Peter Dunn: [00:00:00] All right, new segment. It's called Why isn't Kristen trying hard enough? Hello, everyone. It's a Pete the Planner show. Kristen, why aren't you trying hard enough?
Kristen Ahlenius: I feel like I am trying hard enough. You guys are telling me I'm not doing enough effort or something.
Peter Dunn: We're just trying to pre ruin your weekend.
Dame, coming to us from A buddhabad? Like, where
Damian Dunn: are you? Damn, you're in a cave? It's light optional at my place today. Apparently just feeling a little more somber. Pulled it down a little bit today. And no, my camera's not bright today. I don't know what's going on. Everything else is exactly the same.
My camera decided it had had enough and we're dark.
Peter Dunn: Dame Kristen and I didn't really know where you were last week in the show and you were out Driving I was laying
Damian Dunn: that was the plan that didn't work out to a last [00:01:00] minute surprise Revelation with with some of the transportation so I stayed around the house I could have technically joined you but I decided it was better just to relax for a couple
Peter Dunn: days Well, hey, I we fully support that Kristen.
Are you still reeling from? Which one?
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, I was going to say, Damon, you didn't finish what your revelation about being off work but having nowhere to be. I feel like, give credit where it's due.
Damian Dunn: It was amazing. It was the first time I've ever done like a true just staycation type of thing. And frankly.
It was two wonderful days. I, I, I've been missing out for a long time. I've been trying
Kristen Ahlenius: to, okay, please don't do that. I've been trying to tell you that the best PTO is like two extra days, just randomly. And you don't have commitments to do anything. You just catch up on things around the house. It fills your cup.
I've been trying. I've been shouting this for as long [00:02:00] as I've been here.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, I will try it again, but I do have two more days next month to go do the driving thing I was supposed to do last week. So sorry.
Peter Dunn: So here's a weird one for you. I have a meeting later today in an hour and 28 minutes, I think to talk about a new podcast.
Oh, let's workshop this. What are we doing here?
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh.
Peter Dunn: An additional podcast.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh
Peter Dunn: yeah. An additional podcast. I don't know if it'll come to fruition or not. But we'll see. We'll see. Different topic, so
Damian Dunn: many questions, but we will go ahead. Go ahead. I'll do what I can. Go ahead. Is this a sponsored podcast? I mean, is there a corporate entity behind it?
No, okay. Not not exactly angle of the podcast. Yeah, do you do? We do? We know the main business. Okay, not not personal finance other [00:03:00] recognizable names on the the show by you. Yes. Okay, excellent
Peter Dunn: and in in HR business world. Yes. Okay.
Kristen Ahlenius: What didn't
Peter Dunn: yeah
Kristen Ahlenius: Pete. What did you tell Damien and I about starting a podcast?
Peter Dunn: Do you expect me to remember anything that I've said to anyone ever? No,
Kristen Ahlenius: you don't remember because last week when you accused me of giving my age, giving my age and you didn't ask, I listened to it back. You absolutely did ask me how old I was.
Peter Dunn: I did. I listened to it back too. I did ask you.
Kristen Ahlenius: You were like, clearly didn't.
Peter Dunn: I forgot, you're like, forgot, immediately forgot. Anyway. Kristen, can we switch your face off of this? Please. I would appreciate that very much. Okay. All right. Thank you. No one wants to look at Dame and I can tell you that. But you can't see me. Yeah. [00:04:00] Okay. Kristen, Dame, can you plug your ears just for a second?
Actually, take out your, take out your, your monitors. Take out your monitors. Do I have to? Yes.
Damian Dunn: Listeners. If this backfires on me, I don't know. Okay. Take them out. Take them
Peter Dunn: out. Take them down. Can you hear me right now? Okay. Thank you, Kristen. Yesterday in Trump's press conference, he talked about how he should get a say on what the Fed does with interest rates if he's president again. I feel like this is the perfect thing to bring up the Dame to get him going.
Do you want to do it?
Kristen Ahlenius: I, I, yes, but I'm not good at setting it up. I feel like you have. I hate this so much. But yes.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Dame, we're back. You're back. You're good to go. Okay.
Kristen Ahlenius: This is so evil. Okay. Hey, Dan.
Peter Dunn: Hey,[00:05:00]
how are you guys doing? Nothing. Have you been watching the news last couple of days?
Damian Dunn: I will leave. I will walk off this podcast right now. The wall because it's dark in there right now.
Peter Dunn: You know, a couple weeks ago on the show, we were talking about the Fed isn't even an elected body that has all of this power and influence over our economy.
You know, remember that? Do you see yesterday that Trump suggested that he should get to set
Damian Dunn: fed policy if he's president again?
Kristen Ahlenius: Mm hmm.
Damian Dunn: No, I didn't actually I've pretty much given up on the news from now until next year So what do you think about that? I think it's a horrible idea almost like every single politician on either side of the aisle is giving these days He didn't take the bait.
I Was told to calm down before the show even started and I'm trying to take that to heart
Peter Dunn: Okay, Kristen. Are we doing your ideas first or [00:06:00] do you want to do my mortgage thing first?
Kristen Ahlenius: You always say it's got to start with a good idea, so I guess Of course.
Peter Dunn: Yours. Okay, let me do some stuff here. Big weekend plans for the people?
Kristen Ahlenius: Camping.
Peter Dunn: No. That's what you could do. Sell your house. Camp. And then She's got a camper. I don't know what the problem is here.
We're getting ready to do Kristen's segment. And Kristen, I don't know much about it, so I'm just going to have to toss it to you. You're going to have to be prepared to go.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's fine.
Peter Dunn: Okay. You want to do the intro too? Dang. Now he's trying to get you back. Here we go. In three, two, one this week on the Pete, the planner show, we answer your money questions.
Here's how the show works. You email us at askpeteatpetetheplanner. com and that's askpeteatpetetheplanner. com. And here's why it might happen. We might answer your question. We might not. Or we'll just do our own [00:07:00] topics because your questions aren't good enough. That's a little aggressive. Hi, Dame. Hi, Pete.
Welcome back from a 48 hours in the dark. You took a couple of days off last week and you were back with us. I'm gradually building myself back into the light. Kristen Alenius, never, won't stop, can't stop, ha ha ha. How are you, Kristen? I'm, I'm doing good, thank you. I, you're doing well, and doing good.
Okay, Kristen, in the slap channel that the three of us shared, you teased a game, and you know there's nothing I love more than games on the radio. And so Damon, I are the contestants and you are the host.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes, that is correct. So to set the stage a little bit in the space that we play in, the three of us professionally here is that we see So many studies that come out, these attention [00:08:00] grabbing headlines around like retirement savings, savings rates for one K balances.
And earlier this week, Damon and I were talking about I think it was a van guard study maybe that was talking about the average 401k balance, like by age. And Dane pointed out something to me that I don't think we talk about all that often, which is, How that doesn't paint the whole picture, Damian. Do you want to elaborate on that?
Damian Dunn: Yeah. So what we often see these, you see them everywhere. Every news outlet has their own version of this. How much should you have saved by whatever age of recent study by Fidelity 401k says. People are behind, whatever it is that doesn't, as Kristen said, take into account everything. Maybe you've got multiple 401ks because you've had multiple employers scattered over a number of different places.
So your average balance may be low, but your aggregate balance may be right on track for what it's supposed to be. So when you see reports like these, take them with a grain of salt because there are other [00:09:00] factors that go into. the whole story.
Peter Dunn: All right, well, that is the setup. Kristen, what are we guessing?
Kristen Ahlenius: So we're actually going to guess a few different Retirement stats that I don't feel like we see as often in headlines that might be a little surprising. So, the first one is the percentage of participants. This is Fidelity's quarter one stats, by the way. This is their most recent report. Percentage of 401k.
This is their most recent report. What percentage do you think?
Peter Dunn: Can I ask a couple qualifying questions? Is this, this is via Fidelity 401ks? Yes. Yes. Yes. Alright, I'm gonna Oh, Dave, did you want to go first? I'm sorry, I just jumped in on it. I
Damian Dunn: was just letting you cook, man. Go for it. What, do you have a teen son?[00:10:00]
I might.
Peter Dunn: Oh man, my son is always cooking. Ah, I was cooking. Okay. Alright. I'm gonna go 74%.
Kristen Ahlenius: Damien?
Peter Dunn: I was gonna say 80, so
Kristen Ahlenius: It's actually 85 percent of Great! Nice. Isn't that, that's incredible. That is a totally different picture than what is generally painted around retirement statistics, no?
Peter Dunn: Yeah, so back in 2009, Kristen, when you were in second grade What grade were you in in 2000?
I was a
Kristen Ahlenius: freshman in high school.
Peter Dunn: Close. Same thing. And I remember doing work, financial wellness in the workplace work for a company, and they had just moved coming off of the meltdown of 2008 2007. I, you see, I flipped them because a person normally would say 2007, 2008, but I'm trying to keep it interesting.
Verbally, I noticed that they dropped their 401k [00:11:00] match from 3 percent to 1%. So what you see of the throttling of participation is throttling the match. But it is great to hear that it's still a healthy mid 80s percent. Dame, I'm shocked by that. Honestly, I'm not shocked. I'm I'm in enlightened. I love it.
It's nice.
Damian Dunn: It's a pleasant surprise to be sure. I think your comment also goes to further the point or the question of how much is the match they're actually receiving. And that's, that's going to vary. Employer to employer, but I. Oh man, I've got to guess this could be interesting. All right. Are we talking average?
Kristen, I'll let you ask the question before we ask you questions.
Kristen Ahlenius: So the overall average employer contribution rate to a 401k, and I can even give this to you generationally, but we'll do overall first.
Peter Dunn: So, Dame, something you have to consider here is [00:12:00] I would I would assume this makes you account for what a person puts in to activate the match.
So it's a little bit more complicated than. A dump in, you know, because it, it requires people to put money into,
Damian Dunn: but we're just talking about participants at this point, because if you're not no employers,
Kristen Ahlenius: employer contribution.
Peter Dunn: Okay. All right. Employers. So this has nothing to do with it. Well, it does have saying, okay, I'm going.
I'm going, go ahead, go ahead, 4. 7 percent
Kristen Ahlenius: Damien,
Peter Dunn: three
Damian Dunn: and a quarter,
Kristen Ahlenius: 4. 8. Oh my gosh. Holy smokes. I should have my own radio
Peter Dunn: show. I'm so good at this. I missed the last one.
Kristen Ahlenius: What's interesting is that. The boomers are actually the highest 5. 2 percent Gen Z, the lowest at 3. 9%, which I actually did find a little surprising because I would [00:13:00] think that Gen Z has larger participation in defined contribution plans in general.
Like, give me those stats again. I'm sorry. You're fine. 5. 2 percent for boomers. And then it's progressively decreases to Gen Z, which is 3. 9%.
Peter Dunn: You
Kristen Ahlenius: know,
Peter Dunn: are you going to get to like, what's the average percentage match? Or are you going to get into more match stuff?
Kristen Ahlenius: We can, I also have the total savings rate. I have the employee savings rate and the total savings rate. Can
Peter Dunn: I pull up your money lines? Cause I've got it right here. Yeah, sure. Is that, is that okay to do that?
It's, it's all aggregated. It's not individualized. I know. I'm just trying, I'm like, I'm thinking in real time here. Is it a bad idea? Okay. If
Kristen Ahlenius: we're not doing well as a group, feel
Peter Dunn: free to inflate our numbers. Let me take a look here. Hold on. Let me take a look. Oh, I got to log out. Okay. Kristen. So we're guessing the average.[00:14:00]
So let's
Kristen Ahlenius: do, cause I already gave you the employer contribution rate. So it's the, I can only give you one or the other. So let's just do total savings rate for 401ks overall. And then we can look at the generations.
Damian Dunn: What did, what, it was three four, what, for the employer?
Kristen Ahlenius: 4. 8 percent for the employer.
Damian Dunn: Okay.
Peter Dunn: I have an idea. Yeah, I do too. I'm going, I'll let you go Dame, I've been going the whole time. Nine and a half. That was literally my guess. So I'm gonna have to, I'm gonna have to alter it. I'm going 9. 8. It's
Kristen Ahlenius: 14. 2%.
Peter Dunn: What? No way!
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes it is!
Peter Dunn: I don't, I I disagree.
Kristen Ahlenius: You can, that's fine, but I'm looking at the chart.
Peter Dunn: All right. We've got a minute left in this segment [00:15:00] and I'm, my head is on the floor. 14. 8.
Kristen Ahlenius: Correct. Now, I have some less than ideal statistics that we can talk about in the second segment that provide some clarity to that higher number that we're seeing, but I would like to just take a moment to bask in the fact that that's higher than I would have expected.
I'm proud of us
Damian Dunn: collectively. It's so high. I don't believe it.
Kristen Ahlenius: We're doing okay.
Peter Dunn: All right. So let's do this. Let's take a break. I gotta calm down. I'm shocked. That's great news, by the way.
Kristen Ahlenius: Exactly.
Peter Dunn: That's great news. Didn't expect it. Alright. Everyone's gonna calm down. Gonna take a nap. Gonna take some, some melatonin or something.
And we'll come back. I don't know. And we'll do more of this. I like this game, Kristen. This is a great idea right here on the Pete the Planner show.
Kristen Ahlenius: No way! This was a joint idea. Dame and I started to look at this [00:16:00] earlier this week. I don't know what day. And I was like, wait, we need to stop. Talking about this because this would make a great segment for the show
Damian Dunn: and by look at it She means I didn't see a single thing. We just were talking about the ideas.
We got on it by a article or Yeah, how we got to it.
Kristen Ahlenius: It was an article that I didn't share in the weekly news last week about 401k balances by age by gender it was like breaking all that down and we That's the type of data we always see. I feel like I don't see these numbers much, if at all. And that's turned into this segment also.
Why is it, why are both of you in the dark now? ? I'm in the dark. What's happening? ?
Damian Dunn: I just lightened up. Oh, it's because you're the computer. Yeah, the screen.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh,
Peter Dunn: I was like,
Kristen Ahlenius: what? .
Peter Dunn: Okay, so I can't, I, for some reason I'm struggling to log into the system. I, I think ours is like right there. Yeah, like legit, like right [00:17:00] there.
I think it might be a couple percentage or tenths lower, but it's right there. Historically, it's been right in that neighborhood. Yeah. The more our company has grown the, the number sort of naturally comes down. So if you're in your early twenties, we've talked about this a bazillion times on this show, if you're at 12 to 15%, I don't know why I'm giving financial guidance at a commercial break.
You just want to start the next segment you can roll with it. I don't know. I mean like I feel like It breaks up the Jekyll and Hyde of how I like to do this.
Kristen Ahlenius: What, to tell people on the radio they're going to hear more about this after the break and then to just completely pivot when we come back?
Peter Dunn: Yeah, come back to like, talk about the Tour de France or something.
Just like straight in.
Kristen Ahlenius: The cobblestones! Where'd he go?
Damian Dunn: That's a great question. It might just be you and I now at this point.
Kristen Ahlenius: What just happened? I don't know whether he's doing this on purpose or not, [00:18:00] because he did this to Dame and I all pre show, so I'm not sure if this is a bit. I feel like the audience always thinks it's a bit, and I don't know.
Damian Dunn: I feel like we're gonna get a slack here in just a minute. It's like, sorry powers out at the studio. Yeah. Had last
Alright.
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm like, I don't know what to do so we can't. Well
Damian Dunn: we tap dance for a little bit. He's
Kristen Ahlenius: back. , what happened?
Peter Dunn: I'm back. Well, you know how I was struggling to pull up, like, the, the stuff for our 401k, like, my browser was struggling, so it, like, shut down. It was laboring and stuff. Oh.
Kristen Ahlenius: Can you, do you have a lot of tabs open?
Cause you're, you're a little laggy, my man.
Damian Dunn: And your audio kind of sucks.
Kristen Ahlenius: But I feel like it's the computer like warming up again, you know,
Damian Dunn: all right,
Peter Dunn: let's do this. [00:19:00] We got time.
Kristen Ahlenius: Perfect. You're
Peter Dunn: back. Yeah, you're good. Okay. I was about to say, I can just restart and have you guys entertain folks. That's what we were about to do anyway.
So
Kristen Ahlenius: Dame said he was going to tap dance.
Peter Dunn: That's all right. I'm shutting down a bunch of stuff. My first time hosting a show. You'll get the hang of it. Pete. Don't worry. Well, hopefully by the time I get to my new podcast. Yeah.
Damian Dunn: Oh, your new podcast is going to be Pete the Planner Show Part 2?
Peter Dunn: No, I, so the meeting's in an hour and ten minutes now.
Because time has passed. I think the idea here is I'm not the host. Are you playing my role? Are you playing my role in the or? Well, I mean, I can't play Kristen's role because Kristen's role. Kristen's a real star. Yeah, but yeah. So I got to play your yeah, I might be your role or. Yeah. Yeah. Hmm. I don't know.
I'll let you know if it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. [00:20:00] We're going to record Fridays at 10 a. m. live though, I do know that. So you can free up that calendar invite.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's literally going to be what happens some day. Paige is going to delete the calendar invite on like Friday morning. Yeah. I mean like.
We'll see. Bye. See you never.
Peter Dunn: I told you that's how the show will end, is like, just like the Indy Star, they just won't air it, and then we'll, I'll just delete the calendar invite, and it's over.
Damian Dunn: No fanfare,
Peter Dunn: just, it's over. Well, we have no fans, so why, how can you have fanfare? It's right,
Damian Dunn: yeah. Daym, were you doing a Diet Pepsi commercial?
No, sorry, it was just yeah. Is that
Peter Dunn: a?
Damian Dunn: Let's do that
Peter Dunn: again, because that sounded like a Diet Cocoa. Wait, hold on.
Damian Dunn: Ready? Ready? Yeah. Oh, it was, it's the one I put up. Hold on. Nope. Hold on. I gotta do it. Ah, I can't. Man. You're a real Michael Winslow.
Peter Dunn: I can't get, I can't get the two stage snap on that. [00:21:00] I listened to an amazing podcast this week.
I mean like a good one. I like ours. A really good one. It's called Hysterical. And it's by Wondery, you know, the podcast network Wondery, it is about this strange medical condition that came over these high school girls in like 2012 in this small town in upstate New York. And then like what was actually going on and it's so good.
It is so good. There's like seven episodes and it's, it's scientific. It's sort of a journalism. It's
Damian Dunn: really good. So it's a documentary, but they produce it and they've got, you know, like sounds in the background. And is it that kind of podcast where it's a little bit more immersive and
Kristen Ahlenius: produced there?
They have pre show prep.
Peter Dunn: So in this podcast meeting, I'm having an hour and eight minutes. We're going to talk about, are we going to have elements to the show? Like actual, like, and like a [00:22:00] violin playing and a guy hitting like a tin can. Yeah, Kristen, what's the look on your face there?
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, it's just, why don't we get that?
Peter Dunn: I'm not in charge of this thing. This is called Kristen and co. You're maybe, maybe, maybe it's the more effort. Damn. Am I right? Maybe. More effort. Kristen, when's your big news come out? When was it? We're gotta be two weeks away at this point. I think two weeks. The people are going to be very excited. The people do not care.
It's killing me. Danza says Wondering Pods are cookin 100. Danza is now a 12 year old boy.
Kristen Ahlenius: Cookin
Peter Dunn: Andy does make a point, we do have Dame's Birds as sound effects. Had. Had. Ooh, Lil Spence is back! Happy Friday peeps. I'm a little spensed. Okay. Kristen, is there any should we just keep going? Yeah, I do have an 1130.
Let's keep [00:23:00]
Damian Dunn: I think I do too.
Peter Dunn: So Oh Kristen's probably just taking some time off at 1130 Look at her. She's getting so mad. Oh, she's so mad. Okay. In three, two, one back on the Pete, the planner show. Dame Christian has put together a little game for us in which we're guessing 401k statistics rate from a Q one fidelity report.
And here we are. Kristen, you just. on average, the total cont and employee in the first 401 case was 14. 8%, which than we thought it would happy about that because,
For a person in their younger twenties. If they do that throughout their career, very high chance of a successful retirement. So I love hearing that.
Damian Dunn: It's surprising news. It's very encouraging news. I don't know if [00:24:00] Kristen has those figures broken down by a generation for average contribution rate. She's slowly nodding her head up and down.
So maybe if we want to take quick time to do that, we could guess contribution overall contribution by generate and what say you Pete, let's do it.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay, boomers first, total savings rate.
Damian Dunn: Go ahead,
Peter Dunn: Damian,
Damian Dunn: you can go first. Okay, I will say 17%.
Peter Dunn: I'm going to take the over, I'm going to go 18. 8.
Kristen Ahlenius: 17 percent
Peter Dunn: Hey, you know, Dame and I are not technically boomers, but we definitely identify as our hearts are there.
Yes. Yeah. And our hairlines. Yes. Okay. Next generation.
Kristen Ahlenius: Gen X.
Peter Dunn: Hmm. I don't care. I don't know. Aren't you
Kristen Ahlenius: guys Gen X? Yeah, but we don't care.
Peter Dunn: Right. Sixteen point one. Fifteen [00:25:00] and a half. Fifteen point two. Oh, damn, you are crushing me. You are crushing me. This isn't fun anymore. Can we switch topic? Mortgage rates have fallen.
Hey, don't take my segment. I'm out. Okay, keep going. No, that's, that's why I said that.
Kristen Ahlenius: Millennials?
Peter Dunn: Who cares? 13. 9. 12.
Kristen Ahlenius: 13.
Peter Dunn: 2. Oh, you got that one. You got that one. You got that one. Okay. Emergency. Who cares? Okay. Okay 9.
Damian Dunn: 2. Oh, I was gonna say 9. I, I will, I'll do 10.
Kristen Ahlenius: 11.
Peter Dunn: Oh.
Kristen Ahlenius: Wow.
Peter Dunn: Proud of them. That's awesome. That's actually the best news of this whole thing. Great. Yeah. That's [00:26:00] really solid. Cause they're the closest to actually having a sustainable trajectory.
That's interesting. I also, I know I can't disagree with the data, but this is just fidelity 401k stuff, Dave. I don't believe just an opinion that the rest of the retirement and plan data outside of fidelity in the United States. Would not reflect this. Fidelity has a particular brand in the employee benefits space, a little, a little higher end.
I, I don't buy
Damian Dunn: that. This is a thing across the board. I mean, if we start lumping in traditional like 403 B providers on top of all this, these numbers absolutely tank on, you know, that's a great point. If you just went,
Peter Dunn: yeah, yeah. If we did this with 403b across the board, it go from 14. 8 to like 4. 8. [00:27:00] Yeah, I was gonna say that might be a little, might
Damian Dunn: be a little much, but
Peter Dunn: yeah, it drops significantly.
Kristen, do you I know we're just arguing with the data and the segment that you've created, but thoughts?
Kristen Ahlenius: Actually I wish I would have, I didn't know that you guys were going to be interested in that because they did have a section on 403b's. And so I apologize, I don't have that data handy, but I do have access to some of those numbers as well.
Peter Dunn: Nothing says what Damon and I are like at a party more than, Very interested in what the 403B statistics are. Yikes.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay, so here's the, The other side of this, that potentially explains why these numbers are higher than you guys expected, which is first, what percentage of 401ks use an auto enrollment feature as of quarter one of 2024?
Peter Dunn: Go ahead, day my 87 percent [00:28:00] 98 percent
Kristen Ahlenius: it's actually it's far less than that. It's about half of that. Actually. It's what's the 8. 9%. However, however, the average auto enrollment default contribution rate is 4.
Peter Dunn: 1%. Yeah, that was obvious. I was holding up before the radio audience could not see it. Dame was holding up darkness.
Yeah.
Kristen Ahlenius: Right, right. Now the percentage of workers with a 401k loan across the board,
Peter Dunn: this makes this is going to hurt my soul. 27 percent 34.
Kristen Ahlenius: You guys people 11 as bad as you thought seven. So
Peter Dunn: the economy is doing pretty well.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, that's what I said. 17. 8 percent of workers have a 401k loan. However, this is broken down by industry, which I find to be Incredibly fascinating.
Peter Dunn: [00:29:00] I actually will need you to send me that data for actual work purposes when we're done here.
But can you can we go ahead and do that here on the air?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, of course we can. What do you think? Let's look at, I believe the highest one. They didn't call them out specifically, but as I'm scanning the data, what do you think? Is there an industry that you think has, that would have the highest outstanding loan balance?
Peter Dunn: Manufacturing.
Damian Dunn: That's where I was going to go.
Kristen Ahlenius: No.
Peter Dunn: No. No. Financial education. No.
Kristen Ahlenius: No. But finance and insurance is not doing well. They're higher than the average as an industry at 19. 3 percent.
Peter Dunn: Falconry.
Kristen Ahlenius: Airlines.
Peter Dunn: Oh.
Kristen Ahlenius: Airlines percentage with an outstanding loan is 26. 8%.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Again, I don't want to beat up the survey here, but here's the thing.
These is all Fidelity's data, right? [00:30:00] They're proprietary data. Fidelity again is going to be serving the biggest companies in America, including airlines that have like a hundred thousand employees. Okay. So he Fidelity doesn't do a lot of work at a 500 or 4, 000 person machining shop in Southern Indiana, right?
Like that's not what they do. So I'm not just saying this so that I can prove that I'm right. That is manufacturing and not airlines. I just think by the nature of the Fidelity product, The data isn't skewed because the data is the data, but I don't think it really tells the, the, the national story. Dame, am I off here?
Damian Dunn: I just can't wait until next week when we have to read an email from a fidelity representative saying that's just not true. We represent companies of all sizes across the country. Go ahead and send it. Thanks for listening.
Kristen Ahlenius: So the, what's, what I find the most interesting is that some of these industries are contributing at really high rates.
So airlines, for example, their total savings [00:31:00] rate. is 18. 4%. That's amazing. But they also have the highest percentage of loans outstanding, which this is like a lot of other industries are the same way. Those that have higher contribution rates have higher percentages of loans outstanding. And what's really interesting about that to me is does that just speak to our need to understand the best way to use today's dollar?
What's the point of contributing 18. 4 percent if over a quarter of our population has a loan?
Peter Dunn: I have a theory, which is they've got what we call, I call a hybrid workforce. You've got incredibly high paid pilots like pilot Jeremy, just, I don't know, maybe. And then you just, they're putting money in from a tax Preservation standpoint.
And then you've got a lower [00:32:00] end of the wage scale. Maybe those flight attendants or, or, or baggage workers who because they make so much later, they're the ones borrowing. I don't think the pilots are the ones borrowing. Dame, I got to take a break. You hold that, hold that thought after the break.
Dame's going to land this plane. We're going to talk about what the facts are right here on the Pete, the planner show.
Kristen Ahlenius: Not to do that to the radio listener again, but there is not enough for us to start a whole nother segment on this. I just
Peter Dunn: want to get Dame's thought and then we'll go.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay. Okay. See Pete, I think while I sort of agree with you, Isn't every industry like that where you have,
Peter Dunn: Oh, okay. I don't believe the wage difference are as massive for the number of people involved as they are at something like airlines.
Interesting. Cause pilots are making [00:33:00] hundreds of
Damian Dunn: thousands of dollars. Some. Well, yes, but it obviously changes on seniority and plane type role and route. Give me a major airline.
Kristen Ahlenius: Delta. Delta.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Average pilot salary. Delta.
Average pilot. This is coming from Glassdoor. 157 to 239, 000. Oh, wait, hold on. Oh, this is coming through AI now, 215, 000 per year, which is 165 percent higher than the national average. Okay. So a hundred, 215, 000 now let's do. Average flight attendant salary for Delta, 67, 000 a year, a quarter. Now, Dane,
Damian Dunn: what are you doing?
I just had a delivery of a vanilla coke. It's [00:34:00] delicious from a local place. Thomas was just out here. He handed it over.
Peter Dunn: Can he come
Damian Dunn: out? He's out. Sorry. I've not seen him forever. He just got a fresh cut yesterday. Oh, come on. I love a great new haircut. Hold on, hold on.
Kristen Ahlenius: He has no interest in
Damian Dunn: this.
Peter Dunn: Bring
Damian Dunn: him
Peter Dunn: back!
Thomas absolutely has interest in this. Really? Yeah, I mean. Oh, good. Alright, I'm gonna, like, baggage handler. Give me a sec. I'm making really good. Like some regional. regional airlines, 40, to 40, 000 for a baggage handler. I stand like that's a massive difference. Send Thomas back out here.
Kristen Ahlenius: But also
Peter Dunn: happening in real time.
Kristen Ahlenius: But also a worker At a lower, because these are just of the people who are participating. So when we get to a lower income level, we often see reduced participation. So isn't that also gonna skew the data?
Peter Dunn: Not if there's auto enroll at [00:35:00] 4%.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's fair. I know, I understand this. That's
Damian Dunn: fair. I understand like two things and the deally, we've
Kristen Ahlenius: been waiting for you
Damian Dunn: and the opting out of auto-enroll is so small.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. Yes, that is absolutely true. I'll send you this study. I it's fascinating to like look through the different industries, like
Peter Dunn: TD on the air. Is he going to give him some headset? He can have. Yeah.
Damian Dunn: Yes. Just stick that in your left ear. You don't have to put it over, but you'll, you'll hear it.
Kristen Ahlenius: I
Peter Dunn: thought Thomas, how are you buddy?
Kristen Ahlenius: Good.
Peter Dunn: I haven't seen you forever.
Kristen Ahlenius: I guess forever is a couple of years.
Peter Dunn: Fair. Thomas when does school start?
Kristen Ahlenius: Next week.
Peter Dunn: All right. Are you excited? What grade are we, what are we doing? A sixth grade?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes.
Peter Dunn: All right. Is that a new school or same school? Same one. Same one. So now you're the king of the school is what I'm hearing here.
Damian Dunn: It's tough. They're all kind of blended together [00:36:00] in one building.
Peter Dunn: Okay.
Damian Dunn: Okay.
Peter Dunn: Thomas, swim season you feeling pretty good right now for the swim season?
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, our swim season just ended, so we're about to start up our next one in maybe a couple weeks.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, that's how it works, right? Anything else you want to say?
I mean, you're on the air to people. This isn't just a Zoom call. This is like a radio show. Is there anything you want to say to the people?
Kristen Ahlenius: Hi.
Peter Dunn: Well, by the way, do I have your consent to put you on the radio?
Kristen Ahlenius: Don't think you need it.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Hey have a good school year, okay?
Kristen Ahlenius: Thank you.
Peter Dunn: See ya, buddy. Well, that was Dude, he's so grown up.
I know. You should see Lucy. He's so grown up. All the little kids out of it.
Damian Dunn: It's he's changing a lot quickly right now.
Kristen Ahlenius: Back very loud.
Damian Dunn: Oh, I did or Pete did.
Kristen Ahlenius: You [00:37:00] did.
Damian Dunn: Who's you?
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm sorry. Dame.
Peter Dunn: Yeah. Wow, that was fun. Kristen. Was that funny? Kristen, get one of your dogs up. They're sleeping. Yeah. Dame, you did come back louder.
Damian Dunn: Did you crank it? No, I didn't do anything. I can let me just keep talking. I'll turn down just a little bit. Okay. Yeah.
Kristen Ahlenius: No, it was tired. She went to the vet yesterday. Yeah. Yeah.
Peter Dunn: What a smorgasbord of fun today is. Mm hmm. Anyway, Thomas is the co host of my new podcast.
Kristen Ahlenius: Surprise!
Peter Dunn: In the Endzone with TD. Is that what it's called?
Okay. Actually, my podcast is about pets. It's about Kristen's dogs. Nope. Okay. In three, two, one. Back on the Pete the Planner show, Dame, we were talking about the pay differences of people in the workplace and why I thought the airline industry is not [00:38:00] necessarily representative of the rest of the population.
You had some
Damian Dunn: thoughts? I had thoughts because you told me I had thoughts at that point, but I think you're, I think you're right because there is such a bifurcation in the the wages of the, the employees there, whether you're talking execs or pilots or staff that have been there a long time to entry level positions and more manual labor type positions, it is a wide discrepancy between the top and the bottom.
And I don't think there's probably a very robust middle. Organizations like that.
Peter Dunn: Fair. Well said. Kristen Dame. Lovely segment. One of my favorites of the year. Thank you. That was fun. Speaking of bad segments, y'all. I don't know. I don't know why I did it. I don't know if you saw the news yesterday, but Everywhere you look, people talking about mortgage rates [00:39:00] falling aggressively.
I think that's a relative term because they're falling. They're falling from, or to like a it's like a year low or something like that, or even maybe a little more than that. I would argue that people are probably rushing to refinance a little sooner than they should. So this segment is called, Are People Refinancing Sooner Than They Should?
Oh. Nailed it. Dame, when you were not on the show last week, Kristen laughed at me twice. That's true. Really? Yeah, audibly. Kristen, I'm so proud of you.
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm not.
Peter Dunn: Yeah. All right. So we're going to play a little game. I've got some sharts
from Freddie Mac. Okay. There's some charts from Freddie Mac and I'm going to, I'm going to play some games here. Okay. In the last three years, what was the average within the last three years [00:40:00] going back to, let's say August 5th of 2021. Okay.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay.
Peter Dunn: Along that three year period, some would call it 36 months.
What was the, what period of time, what day or month of that three, 36 months is the lowest interest rates. I'll start with Dame Dame. What was the lowest average interest rates in the last three years? When was it within that last? 36 months.
Damian Dunn: I will say, can we give like a, just like a season, like spring of whatever?
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay.
Damian Dunn: Let's go with spring of
Peter Dunn: 22. Spring of 22. Okay. Tracking that answer. Got it. Christy?
Kristen Ahlenius: So that would have been just over two years ago. I think it's a little after that. I think that he was a little early on that.
Peter Dunn: So you're going to say summer of 22.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Peter Dunn: Okay. What if I, what if I told you that the average rate was the [00:41:00] lowest exactly 36 months ago in the August of 2021?
I believe it. Yeah. I wouldn't be terribly surprised by that. Game! What was the average 30 year mortgage rate on August 5th of 2021? 3 and 1 8th. Okay, 8th.
Kristen Ahlenius: Average?
Peter Dunn: Yeah. Kristen?
Kristen Ahlenius: I think that's too low then. So, let's go 3. 5.
Peter Dunn: Are you guys sitting down? Yes. 2. 77%. Wow. Okay. So, friends, when the headlines come out this week that the average 30 year mortgage has fallen to 6.
4 percent from a high of 1. 5 billion. What was the high in this time frame and when was [00:42:00] the high in this time frame? Kristen, I'm going to start with what was the 30 year average high, and then you got to give me the number and then you got to give me a month and then Dane will do the same.
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm going to go seven in an eighth was the high.
Peter Dunn: So now I got to convert fractions to decimals and we don't have Thomas here who's in middle school who could easily do that
Kristen Ahlenius: Isn't it point one two five?
Peter Dunn: Yes. Yes. Okay, seven point one two five.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes
Peter Dunn: in win
Kristen Ahlenius: I believe that would have been Let's call that I was going to say between six months and a year. So call that nine months ago.
Peter Dunn: can you still hear me?
Kristen Ahlenius: We can still
Peter Dunn: hear you. Damien's video just went, okay. Nine months and a year to a year away.
Kristen Ahlenius: Nine months ago. So yeah, last December. Would that be? Yeah.
Peter Dunn: Dame somehow your lighting's gotten better. What we can hear you fine though. What's the percentage and when? I will go with[00:43:00]
Damian Dunn: seven, seven and a half. And what was the date you said, Kristen? I couldn't hear anything. I said December,
Kristen Ahlenius: I think.
Damian Dunn: I will say June of this year.
Peter Dunn: Mm mm. 7. 79 percent Oh my. In October. Of last year, the end of October of 2023. For those that are wondering why I'm going fine, Dame's having camera problems today, it was super dark.
Then it went completely back black and then it came back perfect. And it's like, unbelievably, it looks like a Hollywood movie set and it's a radio show. So no one cares. So that is to say the high from we'll call it. 10 months ago with 7. 79%. So some people bought houses then and they got mortgages then.
It is now 1. 3 percent lower right now, [00:44:00] Kristen in an, in a normal environment. Well, you don't really know directionally where interest rates are going. You would refinance at 1. 3%. Would you not?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, you would. Usually that 1 percent is where we start having that conversation in earnest. Obviously there's other factors, but that's a benchmark generally.
Damian Dunn: Dame, especially if you got that 779 or higher, because maybe you had some credit issues going on at that point in time, and maybe they've kind of cleaned themselves up a little bit. Credit scores a little bit better. You qualify for a better rate. You might be looking at a closer to one and a half or more percent difference between what you actually got your mortgage for not that long ago to what you can get now, and that could be some significant savings if you can get that refinance at a reasonable cost.
I'm going to
Peter Dunn: be serious for a moment, which is very difficult for me. So I want you to know I'm taking all the energy I have and putting it into the next few words. Several years ago, I [00:45:00] made a financial decision related to my mortgage that changed my financial life forever. I had a 30 year mortgage that was relatively high.
There was a change in interest rate and instead of refinancing to a 30 year mortgage, I refinanced to a 15 year mortgage because the rate fall was so intense that it made it go down up like a hundred dollars a month. Instead of trying to save like 700 a month on a 30 year mortgage payment right now, 15 year mortgage payments on average or not payments rates 5.
63 percent which is over two points. Less than what this 30 year mortgage was in October. This does not work for everyone. It just doesn't. Kristen, in fact, is making, Kristen, tell me what your [00:46:00] face is saying.
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, the thing is you also have to take into consideration where we think we are in the like interest rate environment.
Longer term, because if you're in a decreasing interest rate environment, you don't want to refinance, especially if your breakeven on that refinance is like three years, because the hope and the signals are that interest rates are headed down. You don't, it might be too soon, even if it makes sense now.
Peter Dunn: I agree.
I agree. You've said it on this show. I've stolen it. And I think you've got it from Stacey. Yeah. Marry the house. You date the rates.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. I didn't say that.
Damian Dunn: Someone said it. You have absolutely, you have said, you have absolutely said that. Find
Kristen Ahlenius: the footage. Find the footage. It doesn't exist.
Damian Dunn: Alright, my boss just told me to spend time combing through footage.
Kristen Ahlenius: Find it.
Damian Dunn: Hey, Kristen, this sounds aggressive. You're a liar. You
Peter Dunn: would have said that on the show. I have not
Kristen Ahlenius: said that.
Peter Dunn: You've [00:47:00] absolutely said it.
Kristen Ahlenius: I have either made fun of people who've said that or said you should not do that, but I cannot
Peter Dunn: wait till I
Kristen Ahlenius: find it. Oh my gosh.
Peter Dunn: Thank God for AI. Let's all calm down.
Coming up after the break. Should you marry the house? Date the rate? We'll ask Kristen. All that's next right here on the Pete the Planner show. I'm Pete the Planner. 100 percent you've said it all. I did. Guarantee it.
Kristen Ahlenius: Find it. You guys are confusing the fact that I say that I don't think that interest rates should impact whether you can objectively afford a house or not, and a saying that you've heard on TikTok and other socials.
I have never said that. You won't find it.
Peter Dunn: Wait, so you're saying you've said it, but you've quoted someone else.
Kristen Ahlenius: No! Okay, but I've said that I was quoting someone else. Like, I saw this on social media and beware of this. Those words might have come out of my mouth, but not in, like, support of saying them.
Damian Dunn: Seriously, thank you. If we took the time to find where she said that and then showed it [00:48:00] to her and the rest of the audience at the same time, we would still lose by doing that.
Peter Dunn: Dean, are you in a, are are solar flares in the area now? Your mic is cutting out. Your mic was cutting out last segment. Your mic was
Kristen Ahlenius: cutting out in the last segment.
My, my mics? Yes. What is
Peter Dunn: going on?
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't know.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Let's just finish the show so I can get to a different podcast. , I hope they have better technology.
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, now I
Peter Dunn: got to reset my thing.
Kristen Ahlenius: It's fine now. It was only for like, there was a little bit right before you asked me about whether someone should ultimately refinance.
That Damon and I were both kind of looking at each other like, Are you hearing that? Because I'm hearing that.
Damian Dunn: This camera, by the way, is the onboard camera from my laptop. That's not the good camera. The onboard?
Peter Dunn: I don't know. What are you, an IndyCar? Yes. All right. And three. Two one. This week's biggest waste of money of the week.
Right here [00:49:00] on the Pizza Planner Show is Dolce and Ganas, ffe Dolce and Ganas. ffe Fragrance Mist is the brand's debut for dogs. It draws its inspiration from the unwavering love for Domenico Dolce loyal companion fefe. This gentle and delicate sin is crafted for. a playful beauty routine. This inaugural alcohol free fragrance, Mist, is tailored specifically for dogs.
It's an olfactory masterpiece featuring the cocooning and warm notes of Ylang, that's Y L A N G, the clean and enveloping touch of musk, not Elan, and the woody, creamy undertones Of sandalwood. The fragrance is housed in a sleek green lacquered glass bottle, adorned with a vibrant red metal cap and a precious 24 carat [00:50:00] gold plated paw.
All right, Kristen, you care about your dogs more than you care about your co hosts. What would it cost to make your dogs smell better than your co hosts?
Kristen Ahlenius: Is it an ounce?
Peter Dunn: It, okay, that is a great question.
Kristen Ahlenius: I feel like it's like a third of an ounce and an ounce are the You
Damian Dunn: shop dog perfume frequently?
Kristen Ahlenius: No, just regular.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, you know, it's
Kristen Ahlenius: The bottle, the bottle on the screen, for those who can't hit, it looks like it would be an ounce. I'm gonna go, 1. 75.
Peter Dunn: Okay.
Damian Dunn: Dame.
I'm going into brain lock on something like this. It's 250. [00:51:00] 126.
Peter Dunn: 36. I had to convert it from pounds. You know, not the worst waste of money of the week of the show ever, but something we probably shouldn't spend our money on. Dame. What's in the news this week?
Damian Dunn: How is that not one of the worst wastes of money?
Peter Dunn: Because dogs can stink, and you don't want them to stink, so you gotta spritz them with some Fifi. Everyone knows that.
Damian Dunn: Credit card debt is on the rise. Americans now owe a record 1. 14 trillion on their credit cards, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York report. The average balance per consumer, pardon me, stands at 6, 000. 6, 000. Kristen.
Kristen Ahlenius: 6, 800. 6,
Damian Dunn: 329, up 4. 8 percent year over year, according to a separate quarterly industry report from TransUnion.
Credit card delinquency rates are [00:52:00] also higher across the board. Roughly, Peter?
Peter Dunn: You're looking at what sort of metric? Percentage point or days?
Damian Dunn: Over the last year, roughly this percent of credit card balances transitioned into delinquency. 37%. Hmm.
Kristen Ahlenius: 18. 9.
Damian Dunn: 1 percent of credit card balance in this transition.
I'm a pessimist. Everyone knows this. Here's a great quote, borrowers with revolving debt quote, are maxing out their credit cards, said Michelle Ranieri, vice president of head of U. S. research and consulting at TransUnion. Quote, that's usually a pretty good indicator that people are stretched.
Kristen Ahlenius: Wow.
Peter Dunn: Man.
Jiminy Christmas, that's who my new podcast is with. It's Michelle Ranere. Yeah. It's called the Ms. Obvious show. So I'm the
Damian Dunn: co host. That'll be great. I can't wait to hear you talking about cars and, and stuff like that. It'll be wonderful. Yes, exactly. Yes, when Americans go car shopping this summer, they're asking automakers to do one thing [00:53:00] skimp my ride sales of smaller vehicles that are cheaper than their beefier counterparts are on the rise this year, according to Cox Automotive data fed up with skyrocketing car prices.
People are choosing more affordable options and shunning SUVs and pickup trucks that have long dominated the market. Overall sales growth is at 2 percent for the year. And yet compact car sales are up 18 percent compact SUV sales are up 12%. Meanwhile, sorry, go ahead.
Kristen Ahlenius: Time out. I have a question. What's a compact SUV.
Damian Dunn: It's something small, like the Chevy tracks. The Chevy
Kristen Ahlenius: tracks. I
Damian Dunn: I'll call him a, I call him a cute ute. Right. Yeah. Very small. That's what I call.
Kristen Ahlenius: Interesting. I'm sorry. Go ahead, please.
Damian Dunn: Meanwhile, sales of pickup trucks that appear during every commercial break on NFL Sundays have declined by 4%.
Peter Dunn: So, here's the thing.
[00:54:00] Interest rates were so high. I think this is just explained via interest rates.
Kristen Ahlenius: Right?
Peter Dunn: I mean, like, you buy a 50, 000, 80, 000 pickup truck at an 8 percent interest rate. That's a spicy
Damian Dunn: meatball. Average cost of pickup trucks is now above 60, 000 in the U. S.
Peter Dunn: I don't care for that. Kristen, if, like, I assume you've driven a pickup truck?
Kristen Ahlenius: Once or twice, yeah.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Dame, I know you've driven a pick em up truck. Huh. I cannot fathom my primary vehicle being a pickup truck, as in a suburban dweller. Yet in the burbs of which I live, there were a lot of pickup trucks with nothing in the back of them. What's the appeal? What am I missing? Is it like a toughness that I don't have?
Damian Dunn: They are very comfortable great view of the road and a lot of people with very large incomes can have some tax Advantages for going for big heavy vehicles
Peter Dunn: Wow, that [00:55:00] was one of the best answers this show has ever held Honestly what else is in the news?
Damian Dunn: Millions of nurses visits to medicare recipients homes aren't to treat people but to make money for insurance companies Some private Medicare Advantage insurers push nurses to run screening tests and add unusual diagnoses that entitle the companies to extra money.
A Wall Street Journal investigation found the roughly hour long stops turned into 1, 818 more per visit on average from 2018 to 2021. About 15 billion in total. Many insurer driven diagnoses were wrong or highly questionable. Private insurers denied using inaccurate diagnoses to jack up their payments because, of course, they would.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a nonpartisan agency that advises Congress, recommended not using home visit diagnoses towards extra payments, and the overseeing inspector general advised reconsidering using these diagnoses as well. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid [00:56:00] Services Said the agency recently increased its diagnosis audits and is making some diagnosis ineligible
Peter Dunn: for extra payments.
I have such mixed feelings, right? Cause Chris, yeah, you know, like you want to figure out if there's something else wrong with someone, right?
Kristen Ahlenius: Sure.
Peter Dunn: But if it's like a revenue producing strategy, that's a little, man, it feels like a mechanic or a vet. How many vets that listen to the show? I have no problem with vets.
Vets are great. And I mean, I don't mean veterans. I mean, but I do feel good about veterans, veterinarians but sometimes you take your dog to the vet and you're like, Hey, it's got a little cough. And then you leave and you actually had to trade in your pickup truck to get off the premises. And that's the, that's the challenge with veterinary medicine.
Kristen Ahlenius: Not my experience
Peter Dunn: What are you dating a vet what Why are you so pro [00:57:00] vet now?
Kristen Ahlenius: My best friend's a vet
Peter Dunn: Close enough. Do they listen to the show? No, she doesn't then who cares?
Damian Dunn: I mean Dame, do you have anything else in the news? Listen, it's not a contest But if it was warren buffett would be winning berkshire hathaway now owns more treasury bills than the u.
s Federal reserve the current score 234. 6 billion to 195. 3 billion dollars
Peter Dunn: Do you know where China ranks within that? Does the article say? Because doesn't China own a bunch of treasure bills?
Damian Dunn: It's, they're like third, somewhere between third and fifth. The last time I looked in line, they're, they're down, but it's like the, the government and other individuals and a big entity, but it's, yeah, China's down the list, but up there.
Peter Dunn: Chris, you know how I know Dan and I are good friends, is that he occasionally looks at who owns the most T bills. The last time he looked, China was pretty high on the list. Like, that's how I know. It was a couple years, I mean, at least a year ago. You guys are so fun. Probably, I, I, you know. I'm having [00:58:00] friends over this weekend to hang out and stay at our house.
And like, Kristen, did you get that invitation? No friends, like people who tolerate me off work hours. We're paid to be here. I signed the paycheck here. These people are not paid anyway. That's all we have time for at the show this week. Hey, I'm sending you good vibes because good vibes are all that's in the budget.
I'm Pete, the planner, and this is the Pete, the planner. Show you guys. I didn't want to talk about it on the air, but I have something I want to talk about.
Damian Dunn: Well, you've got 30 minutes to your next meeting.
Peter Dunn: That's true. I got to prep for it too. I like to be prepared anytime I'm involved with radio stuff. You guys, a real life case accusation this week of stolen stolen Valor.
Now look, here's the thing. I am not here to talk about whether it is or is not. Don't act. Arguably don't even really care. But anytime stolen [00:59:00] valor is talked about on a national stage. It reminds me how much I love YouTube videos of Stolen Valor. So earlier this week, when Stolen Valor was a big headline, I decided to go down the dark, dark path of Stolen Valor YouTube.
And let me tell you, it's amazing. Dane, there are two elements to every Stolen Valor video, and I would like to go through them with you now. But I would also like for both of you to guess what are omnipresent. There are two elements. That are omnipresent in every stolen valor video you will find on YouTube.
There are two elements. White people. What did you say? Did you say white people? Yeah. Okay, yes. I mean, I hadn't really accounted that there's a third element. But yeah, there's often whites present. Kristen, had you considered? [01:00:00] I
Kristen Ahlenius: had not. I had not considered the statistical obvious, which is that people are present.
What about, what about, do you mean, like, do you mean that this person is in uniform? Or do you mean that they are just trying to gain access by saying they had service?
Peter Dunn: Yeah, I mean, so yeah, so I think you're hitting on one, so I'll give it to ya. There's a uniform and it's a very poor quality. Like it is a middle school sewing project where your only material is felt.
And it's terrible. It's giving Rambo. Usually I feel real. No, I think it's giving like. I stole this from a museum and it's not the current Marine uniform, it's one from [01:01:00] 1875. Rambo. Like,
Damian Dunn: reenactment of the Civil War is really what it gives. And things that people like you and I wouldn't recognize, but are easily discernible by people who are actually in the military, like, if, if they have, you Something out of place that it would normally be on the right side of the chest versus the left side of the chest or It's it's too too low on the sleeve or something like that It's it's stuff like that is always present and the best part of every
Peter Dunn: stolen valor video Is the insistence dare I say the requirement?
To literally scream the words Stolen valor you have to yell Stolen valor someone when you accuse him of stolen valor or it's not gonna make it to youtube And that's the best part. Yeah. It's, I don't know why I find it so interesting. I know. Peculiar.
Kristen Ahlenius: [01:02:00] I think the reason I find it so interesting is because I'm like, what are we ultimately gaining here by wearing what appears to be You're what they call Kami's in the Marine Corps to the airport to then get on a plane first.
So you can sit there longer than everyone else. You know, who's last to board the plane? Me. I don't
Peter Dunn: people with not good status.
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, that me, but also on purpose me. I'm not when they call group six. I'm not like running up there to sit down. I don't I don't even understand the appeal of that.
Peter Dunn: It's the best
Damian Dunn: show on the internet.
Peter Dunn: Have
Damian Dunn: you seen the guy who busts people claiming to be Navy SEALs?
Peter Dunn: No.
Damian Dunn: He's got
Peter Dunn: Gonna need a link.
Damian Dunn: Yeah. He's got like a database. He's a former SEAL. Database. He will show up to people's houses. Yeah. [01:03:00]
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh my gosh. I feel like if you were going to claim to have been a In some sort of military, have some sort of military service, you would, why would you claim that of all of the, like, that's the easiest one to disprove?
Like, I don't know,
Damian Dunn: I should say you're like a cop or a firefighter. If you're going for like discounts at local places or trying to be so much easier to get away with,
Peter Dunn: you know, in the wrong scenario with the wrong context. If someone introduces themselves as a Navy seal, You're, you feel like they're delusional.
You're like, well, I'm a purple dolphin. You know, like, cause it's just like, if you're not thinking military service, it's a really weird thing to say. In fact, I, I may have told the store on the show a year ago. I don't know. Could have been three decades. It was at a business meeting. This guy shook my hand hard.
Like I thought Danica Patrick was crushing my grip and he's like, he's hello. Hello. Hello. And I was like, [01:04:00] Hey, how's it going? And then someone's like, he's a Navy SEAL. And I'm like, well, thank you for your service. Right. Appreciate it. Also, well, I'm a purple purple porpoise, you know, like it just seemed out of context to me.
Damian Dunn: All right, let's go. I think you're one second. I think you are missing a bigger part of the story. Danica. Patrick is crushing your hand. Well,
Peter Dunn: she, she's got one of the famously world's most famous handshakes. Oh, really? I never heard that. Really? Yeah. I thought it was something people knew. Danica Patrick has one of the world's firmest handshakes.
A former IndyCar driver. She's a, I believe a commentator now in the motorsports world. She will break your hand. Interesting. I have shaken her hand and it nearly broke my hand. Wow. Kristen [01:05:00] doesn't care. All right. That's all we've got. Stay getting money.
