[00:00:00] Welcome back to two bald white guys. I'm Pete. And I'm Damien. You know, hi Dame. Hi Pete. Have not talked to you in a long time. You were on vacation. You were in paradise. Mm hmm. How was it? Other than the travel it was fantastic. You and I should add up the number of miles we traveled in our various trips.
I just went to south. I just went to Sarasota area. And so that was not that big a deal. Oh, well, I went a little farther than that. Best food you had there. Hello, Jason Brown. Best food you had there. Do my ties count?
If you, if you chew on the pineapple yeah, they do. Andy, it was awesome. Yeah, I had a fan. I had, I had a couple of very average my ties, but there was one that was just Just delicious Rick's wink weighs in Danza everyone. It's good to be back with you, Dame I gotta be honest last night thinking about this show [00:01:00] It had been a while.
It has been a while. It feels like it's been a while It's only been two weeks, but three weeks for you Yeah Between not doing the show and the the news that I that I do independently outside of this I was like, man, I hope I know how to talk to a camera again. This could be rough well Kristen's off today.
So I thought she was here today, but she's off. So good for me for not knowing when people are on her own. Hello, Sarah Renfro. Good to see you, Reverend. All right, Dame on the show today. There's this. awkward, but understandable moment where a loved one comes to you while they're living and says, Hey, would you consider being the executor of my estate?
When I'm, when I've moved on to post retirement and the natural inclination is to say, Yeah, of course I would do anything for you. We want to pump the brakes on that idea today. We're going to explore why if you're the wrong person [00:02:00] to say yes to that, you're going to mess everything up. Yeah. Big time.
Yeah. Have you, have you had the pleasure of, of filling that role yet? No, no, but I, I know, I know a couple of situations, I actually for where I will be for specific for households. Wow. For households I will be. So that's a good time. I know that you have once. So I will lean on you during that segment to help us understand.
Dame, you came up with a little bit of a game, kind of a game is, although I don't know how fun it's going to be. Yeah. What's the, and it sort of goes back to my, my high school philosophy and strategy around academics. What's the least thing you can do that is passable in your financial life? What is the minimum level of commitment and effort?
And so we're going to walk through that. Did I capture that? Okay. Yeah. I think that was great. Okay. Do you just want to get cracking or you, we got other [00:03:00] things to do. Did you see any dolphins or sharks or, you know what? I don't think I saw any aquatic sea life that was notable. Hmm. Hmm. I saw a dolphin swimming like 20 yards behind Ted.
Really? Yeah. I thought it was a shark at first and I was like, am I going to have to get out from under this umbrella and take off these jeans? And I'm just kidding. It wasn't wearing jeans. And then I was like, Oh, it looks happy. It's a dolphin. So even if it wasn't a dolphin, even if it actually was a shark he's fine.
He's can swim. He's fine. Just poke him in the eye. I did yell shark though, and I was arrested. All right. Can I say Florida Gulf Coast, Florida, Sarasota, Bradenton, Anna Maria, dude, there's so many birds. Like just crazy looking birds. I saw bald eagles daily, daily. Did you stand up and cover your heart and recite the pledge of allegiance every time you saw a bald eagle?
[00:04:00] Oh, you, you bet your buns. I did. I cut my, I cut my shirt into a tank top and, and saluted and. I wooed, I picked a favorite NASCAR driver every day. Jeans became jean shorts. Hey, jorts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Mai Tai that I was drinking turned into a Bud Heavy. Like it was an American moment every day. Now you're talking.
There's so many birds. And then we got back here to Nap Town. We landed at the airport. We're driving home. We don't see a single bird. I'm like, man. Man. Man. I didn't realize how much birds meant to my life until you leave Florida. The government's using birds to spy on people. Did you participate in totality?
I mean, it's like 99 percent totality. It didn't get perfectly dark. It got pretty dim, like evening dusk type, but we didn't we didn't get the full show. So we were, we were right in the path. You guys were outside the path, right? Yep. So we got the full show. Much cooler than I thought it'd be.
Yeah, you were [00:05:00] skeptic. Oh, yes, but I will, I will land here sir. I would not have driven 30 minutes to go see what I saw, although it was, it was spectacular. That's an interesting take. It was amazing and spectacular, but you wouldn't have traveled for it. But also, that's kind of my concert theory.
That's true. Yeah. You didn't have to worry about parking or traffic or anything. You just stepped outside, threw some glasses on and. The best part was when the sun came back it kicked down the door like a return of the Mac It was like Jesus coming out of the tomb Ric Flair entering the ring you know, it was Bernard King at Madison Square Garden.
It was it was phenomenal Well, I'm glad you got to experience that I say Jesus Christ coming out of the tomb you did that was I think it was a little bit more silent and I don't think it was. Yeah, I gotta go. Cause we have [00:06:00] a, I have a thing, so sorry Jeremiah. All right, Dame, let's do the feud coming out in Florida.
I assume everyone just watches game shows 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 at ask Pete at Pete, the planner. com. That's ask Pete at Pete, the planner. com. And here's how the show works. We may or may not answer your question on the air this week.
We answer no questions. Other than our own. I now pass the mic to my good friend and co host Damien Dunn. While I hit the cough button. Hello, Dame kill seven seconds. Hello, Pete. Welcome back to myself and everybody else who has missed a show in the last couple of weeks. It's good to be back with you.
Thank you so much. Dame this week on the show, being the executor of an estate is in a way, a financial function, but it's so much more. So we're going to explore. [00:07:00] What is really involved? Because I think many people assume they can do it if asked to do it. Some people are just put into that situation, but recently a friend of the show was asked to be in this situation.
Would you do it? And you and I and some others helped. Evaluate whether this person should really do it So that's what we're going to do this week and a couple other things as well. All right dame as you think about Being the executor of an estate and you have done this indeed I have to say, if I may, you are the perfect type of person to be the executor of an estate, the professional and personal qualities that you have.
As we talk about these here today, you are the perfect person in the world to be an executor of an estate. I mean, not only was I prepared to be the executor of an estate, [00:08:00] the estate that I, that I worked was. Potentially the easiest estate you could ever hope in a situation. So I, I kind of had everything going for me in my favor, but I'm sure you and I both know of situations that didn't go quite so well.
Okay. But I hear you when it was being perfect and all that or, or very well done. At times. Was it still complicated and difficult? Not necessarily complicated because it was pretty darn streamlined for for my particular case. But that doesn't mean that it wasn't stressful and emotional. And it took I'm sure we'll get into this way more time than you anticipate it's going to.
And that was for an easy case, an easy estate. So it, it, yeah, there were times talked to an attorney way more than I ever cared to during, during that. But it, it, it's just part of the situation. The first thing that a person needs to make sure , if they're asked to be [00:09:00] you know, in charge of being an executive estate, just to sort things out, is do they have the legal capacity to do it?
And, and, and I mean, are they sane? Are they do they have their faculties about them? The funny thing about this Dame is I can't imagine getting to a step where you, you, and I say this with respect that you appoint an insane person to be an executor of an estate. Sure, but you know, a lot of times people will create their wills, which is a major milestone for most people just to actually get to that point where they create wills and then they never update them.
And so the person that they may have named may have, well, gotten older and had life happened to them and they may not be in a position where they are quite as sharp as they once were and are primarily they're the person you had named at that point. And what happens. At that point fortunately they can [00:10:00] say no , and hopefully there's a contingent contingent executor named as well, or Execut tricks.
But if that's, if that's not the case, then you are going to the court and the courts gonna run your estate. Did you choose a gendered noun? It's executor or execut tricks? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Is that a thing? You have a tool called Google at your hands. Yes, executor or execute tricks. It is, it is a thing.
People in the comments, go ahead, do Pete's heavy lifting. Someone needs a, needed an extra day in Hawaii. If you're offering, I will gladly take you up. The other elements that we get into immediately are are in crazy important, but they're tricky because you have to be deemed trustworthy and to have integrity.
Dame, if if if asked to do this and you don't have integrity, a person without integrity would say they had integrity. And so it's sort of one of those weird things of like, [00:11:00] Does anyone self evaluate as having no integrity? I'm trying to figure out how that would be proven. I, like, I don't remember. It's just like, if you're self evaluating, if you're like, Hey, someone comes to you, like we'd be the executive of my state.
And you're going, okay, well, these are the things I consider of whether I should or shouldn't. You want to make sure you're, but some people don't trust themselves. That's, that's actually a thing. Sure. I don't feel like I have good judgment. But the integrity thing is weird. Yeah, no, I don't think anybody's gonna say that.
I don't have any integrity. I do you bring up a really interesting point, though I think there are a number of people that would look at this and say, you know, I'm finances ain't my thing and I Not good with money. I don't want to anywhere near this So I think people would disqualify themselves on that fact, but the integrity thing Organizational and administrative skills.
This should have people opting out left and right. I mean, if you, you are a mess and you can't handle [00:12:00] complex processes, then sir, opt out. And not only that, but you're going to have to have a little forensic capability as well because you're going to have to do some digging to try and figure out, I don't know if you've got that on your list, but Not everything that needs to be taken care of.
Maybe on the surface, you may have to try and find a little extra information or the estate is going to remain open for much longer as people send in claims and trying to get things tied up. All I could think about is that little notepad that that People of a certain generation keep next to their computer with all their passwords written in it.
That's all I can think of. That's the forensic accounting that we get. You know, that's interesting, David, do you remember when you were a financial advisor and you would be dealing with a situation like this? Maybe a client, someone passed away and you're like, hey, make sure to check here and check just the knowledge of where to check that you otherwise wouldn't know.
I think that's where being an executor can. [00:13:00] or poorly, but it's unfortunately, it's not knowing what you don't know. Yeah, it's, you're walking into, especially if it's not somebody that you've had a conversation with or much of a conversation with around this topic. If it's just a simple, Hey, will you be my executor?
Yes. And you don't hear anything about it until the day you become the executor you are in for. Can I take a weird path here for a moment, sir? Sure. What if you and I are sound mind professionally, we could, we could deal with these things. What if you're in a situation that maybe there's no one in the family, the immediate family that can actually execute on this?
Someone, someone ops out from, for some of the reasons we've said so far, and some reasons that we're about to say here and you know, in the next segment, but like, What do you do if you don't actually have a good executor? What happens? It's, it's going to go back to the courts and the court's going to manage the [00:14:00] estate, the disposition of the estate at that point.
And that's, that's a longer process. And that's not one that I would recommend. It's a more, and it's not as, it's a little bit more expensive, but it's Not as efficient. Correct. Not only from a time standpoint, but then you might find you don't get the assets at the back end the way you would otherwise want it.
Yeah, because there's when you when you have an individual as an executor, there's a little bit of discretion that can go into some of those receiving of the the will. Sorry, the bequeathed items in the will. But when there is a court involved, things are a little Stickier as the wheels of justice turn over a little slower bequeathed is one of the best words ever.
Absolutely. Let's do this. Let's just think about the word bequeathed and take a break and we'll actually do them simultaneously. When we come back, we're going to get into the time commitment of being an executor and [00:15:00] then we're going to get into the awkward, awkward times of being a co executor. With someone and why that's a nightmare all of that is next right here on the pizza planter show.
I'm Beat the planner. Dan, are you listening to any podcasts right now? Not regularly. It's, it's really hit and miss. So there's no series or a regular periodic news podcast. And I'm, I'm religiously into on a week to week basis. On my vacation last week, I started binging smart lists. It's Jason Bateman.
We'll, we'll our net. The voice of Batman Will Ornette Yeah. And Sean Hayes. Oh yeah. Of Will and Grace fame. They are best friends. The three of them, they have really, they, they are throuple of best friends. Hmm. And it's a really good show. It's, it's a really good show. It's really good 'cause it I want you to think about your text [00:16:00] chain with your best friends.
It's your text chain with your best friends. It, it's just, it is hilarious and it's just dudes ripping on each other. And , I don't know if it translates. Across genders, but as I listened to it, I just think about my two best friends and it makes me laugh. Maybe I'll have to give that one to listen.
That's, I mean, is there, do they come to the show with topics or is it just like, how was your week? Amazing question that I probably should have led with. Every week they have a surprise guest. One person is in charge of bringing the guests that week. They read a little bit of a bio, the other two guys sort of guess who it might be, and then they interview a very substantial person.
That's interesting. And so sometimes these are people they don't know that they were able to go through. And sometimes it's like their best, other best friends. And so it's just, it's just a bro fest. And if you enjoy, not that if you enjoy Hollywood, cause that's weird, but if you enjoy like movies or, or cinema, they talk a lot about acting [00:17:00] and directing and those sorts of things.
So anyway, I encourage you to listen to, I think you would enjoy it. Start with, you know, Bill Hader from Saturday Night Live. Sure. Find the Bill Hader episode. Okay. It's a good one to start with. Thank you for the recommendation. Also, we have a recommendation in the comments. Boss Hog of Liberty is always fun to listen to.
Okay, Jeremiah. Let's move on. In three, two, one. Back on the Pete, the planner show talking, Oh, you know, the fun topics, like when someone asks you to be the executor of their estate and what you need to consider with that Dame, you mentioned at the top of the show, the, one of the biggest issues in all of this is time commitment.
And I understand the concept of time and commitment. What sort of. Like talk to me about quantify this. Like, what, what are we talking? How many months does it take? How many hours a month? Like, what are we, what are we, what are we talking here? You've done this estates at least back when I did it.
And I'm pretty sure the law is the same. Estates have a minimum of 90 [00:18:00] days to be open. If, if nothing happens, if, if nobody submits claims or whatever, if everything can be tied up nice. And tightly 90 days, you're going to be an executor for 90 days of an estate. During that time, you're going to be meeting with attorneys.
Yay. Everybody's favorite. And depending on the complexity of the state, that's going to determine how often you are meeting with them and signing things and potentially sending checks. You're going to have meetings with family. There's going to be a lot of meetings, especially if they have no idea what was in the will you're going to be negotiating and mediating and hoping somebody doesn't, doesn't sue to keep the estate open even longer because Pete I don't know if you've had the pleasure of going through this with, with former clients, but money and death do really horrible things.
Yeah, I've seen it. I saw especially if maybe the the person [00:19:00] who passed is in a second or third marriage at that point. Oh, okay. Slow down. Slow down. Okay. The person you passed is in a second or third marriage. Then there's additional claimants, if you will. Well, so let's say let's say, Mrs.
Advice passes on. She ain't ready Christmas, Dave. Cause I didn't want to say Mrs. Planner. Well, why don't you die? Okay, let's say I, I, it's a good point. Say I pass away. Holy cow. Mrs. Advice remarries cause that wouldn't. I'm going to introduce her to this guy, friend of mine. Dude, he is so much better looking than you.
I'll give you her number. She probably, I'm sorry. Continue on. Anyway, I'm interrupting you. And when she passes, if the new bow is still around, she leaves everything to him. So you're back to having her die again, like you can't give it to someone else. No, we had to get to this point [00:20:00] because then if that person owns all of the stuff, then he can decide what happens to it.
And then the kids. And if he gives it to his kids. His kids. His kids. Not your kids. Correct. So that's the thing. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's very possible when you get to a second or third marriage that people who would have normally received some assets or inheritance from their parents might not get a penny because of how marriage and wills work.
I know a situation actually that is that exact situation. And I think again, without overstepping our bounds here. Yeah. I don't know what we are actually experts at, but it's, we, we have some expertise in this area. Not the social side, very infrequently. Do the two sets of kids get along great? Yeah.
Especially if they, if this happens later in life and they're all adults, I mean, they You know, [00:21:00] they're friendly, but it's, you know, I don't know you, you don't know me. We've got our own lives and friends and we never had the holiday memories together and it is what it is. So the, those situations, if there are multiple marriages and multiple families involved in in an estate at that point in that way, Oh man, you are in for trouble.
A lot of stress. You, you mentioned a little bit earlier conflict resolution skills have get our paramount here. Because some situations, you know, there's going to be conflict. And if that's the case, and you're not good at that, then bow out. But Dame, I think what. You dealt with a pretty simple situation.
Any conflict? And, and by the way, if you want to tell me to punt on this. No, no, I mean there was none. It was there was one error and very minimal debt and there was enough life insurance to cover all the debt. So it was pretty much going around and checking all the boxes and making sure that everything was in order.
Everything was taken care [00:22:00] of and everything got transferred as it was entitled as it was supposed to and that was it It was still a lot of work to be able to go do that because you have to take time out of your day to Go do these things. It's not like These institutions are going to be open past normal business hours for you to go and transact this and that So if you don't have time to take out of your day to go and do this, you're probably not going to be real happy that you signed up for it.
That's a really good point about the work hours there. Yeah. I mean, you can do some stuff online after the fact, but a lot of these institutions or whatever, they got bankers hours. Pete, we, we have a beloved former colleague of ours. Moved for like two weeks to go to a different location where she was an executor and lived there for two weeks to try and get things tied up.
And it was. Difficult. Very difficult. Yeah. That, you know, you want to talk about complicated. I, I'm thinking back to that [00:23:00] situation. Yeah. Incredibly like different families and generations and past relationships. I was wild. Yes. Let's get to this as we sort of wrap this idea. And then on the next segment, we've got a little fun one, a minimum level of effort or commitment in various areas of your financial life is sort of what we're talking about.
To opt out, you'd be like, thank you, Jimmy. But no, I'm not doing it. And there's two, there's two risk points to that. There's number one is that someone's going to go in there and do it worse than you, because theoretically, if you're being asked you're a higher on the list than someone else, whether you should be or not, but then the other one is.
Let's say there's no one else to do it, then it just goes to the court, right? Yeah. I mean, I mean, that's, that's just the way things work and the good old United States of America, if no individual is going to stand up, don't worry, the courts are there to take care of you, [00:24:00] you know, they're I keep going back to this.
And again, it's, it's, it's not exactly a macabre conversation, but it's an adult conversation. It's there's the aspects of shortly after death planning of arrangements and all of these sorts of things and getting bills taken care of. But this comes on the heels of that and the emotions are still there.
And, and then it's like, okay, now, as you're sorting through this, Please now have the go buy a, an accordion file folder from the local Walmart and become Aaron Brockovich, like be, be this detective going to solve really weird financial things. And you have to be, you have to be prepared for this because if we all know that pri that finances are incredibly private for a lot of people.
And if you are the executor of somebody that you knew and cared and loved very much, you may uncover some stuff that you wish you didn't. Oh my, I do what? I [00:25:00] didn't even think about that. I've literally, as I've been thinking about this topic all week, because we've been helping a friend, I've not considered that once, and you've just soured the whole idea for me.
I mean, it's possible. I mean, I'm not saying it's likely, but it's possible that you may find something that was hidden away from, Nearly everybody in their lives. Chimney Christmas. All right. So bottom line is this if someone asks you to be an executor, think through these things we talked today, also think, okay, well, if they don't choose you, who it's going to, who's it going to be, do you trust yourself to do a better job than those people?
That's gotta be a part of the factor too. And just know if you need help, you can always lean on places like the pizza planner. Show actually don't by the way, no one call me to be your executor. I'm not like, there are, there are a few people, a handful of people that, that by all [00:26:00] means, everyone else, good luck with the courts.
I'm sorry. It's a little much Dame coming up after the break, we're going to go through various areas of our financial lives. And say the bare minimum, this is what you need to be doing. And it'll be interesting. You and I can compare notes, a little bit of a contest, a little bit of a game show. All that's next right here on the pizza planner show.
I'm Pete, the planner. Welcome Alvin to the show. Longtime listener. I remember the very unique opening with Pete's kiddos. First time live streamer. Those were fun. I mean, I could still put them back in, but number one, My daughter is now at the age where she does not want to be part of anything like this.
None of her friends listen to the show anyway. Well, that would be my very logical argument. But anytime I would take a picture of her on spring rage, let me look at it. And I'm like, Hey, I'm not doing, I'm keeping, this is from my personal collection. Yeah. This is a picture of my kids. [00:27:00] So when I'm on a plane and I can look at it and tear up and think, man, I'm glad I'm not hanging out with her.
Jason has a question. I have a question that is tangentially great. We're bequeathed and tangentially top 10 words related to estates. What are thoughts on one kid versus multiple kids in this area? One kid is a simpler estate, but it also means looking all the burden. One person who is also grieving loss of parents.
So that's goes to the co executives, right? Yeah, I mean, you certainly can. I think there's more, more opportunity for things to go wrong. If, if there are co executors at that point, unless you're Basically naming one just to not hurt feelings, but you tell him you don't want him to do anything and somebody else will take care of it.
I mean, that's a horrible reason to look. Here's the thing. I love my sister so much. I respect my sister. She's smarter than me. More talented me and just about everything. I [00:28:00] would not want to go through that process to get together. I don't know how she feels and that's no offense to her. I just would, I would just want to do it myself.
Yeah. I don't know. Maybe that's rude. Maybe she's going to get mad and text me bad emojis later. She listens to the show. No, God, no, but I'm sure someone who knows her and okay. Dave, I, we do got to keep it moving, but I have to share my latest guilty pleasure that Could alienate some people. Great. Let's let's do it.
And this sounds political, but I promise you it's actually about business fundamentals. Okay, you know where I'm going with this? No, but I, no, I love watching the Trump media stock crash. It is my favorite thing in the world. It is my favorite thing in the world. And it's, and it's for a couple of reasons.
And we actually talked about this on the [00:29:00] show a couple of weeks ago, I think when you were on vacation, did you catch that part of it? No, my prediction was, my fear is that whenever former President Trump cashed out after the Mm-Hmm. , the, the restricted period, he would leave all these supporters or Mm-Hmm.
you know, holding the bag, holding the bag, and they would lose, you know, lose everything. That was my fear. And I, I, I just could see it happening. I knew it would happen. The good news is where it peaked out at 79 on March 26, 79 a share. David's now 29 to share less than 30 days later and it's falling about 9 percent today and I watch it every day and I love it and it makes me happy.
And the reason is because they had about 4 million of revenue and the stock, the stock was market cap was 5 billion. Yeah. which is the dumbest thing anyone has ever heard. It has [00:30:00] nothing to do with Donald J. Trump. It has to do with, that is the dumbest thing anyone has ever heard. I think you enjoy watching a couple of stocks go down more than any, any other stocks go up, including your own pick for stock, a stock winner of the year.
That's weird. Cause I'm not a dance on the grave sort of fella. Speaking of the last segment and I, man, it's fun. Yeah. Okay. And again, it's fun because A lot of people are not going to get burned because of that. Because you, if there is a cash crunch for good reason, bad reasons, whatever, a few months from now and the primary shareholder has access to that liquidity, they would take that liquidity.
And then all of the people that supported the socks would. Suffer most of the shares disappearing away from the market. We're not disappearing the market flooding market, right? Okay. Literally. I don't think anyone cares in three, [00:31:00] two, one back on the Pete, the planner show, talking about things that people care about.
Damian you had this segment idea and I like it, so I'm going to do my best to stay out of the way of describing what it is and let you be the captain of the ship. Before we get going too much further, real quick though, you and I both were on vacation recently, separate vacations to, to your excitement.
Do you listen to more Yacht Rock when you are on vacation than when you are not on vacation? I know it's probably about the same. None? Yeah, none. Exactly. Mrs. Planner and I, when we're on vacation and we're driving in the rental car and things, we listen to Yacht Rock and it really sets the vibe right.
And when we're not on vacation, we never listen to Yacht Rock. What what kind of rental car did you have? This one. Remember my, my car that I had previously to the car I own now? The one I just A couple months ago got rid of yeah, that was my real car Which is really weird to have a rental car, which was your car and then like because you [00:32:00] just know it There's no unfamiliarity to it.
Anyway, dame explain how this segment works. Imagine if you will that you are trying to set a bare minimum of Effort or activity in your financial life, my high school academics, you've described my high school academics. So for this exercise, you are going to be envisioning somebody who is, is doing okay financially.
They're not struggling to make ends meet from month to month. This is somebody who is a, got enough money to cover all the bills, put food on the table. Everything's okay there. So what we are going to do is we're going to name some different categories of personal finance. And what Pete and I are going to do is potentially, hopefully debate what the minimum acceptable level of activity is in those categories.
It's like a little bit of a Dutch auction. Sure. I don't know what that means. Okay. Hit the first one. All right. [00:33:00] Savings. Now this is not retirement savings. This is just. Savings, what is the minimum amount of and let's let's go with specifically emergency fund balance What is the the minimum amount of emergency fund balance?
This is acceptable in somebody's life as quantified by dollars or Time I will give you the flexibility to be able to define that. However, you want minimum And we're not talking like personal finance experts recommend we're talking minimum, minimum 2,
500. All right. I was going to say a thousand dollars. Okay. Cause I wanted to say a thousand dollars and, but thousand dollars. Not anymore. 20 years ago, you and I were saying 1, 000. Oh, we're talking minimum, absolutely bare minimum. I think you could probably skate by on most emergencies. Get you out of a pinch for a thousand bucks.
Now 2, 500 obviously way more comfortable, but [00:34:00] now, now we're talking about additional levels of competency or levels of preparedness. Here's how I think about it. It's actually quite practical. Some of that 2, 500 in, in. An emergency that involves insurance would be the deductible. Sure. And the remainder of that 2, 500 would be the incidental expenses.
They're a part of that. It's true. You know, like it's sort of a weird practical way, but it kind of works. I'll, I'll, I'll go 1500. Does that make you feel better? Oh man, I have so much more confidence and faith in you as a human now. Thank you. You know what, Dame? Thank you so much for acquiescing there. I don't know what just happened.
Okay. Next retirement contributions. What is the minimum amount of retirement contributions somebody should be making every year? I don't know, month, paycheck, year, however you wanted. Percentages of their income. How about that? Sure. Okay. So, so this is a tough one because for 30 [00:35:00] years, 40 years now, the answer has been the match.
It just hit the match. And I hate that answer. The match being like, you know, you put in a certain amount of your employer matches that I think that's the worst. It's the worst in the sense that it is guaranteed failure, truly guaranteed failure unless your match is absurd. I'm gonna go 10 percent which is a little higher than I want it to be.
But it's 10%. I'm gonna go with the match because I know here's what here's here's what I'm saying. You're not camping out here. You are not living at the match. But if you've got stuff going on in your life, the minimum amount is acceptable. You're, if your fallback position, it doesn't go any lower than the match.
Okay. Okay. I like that idea because this isn't like I'm setting my financial life for the first time. This is, I'm, I'm emergency, emergency. I'm not going any lower than the match. Yeah. Okay. Okay, I, I, [00:36:00] I, I will acquiesce to you on this one. Wow, look at us, give and take. Yeah, a lot of bequeathing going on. Who would have thought?
I don't think so. All right, next. If you're in the camp of having student loans, what is the minimum? Sorry, maybe we should, maybe I should rephrase that. What's the maximum amount of time it should take you to pay those off? That's a good way to think of it. I'm yawning. I'm bored by this. No, I did not have enough coffee.
A drug coffee. I mean 10 years. Is that a too aggressive 10 years? I want to say 10 years, but I think we have to pay attention to the cost of college and the jam that sometimes people find themselves in that maybe 10 years just isn't enough through the debt that's been accumulated and the actual income prospects that some people have graduating with the degrees that they've got.
I don't know. I, I really wanted to say 10 years on this. I don't know if that sticks [00:37:00] anymore, Pete. I, I, okay. I, once again, I will bend your way. 15? I would hope it can be done in 15. Let's do this dumb thing that I used to do. But, but we'll alter it. You get out of school at 22, 23. It takes 15 years to pay off your loans.
That's your strategy. But in the meantime, you also are saving a little bit of scratch. Yeah. So by the time you're 40 you buy your first house. The man, this is this is back by 15 year mortgage. You own your home by 55. And you've on a glide path to retirement. Does that work? Does that is that work? We should, we should talk about that because I, because I used to say, this is, man, I'm so stupid.
Here's what I used to say, the person get out of school at 22, loans are paid off by 30, [00:38:00] immediately buy a house, a 15 year mortgage, you're debt free living in a home you own. At 45 and then you've got the next 20 years. I like that was dumb 15 years ago when I said it, like, I'm wondering if the B own your home at 55 and buying a home when you're 40, whether that makes sense.
I don't, I life looks so much different. Then I did just 15 years ago. It's I think a lot of financial professionals do themselves a disservice with just staying with the status quo that they've established a number of years ago and not adjusting to the reality of the situation that most people face.
Here's you're salting a wound that has opened for me here recently. You did it right, right. I've I've got so much published material out there saying, like, they should do this because I know, but like the times have changed. So if a person [00:39:00] in modern times is reading, reading what I wrote in 2010.
Oh, Danza, Danza on the live stream notes that recently, Oh, recently personal finance expert. I read something the other day that suggested a million dollars is a fine amount. Did you see this article? I almost sent it to you. I didn't read all of it, but I saw the headline and got the gist of it. A million dollars is enough money for just about anybody in retirement.
Primarily because At 8 percent a year of withdraws, it's 80, 000. You can live on. That was, that was, that was the guidance that the article, I didn't send it to you because it was over the weekend. Dame what? Well, when you figure that you're going to average 12 percent return. I, okay. So one, it's unbelievable that how outdated some of my published advice is some 10, 15 years later.
And yet, [00:40:00] and yet Dame, there are people doubling down. On things that don't work in modern media, in newspaper articles. Why would you do that? That person raked another one of their employees, a very well known employee over the coals for saying that 4 percent was closer to realistic. Let's take a break and calm down.
Dame coming up after the break, biggest waste of money of the week in the news right here on the Peter planner show Pete, the planner. I looked down and we had 15 seconds left in that. I couldn't believe it. That went really fast. And I still had more categories. Ones that I think we really could have happened to have some discussion around.
I saw that article this weekend, man. I, I could not, I mean, I can believe it. That's the thing. It's so stupid though. Eight, you'll be fine. Million dollars, 8 percent withdrawals. You'll be fine. What? I don't get it. Why would you say that publicly? Sequence of returns doesn't, does not [00:41:00] consider the, the person that is giving the advice, apparently.
Here's some math for you. Based on 10, 000 market simulations, a 60 40 portfolio taking out 8 percent over a 30 year period, you won't make it. You have a 67 percent chance of failure. A no, no, a 77 percent chance of failure. I just bad math in my head. 77 percent chance of failure. If you take an 8 percent withdrawal.
On a 60 40 portfolio, you have a 77 percent chance of failure yet in the media, a personal finance expert is telling everyone to do this 77 percent chance of failure because they only espouse to my knowledge, one way of investing and they anticipate 12 percent annual returns. I could not sleep at night if I was noted in the media saying something that [00:42:00] 77 percent of people would fail at.
But he listens to Yacht Rock. I don't think so. Man, Yacht Rock is good. When the Michael McDonald cranks in, you're like, Oh yeah. I told you that story, didn't I? No. What? My Michael McDonald story? Maybe. Is it in it was in Hawaii on another trip. Tremany Christmas Dame. Was work. Was for work. Whatever.
And the evening entertainment was Henry Caponio, I believe. And, and his band. Beautiful little local band about two songs in Henry says, you know, I've got a friend here on the island that I want to bring out to do a song or two with us happens to be in town. I thought you guys might enjoy seeing him.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Michael McDonald. I've been a great part of my life. It would have been, he played for two hours. Oh my gosh. It was all just a front. It was just this local band is a front. And then they, they were his band. Yeah. All right, at least they were his band that night. But was it amazing?
Ridiculous. You've never told me that story. It's [00:43:00] an amazing story. It's so awesome.
Yeah. Here's a, not exactly as charming of a story, but it was a surprise concert. And it's a little bougie, but the real, but the end result is I didn't enjoy it because I don't enjoy that music. I was in the Sydney opera house. And it was a surprise concert for this thing I was at. And they were like, ladies and gentlemen, Mr.
Keith Urban which, you know, he's from Australia and he was the special guest. And he was fine. I, but I just didn't enjoy it because it's not my thing. And like, but people were losing their minds. Yeah. He had two hours of my, oh man, Mrs. Planner is going to love that story. Oh, that's great. So there's somewhere.
I'm sure I can't put my hands on a picture of me with Michael McDonald and I am clearly enjoying myself We're doing what? Say less like How are you enjoying yours? You're like photographically you're [00:44:00] enjoying yourself. Oh, I had a had a couple had enjoyed it had a couple I don't know. You said it. You thought it.
It was a tense issue. You gotta work on your tense. I had. Whatever. Moving on. Okay. Let's do this. I had to go. And hold on. In three. Really glad Kristen's not here. Wow. For that conversation. Okay. Three, two, one. This week's biggest waste of money of the week right here on the Pete the Planner show is Sorry.
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7 millimeter titanium case. This is limited to 24 pieces. Dame, what does this weird golf watch cost? Too much. I mean, this, I mean, the dial does, I mean, God. Is this interesting to you? I love watches. I, I really do. And I, [00:46:00] this one, this one isn't my cup of tea. But, it's titanium. I mean, I don't know, movement.
It's gonna be, I'm gonna be way under 25, 000. 27, 700. Kristen would have guessed like 2, 500. I wouldn't even pay 2, 500 for that. Dame, what's in the news this week? After months of all nighters hashing out the details, President Biden submitted a new plan to make college loans a little lighter lift for debt holders.
Up to 30 million Americans could benefit from the measures announced this week. A redo! A Biden's previous student loan forgiveness attempt at the Supreme Court flunked just last summer. The initiative targets older borrowers and people saddled with debt from accrued interest. If the proposal makes it past expected legal challenges, and there will be challenges, it'll cancel up to 20, 000 in federal loan interest, regardless of income, [00:47:00] providing relief to millions of people whose debt exceeds the initial loan they took out.
That'll also entirely forgive the debt. And if anyone has been making loan payments for more than 20 years, and it'll cut loans for people who didn't receive quote sufficient financial value from their studies due to specific education, quality issues and people who may be eligible for loan forgiveness programs, but haven't applied.
This came through the channel here at work this week cause you put it on there at 11 Oh five on Monday, April 8th. And my comment was, this is interesting. It's helpful, inexpensive because they're just forgiving interest. Yeah. Theoretically unimpactful. I think it is one of, it is a very weird idea because you're, they're just forgiving interest in a lot of those cases that, They're just sort of writing the interest off the books, but not the principle.
And I don't think it's going to impact anyone's financial life. It's like a smoke and mirrors. [00:48:00] Well, I mean, if you have all of your loans forgiven, if you, because you've been paying for 20 years at that point, I mean, I can make an absolute difference. Sure. Or if you've been eligible for a different forgiveness program and never applied or applied incorrectly or whatever.
I mean that there are some issues that could make an immediate impact for individuals, but man, it's going to be a challenge to. Make this first of all, it's not going to get implemented. I would be shocked if this ever sees the light of day, but it's just another approach or another attempt to try and solve the issue that is student loan debt that hangs around the neck like an albatross for hundreds of thousands of families in the country appropriately or inappropriately.
Anytime we talk about this, we also talk about the timing of elections. We talk about particular interest groups. Here's what's weird about this one. Previously, I would have said, and I believe I did say that the first attempt of this was targeting [00:49:00] younger voters. This isn't no. And so I, does that mean it is less political or does it mean it's going after different political group?
I, I kind of want to say it's less. I don't know. Do you think that has anything to do with it? I, if I had to guess, I would say it's less political. I think this is more of a, an approach to try and actually fix situations that are just out of hand. Honestly, if you've been paying on student loans for over 20 years, something's gone wrong, whether that's an issue on your side or an issue of the system, who's to say?
But if you're paying on student loans for that long, something needs to be addressed. I do feel like this is fairer and it has a better chance of getting through, but I don't think it gets through. What else is in the news? Toilet paper and giant tubs of peanut butter might be the top of your Costco shopping list, but the big box chain is also turning [00:50:00] gold into gold gold.
Pete, we've talked about this in the past, but there's some interesting data here. Costco started selling gold bars to its members last August and Wells Fargo analysts believe that the product is now bringing in between X and X dollars a month. I saw this article, but I didn't remember the number, but it was a lot.
100 and 200 million a month. The retailer doesn't reveal the price of the one ounce bullion to non members online, but it's estimated to be 2 percent above the spot price that gold trades at. And that price has soared since Costco got into the gold game. The price of gold has gone up 13 percent this year and reached record highs as investors pile in mid inflation worries.
You know, when I, when I saw that headline this week, I thought, wonder if they're actually. Impacting the price of gold by making it readily available. And I think you just suggested they are I I mean who's to say how much of an influence that's had but I mean if you are [00:51:00] making Purchasing gold a little bit more accessible to the masses Sure, it's gonna have an effect.
We all have our thoughts on gold and sure. I know you do and I just don't, I sort of opted out of having a pen. I don't care. Like I don't think I would own physical gold, but I don't, I can't tell you why or why not. I just, I've opted out. It's, it's sort of strange. Do you feel like most people have a stance on gold or do people opt out?
I think most people who have stances on gold are very pro gold. No one's anti gold, right? I'm not anti gold. I had just opted out. No, I'm just, if, if if you have a stance, you are way in on it. Totally. You're so right. That is so right. But I know what? Here's the weird thing. I have a stance on crypto. Wow, that's true.
That's true. But I don't have a stance on gold. I think you're right. If you have a stance on gold, you're in. Yeah. I feel pretty, I feel pretty good about that declaration right there. What else [00:52:00] is in the news? Last story, maybe? News that'll make science and econ teachers high five. Incentivized by tax breaks and the Inflation Reduction Act, Wall Street big dogs are softening the green transition's rural impact by paying local farmers to graze their sheep around solar panels and prevent grass from growing too high.
It's called solar grazing, man. And while the practice of ditching pollutant heavy lawnmowers for sheep isn't new, it's spreading rapidly as more investors pivot to green energy. The number of sheep mowed solar farms in the U. S. is multiplied 10 times over in the past two years, according to the American Solar Grazing Association.
Pete, how much do you think a farmer gets per acre to let his sheep graze there? He's getting paid to do this. OK, so a farmer who is a sheep farmer. Yes. Brings his sheep to these solar farms. How much does he get paid an hour? No, no, no. Per acre. Per acre. 250 an acre. 250
an [00:53:00] acre. about a dollar an acre. Boy, I am out of touch with cheap solar mowing practices. Shame on me. Shame on my household. My family, my support system is hanging their head in shame, weeping at how, Inadequate my sheep mowing solar farm knowledges a dollar an acre That's I find it hard to believe to I'm probably gonna have to go to the American Solar Grazing Association And look some of these numbers up a little yeah Wow the sheer Number of acres it would take to make money.
That was a sheer joke. I know I caught it. Okay, maybe next week Chris don't be back. I believe she will be and then I'm Yeah, I think we just keep doing a show. Let's until we get there and then, you know, it's whatever Dame, happy post totality. Good to be with you. Good to be with you. The rest of you sending good vibes.
Cause good vibes are all this in the budget on Pete, the planner. This is the Pete, the planner show [00:54:00] man with five minutes to spare. Look at that. So without all Christians yapping, we can get some work done.
I don't mean that. Oh Dane, have you done your news segment for the platform today? I did. I do that first thing in the morning. Oh, really? So yeah, I put it together the night before I check the news again in the morning to make sure that nothing broke overnight and then I organize it, do a couple of dry reads, record it and then send it off to my best producer slash editor.
In the world for us. It's funny. I thought all your reads were dry. No, I mean, that's just me. Okay. No, they're great. All right, man. Well, it was nice to talk to you. I haven't talked to you in a long time. Yeah. We'll see you again next week. Yeah, that's true. That our next conversation will be at 9 50 AM.
Next [00:55:00] Friday. That's why your life is so good. It is noticeably better. I understand. Best of luck with your life, Dame and everyone else stay getting money.
