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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Stacey Hyden.

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I'm here with another episode
of Better Financial Health in 15

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Minutes or Less, and today I
would like to kind of talk about

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some stuff that's been in the
headlines, particularly around

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tariffs and the Department of
Governmental Efficiency, or DOGE

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.

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I think those two things have
been the drivers behind a lot of

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the market turmoil over the
last couple of weeks, because no

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one really knows what tariffs
are, prices to consumers, which

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is a little concerning because
prices are already high.

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The good news is today, that's
March 12th, the inflation

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numbers came out slightly lower
than expected.

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Now, by slight I mean slight
2.8% versus 2.9% on an

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annualized basis, but at least
they are going in the right

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direction.

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But you can be forgiven for not
knowing whether there's going

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to be 10% tariffs, 25% tariffs,
50% tariffs, because it does

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seem to be changing on a
day-to-day basis, which can make

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it really hard to plan.

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But I think the key thing I
would say is, if you have a need

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for a new car, might be not be
a bad idea to go ahead and start

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shopping the ones that are
already on the lots, because

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while there was a deferral of
those tariffs on automobiles,

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one thing is certain the supply
chain between, particularly,

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mexico, the US and Canada.

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It is very tightly wound.

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So even items that are quote
unquote made in the USA have

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parts in them that are sourced
from Mexico, other parts in

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South America, Canada or even
across the world.

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And that's what really makes
trying to figure out exactly

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what the impact these tariffs
are going to have come to be.

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Also, some companies have their
supply chain and they're

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arranging for their supply of
inputs to their manufacturing

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process.

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They arranged to buy those a
year ago, two years ago, and

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even if they wanted to bring
that back on shore, which many

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companies did after COVID, they
moved a lot more stuff here

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because we had all the trouble
with stuff getting to the US and

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through customs and through the
ports, through COVID.

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It still takes time to train
people, build out those

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production lines, build out
those production lines and get

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everything transferred.

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Even if they're going to just
transfer from one plant to

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another, that still takes a lot
of time, energy and coordination

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.

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So we just don't know.

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I think it is somewhat positive
that a lot of the harsher

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tariffs have been kind of walked
back.

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I think that they've been used
as more of a negotiating tactic,

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but we're just going to have to
stay tuned.

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That being said, I don't think
you should be making any major

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changes to your portfolio based
on this.

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You very well could go one way
and it turns out to be

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completely something else.

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So I think, as long as your
portfolio is globally

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diversified meaning it has US
stocks, both small and large, it

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has international stocks, it
has some safer things, whether

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that be money market or fixed
income I think you should just

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let it be because, for example,
this year, international stocks

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developed international.

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They're up significantly more
than US stocks.

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That has not been the case for
quite some time and that's

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probably not what people would
have expected if we were going

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to be charging these other
countries and their domiciled

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companies higher tariffs, but in
fact, that has been the case,

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and part of that, I think, is
just because international

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markets have not done as well
over the past several years as

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US markets.

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But it's something to keep an
eye on and it's the reason for

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spreading out your investments.

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The other is the Department of
Governmental Efficiency, and

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while the idea of a more
efficient government is hugely

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appealing to me, I'm a little
concerned, like a lot of people

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are, that it's being done with a
machete instead of a scalpel.

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My hope is that as they get
further into this, they slow

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down and look at the impacts,
because there are some things

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that have unintended
consequences.

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That's always been my personal
take with a lot of the things

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that government does is it
sounds great on the surface, but

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when you start peeling back the
layers and see that oh yes,

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this part of the Department of
Education also impacts this with

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food and nutrition for
underserved kids.

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Well, we have to be careful
with that and make sure that, if

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we're cutting here, that those
hungry kids are still going to

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get the food that they need to
eat, because they are not the

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bad guys here.

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They are our future and we need
to make sure they're there.

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So I don't know how all this is
going to play out.

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I'm watching it, I'm reading
the news, just like everybody

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else.

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I think if you are inclined to
reach out to your congressmen

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and senators, that's always a
good thing, because I do think

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that they listen, because,
rightly or wrongly, many of them

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are career politicians, and so
what they want to do is get

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reelected, and so if you let
your voice be known, oftentimes

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the squeaky wheel does get the
grease, and I think that we can

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accomplish a lot through that.

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But remember, in your personal
relationships, try to resist the

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urge to paint someone whose
views are different than yours

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is all bad or say that you can't
have a relationship with them,

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because that's how we continue
to get divided.

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We need to have these
conversations.

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We need to listen to our
friends, our co-workers, hear

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their opinions, maybe learn
something and then go from there

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, because my strongest belief is
that 80 plus percent of

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Americans are somewhere in the
middle.

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You may tilt a little right,
you may tilt a little left, but

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at the end of the day, you're
really more worried about taking

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care of your immediate needs
and your family and your close

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friends and your community.

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And so I think we need to
remember, as we go into the

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Lenten season, that really to
remember how we treat others and

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to be kind because we don't
know where people are coming

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from or how they arrived at
their views and have those

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conversations with and go into
them with an expectation that

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they're doing the best they can
with what they have and

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hopefully they'll extend you the
same grace and we'll all get

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through this craziness together.

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Thanks for tuning in.

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This has been another episode
of Better Financial Health in 15

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Minutes or Less.