00:00
Peter Dunn
You. All right. Yet another week with no intro music. You're thinking, I thought I was getting to professional podcast. Of course you did not think that because, well, you saw my name on it. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Pete the planner show slash podcast coming to you live from Indianapolis, Indiana, the home of passive aggressiveness. Joining me, filling in for Damien Dunn this week is the host of Stacking Benjamins, the author of the brand new book stacked your super serious guide to modern money management. My friend Joe. Sal sehai. Joe, hello. Welcome to the program.
00:43
Joe
I have kicked Dame to the curb. I'm taking over. Just I'm going to start here in one panel. I'm going to slowly move you out of the panel, and it'll just be first episode of Joe Saul Seahai. I'm Pete the planner.
00:56
Peter Dunn
Yeah, exactly. Well, Joey, it's good to be with you. I've been on your show several times. You have been on this show before, haven't you?
01:02
Joe
I have been.
01:03
Peter Dunn
A long time ago, though.
01:04
Joe
Yes. It was super fun. You didn't invite me back for a long time, and I'll try not to take it personally. See, I can passive aggressive with the best of them.
01:11
Peter Dunn
Yeah, that's true. You're a midwesterner at heart. But now you live, what, texarkana?
01:16
Joe
Is that where you live right now? The Arkansas border is 800 yards that way.
01:22
Peter Dunn
Oh, yes. Why? So you're co hosting the whole episode. You are sort of the OG godfather of money funny, right? And so it's fun to have you on here because I live in the money funny world. Neither you nor I have explained ourselves or described ourselves as comedians about money, but we tend to use humor as our tool.
01:50
Joe
Absolutely. And I think the secret to why I think you resonate with me so much when I watch you guys is because of the fact that money is such a serious thing and we heap so much guilt. Right. Speaking about midwestern, we heap so much guilt. We heap so much pressure on ourselves to make the right move. I feel like a lot of people, the FOMO about, I'm missing out on the right investments, I'm missing out on the right opportunity. There was a study, Pete, that I saw recently from this group, nonprofit, nonfiction, and they are nonprofit, by the way.
02:28
Peter Dunn
Yeah. I was wondering, is this story fiction or nonfiction that you're telling?
02:32
Joe
It is. The story is not. It was starting off as fiction, but I'm moving it to nonfiction now. It's called nonfiction. And they are an activist group, but they had a wonderful report that people can google called the secret financial lives of Americans. And it is this incredible report, but it starts off by saying something that you and I know really well, which is 150,000,000 Americans report that they have cried about their money. Nearly half of people in America say that they've cried about their money. And you'd think that this is people living paycheck to paycheck. And while that is true, and the numbers are higher for people wondering like I was at one time, like, where's my next meal going to come from? How am I going to make it home? I ran out of gas on the side of the road. I had nothing.
03:20
Joe
And that was kind of my low point. But it's also nearly half of people that make over $250,000 a year are crying about money. And now what's funny is that you also know people ask you all the time, right? They're like, so what's the hot thing? What's the hot stuff that everybody's talking about here's? What people aren't crying about, Pete. They're not crying about the fact that central bank digital currency may be a thing in our lives next year. They're not crying about the mega backdoor. Roth, IRA and Roth conversions might go away. That's not what they're crying about. So I think to lighten it up, right, to lighten it up and make this serious thing to gamify it and make it a little more fun, makes it easier for us to do the right thing.
04:04
Peter Dunn
The Joe Coin will be available on are you going to have like an NFT or some sort of crypto coin?
04:12
Joe
Only if I can really pixelate it. If I can get it really pixelated, then yeah, absolutely.
04:16
Peter Dunn
I'm a Howard Stern listener, have been for 20 years and more, actually. Beetlejuice back on the show this week and he has a crypto currency called Beatcoin. Now that's trading for just about thirty eight cents per coin. Beatcoin. You can find it at who cares, actually, don't buy it. Joe, let's start the show. This is of course a show about a show and you are co hosting said show today. So the first segment, my friend, is nine minutes and 22 seconds. So just start counting when you start going. 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 askpeet at pete theplaner.com that's askpeet all one word why it's an email address. Joining me, well, for the first time in a long time, to be honest with you, filling in for Damian Dunn is Joe Saul Seahai, host of Stacking Benjamins, and the author of the brand new book stack your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management.
05:05
Peter Dunn
Joining me, well, for the first time in a long time, to be honest with you, filling in for Damien Dunn is Joe Saul Seahai, host of Stacking Benjamins, and the author of the brand new book stack your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management. Coming to you via Penguin Random House a couple of weeks or so. Joe. Hello, Pete.
05:26
Joe
Thanks a ton for having me back. I thought maybe I wore out my welcome the first time here, but luckily I got the call. I got the call from the bullpen and I'm here ready to try to be my best dame impression. I'm not very good at it, but I'll do my best.
05:39
Peter Dunn
No, you just need car posters on your wall and that's always good to make a visual reference on the radio. So, Joe, your new book. I was shocked to learn you and I have known each other for several years. I was actually shocked to learn about ten minutes ago. This is your first book, and I don't say that with a degree of shame. I just assumed you've written, like, 30 books. So why did you choose to write staff to your super serious guide to modern money management, along with your co author, Emily Guy Birkin? Why did you do this?
06:08
Joe
Yeah, I had written a book. It took about ten years. I stopped, started, stop, started, stop, started. I handed it to my alpha reader. I think Mrs. Planner is your alpha reader. I hand it to mine, my lovely spouse, Cheryl, and she brings it back. I think it was about eight minutes later. Eight minutes and said, this really sucks. It was horrible. It was way too serious. It was not like me. I thought I'd written it over such a long period of time, but I knew because people like you and I, we talked to so many different people, and you see the landscape, and there just wasn't enough of this funny introductory. But also, you can get in the weeds at the same time out there. And I'm in Portland, Oregon, at this wonderful bookstore called Powells. Have you been to Powell's?
06:56
Peter Dunn
I've walked by it, and it's a.
06:59
Joe
Block long, and it is this weird bookstore where you can get lost. I find myself, as you can believe, Pete knowing me for a long time, in the kids section, and I see the Hardy Boys Detective Manual. And when I was in fourth grade, I carried this thing around everywhere. I dog eared it. My brother and I. My dad worked at General Motors. On a wet day, he would pull out, and we'd look at the tire tracks to check that out so we could tail. I don't know what were going to do. My mom would touch a doorknob. We'd go over there with tape, and we'd put the tape because we got to get the fingerprints because you don't know where Mom's been. And I thought while it's campy, it was written with a real they tell you this right up front, written with a real FBI agent.
07:38
Joe
Like, this was legit FBI stuff they were teaching you. And I thought, man, if there was a book for adults about money that I carried around, like the people could carry around, like I carried around this book, this would be perfect. It would go along with kind of what we do at the circus. That's stacking Benjamin. So I fly home. My mom has a key to our house. I'm 50 years old, Pete, and she's finally let me have all my crap from the attic, like the 6th place father son invitational bowling tournament that we did. Okay. In finally gave me that, but she gave me the Cub Scout Wolf Guide and something that was neat about the Cub Scouts that I read leafing through. This is that way before all these cool apps, now Gamify things for us. And I think Gamification is a huge piece of success for a lot of people when it comes to money now and makes it so much easier.
08:30
Joe
But back then, they had tools you're going to need. Succinctly told you how to do the thing. You checked off little boxes to show proficiency, and then there was a place at the bottom for your mom to sign it that you did it. And then you got a badge, right? That you did it. Huge. Great Gamification. So I said, we got to do this. And so I asked my good friend Emily, who's written several great financial books, if she do it. She's hilarious. And we wrote what we think is pretty funny, but it's exactly that. It starts with how to stack your first Benjamin, building a stack of Benjamins, protecting your Benjamins, and then stacks on your stacks. And that part, for people more advanced, is like how to hire advisors that won't bleed you dry. What's? Modern portfolio theory. How's good tax management. But it begins with how do you get out of debt, how do you get a budget?
09:18
Joe
And you earn these increasingly difficult badges.
09:22
Peter Dunn
Joining me as guest co host this week is Joe Sal Seahai, author of the brand new book stacked your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management. Joe and I have been friends for a long time. His new book comes out December 28. Wherever you buy books, I noticed yours is through Penguin random House. And it just makes me I listen to audiobooks because I'm lazy, and it made me think of how the beginning of your audiobook might sound. And if you indulge me, I'd like to perform that for you right now.
09:50
Joe
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, with the dramatic performance of Stacked Pete the Planner, this is.
09:57
Peter Dunn
Audible Penguin Random House publishers produce I Blew It presents. Stacked Your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management by Joe Saul Sehai and Emily Guy Birkin, read by Pete the Planner. How's that? That's good.
10:13
Joe
Where were you, like, a month ago when we did this?
10:16
Peter Dunn
Did you do the audio?
10:18
Joe
I did. And you know what's really cool? The woman who plays my mom on the show, we do these snippets that say things like, you can't go play with your friend Dave until you eat your peas. Right.
10:29
Peter Dunn
Sure. Yeah.
10:30
Joe
For people that may know who Dave is, but she does those things. Penguin reached out and said, hey, is your mom going to be in the book? Because we have all these pieces of our mom in the book. Is she going to read those pieces? And it was great because I got to ask my friend Julie Ray Harrison, who plays my mom on the show, hey, will you go in the studio and read these things. So we actually have mom quote mom in quotes. My real mom, by the way, sounds way too young. She had me when she was 18. And this is horrible, Pete. I had to fire her a long time ago because she didn't sound like my mom.
11:07
Peter Dunn
Julie Ray Harrison emily guy Burkin joe Seahai, Pete the Planner. Julie Ray Harrison emily guy Burkin joe Seahai, pizza planner.
11:14
Joe
Planner. If it were just Peter Dunn. If you had stuck with Peter Dunn, I'd be out of here.
11:19
Peter Dunn
The former CEO of Steak and Shake was Peter Dunn. I don't know if you know that. That's a little fun fact for you to take home to the family this holiday season.
11:27
Joe
I learned something every time I'm around you, Pete.
11:31
Peter Dunn
Joe, you, of course, are going to be with us this entire show. And this topic will come up over and over again, I'm sure. Do you discuss cryptocurrency in Stacked, your super serious guide to modern money management?
11:43
Joe
We discuss alternative investments, and we mentioned cryptocurrency, but it is not something that should be the foundation of your financial picture. And don't get me wrong, we had a guy on our show recently, Kevin Rose, who really dives deep into the stuff of modern finance, and he changed my mind about crypto. He said, Listen, if you're grandma and you really wanted to be stable, you should wait. Wait, let's see what happens. I mentioned central bank digital currency. We should wait and see what's going on. But money is made in these speculative times. This is when money is made. And by the way, this is also when fortunes are lost by fools that invest everything they have. So I think taking part of your speculative money and instead of going down to the casino, purchasing a few pixelated NFTs and maybe investing some money in the newest coin don't let me stop you.
12:49
Peter Dunn
Yeah. Where I get lost is this idea that there's this metaverse in which you spend real money on fake properties. There was this idea of, like, Snoop Dogg owns this metaverse home, and people were bidding like hundreds of thousands of real monies to have their home next to Snoop Dogg. And I was like, what's wrong with you? That makes no sense.
13:18
Joe
It's awesome for the creator. Hey, I make this fake land, I sell fake property, and I follow TikTok. And I love some of these TikTok creators. By the way, there's a great Twitter feed people should follow called TikTok Investors, which is absolutely hilarious, showing just some of the Boeing crazy things people do on TikTok. But there was a woman saying what you say? This young woman, I think, said it fairly succinctly. She's like, I think this is what an NFT is. It's where you say that you own something and it's proof that what you said, that you own stuff is real.
13:59
Peter Dunn
More of this insight to dumb investing. That's the name of your book. Joe Cells Deehigh author, radio host joining this week on the Pete the Planner show Coming up after the break, should we care where Congress people invest? Joe Cells Deehigh author, radio host joining this week on the Pizza Planner show Coming up after the break, should we care where Congress people invest? I do. I'm Pete the planner. This is the show. We hit the post. I mean, I can't. Yeah. I have come to the conclusion I've said on the show with crypto. Here's where I'm currently at. I made at the times aggressive decisions with money via day trading when I was in my early twenty s and because that was the version of crypto then. And so if the modern version of taking speculative risks with your money is crypto, then I probably need to pump the brakes on being old man grumpy about it.
14:44
Peter Dunn
It's just not for me.
14:46
Joe
We talked to Clark Howard recently and Clark is like, I love the technology. The technology is awesome. The blockchain, I mean, I think the NFTs are a great way to prove ownership of things that historically people would fight over ownership and it could speed up the process so much in some of these long transactions and take a ton of middlemen out of it. Like that piece is great.
15:11
Peter Dunn
I want to sell an NFT for claiming the three legged stool approach to retirement planning that everyone's used for the last 80 years. But I'm going to sell the NFT and say, you know what, it's mine.
15:24
Joe
You claim it. I would.
15:26
Peter Dunn
That's what it is.
15:26
Joe
It's a whole new world.
15:29
Peter Dunn
Do you have hot takes about Congresspeople and their investing habits?
15:36
Joe
It feels to me like there is a lot of front running going on. I don't follow it actively because we try to talk about stuff that is stuff we can control and I can't control that. But still I wonder how these people get so wealthy on a job that doesn't I mean, it pays well but doesn't pay that kind of money.
16:07
Peter Dunn
I guess we'll save it for the air, boys. Save it for the air. But I think we can rally around on either sides of the aisle, disliking these people. That's where I'm at. This brings us together. This isn't cynicism, this is unity. Yeah. This is like the Beatles documentary. We're making music to make a difference. Have you seen that by the way?
16:30
Joe
No, I've heard two different things. For creators it's fantastic.
16:36
Peter Dunn
Yes, that's why you should watch it.
16:38
Joe
For the average person it is a sludge. Like it is slow.
16:43
Peter Dunn
My wife is not a creator. She enjoyed it. I am a creator and I loved it. I loved the aspect. They're just 26 year old dudes that obviously had a lot of influence at the time but in that moment they're guys just struggling to come up with something. And how often have you or I sat down to come up with a topic for an article or a podcast or whatever. By no means am I comparing ourselves to the Beatles. But what I am saying no, keep going. You're, Ringo, we've all been there where you're so vulnerable and just naked in the moment of like, yeah, we got to come up with something here or we're screwed. And that's what I liked about the show.
17:28
Joe
Well, the hard part, too, is at that point in their career, they got to come up with something good.
17:33
Peter Dunn
Yeah. It's like your second book.
17:35
Joe
Yes.
17:37
Peter Dunn
Can I give you some advice from a longtime author to a first time author? Can I give you a little bit of advice here?
17:43
Joe
What's that?
17:44
Peter Dunn
Do not describe the process of writing a book as like having a baby. I just want to share this with you that you will alienate over half of your audience immediately upon saying that phrase.
18:00
Joe
That is a money tip. Yeah, that is a muddy tip. Thank you.
18:06
Peter Dunn
You're welcome.
18:06
Joe
Yeah. Like what's? That Brian Regan joke. So when's the baby due?
18:10
Peter Dunn
Yeah.
18:11
Joe
What baby?
18:12
Peter Dunn
Oh, boy, oh, boy. All right, so oh, Levi, friend of the show, let's just put his comments up on the screen. By the way, Joe, I was on your show Money with Friends, and you were showing me how you record and using different streaming technology, and I was like, what do you use? And use something you're like, I should check out this, or this? And so I did. And that's why we stream the show live, is because of that conversation. So thank you for that.
18:35
Joe
Oh, cool. Yeah. And I love this ability to put the people's comments on the screen.
18:42
Peter Dunn
Yeah, I know. Every time I show Levi stuff, I think about it. It looks like a three generation photo with his family, which is lovely. You sell some stock based on something you heard at the water cooler. Insider trading. Congressperson sells some stock based on closed door information. Free market. Yeah. I mean, that's why it's like this isn't even political from what side of the aisle you're on. We can rally against these people in the next segment. Back on the Pete the Planner show special guest co host this week, author of the brand new book Stacked, available December 20, where my books are sold. Back on the Pizza Planner show special guest co host this week, author of the brand new book Stacked, available December 20, where my books are sold. Joe Salt Seahai, host of the award winning podcast Stacking Benjamins. Joe, this here radio show podcast has never, ever won an award.
19:30
Joe
What's up with that?
19:32
Peter Dunn
I don't want to suggest that you try to win awards, because I don't want that. That's where the conversation goes. But I also don't actually have to apply for some of these things or people to nominate you. And people ask to be nominated. I don't know if that's a thing that you do, but I certainly don't I don't. You know what I mean?
19:49
Joe
Yeah, no, there was one recently that was like the webbies or something, and I think it was I don't remember the amount of money. It was like $1,000 to apply. What is a hey, Mom, I want a Webby. And by the way, it was $1,000.
20:04
Peter Dunn
Well, when she steals it, you have her fingerprints on file.
20:07
Joe
I do. I got her. My dad steals it. I got the tire tracks. I'm good.
20:11
Peter Dunn
Yeah. All right. So, Joe, here's the thing. I love to point out in a very haughty way that I'm an independent when it comes to voting affiliation. I have voted Democrat Republican literally in every election in modern times here. I voted for both parties on a similar election, and I take pride in that. Which means I'm really excited to talk today about all of the insider trading that Congress does on a regular basis because of the information they're privy to in their hearings. And they can make trades based on that no one else knows and make a lot of money in the process. This is also why I love former senator from the state of Indiana, richard Luger, who in the 1970s went to Congress and just so you know, did not own a single share of stock by choice or any individual holdings out of ethical concerns that if he did, it could influence him.
21:08
Peter Dunn
And I wish more people were like that. But today, Joe, I bring to you people in Congress who are rated by Business Insider as to be dangerous as it relates to the holdings they have from a financial perspective. So we are naming names today, and I'll be Frank, and you can be Alice. Now, I'll be frank, Joe, I don't even know anything about these people other than they are deemed to be at risk of making insider trading decisions. Are you ready to hit this list?
21:41
Joe
Oh, boy.
21:42
Peter Dunn
There's 13. They're on either side of the aisle. Okay. The weird thing is some of these names, you know, and I'm more scared about the names you don't know.
21:54
Joe
Yeah.
21:55
Peter Dunn
You know what I mean?
21:56
Joe
Yeah. No, absolutely.
21:58
Peter Dunn
All right. So in no particular order, here are the 13 Congress people. And just another side note, always fun to interrupt yourself on your own show. Another side note here. This is not cynicism. This is about fairness. Because, Joe, if you or I traded on this very same information, we would be Martha Stewart. Absolutely. Would we not?
22:22
Joe
Three square meals in a bed that.
22:25
Peter Dunn
Other people pay for in a calf tan. Isn't that what she wore? What's, that sweater thing when she came out of prison? Yeah, it was fashionable. This whole show is about people that hang out with Snoop Dogg, whether it's in the Metaverse or Martha Stewart, and he have become friends. And so, like, this entire episode that you're co hosting because it's you is really about calvin brought us if you're.
22:48
Joe
Looking for the subtext. Hey, and also to cut you off before you begin the list, I got to tell you this. I like fintech stuff. There is now, and I don't have the name in front of me, but there is probably because I don't want people investing this way. But there is now a fintech founder, Pete, who's created a company where you put money into this crowdfunded investment, and they mimic the shares of the things that the people that you're about to talk about buy because they've been so profitable for them. Why not get it? Why not you and I get it on it, too. But what a horrible way to invest when you don't know anything about the company. I just know that this Congressperson who's getting wealthy front running stuff is investing in it.
23:33
Peter Dunn
We are starting with Representative Pat Fallon from Texas, down in your parts.
23:38
Joe
Wow.
23:39
Peter Dunn
Joe, a Republican from Texas in the danger zone. Mr. Fallon? I don't know. Shame on your hope. No, I don't need to do anything like that.
23:48
Joe
I got to tell you, I just got a text from Pat Fallon's office yesterday, and I love the text these congresspeople have, and you can always tell what side of the aisle they're on by the text. Do you think that President Biden's mass mandate is complete and utterly disgusting? Like, no stank at all.
24:11
Peter Dunn
There's no middle ground leading the witness.
24:14
Joe
Do you feel like there's too many criminals in America and that the Democrats are letting it go?
24:20
Peter Dunn
Not a lot of nuance these days.
24:21
Joe
No.
24:24
Peter Dunn
The hall of shame continues with Senator Diane Feinstein. Is it feinstein? Yes. Am I saying that correctly? I think so, yeah. So she's a Democrat from California. She's one that's been on a lot of people's radar in this sense for quite some time, though, if I'm recollecting that correctly, you I remember hearing that 15 years ago, pete, texas again, Representative Lance Gooden, Republican from Texas. Do you have a familiarity with this gentleman?
24:50
Joe
Not at all, but so far, two to one to zero for everybody else. US.
24:55
Peter Dunn
If I'm you, I would spend some time in Texas this weekend, Joe, digging through the trash of some of these people's homes so you can get some better stock deals. You know what I mean? Next up from Tennessee, Republican Diana Harshbarger. If you're just joining us here on the Pete the Planner Show today, I'm naming the 13 congresspeople who are deemed to be high risk from an insider trading standpoint, according to Businessinsider.com. I don't know who Diana Harshbarger is. Which again, I get more scared about this when I don't know who these people are because it's like, well, how did they get there? They have no name recognition. Representative Kevin Hearn from Oklahoma. A Republican. That's sort of it down in your parts. Do you know who Kevin Hearn is?
25:40
Joe
I do not. Unfortunately or fortunately. I'm not sure which side of that I'm supposed to be on, but it's.
25:46
Peter Dunn
Time to get to the money capital of the world. New York Representative, the Republican Chris Jacobs and the hall of Shame as it relates to insider trading and risks with their financial disclosures. I feel like we need a Democrat. Thank God for Susie Lee from Nevada. The Democrat Susie Lee.
26:07
Joe
Yeah. You had Diane Feinstein as well.
26:10
Peter Dunn
Republican win and Democratic women are currently in the hall of Shame at this point in time. Another Democrat, Representative Tom Malinowski from New Jersey, also in the Congress Hall of Shame.
26:24
Joe
Peter, they shine a light at all on what they're buying.
26:27
Peter Dunn
They are. But given the time constraints of this show, I am going look at a 30,000 foot view. But this Business Insider piece is incredible. So just Google Business Insider Conflicted Congress, and it's like an infographic. It's interactive. Representative Sean Patrick, Democrat from New York's, catching up on Texas. Have you noticed this, Joe?
26:49
Joe
I'm getting worried. I want to maintain our lead.
26:53
Peter Dunn
All right, we've got Representative Sean. Oh, it was Sean. Patrick Maloney. It's a three named person, so I assume you know this person.
27:01
Joe
Well, he and I do all kinds of stuff.
27:05
Peter Dunn
And with our 20 seconds left, I blaze through Pennsylvania republican Dan Muser. I blaze through the following names, which is good around the time tommy Tuberville, of course, you can't miss him.
27:16
Joe
No.
27:17
Peter Dunn
Blake Moore and Tom Swozy.
27:21
Joe
Congratulations list.
27:22
Peter Dunn
And by 20 seconds, I meant a minute and 20 seconds because this is the first time I've done a radio show.
27:29
Joe
All right?
27:29
Peter Dunn
So my point, because I'm just reading people's names and trying to shame them on a show in which we talk about how we never shame people. My point is this. It is really hard to make money. It is really hard to invest and have big bonanzas with those investment decisions. Joe, you've been in this financial world for a very long time. You know this. If you have non public information, it's not fair to trade on that.
27:53
Joe
It is absolutely not fair to trade on it. And I remember working with Beck. And I haven't been a financial planner in a long time. But when I was a financial planner, working with people that were presidents, vice presidents, CEOs of companies, and they take it seriously to feel like and I felt this for a long time that there's a double standard between what we hold our elected officials, the standard we hold them to. It seems like it should be the same standard that we're holding CEOs of companies to people that have that information. Let's unify it. Let's get unified, Pete.
28:31
Peter Dunn
We will. And coming up after the break, we're going to talk more about our own financial lives, not the financial lives of Congress. That's all on the Pete the Planner show. I'm Pete the planner. Look, if we only miss one post today, that's great. One out of four is not bad.
28:46
Joe
Did we miss it?
28:46
Peter Dunn
Yeah, it's all right. Insider trading at Congress really upsets me, and I don't care that much about anything, but it upsets me because it is so impure. I don't know. Maybe it's because I grew up in the Midwest, but it just bothers the h*** out of me.
29:06
Joe
I don't know. I mean, people here in our little small town of Texarkana talk about fairness and being nice to other people and bringing your community with you. So I think that we like to take the area that we live and say, hey, this is my kind neighborhood that does that. But I think just to go back to Ein Rand, I feel like when you have human beings, there's a carnal instinct to get ahead, and for some people, they can't.
29:50
Peter Dunn
Oh, you back. Joe's signal is frozen up. This is fun. Joe, for whatever reason, your screen froze. So, podcast listeners, thank God we're not on the radio right now. Joe is making a point that I'm probably one of the best looking podcast hosts in the nation, and he's making that assumption based on the fact that we look exactly alike, which is sort of interesting. Are you back, Joe?
30:15
Joe
Apparently I am. Yeah. I had to take a little break there, Pete. My Internet here in the hinterlands. Decided it needed a rest. We've been on for a while.
30:25
Peter Dunn
I loved that. You start talking about Congress and your signal goes out. You tell me they're not watching. You tell me they're not watching. I will note this, and I don't know why I'm well, actually, we're not on the radio, so I'm okay talking about this. A lot of our radio show broadcasts on a lot of conservative talk radio. So it's not that I don't express particular views while we're on the radio, but sometimes there's no need to poke the bear. But I did want to cover this. Do you have thoughts on the Elizabeth Warren Elon Musk Twitter meltdown this week?
31:00
Joe
I saw it from 5000ft. I had some family stuff going on, and I saw one tweet by Musk. I didn't see the original Elizabeth Warren stuff. I've only seen his side. I haven't seen her side. I saw him earlier with Bernie Sanders.
31:19
Peter Dunn
Yeah, I'm sure. Joe, you and I disagree on something. I'm sure we do. But I feel like if you and I disagreed with each other on it, we probably wouldn't try to burn down each other's house in the process. Right? And I hate the idea that you have to hate the people you disagree with. That's my take on the Elon musk Elizabeth Warren thing. Elon Musk is like, wearing out his welcome, in my mind, to the contributions he's making at large. Do you have particular stance on him and how he runs a company as a CEO and consistently manipulates the markets with his tweets?
32:01
Joe
Well, I mean, he's been censured, right? That's how bad it is for him. He's a brilliant marketer. He's a great futurist. I mean, he says outlandish things that other people don't say, so he inspires the people that he works with to get things done. That other people won't do.
32:20
Peter Dunn
That's fair.
32:20
Joe
So I love that. What bothers me is some of the circus act at the top. What bothers me most is that I feel like your organization, my organization are built on trust with the people that are around us and reading his book and seeing people like the woman who is his right hand person. I don't know how much you know about Elon Musk's background, but the woman who is his right hand person knew him better than anybody, knew everything about him, took care of him. He just decided one day, let's see if I can do this without you and let her go. In the piece that I read, and you always have to watch out for what you're reading, but in the piece I read, that seemed pretty fair, pretty balanced. It just seemed very callous, incredibly. Well, you know what? I realized I don't need her anymore.
33:13
Joe
So I decided that, hey, I'm just going to let her go. Imagine if I had a career working with you for 25 years. I think everything's going great. I come in one day with my lunch and you're like, Joe, I'm just going to try a while, seeing if I can do this without you. And then I think I'm going to let you go. Seems like there's some warning system. I can see it coming, but this seemed like a broad side. So I don't know. The relationship piece that you're pointing to, burning things down is what bothers me. But the showmanship isn't. The Internet just becoming a nasty place.
33:48
Peter Dunn
Oh, yeah. And I have to say, I have not been super active on social media in the last 18 months because it's just been way too anxiety inducing for me. And I'm not even embarrassed to say I can't mentally handle doom scrolling through Twitter as long and hard as my days are to pour that on top as the toxicity, I just can't do it. And so that's why I've just not been as fun on those platforms. But then, Joe, the other side of that is, yeah, I realized we're public figures and we're content creators. I stopped realizing or started realizing that I don't owe sharing aspects of my daily existence with a platform. Like like I don't owe the world, and by the way, the world doesn't care. You just convince yourself that your Tweets matter, but they don't. And so that was, for me, an eye opening experience.
34:45
Joe
Well, I think there's another side of that, though, which is I took an MIT class on social media this spring because I just couldn't I've been doing it for a long time, but I didn't feel like for people have been doing finance for as long as you and I. You feel like somebody brings you a question and you have a solid hull of the ship that you're working from when it comes to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, I'm just throwing crap out there. I'm not doing any we really don't care. I love that.
35:13
Peter Dunn
How did you get involved with that Mississippi Institute of Technology course?
35:17
Joe
Yes.
35:18
Peter Dunn
How are you able to do that?
35:19
Joe
Thank you for seeing through my flex, right? Actually, it was referred to me by a friend. I have a coach who taught me, always ask who, not how. Don't ask how. If you ask how to do something, you're going to get in the weeds and you're not going to achieve your mission. But if you ask either who can do it, which is the right question, or if you really have to do it yourself, who is the teacher that you will respect and get the most from? I said, for me, with social media, it's got to be MIT, because you and I get people that aren't creators don't know this, but Pete gets probably, I'm going to say, seven or eight times a week, some social media shyster telling him, hey, I know the secret to increase your viewership, to increase your reach. And it's all this snake oil stuff.
36:11
Joe
And I thought, okay, I'm sure there is a way, but I need the right who. And for me, an academic institution like Mississippi Institute of Technology was the place to go. But you know what they taught me, though, pete, you can't not play.
36:28
Peter Dunn
This is the sad thing I know.
36:30
Joe
Not play. It's the only way that you're going to find your community. People like you and I are going to repel people who aren't like us. We're going to bring into the fold people that like us. And by the way, I mean like us. I don't mean people that look like me. I mean people that are of a similar outlook on life. And so you got to play and you got to play the algorithm games, which is why I now have a TikTok channel and learn how to dance.
37:00
Peter Dunn
Yeah, nothing like doing air traffic controller signals on the Internet to teach people money advice on TikTok.
37:06
Joe
You know what I'm going to do? We are actually in the next couple of weeks, I'm doing this. I'm making my first TikTok video where I do the stupid pointing thing because I do truly think it's stupid. I'm going to point here and the words are going to come up over here, and I'm going to look all confused, and I'm going to point down here and the words are going to come up there, and I'm just going to get lost in it.
37:24
Peter Dunn
I've decided I think I've crossed the Rubicon into old guy because I get so mad when I see financial TikToks. And it's like, well, why do you care? And it's like, because on some level, it's just really dumb. And I was like, well, people see value in it. It's like, I don't know, this old guy thinks it's done. But anyway, let's go back to the show. Coming up, we're going to do.
37:52
Joe
Your.
37:53
Peter Dunn
Favorite financial metrics in your own life to sort of get a snapshot of what's going on. So we've got some proprietary ones. We'll talk through the classics. And so this segment is nine minutes and 40 seconds if you're keeping score on your abacus. Okay, in three, two, one. Back on the Pete the Planner show. Special guest co host this week, the author of Stacked Your Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management, Joe Saul Seahai. Also the creator and co host of Stacking Benjamins, why do you list yourself as a co host? Who's the other host?
38:30
Joe
OG.
38:31
Peter Dunn
Yeah, I'm always on the panel.
38:34
Joe
Yes.
38:34
Peter Dunn
And so I'm never on the that's right. There's more of the show than the panel.
38:38
Joe
Yes. When you're on the so we have a Monday Wednesday Friday format for people who've never heard us. On Monday and Wednesday. It's OG the CFP in the room. I stopped being a financial planner twelve years ago, OG. And I co host the show on Friday. OG is often on the panel with people like you and Paul A. Pant from Afford Anything, who I think a lot of people know. Len Penzo from Lenpenzo.com. But we dive into those, and then I just lead that panel, and we have so much fun on Friday. So Friday is a fun episode of smart financial people talking. Monday Wednesday is OG, and I diving in with a guest with a great idea.
39:16
Peter Dunn
Yeah. Does Paula still have her podcast as well?
39:18
Joe
She does, yeah.
39:19
Peter Dunn
I want to encourage people that want a different perspective on the financial world to subscribe to Paula Pants podcast. She's so smart. I have to admit, I'm intimidated talking to her. When I'm on the panel with her, I always get the feel she's a very nice person. I always get the feeling I say something and she's like, Joe, who is this guy? Who is this guy?
39:42
Joe
She's so good at it because she has that pause. Yeah, she has a little pause, Pete. Okay.
39:48
Peter Dunn
Yeah. It feels judgmental, but I know she's not being not at all.
39:51
Joe
Yeah.
39:52
Peter Dunn
Speaking of judgmental, at this time of year, it is good to judge your own finances from an objective perspective. All right, so, Joe, you know this I'm a nerd, which is why we get along. December 29, December 30, sometime 31st, if I'm feeling randy, I will pull up a spreadsheet and I will run Mrs. Planner, and I's net worth update for the year. And it's my favorite thing to do, and I really enjoy it. I get a lot of value at it, and then we do some other things financially on that day. So I just want to go through and see these are two financial experts. What are the things that you actually do on your own that you super value about your financial life as it relates to getting a snapshot of what's going on? So does that track here? What is something that you and Cheryl do to make your financial lives better?
40:49
Peter Dunn
From a snapshot standpoint.
40:53
Joe
We actually take a little snapshot every week. We have a weekly budget meeting and we didn't used to have a weekly budget meeting. So this does not directly answer your question of this time of year because I also like the net worth statement this time of year. It's like, how much has the kid grown, right? And you put your little line on the wall behind the kid. My financial life. But really the key for us and the thing that I use is that we used to fight about money fairly regularly and it was tough. We had twins and they were young and managing a household, and we would both come home. This is when it really got bad. We would come home and I'd walk in the door with something really important to the family. And so would she. So, as an example, she would walk in with kids school clothes for the upcoming school year, and I'd walk in with a hot new video game.
41:44
Joe
And both were, like, equally important to the family. And then we'd have this discussion because we didn't have money to buy both. So we solved that with a very quick weekly meeting. I use Marcus insights, by the way. I have no affiliation with this company. Used to be Clarity money to look through just our transactions the last week. How do we spend money? And then we look at our expenses for the next week, and we always do it. Pete. To make sure it's fun, we set a timer for 20 minutes. And we also do it over pancakes or wine, depending on the time of day.
42:16
Peter Dunn
Do you listen to like Tom Jones? I mean, are you listening to just, like, really sultry music?
42:22
Joe
Yeah. The lights are low. Candles? Yes. And Spreadsheet. Absolutely. That's the trifecta.
42:30
Peter Dunn
Do you guys have separate accounts or do you have one joint checking account?
42:35
Joe
We have separate accounts, but we manage them together because we are both busy, professional people and I just need to be able to spend money when I need to spend money. And we found when we tried one account for a while, this didn't work. But having two accounts and being transparent about it. Yeah.
42:55
Peter Dunn
Do you walk around knowing your aggregate rate of return for the year on your portfolio? Do you end up knowing it? Yeah. Me Neither. I was asking this question, like, should I lie and say I do? Because I don't. I have no idea. I do know how much my net worth has gone up. But that includes a lot of other things that aren't necessarily rate of return.
43:15
Joe
I'll tell you what I do know. I do know what my long term goals are. And once a quarter I look at am I ahead or behind? And then if I'm behind, I ask the question, why is it the market that's behind? And if that's the case, then do I need to save more money to fill in the gap? Because the market is going to come back. We'll have a reversion of the mean. Is it my investment strategy that's wrong? And then I work on my investment policy statement if that's the key, because I always want to work on the machine and not react to just this one condition or is there something else? And so once a quarter, I look at these milestones and say, am I ahead or behind? So I've done all the assumptions about what return I need early on, and then I set up a portfolio based on that, and then I just check the milestones because for a lot of us, these goals we're chasing are 20 years away.
44:04
Joe
And so I like to stay excited. I got a little bit of Add, so if I can stay excited about it once a quarter, that makes it much easier.
44:11
Peter Dunn
You are remarkably close to that billion dollar goal of yours. Do you think you achieve it in 20 years? Do you think it'll take 21 years till you hit the three comma club?
44:21
Joe
I think probably two months, three months. If this NFT thing takes off that I'm launching, I think we'll be good.
44:29
Peter Dunn
Someone's confused right now, and I love that. Do you have an investment advisor or a financial planner or do you have someone you run stuff up against or given that you did this for a living, do you do it yourself?
44:40
Joe
Oh, I love this. And this is a huge part of my book because of the fact that I think we all need advisors. And I have one. And the reason I have one is I like being the dumbest person in the room about my goals. And the second thing is I'm in a team. Cheryl his or my stuff over and over. If I say it, okay. But if he says it's a whole different thing. But here's the type of advisor I like. I don't like the advisor where I hand it over to my advisor and then I say, hey, I'll see you in six months. You take care of all the stuff and just call me later. I want an advisor that makes me smarter. And so a great analogy that I like. I'm being a Detroit guy. Mary Barra and General Motors, just taking this legacy company and turning it to still be relevant today is this huge feat that I think a lot of people don't understand.
45:39
Joe
Mary with her advisors, right, the people that run the divisions. She doesn't not know anything about anything. Doesn't go to any of the meetings anymore. Just shows up twice a year and you guys tell me how this car thing is going. Probably doesn't do that. She still dives into the Pizza Planner show. She knows all the stuff that's going on, but she also surrounds herself with really smart people in every of her life. So I have a diet coach that kicks my button. Listen, you don't have to pay for coaching like I do, but certainly finding somebody who's really fit and talking to them and holding each other accountable is so great. Having advisors, I think, is a fantastic way to get where you're going.
46:21
Peter Dunn
This portion of the program brought to you by Chevy Volt I'm sorry. Joe Salt Sehai joins me as guest co host on the show, author of his first book, which honestly still makes me feel bad that I assumed you've written more. But also so glad you wrote this one. Stacked your Super Serious Guide to Modern money Management. Joe wrote it with his friend Emily guy Birkin. Did I see she's like a tattoo artist or something, or she went, what did I see about her?
46:50
Joe
This is a fantastic story of Emily. When she was very young, she had a very tight budget. Her grandmother died, and she wanted to celebrate by getting a tear on her shoulder. And it turns out she found out later on a she didn't have the money for the tattoo, but she really wanted to honor grandma. She found out later that in Gangland, a tear on your shoulder meant that you were a stone cold killer. So she was a substitute teacher at the time, and she walked in and all the kids immediately thought instead of being a nerd, that she was incredibly scary.
47:22
Peter Dunn
I love that.
47:23
Joe
Very scary. Yeah.
47:24
Peter Dunn
So she wasn't a tattoo artist. I saw the word tattoo and just called her a tattoo artist. Before we go to the break, I've told the story of the show before I once was speaking, and the person introduced me. This is like, in California. It's like a big thing. The person starts co host of this, author of that, former singer and actor. And I was like, she started making stuff up. It was crazy. Coming up after the break, biggest waste of money, the week in the news. Right here on the Pizza Planner show. I'm Pete the Planner. It was wild. It was wild. People have gotten carried away with intros for you before. They had to have.
48:00
Joe
Yes, but I think I've done this to you. I, like, overdoing the intro to the point that my audience knows it just back from counseling the Pope about their money. Ladies and gentlemen, Pete Dunn.
48:13
Peter Dunn
Yeah, intros are weird, especially when we used to be in person places, because if the crowd can see you about to go to stage and they're reading this long bio, you don't know where to look. Are you looking at the speaker? Are you just sort of stone faced? Are you nodding like h***? Yeah, I did that.
48:31
Joe
What do you do? This guy.
48:33
Peter Dunn
Yeah, right here, buddy.
48:35
Joe
And we skipped three quarters of them. Yeah. You know what I've done now that I have done lots of intros I find I generally throw out. I'll look at the bio and I'll talk about the bio a little bit, but I think with our audience, my role is often to just talk about our relationship and why I respect that person and I find that comes off way more authentic. I hate the word authentic overused, but it is far more genuine when, hey, here's why I like Pete. Here's what he says. Here's what Pete does. Ladies and gentlemen, pete, I do actually.
49:18
Peter Dunn
Like your about the author for your new book that Penguin Random House put out. I assume you wrote it, maybe you didn't. I'm going to read it because I think it's a really good example of what we're talking about where it doesn't talk about your experience with yourself, which would be some sort of inversion of humanity. I find it interesting because it doesn't get too caught up with your accomplishments, but it gives a real good flavor of who you are. Joe Sal Sehai learned from failure, destroying his credit immediately after leaving home. He had to learn about money the hard way and much of it as he was telling other people how to manage their money as a financial advisor. By the way, I do love how they kept advisor with an O and they didn't copy edit it to an E, which drives me absolutely bonkers.
50:00
Peter Dunn
After 16 years in the industry, he moved to financial media, creating Stacking Benjamins, one of the most listened to podcasts in the personal finance sphere. Kiplinger has called the show the best personal finance podcast in Fast Company has described it as striking a great balance between fun and functional. You're like crocs. Joe lives in Texarkana with his spouse Cheryl and Kat Cooper, recording shows in his mom's basement next door. That's a really good app out. Did you write it?
50:27
Joe
I did write it, yeah.
50:29
Peter Dunn
I could tell. It's good, though. I mean, it's good.
50:34
Joe
I had somebody and once again were talking while were on the show about mentors and coaches and I had coaches tell me that at some point you need to rewrite your bio, that quits defending who you are and just kind of says, I'm here. Here's who I am.
51:03
Peter Dunn
I'm learning some I'm really reading like Zen of the Motorcycle, whatever that book is, I feel like we're just living.
51:08
Joe
It today for the Motorcycle Vegas. Yes. Pete, by the way, as I'm sure people like Levi hanging out, I feel like he's my brother by another mother and every time we get together we have these discussions and I hang up and then I don't talk to Pete for like eight more months.
51:24
Peter Dunn
Totally what's going to happen. But you're coming to Indy to promote your book at some point. When is this?
51:29
Joe
Yes, we hit the road January 5 and I will be indie. Let me scroll, let me scroll.
51:39
Peter Dunn
Whatever date you're going to say? I'm going to say I'm unavailable, but go ahead. Give us a date.
51:43
Joe
I'm sorry, I can't make it that day. It's as if I'm inviting you to help me move furniture.
51:50
Peter Dunn
I'm sorry.
51:52
Joe
Hold my joints had a thing. Oh, but, Pete, I'll have pizza and beer.
51:56
Peter Dunn
Yeah, thanks.
51:57
Joe
I'm not falling for that again because I fell for that too often when I was younger. All right, where is it? I will be we'll be indy, Friday the 18 February.
52:07
Peter Dunn
All right, so let's do that. Do you need to do, like listen, we're talking business here. Do you want to do, like, financial media or, like, television stuff? That or not?
52:17
Joe
Absolutely.
52:17
Peter Dunn
All right, let's connect, please. I hook you up.
52:19
Joe
Please. That'd be great.
52:22
Peter Dunn
All right, let's do the final segment. So, final segment, biggest waste of money of the week. Then Dame sent me his current events for the week. So I'll read those, and you can react and be funny, which shouldn't be a problem. Then we will end the show, and then we will say goodbye to everyone on the podcast, and then you and I can talk about how well this went after we end the broadcast, just.
52:39
Joe
How brilliant we are.
52:40
Peter Dunn
Yeah. So this is nine minutes and 40 seconds for those that care, which means me and the person editing the show at the station in three, two wait, not yet. Oh, I always do that. I wasn't ready. Here we go. This is what I want to do here, and I want to go here, and I want to go this week's biggest waste of money of the week right here on the Pete the Planner show is every week on the show, the bomb. Biggest waste of money is how we start the four segment. And I've been doing this for well over a decade. Each week, I peruse the Internet for hours, trying to find the worst use of your hard earned dollars every single week. This week, I've chosen the Hype Levitating sneaker display stand.
53:28
Joe
Look at that.
53:29
Peter Dunn
I know, it's incredible. Over the last 13 plus years, sneakers have gone from humble foot coverings to pop culture artifacts. Problem is, most of us aren't leaving shoeboxes out in our living room for guests to enjoy. The Hype Lev allows sneakers to be displayed and enjoyed like the works of art they are. A powerful magnet slides into the shoe against the heel, while the C shaped Levitator manipulates magnetic currents to suspend the shoe in midair. And a small air hole causes it to slowly spin for added drama. White Led provide illumination to highlight small details and enable nighttime viewing. Available in black or white, it works with shoes up to size 15 with a weight of up to 2.2 pounds. So, Joe, you can display a single shoe in your living room for your family to enjoy for just $249.
54:24
Joe
I think this is brilliant. I think this would be do you know the shoe that I'd want to put there? Like the shoe I was wearing when I had the slow dance of my life in junior high with my Brit spalding.
54:36
Peter Dunn
Oh, see, that's a nice memory. I think of, like, if you're going out to clean up after your dog and you step in it and you don't want to get it on the carpet, you just levitate it.
54:45
Joe
Look at what I did out there.
54:47
Peter Dunn
Yeah, we've all wanted Levitating shoes, but I think we want to be in the shoes.
54:51
Joe
Yes. Well, I'm thinking when I ran my fastest marathon, I could put that it's dirty, it's muddy, it's whatever, but you just levitate it, and people are like, why are you levitating that shoe? Oh, it's a great story. I was in Memphis, and I ran this marathon that really wasn't that fast, but it was fast for me.
55:07
Peter Dunn
As I was telling you earlier, maybe between the break, I've transitioned into full geezer, I am cantankerous. I don't want shoes to be that important. You know what I mean? I'm at a point where I don't actually want to be friends with anyone that's like, hey, man, you want to see my shoe? It's in the dining room. I love shoes. I love boots. Like, I got a shoe problem. I'm the Melda Marcos of the financial world, but I'm not levitating it.
55:35
Joe
I think, though, see, my shoe is far better than smell my shoe. Do you want to smell my shoe, Pete?
55:41
Peter Dunn
Yeah. There needs to be a book on the different senses that you can experience with shoes.
55:46
Joe
The key here, though, is levitation. It's not see my shoe. It's that I'm levitating my shoe. Like, that's quite a flex. Yeah. I can bring this out of the closet, but instead, I'm just going to levitate it, because that's natural.
55:58
Peter Dunn
It's like, you go to your friend Gary's house, and he's trying to convince you that he's like some low budget David Blaine who likes to play basketball. It's like, Gary, we get it. You spent $249 on a shoe levitator. Joe here's what's in the news this week. Sales of the canned cooked meat spam have hit a record high for the 7th year in a row, despite the pandemic related challenges that helped Hormel, the company that makes the iconic brand, deliver record sales of 3.5 billion. Wow. Almost your net worth in the three months to the end of October. The firm's boss said it will start work on expanding its range of spam products next year. Hormel shares rose by almost 6% in New York this past week on Thursday alone joe, let's just cut to the chase here. Have you tried spam, and do you like it?
56:50
Joe
I have never had it, and it's been around. It was even there during my childhood. I've never once had spam. Have you had spam?
56:57
Peter Dunn
I have, and it's fine. People like to make fun of they say. Culture. It's like, oh, what's the name of that the band everyone makes fun of?
57:05
Joe
Nickelback.
57:06
Peter Dunn
Nickelback. It's like nickelback stings. Do they? I don't know. But Spam's fine, it tastes fine, and Nickelback is perfectly good.
57:13
Joe
Here's her photograph.
57:15
Peter Dunn
They do suck. Yeah. Nancy Pelosi believes that if she wants to yolo into AMC or Peloton, that's her right as a citizen in a free market economy at her weekly press conference Wednesday. Joe, you watch that every week, right?
57:30
Joe
It's must see TV, they call it.
57:33
Peter Dunn
How can you see by the Levitating sneaker on your coffee table?
57:39
Joe
Well, I make sure that my guest has the Levitating speaker between the TV and them so I can show them I'm sitting off to the side like a good host.
57:49
Peter Dunn
The House Speaker said she is against any potential bans of congressional members and their spouses holding or trading individual stocks. This year, young traders flocked to social media to share the newest investment. Hack copy all of Nancy's moves. Because of the Stock Act, sitting lawmakers and their families can trade individual stocks, but have to disclose them within 45 days. Most of the Pelosi's household trades comes from her husband because she became the face of the Follow the House Leader investing strategy. Taking into account her husband's assets, pelosi is one of the wealthiest members of Congress. We talked about that earlier in the show. I am all for banning individual stockage or at least put him in a blind trust.
58:30
Joe
Sure.
58:30
Peter Dunn
At the very least.
58:31
Joe
Absolutely. If your husband's out there trading and talks to you at dinner most nights. Yeah.
58:39
Peter Dunn
I would love if my husband actually talked to me at dinner. I'm going to be honest, he just looks right past me.
58:44
Joe
It's like you're not even there.
58:46
Peter Dunn
Yeah. Bruce Springsteen sold his music rights to Sony Music Entertainment for a reported $500 to $600 million. I have the largest sum ever paid for an individual artist's body of work. Are you a fan of the boss?
58:59
Joe
Kind of. You know what's funny is that I'm a casual like the music, but I got invited to a concert once and went and had a huge new respect for the hardest working band in America.
59:14
Peter Dunn
Yeah, the E Street Band. They get after it. I'm not a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. I appreciate him. Other artists tend to inspire me a little bit more. That's a diplomatic way of saying I can name one of his songs.
59:28
Joe
Born to run.
59:29
Peter Dunn
Yeah. If Courtney Cox was in the video, I probably know it. I don't know, but I'm 44, so The Boss is a few years ahead of me in terms of his mass popularity, so I would have had to grab on late.
59:42
Joe
Yeah. See, I'm 53. I was there. I think I was graduating from high school when Born in the USA came out.
59:48
Peter Dunn
Is it bad for me or good for you that we look to be the same age?
59:53
Joe
I think it's good for me? Yes, because Pete looks adorably young, which when people tell me I look adorably young, they're my BFF. You want to get on my good side, just tell me how young I look.
01:00:05
Peter Dunn
Speaking of looking young, she may be married to former US president Donald J. Trump, but now you too can stare into the cobalt blue eyes of Melania Trump at the touch of a button with your very own piece of trendy digital art. The former first lady has jumped into the latest internet craze by launching a non fungible token in NFT just in time for Christmas. It puts Melania right in the middle of a fashion frenzy and high tech art circles through critic. Though critics may regard it as the latest attempt by the Trump family to cash in on political success, she believes that her foray into being a public figure allows her to make money on this and she's going to donate some of the proceeds. So, Joe, I'll put it to you, how many non fungible tokens are you buying for your wife for this holiday season that involve Melania Trump?
01:00:55
Joe
That is my business and nobody else's. But I will say this. Remember the free Brittany campaign?
01:01:01
Peter Dunn
Yeah.
01:01:03
Joe
If people have a problem with this, I think we should have a similar free Melania to buy create as many NFTs as she wants campaign. I think this is important stuff and if you're spending time on other things, I think you're wasting your time.
01:01:22
Peter Dunn
So we have to assume there are fungible tokens. Right.
01:01:26
Joe
I've wondered that same thing. By the way, does sarcasm play on the radio? I don't know if it is.
01:01:30
Peter Dunn
I just want you to know everyone on the radio has now just quit their job to issue NFTs because of your free Brittany reference that got lost.
01:01:41
Joe
Crackle Joe's obscurity just does not play. But yeah, fungible don't go with a fungible token because you sink right into those ones. The non fungible ones are the ones you want. When I walk into when I walk into Walmart and I'm looking for tokens, send me to the non fungible section.
01:01:58
Peter Dunn
The fungible gets you. It's like what those non parallel Perryl looks like glitter. You put them on candy. You know what I'm talking about? They're called like non parallels or parallels parallel. Anyway.
01:02:15
Joe
When I think about fungible, I think about poking the stay puff marshmallow man like he's fungible. Isn't that isn't that what fungible means?
01:02:22
Peter Dunn
Joe, thank you so much for being on the show this week as guest co host. As Damien has a week off, we wish you best of luck with your brand new book that I want everyone to purchase, stacked your super serious guide to modern money management, available December 20, wherever books are sold, sending everyone else good vibes because good vibes are all that's in the budget. I'm Pete the planner. Happy holidays. So I'm going to get canceled for not saying, Merry Christmas, Joe. This was fun. You want to say anything to the audience here?
01:02:50
Joe
Which, if you said Merry Christmas, you get canceled. For saying Happy holidays. For not saying Happy Holidays. You know what I mean?
01:02:59
Peter Dunn
Well, again, my show is primarily on, like, conservative radio.
01:03:05
Joe
Got you.
01:03:05
Peter Dunn
So if I say Happy holidays, then I am getting canceled.
01:03:09
Joe
Yes. What's interesting is we are part of cumulus Westwood One's podcast build out, and we're not on the radio, but it's interesting to look at the names that John Wardock leading the charge in personal finance that he's bringing on versus because the radio westwood One has been known for two things. One is sports, which is how I grew up with sports in Westwood One and conservative talk radio. But then you look at the personal finance section, and I feel like we're getting to you said this earlier. I feel like I'm one of the few moderates left in America. You can't be moderate, man. You got to have an opinion, and it's got to be on the sides. We can't work together. So as a moderate, I feel like John Wardock, the head of that is kind of trying to balance the scale a little bit.
01:04:04
Peter Dunn
Yeah. We got a podcast review or something once on itunes, and it said, I'm sick of this centrist BS. And I'm like, what am I supposed to a centrist is not upset by that.
01:04:21
Joe
I had somebody tell us recently on Twitter, I used to listen all the time, and one episode, I smelled a hint of Woke, and I'm a diehard capitalist, and so I won't listen anymore. So you smelled it one time, by the way, two days earlier. You can go look at we had a one star review that turns out that I apparently do not get angry about a major religious group, and I should. And there is a sponsor of our show that is a member of a major religious group, and the fact that I let them exist without speaking against them is apparently a big problem to this person. And I thought that if you're I don't know. And this is cynicism, and I'll apologize. Guys, maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but if your day boils down to getting angry at your finance podcast because one of their sponsors is a member of a religious group that we've all heard of and that's your go to anger button, you need something new.
01:05:38
Peter Dunn
I don't want to speak for the rest of the country, but in the words of Greta Thunberg, how dare you? How dare you?
01:05:47
Joe
I can't say it now, but I will tell you who it is, and you'll be even more incredulous. You'd be like, really? Okay.
01:05:53
Peter Dunn
Yeah. The weird thing is and I want to maybe put the cast chris is here.
01:05:59
Joe
Chris. Chris is a friend hanging out with us, too.
01:06:04
Peter Dunn
Awesome.
01:06:04
Joe
Chris is cheating on me.
01:06:06
Peter Dunn
No. Hey, look, we have a lot of crossover audit. People love the balding, middle aged men.
01:06:12
Joe
I was talking about this with Cheryl recently. There's a guy that you need to know, and I actually told him that he needs to know you as well because you've done stand up.
01:06:23
Peter Dunn
Sure.
01:06:24
Joe
Do you know Paul Ollinger?
01:06:26
Peter Dunn
No.
01:06:27
Joe
So Paul Ollinger looks like us. He's a member of the club and he's a funny comedian who talks about money. He's got a show called Crazy Money, which is he goes into some pretty deep topics, but he's a funny guy. One of my favorite pieces of stand up that he's done is you know what's a great thing to do, Pete, when you pay your bills on time? Answer the phone. Like, it's wonderful.
01:06:58
Peter Dunn
Even for people who ate talking on the phone, the fact that it's not someone guilting you into the decisions you've made in the past, it's good. Right job, before you go, what's the best page of your new book?
01:07:10
Joe
Oh, the best. Holy cow. I like the jokes in the book. I know you're asking for a two word answer, but I'm just going to set this up a little bit. We were nomads at the time, and that's a whole nother story, but I wrote a lot of this in Vermont, in Stowe, Vermont. And were in this condo, and I would go out in the afternoon and evening for a couple of hours to write 2000 words, and I'd sit with a microbrew because there's lots of great microbrews there. And I was generally into my second beer. And Cheryl can hear me laughing my head off as I'm writing some of the jokes in this book. And when we came up with Emily and I, your growing budget and you with that title, and my voice cracked because I'm creating my first budget and mom says, well, that's okay.
01:08:10
Joe
It happens to everybody. It's just your growing budget and you.
01:08:14
Peter Dunn
But it's funny.
01:08:16
Joe
I don't know where that came from. And you know, when you write, there's just this stuff that comes that is just out there. There's another joke that actually our editor wanted to take out.
01:08:25
Peter Dunn
Emily and I got to fight for it, man.
01:08:28
Joe
Well, our editor was a ninja, and we both agreed that if Nina says it needs to go, it will go. But we gave ourselves one. And the one joke that I really liked in the book that Nina wanted to take out was I'm talking about the fact that you probably can't take it with you. I've never been in the afterlife. I've never been to heaven, but I have been to Vermont, and those people tell me it's the same thing. And I still think that's funny as h*** because not only do I like Vermont, you talk to people from Vermont, it's like you're talking to a CrossFitter. Right? Yeah. They stop people they don't know at the moment. Can you tell? I do CrossFit. Oh, I love CrossFit. CrossFit is fantastic.
01:09:07
Peter Dunn
I'm from Vermont.
01:09:08
Joe
Yes, I live in Vermont. But anyway, so Nina wanted to take that on. Like no, that one. Still I've read that joke 50 times.
01:09:16
Peter Dunn
Telling you it well, 50,000 people will appreciate that. All the people who probably live in Vermont. Joe, thanks for bait on the show this week.
01:09:23
Joe
Thanks a ton, Pete.
01:09:24
Peter Dunn
No, my pleasure. If you are in the Indianapolis area and you're listening to this podcast and or live stream, please come see Joe February 18. Friday, February 18. I tried to remember that date. It could be wrong. That could not even be a date that exists.
01:09:38
Joe
I hit the road january 5, though in Dallas, Texas We'll be in Dallas on the fifth, Austin on the 6th, Houston on the 7th, and then we head to the West Coast. But if you want to see the whole thing, the whole schedule and come hang out with other financial people, stackybenjamins.com Stacked has the whole tour, but the best stop is right here with this guy.
01:09:59
Peter Dunn
Thank you. Merry Christmas to all of you, and happy holidays. So, as we I always end the show with a phrase from your favorite rapper, E 40.
01:10:09
Joe
Yes.
01:10:09
Peter Dunn
Do you know Earl?
01:10:11
Joe
I do not.
01:10:12
Peter Dunn
Okay, you probably shouldn't. So this is how we end the show. Joe, you stick around, though, because you and I got to talk shop. Hey, everybody, stay getting money.
