00:03
Peter Dunn
It's spooky season here on The Pete the Planner Show, when the days of October turn to the nights of cold little goblins. Trick or treat. And will they be met with savings bonds or will they be met with Snickers bars?
00:26
Peter Dunn
We'll explore that.
00:27
Peter Dunn
Next on the Pete the Planner Show.
00:32
Peter Dunn
Hi, everybody. Sorry, I can't help it. Hi, everybody. Hi, Kristen. Hello, Dame. How are you?
00:42
Damian Dunn
We're all right. We're fine.
00:44
Peter Dunn
That was fun, right? Yeah.
00:46
Damian Dunn
Oh, yeah, it was great. The kids will love it.
00:50
Peter Dunn
We got weights and fish. There we go. If you have not seen the video in which there is a walleye fishing tournament and there are cheaters stuffing lead weights inside the bellies of fish, I encourage you to find that video and watch it hundreds of times like I have this week. And please do not have children in the room or people with a sensitivity to aggressive profanity because it is the greatest video ever, but it is quite blue aggressive. Dame, have you heard any feedback from your tale of escape last week from the podcast?
01:35
Damian Dunn
No. Nobody said, Glad you made it. Nothing like that. It was just kind of looked over and I'm just a speed bump in the process of the show, is what it feels like now at this point.
01:47
Peter Dunn
I even made the podcast title clickbaity.
01:50
Damian Dunn
You did?
01:51
Peter Dunn
Apes from a hurricane.
01:52
Kristen Ahlenius
You did.
01:53
Peter Dunn
He's a hurricane and no one cares.
01:58
Damian Dunn
My follow up comment was, don't worry, I made it. And nobody gave it a like, just out there in the ether. It was just okay, great. Congratulations.
02:07
Peter Dunn
Kristen got a 4.0 in her grad school course, right? Is that what we're talking about?
02:14
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah, the first half of my grad school program.
02:17
Peter Dunn
And what is the course specifically?
02:20
Kristen Ahlenius
Well, it was five or six different courses, but the one I just finished was a case studies course. So it was bringing investment, management, insurance, et cetera together to end that core curriculum.
02:34
Peter Dunn
We've got a Facebook user suggesting in the live chat right now that Damian is a cockroach because he's just a survivor.
02:40
Damian Dunn
Assuming that's Jeremiah still yeah.
02:43
Peter Dunn
Well, happy spooky season, everybody. I will say here in central Indiana, we have got fall, actual seasonal fall. Cool nights, cool days. My carcass was built for I mean, last couple of years you've been spending in Yuma and Texas, where it's just hotter than all get out. How are you feeling about this?
03:07
Kristen Ahlenius
I'm cold, you guys. I don't like it.
03:13
Peter Dunn
Tod makes a good point. Amazon is paying roughly $70 million for each Thursday night football game this season. I assume that will be this week's biggest waste of money of the week. I don't know, man. That was terrible. Football. The Broncos and Colts last night. Four kicks to three kicks is what won that game, so that's not fun.
03:34
Damian Dunn
Football, did you make the joke about just as many kicks in the All Valley Karate Championship? Was that your joke.
03:41
Peter Dunn
Yes.
03:42
Damian Dunn
That was great.
03:43
Peter Dunn
Thank you. And then I spent the morning deleting all of my aggressive tweets from last night. Okay. I got all day today. Really? So alas, people want to have their financial lives fixed, so we'll get to that before we get started. Anybody got anything on their mind they just want to get out there? Any fun little nuggets or anything?
04:09
Kristen Ahlenius
I'm not.
04:12
Damian Dunn
That'S a really interesting point, Kristen. None of us are fun.
04:15
Peter Dunn
No, I think Kristen's fun reunion is next week, so we will all be gathering around all of your money liners. I've been trying to think of what we could call ourselves. Like the liners. Do you like the liners? No. Ymlrs.
04:39
Damian Dunn
My team's already got a name. I'm fine with it.
04:41
Peter Dunn
How about the money? Friends? We call ourselves the MFRS money friends.
04:47
Damian Dunn
Let's get t shirts with that.
04:48
Peter Dunn
Okay. All right. Just workshopping a few things.
04:54
Damian Dunn
You and your ghost.
04:57
Peter Dunn
Spooky season.
04:58
Damian Dunn
Spooky season.
05:01
Peter Dunn
All right, let's start the show. I got to get ready. It's an email. We got an email this week and it says, don't care. That dame's. Okay.
05:10
Kristen Ahlenius
I did have two people reach out to me to say something about it, so if that makes you feel any.
05:15
Damian Dunn
Better, your sister and your mom don't count.
05:18
Kristen Ahlenius
One was my aunt. Thank you.
05:20
Peter Dunn
Okay. Wow. Okay. Starting the show and damn. I just saw that image you sent through. Thank you for that. 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, askpete@petetheplanner.com that's, ask Pete@petetheplanner.com. And here's what will happen. We will possibly answer your question on the radio. By we, I mean the survivor of a drive, damian Dunn, who fled Hurricane Ian last week, joins us and Kristen Ahlenius, miscellaneous 4.0 grad student. Hello, everybody.
06:02
Damian Dunn
Hello, Pete.
06:04
Peter Dunn
We got an email this week. It says, Hello, Pete and Co. I believe that's like, company could be our child is four and we plan for him to go to college one day. How's he going to fill the classes.
06:18
Damian Dunn
In there one day? Yeah.
06:23
Peter Dunn
Well, I mean, what do you get? I'm not sold on using a 529 plan to pay for it. We'll be in our fifty s and plan to be retired by that point. We'll have the ability to pay for college out of Roth IRAs, a 457 B, or even a health savings account depending on how we want to handle taxes. We still have a lot of tax advantage space available, so I'm going to pause there because maybe that's going to make more sense to me here in a second. What does he mean we have a lot of tax advantage space available? Do you guys get a grasp of what that means?
06:57
Damian Dunn
I'm guessing they're not maxing out their various opportunities in their 457 Roths HSAs, whatever the case may be.
07:07
Peter Dunn
Okay, that makes sense now. So putting money in a 529 instead of a retirement account just doesn't seem like the best option, especially since our state of Tennessee doesn't have tax incentives for contributing to a 529. As long as I am mentally separating college money from retirement money and have a plan to access that money without penalty, is our current plan fine? Or am I missing a major benefit? Thanks and love the show. Jason Kristen. On the surface, is Jason missing any Jason from Tennessee, as they call him in the biz? Is he missing anything?
07:44
Kristen Ahlenius
Maybe not, but seeing that they want to retire at 50 and that they're not maxing out their tax advantaged accounts, in my head, I'm kind of having a little trouble balancing that because that's a pretty aggressive retirement schedule to not be fully taking advantage of those spaces. So that gives me pause.
08:05
Peter Dunn
Yeah. Dame I started doing the math on that, too. So young. Jason Jr is four. His parents will be 14 years from now. They'll be in their 50s. I'm guessing them at probably younger 40s now, maybe 40, 41. And then you start looking at how they're going to take money out. They're going to take money out via Roth, which means they are likely, since they're not going to be 59 and a half, they're going to take out the contributions. Then they've got the 457 B and then the health savings account, which is sort of a weird way to fund anything other than health expenses. So where are you lining up on this?
08:43
Damian Dunn
I'm not in favor of this now. There's plenty of variables that we don't know. We don't know if there are pensions that are going to fund their retirement that are going to be great. We don't know how much they spend a year. We don't know what they're on track for Social Security. We know they have to have something set aside if they plan to be retired in their 50s. But we don't know how much that's going to take to get to bridge that gap to where these other streams of income may kick in. Maybe they've got a ton of rentals and they're living off of the passive income that those are generating. So if I give them the benefit, if I give Jason the benefit of the doubt and say, okay, he's got income for retirement wrapped up, I still don't know if I'm in favor of using other accounts as a primary college funding vehicle other than a 529.
09:36
Damian Dunn
Even if his state, Tennessee, doesn't give an income tax credit or deduction for state taxes because Tennessee doesn't have state income taxes. It's a beautiful thing. Pete, you and I have talked about this on the show before. We like to keep retirement funds set for retirement and college education funds set for college. And if there's maybe a little bit of squishy, unsuredness about a child going to college, maybe then you can start dabbling in Roth IRAs or maybe even an unqualified account to keep options open. But if you want college funds to be in use for college, I still think a 529 is the right way to go, so you don't have to worry about taking money away from your future security and retirement and dipping into those accounts.
10:24
Peter Dunn
Yeah. Kristen, what's the downside of using a 529 here? What's the worst that can happen? The kid just doesn't go to school, right?
10:30
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah. And they have to pay the penalty on the earnings, I guess, is really the only thing. But I'm not really on the same page as Dame about this Fight Club. I know if we give the emailer the benefit of the doubt, and they have their ducks in a row to retire at 50, and they have the funds that they need and they're well established, I think that they have the ability to separate the funds either on a spreadsheet or in their head that they might have earmarked for school. I don't think everybody can do that, and that generally wouldn't be my advice. Most of the time, I would be on the same page as Dame and say, use the account for what it's originally intended for. But I think maybe in this case, Jason can pull it off.
11:15
Damian Dunn
That's not how it works, Kristen. People don't keep mental accounting like that. It just doesn't work. If you want to have a separate account for this. If you want to use something for college that's not a 529, use a non qualified plan. But I get really uncomfortable when people start trying to play games with their funds and say, well, if this doesn't happen, then I'm going to use it for that or this. Have a clear designated purpose for the funds that you're spending. Don't dabble with mental accounting. Just set it up on this very spooky version of the Pizza Planner show.
11:56
Peter Dunn
Dame and Kristen battle to the sorry. You know, I'm kind of somewhere between you guys on this, because I agree with the mental accounting is harder than you think. I would like to give Jason the benefit of the doubt, but here's where I'm really struggling. We're missing so much information here.
12:16
Kristen Ahlenius
Yes.
12:17
Peter Dunn
So much information. Like there has to be pensions, and I'm going to say because it's 457 B, clearly this person works for a governmental entity, so there has to be pensions. And I feel like he just forgot to put that in there, assuming maybe we'd figure it out. But I would like to know that for sure. But it also explains how a person who's not maxing out their plans is able to retire in their 50s, because then you've got your math. What is it? You got to get to 80 or 85 with whatever that calculation is on a pension. What is that dame? I mean, you're a person.
12:57
Damian Dunn
I'm not sure.
13:00
Peter Dunn
But I will say here's where the mental accounting sort of gets weird in these situations. And not necessarily jason's is where you have two kids and 1529 and you're like, well, half of it's for Rick and the other half for his brother Dick. And it's like, well, that's not going to work because inevitably Dick's going to use it all and then there'll be no money left for Rick dick.
13:21
Kristen Ahlenius
So can't they just open another.
13:29
Peter Dunn
I mean, they could just call it the Education Roth, but it's just mean. Yeah, they could.
13:36
Kristen Ahlenius
Then there's no mental oh, I still don't like it.
13:41
Damian Dunn
I still don't like it.
13:42
Peter Dunn
You know what? I kind of like that's a good solution, Kristen.
13:45
Kristen Ahlenius
That's what I'm saying. Just establish a separate account.
13:50
Damian Dunn
Actually, I'm really kind of tickled that the UGMA or UTMA wasn't mentioned as one of the possible solutions. Know, on that note, I hope that Jason do whatever you want because you didn't mention that. But I don't know. There's so many questions, and the best news for Jason is one of us is surely right. He's just going to have to decide which one.
14:11
Peter Dunn
My favorite part about this, though, honestly, is that there is a way for someone in their younger 40s who isn't independently wealthy, who isn't maxing out all of their vehicles, to say, I'm going to be retired in 14 years. That's wild and wildly unusual in the day and age in which we live. And that is why some people choose to work for government entities, because you can pull that sort of thing off.
14:40
Damian Dunn
Absolutely.
14:41
Kristen Ahlenius
Go, Jason.
14:42
Peter Dunn
All right. Coming up after the break so you realize that you need to make a behavior change, but you don't know where the toolbox exists that has the changes in it. We'll show you that toolbox next. I'm Peter Dunn. I'm just trying something different there. No, that was great. Beautiful. I was accused of doing too many voices on the show last week and that people were playing drinking games to my voices, which I think is complete garbage. Sorry. So, Dame, did you watch the show last week before you popped in and told us your tale?
15:18
Damian Dunn
I jumped in when I thought you would be in the third segment to see how things were going, and I kind of scrolled through the comments that were being made and I saw lots of drink being thrown in there, so I was like, oh. And then I think you said it on the outro of the third segment saying, oh, there's a voice drink. And so I picked up on it.
15:38
Peter Dunn
Do either of you have any thoughts on President Biden's executive order or not executive order? His pardon of simple federal marijuana charges and exonerating people in those charges. Anybody have any thoughts on.
15:54
Damian Dunn
Some I guess I'll call it reform. I think some reform has been needed in that area for a long time. I also think the timing of this is rather curious.
16:06
Peter Dunn
Okay.
16:07
Kristen Ahlenius
Skeptic always.
16:11
Peter Dunn
Since no one asked. I'm not a marijuana guy. It's not my vice. Right? I've got various other vices that are much softer, but I think this was long overdue. And while I hear you on that, Dame, like, the timing, anything timing wise feels weird right now, six weeks away from midterm. There's no time like the present to exonerate someone from some BS charge. You know what I mean?
16:40
Damian Dunn
That is true. I will agree.
16:43
Peter Dunn
I don't know. I was in a two hour meeting yesterday. I got out and saw that news. I was like, okay, well, yeah, that's great. Good for that. Okay. Money and green candy. It's a euphemism for marijuana. I don't know. Not my thing, but whatever.
16:59
Damian Dunn
Didn't you have a company named Green Candy? We're moving on. I have no idea what that was, because you cut out on my damn. You got to figure out your audio. I'm not thinking it's coming from my side.
17:13
Peter Dunn
Well, Kristen can hear me perfectly fine. Right, Kristen? That's true, Kristen. Two to one.
17:19
Damian Dunn
Well, you know what? I'll just step back out and come back in on the fourth segment, and you guys can handle things from here.
17:24
Kristen Ahlenius
Probably not, because you're supposed to lead.
17:26
Peter Dunn
The next segment, which starts in three, two, one. Back on the show. You know, let's say you realize things are not going the way you want them to go in your financial life, and you think, I got to make a change. I got to make a behavior change. But that is hard to do, and it is hard to make those changes stick. Damien Dunn circulated a piece somewhere around this topic this week amongst our people, and he is here to share his findings, his extensive research project, which involved clicking and reading. Dame, what do we need to know?
18:04
Damian Dunn
I don't want to take more credit than I need to. Technically, it was emailed to me, so all I had to do was open an email and start reading. I didn't really have to hunt for it all that. But yes, tons of research time taken up to this. Pete, you and I at one point in our lives, were financial advisors.
18:22
Peter Dunn
True.
18:22
Damian Dunn
And we, as part of that role, gave people advice on how to change their financial lives, reach their financial goals. Sometimes that advice was heated, sometimes it was not. Would you agree with that?
18:39
Peter Dunn
100% true. I would note one of the more infuriating thing was when someone would ask me what I thought, what they should do, I would tell them what to do, and they would dismiss that idea and say, what's another idea? So basically, what's your second best piece of advice? That always made me go nuts. Yeah.
18:58
Damian Dunn
Well, Pete, it turns out our experiences weren't all that uncommon. According to a study follow me on this. 70% of financial planning clients implement less than 20% of the recommendations they're given.
19:15
Peter Dunn
I would have guessed on that because I didn't read the data, I would have said it's probably higher than that.
19:21
Damian Dunn
Yeah. This is a best efforts study that was given to financial advisors. So they may be padding their own stats a little bit here. But yeah, the bottom line is a lot of the advice that's given to people, even if it's in their own best interest, isn't followed. So what this piece suggests is people need to consider commitment devices. That's right, commitment devices.
19:50
Peter Dunn
Should I be thinking like, something abstract or should I be thinking something that you can buy at a Radio Shack? What are we talking here?
19:58
Damian Dunn
Maybe somewhere in between we'll discover this. There are nine suggestions over three different categories of somebody's financial life.
20:05
Peter Dunn
All right.
20:06
Damian Dunn
The first one in general is improving investment behavior, which is something that I think a lot of people are probably struggling with right now with the volatility we'll call it in the markets. The first suggestion is an investment policy statement. Pete, did you ever use investment policy statements with your no.
20:26
Peter Dunn
And in fact, I have to say that I feel like you introduced me to IPS. I did a version of it where a person just writes themselves a letter that says, hey, open this when the market looks nuts. And they open it and they're like, hey, nothing's changed. The market's just going nuts. Your goals have not changed. Settle down. Which is not an IPS, but it can be a good reminder.
20:49
Damian Dunn
Sure. Kristen, are you familiar with IPSS?
20:52
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah, actually. So I would also like the record to show that I was an investment advisor for like a minute.
20:57
Damian Dunn
That's true, you were. I totally forgot about that.
20:59
Kristen Ahlenius
I must.
21:04
Peter Dunn
This conflict today.
21:07
Kristen Ahlenius
But the class that I just finished up that we mentioned earlier, you were required to put an investment policy statement in your financial plan. So academically that's something that's being taught across the board at this point.
21:20
Damian Dunn
Well, Ms. Knowital, do you want to take a quick explanation to the listeners about what an IPS is?
21:26
Kristen Ahlenius
Well, an investment policy statement isn't a one size fits all thing. So our example that were given was just a one pager that the planner would provide to the client that had some key metrics, what is your risk tolerance, what is the purpose of this specific account, et cetera. But investment policy statements, I think based on what I was reading as part of my class, can be very in depth, no?
21:54
Damian Dunn
Oh, yes, totally. Some of the IPS that we did were for community foundations where we got really into the weeds on what sort of investments were allowed, what the range of return investment return was supposed to be. And it really just guides and structures your investing life so that when times like this come along, as long as you're abiding by your IPS, there's really not a whole lot for you to do. You just weather the storm and move on because you're thinking about these IPS in more sane and stable times to give you the courage to try and get through times like this.
22:31
Kristen Ahlenius
That's a good word for it.
22:33
Peter Dunn
What other devices related to investment behavior can a person utilize?
22:39
Damian Dunn
This one is more advisor based, but I think it's a really interesting idea. It's a fee reduction reward.
22:47
Peter Dunn
Yeah.
22:48
Damian Dunn
So if you're charging AUM fees says if you're charging AUM fees, you can offer a fee reduction reward to the client for staying invested as suggested. For example, suppose the client starts off with a 1% AUM fee. You can offer a 15 BIP reduction if they stay invested and follow the plan for the first three years.
23:08
Peter Dunn
I have never, ever heard of anyone doing anything remotely close to this. Have you, dame no.
23:15
Damian Dunn
I've actually heard this concept before. I don't know anybody that's implemented it, but I have heard of the concept.
23:21
Peter Dunn
Kristen do you think that would keep someone invested?
23:27
Kristen Ahlenius
No, because you're not generally writing a check for your investment advice. So that money. I think a lot of people I think it feels like play money, even though you might see your quarterly fee or however it's billed to you. I don't know that really changes anything, but I like the idea.
23:50
Peter Dunn
The weird thing is, okay, so you're trying to reward behavior during bad times, like reward good behavior in bad times. So if a person's account is falling and you go to reward them, the advisor is making less because there's less under management and they're lowering their fee. So unless the reward comes after the climb, again, I don't see that happening. I'm going to say 99 out of 100 advisors would not do this. And I'm only hedging because I don't like absolutes. I've never even considered this for anyone.
24:33
Damian Dunn
We only make more money when you make more money.
24:35
Peter Dunn
Pete I can't with that today. I can't with that today. What is the third device to improve investing behavior?
24:44
Damian Dunn
Stop loss orders.
24:46
Peter Dunn
Well, yeah, I mean, come on. That's smart, right?
24:49
Damian Dunn
Yeah. That way you don't have to think about it. You know that you've set your bottom dollar and once it hits that, you're going to go to cash and deal with the consequences. Whatever happens after that happens, it really.
25:01
Peter Dunn
Prevents you from betting your bottom dollar.
25:04
Damian Dunn
Yeah.
25:05
Peter Dunn
As annie reference.
25:07
Damian Dunn
Yeah. We're both bald, so I think we're battling for the role of whatever that guy's name was.
25:14
Peter Dunn
Daddy Warbucks. Kristen stop loss orders for someone who holds ETFs or mutual funds. I mean, that's something that people typically aren't going to do. This is probably going to be for individual equities, right?
25:26
Kristen Ahlenius
Yes. And in the article, they point out that a lot of people aren't trading individual equities anyway. But I did want to ask I want to circle back to two really quickly, if we can. Who decides if the client did what they were supposed to do. Does the investment policy statement govern that? Because I'm still really kind of struggling with this.
25:47
Peter Dunn
Well, it's like when my kids, I say, have good behavior and I'll take you for ice cream, they're like, did we have good behavior? And I'll be like, not really. You didn't bring me my chips.
25:56
Kristen Ahlenius
So maybe that's how the advisor gets out of it.
26:00
Peter Dunn
I don't want to throw advisors under the bus because we are very pro advisor around here, but we are also trying to be very transparent that I just literally have never heard of anyone doing this.
26:10
Damian Dunn
But you're not against the idea. Do you think it would motivate an investor to just toe the line?
26:19
Peter Dunn
No, not a chance. Do you?
26:24
Damian Dunn
Probably not.
26:30
Peter Dunn
It's so altruistic, but almost pointlessly altruistic.
26:35
Damian Dunn
I think it's a relationship building tool more than anything else to keep the assets where they are.
26:43
Peter Dunn
Coming up after the break, more behavior reinforcement devices. And I don't mean shock collars. That's next right here. I'm Pete the planner. That was a comment for Kristen the shock collar, because I think most dog lovers hate shock collars.
27:02
Kristen Ahlenius
You call them an e collar, and then people don't get as upset about it.
27:05
Peter Dunn
Really?
27:06
Kristen Ahlenius
I didn't know that my dog has an e collar.
27:10
Peter Dunn
Mandy makes a really interesting point on the live stream. I would not think option two would be compliance friendly. That's an amazing point. So for everyone who doesn't understand what that means in our industry, in the financial industry, there's a compliance department that is there to protect everyone involved but primarily the broker dealer and to make sure that people don't get sued or you're being on the up and up. And sometimes compliance shuts down. Otherwise good ideas because they don't pass the sniff test of legality or something that can't be sued. And I think she makes a good point there. Probably. All right, so here's what we're going to do. We are going to do another segment. We'll pick it back up. What's the next area?
28:04
Damian Dunn
Well, we've got choices. If we think we might only make it through one of these sections, I want to make sure we get to the one we want. We can do improving savings behavior or improving spending behavior.
28:20
Peter Dunn
Kristen.
28:24
Kristen Ahlenius
There'S probably not as much on the spending behavior as I'm kind of like glancing it. I think that the saving behavior. There's probably more meat on that bone.
28:33
Damian Dunn
Okay, let's go.
28:35
Peter Dunn
Kristen, what was your undergrad GPA?
28:38
Kristen Ahlenius
Not that good.
28:40
Peter Dunn
Not a 4.0?
28:42
Kristen Ahlenius
No, not a 4.0 over three, but less than four.
28:46
Peter Dunn
Dame. I assume if we had to rank how our GPAs went in undergrad, it went Kristen, dame and me.
28:53
Damian Dunn
I would assume that's probably correct, too.
28:55
Peter Dunn
Okay.
28:57
Kristen Ahlenius
Maybe I'll tell you about the story.
29:00
Peter Dunn
Oh, there's a story?
29:01
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah.
29:02
Peter Dunn
Is it worth sharing on the radio?
29:05
Kristen Ahlenius
I don't want people to think I'm not qualified to give advice.
29:09
Peter Dunn
What about me?
29:12
Kristen Ahlenius
It's just the whole thing.
29:14
Peter Dunn
Okay, well, maybe at Reunion we'll do it over a beverage. At Reunion. All right, let's do a show. And three, two, one. Back on the Pete the Planner show. Talking behavior reinforcement devices. You're thinking like a nicotine patch, like a I don't know what we're talking about. Investment and savings and spending. Behavior modification devices. Damian Dunn has done an extensive research project on this that involves opening an email and having his eyes tickle the words until he consumes the information and then regurgitates it like a mama bird feeding a baby right here on the radio show. So, Dame Kristen, your face, what was your face doing there?
30:08
Kristen Ahlenius
Really taking that statement in. Thanks for that.
30:11
Peter Dunn
Just trying to paint a picture. Dame, let's do savings devices.
30:16
Damian Dunn
Improving savings behavior, something that a fair number of people can struggle with. We've got three suggestions on how to improve savings. Number one, automate it just come on. Yeah, come on. Yeah, but it's something we say that, but I don't think a lot of people take advantage of it. Kristen, do you agree?
30:39
Kristen Ahlenius
I mean, the research from the beginning of the article suggests that people don't implement the recommendations. So yes.
30:49
Peter Dunn
If I think about the easiest way to improve a person's financial life, this has to be at the top of the list, right? Yeah, 100%.
30:58
Damian Dunn
We think about how easy it is to contribute to retirement accounts through payroll deduction. That's automated. That's the kind of stuff that we're talking about. Whether you're setting up an automated transfer from your checking account to a savings account. Maybe you take the step of having part of your paycheck sent directly to a savings account, set up automated transfers for 529 or Roths or whatever the case may be. If you don't have to think about it, there's a much better chance that it's going to happen consistently.
31:31
Peter Dunn
Yeah, there are people who can take payday and then jump in and do a transfer on payday, you know what I mean? Like jump in, transfer from checking to savings or make a deposit here or there, which maybe is the second best way to do that, but automation is pretty know. Kristen, do you ever wonder you're a younger person than Damien, who's definitely more in the middle aged group, but do you ever think about what people did prior to digital money? How did this get done? Then.
32:10
Kristen Ahlenius
I would have struggled because I automate everything. I know what day expenses are going to come out of my checking account. My retirement contributions are automatic, but I will say that not to throw him under the bus. My dad doesn't do any of that. So I see people who are on the complete opposite end of that spectrum and I just can't imagine spending that much time calling At T to pay my phone. Know?
32:40
Peter Dunn
Dane, what did people do in terms of funding accounts prior to digital money?
32:49
Damian Dunn
They use these things called checks and put them in envelopes and use these things called stamps and use the United States Postal Service to be the intermediary to complete these transactions. And it took days.
33:08
Peter Dunn
I remember in high school, I used to mail checks to Putnam because I was investing Putnam Growth Fund. I remember writing checks to Putnam Growth Fund, and I feel like probably American Funds. And there was another one. I can't think of it, but maybe Dreyfus or something like that. Pretty wild, right?
33:32
Damian Dunn
Franklin Templeton could have been.
33:34
Peter Dunn
Yeah.
33:35
Kristen Ahlenius
I cannot imagine. I didn't have a checkbook until, like, two months.
33:41
Peter Dunn
Yeah. What?
33:45
Kristen Ahlenius
I just so how is that possible? What do you need to write a check for?
33:52
Peter Dunn
Investing in Dreyfus mutual funds.
33:57
Kristen Ahlenius
ACH.
33:59
Peter Dunn
Dame is that a little surprising to you? To.
34:05
Damian Dunn
Your groceries? She takes her jar of loose change.
34:12
Kristen Ahlenius
I would be more prone to do that than write a check.
34:15
Peter Dunn
Jason makes a good point in the Facebook Live chat. Kristen makes them feel very old.
34:21
Damian Dunn
Imagine working with her on a daily basis.
34:24
Peter Dunn
Dame, what other devices should a person use? Clearly not checks. What else?
34:29
Damian Dunn
The idea of using restricted savings accounts. So you're going to put more money into retirement type accounts. 529 life insurance, if you're so inclined to use whole life insurance, accelerate the payment of your mortgage. Try and make sure there is some friction between you and the money that you are attempting to save.
34:53
Peter Dunn
Restricted accounts, to me, makes it seem like put money into a CD or something. That's the way I read that.
35:00
Damian Dunn
You didn't read anything, but I think a CD would be a perfectly fine way to go about this. But we often say, you know what? If you want to try and build an emergency fund, but you've got a track record of raiding your savings account for non emergency purposes, try and figure out a way to put some barrier to access between you and that account, whether that's using a bank across town that you rarely drive past or an online savings account. Something where you know it's going to take you some concerted effort to get to that money. I think that could even potentially be considered under a restricted savings account.
35:43
Peter Dunn
Go ahead, Kristen.
35:45
Kristen Ahlenius
Where does that fall apart, though? Because the barrier that you place is only as effective as you not wanting to withstand whatever the consequence is. And if you're someone who behaviorally tends to just kind of do what you want in this space, do I really care that I had to pay the interest penalty on the money that was in a CD?
36:17
Damian Dunn
You've got to know yourself. I mean, it's the same reason why some people can start cleaning up their diet and still keep some of the same trash food in their house, because they spooky season going on behind me. Look at that.
36:29
Peter Dunn
Well, there's no visual references on the radio. People don't know what's happening, but looks like he's at a rave and we need to put a disclaimer in the live stream to make sure that no one begins to have neurological issues. Chris.
36:46
Damian Dunn
I think that light died. Sorry about that, everyone. That's what it looked like.
36:53
Peter Dunn
So obviously I think the investing devices, behavior devices were really solid these so far, and the savings ones are solid, but they just seem incredibly obvious. What is the third one?
37:05
Damian Dunn
This one's? I already think you're going to flip out on this one.
37:10
Peter Dunn
I'm going to be upset about it.
37:11
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah, you're not going to like it.
37:13
Peter Dunn
Oh, yeah.
37:13
Damian Dunn
Let's go tax withholding.
37:17
Peter Dunn
What's that now? Chuck tax.
37:20
Damian Dunn
Have more taxes withheld from your paycheck.
37:28
Peter Dunn
So look, I actually don't I don't care if people get big refunds in lieu of having more cash flow. That doesn't bother me because I feel like sometimes it's accidental and you just don't fix it or like you set it up wrong one way and then you get used to it. But to go in to do that mechanism assumes that all of a sudden you're going to be a wizard with money when the big chunk comes in april. That doesn't make sense to me.
37:57
Kristen Ahlenius
Want to like it?
37:59
Damian Dunn
You want to like it?
38:00
Kristen Ahlenius
I want to like it. And here's why. I know we're almost out of time, but it requires someone to make two good decisions, the withholding decision and then make a good decision with the refund versus making a good decision every payday. So I almost want to like it from a behavioral perspective, but I don't know if I could get on board.
38:23
Peter Dunn
I actually really like that thinking. Kristen the less good decisions you have to make, the better, which is the point of automation and probably the point of this whole thing. Dame, you want to put a bow on this before we head to break?
38:38
Damian Dunn
If you're really struggling with any of these, there's a universal commitment device for all behavior. Make your intention public. Put it on social, tell your friends, tell your family. That way they can guilt you into it and shame you later if you fail.
38:50
Peter Dunn
Hey, guys. A lot of you been wondering where I got this cool smokey the bear hat. I got it in Nashville. You mean like an influencer? Is that what you yes, exactly.
39:00
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah.
39:00
Peter Dunn
Coming up after the break, biggest waste of money of the week. I'm Pete the planner. Kristen, do you have a smokey the bear hat that all the ladies are wearing these days?
39:08
Kristen Ahlenius
I don't know if I know what that is.
39:09
Damian Dunn
Is that really something?
39:11
Peter Dunn
Well, I think you know who smokey the bear is.
39:14
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah. Okay.
39:15
Peter Dunn
Do you know he has a hat?
39:17
Kristen Ahlenius
Yes.
39:18
Damian Dunn
Oh, that hat?
39:19
Peter Dunn
Yeah, the hat that women of your age wear all the time and you throw on whatever that hat I call it smokey the bear hat. I don't know what it's called.
39:31
Damian Dunn
I genuinely thought you were talking like a ball cap with Smokey the Bear on it. I was really confused.
39:36
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah, I was very confused. And no, I don't have anything like this. I did Google it just to be sure.
39:41
Peter Dunn
You have a cowboy hat, though.
39:43
Kristen Ahlenius
No, I have a big head. I can't wear a hat.
39:46
Peter Dunn
You have a big head.
39:47
Kristen Ahlenius
I do have a very big head.
39:48
Peter Dunn
I'm going to stare at it next week when I see you.
39:51
Kristen Ahlenius
Please.
39:52
Peter Dunn
Oh, my gosh, here comes sputnik.
39:56
Kristen Ahlenius
I have a big forehead, too. I have a five head.
39:59
Peter Dunn
I've never noticed you had a big forehead.
40:00
Kristen Ahlenius
I have a big forehead, man, you're.
40:02
Peter Dunn
Really anything else about you I can really pick apart next week when we're all together.
40:06
Kristen Ahlenius
Please don't.
40:07
Damian Dunn
I mean, compared to Pete and I, it looks very small.
40:10
Peter Dunn
That's true. I have to tell everyone. Oh, my gosh, Caitlin, I'm sorry. Live stream. People are really her big head has to hold the ego.
40:29
Kristen Ahlenius
That's kind. Caitlin. So Caitlin also has a really big forehead. And one time one of our friends.
40:35
Peter Dunn
Now we're talking about people.
40:36
Kristen Ahlenius
Well, we look the same, so it's one of the traits that we share. And one of our friends said that you could land a 747 on her forehead. That's how big.
40:47
Damian Dunn
Could we send Caitlin a link to the show so she could join us and we could just watch the two of them?
40:52
Peter Dunn
That would be funny sometimes.
40:53
Kristen Ahlenius
Caitlin just exited the live stream just now just to avoid that. I'm telling you, she's gone.
40:59
Peter Dunn
Well, she doesn't like the public speaking sort of thing.
41:03
Kristen Ahlenius
No.
41:04
Peter Dunn
By the way, there's no show next week, everybody. No podcast, no radio show, no live stream. I'm going to be in Manhattan at this time next week.
41:14
Damian Dunn
You mean in some Manhattan's or in the Manhattan?
41:17
Peter Dunn
Probably Manhattan during the day. In Manhattan's at night. But yeah, kids first trip to New York, so we'll see what happens. I think at this point of time, we will be inside the Statue of Liberty at this time next Friday. Wow, lady Liberty up and close and personal. Where's the voice? I don't so dumb. I'm just drinking dumb drink. Let's do bomb and news and then vomanos, which is Spanish for let's go. I don't know. Hey, can I make some work related comments that no one cares about because no one works with us that listen to the show? We have a new coworker who makes her own gourmet ice cream.
42:08
Damian Dunn
That's like her hobby, gourmet ice cream.
42:11
Peter Dunn
She was telling me some of the flavors that she makes. Sir. What intense.
42:19
Damian Dunn
Does she make enough for everybody?
42:21
Peter Dunn
She said she is going to bring some in sometime. And I was like, hey, you don't need to do that to gain favor with everyone. But you do need it to gain favor with me.
42:30
Damian Dunn
I think sometime could very easily be next week to get the maximum benefit for everyone.
42:37
Peter Dunn
Yeah, we'll see what happens. That's it? That's all that work comments I have. Okay, bomb in three, two, one. This week's biggest waste of money of the week, right here on the Pete the Planner show is the Caviar Daytona iPhone 14 Pro. With the recent launch of the iPhone 14 Pro, caviar has updated its top line ultra luxury case for the new release. The Caviar Daytona combines the analog and digital by adding a Rolex Daytona to the iPhone case. An actual mechanical chronograph rolex Daytona. The case draws inspiration like the Daytona from racing cars and features three decorative gauges and three toggle switches. In addition to the Rolex a one of one creation, the Daytona includes an iPhone 14 Pro. Max I assume that means the phone as well. Kristen why do I have to go first? What do you think this iPhone 14 case costs a brother?
43:53
Kristen Ahlenius
It includes the phone.
43:54
Peter Dunn
You said it includes the phone.
43:57
Damian Dunn
Yeah, whatever you're thinking, double it.
44:00
Peter Dunn
Don't help her out here. You guys fought the whole show and now you're helping her?
44:05
Kristen Ahlenius
Well, originally I was going to say five grand, but now I'm nervous.
44:08
Peter Dunn
Okay, we'll say ten grand.
44:09
Damian Dunn
Okay.
44:09
Kristen Ahlenius
Say 1010.
44:11
Peter Dunn
Okay, ten grand.
44:13
Damian Dunn
David this has got to be $85,000.
44:19
Peter Dunn
Dame should have doubled it.
44:22
Kristen Ahlenius
My gosh.
44:24
Peter Dunn
$250 Dame. What's in the news this week?
44:30
Damian Dunn
Kristen? The Daytona. The watch itself was going to be like, probably 2015 to 20 anyway.
44:36
Kristen Ahlenius
Your phone tells you the time.
44:38
Damian Dunn
Yes, but it's not a Rolex phone.
44:41
Kristen Ahlenius
Wow.
44:43
Damian Dunn
I know. Pete, since it's spooky season, as you've pointed out a few times, spooky season. Wag survey, I'm assuming that's a pet magazine wives and Girlfriends yes. Found that 30% of dog parents and 26% of cat parents expect to spend more than $50 on their pets Halloween costume this year. Interestingly, only 44% of individuals who responded to the survey anticipated the cost of their human child's costume exceeding $50.
45:18
Peter Dunn
What have been your best pet costumes that you've had for your pets over the years? I have three that worked out. Really? Actually, four. We had a pug named Otis the black Pug. One year we dressed him as a Dalmatian. We bought like, a toddler's Dalmatian costume and we dressed him as Dalmatian. One year he was a hot dog, and one year he was a rabbi. We got him like a yamaka, like.
45:42
Damian Dunn
A little prayer cloth.
45:43
Peter Dunn
Did he have no, we didn't do the curls. What about you, Kristen? Best dog costumes for Mojito and Daiquiri, or whatever the other dog's name is.
45:54
Kristen Ahlenius
Her name's Kalua. You were close. Okay, so the only Halloween costume I've ever done for them was I took a sheet and cut eye holes in a nose hole so they could be ghosts. That's the only thing I've ever done and that cost me nothing.
46:08
Peter Dunn
That's nice. Dame and do you dress your pets?
46:10
Damian Dunn
No, I'm not fun. We've established this.
46:15
Peter Dunn
That's fair. What else is in the news.
46:17
Damian Dunn
Don't trust Jim Kramer? Well, now you can put your money where your heart is. A new inverse ETF filed with the SEC Wednesday will invest in basically the opposite of what the Mad Money host recommends. The investment strategy of doing the opposite of what Kramer says to do has been running joke for years. One Twitter account dedicated to the practice has over 100,000 followers. But although he's perhaps best known for recommending Bear Stern stock weeks ahead of its 2008 collapse, past studies have shown that in aggregate, Kramer's predictions are mostly mild. That doesn't mean the inverse ETF concept can't work. Sark. Sark, an ETF that bets against Kathy Woods Arc Innovation Fund, is up 60% year to date, while Arc itself is down 59% because that's how inverses work over the same period. And Tuttle Capital Management, the creator of Sark, is also behind the Kramer fund.
47:12
Damian Dunn
The inverse Kramer ETF is just the latest in a string of starkey funds that give investors the opportunity to put money behind their doubts or faith in a given figure. In September, the SEC received filings for two ETFs that would mimic the trades of lawmakers.
47:28
Peter Dunn
I would totally get in the lawmakers fund. I think that is amazing. I have to note on Monday, Jim Kramer tweeted or there was a joke or I guess this might have been satire, someone had Jim Kramer account tweet, it's incredibly unlikely that Russia will use nuclear weapons and a person retweeted it and said, get to your bunkers. The best. It's the best. I don't know why. It's not like we're making fun of but he's been so massively wrong while being so confident that he's massively right that it is kind of funny.
48:05
Damian Dunn
I think part of it's just him and his delivery. He's not a calm person. He is very aggressive in his picks.
48:14
Kristen Ahlenius
Can I ask a technical?
48:16
Damian Dunn
Sure, sure.
48:18
Kristen Ahlenius
How's he allowed to do that?
48:20
Peter Dunn
He doesn't have clients, but yeah, I always wonder. He has to disclose his positions in relation to what he's saying. He'll say, I'm long Amazon and Amazon's going to go down or something like that. Right?
48:35
Damian Dunn
It's the same reason some radio personalities can get away with giving general investment advice because they don't have clients.
48:43
Peter Dunn
Dame, you didn't bring up the Dave Portnoy bar stool investing video that you and I were enjoying this week?
48:52
Damian Dunn
No, I did not, because video clips don't play well on the radio, so I thought I'd skip that. But if you're familiar with Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool, he picked up day trading during the pandemic and killed it for quite a while because, well, everything was going up. And then things started to turn for him and his fortunes. And the video just kind of walks you through the emotions of doing really well and then struggling by date.
49:21
Kristen Ahlenius
Christine I haven't seen it, but now I'm going to look it up.
49:24
Peter Dunn
Oh, it's amazing. Not as amazing as weights and fish. There we go. But it's a pretty good video. Dame, what else is the news?
49:32
Damian Dunn
In a cautionary tale for all influencers, kim Kardashian is going to have to pay $1.26 million to settle an SEC investigation into her allegedly shady promotion of the crypto asset Ethereum Max. But if we can't trust a celebrity shilling crypto, who can we trust? Pete according to the SEC, kardashian failed to disclose a $250,000 payment she received for a June 2021 Instagram story promoting the crypto asset, thereby violating US. Law that requires people promoting securities to disclose if they were paid to do so.
50:07
Peter Dunn
I have to admit, I was a little bit surprised by this story. It sounds like I'm setting up a joke, but I'm not. I was surprised by this story because someone who does as many ads is a seasoned influencer. You would think they know they have to disclose it's an ad, right? I mean, that seems like table stakes, as they say.
50:27
Damian Dunn
I would guess that her team whiffed really bad on this, and I'm not sure how that slipped through her team because, you know, she's not the one making the tweets and making the decisions on all of this. It's happening behind the scenes. So somebody really dropped the ball on that.
50:44
Kristen Ahlenius
Or maybe they thought they weren't going to get caught because there's a very popular influencer right now that's under fire, because they weren't disclosing that a lot of their campaigns were ads and they were getting paid. So maybe they just didn't think that anybody would do anything about it.
51:03
Peter Dunn
Why would you not disclose it? I don't understand.
51:05
Kristen Ahlenius
I have no idea.
51:06
Damian Dunn
I don't either, but she had 250,000,000 followers. There's no way that it wasn't going to get noticed.
51:13
Peter Dunn
Speaking of influencers, there's talk that my 13 year old daughter might run TikTok for me this summer as an internship. She will create a pizza planner TikTok account. Yes, I will be in the videos, but she will do all the thumbing, if you will. She will create things and whatnot. And so she's really hot on the idea. I'm considering it. And I'm curious on Kristen. What do you think about that?
51:40
Kristen Ahlenius
I think you should do it. But TikTok twitter can be a very mean place, but TikTok can be even more so. Prepare yourself for that.
51:50
Damian Dunn
I think your team takes the arrows on those, not you. So just make sure that she's prepared.
51:58
Peter Dunn
For oh, well, I think that just ruined it. I don't need her to see people being mean to me because she herself, at 13 years old, is mean enough. And it's with that we end the show. Kristen, I'm excited to see you and your giant head this week. Dame, it's good to see you dry and out of the hurricane's path. To everyone else, I'm sending you good vibes because good vibes are all that's in the budget, especially the cost of large hats. That's all we have. So goodbye to you. This is Pete the planner. Good day. That was a reference to your big head. It just didn't it didn't land. It didn't land, like, 747 47. We're going to have name tags at reunion because not everyone knows each other. Should we reference the size of your cabesa on your name tag?
52:50
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah, why not?
52:51
Peter Dunn
Can I bring a tape measure and we can measure the circumference of your head?
52:57
Kristen Ahlenius
No.
52:57
Peter Dunn
Here's what we're going to do. We're going to measure the circumference of her head dame. And then we're going to do some math, and we're going to figure out how many jelly beans could fit in her head. And then we're going to have a contest here on the show to see who can guess how many jelly beans could fit in her head.
53:11
Damian Dunn
That's a very fall thing to do.
53:13
Peter Dunn
Candy corn. We'll do candy corn.
53:15
Damian Dunn
Candy corn perfect.
53:16
Kristen Ahlenius
As long as I don't have to do the math.
53:18
Peter Dunn
So which way is it big? Is it, like, tall, is it wide? Or is it, like front to back big or the whole thing?
53:26
Kristen Ahlenius
The whole thing is big. My dad says that I'm like a rotweiler.
53:31
Peter Dunn
Do rotweilers have big heads?
53:33
Kristen Ahlenius
Yeah, they're like pit bulls. They have, like, a really big head.
53:37
Damian Dunn
Do you drool a lot?
53:39
Kristen Ahlenius
Not usually.
53:43
Peter Dunn
Wow. I'm not going to be able to not look at your head when I see you.
53:50
Kristen Ahlenius
That's fine. That's why I wear my hair curly a lot, too, because you can't tell as much.
53:56
Damian Dunn
I don't know if I've maybe only seen it curly once. Of course, I've only seen you curly or seen you, like, five times.
54:04
Kristen Ahlenius
Oh. In person.
54:08
Peter Dunn
Okay. The show is getting really good at dame. I'm glad you're safe, Kristen. I hope you can fit through the door on your way out to everybody else. Stay getting money.
