Peter Dunn: [00:00:00] I mean, who knew one week after the brand new segment, Is Peter a Jerk, that we'd have a second episode. Kristen and Dame join me, the peanut gallery, so to speak. Hello, friends. Hello.
Damian Dunn: I don't know what sound a peanut makes, so I'll just say hello.
Peter Dunn: First off, Kristen's having an amazing hair day. She got her hair done on Tuesday.
It looks so good.
Kristen Ahlenius: I wish you wouldn't do that.
Peter Dunn: We were in a team meeting this morning on Zoom and I had to remind myself that Even though Kristen and I are friends and co broadcasters, that openly complimenting a woman's hair on a professional call is a bad thing to do, so I didn't. Instead, I'm doing it on the radio, where no one can see it.
Damian Dunn: Well done.
Peter Dunn: Thank you. That's not the jerk moment. Guys not necessarily a jerk moment, it's sort of just an awkward moment I experienced this week. I was invited to a business dinner. Mm. And this is coming off of heels of several years ago telling Mrs. Planner that I had a business [00:01:00] event and being surreptitiously slapped down when I got home that evening, after she had seen me on the local news, judging a pie eating contest.
This was in fact a real business dinner and at the dinner somehow, some way, and I didn't bring it up. The idea of massage came up. This is a a multi gender dinner. And so there are four men and a woman this dinner, someone brings up massage. And I said, you know, have you ever thought who instigated the very first paid massage?
Was it someone saying, Hey, look let me rub you and you pay me 6 cents. Or was it someone who said I need rubbed and And will you pay me? And I sort of like went down this thought path with my, my new dinner companions who had never met. And I found myself at the end, people were laughing, but I couldn't tell, is that problematic?
Kristen Ahlenius: It's [00:02:00] something.
Damian Dunn: It was a pretty gutsy topic to chase on a first business dinner conversation. But it, it is an
Peter Dunn: interesting question. So Kristen in the world of paid massage. Let's go back to whenever this happened for the very first time, who, who instigated it? Was it a person who wanted rubbed and was willing to part with wampum or whatever?
Or was it someone who said, you know what? I need some money. Hey, can I rub you? What do you think it was?
Kristen Ahlenius: I
Peter Dunn: think it was the latter. Okay. So you think someone offered to rub someone for money?
Kristen Ahlenius: Mm hmm. Yes, I do.
Peter Dunn: Dame, here on this financial show, top 1 percent podcast in the world. And this is financially related, should be on the air.
Dame, how do you think the first massage happened? Paid massage.
Damian Dunn: I,[00:03:00]
I think Akristen probably is right because I don't think I mean, we're assuming this is a long time ago. I don't think we have to assume it was a man asking a woman for this service. I don't think the man would have offered to pay for it.
Peter Dunn: That's interesting. That's interesting. Okay, anyway. Hi, everybody.
Kristen Ahlenius: What a day.
Peter Dunn: Is it? Hi, let's do a radio show. What's going on with you guys? Dame, how's your life?
Damian Dunn: Eventful right now. Eventful right now. Aquadons have a long course swimming meet this weekend. So lots of swimming in a very hot netitorium. It's going to be a lot of fun. Sounds very wet. Are you yonder? Are you this way or what? Still in the great northeast of Indiana, but we'll be spending time in the Indy metro area soon.
Great. Kristen eventful weekend.
Kristen Ahlenius: I, right on, right on cue, I am going to a [00:04:00] bachelorette party this evening.
Peter Dunn: Oh, wow. Okay. Well let's do the show. You guys want to do the the latest email that just came in first?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes.
Peter Dunn: Sure. Okay. Just pull up the calculator. Someday I won't.
All right. In three, two, this week on the Pete, the planner show, we answer your money questions. Here's how the show works. You email us, askpeteatpetetheplanner. com. That's askpeteatpetetheplanner. com. And here's what will happen. The geniuses. Not me, Kristen and Dame will give you wonderful, intelligent answers.
And I will try to shoehorn jokes in between their answers. I mentioned them, let's meet them. Kristen Alanius, hello! Hello, Peter. Good hair day, Dame?
Damian Dunn: Good day. Do you do you think Kristen knows what a shoehorn [00:05:00] is? Kristen, shoehorn is?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes, I do.
Damian Dunn: Okay, I just thought maybe it was something
Peter Dunn: for olds.
Kristen Ahlenius: It is, but I still know what it is.
Peter Dunn: My son uses a shoehorn to get his soccer boots on. Yeah. Anyway all right, let's do this. Dame received an email and Kristen, I need you guys to answer it. Dear Kristen, Dame, Peter, and the birds. Love it. I don't hear the birds today, Dame. Oh, they're very quiet. They must have full bellies. Did you eat the birds?
No comment. I am hoping to receive insight from one of the top 1 percent podcasts in the world. Great start to the email. I am 40 married with two toddlers.
Who has the energy? No one has the energy. Currently my wife and I bring home about 175, 000 a year. Damn. I am going to need an actual time out here. Got it. Do you think bring [00:06:00] home means after taxes or do you think bring home simply means that's their salaries?
Damian Dunn: I'm going to go under the assumption that they actually bring home 1 75 a year.
Kristen Dis, Kristen disagrees.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, I disagree. I think that's their like gross income. I, I agree with Kristen. I kind of got stuck on that. I can see it both ways, but I think, I think it was just like a throwaway phrase that unfortunately conveyed a, a dual meaning. Anyway, we continue. We have 800, 000 in retirement on top of a fully funded emergency fund.
If it matters, we live in the Midwest where cost of living is low. Can I get a timeout?
Damian Dunn: Yes. If they gross 175, 000 a year. And they have 800 in retirement. They're doing, I mean, it's much more likely that they're both maxing out 4 0 1 Ks in order to get to 800 at age 40. It's actually a really good point.[00:07:00]
Peter Dunn: True. Continuing here is my dilemma. The only debt I have is my mortgage and it weighs heavily on me. I'm in sales. Yeah, I'm in sick. Can I read the rest of this as a sales guy? Just a paragraph. Okay. I'm in sales and can have wild swings in income. My wife works part time and therefore we rely heavily on my commissions.
All right, continuing. Now comes the crazy idea. We owe about 200, 000 on our mortgage. Our house value. It's 650, 000 American dollars. And I'm completely out of, am I completely out of line to want to cash out some of my Roth to pay this off? I feel it would bring a lot of peace to my life as I no longer have to worry about my job and the economy.
Talk me out of it. I will let the three of you to bra debate birds. Don't get a vote. Good day, Brian. Alright. You know what, [00:08:00] I always give Kristen the first swing. Dame
Damian Dunn: wield your ax. What do you got, brother? So I believe the question is, am I completely out of line to want to cash out some of my Roth to pay this off?
Yes. Yes, you are. First of all, for those of you that may not be familiar with how Roths work we're 40 years old in order to. Access all of those funds without any penalty, you're going to have to be of a magic age, Kristen. The magic age is 59
Kristen Ahlenius: and a half.
Damian Dunn: Correct? Not there. So we only have access to the to the contributions to these Roths at this point, which I am going to I'm going to guess are less than 200, 000.
So that's
Peter Dunn: a really interesting point. I had not considered the math of that
Damian Dunn: Dame. So either you're not going to pay it all off, which if that, if that helps you sleep at night, I guess that's a consideration. But if you do want to pay everything off, [00:09:00] I'm betting you're going to have to pay some penalty and potentially income tax on, on the gains on that as well.
And that's just. It's not great. I would much rather you focus on building margin in your month to month life, which you likely already have since you're in sales already. You have some flexibility and where you're spending and then just focus on getting that knocked out bit by bit, maybe with some bigger commission checks or bonuses or whatever come along.
But I, I don't like the idea of cashing Roth out to pay off a huge chunk of money like that miscellaneous.
Kristen Ahlenius: Brian, congratulations on being so money vigilant that you have reached a place of over analysis of your financial life. Welcome. Join me. Like, I love this because it's someone who is doing so many great things.
That they're like, well, how do I make sure that I'm prepared? I have contingency plan, not just like a, B and C, right? They have an emergency fund. We make good money. We're saving for [00:10:00] retirement. We're getting so far down the alphabet that now we are potentially coming all the way back around and could, you know, are a B and C priorities by making this decision.
Peter Dunn: It's funny. I also am like a hard no, like, like as a hard no, as you get, but for neither of the reasons that you all gave, which I actually like your reasons better than my reasons, mine is. Well, two, I have two. The interest rate on the mortgage is going to be less than 8%. Mm-Hmm. . So the, the long-term power of the invested assets, in my opinion, is better than the long-term, term paying of the interest ee has to pay.
And then the second one is I think a person is more motivated to pay off debt. Over time than they are to aggressively invest over time. So [00:11:00] if he had the debt gone and then he exhaled, he may not invest as aggressively can find excuses why to not invest. And it's potentially. Potentially a situation in which he would have less money at the end because he paid off the mortgage and tried to invest the new proceeds.
Do you guys buy either of my arguments?
Damian Dunn: Sure, if that makes sense. What I want to make sure everybody understands is that we're not minimizing the desire to be mortgage free and trying to figure out any possible way to do it. I think you're just going about it the wrong way, Brian. I think there's other ways to get this accomplished.
Not nearly as quick, obviously, as what you're hoping for, but there's ways you can structure this and create a long term financial goal to have this done. dollar figure paid off over a certain amount of time. What you also have to balance is you've got two toddlers. And so now you're also going to be concerned about saving for college likely and continuing to build that retirement nest egg as well.
So it's going to be a bit of a balancing act in the coming [00:12:00] years of your life. But I certainly would not raid the Roth account in order to become mortgage free.
Peter Dunn: Chris, where do you think other than Dame's really smart there with like two toddlers, things can be stressful. You're like, ah, I have a I have to provide all these sorts of things.
Where do you think this type of idea came from? Do you think it's just down the rabbit hole of. A money vigilant person that's over indexing. Or do you think this is some part of some cultural movement to be completely debt free?
Kristen Ahlenius: Negative. I, the, on the ladder, I think that this person, I think Brian has just tried to weigh every possible scenario and that's how we got to this place.
And to truly answer the question, Brian, if this is something that keeps you up at night, maybe consider like recasting the mortgage so the payment would be lower. Maybe that could be an, an intermediate, a happy medium for all of us here. Thank you.
Peter Dunn: I love the intentionality a lot. It clearly has served Brian for a [00:13:00] couple of decades.
Dame, I I'm stunned by the fact that I didn't even consider that it's unlikely they have 200, 000 in Roth deposits. I'm stunned by that.
Damian Dunn: I'm a little shocked myself.
Peter Dunn: Shocked that you came up with it or shocked that I had no, it wasn't on my radar. Shocked that it wasn't on your radar. Yeah, because it's I mean, it's close.
It's possible. Sure It's actually possible, but I find
Damian Dunn: it inconceivable, but it's possible a good chunk of those are well, yeah No, it's I I find it unlikely, but it's possible.
Peter Dunn: Well, let's take a break. Let's calm down. Let's high five And after the break, another email question from our lovely listeners. I'm Pete, the planner.
Hey, Kristen. How upset do you think, you know, he mentioned in there that his wife works part time. How upset do you think Harrison Butker is about that?
Kristen Ahlenius: I'm not. I will not, not be touching that.
Damian Dunn: The only thing Harrison [00:14:00] Butker's upset is that they don't have six toddlers instead of two.
Peter Dunn: Oh my lord. We were talking before the show.
I won't share your views. Thank you. I disagree with Mr. Butker so wholeheartedly, but you know what? That's the thing. People disagree. I, I'm like, let's just move on. Like, yeah, I'm going to joke about it because it's joke fodder, but I'm like, he should not kick a football anymore. It's like, calm down. I disagree.
It's okay. Move on. Anyway, that's where I'm at it. I assume neither of you want to weigh in on that. Speaking of weighing in Dame, I'm officially on Weight Watchers. Really? Yeah. The official thing? I am. I've got an app. I've got points. I go through them very quickly. My kids are like, I get my daughter got home from school yesterday.
I worked remotely. She walked in. She was like, do you still have any points left today? It has become a cold cultural aspect of my life. I am on [00:15:00] Weight Watchers and I don't have a ringing endorsement yet because I have so much. Anger, hunger, hunger, anger that I yell at commercials that feature bread or carbohydrates.
Yeah.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. Because Weight Watchers was like the OG low carb, right? Without calling it that because you get less points from low
Peter Dunn: carb foods. To some degree. It's really more the difference look for me to tell you the difference is for someone who doesn't know, saturated fats are a big issue with it, right?
So whereas on like an Atkins. Saturated fats don't matter. You're just like, baking all day and night. Nice. Anyway, so I'm in a bad mood. He's hangry. I am. And it's like, they're like, you can eat all the grilled chicken you want. And it's like, okay. And? And? Eugh. I don't mind that. Barbecue sauce and ranch.
What else? I get, and as the day goes on, I get so upset, and it's been, I've been on it for [00:16:00] four days now. I'm so mad in the afternoons. My wife is like nervous around me more so than normal.
Damian Dunn: Probably messing with your most prized and favored ritual in the evening as well, isn't it?
Peter Dunn: Interpretive dance.
Like, what are you going for? Pouring a cocktail, pouring a cocktail. You know, here's the, here's the weirdest part game. And I don't do, do people care? Am I oversharing? Sure. But here's where I'm at. I actually don't care that much about that. Like, I'm more disturbed by the change in my eating behavior than I am in the fact that I haven't been drinking, you know, like I don't, I can not drink.
I don't really care. You drop that pretty quickly whenever yeah, it doesn't, which is feels nice that I'm not an alcoholic. And apparently though, I am a carboholic. I just want a freaking sandwich. That's it. I had a sandwich the other day and it was like, that's 11 points. I'm like, I got, I got 17 points left in the day [00:17:00] and I simply had a turkey sandwich.
So everyone like the anger, can you feel it bubbling up a little bit? Yeah. Have we ever talked about show and I talk about it a lot around here at HQ with our friends. Have you ever talked about the links between weight loss through Ozempic and personal finance? Have we ever talked about that on the show?
Maybe we get there in the third segment today because I have some, I have some thoughts. I think it's interesting and it's nuanced if you guys are willing to go down that, that path with me.
Kristen Ahlenius: My only request would be if we're going to Can we just say like GLP ones? Cause it's not. Oh yeah. Okay.
Damian Dunn: I don't care.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay.
Damian Dunn: Through what?
Kristen Ahlenius: It's like, there's more than just that one brand.
Peter Dunn: Oh. Do you have a deal with Manjaro or something? Yeah. Why are you saying that? Like, are you getting paid under the table? You have to disclose that. No.
Kristen Ahlenius: No. But like, it. Nevermind.
Damian Dunn: Okay. When [00:18:00] we talk about paper, we just refer to it as Xerox.
Kristen Ahlenius: Love that.
Speaking of stock picks, if that reddit guy could stop talking, that would be great.
Peter Dunn: Yes, of course. I took a course through the radio station two days ago, Wednesday, on defamation. So to make sure we don't get sued for saying things about people. And I will say based on our Ponzi scheme or whatever, that fraud I think we're still in the clear, we're still in the clear, we said, allegedly enough, you know, like yeah.
Interesting times. So let's keep that up. Let's do another segment in three back on the Pete, the planner show. Kristen had an amazing question come through the ask Pete, the planner email inbox, which is just a dumpster fire of spam and other things. [00:19:00] Hi there. Longtime listener. By the way, I know this emailer who wrote this.
She might be one of the nicest people I've ever met in my entire life. Like truly one of the kindest humans. She's a delightful spirit. Hi there. A long time listener who loves your show. I watch on YouTube every Friday. Well, hello, friend. I'm not going to name out loud. You're so delightful. I really think highly of you.
My financial advisor has recently left his firm and is going out on his own. I'm 62 with plans to retire at 65. And while I really like him and feel that he has done a great job with my investments. I'm a little leery to move all of my money to his new business. You'll be under one of the major investment companies, but it makes me feel like I will be starting over.
Kinda. I haven't met with him yet to discuss if I will be following him. And I wonder what your thoughts are. If you could offer any good questions, I could ask him to make my decision. Thank you. I love this [00:20:00] question so much. Kristen, do you want the first swing since I handed the ax to Dame last time?
Kristen Ahlenius: No, I do not. I feel like, I feel like my take is not that exciting really. So let's start with Damien.
Damian Dunn: I really wish we had this person in our chat that's going on, on side of our, our stream right now. So I could ask a few questions and hopefully get a few answers because I, I'm really curious as to where the feeling of starting over is coming from.
I, I I'd like to Like to dig in there a little bit and try and understand what the anxiety is that surrounding that I, you know, once you develop a relationship with an advisor and the company that are with, and you're used to seeing, you know, statements or emails or whatever it is, I get that it's a sensitive topic and you're trying to make sure that you are comfortable in something that is out of the norm.
For a lot of people, and now one of those variables is changing the person that's still giving you the [00:21:00] advice still there, but you have no experience with with the company you're moving to. And I get that. But what I want to make sure and what I hope has been explained to this, this listener is it doesn't necessarily mean that the investments are changing at all.
Everything could possibly potentially Be the exact same from where you're currently at to to the new company. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean it will and I mean, there are a couple of questions that I have in my head on where is he moving and why is he moving and will there be some, I don't know potential conflicts they're not really conflicts, but incentives or encouragements to sell certain products at these places.
So I have questions. I'm not saying that the concern is not completely unfounded, but it's possible. The very little is going to change in that relationship.
Peter Dunn: I love this question so much. I'm actually going to probably write about it next week for my newspaper column. Dame, I want to hit on some [00:22:00] things you said, but I want to back all the way up broker check, run a broker check.
Let's see if this person was influenced to leave by some malfeasance. Like that's a good place to start. And I would argue if they're going to a big firm, it is unlikely. That malfeasance was an issue, but I would also go to Indiana criminal records database. Kristen, what do you call that? What do you, what do you call that?
My case,
Kristen Ahlenius: Indiana.
Peter Dunn: Yeah. My, you use it as a verb. You, my case people or whatever. Yeah. So be like Kristen and my case people and see if there's any civil lawsuits, Dame you're so right. Because if the assets transfer in kind and the person that told you to get those assets in the first place is the same person.
As long as they stay in kind and all of a sudden there's not a bunch of transactions, then you'll be fine. And I think the question is, [00:23:00] okay I assume we're sticking with the same portfolio because it's still the same brain managing my money. But if this is like, well, I had a variable annuity at this place and now I'm moving.
So now I'm going to get a new variable annuity with surrender fees. No, thank you. I'm not interested in that. Right? Yeah. I mean, there's,
Damian Dunn: I mean, criminy, criminy, criminy, criminy, you know, you've seen this a hundred times, at least in your, your experience that, you know, somebody comes in new client and back in the day.
If they didn't have certain limits, you were probably selling them a, a shares or C shares to try and just get them invested and do this. So if you build up this portfolio of retail funds, a, a share, C shares, and now you're talking about moving into an advisory type of account where you're going to get charged a fee.
That's not even all that unreasonable to do, but you better be able to explain that to your client in order to show them the value that they're going to get from making that transition, especially if they [00:24:00] paid a whole bunch of money up front for a share commissions. So, I mean, if we're talking about moving from one broker to another booker, and now there's going to be huge portfolio turnover as well.
That's a question that I would be asking. Okay, where am I seeing the value? What advantage does this give me on top of that? So I guess my first question that I would ask this individual is what's happening to my portfolio? Are there major changes coming my way in the investments I've got?
Kristen Ahlenius: So my question is in the second or third sentence, it says my financial advisor has recently left his firm and is going out on his own.
But then we say that somewhere, what did they say? Under one of the major investment companies. Are we just talking about this is the platform for the, like, like heat, let's say, is he, are we saying that this person was like done squared investments and Peter and Damien were working together and then Dame went out on his own.
And now [00:25:00] Damien's choosing a different company to manage. Like I'm confused by the terminology.
Damian Dunn: If I had to guess, it's going to be like, Joe Smith is leaving Edward Jones and is now working with LPL and they have their own RIA. They've got their own shop and they're out on their own. They're not underneath somebody else's banner.
Peter Dunn: It's funny you say that. By the way, we're these are hypotheticals. The names we're mentioning do not read into. I had a sense that the person was an insurance based financial advisor and is moving to an Edward Jones. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting. That is interesting. And, and that, that could be dynamic because if the primary assets or are an annuity, and I don't know why I think that I'm, I simply don't.
If that is the case, then you, again, you get into surrender fees, you get into, Oh, actually we're going to manage this with [00:26:00] equities and debt instruments. Like it gets the fees start crack a lacking, right? Of, okay, well, what are my annual fees going to be a year or. The other reality here is this This is terrible.
This has nothing to do with her. This is the person maybe just felt like they're going to get more support with their career going forward which is my, which is my hope. Dame, how much do you think it matters how old the advisor is? Because in my mind, I'm like, if this person is, is younger than you and me, or about our age, Makes a lot of sense if the person is in their over 50s or 60s, it doesn't actually make any sense to me.
Damian Dunn: I don't know about that. I know a few advisors that I respect very highly who made a change in their early to mid 50s. A major change from, from one dealer to another. And I, It was in their, their, well, it was in everybody's best interest to do it. I'm not saying that didn't come out better for them as well.
[00:27:00] It certainly did, but it gave their clients a better experience as well. So I don't know if the age of the advisor has too much to be read into on this. Kristen, what do you think about that?
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, the emailer said, what is the most important or what are good questions to ask? So is the most important question to ask why, like, why did you move?
Peter Dunn: How about what's the impact on you? What's the impact on me? Is that the, not how old are you? Probably. How, how old are you? Like, if, are you more of a Barney Miller or more of a Cheers? Right. One of those. Okay. Kristen has no idea. That's her age. All right, let's do this. I'm all worked up. I need to calm down.
I'm going to light a candle, listen to some Zen music, and I'm going to come back with a hard hitting take about GLP ones and finance. I'm Pete the planner. So hungry right now. Just actually I'm not, I don't get hungry this time of day. I get [00:28:00] hungry, angry around 5 PM like Pavlov's dog, just anger.
Damian Dunn: Did we really answer the question there?
Are we, so what's happening? My investments. What's in it for me?
Peter Dunn: How
Damian Dunn: does this impact me? What's in it for the advisor? Those are three questions. Do we want to give any more?
Are we supposed to be answering these?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, yeah. So what are the questions? What are good questions? And dig into, if you don't already know, like this particular advisor's investment philosophy, like, did they move because they didn't really believe in what they were preaching originally? Like, why, why did, why the change?
Damian Dunn: Which I could see if it was what Pete was thinking was insurance based sales versus more.
Kristen Ahlenius: While I would respect the move if you didn't agree with it, I would be concerned [00:29:00] that you were my advisor when you were under maybe a structure that you weren't as comfortable with.
Damian Dunn: Anybody can have a crisis of conscience, Kristen.
Kristen Ahlenius: Well, yeah, but
Peter Dunn: I love that we have substance spilling over into the break. It's normally my tomfoolery that spills into the break. Hey, Mary, if you're still watching just If that's your name. It is, but no one knows anything. Mary, let me know what firm they were at and where they're going. Okay. And any of the other things we just did, that wasn't a word.
Any of the other things we just talked about that, that you may have information on just email me, we'll get you a good answer. We'll take care of you. I love that question. I really do. If
Kristen Ahlenius: Mary watches every Friday, I would hope that Mary has recently done a broker check and
Peter Dunn: I bet she has searched. I bet she has.
Damian Dunn: She's she's smart. I know she has. [00:30:00] Okay. She hasn't sent us the name because it's something we love to do. Yeah. We love
Kristen Ahlenius: Christian loves to my case.
Damian Dunn: You guys got an eye on the winning channel right now.
Kristen Ahlenius: No.
Damian Dunn: I'm doing, I'm radio, Pete. I'm not paying attention to slack. I'm locked in on you and Kristen.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah.
Damian Dunn: Being locked in on me is not going to
Peter Dunn: help you. I am, I am not the person to lock in on here. I have
Kristen Ahlenius: been waiting for that.
Peter Dunn: Yes. Okay. Okay. I'll go look. Yeah, go look. Okay. Dame. Hey, there it is. I'm going to do my best to come up with something that you guys can react to in this segment.
Kristen Ahlenius: Great.
Peter Dunn: I've thought a lot about this and I'm going to overshare during the segment.
I would, I know you both well enough to know that I don't think you're going to come down with a hard binary stance here that is [00:31:00] Insensitive, not to me, but to others. But I'm hoping you can find the nuance. So what I'm going to do is I want to set up this idea that behavior struggles. in nutrition have parallels to behavior struggles in finance and that GLP 1 drugs offer something that personal finance has yet to have an equivalent to.
Okay? Okay. Dane, are we, are we so far so good? Yep. I love oversharing. It just makes me feel better. This is my accountability. Just be like, Oh, I'm, Send Weight Watchers points to Ask Pete at PeteThePlanter. com
Damian Dunn: Oh man. It's like carbon credits for Pete. Just the Weight Watchers points.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, it's like Weight Watchers right now is like maybe we could do an endorsement deal with that guy.
And I'm like, not yet. Not yet. Because I am on the precipice of trashing your [00:32:00] organization on the radio. Give me another week to settle in.
Kristen Ahlenius: Defamation training. Defamation training.
Peter Dunn: Oh my gosh. Here's the other thing I have to tell you. I went to my doctor the other day and it's the, I have high blood pressure.
I just, you know, right. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, okay, we're going to put you on. I, I have not taken a medication like a monthly or a day. I don't know what even they're called. Dailies. I don't do, I don't really do. Probably for 20 years. I've not taken a medication. Right. So now I take one of course. And the one thing that you're not supposed to eat, right.
On this is the one thing that I felt so good about with Weight Watchers points because I love them Bananas, I can't eat freaking bananas because I will get potassium overload with this ACE inhibitor I'm taking.
Kristen Ahlenius: I know That sounds like one of those like well, if you drink too much water, you can [00:33:00] actually die and it's like But how much water would you have to that's what it feels like it feels like Place you would have to get to you'd have to eat a hundred bananas.
That's wild.
Peter Dunn: If you've ever tried to change your I say diet not in the verb if you've ever tried to change your diet to your intake Have you ever do you ever have that moment where you just panic and you don't even know how to eat anymore? Where like i'm like, oh my god, what what am I? What? Oh, okay. I'm i'm just gonna eat bananas iceberg lettuce.
I don't know. I just freak out.
Kristen Ahlenius: Cheerios are like one point, aren't they? You can have like a cup of Cheerios for one point. Oh, you can? I think one of my old bosses used to do Weight Watchers and that was her like snack of choice because it was high volume, low points. So there you go.
Peter Dunn: Mrs. Planer said it looked like I'd lost weight in my cheeks, yes, this morning after three days.
And I'm like, was I that bloated? And you do mean the cheeks on mine. [00:34:00] I knew it. Okay. Racy content. Well, I have a new podcast I started listening to. Oh? I don't know what it's called yet, but I'm listening to it. It's really good. One song, one song. It's two music producers who work through one song and talk about the one popular song.
I talk about like what's been sampled in it, like what what's sort of the story behind the song and the lyrics and everything else. And it is, I'm not a big music guy, but it's really great. One song. Check it out in three two
back on the Pete the planner show Dame, yes, I'm gonna overshare please. I Have reasonable personal finance behavior [00:35:00] as do the two of you I have struggled my entire adult life with reasonable nutrition behavior And I make okay choices. I make bad choices. I make good choices and I'll go through these periods and Dame, you've known me a very long time.
So you, you've actually seen these periods of what we call skinny peed or fit peed and it's, I'll get into it and then I'm out and then I lose my fitness exercise regimen because of work or whatever other reasons I tell myself and I find myself out. So just as a witness to the jury here that is true, correct?
Confirmed. Confirmed Kristen, you've probably witnessed this from afar, maybe a little farther than Dame, but I assume you've witnessed it as well. I have. So during the pandemic, I ate a lot early eating my feelings and and then six months in, maybe, maybe less. I was like, How about I work out? So I got crazy fit during the pandemic, like a, like a lot of people.
And [00:36:00] I had to get a new pair of sweat pants because of it. So here's where I'm at now. And I, I want to be sensitive to other people's sort of behavior challenges and fitness and everything else. And so I'm only speaking to myself. Don't feel. Judged, please, Kristen. I've always believed that nutrition is synonymous with personal finance, spending decisions.
I just find the parallels to be eerie and a person can be very interested. They can be not interested. They can log their calories slash spending, or they cannot, they can somehow just use the scale, the way they would look at their bank account. Like, you know, you get, you get the, you get the idea here.
Well, With the introduction of GLP ones, which are weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic or Manjaro or Web Govy, I love the great [00:37:00] names. Where I'm trying to get my head around Kristen and Dame is you two are the personal finance experts in the show. Is there a personal finance concept or tool that is the equivalent of those drugs?
And I'll explain a little bit more why in a moment. I'll just pause for a second. Cause people want to hear you. Is there a personal finance tool, idea, concept that is similar to those drugs? Cause if you go with like the, you know, if we'll say Weight Watchers is Dave Ramsey's baby steps, what is GLP one drug, anything, anyone?
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't, maybe it's just lack of exposure, maybe at a higher net worth, higher income place. There's. This is more likely to exist. Like when I think about like the 1%, surely, I don't know if this is how this works, but this is how it works in my [00:38:00] mind is like Taylor Swift goes, she doesn't manage any of her own dollars.
I can't imagine she does. People are telling her. They're spending on her behalf and they're telling her where to go and where to be and what to wear and they're buying it for her doing the thing. So like the management, which isn't the same as a GLP one, but as maybe the closest that I can come to on the fly is like the lack of having to make those decisions at all.
Peter Dunn: I like this. And I like, and I, I don't want to disagree with you because that's not the point of this because I asked you to do that. I have a friend who has a lot of money. And recently I, I saw this friend and he looked amazing. Like dude had gotten it together in terms of fitness. And which again, even to talk about it and say in those terms feels gross, right?
I'm like, Oh, now he looks good. Previously, it didn't look very good and come to find out Kristen. [00:39:00] He did the nutritional equivalent of what you just said. He has so much money. He has a nutritionist and a cook, a chef that just prepares those meals and a trainer. So. He has the equivalent of what you just said.
And I view that to be slightly different than GLP one. Dame, what do you, what do you, I know, Chris, I'm busting your chops, but Dame, anything occur to you?
Damian Dunn: First of all, if I had that kind of money, I would absolutely do that. Yeah, there is, there's no debate on that. So well done. Mysterious gentleman who now looks better than they did.
Yeah. What we're talking about is trying to find a way to shortcut to a result by not requiring you to develop good behaviors along the way, right?
Peter Dunn: I, I think it's more nuanced than that. Do you want the nuance or do you want to keep going? Well, give me the nuance so I can pick that apart. Oh, please do.
And it's fair. And I, by the way, I will not feel attacked. I just want to make sure that Dame, as we're doing this, [00:40:00] that if you're going to attack or if you're going to have a hard take, put it at me. Okay. Yeah. I said to my doctor the other day, this is something I've struggled with for so long, and if I don't have a solution, then the victim to this is my heart, is my organs.
Like if I don't figure this out, then I'm in trouble. And previously this same knowledge. Hasn't motivated me enough to change my eating habits. So knowing that to me, a GLP one is a way to acknowledge you've got a problem to acknowledge that your behavior changes haven't been enough and to rescue your organs.
And needless to say, as I said, during GLP one, but, but does that give you the more nuance I wanted to share there?
Damian Dunn: I mean, it gives me context. Absolutely. And I, I would be hypocritical. I said that I haven't had those same thoughts or struggles. Maybe the, maybe the you [00:41:00] know, the organs or whatever the reasons may be, but yeah, absolutely.
And now we're both getting to the certain age where it matters. It counts. We're, we're we're closing in on that. So, but what I often wonder is these, These drugs they do have side effects. I mean, it's not like you aren't having a small roll of the dice if you're consuming them for this intended purpose, whereas the long term development of these skills.
would be a healthier alternative. And I, Kristen is shaking her head in disagreement with good hair though. Amazing hair day to see that head shake
Peter Dunn: with that hair doesn't feel as bad.
Kristen Ahlenius: I think maybe though a GLP one isn't defying the laws of thermodynamics. it's calories in versus calories out is still a thing.
GLP ones work as I understand it. I'm not a physician, but as I understand it, a GLP one works by helping slow the digestion process into quiet food noise. [00:42:00] And that's usually something that people call to. And so it's not, it is actually helping your behavior because in many cases it's. forcing the good behavior.
It's forcing you to eat slower, to eat less, to be more mindful of portions. And the problem is, can you do that without the medication?
Peter Dunn: So let's do this Dame and not that you're going to come back and combat that point or debate that point. Cause that's, that's not the purpose of the segment with, with what Kristen just said, which I tend to believe is, is the path of this conversation.
Damian Dunn: What's the financial equivalent? I don't think there is one. I, I, I, I can't think of one. I bet when you were doing your opening to the segment and Kristen was talking about her, her example. I, I, I don't think there's a an equivalent yet to this. And maybe there will be at some point in the future, but I just don't see a connection.
Kristy, remember the
Peter Dunn: business that you and Gail talked about? [00:43:00]
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes.
Peter Dunn: I think that is a, and I don't want to go into it because it doesn't feel necessary. But that is the equivalent of the first thing we talked about. Correct. I have this idea, and really it's, it's a, It sort of turns into my thoughts around what we do here at your money line.
So you're gonna work with me We got 45 seconds left for me to explain something. That's very large I believe the issue and we're gonna have to use a food food metaphor With money is that people don't want to learn how the sausage of their financial life is made They don't want to have to learn how it works.
And so Why are we still fighting that? Can't we just give them sausage? Can't we give them a binary good, bad, I believe. And again, like from a tech solution standpoint of what we're building here, I think I have an answer. It's really freaking complicated, but it has to do with. Offering sausage as opposed to the recipe for [00:44:00] sausage and with that mystery, I will leave you that I have 25 Weight Watchers points left in the day and we're going to a break.
Coming up after the break, Guam and news. I'm Pete the Planner. Yeah, I said to my doctor, This whole thing he was like, damn it. Who's this guy? Can you imagine dealing with me? I don't know him that well. I see him once a year He makes me call him. Dr. So and so and I'm like, okay, Jerry I I laid it out and he said here's my three things of why I'm currently not Inclined to prescribe you those drugs.
And I didn't ask for those drugs. I just shared my thoughts. Right. So number one, they're crazy expensive. And I, and he goes, I don't know your financial situation. And I'm like, not a listener. But you can't afford it. But he didn't say that. He said they're very expensive. Number two, when you stop [00:45:00] taking them, and this is probably to Dame's point you will gain back the weight and he got plus interest.
That's what he said, which I thought was cute. Then the third thing he said, I had never considered. And it actually was the thing where I stood down. He said, we will, let's say we do it. We get past the other two. You will get a dose of some, one of the, one of the drugs. And then you will graduate off that dose to a different dose as we sort of get you a dial in.
First off, finding that first dose of that first drug is nearly impossible right now. And then when we go to the second dose, It's not just two shots. It's just different thing. He's like, then you have to go find that. And you're unlikely to find that in, in it's a sort of hierarchy. So you'll have to switch drugs, start over.
And now you've wasted thousands of dollars. You've fallen off and the results will be even worse because of the supply chain issues. [00:46:00] And I, I was like, Well, that actually makes a lot of sense. And that's a really compelling case. Had you considered that, that you have to source these things?
Kristen Ahlenius: Yes. So if he hadn't, the third point, maybe the one that pushed you over, if he hadn't, if he had offered and been like, cause some, I think some physicians are really inclined to say like, yeah, do it.
If he had offered a GLP one instead of weight watchers to mitigate your, what do you have? High blood pressure?
Peter Dunn: I have obesity. I was saying this at dinner the other night and my daughter's like a bio class. She was like, is it morbid? And I was like, what are we, this is too open. We're oversharing with these teens.
Kristen Ahlenius: Would you, would you have said yes? Would you have taken it? No,
Peter Dunn: because of the financial constraints. I mean, look, I'm, I can't fit a thousand dollar new expense into my life right now. Like we are in the most expensive season of [00:47:00] my entire life. I cannot fit a thousand dollars a month. It would have to take away from what funding my kids college.
Instead I'm out of points. Travel sports, so don't start me on that. I have an update to YouTube when we get off the air. Good lord. Anyway, this is, this is a very personal thing. I, I, and I'm just telling my story. I like, here's my disclaimers. I have, I'm not making a judgment of anybody. It's just my journey.
So do what you do. No judgment from me. Okay. Don't let me forget to tell you that the travel sports update here. Okay. We ready?
Three, two, one. This week's biggest waste of money of the week right here on the Pete, the planner show is
the spit bank Fort. Constructed in the [00:48:00] 1800s and decommissioned around the 50s, Spitbank Fort is a unique 33, 000 square foot piece of military history turned boutique retreat, fully renovated over the past 12 years of consistent ownership. The Spartan Outpost was transformed into a property with nine guest suites, a bar, a restaurant, a wine cave, a rooftop terrace with a hot tub, and a sauna among other amenities.
The property is as well suited to be a private fortress as a functioning business and sits a 15 minute boat ride from Gunn Wharf Kays with London just a short commute away. It and its 99, 000 square foot sister island dubbed No Man's Fort will be auctioned by Seville's on June 18th. So for those that are not seeing this on our live stream, Dame, how would you begin to describe this?
Damian Dunn: It looks like a [00:49:00] house sitting on a giant inflatable raft in the middle of a bay.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, like it's like a, yeah, it's like an island buoy or something, right? Yeah. Yeah, Kristen, would you improve those descriptions?
Kristen Ahlenius: It literally looks like one of those water trampolines, and they put a house on it.
Damian Dunn: But very tall.
I mean, we're talking about, what, that's probably 60 to 80 feet off the water? I kind of both love
Peter Dunn: this and hate this. I think it's cool. I do too, like, I'm a little bit of a curmudgeon shut in. I would love to be shut in on a large water tramp. Okay. What do we think this thing costs? It's I don't, it says bid now and it's got a number, so you're going to have to just go with what the, I guess the starting bid is.
Kristen Ahlenius: Okay, is the starting bid a million?
Peter Dunn: Is that your guess or am I supposed to answer questions and ruin the segment?
Kristen Ahlenius: That's my guess.
Peter Dunn: Okay. Dame?
Damian Dunn: I'm [00:50:00] gonna guess this starts at 10 million pounds.
Kristen Ahlenius: What does that mean?
Peter Dunn: Worth that now. 1. 27 million dollars. Wow. Kristen is improving it. Here's the thing, guys.
I'm not sure this is a waste of money. I think if I had 1. 27 million dollars I'm extra. I might use that.
Damian Dunn: I need more pictures of that because that's, that's intriguing. I mean, there's a, there's a car, like a cargo ship in the background that looks, I understand perspective and scale, but it looks positively tiny compared to, yeah, spit bank fork.
Or Fort. Spitbank Fort. Dame, what's in the news this week? I need to know if you want me to go with, like, real serious stories or a little lighter flavor today. Kristen, why don't you determine
Peter Dunn: that?
Kristen Ahlenius: I would like a real story, please.
Peter Dunn: Oh my gosh. That felt detrimental to me. Like, that really felt pointed to me.
Damian Dunn: But go ahead. [00:51:00] Like a seasoned stunt double or a toddler on carpet, the economy may still be capable of making a soft landing. New economic data out yesterday showed inflation eased in April setting the scene for a potential Fed rate cut despite a string of hot inflation reports from the first three months of the year.
Core CPI, which tracks the price of goods and services, excluding volatile food and energy prices and is closely watched as an inflation indicator. Rose 3. 6 percent from the same period last year. Yes, that's a good sign. Apparently, that's the smallest annual increase since April of 2021. On a monthly basis, core CPI rose 0.
3%, marking the first time in six months that its growth slowed from the prior month. Other good signs include grocery prices dropped 0. 2 percent from March, the first decrease in a year. Health insurance and car insurance increased. But more slowly in April than in March, and a separate report released this week showed consumer spending stayed steady last [00:52:00] month.
I'm distracted by the copy.
Peter Dunn: Did you write that first line or did someone else write that? Someone else wrote that line. That was really good. So is the question or the idea here, does it feel like inflation has subsided? Is that what we're maybe trying to evaluate?
Damian Dunn: Yeah, it's the claim is inflation is moderating or potentially coming down a little bit and federate cuts are back on the table.
What's your feeling there, chris?
Kristen Ahlenius: I feel like this is so hard because inflation has been a buzzword for two years and we just can't get away from it anymore. And your personal circumstances. Shape this so largely because I feel like life is kind of cheaper, but that's because I started grocery shopping at Aldi
Peter Dunn: So I are you you've just been yeah, are you getting paid to name all these brands on the show this week?
Good point.
Kristen Ahlenius: No, I just I have an Aldi quarter and it's so cheap [00:53:00] and I love it.
Peter Dunn: Damn I I talk about Weight Watchers on this show And I'm like, I'm out of points and I'm angry. She's like, I go to Aldi. I got more money than I know what to do with.
Kristen Ahlenius: Are
Peter Dunn: you getting paid by them?
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh, I wish I wish. Have
Peter Dunn: you heard the thing of no landing that we're not going to have a softer, a hard landing, we're going to have no landing and it's going to persist.
Have you, have you heard this idea?
Damian Dunn: I have not, but I don't hate the, I mean, I don't disagree with the concept right now.
Peter Dunn: Yeah, it just feels like it's gonna keep, keep going along.
Damian Dunn: Yeah.
Peter Dunn: It doesn't feel, I mean, look, I'm, you two know me as an optimist. I, I, I don't see an end in sight. I, I feel like interest rates are gonna be this high now.
Damian Dunn: Much longer than we had expected. Feels like we are in a giant holding pattern, and a tanker plane is pulling up in front of us to refuel so we can just keep staying in the [00:54:00] holding pattern.
Peter Dunn: Well, with the, you know, Dow hitting all time high, this week with S& P too, there's not gonna be a huge appetite to futz with that.
Damian Dunn: What else was in the news? Kids officially cost more than a house. That's according to a report in Bloomberg citing new research from the non profit Child Care Aware of America, which found the price of care for two kids surpassed rent payments by 25 percent in every state and is more than double in 8 states and DC.
Per the report, a married couple spends 10 percent of their income on child care, well above the government's 7 percent recommendation, and the average child costs their parents about 11, 000. 11, 600 per year, up 3. 7 percent from last year. Lack of access to affordable care is a major culprit, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a January speech, but I think it's more closely tied to the palette of talkies my kids go through every month.[00:55:00]
She
Peter Dunn: said
Damian Dunn: that? No, I said the talkies
Peter Dunn: part. Okay, I was like, wait, Janet Yellen made a talkies reference? No, no, no. Were you just testing to see if I was listening or not staring at the ceiling? I was looking, I didn't, when I looked over, I was surprised to see you staring back at me, yes. Kristen, you and I and well, you two more than me you see the numbers of what people spend on stuff and I'm 10% Per child on childcare.
Let's say, okay, that equals 20%. People spend more on that than housing a lot more than that on housing. Like, what am I missing here?
Kristen Ahlenius: I don't know, because I would agree with that.
Peter Dunn: I mean, it's astronomically high childcare. Don't I'm not saying people shouldn't be upset or messed up or whatever else. It's just like that idea doesn't even make sense.
Damian Dunn: I don't know if you've got two kids in child care. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that you spend more on child care per month than you do rent.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah, but didn't they just say that it costs 11, 000 [00:56:00] a year to raise a child?
Damian Dunn: One child, so that's 22, 000 for two. And the average child costs their parents, 11, 11.
6 thousand per year. What I don't know,
Kristen Ahlenius: Didn't they also say that it's 10 percent of their income? So people spend more, that would say the average house, if they have two kids, people spend more than 20 percent of their income on housing.
Damian Dunn: And nobody knows this was just a poorly written article. I apologize.
I didn't write it except for the talkies. How dare you have a quick 22nd
Peter Dunn: story.
Damian Dunn: I will read the quote real quick quote You have become the michael cohen and harvey weinstein of the fdic and I urge you to step down. That was what one Representative in the u. s. House told fdic chair martin grunberg this week.
Kristen Ahlenius: Oh
Peter Dunn: Wow, so we're just really offering an olive branch to our government colleagues there at those hearings. Holy cow
Damian Dunn: Yeah 234 page report detailing sexual harassment and bullying in the fdic Oh, I, when [00:57:00] you buried that lead, I
Peter Dunn: thought it was just about policy.
Kristen Ahlenius: Yeah. Same.
Peter Dunn: No, no. Okay. Well they deserve it.
I don't know. I don't know anything about the gaze. Anyway. All out of time, all out of points. I'm Pete, the planner sending you good vibes. Cause good vibes are all of it's in the budget. Have a lovely week.
I just want a t shirt collection that says all out of points.
I had a clever t shirt idea the other day and, No one cares. No one cares. Anything else, folks? No. All right. Let's get off the air so I can tell you my ridiculously dumb story. Cool. It's even worse than I would tell all of our public friends. Anyway, I love you all and stay getting money.
