Peter Dunn: [00:00:00] Welcome to skills. You never dad never taught you. I'm Pete the planner right here on the Pete the planner radio network And I am chip Maxwell man. Chip. It's been a very long time since I did that intro So so long in fact that I butchered it chip Maxwell the original co host of the Skills your dad never taught you radio show.
Yeah, it was. Uh, I'm glad that you're remembering how to speak again And I'm just so glad to be back with the with the old crew here Well, you don't even know these people so you're getting to meet them for the first time Chip Maxwell My original co host of the show back in 2008 alongside Damien Dunn Dame hello And the newest co host, Kristen Alanius.
Kristen. Hello. Hello. So Chip and I have been really good friends since third grade is sort of, uh, sort of the origin [00:01:00] story of how this worked. We reconnected as adults. Uh, and then all of a sudden I'm like, Hey, I have a radio show. Chip and I have a good time together and the purpose of skills your dad never taught you wasn't actually a shot at your dad Howie, but it was for me to teach you about money and you were like the everyman and, and there you go.
Yeah. I was a character playing myself as someone who has sort of an average amount of awareness and knowledge of the things that you needed to teach and occasionally would laugh at your jokes. So it was fun. A lot has changed since then. And by the way, this is the 500th episode of the podcast. However, it did a little math this week.
Kristen, I did a little math. I believe this actually to be roughly the 850th episode of the radio show plus podcast. So this is like episode 850. It's a lot. Congratulations, Chip. Thank you so much for this [00:02:00] kind, kind words. What a remarkable accomplishment, uh, Chip, what sticks out to you, uh, from back in the day on the show when you were, were you on it for a couple of years or I don't know, is right.
Yeah, I think, I think we did it for the, uh, it was two years together and I couldn't remember exactly what the breaking point was. It feels like there was some change in the format or you were, maybe there was a. Uh, global pandemic. I don't remember. But, um, to me, the, the, the, like, most prominent memory that I have of that show is sort of realizing in real time how your, uh, how your planning brain and your humor brain can sort of work together as one.
But yet, um, not always finding you to be the most hilarious, not, not always finding you to be as funny as you thought you were in the [00:03:00] moment and still finding ways to, to laugh gratuitously. Well, this was a mistake. It was, but like, I think about our conversations off the radio. Or clearly they flow and they're hilarious and we just can't stop laughing and then on the radio we had to like pull it back and it wasn't a podcast, it was broadcast radio.
Uh, were you on when the radio show was two hours long or were you only on when it was one hour long? Uh, just when it was one hour. So maybe, maybe that's where the change happened is when, when it took on actual, uh, some degree of commercial import, then, um, you had to go find a real co host. Uh, so anyway, Chip, welcome to the show.
You're, you're going to be leaving the show here shortly as we actually have to record a radio show here today. I know, uh, that's your thanks for being on the show. My, my memories of Chip on the show, he was the sort of the first person to read the news, Dame. So he, uh, he read the news and, uh, Chip's so funny.
But then [00:04:00] he couldn't exactly try to one up me with jokes during my show, so it, it always had that awkward thing of like, Chip's funnier than me, but it wasn't his role on the show, and so then it sort of got weird. I was learning. I was, I was, uh, up and coming in, in my humor. Um, no, but I, but I think that there was, there was, um, in All Sincerity, my biggest, Take away from that show, if not, uh, memory was sort of the, the placebo effect that I experienced of, gosh, I, I feel like I'm relatively intelligent when it comes to money smarts, but like applying that and like being around that financial advice, um, even for just one hour a week.
And during that hour we were, uh, joking around was, um. In hindsight, like a pretty big accelerator in terms of just my level of [00:05:00] awareness to and and attention for all things like personal finance, right? I had I had more of like a. macro economic, like business perspective on things. And, um, I dunno, I just, it, it really, I feel like I walked away with, uh, with a leveled up game in terms of, uh, um, being responsible in my own.
Personal realm of, uh, of money and budget. So Dame and Kristen, uh, I'm going to tell a story that Chip's heard me tell a million times, and he hates how I tell the story, but I'm going to tell it the right way this time, so he will not dislike it. All right, so Chip and I started going to school together in third grade, and we both got in really big trouble in third grade.
We had, it was a brand new school, there were brand new desks, and we took thumbtacks, and we dug out Like the side of the desk, it was like these holes in the desk. We vandalized this brand new school. We got. In [00:06:00] big, big trouble. Arguably the most trouble I've ever been in in my life. Still to this day. Yeah, probably the last time that he was in trouble.
And, uh, other than with the IRS. And, and so then, And so, so we both got in trouble, And it, like, that moment of crime that we had together, Where we had to write, like, reports on vandalism, Like, that has connected us to this day. Chip doesn't like it. It's another amendment to the story that I'm not telling, but anyway.
Well, because it ends in, um, in martial punishment for one of us and, uh, and not for the other. But I think that, yeah, that, uh, that, that version of discipline is, um, is passé now. So, uh, we don't have to go into that. All right. Well, Chip, while you're here, uh, we'll do one, one other sort of, uh, call to the past.
I, I wanted to, in the last 500 episodes of this podcast, I wanted to give best guest of all time. I want to give an award for best guest on the podcast and also scariest guest. Okay. So you can [00:07:00] be here for this. Do you want to take a stab? I'll put you on the spot. Do you want to take a stab at who would be the best guests I've ever had on the show?
Uh, best guests on the show. Um, I mean, I assume local chef extraordinaire, Neil J. Brown. No, that's a great guess. Not local chef, James Beard nominated chef, Neil J. Brown, not him. Pete Buttigieg is the best guest we've ever had on the show. Uh, Lee is correct, uh, on the Facebook or the YouTube live chat. We did have Mayor Pete, the story behind that's pretty interesting.
He came on the show right after he wrote his book. Everyone knew he was going to run for president, but he had yet to announce he was running for president. So, uh, through a connection with my friend, Adam Wren, who, who covers politics now for Politico, uh, he stepped in and, uh, got the introduction. Pete was a lovely guy to talk to.
We sort of laughed between [00:08:00] segments that both of our spouses, his husband, uh, Chasten and my wife, Sarah, uh, both call us Peter. And everyone else calls us Pete. So that was our fun moment to share. Dane, you know who the scariest guest of all time that has been on this show. Uh, do you want to be the person to name the person?
Damian Dunn: Oh, scary? No, I'm not going to say who's the scariest. I'm not. If I'm wrong, then I just insult somebody else. No, who's the scariest? Oh. Actually, I do. I know there's no way I'm saying that name.
Peter Dunn: Uh, so Mrs. Planner is the scariest guest I ever had on the show. She was on an episode years ago, and I, Chip, Chip knows me very, very, very, very well, and we hang out a lot.
We used to live in, around the here, and he's seen me around my wife. I'm, I love my wife. I'm not terrified of my wife, but I love to impress my wife, and doing so while broadcasting. Was too much for me. If you ever go back to the YouTube episode, you can watch it. Uh, of me and [00:09:00] Mrs. Planer for an entire episode.
I'm off my rocker. It's a terrible episode because I'm so nervous. And I'm someone that doesn't really get nervous, but, uh, that's the scariest guest I ever had was my lovely petite wife. Uh, it was awkward. It certainly was. So, uh, Chip, thank you very much. We're going to move on with the show and do a radio show, which is still a podcast, but Chip, thank you for being there at the beginning and, uh, being on the 500th episode as well.
So thanks buddy. And the eight 50th, uh, lovely to see you all. Thank you so much for having me congrats again and, uh, keep doing good work guys. Best of luck with the rest of your life. Never talking to you again All right ships dead down Okay, so guys we have a show today Chris Kristen happy. What do you think you've done?
How many episodes do you think you've done?
Kristen Ahlenius: I would guess 62
Peter Dunn: This head is very specific. Well, I've been on the show [00:10:00] 2062. Well,
Kristen Ahlenius: I've been on the show for, like, just over a year, give or take a miss here and there. And then I was a guest appearance, like, once a quarter for a couple years. So, like And I didn't want to say 60 exactly, so.
And the last time I said 57, you gave me grief for that. So I couldn't pick low either.
Peter Dunn: Would I ever give people grief? Uh, Dame, what do you think?
Damian Dunn: Ballpark
Peter Dunn: 200. Yeah. That's who do you think the most common guests other than, well, you guys are co hosts, but who do you think you think Phil Schumann from IU, uh, you think he, or, or Joshua Becker, the minimalism expert?
Damian Dunn: Yeah, it's probably either Joshua or Phil. Phil makes a lot of guest appearances. At least he, there was, it seemed like there was a string there where he was on our show pre, or your show, sorry, uh,
Peter Dunn: regularly. It's our show, Dame. Ted. If we ever got divorced, we'd have joint custody of the show. You know.
Damian Dunn: Dan's with a great comment.
It's Ted. [00:11:00] Ted is the most frequent
Peter Dunn: guest. Possibly. Alright, so here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna get started. We need to actually do a show here today. Uh, lots of surprises along the way, a lot of surprises along the way, uh, including what we're gonna do on the show today. Kristen, I blew up the show as we did our pre production three minutes before the show, which is not cool.
But we're gonna start the show with looking back to March 13th of 2020. Which was, you know, the beginning of the pandemic. Uh, and looking at our financial lives now, what's the good that came from it? What's the bad? And what's the absolute ugly of our financial life? So, uh, there we go. Rochelle says she's driving to Indiana to celebrate, uh, our, uh, our 500th episode.
Fantastic. Yeah. Great. Um, all right. Here we go. Everybody ready to start their clocks? Yeah. Do, do, do, do. Do, do. It's never going to get more [00:12:00] organized, folks. Just get used to it. Do you think we make it to a thousand podcast episodes? Forget the 850. Do you think we can go 500 more? I don't think so. I'm going to be honest.
I don't, I mean, I'm sort of a bad, I don't know how much more I got left in me. Chris, that's
Damian Dunn: five years. There's no way this, this runs another five years. Oh, that's 10
Peter Dunn: years. Oh yeah, it's ten years, Kristen. I'm dead. Guaranteed. I'm dead. No, I'm not dead, but there's no way this is going to be a 500 episode.
It's all downhill from here, baby. Woohoo. Do you think we will acknowledge the last episode as it's happening, or do you think something will go so awry that people won't know that the last episode they heard was the last episode?
Damian Dunn: I think the last episode is like just a hey everybody. This is Damien from formerly from the Pete the Planner show Just wanted to leave a little note for you on Facebook and YouTube that Well, thanks for the memories.
Peter Dunn: Oh my
Kristen Ahlenius: gosh. No way. It would just be a ghost we would broadcast on [00:13:00] a Friday just like this and then just like No one would ever hear anything ever again. That's, that's more realistic, I
Peter Dunn: feel like. I always think the last thing you do, there's so much pressure around it. It's like the last episode of Ted Lasso, the last episode of The Sopranos, your last news, like at some point in time, I've written, I have 700 newspaper columns or something stupid.
It's like, one of them is going to be the last one. And then do you make it about yourself by talking about it's the last one? Or you just give one more little dumb piece of financial advice? What's going to happen?
Damian Dunn: I fully expect you to have it planned out in your head, and then you just let us all know at the very end, and that's how it goes.
Is that today?
Peter Dunn: It might be later. Surprise! Surprise! Okay, uh, in three, two, one. This week on the Pete the Planner Show, we answer your money questions. Here's how the show works and how it's worked since March of 2008. You email us askpete at [00:14:00] petetheplanner. com. That's askpete at petetheplanner. com. And here's what will happen.
I was actually wrong. It was May of 2008. No one cares. We will answer your question on the air. And by we, I mean Kristen Alanius, Director of Education at Your Money Line. Hello, Kristen. Good day. Damien Dunn, Vice President of Advice at Your Money Line. Hello, Damien. Good day, and I'm Peter Nicholas Dunn citizen.
I'm sorry. Uh, if you're listening on the radio, it's a sort of a special episode of the show, kind of, kind of, it's sort of hard to explain. The radio show is also a podcast. And this is the 500th time we've had a podcast 500th episode. Yet the radio show is older than the podcast. So it's actually like The 850th episode of the radio show, no one cares, you're driving to Home Depot, getting your mulch, let's move on.
Dave and Kristen, um, so I wrote a newspaper column this week for the Indianapolis Business Journal about what has happened to our financial lives since March of 2020 when [00:15:00] the pandemic took over and, well, uh, ruined most things. And so what I want to do here today is I want to spend some time talking about the good that has come from that, the bad that has come from that.
And the ugly. So how about we do it, uh, game show style here, Kristen, you put on the spot. What is something good about our financial lives or that is going on in financial lives right now? Uh, since the pandemic, what, what is good? A silver lining, if you will.
Kristen Ahlenius: We're speaking in mass, right? Like for the populace.
Okay. Oh, Dame's answers have changed. Um, Something good maybe that has come out of it is I think it brought like more awareness to our financial lives in different ways, whether that's lack of student loan payment or stimulus checks or tax refunds, or there's been different components of that, but I think maybe an increased level of financial [00:16:00] awareness.
I
Peter Dunn: would agree with that. I think. People were forced into having an emergency plan in spring of 2020. Some people have held on to that new sentiment. Other people have let it go. Um, Dayma, I'll pepper one in here to jog some loose too. Wages have gone up significantly. In fact, uh, they've gone up 14. 79 percent.
So from in April of 2021, they had increased 14. 79 percent in one year. So, That wage growth that we always talked about did happen over the course of the pandemic.
Damian Dunn: That was one of the incontrovertible things that happened. It just seemed like everybody was getting raises left and right. And if you weren't, you were jumping to another job to go get that, uh, that, that big bump that you've been waiting for and everywhere you looked, wages were rising.
So yeah, this is, it's really hard to. You can't, you can't say anything other than, yeah, people are making more money now.
Peter Dunn: What, what, what [00:17:00] jumps to your mind of the good? I
Damian Dunn: think really early in the pandemic, this was particularly strong and it even built some momentum for some people. A lot of people got debt in order during this time period because they had free, uh, income that was sitting around.
They couldn't go anywhere, they couldn't do anything. And so they said, you know, this is the time to get my house in order and they just started. Paying down debt left and right, maybe you got completely free of credit card debt, but a lot of people got out from underneath that that weight and were able to redeploy that money into better areas in their lives.
That's
Peter Dunn: so true early on Kristen as we've seen the reports here recently. Has now swollen to $17 trillion of consumer debt. We're back the other way. But Dame, you're right. And, and to, to your point, I even gotta control more control over my debt, my only debt, which was my mortgage by refinancing in about the time at a two and a half percent mortgage.
So that's pretty significant. Kristen, if you had to guess from [00:18:00] March of 2020, the low point, okay. Uh, as to what the s and p 500 is up. Since March of 2020, what would you, what would you guess?
Kristen Ahlenius: That's going to be embarrassing because I don't look, you guys. Um, can you make Damien
Peter Dunn: guess? Actually, you know what, I'll say, let me say it differently because it's, I said it wrong.
In mid February, I believe it was February 9th, February 9th. of 2020. We hit a market high of all time market high in the S& P 500 before it crashed. The question is, how far are we, Dame, from that February 19th market high to today? How far are we from then to today? What's the change in the S& P
Damian Dunn: 500? Wow.
That's a really, uh, I will say,
uh, 12%.
Peter Dunn: Kristen, you want to give a guess? Can I take the over? Sure. You're right. 28 percent 28 percent and y'all that's three years. So [00:19:00] I mean, you're talking about what a 20 or probably an eight and a half percent average rate of return, which is what you want on your portfolio. So even in the darkest of days, Even in the darkest of days, which I got to be honest, there was no darker day that I will ever remember than March 16th of 2020 was a Monday foggy in central India.
Like it was like, Oh my God, the world's changed forever game. We're up 28%. I,
Damian Dunn: I clearly wouldn't have guessed that because I didn't, but that, that seems, I mean, if there's ever a. A good illustration of just stick with it. Just stay with it, man. This is it. We went through horrible, horrible times where it seemed like everything was up in the air and subject for debate.
And here we are a few years later and things are trucking right along. If, if you're stuck with your plan.
Peter Dunn: Chris, if you owned a home in the spring of 2020, since then, [00:20:00] wow, wow, real estate prices, if you were in position to take advantage of them and, and that opportunity persisted have been phenomenal, uh, since March of 2020.
Now Dame, there's other people on the other side of that equation. Those are people who are renting. With that in interest rates, which we'll talk about here shortly. Uh, that puts them in the bad side of things, but real estate prices have gone up. I think I calculated my mind's up 40%. Oh, 40%
Which is amazing what I, before, you know, here's what we're gonna do. I think the whole show we're gonna go the good, the bad, and the ugly, which is also like the name of the show. Kristen's the good, Dame's the bad, and I'm the ugly, right? We could just, that could be the name of the show. There you go.
Perfect. Uh, anything else, either of you, anything else occur to you like much better or where our lives are better financially after the recession and the [00:21:00] pandemic? In
Kristen Ahlenius: the comments, BigRickSwink, we kind of touched on this, but maybe not, you know, um, comprehensively, is that low interest rates were kind of the catalyst that allowed people to do several of the things that we mentioned.
Can you get your debt under control because you can refinance? I know you mentioned that with your house, but that low interest rate environment provided a lot of opportunity for people over the last few years. We can talk about the other side of that in the next segment, but there is good there.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, no, I agree, Dame.
I think not only that, but that helped the stock market go bananas too, because you couldn't earn a lot of interest on your money outside of taking risks within the
Damian Dunn: market. Well, let's not forget, uh, things that really helped like, uh, Robin hood and crypto and I'm totally kidding. I would, there's, there's all sorts of, of ways to.
Say this, this absolutely helped keep the market afloat. Uh, and from your perspective, maybe those things were great, [00:22:00] but yeah, there are the tons of influences and interest rates were right up there with the top of
Peter Dunn: them. I'm curious. We always live stream the show. Usually Fridays at noon on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter live today.
We are live streaming live on Thursday. Um, Dame, I'm curious within the chat of people on the live stream now. I would love you to put better if you feel like your financial life is better now than it was in March of 2020. Uh, I think, again, I don't want to scream into an echo chamber. Dame, I will just say I feel like my, my life is somehow, some way better now than it was in, in March of 2020.
Are you willing to, to go out on a limb and say what yours is? I'll
Damian Dunn: say TBD. Mine is more complicated than it was then, but we're, we're still, we're still sorting through that. Well,
Peter Dunn: you know what? I, I, to be honest, Mine is more complicated, but if it wasn't, I think it'd be a little bit better. Kristen, I want to, I want to make an appraisal there.
[00:23:00] Yeah, it's absolutely better. All right. So is the chat. Apparently I've seen a lot of betters. All right, let's do this. Coming up after the break, the bad, what, what is not so great about post pandemic life? I'm Pete, the planner. This is the Pete, the planner show. All right. Guys, we just turned, uh, one column into three segments and that's called water to wine.
Ladies and gentlemen, water to wine.
Damian Dunn: It's also called us not knowing when to shut up. Oh, that's
Peter Dunn: true. It worked really well. Okay, so what I wanted to do here is I wanted to go through and I wanted to play the original podcast intro. To this show. So you can, so we, we, we, we started the show with a really butchered how the radio show started, but now I want to play the original how the show sounded when the first episode came out.
Are you ready for this? Here we go.[00:24:00]
Damian Dunn: Am I listening into a seashell?
Did we lose Pete? You can hear it? No. I can hear it. Oh, well, I couldn't. No, it was great, Pete. It was fantastic. Wait, could you hear it? All I, it seriously sounded like I was listening in a seashell.
Peter Dunn: Kristen? Could you hear it?
Kristen Ahlenius: I could hear it. I thought we were still waiting. It hadn't, like, done anything. It was like, it sounded like you put a record, like, you put the needle
Peter Dunn: on the vinyl.
Boy, what would this show be without major mistakes? So
Damian Dunn: awkward. Do you want to do a dramatic
Peter Dunn: reenactment of what it would be? No, it was so good. It's, it's a, it's a voice drop of my daughter, who at the time was six, saying, a podcast. Did your radio show get canceled? Uh, and then it goes in and it was Mr.
Kinetic and Rusty Redenbacher. I totally want to hear that. I do too. [00:25:00] Life is hard. Sometimes I will go through and give you the top five, most memorable, memorable things that have ever happened on the five hundred is I chose a bad day to not be able to talk. I mean, really, what the heck? Five most memorable moments of the show history.
All right. Number one, Dame, you and I talk about this all the time. It was the, the pandemic episode. This was February of 2020. You and I like a couple of knuckleheads. I, I think you were in the studio. Weren't you?
Damian Dunn: With me, I might've been, uh, you know, back in the old days when we recorded together in the same room, shoulder to shoulder, essentially.
Peter Dunn: So You and I did this dumb thing where we said how worried are you on a scale of one to five or one to ten? about this disease the economy and the market Uh, I will say, and this is [00:26:00] not the point of me bringing this up, you were rather dismissive about the whole
Damian Dunn: thing. Completely. Yeah, you were way more realistic than I was, but I was like, Ah, it's a nothing burger.
It's gonna be here and gone and we're gonna move on with our lives. But I, I think I did kind of nail that, you know, once that initial period was off, the market shot right back up and, and Came back really, really quickly. So I feel like I earned a little bit of a, at a boy on that one.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, fair. So number one moment, a memorable moment on the show is Dame and I in real time talking about how terrifying the pandemic was, uh, number two for me, Kristen's first episode of being a full time cast member of the show.
Uh, I think we got done. Dame and I jumped on a call, like a private call. And we got off and we're like, wow, that was a lot better. Uh, it turns out two guys who look alike, sound alike, who have a similar background, similar disposition and family structure, uh, don't really make an interesting show. [00:27:00] Uh, but thanks to Kristen.
Uh, so Kristen top the number two in terms of most memorable moments is when you actually joined the show. Number three is when I bought Bitcoin on the air live on the air. It was traded. This is years and years and years ago. This is before it blew up. Uh, I sold it before it blew up. So needless to say, not the greatest investor in the world, but buying Bitcoin with our friend, Justin Castelli, uh, bought it on the show.
Uh, and then. Number four was the whiskey tasting. This is very early in the early days of the podcast, a whiskey tasting. Kristen, by the end of the episode, I was speaking less clearly than I am today. So that was, that was not a, not a good one. And Dan, what was the fifth one you sent
Damian Dunn: through? Oh, I'm not sure.
I would say you learned your lesson so well that you invited him back and did a wine tasting the next time.
Peter Dunn: I don't even remember that.
Damian Dunn: You did.
Peter Dunn: 100%. Okay, well, let's put it this way. [00:28:00] Um, the fifth one is the wine tasting. The show has evolved. Oh, Lord. Okay. All right. We do have a special guest joining us here in just about a minute.
So I'm killing a little time. Uh, Dame, I will also note that I want to go through. We are approaching, uh, we're approaching 3 million downloads of the show. We are a 1 percent podcast. Top 1 percent most listened to podcasts in the world ever. It's crazy, Kristen, we're going to go with the top 10 countries of who listens to our show.
Okay. Number one, Dame.
Damian Dunn: USA.
Peter Dunn: United States of America. Number two is Canada. Number three is Japan. We got to, look, uh, I eat so much sushi. The people in Japan listen to the show on a pretty regular basis. Like, cause I'm a supporter of Japanese food culture and they support American financial culture. The UK, clearly, cause I've been in London.
Australia, I don't know, Germany, France, [00:29:00] Brazil, India, and Singapore. Kristen, the last one's a little surprising. Singapore, people, uh, people from Singapore listen to the show. Uh, the last one
Kristen Ahlenius: is a little surprising. Japan, I actually wondered if it was that there's a decent military presence that listens to the show.
I think that could be the explanation
Peter Dunn: there. Uh, thank you for your service, everyone who's listening in Japan. Uh, all right. So joining us now, very special guest to the show. I bring her on the live stream. Nicole Anderson, formerly Nicole. How are you? I'm wonderful. How are you? Good. So, uh, Nicole was the original producer of the planner podcast, a coworker here at your money line, Nicole.
Um, so you were around for the start of this whole thing. Yeah, I think we started, we were like mid 100s, and my last episode was 290 something. So that's a long, long run, long run. [00:30:00] Chris, uh, or Kristen, I gotta tell you about Nicole. She's meant so much to me that a couple springs ago I actually married her.
You did? Uhhuh , her and her husband. Yes. There, you, her and her husband. I was the officiant at the, the wedding. Nicole, what sticks out to you about the podcast? Uh, back when you were on. Oh my gosh, just how much it grew. We had so much fun. I mean, you put me on video. I was a ripe 24 years old and I was, I was looking back and it was like a rubber band snapped of things I haven't thought about in a long time of like the Pete Puri episodes that we used to do.
There was so like, there's so much structure now, and I appreciate that so much, but back then it was kind of like, well, what do you want to do this week? Like, oh, we should do this thing called Peeps Eats, where you spend 25 and go to Trader Joe's. Like, it just was so all over the place, but we still Like there was still value that was delivered.
So I think Kristen would argue that nothing has changed [00:31:00] Nicole.
Kristen Ahlenius: Nothing has changed You'll be happy to know
Peter Dunn: You know what that does fill my heart though, because the the lens of unexpectedness still throughout that it keeps you on your toes I what I always appreciate about Nicole on the show was um, I remember her coming in once and saying that her parents listened to her on the show and how Pleased they were and how well they thought she did, not that they were surprised by how talented and vivacious she was.
But at the same time, it's like, we all know it is not easy to be a broadcaster and she had a lot of natural talent. So Nicole, I always remember like at 24 years old, jumping on the show. It's like you'd hosted a show for 10 years. And so, uh, it made it pretty easy. So now it's question and answer time for me here.
Uh, Nicole, we always used to tease you on the show. Cause you'd go listen to like electronic music in the woods or whatever it is. What, what, what am I, what am I describing? Oh, so I went to electric forest one summer when I worked for you. What, what, what is that? It's like, uh, [00:32:00] the fun you're having fun.
Yeah. We went to music festivals. We went to that festival and then we did a festival out in Palm Springs called Coachella. We've done that the past four or five years. So that's where you got engaged. I believe Coachella, right. To my special friend, your special friend who we used to call your, uh, special friend here.
He's now your special husband. He is my, yes, he says hello, by the way. Oh, nice. Hello, sir. Um, oh, any other memories of the show? I appreciate you popping in today. Any other memories of the show you want to share?
Really it's again, like you just put 24 year old me out on the show, like just bright eyed bushy tailed and how much fun we had. Now you're an old woman. Yeah, old, old hag now, all 29 years of me. Oh, my gosh. Well, Nicole, thank you for popping in for a few minutes. I know you're a busy person, um, but you've meant a lot to the show and to me and to your money line and all our friends around here.
So, uh. [00:33:00] Thank you. Uh, congrats on the career you've built since this place. Uh, we're all very proud of you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you guys. All right. See ya, Nicole. There we go. All right. Look at that. Kristen, uh, me putting someone on the spot doesn't sound like something I would do. And me not having a plan for broadcasting does not sound consistent with the person I've become.
Yeah,
Kristen Ahlenius: not on brand at all. I will say I do feel like I just met a celebrity because I always listened to the show when Frank was on the show. So that would, that was a full circle moment for
Peter Dunn: me. I should have said this when Frank was on the show, uh, just now. She's one of those people you hear about like, uh, someone walks into a room and it just, the room brightens.
Frank is, uh, like, one of five people I've met in my life. She walks into a room and the room just gets better. Uh, she was lovely. I'm not sure I understand. Siri says she does not understand. But, Siri, what I'm saying is How do Dave, you don't have an Apple Watch, do you? [00:34:00] No, I
Damian Dunn: pawned it off on my son so he can be tormented by notifications all day long.
Peter Dunn: That's fair, but like this thing just like starts up and starts talking to you. Kristen, does yours do that? Like, she just starts talking?
Kristen Ahlenius: She does all the time. That's why I shut her off her radio because I'm a hand talker. She'd be doing that constantly.
Peter Dunn: All right, uh, let's continue. Let's continue, um, with the show.
Now the bad of the pandemic, this will be like a seven hour show, apparently. The bad of the pandemic, I have to go too, Jeremiah, so we'll be able to get moving here. The bad of the pandemic starting in three, two, back on the Pete the Planner show talking the good, the bad, and ugly since the pandemic. What has gone on in our financial lives as a, as a, as an American society that make things good or bad or whatever.
Uh, we started in the first segment with the good, the good being, uh, housing market went bonkers. And if you were on the right side of that, that is good. The stock market's up 28 percent since the pre pandemic high. [00:35:00] Which is crazy. Uh, and as Damon and Kristen both pointed out, like our, our general sense of financial awareness has improved since then as well.
Now, Damon is time for the bad. What do you think is bad now as it relates to our financial lives since the pandemic?
Damian Dunn: I have to go with car prices. Uh, car prices went absolutely. Nuts during the pandemic for supply chain issues. And I'm not sure why many of us ever really needed a car during the pandemic, but, but we needed them.
And it was, we thought we were going to get some breaks with the interest rates, but then supply completely dried up and you had used cars being sold for way more than they were worth. And that actually still persists. Yeah. It's come down a little bit, but the car that you were able to buy three and a half, four years ago, For 5, 000, that, that quality of car just doesn't exist anymore.
And it's really, really difficult to find good, reliable [00:36:00] transportation for a relatively inexpensive
Peter Dunn: price. I'm with you there, you know, on top of that, uh, and we touched on it a little bit in the first segment. Our spending for the most part has returned to normal, right? It is, it is, we, we've helped cause some of the supply chain issues.
You could argue that we helped cause inflation to some degree, uh, but our spending habits by the fact that there's now 17 trillion of household debt in America, which is an all time high. We had so much pent up consumer demand, Kristen. Because we were so upset in the year 2020, then the government stimulus fueled all of our spending average family of four from March 13th of 2020 through December 31st of 21 received 12, 800 cash.
In government stimulus, and that has caused massive problems, Kristen.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, that's actually my [00:37:00] bad for the segment, is for those who didn't really need it. I think that stimulus money was a bad for a lot of people when it comes to behavior. spending because it inflated your household income and it's so hard.
Damon, I, you see this too. We see this all the time at your money line is like when you have that opportunity to spend more reeling that back is just so difficult for us as people. So I think for those in that category, it was, it was a bad.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, Dane, what jumps out to you as well as bad? The car one's a great one.
Kristen's point here about the stimulus. It's hard to call the stimulus bad, but the back end is bad. Dane, you're not a lawmaker. You're not someone that releases the purse strings of the government's, uh, actually our money. Do you think in these circumstances that there shouldn't have been a stimulus? I mean, is that I'm not saying that's your point, but I'm curious, like, how do you think [00:38:00] about that?
You and I have debated
Damian Dunn: this, I think, a few times on the show over, over the years, and it's tough to say because there was an absolute need in big segments of the community that needed something to get them, get them through. We talked about who the pandemic was going to, uh, Impact more, uh, the very front end of it.
It was going to be people who didn't have the luxury of being able to work from home and figure that out. And so you think about all the folks that have to go out and do for their jobs that couldn't do that. Many of them had no recourse. They needed something to help get them through month to month, even if it was just by the skin of their teeth.
And I can't sit here and say that no, we absolutely shouldn't have done it because there was a lot of good that was done. Even if those folks are still feel like they're recovering in some way, shape or form now for folks that that weren't really too impacted by it. I got a side with Kristen. There was there were some serious issues that [00:39:00] are being still dealt with by those families too.
So yeah. I, I'm not upset at the stimulus like anything else. I wish it could have been done in a little bit more measured and thought out manner, but we didn't know what we were dealing with. We didn't have that luxury, or at least we didn't feel like we had that luxury at the time, and we just had to.
Carpet money everywhere. And we're frankly, we're still dealing with the ramifications of it right now.
Peter Dunn: Kristen, this one's going to hit close to home. It's an unfair question. Is that why you think we're the student loan relief won't happen because of what we've just seen with massive. Stimulus spending because it's not exactly stimulus spending, but it may have this similar effect
Kristen Ahlenius: Is it or is it just kind of what's being used as the reason why I don't necessarily know um, the student loans is my ugly but um, so I want to wait to dig into that, but I definitely [00:40:00] think that Is it really?
Maybe.
Peter Dunn: Yeah. Yeah, Dame, I wonder if we really had to choose how to have changed the stimulus that it wasn't so bad, even though it was meant to be good. I think you're right about making sure it was a more targeted approach. Raising or lowering the income threshold would have been really good, too. That's a sticky one because you, it helped a lot of people, but man, it's caused a lot of problems in the last 18 months.
Yeah,
Damian Dunn: there's, like I said, I don't think there's a good solution to it. I mean, you could have gotten really tricky and said, you know, like, you know, two years from the date that you receive it on that following year's tax return, we're going to look at, you know, if you've recovered, we're going to start to claw some of that money back, uh, you know, something like that.
But now you're starting to get into a lot of different mechanics. And you're also giving other administrations and other Congress Congress is the chance to change that amend it. So it could have just been a false sense of a [00:41:00] false attempt at responsibility through through that. And At that point, there weren't a whole lot of people that were screaming for responsibility.
They were just saying, send us some cash. So I, I don't blame necessarily anybody that, that, uh, jumped on board with this. It's just, uh, I refuse to use the word unprecedented, but it was, that's what it
Peter Dunn: was. Hey, Kristen, you and Dane both worked remotely, uh, before the pandemic. Yeah. The pandemic turned all of us into remote workers.
I was a remote worker for a long time, um, because of it. Now that we're out of it and this hybrid thing has been created, are we viewing that as Good, bad, or ugly, or is it not that simple, or are you and I going to have different, uh, perspectives on this? Well,
Kristen Ahlenius: I would say for me it's really good because, to your point, Dame and I worked from home before the pandemic, and not a lot of people really understood what that meant.
And I would have people be like, oh, well, you can [00:42:00] do this, or volunteer for this, or do this, because you work from home. But I'm, I'm, I'm still working, like, I'm just at my house. I don't still, I don't have the luxury to just like do whatever, whenever, just because I work from home. Or like taking phone calls because we were remote instead of being an, being in person.
I think people look at our jobs through a different lens as a result. Very biasly, I will say it's good, but I don't know You'll agree with that.
Peter Dunn: Dan, any
Damian Dunn: different thoughts there? All right, Kristen, first, you and I have to talk. You absolutely do have the right to do whatever you want, whenever you want.
That's good. I can tell you how to hide that from Pete. So don't worry about it. Perfect. I'll take good notes. Uh, I don't know if my opinion really differs all that much from Kristen. I think folks who are already used to it had, um, a much better time adjusting to, to, to every, all the other changes that were coming along, but I mean, you take somebody out of the traditional workplace environment, stick them at home.
Um, Well, we saw it. We, we saw the zoom video. We saw all sorts of people struggling [00:43:00] with, with how to actually do remote work and do it well. So I think the jury is still out, but people have acclimated to work at home and it's going to be really, really hard to ever get rid of it. I've come
Peter Dunn: around more than I ever thought I would on this topic.
And I will, I will point out something interesting that between Dame and I, even in the last. Month or so, Dane was in the office here, uh, at our, at our headquarters. And Dane was like, man, I'd like the most effective day. I'm face to face. I'm with people a week and a half ago, I work remotely. And I was telling our coworkers, I was like, that was the most effective day I've had in a long time working remotely.
So sometimes that change of environment is, is what produces the outcome we want. All right. That's the good. We've talked about the bad. Uh, how about the ugly? What are the worst things to come, financially, due to the pandemic? All of that is next, right here on the Pete the Planner Show. I'm Pete the Planner.
I don't know what that was. [00:44:00] Jameson makes an appearance on the show. Popped in for a few minutes. A lot of regulars. Andy's here. I saw, uh, Brian Pankins jump in. Of course, Danza's here. Lots of regulars. Thank you for joining us on this special day. We probably do need to keep it moving because I don't really want to just be here that much longer.
Um, all right. So the ugly, Kristen teed up one of mine already, um, but that's okay. I don't mind. Let's, uh, let's crank through here. Uh, in three, two. One back on the Pete, the planner show, exploring the good, the bad and the ugly of the pandemic from a financial perspective in retrospect. So what, what is going on in the summer of 2023 that is good since the pandemic is bad and now it's time for the ugly, uh, Chris, I was about to go to you first of like, since now the ugly Kristen, but then that seems like that's not what I intended.
And so I didn't want to say that. So now we're here to talk about the ugly [00:45:00] for all things expert on ugly. Dame, take it away. What do you think the ugliest part of financial life today as a result of Pando? I think
Damian Dunn: it is more accepted now than it ever has been. To go through a phase of revenge spending, whether it is, you just, uh, you know, have a bad week at work or, uh, you know, something goes wrong.
You know what? I'm going to go out and I'm going to do some retail therapy or whatever it is. And I'm going to make a crazy financial decision because we don't know what tomorrow's going to bring. And we justify everything through a new lens that everybody has experience with. Everybody has experience with.
And so we, we have this much bigger past that we can put down on the table and say, see, it's okay.
Peter Dunn: Yolo. Uh, can I tell a quick funny yellow story that I think is hilarious? Uh, so I was on the IBJ podcast a couple of years ago and, uh, [00:46:00] the Indianapolis business journal podcast. And, um, Oh, should I tell the story?
I don't know. Only you know. Only I know. Let's move on. No! You're knee deep, Pete! What are you going to do? I'll say this. Okay, so the mayor of Indianapolis was a regular listener to that show. He also happens to be someone I know. And so I said YOLO. You know, you only live once. I just sort of like, I didn't make up YOLO, just so everyone knows.
It's a thing. I just said it. And so, when he listened, as the story has been told to me, he thought I Made it up and for the rest of the day in meetings. He was saying hey is Pete the planner always says YOLO You only live once so his chief of staff friend of mine, and she's texting me. She's like I hate you He's been saying that's Pete the planner says YOLO all day.
That's really funny to me. Anyway, Kristen. I'm with Dame here YOLO is on fire right now, and I've YOLO'd a little bit here recently. [00:47:00] Yeah, I'm
Kristen Ahlenius: pretty guilty of it myself, actually, based on the boxes that came from Amazon yesterday. Um, it's, I'm totally guilty of it myself. Now, do I sacrifice the things that are important, my goals and things to do that?
But I do find it easier to justify spending, because like, Your life is short, you know?
Peter Dunn: I know. Uh, Kristen, you brought up another one. It was my big one. It was like, we are in such a terrible student loan place. Yeah. It is, it is so awful. And for more nuanced reasons than most people think. Like, yes, there's one point, was it four, five, six trillion dollars, 1.
7 trillion dollars of student loan debt. Okay, yeah, terrible, awful. But this 40 month pause, Of student loan payments has made the problem So much worse. It is not uh, it is not addressed at one point It did give relief, but now it has made the [00:48:00] situation so much worse Yeah,
Kristen Ahlenius: I think for me it's just like this perfect storm of no payments College as far as I know is more expensive than it's ever been.
We're headed back into repayment for real this time. It doesn't seem like there's going to be student loan forgiveness. You have three years of college graduates who've never made a payment before. It is just this perfect storm and student loans are something that always worry me. It's my favorite area to talk about.
It's my area of expertise. Self decided, but it's, I'm more worried about it now than I've probably ever been. Um, because of all of these different
Peter Dunn: variables, I agree. And Dame, you and I again, have children of the same age. Uh, how do you think about student loans and how student loans will impact college expenses in the future?
Thinking about our daughters who are first, right? Like I I've been thinking about that a lot the last month or so [00:49:00] it is. Again, I'm complaining about an expense that hasn't happened that I've planned for. However, I realize there's people that are in much worse positions than I am. But, Dane, this student loan problem is actually getting so much worse and people don't realize it.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, I have no clue of what's going to happen with student loans and student debt and the laws and the norms that are going to be around that between now and the time. Our kids get to college. That doesn't mean I have no, uh, no reason to start or continue to worry about and plan for it. I look at, you know, in our, in our work, we have access to a really cool piece of software that can help project college costs and what, uh, assistance may be available.
And I was going through it again, uh, for the first time in quite a while yesterday, And just looking at some of the numbers coming up for for in state schools and private schools, just shaking my head and, you know, thinking, I know roughly what the balances are in the 5 [00:50:00] 29 and it's it's It's just daunting.
This problem isn't going to be resolved anytime soon because the cost of college and how much people have saved. There's no other way for people to get their kids to college than assuming debt, whether it's through the student, whether it's through the parents, whatever it is. Right now, debt is involved for the vast majority of students that are going to take on college, and that's a problem.
There's
Peter Dunn: a political angle to this clearly, uh, and, and I'm not looking for divisiveness and I don't think we would find it, uh, on this show, but there's some interesting elements, right? So President Trump, the Trump administration's which started student loan forgiveness are starting to, uh, the deferment of payments during the pandemic.
Then he did an extension. Right. Kristen, did he do one or two? I think two. And then it's been non stop extensions under the Biden administration. So there's that angle. But here's why I think this problem gets worse and it's [00:51:00] never wiped out. The Supreme Court. I believe will overrule the order here. Very maybe today.
You don't know. Like it's any day now, right? So I think that'll happen. And so the court will have made its decision about what emergency powers can do. Um, And then if you look at the, if you look at the house, the Senate and then the White House in the next couple election cycles, I don't think they're ever going to be in a position during those next few election cycles to all agree to wipe out the debt.
That would mean the Democrats would control all three in a significant way and somehow be able to circumvent what the Supreme Court says. Like it's just not going to happen.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. And I'm thinking about what Dame said about YOLO. And that I think applies to parents sending their kids to school, too. And we're in a higher interest rate environment, coupled with school being more expensive.
And then you take, you [00:52:00] know, parents who are still paying their student loan debt. We see that a lot. And that's not to shame anyone for that. It's just reality, is that we see parents who are still paying on their higher ed, then trying to pay for their students higher ed. And it's like, well, they only get to go to school once.
Higher education is so important. We don't care what the cost is. Junior needs to go to school. And I think that problem just continues to compound.
Peter Dunn: Yeah. Day. My last, uh, ugly, uh, coming from the pandemic is inflation. I mean, now inflation is definitely cooled, which is, which is great. But some of these prices are going to stay high.
I mean, the, the war in Ukraine is not exactly helping grain prices. And there's, there's other elements there that have become problematic. But if you're early twenties right now, you're hit with high interest rates, high inflation, a massive student loan issue. Well, I know people love to say 20 somethings or millennials or whatever wine.
Uh, With good reason. [00:53:00] Like, that's a, that's a terrible, untenable situation if you're in your younger 20s
Damian Dunn: right now. Yeah, and I think, I'm sure there are people out there that kept saying, Well, as soon as inflation slows down, as soon as inflation slows down, That doesn't mean prices are coming back. It just means they're not going up as fast.
So, the elevated prices are gonna be here. Thankfully, wages have risen. Uh, maybe not equally, but there's maybe not much of a disparity. We just need a break. We need some relief from ever increasing prices.
Peter Dunn: All right. Anybody, a couple seconds left here. Anybody want to throw in one more ugly before we head to the break?
No, I think you've done
Damian Dunn: a fantastic job, Pete, of
Peter Dunn: illustrating the ugly. Yes, that's what I do. Okay. So here's what we are going to do. We're gonna do biggest waste of money of the week coming up and current events. Uh, I saw even breaking this morning, some of the, many of the charges against the FTX.
Founders on the cryptocurrency, uh, exchange. I don't know, uh, have gotten, have been dropped. So the breaking news in a lot [00:54:00] of areas with crypto right now. So we will cover that we will cover other current events, and we will also cover biggest waste of money of the week. That's all next on the pizza planet show.
Um, Pete, the planner. Damn, I saw your face. Don't worry about it.
Damian Dunn: I'll take care of it. Yeah, we are not unless you are covering the FTX thing because that did not make the cut
Peter Dunn: Oh boy All right So I had like other audio to play and stuff But I couldn't get it to play through and now i'm sad because it was the old end of the show, which was hilarious Ah, you know what?
Maybe all this no, I was gonna say I could edit it into this show for the art That's a lot of work. It is a lot of work. Oh boy. You need frank to do it I need Frank to do it. It stinks. Frank, uh, had a lovely, beautiful last name, Frankowski. Just flows off the tongue. And then now it's Anderson. Which is just so much more conventional.
So you can't even call her Frank, you have to call her Andy now. Andy, yeah. [00:55:00] It's so good. Um, all right. Uh, you know who else lights up a room when they walk in the room?
Damian Dunn: Aquagreg. I was gonna say, you better say Mrs. Planner.
Peter Dunn: No, no, no, no. I thought he was gonna say Chad. He terrifies me. No, Aquagreg, right? Mm hmm.
Yeah, just one of those people, you know, and just like, the room gets better. Mm hmm. All right. Um, I wonder what that's like. I don't, yeah, Dean, you ever wonder what it's like when you enter a room and people are excited about it? Hey, hey! Actually, when you show up here, like any surprises every once in a while?
Unannounced.
Damian Dunn: Unannounced?
Peter Dunn: Yeah. Like the FBI just knocking on our door at 5 a. m.
Damian Dunn: If you walked into the office and there was like a row of pizzas sitting there, probably would get the same reaction or a couple boxes of donuts. I mean, it's not me. It's just the surprise, the novelty of the situation.
Peter Dunn: Oddly enough, though, Kristen, let's say it's 7 a.
m. and I show up at your front door on a Tuesday, [00:56:00] probably not the same level of same reaction,
Damian Dunn: no. Context matters, yes. Yeah, yeah, it does.
Peter Dunn: Alright, let's do Biggest Waste of Money of the Week. But with that, how awkward would that be? I mean, we, we have a lot to talk about and hang out, but like 7 a. m. for
Kristen Ahlenius: starters, I would be sleeping.
Peter Dunn: So it's midday for me, buddy. Midday. Uh, okay. I almost did a Miguel for the show today, but I drank so much caffeine this morning. Um, man, man, my heart would have exploded if I would have had a Miguel. So I didn't, would have been the last podcast. You never know more news here shortly. All right. So, uh, let's start the segment in three, two, this week's biggest waste of money of the week, right here on the Pete, the planner show is.
The Louis Vuitton Horizon Silver light up speaker. [00:57:00] After introducing its Horizon light up speaker in 2021, the fashion house brings back the statement piece in silver. An intersection of art, fashion, and technology, the wireless speaker takes the shape of a sleek Metal top timeout. It does look like a top, a Dame.
Does it not look like a UFO? Yes. A hundred percent. Yeah. Uh, it's form allows users to enjoy 360 degrees sound or aim music in different directions, depending on how they lay it, a leather strap transforms the speaker into a wearable accessory timeout. Dame, as my daughter once said, uh, anything's a puppet if you put your hand in its hole.
Uh, isn't anything a wearable, fashionable Yes, she did. She was a kid, like we did a puppet show. And then she like grabbed a pillow and I was like, what are you doing? She said, anything's a puppet if you put your hand in its hole. [00:58:00] And I was like Okay, and this says a leather strap transform the speaker into a wearable accessory.
Does that mean you put a leather strap on anything that's a wearable accessory? I think so. Okay, continuing. Time back in. Allowing users to take the audio on the go. Branded LED lights add to the Are you laughing?
Damian Dunn: What's going on? It's great. No, I was sighing. It was great. Sorry.
Peter Dunn: Uh, Branded LED lights add to the futuristic aesthetic, while the signature monogram print on the mesh nod to the brand's heritage.
Kristen, this is like a, like a, like a Bose speaker, like a Sonos sort of speaker that looks like a UFO made by Louis Vuitton. How much does this cost? Pete, can you
Kristen Ahlenius: help me understand, is it like a keychain size? That's my
Damian Dunn: quote. It looks very small. It looks
Peter Dunn: small. But see that's where like the wearable thing, to me, I bet this is the size of Um, a landmine.
I would say like a small claymore. [00:59:00] I'd say it looks like that like a salad plate. Size. Okay. Salad plate.
Kristen Ahlenius: Um, let's do 5,
Peter Dunn: 600. Okay.
Damian Dunn: Dame? Uh, 7, 900.
Peter Dunn: Wow. You guys are aggressive today. 3, 600. It's steel! It's cheap. Yeah. It is a steel. Speaking of Puppets. I don't know. Dane, what's in the news this week?
Damian Dunn: Yesterday, Sweden reported higher than expected inflation for May, causing economists to wonder what could have kept prices elevated.
And then it hit them like a ray of sun. Beyonce. The pop superstar kicked off her renaissance tour in Stockholm last month, drawing over 80, 000 fans to the city's Friends Arena for two nights. In response to the influx of concertgoers, hotels and restaurants raised their prices to such a degree that it boosted overall inflation, Danske Bank concluded.
The fact that one person, by the [01:00:00] sheer force of popularity, was responsible for higher inflation in an entire country is Well, it's not normal. Danska's chief economist in Sweden, Michael Grand, said, It's quite astonishing for a single event. We haven't seen this before. Beyonce's tour arrives in the U. S.
next month, which I'm sure is making Jerome Powell nervous. He's a deadhead anyway.
Peter Dunn: Kristen, have you ever seen the Beyonce Coachella set from the Netflix special from a couple years ago? I have not. Dame. All right, y'all. I'm going to go out on a limb here. I, you know, I don't, I don't enjoy, okay, here's it. I don't like fun.
I don't like concerts, but I don't mind a documentary about a concert. Um, I don't, I don't know. Uh, Beyonce's performance at Coachella, that doc is unbelievable. Unbelievable performer. It may not be your style of music. It is amazing. Uh,
Damian Dunn: Pete, Beyonce, [01:01:00] or A Tribe Called Quest, pick one.
Peter Dunn: For what?
Damian Dunn: General
Peter Dunn: listening pleasure.
A Tribe Called Quest. Uh, Dane, what else is in the news this week?
Damian Dunn: Instant Pots. Once grand dreams of taking over your kitchen came out underdone. Its parent company, Instant Brands, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday to get its battered finances in order. Not long ago, Instant Pot devotees were compared to a cult.
The easy to use pressure cooker exploded in popularity in 2016, speeding up stews and dominating cooking blogs, pitching 65 Instant Pot recipes for quick weeknight dinners. The Swiss army knife of kitchen appliances regularly became a top seller on Amazon's Prime Days. In 2019, a private equity firm called Cornell Capital scooped up Instant Pot and plotted to grow its reach faster than the countertop hog could finish your carnitas.
But, you know what they say, Pete, fly too close to the broiler, you're gonna get burnt. Hungry for expansion, Cornell pushed instant brands to release new gadgets like air fryers and an [01:02:00] air purifier. Those flopped, and at the same time, sales of Instant Pot and its fellow multi cookers fell from, uh, by half from 2020 to 2022.
Looking ahead Pete, could air fryers be the next flop or the next thing to, uh, burn out in the segment?
Peter Dunn: With that logic, uh, you gotta I think so. I, I don't know. Like we never got on the Instapot craze and we've never gotten on the air fryer craze. Dame, Instapot, air fryer? Yes. Kristen, Instapot? Both of them.
They're both great. Yeah. You know, Mrs. Planer doesn't like kitchen appliances that sit on the counter. Other than, yep. Yeah, and so that's the issue around our house. I'm not blaming her. But it is her fault.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, that's all right Hey pete chew on this former walt disney executive michael eisner is seeking a buyer for bazooka candy brands Do [01:03:00] you remember bazooka pete?
Peter Dunn: Of course? I remember bazooka. It was like my childhood
Damian Dunn: He's owned it for he and his investment firm have owned it for more than 15 years eisner and there's a co owner Madison Dearborn partners have put a for sale sign on the gum and candy manufacturer for 700, 000, 000. No. 700, 000, 000.
Peter Dunn: Bazooka Joe, if I remember correctly, wasn't the gum wrapped in a comic?
Yes. Kristen, do you remember Bazooka? No. Do you remember what, what team, what big league chew? Do you know big league chew?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. What other candy they had other candy right under the brand
Damian Dunn: or no, they do. They still have a couple, um, like lollipops, uh, ring pops. The, the, uh, the. They own that too. So it's, uh, there's a few things in there, but 700 million, and that seems a little, little
Peter Dunn: steep.
Ted was at basketball camp this week, and I, yesterday, I asked [01:04:00] him, he's 11, I asked him, uh, how camp went, how, how does games go today? And he's like, I knew we were in trouble when one of the kids on our team showed up with a candy necklace. I was like, yep, there you go. I was like, uh, you nailed it. Uh, because that's a bad sign.
There's a guy on your team wearing a candy necklace. Yeah. Any more news, David,
Damian Dunn: this week? Yeah, sure. Plenty of teenagers are nabbing summer jobs this year, and the pay is way better than you might think. The surge of young folks in the workforce has been happening for the past few years, and at first seemed like it might be a pandemic blip, but turns out it's a trend with some legs.
Employment rates for teens are expected to rise this summer faster, uh, from last year, according to a team of labor economists who put out an annual summer job forecast. Wage growth among the youngest workers has been steeper than for other groups. In April, wages For those age 16 to 24, we're up 11. 5 percent from last year, compared to 6.
6 percent for those 25 [01:05:00] to 54, according to the Atlanta Fed. Gusto, which handles payroll for about 300, 000 small and midsize businesses, says the average hourly wages for teens aged 15 to 19 on its platform hit 14. 89 in May, up a whopping 41 percent since January 2020.
Peter Dunn: Kristen, your best job in your teens.
What was the best job you had in your teens, ideally high school?
Kristen Ahlenius: Um, I didn't work in high school, wasn't allowed to, but I did work at a pizza place in college and that was a lot
Peter Dunn: of fun.
Damian Dunn: Didn't work in high school, but, uh, I did work in the bag room at a golf course when I was a little bit younger than that.
And it was fabulous.
Peter Dunn: I installed air conditioners, uh, when I was in high school for my parents, uh, plumbing and heating company. I was like the assistant and I always would hook up the outdoor unit. Uh, uh, that's what, that was my best job. I worked at a music store too, but before you're like, wow, [01:06:00] you're cool.
I'm not, and I can't believe I worked in a music store either. Um, but no, installing air conditioners is my answer. All right, so that's all we have time for, uh, in this week's show. Uh, please listen to the podcast. This was the 500th episode of the podcast, and it's about the 850th radio show we've done since 2008.
And like you, I'm wondering, how is it not better by this time? Anyway, sending you good vibes, because good vibes are all that's in the budget. Thanks for all the special guests today. I'm Pete the Planner. This is the Pete the Planner Show. I just realized that no one on the radio heard special guests.
Right. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Oh, man. I can't believe you just realized that. I know. I was excited about the show today, but my caffeine hit at the wrong time because I got here way too early today. And so I feel like I had a bad show, which is what it sounds like on the 500th show. Like I couldn't talk. I [01:07:00] just like, I'm sorry, everybody.
Maybe. The next 500 will be better. Oh, wow.
Kristen Ahlenius: Um, we got to hear your favorite, uh, show memories. I would like, Dames have been on the show a long time. Can we hear
Peter Dunn: a couple of Dames? Yes, as long as you give a couple as well.
Damian Dunn: Uh, mine is a moment that nobody has ever heard before. Uh, back before Pete and I ever met, I was trying to figure I was doing my own thing and financial advising, trying to figure out, uh, what in the world I could do differently to reach the group of people that I was trying to have an impact with, and I was struggling.
Desperately to find answers and maybe just something that would shake something loose. And so I started reading, um, other, other stuff online and signing up for newsletters and looking for podcasts. And one day I stumbled across the Pete, the planner show, and I thought, who, what kind of. Weirdo names himself Pete, the [01:08:00] planner.
He doesn't even have any designations. Pete, the planner. Uh, but you know, that's how desperate I was. Like, let's give it a try. And, and I was, that was my summer of running. And so I was, I was out. I had time. I could easily get through an entire show when I was out. And there were a lot of times that I was laughing and there were a lot of times that I was, uh, basically yelling at you because I disagreed with what was going on.
But, but I found, uh, I found a voice that I enjoyed listening to. And little did I know that, you know, a year later, uh, we would, uh, be, be looking at what the future looked like together. So my, my favorite moment was the moment that I discovered the show. Oh,
Peter Dunn: that's great, man. I love it. There's something odd about our profession and probably some other ones you when you're an individual advisor, you can feel like a prize fighter and you instantly disagree with some other professional within the industry, [01:09:00] but for no particular reason.
So just the mere fact that you chose to like be open minded and listen says a lot about you. But Uh, just for everyone else out there, uh, financial advisors love to disagree with each other. Uh, big time. I love it. Dame. Uh, Kristen, any, any fond memories?
Kristen Ahlenius: Um, I've, I probably have a couple. They're shorter. Um, the time that Dame said, well, they're not like big stories.
The time that Dame said aquafaba. Yeah. On the show. That was great. That was great. Not knowing what that was, that still makes me laugh. I still don't. Um, the time that you wore fashion camo on Veteran's
Peter Dunn: Day, No. The Stolen Valor episode, sure. A win for me. Not the, not the best moment.
Kristen Ahlenius: Um, and then my, probably one of my favorite shows that I wasn't on, ironically.
It was a couple years ago, maybe. I had been on the show like once, and the two of you did a PSLF episode. And like halfway through, I don't [01:10:00] know who brought it up, but it dawned on you. I'm like making my lunch, cause that was back when you guys used to broadcast the show at like noon. I'm like making my lunch or whatever.
And one of you was like, why didn't we have Kristen on the show? Cause you kept like talking about me. You were like, Oh, well, Kristen would say this. And, um, that was probably one of my favorite moments because I'm at home. Like, yeah, I would have done a really good job at this show, but I liked it.
Peter Dunn: That's fun.
I'll say what's weird about this show since it's been around so long is like, it touches a lot of people. I mean, it actually, and that's not about me. It's about the community we've built together, but, uh, I'll be. Anywhere around the country and I'll hear like I was in Salt Lake City last week and someone listened to the show is like, it's, it's pretty crazy and it's, uh, it's awesome to think that almost 3 million downloads have occurred now that does that mean that 3 million people have listened once?
No, that's not the math. But that means a lot of people have. And so, uh, we certainly appreciate that. So thank you for being part of the community. The show has gotten so much more fun over the [01:11:00] last couple of years. Dame breathed new life into the show and then Kristen just took it to the next level. So, uh, I, I honestly don't know.
Uh, I don't have a, I don't have a plan of how many more we're going to do that. We're just going to keep going and have having a good time. We're not going to make another 500 episodes. In fact, if it seems like we are, we're ending at nine, nine, nine, 99 guaranteed, guaranteed. Uh, so thanks everyone for being part of this.
I hope you have a good rest of your week. Uh, stay getting money.
