Peter Dunn: [00:00:00] Now, if you're listening to the show this week and you're thinking, wow, the chemistry that these three people. Have and have had over the years is at a new level. It's because we spent the entire week together, Damon, Kristen. Kristen and I, we're in the new swag Dame, we're in the new swag. It was reunion here at your money line.
So we all got to hang out with all. 30 something or France. Kristen, highlight of reunion food wise. We're only doing the food tour today. Best food at reunion.
Kristen Ahlenius: You guys, those appetizer potatoes from dinner last night were probably the best potatoes I've ever had in my life.
Peter Dunn: Wow. Wow. Wow.
Kristen Ahlenius: Did
Peter Dunn: you guys
Kristen Ahlenius: have them?
Peter Dunn: I did. I love a potato as you can see by my girthy figure. I thought they were better than okay, but I was like, man, I don't know, I was in a weird mood. The wings from Birdies, for me, [00:01:00] were elite.
Kristen Ahlenius: I didn't have them.
Peter Dunn: Really?
Damian Dunn: Dame? I kinda like the kolaches, gotta be honest. I love the concept in and of itself, and the pastry, the dough part was delicious.
So it was just a, it was a good thing.
Peter Dunn: Good experience. Good morning to my brother in ruck, Ruckswink. Big Ruckswink. I just, that, Rick, have you ever called yourself Ruckswink? Yes, now. I gotta know. Dave says that this show is influencing that people are rucking now. Yeah. Confirmed. That's the show. You, Pete, you're an influencer.
No. It takes a village. Good morning, Jason, Chris, Denny, which is Steve, Two first names, Rochelle, Andy, Dan and Cheryl. Hello everybody. All right. So Dame and Chris and I really have spent the entire week together at our all company annual meeting. It was a lot of fun. But I have to admit we are all exhausted.
So what you get out of us today is [00:02:00] what you get and you can't throw a fit. You know what I'm saying? Yes. I've talked for two days straight. So Dan, we apparently have some topics today. I put them in the Slack channel. You know what? I'm just going to raw dog it. Just going to raw dog it. That's shocking.
All right. Look at this. I'm out there naming people. All right. Can I run a new nickname by you guys? All right. For who? Alicia. Oh, yeah. She doesn't have one yet? I just met her this week. Last name's Lawrence, right?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Peter Dunn: What do you think about Allie Larry? Do you like Allie Larry? No.
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't get it.
Peter Dunn: Alicia, you shorten it to Allie, and her last name's Lawrence, you shorten it to Larry, and it's Allie Larry. You're not your best. I love it.
Damian Dunn: That doesn't mean.
Peter Dunn: But not enough to bring it up to her face. She watches this show too. She's going to love this. Oh. Okay. Do we just [00:03:00] start?
Kristen Ahlenius: I suppose.
Peter Dunn: Dane, what's the first, just give me like three words for the first topic and I'll bring it up and we'll see what happens.
Damian Dunn: Planned arguing financial products.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh, between us. The planned arguing is between
Damian Dunn: the three of us. Oh, we're going to
Peter Dunn: argue.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, some of them we will have a pretty much universal agreement on.
Others might be a little more as I said, argumentative.
Peter Dunn: The beat just hit me. I think it was the caffeine from this morning.
Damian Dunn: Alright. It's a delayed Better late than never.
Peter Dunn: I was in my daughter's room this morning to say goodbye to her. She's I'll see you at my game tonight. And I was like, oh yes, there's that.
I'm very looking forward to it. I very much am looking forward to that there game. In the Friday evening after a very long week. And I love you cause I drive by. So anyway, [00:04:00] here's the thing though, they're playing Ben Davis. So they're good to get shlammered. Oh, big bummer. Okay. In three, two, one, this week on the Pete, the planner show, we answer your money questions.
Here's how the show works. You email us. Ask Pete at Pete, the planner. com that's ask Pete at Pete, the planner. com. And you can either send us emails or legal notices either are accepted. And some are even opened. Krista Alenius joins us. Sometimes and she happens to be here today. Hello, Chris. Hello, Pete.
Dame done. It's shortened the save time it's for Damien. But when you go on to explain it, that time is double lost. Hello, Dame. Hello, Pete. Dave, there are financial products out there that people have different opinions on. Now that's not fresh and that's not breaking news, but that is the truth. And even the three of us who share a lot of thoughts as it relates to people's financial lives, we [00:05:00] actually disagree on financial products from time to time.
And some of us are right. And some of us just have a different opinion than the person that happens to be right. So it's in that spirit, Dave, that I would like to dip our toes into the water. Of financial products that the three of us Actually see differently. Oh, where shall we begin?
Damian Dunn: That's not entirely true There are some just to get things started a little juice flowing that we will find some Great agreement on for example, the first one financial products.
You should have high yield savings account Wow. That is not how I expected this to go.
Kristen Ahlenius: I know. Cause you really thought you were loving that one up, but you guys, I just I guess I don't know that I disagree, but I think collectively we place too much emphasis on it. I don't think it's that big of a deal for most people.
Damian Dunn: Tell me why you were [00:06:00] against earning more interest.
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't want people to have more money, I think is what you're trying to get me to say.
Peter Dunn: So Dame is in theory but there's a deer. Let's say you've got 300, 000 in a high yield savings account.
Damian Dunn: You've got 300, 000 in a high yield savings account.
Thank you.
Peter Dunn: And if you had that exact same savings account and just a passbook savings at your bank, you're getting substantially less dollars. Like truly objectively, that's a lot less dollars. Whereas if you have 3, 000 in a high yield savings account and it's still the same percentage difference, but it just feels a lot less significant.
So that's where Kristen, I'm going to agree with you is that on principle, Yeah, Dame is right. But in practicality, maybe not. Are you disagreeing with me? Disagreeing with you or agreeing with
Kristen Ahlenius: you? I still think you're, I'm gonna push the envelope a little bit further on me saying that I think that you're wrong, which is why does a regular person have that much money in a high yield savings account?
Because [00:07:00] the argument you just made is you could be earning more. And if someone's risk tolerance and Time horizon support it. They shouldn't be putting that money in a high yield savings account anyway. For most people, it's your emergency fund. And does your emergency fund really need to earn 4 percent interest over 1%?
And should that stress you out? I think the answer is it's not that big of a deal.
Peter Dunn: So Dan, we very clearly covered the things we agree with each other on.
Damian Dunn: Where we might see things differently. Here's another one I thought was going to be a shoe in. Let's see where it goes. something or other, whether it's an IRA, 401k, a 403b, whatever, something in a Roth qualification.
Peter Dunn: Since I watched fun house for the first time as a kid with host JD Roth, I thought I like all things Roth.
I even like. Ross from friends when I have a lisp Roth and when it comes to financial products, [00:08:00] Dave, are you laughing at me? Yes. Thank you. I wish you could do it audibly. Kristen. Ross are great. Do you disagree? Of course
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't disagree. I agree with this one. Dame you I'll give you, there's your shoe in.
I agree with the Roth.
Damian Dunn: You really need a Roth? Oh, come on. Now you're just doing
Kristen Ahlenius: that.
Damian Dunn: No, because to make the decision to invest money into a Roth account means you're making some assumptions about your future financial situation, as well as the future situation of tax brackets and where you're going to fall, all that stuff.
It may not be as advantageous for everybody. We'd like to believe
Peter Dunn: what is this show turned into fun
Kristen Ahlenius: you want to give the government more money in taxes I thought that was like
Damian Dunn: What are you talking about if I am making a hundred thousand dollars a year right now But I think I'm only gonna make fifty thousand dollars a year in retirement through social security and income streams Why in the [00:09:00] world would I want to pay taxes now when I'll be in a lower tax bracket in the future But
What? I'm
Peter Dunn: sorry? Did she go on mute, Pete? Kristen, can I help here just for a second?
Kristen Ahlenius: Alright, go ahead.
Peter Dunn: Dame, in regards to what the government does with the tax money we do pay them, how are they doing there? Next category, a
Damian Dunn: 15 year mortgage.
Peter Dunn: All day. You know what? You know what? All day. All day. There's no except I'm just trying to check the privilege, right?
A little bit. I love a 15. In fact, I have a 10. But I love a 15. And, but 30 is unfortunately more realistic for most people, but I love a 15. Kristen?
Oh boy.
Kristen Ahlenius: To me, it's not the structure of the obligation because if you get a 15 year mortgage at age 60 and a [00:10:00] 15 year mortgage at 30, that's, we're not talking about the same thing. I bought my house when I was what, 28? A 15 year mortgage to me and a 15 year mortgage to like my parents is very different.
I don't think, I think the younger you are the less, I argue for the 15 year,
Peter Dunn: but I think it's about total interest paid. It's not about age,
Kristen Ahlenius: but again, if you could be taking like those funds and putting them potentially somewhere else, like, why do I need to be mortgage free? 45 years old.
Peter Dunn: Here's the weird part. And this may not even hold up cause I'm really tired. The caffeine is kicking in, but it's leading to me dancing and not actually thinking, which is very weird. And it also led to that amazing Ross from friends show. I don't think this is about your mortgage being gone necessarily.
I think it's about not paying as much in interest, which is different. [00:11:00] I feel like Dame agrees with me. I do,
Damian Dunn: but this is working out so much better than I planned .
Peter Dunn: Why? Because the ones that we're supposed to agree on with each other, we're disagreeing on everybody's disagreeing on something. It's wonderful.
This is great radio. Alright, speaking of disagreement, Dame, what's next? Oh. Should have at least two different credit cards. What is wrong with you? Why are you even on this show? Dame? Wait. You disagree? I don't know what, yes, you did. Okay. Why? Stupid. Why? Why? Why? Why don't you, why don't you order two sandwiches from Jersey?
Mike's just so you got to, by the way, not a bad idea. There goes our Jersey. My
Damian Dunn: sponsorship.
Peter Dunn: No, I love it. I love it. Here's the thing. Chris can I call you Chris? Why would you do that? Give me a good reason why? Because there's just literally no reason why
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't have a good reason. [00:12:00] Dame and Doug tried to lecture me about this a couple weeks ago.
And why? How's Doug involved ? Because he agreed with Damien.
Peter Dunn: Oh, they weren't having a Ron Swanson off, or they were just the two of them going? I carry knives. I'm tough. And now they're like, and now we have twice the credit cards. Dame, okay, you give me the reason why. In 30 seconds.
Damian Dunn: I experienced being on vacation and finding out that for some reason credit card was not being approved because we didn't notify them that we were traveling at some point.
And so we didn't have the ability To get things turned back on.
Peter Dunn: Kristen. All I'm hearing here is two things. Number one, Oh, I go on vacation, which is just a direct stab at me. Number two great. Call your credit card company and tell them you're on vacation. You lazy. Hey, all right, here's what we're going to do.
Dan, were there more of these? Yeah, there are a couple more. Okay. Maybe we start the next segment there. I don't know. Here's what we'll do. We'll come back after the break. Everyone's going to calm down. I've just started [00:13:00] into the name calling. So apparently I'm going to be a politician soon. And then we'll we'll disagree more with you on air.
It's great. I'm Pete, the planner. Dame, it wouldn't have killed you just to call the 1 800 number on the back of the car to be like, Oh, hey, there's a pre labeled thing.
Kristen Ahlenius: Hey, this doesn't work. This needs to work. Novel.
Peter Dunn: Just saying. Can I tell you a story, or should I save for the air? It's a credit card story.
I'll tell you now. Back,
Kristen Ahlenius: back Thanks for asking for our opinion.
Peter Dunn: This is two thousand and Oh, boy.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Peter Dunn: Two Three 2002? Kristen, you were dead then, right?
Kristen Ahlenius: I was among the living.
Peter Dunn: Okay.
Kristen Ahlenius: I,
Peter Dunn: I was in the financial services industry. It was like my first or second. I know actually this was probably 2001, probably first year in the biz, in the business Today i's business and I won a an awards trip in 2001 to Miami [00:14:00] Beach.
Yeah. You want to talk about someone who fits in real well in Miami Beach, this ginge. And so I take Mrs. Planner who looked 14 at the time, but was not. And we go to Miami Beach on this awards trip, and then they're a rewards trip. No one knows. And so we're checking into the lobby of the Lowe's Hotel in Miami Beach, South Beach.
Not the hardware store, Kristen. It's a chain of hotels, very nice hotel. We check in all of these big hitters in the financial industry, the company worked for were like in the lobby, like mingling, drinking my ties or whatever they're doing. What do you drink in Miami? What's the drink of South Beach?
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't know, like a pina colada or something. I feel
Peter Dunn: sure. Tons of pineapples in Miami. So I'm checking in and I give them my credit card and they swipe it for the incidentals or whatever declined. And then the person says a little too loud. [00:15:00] We can't actually check you in. And then there's like all of these people and a very nice guy who is either being incredibly passive aggressive or really nice.
And I still haven't figured it out. 21 years later or whatever comes up. It's like here, just put it on mine. And I was like, what? So Dame to your point all I did is picked up the phone and called my credit card company and told him I was traveling and it was fixed in three minutes.
Kristen Ahlenius: And that was 20 years ago.
The technology's probably come a little bit further since then.
Peter Dunn: That seemed like a hit at Dame and I actually for our age.
Kristen Ahlenius: At Dame though. Not you.
Damian Dunn: If you want to walk around just with one available payment option, you go right ahead. But I'll take two. Thank you.
Kristen Ahlenius: Three, cause I'm sure you have cash.
Damian Dunn: Yeah. But do you know how many places you go that are cashless now? Any almost any public event. I hate that.
Peter Dunn: I'm a boom. I love that. Okay, Kristen. Can I let you into what it is to be a father? Your kid comes [00:16:00] up to you in the stands and they're 12 year old connected and she's Dad, can I get a Gatorade?
And it's sure. So you give them a 5 bill and they come back, they're like, they don't take cash. I'm like, okay, I'm going to hand this mongrel a debit card or credit card. No. So then I got to get up, which burns three times the amount of calories I had burned in the day already. And I got to help my kid.
Damian Dunn: And then if you do make the mistake of giving your kid the plastic, it's like all of their friends have this sense that as soon as one of them gets credit cards they know that they can just go get a snack. And they, you just see the bleachers. Empty and this wave of youth runs down and out to the concession stand and you end up with hundreds of dollars of charges
Peter Dunn: We actually got ted a debit card and he in a teen debit card or whatever and he went to some game with his boys And he comes back and he's like now no money left and he was like I bought zander nachos and I bought ben dippin dots and i'm like daddy [00:17:00] warbucks Yeah.
Quit trying to buy friends, do what I do and just don't have friends. My
Damian Dunn: TD suffers from the same affliction. If he's got cash, he's spending it on everybody. Dunn
Peter Dunn: is German for generous. I don't know if you knew that, Kristen,
Kristen Ahlenius: I think that feels made up.
Peter Dunn: Whatever. What do you know? Okay. Let's go back to things.
We agree with for a thousand Alex in three, two, one back on the Pete, the planner show, finding love and harmony as we agree on financial products. Speaking of my co hosts, one's nicknamed Love and the other one is Harmony. Harmony give us the next financial product that we can disagree about. I'm not sure if I'm Harmony or Love.
Just keep the bit going. The people have had to pull over on the side of the road, all over Indiana. Because they're driving in their cars, listening to their radios, and they are cry laughing. Could [00:18:00] be
Damian Dunn: listen to the Well, whatever. Anyway. Next one. You should use a budgeting app or something to track your spending.
Chris?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes. I'm waiting. I'm prepared. Yeah.
Peter Dunn: Yeah.
Kristen Ahlenius: Interesting. Interesting.
Peter Dunn: Jayme? This is the first one we all agree with? This one? Did you think we disagreed? Nope. We
Kristen Ahlenius: agree, but only because you guys aren't being truthers. Because do you not recall? Pete doesn't recall last year, we had this conversation about how you don't give people financial advice that you don't follow.
And I bet that you're not as in tune with your budgeting app as you tell other people to be. I just have this hunch.
Peter Dunn: You've seen this to me. Yes. Oh yeah, that's true. I'm working on it, though,
Peter Dunn (2): as
Peter Dunn: we, as we wrote our goals as a team yesterday, [00:19:00] I actually, someone else on our team said that's one of their goals and it's one of my goals too.
By the way, we got these new fleeces that I'm now removing from my carcass as we broadcast here because it's too warm. Oh, I feel like Luke Skywalker climbing out of a tauntaun on Hoth or I got to take my ears out. Keep going.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay. Okay. So having a budgeting app though is not enough. Like I feel like we should take this to the next step, which is like you actually have to be doing something with it.
That's the difference.
Damian Dunn: Ideally, absolutely. So okay. Let's what define what does doing something with it. Look are we leaning into budgeting app or are we also accepting like spending tracking?
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't, I would accept both, but it's not enough to track your spending like maybe once a month and not do anything about it.
Like visibility without a, then a plan or some other kind of action to me that I'm not sure. Like then you might as well just not check in on it.
Peter Dunn: [00:20:00] Yeah. I have to admit and I, over the last 18 months, I've talked about this a lot on the show. There's aspects of my life that are just getting more expensive right now.
And it not be necessarily because of inflation, but inflation obviously contributes to it. Just how our lifestyle is changing. Cause the age of our kids is changing. And so I'm just getting attuned to some of these categories of expenses. And so I don't have them naturally dialed in. So a spending alert.
A budget alert is going to be really helpful. And so late last week, I think after the show, I went in and did we have a show last week? I wasn't on it. So there's a good one. And I I actually set up some of those budget categories are on the new expense category. What's next?
Damian Dunn: At least a million dollars of life insurance of under 50.
Peter Dunn: I know Kristen disagrees with this. Like she's going to go, she's going to get upset. And I actually disagree with it too. Cause it's just a bit broad. I think most [00:21:00] people with, the average household income in the United States is like 84, 000 or something now, something like that.
Kristen Ahlenius: Average or median.
Cause I think median is like 78. That's cute.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Anyway, close. Whatever. Yeah, so if you go the 10x rule, that's not a million.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Damian Dunn: Okay. If it was amended to 10x the household income? Yes.
Kristen Ahlenius: No.
Damian Dunn: No.
Peter Dunn: Kristen.
Kristen Ahlenius: Sorry. Not everyone needs life insurance.
Peter Dunn: That's true. That's true. Okay. So I guess my argument's dead already.
Kristen Ahlenius: Ah. The other thing about that is not two things can be true, which is not everyone needs it, but also for the most part, we are collectively very underinsured and that's why it's hard. It's it's a tough conversation to have more people need to have life insurance and it becomes this, like everyone should have 10 times their income in life insurance, but that's just because.
So many people need it, but it is not for everyone.
Damian Dunn: Are [00:22:00] there general types of situations where you feel again, but below retirement age let's make sure this is at least segmented to that general groups of people who do not need life insurance, in your opinion, Tristan,
Kristen Ahlenius: me,
Peter Dunn: don't you share finances with a significant other?
Kristen Ahlenius: Not
Peter Dunn: fully.
Kristen Ahlenius: And but that's my thing is he's not dependent on my income.
Peter Dunn: If I were him, I would be dependent on your income because you're really smart and you know a lot of things. I would just hitch my wagon to that. Okay, yeah, you're right. Single people who don't have someone financially dependent on them.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Peter Dunn: And who have no debt, or do you just let your debts go to
Damian Dunn: your So she does, though. You could carry a bare minimum of life insurance to cover your debts, and then leave that [00:23:00] asset to a sibling, or Sorry,
Kristen Ahlenius: Caitlyn doesn't need it.
Damian Dunn: Or your boss's boss.
Kristen Ahlenius: Sorry, Caitlyn.
Damian Dunn: Alright, Dan, do we have any more? Yeah, I do. Oh, no, I don't. The other one was additional ideas. Sorry. I know I don't. Yeah. Additional ideas. Take them or leave them.
Peter Dunn: Should everyone who has a retirement plan at work participate in that retirement plan at work?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes.
Damian Dunn: Wow. I, not necessarily. Oh, say
Peter Dunn: more.
Damian Dunn: If there is no match that is included in the retirement plan, there may not be any advantage to participating in it. If you can set up an automated retirement contribution or savings mechanism somewhere else.
Kristen Ahlenius: Disagree.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Same war. Cause I'm seeing you shake your head. I agree with bald.
Kristen Ahlenius: Because [00:24:00] it's the function of saving from your paycheck before, like before your paycheck hits that set it and forget it, the psychology there is stronger and more important because people think, come on, people don't set up automatic contributions to IRAs like they would with a 401k. You set it, you forget it.
I don't think well, I don't disagree that if you don't have a match, it's not as advantageous. I just think that it sets people up for more success.
Damian Dunn: You're banking on the auto enrollment feature, the 401k to get people to say that wasn't the question because you could easily have dollars sent from your paycheck.
Have your paycheck split. And have a certain amount go to your checking account a certain amount go towards a savings account or an investment account or whatever it is Yeah, you still have it done automatically who cares about the end of the final location.
Kristen Ahlenius: No, it's not about the final location It's about the fact that money never hits your bank account in the first place.
It's just different in your brain I just said that you didn't [00:25:00] say that Hit your bank account.
Damian Dunn: It's sent to it like a Schwab account
Kristen Ahlenius: Your employer is not going to. Okay. Yeah, but it's still money that you can access by putting it directly. Your employer isn't going to put that money directly into a Roth IRA.
Damian Dunn: You
Kristen Ahlenius: still have the opportunity to cease that.
Damian Dunn: Then you have the automatic contribution set up from that account.
Kristen Ahlenius: People don't do that.
Damian Dunn: Most correct. Most people don't because they don't have to, and there's no advantage to doing that. However, if you have a better opportunity to save into an account that is outside of your employer, because there's no advantage to do it inside your employer, take the steps.
Peter Dunn: Pete shiny, happy people holding hands. I just want you to know that I give one of these and you guys just start cat fighting. Unbelievable. Okay. Here's what Oh, All right. So here's what we're going.
I need a shirt that just says I'm with Dave. [00:26:00] Sorry, Chris is nothing personal. It's just we're old fellas. Is it, we're a different generation, gen X. You, you went to the course this week coming up after the break, more of this on the pizza puncher on pizza. I
Kristen Ahlenius: actually don't feel that strongly about it at all, really.
Peter Dunn: I didn't
Damian Dunn: think you did,
Peter Dunn: but I appreciate it,
Kristen Ahlenius: yeah.
Peter Dunn: Alright, I have a question. We are all planners on this here. Radio Packer. Two of us certified.
Peter Dunn (2): Oh ho,
Peter Dunn: ho. Oh, that, that is so One of us in name only. Pfft. Oh, why do people slack be during the radio show? Have I not done this?
You turned it off. I didn't, I never turn it off. I just expect our co workers to not slack me during the radio show. Okay. I told me. We are all planners, but I want to know on a pepper, prepper [00:27:00] spectrum, a prepper spectrum, who is the biggest prepper? Because I view having two credit cards in your wallet.
As Prepper adjacent, like it's just beyond planning. Because there's like a, see, Dane's laughing. He's right. I'm thinking about
Damian Dunn: things that I may or may not have brought with me in my, my luggage. Like I, I had two pocket knives. I had two flat lights.
Peter Dunn: You brought two flashlights to Indianapolis.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. Wait, you mean Prepper, like not in our personal finances.
Peter Dunn: No, Prepper isn't just like your Prepper lifestyle, like dried food, or Oh, Damien. No, I know he's the furthest down the line. I think you and me would be an interesting[00:28:00]
What's the Prepper ist thing you have that you're willing to talk about?
Kristen Ahlenius: Dane? Dane. Dame?
Peter Dunn: No, I think it's between you two. No. Dame. Not Dame. Everyone knows Dame's got cash buried in his backyard.
You and you gimme Krista, what's the preps thing? You've got
Kristen Ahlenius: little to nothing. I. I prepare for the little things on the daily because anxiety, but like prepper zero percent.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, I'm pretty, I think I've got like a can of Cuban black beans from Trader Joe's.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, like I have a can of chickpeas. That's
Damian Dunn: Pete, I'm really surprised you haven't got into like food, dehydrating and making your own jerky and stuff like that. That seems like you would absolutely be into,
Peter Dunn: I could see that beyond the horizon.
I don't have an interest towards it, but it's adjacent to my interest. Yeah, exactly. Dame, I'm not going to ask you the same question because I'm not sure I want to know the answer. You don't. [00:29:00] Okay. I do want to know the answer. I just don't want to know the answer on air. Yeah. You brought two flashlights to Indianapolis.
Damian Dunn: I had the one I had in my pocket at the office, and then I had a much stronger, more powerful one in my backpack.
Peter Dunn: So Kristen, I want to ask you this question, see if you can answer it on his behalf.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay.
Peter Dunn: We're meeting during the day at our headquarters encased by . what in the solar eclipse is the purpose for a pocket flashlight at an office meeting?
Kristen Ahlenius: I'll have you know that on our hot girl walk, Dame did use his flashlight.
Peter Dunn: What time was this, by the way?
Kristen Ahlenius: It was dark. . That's fair. And also his iPhone would've sufficed.
Peter Dunn: So if I may reframe this, Dame, you're out walking with young women at night. When you're on the road, and you're shining in them from the back with a flashlight, is that what I'm hearing?
And then you're sending pictures of that to me? [00:30:00] Actually to the whole company.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay. It wasn't exclusive. Also, there were guys there too. Yeah.
Damian Dunn: You
Kristen Ahlenius: couldn't see them in the picture.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, we were back in the back. Wait.
Peter Dunn: He's just taking pictures of women at night on the trail of the flashlight. Anyway I don't have a third segment
Damian Dunn: by the way.
Peter Dunn: We stretched that one to two and you don't have a third.
Damian Dunn: Oh yeah. Sorry. I do. Yeah. Maintaining an attitude of flexibility when pursuing financial goals.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Actually, this is great. Kristen, you're going to take it in three, two, one back on the Pete, the planner show crystal when people pursue their financial goals.
And they are hardcore and they are going after it, but then life serves them something different or their circumstances change. I'd love to talk about how important it is to just take a breath and go, maybe I should back off that thoughts.
Kristen Ahlenius: That sounds great in [00:31:00] theory, Pete, but the problem is how do.
The type of person who's setting these types of goals is generally achievement oriented. So then how do you take an achiever and tell them it's okay to pivot. It's a really hard conversation.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, Dame for people who are goal oriented, which If you're setting goals, generally your goal oriented how prudent is it to pivot when just life serves you something different?
Are you not being are you not recovering? Are you are you not staying focused? What is the element of shifting off of that?
Damian Dunn: First I want to say if you don't think Your goal oriented, how do you view retirement? Because I bet most people have a goal around retirement. They have a date or an age or whatever picked out.
And frankly, this is when I have.
Peter Dunn: Welcome to your first week in the financial industry. What you think most people have a retirement goal. They do not. They just don't want to [00:32:00] work.
Kristen Ahlenius: People don't have a goal as far as like age, date, they just don't want to get employed. Are you serious?
Damian Dunn: Are you serious?
There's is this the argument? How many people have you talked to that have said I'm retired? I've talked to half a dozen people in the last week that have said, you know what? My plan is to retire at 62.
Peter Dunn: Great. Oh,
Damian Dunn: a good universe of six people
Peter Dunn: calling
Damian Dunn: for financial help of the people who are calling to talk about retirement.
That's a pretty darn high percentage. But also, I am just stop. I am floored that you people that two of you people planners don't think that people have a date they are anchored to in their mind and Age of one day you want to retire.
Kristen Ahlenius: It's not okay. I understand where you're coming from with this, but I think that the cause is where we're disagreeing because you're saying that people like have this date that they want to retire.
I think it has nothing to do with that. I think it has to do with the fact that they don't want to work. [00:33:00] Any longer than they have to, not that people don't want to work any longer than they have to. And 62 for many is social security eligibility or 65 is Medicare eligibility. It's not a function of having a set goal for retirement.
It's this is when I don't necessarily have to do this anymore. And I don't think that's the same.
Peter Dunn: Dame, I agree with you on 98 percent of life. I just so fundamentally disagree with you on this.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, big time. I
Damian Dunn: am stunned
Peter Dunn: right
Damian Dunn: now. You're gonna be able to sleep tonight. Oh, yeah, I
Peter Dunn: really will. Yeah,
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm exhausted.
Actually. All right. So
Peter Dunn: pivoting. Let's give an example here. Let's say you got a two person household. You're saving aggressively for your kids education. And for whatever reasons, one of those people loses their job. Now, that being said, the person who lost their job their income was being saved anyway.
That income was not [00:34:00] needed to operate the household. It was meant to create more stability and security. Should the remaining income also tackle those savings goals by reducing the amount that the household spends? Because that's essentially what we're asking.
Kristen Ahlenius: Is that what we're asking? That's what I'm asking. I
Peter Dunn: was coughing. Sorry. This is going well. This has turned out great. Dame's so upset. He can't even gather himself. All right. So go ahead, Christy.
Kristen Ahlenius: Dame, do you think people my age know when they want to retire? Are we back to this? I can't let it go.
Damian Dunn: No. People your age? No, absolutely not. If you are over 50, the thought has crossed your mind.
Kristen Ahlenius: Anyway.
Peter Dunn: Here's the thing, Dame. I actually don't have an age I want to retire.
Damian Dunn: Okay. I don't, I will concede that retirement looks a lot different [00:35:00] for the vision of retirement looks a lot different today than it did probably even 15 years ago.
For most people. I've talked to a lot of folks who in more of Kristen's demographic that aren't sure they're ever going to retire. Not because they don't think they'll save enough because they can't imagine not doing something. But Kristen, you can disagree with my conversations that I've had with people to there if you'd like.
Kristen Ahlenius: I just think they might be bias as well.
Damian Dunn: I'll tell them that they don't know what they're talking about.
Peter Dunn: Okay. If you're sharing finances with someone, can I get us back on track a little bit? You too? You can try. Your tickle fight. It will get two people that share finances. And if one of them wants to pivot away from a savings goal specifically, or a debt pay down goal.
Like, where's the line exist between finding prudence in that and the accountability of the other person providing to say, no, we committed to this. We got to keep going. Like, how do you balance that?
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm sorry. I just, I don't have a good answer [00:36:00] for you. So I'm trying to think on the fly.
Damian Dunn: I'm sorry. I read a comment that just came in and they said that they agree with Kristen, but they made my point. We're at our best.
The many people think they'll work until 62. They have an age picked out. They have an age.
Peter Dunn: You know what? I have to say if we went, so we were very financially centered and centric organization, if we were looking out in the audience yesterday to all of our coworkers, some of them, financial experts, some of them, marketing experts and sales folks and engineers.
What percentage of that group of people that were here yesterday? Would it have a retirement age?
Damian Dunn: None, but I bet if you talk to two of our speakers, they would.
Kristen Ahlenius: I would say less than five people would have an age.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, [00:37:00] I agree with you. Let's do this. Let's do this. I'm going to try to ask another question.
You guys are very upset. It's from a lack of sleep. Dane was walking trails with flashlights, taking photos of people. Let's answer this question the best that you can. Is it prudent to take the pressure off of yourself Financially based on goals when your circumstances change.
Damian Dunn: Oh yeah. Yeah. I thought the one person specifically yesterday is we're starting to wrap things up about not realizing there were exigent, exigent circumstances that we're going to make him achieving.
Financial goals more difficult than he had planned on. Give yourself the grace and the freedom to take a step back off of some of these things and make sure that you're still doing the best you can, but realize that certain things are out of your control and you absolutely have to make changes in the middle of progress every once in a while.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, Kristen, to me with this, it has to do with at [00:38:00] least knowing when you can get started again. You can turn off the faucets of savings and goal achievement, but you gotta know at least have an idea of when you're going to be able to turn it back on. An example of that would be you have a four year old, you just need them to get to kindergarten, and then you've decreased your daycare expenses within two years, and then you can start cranking the savings again, right?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, I think it's what we're all getting to is it's a function of knowing where your next dollar goes and prioritization like if this pivot is going to keep you from achieving something that is very important to you, then you have then only you can decide if it's worth, you Or that you need to do something differently to achieve that goal.
But if you have a change, then okay, we have fewer dollars to assign to the next goal.
Damian Dunn: I think Kristen's nailed it right there is the key to being able to do this effectively is being familiar with your finances and knowing that, Oh yeah, that popped up. I have to be able to account for that and change some things elsewhere.[00:39:00]
Peter Dunn: So coming up after the break, here's what we're going to do. We do the biggest waste of money of the week, and yes, it's a doozy. There was a lot of news this week that we want to cover including the jobs report that came out on Friday morning of October, I don't know, some call it the fourth which says that jobs were better than we thought.
In the month of September and so much more. So Dame, are you ready to cover this? Sure. Kristen, are you ready to guess very poorly on the biggest waste of money of the week? I cannot wait. All right. That's what we're doing next. If you ever want to email us and have your question read on the air and arguably answered poorly, ask Pete at Pete, the planner.
com we'll be right back after this right here on the pizza planner. Because of all of the bickering, I decided to start my outro a minute before.
Kristen Ahlenius: I think that's the most I've ever disagreed with Damien, to be honest.
Damian Dunn: He's getting mad. [00:40:00] Nope, it's not my fault that you're wrong. That's my problem. Hey,
Peter Dunn: easy.
Let's not let the cat out of the bag here. You know what, Danza, thanks for bringing this up. Danza brings up in the live stream. The QE, the world lost an icon last, this past week. Dikembe Mutombo passed away from brain cancer. The iconic NBA player from Georgetown university. Geico pitch man and who I vacationed with in the Bahamas.
And so in, out of respect for his death, I will retell the greatest story of all time. My wife and I were in the Bahamas and for some reason, the NBA players association was holding their annual meeting at the same resort we were at. In the Bahamas. So there's a ton of NBA. And so the pool was [00:41:00] me and Mrs.
Planner in like we're on our test. That was the pool the pool deck, tons of players. You walk through the casino of this resort they're gambling their paychecks of which they were trying to negotiate through the players association, but I'm not here to judge. Let's keep it going. We go to a restaurant.
And one of the world's largest men, Dikembe Mutombo, is sitting there having dinner with his family. And one of the strangest parts about this is one of the little boys that was at the table with him, who is his son, I later watched playing a college basketball game just like about a year ago, which is just wild to think about.
So his kids at the time were probably 10, 11 years old, acting a fool because, That's what you do. That's what you do. And there was a basket of roles and his kids were just tearing them down. It's like they were to Charlie's or Texas roadhouse. They were just crushing these roles and to can be was getting irritated by this.
And so his son picks up a role to eat it. And it [00:42:00] can be Matambo like the NBA leader all time and blocks, blocks the role out of his hand. Like he's blocking a shot. And it gives him the signature finger wag. And with his cookie monster voice, his iconic cookie monster voice, he goes, no more roles. And I'm sitting next to this, watching it happen.
And it was the best thing that has ever happened to me to this day. I've had two children and by have had, my wife did. And I was there, my back or I wore the wrong shoes. That was the best moment of my life. May he rest in peace,
Kristen. You're unimpressed with that story, or are you just mad at him?
Kristen Ahlenius: A little mad at Dame.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Speaking of Dame Dame shared, brought this lovely bottle of Makers Mark private selection whiskey. Don't mind. You brought this to me on Tuesday at our offices and has not left our offices.
But we shared this with your friends, many friends. How many? Three. [00:43:00]
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. You guys give me a dog.
Peter Dunn: All of our friends. Dad wasn't even here.
Damian Dunn: Day was delicious. Thanks for bringing it. Happy. I did happy. I waited to taste it for the first time. And with our friends.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Are we ready to do the next thing? We are now in three, two, one. This week's biggest waste of money of the week right here on the pizza planner show is the caviar custom gold iPhone 16 pro. Apple's latest flagships haven't even hit stores yet. That's not stopping Dubai based caviar. We're putting their Lux spin on the iPhone 16 pro tons of custom offerings are available, including an art and gold collection that gives the 16 pro.
And pro max back plates made from 18 carat, yellow, white, or rose gold. A model that [00:44:00] integrates a Rolex Daytona into the back joins them among the highlights as does a diamond encrusted model. And so ladies and gentlemen, for a diamond encrusted caviar, gold iPhone. I want you to tell me how much it costs.
Damian Dunn: I have a question. Sure. We're did you say that you could get a Rolex Daytona in the back of one of these things based off,
Peter Dunn: I think no. A model that integrates a Rolex Daytona into the back, joins them among the highlights, as does a diamond encrusted model. The diamond en crested model is more expensive than the Rolex Daytona model.
But I want you to tell me how much the, I can look up all the prices if you want, but I want to know how much the diamond encrusted model costs.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh my word. I feel like this is going to be really bad. As a point of clarity, what we're seeing on the screen is gold. I'm confused about the diamond [00:45:00] part.
Damian Dunn: Separate product, I believe.
Peter Dunn: So the separate one is just, it's I guess I should have brought it up, but just guess it's covered in diamonds.
Kristen Ahlenius: All right. It's covered in diamonds. It's 15, 000.
Damian Dunn: It's 125,
Peter Dunn: 000, 572, 000.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh my word. Why
Peter Dunn: the Rolex Daytona one? I'm looking for that one. Oh, here it is.
193, 000 integrated solution. Yeah. I'm really curious as to how they pulled that off. There we go. Oh. There's the diamond one.
Kristen Ahlenius: Why do you need, your phone is a clock.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, but it doesn't have a daytona. Dane doesn't even use his with a
Peter Dunn: flashlight.
Damian Dunn: Dane, what's in the news this week? Breaking news, as I was just told in our last segment, the jobs report just out today, this morning.
Now, the U. S. economy added far more jobs than expected in September, Pete, pointing to a vital [00:46:00] employment picture as the unemployment rate edged lower, the Labor Department reported Friday. I've never read this, so it's gonna go great. Nonfarm payroll surged by 254, 000 not dollars, just 254, 000 for the month.
Upper revised 159, 000 in August and better than the 150, 000 Dow Jones consensus forecast. The unemployment rate fell to 4. 1 percent down 0. 1 percentage points.
Peter Dunn: This news is just part of the natural release cycle of economic news. Like it's on schedule. Nothing's out of the ordinary. This is just how these things work and I've worked for decades, if not more than that.
However Kristen and Dame, I have this firm belief 30 days, of announcements to presort to support, presort's not a word, to support either side of the political spectrum are going to be flying at us fast and furious over the next 30 days. Agree? A million percent.
Kristen Ahlenius: We actually agree on that, yeah.[00:47:00]
Peter Dunn: There's a lot I don't look forward to. What I don't look forward to probably the most right now is the next 30 days of the news cycle. It is going to be, in my opinion, unbearable.
Damian Dunn: One thing I've noticed is that there seems to be a significant decrease in the number of political ads on TV in my area.
Are you. Do you watch enough live TV to see if there are political ads?
Kristen Ahlenius: No, I don't. I
Peter Dunn: don't watch any live TV unless it's sports.
Damian Dunn: Okay. All right. I like it. I appreciate not being bombarded with. Honestly like that. Anyway, what else is in the news? Pete Kristen, we've talked about alternative paths to for kids to follow once they graduate high school and how they can integrate themselves into the workforce and the adult world.
The FAA announced two vocational programs to get more [00:48:00] air traffic controllers. Some college grads can start yelling at pilots working control towers without having to train at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma. The agency said this week. Graduates of a new vocational on the job sorry. Graduates of a new vocational program offered at Tulsa Community College and the University of Oklahoma will be able to begin on the job training right after finishing school.
The move is part of the FAA's effort to combat the employee shortage that has led to staff burnout and flight delays. This past year. By recent successes in ramping up hiring, the agency reported earlier this year that it's still short about 3000 air traffic controllers. Pete does on the job training seem like a great idea for air traffic controllers?
Peter Dunn: I've been, every time we've been talking about different age groups in the show today, I'm thinking about. The comments of Lindsay Bacardo, who joined our team and our office this week to talk about generations and how we work differently together. And so I'm trying to measure my response to your question with that, Dave.[00:49:00]
Sure. I have heard, I've read, that being an air traffic controller is one of the most stressful jobs on the planet. Same. And I think what it takes a person to be stressed to be able to handle stress is a level of resiliency that is developed over time. So to have not only an inexperienced person do it, which is always the case, you're always inexperienced until you're experienced, but a young person who has not actually experienced adult stress makes me terribly nervous.
Kristen Ahlenius: Is it maybe I feel like we need pilot Jeremy. I thought that it was with air traffic control, a long program. And it was very like, if along the way you mess up, you're like done for good. Oh,
Peter Dunn: like one strike.
Kristen Ahlenius: Like when they, I can't remember what the tests are called. I had a friend in college who was trying to do air traffic control.
And I just remember I remember bits and pieces of that, which always makes for good recollection [00:50:00] of a story. And I feel like if you mess up, you're like done. So why couldn't they just adapt the program instead of going. So like extreme,
Peter Dunn: That's interesting. So like more leniency and tolerance for mistakes,
Kristen Ahlenius: right?
Cause like they're saying that there's a deficiency, but I could, I definitely could be wrong, but I thought it was like, because it's so stringent and they're just booting people out as they go.
Peter Dunn: It is one of those jobs that I think most people completely take for granted.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes,
Peter Dunn: right. You're just like you think about your pilot.
That's about it. And then you don't think there's actually someone telling them where to go.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah,
Peter Dunn: I didn't want
Damian Dunn: to. Oh, go ahead, please. It seems like this specifically seems like one of those things, though, if it meant delays or a reduction of the number of available flights that might have, it might even increase the cost of a plane ticket.
I would still rather have [00:51:00] pretty much rock solid guarantee that there's not going to be a problem in an air traffic control tower, rather than maybe a 98 percent chance that everything is going to be okay. Maybe I'm out on a limb on this one.
Peter Dunn: I got thinking this week with the dock workers strike that has now been suspended as of today or overnight.
There are certain professions that are so wildly vital to safety and security and our economy and The dock workers being one of them. And then I also do you don't remember, but there was a air traffic control strike a few decades ago that just shut down air travel. And so what makes me nervous about this story is not the people who aren't working in air traffic control.
It's people who are working there and them understanding the shortage and being overworked and overstressed and understaffed. And at what point in time do they say for the safety and security of everything? We're going to shut down the economy until someone figures this out. [00:52:00]
Damian Dunn: I, it could happen, but again, I think safety is paramount.
So whatever it takes to make sure that everything is going smoothly is okay by me. I just realized how dark that
Peter Dunn: thought was. I'm very sorry. I was like, Hey, we have a great show. You know what can happen? No one will be able to fly again for months. All right. If you have a question that you want us to talk about because you don't like yourself, email us, ask Pete at Pete, the planner.
com. That's ask Pete at Pete, the planner. com. That's it for this week. I'm sending you good vibes because good vibes are all that's in the budget. I'm Pete, the planner, and this is the pizza bun shop. Woo. That was something. That was rough. Hey, everyone. Listening and listening land. It has been a long week here at these headquarters and I'm thankful for the Dane went back to his home last night.
So he could do this broadcast and Chris here woke up at the wee hours of the morning with no flashlights in our [00:53:00] hotel room and was able to drive home. To broadcast today, me, myself. I I'm here too. So Kristen Dame, thank you for your efforts.
Peter Dunn (2): You're welcome.
Peter Dunn: Do I have to put you guys in a get along shirt after the show?
So you guys,
All right. Everyone's fine. We all love each other. All right. Thanks everyone. Stay getting money.
