Latest / Winning With Winans! / Dave Nicholson is our guest this week on Winning with Winans
Transcript
- speaker-0: Well I guess it's another time for an episode of Winning with Winens. Let's go. Welcome Winning with Winens Las Vegas, newest and coolest financial show. I'm your host, Ken Winens. And for those of you who still do not know me, yes, I do wear a cowboy hat. We are in the West, but more important than that, I've been a financial commentator for over 25 years with radio and Forbes, but most important, we walk the talk. I founded an investment management firm in 1992. Today, Winance Investments is the only Morningstar top-ranked money manager based in Las Vegas, or as they say it in poker, read it and weep. Look, over the next hour, we're gonna be covering a lot of important events and topics, and we're gonna have some special guests come on later to talk about what's going on locally in Las Vegas. But it what's important for you to know. There's a lot of news out there, good, bad, and ugly. And we try to monitor all of it. I actually am a news junkie. I follow nine different sources each and every week. I'm looking at it early morning to the evenings and trying to come up with a big picture to give you on stocks, bonds, real estate commodities, and even cryptocurrencies. And believe me, there's big news with all of them. So Winus Investments is different from that standpoint, folks. We try to give that to you. It doesn't mean we have all the answers, but I'm going to try to give you the big picture and connect all those dots. So hey, let's get started. Hey. There's a lot of news out there. and for those of you who might find it interesting, President Trump just came to town. And part of why he's here is don't forget we are a swing state. But most important than that, there's a lot of things that are going on. We're a we're very interest rate sensitive in this valley. We're a tourist area. You know, most people don't think about this. The difference between somebody pulling out their credit card And going to Vegas and gambling and doing all those things is how you feel about the future. If you don't feel good, you don't spend. It has nothing to do with where your reality is, it's your perception. So again, constant debate about interest rates, what's going on here, what's gonna happen. You know what? None of us know. That's the God honest truth. But I'm gonna I'm basically gonna go with the answer. I think that rates are gonna be largely left unchanged for the bulk of this year. Let me tell you why I feel that way. Be honest with you, we don't want rates to go down. Why? That means the economy's softening. If rates start to go up, that means we've got an inflation problem. You know, folks? I want things to be left alone right now. And if you actually look at it historically, rates are pretty well normal right now. You know, any of you out there thinking about buying a house, you're saying, my gosh, rates are so much higher than they were three years ago. Go talk to your parents about buying or your grandparents about buying a house 30 years ago. Ask them what mortgage rates were back then. It's not low, but it's it's basically fair to where it is supposed to be historically. So we'll see. I'm willing to bet my chips on that. The other thing we have to be aware of, we have a new Fed chairman. He and the f and the Treasury Secretary have got to figure out the sharing and the balance of power at the federal level of what's going on between, you know, who's gonna be printing the money and how much the Fed has to get involved in how much of that's in the market. Now, many might have noticed that if you're in treasuries, they have gotten rocked this week. But you know what? They're still relatively low to historical standards. I still think, I've talked about this quite a bit. I I think there's gonna be some news from the municipal bond market that's gonna be not real good. And I think there's gonna be a lot of smaller municipalities that are gonna be talking about having trouble refinancing their debts, having trouble with just general funding of things. And I think it's gonna be across many, many states. Not just one particular place. Okay, let's talk about housing real quick. I did a report last week. We talked about what was going on with new housing prices across the country. I've had many of you, especially in the western states, asking me what's going on. Go talk to your realtor friends. Okay, they're gonna tell you the same thing I'm gonna tell you. It's location, location, location. And I'm gonna throw one other one in there. Remodel, remodel, remodel. If you are gonna try to go out there and you're gonna re-do a fixer upper, You might find that the cost of materials is high, labor is high, and you probably will have trouble finding both of them. So again, I think that in a newer community where the houses are brand new and they're generally in good shape, I think they're gonna they're gonna command a premium over some rundown neighborhoods. But again, I don't think you're getting any special deals. But I do believe this. When you talk to anybody who's in Texas right now, a lot of the big communities around Dallas, houses are expensive. Talk to people around Las Vegas. We talk about where housing is now. Housing's going up. We have said we've had several guests come on this show recently talking about again, these migration patterns matter. But again, I go back to what I said earlier. It's location, location, location. Okay, other big one, saving the best for last. It is earnings season. Folks, guess what? Earnings are pretty good. Company US companies have been really posting some amazing numbers, and this is in spite of all the tariffs. And the war and the inflation and all the rest of this. I have been you know, but what I've been the most surprised at, quite frankly, is that it's the base and the breadth of this rally. I was showing one of my associates in the office today. I mean, we I have a stock index, it tracks all the major groups. And you know what? There's only a handful of groups that are not doing well right now, and that includes even consumer staples. You know, people talk about how much things are at the grocery store. Well, the companies that make those products. Have not been able to necessarily raise their prices that much, but they're still making money. I know AI has been, you know, people are saying that AI is this magic bullet that's gonna bring cost down to all companies. That might be true in time, but to be perfectly honest with you, I was around during the dot-com bubble. And I remember everybody telling me back then that every retailer was gonna be put out of business by, you know, all the major dot-com guys. Well, I don't know about you folks. We have Walmarts, we have Targets, we have TJ Maxxes, we have Ross stores. They were all around then. What we've done is we've adapted the technology to what's going on. I think it's the same with AI, but here's my point in springing it up now. It takes time to implement technology. The bigger companies, they might talk about it, but you know how far and how long it will take to bring that online? So what's going on right now is good old-fashioned US Corporate, I mean, I we have some darn good people who run big coin big companies. We are seeing our companies be vibrant, strong across all sectors of the economy. That's why I think this bull market is not dead. I know a lot of people think that you can't keep going up forever. all I can tell you is in my research, I'm still looking at overall things are very, very good. Okay, going on from there. I you know, I brought this up on almost every episode, but I'm gonna have to bring it up again. Let me repeat this. The seasonality of the stock market. I know I wrote a Forbes article about it. You know, the old adage, sell and may and go away. Well, if you've taken a look, we've started August off on an awfully good note. Folks, there is no magic indicator. And when I talk about things like seasonality, whether it's in commodities or it's in stocks, it means the same thing. It's an indicator. But right now, all I basically have ever said is that seasonality in the summertime for the stock market is there is volatility. And by the way, go look at July. It was very volatile. June was volatile. So far, you know, September or excuse me, August just started. But and but going August into September, I expect some volatility. All I would tell you is this look, if you have companies that have missed, if you are in an ETF. That's in some weird way area that it hasn't performed in the last nine months, get rid of it. Okay, just get rid of it. Something's wrong if it's not performing with all that's been happening. I think it's and also talk to your accountants. I'm not a tax advisor, but you're generally told to sell your losers to to bring down your tax bills at the end of this year. But there's an old adage in our business called trend is your friend. And as long as the trend is people buy the dips, which is what we have right now. We'll see what happens, but I think it it usually means a a a pretty good thing going on forward. Okay. things that I would worry about. Look, the war is still going on, negotiations are going on. What I think we as investors should be thinking about is, you know, the markets just have kind of just ignored it and we're moving on from there. But I have said many, many times. That for those of you who do not have defense stocks in your portfolios or big industrial companies and you're overweighted in tech, I think you should consider rebalancing. There's a lot of other areas to go into, like I mentioned a moment ago, that are very strong. And there's some money to be made. So however you may feel about the current war or what's going on in Ukraine, the simple fact of the matter is a lot of governments around the world are going to be buying US made weapon systems and electronics that are tied to the defense industry. I think you should take a good look at that as we finish going through earnings season. So look, we're gonna take a quick break here in a moment. We have a great guest coming on, actually, somebody I've known a very, very long time. So this is Ken Winens with Winning with Winens, and we will be right back. And welcome back to Winning with Winens Las Vegas News and Coolest Financial Show. I am your host, Ken Wynins, and I do want you to notice it is July in Las Vegas. Notice the straw hat. I ask people all the time why are you wearing a felt hat in the middle of August? But anyway, we have one of my favorite people on planet Earth as our guest today. And by the way, somebody who I have known almost my entire life, Dave Nicholson. Who ironically, Dave and I both moved to the Vegas area around the same time. And Dave is an engineer. So Dave, welcome to Winning with Winens. speaker-1: Thank you. speaker-0: So let's talk about you and I knowing each other, couple of kids from Big Bear Lake. I mean, what are some of your memories about growing up in the country? speaker-1: wow. just having the country to go to go play in, you know. Right across the street from my house was this huge lot called Eighty Acres and it was eighty acres of woods. Okay that's speaker-0: Wow. speaker-1: you know, just the mountains and hiking and just the outdoors. It was it was a great place to grow up, definitely. speaker-0: Now Dave, you and I grew up in a in an old gold mining town. Did you ever go look for gold? No. You never did. speaker-1: No no just the just the old miners days, you remember those? speaker-0: No, we loved him. No, outside your family restaurant. You had Dave's family made the best chicken, by the way. So speaker-1: My grandfather. speaker-0: so here you are now. And by the way, a little bit about you. You were a gr a US Army Green Beret, which is serious stuff, and you were a medic on top of it. What made you decide to go into the Army? speaker-1: wow, that's a good question. it's just th th things were I I I didn't get into the the college that I wanted to at first and I I was thinking of other options and I don't know if you remember David Lindblad he came to my to my speaker-0: Hi David. You're out there. speaker-1: in my apartment one day and said, Hey, let's go let's go talk to the Army recruiter. I was like, nah, I don't think so. But I went anyway and started looking into some of the things I and I saw a brochure on on the Green Berets and I thought that looks really cool. And kind of the rest is history. I speaker-0: We were both in the scouts together. Yeah. In the Boy Scout. I'm sorry, Boy Scouts back then we called it Boy Scouts. Yeah. So yeah, that was a lot of fun. We actually hiked and did a lot of fun stuff. So y y your career in the army ended and then you how did you end up going into engineering? speaker-1: Well, I I s actually when I got out of the military I started in aerospace engineering because I was interested in aviation towards the end my the the army. And that was at the end of the Cold War. I mean you remember back in eighty-nine ninety. And I was speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: I was I was attending Embry Riddle Aeronautical University And there were aerospace engineer veterans getting laid off in droves and that there were industries really, really downsizing. and so I I thought, well, I I'd like to get a job when I finish. So I I switched to civil engineering and transferred to Calpali, San Os Obispo. That's where I finished up. speaker-0: It's funny how life takes you on these paths, my friend. It's very, very interesting how everything works out. And then you end up, and and as ironically, you and I reconnect back basically in the Bay Area of all places, a long way from Big Bear Lake, which is where you and I grew up. How did you end up getting into public service and or public engineering or working for engineering in the public sector? speaker-1: yeah, well, I I worked for for five diff different municipalities up in Northern California. The funny thing is, is my very first job out of college was at a private environmental engineering firm. And I knew within two weeks I didn't want to work in the private sector. But it was a pretty tough time in the mid 90s, employment-wise. And so it took me about two years to finally get into the public sector. But once I did, I stayed there definitely. And did like I said, 25 years. and what drew me to I think the the public sector is I I I I always had I was drawn to like like you know being a service to people. I I really enjoy my military service and and just, you know, quite frankly the security associated with you know, with with public service. speaker-0: Yeah, no, it's and you were very good at it. I mean, you know, Dave is by the way, talk about somebody who always looks for the devil in the details, it's this guy. He that by nature, I think engineers that way. So, I mean, you finish your time in the in the Bay Area. I think, you know, it's kind of funny, we both kind of decide at the same time that Vegas would make a a good home. And you end up at here here you thought you were gonna retire, right? You kind of thought, okay, I'm gonna go there and retire. And then what happened with your business? speaker-1: Well well yeah, I I I retired a little bit early, age fifty nine, collecting my pension from from public service. And I got down here and thinking I I'm not ready to sit on the couch and watch T V all day, you know. So I decided to and actually you you you motivated me quite a bit on this, you had a a lot of a lot of input and and and decision making with with respect to opening a business because I had no idea how to start a business and and your your expertise was really, really quite you know, on spot. It was it was right there. So anyway, I decided to go ahead and start a my own engineering firm. originally when I moved down here I was going to get in in into business with somebody in in the geopolymere industry and you know th that didn't work out I guess as I as I hoped. And so I just went ahead and started my own business. again w with your with your advice and and guidance. speaker-0: Now again, paths take you to funny places. So Dave, you you as an engineer, I've always been interested in the engineering perspective about what's happening in Las Vegas compared to what you saw in the Bayria. What what does it take for a place like Las Vegas to grow from an engineering perspective? I mean, I think of the infrastructure. I mean, you you've worked in a lot of different areas, especially with with dealing with water issues. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: So what it w what coming here, what have you found to be the case or that surprises you the most? speaker-1: well, you know, th it takes a lot of forethought in and planning, you know, really. And and and so with respect to the Bay Area, there there wasn't a lot of planning and forethought and and so there's a lot of overgrown, you know, facilities and things that just the population just overgrew the the capabilities. Whereas in Las Vegas, except for the strip, because that you that started quite a while ago, but as as you go outside the strip The infrastructure is is really well designed and is there's a lot of forethought put into the design, you could see because the anticipated growth. and as a matter of fact, for example, the the the the one freeway that that bans you know the that city, there was for a while I think there was only a a portion of it that was only two lanes. And then it started getting more and more traffic. Well, they they they had already designed the whole freeway to expand. And so literally within like two or three months, they had a whole another third and fourth lane. It was it was brilliant. So so just and and the and then that accommodated for all the traffic. So stuff like that. And the off-ramps and the on-ramps are very well designed, the inner interchanges are very well designed for for traffic movement. And yeah, the streets are all well laid out. speaker-0: Well, I remember you telling me one time there's there's an area in the Bay Area that's the northernmost end of the Bay Area. There's a road that has been the same size probably since World War II, and it's a critical juncture. I remember you and I were going somewhere one time and you said, can they couldn't wide it widen it if they want to? All the bureaucracy they'd have to answer to. All the cost to do the studies alone make it prohibitive. Now, when you come to Vegas, you found that well, number one, it it's not yee ha, just go build whatever you want. There is structure. speaker-1: yeah, it is. I mean Clark County, I I think they have a a pretty pretty good view of you know of of growth and and and they they don't want to be too restrictive. but they definitely you know, you don't want to just like you said about unbridled you know growth. You gotta you gotta have some you know, some restrictions and some I don't know the word I'm looking for, but yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. speaker-0: Senior moment. No, so and and so Dave, tell me a bit about your business. Just real I mean, if in in a thumbnail sketch, what kind of design and engineering do and by the way, it's DMN design and engineering. speaker-1: That's correct. L L L C, yeah. So I guess in a nutshell, I my business plan basically I wanted to fill a niche of of very small projects that the larger firms pretty much don't want to take on or waste their time with. Yeah. and so I found actually an architect and and a a a a few other folks who have some businesses that they I I'm working with them and and I'm filling up in that l that that niche of of of smaller projects like maybe an addition or maybe just somebody wants to open up their floor plan and I design you know their their their their structure part you know for them and building a deck, you know, just just small little projects that I c I can take on and and do fairly quickly and you know fulfill that need I guess. speaker-0: Yeah. And you're good at it. Well, I mean you're speaker-1: Really? speaker-0: you have an artistic side of you. I've known you a long time and you know a lot of engineers are not creative people. You have a blend. speaker-1: Well, I I originally I was gonna be an architect. You remember when I was a king going growing up, I was gonna be an architect. And then and architecture has that that balance of art and and and engineering kind of. And so but I chose civil engineering over architecture though, because a civil engineer can do everything an architect can do and more. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: But a a lot a lot as you said earlier, a lot of civil engineers You know, th they're they're brilliant in their in in the engineering aspect, but but they they they probably or may may lack a bit in in the artistic side. and and that's n that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just you know, th that's just, you know, th their focus. But you're y I've always had an interest in the art side too. So I I I I think yeah, thank you for the compliment 'cause I I I do enjoy being being able to do both kind of and my firm does have an architecture side to it. So we do architecture, civil engineering, structural, light frame structures, things like that. speaker-0: That's great. And what and that's what makes you unique. Davey, we will be right back. We're going to take a quick break to air from our sponsors and we'll be right back with winning with one-ins. And welcome back to Winning With One is Las Vegas' newest and coolest financial show and now an engineering show, but a business show, all of it included. we are talking with one of my oldest friends who happens to be a great engineer. And he and I ironically ended up coming to Vegas about the same time. Dave Nicholson. Dave, buddy, I can't thank you enough for being on the show. I know I had to bro I had to bribe you with good whiskey later in the day, but that's okay. And good cigars. Yes, we do smoke, I know. Dave, where we left off, we were talking a bit about your firm and and I know that you like a lot of people in engineering, you look at the big picture. So let's go back to talk about Vegas for a bit. And and I mean, you and I are certainly astounded with it's fun to be in a place growing, but you and I have also been in a place growing called California that ended up growing itself right off a cliff. What is it that you looking at from your perspective, what are the issues? speaker-1: Well I th the biggest thing typically in in any desert town especially is water. It's always about water. Sure. and so I would say that that that is the probably the the biggest focus typically and and it is here as well. the great thing about Las Vegas though is is they've figured it out. they they've been brilliant about water use. as a matter of fact I know that Las Vegas recycles nearly a hundred percent of it of the water used if the water goes down the drain it it there's a there's a 99% chance it's being recycled. Now obviously the landscaping and stuff like that they can't do, but that's that's a it's a fairly small percentage 'cause they're really leaning towards, you know, a more desert sustainable type landscaping. so water is is is is is is typically the issue. I mean you look at like other other cities like Phoenix that well they didn't really have that enough foresight with this and and they're they're running out of water and it's really a shame. yeah, with Las Vegas, for the foreseeable future, it's not really an issue. Yeah. they they've really been brilliant about it. speaker-0: Well, and then you know, we know that around here there's these massive you know, when we have big rains, they have these massive areas that where it all the water funnels into these ponds and then goes back into Lake Mead. I mean, they really have thought this like you said, Dave, they really thought it through. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: So and looking at other things, I now I know that you look at it from I I I mean, I think that as we get more land from the federal government. That we seem to get better each time we get a flock of land or a a tranch land, that they figured out, okay, we're gonna put this on it, we're gonna put that on it, we're gonna change the routing of the freeways. Would you agree with me on that? That they s again, you you say they've really figured it out. speaker-1: Well, I've seen actually that that they've they've already really done a really good job at planning out the freeways. A lot of the roadway systems in in Las Vegas have already been established and are well established. And especially I think most of the growth growth that I've seen is is is in the north. there's a there's a lot of residential housing that's being built in the north. And it's all around the the facilities that have already been in place that were really well planned for. So yeah again the only the only issue with with with growth and and and and like city planning is is is in and around the strip where they it's it's been there for so long and and there wasn't as much planning perhaps you know at the time when that started whereas the the farther out you go from the strip, the more organized and and well planned the communities are, definitely. All right now. speaker-0: And I'm sure you hear it all the time. When you talk to people who don't live in Las Vegas, they assume that you live on the strip, right? speaker-1: Yeah, I always say say people people think it's like, you know, that's it's strip clubs and slot machines, you know, but and outside of that is cactus and coyotes, you know. It's it's like, no, no I I I tell people Summerlin is a great place. It's like any town USA and in the in in in the desert anyway. And it's it's it's a great place to live. I I surprisingly I n I never imagined retiring in Las Vegas. If you would ask me ten years ago, yeah, I would have said no. speaker-0: Same with me. Even though I knew that I'd be spending more time here, but no, I didn't I didn't think I'd be calling it my home. speaker-1: Well I d I did yeah. I I I I again I I just I I saw Las Vegas as everybody else saw it. And it wasn't until I got here and and took a look around and realized wow this this is actually a great place. speaker-0: So now real quick, you've spent a lot of time in Prump and you're spending a lot of the outlying communities. What's your thought about what like what's going on at Prump? It seems like it's growing too. speaker-1: It is. Yeah, big time. Actually one of my biggest clients is in Perump right now. designing a single family dwelling for him in his vacant lot. yeah, Perump is growing very fast. The problem that I see with Perump is the infrastructure not keeping up. Okay. And and it's it's Nye County and not Clark County. And so I don't know that much about Nye County and and and you know how they're keeping up on things, but hopefully they they're they've having as much forethought as as you know, Clark County and the and the Vegas area with respect to their growth, because they are growing quite rapidly. speaker-0: Do you think the people at Prump I mean I think there's a distinct possibility that one day they will be part of a bedroom community of Las Vegas. They don't want to hear that. Yeah. They see themselves as special, but just natural growth and it's not that far away and the roads from there to Vegas are pretty darn good. speaker-1: They're really good, actually. and yeah, I actually I I see I too see it as being I think it already is a bit of a bedroom. There's a lot of people who live in Perump and commute to Las Vegas. so yeah, it's already kind of there, I think. speaker-0: No, that'd be interesting. It's good to point out you have county issues like anywhere else in the country. One county versus another county. They're all a little different. And we know here there's a difference between Clark and I just ask any of our you know assembly people. They'll make sure you know very quickly there is a difference. Uh-huh. All right now, Dave, we have some questions here that have been put together. Let's go through this. they're asking personal questions about me. All right, all right. gee. Now keep it G rated, okay, right. All speaker-1: Alright, we'll do it. speaker-0: right, so me again, you did you ever see me in Las Vegas? speaker-1: You you mean ever having ended up here? No, no, no. Again, ten years ago, if you would have told me that you were considering Las Vegas, I would have Really? Huh, okay. speaker-0: Yeah. And we've and you know, w I think it it's interesting, kind of the same things that you and I went through in the Bay Area, you know, through COVID, seeing the changes, seeing that we didn't like the changes, and the cost and the crowds. And I think I think you and I kind of reached the same conclusion. speaker-1: I have to say this though. I know few people who are more in their element in Las Vegas than you. You are in your element 100%. So I I definitely see that definitely. Well speaker-0: Yeah. And you you know, you and I both came here as kids. I mean, you know, you came here a different not at not at the same time, but it was very typical for us 'cause where we grew up is only about two and a half hours, three hours from here. speaker-1: Well and my grandparents retired in nineteen seventy two, to a in a trailer out at Lake Mead. And my family used to come out once a year to visit. And so I I got familiar with the area just through that. speaker-0: Yeah, it it is no, it's a lot of fun how things kinda work out. Yeah. And yes, we did come to Vegas when the mob was here. For those you who are always interested in the mob issues, I always keep hearing about this stuff. Yeah. Dave, your background as an engineer. I'm curio and then and I'm also gonna bring up you did an awful lot with the Civil Air Patrol. You've always been involved in the Big Brother program. I mean because you were in both of those. as an engineer, what are things like if somebody told you they want to get into engineering, what would you pass on to a young person? Would you say it's a great career? speaker-1: Path? absolutely. Okay. as a matter of fact, here's a s here's a great story. So when I went got to Cal Poly, one of my my new close friends was a math major in his sophomore year, and I asked him what do you want to do with math, and he didn't know. you want to be a teacher? No. You know, so so I thought, well, just change to engineering. It's all math anyway. So he did. Not only did he change to engineering, he went into a very special niche of electrical engineering and Suffice it to say that he's put all his four three kids through college. his wife hasn't had to work a day since they got married. I mean, he's he's done very well. So engineering is a great field to get into. and and the thing is the engineering thing is is is it's not necessarily I think that people who are are gravitated to engineering, I think there's a mindset, a particular mindset that that sort of people gravitate to engineering. speaker-0: I would totally agree that. I I believe in God given talents and skill sets. And yes, you have to have a certain I mean, you have to have the ability to really focus on detail, but yet at the same time not get way off path. And that that there's a blend of the two. There is and and tremendous responsibilities. When you look at engineering failures, they're usually life altering s and and society altering things. I speaker-1: We can't. speaker-0: mean, think about freeways collapsing during earthquakes and stuff like that, you know. So and you know, I I I think the other thing we've joked and we've joked about this a couple of times, but being in an area like Las Vegas where like you've told me, look, we you know, the soil's not good. I mean, the soil's terrible to build on. But we don't have to worry about as many disasters here as you would in other parts of the country. You know, it's just kind of those things. So Dave, what other things are going on that that you like about Vegas? I mean, personally and professionally? speaker-1: wow. yeah, I I just I don't know, d believe it or not, that people think you it's too high, but the weather actually is is quite good. I mean it's you get it acclimated to. I mean it's su sure we have a you know a week or two in the summer times in the summertime when it gets a bit warm, but but other than that, I mean the weather is is great, I think. And and and like you said, n very few, if any, natural disasters. speaker-0: Yeah, it's pretty nice. So if somebody's an engineer, let's say they're in California, they're thinking about migrating, what would you tell them? That there's there's opportunities here? speaker-1: Yeah, I guess it depends on why they're migrating, to be honest. I mean, if they're if they're wanting to you know further their career or or you know, d start a business or or e expand a business or or you know that kind of thing, it's it's a really great place, I think, to do that. if they want to bring politics, their own politics here, that's probably not a good idea. speaker-0: Well, the other thing too is if you decide you're semi retired and you want to go into teaching, UNLV's engineering school is growing like a weed. And I know they need competent people with experience to work there. speaker-1: I've heard great things about that school. speaker-0: Yeah. Well, they're they're really amazing. Dave, someone wants to get a hold of you. They need an engineering project. They need a go to guy. How would they get a hold of you? speaker-1: well DMN Design and Engineering. I do have a LinkedIn site. you can go to my LinkedIn page. or I I guess I could I could plug my my phone number or something. speaker-0: There you go. Well and also we're in Vegas where they say, Hey, I know a guy. I know a guy. speaker-1: Word of mouth. a hundred percent of my clients I have right now I've gotten through word of mouth. True. It's a speaker-0: A lot of us from the veterans group that we're a member of. You know, it makes a big deal. speaker-1: great group. speaker-0: Dave, thank you for coming on the pal. I'm really I'm glad to have you on the podcast. speaker-1: Thank you. speaker-0: All right, everybody, we're gonna take a quick break and then we'll come back with what's going on in Vegas and what's going on in California in a bit. And welcome back to Winning with Wineins for the podcast bonus section. So this is the section where Dave, being one of my oldest buddies, he and I get to have a talk. All right, so Dave, in Las Vegas, what has been the dumbest thing is from an engineering perspective you've seen done? There's gotta be something that stuck out in your head, like, what was somebody thinking? speaker-1: wow. Nothing really comes to mind right now. I d I guess with the exception perhaps of of the strip. Again, the strip is just outgrew itself and there and it's so overbuilt. right now that that that small little area is just so overbuilt. The traffic is horrendous. And just getting around, even as pedestrians, is a bit is a bit tough. And there's always a conflict with pedestrians and traffic. And it's just it's it's it's kind of a nightmare in in a in in a sense. But with such a large concentration of people in in such a small area, I mean it it's it's kind of hard to plan for that. speaker-0: All right. You wanna hear the dumbest thing I've seen? Yeah. You saw the little video clips I sent you of building that rattlesnake sanctuary with an open gate. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: You've gotta be kidding me. You think we're gonna protect people with that gate from rattlesnakes? Now listen, what did we do with rattlesnakes in Big Bear? speaker-1: well I didn't run into them very often. Actually more in the desert when we were down in hiking down in the Mojave Desert in the Boy Scouts, we ran into yeah, we pretty much got rid of Well, especially speaker-0: Right. speaker-1: when you when you got kids, you you're when the kids around you just speaker-0: Yeah. Well, you have a brother who lives in prop, and I remember he says, I just pull out my pistol and shoot him. I'm sorry if we've pissed off anybody in Nevada, but you know, they're awful creatures. I mean, come on. No, that's about the dumbest thing I thought. Okay, it must have been a group from California that came out and built this thing. It's just it was I I couldn't believe it. Well, speaker-1: Yeah, that's crazy. speaker-0: not only that, but it's kind of interesting. So they this area, it's out in Red Rock Canyon. So the the the thing I find kind of comical about, and it was a lot of money spent on this thing. It's like a little boardwalk. It's only about a foot off the ground. Well, I've seen rattlesnakes strike a horse or try to take a swipe at from three feet. So they're gonna have people walking on a boardwalk and if there's a snake there, it's gonna go right over that thing and nail speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: I don't know. I just it I kinda wonder a bit. I I just And then of course my German Shepherd. By the way, Dave is the godparent of my German Shepherd, one of the godparents. and you're speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: just and I told her to stay away from rattlesnakes. They're not chew toys. Yeah. All right. So Dave in Las Vegas. What do you do for fun? speaker-1: well I don't wanna sound too engineered, but I actually enjoy studying math more. I get get just improve my math skills and keep them sharp. I was doing this morning, I was reading my old calculus book from college. my. but outside of that, yeah, I enjoy I really enjoy the outdoors hiking. I really wanna explore more of the outdoors. So happy to be close enough to a place like Red Rock. to do hiking. I I'm really excited about your claim and getting out to go out to your claim and and drive take a drive out there and and and do some exploring out there. that would be fun. speaker-0: All right, so what that what we're talking about is that I managed to buy a gold claim. Now I don't own the land. I own the rights. It's public land. It's a claim that goes way back to like the eighteen eighties, I think. But anyway, it's about twenty acres of land. And of course Dave put the engineering hat on and said, Let's go out there. So we're gonna we're gonna venture out there and actually we have some other friends of ours that are gonna do we're gonna do like an expedition trail and make sure we don't get in any trouble. But speaker-1: in my a little bit of research that I've done, according to the USGS soil conservation service, there there's nickel. You have nickel out there. cool. Yeah. speaker-0: Nickel for Nicholson. No, it's gonna be a lot of fun. So that I that's the thing about Las Vegas and in Nevada in general. There's a lot of things you just can't do in other places. This is a free state. And I think if I narrowed it down, you know, Dave and I have gone shooting together, you know, you we've gone out on adventures in other areas, we've gone up to Mount Charleston. I mean, you've done all this stuff. There's just so much to do here. And you're allowed to do it. It's not like, my gosh, I got we got on Lake Meat on the Sea Dews. I mean there's just all kinds of speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, we gotta do that again. That was fun. speaker-0: now talk about engineering. You know what they've done out there that's interesting. You know how when we went out there the marina, the the the boat ramps were running out of room because the the lake's been sh they've speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: already taken out further. They used underwater cement and took out. yeah. Yeah. So I mean, people here are smart. They get things done. They don't they don't leave it to well, it's your problem. So So then, you know, you've got you've been able to get family to move out here. speaker-1: Yeah, my younger brother moved to Perump. he sold his properties in Southern California and bought a place in Perump. And my sister lives in Hammett right now and she's looking to to also move to Perump. speaker-0: It's it's funny how they and they're asking you, Dave, how do you like it? speaker-1: yeah, well then I tell him I I love it. Yeah. I'm not sure I imagine living the rest of my life in Las Vegas, to be honest, but I don't know, maybe I will. But I sure like it now, definitely. I do. speaker-0: Well, you and I know there's a lot of people say, Well, I thought I'd be here for five years. And then it became ten years. Then it became fifteen years. speaker-1: Yeah, I've heard that a lot. speaker-0: Well, and the other thing too, you know, with Dave being a veteran, he and I have both, and I'm a vet as well, but Dave's much more, you know, he was active duty very long time, vip green beret. Yeah, I wouldn't I as he says, you don't want to fight this guy. I just, you know, he he looks mild manner, but those skills are still there. So veterans groups, I mean you and I both agree, this is probably some of the best veterans groups I've seen anywhere I've lived. speaker-1: Absolutely. the the the Southern Nevada Veterans Group is so awesome. speaker-0: Yeah, even though it changed his name. speaker-1: that's right. speaker-0: Veterans Exchange. speaker-1: Okay, yeah. Yeah. I get that mixed up. But I mean we you and I got got in on on on the ground floor with that, you know, with the with the founder and president Lester. And it it's such a great organization. It really is. speaker-0: Yeah. No, and it it's and it's not a pecking order about who has what ribbons, who was in at you know, combat ver n it's none of that. Like I love the if you were a dog tag and and it now they've expanded to include, you know, SWAT teams and the police and any of these other groups, you're in. I mean it's you you've done your you've done your duty. Any of us would have s said, Hey, I'm I'm going. I the country needs me and I'm going. So and then I know that you and I've gone to some political events together, so we've had a chance to kind of, you know feel what's going on with that and you know, I know you were a little surprised I actually invited you to an event that was a Democrat 'cause you know I'm a Republican, so you were a little I know you were in shock to see that. But he's a good guy. I mean here people can talk. speaker-1: Yeah, exactly. speaker-0: You know, you can have differences of opinion, but it's doesn't make you an evil, awful human being. speaker-1: It it's it's okay to agree to disagree in Las Vegas, I see. speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely. Well and I think would you agree that Vegas is just kind of a melting pot? speaker-1: Absolutely. speaker-0: It's just I mean nobody is from here. I mean the the town was founded in nineteen eight. Even the Indians weren't even here. Nobody was here. Nobody speaker-1: Yeah, I I wouldn't say nobody, 'cause there are some some native vegans here that that would get offended by that perhaps. But but but no the yeah, a large portion of the of the population of Las Vegas are people who who've fairly recently moved here, like you know, ten, fifteen years even. and I'm I'm finding of course a lot of are from California. There's a lot of California folks moving here, include us. speaker-0: Do you do you find on the California migration, I mean there's a lot of concern about people bringing screwy, I'm gonna put it screwy California ideas with them? Or do you are you finding that people really the ones that you've met are pretty much saying, no, I'm in a new home, or that maybe I I was a Republican moving out of California? What have you found? speaker-1: actually in in the in the at least with with the with the social groups that I've associated with, politics never even comes up. You know it's not even discussed. So speaker-0: Well that's good to know. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's speaker-1: so I I really don't know. speaker-0: so they just they're not here saying I have the right answers, you're gonna listen to me. No, no, you Well think you have when you do come here, you have to engage. You have to you know, go out, like in my case I joined a church, went to the veterans groups. I I didn't get involved with some of the local political things and the business groups and all that. Hey, real quick, I I think I told you this story. I was at a luncheon one day and I I think from an engineering perspective this is pretty amazing about our new home. And this this he's been on this he's been on the board of supervisors of Clark County for a very long time. And it's pretty funny, quintessential older guy from the East Coast. So you you can blit mind, imagine what part of the world he's from. But anyway, he said, You know what I love about Vegas? He said, middle of COVID, what did we do? We built the sphere, we fixed the roads for F one, we built we finished the Fountain Blue Hotel, we built the Raiders Stadium, we got everything ready for baseball, and then we've he said, Find me a city that did one of those things. I mean, as an engineer, imagine coordinating all that from an engineering perspective is mind-boggling. Hey, one question that did come up, and I'd like to ask you this. We know that there are flooding problems in Vegas from time to time. What can you do about that? I mean, I guess there's times the strips flood out or we've seen flooded streets. Is that an easy fix or not? speaker-1: No, no 'cause it the the Las Vegas is in a valley and and the strip isn't is at the base of that valley pretty much. speaker-0: It's an old riverbed or lake bed or speaker-1: It's it's actually grasslands. th they they used to think it was an old an ancient lake bed, but actually it's ancient grasslands. But you know, water, lots of water, basically accumulate. That's why all the all the it's such an in in such high mineral content. But when you when you when you're in an area that's a low-lying area that that water flows to and doesn't flow out, there's not a lot you can do. Now and and in Las Vegas has th has done a really good job. I think you can include Clerk County and and and and Las Vegas City Las Vegas. They've done a really good job, I think, with respect to you know building infrastructure to try to get it get the water out. Yeah. But when you have desert like rainfall intensities that we have, which you know just very common for the desert, there's there's not a lot you can do about it when you have such you know high intensity of w you know waterfall, you know rainfall in in a in a short period of time, it just has nowhere to go. It can't get out of out of the way of itself. speaker-0: Well then I guess the only issue you have is you just have to raise everything and that's very expensive. speaker-1: that's cost prohibitive, yeah. That's one thing as an engineer when we design, we we I mean we we people say, well, well if why don't you do in California, why don't you design buildings that'll just stand withstand any earthquake? It's like, well you could, but it's cost prohibitive. Yeah. And and you have to you know design a balance where it's like you design something that that's gonna be strong but but not cost prohibitive to speaker-0: I totally believe. Okay, the last engineering question, the Brightline train. What's your thoughts on trains running? I mean, as far as especially after the train debacles we've seen in California, you and I've seen a few of them or at least read about them. What's your thoughts on it? Do you think it's a good idea? The speaker-1: So again the refreshment. speaker-0: Brightline train that's running from Las Vegas to LA, it's gonna be a r a privately funded or it's a public private partnership. Do you you you're I mean, like I said, you and I we read constant stories about trains in California over budget. I mean we the smart train that you and that we were calling wasn't so smart and then and then the train and with the well the well funded Gavinusom's train, I'm gonna call it the Newsome train to nowhere. And you and I saw those overpasses off the ninety nine that are never would you worry about that? I mean do you think that Vegas is gonna let a train situation just gr spin out of control based on what you see speaker-1: I don't think so. I don't think I I don't think Nevada. I I can't speak for California because of their their their stupid their history. Yeah. You know. But no, I see n Nevada is is again, they're very smart about this stuff, I think. And and you can see it in their infrastructure and you can see it I mean I remember one time we remember we went to a bar and and we're chatting with the bartender and he and he and he mentioned that he was a native vegan actually and yeah and he said, Yeah, the state bird is the orange cone. Yeah. We laughed 'cause it's like, Yeah, because there's 'cause because there's lots of planning and and they're they're Doing things or fixing things, you know. So they have that mentality. And so on the Nevada side, I I I think it would be probably, you know, built well on time and and on budget, probably or close to it, quite frankly, up to the California border. Yeah. but the thing about the train to me it's like, you know, Americans love their cars. You know, we love our cars and we love that independence that that our cars allow us. And so who I I'm not sure what demographic would Ride the train, to be honest. speaker-0: Well, I I mean I I think with me having clientele in Southern California, you and I know the fifteen on the California sign is horrible. And and and you get jammed up the minute you hit Southern California between the two ten, the ninety one, it's a jammed up mess. If I could avoid all that by just taking a train, get off, Uber to where I need to go versus having to get stuck in traffic. I mean, we've all been there. I mean the traffic's horrible. we'll see. It it all comes back to does it work as advertising is is it overly expensive? We'll to see. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah, we'll see. Hey, we're here, we'll find out, Dave. That's right. All right, everybody, we're gonna wrap this up. I hope you enjoyed this talk with one of my oldest buddies on planet earth. And if you have questions about me, email Dave if you don't want me to know what the questions are. So anyway, Dave Nicholson of DMN Design and Engineering. If you're looking for an engineer who really it has that added you know, artistic way about him, and he's a lot of common sense. Go look him up, everybody. Anyway, that's it for this podcast. Thanks, Dave. Take care, everybody. And welcome back to Winning with One is Las Vegas news and coolest financial show. Hey, I hope you enjoyed our last guest. Like I said, I've known the guy forever. And but you know, it is interesting that when we start talking about what's going on in our valley and certainly what's going on regionally, it it all ties together. So, as you all know, I had a big article in the Review Journal about a week and a half ago. And you know, I have to say, I know I talked about it in the last show, but I want to keep bringing up, I've been amazed at how many local officials And business people have talked to me about this, but I do want to go over the takeaways one more time. Look. I I mean whether someone is an independent voter, a Democrat or Republican, at the end of the day, we all love our community, and that is coming through loud and clear. I mentioned earlier in the show, hey, President Trump came to town this week. Okay. Why? We're a swing state. The politicians are paying attention to what we do and how we go about doing it, but I will guarantee you economic development. is a is the big thing. And I do find it interesting that as I talk to I mean a lot of our if we're at the hundred day cycle on midterm elections coming up. I do find it interesting as I've talked to the local politicians. They've all been asking me about what should they be thinking about with the points I brought up in my article. It's very simple. We've got to get a concrete, simple, singular message. We cannot have me talking about it and having the government's economic development people talking about it. It's got to be a single message that we can all resonate. As we said, I mean, I've been in in business a long time. And when you're selling something, you got to tell people who you are and why should I buy from you versus somebody else? It's the same in talking to companies that are thinking about relocating to Nevada. You got to be answered able to answer those two questions. So the good news is I see that all the ducks are getting lined up and things are coming together there. The other big thing that I was really glad to hear about, and you know, we're having a a treasurer's election coming up here. You know, folks, Nevada is doing very well. I know we hear a lot about the schools and trying to improve the schools and about health care, but Nevada just had its Moody's rating reaffirmed at double A plus. And also, we don't have any large debts out there. So the point is simply this. We're in a very strong financial position. And I know for some of you out there, you probably like to buy some Nevada municipal bonds, but guess what? They're hard to find. But the, you know, we're just, we don't have the same issues that other states might have. I what can I tell you? I'm just very, very happy to live in Nevada, to look at where we live and how we do things. And I again, like I said, I moved here three years ago and I just absolutely love it. Okay. I talked about it in segment one. I've talked about it before. You know, let's briefly go back what to look for when the big top is going to show up in the stock market or the real estate market. Look, I've talked about it many, many times, and I'm going to keep bringing it up. I'm not real trusting right now of a lot of the what we used to call the benchmarks for the stock market. I'm talking about the SP 500 and the Dow. And look, these are my opinions. But here the realities of it. The S P 500 of two years ago and the companies that were in it two years ago, many of them are no longer there. the fact that we've added SpaceX, which is a brand new IPO, which is not even really trading yet to what's going on with the just the market forces itself. And yes, it did post some fantastic numbers this week. But these kind of things are making the indexes different than they were two years ago. So if you're trying to compare. Apples to apples, it's getting very hard to do. part of what you should have a money manager do is do their own research. And so in our case, we are looking at our own research. But as I mentioned in segment one, folks, I see a lot of very strong activity going on in companies of all different walks of life, mainly the older companies, they're doing well. So what should you, the investor, be looking for? Well, number one, let me give you a piece of advice. You're probably all very happy with your portfolios this year. You're probably all enjoying the summer. This is exactly when you should get together with your advisors and you should ask them the simple question. If we have a bear market, if I get 2008, 2009, let's just talk about year 2022 when rates went up for the first time in a long time. And what happened? The market went down. My question is simply this: you need to ask your advisors. What is our defensive game plan if that happens? Now, I'm not going to tell you how to pick an advisor, but I would tell you, I would pay attention to the advice. And if you get what resembles a dead trout look from your advisor, meaning they haven't really thought it through, you need to be cautious about that. Because I I love it when an older person is told that they're investing for the long term. listen, it took a while to recover from the dot-com bubble and from two from 2008, 2009. If you're getting that kind of messaging from a financial planner and you're in your, I don't know, let's say you're within three years of retirement, that's not the right answer, folks. But let me just give you some things that we at Wine and Investments monitor. Watch the 200 day moving average. I'm talking about of even of even of the current markets right now, there's a reason for this. You're looking at the average price action for the last 200 days and you're comparing where you are today. It's very simple. If the price of the Dow industrial average and the SP five hundred are below that point, that's a moment of c of pause for you. You should begin to realize it doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna be an absolute horrible bear market, but you're having a change in direction, at least in the interim. You want to pay attention to that. That's very important. Answer two very common questions. Are there more advances or declining issues on the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ? You can get this information off of a common website. You could also get out of the newspaper for those of you who are like me, still like newspapers. Also, answer the other basic question: Are there more new highs, yearly highs, or more new lows now or you know, vr versus even a month ago? If the answer is there's more new lows, it tells you there's volatility. Also, Trend is your friend, as I mentioned a moment ago. Same with volumes. If you're finding that, I mean, I'm getting maybe a little geeky here, and I apologize. But if the volume levels of the market begin to go down, that's another telltale sign. And you know, it this is misunderstood by most people. It's borrowing. Now, look, people borrow when they buy a house. Businesses borrow all the time. There are people out there who are, let's say, more sophisticated investors. They actually do. borrow money to buy stocks or other things. I would say you want to watch that very closely. As long as margin is expanding, but it's not going crazy, but it's still moving in upper direction, meaning people are still comfortable comfortable enough to buy stocks with borrowed money from a brokerage house, that to me is a very good sign. When I see it reverse radically, I get concerned that means they're selling stocks to pay off those debts. Okay, a couple other quick things. You know, I also trade commodities. We have a commodity trading advisory firm called Wine and Commodities. Watch the commodities. Okay, now look, I know that many of you out there are gold bugs and silver bugs, and you know, I I actually right now I like copper. But here's the point: if you have commodities starting to do radical things, and I'm talking about commodities that use every day. Hey, not too long ago, beef was very expensive. And I know about you, steak is still, I go get a good steak anywhere in Las Vegas. I'm still have a little bit of sticker shock when I get the bill of what that wonderful flame cost me. But here's my point, folks. Most people don't watch commodities. They're easy enough to do. Use some common sense. If many of you out there who eat wheat or corn, soybeans, anybody who uses them in cooking, I mean, you know, even look at wine prices. I mean, right now, you know, the wine industry is having a a tough time because a lot of people cut back in their drinking. Again, if you notice radical shifts in commodities, that is something you want to be extremely cautious about. So, you know, the old adage, you know, hope for the best, but expect the worst or prepare for the worst. I agree with that. And I don't care whether you're an athlete, you're in the military, we're always taught to look for a good defense. Again, do this why the markets are up. Think about things now. If you are interested and you need some help with it, email me. I'll be happy to give you some advice. You might not agree with me, that's fine, but winning with winnings is about educating you. So please take your time and think about it. So look. We're just about out of time. I do want to thank our spant our sponsors that you can find on our website. And if you are interested in being a sponsor or a guest on future Willingwood winning shows, send us an email. If you've been following what's going on with social media, we're getting quite a footprint in the Vegas Valley. And I just literally talked to several people from the media industry. Everybody says the same thing. Podcasts are what are moving things right now. Also, hey, you know what? If you miss this episode, We are on radio every Saturday at two. But if you missed it, you can follow us on social media or share with your friends and family. Go to our website. We have all of our shows archived. Now, I know we have the shorts. those are takeaways from key things. But you know what? I I look, I know it's an hour of your time. I try I'm I'm very, very aware of time waste. Try to watch the whole episodes from time to time, especially with our guests. I think you'll find it useful. Okay. I also write for Forbes. I've written a lot of very interesting articles. I do try to talk about on podcasts, but it's hard to go over. Please go read my Forbes articles. You can find them at Forbes.com under Ken Wynans. Hey, I'm also an author. Call it a shameless self-promotion, but buy my books. I've written several financial history books. Folks, they're called Investment Atlas Three is the current one. Creating Wealth Using Historical Trends. Hey, you know what? It's a coffee table book. I guarantee you'll find it entertaining. I hate dull, boring, geeky books. I've actually had to go through my continuing education recently. Trust me, I know this can be an incredibly dry topic. My books are not. And then hey, I'm only gonna ask one thing of you. I'm glad you enjoy the podcast. Please stay and listen to our infomercial about Wynans investment after this broadcast. I w just listen to how we're different and how we do things. I'm independent. We are not tied to a big firm. We are not a representative of the big firms. We do our own thing and we do walk the talk. So folks, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Good luck this week. Hey, every day's a new week when it comes to our line of work. But anyway, this is Ken Wynans. I wish you well this next week. See you soon. Hey everybody, this is Ken Winins, the host of the Winning with Winens podcast. And I want to take a moment of your time to talk about how do you pick an investment advisor? Well, first off, we're not all the same. In fact, Winens Investments is the only Morningstar top rank manager based in Las Vegas. And last time I checked, we're number one in performance in all of Nevada. So if you're looking for something unique, something different, go with a firm that's been around since 1992, 100% independent and veteran-owned. Win with Winens. Look Forward to hearing from you. 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, winningwithwin'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.