July 19, 2024

Pushing your housing budget, when you don't have to

On this week's episode, Kristen, Dame, and Pete discuss whether it makes any sense at all to make a dynamic housing decision, when housing has previously been a position of strength in a money life. Also, Pete glitches-out.

Episode Transcript

Peter Dunn: [00:00:00] All right. So last week on the show, I said, I thought I was going to get to meet Caitlin Clark this week. Some would say the most dynamic, I don't think you can take off women basketball player in the world right now. Like one of the most popular people in the world. She plays for the Indiana Fever, but I was in an event this past Wednesday night and I thought she was going to be there because she was involved in this.

Alas, Dame, she was playing in a basketball game, I believe in Dallas, so she was not there. I was very disappointed. Didn't even have the courtesy to zoom in. She did not. Kristen, however, I did meet someone else that night that I didn't necessarily expect. And I'd love to share that with you now. I met vice president Mike Pence.

Yeah, yeah. And I got to hear him speak just around the, sort of the event that I was at and, and some, some words and this and that really interesting. Like I, I'd never I don't think [00:01:00] I have met him, at least not since he's been the vice president. And I will say his speech to about 200, 300 people really engaging.

Like, I was like, wow, I get it. This is an engaging fella.

Damian Dunn: Did he use in a prior life have a radio show?

Peter Dunn: He did. He had a radio show on our station of which our flagship station, WIBC. Good thing

Damian Dunn: that I didn't say that during the first segment, that would have been embarrassing.

Peter Dunn: That would have been embarrassing.

Yeah. But anyway, without going into the politics of it all, engaging person and To say I'm surprised sounds like a left handed compliment, right? Like I don't mean it in a negative way. It was just kind of refreshing. I didn't expect To be that taken, is that the best way to say it? Maybe

Damian Dunn: sure. I, we are fed just nothing but series of sound bites until you don't really have a chance to sit down and listen and consume what somebody says and how they say it.

So I'm not at all surprised that you find some people [00:02:00] maybe not exactly what you were anticipating.

Peter Dunn: The, the most exciting part of that particular evening. I got to meet a woman by a remarkable woman by the name of Sarah Evans Barker, who's been a federal judge since the 1980s on the Southern District of Indiana.

She was, I wouldn't introduce myself because I've always thought very highly of her and the work that she's done. And I just thanked her for her service to really our country in a different way. And And then she was the most engaging person there. Like she like, she just kept going and was so present.

And it hit me, she's 81 years old. It hit me that man, we just don't make them like that anymore, because this is a person that clearly isn't consumed with their phone. This is clearly a person that. is into people and what is happening in the moment, it was, it was, I felt almost like a religious experience because she was so incredible.

She's seen so [00:03:00] much. So yeah, that's my favorite part of the night meeting the legendary Sarah, Sarah Evans Barker.

Damian Dunn: Man, that sounds like an amazing event. Did you say what it was for? Yeah, it was

Peter Dunn: just a thing. It was a thing. So it was good job, Damien. Here's the thing. The Indianapolis business journal.

I mean puts out a a list over the last couple of years of 250 most influential people in the state of Indiana. Okay. They had a lot of people apparently fall off the list from the previous year. And I found my way onto this list this year, as my kids said you, if they ranked them, you'd be two 50.

So it was a very nice honor. I, I really appreciated it. And it was fun. And I'll tell you this. And it really, it was the spirit of the event. What, what vice president Pence was talking about. And some other folks were talking about is there was a community leader in Indianapolis who passed away about a week ago by the name of Jim Morris.

Jim [00:04:00] Morris worked for the Pacers. He ran the world food bank. He was the U S is delegate to UNICEF. Like this is an amazing ambassador of just goodwill and getting stuff done. Yup. Build market square arena, not with a hard hat per se, but with vision and planning. Anyway, he recently passed away. And so this entire event, the tone was this, you have 250 people in this room other than Caitlin Clark, who theoretically can get stuff done.

with their networks and influence and all these sorts of things. And it was just like, Jim Morris was this example of a person who did this. And as you go to honor his life, as they're talking about, it's like, imagine what the people in this room can get done. Together to do amazing things for the state of Indiana.

And so that was really inspiring to me. Right? Like we, a lot of people in the room have used their influence or whatever to, to get [00:05:00] things done and to get things done for the greater good. But if you really Avenger style, put all those people together and yes, I am black widow that would be amazing.

Damian Dunn: What? I thought it was Kristen who was tearing paper or something and it was I don't know. No, it was me. Oh, it was you. I like that you blamed Kristen. Well, she was leaning back and looking down. I thought she was doing whatever, I don't know. So that's enough of that.

Kristen Ahlenius: What was it again? Just one more time?

Damian Dunn: Stop. I thought maybe they needed an MC and they thought, well, the only way we're going to get them to do that is if we put them on the list and just have them show up. Here's the, here's the best part of

Peter Dunn: it. And this is what I really actually enjoy about it. I at one point won't be on the list. So that is to say this, this is because they, they, you either stay on the list or you fall off the list.

That is a thing. So it's not a fresh two 50. In fact, this year, I think they said there were 71 new people on the list. Okay. [00:06:00] From the previous year. So that is to suggest next year at this time, and I will do it. I will come to you and be like, look, I'm off, I'm off the list. I have they don't rank them.

And by the way, if they do, they must internally, yeah, they have to, but like, I'm, I'm going to be off the list. I kind of like that. Yeah. Man. Okay. I love public failures like that. Right? This, like my radio show, our radio show will get canceled at some point. And it'll be like, Oh, what happened to the show?

Oh, it got

Damian Dunn: cancelled. Why did it turn into our show when we're talking about cancelling, but it's your show when you're talking about sixth class. I'm not sure I, I, is this how you got to that 250 position, Pete?

Peter Dunn: Well, it's just, it's the royal we. Anyway, Kristen, big news week for you. Anything going on in your life?

Kristen Ahlenius: Not much really, no.

Peter Dunn: We all, we know better. [00:07:00] We know better. Alright, let's do a thing called magic. How much Yacht Rock do you listen to, Kristen?

Kristen Ahlenius: I would have to have a definition of Yacht Rock, but Based off of the name alone, I slimmed it, slimmed it on.

Peter Dunn: I listened to so much yacht rock.

Kristen Ahlenius: Give me an example of a popular song that you feel falls into that genre.

Peter Dunn: Well Benny Maldon's into the night, which is the creepiest song ever created is definitely in there. Anything by like Michael McDonald some Kenny Loggins, not,

Kristen Ahlenius: I listened to no, zero yacht rock.

Peter Dunn: It is when, when Mrs. Planner and I are driving in a car trip, cause then you're driving in a cart. I don't know what that means.

It is always on and our kids are putting in noise cancelling [00:08:00] headphones to not listen to it.

Kristen Ahlenius: I did secure post Malone tickets though. So that's,

Peter Dunn: Oh,

Kristen Ahlenius: wow. I know. I'm really looking forward to it.

Peter Dunn: All right. Well, that is exciting for you.

Kristen Ahlenius: There will be traffic. There will be people. There will be drunk people.

Pete will not be in attendance.

Peter Dunn: But, but now, yes, that's correct. Okay. You know, I don't know if I said this on the show recently or not. The number one reason I never want to go to the Olympics The people traffic figured like Mrs. Planner's dream is when the Olympics is in the U S here in a few years, like she's wants to go.

And I was like, that's good for you. I don't really want to be involved because the idea of international traffic gives me cold sweats.

Just let it rock. Okay. Are you ready to go? In 321 this week on the Pete the planter show, we answer your money questions. Here's how the show works. You email us, askpeteatpetetheplanter. com that's askpeteatpetetheplanter. [00:09:00] com. And here's what can happen. We can read your email on the air and you will be honored with our words.

Kristen Alenius. It was recently voted best person in the world. Hello, Kristen. Hello, Pete. And Damien Dunn, who didn't make that list fell off this year, fell off this. All right. Okay. So let's hit the email inbox. We've got one that Kristen just loves this question. Christian, should we tell Brian with a why that you don't enjoy the question or should I just like leave that out of it?

Kristen Ahlenius: Cat's out of the bag

Peter Dunn: there. Good day, Kristen and co. Brian, yes, with a Y here again. I know Kristen won't let Pete make fun of the spelling like he has in the past. Oops.

Kristen Ahlenius: Sorry, Brian.

Peter Dunn: Brian. This email is from Brian. My wife and I, both 30 years old, recently welcomed our first child, who is now four months old.[00:10:00]

Time out? Sure. Dave, I believe I think that's when Mrs. Planner and I had our children. We were 30. I know you're kind of same age for you, right? Like right around that 38.

Damian Dunn: One

Peter Dunn: of

Damian Dunn: the people in my marriage was around 30. One of us was a little older.

Peter Dunn: Oh, with this major change, we've started our estate planning process, including evaluating life insurance for both of us.

Currently, I have a whole life 1 million policy with an annual premium of 30. 500 American dollars. I feel like I need another time out.

Damian Dunn: I think you probably do.

Peter Dunn: Okay, Chris and I, I just want true reaction here. A million dollar permanent whole life insurance policy paying 3, 500 a year. How does that just strike you?

I mean, does that, is it shocking that it's that expensive? Is it, I mean, you, you know, but I'm saying like as a A consumer of financial wisdom. What do you think [00:11:00] here?

Kristen Ahlenius: You know, you say, you know, but actually I don't have a lot of conversations in this space to feel like I really have Confident answer about how expensive that is or isn't I don't come across a ton of 30 year olds with whole life insurance actually

Peter Dunn: Dame for a point of Comparison I bet the equivalent term policy by equivalent.

I mean the face amount Less than 400 bucks a year.

Damian Dunn: I bet it's a little bit more than that. I bet it's between four and five hundred bucks

Kristen Ahlenius: Look, agreed. 450 was my guess.

Peter Dunn: So that is to say, this is a person, we're not judging that they're doing something wrong. I just think we're trying to give a voice to this idea that that can be a shocking number to hear as we comb through this.

Let us continue. This is definitely a two segment question. Bran, my advisor presented [00:12:00] an option to restructure this policy to add the ability to draw down the benefit for longterm care costs up to 20, 000 a month. and switch to an accelerated defined payment plan of 8, 400 per year for the next 20 years.

That's 168, 000 total. I'm going to, I'm going to power through here, although I want to kind of explain some things. In addition to this policy, we're planning to add 4 million in 30 year term coverage for me. 1 million for my wife. Thank you for not calling her your bride. Based on our incomes and household contributions, the total premium for the term coverage would be approximately 3, 700 per year.

After some consideration, I'm exploring the idea of potentially dropping the whole life policy, adding another million to my term policy and using the 8, 400 annual premium to self insure for long term care time out. Go for it. Kristen, how can you hate this question? It's an amazing question. How can you, in our pre-production [00:13:00] meeting, how can you say, I would rather quit the show than do this question on the air.

Kristen Ahlenius: How could you even say that? First of all, Brian, I did not say that. And second of all, I'm really sorry that you felt like I was gonna be the person to defend you. And I didn't wanna answer your question. ,

Peter Dunn: I calculated that contributing $8,400. Per year for the next 20 years with a conservative six and a half percent return would reach 1, 000, 000 by age 70.

I've attached a table of potential returns at different rates for your reference. Man, I'm feeling like is Brian available? I mean, he said he's married, but I'm interested. Here's some points I've considered tax implications on investment returns. Potential need for long term care before retirement age advice from others.

A person I spoke to recently dealt with long term care for their parents, advised against self insuring, expressing concerns about relying on our children to use the funds appropriately. While I understand this perspective, I'm optimistic about the value, the values we will instill in our children. Am I missing anything?

What do you think? [00:14:00] Bleh! I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Brian. I'm not actually sorry. Well, Kristen hates Dame, what do you think?

Damian Dunn: I'm still trying to wrap my head around an additional 5 million in coverage for 3, 700 a year. That seems steep to me. Really? 4 million on one 30 term, 30 year term and a million additional for the wife.

I mean, the wife, his wife though. I, I just, no, no, no, no.

Peter Dunn: Okay. Well, okay. Let's do this real quick. Does anyone have a calculator? Yeah. I think I pay 85 for like, for a month for 2 million of term that I got when I was like two and a half, maybe when I was like 30.

Kristen Ahlenius: It's if my math is correct, which it could be wrong, it's 61 bucks per month per million.

Peter Dunn: It does seem a little expensive. Is it because

Kristen Ahlenius: they're [00:15:00] now 30?

Peter Dunn: No, I got mine when I was 30.

Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.

Damian Dunn: I don't, I just, it's kind of, and maybe there's some, some issues in there for rating. I, we don't know. It just, it just seems that it might be a little, little much for that. But beyond that, beyond that My question, the self insuring thing, I get, nobody really wants to talk about insurance and these, especially long term care, however, however, you may need that long term care coverage before you have all that money saved, and long term care costs are going to do nothing but it's Go up between now and the time you were 70 anyway.

So in face of increasing costs, you're not gonna be able to catch up soon enough. If you can feasibly do this, I don't know, I, I don't hate it. I mean, it's expensive, but I don't hate it. If you've got the means,

Peter Dunn: Kristen, there is a false binary here. Have you picked up on it yet? That this person either has to [00:16:00] get the life insurance that has a long term care component to it, or self insure it from a long term care perspective.

Right now, that is a false binary because typically in financial planning, it's not until around age 50. That you turn your attention to this. So even at age 50, there are numerous ways to accomplish your goals. And so I would say arguably it's, it's, it's cool if you can kind of do this, but I feel like it's way too early to allocate resources towards this.

Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, I would agree with that. I think this is not the time when we generally have these types of conversations. Usually we're having a lot more in depth conversations about the statistical, the statistics, oh my gosh is a hard word, around becoming disabled, like long term disability, short term disability, is your coverage through work enough, and they're talking about doing this, you know, They're talking about their life insurance review, but [00:17:00] this should be an adjacent conversation that perhaps intentionally wasn't part of this email, but I want to make sure that it wasn't unintentionally left out of this email either.

Peter Dunn: Damn, I have so much to say. This is definitely going to segments. Two quick points that we may have to explain later. Number one, and this is not criticism. But it feels like it feels very judgmental. Clearly an insurance centric financial advisor quite clearly because they're trying to solve everything with types of insurance.

And the other thing here is that has not been talked about disability insurance should take care of the person's income. Prior to any long term care coverage. So as a working person, your version, and it's not clean and tight is disability insurance, not long term care coverage. We're going to need to take a break.

I mean, we are all charged up with discussions of insurance. Kristen's asleep. We'll wake her up. Dame's excited and I'm beat the planner. We'll be back right after these messages. From [00:18:00] our valued sponsors. That seemed insincere. They're all okay. We are, we're off the air. Okay. There was, I listened to the show on the air the other day.

And I don't remember cause I'm an older gentleman, but there was a commercial during like between our segments. I, I don't remember it. I don't, but I just remember going, gosh, I wish that wasn't on during our show. Hmm. It was, oh, I, I'm choosing words. It didn't really align with our thinking. Love that, that that's not bad to say it that way.

Was it? I won't even question. I'm not, I'm not feeling questions at this time. I'm sorry. Good idea. . I feel like we got a little bit of meat left on this bone, and then I think we go to this housing thing. We good with that? Sure. Kristen, are you good with that?

Kristen Ahlenius: That's fine. [00:19:00]

Peter Dunn: I know a that's fine. That doesn't mean that's fine when I see one.

Is that not fine?

Kristen Ahlenius: No, it's really okay.

Peter Dunn: Andy no, no, the answer is no. And I'm not putting that on the screen. I'm trying not to do that. What else was like something else to share? That was really interesting. And that's how the show goes. Anyway Kristen, did you like having Dame in the glass case of emotion last week during the show?

Kristen Ahlenius: Yes, I did. I think the show energy is different when both of you are standing and I think that Damien needs to figure out a way to stand.

Damian Dunn: Damn wasn't on my prime list this year. Sorry

Peter Dunn: Yeah Did

Kristen Ahlenius: you

Peter Dunn: buy you tried to stand?

Kristen Ahlenius: I tried to get him to get the same desk that

Peter Dunn: you and I have it was

Kristen Ahlenius: on major deal for Prime Day

Peter Dunn: How much is this desk?

Kristen Ahlenius: When I bought it, it was like 2, 000 almost 300. It was on sale for Prime Day for like one. Did I tell you, Damien? It was [00:20:00] like 160 or something. It was way cheaper.

Peter Dunn: I didn't put on my recording sign and someone almost just walked into the studio. I could see through the glass door. We would have had to cane them.

Yes, Damien?

Damian Dunn: The problem is I have this huge desk in my office and I would have to tear it apart. So I started looking at like the desktop ones where it can, you can raise and lower it. That's what

Kristen Ahlenius: Pete had.

Damian Dunn: I don't know. I just

Peter Dunn: award winning podcast here. Actually, our podcast has never won an award. We have didn't know what get on that. Get us an award. There is exciting things happening around these, these parts your Moneyline parts, and maybe we'll talk about it in the next couple of weeks. Who knows? You know what I mean?

Free refills for McAllister's. Is that, is that what you're talking about? Right. Okay. Kristen is excited to be here. She's excited to talk about life insurance, long term care insurance, and we're going to do so in three, two, one. Back on the Pete, the planner [00:21:00] show still on a question from Brian.

Brian thank you. And should he at age 30, start making plans. From a long term care perspective by altering his overall insurance spend. That actually sounded really like clever. Dame, what do you say? Well, what's your

Damian Dunn: recommendation here before, before we get into that? Pete, you and I used to be in this general arena.

Long term care might've come up in discussions with some of our clients at one point. Did you ever consider it? Cause we were the same age, roughly when we were doing this. Did you ever consider buying it for yourself knowing that you could secure a pretty substantial discount from the insurance company since you were selling that product?

Peter Dunn: Man, that's a great question, Dame, and I'm going to try to remember being 30. And so that's [00:22:00] hard for me, but I would also say, I don't believe you could buy it. But also long term care insurance policies are different than they used to be. Back when we were doing this, there was just one type. You couldn't, there weren't hybrid plans that you could tie into your life insurance, like Brian's talking about.

So the one type that we dealt with, I don't think they actually quoted people in their thirties. If you bought it prior to age 45, I think you had to pay for the rates of a 45 year old.

Damian Dunn: Interesting. I

Peter Dunn: never even

Damian Dunn: considered

Peter Dunn: it.

Damian Dunn: I did because it was a Substantial discount that I was offered and I would have had that for I mean it was it wouldn't have been nothing per year but it was Something per year now looking back on it.

I'm glad I didn't just because of how the costs have Continued to escalate because the actuaries can't keep up with all of the changes and costs and they're not projecting very well I thought about it.

Peter Dunn: Chris. I'm gonna call a shot here that I, it's all anecdotal, but you know [00:23:00] how I roll, you've been going to be in three meetings with me today.

So you know how this goes.

Kristen Ahlenius: Yes.

Peter Dunn: I believe there's going to be a massive financial and legal fallout within the long term care insurance industry, because they're going to be unable. To cash the checks that they wrote, if you will, that is, that's the right way to say it.

Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, it is. So,

Peter Dunn: If you just joined us here on the most seen radio show in the world, I'm making bold claims about the future of insurance and Kristen, who is young and fun is mesmerized by my wittiness.

Can you believe we haven't won an award?

Kristen Ahlenius: So I actually do have two little nuggets, if you will, to contribute to this conversation. The first is if think about me, like I do all the time, would you, thank you. I can't imagine shopping for long term care insurance. I [00:24:00] just, I just can't imagine that. And if I came to the two of you and said that I was, you'd have a lot of questions.

Damian Dunn: I wasn't shopping for it. I, it was literally just presented to me saying, Hey, we, we could Well, yeah, Brian is, but it, sorry, from Oh, I thought, yeah. I thought, I thought this was a shot back to me. No. Wrote it. Okay, Brian, sorry. I'll, I'll take the focus off of me. We'll put it back on Brianon.

Peter Dunn: Thank you. Brian wrote that.

Wait, can it be about me real quick? Yes. At age 46 years old, and I know the hairline is more, it's giving 62, but at 46 years old, I am not considering making long-term care decisions right now.

Kristen Ahlenius: on any level.

Peter Dunn: All right, Kristen, your second nugget, please.

Kristen Ahlenius: My second nugget is there was something in here that we glossed over, which was about self insuring and concerns about relying on your kids to fund your long term care needs.

And my question to, or my red flag kind of there is you said, this seems like an insurance centric [00:25:00] advisor. And my thought is Wouldn't this advisor have solutions for this exact problem? Isn't this why the world of trusts exists?

Peter Dunn: In my opinion, yes and no. Right. Like yes is An insurance centric advisor isn't necessarily going to advise you legally.

And yes, you are right, Kristen, that is why the world of trust exists. So yeah.

Kristen Ahlenius: So if that is a concern of theirs, that's in my opinion, yeah. Take it, take that back to the advisor and take that out of the equation. You should. Be able to address this in and then close kind of like that loop.

Peter Dunn: Can we, before we move on, cause we let's move on, but can we all guess Brian's income as a parlor game and he can send us his income?

Kristen Ahlenius: Yes. I'm

Peter Dunn: going to go Brian's income alone. We're, we don't know enough about Brian's [00:26:00] wife, so we're going to go Brian's and come alone.

Kristen Ahlenius: I'm scared to say what I think it is.

Peter Dunn: Well, you know, I need you to muster up the courage to keep the radio show going with your guests.

Kristen Ahlenius: I have to go first. Yes. Brian makes upwards of 300.

Damian Dunn: At least five.

Kristen Ahlenius: I see. Ooh. That was my gut reaction, but I think that, oh wait, Pete, you guessed first because I don't want to.

Peter Dunn: I have to say you guys both influenced my guess though, so it doesn't feel fair. Yeah. And so, but I now know I'm wrong. I'm going to go in between. I'm going to say like, like three. 75 is my guess.

Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, I, my gut reaction was 5, but then I thought, Brian seems really conservative, so I think Brian is potentially over insured, and so I think that it's less.

Do we know what Brian does for a living? I don't think so. [00:27:00] Something with Excel, apparently.

Peter Dunn: Okay, Kristen, it's come to your attention that you know of a situation around housing and housing choices that could benefit from a discussion of two very smart people on the show and me. So let's. Here are the facts and we call this segment Kristen tells a story that we talk about on the radio with everyone that probably bridges two segments.

Kristen Ahlenius: Wow. Okay. So I know of a situation where someone is especially looking both from what we would recommend and just societally, they are quite under housed, meaning that the percentage of income they spend on their housing is low, and they have an opportunity to. in the near future, in the shorter term, move [00:28:00] to a place that better fits their needs.

However, that will require a substantial increase in their monthly housing expenses. Affordable, but a significant increase.

Peter Dunn: Damn, I have a million questions, but I feel like you do too, and I feel like I, I, I want to defer to you, so

Damian Dunn: go ahead. The, the difference between what they are paying now and what they would be paying in the future.

Have they been absorbing that into their lifestyle? Are they very dependent on this income? Are they saving it? Is it, how, how available is that income?

Kristen Ahlenius: That's a fabulous question. And the income is for the most part being saved currently for unidentified goals and then spent on fun stuff that they don't need.

Peter Dunn: Oh, I hate fun. Can I go, can we go back and forth with questions? Yes, absolutely. And Kristen, you may not know these cause you, you know, the, the story second hand, so maybe you do, maybe you don't. Okay. So [00:29:00] you say a substantial increase here at your money line. We like. In a perfect world of which we don't exist because neither Dame nor I would have patent male pattern baldness We like 25 percent of take home pay going towards housing 25 percent of take home pay go towards a mortgage payment or rent So it sounds like currently the person is below 25%.

Do do you know where those percentages go with the move?

Kristen Ahlenius: That's a great question. So It's I ballpark because again, I don't know all of the exact details. I'm going to guess like 30 pushing up toward 35. All right. Well, it's significant.

Peter Dunn: Okay. Well, let's think about that and let's think about that really long and hard.

And by that, I mean, probably two minutes or so because we've got another break after the break, Kristen's going to tell us more tales of increased mortgage payments, stress. and love. I'm Pete, the planner. [00:30:00] This is the beat, the planner show. I feel like that's the closest Kristen I've got you to almost laughing out loud.

And probably the last six years I saw the smile, it almost blossomed them to a chuckle and then it subsided.

Olympic coach, Chris Plum, Olympic swim coach, Chris Plum, my, my beloved brother in law. His worst quality, which I'm going to share with you now, is that he's a silent laugher. Full silent. He will be dying laughing and I can't hear him. the rewards of my cleverness and it's not fun.

Damian Dunn: He's showing like any physical stuff.

Oh yeah. Like just

Peter Dunn: like he's laughing like a mime at SeaWorld. Like he is just like demonstratively enjoying himself. But there's no sounds associated with it. [00:31:00] Hmm. What a terrible person.

Damian Dunn: A little something for the effort. I mean,

Peter Dunn: I know, it's just like, at least give a

Damian Dunn: Yeah.

Peter Dunn: Sounds. Okay. Let's get right back into this, cause I'm, I actually, I love this question.

Kristen Ahlenius: There's also another wild card.

Peter Dunn: Oh.

Kristen Ahlenius: But you might have to uncover it. I don't know. Don't

Damian Dunn: test our discovery. Woman playing games with us. Go figure.

Kristen Ahlenius: Okay.

Peter Dunn: I don't stand by those comments, but I sit right next to them.

Okay. Here we go. In three, two, one. back on the Pete, the planner show. Kristen is telling us this lovely story about someone who is considering going from, going from, going from, going from, going from, going from, going from. Going from, going from,

Damian Dunn: going from.

Peter Dunn: I, I'm not entirely sure what's going on at the home office right now.

But if First of [00:32:00] all, I'm going to record this on my phone real quick. There's no sound, though. Is it? I don't know how we Did someone send Pete a message? Do you think he knows? Who's at it, Joe? Do you think he,

Damian Dunn: Can he, can he let himself back into his own room? How does this work? How are we still here?

If

Kristen Ahlenius: he owns the, all right, everybody

Peter Dunn: is, oh my gosh. Did you get, did

Kristen Ahlenius: you get the full experience of that?

Peter Dunn: What just happened?

Damian Dunn: You

Kristen Ahlenius: re mixed.

Damian Dunn: You froze and it was just going from, going from, going from, going from, It was amazing. You can see how popular it is in the in the comments. Fatboy Slim is going from heaven.

That's amazing. Nice job, Eric. Okay, so, Kristen, what's the twist? Wait, are we still on the second? We're not on the air. You're not gonna start that

Peter Dunn: over? No.

Kristen Ahlenius: Oh, [00:33:00] okay. ,

Peter Dunn: Should I start it over? We're only a minute. 20 in. You should start it over. . Oh, man. Okay. In three is my sound like sound okay? And everything?

Yeah. Does sound great. But you guys, as an improv performer of the past, when something goes that horribly wrong, my nature is to just roll with it and not start over. No, you cannot put

Kristen Ahlenius: that on the radio.

Damian Dunn: Your producer would have used a best of for the third segment if you'd said that. That would

Kristen Ahlenius: not.

Peter Dunn: Alright, well, in 3, 2, 1. Back on the Pete the Planner show. So delighted to be back with you. Kristen is telling us a story about mortgages and whatnot, and she's going to continue the story and we're going to ask questions and figure out what we can figure out. Kristen continue.

Kristen Ahlenius: I thought you were going to ask me questions.

Kristen,

Peter Dunn: what questions should we ask you?

Kristen Ahlenius: Maybe you should ask about the [00:34:00] personal circumstances. Surrounding this decision, something about the household dynamics.

Damian Dunn: Are they going from going, going from a single household to a cohabitation? Are there going to be more than just two people? I, what's the dynamic of the the folks that are gonna be living there?

Kristen Ahlenius: Dame has sniffed it out, which is that this is on paper, a single income household that will be moving to a dual income household on paper.

Peter Dunn: So, and even handling the change of mortgage payment, they're going to have to start. Sharing finances in some regard. Correct. Is that 33 percent you estimated is that of a combined household income or still the one person's?

Kristen Ahlenius: That's a combined income and that's based on what a lender would use [00:35:00] for their income. I have it on good authority that there are sometimes cash sources of income, but obviously a lender is not going to be able to use that for underwriting purposes.

Peter Dunn: Do you know if it's a 15 or 30 year mortgage or they tell you that?

Yes, it's a 30 year mortgage. Dame, how concerned in these situations do you get with letting a, trying to solve a housing challenge, then all of a sudden escalate how together finances are, is that something you consider?

Damian Dunn: Sometimes I just trying to get a feel for the people that are in this equation together and seeing what, what Where they're at, what the future potential looks like, how well they relate to each other with money and their, their circumstances.

But this is just a common challenge that couples face all the time in the country. So it's, it's part of the equation for sure, but it's not something unless I see major red flags that I, I make any comment on.

Peter Dunn: Yeah. [00:36:00] Down payment wise. Do you know anything about that? Are they just going to take the equity in the current home and use it as a down payment?

Kristen Ahlenius: Correct. And some cash savings as well.

Peter Dunn: Is the desire for a bigger space a real both desire and arguably a justified desire or is it just like, you know, if they're indifferent to it,

Kristen Ahlenius: that's a really interesting point, because this is a longer term goal that was presented unexpectedly. The opportunity was unexpected.

Peter Dunn: Okay, Dame here's, here's what I'm thinking. This person, according to Kristen, host of Kristen and Co, said that this person had been saving aggressively. Money and team isn't the point of preparation and and and planning to allow yourself to take advantage of opportunities to present themselves.

Damian Dunn: Absolutely, but it's also one of [00:37:00] the hardest things to do as well. And we, you can, we see that with retirement all the time, let alone opportunities where. You may not be 100 percent confident in your path forward like this. I mean, if you're perfectly comfortable in your lifestyle, yes, there are some advantages to taking this route, but that also means you're going to make some lifestyle changes to which I think I don't know how you would appropriately weigh that consequence of this decision because you are so likely so comfortable in what you're doing right now that if it goes away, how much is that going to impact not only your enjoyment of the day to day month to month, but maybe the general relationship with the person that you are now cohabitating with.

If you aren't a lot, aren't financially allowed to go and do what you're enjoying right now, now you've got a whole bunch of other responsibilities, man, this sounds like you were just jumping right into full fledged adulting really quick.

Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.

Peter Dunn: I was going to go there. I have a couple things and Dame, that's where I was getting [00:38:00] to is first, Kristen, do you happen to know which has the better upside from a real estate appreciation standpoint, the modest property or the bigger one?

The bigger one. Of course. Dame, I'm, I feel, and we've done this a couple of times in the last month or so on the show. I don't think it's a financial question. Say more. This is a relationship question.

Kristen Ahlenius: Say more. My thing, so when I was talking to this person about this situation, the thing that keeps striking me as someone who spent in the recent past, my recency bias is coming out, thinking about the behavioral finance aspects.

It's really hard to part with that kind of money on a monthly basis, even if you're kind of. Yeah. informally parting with it because they're saving that money, but it's not money that's being forced to the equity of their home. They still have some level of access to those funds. And that's the [00:39:00] hiccup for me talking to them about it is how do you get over?

How do you come to a place where you say, All right, this is really hands off.

Peter Dunn: I have an idea, a legitimate idea. I may, for the first time in this show's history, have a good, helpful financial idea on this show. Let us be the judge of that. I forgot what it was. I'm just kidding. Okay. Run Power Percentage.

Okay. Because if you run our Power Percentage proprietary tool here at your Moneyline, then what they can do is they can see the impact of this decision will have. On their power percentage. So the amount of principal being paid down in a mortgage payment versus what's being saved. Like, what do we think?

Kristen Ahlenius: Man, but knowing what I know about power percentage and like thinking through this really quickly, I didn't do this with them. And that's really interesting. Because the interest [00:40:00] on the mortgage, which you don't get credit for with power percentage is going to burn their power percentage down

Peter Dunn: potentially.

But I mean, do you know how many years are they into their current mortgage?

Kristen Ahlenius: Only a handful, I think.

Peter Dunn: And is it a 30 year mortgage?

Kristen Ahlenius: Yes, but they're not paying it that way. They're paying it on like they, a pre established like aggressive timeline.

Peter Dunn: So okay, now, now I think this is maybe turns back financial if if it's that aggressive payment structure, is that what is still below the 25 percent or is the aggressive structure make it a add or above the aggressive structure still is below.

Oh Lord, it's back to relationship question. How much have these people looked deep into each other's eyes and said, I love you.

Kristen Ahlenius: I don't know.

Peter Dunn: Okay. I don't know.

Kristen Ahlenius: I didn't ask them.

Peter Dunn: Send me their email and I'll ask them, do these people buy small denominations of fast food gift cards? There we go. They do not.

No. [00:41:00] All right. Dame final call here. We've got two minutes left in this segment. What is your recommendation? And if you don't, I'm not willing to give on what is the piece of information you feel like you would need to be able to say yes or no,

Damian Dunn: there's just some questions there. I mean, you're talking about.

Going from it sounds like there is one established household, not two that are like two properties. There's one current property that did we ask about the ownership of that current property? Do both people own that? Or is it one person that owns that?

Kristen Ahlenius: That's a great question. We didn't ask and not sorry.

That is what I meant by on paper. It's a one income household. These things are legally one person's responsibility, and then they will legally be two people's responsibility. That one

Damian Dunn: person would be then selling this property and donating basically all of that equity to a joint owned property now.

Peter Dunn: Oh, damn.

Good call. That feels like an escalation.

Damian Dunn: Yeah.

Kristen Ahlenius: Correct.

Damian Dunn: Oh, man. Hmm. If

Peter Dunn: we [00:42:00] only had another segment. If we only had more information. Ah, you know, I, it still feels like, it feels almost like a legal situation.

Kristen Ahlenius: So, yes or no? You didn't say.

Damian Dunn: Lord Dame, what are we doing? What are you doing? I need more information, but I'm leaning towards be cautious.

Kristen Ahlenius: That's not an answer.

Damian Dunn: What? He's not Zoltar or whatever. I don't just spit out answers with coins.

Peter Dunn: I don't know what

Damian Dunn: that

Peter Dunn: means. I That was Zoltar. I I'm with Dame. I feel like I need more information. I feel like you could possibly solve this problem with legal paperwork that assigns the weighted purchase price or something like that.

But what's with that? We need to take a break. Oh man. Ooh, come Robert to the break. Biggest waste of money of the week in the news. I'm Pete, the planner. Oh man. [00:43:00] What do people think in the chat?

Kristen Ahlenius: They can still buy the house joint tenants and then keep track of who made their respective initial contributions.

Sure. I don't know anything about that. Or comment.

Damian Dunn: I mean, but that's what Pete's talking about. Just make sure that's all spelled out in advance and saying, Hey, I am contributing this, but this is my My cash, right? And then anything, any payments that we jointly make going forward, you know, we split the equity that's built off of that.

Speaking of

Peter Dunn: relationships, I had several girlfriends in middle school when, when I was in middle school.

Kristen Ahlenius: Good save.

Peter Dunn: Oh my God. It's so weird. I didn't even mean it. And then it came out and then

Damian Dunn: I

Peter Dunn: mean.

Damian Dunn: It's kind of a random comment just to drop and leave. I mean, that's it. Just, hey, by the way, I had several girlfriends in middle

Peter Dunn: school. Well, no, it's about like relationship dynamics, because to me, like, I've been married forever.

Next week [00:44:00] is my 24th wedding anniversary. I was a child when I got married. And it's like, so that's why, Kristen, I'm not more aggressive with my answers out of checking reality at the door of like, I don't know. I don't know what people do. Apparently they go to concerts and sit in traffic and I'm not interested.

Damian Dunn: Jordan didn't appreciate the flex. Did did that last statement you made, do we have to put a little No, I, I, it

Peter Dunn: was, it was a joke gone awry. Okay. There's a whole disclaimer page on our website called, with asterisks, jokes gone awry. We're doing some legal paperwork this week for some stuff. Man, so Kristen, do you know stuff about like legal billing?

You know anything about that? It depends on where you're going with this. Well, here's where I'm going with this. So I'm going back and forth with our lawyer about something and he asked for information. I sent him information and then he comes back and says, awesome. Thanks. [00:45:00] And then I was going to send it back.

Thank you. No, that'll cost you. But right. But then it was like, I mean, at what point, I think it's like a six minute, I think I've heard it's like a six minute, if it's six minutes or less, they can't charge you or it rounds up to six or something like that. But like reading, thank you. Yeah. No, I wouldn't do that.

No. So I didn't send it, but now I'm thinking, does he feel

Damian Dunn: my appreciation? Are you paying his bills? Yeah. Then yeah, he feels your appreciation. Or she. Sorry.

Kristen Ahlenius: I think he said he. I

Damian Dunn: said he said he. Okay. He said he.

Peter Dunn: Okay. Are we ready for some things? Of

Damian Dunn: course.

Peter Dunn: I'm ready to guess. Okay. Oh, just got to my email.

Don't open it. Don't do it. Don't do it. It's hard. Okay. Here we go. I got to share my screen. All right. Are you ready? And three, two, one. [00:46:00] This week's biggest waste of money of the week right here on the Pete, the planner show is.

It's a billionaire investor, Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of hedge fund Citadel, purchased a late Jurassic stegosaurus skeleton at Sotheby's on Wednesday. The 150 million year old stegosaurus named Apex, Measures 11 feet tall and nearly 27 feet long from nose to tail. And it is nearly complete skeleton with 254 fossil bone elements.

Griffin won the live auction in New York on Wednesday after competing with six other bidders for 15 American minutes. He intends to explore loaning the specimen to a US institution, according to people familiar with his plans. All right, so there's some things that are important [00:47:00] about this story. Do you want to know what the starting or what it was expected to go for?

Is that helpful to you all? I

Damian Dunn: mean, do we guess the should we guess what it was expected to go for and then what it was paid for or? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Peter Dunn: So what did you what do you expect a full stegosaurus to sell for? Kristen? What did? What's the going rate for a stegosaurus?

Kristen Ahlenius: I feel like one time on this show we did, how much did it cost to even like, have a chance to like, dig up dinosaur bones?

And it was like hundreds of thousands of dollars. So to possess the individual bones has to be a lot of work. multiples and multiples of that. So the stegosaurus was 5 million. Okay. That was the, this is the expected

Damian Dunn: price. Yeah. Okay.

Kristen Ahlenius: Yes.

Damian Dunn: Dame. I will say 6 million. Okay. Kristen,

Peter Dunn: what did it sell for?

Kristen Ahlenius: It sold for [00:48:00] less than that.

They were surprised that more people aren't interested in old bones. It sold for three and a half million.

Peter Dunn: Dane. When she said people aren't interested in old bones, you did. Did that? I that felt like it hurt at us. Yeah. So what was your guess again? Kristen? Three and a half.

Damian Dunn: Okay, game. I will say that Mr Griffin got into a bidding war with other billionaires and other folks who see this is the ultimate trophy to hang over their fireplace.

And it was 44. 4. 6 million. Oh, Dame. Is this

Peter Dunn: in your news stories for this week? Yeah, sure.

Kristen Ahlenius: Oh,

Peter Dunn: that's not fun. Sorry. This man. 6 million and 44. 6.

Damian Dunn: Yeah, that was right on the money. Look at that. Read, reading reading is important, friends. It's

Kristen Ahlenius: amazing what you can do when you have insider information. [00:49:00]

Peter Dunn: Not fun, Dame.

Hey, Dame, way to ruin the show. Good job.

Kristen Ahlenius: I have a question about that.

Peter Dunn: Yeah. Ruining the show?

Kristen Ahlenius: If you guys had that kind of discretionary income, it wouldn't be a dinosaur that you bought, right? I think you buy

Peter Dunn: everything at that point. Yeah, I mean, why not?

Kristen Ahlenius: Like, why?

Peter Dunn: Why not? I'd buy Wyoming. You just like, you buy whatever you want.

I guess. I'd buy that house for that couple that is deciding whether they're in love or not. From the last

Kristen Ahlenius: reality show.

Damian Dunn: Yeah. I mean, what's in the news this week? There is a new interest free penalty free option. If you need a quick thousand bucks, the internal revenue service has now made it easier to take a limited amount of money out of a traditional retirement account, penalty free, while previously you could tap your savings without penalty and more limited ways.

And often with more paperwork. You can now take out up to 1, 000 of your funds for any self defined emergency. The change [00:50:00] comes after the IRS spelled out what counts as an emergency personal or family expense under a 2022 retirement law that went into effect this year. The reasons can include Medical care, funeral expenses, and auto repairs, but the key phrase is the catch all, quote, any other necessary emergency personal expenses.

The 1, 000 provision is different from other retirement account withdrawal options because you can just say you've got an emergency without specifying what it is, so you can get the money faster. It's one of several ways Congress keeps making it easier for people to use their retirement savings as emergency funds.

Kristen Ahlenius: Is it a withdrawal or a loan?

Damian Dunn: It's Withdraw, but it can be repaid.

Kristen Ahlenius: Okay. And is this only, they have to be your vested contributions. I presume you can't like take your match.

Peter Dunn: Yeah. I, I, here's the thing. I know everyone's got different financial situations. And so this will. Numerous [00:51:00] times truly help, not subjectively help, but objectively help someone.

So that is great. I also believe like everything, it will be somewhat abused and will be problematic, Kristen, it's interesting to me that given that Congress won't even solve the impending social security cliff. Now they're theoretically making it worse by making illiquid assets liquid sooner.

Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, I don't disagree with that.

And I really wish I understood the motivations behind why this is something that demands attention right now. Because it seems like there are some really, to your point, more critical decisions that need to be made. And it just kind of makes me turn my head a little. Why? Why now? Why this?

Peter Dunn: Yeah, it's interesting.

Dame,

Damian Dunn: What else is in the news? The number of new in ground residential pools built [00:52:00] in 2022 was In the United States? United States.

Peter Dunn: Remember, 2022. That's when people were still flush with cash from the child, advanced child tax credit? All sorts, I mean, yeah. Alright, Kristen, what do you got?

Kristen Ahlenius: You have to go first.

Okay, okay, okay, okay.

Peter Dunn: 2022, there's like a hundred people in the United States. Mm hmm. I'm gonna go

Oh man, 100, 000.

Kristen Ahlenius: There were 150, 000 in ground pools.

Damian Dunn: 98, 000. That's amazing. Oh

Peter Dunn: my gosh. I didn't even

Damian Dunn: cheat

Peter Dunn: like you do. Yeah,

Damian Dunn: it was down from 117, 000 the previous year according to PK data and the pool and hot tub alliance. By the way, I bet they have just banging conferences, the pool and hot tub alliance.

Peter Dunn: I've got to be [00:53:00] the keynote speaker at their annual conference. Make it happen. Can we get this done? I mean, cause there's no one, no one likes being in a pool or hot tub less than me. Yeah,

Damian Dunn: the sun, the water, the people. I mean, there's all,

Peter Dunn: all three things. Dave, you're, you're a family of swimmer. Oh, your kids are swimmers.

Yeah. You're at a public pool. Are you, are you getting in the pool? No. No, why would I do that? Well, are you enjoying yourself in the hot weather with your shirt off or no? No. Okay. Me neither. Like swimming in public. Oh, feels like a very intimate thing to do. I'm Kristen out of respect and prudence. I'm not going to ask you the same question.

Kristen Ahlenius: Okay,

Peter Dunn: but dame, I yeah, I would wrap about once a year. My kids want to go to the neighborhood pool and they're like, can you go? They want me to go and I go but I go like at 830 at night where there's low light and I Get in the pool very quickly and I squat down. So just my, [00:54:00] my eyes are hanging over the edge, like Wilson from Home Improvement.

Absolutely. All right. Oh, Sarah Renfro the ref asked about the beach, about the beach. Now I'm under whatever shade we have. Full sleeves. No, I'm not interested. No, thank

Damian Dunn: you, Dan. I'll get in the ocean, but it's full sleeves and shorts. Oh, yeah.

Peter Dunn: One

Damian Dunn: more story, Dan. I, I didn't start my stopwatch, so I don't know how much time we got.

We have one minute. All right. The price of a first class postage stamp went up for the second time this year. Pete, do you, wait, wait, wait, Kristen, do you know how much it costs to send a first class piece of mail?

Kristen Ahlenius: Is it 50, Eight cents.

Peter Dunn: Peter? I'm pretty close. I'm going to go 60, but I think it's somewhere in there.

I wanted to say 54, but that was years ago. It now

Damian Dunn: costs 73 cents to send a piece

Peter Dunn: snail

Damian Dunn: mail.

Peter Dunn: Gosh, I'm going to go broke. That's why I drive my mortgage payment to the bank every month. And I have [00:55:00] to buy premium fuel. So believe me, I am saving money. Hand over fist. Yes. There are also electronic payments that I could do, of course are free.

Free. Alright, that's all we have time for on this week's show. Please email us and in the email ask us financial questions. And the address you might use is Ask pete@petetheplanter.com. That's Ask pete@pettheplanter.com. Don't call us and we will answer your question possibly on the air. I'm sending you good vibes because good vibes are all that's in the budget.

I'm Pete the planner. And this has been the Pete, the planner show. That was weird. I don't know why I did that. I don't know why I do anything. Kristen. So what are you, are you going to go back to your, the, your friend or via email or call them or whoever? I don't know if you're especially close to this person.

If you heard it like secondhand at a post Malone concert or something, but. What do you tell them that based on what we said? Or do you say, Oh, I asked two of my friends and their help. They're not very helpful.

Kristen Ahlenius: [00:56:00] I actually already put them in our group message and they're going to ask you guys themselves, gave them your phone number.

Please

Peter Dunn: don't. Kristen form of communication preference list. Here are your options.

Kristen Ahlenius: Okay.

Peter Dunn: Brief phone call, text message, email knock on the door face to face

Damian Dunn: chat. Or fax message. What's the context? I mean, like, can you give, like, what kind of communication has to be Technicality.

Peter Dunn: It's

Damian Dunn: very important.

How

Peter Dunn: have

Kristen Ahlenius: you

Peter Dunn: been?

Kristen Ahlenius: If it's a text message, it's getting ignored, probably. Wow. So, let's start, a brief phone call would be preferred. Wow. Rest, done. And then a text, an email. There was something else face to face, there was face to face and then fax

Peter Dunn: machine

Kristen Ahlenius: fax machine. Show up at my house.

Peter Dunn: Wow. [00:57:00] Well, I'm so glad you're here.

Kristen Ahlenius: Please don't come to my house unless you're invited.

Damian Dunn: I didn't. They said, did you mean show up at somebody's house, Pete? When, when?

Peter Dunn: Yeah. Kristen. I can't believe it. Dame and I are going to go very different here. Dame, what do you got? Text first.

Damian Dunn: 100%. Email and fax are like at the very bottom.

Kristen Ahlenius: Oh,

Damian Dunn: I, I, I, you know, I try and ignore emails almost as much as possible anymore and fax.

I don't even have one of those. So just feel free to send me all the facts you want. I think it's text. Oh, go ahead, Kristen.

Kristen Ahlenius: I didn't say I knew how to use a fax machine. I would rather the correspondence get lost than for you to randomly show up at my house. That's fair.

Peter Dunn: Kristen, I'm gonna go with text first, then email, then phone call, then fax, then show up at my house.

Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah,

Peter Dunn: don't show up at my house. Although that being said, Dame, you did show up at my house once. Cause you were in town and I loved that. That was like amazing.

Damian Dunn: Do you remember that? But I, I think you kind [00:58:00] of knew that I was coming, just not when, and it just happened to be really late at night and you kind of creeped up alongside of the house and jumped out and I wasn't invited in.

Was it

Peter Dunn: during COVID?

Damian Dunn: Yeah, it was. Okay.

Peter Dunn: Yeah. All right. Speaking of COVID. I didn't know where to go with that. I was going to say, we've just tested negative for humor. I didn't know what to go with. Good point on that. Kristen, thank you so much for your life and Dame. Thank you for you and everyone else.

Stay getting money.