Latest / Winning With Winans! / William Hoff-e24 Las Vegas, Geopolymer Concrete & The Future of Investing
Transcript
- speaker-0: Well I guess it's another time for an episode of Winning with Winens. Let's go. And welcome to Winning with One is Las Vegas' newest and coolest financial show. Yes, I'm your financial guy with the cowboy hat. And I have one of my most special friends who I can just tell you I've known him a very long time. He knew me when I still lived in California. And I will tell you, he's one of the people who talked me moving to this fantastic city. My friend William Off. William, how are you today, my friend? speaker-1: Great, Ken and I'm really glad to be here. speaker-0: ditto man. And by the way, we've got a lot to cover. But you are truly you know, I always say I have interesting friends. You and I are definitely have had some interesting times together. speaker-1: Absolutely. Is it's been fifteen years we've known each other? speaker-0: Yeah, I mean we met we literally met each other I think in a at a air at an air show in San Francisco. Yes. As we're were we raised. speaker-1: Exactly. speaker-0: Well we've covered a lot of turf. But William, I love the fact you you've been involved with Las Vegas for a very long time. Were you born here? No. speaker-1: No, I was actually born in California, but I traveled here even as a child, with my my mother at the time that continued to live here for seventy years I think she's got in Vegas. speaker-0: Wow. What's the biggest surprise to you? I mean thinking I did I mean, do you ever think Vegas would become what it is today? speaker-1: My wildest dreams. I remember I lived on Decatur. Decatur speaker-0: When was this in the desert? speaker-1: Road. I I was the last house in town. I had a gate in my backyard and we used to ride up the hill and we all had a gathering spot on Holland Road. And it's a dirt road that went from Rancho all the way over to Blue Diamond, and it's up on the valley and it was overlooking Las Vegas. And we used to ride up there and have beer parties and campfires and overlook the valley. Holland Road was changed to Rainbow. So very much speaker-0: no. We know that very well. And now we have traffic gems speaker-1: I mean, we couldn't believe that somebody's building Summerlin. You need a a four by four to go out there and check this place. They're putting a a neighborhood. Why are they building it all the way out of town? speaker-0: Hey, by the way, do you know where Summerlin came from? Okay, speaker-1: No. speaker-0: trivia. I I get I was talking with somebody said, well, that was Howard Hughes' mother's maiden name. Because he owned it, Hughes Corporation. speaker-1: Yes, i even a place across from the Sahara is the Howard Hughes Corporation. speaker-0: You know, isn't it funny? When we think about, I mean, you talk about interesting figures in history, and we talk about interesting parts of Vegas history, and we always talk about the mob and all that stuff. But Howard Hughes, I mean, he transformed this place. Big time. Big time. Yeah, exactly. But I mean, so as you look now, here we are today, modern Vegas, another big casino going in. is it a place that you would want to live in twenty years from now if it keeps growing like this? speaker-1: I've always liked Vegas. it's not necessarily a lifestyle, but a home. it's so many different l segments of of happening here. You have the tourist area, but then you have the people that live here that it's home. I mean, we don't really connect with the tourist. We have industry and everything here, so it just has become like anywhere else that you remember as your Your best spot where you feel the most comfortable. speaker-0: You know, you taught me something quite a while ago. Cause as you know, I went through a as we all did, COVID was very interesting to go through and I went through some personal challenges through that. But I remember you telling me that Vegas is a place where you can basically be reborn. You can you know, w whatever you want to change in your life, you can do it here. Cause people don't care. Just look, we don't care where you came from, just come here and be a positive member of society. speaker-1: It's cuts both ways. You have so much opportunity here that you can actually the American dream. You can do whatever it is you want. And the casinos prove it. If you look through the history of some of the casino owners, they came and made their way. but you also have every experience that you can have between gambling and drinking and party, you can pretty well deal with whatever issues you have. Find the end of and realize that that might need to change in your life. so you have both segments of different lifestyles and different lessons, I guess you could say. speaker-0: Well, and in the part two, we're gonna jump into what you do. But I love the fact that you've been in construction most of your life. You worked on a how many of the hotels did you work on? Thirteen. Thirteen of the major hotels. Yes. And as you said, you just kept building and building and building. And you probably never ask or where are we gonna stop? speaker-1: I never got unemployment. I never had time to stop and and just, you know, collect because I went from one job to another. I was a crane operator and I I specialized on hanging iron, so I I stayed very busy. I was a good operator and they they even don't get sick, come to work. So speaker-0: Well we both agree it's a great place to do business. It really is. If you're if you wanna make money, you wanna be a business person, you wanna start a business, Nevada and Vegas are your place. speaker-1: It has the opportunities here that other places just lack. They yeah. They just don't exist in other big cities. speaker-0: You know, William, the other thing I noticed here too, just I mean it it it's because you and I both love to observe people. We love to think about things. I think you and I are both philosophical. And I one of the things I noticed very quickly here was in other places, you know, I lived in the Bay Area for a long time in Southern California. And people would ask, Well, where did you go to school? You know, it's like, you know, like a pecking order, who where'd you go to school? Here it's did you go to school? And and and did you serve? So I mean, because you and I know there's a lot of vets here. You, I'm gonna, by the way, I'm gonna bring up my friend William here. He is trained as a Green Beret medic, which is the the badasses of the badasses, I may say. You you and Well that's speaker-1: say we take care of the badasses. speaker-0: Well, you were one too. You paratrooped it, you you paratrooped out of train. You went through all that training. Yes. You know, I always like to tease William about the movie Green Beret with John Wayne. He says, Don't play the song ever. So I don't. But but the point is there are a lot of vets here. There are a lot of people who Have made money different ways. Blue collar, white collar. It so the college thing is not the the standard bearer in Vegas the way it might be in other places. speaker-1: You know, I got out of the military in nineteen seventy nine. I came here and on my GI Bill, I went to Clark County Community College, C C C C back when it was different. It was up on Ch Charleston and I worked and I I got whatever education I could and met my wife actually met my ex wife moved in next door and that kind of started my whole path. So yeah. Fifty two years later, I'm here. still I I love Las Vegas. I do have some property out of town that's more of a training facility now for the work I do. But yeah, my heart lies in Las Vegas, I guess you'd say. speaker-0: Well, and like I said, you and you're very good about telling people, Hey, come and give it a try. speaker-1: Sure, it it you can't get more opportunity than we have here, really. speaker-0: Okay, last little bits about Vegas and then we want to talk about your business being your business is a Vegas born business. Yes, it is. Okay, so do you worry that I mean people keep talking about I I love it when you hear people say, no one's gambling anymore, no one's coming to Vegas anymore. Yet I don't know, I went down there this weekend and the restaurants are packed, they're building new hotels. I I mean, do you grow concern that we'd be that we're still too dependent on tourism? speaker-1: This has been going on for forty years. speaker-0: Years. So you don't worry about it. It's the same old thing. speaker-1: Well I like I said, I never w collected unemployment. I was never out of a job. It with the economy up, income economy down really didn't matter. They would start a casino that would go through three years through the bad economy and then on the other side they'd start another casino. they have so much money in the casinos, they have to spend it or else they're paying taxes. So that creates the abundance of opportunities that you don't get anywhere else. speaker-0: And then now we have sports betting. Now we have the sports team showing up. Well, speaker-1: And all the teams. speaker-0: you know, it's funny, our lieutenant governor was on a a previous podcast and he said I I remember it in Vegas, you know, city council meetings. They were saying, we can't be a sports center. no, that just won't work with the gambling and and the you know, all the And then here we are now. Look at that. We're now the sports center of the world. William, last thing about Vegas, and and just are there things about it that concern you? They the negative trends that were speaker-1: We have grown so big, how long can it last? we do have limited resources of water and but we do have the world's best water treatment system anywhere. I've worked on it, so I know it intimately. but it's still how far can you grow? technology can help so much, but there again, the logistics and everything, being a a city in the middle of the desert, we really have to stay focused on our limited resources of just how much we do grow. So if you're going to be here, it's kinda you need to get in settled because it can't go forever, I would imagine. but then I didn't think it'd ever get this much. speaker-0: Well, hopefully and people here are pretty smart. My friend, we're gonna take a very quick break and then we're gonna come back and we're gonna talk to William about this amazing business that he's in. So this is Ken Wynans with Winning with Wynans. We'll be right back. And welcome back to Winning with Winus Las Vegas' newest and coolest financial show with two of Vegas' newest and coolest, no oldest and coolest guys, right? speaker-1: Mm-hmm speaker-0: This is my friend William Hoff. And we were talking before the break about he's seen Vegas go through these amazing changes. But now we want to switch, and we all know the place is growing like a weed. Now let's talk about the realities that we're facing in construction overall, and it will eventually affect Las Vegas. speaker-1: Yes. Actually worldwide, Ken. You have to really look at it. That we our populations are growing and our construction is not. we have only so much limited resources and that pretty well directed into the industry that I'm focused on now. speaker-0: Well, you told me l let's just be blunt here. we're running out of cement. You've told me that a couple of times that we are literally running out of cement natural resources. speaker-1: More more sand than cement. Cement is made by burning limestone. The problem being is the CO two that it takes to burn that limestone is getting more expensive. And then we also have to look at some concrete is the second used material on the planet, only second to water. It's an enormous amount. And burning all that CO two just to make a material, it only lasts sixty to eighty years and then cracks and falls apart. speaker-0: And you can't really recycle it, right? speaker-1: No, all you can do is crush it and use it as road base, except for our technology. so basically, I don't know even know where to start with this. going through all the experiences I had in Las Vegas, they use a lot of new technology. And I was able to lock in on some materials that I found very interesting because I didn't realize the drawbacks on Portland concrete. It's really a crappy material because it's so cheap and it's always cost per square foot. so I started studying to find out what were those things that we used before Portland? speaker-0: you went back in history. Yes. Like well like w what the Roman Jews didn't. speaker-1: traveled quite a bit in my life. I grew up in Puerto Rico. We have a fort that was made 900 over 900 years ago. And if you look at the concrete, it's in perfect condition. Yeah, because it wasn't made with Portland. So after researching quite a bit, I found a place in France called the Geopolymer Institute. speaker-0: I okay, so w what you saw in Puerto Rico sparked this entire quest that you've been on. speaker-1: B well, it reminded me in my life as a crane operator, you're sitting there a lot thinking, and I remember it is like, why does this not fall apart? So I started the research and that's when I found geopolymer. And basically I can just change the word geopolymer and make it ceramic. It's been around for thousands of years. Our forefathers have used it, and that's why the European structures are still standing. a lot of the Roman architecture still standing. not necessarily just Roman cement, but the ceramic cements that were developed. and we we shied away from because there's a new cheap player in town, and that's Portland. And we've had it for only two hundred years, so everything over two hundred years wasn't made with Portland. speaker-0: Wow. So you're saying that if we if we go back to some of the older cities on the East Coast that speaker-1: No, we're two hundred and fifty years in the US. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: But the old Spanish forts, absolutely. and the old Roman cement, they took seashells and cooked them to make the quick lime and then added poislins from volcanic ash to get the silica and everything in it. and then that kind of took us off on a terracotta and ceramic and porcelain. And that's the line that I work with is more of the ceramic, the geopolymer material. speaker-0: All right, so now here you are, you have your gotcha moment. You're gonna so when did you form your company? Now your company's called GeoPolymer. speaker-1: That's Geopolymer International. you can find us on the website with www.gpi.earth to make it easy, or geopolymer international dot com. and basically I'm bringing the materials back. And having retired, I had the opportunity to start playing with them. I cast them. they're great material for repairing Portland concrete because we know it's gonna fall apart. I also three D print it and spray it. So I found a lot of characteristics that are very valuable with our society and and those sustainable issues that are important now. speaker-0: Right. So I mean I seen the house that you out in your test range. Yes. Which is out in Amargosa. It's a good place to test things, you know. William, because you have I mean you've got so many interesting parts to your business. You've got the the printing, the actual printers, the three speaker-1: Print. speaker-0: D printers. I remember when you tell me years ago, I'm building these, you know, these very cheap but plentiful houses in parts of Latin America. Really? That's how interesting. And now you're doing the same thing here. speaker-1: Yes. I'm actually creating education center to be able to teach the three D printing of the ceramic material. speaker-0: Wow. So as you go so in when we look at Vegas, do you see this material being that we'll that we'll eventually have our structures on the strip using your kind of material? speaker-1: absolutely. I I I see the material worldwide. the the issue with Portland concrete is the third item on the United Nations hit list, Portland concrete. It's responsible for eight to ten percent of the the Earth's CO2. Okay. but it's also using up all the sand and fresh water because we need fresh water for Portland. We don't need it for the ceramic cement. You can use salt water. it's made from salt. So the nice part about the ceramic cement, it's recyclable. Portland isn't. I have filed a patent to be able to take broken Portland's concrete and make it into ceramic concrete. speaker-0: So mix it up? speaker-1: Still s seventy five, eighty percent rock and sand. So I'm just taking that rock and sand and gluing it back together with glass, ceramic instead of Portland. You can't take Portland and make it again, but we can with the ceramic material. speaker-0: So I mean so what's what's stopping us from implementing it? Is it just speaker-1: Education, yeah. it's growing. It's very well known with the Portland companies. They just created C nineteen forty eight in the ASTM for alkaline activated materials because they have to answer this. They can't just ignore it as they've been doing. So the education is now coming and other countries, Europe is way ahead. Australia, the new Brisbane airport, was built all geopolymer. Really? The Queensland University has pre cast geopolymer because they have so much fly ash from the coal they've been burning is a very good medium to make geopolymer with. speaker-0: So is it something that we're falling behind in in the US? So speaker-1: Very much so. Really? The Chinese two years ago just purchased the rights to translate the geopim geopolymer chemistry and application book from Professor Davidovic into Chinese. So speaker-0: So what do we have to do to catch up? speaker-1: education. speaker-0: Is it legislation? Is it legislation two? speaker-1: yes. They have just been able to start talking about ADUs. the way that California they're looking at being able to concentrate the population for lower cost housing, which is a good scenario for our government, so that those that choose to have an ADU in if they have a large enough lot for their property, then can have some extra income and they're also watching their property so that it's taken care of. So in intensifying an area with more population i is one answer to be able to deal with the the cost of housing. speaker-0: Because I have to believe in a place like Vegas where we're largely disaster free, we don't have earthquakes, we don't have tornadoes, we don't have hurricanes, that an adoption of new materials, especially if it allows, you know, cost wise, you're what I'm hearing you tell me is costs are now almost what the same. speaker-1: Yeah, well, the three D printing material is cheaper. You're cheaper because well they send they sell it with the sand already mixed in, which is an advantage. However, if you have to go back and rebuild it in sixty to eighty years, is it really that much cheaper? Because in our society we don't care what happens. We've made our money and we leave it for the next generations to deal with. The unfortunate things those generations aren't really happy about what they're getting left. So I'm developing the answers to be able to help them make good choices of which way they want to deal with these issues. speaker-0: Well, here's the other thing too. y you you're a business guy. Business is always about making a profit, but you have passion and vision towards this. I've always admired that about you, William. You you it's you this is a cause. It's more than just a business for you. It's sure. It's a you know, it's a major cause. Now, I think if you want to get this adopted in Vegas, you need to need to do what they did in the old days. Make sure that chips, casino chips are mixed in with your port with your and it hide it from the IRS. Hey, listen, everybody. hey, can you stick around for a little bit? speaker-1: Sure, I can give you a few. speaker-0: All right, good. All right, listen, everybody. We'll be right back with William Hoff. I want to talk more about what's going on in the Portland Sement area. Please stick around for the bonus segment of Winning with Wynans. This is William Unplugged. We'll be right back, everybody. All right, everybody, this is Ken Winens with winning with Winens, the Cowboy hat, which by the way, William, where's your cowboy hat? you're a western guy. speaker-1: I I really never honestly I have a whole box of of ball caps. As crane operators they always give us caps, but I got away from wearing hats because the brim, you're always looking up. So I never wore hats. speaker-0: But you do wear cowboy boots. You do you do prospect for gold. Yes, you do all the you do all those Nevada things. speaker-1: I'm very western. speaker-0: Absolutely. Guys, I wanna and William, we're gonna talk so much about your business and everything else. But what let's go back to the funny story about the Stardust. So you were there when they demolished the hotel, right? Imploded it. And guess what? What did they find there? Well speaker-1: Well in front at the entrance they had buried cache of the old casino chips. When they got rid of they dug a hole, they put in the hole, and then covered it in concrete. And then when we were done demoing it, we found all these chips, so of course it created quite a stir and everybody got passed out chips from the old casino. speaker-0: And they're probably valuable. They're probably th they're collector's items. speaker-1: All right. Most of all casino chips are collector items now. speaker-0: Well, here's what's really funny is that a lot of people are talking about we've we're we talk about, you know, cryptocurrencies. But I said, guys, they've been using compute your casino chips for a long time to pass money back and forth. There's nothing new here, okay? Yeah. There's absolutely nothing. speaker-1: Back in the days of the buckets. speaker-0: Exactly, exactly. So William, so y here you are with this new material and you this new and you and you have patents, you have all the pieces and you're fighting the typical powers to be who say, we don't want to change. So what is it gonna take? Do you have to get one of these casino operators or one of these big hotel guys say, We'll do it? speaker-1: No, change's gonna come. I'm already creating it because cost. The only thing to hit somebody over the head with is how to make money. And it's still cost per square foot. It was before, it will be in the future. So I'm working with technology to develop systems to be able to lower the cost on masonry concrete. speaker-0: Okay. What about things like insurance? I mean is is are are there insurance speaker-1: It's gonna save you since it my the material and these structures that we're creating are fire resistant, waterproof, and wind resistant because we're masonry, we're concrete. We're not Portland concrete, but we're a masonry that lasts for thousands of years. speaker-0: Now do you have to use rebar too? Reinforce? speaker-1: Of course, you use all the engineering we use today. We are much stronger than Portland Cement. We last much longer. We gather strength faster. We're recyclable, waterproof, fireproof, acid resistance. It's ceramic. speaker-0: So I'm how how about as far as elevation? Can you build the same kind of tall buildings? speaker-1: So we it's no different it's it's much better than Portland. It's no different than really Portland, other than the chemistry. We're holding things together with glass instead of calcium. It's a much better bond and it lasts forever and it's recyclable. but then you have a lot more advantages. If you come back and put one layer on top of another, it fuses together. There's no cold joint like like Portland. The chemistry's much more advantageous to success than you deal with. You cannot take a trowel and smooth it over like Portland because it's sticky, but I've also developed systems for that too. speaker-0: So I mean we're gonna look so we're gonna have another podcast in a decade. We're gonna look at freeway overpasses. We'll probably be built with this. a lot of the infrastructural things and transportation. I mean I'm just looking at all the applications that this could be used. speaker-1: Yeah, I I'm working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. They contacted me because they heard about the geopolymer and there's nothing that you can really coat over Portland to help support it until it ultimately collapses. But yeah, we have a lot of b well, in their case it's the s the chlorides from the salts from the roads. And the chlorides tear up the Portland. So I can at least encapsulate that to help protect the Portland for a longer period of time. speaker-0: about in our case with heat? speaker-1: It's ceramic so it's a little bit more insulated because of the ceramic, like one R per inch. but still it doesn't have the same characteristics as Portland does, 'cause it's ceramic. It's not the same. speaker-0: Wow. So when you as we look ahead then, I again 'cause I mean this this is about business, do you really do feel we're on the cusp? I mean it it's it's gonna happen sooner than later. I yeah. speaker-1: Yes. Yeah, it's already happening. they're talking about 3D printing on the moon. and what are they going to use? Geopolymer. The the surface of the moon is volcanic ash. Okay, and there's not very many things that can cure at 40 below zero. Remember that geopolymer doesn't use water, so we can actually here, I haven't gotten to that chemistry, but I can I can put concrete down. at thirty two and below here with Geopolymer. speaker-0: Wow. Well, you know, one thing I like, and I you know, obviously I have to follow these same things and trends in business as you do, but it it seems like I mean, like you when you look at a lot of whenever he talks about alternatives, and you know, and you and I know right now the windmill, all the talks about windmills. Well, they're not gonna work everywhere you go. Okay, it's just not. I mean it same with solar. It's not gonna work everywhere you go. You know, the further you go up, you know, you go up to places in Washington State where it's cloudy all the time. Guess what? They're not gonna work. But what I like about what you have, this could work in any environment. speaker-1: It does. Yeah. It actually does. Yeah. That's And and and you can see from antiquity. I mean, geopolymer is in the Great Wall of China. It's in the mortar. it's in the Moai ha heads on Easter Island. That's made from a volcanic geopolymer. Our forefathers have been using this for thousands of years. And then we just went to the wayside. It reminds me of the first model T Ford. The first model T Ford was electric. Henry Ford's drinking buddy was Thomas Edison. And they built the first platform because they knew it was a better platform, but it was Rockefellers that lent the money for the Ford Motor Company. So it went to combustion engine and it changed the planet. speaker-0: but then it came back around. speaker-1: It's coming back around again not only with the electric, but with the geopolymer. speaker-0: Okay, so as we look forward, okay, so lay out the blueprint. Here we are now we're in an election year, so this is an important time to get elected officials to look at this. What is it gonna take? I mean, like and we have the legislative session for Nevada next March. Mm-hmm. What is it that citizens should do that really want this to be implemented into our society? What do we have to do? Well speaker-1: I'm on the building side. I stay out of the politics and the social issues and all that because I'm a builder. that's my job. as far as the late legislative needs to start looking at how to deal with low cost housing. It is so expensive to build everything, not only with just permitting, but the regulations that you have to jump through. And we're we're we have building codes for our material. We should have it the other way around. We should have the building codes for the buildings that we want, not the material that we get to use. So if we get rid of the Portland and we make I'm developing a 3D printed wall that is portable because I can print a shell in masonry and then put it over rebar and fill it full of concrete. If that doesn't save six steps in construction and a lot of money, I don't I haven't run cranes for thirty two years. Because these are the common sense technologies that need to move all forward that will not only make money, but will make the sustainability of the materials and the future of the the structures last even longer. speaker-0: Well I I think that and that's part of what I would do because as you know I have I've learned when I moved here, politicians here do listen. They in Nevada They speaker-1: They do here. speaker-0: do. They listen here. They because they have to speaker-1: Different. speaker-0: but you know, William, there are most of them are you know, it's part-time legislation. So they're business people. You're talking to somebody who speaks our language. You're not talking to a career politician. And I find that, you know, that it would be fun to think, because again, we talk about Nevada diversifying out its economic base. What you do here is fantastic for that. We're growing fast. We need to come up with innovative new things. Water is clearly an issue. As you just said, you know, we u use a lot of water when you build things. We need to we need to change that. Sure. So it just seems to me that this is a no brainer. speaker-1: Yes. E even the water that we wash up in. we don't use water to make it. We have a syrup of glass that we use and ash. it's water glass, sodium silicate is what is used. It's misunderstood as the way of geopolymer because there's a lot of hydroxide out there that is just wrong. It's obsolete and should never have been used. The Russians did it in the eighties and let it go. Mine is an alkaline activated, but very safe and very strong. So there's still an education between the twos that need to be done. But with this material, you now have a recycling material that is fireproof, waterproof, acid resistant, and everything. So why not start using that to the advantage of society instead of just profitability? Because after we're long and gone. Our great grandchildren should be able to enjoy this valley and everything that we put in it. So we need to consciously think about just what we're leaving for those next generations. That's kind of my stick. I I I think that we need to take care of our kids a lot better than we do and not just base everything on dollars and cents. We still have to have the future generations be able to take over what we create. speaker-0: Well, think about this. That this next election cycle is gonna be the first time that our group, the baby boomers, are not in control. That the millennials and the Gen Xs and the Gen Z are now the the majority of voters. First time. Also, the transfer of wealth that's gonna happen, trillions of dollars of wealth. Sure. And and you know, investment dollars can drive social causes. We've seen this talked about all the time. But I again I think of a place when when I compare And y look, you and I both spent a lot of time in California. We know how bureaucracy gums up trying to get anything done, even in spite of what they claim philosophically. But correct me if I'm wrong, William, you've been here a long time. You've seen Vegas go through this. Isn't this the place that could really make it happen? speaker-1: Absolutely. Yeah. We have. Look at it. If we can't make it, who can? We we built a city in the middle of the desert back when I was 80s, what, 350,000 were two and a half million or something, and growing? I mean, this is it. This is proof of the pudding. I mean, we can do anything we want because we have. speaker-0: So what else do we need to cover today? speaker-1: I think just the the way that Las Vegas has become a shining star, not only economically, because we are diversifying in in our valley with the the industries that are moving in, the movie industry that's here, the locals, the neighborhoods and the families that are going to school. We have already proven that we can become a society. A lot of people that got sick and tired of the things that were happening in California live here. So we have a different viewpoint of how we didn't like it. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: So that's kind of what made us the way we are now, is because we don't want that type of insanity, I guess is the only word that really comes to mind. speaker-0: The word that comes to my mind is freedom. Freedom. It's free. We're a free state. We're a free state. Yes. And and unfortunately. Battle born. Well, battle-born. And and and I and you're right, a lot of people who have migrated here left somewhere else. I mean, it's hard for me to believe to watch how neighboring states have blown themselves up, literally, economically and societally, have blown themselves up. Yeah, and now Nevada and Vegas in general are becoming sanctuaries. But you don't come here and expect a handout. You come here and you you expect to work and you work. You're you're not gonna be coming here and say, Well now take care of me. No, you're expected to do your thing. William, people wanna get a hold of you and your company and learn more. Where do they go? speaker-1: My website is geopolymer international dot com or simply www dot gpi georgepapaindio. earth speaker-0: Now are are you looking for investors? speaker-1: Sure. I'm always looking for people to help move the cause forward. Okay. I've been blessed with a good occupation and and I'm retired. I'm seventy, so I I'm looking for the next generation that's going to be educated to take this technology forward. speaker-0: Wow, that'd be great. And do you think it's gonna stay in Vegas then or is it absolutely. Okay. So you're gonna you want it to stay speaker-1: It it's gonna grow all over the world because once you're making money with something, people tend to just gr you know, they gravitate to it. speaker-0: All right, well listen, now I know you're looking, you're talking about retirement. I do want you to go with me to the legislative session. Absolutely. Let's go talk to some of these people. Sure. Let's make sure they understand. And also, too, you're a vet, as I am. They listen to vets here. And they you know, they they they pay homage to us. You know, it's it's more respectful that we love our country, we love our state, and what what can we do to better it? All right, now last thing. You gone gold mining lately? speaker-1: Not lately. that's probably some of the problem. I need to get out and get my pan wet. speaker-0: Okay, well is that the get the pay w you know I bought a claim, right? Sure. Okay, so let's I'm ready to go down We speaker-1: Okay. Well speaker-0: gotta go. speaker-1: Ken, you have to do your assessment every year, so we speaker-0: I did, I already paid mine. I bite my two hundred what is it, two hundred bucks? speaker-1: it's a blast. It's a lot of fun. speaker-0: Okay, all right. Well you can help with that. And and and then the other thing too is you have a claim. You can get a hunting license and you you you kill two birds with one stone. speaker-1: There you go. speaker-0: William Hoff, my friend, thank you for joining us today on winning with wine is in line. I'm gonna have you back. Let's let's have let's have progress reports of what's going on. speaker-1: We got a lot going on. I'll be glad to come back and share. speaker-0: All right, and if anybody's blocking you, we want to talk about it on winning with wine ins, buddy. speaker-1: I appreciate that. speaker-0: All right, everybody, that wraps up our bonus segment of Winning with Wineins. If you have any questions, you want to get a hold of William, contact us if you have any trouble finding him. Believe me, he's not hard to find. And I'm also I'm trying to talk him into writing a book on Vegas. I think it'd be amazing. William, take care, my friend. Thank you, K. All right, everybody. We'll see you next week. Well hello everybody and hey I haven't seen a lot of you in a while. I actually do wear cowboy hats in Las Vegas. It's Ken Wynans from Winans Investments and look who came to visit me in Las Vegas. Hi Stephanie. speaker-2: Hi Ken, how's it going? How's it going? Very well. Thanks for speaker-0: Well, hey, we thought it'd be really good to get together and talk about what's going on with the markets in your portfolios. I know you all had a chance hopefully by now to look at your your June results 'cause it's already aug it's it's August. speaker-2: August already. I can't think it's August. speaker-0: I I'll tell you what, I'm proud of what we've accomplished this year. I really am. You know, folks, this has not been an easy market. There's been a lot of volatility. And you know what? I know a lot of you are very scared. I mean, you read the scary headlines. I I I get mad about it actually because I think a lot of things are taken out of context. But anyway, let me I'll give you my two cents and then Steph will give you hers. Okay, first off, I want to talk about a couple of things that I've heard from you. First off, if you haven't, go read my last Forbes article. I've been around for a while. Many of you have been with me for over 30 years. We know what bear markets look like. I'm pretty good at detecting the storms before they arrive. It doesn't mean calling a top. It means using research to determine the health of the patient. folks, the patient's very healthy right now. for those of you who watched Winning with Wine and's podcast, I did the last two episodes. I talked quite a bit about actually how it's not just tech stocks going up. We have industrial stocks, financial stocks. Utilities, we've got companies in all different areas going up. The other very important thing, and Steph will talk about in a moment, bonds. I know you're all hearing about the bond market volatility and all that. What you're hearing about are is the volatility in the treasury bond market and the municipal bond market, not in corporates. Steph, going to you on that. Can you find good bonds right now? speaker-2: You can. So here's the problem. You're gonna it the yield's a little bit lower than where it was six months ago, a year ago. but you can still find bonds. What we're not seeing are defaults. I'm actually I'm seeing calls. So much of our bonds have been getting called Calls speaker-0: What's the call real quick? speaker-2: when when a company wants to refinance, so what they'll do is they'll call a bond back, say the coupons paying six and a half, and then they'll reissue a bond lower as the rates come down at five. So they're just kind of refinancing their corporate debt. Right. And so the the bonds have been harder to keep. I'm having no problems finding them. the yield's down a little bit, but nothing crazy. for me it's just trying to keep the paper that we have because I I love the portfolios that we've we've made. It's took blood, sweat, and tears to make these portfolios. Yeah. I just want to keep And that's been the toughest part, has been the calls, actually. speaker-0: Well, and then also we we made a decision as a team to buy more preferred. Correct. So you're all gonna notice. So look, when you look at your portfolio, say we have the stock, is a preferred a bond or a stock, it's kind of it's an it. Okay. It's it's it's what they call them preferred. Yeah. But the bottom line for you who have in your portfolio, we're buying them for the the dividends they pay. Okay. We're not buying them to try to make money on the price. So just be aware you're gonna see more of those in the portfolio 'cause it could quite frankly, the yields are high. Yeah. You know, they're they're really, really good. Agreed. Okay, l other things that you're noticing. You've talked to the clients a lot, what are you hearing? Well the speaker-2: number one comment that I'm hearing from clients is it's more of a question. They're they're positing is is this a bubble? I I know you've heard that a couple of times. I've heard it a few times now. I don't think it's a bubble. I think that what's I mean, is it a melt up? Is it a bubble? No. Is it overstretched? Are the multiples a little high? maybe, yeah, you can make that argument for it for sure. I do think that the overall health of the market, sorry, the health of the market's actually really strong. So if you look at the How many s how many companies are above their two hundred day moving average? It's actually high across across many sectors. speaker-0: Which means they're they're in uptrends. Yeah. Yeah. speaker-2: Yeah, exactly. So for me it's I i is the market a little stretched to have we've had a really nice run for the last few years? Yeah, absolutely. I mean since twenty twenty two, I mean reality they've all been positive years. some stronger. We're having probably the best year we've had in a long time. I'm the alpha, which is the overperformance compared to benchmarks, is is very high this year compared to some I mean a the average year right now. the rotation that we made was really good and I think I I think our stocks are having a a a banner year. So I mean what you'll see actually yesterday, sorry, today's the fourth, right? Fifth? Fifth. Yeah. You'll speaker-0: It's a bl it's a blur. It's one of those days. speaker-2: notice though that yesterday I actually did a lot of trading. we took a lot of profits off the table. Any stocks that were starting to soften in in into the wind, we decided to to trim our exposure to them. we did buy a few new names, but in reality we were trying to just take a lot of profits yesterday. So you saw a lot of action in your accounts yesterday. speaker-0: And which brings up a point we want to talk about. many of you get question about when there's cash in the portfolios. Let me let me just tell you very quick, folks. It is nearly impossible to be 100% invested 100% of the time. And I'll tell you what, even if you had a mutual fund or an ETF, they have cash too. They all do. Okay. It it's just impossible. So I'm gonna ask one thing of all of you. Look, I know you like to watch your portfolios. We're aware of the cash there. It's there for a reason. some of you might have deposited new money, many of you have to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity, but we don't immediately buy the next day. We take our time. This is the middle of earnings season still. We don't want to run into what can suddenly be a bad headline. Many of you might have remembered a couple a couple months ago, although we didn't own it, IBM immediately dropped 25%, no questions asked. We don't want to step into that. We don't want to have an uncomfortable discussion with you as a client. So, but we just want you to understand. It is the summertime. There is volatility. This has been a very volatile year. We're going to hold cash when we think there's an opportunity. So, like seven years said, we've taken cash. We're going to find other things to buy, but we're just not going to you know, go into it the very next day. Another quick thing that I'm going bring up is that look, I know that for many of you out there, your theme, you know, you read all the time about AI, you read about the magnificent seven stocks. That's all fine. we will own popular companies if they fit into our investment strategy. But personally, for me, I've said this a lot, I don't like celebrity CEOs. They make me very nervous because I and I'm talking about, you know, when you actually know what a CEO looks like and you follow their their memoirs and what they're talking to on social media, I'd rather go with a CEO who we don't know, and they could walk into any casino in Las Vegas and outside of maybe having security, You you don't know who these people are. I prefer that. So my point is popularity contest is not what it's about. It's finding things that make money. Well speaker-2: Yeah, and then let me jump in on this one fact. So we also had several clients that had called about the SpaceX IPO. So a lot of we have several new big IPOs still coming for the beginning of like for the remainder of the year. I'm we had some clients that participated in it. I'm not a big fan of it either. big celebrity CEOs, all that kind of stuff. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-2: It's terri it's doing terrible. Yeah, I totally agree. And here's the thing. The IPOs in general are just very volatile. They tend to pull back and they and retrash and I just don't think it's a thing that most of our retail clients should really be in. Even big institutional clients, I don't really feel it's their place. I thought it was a little concerning they also lowered the minimums. I mean, they were trying to pack every retail investor into that IPO. They they lowered the minimums to ten shares. That that's insane to me. Yeah. So I I wasn't a big fan. We did have a couple clients that participated in it. That was their choice. We educated them on it and whether we thought it was a good idea and it was appropriate for them. if there are some curiosity be about the IPOs that are coming for the remainder of the year, we're happy to d to engage with you guys about that and discuss them. I'm just gonna say in general though, I'm I'm not a fan for general retail clients. speaker-0: Well, and I'll just say this very quick. Look, I I mean I I worked at the big firms that used to do initial public offerings. It's a business unto itself and they sponsor these for six months. But at the same time, there's a lot of complications here. You have people who work for these companies, they want to sell shares on the next round. Yeah, it just again, it it there's so many great companies out there to own. I just think that that you have to look at that. Okay. A couple of other quick things I think are important. Look, you're doing great right now, folks. In fact, let me just do a little victory lap here. I want you to think about this. For those of you who have a balanced portfolio with us, whether it's a 75 equity to 25 pron, 50-50, 2575, our 50-50 portfolios are outperforming the SP 500. you know what? look, I'm sorry. We you know, you pay for performance, folks, and I'm very proud of what we've accomplished this year. I'm I'm not trying to brag, but you have to, you know, every now and then we all need to be on top of that. But with that being said, It's a good time. Okay, we're having a good time with this. But I would ask this. You need to talk to your accountants and your other advisors before you get into the fall. if there are some tax issues that you are worried about, please look at your report, especially when you get your September ending report. There will be a realized gains and loss segment in the back. Please make sure your accountants get that. We don't like trying to do fire drills at the very end of the year to and you know we do sell losses automatically. I mean, we're doing it now. So, but you n I just want you to be aware that th there are going to be profits this year. You will have capital gains. And so be aware of that. Stephanie, anything you want to add to that? speaker-2: No, absolutely. there's always a fire drill or two at the end of the year. We we really we wish that you guys won't do that. We're just gonna politely remind you guys now talk to your CPAs. I do do tax loss harvesting at the end of the year for all of our clients. I try to realize as many losses as possible and to offset what I can. There are years where they're just not there. Last year was a really good example. Th there was nothing for me to sell. So if it's there, I'll take advantage of it. If it's not, then I don't know. But we'll try to come up with a strategy with you and your CPA. So that you guys are very aware of what's gonna be happening next year for your tax bill. speaker-0: Yeah, exactly. Hey, I I'm gonna we we always have to bring this up, but I you know, again, please just take it for what it's worth. Many of you out there have put investment restrictions on your portfolio. You have told us under no condition are we to sell certain stocks or to do certain things. look, you're the boss. Okay, if that's what you want, that's fine, but I do ask that you remind yourselves that you have put restrictions on us. We typically we have it written in our agreements that we remove restrictions at the end of the year. If your feelings about restrictions have changed for any reason, please let us know. Because again, we don't have time to go around and talk to everybody about, hey, you put a restriction on this or that or here or there. So just remind your, you know, if you see something in your portfolio that, you know, that seems out of character for what we typically buy, please get a hold of us if you want any changes. Yeah. I would agree with that. All right. Steph, what else we want to cover? speaker-2: I mean, I think it's just good. We try to do these updates at least once a quarter. It's really nice to check in with everybody. like I said, we're having a really good year this year, which is really nice. for me, I think what's gonna be interesting moving forward for the rest of the year is really what the Fed does. I think that's gonna be interesting. I think Warsh is more hawkish than I think people were expecting. I I thought he was gonna be more dovish, to be honest. I don't think he's going to I don't think the rates are gonna change anytime soon. I know a lot of people had forecasted another cut this year. Now I'm kind of skeptical about it. speaker-0: And they just in the year where we're at. That's what I think too, actually. speaker-2: the mid-year elections are coming. Those are actually always a good thing for the market. a lot of investors tend to prefer a split government. So actually, if Trump lost a chamber, actually that it tends to be a bullish reaction from investors. So that's actually not a bad thing if that happens. I wouldn't worry about that. I'm hoping for it's it's been a little bit more volatile this summer. definitely earnings season this this time was a lot more volatile. say for example, you know, ten out of a hundred stocks last quarter had huge swings one way or the other. This time it'd be close to fifteen. Like so it's not a a demonstrable large amount, but it definitely was more volatile for sure. but I'm hoping for a Santa Claus rally. I think the summer, you know, we're almost there. It's August, I think that, you know, maybe a little interesting for the remainder of this quarter. But then usually the fourth quarter statistically, I mean, I know Ken has these stats on his head, in his head at all times. They they tend to they tend to be the most positive for the year. So speaker-0: November, December, January, markets are historically up more than one and a half percent per month, seventy-two percent of the time. Yep. So I mean, yeah, I know these in the back of my head. Hey, which brings up a good point. You know, call it sh shameless self-promotion. If you have money sitting in under account somewhere that's not making you any money, if you're looking at timing things, this is not a bad time of year to have money begin to move into the wine's portfolios. We will find and going into October, November, December, January, all the way through May is a great time to make money in the markets. So if you think you're gonna want to deposit money, please give us a call and we'll give you some ideas of of whether it's in bonds, it's preferreds, it's stocks, just let us know. We'll try to help you with that. speaker-2: Agreed. And actually we've had several clients that have come to us lately that said they've been talking to their friends and their friends are very upset at their portfolio's performance and they've been telling them what we've been doing. And so we've had some referrals that way. the so if you have some friends, some family members again that are complaining about their portfolios or concerned about what they're doing, we're always happy to give a second look at a at a f a portfolio and let you guys know our honest opinion and feedback about it. there's a lot of good What I call car salesmen in our industry. They they talk a really good game, but they're not actually really good at their job. and we really don't want people to miss out on the opportunities that we're seeing in the market. just because they are maybe afraid to move or they're not sure if their guy's good or not. we'll we'll give you the the honest truth. speaker-0: And while we're on that, many of you know we actually offer now complementary financial planning. Stephanie and I are going through the Kaplan school. We've actually Yeah, that they yeah, I'm going back to school. But you know, a lot of it's stuff I had already learned in my master's in finance and all the other things. But here's the point. several of you have taken our offer on it. If you think you want to do a f a financial plan, maybe you're eyeing retirement, you have some life-changing thing. Ours is actually very thorough. We jump into Inheritance issues, gifting issues, nonprofit issues. We get into a lot of areas that a lot of their people who offer these kind of things don't even talk about. But if you're interested, contact us. Again, it's a complimentary service. Now, if there's something you need, we have a l a network of advisors that, whether they're in California or they're in Nevada, that we can help you find. Okay, so but start with us first. I I know there's a lot of people out there who say they're a one-stop shop, they do everything. Folks, I've been in the game a long time. Nobody is good at everything. Okay. So it my opinion is start with us first. Let's see what we can do for you. But anyway, Steph, what else you want to talk about? Anything else? speaker-2: I think it's just good to touch touch you know, touch base with everybody, check in and say hi. I think you know, I'm I'm here in Vegas for a few days. Ken and I have been doing a lot of work, which is always good to absolutely touch base, but I'll I'll go back to California. speaker-0: There you go. Yep. She's like I said, we're we're we're growing and wandering. Listen, we want to thank you to be wine's clients. We enjoy certainly in happy year, happy with everything. as far as next round of face-to-face meetings, definitely talk to Alana. we're looking at January. So let's get your year in reports. January through February is a great time to get together with us face-to-face. I will be making trips. Stephanie's coming out to Vegas. You'll get a chance to talk to one or both of us during these things. But anyway, folks. Enjoy the rest of your summer. Know that we've got this handled. We're not, you know, we're here doing our thing every day. And again, thank you for your business. We appreciate it. We'll take anyway, take care. 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 Winein'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 and Commodities a try. Win with Wine's. Boy, that time went fast. I hope you had as much fun as I did during this segment of Winning with Wineins. 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, winningwithwine's dot 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.