00:00
Peter Dunn
You? Have you ever started your day and thought, you know, this day may not go the way I wanted it to go? And that's how my day started. As I pressed the little button in my garage to raise the wonderful garage door, nothing. My eyes captured a broken spring above the garage door and I thought to myself, it I'm going to have to lift a 500 pound garage door, or whatever the heck it is. Probably not that to start my day so I can get out my vehicles and put the trash out. And that's how my day started. Ladies and gentlemen, it's the Pete the Planner Show, where I'm here to levy all my grievances against humanity and mechanical parts. Joining me from the world famous Alaniuses Kristen. Ahlenius. Hello, Kristen.
00:49
Speaker 2
Hello.
00:51
Peter Dunn
And Damian dunn. No relation. You and I were in a business presentation yesterday and we both ran to disclaim each other as lineage.
01:05
Speaker 3
I think that says a lot about us.
01:07
Peter Dunn
I think it does. I hate the concept of nepotism, so I think that is the ringing idea there. How about the yeah, go ahead.
01:15
Speaker 3
You're really quick to say that when you're talking to people who we aren't doing business with too well.
01:22
Peter Dunn
Because I don't like nepotism. You know what I'm saying? Good morning, Rick Swink. Good morning, Andy. Hope you all are well. So, Dame, I spoke to a group of school superintendents yesterday, and I want you guys to tell me if my opening joke was, oh, no. Okay, go up there, ladies. Peter Dunn. That's me. That's people clapping and me walking up and I said, I want you all to think back when you were merely about I want you to think about how far you've come.
01:58
Speaker 3
I get it. I would have chuckled.
02:01
Peter Dunn
Superintendents. And they were just intendants and now they're superintendents.
02:05
Speaker 3
Did they get it?
02:08
Peter Dunn
I don't know. Kristen, the face you're making.
02:10
Speaker 2
I'm sorry.
02:11
Peter Dunn
I feel like you should verbalize it.
02:12
Speaker 2
For those that want my face. Tells the whole story. We've talked about that. I didn't get it. That's on me, though. It's not your fault that I was too slow.
02:24
Peter Dunn
That was pretty clever. How's everybody doing, Kristen? You good? Everything good with you?
02:29
Speaker 2
Yeah, things are good.
02:31
Peter Dunn
Dame house fresh air is coming along. Yeah. Dame. Oh, by the way, let's talk about why there wasn't a show last week. Oh, yeah. Two of the three people that make this show possible were in their basements with COVID So one was me, the other one was my brother, Damian Dunn.
02:54
Speaker 3
Guilty.
02:56
Peter Dunn
And the weird thing is, I gave it to him on a Zoom call on Tuesday. He and I were on a Zoom call on Tuesday. I said, Bye, budy, love you. I blew him a kiss through Zoom, gave him my COVID.
03:08
Speaker 3
That's why they call it COVID video induced sickness.
03:13
Peter Dunn
So anyway, COVID y'all still here, apparently. Kristen, you know, communicable diseases that you want to disclose. You good?
03:21
Speaker 2
I'm good. I took the day off, though, because we don't take Fridays off a lot around here. That's pretty nice. It was pretty nice.
03:30
Peter Dunn
Good for you. I'll to check the PTO logs. Okay, everybody, let's do a show today. We're going to do our first look at our stock picks of the year. Who's doing well, who is named Peter. Then we're also going to do if we could change a financial law or regulation, what would it be? And then what's the third? Oh, the other one is can you ever stop saving money? Is there ever a scenario in which you should stop saving money? Those are the things you want to do. Can we start with the stock picks? Sure. Kristen, you go.
04:04
Speaker 2
That I'm fine with.
04:08
Peter Dunn
Jim. Jim. Hello, Jim. Good to see you. Thanks for joining us. Happy Friday to you. A dog. Was there a dog in that?
04:16
Speaker 3
Yes.
04:16
Peter Dunn
Oh, good. Visual reference for the podcast. Okay, guys, let's do a radio show. Dame, you and I did discuss this week, before we get going too further, it's possible we may have to get more professional on this podcast.
04:30
Speaker 3
Yeah, but only in stretches, right?
04:33
Peter Dunn
Does Kristen know about our requirement of possibly needing to get more professional?
04:38
Speaker 3
No, I haven't told her about it yet because I didn't want to stress her out for the show.
04:41
Peter Dunn
Okay, well but it turns out she's not the problem.
04:44
Speaker 3
That's true.
04:45
Peter Dunn
Yeah.
04:45
Speaker 3
She just keep doing what you're doing.
04:47
Speaker 2
Okay. Pete and I watch don't tell me any different. It's fine.
04:52
Peter Dunn
It turns out that maybe I go a little fast and loose on this thing. I don't know.
04:59
Speaker 3
It drives ratings, Pete.
05:01
Peter Dunn
Ratings. Andy says no. All right. We won't do it, Andy.
05:05
Speaker 3
We don't take the show.
05:06
Peter Dunn
There you go. Here's the thing. I can either be myself at a ten or I can throttle it. Like, it can be a different level and various times it is important to throttle it. Dame, you and I were in this meeting of which we disclaimed our bloodlines the other day, and I was not even close to a ten. No, I was a five, maybe.
05:29
Speaker 3
I think that's a stretch.
05:31
Peter Dunn
It is possible to say that this show, based on how it might be used in the future, might need to go to maybe an eight.
05:40
Speaker 3
But not all the time. I mean, we can pick and choose when we're going to use those.
05:45
Peter Dunn
I know.
05:45
Speaker 3
I think we can do it.
05:49
Peter Dunn
People love vague inside baseball. That's why we've got nearly 3 million downloads at this point for the show. By the way, Lil Spence 49 has a beautiful beard. Don't change. Love the humor mixed in. This is a big reason why I've been listening for multiple years. We cannot lose little Spence 49.
06:08
Speaker 3
It's over.
06:09
Peter Dunn
Okay, let's get started. How's this work? We were off for a week and I'm like, oh, what's the mechanism of the show.
06:18
Speaker 2
It's amazing. I forgot to pause my slack notifications. One week and I've already out of routine.
06:25
Peter Dunn
Are you wearing your ear monitors, Kristen? Yeah. Have you worn them for a full show?
06:30
Speaker 2
Yeah, ever since the day that I promised to practice because I had anxiety. I've worn them since then.
06:37
Peter Dunn
Good for you. Good for you. Oh, since I was sequestered in my basement for a long time, I've watched most of the television that exists. I watched Tulsa King on Paramount Plus with Sylvester Stallone. It's amazing. And here's what's great about it, if I may. TV records from your boy.
06:58
Speaker 3
Your Boy.
06:59
Peter Dunn
Number one, Sylvester Stallone is a completely underrated, dramatic you know, he's the action guy. Underrated dramatic actor. Number two, the entire show is at the Mayo Hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And when I go to Tulsa or I used to go to Tulsa for business, I used to stay at the Mayo, and it's literally at the Mayo. And I sat in a chair that the show's at the coffee shop right next to the it's wild that the whole show is at this hotel that I've spent so much time at. It's crazy.
07:34
Speaker 3
Is it a movie or series?
07:36
Peter Dunn
It's a series. Tulsa King I think there's eight episodes, maybe. I don't know. Kristen, you know these things. How do people choose how many episodes to do in these series? Because they'll go from eight to 24 to ten and eleven. It's like, who does this?
07:51
Speaker 2
I have no idea. And I do not like the inconsistency. I want to know how many episodes. I want, like, five a midseason break and five or whatever, but I just want it to be the same.
08:03
Peter Dunn
You know what the worst thing in the world is? Literally the worst thing ever? Forget death. It's when you finish a show and you didn't realize it was the finale for that season, and you just didn't put the proper importance on the episode.
08:18
Speaker 2
The worst thing ever is when you get halfway through a series that you thought you could binge watch and Netflix or Hulu or whoever only released part of the season, and you're waiting for the next episode to start.
08:31
Peter Dunn
Sure.
08:31
Speaker 2
That's the worst.
08:34
Peter Dunn
Clearly, these are the problems of people who were stuck with know, I did describe my condition in my basement as like I felt like I was in a Canadian prison because my basement is very nice, but it sucked because I was down there alone. I could do anything. My wife would set food on the landing. Like I was supposed to put the lotion on my skin or I'd get the hose again. So I felt like I've never been in a Canadian prison. I've never even seen a show about a Canadian prison, but I assume they're, like, super nice. And that's what I felt like last week.
09:07
Speaker 3
I think those are Scandinavian prisons.
09:09
Peter Dunn
Oh, are they?
09:10
Speaker 3
You have to just put your cot together, though.
09:13
Peter Dunn
You said cot. Okay. 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? Askpete@petetheplanner.com that's. Askpete@petetheplanner.com. And this is our show. It's a radio show. It appears all over the place. It is, in fact, syndicated. I don't know why I felt the need to mention that today. Although sometimes my ego needs a boost. Joining me, as always, is my brother Damian Dunn, vice President of Advice. He was given the title of vice president at your moneyline because of our relation. And Kristen Ahlenius, who is the Director of Education, who got a lesser title, like down, way down the Food chain because we're not related.
10:00
Speaker 2
Yeah.
10:01
Peter Dunn
How's that sound, guys? That's Perfect. Okay. All Right. So early in the year. We did stock picks. We do this every year. Kristen joined this menagerie for the first time this year. So we picked best stock of the year. Individually. Each of us did the worst stock of the year. And we chose the end point for the S and P 500 for the year. And occasionally throughout this year. We will give you updates as to how it's going. Dame, can you please take us through the journey of how's it going in the Stock Picks of the Year contest? Yeah.
10:40
Speaker 3
I think it's important to point out that this is not investment advice. And I think some of that will become readily apparent pretty quickly. But let's start with the good news. Let's start with the winners. Pete?
10:52
Peter Dunn
Okay. These are people who thought we all picked where we thought was going to be. We just had to beat each other. We don't have to beat anybody else. We just had to beat each other. The highest performing stock by the end of the year. What did we choose? How's it going?
11:07
Speaker 3
Pete? You may not remember what you chose.
11:09
Peter Dunn
I don't. Okay.
11:10
Speaker 3
It's a great start. You chose bank of America.
11:13
Peter Dunn
Oh. How's it going?
11:15
Speaker 3
Bank of America is having an okay year up 4.69% 4.69% so far into 2023. Not too shabby, right?
11:29
Peter Dunn
Better than a second case.
11:30
Speaker 3
Of COVID That's Right. Or third or whatever. I picked apple up 16 and a half. 16.53% in a year. If you're keeping track, folks, that is higher than 4.69% by almost four times. I have pulled into the lead at this stage. Not that it matters, because Kristen chose Tesla. Tesla so far is up 71.69% for the year.
12:02
Peter Dunn
Okay? I got some issues that we need to discuss here. Number one. What about this big recall that's going on right now? Hundreds of thousands of cars just announced.
12:12
Speaker 3
Yesterday I will tell you that Tesla opened the day lower than 71.69%. So it doesn't appear that's going to have a huge effect just yet.
12:23
Peter Dunn
Okay. I also want to point out when we did our picks, it was a few days into the year and Tesla was down, I want to say double digits to start the year and has not already recovered up 71. Kristen, how did you gain this insight that allowed you to just destroy us?
12:42
Speaker 2
Elon and I are friends. I'm kidding. Come on.
12:50
Peter Dunn
I could totally see him sliding into the DMs. Allegedly. Yeah. You're a very popular personality on TikTok, and so I bet he was on your personal finance. TikToks just been like, hey, girl from South Africa. I don't know what he would say. How does he flex?
13:09
Speaker 3
Ever been on a rocket?
13:12
Peter Dunn
That's pretty good. All right, so those are picks. Kristen's winning that one. Yes. Then we picked the losers of the years. We just had to pick the biggest loser, which, for someone like me, seems like it'd be easy because I tend to do that.
13:25
Speaker 3
Yeah. I do want to remind everyone that Kristen chose Tesla as her winner, which is up 71 ish percent as we speak. Pete also chose Tesla for his loser, which has the same return of 71.69%. So Tesla pete his loser up 71.69%.
13:49
Peter Dunn
But if I'm the biggest loser of the biggest loser contest, doesn't that make me the biggest loser? Doesn't make me the winner.
13:55
Speaker 3
That's some next level math. But that's not how the spirit of the game is being played right now.
14:01
Peter Dunn
Pete, all right, what did you pick?
14:03
Speaker 3
I chose Xerox. Xerox is up 13.21% year to date.
14:09
Peter Dunn
We're not good at this.
14:10
Speaker 3
So at least my winner is having a better return than my loser. But not by a huge margin. Only about 3%. Three and a half percent.
14:18
Peter Dunn
Wait, my loser is killing my winner by a lot.
14:22
Speaker 2
Oh, yeah. By a lot.
14:23
Peter Dunn
Oh, my gosh. This is not good.
14:26
Speaker 3
So just imagine if you had shorted Tesla right now. You'd be in trouble.
14:30
Speaker 2
It's all the paper that Xerox makes.
14:33
Speaker 3
Yes, exactly. It's that huge paper business that Xerox has. Empires. Kristen chose Rite Aid.
14:42
Speaker 2
Oh, boy.
14:44
Speaker 3
They are up 14.84%.
14:47
Peter Dunn
You're terrible at this, Christy.
14:50
Speaker 2
Not good.
14:53
Peter Dunn
Those are tough. Those are tough. Now, this is the one that I'm really interested in. The S and P 500 pick of the year. We just had to say, what do we think it ends up or down as a percentage? What were our guesses, and where is it right now?
15:09
Speaker 3
Where is it right now? Okay, well, we'll start there. S and P 500. Year to date, about five and a half percent. 5.51 as of the latest refresh of my data.
15:19
Peter Dunn
Up five point whatever. Yeah. Up 5%. Okay.
15:25
Speaker 3
We will go lowest to highest. I chose a 2% overall year to date return for 2023 2%. A lot of year to go true. Kristen chose 13%.
15:41
Peter Dunn
Tracking Pete. Tracking.
15:42
Speaker 3
Pete chose a robust 19% return on the S and P 500 this year.
15:48
Peter Dunn
You know what? I almost want to revise mine.
15:51
Speaker 3
We want to revise too early for revisions.
15:54
Peter Dunn
I want 34%.
15:57
Speaker 3
I'll give you 34%.
15:59
Peter Dunn
No, I'm feeling confident here. This is not investment advice. Don't do a single thing we say within your investments. I don't know, dame, I think we're going to shake out of this recession, whatever it is. Do you think recession is going to happen? Let's transition here for a second. You think recession is going to happen?
16:21
Speaker 3
I don't think anybody knows because for the longest time I would have said that the Fed was almost going to guarantee a mild recession. We're trying to yeah, really push with the employment stuff and interest rates and I don't know. Now I'm completely up in the air on this.
16:44
Speaker 2
Kristen I feel the same way. It seems like variables that I would tend to look at for guidance on whether I think that's where we're headed feel kind of out of alignment. Just in general, when we talk about economic cycles, leading lagging indicators, it doesn't feel like things are doing textbook. What I've learned, I don't know.
17:08
Peter Dunn
And I made a statement a few seconds ago and I think I'm right. And Damie may not know whether I'm right or not. Kristen will, but she won't tell us. The Fed is trying to cause a recession, is it not? Isn't it trying to contract the pace of the economy?
17:24
Speaker 3
I sure thought they were, especially with some of the comments that were coming out saying employment, unemployment is going to go up. They were just stating matter of fact, we are going to do everything we need to do to get it to a point where basically we're going to force unemployment on the economy and to slow this down. And it hasn't happened. And I don't know how many more levers they're going to try and pull to try and make that happen without causing some maybe more serious damage.
17:52
Peter Dunn
Yeah. Kristen I feel like our picks for the S P ending point are really determined by what the federal does or doesn't do. Going, Dame. If the Fed just sort of does what it's doing right now, dame could win. If they abandon ship, I think you and I have a better chance.
18:11
Speaker 2
I think that's a fair statement.
18:14
Peter Dunn
All right, let's do this. Coming up after the break, speaking of regulations and laws actually, weren't, but we are. Next segment we're going to talk about if we could pick one, financial law or regulation, what would it be and why would we change it? What impact would it have? It'll be exciting. And if you follow the show, Damon, Kristen will be right and mine will be ridiculous because I'm Pete the Planner and this is the Pizza Planner show. That was a good outro. You know what? The old man's got some tricks every once in a while. Kristen, what do you want to be good at right now in your life? Is there anything in your life that you're like? You know what I want to put the effort into? Be really good at this. What is it?
18:58
Speaker 2
I would say that I want to put the effort into being better at endurance cycling, which I was doing pretty consistently last year, and moving and moving. It just wasn't something that I've kept up with. And I've been back on my game in that space and I just want to continue to improve.
19:22
Peter Dunn
God, that is so you. What do you want to be good at? I want to be good at hell on earth is what Kristen's answer is.
19:30
Speaker 3
Torturing myself.
19:31
Peter Dunn
You know what, though, Kristen? I don't necessarily want to be good at endurance cycling, but as spring, what do you say? Spring thaws I don't know what happens. Springs. I do want to get back on my road bike and start riding more, but I don't want to be good at it. I just want to get less chunky.
19:49
Speaker 2
I think good is relative. I want to be able to do I'm a Peloton girly, right? Like, I want to be able to do the 90 minutes power zone endurance rise with Matt Wilpers and not feel like I'm going to die.
20:02
Peter Dunn
The fear of death is never a good time. Dame, what do you want to be good at in your life right now?
20:08
Speaker 3
Being a dad.
20:09
Peter Dunn
Yeah, that's good. That's lovely.
20:12
Speaker 2
So wholesome.
20:13
Peter Dunn
Sorry.
20:14
Speaker 3
That's where I'm at.
20:16
Peter Dunn
I want to be good at running a company. That's what I want to be good at. I really do. Which it sounds like I know we're at work right now and I've been good at other things and it's been fun and I've enjoyed it. I want to learn to be good at this. I got a long way to go, but I'm trying.
20:38
Speaker 3
Full disclosure, I want you to be good at that, too.
20:42
Peter Dunn
Dame. I want you to be a good father to both your children and my yeah. The second someone's like, I want to be a better husband or better parent, then everyone else is like, damn, I.
20:54
Speaker 3
Have to say that, too.
20:55
Peter Dunn
Yeah. Danza, whether she says CEOing is hard, CEOing is one of those jobs that is both incredibly difficult and no one cares. But understandably so. I am not complaining. I'm just saying it is one of those things just by the title alone, the connotation that comes to your mind of, oh, it's a CEO, it is incredibly difficult and you can't tell anyone about it other than maybe someone else who's in the exact same position. Kristen, do you want me hitting you up on slack for a one one where I complain about how hard being a CEO is? That doesn't seem like it makes sense, does it?
21:39
Speaker 2
Yeah, but I also think that we work at an organization with overly empathetic people, so I don't know if our organization would be the best representation of that, but I certainly think that at most organizations, that would not fly.
21:53
Peter Dunn
Yeah, that's probably true. All right, let's do a thing, and it's called What Rate? I'm going last. Can I go last here? Is that all right? Sure. Yeah. Okay. All right. So in three, two, one. Back on the Pete the Planner show. It's a radio show. I'm Pete the planner. And it's a financial show, turns out. And it's a financial show that doesn't encourage you to call us next week when the weekend's over so we can sell you things. We just answer questions. That's all we do. Ask Pete@petetheplanner.com is how you ask your question. Ask Pete@petepeplanner.com is how you ask your question. And here on this very platform known as Radio, we answer it. Kristen Ahlenius, director of Education at Your Money line, and Damian Dunn, vice President of advice at Your Moneyline. Kristen Alanius, director of Education at Your Money line, and Damien Dunn, vice President of advice at Your Moneyline.
22:39
Peter Dunn
These people know what they're talking about. I'm just here for my aesthetic. Okay. What financial law or regulation would you change and why? Is the topic we're going to sandwich a good idea between Dame and I's answers. Okay, so Dame, you go first, then Kristen, and then I will go last. So, Dame, what law or regulation would you change and why?
23:03
Speaker 3
I think I would change the availability of HSAs. I would remove the requirement to have it tied to a high deductible healthcare plan and make an HSA qualification free. If you wanted to save money for future health needs or current health needs, I want to help you do that. If you want to stash cash, even get some tax advantages out of it, go for it. And frankly, if you go that route, it doesn't matter if you are on the lower end of the income spectrum if you're on the upper end of the income spectrum, because you could potentially use that money in the current year if you wanted to, and still be incentivized to do that by running money through your HSA and potentially increase your health levels by doing that. So I would remove any restrictions for HSAs and just make that another investment product or vehicle that you could sign up for wherever you wanted.
23:59
Peter Dunn
May I play devil's advocate for a moment, sir?
24:01
Speaker 3
Sure.
24:02
Peter Dunn
I agree with you, by the way. I've heard people say things like, 529 plans or HSAs only benefit the wealthy and that they are unfair in that regard. How does a person on the lower end of the economic scale benefit from that deregulation? Because what you've just said, I think, helps upper middle class and upper class in terms of but how would it serve people who are making not that much money?
24:35
Speaker 3
Yeah, there's not going to be as much of an incentive to do that because the income tax burdens for folks on the lower end of the income, the taxation scale is probably not going to work out necessarily for them. But maybe you change it to.
24:53
Peter Dunn
Something.
24:54
Speaker 3
To where you get a tax credit. So it's a refundable tax credit. If you are under a certain income level as well to encourage people to take care of themselves a little bit.
25:04
Peter Dunn
And by the way, the rules weren't that we only had to pick things that benefited everyone. They're just what rule of regulation would you want changed? That's a fair yeah, that's fine. I mean feel free to beat up whatever mine is. As know, the thing about HSAs, they can get frustrating because they're meant to be matched with a high deductible health care plan. And if you don't have a high deductible health care plan, if you have a traditional plan or your know specifically through your employer, then you can't contribute to an HSA, which is an amazing vehicle in many respects. We've talked about it on here, called it's said to be triple tax advantaged, which means you can deduct the contribution on your current tax year. The growth that may occur in that account is not subject to taxes on an ongoing basis. And when you withdraw the money for medically qualified expenses then there's no tax there either.
26:00
Peter Dunn
And so it's funny dame I almost match this up with 401 limits. It's like the more people can save to their four hundred and one K, the better it is for everyone. The more people that can save towards an HSA, the better it is for everyone other than tax revenue. Right, yeah.
26:22
Speaker 3
My second option, which I don't want to say in case it's kristen's but would have involved more of the it basically would have been consolidating all the different retirement account types into basically an employer sponsored plan and an individual plan as well and just getting rid of all the different tax laws that muddy the waters.
26:43
Peter Dunn
Kristen oh, go ahead. I'm sorry.
26:45
Speaker 2
Well I'm sorry, I was just going to say that I think the HSA, I think the thing that's hard is it even about the tax benefit in all cases. I think it's also about being able to save for expenses that tend to throw your budget off balance or throw your spending plan off balance. So by giving someone a specific vehicle to do that, I think that benefits people. And then as I'm very biased as someone who used to have access to TRICARE who does not, I'd never had access to an HSA and man, would it have been nice to have had an HSA.
27:21
Peter Dunn
You have an HSA now at your money line. I'm sorry, it's unemployment. Kristen what law or regulation would you change?
27:32
Speaker 2
I would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act and I would reduce the number of years that items stay on your credit report. I think seven years is too long.
27:45
Peter Dunn
Okay. I like this. Dame like I said, we wanted kristen's in the like say more, young lady.
27:57
Speaker 2
I don't know what the answer is because I understand that there has to be some way for creditors to measure your credit worthiness and the items on your credit report. Obviously tell them and your score tells them that story. But we're human beings and seven years is a long time, I think, to penalize someone for they forgot to change their address and their old cable bill went somewhere and it went to collections. Now it's going to sit there for seven years. I just think it's too long.
28:29
Peter Dunn
Okay, so I'm going to ask a pretty hot take question here. I'm confident that all three of us can acknowledge there are certain laws and regulations in our country that are really born out of things like systemic racism. I will make that statement. You can agree or disagree. You're welcome to. But I will say in terms of housing situations and things like that, it's just redlining. It's a thing. It's real. Yes. Kristen, is it possible, as we try to get out over our on this weekend radio show, is it possible that some of the rules and regulations around credit are based in sort of systemic racism?
29:13
Speaker 2
100% possible. And I also think that the Fair Credit Reporting Act I just looked at the date was originally published in October of 1970. We live in a very different, much faster paced world. So maybe in the 70s it was reasonable, but life just moves so much faster than that. And I don't think that reporting requirement is reflective of that fast pace.
29:44
Peter Dunn
All right, what was it? A couple of weeks ago we got into sports gambling and that became a really hot take. And now that we're at the Fair Credit Report, being based in systemic racism is the hot take of the day. I feel good about actually both those takes since they're mine. But yeah. All right, so here's mine. I have two and one Rick Swink, big Rick Swink, because every day, every Friday at 10:00 a.m.. Eastern, we live stream this show on Facebook live, YouTube Live and Twitter. And one of our greatest listeners, that is Big Rick Swank, gave mine one of mine, which is to remove congressional insider trading. I do not believe that members of Congress should be able to trade equities. I just don't. I feel like they've got way too much information and their own self interests, often reportedly, allegedly and documented, get put before those of the rest of the country.
30:42
Peter Dunn
And I have a problem with that. But my other one, as we wrap up this segment, there should be no cryptocurrency within retirement plans through employers. I think it is unsuitable. I think it's negligent. I think if an employer has cryptocurrency as an investing option within their 401K that they are not being a good steward of their coworkers opportunity to build actual stability. Now, I realize we have hundreds of clients here at Your Moneyline and I've possibly just thrown someone under the bus, but let's hope they're like the rest of America. And don't listen to this show. Coming up after the break, more fun for. Volatility and finance. I'm Pete the planner, by the way. Dame. You probably know this. Do we have any clients that I don't know? Chris, do you know?
31:37
Speaker 2
I don't know.
31:41
Peter Dunn
Is there anything more me than giving my hot hate and then not letting anyone weigh in on it?
31:47
Speaker 3
That was great.
31:49
Speaker 2
That's fine.
31:50
Peter Dunn
Sorry.
31:52
Speaker 3
I do have a pretty interesting crypto story that I'm going to share during the news.
31:58
Peter Dunn
Oh, okay. I was going to say I thought it was going to be coming back.
32:02
Speaker 3
I can, but whatever.
32:04
Speaker 2
I didn't expect that segment to turn into hot takes, but I liked it.
32:10
Peter Dunn
Actually. I feel like we come back. I got to let you guys react to mine. It's only fair. I mean, do you have anything to say or not really?
32:18
Speaker 2
I don't really have anything meaningful to add. I mean, Damien probably does, but I don't.
32:22
Speaker 3
I mean, it just would have been poking like saying why you want to restrict freedom. It's people's choice to choose, pete, what.
32:29
Peter Dunn
Are you going to say? Just come back and do it's because it's straight facts. That's something that Kristen would say.
32:36
Speaker 3
No, straight facts.
32:37
Peter Dunn
No, Ted. Never mind. I'm not going to tell that story. I am going to Memphis this weekend for a soccer tournament with young Theodore. I'm leaving this afternoon. I'm excited. We're going to the civil rights museum. I've always wanted to go to the civil rights museum. And we are taking the boys. A little cultural experience for our boys. So I'm excited about that. Have you been, Dave?
33:01
Speaker 3
I have never been to Memphis.
33:02
Peter Dunn
Neither have I. Looking forward to a little barbecue, a little civil rights, a little bass pro at the pyramid sort of thing.
33:14
Speaker 3
Do you have a rough idea of how many games you've got this weekend?
33:16
Peter Dunn
Yeah, it's not great. We are going to be there Saturday, Sunday and Monday. And we have a game on each day. On each day. We play Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, I think because we're the state of Indiana's team.
33:33
Speaker 2
Anyway, youth sports is just mind blowing.
33:37
Peter Dunn
You have no it just blows my mind how old's Ted he is a strapping ten year old boy.
33:48
Speaker 2
Right, carmel's full of ten year old boys who can play. What is this?
33:51
Peter Dunn
Soccer? It is soccer.
33:54
Speaker 2
This is mind blowing to me.
33:57
Peter Dunn
Yeah. I won't go too deep into it, but I agree, kristen, it is the dumbest thing in the world. It is. And I'm part of it. Never mind that the other two members of our household are going to St. Louis for a different event this weekend. Look, I'm the problem. Everybody you're like, what's wrong with the world? It's Peter Dunn. Peter dunn's problem. Peter Dunn and the trained Arrailment and the UFOs and Chad GPT. Let me go through the four biggest problems in the world right now. Chat GPT.
34:31
Speaker 2
Why?
34:33
Peter Dunn
No, the Bing search thing. Okay. The Bing search robot did you read the story in the Times yesterday, this two hour chat their tech editor had with the chat thing from Bing.
34:45
Speaker 3
Is that where he said, I want to be alive?
34:47
Peter Dunn
He wants to be alive. And then it listed all of the ways it's going to sabotage the world, including stealing the nuclear codes, pitting people against each other. Okay. Shutting down the power grid. Okay, so the worst things in the world let me go through it again. AI the train derailment in Ohio, just issa Canton, all the UFOs, and me like, those are four worst things in the world. How about that train derailment?
35:18
Speaker 3
Yeah, that's not great. Not good at all.
35:22
Peter Dunn
I want to know more. Why don't you want to know more?
35:30
Speaker 3
Twitter's up in arms. We've had, like, four or five derailments in pretty close succession, and some of them also having hazardous chemicals on them. Then somebody's like, you don't understand how many train derailments are in the US. Every year. It's thousands and thousands of derailments that are like, I don't know if that makes me feel better about that.
35:52
Speaker 2
Does not make me feel good.
35:53
Peter Dunn
I always just thought it was this show that got derailed on a regular basis.
35:57
Speaker 3
It's more than us.
35:59
Peter Dunn
Yeah. I'm just, like I just keep getting this vision officials going, hey, everybody, it's and, like, anytime you hear a big blanket, look, I know there's a mushroom. Okay, it's okay, everyone calm down.
36:19
Speaker 3
Kristen won't get this reference, but you might. Pete, do you remember the movie The Naked Gun with Leslie Nielsen?
36:26
Peter Dunn
Yes.
36:27
Speaker 3
He's standing in front of a fireworks factory that is going up in flames and everything. He's standing out. There's nothing to see here. Please move along. It's just this beautiful fireworks display behind him, and that's kind of what it feels like, only on the other end of the spectrum.
36:42
Peter Dunn
All right, you know what? We should never mind. Okay, let's move on. I was going to talk politics. I was like, let's not do that. I had enough coffee for that. Okay, let's start a radio show. Back on the Pete the Planner show. Back on the Pizza Planner show. You know, we get this form of a question all the time. Can I ever stop saving money? Like, I save a save, I invest at any point in time, can I stop saving money? Is it ever right to just be like, okay, enough done. Let's unsave. Just the rest of my relationship with money will be spending it, not preserving it. And that's the topic of the day. Kristen, you're the smart one here. Did I capture that well?
37:23
Speaker 2
You did capture that well. That was very good. Great intro, dame.
37:27
Peter Dunn
Is that of the spirit of what we wanted to talk about?
37:29
Speaker 3
Yeah, I think so.
37:31
Peter Dunn
Where shall we so there's the accumulation phase of your life, which all three of us are in. We're trying to stack those pensions. Right. There's that. And then there's Deacumulation, which is retirement or financial independence or when you use those nuts in the tree to survive the rest of your life. Is it that simple? Dame?
37:56
Speaker 3
It could be, but you save for things other than retirement as well. I'm sure you're trying to stack a whole bunch of cash to use to cover all of your different expenses you're going to have in retirement. But up until then, you're saving for who knows, any number of other expenses or things that may pop up in your life. And it's that daily need, the things that you might pull into an emergency fund that I think is really interesting because emergencies don't go away once you are in retirement. And in theory, saving for retirement is preparing for those emergencies that you're going to draw out of. I think the interesting question becomes some people are really good at saving. They get, dare I say, addicted to saving. Do they continue saving in retirement? And I can say because I have first hand experience with this.
38:49
Speaker 3
There are some people that absolutely do. They live on a fixed income and they don't spend it all intentionally because they love saving. And so it continues to grow in savings.
39:00
Peter Dunn
Is that purpose driven though, Dame? Is that saving built by the feeling you just talked about or is it stoked by the desire to pass money on, to like how do you see it?
39:10
Speaker 3
I think it's completely emotion and feeling driven because does this particular family want to pass money on? Yeah, they do, but it's not a primary driver of their motivation. They've lived a long life of being frugal with their money and responsible with their purchases and they put in the hard work. They were excellent savers in their working years. And they got to retirement and it turns out they were crushing their power percentage. They were very independent of their income. They didn't need all of the streams of income that were coming into their lives. So what are they going to do with it? They just keep saving it.
39:53
Peter Dunn
How do you view this?
39:55
Speaker 2
I think it's really hard because I think about two different types of people. I think about the person who hit the ground running. They graduated from school, they've been saving. Well, your power percentage is ever increasing. You're in that 30% plus range. I don't know how someone like that gets to retirement and turns that part of their brain off or has an equally as healthy relationship with just spending. And I'm kind of speaking about myself there. I don't know how I would ever get to a point where I wasn't saving. And then I think about this other camp of people who maybe didn't start out saving aggressively for retirement and they had to play catch up because they didn't always have this healthy relationship with saving. And then is it just as dangerous to give someone who hasn't always had that balance permission to just spend it.
40:52
Speaker 2
I think psychologically there's a lot more to unpack there.
40:55
Peter Dunn
What about this idea that let's say you're retired. And I know this isn't about strictly retirement and financial independence. But dame let's paint a scenario in which you have a pension and you have income derived from your assets, okay? And let's say that you could safely I'm making things up. You could safely derive $50,000, very safely derive $50,000 a year of income from your assets and your Social Security, husband and wife, whatever, is $50,000 as well. So it's $100,000, but you only live on $60,000. So there's sort of two ways to look at this. You could take the income, you could thaw the savings and then refreeze it, or you could just not take the income. Am I splitting hairs or are those the same thing?
41:47
Speaker 3
It depends on how the income, what account types you have the money saved in, you may be forced, and that's where that refreezed comes back into, where you basically take it out, take what you have to, and put it back in wherever you want. But it's just an interesting question overall, is that what happens in those situations? Do you become incredibly charitable with the money? Do you stack it for future use for yourself or start funding grandkids educations? Or do you just sit on it because you like the security of having some extra cash? And I think that's what this really starts to get down to is not only the behavior that you've created in yourself over a great number of years, but it's also the emotion of knowing that money is there if I absolutely need it. I'm living a comfortable life the way I want to live.
42:41
Speaker 3
Because, man, that conversation can go wrong if you advisors. If they're looking at somebody who has a whole bunch of money in the bank, and they're like, well, I only need $35,000 this year. And they say, well, why don't you go spend it and have some fun? You got plenty of money here that can go horribly wrong because they're not tied into the values that person has or the emotions that they may unknowingly struggle with because they have an emotional dependency on having that money available there for whatever cause they darn well please.
43:18
Peter Dunn
Kristen doesn't everyone just dream of earning the right to not care about, but in order to do that, you form this habit that you have to continue, right?
43:29
Speaker 2
Right. I actually wrote this piece. This is super timely. I just wrote this piece that went out to a cohort at work yesterday.
43:38
Peter Dunn
Actually, cohorts actually, I did see that.
43:41
Speaker 2
Article, and it's like, are you saving too much? Because that's exactly right on your way to this freedom from caring too much about money, you get into this. I feel like it's really easy to get to this place where you care too much. And I wrote in the piece that I think as a society, we've kind of collectively decided that caring too much, even though that might not be healthy, it's so much better than the alternative. Let's not even worry about it. And I think that's what we're getting at here, too.
44:13
Peter Dunn
I feel like, okay, so let's separate Dame and from young Kristen here for a moment. Dame and I live a very similar financial life. Dame, do you think so?
44:25
Speaker 3
Yeah, I think we're in the ballpark, right.
44:28
Peter Dunn
And I think it's because we have two young people in each of our homes and then a woman that tolerates us. So basically the same share your last name, same haircut. You know what I mean? Not related. The idea of stop saving right now just seems so imprudent, and it seems so impossible. And even though you and I are both tracking towards our retirement goals, I can't even get my head to a point of stop saving now. Kristen so that's our reality. You have a completely different life and lifestyle. Is it the same thing for you, though?
45:06
Speaker 2
It's the same. I just think it maybe presents itself a little bit differently. Damien and I were talking about this, and I said I fully adopt the lazy man's budget. All the money goes out on payday. Whatever's left, I can spend on what I want. And I still love to give myself this little pat on the back when I transfer money to savings on the next payday, the money that I didn't spend. But the reality is that it's there for me to spend on what I want. So am I ever going to have a relationship with money where I don't save? It doesn't seem likely.
45:39
Peter Dunn
There's little things in life that if you do, they just feel wrong. Like, if you're speeding way too fast, like on a main street and it's 30 miles an hour and you're going so you do it and you feel wrong. Or you're fishing at a pond that says no fishing sign on it. I feel like if I were to this is kind of a different angle to this. Let's say I were to stop my contributions to my 401K right now, I would have so much anxiety, I would just feel like I'm doing something wrong. And what's OD about that Dame, is I don't know if it's because I've been doing that for 20 some years, and that's the way I feel that way. Whereas someone who is yet to start saving in their retirement plan doesn't view that as wrong. Right?
46:19
Speaker 3
Yeah. How much of it is habit? How much of it, just who you are as a person? I think there's all sorts of stuff that you could get into here, and we won't.
46:30
Peter Dunn
Coming up after the biggest waste of money of the week, the best guest in the world is Kristen. Will she get it right this week? We'll see. I'm Pete the planner. I tried to bring Kristen into the close there and I blew by my time limit. That's a little less Johnny Cougar Mellon camp to play for the people now.
46:47
Speaker 2
Oh, no.
46:51
Speaker 3
Pete, do you ever think about when you are retired and just imagine you're in Italy in one of those houses you bought for a dollar? You start seeing the balances in your retirement accounts go down on a regular basis, roll up. How does that make you feel? Does it give you anxiety?
47:16
Peter Dunn
Okay, great question. It probably should be a whole show, but in my mind, it kind of goes back to what I said a little earlier. I think my money is going to be growing faster than I take it out. I'm not going to be depleting. It's just going to be naturally growing. That's the plan. At least.
47:44
Speaker 3
Ideally, that's how it works. You are so independent from your income that you've done and done such a great job at saving that you never run that risk. But it takes incredible discipline to not save, to not sorry, not spend that much money and have other streams of income. And two, to have that much money stacked before you retire for those two things to come into reality.
48:08
Peter Dunn
But if it was coming, I know Chris was about to say something about jump from her. If I saw the balance coming down, it would freak me out beyond words. Yeah, but that happens every day. People are doing that every day, and we help those people. I'm just saying, me personally, I would lose my mind. Kristen.
48:30
Speaker 2
I don't know. I have a really strong opinion about inheritances and leaving money for the next generation and how I don't feel that's the current generation's obligation. And I'm not saying that's how you feel, but I'm saying for someone who also subscribes to that idea that I just want to save what I need for me and my life, that is their reality of retirement, is that the balance will be ever decreasing. And I personally would like for that to be my reality, but I feel like I'm going to feel the same way that you just said, where it's like if the balance would decrease, it would give me anxiety. So I don't know how both of those things can be true at once.
49:13
Peter Dunn
Yeah, I mean, not that this is the topic, and by the way, this is between segments, so there is no topic. It's a free for all. I don't plan on leaving much money to my kids or my family. I'll leave some, but the rest of them is going to give away. And so for me, though, I don't know. But Dame, isn't this also a function of estate planning, that some of these things are sort of funded with paperwork?
49:38
Speaker 3
Yeah, absolutely. Which I know is the worst radio answer ever? Yes, absolutely.
49:46
Peter Dunn
It depends. Is the worst radio answer ever. So I've taken Dry January to the limits. Here I am now, 48 days without a drip of the devil's sweat. What? Christian, you need to like that.
50:01
Speaker 2
I didn't care for that, really.
50:03
Peter Dunn
I could have said something else. And I thought about that, and I'm bringing it up now because Dame said something in the last segment early. He said, you can get addicted to savings. And for me, I'm not here to say I was addicted to alcohol. It's not my thing whether I am or not or was or whatever I was, I'm not whatever. Anyway, who. Just as you can get addicted to spending money, I think you can get addicted to saving money. Just as I think you can get used to having a drink every night or pouring yourself three fingers of Glenn Livitt, you can get addicted to abstaining from and this is not like a big health revelation. I'm just not interested in drinking, which is wild, because especially post COVID or COVID years, you just calm down, pour something in your glass, and there you go.
51:00
Peter Dunn
And so weird time, because this isn't like a social stance or a moral stance. It's just sort of like, yeah, I'm sort of addicted to not having anything to drink. It's sort of weird.
51:11
Speaker 3
What if you went to a charity function and there was this amazing bottle of wine for auction? Would you buy it?
51:19
Peter Dunn
No. Maybe it's a bad example. I will go with this. Let's say I go to a friend's house and he has an amazing bottle of bourbon and he wants to pour me some. It'd probably be the better example. I think I'd be fine right now. In fact, earlier yesterday, someone scheduled, hey, you want to have a drink? Like business drinks? And I was like, yeah, sure. And I'm going to go, I'm just not going to drink. I'm just going to, like, I don't know, club soda. And I'm trying not to make again, I'm really not going. Moral stance. Like, this isn't like, oh, I do know it's not that. Kristen, do you feel attacked?
51:59
Speaker 2
No, not me. Oh, heavens, no. I mean, I'm not trying to call.
52:03
Peter Dunn
It anyone in the audience, but I have a peloton.
52:07
Speaker 2
That's different.
52:08
Peter Dunn
Of course it is.
52:10
Speaker 2
It's different because that applies to me. So we're not talking about it.
52:13
Peter Dunn
Big Rick Swink, 51 days for me. I do again, it's weird when you start counting the days that you haven't imbibed and you're talking about it like you get a chip, like you're an AAA and you get a chip, but you're not. You never necessarily struggled, or maybe you did. It's such a weird thing. I just like my current habits better than my old habits. Let's just go that way. It could change.
52:37
Speaker 3
I wonder how many days you'll have to go before you stop thinking about, man, I've gone a long time without having to drink before it just becomes I just don't drink.
52:46
Peter Dunn
Yeah, so it's interesting. I kind of don't think about it. I brought it up because you said something that triggered it. But where I'm not at yet is to say I don't drink. I think what I'm saying is I'm not drinking right now. And I don't know if I'll ever get to the point of I don't drink because I don't know if I feel that way.
53:11
Speaker 3
Is this all like no, I think it's interesting.
53:15
Peter Dunn
Is this interesting? I guess we'll find out on itunes.
53:21
Speaker 2
I think it's interesting because it speaks to the same personality that were kind of just talking about is like, are you someone who feels like you can maintain healthy balance? And for me, healthy balance is not one or the other. So while I did dry january don't think a healthy balance for me would be saying I don't drink, because I think that's feeding a different part of my personality in not the best way. So for me, I don't think I would ever be someone who says I don't drink if we just continue to run with that example because I need more balance than that.
53:59
Peter Dunn
Yeah, you're right. And here's the dumb part about it. For me, it's a mood thing. I'm like I feel like I'm in a much better mood when I am not having a drink every once in a while. So it's not a health thing, though, necessarily. But here's the dumb part, kristen, I've been eating like I'm judging a burger contest. Like, I'm just like, let's go. I'm like on man versus food every day. And so it's not a health thing. That's like a dumb thing. Who knows? All right, let's do a show. All right, dan, did you have anything else you want to say there? Nope. All right. Holier than thou. Pete the planner.
54:46
Speaker 3
The moral compass of the show.
54:48
Peter Dunn
Moral compass. I don't eat chicken. I do eat chicken. All of them. Three, two, one. This week's biggest waste of money of the week, right here on the Pizza Planner show is the Mont Blanc and Ferrari Stilema SP three pen. It's a writing instrument. It's a fountain pen. You all when Ferrari's chief design officer uses a pen, it can't be just any pen. I'm going to call timeout here. I find it hard as a midwesterner to distinguish between the word pen and pen. Like P-I-N-P-E-N. Kristen, I want you to say P-I-N first and then I want you to say P-E-N after that. So I want to hear yours.
55:40
Speaker 2
I can't pen and pen.
55:43
Peter Dunn
They sound the same again.
55:47
Speaker 2
Pen and pen.
55:49
Speaker 3
Dame pin pen.
55:56
Peter Dunn
That's why Flavio Monzoni sat down with Mont Blanc to design the SP Three, a writing instrument inspired by the Daytona SP three hypercar. The pen uses a titanium body amal blanc, white gold NIB with a filling mechanism integrated into the translucent red blade running the length of the body. Removing the blade reveals the mechanism crafted from white gold there's. Only 599 units will be made available, and they are sold by special appointment. Kristen, a woman of diverse talents, yet the world's worst bomb. Guesser who just happens to co host the show? Kristen, what do you think this pen costs?
56:51
Speaker 2
Can I ask a question before I answer?
56:54
Peter Dunn
Please?
56:55
Speaker 2
This is a Mont Blanc pen, which is like a fancy type of pen. And then this is specific to Ferrari. So this is like a specialty? Specialty pen collab. Okay. I have no idea how much these fancy pens are.
57:10
Peter Dunn
You never graduated from high school? Was that a thing when you were in high school, Damien? It was for you and I. People bought you a fancy pen? Yeah. Did people buy fancy pens in the year 2015 or whenever you graduated?
57:23
Speaker 2
No, people gave me money to buy a MacBook.
57:26
Peter Dunn
What year did you graduate high school? Or do you not want to name your age?
57:29
Speaker 2
I don't care. I graduated high school in 2012, okay?
57:33
Peter Dunn
I was close. People bought you a MacBook and not $100 pen money for a MacBook.
57:40
Speaker 2
Like, instead of buying an individual gift, it was money because I wanted to take a Mac to college.
57:46
Peter Dunn
Privilege.
57:48
Speaker 2
That's me.
57:49
Peter Dunn
So what do you think it costs? Right? Do you want to be on the 999 side of it, or do you want to just be above that?
57:58
Speaker 2
Yeah, 999. Bob.
58:01
Peter Dunn
Okay. Funny. Dane, what do you got?
58:08
Speaker 3
Her guess is wildly low. There's no way a regular pen is probably somewhere in the few hundred dollars range of this. And so you're going to tack on at least 10% and then more. I'm going to go with $12,000.
58:31
Peter Dunn
Terrible guesses. I love you guys. Yeah, that's a pretty good I mean, of the 1214 years, however long, of doing the show and doing this segment that's up there, that's a pen for $27,500.
58:51
Speaker 3
You know, you'd lose it on the first day too.
58:53
Peter Dunn
Oh, absolutely. You know, it writes like it's terrible. It's a horrible writing instrument.
58:59
Speaker 3
Couldn't read my handwriting anyway. That might be the biggest waste of money.
59:06
Speaker 2
It's the winner.
59:07
Speaker 3
It might be dame.
59:09
Peter Dunn
What's in the news this week?
59:11
Speaker 3
Well, we had a little crypto talk earlier in one of our segments. Let me share this information with you, Pete, and see if it blows your mind like it did mine. Bitcoin's future depends on a handful of mysterious quote maintainers. The nearly 500 billion dollar cryptocurrency relies on a group of just five people who can write changes to the open source program that keeps the digital ledger up to date. These so called maintainers are chosen by peers in the crypto community, receive salaries from a loose network of donors, and are often vague about their whereabouts. According to a maintainer named Andrew Chow, only 17 people have had access to the code since Bitcoin's launch in 2009. And Bitcoin proponents say that at least once maintainers patched a bug that could have destroyed the currency's value.
01:00:01
Peter Dunn
People. I'm sound like my fellow coach. Guys, what are we doing? This makes no sense. This makes no sense. People, what are you doing? Do not be part of this. This makes no sense. Play Kristen's Advocate. Go ahead. This makes no sense.
01:00:23
Speaker 2
I'm not disagreeing with you, but I did see a pretty interesting Twitter thread that was asking about the fundamental difference between that and some other currencies, and they tried to draw the parallel between I think the specific creator was trying to draw the parallel between that and the Fed.
01:00:44
Speaker 3
Of course they were.
01:00:49
Speaker 2
The debt ceiling. Does money really only mean something? Because we all agree that it does. So is that just what they're trying to do?
01:00:57
Speaker 3
Boy, that's a conversation.
01:01:02
Peter Dunn
I don't like uninformed opinions, so let me give one. I don't know, but I think you're wrong. I don't know.
01:01:11
Speaker 2
I'm just asking.
01:01:13
Peter Dunn
It's like only a few people know the special blends of herbs and spices, and it's like, come on, what are we doing?
01:01:23
Speaker 2
Well, that's probably for their own safety as much as anything else.
01:01:26
Peter Dunn
Damn.
01:01:27
Speaker 3
What if one of them has a bad day and they just go in there? You know what? Beep boop.
01:01:32
Peter Dunn
Beep. No. Yesterday. Yeah.
01:01:36
Speaker 2
No, because they believe in this 110%. They're not going to do anything like that.
01:01:41
Speaker 3
And pilots believe planes can fly it. Every once in a while, one of them just decides they're going to steer it into the ground.
01:01:47
Peter Dunn
What movies have you been watching, pilot? Jeremy's no longer going to listen to the show now, honestly, he would back.
01:01:54
Speaker 3
Me up on this.
01:01:55
Peter Dunn
I don't think he would.
01:01:56
Speaker 2
I hope he thinks so.
01:01:58
Peter Dunn
Oh, Lord, don't test him. What else is in the news?
01:02:03
Speaker 3
Tax season is underway, and the IRS has issued nearly 8 million refunds, already worth about $15.7 billion. As of February 3, the average refund amount is about $1,963, down from last year's average payment of $2,201 at the same point in the filing season. Of course, the average may change as the IRS processes millions more returns before the April 18 deadline. While the agency warned refunds may be somewhat lower this season, experts say it's still too early to know for sure. As of February 3, the IRS has processed more than 16.7 million returns, 29% more than the previous year, according to the report released last Friday, the nearly 8 million refunds compared to around 4.3 million the previous year.
01:02:51
Peter Dunn
Chris, have you filed yet?
01:02:53
Speaker 2
No, I'm like an April 14 kind of gal.
01:02:57
Peter Dunn
Dame. No, I'm usually an October 14 sort of gal with the extension.
01:03:05
Speaker 2
I filed an extension last year. Yeah.
01:03:07
Peter Dunn
Okay. I have filed an extension for probably the last 15 years. And so what's interesting is when our business raised capital last year, the corporate structure of our business changed, which would theoretically have allowed me to. Not have such complicated taxes and file on time. And so I was so excited for the last six months or so, I was going to file on time. Well, I'm in the process of potentially switching accountants. And he was like, look, here's the thing. I'd love to take you on, but we're going to have to file an extension because I don't have time to do it. I was. I like, I go to Mrs. Planner. It will be so good to not have that hang over my head the entire year. And then she asked about the other day. I was like, well, it's funny you bring that up, honey.
01:03:55
Speaker 3
It's going to be this dunn family's first extension ever, I think, this year.
01:04:00
Peter Dunn
Well, it makes sense. Yeah. Dame, real quick, one last story.
01:04:04
Speaker 3
Sure. US. Gambling revenues from commercial casinos and online betting apps in 2022 were $60 billion. That set a new record, according to the Gambling Association, beating the old mark of 53 billion last year. Good job.
01:04:16
Peter Dunn
Americans Gambling Association.
01:04:20
Speaker 2
Yikes.
01:04:22
Speaker 3
Those numbers exclude tens of billions of dollars from tribal owned casinos.
01:04:26
Peter Dunn
By the way, that's all we have time for this week in the show. So we're sending you good vibes because good vibes are all that's in the budget. Thank you for listening. We sincerely believe that sometimes. I'm Pete the planner. This is the show. All right, we did a little thing. You know that Mark Cohn song Walking in Memphis?
01:04:46
Speaker 3
Yeah.
01:04:47
Peter Dunn
Walking in on I'm going to read a few of the lyrics from this to see if I do any of these things in my first trip to Memphis this weekend. Okay, that's fair. Put on my blue suede shoes and I boarded the plane. First off, I'm going to be wearing Nike Trailblazers that are white. And I will be in a car. A minivan, my friend Mitch's minivan. In the middle of the touchdown in the land of the delta blues in the middle of the pouring rain WC handy won't you look down over me now in the car, apparently I will be googling WC. Then we go to saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue. So I'm going to have to check out Union Avenue and look for ghosts. Followed him to the gates of Graceland not going to Graceland with my ten year old son and I've got to wait for the king down in the.
01:05:40
Speaker 2
Jungle room okay, none of those things.
01:05:44
Speaker 3
What if they have a ghost tour in Memphis? Maybe you should check one of those out. Maybe they help you out with that.
01:05:50
Peter Dunn
Most places have a ghost. Is there a ghost tour in where you live, Kristen?
01:05:58
Speaker 2
Actually, I live very close to one of the supposedly most haunted cemeteries indiana, so there's that.
01:06:08
Peter Dunn
Have you been?
01:06:09
Speaker 2
Yes.
01:06:11
Peter Dunn
What, did you get haunted?
01:06:14
Speaker 2
No, but it was when I was growing up. One of our friends always did this Halloween party, and her parents did this super cool, like, hay ride and scared us to death. I mean, it's down a really skinny, windy dirt road and it just kind of like sits out in the middle of nowhere and it scared me pretty good. I'm quite confident I've not been back by it since.
01:06:37
Peter Dunn
Despite my better judgment. I'm going to ask you all a question.
01:06:40
Speaker 2
Oh, no.
01:06:42
Peter Dunn
It has to do with all the UFOs going around. Number one, do we agree that the Chinese weather balloon was arguably an act of espionage? Do we agree with that?
01:06:56
Speaker 3
Espionage?
01:06:57
Peter Dunn
Well, it was surveillance, 100%.
01:07:02
Speaker 2
Yeah, sure.
01:07:03
Peter Dunn
Okay. And then the other ones. Are we thinking conspiracy? Are we thinking just a series of coincidences? Are we thinking more China surveillance? What's the most likely scenario for you?
01:07:21
Speaker 3
I have no idea.
01:07:24
Peter Dunn
Do you have any?
01:07:26
Speaker 3
Yeah. Yeah.
01:07:30
Peter Dunn
Kristen, what's your.
01:07:36
Speaker 2
My statement on this is that I think that things like this and things of this nature happen way more than we want to know, and I don't want to know.
01:07:51
Speaker 3
There aren't fighter jets flying across America shooting aim nine missiles at stuff in the air and we don't know about it. There'd be way too many videos. We have just started shooting stuff.
01:08:01
Peter Dunn
I think what she's saying is there's well, maybe I don't put words in your mouth, but you're saying that there are things up doing not that we're taking care of them, but they're up there, we just don't know about them. I think NORAD said as much as they changed the filter settings on what they're looking for and now they're seeing all of these homemade kites or whatever the heck's up there.
01:08:19
Speaker 3
Doesn't mean I shouldn't be concerned about it. I can be concerned about what they weren't tracking before, too.
01:08:25
Peter Dunn
It's weird. I don't necessarily have any conspiracy theories around it. I'll say this and this is maybe dumb and maybe because I don't know, Krav MAGA, I feel less again. I mean, is that a big surprise coming for me? I don't know, Kravaga.
01:08:41
Speaker 2
I learned a long time ago that I don't want to ask any more questions about these things, and now I just don't because it doesn't help me sleep and there's nothing I can do that's fair in this space. My ignorance is my bliss.
01:08:59
Peter Dunn
Yeah. I also think that we probably are working some surveillance plays over some other countries, too. Yeah, that's probably true.
01:09:12
Speaker 3
I think this might be a really bad year for people who give hot air balloon rights.
01:09:16
Peter Dunn
That's probably true. Okay, well, it's too bad I'm not a kite enthusiast. Or I could join the fun. Kristen, good luck with the big thing this weekend. Dame and I know it'll go well. And then Dame, best of luck with the falconry contest. I think it'll go well as well.
01:09:38
Speaker 3
Really hoping don't lose one this time.
01:09:41
Peter Dunn
May you rest in peace. Yeah, stay getting money. Bye.
