00:01
Peter Dunn
Whether you like it or not, it's another edition of The Pete the Planner show. I'm your host, Pete the Planner, joining me this week to offer a mild dose of frivolity kristen Ahlenius and Damian Dunn. Hello, Kristen.
00:16
Kristen Ahlenius
Hello, Pete.
00:18
Peter Dunn
Hello, Dame.
00:20
Damian Dunn
Hey.
00:21
Peter Dunn
So, special Thursday edition. The special Thursday day edition. I'm going on vacay or vodka, as they say. No one says that. I'm leaving town, so I will not be here tomorrow.
00:34
Damian Dunn
Wait, you're not going to be here tomorrow?
00:36
Peter Dunn
Tomorrow?
00:37
Damian Dunn
Oh, man. My Friday just started looking a lot better.
00:41
Peter Dunn
Damian, I have installed on the new computer we just purchased you tracking software to know when your eyes are upon work. Do you believe that?
00:52
Damian Dunn
I don't believe that.
00:55
Peter Dunn
Kristen, is that not one of the worst things that employers have ever considered so bad?
01:01
Kristen Ahlenius
Or like your mouse has to move a certain percent per hour and then people just tie their mouse to an Oscillating fan or something?
01:10
Peter Dunn
I will admit, because in the spirit of transparency of how this show works, occasionally when I see someone who's not active on Slack, I'm like, what are they doing? Right? But how dumb that is. It's like just because someone's not unproductive on Slack means they're not doing something. That's sort of an absurd assertion.
01:31
Damian Dunn
I think I'm going to set my slack so it has that empty circle regardless of what I'm doing. That way you're always just frustrated whenever you look at it.
01:41
Peter Dunn
All right, so this week, another pitch in, as they call a little potluck episode. We're all bringing topics. Kristen, of course, did not tell us what her topic was this week, so we're just going to learn on the fly. I will be the appetizer this week and then we will go from there. It will be no show next week. Best of luck with whatever everyone else has going on in their lives because I can't help you. Next week, I'm going to be hooking a fish in the face and then eating it.
02:11
Damian Dunn
Oh, yeah. Doesn't matter what kind of fish, don't care. Okay.
02:15
Peter Dunn
I will eat it and I will hook it in the face. So for all of our PETA followers, clearly I am not PETA the Planner. I am a fisherman. Let's begin in three, two, one. This week on The Pete the Planner Show, we answer your money questions. Here's how the show works. You email us like someone did today at Askpete@petetheplanner.com that's Askpete@petetheplanner.com, and then here's what happens. Everyone listen. We'll answer your question on the air or we won't. And by we, I mean Damian Dunn, vice president of advice at your oh, hello. Hello.
02:49
Damian Dunn
Sorry, you paused. You threw me off.
02:51
Peter Dunn
I was just a breath, but hello. And Kristen Ahlenius, the Director of Education at Your Money Line. Hello, Kristen.
02:59
Kristen Ahlenius
Hello, Pete.
03:00
Peter Dunn
All right, so I'm just going to get right after it. We've got an international mean, so much so, that the question they're talking about. Pounds as opposed to dollars. So, Damian, if you could go up and pull up a currency converter, that'd be great. Hi, Pete. I live in the UK, which Kristen, I believe that is pronounced UK, with my son and daughter, ages 21 and 19. I bought my current home by myself in 2015. Kristen, do you happen to know how years convert to Euro? Like 2015? What year is it there?
03:40
Kristen Ahlenius
I don't know the conversion rate for that.
03:43
Peter Dunn
Following my divorce, I have since took out a second loan on it because I was desperate for a new kitchen and bathroom. For the last couple of years, I have struggled massively same. I work full time and find that once my bills are paid, I have money for groceries for one week and I limp along until the next payday. There's no money for treats of any kind. Or as they would call those in the UK, crisps. Potato chips are called crisps. Am I wrong?
04:20
Kristen Ahlenius
Good joke, man.
04:21
Peter Dunn
Biscuits, pudding. As the old joke says, I can be off putting primarily because I could afford to lose a few pounds. Off putting. There is no money for treats of any kind. I cannot afford to get any repairs done. Kristen, did you just laugh at me?
04:43
Kristen Ahlenius
Nope.
04:44
Peter Dunn
Okay. Because I'm about to say my partner wants me to sell and move into his rented apartment to cut down on all my expenses and get my life back. That's nice. I know this is the sensible thing to do. It quite is. The thing that stops me is that I'm 47 with a bad credit rating. My kids still live at home. He would not want them to come with me. There simply isn't any room. If I sell, I know I will never get back on the property ladder. My house is worth. Okay, are you guys ready for this? 206,000 pounds. I owe 111,000 pounds on the mortgage, which I think is roughly like 50 tons. Should I sell my house and move in with my boyfriend to help save money and accept the fact that I won't be a property owner any longer? Or should I continue to live paycheck to paycheck so I can keep my house?
05:38
Peter Dunn
Wow, this is an amazing question. So, Kristen, so Pete, I will begin with you. What's your 1st 35,000 foot or 80 kilometer view of this? What do you think?
05:55
Kristen Ahlenius
I would love for moving in together to not be a financially driven decision if we can avoid that. So if they want to move in together anyway, why are we not exploring the option of the boyfriend? I believe moving in with the emailer because then we get to keep an asset and maybe the kids get to stay and you have some help with expenses. To me, maybe there's an obvious answer why this wasn't brought up, but that's kind of where mine goes first.
06:29
Peter Dunn
Damian, my mind goes to our show is so much better now with Kristen on.
06:34
Damian Dunn
You know, the one critique I would have was, maybe the kids can stay. Where are they going to just put them on the street and give them one of those little hats like they're a NEWSBOY on the corner asking for some handouts.
06:46
Peter Dunn
Can I have some porridge? So I was Tiny Tim in a stage performance of A Christmas Carol and I could sing a song I believe I have on the radio before. Dame, Kristen makes a really good point, is you don't want a decision like this specifically to be driven by the financial need if it doesn't have to be. You view it the same way.
07:10
Damian Dunn
Yeah, these sort of decisions are stressful enough and you may be inclined to make a decision you wouldn't have otherwise just because it relieves the stress in that one area. So, in a perfect world, this is something that is decided upon mutually and it's the right time and everybody's happy. But stress like this will sometimes force your hand and it's not probably the way I would prefer to see a decision like this made, but sometimes you need to. And since I'm standing there, I don't think moving in with the partner is an option at all. If it's going to sacrifice, you having to figure out what to do with your kids. So there has to be an ulterior solution and I think Kristen's come on to a really good one, actually.
08:00
Peter Dunn
Kristen, is this the case of he's a six, but he can solve my financial problems?
08:04
Kristen Ahlenius
He's a that's funny.
08:09
Peter Dunn
Thank you, man. You know, it's so funny. I'm so glad Kristen started the conversation the way she did there, because I'm reading this, I'm a little tired and I'm like, yeah, this is brilliant. Yeah, do it. You get a bunch of cash in the bank, your cash flow situation instantly is solved and sure, you got these pesky hangers on that have nowhere to live. That's my thought. And then, of course, I ignored the fact that is their relationship ready to cohabitate? I've been married with Mrs Planner for we will be 22 years next Friday and she's not ready to cohabitate with me.
08:51
Damian Dunn
Right, yeah. I mean, there's a couple of bits of information that we don't know. We don't know how old the kids are.
08:57
Peter Dunn
Yes, we do. They're 21 and 19.
09:01
Damian Dunn
I missed that part. I was looking up conversion rates at that point of the conversation, so I've got those ready whenever you want them.
09:09
Peter Dunn
Will they even have any money for bad English breakfasts?
09:14
Kristen Ahlenius
No.
09:15
Peter Dunn
Bangers and mash. Dame, is this a straight no from you? It's not a financial question. Maybe that's the answer.
09:27
Damian Dunn
It takes on a little bit different complexity when you learn that the kids are 21 and 19.
09:34
Kristen Ahlenius
So wait a second, you thought I was kicking their little kids out?
09:37
Damian Dunn
I had no idea. I was like, what are they, like, 15 years old? What are they doing? This isn't a consideration. They're 21 and 19. They should be self sufficient.
09:45
Peter Dunn
So wait, the assumption you made is yeah, Kristen's, a dog person doesn't really care for kids. That was the move there. Yeah.
09:55
Damian Dunn
Why this was even a question in the first place, but now it makes.
09:58
Peter Dunn
A lot more okay, so all right. So, Kristen, are you a straight no?
10:05
Kristen Ahlenius
I am a no on selling the asset to move into the rental. I am a maybe on if they're ready, flipping who's moving and maintaining an asset and working on their collective financial health.
10:20
Peter Dunn
I mean, anymore. Good financial planning suggests when two people decide to share a life together, that you also prepare for the exit. And in selling that property and not being able to become a property owner again, based on a various number of factors, that makes me nervous that this is such a final decision to a temporary problem, and we try not to permanently solve temporary issues.
10:47
Damian Dunn
I don't want to make it seem like going from owning your house to renting is a step backwards, because sometimes it's not. It certainly can solve a number of problems. And if that's the right solution, just because you don't feel like you'll ever be a homeowner again in the future doesn't mean that this isn't the right path for you.
11:08
Peter Dunn
It's on that note that I'm going to have the world's longest outro. No, I'm just kidding. So, you know, again, I want to illustrate the point here, and I'm serious. Kristen, I'm so glad you're on the like, because Damien and I tend to share very similar perspective on life, and we don't always think about all the different elements, which is why I think we get so much emails saying how much people like you. So thank you for that. Coming up after the break, we will highlight how much more we like Kristen by letting her choose the topic. It is the pitch in the Potluck Midwest special show today right here on the Pete the Planner show. I'm Pete the planner. All I could think was jokes about England. I really couldn't even answer the financial question. I will mean I took the bait right away.
11:58
Peter Dunn
I was like, yeah, do it. Yeah, absolutely.
12:02
Damian Dunn
Because you're practical.
12:04
Peter Dunn
My sisters. Did you guys sit down and watch the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants together?
12:14
Kristen Ahlenius
No, we grew up with the Parent Trap.
12:17
Peter Dunn
Okay. And, yeah, you guys kind of look alike, right? Or you did at one point.
12:20
Kristen Ahlenius
We have the same face. Yeah.
12:21
Damian Dunn
The remake of The Parent Trap.
12:24
Peter Dunn
Good day. Rick Swink. Danza, good to be with you. And Caitlin, good to be with you as well. Okay, do you want to tip us off to the topic at all, or am I just teen you up? Oh, you're just intro in the segment coming hot off the intro, right? Yourself?
12:39
Kristen Ahlenius
Probably not, but I want to do, like, on the hot seat with Pete and Dame and give examples. You're going to love this. I hope that you disagree some. This will be more fun.
12:50
Damian Dunn
Should I use a voice like this when I answer your queries? Yes.
12:56
Kristen Ahlenius
And I want to talk about the industry recommendation of three to six months of living expenses being in an emergency fund and how that's not helpful at all. And then I want to play a little game called this is My Life and should I have three or should I have six months? Like, which end of the spectrum do you leaned on?
13:17
Peter Dunn
Fair. I feel you. Aaron, old friend, how are you? Hope you and your family are well. What was the budgeting software that Kristen referenced last week's episode? Yeah, you did reference a budgeting software, but you didn't actually name it.
13:31
Kristen Ahlenius
I didn't. I didn't name drop it. So we reviewed a software called Lunch Money, probably almost two years ago already. Dame yeah. And I used it for a very long time and got to the point where I thought that I could not use it, and I went right back. So I'm a big fan. The only downside is that Lunch Money is web based only there's no app for your cell phone, but it's called Lunch Money.
13:57
Peter Dunn
They have a similar version here in Carmel, Indiana. It's called brunch money. In three, two, one. Back on the Pete the Planner show Potpourri Potluck edition, we talk about whatever the co host wants to talk about in this segment. It is Kristen's segment. Kristen Ahlenius, the Director of Education at your money line. Kristen, what do you bring to the council of Elders today?
14:26
Kristen Ahlenius
Elders?
14:28
Peter Dunn
Well, Dame and I are much older than you. We're like the guys, the muppets in the balcony. What are those guys'name?
14:36
Damian Dunn
Wilford and I have no say. Wilford and Brimley. But that's not right.
14:44
Kristen Ahlenius
I don't know.
14:45
Peter Dunn
What do you got, Kristen?
14:46
Kristen Ahlenius
So I was thinking this week I was recording some content with one of our financial guides, and we started having this conversation about emergency savings and the industry, us included. We're guilty of this, too. We tend to make this very blanket recommendation of you should have three to six months of your nondiscretionary expenses saved, and that should be your emergency fund. And I got to thinking, I'm like, how helpful is that to have a three month window? Do I need what you've told me or do I need double of what you've told me to be in my emergency fund? So I thought it might be a little fun if I give some examples, just like a few quantitative data points about a situation and then for you and Dame to tell me if you lean toward three months of living expenses saved or the six month end of living expenses saved.
15:37
Peter Dunn
Welcome to a little game of three.
15:40
Damian Dunn
Months or six months.
15:43
Kristen Ahlenius
And before we start, I do not want to make light of the fact that it is very difficult to save three to six months of your living expenses. This is not intended to make anyone feel less than or marginalized, but we do get this question a fair amount on the line, and I hear it a decent amount, and I thought anecdotal evidence would be helpful anyway. Example one, I'm a single parent. I have two younger kids very dependent on me, and I have no support, no child support, no federal assistance of any kind. Do you lean toward three months or do you lean toward six months of emergency savings?
16:20
Peter Dunn
Can I have a point of order here, if I may? Maybe it's your entire point. There's answer to this, but it doesn't mean it's a realistic and we.
16:32
Kristen Ahlenius
Will I want to talk about the math, too, if we have time, before we end the segment.
16:36
Peter Dunn
Maybe we kick Damien's segment away for the week and we do two for you. Because this is fascinating, because the answer to me is six, but I find that wholly unrealistic. Dame, what do you think?
16:46
Damian Dunn
It's absolutely six, but it will take 15 years to get there.
16:50
Kristen Ahlenius
That was exactly my point. Between the three to six month recommendation is like, even if I'm saving, like $300 a month, it's going to take me three years to build up another ten grand in emergency savings, and that would be a 10% recommendation. That's what we would recommend is save an additional 10% of your net income. So to say that it's going to take someone another three years to double their emergency savings account, and then just like the industry saying, like, hey, three to six months, it's like, three years or six years, how long is it going to take me to get there? That's kind of the takeaway of the.
17:21
Peter Dunn
Whole segment as emergency fund recommendations are like the BMI of the financial world. It's sort of antiquated, right? Dame yeah.
17:29
Damian Dunn
The other thing this doesn't take into consideration is, yeah, we can say, all right, you've got a 36 month track to get there, which is going to be difficult enough as it is, but what's the likelihood that you don't have to dip into that emergency fund over that three year time period? You could essentially wipe it out multiple times or whatever progress you've made, and you just keep pushing that 36 month window out further and further. So while you have developed a really good financial habit in your life, you're not going to be able to achieve that foundational financial goal in your life just because life happens.
18:06
Peter Dunn
This is not a helpful comment, but what if your rent goes up? What if the kids want to do travel sports? To Dame's point here, you're constantly dipping in just to deal with the slight inefficiencies of life.
18:22
Kristen Ahlenius
Yes.
18:23
Peter Dunn
Okay, what's your next example?
18:25
Kristen Ahlenius
I was going to say I have more examples. And let's also not forget that there are persons who are truly trying to weigh like, we get questions like that too. It's like, hey, I have the cash available and I'd like to maybe invest some of this. At what point do I start investing over prioritizing emergency savings? There are both sides to this as well. So the second example, I'm a dual income house. My kids are school age. How many months of living expenses? Three or six.
18:52
Peter Dunn
I go with three dame.
18:54
Damian Dunn
You can get away with three. If you're comfortable contemplating a job change, bump it up a little bit. But.
19:03
Peter Dunn
Are apparently you're the judge of these. What's the right answer?
19:08
Kristen Ahlenius
The whole thing? I would say three. So I have a third example, and then I'll talk about why I think three versus six works in these two scenarios. Because the other end of this is, what if I'm a single income household, but there are two adults who are capable reasonably, we can reasonably expect that they can find gainful employment, but only one is working. I still think three months is the recommendation there, even though you have one income. Because what I like to do is, in the most simplistic terms, is bring this back to how many hours can we reasonably expect our household to be able to devote to finding work? And if you have older kids and you have two adults who we can expect to find gainful employment even though one's working, I still lean towards three.
19:59
Peter Dunn
What occurs to me during this segment and maybe this is the wrong direction to go, is that on some level, we're all doing the best we can, and it is pure luck at times that something doesn't come and knock us off our feet. No matter how prepared you are, no matter what your income is, you can do the best. You can do sensible things like Kristen is talking about. And certainly a lot of people had this level of stability during the early parts of the pandemic to survive it financially. But for a lot of other people, if both people in the household lose their job and you have three months or even you have six months, it goes away pretty quick. Yeah, that was a downer, right? This is a guy who needs a vacation comedy. What's the next one, Kristen?
20:46
Kristen Ahlenius
Well, and you said something there that I would love to circle back on just a little bit. Is that just kind of like even when you're born, the Psychology of Money is a really good book, and that's one of the principles in that book, is just like when we're born, which you have absolutely no control over, of course, can play a huge factor in your financial stability. So that's something to consider, too. It's just like, maybe you graduated college in 2008. That's not your fault.
21:14
Peter Dunn
Does any of this account for the fact that you might be an influencer and that you can just print money with every single post.
21:21
Kristen Ahlenius
That's actually example five, but I don't think we'll have time for that. And then the last one well, I have two more, but we'll only have time for one. If I'm single and I have no kids, but I am a 100% commission.
21:36
Peter Dunn
Household, are you ready to mingle or just single? That's important. Okay, just single. Not ready to meet. So you're not prepared for the mingling.
21:44
Kristen Ahlenius
There will be no mangling.
21:45
Peter Dunn
Okay. So just Netflix. No chill.
21:49
Kristen Ahlenius
No chill.
21:50
Peter Dunn
Okay. Look, I deal with realtors quite a bit in the work that we do here. It dealt with 1000 remax agents last week, right? And so it's like a lot of them fit that profile. I don't know their chill status, but I can say that the answer is both. Oh, man, this is hard. The answer is you need to run your financial life through a commission pool, which is a completely hairbrained direction we don't necessarily want to go. But I would say on top of that, if you've done that, the answer is three. If you've not done that, the answer is six. What says the bald man?
22:31
Damian Dunn
Thank you, bald man. I would say that the right answer is actually at least six months.
22:38
Peter Dunn
Yeah, that one's tough. I think the hardest thing about being on commission is the good months. Not the hard, it's the good months. Because the good months you are predisposed to spend more or spend the same, when in fact, during a good month, as you establish yourself, you should superpower your commission pool by spending less than you normally would in a good month, which is nearly impossible to do from a psychological standpoint, but that would be my answer. Kristen, you're the expert here. What would you say?
23:07
Kristen Ahlenius
I said six, but maybe even more than that.
23:10
Peter Dunn
This was a great segment. Segment of the week. Dame, let's see if you're worthy of any praise. We'll do that right after the break. Damien brings his topic. Will we be impressed? Doubtful. I'm Pete the planner. Sorry. You guys want to hear a funny story? I don't have time for a lot of funny stories today, but this is a short one. I was talking to my mother this weekend. My mom doesn't typically listen to the show, although every time someone's like, hey, I caught your radio show, I always go, oh, we have two listeners, you and my mom. It's like a standard dumb joke. Go ahead, dame.
23:45
Damian Dunn
You're going to say something if you tell me. Your mom asked if you and I were related.
23:50
Peter Dunn
I spent some time up in Auburn one year. No, she said, I heard your show. I haven't heard it in a while. She said, maybe I didn't know what you were talking about, but I heard a woman on your show, did you call her a dame? I was like, no, that's not what I made never mind. Not going anywhere down that path. All right, dave, are you ready to go? Yeah.
24:29
Damian Dunn
You want me to bring it in? You want me to do my intro?
24:34
Peter Dunn
Well, sure. Yes, I do. In three, two, one.
24:42
Damian Dunn
Back on the Pete the Planner show. You know what? Thanks for listening to us. Whether you catch us on the stream, which we record every Friday at 10:00 a.m., and by every Friday at 10:00 a.m., of course, I mean every Friday at 10:00 a.m., except for today, we're not doing it on Friday. You could be listening to us on radio stations all across the great state of Indiana. WIO and Kokomo WIBC and Indy. Wvki and Knox. Or you could be listening to us on the podcast if that's where you listen to us. Great. Pete, you know what I realized earlier today? Have we ruined Kristen's enjoyment of reviews of podcasts by including her in this podcast going forward?
25:27
Peter Dunn
I don't know. That's a good question. How are you thinking about that?
25:31
Damian Dunn
I don't know if she'll ever look at reviews the same way after having a consistent role on this show.
25:36
Peter Dunn
Why? Have you read our reviews recently?
25:38
Damian Dunn
No. Heavens no. I don't do that. Why would I submit myself to that sort of torture?
25:43
Peter Dunn
You absolutely do. What have you read?
25:45
Damian Dunn
I haven't read anything.
25:46
Kristen Ahlenius
You're smiling soft. Don't be mean to me.
25:52
Peter Dunn
Okay, so during the break and this is for radio audience, this is why you got to listen to podcast, too. Because during the break, I'm going to tell a story about how reviews ruin everything, because I don't have time for it now. But, Dame, by the way, that was a very extra what's your topic this week, Dame?
26:10
Damian Dunn
All right, so I was scrolling through some social media site, and there was an advertisement from Fidelity. It's a investment company. You may have heard of them, Pete. Fidelity, they have a product that was new to me, I don't know when it was actually released, called A Fidfolio a FID Folio. Pete, let me explain to you how this works. Basically, you can sign up for this sort of account. You pay $5 a month and you can pick baskets of stocks. You can adjust those, you can customize them however you want. You can pick your own individual stocks outside of these baskets, but then you just own individual equities. There's no commission when you buy them. There's no commission when you sell them. They rebalance with a click of a button. So I'm trying to decide if this is a good idea.
27:02
Peter Dunn
This is interesting for the average investor.
27:05
Damian Dunn
Versus mutual funds and ETFs, that sort of portfolio, what I would refer to as a more traditional type, common type portfolio. Or do we think the average investor would better suited by having more control over each individual component of their portfolio, whether they want to go super tech heavy in just stocks in that area and then supplement it with some other stuff or whatever categories, there's dozens and dozens. 5g future connectivity REITs Fintech Clean Energy Cybersecurity Digital Health It goes on and on. It gets pretty narrowly focused in these areas, and I think that's a big potential danger for the average mean.
27:56
Peter Dunn
I don't want to tip my hand here, but Kristen, this is a pretty good segment, too. This is fascinating. I've never heard of such a thing. I got to think this is like Shaving with a straight razor, though, right? Like, it's a good idea until it's not, and very few people can pull it off effectively. Man I'm on the fence here because I think that'd be really interesting and useful for an expert amateur investor, but for the rest of us, I think it's a recipe for disaster. Kristen, you feel differently than that.
28:34
Kristen Ahlenius
I'm trying to understand, and I hope that there's a listener that I'm going to help with this. I'm not really understanding how this is that much different from our favorite investing app.
28:49
Peter Dunn
It's completely different because you're not choosing the individual positions to put into it.
28:57
Kristen Ahlenius
So you're investing indexes, but they're.
29:01
Damian Dunn
Sector specific, not indexes. They're individual equities. So they're saying, all right, if you want to invest in cybersecurity, here are I have no idea. I'm just going to pick a random number. Here are six companies that you're going to get invested into if you choose. You want the cybersecurity basket. Now, you can adjust those if you want. If you get in there and you say, you know what? I don't like this company, and this company, you can kick them out and you can add your own. So these are basically suggestions for you to get very specific exposure to different thematic models. Those are Fidelity's words, not mine.
29:37
Peter Dunn
This is mean. I don't want to be too critical. It's super innovative. How are they making any money? Because how's Fidelity making money? $5 a month.
29:50
Damian Dunn
$5 a month? Yeah. There's nothing there. You can invest as little as a dollar per stock is what it says right here on the website that I'm looking at. I don't know how they are.
30:05
Peter Dunn
So there's no management fees other than that?
30:09
Kristen Ahlenius
No way.
30:10
Damian Dunn
We're doing a commercial for fine print here. Sell orders are subject to an activity assessment fee from principal.
30:20
Peter Dunn
Well, not much. It's still a designated basket of equities, right? It's not like I want to be in cybersecurity. They give you six and you're like, well, I actually like the 7th one. That's not in there. You can't do that. It can only be the designated six.
30:37
Damian Dunn
You absolutely can, because you can have as many baskets as you want. You can supplement them with whatever equities you want. On top of that, suggestions is what it seems like.
30:52
Kristen Ahlenius
Tell me how this is different from our favorite investment app. Because if you search by sector, they tell you what other people are buying.
30:59
Damian Dunn
Do they still do that or.
31:00
Kristen Ahlenius
Did they cancel that? I guess I'm truly not understanding how it's different if it's customizable, and maybe this is too critical. I kind of hate it.
31:18
Peter Dunn
Can you kind of hate something? It's like moderate modifier, Earth on Fire kind of hate it.
31:29
Kristen Ahlenius
And here's why I kind of hate it, is because I'm sorry, I'm all about behavioral finance. The longer I'm going to be on the show, the more you're going to know that's what I'm into. And I don't think I hate this for the individual investor. But the other thing, too is Morningstar. Some CFA from Morningstar did this big analysis of mutual funds from 2010 to 2020, and mutual funds only beat their index, like, one out of four times. So if the professionals aren't beating an index, why are we putting the extra work to do this? Just like for me, this is for me. This is not investment advice. I'm just I don't like it.
32:14
Peter Dunn
Dame, she kind of hates it. She kind of hates it. You're the final ruling here. What do you think?
32:20
Damian Dunn
I think this feels more risky and dangerous to me because I think it's encouraging transactional behavior.
32:30
Peter Dunn
Good point.
32:33
Damian Dunn
If we take the stance on the sort of investment behavior that we encourage people to have buy and hold add to positions, whether it's an up market, whether it's a down market, you keep doing your thing, you make sure those contributions are going in on a regular basis, and things will most likely work out okay. It's when you start trying to outsmart the room is when you get in trouble. And I think I really feel like this is a very interesting concept, but it's going to be misused to the detriment of the investor.
33:09
Peter Dunn
You know how I know you're right about this is that if you bought and hold like we want you to, generally you're paying $60 a year to just hold investments, which makes no sense. The idea that you are paying a fee, even though it's a low fee, makes you feel like you got to get some value out of that fee. So you're probably more apt to trade. That is my gut.
33:32
Damian Dunn
Yeah, I think you're probably right.
33:35
Peter Dunn
Wow, look at you know, you got to think to Kristen's point, this is inspired by.
33:46
Damian Dunn
I mean, there was another company called Motif that did something really similar a while back, but I don't think it really got traction. This is the next evolution of that.
33:55
Peter Dunn
There was a site back in the day, briefly called Loyal Three, where you could buy fractional shares for free of consumer brands. I used to buy my kids stocks all the time through it, and then they got acquired or went out of business or something, but no one cares. Speaking of out of business, will this next company be out of business with the biggest waste of money of the week? Well, by the way, is this the third segment everybody? Yeah. Okay, good. You'll find out next right here on the Pete the Planner Show. I'm Pete the planner. The show's been going fast, so I didn't know if this really was you guys want to hear a story about reviews ruining things?
34:30
Kristen Ahlenius
Yes.
34:30
Peter Dunn
But in retrospect, I think we made the right decision. Damian knows the story. Damian damon.
34:36
Damian Dunn
Whatever.
34:37
Peter Dunn
Steve, he knows the story. Kristen, did you know that my daughter Ollie, when she was six years old, had a podcast?
34:50
Kristen Ahlenius
No. Not surprised.
34:53
Peter Dunn
And at one point in time, it was the 7th most downloaded podcast in the world.
35:04
Kristen Ahlenius
Is that true?
35:05
Peter Dunn
That is true. And it's a really long story that is mildly interesting. But here's the end of the story. It was a moment for Ollie and I to spend time together, just have some fun, have her do an experience that no other kid's really doing, and not to give her privilege, but just to do something fun with your kid that someday you listen back to and you laugh. And so the show was rough, but it was meant to be rough. I produced it to be rough. I had her host it. I was the sidekick. Whatever direction she went, it's a six year old going crazy on it. The show was entertaining. I know what I'm talking about. It was pretty good. But what started happening was it was getting featured consistently. And so all of these people want to see what's going on. They find it.
36:01
Peter Dunn
They don't have the context of what's going on, or they choose to ignore the context, and so they start leaving these just awful reviews that's terrible. That are just, like, so off kilter. So we just ended the show because it just made no sense to subject a six year old to this criticism. And then people would say, well, you should have never done it in the first place. And that's where I disagree, because then I have to assume that the world is a horrible place, that I never can enjoy a moment with her anyway. It is a much more complex story than that, but that was the end result of reading reviews and having it ruin the show. So, Kristen, do not read our reviews.
36:47
Kristen Ahlenius
I'm telling you, I can't because I'm soft. I'll be very upset. All right.
36:52
Peter Dunn
I'm reading reviews right now on the know.
36:54
Damian Dunn
You know, Pete, if you hadn't done that with Ollie, though, she won't be able to make her chappelle, like, return eventually.
37:01
Peter Dunn
Oh, I hope it doesn't go like Chappelle's. Let's see what we've got here. Pete the Planner show. I don't really particularly care about reviews, so we are going to see what we got. Oh, boy. Here it is. This it is. That our logo. People love this. Oh, there it is. Reviews. Oh, 4.6 stars out of five.
37:30
Kristen Ahlenius
4.9 on Spotify.
37:32
Peter Dunn
Okay. Last review we've received, that was a written review that just wasn't stars. There was 223 ratings. 223 ratings. This is on itunes. No nonsense. But also I don't know what it said. Five stars. I've learned everything I know about finance by teaching myself, mostly using Pizza Planner through his we don't need to stroke me sort of. We don't need this. Okay, let's read it.
38:00
Damian Dunn
Let's get to the gut.
38:02
Peter Dunn
Okay. Yeah. One year or more. Okay, here we go. Two stars. Brag. Less coach, more. Pete spends more time bragging about his financial situation versus giving practical, real life advice. Be more self aware. Clown.
38:18
Kristen Ahlenius
This is like celebrities read mean tweets. This is.
38:25
Peter Dunn
Mean. Dame I actually remember getting that one, and you and I talking about it and trying to be self aware, because normally when you get a review, like, just you're like, that's not true. But what I've learned is it's like, if it hurts that bad, you got to think through it. And you're like, Is that what we do? And I hope not. I mean, it's for others to say, but I don't really feel like I talk about my financial situation that much.
38:47
Kristen Ahlenius
Well, sometimes people are just awful, though.
38:50
Peter Dunn
Dame's like, you talk about your financial situation all the time.
38:55
Damian Dunn
I didn't even come close to saying that out loud.
38:58
Peter Dunn
Anyway, so if you want to leave a review on the show, please do so. Itunes, wherever you get your podcasts. And be really gentle to Kristen, please. All right, let's get back to the show. I do have, unfortunately, some time constraints. Jeremiah okay, here we go. In. I always get nervous. Okay. Three, two, one. This week's biggest waste of money of the week right here on the Pete the Planner show is Porsche and Pretty Cool Ice Cream. We what do you say when it's a collaboration?
39:45
Damian Dunn
Collab?
39:46
Peter Dunn
No, it's Porsche X. Pretty cool ice cream pops. Do you remember that?
39:50
Damian Dunn
Oh, isn't it?
39:52
Kristen Ahlenius
Just.
39:55
Peter Dunn
Buy. Okay, porsche buy. Pretty cool ice cream pops. National ice cream day celebrates the ubiquitous great word frozen treat and Porsche. Or Porsche. What do you say?
40:06
Damian Dunn
Dame porsche.
40:07
Peter Dunn
Porsche got in on the festivities with an unlikely collaboration. Pretty cool ice cream located in Chicago. Is that right? Created five ice cream pops based on Porsche's paint to sample custom color palette. The result was mint green mint cookies and cream flavor with mint green white chocolate shell, strawberry red, a cream cheese flavor with real strawberries dipped in a red shell. Macadamia metallic roasted macadamia ice cream in a sparkling macadamia metallic shell. Frozen berry metallic black raspberry coated in a sparkling ruby shell. And finally, lime gold metallic key lime pie in a gold colored caramel shell. The pops are available in the Chicago area, which plans to offer them at a Porsche event later in 2022. Dame, I'm going to just put it to you. Is this a waste of money, or is this pretty cool?
41:01
Damian Dunn
I think the packaging is pretty cool, but it's a waste of money.
41:04
Peter Dunn
So is the ice cream.
41:07
Damian Dunn
Okay.
41:08
Peter Dunn
Pretty cool. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news here. When you say bearer, I think you really have to overpronunciate it. Uber bearer. I actually don't know how much these cost. Dane, what's? In the news this week?
41:36
Damian Dunn
Social Security recipients could see the largest increase to their checks in decades next year. Even so, for many retirees, the bump in their annual cost of living adjustment won't be enough to shield them from the pain of sharply rising prices, experts say. Monthly benefits for retirees could rise ten and a half percent in 2023, according to a recent analysis by the Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior group. That would amount to $175 increase to the average payment of $1,668. Meanwhile, the nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reports the benefit bump for seniors could actually be as high as 11.4% if inflation remains at its current clip. To be sure, these are both just estimates for now, and the actual hike will likely depend on the rate at which prices rise in the coming months.
42:26
Peter Dunn
That would be really helpful. I mean, that's remarkable. And Kristen, is it worth noting that this will probably drain the Social Security fund faster than ever before?
42:36
Kristen Ahlenius
I was just going to say it's fine. SSA can afford mean I'm not critical.
42:43
Peter Dunn
Of the decision to do this because I think it's going to help a lot of people on fixed income. But there's a consequence to it as well.
42:50
Kristen Ahlenius
Yes, that's exactly how I feel in principle. I love the idea, but can the system afford it? Because last year's hike was like the largest in history, right? And it was like was it like six?
43:04
Damian Dunn
Yeah, it was substantially lower, but it might have been the largest in history. Yes.
43:09
Peter Dunn
Can I ask an oversimplified political question and expect an oversimplified answer? Never dame this is going to you. Then occasionally you'll hear so and so wants to get rid of your Social Security. Okay. You hear that? And it's supposed to be a criticism, or it is a criticism of the person they're levying it on. And what I don't ever understand, and I'm hoping you understand this is a has the person come outright and said that? B is it that a person making that assertion just assumes what that person wants? And C, let's say that's true and the person does want to get rid of your Social Security. That would seem like it'd be really hard to get elected if that was your actual position. Now, fixing Social Security is one thing. Getting rid of it after people have paid into it seems like a non startup.
44:05
Peter Dunn
What am I missing every time I hear that criticism?
44:09
Damian Dunn
Some insanity in your life? Because I don't think that claim over almost any other one really doesn't resonate with me. And it's a scare tactics, pure and simple, because I don't know how that actually comes to fruition. If somebody says that they want to try and reasonably refigure how Social Security is done in this country, I'm sure somebody would say, well, they don't care how you get your Social Security right now, and they want to change everything. Well, they might want to change it so it actually lasts longer at the current rate. So I take every bit of political grandstanding with a tub of salt and basically ignore it all, because on most.
44:55
Peter Dunn
Issues, you could say issues are 50, but that's generally not true. They're 60 40, 70 30. But damn, how many people are lining up on the other side of this one?
45:07
Damian Dunn
No, exactly. Nobody is standing up at a podium saying, I'm taking it away. Now, if you want to get into the privatization aspect, different thing. Different thing. But I don't think anybody is advocating, nor have I heard anybody advocate, at least for just removal of Social Security benefits.
45:29
Peter Dunn
What else is in the news?
45:31
Damian Dunn
Senator Elizabeth Warren, along with 22 Democratic lawmakers, want to save millions of Americans time and money by pushing the IRS to create its own free tax filing service. But some tax professionals say it's not a realistic plan for the overburdened agency. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I fear an administrative nightmare, says Phyllis Joe Kubi of New York. She's an enrolled agent there. But the Senate bill, known as the Tax Filing Simplification Act, directs the IRS to create a free online service allowing Americans to file taxes directly with the agency. Kristen, I know what you're thinking. Isn't there a free file program already available? Yes, there is. And although roughly 70% of Americans are eligible for IRS free file, pete, do you want to guess how many Americans used IRS free file last year?
46:26
Peter Dunn
Do you want a number, or do you want a percentage?
46:28
Damian Dunn
Percentage. 1% christopher 3% is the correct answer. 3% of taxpayers used the service during the 2020 tax season, according to the US. Government Accountability Office. The bill also aims to allow eligible taxpayers to choose a return free option, providing a pre populated filing with the tax bill or refund already calculated, helping ensure that you miss out on some much needed credits and deductions.
47:00
Kristen Ahlenius
Here's my thing. At the risk of sounding a little political and stepping up on my soapbox a little bit, maybe we could just teach people how to fill out a 1040 in school instead. That'd be pretty cool. And then we could just fill out our own 1040s.
47:16
Peter Dunn
You're saying learning all the state capitals and names of dinosaurs is not as.
47:21
Kristen Ahlenius
Important as I mean, they're right up there. They're pretty close. But I do think that squeaking in a little bit of 1040 curriculum couldn't hurt anybody.
47:31
Peter Dunn
It's hard to argue that. You know what occurred to me, and this is on all of our wheelhouse, and I also don't know what I'm talking about. But don't you think upon teachers graduating from college, the very last thing that should occur, assuming they're still going to class because I didn't go to class my last semester of college, is that they tell them how to properly and immediately fill out public service loan forgiveness forms. Wouldn't you think that would have to be a thing, Kristen? Is that a thing?
48:08
Kristen Ahlenius
There's a joke there, and I won't make it on the air, but it would be nice. Yes.
48:13
Peter Dunn
Oh, my God. Now I want to know the joke. Now I know how others listen to the podcast. You're making the joke when we get off the air. Okay, that's it for this week. I mean, that is all we got. There's no show next week. And so here's what I want people to do. I want you to find a young person. Just stick with me for a second. Stick with me. And I want you to take them fishing. Now, ideally, I want you to know this young person and their family, then take them fishing. If you see a young person that you do not know and you think, I want to take that person fishing, do not do that. But take a young person fishing next week and we're not on the air. Does that seem like a good plan, Kristen?
48:55
Kristen Ahlenius
Yes.
48:56
Peter Dunn
Dame moderately good plan.
48:58
Damian Dunn
Hard to find fault? Yes.
49:00
Peter Dunn
Otherwise, I'm taking a break. I'm sending all you all the good vibes, because good vibes are all that's in the budget. I'm Pete the planner. And I'll see you another time. I might have to go in, like, three minutes. Tell your story, Kristen.
49:15
Kristen Ahlenius
Your joke. Well, I mean, in order for there to be a class that teaches you about PSLF, that would require the Department of Ed or one of their servicers to fully understand the program, and I would like that to happen first when's.
49:30
Peter Dunn
Your late night show begin. Quite the joke. I got to go, Kristen. I don't know if I'm going to talk to you before actually, I'll talk to you in a couple of weeks. Dame, you and I do have to connect later.
50:01
Damian Dunn
Say, do we have to?
50:03
Peter Dunn
No, we don't, but I'd feel bad if we didn't. Okay. All right. Everyone else stay getting money. Bye.
