Episodes

  • Pete the Planner: 'Stocks are at all-time highs, so why am I terrified about the future?’

    Pete the Planner: 'Stocks are at all-time highs, so why am I terrified about the future?’
    Feb 2 2026
    According to the latest federal data, the U.S. economy is chugging along at a strong clip, unemployment is under control, the prices of consumer goods are increasing at a fairly typical rate, and interest rates for mortgages are steadily dropping. Plus, the stock market is regularly hitting all-time highs. What’s there to worry about? The Consumer Confidence Index, which is used to measure how consumers feel about their expected financial situation, is at its lowest point since 2014. Specifically, Americans’ short-term expectations for their incomes, business conditions and the job market have fallen well below the marker that could signal a recession. The misalignment of the big picture numbers and how consumers feel might indicate that not everyone is benefitting from the positive economic indicators. Throw on top of that the amount of anxiety Americans feel about polarized politics, a recent wave of five-figure layoffs at large U.S. firms, and data pointing toward a bear market, and you can appreciate any undercurrent of pessimism. On this week's edition of the podcast, Pete the Planner and host Mason King discuss the role that our feelings can play in our financial decisions even when we’re presented with cold, hard data. To that point, they discuss the return of the vibecession, a term describing the disconnect between positive economic indicators and the public's negative perception of the economy and how they’re doing. Fear can inspire some people to eliminate all risk in their investments, which isn’t necessarily a good idea.
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    57 mins
  • IBJ owner Nate Feltman, reporter Dave Lindquist talk IU championship

    IBJ owner Nate Feltman, reporter Dave Lindquist talk IU championship
    Jan 26 2026
    It has been a week since Indiana University won the College Football Playoff national championship and Hoosier fans are still celebrating. On the podcast this week, guest host Lesley Weidenbener talks with two people with different perspectives on the game between IU and the University of Miami at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. First up will be Nate Feltman, the owner and publisher of IBJ Media. He’s an IU graduate—with three degrees, in fact—and very active with the university. He went to the Rose Bowl in California, the Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the title game in Miami. Nate tells us about those experiences and explains why he decided that IBJ should send a reporter to Miami. And then Lesley talks with that reporter—Dave Lindquist—about his experiences at the game. Dave is not an IU grad and has not been to IU football games. But he has covered the hoopla surrounding many of the biggest sporting events that have taken place in Indianapolis. So he has an interesting perspective on the events in Miami. Click here to see some of the photos that Dave took during his trip to Miami. And here’s the link to the video Dave mentions that shows IU coach Curt Cignetti on the Big Ten Network’s Postgame Show. You can spot Dave in a dark jacket in the background of the shot at the beginning of the video.
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    48 mins
  • Explaining the blitz of news about the Bears’ potential move to Indiana

    Explaining the blitz of news about the Bears’ potential move to Indiana
    Jan 19 2026
    The Colts are done for the year, but news is heating up about the potential for the Chicago Bears to move their stadium to Indiana, Here’s the scouting report: The Bears want a new stadium. They say Soldier Field isn’t cutting it anymore. They’ve purchased a huge site in one of Chicago’s suburbs that formerly was home to a racetrack. The team says it's willing to pay for stadium construction, but the team needs the Illinois Legislature to help pave the way with about $855 million in infrastructure improvements and by approving a bill that would enable a long-term property tax deal. In December, Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren announced that the team wasn’t getting anywhere with the Illinois Legislature and that it was expanding its search for a new stadium site to include northwest Indiana. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and local officials in the area immediately jumped at the opening and the chance to get the ball rolling. There was a healthy amount of skepticism that the Bears were namechecking Indiana simply to get leverage with Illinois. But several surprising developments in the last two weeks show that Indiana is moving quickly to lay the groundwork for a stadium, the Bears are giving the state serious consideration and that some Illinois officials are seriously concerned about losing the team. In this episode of the IBJ Podcast, we’ll review the moves made by the Bears and Indiana officials that have brought us to this point. We have two guests: We’ll first hear from Marc Ganis, a consultant for pro sports teams who has lived in Chicago for three decades; and then we’ll hear from Mickey Shuey, who covers real estate and sports business for IBJ.
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    39 mins
  • Indy-centric arts and culture offerings to circle on your calendar

    Indy-centric arts and culture offerings to circle on your calendar
    Jan 12 2026
    We’re all familiar with the way city and state officials have hitched central Indiana’s economic wagon to sports and tourism. Arts and entertainment have received less focus over that time, but the sports/tourism strategy has paid fringe benefits by making Indy a more viable option for A-list stars on tour and helping to elevate the city’s profile. It also has provided many opportunities for local artists and performers. The latest case in point is Indy’s hosting gig for the NCAA’s Final Four in April, which will include a series of concerts for big stars and smaller shows for homegrown talents. Meanwhile, a local actor has made a dramatic entrance on the Hollywood awards circuit—Chase Infinity from “One Battle After Another”—which in its way helps plug Indy as a conduit for top talent. Indianapolis also plays a role in a new movie from two-time Oscar-nominated director Gus Van Sant about the Tony Kiritsis hostage crisis in 1977. And the city is about to get several new arts venues, providing more opportunities for expression and inspiration. IBJ arts and entertainment reporter Dave Lindquist recently crafted a list of some of the best ways Indy-area residents can soak in culture in 2026. He’s the guest on this week’s IBJ Podcast to talk about “Dead Man’s Wire,” David Byrne, the Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis, cowboy couture, listening rooms and more.
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    40 mins
  • 'I joke that I went from selling paper money to toilet paper,' says former banker

    'I joke that I went from selling paper money to toilet paper,' says former banker
    Jan 5 2026
    Originally aired 8-25-2025. Cindy Schum grew up in a troubled family situation and, as she describes herself today, was terribly shy and awkward. Still, she found ways to put herself in situations that could help her be more outgoing. She was great at working with numbers, and she gravitated to a career in commercial lending that put her in front of business owners who loved to talk about how they made things work. She picked a heck of a time to jump from banking to buying a 104-year-old small business. She felt something vital was missing from her career, and her husband, Brad, persuaded her to purchase a company in 2019 in the less-than-glamorous janitorial-supply industry. She knew from her experience evaluating company financials and acquisitions that the numbers looked good. And when the pandemic hit several months later, Schum found herself in a position to help customers struggling with the sudden disruption. Still, Schum’s plans to grow A.G. Maas Supply Co. were delayed. But its headcount has swelled from two employees to 10 over the past six years, and its annual revenue has jumped 250%. Its core business is procurement—connecting customers in the utility, education, manufacturing and hospitality industries with the right suppliers of cleaning and safety products, office tools and facility furnishings. After some early trepidation, Schum learned that her career in banking perfectly prepared her for entrepreneurship. Whether you’re talking about banknotes or toilet paper, she says in this week’s episode of the IBJ Podcast that it all comes down to relationships.
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    51 mins
  • World Cup team could call Westfield home; plus, progress reports on downtown projects

    World Cup team could call Westfield home; plus, progress reports on downtown projects
    Dec 22 2025
    In the third consecutive episode with updates on major stories from the past year, this week's IBJ Podcast features IBJ’s Mickey Shuey, who covers real estate, hospitality and the business of sports. In the first half of the episode, Shuey reveals what’s been going on behind the scenes in Westfield as cities across North America prepare to host matches this summer for the 2026 Men’s World Cup. Central Indiana is out of the running as a match site, but Shuey reports in the latest issue of IBJ that Westfield’s gargantuan Grand Park Sports Campus has been named one of the available base camps for teams competing in the Cup. On the podcast, Shuey discusses the logistics of being the home base for a World Cup team, what the teams are looking for and what attribute of Grand Park might make it less appealing. In the second half of the episode, Shuey digs into his notebooks to give us progress reports on many of the major construction projects downtown, including the $600 million overhaul of Circle Centre Mall and the $4.3 billion IU Health hospital campus. Even more intriguing, he addresses significant downtown projects still in the proposal stage: a stadium for the Major League Soccer team the city wants to establish and a casino that would use the gaming license of the Rising Star Casino in southeast Indiana.
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    42 mins
  • The 'difficult, complex work' of extending life expectancy in five Indy neighborhoods

    The 'difficult, complex work' of extending life expectancy in five Indy neighborhoods
    Dec 15 2025
    IBJ Podcast host Mason King first interviewed Jamal Smith late in 2024 about an ambitious initiative to do no less than increase the life expectancy of residents in a set of historic neighborhoods in Marion County. You know the neighborhoods as Crown Hill, Historic Flanner House Homes, Highland Vicinity, Meridian Highland and Ransom Place. They contain in total more than 9,000 residents who, due to a number of socio-economic factors, have a much lower life expectancy than other Indy residents. The neighborhoods are immediately north, west and south of the $4.3 billion IU Health hospital campus under construction downtown. Smith is the executive director of the nonprofit group Indy Health District, which was formally launched a year ago by IU Health in collaboration with several adjacent community-minded organizations and representatives of the neighborhoods. Its most immediate goals include providing access to healthy food and quality education, investing in trails and other infrastructure, partnering on projects that create affordable housing and helping residents find gainful employment. Coordinating the many elements of the initiative with a staggering number of stakeholders requires elite powers of persuasion, communication and humility. Smith returns to the podcast this week with a one-year progress report, including updates on strategies that succeeded and situations where he needed to ask for grace and go back to the lab. And he shares the four main goals of the district’s newly composed strategic plan—the next steps toward the district’s ultimate goal.
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    53 mins
  • Pete the Planner's predictions for housing, higher ed, energy and a potential tariff mess

    Pete the Planner's predictions for housing, higher ed, energy and a potential tariff mess
    Dec 8 2025
    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 this week presents his predictions for 2026, including positive portents for nuclear energy, his advance whiff of a stale housing market and a tough prognosis for higher education. His pick for the biggest story of 2026 might require some advance explanation. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide soon whether President Trump’s emergency tariffs levied earlier this year are invalid. If the justices find that the president exceeded his authority by using emergency powers to impose tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner—which, to review, were paid by the companies that imported the products, not the countries or companies from which they came—the importers could be entitled to big refunds. As The Washington Post has reported, unwinding almost a year of Trump’s core economic policy likely could have serious consequences for the government’s finances and on the bottom lines of companies throughout the U.S. economy. It’s impossible to know how much money ultimately would be in play, but estimates of how much the U.S. had collected in emergency tariffs were close to $90 billion when the court heard arguments in early November.
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    41 mins