms a long time ago because I wanted to be able to customize portfolios and do what I thought was right for the clients, not have to juggle client needs with what the company wants me to sell or do. And I think it's important that you have somebody that you really know where do they stand, where do their loyalties lie. speaker-1: Yeah, it seems like it's a it's a big thing to make sure you it again, comes back to that trust. Trust factor and it seems like it'd be easier to trust a smaller firm that you can actually get to know rather than a firm that you there's no way you're gonna get to know all the employees. Let alone you may never even meet the the owners of the higher. speaker-0: I almost guarantee you won't. I and and you know, it I think it depends if you are looking at a situation where you want to be with a big firm, just for some reason you're more comfortable with there's nothing wrong with that. But there's no one right answer. And I've often found people who start off with a big firm and they call me later because they say, you know what, we didn't like the impersonal side or we didn't feel that we really were given all the answers. Yeah. Or the fees were too high. I've had that happen many times, but they just had no idea what they were paying. So I it y it's a it's a feel. It's it's like coaches. Some coaches you like, some you don't. It's the same, same rule. Yeah. Hey Ben we gotta take a real quick break and we'll be right back with winning with one and Hey everybody, this is Ken Winans with Winningland Winnings Las Vegas News and Coolest Financial Show. And we have great guests. And this next one is going to be one of them, Dr. Tia Mathis Coleman, who's a professor at UNLV, who's also, by the way, our deputy treasurer for the great state of Nevada. We're going to talk about what Nevada's doing to help our kids go on to have a great education, whether it's in the trade schools or it's in the universities. We're going to have a lot to talk about. And you know me, I love to talk finance, so we're gonna have me, the finance guy, talking with the finance professor. We're gonna get a lot done. See you next week. And welcome back to Winning with Winins. I'm your host, Ken Winins. We have Ben Roden on, and we're having a very important talk today about athletics, especially youth athletics and the do's and don'ts of money in sports. speaker-1: Well, that was actually perfect lead in my next question was gonna be some of the some of the issues you've seen. Now it might not be athletes and we've all heard some of the athlete stories, but just clients in general. What are some of the the pitfalls that you've seen clients getting into, whether it's bad investments or giving money to families, spending too much on unnecessary items, what are some the things that they kind of need to avoid and and look ahead towards that might be approaching them? speaker-0: There's there's always different stories. Let me just say this real quick. just a piece of advice I always give celebrity clients. Don't believe the PR. The PR is a machine. It's it's your brand, but don't buy into it. That's not who you are. We all have family complications. I I mean, I think one of the things that I've had to deal with with younger people, some of them have young children. You know, they they ended up having kids very early in life and they worry about. I want my kids to have an education, even though that the it might just be an infant. You have that discussion. Right. You know, there's things you can do right now. like for instance, there's new accounts being set up for kids that are born this year. You get a thousand bucks. That's gonna go a long way to helping you pay for a college down the road. also I I would also say too, too many times I've seen people that they have let their family members or their friends get into their business life. it it it usually can end pretty ugly. I mean, suddenly you're no longer talking to each other. it doesn't mean that they're bad people, maybe they just were over their head with what was going on. I would just caution before you have anybody who's in your personal world getting into your professional world, I I just a moment of pause before you think about that. And you you do have them involved, but don't have them operationally involved or handling the day-to-day stuff. speaker-1: How do you how do you help somebody that might be feeling that pressure, whether it's from friends, friends, families, now these kids have fans, whether it's online and Instagram, how do you help them avoid the pressure of feeling like they've got to show off everything they're getting, right? The whether it's buying too much jewelry or, you know, spending too much on a on a rental place to live as opposed to maybe buying a house, you know, spending that money on a leased vehicle that's gonna do nothing for them. How do you help, you know, convince somebody or show them Kind of the proper ways to to funnel that money. speaker-0: I've been raised one more. Residency. What state do you want to live in? Because if you're talking about a big payoff and you live in certain states that have very high taxes, such as California, you know, and but yet you're gonna be flying everywhere. Let's say you're a collegiate athlete, you might not be going to school in California, you're going to school somewhere else, and you're going all over the place on schedule. Maybe it doesn't matter that you have to live in California. Maybe you should live in Nevada. So here's the thing. The These are all complicated issues, so they need to be ha very thoroughly discussed, all of it. There needs to be very clear and and and every advisor you have should take it upon themselves to educate you. I by my nature, I love to teach. I've written five books, I write magazine articles, we do the podcast. I love it. It's fun. If you are not getting that kind of attention, you they might be very good at what they do, but if they're dismissing your questions or they're try or they're not treating you with respect. I'd get rid of Go find somebody who really is gonna care. speaker-1: back again to that trust. I keep I that's the only word I can keep hearing in my head when I you know think about somebody handling that kind of again that kind of money but that kind of really foundation for your future because that's what this money really can be for all of these athletes, no matter how little or how much it can be a foundation for their future. And something that most 18-year-olds don't get you know you might not get that ever in your life. You might just right into the working world where you're just making you know, paychecks to pay for, you know, your bills. This is one of those opportunities that again, somebody like yourself can I I feel like can help these families and athletes really again establish that foundation and then really build on it. speaker-0: Well, there is a term out there. It's actually a legal term. It's called a fiduciary. And the reason we have that term written in the laws, it lit it literally tells me where mine or any anybody in my field loyalties lie. I must do what is right for the client first. If I i in other words, even if the client's gonna do something crazy, and if I'm not comfortable with it, I'm supposed to walk. That's how serious this law is, because we've had too many times. Where there have been divided loyalties and things don't happen. I I would also say this too. I I mean, mo people don't like getting involved in other people's business. You know, it's like the don't piddle in my pond type thing. What I mean by that is this. you there needs to be a fine line of where you have your advisors come in. So, because many times I've felt uncomfortable where I've been dragged into the middle of a family thing that went on decades before I was ever even involved in the process. And it actually puts me in a very uncomfortable spot. So yeah, there needs to be a fine line about where it's family and friends and it's professional and your advisors. And that and you'll learn how to do that in time. You know what? You're gonna make mistakes. Okay, just accept that. You do not have to be perfect. What you have to do though is learn from those mistakes. speaker-1: From learning from those mistakes, I think one of the things we hear about, especially with athletes, but I think young actors, anybody that, you know, comes into money young is parents and parents mismanaging funds or, you know, doing things the wrong way, but then also parents that are trying to do things the right way and just don't know how to, right? So I guess my question for is twofold for the parents that maybe have minors that are already, you know, hitting these NIL deals, because some of these some of these kids will be sixteen, seventeen years old when they start making this money. The other one is the parent of the 18 to 19 year old that technically your child is an adult. They can make all their own decisions. You want to be involved, you want to be supportive, you don't want to overstep, but you also don't want to let your child to the wolves, right? You want to be somewhat supportive, but how do you what's your recommendations for how parents should handle this, this whole process? speaker-0: You know, the one thing I would say to the parents, first it's on a case by case basis. It really is. I mean, everybody's different. with when your kids are legally minors, there's gonna have to be a trust structure set up for them, which means the parents are gonna have to be involved. there are these things called they're called UpMA accounts, which are designed for parents to be involved in a child's finances and the and the young person gets their money when they turn twenty-five. It's a hundred percent theirs. You can set those up. in the case of an old of a young adult, you I think you might be surprised. Talk to your kids about this. They will want you involved. What I would just discourage, make sure that neither one of you have the ability to withdraw funds from the account. Make sure you both sign the checks, you both give authority, because trust me, suddenly there's a misunderstanding about where money went and it flares into a huge family fight. And you don't want that. speaker-1: Yeah. And I'm guessing also make sure run questions and ask your advisors for those for that advice. speaker-0: You should every your advisor should be able to produce every single quarter what we c would call an expenditure report. How much money was taken out of the accounts and where did it go? It it it to the penny should be able to to actually tell you that very especially in today's world. Yeah. Very easy to tell you. You should get that just so everybody's on the same page. speaker-1: what's the first thing if if a family's gonna come meet with you, they're interested in in possibly, you know, having you mu manage their money, what what should they be bringing into that first meeting? What questions, what paperwork, what attitude, what should they be coming with? speaker-0: The first meetings should be, I I I'm gonna call them very informal. It should be just again the the flavor of conversations, the the chemistry with you and the advisor. the c but they should be the basic questions, you know, things such as what is the timing of money showing up? When does a decision need to be made? What accounts need to be opened, taxes, you know, basic things like that. And then after you hear those discussions and and certainly I by the way, Ben, I always say there's always two things in business when you talk about marketing. Who are you? And why should I work with you over somebody else? So you should answer those two questions. You walk out with, okay, I know who that guy Ken is with his cowboy hat and I know what he does. Because I don't do it all, nobody does. But then and the but then answer to see if the the questions and the answering of those questions meet what you're looking for. But have it be relaxing. It's not a stressful thing. You should go in and out of there. With the idea you're gonna learn something. speaker-1: What are some maybe red flags they should be looking for in this meeting that you know might make them think twice about working with somebody? speaker-0: Anybody asking you for a retainer, an upfront retainer, I would not work. Now a lawyer's a little different, depending on the degree of work. That's pretty common. But anybody in finance hitting you up for an upfront fee, I wouldn't work with them. That's not the way it works. It should that's and then also too, you have the right, and they were supposed to disclose to you how much they are actually making off of being your advisor. speaker-1: We kind of mentioned it earlier, but in your opinion, you know, with what these athletes are going through, who they're, you know, working with, who should be their their board of advisors? Who should they be looking out to for this advice? speaker-0: Well, I mean, you in in their in their world, they have to have an agent. You know, there's contracts. Hopefully that agent is also an attorney. But again, attorneys are are different specialties. you have to have an accountant. You have to have somebody who's gonna be on top of the tax bills, what's owed, when, how much, all that. They need to be brought in very early in the game. an an investment person. An accountant and an investment person are not the same people. Well, yeah, the account. speaker-1: One counts the money, right? It will count sure knows where everything goes. speaker-0: They file the tax returns. They if there's accounting statements like if they need a household budget put together, accountants can help you with that. The investment person is the person who who buys the stocks, helps you with the real estate. Trying to make you money. You're trying to make you money. Yeah. and then you know, a lot of other advisors that many people don't really think about, I think it's important to actually have a bookkeeper. You know, most accountants are not gonna sit there and reconcile every check and every credit card thing. but I I think it's important to actually have that person that can actually itemize all those things. speaker-1: Are any of these positions you would recommend for family members who bookkeep have that speaker-0: You could I if you know a lot of moms they've they've had a kid I mean my mom did. I'm sure yours did too. They ran the house. So if you if you want to get started with that, that's fine. If not, you know, just you can find somebody outside. None of these were that expensive. But Ben, I just realized we we we went over again. You have time after this to do another section. Okay, everybody, we're gonna take a quick break with Winning with Wine is here from our sponsors, and we'll be right back. Hey everybody, this is Ken Wine as we've been winning with Wine is Las Vegas News and Coolest Financial Show, and we always have great guests. So next week we're gonna have Dr. Tia Mathis Coleman, who is a professor at UNLV. She also tries to help with funding our kids throughout Nevada, and she's our deputy treasurer for the great state of Nevada. We're gonna be talking about a lot of things going on in our state, what her plans are going forward, and you know what? I love to talk finance, so to have a treasurer. and me talk, we're gonna solve some problems. Anyway, see you next week. Well, everybody, welcome back to Winning with Wineins. We're having a special type of talk today where I'm actually being interviewed and answering tough questions. But because Ben's a a real he's he's an he's an investigative reporter, I can tell. So, but we're talking about sports and money and what should young athletes have to be thinking about. Ben, I was gonna bring up one other thing. I I think it's a lot of times pastors in churches, I I've they've been involved in the process. A teacher in school, if somebody you trust that you really have bonded with, by all means, bring them to these meetings. Have them. Maybe they won't always agree, but if you have trusted people in your life who you think can add something to the discussion, bring them along. speaker-1: I'm guessing a lot of these athletes nowadays too are gonna have other athletes in their lives, teammates, former teammates, or you know, maybe just guys they ran across at a at a football camp or something like that, who obviously have gone through this or are going through this process. How much should they be leaning on some of these other athletes that are currently doing this? speaker-0: It's never a bad idea to maybe if if they have somebody who they really have bonded well, saying, Hey, who's your agent? Hey, who is there somebody you work with? the other thing too is I I I think geography matters. And if you are, you know, wherever you're deciding to resident, you should see your advisor face to face. I mean, hey, look, I love Zoom and Microsoft Teams and, you know, FaceTime. That's all great. But you know what? It's your money. And you should sit down with the people and know their staff, who works for them, and really mean it's so important. So, although you might find that there's a really good agent who's in New York and you're living in Los Angeles, you know, that's something to maybe think about. You know, there's a lot of good, capable people. I mean, look at Las Vegas. I mean, we're booming here. There's competent people everywhere you live. And I think it's worth just looking in the local market first. speaker-1: What is say you have four years in college, they're saying five now, but let's just go with the old school. Four years in college, you make money every year, maybe at sliding scale, you make a little bit more every year. But let's say you don't make, you know, the NFL. The guys that are gonna make the NFL, they're gonna keep making money. That's a given. The guys who are gonna be making money in college, now they're gonna go make, you know, money in regular jobs and d have to decide, you know, what else they want to do for their lives. But what In your mind, does financial success look like after those four years? If you have been making, you know, money that obviously no college kids are making, and most eighteen to twenty two year olds just in the regular workforce aren't making, what does financial success look like at the end of that four years? speaker-0: I think it also depends on what you want to do when your athletic career is over. You might decide you want to go into teaching. You might decide you want to go into business. I have a lot of young people want to do the kind of work I do for a living. I think a lot depends on that. Because what would I define as security? a roof over your head? It doesn't mean you have to buy the house, but you have enough money to afford where you want to live. you you need transportation. I mean, and also not some expensive leased car, but maybe you own that. Car. And then last but not least, you might want to own a business itself. You want to have enough money that you actually can put in the original capital for that new business. So it's important your junior year, especially, as you're having to pick your major, really think through how do you see this playing out? what you should not plan on, and I highly advise people, don't go so aggressive with this money. Because you say to yourself, man, if I stick that all in Bitcoin. Boy, in four years, I'm gonna be worth $10 million. I won't ever have to work again. No, that's not investing. That's gambling. And I'll tell you what, if that's what you want to do, come on out to Vegas. You'll have a really good, fun time over a weekend and bring your team. But no, that's not game, that's not investing. That now Bitcoin can certainly be part of your portfolio, but you don't speculate. And I I just caution people, don't be too aggressive up front and learn. Learn about money, learn about its responsibilities. Ben, not nearly enough said about this. A lot of parents have helped people get where they are. I mean, mine did. I know yours did too. You know what? By all means, if you want to help your your mom and dad and your siblings have an easier time of it, there's nothing wrong with that. But you should talk to your advisors and see what I can reasonably do? Don't be overgenerous. Here's another problem. If you give money once, a lot of times people think it's going to keep coming, it's going to be like an annuity. Meaning it's paid every year. No, you need to make sure people understand this is one time, one time only. You know, just be careful you don't obligate yourself and put yourself in funny places. speaker-1: I guess we're kind of at that point where why shouldn't an athlete come to you? You know, what's the next steps if they're interested in talking to you? Kind of kinda give me your little elevator pitch on you know, winning with wine. speaker-0: Number one, I was a collegiate athlete in track and field. I actually competed internationally in track and field and then I got hurt. So I do understand competition, I understand all that. But more important than that, I know you all out there know statistics. Well, let me give you a statistic. In my field, there's a my track record, my performance record is audited and it's third party evaluated by a firm called Morningstar. Think of them like a a booking agency for money managers. And in my field, I'm in the top one percent in where I manage money in the world. So I am one of the best. So I think that matters. Number two, I'm independent. you know, I don't this is another thing that's important to I'm gonna bring this up. I don't hold your money. Your money is held by a large institution such as a Charles Schwab or a Morgan Stanley or a Bank America. I don't hold the money, so I'm not gonna be Bernie Madoff and take off with the funds. No, there's third parties. That protect the funds. But no, if you're looking for somebody who knows how to win, win with Wynens. speaker-1: Let me give them another analogy. If wine if w Wynan's investments was being rated by rivals, they'd be a five star. They'd be ninety nine, they'd be, you know, going anywhere they want, they'd have all the offers. So that's that's winning with Wynin's, that's Wynan's investment. speaker-0: I'll tell you, Ben, I it's funny. I had a somebody who was a former boxer. Best compliment every man, you punch way above your weight. So I love it. I love it. But listen, give me a call. I mean, and here's the thing: there's no obligation to work with us, come in to meet with us. If you would like to talk to me, go to wininsinvestments.com or go to the Winning with Winens website. It will direct you of where to go. And if I can't help you. I will give you this promise. I will direct you to people who can and people who I trust. So, but hey, congratulations on your success. You've earned it. So just make sure that what you've earned and what you've worked hard to get is properly handled and it's for your benefit. Ben, I think we covered it all. I think so. Well, buddy, thank you for the time today. And I hope I like I said, we're here to help the Vegas young people that with our bustling environment here and our sports capital, we want to make sure that we have a good place for all of them. speaker-1: Absolutely. speaker-0: All right. So everybody, that's it. So we'll hope to hear from you. If you have any questions, please send them to me. So you know, if you'd like to talk to us, now we have offices in California and obviously Las Vegas is our our headquarters. But I do have clients all over the place. But if we can help you, or at least if we can't, we can direct you to somebody you can, but please give us a call. And welcome back to Winning with Winens. I'm your host, Ken Winins. And in this segment, which we're trying to do more of these special segments about things besides finance. But you know what? Economics weaves itself into everything. In today's segment, we're we've been talking about sports, sports in Las Vegas. And you know it's fun for me because I do travel quite a bit. And let's face it, sports are a big part of city pride, state pride, national pride. And the one thing that I, you know, we certainly people around the country realize it's pretty much undisputed that Vegas is, if not the, but it's certainly a major sports center in this country and in the world, if you talk to Muddy. So at the in the previous segments, I was certainly talking about the the Vegas Golden Knights and the Vegas Raiders. But now let's talk about F1. You know, it's interesting car racing. And we've had NASCAR here. In fact, many may might not even know this. Every single Shelby Cobra Anybody who knows about Carol Shelby and car racing, they're made in Las Vegas. It's right off the 15. And by the way, you can stop by and go check them out. Most people don't know. We make s we make high performance sports cars in Las Vegas. But let's talk about this for a moment. So we've had NASCAR here for a very long time. You go north of the city, going toward Nellis, it's out that way. But bring an F1 here. Now look, I know this is a little contentious. I just dis discovered last night as I drove down to the strip. The roads are already getting switched around and you don't quite know where to go. Don't trust your GPS, by the way. It doesn't seem to get that into the mix. You just want to try to avoid it. But they're setting up again. We have this fantastic event. And again, here's the thing to remember. Yes, we have to deal with some annoyances for what a month and a half. The money that comes from F1 is staggering. We have a a full-time F1 presence here, but The money that comes in for those three to four days of racing, the helicopters are flying, it comes from around the world, folks. I mean, I've had the pleasure of going to the business conference for F1. I've gotten this year. I'm going to go to all three of the race days. You know, and it there's a price point for everybody. I know it's not cheap, but you can find a way to watch the race. It's amazing. All I can tell you. But again, here's a temporary venue that we turn into a year-long venue. And when you talk to anybody in F1, They all tell you the same thing. Vegas is their place. Don't forget, we were featured in a movie because of that. So again, we can't discount it enough. and you know what? I think the economics are speaking for itself. you talk to anybody, the the hotels, the restaurants, visiting throughout the whole valley. I mean, people from Europe, they want to go out to Red Rock Canyon, they want to go see Lake Mead. They want to go. I've told several of them go check out our mountains at Mount Charleston. They they can't believe it. My point is it spreads throughout the valley. It doesn't just stay concentrated down on the strip. Okay, let's jump ahead here a little bit. basketball. You know, I I look, I know there's a lot of stuff going on right now about the WNBA, but our Aces are a very competitive team. They have been from day one. You know, in the middle of COVID, they were winning championships. But one thing that it did, it proved that between the tradition of UNLV basketball and now What happened with the Aces, we're gonna have an NBA team here. And you know what blows my mind is that without even having a team, somebody paid $10 billion for the right to have an NBA team in Las Vegas. I think the Lakers are sold for 12. That's mind-blowing the opportunity here. And I personally think the NBA will do very well. By the way, a lot of talk about, my gosh, we're gonna have another. jammed up mess down on the southern end of the strip. No, we're not. It's gonna go up. I d understand that the stadium is gonna go up toward where the carousel is, up you know, on the mid part of the strip. But anyway, here's the point. We're gonna literally have sports year round. And I'm saving the best for last. I was at an event last night and the president of the Vegas, soon to be Vegas A's, was speaking. And this is what came out of it. The owner of the A's, they are going to commit large money to keep the winning attitude of Las Vegas going. The A's, I as many of you know, and again, I said earlier, I'm from the barrier. I I'm A's had a tremendous reputation out there. But the thing is, they're committing capital to make sure we have a good team here. They're committing capital to get the community involved in the team. They're putting money into local baseball type things. And let's not forget, we also have our aviators here. It's really pretty. That's the other fun thing here. We have the farm teams here. We have the Henderson Silver Knights for the, you know, the Golden Knights counterpart. And now we have the Aviators who have been out in Summerlin for a very long time. They themselves are very popular. Folks, it's mind blowing. Add up what each of these stadiums bring to the table in hotels, restaurants, the tickets themselves, people flying in for a weekend. But we're gonna have sports literally year-round. And when you have that, watch and see how much that transforms our Vegas Valley. But for me personally, it also sends out a very important message that we have built a model that will allow us to bring other industries to our valley and our state. I am personally right now working on bringing what I'm calling the Western Wall Street. For many of you who might not know what that means, Wall Street is The hub or the center for financial services. So stock market, bonds, commodities, all that kind of stuff. I want to bring that here. California, as we all know, is having horrible problems. I I mean in fact, I wrote an article calling the financial centers of California, LA, and San Francisco financial ghost towns. And believe me, I've caught a lot of crap about that, but that's fine. The truth hurts. But here's my point. Yes, the sports teams have been a success, they have brought jobs. They have brought the athletes to live here. We're going to bring the sports management companies here, but we're going to bring other businesses and industries as well. As we diversify out this unbelievable valley, we are going to turn this into the center of the West in so many ways, it's mind-blowing. But anyway, I I always get asked when I'm out of town, do we get any special deals on tickets? And you know what? Many of you might not know this. There are local opportunities. To get involved in the professional sports and the college sports. I recommend go look for those local opportunities. These teams want you, as citizens of Las Vegas, to be involved. So go enjoy some of those venues, like where I bought this gear. This is the surplus cell for the Golden Knights after the season was over. You know what? It's a lot of fun to go there and haggle and buy things cheap. You know, and like I said, at the end of the day, it brings out the kids and things. But let me also bring this out. I'm very involved with Nellis Air Force Base and I'm trying to work on having a sp a space museum here. The other great thing is that veterans and active military, when you look at how sports treat our vets here, it's phenomenal. The owner of the Golden Heights is a former Army paratrooper. you know, there are veterans and throughout the organizations that work within the sports complex of Las Vegas. I'm just saying. You need to think about that. And I, you know, and the same with churches. I mean, I'm amazed when I go to church on Sundays. people are gonna go from church and they're gonna go right to the games. It's become part of our cultural identity. So when I hear people say, gee, the strip is dying, you don't have people in the, you know, playing as much at the tables anymore. First off, the numbers don't bear that, folks. I mean, actually, gaming-wise with sports betting is more than made up for it. But when you again, I can't emphasize enough. Civic pride, economic advancing. The the the the multiple layers of economic growth that comes from the sports, it's huge. So, anyway, listen, when you go to a game, you are doing a lot to promote our community, show our civic pride, and all those other good things. So the next time somebody tells you that the sports have been a huge drain on our schools and that you know that it's it's not benefiting us. That is BS. Somebody is just speaking out of ignorance, in my opinion. Go to the websites of the Golden Knights, the Vegas Raiders, the soon to be Vegas A's, the Aces, the soon to be our basketball team, F1, NASCAR, UNL V Athletics. Go and look. They're not a drain on our schools, folks. They're a benefit to those places and they benefit our community. So listen, I'm about ready to wrap up. I'm a sports fan, I admit it. most people are. and by the way, the other thing I love about going to a night's game, I actually get to smoke a cigar in the stadium. Try doing that in California. They won't let you anywhere near it. So anyway, folks, I hope I see you at some of the sports band. Don't forget, hey, how can I forget? Rodeo. Rodeo. Don't forget about that. Go see the rodeo. And and you know what? We even if you're not into horses and bull riding, go do it. I I guarantee you're gonna love it. And listen. Just go enjoy our fantastic fall. My gosh, we got F1, we got hockey, football, rodeo. We have all that going on in the fall. It makes our holidays in Las Vegas very, very special. Go enjoy it and enjoy the books that are out there on our teams and go have a little fun. And by the way, I'm not much of a gambler, but I have to admit, it is fun to put a better two out on a game. Anyway, folks, enjoy the season. I hope you enjoyed this segment. This is Ken Winers with the winning with Winus. We'll be right back. Yeah well. Hey everybody, this is Ken Winens, host of Winning with Winens Podcast. And before I founded the Morningstar five-star ranked investment management firm, Winens Investments, which by the way is the only five-star ranked manager in Las Vegas, I actually worked on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange trading commodities with our traders. Yes, I actually know all those crazy hand signs you see in the movies. You know, if you haven't heard about it, commodities have had these eye-popping returns, not just gold. We're talking about cattle. Copper, soybeans, all these kinds of things. Don't be surprised. Many of the financial advisors who work for the big investment firms, they don't even bring it up with their clients. But if you're interested in learning more about this very unique area, which has been around a very long time, give Winin's Commodities a call. Founded in 2021 with an experienced team, 100% independent and veteran-owned. And you know what? Find out more about commodities and maybe it will fit in your portfolio. Give Wine's Commodities a try. Win with Winens. Boy, that time went fast. I hope you had as much fun as I did during this segment of Winning with Winens. Make sure and tune in next week for another round of guest and interesting topics. And if you missed this, make sure and check us out on Spotify, YouTube, or go to our website, winning with wineins.com, where there's a lot more information for you to follow. So good luck this next week. Look forward to seeing you then. Take care.