Peter Dunn: Alright Dame, so I'm going to let you choose. You can either start, we can start the show with breaking news that I have to share, or something surprising that I learned this week, shocking dare I say, from a girlfriend. So where do you want to start?
Damian Dunn: Do we get both of these at some point
Peter Dunn: during the show?
Yeah, yeah, I mean I could go back to back. I'm just like, how do you want to start this? Breaking news. D d d d
Damian Dunn: d d d d d.
Peter Dunn: Oh, this is some breaking news. I am coming out of stand up comedy retirement for one night only. Oh no. In Indianapolis on Friday, December 22nd. Victory field.
Damian Dunn: Wow. , what an outdoor show on December 22nd.
Peter Dunn: On the indoor, at the indoor part. I mean, am I just be in like a hotdog booth? I'M hosting a standup show with none other than Danny Dunn, guest, friend of [00:01:00] the show, friend of the show, cousin of the man and some I, and I can't actually say yet some other local comedy notables. That, that I, this is happening, tickets are on sale, possibly today, probably I'll get you details next week.
I'm hosting, I've never hosted a comedy show, I know I've been a stand up comedian, I've hosted a bazillion things, I've never hosted a comedy show.
Damian Dunn: You're gonna take to it like a duck to water. Yeah. So, I, I mean, I, is there any shot that's recorded?
Peter Dunn: I'm sure Danny will record it, yeah, I'm sure I could probably get that.
The weird thing is I, I'm not nervous about it. I don't, you know, you know me, I don't, I'm not nervous about it. I also don't know how I'm going to do it or what I'm going to do, but I have confidence that I'll figure it out and possibly as you've learned, maybe on the drive to victory field, [00:02:00] I will figure out how I'm going to go about
Damian Dunn: that.
I mean, you've got a couple of things going in your favor. You already know where you're going to park, so you don't have to stress about that.
Peter Dunn: I thought about that immediately when I found out where it was going to be. Plenty of
Damian Dunn: parking. Plenty of parking. I, I mean, one of my other questions was, are you going to go with some tried and true bits, or are you going to try and work up some new material?
All
Peter Dunn: new material, man. You can't, I can't. Oh, man. What, what challenge is that? I mean, what, what fun is it to go back to things that always get laughs? I'd rather try something new.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, I mean the people you're introducing wouldn't want you to just set them up for, you know, with a great crowd. They, they want you to go up there and stink it up a little bit before they step on stage and get people in a little rough mood.
Peter Dunn: I did think of that, like the actual job of the host is, is Everyone's a warm up for the headliner, theoretically, but the host really is a warm up for everyone. So there's a little bit [00:03:00] of pressure there, but I don't, I don't care,
Damian Dunn: Danny, if if you're watching and you're not I would love for you to check in with your cousin and make sure that he's going to do exactly what you want him to
Peter Dunn: do.
One last note on this before I move on there is at least one very, very notable. Comedian here locally that people know of an internet sensation social media sensation if you want possibly to, but I can't say who they are yet, which I think sort of weird. I think that's part of the thing, but I don't, I'm not here to argue.
I just, I'm not supposed to say. Yeah, it's,
Damian Dunn: It's, it's not the one that most people are probably thinking of right now. The one that it's not that
Peter Dunn: one, right? I'm like hot, right? No, it's not that one. Yeah. Although I've been on a bill with him. You have? Yes. Wait, who are you thinking? Matt Rife? No! I said local.
I
Damian Dunn: know! I, some people don't understand where he's from, and they just know Midwest. So I was Where's he from? Just outside of Columbus, Ohio? I mean, no, actually it's closer to the [00:04:00] western border, close to the Indiana Ohio border. No,
Peter Dunn: not him. Yeah. Do you want the shocking thing I found out from a girlfriend this week?
Damian Dunn: Yeah, because the, the term girlfriend threw me for a loop for a second. But so yes, I, you need to follow through with this,
Peter Dunn: but we've, we've talked in, we have in previous shows, how silly that is that I can't say girlfriend. I know this person is a girlfriend of mine, simply a friend who happens to be a girl.
She is about 10 years. My younger. Which by the way, I turned 46 this week. That was fun. Welcome. Did you say, congrats? Were you going
Damian Dunn: to say congratulations? But then I was like, welcome. I mean,
Peter Dunn: here we are. She told me that when she was in college and she was in a sorority, when the freshmen girls joined the sorority, there was a PowerPoint presentation with guys, photos.
Of who to avoid and watch yourself safety around. And that blew my [00:05:00] mind that there's like somehow a digital footprint. Of of that, isn't that crazy? I mean, it's great. It's it's it's appropriate, sadly, but also arguably bad.
Damian Dunn: Were they stock photos or like just out on the quad one day taking pictures of random guys walking by?
Peter Dunn: That's a great question. Like. She told me this and I can't stop thinking about it. What? I mean, I would like to think, first of all, Mrs. Planner and I dated all through college, so I never would have been on one of these lists. And by the way, had I been on one of these lists while dating Mrs. Planner, that would be very bad.
But can you imagine being on one of these lists?
Damian Dunn: No,
Peter Dunn: it's
Damian Dunn: wild. This is just going to be for like what would you be on that list for? I mean, you know, like
Peter Dunn: [00:06:00] uncomfortable jokes. Yeah,
Damian Dunn: exactly. And I was like
Peter Dunn: he will make you lose your appetite by merely looking at him. We have some benefits. So. You want to do a financial show?
Damian Dunn: Well, it's what the people are expecting.
Peter Dunn: Whatever, let's Let's give them what they want.
Damian Dunn: I actually had somebody compliment us just last night. They they hadn't listened to the show in a while. Which, who can blame them? But they were always impressed with the quality of the show. So, they're actually older than me.
Peter Dunn: And you. Whoa! beTween the next two segments I have What I believe to be one of the funniest jokes I've ever delivered in a live audience.
It happened on Tuesday night. And I want to share that with you. I told you, right? You told me, and it is fantastic. Okay. So I will share it again to everyone here, but let's get a segment down. Are you ready to go? And [00:07:00] waiting 3, 2, 1. This week on the Pete, the planner show, we answer your money questions.
Here's how the show works. You email us. Ask Pete at Pete, the planner. com. That's ask Pete at Pete planner. com. And we will answer your questions. Oddly enough today, one of our segments are. It are one of our segments is what questions should you be asking about your financial life, but aren't that's what I meant to say by we, I mean, Damien, Don and I hello, Dame.
Good day, Pete. We haven't spoken of Kristen's absence yet today. She's under the weather. So we are a Above the weather. So we're here. She's not, we'll see her next week. Good. Well, we're going to do a couple of things today. We're going to do a things you, you should be asking about your financial life, but aren't.
But then we also kind of wanted to do a little tribute to an icon of investing who passed away at the ripe age of 99 years old this week. None other than Charlie Munger, Charles [00:08:00] Thomas Munger known as Warren Buffett's BFF is his partner. Like what, what, what do we call him? Is. His partner, right?
Damian Dunn: Call him a financial genius is what I call him.
Peter Dunn: He is a financial genius. Some facts to know about him. He's led investments at Berkshire Hathaway for decades. He was married twice, both to a woman named Nancy, which I just thought was interesting. Oh, and yeah, he has a lot of substance too, which we're going to cover now. And Dame has put together.
Iconic Charlie Munger quotes that we are going to react to. Did I, did I represent the segment? Well, yeah,
Damian Dunn: it's fair. I mean, one of the things that Warren Buffett's known for is his annual shareholder letter, but Charlie Munger has had some amazing quotes, some of them a little on the nose over the years, but it gives us something to think about.
And the first one I'm going to read Pete Is going to potentially be a challenge [00:09:00] for us because it might stand in the face of some common advice that we give regularly. So, I think it will be a an interesting reaction for us to see, see what we do with it. Quote, I think that the modern investor, to get ahead, almost has to get a few stocks that are way above average.
They try and have a few apples and Googles or so on just to keep up because they know that a significant percentage of all the gains that come to all the common share stockholders combined is going to come from a few of these super competitors that was said in 2023 and a wall street journal interview.
So charlie munger advocating for not just buying the index, but having a few specific home runs for the average investor to get
Peter Dunn: ahead. I might out myself with this incredibly dumb question or thought. It's a question slash thought both could be dumb. Okay. So when he talks about the [00:10:00] modern investor, it's hard to say if he's talking about a modern retail investor or an institutional investor, because it's, you know, we advocate for index funds or, you know, and.
It's quite possible that he's actually talking about Berkshire Hathaway himself, itself, as opposed to you and me, who he, wouldn't he rather just see us invest in Berkshire Hathaway? Like, do you see my distinction there? Yeah,
Damian Dunn: that's, that's fair. I don't think he's under any illusion that people aren't just going to make their portfolio a three holding portfolio with Berkshire being the cornerstone.
And he realizes that people are going to Do what they want. And he's in my opinion, he's addressing the average Joe here, who's, who's trying to prepare for whatever financial goal, most likely retirement that they are chasing by investing.
Peter Dunn: It is worth noting as Chris points out on the Facebook live broadcast that we've got going right now, that this is also [00:11:00] your stock pick of the year.
Or
has
Damian Dunn: been, has been not, not this year, last year.
Peter Dunn: All right. What, what else did Mr. Munger offer us in his 99 years?
Damian Dunn: Well, there are huge advantages for an individual to get into a position where you make a few great investments and just sit on your butt, you're paying less to brokers, you're listening to less nonsense.
And if it works, the governmental tax system gives you an extra one, two, or three percentage points per annum compounded.
Peter Dunn: This seems so consistent with the last piece of advice. And I, here's the threat I'm sensing.
It's It's assuming a person is doing their own investing yet. I don't think he would really want the average Joe executing on this advice. You know what I mean?
Damian Dunn: Yeah, that's an interesting point. I don't know if he advocated for overly complex investing strategies. I mean, [00:12:00] obviously what Brookshire did was very detailed and very into the weeds on that, but he, he really wanted to push the investing strategy of Berkshire Hathaway to buying really, really nice companies at reasonable prices versus what I, what I, what I understand Warren Buffett's perspective was at the beginning was to, I think they called them cigarette cigar, but companies you're buying the stuff that nobody wanted.
It being a huge contrarian and waiting for him to, to come back into favor and really appreciate. So I, you know, trying to discern between those two can be a challenging it sometimes, but for the average investor, I don't know what, what his feel was. I know that he were certainly against some certain things, which I may have a quote on.
Yes, I do have a quote on later. But. I don't know how complex he thought the average investor should get with his not a john boggle for by any stretch
Peter Dunn: you and [00:13:00] I are tracking because the reason I bring that up is because of how he felt about cryptocurrency and Robin Hood. And I know you're getting there, but I will start with.
He thought Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were noxious poison . Yeah. That it was beneath contempt, stupid, immoral, and disgusting. So maybe Charlie Munger and I yeah. Would've had a great time at a party, a drinking like gin soaked raisins or something. And
Damian Dunn: Metamucil, who knows? The quote that I had pulled for crypto is A cryptocurrency is not a currency, not a commodity.
And not a security. Instead, it's a gambling contract with nearly 100 percent edge for the house entered into a country where gambling contracts were traditionally regulated only by states that compete in laxity. Doug, if you're listening to this, I apologize. I should have told you to plug your ears before we got into the crypto section of
Peter Dunn: Charlie Munger, he goes on to say, quote, it's like [00:14:00] somebody else's trading turds and you decide I can't be left out.
It's akin to a venereal disease. This is 99 year old Charlie Munger in the last few years, just dropping bombs to the average investor. He, I mean, he is always known for sort of his wit and wisdom and his quirky way of delivering hard truths, I guess.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, a couple, if we want to shift away from the investing side of things into the more everyday life, life advice from Charlie Munger, hold on to your seats, I guess, be prepared for anything at this point.
In my whole life, I've known no wise people over a broad subject matter area who didn't read all the time. None. Zero. You'd be amazed at how much Warren reads and how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I'm a book with a couple of legs sticking out.
Peter Dunn: I that resonates, that resonates with me.
Yeah, I, [00:15:00] I'm at a point in my life where I'm reading a lot right now. And I remember when I, part of my career, when I thought I knew a lot more than I actually did is when I wasn't actually reading, like I was cockier and more self assured about what I knew when I wasn't reading that I am now. And I read nonstop.
That's that's, that's interesting wisdom
Damian Dunn: there. Yep and last one I'll squeeze in. Acquire worldly wisdom and adjust your behavior accordingly. If your new behavior gives you a little temporary unpopularity with your peer group, then to hell with them.
Peter Dunn: Well said. Alright, so let's do this. Rest in peace Charlie Munger.
Thank you for your wisdom over the years. And we'll do this coming up after the break. Let's talk about questions that people should be asking of their financial lives, but just don't even to, to do that. It's so you don't know what you don't know, and you don't know what you should be asking. And that is next right here on the pizza planter show.
[00:16:00]
Peter Dunn: I was reading some additional monger quotes this morning that you actually can't say on the radio. Oh
Damian Dunn: no. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot to pick through some stuff.
Peter Dunn: Did you happen to see his take on EBITDA and like people who talk about EBITDA and all of that? one. Oh Lord. No, but
Damian Dunn: I do. I want to see it now.
Peter Dunn: Eric asks, can we just have a whole show of these incredible putdowns of crypto special segment Damon crypto and alternative investment news this week? And maybe hopefully I don't burn your news here. Cristiano Ronaldo sued for 1 billion for his role in NFT promotion. Oh, man, good thing. It's a billion dollar soccer
Damian Dunn: contract.
Yeah, it's it's tough. Who could have possibly foreseen N. F. T. Is not working out.
Peter Dunn: Who knows? All right. So I'm speaking on Tuesday [00:17:00] night to a few 100 people at a get too specific, but a group of people who work at the administrative level of churches all across the country. Is that good? Yeah, I think it's fair.
And I don't even, not just like a church building, but like a church organization, like the heads of whatever. So I was speaking there and my role at this thing is, is to actually be the dinner entertainment. I was, it was like dinner and a show and I'm the show, which whatever. So I'm up there, I'm doing some things.
People are giggling a little bit and I'm in the midst of talking and all of a sudden out of nowhere, cause that's how they work, someone sneezed. Right. So I hear it. And I just freeze. I stop mid word, I freeze, and there's silence. And I simply said, You think of all the rooms of which someone might [00:18:00] say, God bless you, would be this room.
Yet, the shame on all of you. It was really and it was funny. It was like, retelling of it's not that funny. But in the moment, it was really funny.
Damian Dunn: I, it was great. I, it's you can understand if you put yourself, imagine yourself in that moment, in that environment, in that context, it makes it, it's a great joke.
Peter Dunn: Very aware. No, I, as a, look, when when you're, when you're on stage, you got a microphone, you gotta use whatever's happening. It just makes for a better show better show Okay, let's do did I send a question to you?
Damian Dunn: No, there was no question attached. It was just an example Okay. All right. Just the concept.
I'm
Peter Dunn: sorry. Okay. So I think we're good. I think we're good. All the same. Okay. Hello, Andy. Hello, Brian. Brian Pinkins. Hello, David Noble. Hello, Big Rick Swank. Chris says hello. Danza. Good day. Rochelle. Hello. That [00:19:00] covers the squad. All right. Let's get going in three. Back on the Pete, the planner show. Damian Dunn joins me.
Hello, Damian. Hello, Pete. You're coming off a vacay. Refreshed. Huh? Huh?
Damian Dunn: Yeah, it was fantastic. Beautiful weather. Very, very slow pace where we were at. So we were able to just sit back, relax, and not worry about anything for about seven days.
Peter Dunn: Did you go to the beach when you were there? Yeah,
Damian Dunn: sure did.
Every single day.
Peter Dunn: What's your move on the beach as an older man like me? Are you a long sleeved sunshirt fella, or are you just like stripping it down and letting people see the vessel that is you? No,
Damian Dunn: There's a long sleeve shirt that never it comes off of my body between the time I leave the room and get back
Peter Dunn: to the room.
Great. Me too. Dame, I, I have convinced myself of something recently and it's sort of, it's not a hot take, but it is definitely a take. And it's that [00:20:00] people, if, if, if you rely on people to be inquisitive about their financial lives, to solve the issues of their financial lives. That the only outcome will be failure.
And it's, and it's based on this. People don't know what they should be asking. So if you, if it's just like, okay, Hey, I'm going to wait until someone comes and asks me a question a, they may never come because they don't know what to ask or B. When they start to dig in, they don't even know where to begin.
And so what I think is as a financial professional, our role, our company, you and your team, like it is to give people. A forum to be led in a conversation. Now we can answer questions. I've just found in doing this for so long, that there's actually not that many good, pertinent questions to [00:21:00] ask because people don't know what to ask.
People were like, Hey, I want to be better financially. What do I do? That's not really a question, right? So Dane, what you and I did is we took some time to say, what are actually good questions. To ask someone about their financial life. And so we're going to go back and forth over the next couple of segments and sort of explore these and talk about why you think they're good.
You, would you like to go first? Sure.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, I'm fine with that. I think by the way, before we jump into this this is a great trait for your financial advisor to have the, I think the days of, uh, The advisor sitting there ingesting all of the information and then specifically just telling you what to do while that can be valuable, there's more value and progress made when you hire a thinking partner through a lot of these things where you can just toss ideas back and forth and come to a conclusion based off of.
The facts of the matter, your specific personality [00:22:00] and circumstances, and have a clear way forward and somebody that's going to support you in that. So if you are in the process of either evaluating potential financial planners or working with somebody, keep that in the back of your mind, make sure that they are that it's a conversation.
Between the two of you and not just a one way you, you put all the information in, you get information out and that's the end of it.
Peter Dunn: So anyway, if people choose not to use the questions that we're going to talk about today, the other element of this to what you just said, Dame is if you're interviewing financial advisors, say, look, I don't know what to ask.
But I need to get my stuff together. Just take me through it. And they're like, well, it depends what you want. And like, if they, if they get stuck on that, well, what do you need to know? Move on. That ain't him. That ain't her. Like it's I'll put it this way and then let you get to the questions. But if the average person is just living life, you know, they're just, they got expenses, they got some income.
They definitely are going to experience financial discomfort [00:23:00] from time to time. It's often a cashflow issue, but there's a lot of reasons around it. People don't know how to form the words to ask the question to change that reality. Cause you just don't go, Oh, things are hard. What I do, you know, like what you don't know how to ask the question.
So today we ask those questions, Dan, you're first. Am I
Damian Dunn: benchmarking appropriately?
Peter Dunn: See, this is a good one. This is a good one. People don't know to ask that. So day one ends up happening is we have. Should we tell on ourselves? A little? Yeah, I was
Damian Dunn: a hundred percent going to use this. It just go ahead today.
Pete and I were having this conversation about, hey, did you look at what your 401k is returned now? Based on the company that we use for 401k here at your money line. And knowing that he and I are roughly allocated the same with, with our, our choices we were both a little surprised when we looked and saw what the year to date return has been [00:24:00] now.
Truth be told Pete, if we said that the average that we expected, if we could lock in 8 percent a year going forward, you and I would be happy and we're doing better than that. But we were benchmarking against the S and P 500, which is up. Well, yesterday it was 20 ish percent for year to date. We are doing, you want to say about half that, about half that a little more than half of that is where we were at for year to date.
Now, both of those things are completely true, but. We are in a diversified portfolio that is U. S. based, international, has some but not a ton of bond exposure as well. And we're comparing our returns against the S& P 500, which is just doing phenomenal this year. And if you compare any of the other indexes, they're not keeping up to the S& P 500.
Largely because of seven companies, by the way, but that's not an appropriate benchmark. For [00:25:00] our portfolios that we're invested in. And if you are you know, looking at your returns on your statements every year thing, I listened to the news and the S and P 500 is up 20%, why am I only doing 10 or 12 or whatever it may be?
There's a very reasonable answer for that. I promise you're just using the wrong benchmark. And this is a very narrow application of the question.
Peter Dunn: The weird thing is you and I know this we know better, but the second I sent you a pretty vanilla prompt to bring this up yesterday and you honed in on exactly what I.
stupidly honed in on was how much it felt like it underperformed the S& P and you and I know better you and I know better that there's some sort of blended basket that makes more sense for us to benchmark to but I if you and I Let's say we struggle. Let's use the verb struggle with that. I mean, the average Joe is really going to not have the [00:26:00] context
Damian Dunn: there.
Absolutely. And that's what turns into the, you know, if, if the average indices are coming back at between 8 and 10%, the average investor return is 2 to 3%. It's because they, they see this information, they go out and they make changes based on emotion and not longterm investing planning and Frankly, probably having the appropriate benchmarks.
There's no reason to base your returns or your happiness with your returns off the S and P 500. If you're in a 60 40 portfolio, that's silly.
Peter Dunn: All right. My question is, how does The amount I spend on housing impact my ability to execute on my financial plan. So how much do I spend? How much does what I spend on housing impact my ability to execute my financial plan?
Damn, you know, I am of the belief that people will get themselves into a housing situation and fight and scrap for the house and in turn, turn their back on their financial [00:27:00] plan.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, overhousing. I believe you were the person that introduced me to that. That phrase a number of years ago is a very real issue.
Now, obviously there are challenges that are regional around the country that come to housing and different situations, but budgets can change accordingly in some of those areas as well. So if you chase that, that American dream and try and have that house, you may be Accidentally cutting yourself off at the knees at trying to accomplish and have that stable life that you really desire.
The house may represent it, but it may not give you the end result.
Peter Dunn: Yeah. I think people they'll, they'll set a long term goal, but then they'll say, no matter what the output I need to do in order to achieve that goal. I'm still going to make this fundamental error in my housing decision. And those two things actually don't fit together, which is why it's a question you should be asking.
So Dane, let's do this. [00:28:00] We got through two, we've explained the concept and there's a lot more questions you should be asking. So we're after the break, we'll come back, do more of that, right? Here on the Pete, the planner show, I am Pete, the planner stopping the segments a little early today. Cause I just want more Johnny Cougar, more Mellencamp
Damian Dunn: for the people.
Absolutely.
Peter Dunn: People love the Mellencamp. Dame, I try not to weigh in too much on other people's money, which is sounds like a ridiculous thing to say because that's all I ever do. But I mean like a specific person's money. Like a specific public figure. I just try to like, now I will say what we tend to do is when it comes to our politicians and our government leaders, we are, we are highly critical of their financial lives.
Here's where I'm struggling and I'm going to regret this. Gee, many Christmas, I'm going to regret this. You know,
let's just go, let's just go broader. Let's go broader. College [00:29:00] football coach buyouts are nuts
for so many reasons, and I'll go just two quick ones. There's been two massive stories in the last week and a half, or in this world, over two weeks or whatever. Who cares? Tens of millions. Tens of millions of dollars to stop coaching and good. It's a contract. The person is, you know, that's the market value for them.
Great. But man, if you bring in some other context into that situation of the old argument of there isn't enough money. Within the system to pay athletes, yet you can pay a coach tens of millions of dollars to not work there anymore. That's a hard argument.
Damian Dunn: Well, I mean, where's, where's the money coming from to, to, you know, expedite the removal of that coach it's coming from boosters.
The boosters are [00:30:00] also the ones paying the athletes now. And I mean, they're, they're finding creative ways to do that. So. Yes, absolutely. There, there is plenty of money in the system to be had. It just highlights the ridiculousness of the situation. I mean, slight twist on this conversation. Yeah. Pete, can you imagine being paid millions of dollars not to work?
Peter Dunn: Yeah, I think about it all the time
Damian Dunn: because somebody was so upset with your performance that they said, here's 10 million. Go away. I don't ever turn in your, your your hoodie on your way out the door.
Peter Dunn: I also say with a gout getting into the details to that same question. In some of these instances by waiting a month or 45 days or 60 days, they lessen the burden of what the payout is yet with the season being bad anyway, because that's the whole point of [00:31:00] letting the person go and the feeling of getting a jump on whoever the next coach is, it's not worth 60 days and the millions and millions of dollars saved on like, so that.
Shocks me too
Damian Dunn: is a world with which I will never be familiar
Peter Dunn: with
Back to questions that you should be asking, but you really don't know to do that, right?
Damian Dunn: I believe that's what we were talking about
Peter Dunn: Okay, coming back three one back on the Pete the planner show. Here's what we're covering right now So thanks for listening. I guess that seemed insincere Dame did that sound insincere?
Because it was We're talking about questions you should be asking about your financial life, but you just don't know to ask. Now, I damn, I have to, to note oftentimes in a professional setting when I'm trying to learn what's going on, whether it's just be like a, a negotiation or someone selling me their services, I, I tend to, at [00:32:00] the end, ask the question, is there a question I am not asking, which makes you feel as though I do not understand what's going on here.
I love that question. I ask it probably three times a day. You get some pretty amazing answers to that question. But in a personal finance sense, I, I think people even stop short of that and they just, they don't even know. So, next up for you, what is a question that people should be asking they just don't know to?
What
Damian Dunn: is the emotional impact of my spending habits?
Peter Dunn: Ooh, say it again slower. What
Damian Dunn: is the emotional impact of my spending habits?
Peter Dunn: Ooh, that's a really good one. No one would know to ask that.
Damian Dunn: What are you buying with your spending? Not only physically, but emotionally as well. What are the ramifications of that spending?
Because we're all familiar with, you know, the ups and the downs of the balance in your [00:33:00] checking account and the balance on your credit card. But what are the ramifications of The spending on the, the emotional, the person themselves, the psyche, because I read a book and I'm going to completely space.
And if Kristen were here, she would tell me the title of it and the author. But the, one of the posits in that book was we've all talked about once in needs. There are no wants. Everything is a need. What you are buying may not actually be filling that need. There may be other circumstances around that purchase.
That's the need that needs filled, not the actual thing that you're spending money on.
Peter Dunn: Ooh, I've never heard you guys talk about that one. Really? No, either that or I didn't listen. Yeah, well so this is interesting too, because it is on the track of my next one, which is I have a pay increase coming up of 5%.
How [00:34:00] can I prevent that raise from making retirement more difficult? And I don't think people think in those binary terms when they get a pay raise. Because you're, you're, it is never even, it is either this raise improved. The ease of which you will be able to retire or it made it more difficult. It is never a non factor.
And when you think about it through that, through that lens, it's sort of shocking and alarmist, you know?
Damian Dunn: Yeah. It's actually is very, very similar to one of the questions I had, which is what is the long term impact of my current lifestyle on my future finances?
Peter Dunn: Yeah. I, I, which also begs one that I like, this is back and forth.
This is fun. I like. At what point in time will I need [00:35:00] less money? Cause that, that's, that's the goal is not to have more money because you're going to in default need more money. It's how do you design your life financially? So you will, you will need less money.
Damian Dunn: Yeah. I mean, you're those, those five years prior to retirement and five years after the retirement is declared, whatever you want to call it, that's going to look different for almost.
Every person, how much money do you need five years before to the five years after? And ideally, I mean, we could create a list of ideal scenario for, for somebody who is in retirement entering or just beyond retirement, but it's going to look different. And the key for you. If you're doing any sort of planning is to figure out when those big things roll off, how much money are you really going to need?
Because that's going to help you determine how quickly do you have to burn through your resources? Sure. You're going to have [00:36:00] social security. Maybe if you're lucky, you're going to have a pension, but the rest of it's going to probably be funded by you and whether that's part time work or savings and how are you going to fill that gap?
And if you can determine how much money you're going to need and when it gets a heck of a lot easier to figure this out. And it's. It's not an easy question to answer because there are so many variables, especially when you're planning for something five, 10 years down the road. We just don't know, but we have to make a reasonable guess at it so you can plan accordingly.
Peter Dunn: One breaking news on the Sandra Day O'Connor just passed away. Really? That's the former Supreme Court justice. And Hoosier. Yeah, just breaking news. Sorry to break it to you unless you're listening on the podcast, but yeah, on the live stream. Sorry.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, or radio on Sunday, which they may have a news in between our yeah,
Peter Dunn: possibly.
She's in her 90s. Is that the third? I mean, there was Henry Kissinger. Charlie Munger, Sandra Day O'Connor, do you believe in the death in threes thing? I
Damian Dunn: try not to think about it, but if [00:37:00] you do, then we'll say yes, it was the third and we can move on. Because
Peter Dunn: then it's not me. I start another third.
Damian Dunn: You're not in your 90s. Though we have a string of people in their 40s, you've got my
Peter Dunn: attention. I have the hairline of a man in his 90s. Back to the show, Dame. What about, and this, this is a bit sort of a cute turn of phrase, and you and I were talking about this before the show, to what degree, this is the question you should be asking, to what degree Are my liabilities actually an asset?
To what degree are the liabilities that I have actually an asset? And it's a, you don't know to ask it, but there's two outcomes here that I commonly have seen. Number one, a person believes their liabilities to be an asset and they are wrong, or someone doesn't understand that the liability that they have is an asset.
And in both circumstances. Mistakes can be [00:38:00] made that can really blow up a beautiful asset and or put value towards something that is not a good asset.
Damian Dunn: We just talked about this before the show started about the situation with some, some business debt, didn't we? Because it's, it's a liability, but it's a huge asset.
As well, now we're not talking about our, your money line, but we're talking about a separate business. But in that particular case, that debt is actually a huge asset because of some of the terms around it. So yeah, you're exactly
Peter Dunn: right. Yeah. Because I, I even think about my own mortgage is at two and a half percent, your mortgage, two and a half percent, like it's strange for me from a financial planning perspective, because I want that thing paid off prior to my kids going to college for the cashflow flexibility, but at the same time.
If I got too aggressive with it, I'd be better off just from a simple arbitrage standpoint of investing it. And then just paying the two and a half percent as long as necessary. Yeah, [00:39:00]
Damian Dunn: entirely true. I mean, that's one of those situations where you and I look at it and I don't know if there's necessarily a wrong answer to either of those approaches.
You, you can fall back into math and trying to get down to a very technical answer. But so many of these things are going to be. Very individual specific on, on what the right path forward is, which gets back to talking to your trusted financial resource or guide or Sherpa or whoever it may be to to make sure you're on the right
Peter Dunn: path.
I believe you're next in the speed round of questions you should ask.
Damian Dunn: This is one that I think people are aware of, but they either ignore or don't put the weight behind it that they should. Am I adequately protecting my assets and income?
Peter Dunn: Am I protecting my assets? Am I
Damian Dunn: adequately protecting my assets?
It's insurance, basically. Are you insured? appropriately. Nobody likes to think about insurance or pay the premiums because you're literally paying for something you hope you never, ever, ever [00:40:00] use.
Peter Dunn: It's so important. Okay, so if I may, and with a minute left, what percentage of people ask an appropriate party, do I have enough life insurance?
What percentage of people ask an appropriate Expert or party the simple question. Do I have enough life insurance? That's a great
Damian Dunn: question Less than 10. Oh, yeah I was the single digits. I just don't know
Peter Dunn: because they may think it they may Posit it because you said it with a friend at getting tacos, but they're not actually going to go to anyone that That can do something about it and
Damian Dunn: solve it and people who get that, that comfort of, well, I've got coverage through work and they, they, they just never go forward because they've checked the box.
I've got some life insurance and it's probably nowhere close to what you need.
Peter Dunn: Speaking of something, nowhere close to what you need coming up next biggest waste of money of the week right here on the [00:41:00] pizza planner show. I'm Pete the planner running short this week. I just like people want to hear small town, you know.
Pink houses. Pink houses for you and me.
I met a boyhood hero of mine on Tuesday morning.
Damian Dunn: You're waiting till the next, next to the last segment to tell us
Peter Dunn: this? Sorry, I, you know, a lot going on. I I got to go up and, and like we talked for a while just based on the circumstances of what was going on, but it was really neat. I got to like tell him, tell him I used to, you know, watch him.
It was Bill Brooks, former Indianapolis Colts, wide receiver, great, number 80, Bill Brooks. We were, I was at a thing and he was there and we're talking and I was just like, man, can I just tell you, and I know I'm not trying to make you feel old, but But I'm gonna. It was really cool. I mean, what's the old they never meet your [00:42:00] heroes or anything like that.
I, I get that, but he, man, a, a and a through Z, that guy is a class act. And I think that's why even as a kid, you kind of could figure out. I was like, man, this guy, he's a great human. He was just, it was really cool. So I got to tell him,
Damian Dunn: What's what's the chance that you could lock him down on a couple of different routes right now if you were to line up
Peter Dunn: against him?
Yeah, I'm old. Yeah. I feel, I mean, he's old. I mean, he's got to be, I don't even know. So let's look him up. Let's look him up. All right. So he, no, he's he's looks like he's in great shape. He's small, too. I mean, with all due respect, let's see how old he is. He's 59. Oh, my gosh.
Damian Dunn: What what level? Of college athletics.
Do you think somebody like Jerry Rice or Randy Moss would have to play on to be the best receiver in the league?
Peter Dunn: I don't understand the
Damian Dunn: question. So if, [00:43:00] if, if Randy Moss or Jerry Rice were to get back into playing football, okay, clearly they're not going to be the best in the NFL, right? What level of college athletics would they play?
Division one, division two, NAIA, JUCO. What level would they have to play at to be? Let's just say the top 5 percent receivers in the league.
Peter Dunn: So I don't know enough about college football, but I will say this, that I know there are power conferences. Yes. I think, I think guaranteed right below the power conferences, I think they could do it, but I don't know enough about college football.
Damian Dunn: I don't either. Yeah. I think it's an interesting question. Yeah.
Peter Dunn: Interesting. But you're saying as their current age right
Damian Dunn: now. Right now, put the pads back on and go.
Peter Dunn: What was the old Larry Bird thing? People would say, well like Who's better, you or LeBron James? And he said I think I could take him, but then again, I'm 60.
Right? Like, like he would take him at the current age. Like, something like that. Nice to butcher someone's funny joke. [00:44:00] Okay. I think I like, I think I kind of like the bomb this week,
Damian Dunn: like you would potentially consider buying it.
Peter Dunn: Oh, no, I mean, I kind of like the, the the bit, you know, like yeah, sometimes they're good.
Sometimes they're bad. Prepare to be
Damian Dunn: underwhelmed. Everybody.
Peter Dunn: I will say great friend. Of the show. Gordon McElwain sent me, you know, old Gordo. Absolutely guys. Ledge. I love that, man. Yes. Kind. You want to talk about kind people. Gordon sent me an email with the biggest waste of money of the week candidate, and it just wasn't good enough copy and I would've had to write the copy, but it was a Mont Blanc pen.
Like a writing instrument. They had like a, some diamonds. It was 140, 000 for a pen. For something
Damian Dunn: you know you'd lose in two weeks. Oh,
Peter Dunn: absolutely. dO you remember Mr. Grip Pens?
Damian Dunn: I Remember the name. I don't remember. [00:45:00] Were they the Triangle
Peter Dunn: Grip Pens? Kinda they were just like a And they were, if you had arthritis or you had terrible handwriting.
And so I had, as you, as you well know, I have terrible handwriting. And so I, at one point I switched to the Mr. Grip which was not 140, 000 bucks. Oh, Dr. Grip, Rick says it's Dr. Grip.
Damian Dunn: I I made a very unfortunate discovery when my kids were younger. You know, when when your kids are just getting into school did they have your kids buy those really fat pencils?
Yes. For I used one of those one day. Big bone pencils. Yeah, big bone pencils. And my handwriting never looked better than using one of those. Large pencils and the, the lead's a little bit bigger as well. So I apparently have the needs of a five year old for
Peter Dunn: writing. By the way, I would like to, I've often said on this show at various times in my life, I'm so fearful that I'm going to have to make a public apology.
And I feel like I'm here right now in this moment. Okay. Like to [00:46:00] apologize for Dr. Grip for ignoring his time in medical school. I hear it called a Mr. Grip. What if Dr. Grip's a woman? Oh, that's even worse. Now, now I've got to apologize for that. Jamie Christmas. Oh, oh my gosh. Oh, flustered. Do you ever talk like Mickey Mouse at home and see what your wife thinks?
I don't either. I do sometimes.
Damian Dunn: I do. I'm 100 percent sure you do. She
Peter Dunn: hates it. She really doesn't like me.
Damian Dunn: That's an easy transition into the old guy voice though. If
Peter Dunn: Oh, that's true. If I got home one day and my wife, I love my wife, she's the best, but if I got home one day and she was like, I'm really tired of you. Like, I'm so annoyed with you. I gotta go. I'll understand. You know what [00:47:00] I mean? Like, I'll get it.
I know I'm annoying and I don't try to be annoying. It just. It happens a lot.
Damian Dunn: Why can't she accept you for who you are?
Peter Dunn: What some people might find fun for an hour, minutes, every week. Imagine working a few hours a day or 24 years of marriage. Okay,
Damian Dunn: here we go. She's a long distance runner, spends lots of time training.
You
Peter Dunn: say this is like, I'm going to go out for a run. I'm like, Oh, when will I see you? She's like Tuesday. She's getting the more time we spend together. The more she's getting into like ultra marathon. Yeah. Hey, I'm running to Mercury.
Okay, here we go. She also hates when I talk about her on the show. So she'll never double whammy. All right in three two. I don't know. It's going to take a second. Oops. That's not it. Here [00:48:00] we go. Three, two, one. This week's biggest waste of money of the week, right here on the Pete the Planner Show, is the impossible collection of whiskey.
Whiskey is considered by many to be the finest spirit known to man, other than Casper the Friendly Ghost. And this book might be the best way to experience it outside of sipping. Written by best selling spirits writer and whiskey expert Clay Risen. The book unpacks the spirit's history through some of the most famous distilleries in the world.
Along with the finest bottles they've ever produced from Petey Scotch created in the Scottish Highlands to Kentucky's finest bourbon, Risen selects 100 amazing whiskeys from a wide variety of makers. You'll find American classics like Pappy Van Winkle alongside bottles like Middleton, very rare 45, as well [00:49:00] as some of the best kept secrets in the world of whiskey from India and the Czech Republic.
The impossible collection arrives in a wrought iron trimmed wood box inspired by authentic whiskey barrels, which is in itself a collector's item. All right, Dame, this is a 212 page book about rare whiskey. What do you think it costs?
Damian Dunn: Too much first. Which is obviously the theme of this segment. I will, 212 pages.
What's the mash bill of the book? Yeah.
Peter Dunn: 250 bucks. All right. In the spirit of our fine, fine friend, Kristen, who's not feeling well today, what would, what would she have guessed you get to guess what she would have guessed? 150 bucks. The answer is 1, 200 for a [00:50:00] book about rare whiskeys. Here's the dumb thing.
Actually, it's not dumb. For 1200 bucks, you could get a bottle of Pappy. Yeah.
Damian Dunn: I mean, there's, it's just a coffee table book. I
Peter Dunn: like, okay. I mean, I know you're, you know, you and you. Dislike bourbon and whiskey,
Damian Dunn: right? Is it, I mean, does it got coupon pages that you can tear out in the back as you visit the distilleries and get a discount?
Peter Dunn: Nah, but like, would you rather have a bottle of Pappy or a book that has a picture of Pappy?
Damian Dunn: I could go take a tour of the distillery and hear all the stories that's probably are contained in this book. And then yeah, I'd rather have the bottle or multiple bottles of. Stuff that's a little less expensive than Pappy.
Peter Dunn: Dane, what's in the news this week? Nothing that depressing.
Damian Dunn: Some people think money can buy happiness. [00:51:00] Millennials say they need 525, 000 a year to achieve financial happiness, which is among the highest of all generations, according to an Empower survey conducted by the Harris Poll. Millennials, the generation roughly born between 1981 and 1996, far outpaced the other generations with their salary desires.
That was more than triple that of Gen X, which had the next highest salary needs. The median weekly earnings for a U. S. worker are, Pete, guessing game, median Earnings, weekly earnings for a U. S. worker. Oh.
Peter Dunn: Oh boy, this is gonna really hurt. Thousand dollars.
Damian Dunn: 1059. 1059. Very well done.
Peter Dunn: Oh my god.
Damian Dunn: Which is just over 55, 000 for those of you playing at home for the entire year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That means millennials, at least according to the survey, say they need nearly 10 times the median salary to [00:52:00] achieve financial happiness. And other generations say they need more than double. The median amount millennials are also, which I think this is interesting. Our millennials are also at the prime age for several major financial decisions, such as purchasing a home, having kids, which could be related to their relatively, relatively higher salary demands for financial happiness.
Respondents defined happiness in a variety of ways, including paying bills on time, living debt free, affording everyday luxuries without worry and owning a home.
Peter Dunn: I'm trying to think how to react to this and I keep just coming back to it kind of makes me sad like I could get mad and be like. But I'm just like, that's sad.
That's really sad.
Damian Dunn: Yeah. I, they feel like that, that's what it's going to take for them to achieve financial happiness. If they're just looking at buying a house for the first time and seeing things go nuts like they have over the last three years and paying bills and college loans and all that. I, I could, it's very easily understand it inflated.[00:53:00]
Potentially exaggerated desire for a high income to pay, take care of all that stuff. But over half a million dollars, it seems like a tick tock skit where people are asking young women on the street, how much they expect their engagement ring to be.
Peter Dunn: Yeah. I'm trying not to be like insulting winning more than normal.
And that's just, it seems so out of touch. I a few years ago. Young Theodore my parents gave him some football cards or something and he got a Patrick Mahomes card and he looked it up online. And it's worth 75. Wow. And Ted. Sell, sell, sell. Yeah, he comes running over to where we're sitting, he goes, just look this up.
It's worth 75. I'm a millionaire. And when I think about people being out of touch with money, I think about Ted's excitement telling us that he's a millionaire while also saying that he's, he's actually worth 75. And it [00:54:00] like, that's what makes me
Damian Dunn: think of here. Wait until he learns. The the scam that pricing guides are.
Oh,
Peter Dunn: that's the truth. What else is in the news?
Damian Dunn: If seeing the Amazon van approaching gives you a thrill because you've ordered so much that you don't remember what's coming and it's like a little surprise every time you're probably not alone last year, the company delivered more packages to us homes than ups, which it surpassed for the first time.
And FedEx, which it's beaten since 2020 Amazon expects to deliver more boxes this year, estimating 5. 9 billion. Up from last year's 5. 2 billion, according to wall street journal, but the U S postal service still carries the most packages in part, because the OG handles hundreds of millions of parcels for UPS, FedEx and Amazon.
Peter Dunn: Yeah. This time of year, my neighborhood streets, they're always filled with FedEx and UPS and Amazon. Like, and you know what time of day they come and all of that, but it is pretty wild. Like how our society in the [00:55:00] last, I don't know, a couple of decades have turned into. the ubiquitous site of
Damian Dunn: It's crazy to think that when we were kids, we used to get catalogs delivered to our house to figure out what we wanted to buy and then we would go buy them at those locations.
Now we basically look at those locations online and have them send the products to us. It's completely
Peter Dunn: reversed. I feel like we've kind of touched on this idea before, but have you ever felt bad based on getting Really low shipping for something that's really far away. And this idea, not that they put the one thing on a plane and flew it from New Zealand or something, but you know what I mean?
If like, just like the wasteful nature of I'm flying a watch band from Auckland, New Zealand, and it costs me nothing. And it seems a little strange.
Damian Dunn: Where else are you going to get your kangaroo hair watch bands?
Peter Dunn: It was a wallaby. Ah, that's right. That's [00:56:00] right. That wasn't a great accent. One last story?
Damian Dunn: I'm going to try and squeeze through this because I think it's interesting.
IBM, which decades ago helped lead the shift from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, recently told U. S. employees it will be scrapping its 401k match in favor of funding what it calls a quote, retirement benefit account. Other companies may find it tricky to follow suit. Experts say starting next year, IBM will no longer provide a 5 percent match and a 1 percent automatic contribution into the employees 401k instead effective January 1st, the company will put a 5 percent into the RBA, essentially a pension plan that will pay 6 percent interest through 2026.
And after that, it will earn a rate equivalent to the 10 year US treasury yield with a 3 percent floor through 2033.
Peter Dunn: I'm actually, I'm going to need some time with that story. Like he said it to me. I want to see that. I hadn't seen it. Yep. I don't know what I think about that. Maybe we'll talk about it next week. That's weird, right? It's, it's contrarian.
Damian Dunn: Yeah, it is totally different. And it the article says [00:57:00] that it's not expected to catch on, but it is.
Definitely a different
Peter Dunn: approach when I'm trying to figure out is, is that some sort of what's the, what's the motivation? I don't think it's cost savings per se, but maybe it's retirement success. And then they're paying lesser salaries. I
Damian Dunn: mean, you're going to be able to make some different decisions in your own investment allocation based off of this, if you're getting a flat rate.
So
Peter Dunn: well, that's all we have this week. So any good vibes? Cause good vibes are all this in the I'm Pete the Planner. Pete the Planner's show. Sorry, dude.
Damian Dunn: It's all right. I started my watch a couple seconds late, and I forgot
Peter Dunn: all about it So that's a weird one. I got it. I gotta read that before I have some dumb take I
Damian Dunn: will try to find the Article itself and send it on.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, just send what you got. I'll google it. I'll put I'll put it through bang big plans this weekend, Dan
Damian Dunn: Cleaning out my barn. It's, it's that time again. I've got to get rid of a whole bunch of stuff.
Peter Dunn: That wasn't a euphemism, was [00:58:00] it?
Damian Dunn: No, no, it's literally, I've, I have a dumpster sitting outside my barn right now that I'm going to just start chucking junk into this weekend.
Peter Dunn: Still no euphemisms. No,
Damian Dunn: still no euphemisms.
Peter Dunn: Okay, I'm gonna go. I'm sorry. I do have a meeting. Sorry, Jeremiah. Stay getting money.
