A record 4.3 million workers in the U.S. quit their jobs in August and more are expected to do so as part of what analysts are calling the "Great Resignation." But can you afford to join them? Host Mason King talks with Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn about how to prepare financially to leave your job. Plus, Pete offers a prediction about the stock market as the year comes to a close. Looking for another podcast to try? Check out IBJ's The Freedom Forum with Angela B. Freeman, an exploration of diversity and inclusion issues in the central Indiana business community.

Nine teams representing students, researchers and autonomous vehicle experts from across the globe will convene at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Oct. 23 for an auto-racing competition without drivers. Or at least without a human in the cockpit. The "drivers" in this case are software systems coded in advance by the teams, who must just sit back on "race day" to see if the cars can direct themselves out of the pits, around the track and avoid obstacles (which might or might not include another car). The Indy Autonomous Challenge has been more than two years in the making. And so podcast host Mason King talks with Paul MItchell, CEO of Energy Systems Network, the Indianapolis-based not-for-profit that dreamed up and organized the event, about why the competition is important and what the group wants to achieve. And then he talks with Michael Saxon, who is leading the Black & Gold Racing team, made up of students and researchers from Purdue University, West Point and IUPUI. To learn more, read IBJ reporter Mickey Shuey's story about the challenge. Photo courtesy of Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.

In the wake of criticism about conditions at last spring's women's basketball championship, the NCAA is considering a number of changes, including whether the men's and women's Final Fours should be played on the same weekend in the same city. IBJ's sports business reporter Mickey Shuey talks with host Mason King about why that would significantly shorten the list of cities that could host the Final Four and whether Indianapolis could handle a combined event.  And King talks with Michelle Perry, a former NCAA executive and now a sports consultant, about what the change would mean for the women's game—and its fans. You can read more about the issue in Mickey's story in this week's IBJ.   Looking for another podcast to try? Check out IBJ's The Freedom Forum with Angela B. Freeman, a monthly discussion about diversity and inclusion in central Indiana's business community.  

Riley Hospital for Children is preparing to unveil its $142 million maternity center—five floors of renovated space that will house labor and delivery rooms, intensive-care-unit rooms, emergency and triage rooms, operating rooms, and infant-resuscitation rooms. It's a new direction for Riley, which has traditionally served sick children and babies who need special care. But Indiana University Health is now moving its well-baby maternity services from Methodist Hospital to Riley, giving moms and their babies one place to receive all the care they need. IBJ health reporter John Russell toured the facility and talked with host Mason King about what he saw and how the tower fits into the increasingly competitive business of maternity care. You can read more about the maternity tower in John's story here.

Some 11.5 million Americans quit their jobs in April, May and June, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. And a recent Gallup poll found that nearly half of all workers are actively searching for other work. It's part of what's become known as the Great Resignation—and if you're a manager, you might be wondering whether there's anything you can do to keep your employees on the job. Host Mason King talks with IBJ workplace columnists Garrett Mintz, founder of consulting firm Ambition in Motion, and Mandy Haskett, a leadership consultant at Carmel-based Advisa, about the trend and how companies can engage with workers in a way that encourages them to stay. You can read IBJ's weekly workplace column here. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

Podcast host Mason King recently used an online calculator to estimate what it might cost to send his 5-year-old son to college someday—and the answer shocked him. So he's talking with Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn this week about when parents need to start saving, what savings vehicles to use and whether parents should go into debt to fund their kids' education.   The IBJ podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.    

Dale Neuburger is a former president of the Indiana Sports Corp. and treasurer of FINA, the International Federation for Aquatics. He spent several weeks in Japan for the Olympic Games, where he served as the International Olympic Committee’s competition director for swimming, with additional responsibilities for diving, water polo, artistic swimming and open-water swimming. IBJ sports business reporter Mickey Shuey talked with Dale about his experiences in Tokyo and what Indiana can learn from them.  You can read a column written by Dale in this week's IBJ. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

IBJ Media’s recent acquisition of competitor Grow Indiana Media Ventures and the Inside INdiana Business and Inside Edge multimedia platforms raises a series of questions, starting with the extent to which the state’s two biggest business news brands actually overlap. Some see the deal as a combination of complementary businesses with different audiences, but the irony of the acquisition is that one is often mistaken for the other in central Indiana.In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, IBJ Media CEO and co-owner Nate Feltman joins Gerry Dick, formerly the owner of Grow Indiana and now president of the new Inside INdiana Business division of IBJ Media, to break down what the deal means for subscribers, other news consumers and the business community in general. They push back on any suggestion that this is yet another example of media consolidation, promising that this will lead to wider and deeper coverage of business around the state that preserves the Inside INdiana Business brand and perspective. At the same time, the deal gives IBJ the ability to make a strong push into new mediums and grow outside the Indy area.Feltman and Dick tell host Mason King that they foresee very few changes in the two brands’ editorial output and products in the near term. But how might IBJ influence Inside INdiana Business, and vice versa? How much will one bleed into the other? Are there any redundancies between the two businesses? How big is IBJ Media now? How closely will the teams be working? They address these questions here.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears told IBJ last week that he hasn't decided whether his office will move to the new Community Justice Campus, which remains under construction in the Twin Aire neighborhood. The office was expected to be part of a second office building that Browning Investments planned to build at the site to complement a jail, Sheriff's Office and court system that will be moving to the campus at the end of the year. Host Mason King talks with IBJ reporters Leslie Bonilla Muñiz and Mickey Shuey about their reporting on the topic, including the reasons Mears gave for his hesitancy and why the mayor wants the prosecutor at the campus.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.    

It was about six years ago when Indianapolis arts organization Big Car bought an old factory in the Garfield Park neighborhood and started working on a plan to create an arts campus there. Fast forward to today and the group owns the Tube Factory Artspace in that former factory, an audio art space that houses a radio station, nine houses it has renovated for artists and another factory—this one 40,000 square feet—that it is starting to renovate. Plus, it's creating a public green space between the buildings.  Host Mason King talks with Big Car CEO Jim Walker about the vision, what the project means for the neighborhood and how the group is trying to ensure artists aren't eventually priced out of being there. You can read more about Big Car's Garfield Park project in this story by IBJ reporter Susan Orr.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.    

At emergency rooms across central Indiana, “No Vacancy” signs are flashing at unprecedented rates. Emergency rooms are often overflowing with patients, prompting hospitals to divert ambulances to other hospitals for hours at a stretch, provided the cases aren’t life-threatening. On July 26, for example, at least 10 large hospitals in central Indiana went on diversion at some point, causing ambulance drivers to look high and low for a place to take their patients.In the latest edition of the IBJ Podcast, reporter John Russell explains that this is the latest indication that local and area hospitals are struggling with a growing nursing shortage and, to a lesser extent, that the pandemic is roaring back to life.Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to pin hospitals down on just how often this has been happening. No federal or state agency tracks ambulance diversions or requires the hospitals to report it, so the fine details are closely guarded secrets.The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.

While intense heat waves and wildfires scorch the Western U.S. and freak rainstorms spawn massive floods in Europe and China, the weather in central Indiana has been fairly tame so far this year.Indeed, Indiana very well could sidestep some of the most extreme effects of climate change, but don’t get lulled into complacency, says Jeffrey Dukes, director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center and a professor of forestry and natural resources.Indiana’s weather already has been altered by man-made climate change, and the effects could be significantly more intense in coming decades, Dukes says. Since 1895, Indiana’s statewide annual average temperature has risen by 1.3°F, and some models show it rising another 5°F by mid-century. Winters will be shorter and the number of days above 95°F could rise by dozens per year.The state also is getting wetter. Since 1895, average annual precipitation in Indiana has increased by about 15%, or about 5.6 inches. Models show winters and springs are likely to be much wetter by mid-century. Heavy rain events will increase flooding risks and increase the amount of pollutants washing into waterways from city streets and farm fields.In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Dukes explains to host Mason King how these changes will impact our day-to-day lives and some of the state’s most important industries, such as agriculture, energy and tourism and recreation. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.

Indy Chamber last month was recognized by its peers for work it has been doing that's not quite typical of chambers of commerce nationwide. The group won the 2021 Chamber of the Year award from an association that represents 1,600 chambers and economic development organizations. And it earned the honor for the work it has done on inclusive growth—primarily a rework of the city's economic incentives program—and for the Rapid Response Hub it deployed during the pandemic. Guest host Lesley Weidenbener interviews Indy Chamber CEO Michael Huber and the group's director of economic development, Vincent Ash, about the programs and the honor. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.

The pandemic wreaked havoc on the hospitality industry in Indianapolis and across the nation. Still, IBJ reporter Mickey Shuey finds that many of the hotels in the planning stages for downtown Indianapolis before the pandemic are still moving forward today. In fact, three hotels have opened since COVID-19 struck the state in March 2020. Host Mason King chats with Shuey about the state of the hotel industry in Indy and which projects are completed, underway and on hold. For more, read Shuey's story detailing the city's downtown hotel pipeline. The IBJ podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

Host Mason King and the folks in the Midtown Parents Facebook Group in Indianapolis have a lot of questions about money—specifically how they should be saving it for retirement and college. Should homeowners pay off a mortgage early? How do you plan for the future when one partner in a relationship is significantly older than the other? Should you prioritize retirement savings over college savings for your kids? So Mason asked IBJ personal finance columnist Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn to come on the podcast to get some answers to those questions and others. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

Drag racer Antron Brown of Pittsboro has won three NHRA championships in his 14 years in the sport, but he may be about to take on his biggest challenge yet: racing team owner. Next year, Brown will become one of the few Black team owners ever in the 70-year-old NHRA— and one of the few Black majority team owners in any motorsports series. He will be the only Black owner in the modern era of Top Fuel or Funny Car racing. Brown talks with host Mason King about why he decided to make the move, what it will cost (hint: a lot) and why the sport is more diverse than you might think. For more, read this profile of Brown by former IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle. The IBJ podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

If you've ever been inside the historic Chatterbox Jazz Club on Massachusetts Avenue downtown, you have a pretty good idea why it didn't reopen at 50% or even 75% capacity. It's so tiny, the restrictions would have meant only about 20 patrons could be inside at any given time. And owner David Andrichik said that's a recipe for losing more money than being closed completely.  But now that Marion County health officials have eliminated all pandemic restrictions, the Chatterbox is about to reopen for the first time in more than 15 months.  Andrichik talks with podcast Mason King about what it will take to reopen the bar, what the closure has cost him and what he's been thinking about while he's been waiting. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.  

In the mood for some barbecue? Or maybe some poke? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Or maybe just a cold beer? It's all available at the AMP food hall at the 16 Tech Innovation District on the northwest edge of downtown. And Chef Craig Baker is the coordinator who has has helped make it all happen.  He crafted the overall feel of the 40,000-square-foot space in the HqO building at 1220 Waterway Blvd., which includes shipping containers and booths for each restaurant and retailer. But each of the eateries is responsible for their space, creating a eclectic spot for lunch or an event. Baker talked with host Mason King about how the space came together—and why, for him, success will be when some of those same eateries grow up and move out. For more about what's opening this month at the AMP, check out this story by reporter Susan Orr.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.  

The Newfields board last month elected Darrianne Christian as its new chair, making her the first Black woman to lead the museum's board. Christian was already serving on the board in February when the Newfields president resigned following allegations of racial bias. Christian, who was then the board's only African American member, led the effort to develop the institution's new plan to embrace diversity, equity, inclusion and access. Christian talks with host Mason King about what the museum is doing to get past the controversy and how her background growing up in poverty is helping her move Newfields in new directions.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.

Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn says most people need a financial adviser at some point in their lives to make sense of their investments, insurance, retirement accounts and more. But as host Mason King has experienced, figuring out what type of adviser to hire and then which one to hire can be tough. So Dunn explains what to look for and how to choose. You can read more financial advice from Dunn at IBJ.com.

Chris Baggott is always looking for a better way to do things. He co-founded ExactTarget when he couldn't find a good way to communicate with customers. He co-founded Compendium Software to give companies a better way to rank high in internet search results. And he founded ClusterTruck to get prepared food to customers while it was still hot and fresh. In each case, Baggott has helped disrupt established industries, although he acknowledges it's not always because he was first to an idea. Baggott talks with host Mason King about what makes an idea disruptive and explains why it's so much easier for startups—rather than established companies—to come up with those innovations. The podcast is part of IBJ's larger look at disruption in this year's Innovation Issue, which includes a story by Anthony Schoettle about Baggott and other local disrupters. 

Republican. Sen. Todd Young of Indiana and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, introduced the Endless Frontier Act this spring with the goal of pumping more than $110 billion over five years into scientific and technological innovation. That includes a $10 billion effort to create tech hubs across the U.S., focusing on areas outside of the traditional tech centers like Silicon Valley, Seattle and Boston. Sen. Young is on today’s podcast to talk about the legislation. Then we talked with David Johnson, the president and CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership about what it could mean for Indiana. You can read a column Johnson wrote about the Endless Frontier Act at IBJ.com. One note: After our interview with Sen. Young, Sen. Schumer announced he would expand and rename the legislation to the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act.  

As more Hoosiers become fully vaccinated, restaurants and bars are filling up again. But restaurant operators say finding workers to serve all those customers. has been a struggle. Are some people afraid to return to work at such public places? Are the increases in unemployment benefits to blame? Have former restaurant workers given up on the industry and found positions elsewhere? Host Mason King talks with two restauranteurs—Loughmiller's Pub & Eatery co-owner Danny Scotten and Upland Brewing Co. President David Bower—about how the labor crunch is affecting their eateries and what they're doing to try to find workers. For more about this issue, read reporter Kurt Christian's story at IBJ.com.

Sales of grills, patio furniture, fire pits and other outdoor goods skyrocketed last spring and summer as the pandemic forced people to stay at home. So a big question for this spring—as vaccinated people started venturing out again—was whether that trend would continue. Local garden and outdoor venture retailers say it has. In fact, they say sales of some products, like outdoor furniture, have been even hotter, which is just one of several reasons many outdoor goods have been hard to come by. Host Mason King talks with two of those retailers—Scott Horvath, owner of Omalia’s Living, and Pat Sullivan, who owns owner of three Sullivan’s Hardware & Garden stores plus Allisonville Home & Garden by Sullivan. They explain the supply chain issues that are causing a shortage of bigger-ticket items like fire pits and furniture and smaller, everyday products like watering wands and garden hoses.  For more about the trends, check out Kurt Christian's store at IBJ.com.

The U.S. economy is on the verge of potentially the greatest boom time of all time, according to Peter “Pete the Planner” Dunn. It will be fueled at least in part by the enhanced child tax credit, which is part of the American Rescue Plan stimulus package.In essence, the child tax credit that parents get every year will increase to $3,000 to $3,600 per child for 2021, depending on the age of each child. And the government is going to give taxpayers half of it in cash in installments over the last six months of the year.But Dunn also is concerned that as the economy improves and taxpayers start to feel their stimulus payments since the beginning of the pandemic burn holes in their pockets, they will fall into a financial trap. In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Dunn discusses with host Mason King the risks in recalibrating your spending habits during a boom with artificial income.