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A 53-year-old newly divorced man earns $168,000, kept the family home, and believes his best earning years are ahead of him. From the outside, he appears financially secure. But he has only $315,000 left for retirement, spends more than his monthly paycheck, carries 22% credit-card debt, and depends on an annual bonus that hasn’t arrived yet. His plan is to maintain his lifestyle, keep the oversized house, and catch up later. Is this merely a four-year financial squeeze—or has a high income disguised a retirement emergency? We examine the difference between earning a lot and needing a lot, whether home equity counts as a retirement plan, and what it would actually take for him to retire at 65.

After 26 years of marriage, a 51-year-old listener is learning how to manage money on her own. She has a solid income, retirement savings, home-equity proceeds, temporary spousal support—and a persistent fear that one wrong decision could ruin everything. Should she buy another house? Pay off her car? Invest the divorce settlement? Keep helping her adult children? And is retiring at 65 still realistic? In this episode, we separate the financial damage of divorce from the emotional disruption of divorce, establish the correct order of operations, and build a practical 12-month plan for starting over without starting from zero.

Millennials are expected to inherit approximately $46 trillion over the next 25 years, making them the largest beneficiaries of the so-called Great Wealth Transfer. But that enormous number hides an uncomfortable reality: much of the money belongs to a very small number of families, many inheritances won’t arrive until recipients are nearing retirement, and millions of millennials will receive little or nothing. Pete explains where the trillions are actually going, why inheritance may widen America’s economic divide and how families should plan for money that may—or may not—eventually arrive.

We’ve all heard “it takes a village," but what if you have to pay for yours? From house cleaners and lawn care to childcare and grocery delivery, outsourcing can give us back time and capacity. But when is it a smart financial choice, and when is “buying back your time” just a fancy way to justify lifestyle creep? We’re talking about what your time is actually worth, what’s worth outsourcing, and when convenience deserves a place in your budget.

What if you lived just a few hundred miles north—but the rules of your financial life were completely different? This week, we cross the border to examine the surprising realities of personal finance in Canada. From mortgages that regularly reset and government-funded healthcare to tax-free investment accounts Americans might envy, college savings incentives, retirement benefits, housing costs, and household debt, we compare how Canadians build financial lives versus Americans. Which country makes personal finance easier—and what could each side learn from the other?

Personal finance advice has a bad habit of sounding pass/fail. Save 15% for retirement. Have six months of expenses in cash. Put 20% down on a house. Never carry a credit-card balance. Have a will. That advice isn't wrong. In fact, most of it is excellent. The problem is what happens when the "right" answer feels so far away that people do nothing at all. This week, we're not lowering the standards. We're building staircases to them. For some of the biggest financial decisions in your life, we'll identify the best thing to do—and then figure out the next best thing to do when the ideal isn't realistic yet.

The S&P 500 has become the default investment for millions of Americans, but what exactly are you buying when you buy “the market”? We break down how the index actually works, why a handful of enormous companies increasingly determine its performance, how the S&P 500 has transformed over the decades, and whether owning 500 companies really makes you as diversified as you think.

Some financial decisions feel productive without actually making much of a difference. We obsess over coffee, credit scores, investment returns, subscriptions, and finding the perfect savings account while much bigger financial levers go untouched. This week, we identify the financial distractions that steal our attention from the decisions that actually determine our trajectory. Because being busy with your money isn't the same as making progress. A financial priority changes the outcome. A financial distraction merely feels like progress.

A 1% contribution increase doesn’t sound life-changing. Neither does a slightly higher investment fee or a small piece of an employer match. But over an entire career, these tiny percentages can become six-figure decisions. This week, Pete reveals the flashy math hiding inside your company-sponsored retirement plan. You’ll discover how an extra 1% could become more than $70,000, how one misunderstanding could cause you to miss thousands in employer money, and how an invisible fee difference could consume over $100,000 of future wealth. Your retirement plan is filled with small levers attached to surprisingly large outcomes. It’s time to find out which ones you should pull.

Every financial company wants your attention. To get it, they rely on polished language, compelling statistics, and phrases that sound reassuring—but often leave out the context that actually matters. In Financial Marketing, Translated, we decode the ads, websites, brochures, and sales pitches that shape financial decisions every day. We explain what the jargon really means, what assumptions are hiding beneath the claims, and the questions every consumer should ask before saying yes. This isn't about calling financial marketing dishonest. It's about making sure you understand the language well enough to separate meaningful information from persuasive messaging. Because once you can translate the marketing, you can make better financial decisions with confidence.

A listener clicked on one of those irresistible CNBC headlines claiming a family of four in Indiana needs more than $220,000 a year to live comfortably. Is that actually true... or is it another example of statistics being stretched beyond recognition? This week, we unpack the difference between a living wage, a comfortable lifestyle, and wealth. We'll explain why national headlines often create more anxiety than clarity, why "comfortable" means something different to everyone, and how to determine whether your income is enough—without comparing yourself to an internet calculator.

Your house is probably the biggest purchase you'll ever make—but for most people, it's the least managed asset they own. This week, Pete and NeighborServe CEO Dan Hanrahan break down what every homeowner should know: what your home needs, when it needs it, what it should cost, and who you should call before a small problem becomes a financial disaster. You'll learn why experts recommend budgeting 1–4% of your home's value every year for maintenance, why deferred maintenance behaves like high-interest debt, and how America's aging housing stock is quietly creating expensive surprises for millions of homeowners. Plus, we'll share practical advice on building your own home maintenance playbook so you're never caught off guard. Whether you've owned your home for six months or 30 years, this episode could save you thousands.

Most people measure their financial lives by the wrong numbers. Income. Net worth. Debt. Credit score. Those numbers tell you where you are—but they don't tell you whether you're actually moving toward financial freedom. In this solo episode of Worth with Pete the Planner, Pete revisits one of his favorite financial concepts: Power Percentage. Created years ago to answer the question, "Am I doing okay?", Power Percentage measures something far more important than wealth—it measures behavior. Pete explains why two people with identical incomes can have completely different financial futures, why net worth can be misleading, and why the habits behind your money matter more than the money itself. If you've ever wondered whether you're really making progress, this episode will give you a different scoreboard—and maybe a better way to think about your financial life. Because the goal isn't to look wealthy. It's to build freedom.

You spend years making smart financial decisions. You save aggressively, live below your means, and watch your retirement accounts grow. Then life happens. The family grows, the starter home no longer works, and suddenly your mortgage payment triples. Even when you can afford it, why does it feel like you've made a terrible mistake? This week, we answer an email from a listener who isn't really asking whether he should pay down his mortgage or save for retirement. He's asking a much deeper question: How do you adjust your financial plan when your entire financial reality changes?

This week, we tackle one of the biggest financial dilemmas facing homeowners today: what do you do when your life outgrows your house, but your mortgage rate is too good to give up? A listener and her husband are raising two kids, both working from home, caring for aging parents, and trying to decide whether moving from a $600,000 home into a $750,000 home makes financial sense. The challenge? Their current mortgage rate is an almost mythical 2.75%, with just 14 years remaining until payoff. On paper, the move appears affordable. A larger home would increase their monthly payment from roughly $2,200 to $3,500, but an upcoming increase in income could largely offset the difference. Still, walking away from a low-rate mortgage feels financially painful. In this episode, we break down: Whether their math actually works Why "can we afford it?" and "should we do it?" are different questions The psychological power of a low mortgage rate How to think about future interest rates without trying to predict them The hidden cost of staying in a house that no longer fits your life Why some homeowners have become prisoners of their own great refinancing decisions When remodeling makes sense—and when it's just a way to avoid making a decision Plus, Pete explores the concept of the "mortgage trap": the strange modern reality where millions of Americans have become financially anchored to homes they may have otherwise outgrown. Is giving up a 2.75% mortgage rate a financial mistake—or is it simply the price of moving into the next stage of life? This week's episode is about the tension between optimizing money and optimizing your life. Sometimes those two things aren't the same.