You're listening to KFI Am six forty wake Up Call with me Amy King on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You heard that right.
It's five o'clock on the dot here in Los Angeles, California, and it is time for your wake up call. I am Michael Monks from KFI News here filling in for Amy King one more time.
She'll be back tomorrow.
And you know, I have to say, this is one of those days where it's not always easy to crawl out of bed. It's a beautiful morning quiet, but you know what, you got to suck it up. I enjoy filling in for Amy King, but I'm really glad she has this shift. I love that for her. This is a good shift for Amy King. Happy to fill in whenever they need me, But my goodness, it's early. And I know our good buddy Will Coleschreiver, who is here
with us this morning doing the traffic. He's going to have all the details from the roads in just a moment. He feels the same way. But he's stuck here on this shift every single morning, getting up, crawling in and getting it done for you. And I know, if you're listening right now, this is your shift too, And we're so glad that you spend these early, early moments of the day with us because we get to tell you
what's going on before everybody else. So we either make your day or ruin it one way or the other. So far, I think we're off to a pretty good start. Here's what's a head on your wake up call. Border enforcement ramped up along with deportation. So what is next as President Trump executes his vision for immigration in the US and what might it mean for sanctuary cities like Los Angeles.
We'll have a live report on that.
The President has also been kept busy with executive orders. He's not quite finished with them yet. Reports indicate he's interested in creating an iron Dome for America, like the system designed to protect Israel from a tax. We'll have a live report on that as well. And it is officially tax season. Are you ready? You see what I mean about making your day or ruining your day? It is tax season. You've got to get your paperwork ready.
Maybe you've got a refund coming this year. That's exciting, But there are mistakes people make every year when that direct deposit hits from the federal government. Joel Larsgard from How to Money is with us today to explain some of those mistakes and let you know how you can avoid them. Don't forget. As always at the top of this six o'clock hour bill handle is in and we start with handle on the news bill handle Nil Sevagra
and me Michael Monks with you this morning. For that, we'll start the morning with some stories that are coming out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Those whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by the wildfires in La County can now formally opt in for the US Army Corps of Engineers to clear debris from the property free of charge. The first phase is the removal of hazardous materials by the Environmental Protection Agency, and once that's finished,
the Army Corps will move in and remove debris. Residents also have the option to hire their own contractors to do that work too, if they like. There are a couple of important fire related items on the agenda of this morning's meeting of the La County Board of Supervisors. There is a proposal to create a fire recovery fund with an initial thirty two million dollars to provide direct
cash to fire victims. The proposal involves federal money from the American Rescue Plan to county departments would be tasked with reporting on the proposal by next week, with an implementation update including details on a process for people to apply for relief funds, and the supervisors will also consider a motion calling for an independent review of emergency notification systems used during the fires to alert people to evacuation orders.
There were complaints after erroneous alerts were sent all over the county, and there were also some delays. The LA Times reported residents in the Altadena area west of Lake Avenue did not receive any emergency evacuation orders until roughly nine hours after the Eton fire erupted, despite the fact that flames were already burning uncontrollably nearby. All seventeen people who are known to have died in that fire lived
west of Lake Avenue. And there are also plans at this morning supervisors meeting to honor individuals and organizations for their work during the fire and in the aftermath, and.
We will have all of that covered for you.
President Trump has seen his initial cabinet picks basically sail through Senate approval, except for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who required a tie breaking vote from Vice President JD. Vance after three Republicans opposed that nomination. But it's still early and there are still more nominees to face approval, including some of the more controversial selections. Rfk Junior as Health and Human Services Secretary, Cash Patel at the FBI, and
Tulsey Gafferd as the Director of National Intelligence. So what can we expect from these fourthcoming hearings? Here to break it down is White House correspondent John Decker, who joins us Live Good Tuesday morning to you, John.
Great to be with you. That's a great introduction because the confirmation hearings that will take place this week will likely be more contentions than what we've seen in the past. You know, just some of the nominees that Donald Trump has put forward have, as you put it, sailed through Marc Rubio ninety nine to zero. In addition to that, Donald Trump's choice for Transportation Secretary also getting confirmation from
the Senate unanimously. That will not be the case with the three people that you mentioned, Cash Mittel for FBI, Robert F. Kennedy Junior for the Department of Health, and Human Services, and Tulca Gabbert as the Director of National Intelligence. I think all those three. Gabbert likely has the most
difficulty in terms of winning Senate approval. But I think that a lot of Senators are ultimately waiting to see how each of these nominees perform in their confirmation hearings before saying publicly how they're going to vote on their nominations.
So some of these nominations from the president have gotten support from Democrats. You noted Marco Rubio and his unanimous praise. But the irony I suppose for this week is a couple of these nominees have Democratic bona fides in some respect. I mean RFK Junior obviously a Kennedy Tauci Gabbard served in Congress as a Democrat, ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. What do you anticipate is the hold up? Let's start with RFK Junior.
Well, for RFK Junior, it's the position that he's taken previously on the issue of vaccines and vaccinations that's the hold up for him, as well as positions that he's taken on the issue of abortion. At some points in his life. He's been very much pro choice that is not the position of the Republican Party. So he's got to explain his current position and why in some cases he's deviated from the positions that he's taken in the past.
As for Tulsea Gabbert, guest, she was a member of Congress as a Democrat, but that's not giving her a pass. Her big issue is positions that she took as a US congresswoman from Hawaii, as well as a meeting that she had while she was a congresswoman with the leader of Syria, Basher A l Assade. And so she'll need to get through that aspect of her past and explain that particular meeting in order to win Senate confirmation.
Do either of them face any challenges from Republican members of the Senate.
Yeah, that's the problem, you know. So as you know, as we saw with the President Trump's choice to leave the Defense Department Pete Hegseath, Republicans can afford to lose three of their her own members, and that's what we saw with Pete Hegseth. But it was jd Vance, the Vice President, who broke the tie. As it relates to Telsea Gabbert, I think that she will not get unanimous
support from the Republican Party. And I think that some of the same people that had issues with Pete Hegseth will also have issues with her, and there may be some other ones as well, simply because although as you put it, she may have that experience as a Democrat that doesn't work well with the Republican Party, that past experience that she's had.
Well, let's talk about cash Patel. He seems like a contentious choice at the FBI's He's someone who will also face some questions from fellow Republicans.
From Republicans, know, I think that Republicans like Cash Battel, that they like the fact that he's out of the box and it'll shake things up at the FBI. It's Democrats that have the most issues with Cash Battel. But again, we'll see how he performs in the Q and a portion of this upcoming confirmation hearing. It can't get too contentious, you know, we've seen that. You know, there's some pushback that some nominees have had when they're pushed in a
certain direction. Pam Bondi, who was confirmed as the next Attorney General, had a little pushback, but she performed quite well and got bipartisan support. I don't think Cash Battel is going to get that bipartisan support. And as you know, there's a Republican majority in the US sen at fifty three forty seven. If I was a betting man, I would bet that's how that ultimate vote is going to go for Cash Bettel to be the next FBI director.
We're talking with White House correspondent John Decker here on kfi's wake Up Call. I've made an observation. I'm obviously not the only one to make this observation, but I'm curious, since you're on the ground there, what your thoughts might be. This is obviously President Trump's second term, separated by a term of President Joe Biden. It seems like in President Trump's first term, even though he ran as an outsider, there was an effort to put government type people in
government roles. Is there something different taking place with some of these appointments that the President is pursuing. Even if they are folks from inside the government, they do seem to cater to a certain wing of political ideology. Is it different this time around? Does it look like some sort of I don't know, some celebration of a certain type of ideology.
Oh absolutely. I mean, just two of the people that we've been talking about are examples of that. Robert F. Kennedy Junior. I think that the issues with him are the ones that we mentioned, plus what kind of experience he's had, if any, in terms of managing such a large bureaucracy like the Department of Health and Human Services, And the same thing could be said for Tulca Gabbert. Her lack of experience is something that Democrats will point out. But yeah, it's different in terms of the types of
people that Trump is putting forward. I think the most controversial nominee that he had in his first term was Betsy Devas, who ended up being confirmed to be the next Department of Education secretary, but only because Mike Pence broke a fifty to fifty tie in the US Senate. But she was the most controversial in the sense that she did not have the necessary experienced Democrats said, and that was the reason for their opposition to her.
White House Correspondent John Decker, always a pleasure to have your insight shared with our audience here at KFI.
John, Thanks so.
Much, absolutely thanks for having me bye Bye.
Bye Bye. The Grammys are Sunday.
They're right here in La at Crypto dot Com Arena, and the plan is for music's biggest awards show to focus attention on the wildfire relief efforts. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Junior has said his team spoke to state officials, local officials, fire departments, and others before deciding to go
ahead and continue with the show. Although there has been an abridged pre Grammy week event schedule, he says the Recording Academy has received almost three thousand requests from its members and others in the music community for help following these wildfires. So we'll watch that on Sunday and see what the music industry does for the folks right here in Los Angeles when we come back. Deportations, border enforcement both already up in the early days of President Trump's administration.
What might that mean for a sanctuary city by the name of Los Angeles. Final evacuation orders from the Palisades fire have been lifted. Fire officials said residents will no longer need escorts into the area, but they must obtain an access pass by checking in with law enforcement in Santa Monica. The death toll has increased to twelve with
the death of an unidentified victim at a hospital. The Santa Monica Malibu Unified School Districts four schools in Malibu that were closed yesterday because of dangerous road conditions and other challenges with access.
They'll be reopened today.
US public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization effective immediately. The decision is focused on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention a CDC officials and a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all agency staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their
collaborations and await further guidance. The AP says it's viewed the memo, and experts have told the AP the sudden stoppage is a surprise, and we'll set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and impos in Africa. President Trump has said Microsoft is among the US companies looking to take control of TikTok to help keep the video app operating in the US and avoid a ban here. Trump says other companies were also
interested in purchasing TikTok, but didn't provide a list. One of his first acts in office, Trump extended the deadline for TikTok to find new ownership that satisfies the government seventy five days. That extension was so that takes it to early April. It was supposed to be gone on January nineteenth, and it was for a short few hours. Microsoft has not yet confirmed this report. Coming up at six oh five. We've got Bill handle handle on the news.
Bill will be here, Nil Savadra, I'll be here as well. Hope you can join us. I want to check in and see if we've got Rory on the line. Do we do indeed, elm or so. Deportations in the US are well underway. Arrest enforcement at the border also up. President Trump has made a legal immigration and his plans to stop at a cornerstone of his campaign and now his administration, but there are hurdles at home and abroad.
Some countries, including close allies, have expressed concern about the methods, while inside our borders, some governments, like here in LA, have vowed not to participate in deportations. National correspondent Rory O'Neil is back with us again this morning to talk all about it. Rory, Good Tuesday morning to you.
Hey, good morning, Michael.
How has the president's immigration enforcement efforts played out in these early days of his administration.
Well, they're certainly trying to take a high profile approach, inviting media to come along on some raids in places like Boston and Chicago. Doctor Phil went along with some of the raids to find some of these people getting arrested. And we're talking about people who are in the country illegally and the vast majority of whom have also committed
some sort of a violent crime. They're the first ones who are on this list for deportation, and sometimes other people who are associated with them in the same apartment or something. They're also getting caught up in these suites. You know, during the Biden administration, about three hundred people would be swept up in a regular raid by ICE agents.
Now we're at around twelve one hundred people yesterday, so four times the number, and they want that number to increase tenfold in the next few months.
The argument has been made that not all of the people who immigrated here illegally are criminals. Aside from that initial crime that is committed by crossing illegally. Do we expect once they've rounded up all the folks that they have accused or charged with crimes, that they will move into regular illegal immigrants.
Right, so rather than so focus beyond people who've committed further crimes. Yes, obviously that's the low hanging fruit, I guess you could say. But the goal is to get ten to twelve million people removed from the country in the next few years. And look, they may develop some sort of a broader, comprehensive immigration reform package now that both the Republicans controlled both chambers. We thought we got a bit closer with a deal late last year, but
that never really materialized. But do you who address the dreamer situation where juveniles are brought in with their parents illegally, but they grew up here, went to elementary school and junior high and high school all in the US and
don't really know someone from their home country. Is there a path for citizenship for them or even their parents if they've been working productively in the country for years, if not decades, do you somehow create a pathway to citizenship that may include a fine or something you don't want to encourage cut in the line, but at the same time they had been productive members of society in some cases for decades.
That is a relevant question to places like LA because we are a destination for a lot of immigrants, regardless of their legal status. And I'm curious, so what can we expect for places like Los Angeles that have declared themselves sanctuary cities in all of this enforcement effort.
Well, right, And what we're hearing is that the local governments of sanctuary cities say, well, we're not going to help ice agents or the FBI to hinder or interfere. They're just not going to help. Seems to be the dividing line here, and this is also upsetting the president
and some allies in some parts of his administration. You know, this is where you might start to see some of the tentacles of the federal government to extend outward across the country, say perhaps attaching it to relief money for wildfires in LA. And do you somehow say, you know, we need greater cooperation with customs and border protection in order to get some of the relief money that's been promised to help in fire recovery.
What have we learned about the international community and Trump's deportation plans based on that tussle on Sunday with Colombia.
Well, right, Columbia was upset, saying, hey, look, how dare you treat our people that way? They're not necessarily criminals, And then there were threats of tariffs back and forth, and within a few hours Columbia was apologizing and sending the presidential plane to pick up Colombian citizens who are actually in the US illegally. Many of the had been convicted of committing crime. So that really was a big,
big blink by the Colombian leadership to back down. So we'll see if anyone really tests Donald Trump on this, do they let them follow through with the threats of tariffs? And you know, if they had, we'd be paying a lot more for that morning cup of coffee with all the Colombian coffee exports, and then what would we be exporting to Columbia that they would also slap tariffs on. So we'll see if one of the country's out there
bites or is it the whole EU. It's going to be fascinating to see if anyone really follows through on these threats that Donald Trump has been making.
May we live in interesting times.
National correspondent Rory O'Neil, thank you so much for spending some more time.
With us today. We appreciate it always.
Yeah, just not every weekend.
That's all I want.
Okay, Thanks Michael.
Let's see you soon here.
In La Mayor Karen Bass is expected to join in a community meeting this morning with Pacific Palisades residents and groups who have lost their homes, jobs, businesses. Group called La Voice, which describes itself as a multi racial, multi faith community organization, has organized the meeting. Rabbi Ken Chasin of the Leo Beck Temple will MC and Pastor John Shaver of the Community United Methodist Church of Pacific Palisades, which was destroyed in the fire, is also set to
attend along with others. Police in La say a man on a skateboard shot and killed another man in South La. It happened last night on South Fortuna Street. Witnesses told police a man on a skateboard was riding by the victim when he opened fire and shot several times. The victim was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. The suspect rode away from the scene. Satellite images of an undeveloped lot in Lincoln Heights have gotten a lot of attention online.
The word help is spelled out in large letters about a dozen times. LAPD, FBI, and the Spanish words for trafficking, federal, and terrorism can also be seen. The LAPED says it responded to a call about unknown trouble in the area on Sunday morning and did not find anything to ferry us going on. The LAPD also says the satellite images were taken in twenty twenty three, but a news helicopter flew over the area on Monday afternoon and found the words are still there. The land is owned by the
Union Pacific Railroad. Union Pacific says a man has been trespassing on the company's property and other commercial lots to create misleading messages.
I'm Daniel Martindell.
When wake Up Call continues here on KFI AM six forty and live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. What would the Iron Dome look like in America? President Trump seems to want to know. It's the system used to protect Israel from attacks. A live report is just ahead. President Trump has been busy with executive orders since he took office. Any plans for more as presidents do COVID vaccine, mandates, military people, trans people in the armed forces, an iron
dome for America. All right, let's talk to ABC News White House correspondent Karen Travers, who joins US Law. Now, Karen, I guess you're keeping pretty busy these days.
Oh yes, I got a lot going on here these days. It's kind of like, where do you want to start?
I'm kidding, well, I mean, the President has been active with these executive orders, and we expect that to continue for now.
Yeah, you know, and I think so. But I think it's also important to note, and you know, you and I have talked about this, of like, there are limits to what you can do with executive action, and at some point you will hit that limit. You can do a lot of things right away. There's been this flurry of activity and they want to send a message. A lot of it is reversing what the previous administration had done,
even reversing what they had reversed. So it's kind of we're back to where we were with the Trump administration round one. But you do need Congress to take action. You need Congress to approve funding for a lot of the major priorities of like immigration, border security, tax policy, energy production. So that's going to come next, but that gets complicated because of the slim majorities in the House and Senate. So I think for this president, he wants to try to do as much he can make a
big show with this executive action. But a lot of these executive action actions are really you know, directing agencies to review things, directing secretaries and department heads to come back to him in thirty days with the reports on things. So it is important to like dig deep into some of this and see what actually ends up developing out
of it. For example, the Iron Dome for America. It's not clear from this executive order how that would be developed, on what timeline it could be developed, or what it would even cost, but the expectation is it would certainly cost a lot of money to build a missile defensystem over the entire country, similar to what Israel has. They're a lot smaller, of course, and their defense you know, their defense needs are very different than what the United States has.
ABC News has obtained a fact sheet about some of these executive orders.
What can you tell us about that?
Yeah, yeah, So this, for first of all, on the Iron Dome situation. You know, it's directing the implementation of a next general missile defense shield against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other next generation aerial attacks. The experts we talked to last year, though, said when he first started talking about this, and they said the same yesterday.
So it just isn't clear how much this makes sense given that we have Canada and Mexico as allies and our neighbors and oceans on either side of us, and there are issues and concerns about cybersecurity threats and space threats, things like that. So we'll see if Congress actually does anything with this. But the President couldn't just create this. You need Congress to fund it.
Karen Travers of ABC News before we let you run, we've talked about the fact that some of these executive orders will require some sort of congressional involvement, especially when it comes to finances. But there is also another branch of government, and that is the judicial branch. We've already seen Trump's order related to birthrights citizenship facing a legal challenge, and I'm wondering do we expect any of these others in the immediate future. To be legal vulnerable.
Yeah, I think absolutely, and perhaps some of the DEI ones could be challenged, you know, just depending on if people get put on paid leave or laid off because of it. There are a lot of unions in DC related to federal workers, so you know, we're waiting to see how this plays out. But the birthright citizenship one, of course, was the one that was challenged very quickly at numerous with numerous lawsuits.
ABC News White House Correspondent Karen Travers, thanks so much for spending another morning with us.
We always appreciate you.
Have a great day.
Thanks.
It is five point forty now here in Los Angeles. I'm Michael Monks filling in for Amy King on kfi's wake up Call. The LA County Board of Supervisors meets today. They got a motion calling for an independent review of those emergency notification systems that are used during the fires and other crises to let us know if we need to run for our lives. Apparently, as you may remember,
there were some problems with that. They're also going to talk about the creation of a thirty two point two million dollar five fire recovery fund that would use some federal money to provide immediate cash assistance to residents. Will keep an eye on that meeting for you this morning and report all day long on it. The La City Council also has a meeting on the agenda this morning and they are going to be looking at a proposal to transfer two hundred and nineteen million dollars from ladwp's
Power Revenue Fund to the city's reserve fund. Keep in mind the city is facing significant financial challenges and perhaps
that's a polite way of saying La is broke. The council will also consider a proposal to provide funding for fire preparedness initiatives and services in Council District I, which includes Chinatown and MacArthur Park, Westlake and La Metro has announced an interactive town hall for people to weigh in on its budget plan, So starting at six o'clock tonight, people can call in or submit comments online to share priorities for the twenty twenty five twenty six fiscal year budget,
and that includes any remarks you might have on public safety, improved services, or enhancements to the transit experience. Metro officials have said public input is critical to ensuring the budget quote reflects the needs of writers. Last year's budget was nine billion dollars. Coming up at six oh five, we've got the Bill Handel Show, starting with Handel on the news, Bill Handel, Nil Savedra and Me I'm with you. But before that, at five point fifty, tax season has arrived.
I'm wondering are you ready? Are you just waiting for it to work itself out? In that refund check to hit your direct deposit. Joel Larsgard, host of How to Money, is with us to explain some common mistakes people make about their filings and their refunds. We'll have that for you coming up at five fifty. Some more news coming
out of the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza for the first time since the early weeks of the fifteen month long war between Israel and hamas a ceasefire has entered its second week. Palestinians who have been sheltering in squalid tent camps and former schools have said they're eager to return to their homes, even if those homes are likely destroyed. How are you feeling about the US economy right now?
It likely depends on your political party affiliation.
In a survey conducted during the presidential transition, Gallup measured a change in economic attitudes based largely on party politics. Gallup measured a thirty point drop and economic confidence among Democrats, and about the same percentage of Republicans grew more optimistic. The confidence score is up sixteen points among independents. A similar partisan swing was measured during the last presidential transition four years ago.
I'm Rory O'Neil, and.
It doesn't matter which party you're a member of. We all know the freeways around LA will just drive you bonkers, even on an early Tuesday morning. And here's what we're following in the KFI twenty four hour newsroom. Governor Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order meant to speed up the building of homes lost to the wildfires here. During his visit to the area last week, President Trump called on La Mayor Karen Bass to allow residents to start
cleaning out the debris themselves. And now Bass is pushing back.
What is so difficult for people is to understand that right now, especially if their place was destroyed, it's really toxic.
It's dangerous for them to be there.
In a post on x, Governor Newsom says he wants to make it clear that red tape will not delay rebuilding efforts. His executive order reiterates that permitting requirements under the California Coastal Act remains suspended. It also allows people who have been affected by the fires to stay longer in hotels and short term rentals. The California Department of Water Resources has refuted a claim made by President Trump Any Truth Social post.
On Monday night, Trump claimed the United States military went into California and under emergency powers, turned on the water flowing down from the Pacific Northwest. The Department of Water Resources responded with an ex post saying the military he did not enter California. It also says the water pumps being turned back on our federal water pumps that were temporarily offline due to maintenance for three days. The DWR ends that state water supplies in southern California remained plentiful.
State Senate pro tem Mike McGuire responded as well, saying water from the Pacific Northwest has not flown to the Central Valley and the military has not invaded the Delta.
I'm Daniel Martindale.
Two LAPD officers have been injured during a pursuit and a suspect was taken into custody near Vermont Square in South la The officers were going after a speeding vehicle just after midnight when the suspect crashed into one of the officers patrol cars. He then left his vehicle and ran away from the scene. After a short chase, officers caught the guy. Both officers were taken to a hospital
with minor injuries. The suspect also suffered minor injuries. And we're just minutes away now from the Bill Handle Show, starting with Handle on the news this morning at six oh five. Bill Handle, Nil Sevadra and I will be there and we do hope you will join us as well. The IRS has opened up tax season and is actively accepting tax returns. But if you get an annual refund because you've paid too much in taxes during the previous year,
what do you do with the windfall? Seems like a lot of folks don't use extra cash like that to pay down debt like their credit cards. More Americans are only paying the minimum on that debt. How to Money host Joel Larsguard is with us now to talk about it. Good Tuesday morning to you, Joel, Thanks for being with us.
Name she Michael, glad to be here.
Well, let's talk about these alleged mistakes people make with their tax returns.
What's the big one?
Sure? Yeah, I mean the thing is, I well, first off, I don't love tax refunds, and there are some people who will say that it is a tax free gift to the government. The fact that, you know, I think people love it. People love getting that three thousand bucks, thirty five hundred bucks, whatever it is back when they file their taxes in February, March or April. But the truth is that is an interest free loan to the government, and so I would rather see people keep more of
that money in their pockets throughout the year. Although I do get the kind of forced method of savings behind getting that tax refund and paying a little bit too much throughout the year. And if that's the case, if you are going the force method of savings route, then this is an awesome opportunity to yes accelerate debt pay down.
There are new stats out about people who keep credit card debt around for longer and they're paying the bare minimum on the credit card debt that they have, right that minimum payment that the credit card allows them credit card company allows them to make every month. That's a real problem. It's going to keep you in debt for a whole lot longer. You're going to pay a whole
lot more in interest. So the tax refund is the perfect time to jump start one of those bigger goals like getting rid of credit card debt.
Okay, So are there steps people should be taken, excuse me taking during the year, either to limit their tax liability or to prepare for what might be a large refund and how to use it.
Yeah, so you can, especially based on last year, you can see, well did I get a big tax refund last year? And if so, maybe I should be changing my withholding And there are calculators on the IRS website that can kind of help you hone in and figure out what your tax withholding status should be. And so I would recommend people people look into that. And again I do get the force method of savings behind it.
Maybe you say, listen, I'm not great if I have that extra money in hitting my bank account every single month. I'm the kind of person who's going to spend it on avocado toast and lattes. Then maybe the forced method
of savings is what's best for you. And then just have a plan for what to do with it, whether that is to shore up your emergency fund, or it is to pay down some sort of debt, or it is to say, listen, I'm gonna try to max out my roth IRA this year, and bam, if I get a four thousand dollars refund, that gets me, you know, two thirds of the way there. But I do want
people ahead of filing taxes. I think tax season literally just started yesterday, and I'm sure most people are not that on it that they're already done, but maybe they are. But yeah, when you file your taxes and you see how much that refund is going to be, make a plan for it so you don't fritter it away. Because some people think of that I think as oh, free money, let me blow it on a vacation or something like that.
But I think it's the perfect opportunity to achieve some of those financial goals that you have and do it in shorter order.
You talked a moment ago about people more people apparently making only the minimum payments on their credit cards, and I suppose that's better than missing payments, but as you noted, it does lead to more interest costs and longer amount of time that you're spending money on paying down that debt. But what is the situation? What is the economic landscape out there that's leading people to do this? Is it just people wanting to keep cash in their pockets?
I mean, I think potentially for some people, I do hear from somehow to money listeners and they still say, well, I'm just not going to pick up my credit card debt because I want to keep some cash in sav and I think at a certain point that makes sense. There's something called what I think is like a bare minimum emergency fund, which is essentially roughly twenty five hundred bucks, and you don't want to go below that even to
pay off credit card debt. So make sure you're not going down to zero and saving, because what's going to happen then is you're just going to go into more credit card debts when the next thing pops up in your life, when the next emergency arises, So you don't want to go that low. But beyond that, the credit card debt is essentially one of the worst things you can have in your life, and you need to treat it as such. And I think it's really crucial to come up with a plan to pay down that debt.
There's a website called undebt dot it you dbt dot it, and it can help you come up with a plan to pay off that credit card debt, whether you want to go with like the debt snowball approach the debt avalanche approach, but especially as rates on credit cards have gone up fairly significantly over the past four or five years,
that debt looks even worse. And when we're talking about paying just the minimum payment, if you run the numbers, like the minimum payment on like a ten thousand dollars credit card balance means you're going to pay tens of thousands of dollars in interest and you're not going to
pay that debt off probably for like two decades. So when you think about it like that, when you put it in that in that terms, it's almost like indentured servitude to the credit card companies, and it fields like that debt is never going to go away, because it isn't. If you're paying the minimums, it's going to be there for way too long.
Joel, I've got about a minute left. I want to ask about what happened to the stock market yesterday. It was happening during wake up calls. We were watching this, and it's I'm not a financial guy, certainly not a market watcher, give the numbers as they tell me to do here, but what happened with this Chinese AI company and the plummeting of some American stocks.
So to me, this is fascinating, and in many ways it's actually good news. It's what seems like bad news on the surface could actually be really good news. And it's essentially and we don't know exactly how how much this AI company in China cost to just to get started, but it certainly seems like the Chinese have created an
incredible AI model for very little money. And so initially this might look bad for companies like Nvidia, who sell incredibly expensive chips, but this is also the way technology goes. That's something that's insanely expensive that sucks a ton of energy is actually getting far more efficient. And so think about the companies who are stocking up on Nvidia ships
and investing so much money into artificial intelligence. Well, they're going to have to spend a lot less money moving forward for potentially better artificial intelligence, and this is going to reduce the cost for consumers, it's going to reduce energy usage, and so I just think this is just another step in kind of the progression of artificial intelligence, and it kind of shocked the stock market a little bit yesterday.
Joel lars Guard is the founder and co host of How to Money. You can follow him at howto money dot com or listen on Sundays twelve to two. Is that right, Joel, that's right right here on KFI AM six forty. Joel, Thanks for getting up early and chatting with us this morning.
Happy to thanks for having me.
You got it.
And update is coming to Google Maps to reflect new names being given to geographic landmarks by President Trump.
The Gulf of Mexico will be changed to Gulf of America, and Alaska's De Nali will be renamed Mount McKinley. The name changes were announced by President Trump during his inaugural address. In posts on x Google says it will follow the government's lead by changing the names on its Maps app. Also on ex Google said they have a long standing practice of applying name changes when they've been updated in official government sources.
I'm Rory O'Neil.
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You've been listening to Wake Up Call with me Amy King. You can always hear Wakeup Call five to six am Monday through Friday on KFI AM six forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.