The Pete the Planner® Show

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Ep. 139: Parenting Feb 23, 2017

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My friend David Klain is a real estate czar, the owner of my favorite coffee shop (Zing Cafe), and a parent. So it’s no surprise that last week he and I got talking about our kids’ financial futures when I bumped into him. The conversation was so great, I invited him on the show. Over coffee, we talked about saving for college, teaching work ethic, planning for retirement, and creating a better financial life for our children. David and I pretty much see eye to eye on these topics, but it can get hairy out there with all the parenting opinions on the interwebs. Listen at your own risk, we don’t sugar-coat our opinions.

Ep. 138: Mark has a pretty good financial life, except for his unique life insurance situation… Feb 21, 2017

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M$D: January 28, 2024 Meet Mark. Mark’s main concerns, in his words: I have 300k in retirement savings. Putting $3000 a month toward retirement in Roth 401k and 457b plans (We make too much for a Roth IRA). Have $170,000 in student debt. Three kids and 529 plans for each of them. We want to make sure we are putting money in the right places to minimize tax implications. Should we be paying off debt or working on retirement? Right now we are splitting money between the two. Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe on Stitcher Want to be a guest on The Million Dollar Plan podcast? Apply Here.

Ep. 137: Financing Feb 16, 2017

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In this episode I talk about financing. Surprisingly, I haven’t touched on this topic much yet. But today, I got fired up about it. Over and over again, I’ve come across people who have ruined their financial lives by financing a purchase they couldn’t afford outright. Making a big purchase isn’t about affording the payment, it’s about affording the purchase. Of course, I want you to afford the payment, but it doesn’t matter if you can afford a payment if you end up locked into a loan you can’t escape. Don’t buy something you can’t afford. It’s as simple as that.

Ep. 136: Penny just bought a house and now she’s feeling lost. Feb 14, 2017

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M$D: July 16, 2034 Meet Penny. Penny’s main concerns, in her words: Hi Pete. I just discovered your podcast a week ago and have listened to 30 episodes so far and have already made some changes to my financial life (like not having huge amounts of money sitting in savings account). I need help with budgeting and making sure I am on the right track where I am at in my life. I am a single lady living in an expensive city and have done a good job of saving money and paying off debt ($30k in student loans and $18K car loan). I also saved for 8 years to create a down payment and bought a house this past July with a $208,000/30 year mortgage. Everything feels completely chaotic right now…it seems like I am no longer saving money and that I might be on a financial treadmill. Is this ok after you just buy a house? All I want to do is spend money on house stuff but I am worried that I may not be contributing enough to retirement or general savings. I am also worried about lifestyle creep setting in. Am I saving enough for retirement? What’s my million dollar day? How do you feel about paying for life insurance for a parent? I am sure that I will be the sole caretaker for my father in the coming years. Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe on Stitcher Want to be a guest on The Million Dollar Plan podcast? Apply Here.

Ep. 135: Visualization Feb 09, 2017

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In this episode of the Pete the Planner® Show, I talk visualization. If you are wandering aimlessly through your financial life, this is the key you are missing. Visualizing the financial life you want is a great tool to get you motivated to achieve it. You use visualization every single day. For me, it’s usually food. Any given day you can find me visualizing the Fat Havana Burger from Fat Dan’s. Sigh. So good. Every day, my brain is making plans and thinking through ways I can get the sandwich I want. There is a dark side to visualization though. If you are in a high-pressure situation, you may cycle through the worst possible outcomes. Visualization can often lead to self-fulfilling prophecy territory, for better or worse. For our purposes, we’ll go with better. Apply the practice of visualization to your retirement. You probably don’t spend too much time imagining your retirement, but take a minute and imagine complete financial independence. What do you see? My visualization came to me in full force when I was boarding a flight a few weeks ago. On my way to coach, I passed an elderly couple sitting in first class, passports in hand, and looking as content as could be. I spent the rest of that flight thinking about what it would be like for my wife and me to be in their place, years down the road. I realized, “That’s what I want.” For the first time in my life, I could picture what retirement would look like for me personally. Maybe for you, it’s fishing all day, starting a garden, buying a boat, whatever. Picture your own retirement. Go ahead. Dream big. Let that visualization be the fuel that pushes you toward reaching your retirement goal.

Ep. 134 Bernard has a lot of good things going, but he’s going to have to play the waiting game. Feb 07, 2017

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M$D: June 16, 2033 Meet Bernard. Bernard’s main concerns, in his words: I’m not completely sure how to plan effectively for my retirement. My wife and I are both public school teachers. In our state, we will receive a pension when we retire. We each have a 401k from our previous jobs as private school teachers. Combined, we have about $95,000 in those. Our pension will be equal to 2/3 the average of our highest paid years in the public school system. We get that benefit when our age + years in the public school system = 88. For each of us, that would be around the age of 60. With the pension and our existing 401k’s, I’m not sure how much we should be putting toward retirement. That’s my long-term concern. It’s hard for me to calculate my Million Dollar Day because of my pension. How does that affect my date? Do I really need $1,000,000 if I have that pension? Short-term: we are treading water until the end of May. At that time, one of our two children will be out of daycare and we’ll pay off a debt. That will free up about $800 a month. We are planning on using that extra money to contribute to our sons’ 529 plans, increasing our savings, and maybe putting some toward retirement. We also have some low-interest debt we can attack. Mid-term: I’d like to contribute more to the 529 plans. I have three debts to pay off after the one in May is finished. One of those debts has no interest. The other two are pretty low interest but high balances. I’ve also considered selling some of my stocks and putting it toward debt or retirement or the 529 plans.

Ep. 133 Princess Leia returns…just before jetting off to the UK Jan 31, 2017

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M$D: N/A Meet Princess Leia (or, if you’re a longtime listener and heard her first episode, welcome back Princess Leia) Leia’s main concerns, in her words: I was featured on your podcast a little over a year ago and you gave me the name Princess Leia… Rest in Peace, Carrie Fisher. I was hooked and practiced what I learned from your podcast and book. Maybe this is breaking the rules… but I’d love to speak with you again. A lot has changed from a year ago, and I mean a lot. I know you don’t have the best memory so let me refresh you about my previous situation: I was living in the DC area on a $40k salary, $900 in rent/month, a car payment, and student loans that I wasn’t prepared for. It was a real struggle. Since then, I picked up a temporary second job, paid off my car, decreased my student loans to half, and gained a few pay increases. It’s fair to say I’m now comfortable, but that comfort is being tested by the unknown that is right around the corner. Here’s the thing… I’m moving overseas. Living overseas (in a country I’ve never visited) is going to bring some challenges and I’ll have to handle the curveballs as they’re thrown at me. I’m lucky to have earned a hefty pay increase with my new position and my biggest concern is what to do with the extra cash flow. I imagine I’m an easy victim to the lifestyle creep monster. I’m hoping to talk through some ideas and gain some advice from you about how to handle these changes and ultimately work towards my Million Dollar Day. Scratch that – I’m an over-achiever, I want more. I understand the importance of your Million Dollar Day plan and since that is what I NEED to survive during retirement, I want to set myself up to do better. So, my question to you is 1) when is my MDD and 2) how can I move it up so that I can retire early and move to Costa Rica?

Ep. 132: Retirement Checklist Jan 26, 2017

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Topic: Retirement Checklist Special Kudos: Ann, our listener of the week who suggested this topic No matter what your age, you’re going to walk away from this episode with either a wake up call and a list of what to do next or…the opposite of a wake up call? A go-back-to-sleep call? And the reassuring feeling of being on the right track. We will cover: * Income sources in retirement * Major financial obligations * Healthcare Plus I drop a little info about PTPTV, the next big thing here at the Pete the Planner World Headquarters. Sign up for our main newsletter and stay tuned, PTPTV is coming your way 2/1/17. Got an idea for the show? Drop me a line on Twitter @PeteThePlanner or at askpete@petetheplanner.com.

Ep. 131: Aaron has a big housing decision to make that can make or break his financial future Jan 17, 2017

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M$D: N/A Meet Aaron Age: 29 Aaron’s main concerns, in his words: We just got married on July 22nd and would like to be financially literate and on the same financial page. We are fortunate enough to have our condo paid off but I do have significant student loan debt.

Ep. 130: College Savings Jan 12, 2017

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Topic: College Savings Special Guest: Troy Montigney, ‘The 529 Guy’, Executive Director of the Indiana Education Savings Authority This week we talk saving for college, specifically Indiana’s 529 plan. You may have heard me talk about this before in the form of a commercial on the radio. I’m happy to do these commercials because I believe strongly in the 529 plan. I’ve often felt that society has attacked the college spending issue from the wrong direction—focusing too heavily on post-funding rather than pre-funding. I talk with Troy, a.k.a. ‘The 529 Guy’, all about college savings. Some questions we cover include: Why is it called the 529 plan? Is there more than one plan option? What does it cover? How is this a tax benefit to me? And so on. You’ll be a college funding pro by the end of this episode—a big step towards becoming a millionaire. Follow Troy on Twitter @IndyTroy and find out more about the 529 Plan at CollegeChoiceDirect.com

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