"Change" |
GLENN: We have -- I'm not exactly sure why we have Gilroy Wedgecoff on the phone. Mr. Wedgecoff, are you there?
CALLER: Yes, I am. Thank you for having me on the program.
GLENN: Sure. You are with Aspartame and Associates?
CALLER: Yes, I am. Large investment firm. I'm sure you've probably had dealings with us in the past.
GLENN: No, I've never even heard of you. Mr. Wedgecoff, you are a financial advisor?
CALLER: I am, Glenn. As you know, a lot of people are having problems with their finances and people are thinking about -- you know the current economic climate, I'm getting a lot of calls these days.
GLENN: I bet you are, a lot of people saying what happened to my money, you know, get me out of the stock market.
CALLER: You know, Glenn, with all due respect, I do listen to your program and watch it on the television.
GLENN: Yes.
CALLER: And I've noticed you really are a "Glass is half empty" sort guy, would you say?
GLENN: Well, no, I'm a realist. The stock market has taken a beating and I think there's even more to come, but --
CALLER: No, but I'm talking about people calling me right now. This is the sort of thing I'm getting. I'm getting a lot of people calling of what am I going to do with my money, where do I put it, what's the best place to earn.
GLENN: Whose idea -- hang on just a second. Who's calling? Are you saying the average person now is calling investment advisors and saying where am I going to put their money? Because I think most of the average people are saying, you know, I don't have any money, what happened to my money.
CALLER: Come on.
GLENN: I'm trying to -- where is the humor in that?
CALLER: Well, you really are out of touch with the average person, Glenn, and I understand that. You know, you're in the media, this is your business to make things scary and you want to show the down side of everything.
GLENN: Where's the money, sir?
CALLER: Well, people are going to have $13 extra per week thanks to this stimulus plan. Have you not read the headlines today?
GLENN: I forgot about all that money, yeah, I forgot it.
CALLER: I am being flooded with calls right now, Glenn.
GLENN: Flooded with things?
CALLER: People are saying what do I do with all this money, where do I put it, I have so much now I don't know what to do with it. I feel like perhaps I should put an addition on the house to hold all the money for the family.
GLENN: Now, a lot of people would say $13 a week -- for instance, I didn't get the tax cut because I don't make under $75,000 a year, but for those people who are lucky enough to get that tax cut, let's say I did get it, I spent half of my tax stimulus and my tax break in the cab this morning.
CALLER: Well, I mean, a lot -- again I can't take person -- I haven't looked at your personal financial situation but let me tell you.
GLENN: Sure.
CALLER: I am cautioning people when they call today because they're saying, "I have $13. Should I buy another home. Should I get at least -- there's a lot of questions that people are asking. What I'm telling you, the rest of the year, I'll give you that. This is, you can pretty much do whatever you want the rest of the year, but --
GLENN: Okay, you're breaking up just a little bit, Mr. Whatever your --
CALLER: At the end of the year, though.
GLENN: Yeah.
CALLER: It will go down from $13 to $8. So --
GLENN: So you are saying don't get into like one of those ARMs or those mortgages because you are going to be -- you're not going to have $13 forever?
CALLER: Right, and cut down. Maybe only get one vacation house. You know, Glenn, it's very interesting, and this system overall is really helping investors. For example, let's say you want to invest in GE because you're a big fan of Keith Olbermann, one of your colleagues.
GLENN: Sure.
CALLER: You know, and you're just a huge fan and you're sure he's going to rocket that company to success. So what you -- look back a couple of years.
GLENN: Uh-huh.
CALLER: You would have needed to get, you know, $60 to buy a share of GE, one share.
GLENN: Sure, one share of GE, $60.
CALLER: Now if you factor in the entire -- it would take a month even with this huge tax rebate that Barack Obama gave. If you just now, now you've gone from a month not even being able to afford a share to now you can get a share per week all because of these fabulous financial policies that we're having.
GLENN: Holy cow.
CALLER: How about Citigroup.
GLENN: Yeah, Citigroup.
CALLER: You used to have to work a whole month just for a share, now you can get 13 shares in that same month. Barack Obama, you can replace all the shares that you may have lost very quickly with this tax cut.
GLENN: So now, what you're trying to say is now is the time to buy because you can buy 13 shares of Citigroup just with your tax break, just with your tax break because this is such a good investing atmosphere that we've created.
CALLER: Look, I'm not saying go crazy here. The important part is to (inaudible). Don't put all $13 in one place. You don't want to put --
GLENN: You don't want to buy 13 shares of Citigroup today with that. What would you -- how would you diversify?
CALLER: I would want to, personally I would want to buy a share of Merrill, a share of Lehman, a share of Bank of America. You want to spread this around to all the companies --
GLENN: What do you think about, what would you think if I bought seven shares of Citigroup, I bought Lehman, Merrill.
CALLER: Now when you say Lehman and Merrill, you mean the entire company, right?
GLENN: Yeah, the entire company.