Episodes

Welcome to the first-ever Hot Take Olympics — where financial opinions aren’t just shared… they’re defended like gold medals are on the line. This week, Pete, Kristen, and Dame each bring their hottest financial take to the table and battle it out. From housing and retirement to debt, investing, and the financial rules everyone blindly follows, nothing is safe. Some takes might make you nod in agreement. Others might make you yell at your speakers. But that’s the point. Because personal finan...

Three questions. No overthinking. Just real answers. This week, we’re tackling three financial decisions that feel simple on the surface… but can completely change the direction of your life. Do you walk away from a once-in-a-lifetime real estate deal—or risk blowing up your early retirement plan to take it? How do you get a $25,000 raise and still feel broke? And before you get married… do you combine finances, or protect your independence? These aren’t spreadsheet decisions. They’re life ...

What happens when one spouse downshifts their career—and the money dynamic in a marriage suddenly changes? This week, Pete, Kristen, and Dame tackle a thoughtful (and spicy) listener dilemma: after years of splitting everything 50/50, one partner takes a step back from full-time work and plans to fund their share of expenses by pulling $30,000 a year from investments. The other partner says… absolutely not. Is this about taxes? Fairness? Control? We dig into the emotional and financial layers...

Millennials say the system is broken. Boomers say, “Try buying a house at 18% interest.” So… who’s right? This week, Pete, Damian, and Kristen step into one of the most emotionally charged financial debates out there—and do something rare: they put numbers behind the noise. From income to housing, college costs to overall wealth, the crew breaks down what each generation actually faced at the same stage of life. And the results aren’t as clear-cut as social media would have you believe. Yes, ...

Gas prices are climbing again, and if you’re like most people, it feels like your entire financial life just got more expensive overnight. But did it? This week, we take a step back from the headlines and ask a better question: who is actually feeling the impact of higher gas prices—and who just thinks they are? Because the truth is, a 50-cent jump at the pump doesn’t hit everyone the same way. For some households, it’s real financial pressure. For others, it’s more of an emotional reaction th...

The U.S. economy has been sending troubling signals for months now in the form of high energy prices, rising inflation, modest hiring and slowing growth of gross domestic product. Then the United States began attacks on Iran in late February. Stalled tanker traffic at the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted the global oil market, and stock investors have yo-yoed along with mixed signals from Washington, D.C., about America’s goals for the war. IBJ personal finance columnist Pete the Planner sees sig...

You just graduated, landed a $52,000 job, and moved to Des Moines. You’ve got $35,000 in student loans… and suddenly, real life is very real. This week, Pete, Kristen, and Dame break down what life actually looks like on that salary—from take-home pay to rent, groceries, debt, and everything in between. But instead of just talking about it, they turn it into a game: can each of them build a working monthly plan… without wrecking the future? Along the way, they uncover the real tension every ne...

You finally upgrade your home. More space, better fit for your family, and—on paper—you can absolutely afford it. So why does it suddenly feel… heavier? This week, Pete and Kristen unpack the emotional side of a financial upgrade that no one really talks about. From “payment shock” to the psychological weight of a bigger life, they explore why even smart, responsible decisions can come with unexpected stress. If you’ve ever made a move that made your life better—but also made your brain a litt...

High schools across the country are making a big shift—replacing traditional economics classes with personal finance. On the surface, it sounds like a win. After all, most of us could’ve used a better understanding of credit cards, debt, and how money actually works when we were 18. But is this really progress… or just a tradeoff? In this episode, Pete, Damian, and Kristen break down what’s changing—and what might be getting lost in the process. Is the goal of high school to create informed ci...

Last Valentine’s Day, listener Lucas from North Carolina wrote in about retiring early and “taking our foot off the gas.” This year, life looks very different. Lucas and his wife recently received a diagnosis for their almost two-year-old daughter that means she may never live independently. That news sent Lucas down a deep research rabbit hole involving wills, trusts, and something called a third-party special needs trust. What started as a plan for early retirement has now become a much bigg...

A surge in oil prices tied to rising tensions involving Iran has economists and investors whispering a word we haven’t heard much since the 1970s: stagflation. But what exactly is it—and should you be worried? In this episode, Pete breaks down why spikes in oil prices can ripple through the entire economy, how stagflation happens when inflation and economic slowdown collide, and why energy shocks have historically been the trigger. More importantly, he explains what this moment actually means f...

This week’s listener question comes from a self-described “Type-A podcast listener girlie” who—financially speaking—is absolutely crushing it. At 32 years old, she’s earning about $100,000, saving 25% for retirement, and has already built roughly $450,000 in Roth accounts, plus a brokerage account and cash savings. Her partner, the same age, entered the workforce later after earning an advanced degree and currently makes about $60,000 while saving 12%. They’re planning to get married soon, com...

They’re 42. They’re doing everything right. $185,000 household income. 15% to retirement. Emergency fund solid. Almost no debt. And yet… they’re exhausted. This week’s email comes from a couple who can absolutely afford help — but still live like they’re one missed paycheck away from disaster. They mow their own lawn. Scrub their own bathrooms. Meal prep every Sunday. Fix everything themselves. They optimize every dollar. Then a simple debate changes everything. A cleaning service would ...

Lauren and her husband are 35. Two kids. Solid income. No credit card debt. $70,000 saved. They’re doing everything right. And now their landlord just dropped the bomb: he’s probably selling the house. They’ve been paying $2,750 a month in rent. Buying a similar home would run about $2,900 a month with taxes, insurance, and PMI. On paper, that’s only a $150 jump. In reality? It feels like stepping into a financial thunderstorm. Because everywhere they turn, they hear the same thing: “Terribl...

You can now bet on inflation, elections, interest rates, wars, and whether the Fed blinks—and people are calling it “information,” not gambling. This week on The Pete the Planner Show, we dig into prediction markets: what they are, why they’ve exploded in popularity, and what they really tell us about the economy, politics, and our collective anxiety about the future. Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi claim that markets can forecast the future better than polls, experts, or pundits. But can...

Gold is pulling back. Silver is getting smacked. Tech stocks feel heavy, crypto feels frozen, and investors everywhere are asking the same question: If things are so uncertain, why aren’t the “safe” assets working? This week, Pete breaks down the psychology of a cranky market — one that isn’t panicking or crashing, but is deeply skeptical and increasingly impatient. We’ll explain why gold can fall even when people are uneasy, why silver drops harder when growth expectations soften, and how risin...

Did retirement get harder — or did it just change? A listener writes in with a question a lot of people are quietly asking: Is the kind of retirement our parents and grandparents had even possible anymore? They remember a time when retirement felt automatic — pensions, Social Security, paid-off homes, and far less anxiety about markets or running out of money. Today, even people doing “everything right” feel like retirement is something they have to constantly manage and second-guess. In this ...

Jobs are still there. Markets are still standing. Inflation isn’t spiraling. So why does everything feel… off? In this episode, Pete the Planner tackles the growing disconnect between what the economic data says and how people actually feel about their money. This isn’t a recession episode—but it’s definitely not a “everything’s great” episode either. We dig into why households feel financially exhausted even as incomes rise, why good headlines don’t translate into confidence, and how higher ...

Nobody wants debt. But sometimes life forces the issue. In this episode, Pete, Damian, and Kristen tackle a reality most people face at some point: needing cash quickly. This isn’t an endorsement of borrowing and it’s definitely not a how-to. It’s a ranking of consequences—a clear-eyed look at which debt options hurt the least, which ones quietly wreck your future, and which should be avoided almost entirely. The conversation starts with why people reach for the fastest money instead of the sm...

Most Americans believe retirement is just a math problem: invest consistently, ride the market, and everything will work out. The data says otherwise. In this episode, Pete digs into new retirement research that reveals a hard truth—retirement success isn’t being derailed by bad investing, it’s being quietly sabotaged by behavior, debt, and timing . You’ll learn why the vast majority of workers never save enough (even when they think they are), how credit card debt and 401(k) loans silently d...

Pete the Planner's predictions for housing, higher ed, energy and a potential tariff mess We’re in the midst of the holidays—always a good time for reflection. And this week that means holding Pete the Planner accountable for bold predictions he made in January about the economy and U.S. fiscal policy in 2025. Pete hit a bunch of these out of the park—especially those related to Trumponomics—and he whiffed on several others. Because he’s a big-hearted guy not afraid of making mistakes, Pete thi...

Pete the Planner on Humor, Habits and the Psychology of Money On this episode of Off the Record, host Nate Feltman sits down with Peter Dunn, better known as Pete the Planner, one of America’s most trusted voices on personal finance. Dunn shares how a sixth-grade stock market contest launched his career, how he blends comedy and financial coaching to help people build better habits, and why the psychology of money matters more than math. He opens up about building Your Money Line, a fast-growin...

Let’s be honest: most New Year’s resolutions don’t make it to Valentine’s Day. So instead of pretending this year will be different, we’re drafting financial resolutions that actually survive real life. In this episode, we run The Financial Resolution Draft—fantasy-football style—selecting the smartest, most realistic financial moves for three life stages: your 20s, your 40s with kids, and your 60s nearing retirement. No vague goals. No financial TikTok nonsense. No personality changes requir...

In this week’s episode, Pete breaks down the ten biggest financial mistakes Americans are making right now — from investing too little and too late, to overspending on housing, to making car decisions that haunt their budgets for years. With the economy shifting under everyone’s feet, these missteps are more common (and more costly) than ever. Pete walks through why these mistakes happen, what they really cost you over time, and the simple, practical changes that can keep your financial life fr...