Getting that end-of-year financial check up?

With our eyes on the holidays and lots of Ravens football to watch, Leonard Raskin reminds you to consider some quiet time this month to get settled with any late 2024 financial benefits or good decisions you can make with investments as 2025 looms.

Nestor Aparicio and Leonard Raskin discuss the upcoming holidays, the Maryland crab cake tour, and the Ravens’ football season. Leonard believes the Ravens could win any game if they play well but criticizes their tendency to self-sabotage. They discuss the NFL spreads, including the Ravens’ 15-point lead against the Giants. Leonard advises on year-end financial planning, emphasizing the importance of maximizing 401(k) contributions, converting IRAs to Roth IRAs, and ensuring beneficiary designations are up to date. They also touch on Juan Soto’s record-breaking contract with the Mets and the Orioles’ need for pitching.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Maryland crab cake tour, Ravens chances, NFL football, Kansas City, college football, Clemson win, Alabama controversy, Rose Bowl, year-end planning, 401(k) max, Roth IRA, medical deductions, qualified charitable distribution, Juan Soto, Mets signing

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Leonard Raskin

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 towns in Baltimore and Baltimore positive. It is a positively one week closer to the holidays and to the end of the year, and to our Maryland crab cake tour madness. All of it brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery. I have Raven scratch offs to give away, but we’re going to give away some other stuff next week. I’m next week. Imma have to get some fresh ones from Roz we’re going to be a fates on Wednesday of this week with a whole bunch of old friends. And then next week, really ramping it up, we’re going to be Adam me cheese of Little Italy on Tuesday. I’m over booked for that. All these baseball people, everybody knows a good meatball and a good potty Rotunda when they find one. On Wednesday, we will be at Costas, where I will be treated royally with crab Imperial, and we’re doing a show in the bar for the very first time. It’s a bar. It’s Costas right underneath of the whiskey line sign, and probably right underneath the racetracks. And that’ll be next Wednesday, and we’re open to gather a whole bunch of friends, including some Rock and Roll Hall of Famers at Dundalk. It cost us next Wednesday, because it’s not not Christmas without our friends at Costas. This guy here is took the weekend off from being out in the cold in the club level and running around, and he’s sorting out holiday issues as well. He is our friend, Leonard Raskin at Raskin global. I’m wearing the shirt, um, you know, I sat and watched football all day, and Luke and I have gone back and forth about, can the Ravens beat this team? Can the Ravens beat that team? The bills didn’t look so good out in LA and all that stuff. It was nice. Just have a weekend off. Don’t you agree? I mean, we watch a lot of football. We’re about to ramp up Christmas night. We get Saturday night with the Steelers next week. It’s about to get crazy. So a little bit of an exhale and watch everybody else. You know, there’s a team, you know,

Leonard Raskin  01:49

I was good weekend for some NFL football. I agree. Look, I think the Ravens could beat any team in the tournament if they play Raven football, if they play penalty turnover. We forgot who we are. Football, they’ll lose like they have, they’ll beat themselves. That’s the problem. They they show up and they do stupid things, and they beat themselves and they lose games. But if they play good football, as they’ve shown many times already this year, there’s nobody that can beat them. It’s, it’s, I think they lost one game. My opinion, Kansas City, they they lost. They obviously beat themselves there. But Kansas City’s great team finds a way to win every darn game. They just on their third, by the way, just just enough, and he joined. He joined through the game winner on Sunday night. Good for him. He’s, I think he’s either a rocket scientist or something. The guy’s got some, you know, some crazy job that he did before he was a kicker, or while he was a kicker, anyway, they know how to win. And they win the ravens, for some reason, they just, they just know how to lose. And they lose games they beat themselves too many times with stupid plays and dumb mistakes. And if they play their game, there’s nobody out there they can’t beat, except themselves. So I want I know you’re

Nestor Aparicio  03:08

not a gambling guy, but have you seen the spread on the game this week? I figure you probably haven’t. Right against the Giants, giant at the Giants Sunday, one o’clock.

Leonard Raskin  03:18

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What’s it? 1214?

Nestor Aparicio  03:20

I thought it would be 12 or 13. Yep, 1515,

Leonard Raskin  03:26

well, I know one thing. The buckeyes were 23 point favorites against Michigan and lost so the line nothing college football this past Wow. What a weekend for college football, Clemson comes out of nowhere to win the ACC beats SMU on again, a a crazy if you happen to catch that, if you didn’t, my goodness, they were up big fourth quarter. Lost the entire lead with 15 seconds, 20 seconds to go the kickoff.

Nestor Aparicio  04:03

Clemson through Brian COVID Return ran

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Leonard Raskin  04:08

to the 41 play to the 45 midfield, basically, and a freshman kicker banged a 56 yard field goal with no time on the clock to win the game. Utterly insane through the whole

Nestor Aparicio  04:24

thing. Are you college football guys? All of my friends, you’re Ohio State. I have a Michigan contingent, buddies. I have Alabama contingents. I have all the SEC

Leonard Raskin  04:34

Well, the alabamas are not happy today. They’re out of the 12 team playoff. They missed all

Nestor Aparicio  04:39

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three of my cousins went to Alabama. They all messed this with you. Yeah, they missed

Leonard Raskin  04:43

it. So the the buckeyes will play home on this is going to be a good day, hopefully, the the 21st ravens, Steelers at 430, Buckeyes, Tennessee Volunteers at eight. O’clock, that’d be a nice game in the shoe. You

Nestor Aparicio  05:04

ever been in Knoxville?

Leonard Raskin  05:05

I have not, I have not been to Knoxville. I went to,

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Nestor Aparicio  05:09

I went to Knoxville in 1998 I was with Harvey Myers, I think Tom Mattson was with us as well. And we, we, we flew into Nashville for a Ravens game, yeah, but Tennessee was playing night before, and I thought it was closer than you had the RAM McNally out back. No, it’s not that close. No, it’s a good three. You know, it’s a ride to the beach. It’s a ride to the beach and it’s in the woods. Dude driving to eastern Tennessee. It was a wet, cold, great night, great fun. We bought the cream sickle rain rain gear, and we went up to the roof, 110,000 Kneeland stadium, just for the whole deal, crazy. We saw the great, great Jamal Lewis. There you go football at Nestor team. Martin was the quarterback, right? That’s it, Georgia Bulldogs. So, I mean, I’ve been there one time in my life, but college football, when you hey, look crazy. I don’t tell that story often. It’s 26 years ago. There you go. And I saw the picture of Harvey and I in the raincoats with the girls, because we have always girls with Harvey night, of course, in the late 90s, and we had these pictures out in this rainy, awful night. But it makes a memory. If you, if you go to a college football game like that. It makes a memory,

Leonard Raskin  06:22

absolutely. I mean, they’re, they’re, they’re crazy. College football is, is, is religion, it’s, it’s everything. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  06:31

I told you about the time I went to Tuscaloosa, right? Not sure. Tuscaloosa, I saw UCLA with Deshaun Foster, okay, play at at Alabama, yep, I landed at the airport in Birmingham. It was a Labor Day weekend. It was a weekend that I walked out of a no hitter that weekend in San Diego. I also sat with Tony Gwynn for an hour and a half. And you can get into the interview if you want. But I landed in the Birmingham, Alabama airport, and everybody was blonde and blue eyed, and all wearing blue and gold. And they were all, like, getting off the airplane. They had all their UCLA, okay, cheerleaders from the UCLA. So we went out and, like, I thought, well, UCLA has to be well, rep, no no, when you walk into, you know, Alabama, but man, I was in there. I was with Phil savage before he was their team broadcaster. He had just gotten his Super Bowl ring. So that’ll tell you, september 2001 Yep, exactly when it was and he had his little ring in his bag, and I’m up in the press box with him, and I met a girl that day’s a long story, but so that day I’m in there and Bear Bryant, and they had this little, little televisions. Then they didn’t have, like they hadn’t expanded the tower and bear, the bear Bryant Museum, I was told to go down there, touch the houndstooth coat, a coat. Do all of the to get the barbecue that Keith Jackson talked about all that, right? Dreamland. Dreamland barbecue. They sopped the bread up. But they they serve you white like Wonder Bread. You saw the sauce up with it. So I’m up in the press box, and Bear Bryant places on fire. They’re going to beat UCLA right before saving any of that right, of course. And Bear Bryant comes on the little screen, they crank it up, and he says, I ain’t never been nothing but a winner. And I’m like, Man, amazing. So, I mean, I’ve walked through the grove in Mississippi, you know, I haven’t done a lot of like Notre Dame or the big house. Now, you have, you been to some of those with your kid, right? I’ve,

Leonard Raskin  08:34

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I’ve been to a few, not, not a lot of college places.

Nestor Aparicio  08:39

See my wife, after going all these NFL games and even getting thrown out and everything, my wife, if I said to her, we’re going to do a college football tour, yeah, we’re going to begin in Baton Rouge, yeah, we’re going to go to Texas A and M, she’d be all into it. My wife,

Leonard Raskin  08:53

I’m all in. I love it. I love it, the atmosphere. And I could go, I have friends, colleagues, at every one of these places I could go to, every one of these stadiums if I wanted to, I just just don’t have, haven’t had the energy and desire to go just see a college game.

Nestor Aparicio  09:09

But I’m kind of amazed I never went to Notre Dame, the like. I never did that the

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Leonard Raskin  09:15

buckeyes, if they beat Tennessee on the 21st go forward to play the ducks in the Rose Bowl. Now, Oregon’s undefeated number one team in the country, and they lost to him by a point. And so it’ll it’ll be interesting if they beat Tennessee to see if they can pull a revenge game. That’d be interesting. I have not been to the Rose Bowl. Haven’t been out there to the to the what is it? The Help me. Help me. Pasadena, yeah, the Pasadena, right, the parade, and then the big game at the parade always has good weather. You gotta absolutely, absolutely New Year’s Day. New Year’s Day is, is the Rose Bowl, and tickets don’t look too crazy expensive out there. In. La, so

Nestor Aparicio  10:01

you taking it through?

Leonard Raskin  10:02

I don’t know. It’s up to the it’s up to the family. It’s up to the boy. The boy’s supposed to go back to Ireland before New Year’s, and so he’d have to, we’d have to change the return trip and do some finagling around the world and make things happen. We’ll, we’ll see. Who knows? Well,

Nestor Aparicio  10:17

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listen, before I get back to sports and the orals, men is signing. And so

Leonard Raskin  10:21

yes, they did. And how about the Mets assigning? Yeah, before it’s

Nestor Aparicio  10:24

end of the year, yes, couple of weeks. But it’s not like, dude, next week the world shuts down. Christmas, yes, middle we’re coming up. Ravens are playing like, and then it’s New Year’s, and everything goes to hell. And then the new year begins. Like, a Wednesday, nobody’s going to want to work, right, right? Like, we’re getting into that period where, like, you get a little bit of downtime you’re around, maybe you don’t like your relatives as much as I like mine, and you like yours. There you go, um, and you’re thinking about things right? Like, it’s my end of the year. And I don’t want to use a Mike Pence term from your side of the political fence, but the lodestar, you know, sort of like, where am I going? What am I going Yeah, strategy. I’ve talked a lot of serious things. I had Karen Fauci on two weeks ago, taught my leadership. I also had, last week Stacy Munsell came onto my networking leadership. But just at the end of the year, I guess we all try to get a little clear headed about things,

Leonard Raskin  11:14

even though give me a lot of make an assessment, take a take a look at where you are.

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Nestor Aparicio  11:18

The record you you and me and my wife, we’re all trying to get together at the end of the year. Where are we? You know, we

Leonard Raskin  11:23

have an assessment. Wow, yeah, see where things are exactly right. You’re doing that with clients every day, right? Absolutely, absolutely, you know, we we do the big Raskin global party bash. We had the crab feast in October. We sent out email shortly after that, and said, Hey, if you weren’t there, we missed you. And if you’d like to get on the calendar, you should do it now, because the year end fills up really fast. And just take, take a a sit down, look at where you are, make an assessment, or the things I need to do before year end. Could it be that I’m supposed to maximize my 401, K, I haven’t done should it? Could it be that I’ve gotta convert my IRA to a Roth IRA that I can only do before year end? Is it I’ve got some medical things going on, and from a tax deduction standpoint, if I bunch my medical deductions in the calendar year and they exceed a threshold of adjusted gross income, I can take a write off or just medical I’ve met my deductible and my co pay. And if I got some things I gotta get done before year end, the health insurance will pay for it. But if I wait till the calendar flips January 1, I gotta meet my deductible and co pay again, and I’d have to pay for those things out of pocket, whatever that is, Have I used my FSA flex spending account properly? It’s a use it or lose it deal. If I don’t spend what I need on there, and I put money away in the flex account and I don’t spend it before year end, I forfeit the money. Make sure you’ve used up the flex spending account properly. If you’re older, we’re talking now to our our listeners, viewers, over 70 and a half, over 73 have I taken my required minimum distribution out of my IRA if you don’t take what’s required? Now, there’s some new laws which make it a little easier in the past if you didn’t take what you had to take required out of your IRA. There was a 55 zero. Can you believe it? Nestor, a 50% excise tax. The government charged you a penalty, 50% for not taking what you should now, why is that? Because they why? Because they want their tax money. See, the IRA, you’ve grown it your whole life with no tax. You put it in pre tax. Your 401, K, your IRA, you’ve grown it all these years. The government didn’t get their money. Now, 70 and a half, 73 depending upon your birth date, you have to take a certain amount out, and they want their taxes. If you don’t take it out, there’s a 50% surcharge, penalty, excise tax for not taking it. So you gotta take it. Now, they passed new law, secure act, and after these new laws passed the last few years, now the penalty is only 25% and if you do it in a certain timely fashion, it’s 10% but why give the government a tip? You don’t need to tip the government. You need to pay what you’re required, no more than that. So take your required, minimum distribution. If you’re over 70 and a half, you can do what’s called a qualified charitable distribution. That is, instead of giving money to charity after your take your withdrawal, you give part of your IRA withdrawal directly to charity accounts towards your required minimum distribution. If you take it out in the right order, and you do a great thing for charity because they’re not taxed on the money, you don’t get a deduction. But with the new standard deduction amounts, not a lot of people itemize anymore. So the qualified charitable deduction gives you a great way to take money out of your IRA, send it to charity that you care about. Do great things for charity, give to the causes you care about. Don’t just give money to the government and meet your required minimum distributions, but you got to do all this before year end, before 1231 so lots of little tax tidbits. If you’re in business, you gotta make sure that you do the right things, meet with your accountant, your controller, make sure you close your books properly. Are there, is there any equipment you need to buy before year end that you would be able to write off this year? That if you wait till January, you can’t write off till the end of next year. Automobile from a business standpoint, yeah. So if you’re if you’re buying heavy trucks, heavy equipment, if it weighs more than 6000 pounds, Gross Vehicle weights more than 6000 pounds, you can depreciate right off almost the full purchase price of a pickup, an SUV, something a van, vehicles used for business, if you’re in business, a great deduction if you’re in the market for a new SUV is, is the way to do that? It can be absolutely 6000 pounds, is the issue. Yes, it is. So if you go on your Google machine and you ask it about vehicles, this is very specific common search term, because everybody knows 6000 pounds. So so the manufacturers know they gotta make those SUVs, light trucks, heavy trucks more than 6000 pounds. There are some out there that are 6010 I don’t know how the manufacturer did that. Probably put some weights in the trunk, but and if you do that, you get significant write off as a business for that vehicle in the calendar year that you and you have to put that vehicle in service. You can’t just buy it. You gotta buy it and get it on the road. So you can buy it. Get it on the road on December 30, 31st that’s fine, but you gotta buy it, take delivery, get it on the road, if you do that big deductions, lots of things you can do to save tax. These are just the low hanging fruit, the normal everyday things people think about. There are lots of other tax saving strategies. So again, we don’t believe in tipping the IRS. We want to give them what’s appropriate. We want to give them what they’re due. But there’s no reason legally to give them more. And if there’s opportunities in the tax code to take advantage of things, and you’re in the business to do them, then do them. Talk to your CPA, talk to your financial advisor. Give us a shout out at Raskin global info. At Raskin global.com me l raskin@raskinglobal.com let’s make sure your year end is efficient. A good assessment, and you’re ready to go into 2025, go figure. 2025, last but not least. We always say this year end, beginning of the year, middle of the year, anytime of the year. Check your beneficiary designations. I can’t tell you the number of times your company, for instance, changes your 401, K. They go from fidelity to Vanguard, Vanguard to empower, empower, to John Hancock, whoever the financial institution is that your 401 k is with. They change systems. And you look on your system, and you go in there and it says no beneficiary on file. You say, Well, no, I had a beneficiary. It’s my wife, my husband, my kids. No, if it says no beneficiary on file, they lost it. You need to make sure they’re up to date, current, that the beneficiaries are what you want, so the money goes to who you want. When you pass properly, it’s

Nestor Aparicio  18:42

kind of frightening. You’d say they would lose something like they do. They that’s what, that’s what I’m learning. You’re telling me

Leonard Raskin  18:49

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they absolutely do. Companies shift, and when you shift, custodians, things get lost. To give you another simple example, there’s a company. Everybody’s probably heard of this company, AmeriTrade. TD, AmeriTrade, big financial institution, uh, merged, merged with another big company called Charles Schwab. Everybody’s heard of them. Now, to me, a merger is when at the end of the day we share the name. A takeover is when your name disappears. So AmeriTrade is going away. Schwab is the company, and if you had an IRA, or a Roth IRA at TD Ameritrade, and it shifted to Schwab, they have to combine millions and millions of computer records for these accounts. One out of 10, I don’t know the number, every now and then we we have a client, their account shifted. We take a look. Whenever we do a review, make sure the beneficiaries are right. And sure enough, Schwab says no beneficiary on file. We handle the account. We know there’s a beneficiary. There was one at TD, there is not one at Schwab. Got to go in. Got to fix it. Got to check it. Got to make sure it’s right. Modern life in America with mergers and take that’s right and and computers and sometimes systems don’t talk to each other. Nine out of 10 times it’s going to be right. If you’re the one out of 10 that it’s wrong, it’s bad news if something happens. So check them. This is the time of year. Take an assessment. Know where you are, know what you’re doing, whether it’s year end for all these kind of things, or shortly after that, beginning a year you do it to make sure you’re going into 25 best ready to go for the way you want to go.

Nestor Aparicio  20:31

Lena Raskin is here. He is Raskin global. I’m wearing the shirt he is on the front to Baltimore. Positive. You can find him at Raskin global com, obviously, right here locally in the area to meet with you. I have my big meeting with Leonard this week to make sure I got my stuff together. By the way, college bowls begin on the 20th, which is the Friday night. Yes, Notre Dame, yes. Saturday is Emma SMU and Penn State at noon. Clemson Texas at four, Tennessee, Ohio State at eight. So the Clemson Texas game goes on right against the Ravens game, right? Yes,

Leonard Raskin  21:04

yes. So if you’re a college fan and not a raven Steeler fan, you’ll be unusual, right?

Nestor Aparicio  21:10

It’s like, really, yeah, this

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Leonard Raskin  21:11

is the first, oh, this is the first year of the 12 team playoff. No, but I’m saying stepping on Yeah. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  21:18

they don’t have a choice ravens game. But yeah, right.

Leonard Raskin  21:20

They gotta have a choice. I gotta make money to pay the players. All about the Benjamins, the players got to get paid. You know, what’s his name? Soto. Soto one. Soto one, $765 million Nestor, that’s it’s a pretty good haul,

Nestor Aparicio  21:38

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by the way. I know it doesn’t speak to your liberal principles. But did you watch a church lady the other night? Or no, did you did not. I did. No, no. There was a whole scene where the church, you know? Church lady, yeah, Juan Soto came onto the set. Oh, I did not do the stick, right? Not the real one. Soto, right? Because sometimes he is the real one. Soto, right, right. No, I’m and the punch line was that he does a lot for charity. He might sign with the Mets. Oh, well, warning, I’m having a couple ROFO also, you know. And I’m like, literally spit out my coffee. I’m like, that’s funny. Like, it was a really good bit. If you don’t have it, right? I haven’t, I

Leonard Raskin  22:15

will see that. I will check that out. So, like, and then sure enough, and

Nestor Aparicio  22:20

that so. So, sure enough, he like, I’m watching Sunday night football. I looked at him like it’s out with the Mets. To Luke was, you know, losers, lose, losers. Sign with the Mets, winner, sign with the Yankees. Right? At least that’s been the story of 55 that’s right, watching it, right? That’s right. Luke said, if the Met, the Mets could lure him, and you’ll like this, because you appreciate modern business. And, yeah, sure, all of that, Luke said to you know, if I got Juan Soto in the room, I’d say Yankees. They already got Babe Ruth, they’ve got all the Mickey man, all these heroes. You’ll just be another guy over there. That’s right here. We got Tom Seaver and like Darryl Strawberry and rusty Staub, like David Wright, like you could be Mr. Met. I mean, you like, you went three World Series out here.

Leonard Raskin  23:08

You’re somebody here, right? Yeah, so the history of the franchise, but

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Nestor Aparicio  23:13

what, what do you make of it when first off, you’re a money guy, I want you to be greedy on behalf of my behalf, for my money, most money, that’s right, where we’re America, right? But there is a point where you’re like, it’s not anywhere you want to sign, right? You really want to be a met. Was it your dream to be a met? You know?

Leonard Raskin  23:32

I think, I think at this point, if I had to guess, and what the heck do I know? I’d have to guess, he loves New York, right? Because why else York is great food, right? Why else would you subject yourself to the second, third, highest state income tax in the country? Oh, it’s a lot of money. All right, it’s a lot of money coming off the top. Sign with the Marlins. That’s what we sign with the Marlins. Sign with the rays, sign with the Astros, sign with the Rangers, the Marlins, you know, sign with the Rangers. The Astros. Sign where there’s no state income. Mariners stay with California. What could he do for the mariners? My goodness, you know, so $765 million I read that the Yankees offered him 760 for one year less. And he took 765 No, sorry, one the Yankees wanted him. 761 year longer, 16 years. 760 he went to the Mets for 765 15, and

Nestor Aparicio  24:39

at that point you’re like, so if I’ll get more endorsement money, if I go to the Yankees or like that, like, who cares?

Leonard Raskin  24:46

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You think the bottom line is, look the the bottom line was, if, if it’s me, can with my conjecture, he wanted to be the highest paid player currently ever. He beat Shohei by $5 million okay, so he’s now the. Highest Paid look, the other thing,

Nestor Aparicio  25:01

but are you realize, are you right? You know, happy just to hit a ball.

Leonard Raskin  25:06

Who cares? Okay, the thing that, the thing that’s amazing,

Nestor Aparicio  25:11

they only win, right? But

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Leonard Raskin  25:12

how old? He’s young,

Nestor Aparicio  25:14

he’s he’s already won,

Leonard Raskin  25:16

I know. And he’s young. He was Red Sox, right?

Nestor Aparicio  25:22

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Well, no, he’s nationals. He was nationals, I’m sorry not, not, right? National Red Sox, but no, he

Leonard Raskin  25:29

was nationals, padres, padres, Yankees. Yeah, he’s

Nestor Aparicio  25:33

tasted it all. It’s

Leonard Raskin  25:34

a pretty good run. And he’s not, he’s what, 2526

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Nestor Aparicio  25:38

Hey, dude, maybe you know what? Maybe he likes hitting the ball in the ballpark in Queens. Maybe that’s right neighborhood around there. Appear like him in some way, man, you know, I really and whatever it is, I love it. I find it to be curious. And here’s the other part of it, and I’ll leave you with this because you’re Mr. Money Bags guy and Raskin global and advising people like Mr. Rubenstein, first guy, you know what, what to how to spend their money, yep. From an investment standpoint, yes. I mean this from my Yes, yes. It feels like in baseball, as fans of baseball, we sit here with Lamar and we’re like, it’s not like there was any point we said we can’t afford Lamar, no, or we can’t have him as a player, right? Right? Hockey, same thing with the vet skin. It was like, it’s red. She’s gonna go sign with the Rangers, or the Red Wings, or whatever, or the Canadian teams can’t compete in the NHL. There is a problem with that. Yes, for me, with baseball and money, if the Orioles, if this were a level playing field, you want the best players? Yes, right? Yes, when the best teams were competing for him at that level, it speaks to what his real value is, right? That’s right, America, right? That his value is what a willing buyer is willing to pay. There it is okay. And they did the they crunch the numbers and say, 760 right? Yep. What sport or the Orioles playing? Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, I’m just if they

Leonard Raskin  27:01

lose, if they lose Santander, now to the Yankees, huh? Because Soto’s gone, how much are the Yankees going to pay him? Well, what

Nestor Aparicio  27:10

they did was they replaced the right handed bat for Santander. I said to Luke, Santander, Luke. Luke said something, there might get 100 million Right. Like, right. Like, this was a $50 million signing for a guy who’s been a little injured, good defense, right? Was a Red Sox gonna play left field. They’re moving the fence in, they’re moving the fence out. They’re moving the fence in, right for the fence out, right like so to me, it’s the pitching. And I said to Luke, if they have to go play tomorrow, they stink. I mean, not stink, but they can’t win the World Series. They

Leonard Raskin  27:38

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don’t need the pitchers, the horses on the hill. The

Nestor Aparicio  27:40

next thing for me is, what the pitching costs, and are you a real player? You real by not that they have to buy Corbin burns, but they have to show me on opening day that they’re not. Why

Leonard Raskin  27:50

wouldn’t they hoping that? Why wouldn’t they? If, and I haven’t heard any of this, maybe you have. Is there anything where he has said he doesn’t want to come back?

Nestor Aparicio  27:59

Who? Santander, no, burns. Burns. No, no. So no, he’s trying to get paid,

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Leonard Raskin  28:07

right? So why don’t they pay him? It’s what they need. You got burns and pay him. What? What are you? What he’s with the market worth? Okay, I don’t know what is, what’s market talking for him?

Nestor Aparicio  28:19

Um, six years, a buck and a quarter, it’s nothing.

Leonard Raskin  28:22

It’s nothing. They got to do it if they want to win. That’s what they have to do. They need pitching. That’s first and foremost. And look for me, laugh me say more like a buck and a half, but whatever. Okay, Rubenstein’s a billionaire. He’s got blue bird billionaire. I

Nestor Aparicio  28:38

8

mean, this is the game, this you gotta pay. You’re in, and you want the PR, and it’s a philanthropy, and you want to win, and it’s this you gotta win. Like, are you step up? Are you? Is this serious? Or, you know, I’m, I’m judging. We all, we

Leonard Raskin  28:52

all ask questions that they’re not. We all have, right? I get it. We all have cost of doing

Nestor Aparicio  28:56

they would be out at the Mount Washington pediatric hospital and golf tournaments, and they’d have been me at Roose 50 the other night, and they would be answering questions trying to sell me tickets. I don’t know what they’re doing. I more on my LinkedIn thing looking to hire people than they do to try to, like, reach the

Leonard Raskin  29:14

it’s time, well, it’s time to step up. Look. I think we all knew they weren’t going to find one Soto in the outfield. That was not practical, but 100 and a half.

8

Nestor Aparicio  29:22

But that’s my why. Why? Well, you

Leonard Raskin  29:26

saw who they picked. They grabbed a guy that they believe is reasonable at a reasonable price. They could keep Santander if they wanted. I don’t know that they will. I think he’ll go to the Yankees. But you gotta keep pitching. We know that you got to get pitching. So they got young kids. The young kids play are playing good ball. We had, what a minute away from the Rookie of the Year? How much did he miss it by a vote or two? I mean, you got a good, good outfield. You got the players Well,

Nestor Aparicio  29:56

I mean, you’re expecting holiday to come on. You’re expecting rushman to be right. You’re. Back to westburg to have a full season that’s expecting Henderson to build on being a 23 year old phenom. That’s right, and you’re expecting rushman. But there are these. Are all also all, not all. I think Westbrook’s fine. I think Henderson, yeah, but there were big question marks about holiday big, huge question marks about Richmond, which is why they gave $8 million to a backup catcher this weekend, and Gary Sanchez, the Adley rutschman of the Yankees, yeah, eight years ago, I remember that. You know, it’s okay now he’s 32 and, you know,

Leonard Raskin  30:28

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play a few games. Yeah, you play some games. Give him some break. I like it. They like right handed bat as well, and they move in the fence back. But we want pitching. We need pitching bottom line and and burns. If he hasn’t said he doesn’t want to pitch here, which, I don’t know why he would. He had a great season. I think you got, you got to find a way to make him a player. You got to find a way to keep him here,

Nestor Aparicio  30:50

to show that you’re willing to pay off to the Marlins to save money on taxes. Well, you know, look,

Leonard Raskin  30:55

I’m all about saving taxes. But you know what? Here’s the bottom line, Maryland, New York, California, 810, 13. You know 14% income tax. The tax you really have to avoid is 40% at the federal level, and there’s no way to do that because you ain’t playing in Cuba. So he’ll find great ways to avoid the federal tax, and then the state just comes along as an afterthought.

Nestor Aparicio  31:23

That’s all seven, $60 million he he’ll do okay in New York.

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Leonard Raskin  31:27

He’ll net. All right.

Nestor Aparicio  31:28

If you net, hey, already knew he was gonna have to spend 20 million on a penthouse there. So

Leonard Raskin  31:33

there you go. If you well, doesn’t he have one? It’s probably, does he live now in New York?

Nestor Aparicio  31:37

8

20 million is probably just like it. You know? That’s a 12, a 10, that’s a tent outside the stadium. That’s Oscar Madison’s place, right, right? He

Leonard Raskin  31:45

needs a real a real place.

Nestor Aparicio  31:47

He needs to teach through better feeling. Sunger, at

Leonard Raskin  31:49

765, he’ll be able to find something, I’m sure letter

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Nestor Aparicio  31:53

Raskin can be found in Raskin global. We will continue these conversations as we spend Mr. Rubenstein’s money, absolutely. And we make the holidays happen. A lot of football ahead 15 point favor against the Giants this week, and then bang, bang. We get back after it with Pittsburgh, and then it’s Christmas and it’s Houston and onward and upward. Watch a lot of football around here, waiting on the baseball thing, and also doing a lot of crab cakes. Maryland crab cake tour is back out on the road this week. We are fadelies added Lexington market guy. I got so many guests coming to amichies next Tuesday, I have to stack them up for the meatballs over there in the Pawnee rotundo. And then on Wednesday, we’re going to be a Costas over in Dundalk, in my homeland. I’m hoping to get my son over for a chicken keto with the three anti Fauci family. I’m, you know, I had to learn how to say soropoulos Last week, when I had Nick, ceropolis Nick, I always called him nick the Greek. I didn’t know how to pronounce. I called it Siri apples. I messed it all up, or SIG was laughing at me. Great show at Cocos last week, we had great, great times out eating the crab cakes with Dan Rodricks at gertrudes and my cousin John shields. Make sure you go see Dan’s show this week. It’s phenomenal. And it’s over at the at the BMA. So we’re getting the show back out. We’re going to be up in Bel Air at libs grill on January 7 to kick off the new year. Big thanks to our friends at ravens roost 50, who invited me back after 25 years. They made me cry. I guess I was a founding member. They kept saying to me, without you, there’s no roost. And I’m like, you guys, look like you’re doing okay. Over 25 years, there you go. Found the roost there. We used to bring the tree in with Jimmy Bullington. And there was some some cheers, and there was Leonard. This is, I don’t know, you live on the on the north side of town. You’re from the west side. I’m from the DP side. Yeah, I saw some ish I never seen before. They had cupcakes, and right on the cupcakes, it said that they were infused with, like, some purple pucker stuff. And I’m like, What’s infused? And she’s like, I infused it after I bake it into the cupcake. These cupcakes were and my wife got half Croco. She was out with

Leonard Raskin  33:58

a needle. They put a needle with the liquor in it. Yeah, crazy.

Nestor Aparicio  34:02

Is that a Carney Park? Phil,

Leonard Raskin  34:03

8

I don’t know anything about it. I know years ago, years ago, I went to the, we’ll wrap with this. I went to the aquarium. Okay, for, for the big, big they used to have a thing called Splash. It was restaurants come out. I think they may still do it. Restaurants come out. Have all their wares, and, oh, I can’t think of the name of the place. It’s, it’s Henry’s not Henry’s, what was, whatever it was in green spring station, what was the harvest? Harvey’s, I see you got Henry’s, Harvey’s

Nestor Aparicio  34:34

young, old time.

Leonard Raskin  34:37

So, so dessert in the dessert area, Harvey’s had these, man, they were as big as your fist. These giant strawberries,

Nestor Aparicio  34:44

okay

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Leonard Raskin  34:46

with the chocolate, but they would infuse them. It’s made me thought into the strawberries tipped into chocolate. There you go. Oh. Oh, there’s nothing better than that. There was a line. There was a line of 30 people, 30 people in my my I went with a couple friends. Couples went. I stayed at the front of the line nest and just kept eating Cathy’s, like, Dude, you gotta get back in line.

35:16

I’m not getting back

Leonard Raskin  35:17

in line. I’m staying right here. It was a hypodermic needle. They were jacking those strawberries, grandma, yay, dipped in the hot white chocolate to die for.

Nestor Aparicio  35:27

8

Forget about to shy for. There you go. As Guy Fieri would say, Leonard Raskin is, is getting me moving here, dude, we we had so much fun talking food. I had Dara bungen on. She put a recipe from J Moore. She put a recipe up for corn pudding right before There you go. My wife made it so I invite, never met her. I mean, I follow her work, and I had her out. Did it? Did an hour of like, conversation about food and Pimlico hotel. And

Leonard Raskin  35:54

there’s some that’s some good dinner right there.

Nestor Aparicio  35:56

If you haven’t had the coconut shrimp over Coco’s, please come and participate. I then did an hour on coffee with Thomas Rhodes from Zeke’s coffee I’ll pass talking about, you’re not a coffee guy, not

Leonard Raskin  36:08

a coffee guy.

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Nestor Aparicio  36:09

Well, I mean, it’s delicious. I

Leonard Raskin  36:11

Well, if you like it. Sometimes, sometimes Jeremy Sue’s got too much coffee for me.

Nestor Aparicio  36:18

Come on, man,

Leonard Raskin  36:19

8

I don’t I don’t do coffee. I don’t do coffee, dude, I’m not a coffee dude, not a coffee guy,

36:24

alright, alright,

Leonard Raskin  36:26

hot

Nestor Aparicio  36:28

chocolate because I’m that’s a crab soup tour. Okay, next summer to I’m gonna do 27 crab soups. I’m

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Leonard Raskin  36:36

all for it. 27

Nestor Aparicio  36:37

I’m loving, I’m loving. I’m trying to figure out, like, between cream of crab and what? Some creative ways people do it. Do it all. Yeah, I’m eating my face off. It’s the holidays.

Leonard Raskin  36:46

What do they call the Arnold Palmer of crab soup? Or a half and half? Right? What is that? What they call it half and half? Yeah, we gotta come up with a name. We should name it the Nestor. We should come up with a name for the half and half. So Baltimore has a name. I’m trying

Nestor Aparicio  37:01

8

to get pizza. John’s the name of pizza, the Hawaii. Will you add the pizza? Yeah, with the pepperoni on it. I’m working on it. I got curio working on a strain. Last week, I was talking about, if I had a beer, it would be a stout. I’m, you know, I said last week, if there was a coffee that was a nasty Nestor blend, it would have to be a half decaf because, you know, I’m a half decaf guy. I don’t know what Justin Tucker’s doing for coffee at Royal Forbes, but I hope he kicks the ball straight this

Leonard Raskin  37:28

week. That’s it. Let’s go kick it through those meadow land uprights.

Nestor Aparicio  37:32

Leon Raskin, give me a kick in the pants, and giving you a kick in the pants too. To review your stuff at the end of the year, you can find a rascal global. You can find him both of us added Baltimore positive.com. I am Nestor. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, we never stop talking Baltimore positive. You.