00:02
Peter Dunn
Oh. It's March Madness, everyone. Hello? It's Peter Dunn, the Pete the Planner show. Good to be with you once again. It's a podcast. It's a radio show. It's a live streaming event. It's just the output of a person who feels they have pent up creativity on a Friday that needs to get out. Alas, I'm joined by others, and by others, I mean one other. And it's Damian Dunn, vice president of Advice, here at Your Money line. Hello, Damian.
00:30
Damian Dunn
Good day, Pete.
00:31
Peter Dunn
Good day to you. We are sans Ahlenius today. Sans Ahlenius. She is at something else. I don't know what she's doing. We are doing an emergency show next week, but by the sense that it is an emergency show. I don't think it's an emergency show. We're recording on Wednesday afternoon, is all I'm saying.
00:56
Damian Dunn
We are.
00:57
Peter Dunn
You aren't you're on vacation. Oh, you're not?
01:02
Damian Dunn
That's my kids spring break week. But no, I'm only taking, like, one afternoon off to go pretend like I'm a great dad and go to the movies or something.
01:11
Peter Dunn
Is your mic selected right? Great time to on the live chat. It sounds thin. I feel like you might not be coming through the mic.
01:25
Damian Dunn
Well, let's check.
01:27
Peter Dunn
I don't know. I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time in the last ten minutes. All right, everyone, this is where Dame checks. He sounds hollow. Jeremiah says it.
01:37
Damian Dunn
How about no?
01:40
Peter Dunn
Your boy is a sound engineer. What's up, man? Jeremiah, thanks for doing that and for just because you helped us out today. The show can go long if we have something to say.
01:51
Damian Dunn
There we go.
01:53
Peter Dunn
Wow. What's that like, to be right? I haven't been that right in weeks.
01:59
Damian Dunn
The thing is, I have no idea why that setting would have been changed inside of StreamYard, but here we are.
02:06
Peter Dunn
So last night it was about I was in the midst of saying something else, but last night, it's around 1030. My daughter's an 8th grader, and the way it works and where we live is she actually had to try out for the high school cheerleading team yesterday for the fall.
02:22
Damian Dunn
Wow.
02:24
Peter Dunn
I mean, it doesn't get any more caramel than that. Anyway, so we're at this point last night, it's 1030. We're waiting for an email to come in to say who made the team. And I'm sitting there, we're waiting to see distance. Does my daughter make the team? And as a dad, as a parent, where you're at? You're with me, Dave here, you're going both sides of this thing. You're like, Man, I cannot wait to hopefully celebrate this. And also, I need to be on the other side. I need to be mentally prepared for the hey, and thank God she made I don't I didn't have to have the Michael Jordan got cut from his high school basketball.
03:13
Damian Dunn
Congratulations, daughter. Done.
03:16
Peter Dunn
You know what's weird is when you and I were going through tryouts and things as kids, they felt high stakes, but somehow as a parent, they feel higher stakes. Yeah.
03:26
Damian Dunn
When you were going through tryouts, this is how they did it here. They literally posted a sheet on the wall of who made what team, and if your name wasn't on it, that wasn't it. Now kids get emails on whether or not they made a little less public.
03:40
Peter Dunn
Oh, no, let me actually, you know what? I don't know any of these coaches. I don't know what I'm going to get anybody now that you're anonymous number. And so then when they email you, they give you the number like, number 21 made it, number 22 made it. And then you just have to know your number and then that's how you know you made it. But you're right. When were kids, you'd have tryouts really heavy. You'd have in a citrus cooler gatorade off to the side. I had on my Jordan threes, the originals. And then actually I didn't. What did I have? I had some reebok pumps and the coach would go offside, jot on a piece of paper, go slap it on a bulls and board. Everyone would scramble over there and be like, oh, Jimmy made it. And then person that didn't would I don't know howdy.
04:28
Peter Dunn
Jameson hello. Rick Swink. So anyway, I'm just glad I did not have them. By the way, I go to bed at like 945 if we're just being transparent here. So it's almost 1045. And I'm like, if I got to have the Michael Jordan was cut conversation at 1045, I'm not going to bed until like, one and things are getting problematic.
04:49
Damian Dunn
Yes.
04:51
Peter Dunn
Anyway, we're doing an emergency show on Wednesday and I sent the message to Kristen, but then I now part of the show. Realized that you are going to also be working next.
05:00
Damian Dunn
Yeah, I'm planning on I mean, I can take an unscheduled week off if you want.
05:05
Peter Dunn
No, I've got some travel coming up, so I can't do a show that week anyway. Hi, everybody. Damon and I did not do much conversation before went to air this morning, so we're just airing our dirty laundry in front of everyone.
05:21
Damian Dunn
We have a number of Fridays coming up that are potentially thin on the talent side. We could potentially record two shows next Wednesday, do a double.
05:31
Peter Dunn
We are always then on the talent side.
05:34
Damian Dunn
That's true.
05:37
Peter Dunn
Oh, dame. This week we got a follow up from listener Ian.
05:43
Damian Dunn
There you go.
05:44
Peter Dunn
It's pronounced we got a follow up listener. And I was right. And then I also want to talk about my IBJ column this week. Interesting email in. Want to chat through it? Could take a couple of segments. I've got an okay, biggest waste of money of the week. And then the news. Boy, that's a tease in the way.
06:04
Damian Dunn
To pump that show up, Pete. I'm looking forward to it.
06:07
Peter Dunn
Hey, we got an email from someone I'm going to read a newspaper column, and then I've got an adequate biggest waste of money. Enjoy, everybody. I am listening to a very interesting audio thing right now. You think? Was it a podcast? Is it an audiobook? What is it? It's sort of a combination. So if I may explain, I have a very long flight coming up. Jameson is so glad that he tuned in. It's amazing. So I have a very long flight coming up, so I'm trying to load up my audio stuff. So John Ronson. John Ronson. J-O-N-R-O-N-S-O-N john Ronson is one of my favorite favorite writers. He writes nonfiction, sort of cultural critiques. And he wrote a book called so you've been publicly just and he's funny and he's British. And the audio versions of what he does, he reads it. He's just quirky and funny, sort of a David Sederis type, funny reading.
07:18
Peter Dunn
And by reading, I'm listening to a series of podcasts he did for the BBC. But you can only get it via Audible, from what I understand. And it's about the various culture wars that exist and how they actually got started. How did this hot button issue become the hot button issue for this group of people? What's the genesis of that? And he goes back and tells stories from the how we got so divisive on so many topics. What was the jumping off point? Really interesting. In fact, one of the ones I'm listening to right now is how the Internet sort of became the people's Internet, as opposed to this idea that it was going to be controlled by a group of people. And the name of the podcast, or the name of that bit, is called the Scottish Jewish Joke because one of the earliest people who was involved with the Internet was outdoor no pulled an off color joke.
08:22
Peter Dunn
And really it began to blossom, the Internet, because he got shamed for telling three guys walk into a bar joke, right? And so it's like, how did we get to these fascinating, like, well researched it's called Things Fell Apart. Things fell apart by John Ronson. I highly encourage you listen to it.
08:42
Damian Dunn
So he said he's British. I think I heard that.
08:45
Peter Dunn
But he lives in America and he writes about America.
08:48
Damian Dunn
That's what I was going for. Was he telling these conflicts from an American perspective or European perspective? Because they could be drastically different in some cases. But that's good to know.
09:04
Peter Dunn
He's written a lot about Alex Jones, but he did so four or five years ago and what had happened in the previous 1520 years? You remember that George Clooney movie, men Who Stare at Goats?
09:17
Damian Dunn
Have you ever I remember hearing it. I never saw it.
09:20
Peter Dunn
He wrote that book. And the movie is based on the book.
09:23
Damian Dunn
Oh, okay.
09:23
Peter Dunn
Yeah. Anyway, john Ronson, ladies and gentlemen. Dane, what are you listening to right now?
09:30
Damian Dunn
Sorry, I have a smattering of podcasts that I just flipped through, but I just got a new book that I'm going to review for potential use with my team called I Hear You, and it's about active listening and empathizing and making sure that your communication skills are as good as they can be.
09:49
Peter Dunn
I will check that out. All right, we're going to start with my IBJ column. I will read it, we will answer it and go through it together. So let's do that and get my timer started. I just pulled up my calculator, so that's been that sort of week. Board meeting. It was board meeting week. Dave. That's a good time. Okay. All right. Three, two, one. This week on the Pete the Planner Show, we answer your money questions. Here's how the show works. Email us. Ask Pete. It's all one word. Ask Pete@peteeplanner.com. That's askpete@peteeplanner.com. And do not spell Pete like the local Starbucks. Who. When I say, hey, Pete, they write P-E-A-T. It's Pete. Yes.
10:40
Damian Dunn
They don't do that.
10:42
Peter Dunn
They do that, and they do. Damien Dunn joins me as co host of the show. Kristen Alanius is on sabbatical. Dame email question came in to Ask Pete@peteepeplanner.com, and it says, Dear Pete, P-E-T-E-I think I need to take over my parents finances, but I don't know where to start. My parents are in their seventy s and I get the sense they're making increasingly poor decisions. They seem to have a bunch of credit card debt. I'm not sure how much they have in savings and investments, and I'm not sure what their life insurance and long term care insurances look like. I briefly mentioned my concerns to my dad and he seemed agreeable to me taking a look at what they have, what's the best way to tackle this. And this is from Renee. So, Dame, this is quite the topic. I mean, this is quite the topic.
11:36
Damian Dunn
Yeah. There's a number of oh my gosh moments that could be had, starting with one that sounds like has already got the stamp of approval, which can be one of the trickiest parts of the entire thing, which is getting buy in from your parents to get assistance from one of their kids in their finances. Because there are many times parents don't want their kids to see anything behind that curtain.
12:00
Peter Dunn
It is my belief, I have no data, that virtually everyone will go through some version of this. Right. I mean, all things being equal in a vacuum, I think every single adult, assuming their parents are living, will be dealing with some version of this, with whoever their parents are. And I find it to be emotional. I find it there's just so many emotions involved. There's shame, there's embarrassment, there's fear, there's resentment, there's all sorts of things. And so I have seen several of these situations before. When I was a financial advisor, I've coached people through them. So dame what I'm actually going to go through here today, what you and I are going to go through, is we are going to show people how to sleuth another person's financial life, how to get in, ask for the right materials to know everything you need to know as a financial investigator.
13:02
Peter Dunn
We are going to arm you with that information today. I want you to send this podcast to your friends and loved ones and significant others and send this radio show, which you have to send via podcast from Peterplaner.com. It's free. Don't freak out. Send it because this is the guide on how to dig through someone else's financial life so you can help them. Dame we start with kind of a weird spot credit report. You start with the credit report. So I don't care about credit scores at all. I just don't I find them misrepresentative of reality. Dame feels in a similar way, but dame boy, oh, boy. There is a lot of information on a credit report, and that's why we start.
13:50
Damian Dunn
I mean, there's a number of reasons that you're going to want to check there, but you're going to see what's going on with the stuff that the people knew about, your parents knew about. Make sure everything's in good order. They're paying the bills on time, nothing's late. Maybe they had a delinquency or whatever in the past, but get a good handle for that. But potentially, even more importantly, you're going to look for stuff they didn't know about, because I don't know if you know. Pete identity theft is a huge issue in the United States, and people who are likely to succumb to it are going to be folks who are vulnerable because of unfamiliarity with how technology may work quite as well as somebody else. But I'm not even going to say a good likelihood. There is an increased likelihood that you may find some accounts they didn't know about.
14:44
Damian Dunn
And it could be credit. It could be whatever car loan. Who knows what it's going to be. But you have to sniff those things out, make sure that you're at least playing from a level playing field to get started.
14:57
Peter Dunn
There's another element to this too, and it's that what if one member of the household took out a credit line and has not told the other person or lost control of it in some way? And so that's where the emotions can get into this, is that if you're helping your parents and one of your parents has been financially not forthcoming, then you're going to have to sniff that out. Now, the other reason you're going to do this is once you've seen, you get to write down all the accounts that exist, all the accounts that have balances. And then this gives you the path to eventually and we're not there yet to eventually go find all the statements and accounts that actually match up with that. But here's actually the next thing you do after the credit report, which we like AnnualCreditReport.com. That's AnnualCreditReport.com. It is free.
15:48
Peter Dunn
FreeCreditReport.com is free, too, but they just constantly try to sell you things. So we prefer AnnualCreditReport.com. Dame, here's the next thing you do. You freeze everyone's credit. That is, in terms of tactics, one of the most important things you can do for your aging parents, and for yourself for that matter, is to freeze your credit. Dame, I am constantly shocked at how few people have frozen credit 100%.
16:15
Damian Dunn
You led into this with the conversation of helping your parents with their finances. And I'm so glad you pointed out that there's no reason you shouldn't do it either, because it is a tremendous benefit for you to protect yourself and your credit by shutting that door so anybody else can go in and open a line of credit in your name. And then frankly, it puts a roadblock to you going out and maybe signing up for cards that you don't need or accumulating debt you don't need as well. So freezing your credit is incredibly important and a free tool for you to implement in your financial life.
16:49
Peter Dunn
Yeah, right. So if you got a parent and I'm going to be speaking in generalities today, so I don't want anyone to get offended. I don't want your email complaining about being rude. I'm just trying to be succinct here. If you got someone in their 70s, it's unlikely that person needs to apply for credit ever again in their life. And you could argue not only should they not want to do that, they shouldn't have to do that. And it's hard to make an argument that they should on any level be applying for credit. And so that's just shut it down, just lock it up. And of course, you got to save the username and the password and all those sorts of things, but lock it down. And dame let's say the person you're helping out, someone I don't keep going back to someone their 70s.
17:33
Peter Dunn
Let's say you're older relative, let's say they're loosey goosey with their PII personal Identifiable Diet. What is it?
17:40
Damian Dunn
Dame personally identifiable information.
17:44
Peter Dunn
Right. Let's say they're Lucy Goosey with it, and their Social Security numbers just floating out there in the interwebs. This is going to lock down their credit. So that is the next place to go. So, so far, Dam, I know you're making a list in blood. You've got Credit report and then you've got Freeze your credit. And I do want to give a very practical warning here. TransUnion is still a giant pain in the neck to freeze your credit at, okay? So there's equifax, experian and TransUnion. You have to go to each of those sites. You have to do it for each of the people involved. So you're talking about six credit freezes. If you got two parents, let's say you got a blended family with four parents, and you're talking about twelve credit freezes. TransUnion is a pain in the neck. And TransUnion, if you're listening right now, stop listening to me.
18:33
Peter Dunn
Fix your site.
18:35
Damian Dunn
It's been a hot minute since I've had to freeze any of the credit reports for folks that I know and care about. But you are exactly right. TransUnion seems to be a much bigger pain in the neck than others.
18:47
Peter Dunn
Okay, so Dan, here's what we're going to do. After the just all we've talked about is credit so far, which then tells you how much debt a person has. And we're going to get there a little deeper in a second. But we haven't touched income, we have not touched assets, and we have not touched insurances. And those are the things that bring stability to a person's life, whether they are 35 years old or 85 years old. And so coming up after the break, that's what we're going to do. Most of this show today is dedicated how to help an aging relative with their finances, what is the appropriate way to do it, and when we come back, before telling you about income, assets and insurance, I'm also going to talk about who else you need to get involved before you even begin. I've sort of started there, but we will do that.
19:32
Peter Dunn
I'm Pete the Planner and this is the Pete the Planner show. Boy, how about a minute? Wind up for that? That's kind of gross. You're a pro sometimes. Yeah. This is a topic, man. Maybe I'll save it for the air. But the practical side to this is the reason you're doing this is not only out of love and commitment, but it's practical because this stuff will become your problem if you don't solve it as soon as possible.
20:11
Damian Dunn
Absolutely. Whether or not it's something you ever wished to take on, it is something you need to be at least familiar with. And the more familiar you can be with your parents financial situation, the easier it's going to be to have certain conversations down the road as well.
20:30
Peter Dunn
I've said this before. I actually wrote a column about this. You know how I am with years. So this was like 38 years ago or last week, I don't know. And it's actually changed since I wrote it. You know what? I'm going to look up, I got all my columns right here. Sorry, dame. Here's what we're doing. I'm looking this up and here's what I'm looking up. I know at the time I wrote this column about 60 there it is. I wrote this column in March 6 of 2020.
21:00
Damian Dunn
Okay.
21:02
Peter Dunn
March 6 of 2020. What a weird time to find column. This was my second column. I began writing for the Indianapolis Business Journal.
21:10
Damian Dunn
Really?
21:10
Peter Dunn
My second column in March 6 of 2020. And the lead is I'm familiar with about 60% of the functionality of my iPhone. Okay. And there it goes. On to talk about whatever I'm now at about 40%, some Three Years Removed. The iPhone is advanced. I have gotten older. I just don't understand. My daughter can talk to Space on this thing. I Cannot. And so where I'm going with this is your parents or your aging relatives. What are the chances that they're in touch with their personal finances in this digital world? The way, they need to be in touch with their finances.
21:46
Damian Dunn
Not great.
21:47
Peter Dunn
Yeah. And so this should not be awkward. I mean, it is awkward, but it should not be unexpected. It is expected that they're not going to know the functionality of a digital credit report or even online banking and some of the aspects of that, or pulling up an investment statement online. This is where I don't want people to send me an email. Like, I'm 72 and I can do this. Great. Awesome. Neat. I'm glad. Show your friends at the bridge table? Because I don't think everyone feels that way. That was a little much, wasn't it?
22:17
Damian Dunn
It was a little strong.
22:19
Peter Dunn
At least weren't on air. I don't know. This is a hot topic for me. You know how I get. You've known me a while. I get sort on topics. And this one I don't think I'm going to get off of for a while. But let's continue.
22:31
Damian Dunn
Okay.
22:31
Peter Dunn
Anything you want to offer before we go back to Aaron?
22:34
Damian Dunn
No. It's a worthy topic. If you're going to get fired up about something, you want to communicate to the people. This is a good one.
22:40
Peter Dunn
Let's do it now. Three, two, one. Back on the Pete the Planner show, talking about how to assist an aging relative with their finances. Now, here's what we're not talking about. We're not talking about giving them money every month. We're not talking about writing them a check to solve a problem. We're talking about investigating their cash flow and their insurance and their debt and their credit report so you get a sense of what's going on, so you can educate them around it and fix whatever needs fixed if it is practical. Now, Damien. As we go through, they just call you Damien.
23:16
Damian Dunn
Yeah. Who is that?
23:17
Peter Dunn
What just happened? I don't know. Feel like you're in trouble.
23:20
Damian Dunn
I do too.
23:21
Peter Dunn
Damien andrew dame. If you have a sibling, which you don't have a sibling, but if you have a sibling, you have to get them involved with this process. Not from sitting in the living room when you do this with your parents, but you need to inform them what you're doing, and you need to inform your parents, even if your parents will have theoretically agreed to let you help do this every step along the way. Over. Communicate what you're doing. You want this to be on the up and up? You want to document this? You want to write it in an Excel file? You want to take notes? You want to say logged in the fifth day of March, 2023 and did this. And the reason is it's like, hey, Mom, I'm getting your credit report right now, and this is why we're doing it. I think what leads to this point of aging parents getting disorganized financially is the lack of communication.
24:21
Peter Dunn
And I think you have to over communicate to fix that. Dame there's also the practical and legal side of this, too, is you don't want someone accusing you of doing a bit of malfeasance.
24:34
Damian Dunn
What if the sibling is incredibly disinterested? Does this change your approach at all?
24:41
Peter Dunn
Great question, and I think there's two questions there. First is, what if they're disinterested? Fine. Just tell them what you're doing. Just say, I want to let you know because this could be our problem later. But the other side is, what if they're obstinate? What if they disagree? What if they're in a bad spot themselves? Or what if they don't trust you and they think you're going to take money or move the inheritance or something like that?
25:04
Damian Dunn
Or what if they are afraid that you find out your parents have been giving them money?
25:13
Peter Dunn
You've been doing this before? Yeah. That is very real. That is uncomfortable. You know what? Damn, I know that I hadn't considered that recently. That is the truth, 100%. I remember this is back in the day, I remember it's probably 2004, I was working with this elderly couple with their finances, and one day I went over their house and their adult daughter was there. And they're like, oh, this is so and so. And I was like, oh, hi. And they were like, this is Pete. He's helping us with more Peter at the time. This is Peter who wants to sit down and talk to a guy named Damien. Oh, yeah. This is Peter. He's helping us understand where all our money's going. And we're a little scared. And you could see the look on this woman's face like, I'm going to light this house on fire and hope that Peter doesn't make it out.
26:09
Peter Dunn
That's a little aggressive, but you know what I mean? And needless to say, she had reason to look at me strange because they were just giving her money hand over fist. And it wasn't just loving support. It was enabling and it was awful. And so, Dave, you're exactly right. That's a part of this equation. Okay, started with a credit report. Run a credit report@annualcreditreport.com for your parents, both your parents. See what's on there. It'll populate your debt list. Also freeze their credit. Next up to the bank accounts we go. What is the income? What is the income? You're likely to find Social Security income. You are likely to find another source of income, whether it's a pension or annuity payment or maybe just some interest off of investment or something like that. But Dame, this is like, all right, how can we have this household sustain itself for years, if not decades to come?
27:16
Peter Dunn
And the income is how it gets done.
27:18
Damian Dunn
Yeah. First thing, and I want to make sure we're clear and that I'm understanding you is that first pass through the bank statements, you are looking for nothing but income, correct?
27:26
Peter Dunn
Yes, sir. That's what you're doing. Look, you know how things work. Maybe what you find out is that there's not an automatic deposit, but there is a check deposit around the same day every month, which means your parents are getting a paper check mailed to them. And this is where it gets hairy for that generation. Mom and dad, where do you bank? I bank at whatever. Where else do you bank? Oh, yeah, we do have an account here or there. And where else do you bank? Oh, you know what? I forgot about the one here. Damn. You would not believe the number of times that the primary checking account. There's also some other supplemental checking account that also does stuff. It pays bills, it gets income, but they don't think about it because they don't use it for daily living.
28:22
Damian Dunn
I have a story from a close personal friend who father passed away and it took them two years to close the estate because they kept finding bank accounts all over the country. It was a military family and they just kept unearthing accounts all over the place. Took forever.
28:43
Peter Dunn
Yeah, it's a generational thing, right. Again, back in the day when people used to trust me, this is very early. Two thousand s. I remember people would go and like, oh, I'm going to go get an IRA this year at the bank. And what that meant is they're going to find a bank with CD rates that they liked, they're going to open an IRA and put it in a CD at that bank and then the next year they're going to go to another bank shop and open an IRA and put a new $2,000 or what. So then you've got this idea that there's like 15 banks over 15 years that have got all these IRAs that none of it makes sense, but it's a generational thing. And so when you're asking your parents to try to help them with their finances, suss out all of the banks and here's what you're also going to find.
29:33
Peter Dunn
Oh, that's all our bank accounts. Is there any other financial institution? Oh, yeah, there is two credit unions. Make sure. Oh yeah, there's a savings and yeah, oh, there's a Christmas club. Like, get it all out and be patient. Can I call a time out on myself here?
29:52
Damian Dunn
Dame I will allow it.
29:56
Peter Dunn
You have to be incredibly patient when you're doing this as the investigator because you have to the entire time just think grace and empathy. Grace and empathy. These loving people put up with such horse junk from me as an adolescent. I must have the patience of Job in this situation. Your awkward middle school years where. You can barely function. They dealt with that so you cannot get upset. And so if they are like, oh, yeah, there's another bang, don't get frustrated. You can't go, oh, why did you tell me that? Just like, just keep it cool. Because if you don't and it gets too heated and too frustrated and it gets cut off in the middle, then you're going to know that there's a bigger disaster than you thought and you will not be allowed to fix it.
30:49
Damian Dunn
Yeah. The good news is, though, at this stage, when you're looking primarily for income, they're likely going to know exactly where those accounts are and be able to help you unearth those relatively quickly. All the other accounts be prepared.
31:03
Peter Dunn
I have to admit here, I think this is where we're going to give people an actual expert tip. You notice that we have not gotten to assets yet, other than bank accounts and a rookie that was loud. Wow, my stomach's growling. Did you? A rookie will go right for the assets.
31:24
Damian Dunn
Yeah. And that feels weird too, doesn't it?
31:26
Peter Dunn
Oh, yeah, dude. I'll tell you, back in the day when we're cutting our teeth learning how to do this, I would have too, as an aged man. Now, though, I'm telling you, the last thing on our list is actually go figure out where the assets are because the next thing on the list, before we go to break here and we'll come back and talk about it, insurance. Insurance is next. I want to know, do they have a Medicare supplement and where to come out of? I want to know, do they have long term care insurance? What are the details? What's the life insurance? Are they paying the right amount of car insurance so that's we'll come back? Digging through the personal finances of a relative to make sure it's all together? Right here on the Pete the Planner show. I'm Pete, the planner man. Ian's question just gets punted to next.
32:10
Damian Dunn
Sorry, Ian.
32:11
Peter Dunn
Ian's update.
32:15
Damian Dunn
Special Wednesday show of Pete the Planner.
32:18
Peter Dunn
Maybe.
32:19
Damian Dunn
Maybe.
32:20
Peter Dunn
Well, yeah, I mean, I think it's Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon. I have to check everyone's calendar now.
32:24
Damian Dunn
I've already snooped on Kristen's calendar and I saw it and I blocked my calendar out for Wednesday afternoon.
32:28
Peter Dunn
What time did she put it for?
32:30
Damian Dunn
She blocked it out from like noon to five just to make sure we have plenty of accommodation.
32:37
Peter Dunn
Does she think it's radio Thawn? We're going to be raising money maybe back in the day. Our flagship station that we're on is WIBC indianapolis. It's a talk radio station, 93 WIBC. And first couple of years I was on the air and I would go down and record a studio. Every year they did something called Radio Thon and they would raise money for Salvation Army and all the hosts of the shows would come in and for like a few days you just take a shift and you would do live radio and talk to callers and do all these sorts of things. So I did it for a couple of years and I actually enjoyed it. But it's also when I learned that good, bad or otherwise, I do a different style of radio than my colleagues did. WIBC who knows? I could have been terrible at that.
33:35
Peter Dunn
I think I was really good at it, and I think I was very different than everyone else at it. They stopped asking me back, but I liked it. I'm sort of like a caller calls in, they're like, I would like to give $75 for this. And then in the background you'd hear, is that your cat? And so I'm supposed to be talking about the $75 and what it's going to do, and it's going to feed people, which is great. I want people to eat. But then I'd try to interview the cat. But between the break, the program manager would be like, hey, I get it. It seems funny, or it seems like it's interesting, but people really just want to hear the donations. And I'd be like, you know, I'm going to push back a little bit here. I think if I'm in the car on a Saturday morning and I turn on talk radio and it's someone telling me what they're going to donate money to, or it's a man interviewing a cat, I'm staying tuned to the cat.
34:39
Peter Dunn
And then that was my last year on the radio.
34:43
Damian Dunn
You went out on your own terms. I thought maybe you're going to tell me the lady had an Indy car race on in the background.
34:48
Peter Dunn
Do you think when our radio show gets canceled, we'll stop doing the podcast? What do you think the mechanics of that are?
34:54
Damian Dunn
I hope not. I foresee episodes with the explicit warning in the corner.
35:03
Peter Dunn
I don't think I'd ever I wouldn't do that.
35:05
Damian Dunn
I'm just teasing. I know.
35:07
Peter Dunn
I do regret going on other people's podcasts, like Friends, like comedy podcasts, and I would get a little more raunchy in my language. I actually regret that I talk like a sailor. I think it's important for people to.
35:18
Damian Dunn
Know I must not be familiar with those podcasts.
35:20
Peter Dunn
Well, don't look them up, anybody.
35:23
Damian Dunn
Was there one fairly recently that you did? Was that one of them?
35:27
Peter Dunn
No, this is years ago and I didn't think about these things.
35:30
Damian Dunn
Okay. And by fairly recently, I mean like a couple of years ago. That little series?
35:35
Peter Dunn
No, I kept it cool there.
35:37
Damian Dunn
I thought you did. I thought I listened to most of you.
35:39
Peter Dunn
Yeah, no, it was probably five, six years ago. Life's too short. Someone could also say, life's too short to care. Just talk how you talk. But sorry. In three, two, one. Back on the Pete the Planner show, talking about how to investigate your family's finances, which sounds not great. Here's the situation. You're a middle aged person like myself. You got aging parents you notice there's some weird financial habits or concerns. You're like, how are they surviving? They got these expenses, they got medical. But what's going on? And then you're like, I would like to know, because I think eventually this could be my problem in a bad way, and I'd like to get in front of it now. So how do you have that conversation? What are you looking for? That's what we're doing here on the show. So Damien Dunn joins me, as always, so far, Dame, we've hit run a credit report, freeze their credit, find their income on their bank statements, then we're on to insurance.
36:41
Peter Dunn
Life insurance details matter so much. And I want to I want a special call out here. We're going to talk inside baseball. There is something called a universal life insurance policy. And the reason I bring this up is sort of a hybrid between a term policy and a whole life insurance policy. And depending on how your parents have paid on these universal life policies, and if they've ever borrowed against these universal life policies, these policies can die before your parents die. So that is to say that your parents may think they've got, oh, I've got $100,000 of life insurance, but because they have an unhealthy universal life policy, and by the way, universal life policies in themselves are not bad. It's just how people use them and misuse them become the issue. And so that's to say that your parents coverage may run out when they're 77.
37:33
Peter Dunn
So when we dig through their insurance and this is where you may need to get your insurance professional involved, you need to run what are called IFPS enforce projections. Enforce projections. It will tell you how long their life insurance lasts. And then you also need to take time to dig through their long term care insurance. And Dame, this one's important because long term care insurance is about 20 years old or so, maybe a little bit older as a concept. Man, it's changed. Man, it's hard to understand.
38:05
Damian Dunn
And premiums continued to go up because it was so hard for actuaries to accurately price along the way. Universal. I almost went back to the beginning there on that one. Long term care insurance is I think it's really important for a lot of families because it's going to hopefully give your parents some dignity in those times when they might have to use it. It's also going to protect you from having to do things that you don't want to do for your parents in most cases. So check it out. Long term care policies are all over the map as far as elimination periods and benefit levels and what they consider or the level of care they're willing to pay for or they do pay for. If there is a long term care policy in place, you need to look at it closely.
38:54
Peter Dunn
I first started helping as a financial planner, helping people with long term care insurance. I don't do this anymore because I'm not trying to sell it to you right now. I don't do this, but when I was 25, 26 years old. So, like 20 years ago and at the time, you would want to start looking at getting a policy when you were in 50 or around the early 50s because it was less expensive. Dame as you know me to be today, as you are yourself, we are 45 year old men, which means we are about five years away from technically having the need to look at long term care insurance policies for ourselves. What? How did this happen?
39:33
Damian Dunn
I'm just waiting for the company sponsored long term care benefit that I know is coming down the pipe.
39:40
Peter Dunn
How did this happen?
39:42
Damian Dunn
Just keep breathing, Pete. Just keep breathing.
39:45
Peter Dunn
Okay. And then you got to actually get to people's assets. You got to go to their investment statements. You got to do all these sorts of things. And because you think this is about how much money do mom and dad have, that because you think this concern is about that you're going to spend a lot of time and scrutiny over that. I can assure you, as a professional, there doesn't need to be as much scrutiny there as everything else. You need scrutiny about the money. Is it in annuities? Is it in mutual funds? Is it in stocks? Is it in cash? What is it in who is the person? Are they making moves? Are they being charged fees? All of that is important, but I'm telling you, it is the last thing I would look at in this probably four to five hour process that we're talking about.
40:34
Damian Dunn
Yeah, I think the total of assets is important that are available for the parents to draw on. But I do think you need to dig in and look at the structure of the relationships that your parents have. If they are potentially unfamiliar with their finances in general and where things are and how things may be transacting, they may be getting drastically overcharged with their relationships with their assets as well. So I'm not saying that you're going to go in there and try and blow up anything that's going on, but at least be familiar with it. Maybe they are invested in a way that does not fit their time horizon or risk tolerance. And that's a big problem. Maybe there's a lot of transacting going on inside of some of those accounts, needless transacting that needs to be going on inside those accounts. Find that out, you may be able to potentially save your parents some money with their assets just by doing a cursory review.
41:36
Peter Dunn
You and I don't have to agree on this point, and I think we probably do agree. I'm going into this entire process lovingly scrutinizing your parents as opposed to potentially scrutinizing their advisors, right? I think we need to look towards their advisors to make sure they're getting good advice. But I'm not going into this process or I don't think you should go into this process saying I bet their advisors are taking advantage of them and I know that's not what you're saying Dame, but I want to make sure people hear that. What is possible is that your parents are a bad client. They actually don't listen to the advice of their advisors or worse yet they have two or three advisors and they don't tell the other advisors about their other advisors. So then they're getting terrible advice because the advisors are trying to deal with the money that they think is all there.
42:34
Peter Dunn
They're only dealing with what they can see and that's a bad situation in my experience.
42:39
Damian Dunn
So take it for what it's worth. But I would guess that you'll agree with me on this. Having multiple advisors is more of a generational thing. I don't see it with younger generations, younger folks nearly as much as I did when I was doing this with older generations. Where the IRA mentality? Where you're going to go out and put a CD in a bank over here and next year a different bank. Maybe they view their advisors the same way and it's possible that they've got multiple relationships that are doing more harm than good for their overall stability.
43:15
Peter Dunn
I agree with you. I do think if you're doing this exercise where you're going through your aging parents finances I would say less than a 50% chance they even have an advisor. I bet they just got some stuff. And it's also possible that they have very little assets. I mean this isn't a high end conversation. We're talking about where are the millions going to go? We're saying like hey what if your parents have $80,000 left in their name and once that's gone then that is where you as their offspring have to step in and solve their situation financially. That's why this is so important.
43:58
Damian Dunn
Yeah, this all gets down to eventually resource allocation. And what you're doing is setting the stage for making those hard decisions by familiarizing yourself with everything that's there, making sure some basic protections are in place if possible. Credit freeze and maybe some life insurance or maybe bumping up or making a change in Medicare supplements or something of that nature. And then once you know you have a tractor run on or something that is hopefully sustainable then it becomes about resource allocation.
44:30
Peter Dunn
Final thing you got to do is you got to find the state planning documents, will trust medical power of attorney, health directives, those sorts of things. And then I think one of the best pieces of output that comes from this and this is hard to do. Hey mom and dad this is what your finances look like when you both are still living. This is what it looks like when mom dies for dad. This is what it looks like when dad dies for mom. And you got to do that. And that is where maybe I don't think you necessarily have to get a financial planner involved, but you can you have to know Social Security rules, like who gets to keep what. They don't get to keep them both and all that. So there is the Pete the Planner show guide to digging through your parents finances.
45:14
Peter Dunn
You know what, if one person listens to this show and does this, it will have been well worth all of our time. But literally everyone listening to this show should be prepared to do this. Coming up after the break, the fund and frivolity continue. Biggest waste of money of the week. In the news. I'm Pete the planner.
45:38
Damian Dunn
And if anybody wants to send us in their fun experiences while digging through their parents anonymized, of course, their parents'finances, we'd love to read those little humorous moments.
45:50
Peter Dunn
Oh, man, it was so good to have Jameson back on the show. Got dropped soon. Been fun listening live. And I just emailed my own question to ask Pete. Oh, Jameson. I'm going to guess his kids are getting older. It's going to be college questions. Brian pinkens shows up. Hello, Pink. By the way, this is Indiana Basketball Hall of Famer Brian Pankins.
46:12
Damian Dunn
Really?
46:13
Peter Dunn
Yes. The Pike High School basketball team won the state championship some 20 years ago or something like that.
46:19
Damian Dunn
We're going down that road, though. What do you know about reliving glory days of high school?
46:25
Peter Dunn
Well, his team won. Mine didn't. But the state champion Brian pinkens, so he is officially HOF. He's in the HOF. Jeremiah asks, was the podcast in which I was inappropriate on the Jeff Vibbert podcast? Possibly. Jeff Vibert's got a great story. So Jeff Fibbert was on the Bob and Tom show back in the day and had his own podcast. He's interesting young guy from central Indiana and then went on to run a lot of the media at Barstool sports. So he's like one of the personality amongst that barstool staff. For what it's worth, I'm not a big barstool person. However, I do appreciate the work of Jeff. Other comments coming in. Oh, there's a hall of Famer 25 years ago is when Brian Pinkets won the state championship. Oh, my gosh. I was there. All right, that's it. Other comments. Michael says, I've been talking with my sister about my parents situation as they celebrate 60 years of marriage.
47:32
Peter Dunn
Yeah. And then congratulations. Sarah notes that her dad has information in a green folder. Talking funeral wishes. Expenses is important, too. You know, the other thing I didn't bring up on the air and maybe I will when we come back, Damon, is when you do this, guess who's going to do a better job with their own planning. Oh, yeah, your boy. Yeah. I mean, you're going to do better yourself because you're going to see all of the hoops that you would have had to have jumped through, and you were like, man, I do not want to do this with my kids.
48:02
Damian Dunn
I had the pleasure of being my dad's financial advisor for a few years. And I remember at the last meeting we had, I asked some really tough questions that any normal financial advisor would have, but coming from your son, they were harder, and they had to do it with his business and what he wanted done with it and just all sorts of stuff. And I'm so glad that I asked those questions, because less than a year later, I had to work on those. But I knew exactly what he wanted done, and it took all of the stress out of well, not all the stress. It took a ton of hand wringing out of the situation.
48:46
Peter Dunn
Yeah, no, that's tough. I mean, having heard you talk about that over the years and I'll limit these comments to the financial side of things, just a hard time. It's things that you still have to deal with in some capacity. Right. The more time you can use to get in front of those challenges, like what we just talked about on the air, the better. Dame, this also reminds me, you treated the executive team this week to a picture of dame with hair. Was that college? Dame? What was that?
49:20
Damian Dunn
No, that was probably between junior and senior year of high school. Dame.
49:31
Peter Dunn
I couldn't even recognize you if I had to pick out a picture. You didn't even look like you. As one of our coworkers said, you look like a cop.
49:39
Damian Dunn
Yeah, very young, attractive cop, but yes, a cop.
49:42
Peter Dunn
Attractive. Okay, let's start back in three, two, one. This week's biggest waste of money of the week, right here on the Pete the Planner show is the Mischief BWD sneaker. In the whole history of sneakers, this might be the most unique creation yet. Even for Mischief, which is spelled Ms. C-H-F. Even for their ultra high standards, the Mischief BWD is an open toed. You got to listen to this closely because I can barely explain what is being seen on the screen of the live stream. It is an open toed sneaker that can be either worn from the traditional heel first entry or the front, meaning that, yes, this shoe can be worn front or backward. The either or shoe complements the usual pardon me, the unusual design with a strikingly simple white leather and red suede upper paired with a chunky 90s skate shoe vibe.
50:54
Peter Dunn
It drops on April 11, 2023. So, Dame, this sneaker, how would you describe this? Think of a normal tennis shoe. You put your foot in the shoe, and then there's the toe of the shoe, which is closed. And so now this time, we're opening the toe of the shoe like a sandal. But then you can also put your foot in the sandal from the other side, and then the normal cup of where your heel goes is the toe of the shoe.
51:21
Damian Dunn
Yeah. There is zero chance the shoe is comfortable.
51:26
Peter Dunn
This is the biggest waste of money that has ever existed.
51:31
Damian Dunn
I will not argue that it could have arguably been an attractive shoe with a traditional set up where you put your foot in one side of the shoe and not either or. But my guess is going to be it's a boutique shoe. I'm going to say it's $325.
51:58
Peter Dunn
Here's the thing, and I probably should have shared this with you. I don't know how much this thing costs, but we're going to keep track because it drops. That's what you say. When thing releases, it drops April 11. So we will keep an eye out for this. Whatever it is too much. I'm going to go 595.
52:22
Damian Dunn
Do you fancy yourself a bit of a sneaker head, Pete?
52:25
Peter Dunn
That's a fair question. No, not in the sense that people actually talk about it. I like a nice pair of white Nikes. Got a couple of pair. But I would never spend any serious money on a pair of shoes. I'm not dropping $300 for, like, a pair of Jordans. It's not who I am. And I also don't like people are like, this shoe is worth $500 now, and it was $300. I'm like, you're not selling your shoe. Just calm down. Damn. I know you are not a sneaker head.
52:56
Damian Dunn
No. I used to love in that same era that we grew up in middle school when sneakers were you had the Jordans and you had the Bo Jackson shoes, the Reebok pumps. There were tons and tons of options that were really popular. And I liked shoes a little bit then, but now not so much. I'm much closer to New Balance age than trendy shoe age.
53:23
Peter Dunn
Dame, what is in the news this week?
53:25
Damian Dunn
Thesaurus.com was probably the star of this week's Supreme Court oral arguments in which attorneys for Jack Daniels had to use every synonym for dog poop they could find. The whiskey brand argued that the dog toy company VIP Products, violated its trademark with a crude squeaky toy that mimicked its iconic product. The VIP Bad Spaniels dog toy at the center of the case is modeled after the recognizable whiskey bottle. But instead of saying old number seven, tennessee sour mash whiskey number old number two, it features old number two on your Tennessee carpet in an almost identical font. Jack Daniels claims that the similarities of the toy's appearance to the real product confuses customers and associates the company's fine whiskey with dog poop. VIP says its toy is a parody and is protected as creative expression.
54:14
Peter Dunn
So dame this made it to the Supreme Court of the United States.
54:18
Damian Dunn
Indeed it did. We'll find out the ruling later and find out if VIP Products has really stepped in at this time.
54:29
Peter Dunn
There it is. There it is.
54:34
Damian Dunn
Moving on.
54:35
Peter Dunn
Yeah. I usually say, what else is in the news? But I felt like, naturally you should move on. Okay, time for a movement.
54:44
Damian Dunn
There you go. I was waiting for there it was. There it was. The fang that's Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google Era is apparently over. The US. Market is now dominated by just two stocks. The combined weighting of Apple and Microsoft and the SP 500 has risen to 13.3%, the highest level on record for two stocks. While the influence of other big technology stocks has waned as of late, not since IBM and at and T in 1978 have two stocks made up a greater share of the benchmark, according to Howard Silverblatt, a senior index analyst at SP Dow Jones Indices. So it's not unprecedented, is it? Good, bad, may will Fang be back? Pete, what do you think? Are we going to see a resurgence in the tech stocks that made up Fang?
55:33
Peter Dunn
I think you're going to see a basket of tech stocks make up a new basket. But I don't think Fang is coming back. And in my opinion, everyone understands that I know nothing, right?
55:45
Damian Dunn
Yes. Your stock picks proof that out.
55:48
Peter Dunn
Yeah, I think it's mainly because of Netflix, in my opinion.
55:53
Damian Dunn
Really?
55:54
Peter Dunn
Yeah, I think while that was once the most innovative thing in the category, it's so saturated now that I don't think it can have that level of dominance. Again, you're asking the absolute wrong person. I think there will be another acronym for a basket of stocks, but it's not going to be Fang.
56:17
Damian Dunn
Well, to bolster that point, potentially, apple plans to spend a billion dollars per year to produce movies that will be released in theaters. Bloomberg reported this week. The tech company is answering Nicole Kidman's call. Who wouldn't? In order to win over Hollywood's best talent, who still care about Oscar nominations and snag buzier projects. Plus, theater goaters might be tempted to sign up for Apple TV plus after they clean the butter off their fingers from that extra large popcorn. Apple's coda won the Academy Award for best Picture in 2022, but the film brought in less than 2 million at the box office. Pete ted Lasso on the big screen. I know you're going to go see it.
56:57
Peter Dunn
Yeah, absolutely. You talk about movies and I saw this point made the other day and I have to agree with it, I think. Jamil Hill, sportswriter and cultural observer, noted that Tom Cruise is the greatest movie star of all time. And I'm having a hard time disagreeing with.
57:20
Damian Dunn
Probably, and I have very mixed emotions when it comes to I said mixed, not confused. Mixed emotions when it comes tom Cruise. But, man, he's got to be right up.
57:34
Peter Dunn
Yeah. No, I mean, I like Tom Cruise. I will watch any Tom Cruise movie as long as it's an action movie. You can keep eyes wide shut. Shut. I am not really interested in that. But yeah. Look, Top Gun maverick was amazing. And a couple other things were as well. Dame, maybe time for one last more.
57:53
Damian Dunn
How about deflation has finally come for the housing market. For the first time in 131 months, the price median price of homes fell in the US. On annual basis. The median price for existing homes in February dropped 0.2% to $363,000, according to the National Association of Realtors. With the west and Northeast experiencing the biggest price cuts, home sales have surged 14 and a half percent from January to February, though snapping year long decline.
58:22
Peter Dunn
I was doing some personal finance stuff yesterday, actually, for myself. Where my house? Price from year over year increased from date to date. Twelve months, 6%. It peaked at a much higher percent and then fell. So I think it peaked, like, last March for the year 2022 and then came back. But all told, that's still really good. Yeah, it didn't increase 25% or something. Absurd. But 6%? That's better than my equity portfolio did.
58:56
Damian Dunn
Sadly, yes, it is. And unfortunately, well, I like my equity portfolio or my house. Not planning on using any of that money anytime soon.
59:03
Peter Dunn
The ultimate point. All right, Dame, we did it. So, special show, we think, for the podcast, at least. Live stream, maybe next Wednesday afternoon. For everyone else. Thanks for listening on the Pete the Planner Radio Network. If you want to listen to the whole show, if you missed the show on how to dig into your finances of your aging parents, you can do so. Go to Peteeplanner.com or wherever you get podcasts. You can listen to the Pete planner show. Sending good vibes. Good vibes are all that's in the budget. I'm Pete the Planner, and this is the show.
59:33
Damian Dunn
That was a wrap up, man.
59:35
Peter Dunn
It all right, Dame. We will figure out a time. I must go. I got things that sorry, Jeremiah, but I've given you exactly a 1 hour show, so you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to end the show. It's 59 45 right now. I'm going to end the show in 15 seconds, right on the nose.
59:48
Damian Dunn
Show of a countdown.
59:50
Peter Dunn
Yeah, we're going to do that. Okay. Five, four, three stay getting money. One.
