Peter Dunn: [00:00:00] So much has changed since I've last seen you. Of course, I can't see you. That technology, it exists. We don't use it, but you can see me and you can definitely hear me. I'm Peter Don. This is the Peep the Planner Show joined by Twin. Where have you been? Chris Lan. We're wearing the same shirt.
Kristen Ahlenius: We are. I love the reference.
So much has
Peter Dunn: changed since we've talked to the peeps.
Kristen Ahlenius: It's been a couple weeks.
Peter Dunn: It's been a couple weeks. If you do remember on the last show that we were here, none other than Mr. Richards. Swink. Big Rick Swink.
Kristen Ahlenius: Is his name?
Peter Dunn: I don't know. I just, I just went with Richard Swink. Big Rick Swink said, hey, you need to be rocking.
I was looking for a hobby, hobby, hobby, a habit, a hobby, a hobby habit. And he said, you should consider rocking. Of course, if you were listening to the show, I said, well, what? And then I did and I have, and [00:01:00] that's what I've been doing for two weeks. And I love it. Kristen, I have a new hobby.
Kristen Ahlenius: I am really excited.
How long do you think you'll be excited?
Peter Dunn: That's an interesting question. I'm currently feeling excited.
Kristen Ahlenius: Good.
Peter Dunn: So here's the plan. Hi, Andy. Hi, Jason. Good to be with you this morning. Here's the plan. I want to put in 50 miles of rucking before I start to acquire rucking equipment.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay. Okay, that makes sense.
Peter Dunn: And I rock during my son's soccer practice. So I'm just rocking on paths. I kind of shake my hips side to side, you know? Hello, Cheryl. Hello, Danza. Another dad said to me last night, as we're kind of watching the boys wrap up, he said, Hey, I saw you walking with a backpack is there weight in there?
And I, I mean, I mean, the alternative is, well, there's, there's burritos, like, right? It's like, no, I'm just carrying around copious amounts of fattening food. But the reality was I was carrying weight and he was a fellow rucker. [00:02:00] And so then we, we had ruck chat.
Kristen Ahlenius: What? Yeah. You already have a community.
Peter Dunn: I'm, I'm so excited.
It's a great time. And by the way, how are you, Kristen?
Kristen Ahlenius: I am doing well. Thank you for asking. Can I ask a follow up question about your rucking?
Peter Dunn: Yes.
Kristen Ahlenius: What kind of like heart rate goal do you have for this?
Peter Dunn: This is interesting. The first time I went out rucking, I definitely, hello, Jen. Hello, J O. I went out hard, but, but I also didn't have that much weight, but I was also doing like this pretty big hill in a park by my house and I'd go up it and then go down it and go up and do three times.
So I got to like one 35, which is okay. But now I've just been rocking on these trails and there's no elevation change. And I have picked up the weight significantly. I'm only around 119. I can't really get much around 120. So I'm either going to need to up the weight or maybe get off of a paved trail.
Kristen Ahlenius: Or quicken your pace.
Peter Dunn: Sure, [00:03:00] sure, sure. There's that. Kristen, the other thing that's been happening since we last all joined each other is I don't want to call it return of the Mac, but
Kristen Ahlenius: that's
Peter Dunn: the greatest song ever. This is like, sometimes I like to laugh about our generational differences, yours and mine, and sometimes they're endearing and, and, and fun, but you, you not realizing how great of a song return of the Mac is, is in itself actually offensive.
Kristen Ahlenius: Do you want to make it worse?
Peter Dunn: Oh god, I mean, can it get worse? Than you've never heard the song?
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, my only reference to the song is Oh, is
Peter Dunn: that stupid? Is Macklemore. Anyway I'm back on social media For a reason, for a reason Which will be unveiled sometime soon but I'm back And I'm just kind of loosening up Getting my, getting my vibe back I used to be good at it If you can be good at those things.
And now I'm [00:04:00] back testing out some muscles. I've got a big project I'm working on. And so I'm like, you know, let's go ahead and let's go ahead and see if I can entertain the folks a little bit.
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm excited. It's helping my social media presence.
Peter Dunn: Danza asks, How does Pete feel about the soap commercial, Defiling His Jam?
That would be the return of the Mac soap commercial. You know, I actually have mixed feelings about that, Danza, because I love the song so much. I love hearing it whenever I can, but the fact that it is being used to, to soap and folks is a little weird for me. Soapin's a verb?
Kristen Ahlenius: Not.
Peter Dunn: It might be.
Kristen Ahlenius: You can make it one, but it's not.
Peter Dunn: Oh, Chris. Dame's on vacation.
Kristen Ahlenius: I think. I don't know. He's not here.
Peter Dunn: Do you remember the last time he fled a hurricane?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. His family was at, like, Marco Island or something, right?
Peter Dunn: I think you're gonna say Mar a Lago is where I thought you were going with that.
Kristen Ahlenius: No, [00:05:00] I think they were at, on Marco.
Peter Dunn: Well, anyway.
I don't know. Hopefully he's not fleeing another hurricane.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, hopefully not.
Peter Dunn: Hello, Tom Ricks. Good day. Good to be with you All right, Kristen. We got a show. Let's do it. Anything else we need to cover before we do the show? We got some email questions we got a little game since i'm in the social media darling once again, we're gonna Do a trendy financial game and clip it up into the videos and put it into the space
Kristen Ahlenius: Great.
Have you, last question, have you noticed in your cutting videos that you rarely look at Dame and I when we're talking?
Peter Dunn: Wow. Wow. That's just, I feel like we've, we've turned a corner into, I'm just curious. Let's give feedback.
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm just curious if you've noticed that in your can I,
Peter Dunn: can I tell you something that this is true?
This is true. I noticed this about myself in college. I love to eat. No, that's not the point I was wanting to make. I can't take notes. And sometimes [00:06:00] I listen and absorb people best when I'm not looking at them.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's fair.
Peter Dunn: That's what I know about myself.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's fair.
Peter Dunn: Is that BS? Maybe. But, it feels right.
Kristen Ahlenius: Anyway.
Peter Dunn: Any who's. So anyway. Follow me on all the plats. Do people call them plats? It's
Kristen Ahlenius: not land. We're not like, putting out a, pulling out the plot book here.
Peter Dunn: I did my, make my way to TikTok.
Kristen Ahlenius: I thought for sure that was. Not real. I literally sent a screenshot to you and Damon was like, is this Ellie?
Peter Dunn: But I'm such a boomer with it that like I've got I got issued one of those dumb names like a bot name and I Have to wait
Kristen Ahlenius: and
Peter Dunn: I have to wait 30 days to change it to Pete the Planner And of course some idiot is gonna now that I said that publicly is gonna take Pete the Planner before I can get there Dang it.
In three two This week on the Pete [00:07:00] the Planner show, we answer your money questions. Here's how the show works. You email us, askpeteatpetetheplanner. com. That's askpeteatpetetheplanner. com. And we'll answer your questions on the air. We're going to do just that. And just. A bit. Now you're listening to this on the radio or you're listening on a podcast, but you can also watch the show at youtube.
com slash PeteThePlanner. Be sure to like, subscribe and hit that notification button. Hello, Kristen. How are you?
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm doing well. How are you?
Peter Dunn: Oh, selling out. All right, Kristen, we've got questions and I'm going to read them. Good day, Kristen and co. My employer is updating their existing 401k plan that will allow employees more investment options.
With varying ranges of risk. With this change also comes the option to choose between a traditional 401k versus a Roth 401k. The Roth 401k seems like a no brainer, but I'm worried that I could potentially, potentially [00:08:00] miss out on the company's match and its long-term returns. Here's why. Since the start of 2021, I've contributed 75,000 American dollars and the company has matched with 68,000.
Cause we have a 90 percent match, so I've been nearly maxing out each year in the traditional 401k and that from a budget standpoint is right at my maximum. So I have a math question for you.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh
Peter Dunn: man, where's Dame? Is it financially better to keep contributing to the traditional 401k just to take advantage of the additional company match that I'd be able to garner, or do I elect to start contributing entirely to the Roth 401k?
Even though I can't max it out and thus won't get as much company match. I realized this is also perhaps a political question because who knows what the future looks like from a tax standpoint, other notables currently 40 years old with 25 years left. Do they timeout? Do they mean on the planet or in their working career?
Kristen Ahlenius: Hopefully not both.
Peter Dunn: [00:09:00] It's not an all or nothing in terms of contribution. We can grow 60, we can go 60 percent towards Roth and 40 percent towards traditional. We could also make changes at any time. And as often as we'd like, thanks so much. Stay getting money, Todd.
Kristen Ahlenius: Wow.
Peter Dunn: You know, Too Short's name is Todd.
What?
Kristen Ahlenius: Too Short,
Peter Dunn: the rapper.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh, we've lost me again.
Peter Dunn: Gee, mini Christmas. Kristen, what do you think about the actual financial question at hand?
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay. Can I ask you if you, you, what is a 90 percent match?
Peter Dunn: He said about, I mean, he said approximately 90 percent match. So I think he was just equating his contributions to theirs.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's what I think too, but the reason why it would be nice to have that clarity is to know exactly when does that match cap out? Like, is it a safe harbor? Is it, you know, a dollar for dollar to a certain percent and then 50 percent [00:10:00] to another percent? That part would be kind of nice to know. So that was just, I didn't know if there was some kind of new match I'm not familiar with.
Peter Dunn: Okay. So for three and a half, so 2021, 2022, 2023, and then half a two. So for three and a half years, he's contributed 75, 000 bucks.
Kristen Ahlenius: So that
Peter Dunn: actually helps. Okay. So let's see what that looks like.
Kristen Ahlenius: Just call it. I mean, if it's three years, it's 25 grand.
Peter Dunn: Well, it can't be three and a half. It's 21. So he's maxing out.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Peter Dunn: He's maxing out. Okay. Hmm. And they've put in 68, 000 over the same timeframe. That doesn't even make sense. They've put in about 19, 000.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's what I'm saying. First of all, kudos. Cause like, and let, I mean, maybe they're just a really, really high income earner. Maybe this is, you know, a 3%, 5 percent match.[00:11:00]
Peter Dunn: All right.
Kristen Ahlenius: Here's what I think is. I feel like they gave us the answer and it seems so obvious that they are questioning whether it's this obvious, which is you contribute to both and take as much of the match as you can. Like, why not?
Peter Dunn: Yeah, that's, that's what I would do. Like you, I, I don't, that's where your earliest question goes to max out the match.
Does he have to put in. The max contribution like the max IRS contribution because he's making it seem that way.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, but surely not and then also The employer contribution is going to be going into the traditional anyway so he can overload his 401k Roth and then His contribution and the employer contribution can make up a better, heftier weighting in the traditional.
Peter Dunn: His point was, yeah, that's true. [00:12:00] Yeah. Cause he's like, well, I can't max out the Roth 401k because of their tax situation. That's what he's saying.
Kristen Ahlenius: Is that what he's saying?
Peter Dunn: Or do I elect to start contributing Tally to the Roth IRA 401k even though I can't max it out and thus won't get as much company match?
Well then you go back to your point, if that happens to be true, then just
Kristen Ahlenius: do
Peter Dunn: both. I think it's an incredibly simple answer.
Kristen Ahlenius: I think so, and I think that's why it's tripping this person up. They seem to be doing a great job. They're saving aggressively, and that's sometimes when it's the most difficult to make a financial decision, is when you're in this phase of you're ready to take action, and then you're second guessing yourself because surely I'm missing something here.
Peter Dunn: I know we don't generally love rules of thumb because they can be dangerous, and they're also not inclusive of pets because they don't have opposable thumbs.
Kristen Ahlenius: True.
Peter Dunn: That's true.
Kristen Ahlenius: We say that all the time at my house.
Peter Dunn: Really? In what way?
Kristen Ahlenius: That the dogs can't contribute because they have no thumbs. That's [00:13:00] true.
Peter Dunn: I mean, what are they gonna do argue with us by giving us a thumbs down? They can't. Kristen, do you have a rule of thumb when you advise people? About a Roth 401k as opposed to a traditional do you just go about it depends on what your view of taxation for the next few decades is that you're
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes, but I find that so often if we dig into this, someone is putting the metaphorical cart before the horse in terms of choosing which vehicle they need to contribute to.
And really, the important thing is, are we saving enough? Are we on track for our retirement goals and the taxation in a lot of those conversations is the least important thing to me? And that's usually what I find is like this question is kind of I don't know if it's the logical fallacy would be a red Herring, but we're distracting from what is the real question, which is are you saving enough for retirement?
Peter Dunn: Yeah, so I I think a very small very small percentage of people Really [00:14:00] should engage in the margins, right? Which is to say we max out our tax situation is this, we have these political. Predictions of the way things are gonna go and therefore we're gonna do a Roth versus a traditional And I always like to say this and I actually kind of dislike saying it But I think it's important to say you want to talk about tax law changes You know one that would really mess this entire thing up.
Kristen Ahlenius: I know I was thinking it
Peter Dunn: is if the Roth Goes away or if Roth becomes taxed and I, I don't believe it is in any way imminent, but I also don't believe it's out of the realm of possibility.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, because of the lever of surplus or funds that that could provide 100%, because this decision is, if we talk about the political angle, is based on two different potential, Concerns, which is what do future tax rates look like?
But also [00:15:00] is this money truly going to be protected from taxation forever?
Peter Dunn: Speaking of unpopular ideas, what if, what I'm just saying, what if the social security problem was fixed by taxing Roth IRA withdrawals?
Kristen Ahlenius: I would be really upset because I didn't create either of those problems.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, well, you still got to solve the problem in front of you.
As one might say, it's not your fault, but it may be your problem.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, I've had enough of that.
Peter Dunn: I, I'm telling you in the next 20 years, there's going to be a politician bold enough to solve the social security problem. But I'm not sure, once that came out of my mouth, whether I really believe that or not.
Kristen Ahlenius: Ugh, I don't know. I doubt it.
Peter Dunn: Anyway, let's do this. Let's take a break, everyone calm down. Let's apologize to your dogs. And we'll come back with another question. This one is about Living [00:16:00] paycheck to paycheck. I think I saw those words in the email. So that's what it's about. That's next on Pete plan show.
I'll be the planner.
Kristen Ahlenius: Dame. Wasn't here to say that person would have to be committed to being a one termer,
Peter Dunn: man. And plus we started talking about the government and I could have just sent him,
Kristen Ahlenius: he, I don't know. He's doing a pretty good job. He's
Peter Dunn: resisting it.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Very Ron Swanson. Did,
Peter Dunn: I want to, I want to Google this before I say it on the air real quick, there's something I want to say. I just got to make sure it's true.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's probably your journalistic integrity is, is appreciated.
It is. We don't know if it's true.
Peter Dunn: I can't tell. Now I got to go to Twitter to see if it's true.
Kristen Ahlenius: I thought you weren't on Twitter.
Peter Dunn: I mean, I get [00:17:00] pulled up. Let's see. This is makes for such great broadcasting, but it's, it's important enough to, to check whether it's true. I just got a text from a person. Okay.
It is true. This is true.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh boy.
Peter Dunn: So Trump did sit down for an interview with Dave Ramsey.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's something.
Peter Dunn: It certainly is. So apparently the Ramsey team reached out to both vice president Harris and a former president Trump. And Trump sat down with, with Dave. Do you think Dave will freak out by the amount of debt that Trump has?
I bet he will.
Kristen Ahlenius: You know,
Peter Dunn: will he tell him to act his wage?
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh my gosh. Can you imagine if he tough loved him?
Peter Dunn: What if he tough loved him?
Kristen Ahlenius: That would be so entertaining.
Peter Dunn: I'd watch
Kristen Ahlenius: that. I for sure would.
Peter Dunn: It'd be hard for me to watch that, but I might watch it. [00:18:00] Anyway today we're joined by Donald from Florida.
Who's got 500 million of debt. Donald time to cut up the credit cards. Okay. Anyway, good times. All right, let's do the next thing. It's called a segment and it starts in two seconds. One back on the Pete, the planner show, Kristen, we've got another question that someone emailed us and now I'm going to put it in your ear.
Here it is. Hello, Pete and team timeout. That's not the name of the show. It's Kristen and co. And that's it. I have a friend and his kids that recently came into a small bit of funds. That they can start finally doing some planning as opposed to living paycheck to paycheck timeout, Kristen. I have seen this situation dozens and dozens and dozens of times, and it either will change their [00:19:00] life forever in a good way or whatever has been going wrong.
We'll accelerate. Into an awful, unsolvable problem. How is that for a dystopian view of financial management?
Kristen Ahlenius: Love your outlook there for said email.
Peter Dunn: I pointed them at a few of your books in the podcast. They're already in trouble, but they started feeling overwhelmed when they saw how many episodes there are.
So believe me, they're all garbage. Let's just, I'll be honest. Which episodes or playlists would you recommend for complete beginners to investing in budgeting with like 4, 000 seed amount? Big pause. That was like the reveal. By the way, thank you for the email. Thanks for thinking of us. Kristen, someone comes in to 4, 000 to 6, 000.
Which radio show of ours or book or po whatever. Do we wanna [00:20:00] separate the asks? 'cause there's there, there's like a media question and then there's four to $6,000 question.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, I think it's both. And really, why don't we just say this episode, don't feel overwhelmed. We'll, just this episode
Peter Dunn: I hadn't even, it hadn't even occurred to me.
Did that, did you, were you setting me up here?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Peter Dunn: That's genius. I hadn't even thought of that. It's episode five. I don't know. I don't know
Kristen Ahlenius: what episode this is.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Alright, Kristen, let's say someone was living paycheck to paycheck. Yeah. And they came into
Kristen Ahlenius: a bit
Peter Dunn: of funds. Yes. Four to six thousand dollars to start doing something.
Kristen Ahlenius: Mm hmm the worst. Do you want to say the worst things they could do?
Peter Dunn: Yeah, sure I mean, let's terrify them because they've already done them and now they're like
Kristen Ahlenius: So avoiding the temptation to purchase [00:21:00] anything that depreciates Is so key, especially if you're going to have a monthly payment on it.
Peter Dunn: Okay. If a person doesn't have a high financial acumen, they're just getting their stuff together.
You may need to talk about things that depreciate like, well, like, what are you talking about? Like an ATV.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. Or a camper or a car, something that, you know, you always hear as soon as you drive that car off the lot. The price, you know, decreases by X percent or whatever. If that's what we're talking about here is making a purchase of something that isn't a consumer good.
So this is different from going to the grocery store or purchasing the things you need. But I would say anything that decreases in value. Particularly if you're going to kind of secure yourself to that monthly payment as well.
Peter Dunn: Is it, is it as clean as to say a purchase doesn't do it? Or is it about, about about, about what
Kristen Ahlenius: is it?
Peter Dunn: Is this more about you can purchase investments, which you too tech, you know, you do purchase an investment, but no [00:22:00] consumer purchases. And don't try to justify a single consumer purchase, creating stability.
Kristen Ahlenius: None. Because you will, we as people can justify anything. We can justify anything. We needed this.
Especially if they have children. The kids needed it. The kids, they really needed it. And it doesn't, whether that is objectively true or not, does not help their financial stability and the potential progress or this like momentum that they're trying to build.
Peter Dunn: I certainly get your point and I get my point, but I will throw one wrench in the spoke of that.
What if they bought like a commercial mower and started a landscaping business? That's different, right?
Kristen Ahlenius: I feel that that's different.
Peter Dunn: Okay. What other things should they not do with their four to 6, 000 of seed money?
Kristen Ahlenius: They should not assuming I read this as this is really their fresh start because paycheck to paycheck to having money To me sounds like we don't have an emergency fund So tying up this money is not something to do even if it feels [00:23:00] like a good decision So don't put it in a robin hood account.
Don't put it in a fidelity account Cash is king.
Peter Dunn: I got nervous reading this the first time because I was like, there's no way they have a savings an emergency fund You So the seat amount literally is just going to an emergency fund.
Kristen Ahlenius: Exactly.
Peter Dunn: Here's the other thing. This sounds negative. It's not meant to be, it's just an observation.
Here's the other thing about novice investors that, that always scares me a little bit is the relative nature of good returns. Okay. So Kristen, if you have 4, 000 and I say, Hey, you know, there's a scenario in which at the end of this year, best case scenario, you have 400 more than you had starting at the year within that investment, which would be a 10 percent return.
It's not uncommon for a person to hear that. I'm like, no, no, no, no. I'm looking to double my money, or at least I'd be [00:24:00] happy. A thousand dollars. It's like, that's a 25 percent return. And an, a novice investor doesn't necessarily have anything other than luck that could lead to a consistent 25 percent return.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, you're exactly right. It's just lack of exposure and there's nothing wrong with that. It's nothing to be ashamed about or to feel any negative type of emotions toward. It's just, this is likely a new reality for them and setting proper expectations is key.
Peter Dunn: Yeah. I even think about my kids. It's like, okay.
Maybe they do something. I got a hundred bucks. All right, well, let's teach them how to invest. Next year you have a hundred and five dollars or a hundred and eight dollars, right? And they're like what why didn't I just spend it? It's hard to explain that to people However, when you got a million dollars,
Kristen Ahlenius: right
Peter Dunn: a million dollars It's fifty to eighty thousand dollars [00:25:00] that you get for doing nothing And I know this is the it's not even a point.
I'm not even making a point I'm literally just stating math on a radio show Slash podcast slash live stream. If you have a million dollars, it's so much easier to passively make income as opposed to having a hundred dollars. I again, not, I'm not making a point. I'm stating math.
Kristen Ahlenius: Great. So excited. Now, what should they do though?
Peter Dunn: Oh, I mean the worst answer ever. Just, I mean, it's the best answer ever. It's just the boring answer ever. Just put it in an emergency fund, put it in a high yield savings account that is not linked to your checking account. You know, I, I, years ago when I was a brash young man, now I'm a slightly brash older man, I used to say things like, make sure your savings isn't connected to your checking account.
That way you don't risk running out of money. And, and, and while I believe that at the time, and I still arguably believe it, and I [00:26:00] did it personally at the time, it's not that realistic and sort of the way money works today. But I, I do believe that someone in this situation needs to protect themselves from their money.
They probably just need like a high yield account and then just do their best to not touch it.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. And I would say something for these people to do is start to learn about the things that they are closer to being able to do with consistency. So they are closer to being able to invest discretionary income.
They are closer to maybe debt repayment goals. If there's outstanding debt, this money did allow you to. Br it changed the timeline on whatever your financial goals are. So start learning about the things that are next so that when you're ready to make those decisions, you don't feel overwhelmed by both.
The fact that you have to make a decision, which is so hard when it comes to your personal finances and trying to learn about the best things to do when it comes to making decisions.
Peter Dunn: That's the. Monster of a [00:27:00] point. Like you have to, you have to do the hard work of figuring out all the things that you have to do, getting them down, understanding them so they don't overwhelm you as they occur to you.
Because the first idea that comes to you is what's going to take the money. That, that is, let that be the takeaway here. Everyone listening should do that. Go ahead, indulge in all the things we need to do. It will overwhelm you. It will upset you. But it will protect you from letting your money just go to the loudest chirping bird that comes your way.
And it's with that, we take a break. I'm Pete, the planner, Kristen. Great point.
Oh man. My phone, my slack. I just, I got to know better by the way, my brother and Ruck Rick Swink made it to the show today. Yeah. We're ruck brothers. We are.
Kristen Ahlenius: I love how we all have different things in common with [00:28:00] Rick. Rick and I are Forerunner fans. You guys have this rucking thing. He and Dame love pocket knives and flashlights.
I feel like we all just connect with Rick in different ways.
Peter Dunn: I'm telling you, on my first ruck, I'm walking. I'm rucking. Actually, I saw some other people that were walking. I was rucking. I'm rucking. I didn't even wave to them. They gave me a, I was like, different sport. I wanted, I wanted a blade on me.
Like I wanted, I wanted steel at my hip.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh my.
Peter Dunn: But I don't know why. Like, what if I'm rucking? Hear this out, Chris. I'm rucking. I've got a, a, a big hearty homemade stick of like venison summer sausage. And I'm just using a fine steel blade.
Kristen Ahlenius: To like, snack as you go? To snack as I go.
Peter Dunn: It's just like, it's like it's like charcuterie meets rucking.
Kristen Ahlenius: Honestly, kind of on brand. [00:29:00] I mean,
Peter Dunn: oh, man. Wait, he says he lives in the sticks now.
Kristen Ahlenius: I thought he did before. Sorry, Rick. That was a misconception on our part, I feel.
Peter Dunn: Jordan says, Pete with the bikers versus motor scooters mentality. Absolutely. And Rick Swink Swink comes over the top. Meat snacks are the best snacks for rucking.
I kind of felt that. I feel like you needed, like, animal protein.
Kristen Ahlenius: I like when, I like when you're working out really simple sugars. I eat Skittles.
Peter Dunn: I will note this and we'll move on from the rucking conversation because some people don't care and by some people I mean quite literally everyone when I was rucking this was last night I encountered a squirrel, you know, just a classic small woodland creature and it looked at me with respect It did i'm not kidding not fear Or indifference, but respect.
Have you ever seen respect on a squirrel's face?
Kristen Ahlenius: [00:30:00] You know, I have not reached that level yet.
Peter Dunn: Not surprising. You're not me.
It was acute, acute respect, you know? Yeah. Alright, let's do this. I'm gonna be driving in a hurricane tonight to St. Louis.
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't think that's true.
Peter Dunn: No, I mean the remnants of a tropical storm. I don't know how that works.
Kristen Ahlenius: Lots of rain.
Peter Dunn: Just a lot of rain. Okay. So you've got this game set up?
Kristen Ahlenius: Sort of. Yeah.
Peter Dunn: Sure. Better than I do. In three, two, one. Back on the Pete the Planner show. It's game time everyone. It's everyone's favorite game called
Kristen Ahlenius: Blind ranking budget busters with Pete, the planner.
Peter Dunn: Beautiful. Can't remember a thing you said. So what we're going to do is I'm Kristen's going to give me five budget busters and I, am I going to rank them from what [00:31:00] I think is the best or the worst, like the biggest budget buster or yeah.
Okay. Yes. Number one would be the biggest budget buster. Number five on the ranking would be less or so. And I don't know what's next and I can't move them around. They have to stick in the thing. And what this is going to cause Kristen is a social media sensation. I will also note that this is going to cause me to do some editing and graphics so I can keep up with the trends.
Kristen Ahlenius: Wonderful. I'm really excited for you. Okay, do you want your first one?
Peter Dunn: Okay, first one, this is the first time I've ever done anything like this, but I've seen these videos on the internets, so let's see.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay, getting a raise at work.
Peter Dunn: Oh, I mean, that's dangerous. That's dangerous. Getting a raise can make you feel abundant, quick.
Kristen Ahlenius: Correct.
Peter Dunn: And all of a sudden, Every decision you make is influenced by that larger amount of money. And that larger amount of [00:32:00] money turns into no more money very quickly, especially if you don't save the race. I'm going to go, man, that's a really good one. I think what the people do is they, they give themselves a wiggle room and they go three.
They start with three. I feel like that's the technique three for getting a raise.
Kristen Ahlenius: Which is so funny because on the surface, it's like, how could that possibly be a budget buster, but we have that conversation a lot. That's why I threw that one in here. I thought you'd like it.
Peter Dunn: That was a really good one.
You're having a great show. I mean, you know, fab stars.
Kristen Ahlenius: And this is the type of segment we have to do without Damien because he's not willing to not explain the nuance. Okay. Second one. Placing household items, could be like your dog food, laundry detergent, just like things, your consumer goods, on auto ship.
It
Peter Dunn: was ship with a P.
Kristen Ahlenius: Correct.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Misheard it. Five.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay. Do you want to [00:33:00] explain that one or do you want to hear where I was kind of coming from with that one now that you've already ranked it?
Peter Dunn: Go ahead and then I, I can shut it down if I have to.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay, so I feel something that I'm kind of in tune with is I do have some things that are shipping automatically and I have, since I set those up, some of them years ago, completely lost sight of how expensive some of that stuff is like, we talked about this a couple, oh gosh, Pete time.
We talked about this a while ago on the show, which is the, f O O D that my dogs consume. And it has gone up like 70 percent since the start of the pandemic. But the reality is, is I'm so unaware of that rising cost because it just shows up at my house every three weeks.
Peter Dunn: And it's, in this case, people, the dogs and the cats are eating, is what you're telling me.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's exactly what I'm saying.
Peter Dunn: Subject versus object.
Kristen Ahlenius: Right.
Peter Dunn: Excellent. [00:34:00] Ah, keep it at five. Don't care.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay. Going to the grocery store without a list.
Peter Dunn: This is a problem for me on Sundays when I make a big family meal. I took Ted with me last time and he was throwing stuff in the car and I'm like, brother, we're going to do it. Like it got weird. We're really brewing out right now. But still I know there's some stuff to come here. I'm going for, I'm going for, but that is a problem for me.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, that's exactly where I was coming from with it too, is for me, this is not a problem. This is not a problem. I don't need a list. I'm not buying things I don't need. I don't find there to be like, I'm not, I think it's a marketing thing. I don't, I'm not easily drawn in by packaging or things like that.
However, my roommate cannot be sent unsupervised to the grocery store. It's just not, he comes home and he's like, I have Oreos and this and that. And I'm like, what? None of that was on the list
Peter Dunn: as we're doing this, which I'm enjoying. This is a [00:35:00] good time and it may, might make something special on the backend.
I'm just terrified of how in the world I'm going to add the edit this down to one minute for YouTube shorts.
Kristen Ahlenius: YouTube. They can only be a minute
Peter Dunn: on YouTube shorts. I'll have to do a part two, which is annoying.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh, people hate that. Yeah.
Peter Dunn: I don't look, I'm not trying to get people to hate me. Anyway, next.
Oh, do I have to yeah, next. Okay, so far I know where we're at.
Kristen Ahlenius: Taking a 401k loan.
Peter Dunn: Okay, the thing is, I'm going number two and here's why. It's not actually a budget buster, it's just a bad idea. Like, it is It could, it could bust your budget in the sense that then you have to repay it. And so then you're taking some out of your paycheck.
I feel like there's something on the horizon. You save something for the end to really put it to me. Cause you think I'm an amateur and I, I've made room for it now. So I feel great.
Kristen Ahlenius: You have made room for it.
Peter Dunn: Here's what you're gonna say. Having kids. Number one. I was
Kristen Ahlenius: [00:36:00] gonna, I was gonna put that in here, but I didn't.
Cause we really, I, I gave my opinion on that a lot two weeks ago.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Hit me.
Kristen Ahlenius: Buying a house with a friend. Oh,
Peter Dunn: I
Kristen Ahlenius: mean
Peter Dunn: buying a house and then whatever you say after that
Kristen Ahlenius: is irrelevant.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, it's one Yeah, absolutely I did see I think it was the wall street journal this week Which if I don't have a subscription to because for some reason I can't subscribe to the wall street journal I've talked about this before it won't let me
Kristen Ahlenius: Right.
So you didn't read it.
Peter Dunn: I read the first sentence and the headline about, there was a big trend of people buying homes during the pandemic with friends, and now they went out and they don't know what to do.
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm out of news now. Oh
Peter Dunn: no.
Kristen Ahlenius: You know
Peter Dunn: what? But I think people want to hear more about that.
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm sure they do.
Peter Dunn: Buying a home is a budget buster, plain and simple.
Kristen Ahlenius: I've complained
Peter Dunn: in the last month about the number of stuff in my house that just keeps. Breaking. Here's one. Mrs. [00:37:00] Planner and I were talking about this this morning. Our little 12 year old mini me, that looks like me, now he's doing two showers a day.
Because he's like, cares what he looks like for school, so he wants his hair to look good.
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, it's better than the alternative.
Peter Dunn: Sure. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, he's, you know, that's pretty good. And then he just has one after soccer training. Twice the number of showers, basically every single day. It doesn't affect our water bill, but it's affected the amount of water softener salt I have to buy.
And we were like, why do we have to keep putting so much salt in the water? It's because of our smelly tween.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. And then the like wear and tear on the unit. Do you know how expensive a water softener is to maintain?
Peter Dunn: I have no idea. Do they go bad? I think they should know this.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes. So recency bias here.
I had to have a company come in re bed mine is what it's called. And they had to add new resin and all these other things. I was going to do it myself because some of us sometimes do stuff [00:38:00] like that, but. That
Peter Dunn: was a shot.
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, I wasn't here two weeks ago when you talked about it, where I could like really get you, but do you want to, I feel like this is setting you up.
Do you want to guess how much it was to just like, It was just like maintenance on my water softener. Okay.
Peter Dunn: I'm just, by the way, I'm guessing from when I bought my water softener in 2007, I think it was between 11 to 1400 bucks. It's somewhere in there
Kristen Ahlenius: you're saying?
Peter Dunn: Yeah, for for the whole darn thing. Toe it,
Kristen Ahlenius: bed,
Peter Dunn: whatever.
Oh, 600 bucks.
Kristen Ahlenius: It was almost $400. And the kicker is that It's as out. It's as old as me.
Peter Dunn: Wow. 22 years old.
Kristen Ahlenius: I know that's ancient.
Peter Dunn: Alright, I feel pretty good about my list. So number one biggest budget buster is buying a home and then whatever words that come after it, right? Yeah. Number two is 401k loan because it just sort of shifts stuff.
Number [00:39:00] three was, what was it?
Kristen Ahlenius: Getting a raise.
Peter Dunn: Getting a raise. Number four was not making a list at the grocery store. And number five was what?
Kristen Ahlenius: Placing household items on auto ship.
Peter Dunn: I don't think we have anything on auto ship.
Kristen Ahlenius: Really?
Peter Dunn: Not a thing.
Kristen Ahlenius: Good for you guys.
Peter Dunn: Do you remember the tide buttons?
Like you could get those Amazon buttons and just press it and stuff. Do those still exist?
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't think so. Because I think it's just in your account. You don't have to push the button. It just says your household needs tied everything. Three months or whatever.
Peter Dunn: I I remember when those came out. I thought they were the coolest thing in the world
Kristen Ahlenius: I mean,
Peter Dunn: I was like, this is genius.
You just press a button when you need more detergent
Kristen Ahlenius: But I never got one.
Peter Dunn: I wish they had one for like summer sausage for my rocks. All right, listen, let's take a break. I've got an outstanding biggest waste of money of the week. I've stolen Kristen's news. Her dogs don't have thumbs. All that is next on [00:40:00] the pizza planet show.
I beat the planter who, oh, listen to this Jo, who I'll see her husband in St. Louis this weekend, almost $7,000 to have the dying becoming unsafe oak tree cut down from their yard. They had this giant, beautiful oak tree that they cut down and of course
Kristen Ahlenius: 7, 000? 7, 000
Peter Dunn: to have it cut down.
I gotta take a second. What?
Kristen Ahlenius: What?
Peter Dunn: Did they drive a cyber truck into it or something? Like, what? How in the world? I mean, I'm not doubting that it cost 7, 000. Oh, same. Right, I'm just like I just have never been in the market for a tree chopping.
Kristen Ahlenius: Valid.
Peter Dunn: Oh my God. Then
Kristen Ahlenius: they took away the wood and they probably sold it.
Sure.
Peter Dunn: To the guy who lives down the street from me. The guy selling all [00:41:00] the stools,
Kristen Ahlenius: local firewood, 15 people,
Peter Dunn: 15 people.
Kristen Ahlenius: I feel like I don't fully understand how big this tree was, Julie.
Peter Dunn: It was huge. I will say this, that there were squirrels involved, and none of them looked
Kristen Ahlenius: With respect?
Peter Dunn: With respect.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Peter Dunn: We gotta keep it moving.
Kristen Ahlenius: Same, I got stuff to do. Oh my gosh. I'm
Peter Dunn: a little bit in shock. Takes a bit to get me. That one got me.
Kristen Ahlenius: That's so much money.
Peter Dunn: So much money. It's like, what'd you do? Well, for the last two months, I went to work so I could cut down that. Their tree, what
Kristen Ahlenius: I hate, I hate thinking about money in that respect. I worked this many hours to do this thing that I didn't want to do it all.
Peter Dunn: Did I tell you? No, I, we've had a show since then. So I, at a high school football game last Friday night, I'm sitting there. Right. [00:42:00] And I watched my daughter cheer flippity floppity. She's, that's a great job. And there was this young girl sitting behind us. 14, 15 years old, talking to her friend and their mom.
And she was like, they wanted to pay me 10 an hour. She goes, I wouldn't get out of bed for 10 an hour. So they're paying me 10 50. And I was like, wait, wait, wait, there's so much here. Number one, you wouldn't get out of bed for 10 an hour, which is above minimum wage as a 15 year old. But we're in Carmel.
So that made a lot of sense. But then the, the deal was done. For
Kristen Ahlenius: 50
Peter Dunn: cents more an hour,
Kristen Ahlenius: a 5 percent raise. Yeah.
Peter Dunn: So we got that. For
Kristen Ahlenius: 10. 50. Alright,
Peter Dunn: I don't know what's funny. I wouldn't get out of bed for 10 dollars an hour hearing like a a little teen voice say that. That's funnier or so they're paying me 10.
50 and it's like man you are a real, [00:43:00] real
Kristen Ahlenius: chop
Peter Dunn: buster
Kristen Ahlenius: there.
Peter Dunn: Okay.
Kristen Ahlenius: In
Peter Dunn: three. What this week's biggest waste of money of the week right here on the Pete the Planet show is
the Louis Vuitton Pharrell Williams bed trunk. The original Louis Vuitton bed trunk was introduced in 1868, giving travelers a consistent, more comfortable place to sleep as they explored the world. It was reintroduced last April, and now it's gotten a makeover from the Mason's Men's Creative Director, Pharrell Williams.
He's given it a slightly historic makeover with a distressed striped pattern on the exterior and interior inspired by canvas, dating to the 1870s. Pharrell's signature LV Lover's Tag is present on the trunk's sides, while the mattress pad features a subtle camo motif. Stolen valor. It's joined in the lion by a version heavily styled by LV's artistic director of women's [00:44:00] collections Nicholas Gascary.
So Kristen for this bed, and I don't know if you understand this, it is a giant LV trunk. Like a, like a foot locker that's huge that looks like a twin, maybe a twin bed folds out of. And so you can sleep with this bed trunk. How much do you think this costs?
Kristen Ahlenius: This is for those not watching the live stream is also giving, it's giving Harry Potter, not Louis Vuitton.
Sure. But this costs 13, 000.
Peter Dunn: Oh, wow. You are just sh What was the old rule on this show, for you, on guesses?
Kristen Ahlenius: I was supposed to double it before.
Peter Dunn: No, it was multiply by 10.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh my.
Peter Dunn: It's actually 221, 000. No
Kristen Ahlenius: it is not. 221,
Peter Dunn: 000 for a Louis Vuitton [00:45:00] bed trunk. That's a great one, isn't it?
Kristen Ahlenius: And what are you doing with this?
Who vacations with their bed?
Peter Dunn: Well, what I do in my bed is sweat and snore. I, what others do in their bed. I have no idea. Anyway. All right, Kristen, what's in the news this week?
Kristen Ahlenius: You're going to love this one. Pete fidelity slashes, mobile deposit limits. Following the fraud wave, Fidelity Investments put stricter guardrails on the deposits customers make through its mobile app, hitting back against a check fraud scheme that targeted the investing giant earlier this month.
Fidelity slashed the amount certain customers can deposit into their cash management accounts to 1, 000. Do you want to guess what the previous limit was for a check deposit through Fidelity?
Peter Dunn: 100,
Kristen Ahlenius: 000.
Peter Dunn: Why? What?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. The Boston firm is also subjecting some account holders to a 16 business day hold on deposits.
That's crazy. Because the money [00:46:00] is made available.
Peter Dunn: So that's, okay, so 100, 000 is dumb and 16 days is dumber.
Kristen Ahlenius: Correct. Like they're, they're trying to, they're giving you this illusion of choice of like, we still want you to be with us, but actually we don't want your business is what this feels like. Like, we don't want you depositing these checks.
Cause who's going to wait 16 days for their check deposit.
Peter Dunn: Isn't this like, we were talking a couple of weeks ago on the show, like this, this, these new hacks, just like check fraud, you write a check that you can't cover. Deposited or whatever. And there you go. Huh.
Kristen Ahlenius: I just feel like there has to be a better mechanism for preventing fraudulent activity that doesn't basically make it impossible to do business with them from a cash management management perspective.
Peter Dunn: Generally speaking, and I know, I know they're depositing into an account, but when I make a deposit into an account, as opposed to an asset transfer, like if someone writes me a check and I just need to [00:47:00] deposit it, it's generally a pretty small check,
Kristen Ahlenius: right?
Peter Dunn: Like it's usually a thousand dollars or less.
Right. So, so who I apparently you and I live in a completely different world where we just don't have a hundred thousand dollars checks sent our way that we would deposit.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. I'm not sure why in a cash management account, we're dealing with checks at all, really, but that's okay.
Peter Dunn: You know, I will say this and this may impress you.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay.
Peter Dunn: You know, I pay my mortgage in person physically, hand them a check. I deposit checks when I receive them via the mobile app.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh my word, look at you. I
Peter Dunn: know. I mean, sometimes I'll fax him, but usually it's the mobile app.
Kristen Ahlenius: Really with the times.
Peter Dunn: What else is in the news?
Kristen Ahlenius: The story you stole. They bought homes with their friends and now they want out.
Buying a home with friends sounds like a dream until it isn't. More friend groups bought homes together [00:48:00] in recent years, especially those who couldn't afford to go it alone in the feverish pandemic housing market. There was the fantasy of hanging out around the fire pit together, splitting up solo weekends, and all of it comes at a cut rate.
Now, as some look to exit, they're facing a dilemma. How do you untangle shared finances without damaging friendships?
Peter Dunn: I've only had roommates when I was in college, right? Like, that's, that's the extent of it. We got along well. In fact the tree chopper here Luke, it was a college roommate of mine.
Got along fine. I've never had a roommate as an adult though. And I can't imagine it's sitting around fires and this and that, like it's, it's not that glamorous, right?
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't know. I mean, to say that I don't get it wouldn't be fair because the, the, what do I want to say? The barrier to home ownership as a single person, it is just so, so hard.
And to say you and your friend who you were going [00:49:00] to live with anyway can own this house instead. And you can. Potentially, I'm not going to say you will, but you can potentially build equity. I totally get the appeal.
Peter Dunn: I do. It's just, it's just wrought with, of course, this was going to happen. Like there's no other path.
I mean, there's. What 5 percent of the time it works out, people sell and go their separate ways. Cause inevitably, what if someone wants to get into a relationship and then they want the house? I mean, it's just, it's a, this was like a young person thing to do.
Kristen Ahlenius: It is, I think, but it's the exit strategy, right?
It's why we, one of the most controversial topics we talk about on the show is having a prenup. And this is, you need to have like that version for this is like the exit strategy when there is a lot of. Money that needs to be exchanged or someone has to take on more debt Because like if you think about pete in the last two three years the increase in a [00:50:00] home price We're talking the equity that someone is going to then have to come up with to buy out their friend It may have even made it harder for them to buy a home even though they're currently a homeowner
Peter Dunn: Unbelievable because i'm just sitting here thinking i'm like There's no way it goes, it goes well.
Here's how this used to go. The smart friend would make the purchase and then just take rent payments from everyone else. And so then when you try to get too smart people involved it doesn't end up being so smart because then the separation is, is really messy.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, but I think that's the problem is like even the friend that potentially had the highest degree of financial stability Could have either been priced or income out.
That's not a word. Yeah. Oh,
Peter Dunn: yeah, it is A person can be soaped and they can be in come down.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, I
Peter Dunn: have to say speaking of housing And, and there was an episode of the New York Times daily podcast this week about [00:51:00] why housing has gotten so crazy.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Peter Dunn: One of the best podcast episodes I've ever listened to.
Kristen Ahlenius: Really?
Peter Dunn: Highly recommend. Actually, I'm going to send it to you so you can send it to your team. It is really, really great. So today we're recording this a week ending the 27th. So it was probably the 20. 3rd, 24th episode September 23rd, 24th episode of the Daily New York Times Daily about housing and it talks about, you know, the story to go off the rails and modern times here after the housing meltdown in 2007, 2008 And then it went crazy from there.
So listen, if you're interested and if you're feeling down and out about not being able to buy a house and, and feeling like you're lesser than, cause he can't figure it out, listen to that episode. It's really enlightening. Kristen, do you have time for a 30 second story?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. Regional airlines are doing terribly and need a recession, according to the wall street journal.
In the latest [00:52:00] annual report published a few days ago, Regional Airline Association revenues are the lowest they've been in two decades.
Peter Dunn: And what would a recession do?
Kristen Ahlenius: There's a whole bunch of regional airlines. Are they really regional or are they big airlines? Like, there's way too much to dig into.
Peter Dunn: Sure. You know, the thing is, and no one loves to hear this. A recession is the solution to a problem. No one loves to hear it, but the reason a recession exists is, is to, to level out the market and the economy. Anyway, that's it. Sending you good vibes because good vibes are all that's in the budget. I'm Pete, the planner, this Pete the planner show.
That was that.
54 minutes. All right. Now I'm going to dig into the dumpster fire. That's my slack. That's what happens. Two days left in the quarter. I got work to do. You're already on your slack. Look at you.
Kristen Ahlenius: Sorry.
Peter Dunn: Was that you on your slack? Because that was a slack face if I've ever seen one.
Kristen Ahlenius: It was, it was. [00:53:00] Well, because my quarter ends in an hour and a half, and I still have two more meetings before then, so.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Well good luck with your life. Everyone else, stay getting money, because I'm rocking.
