Episodes

Our guest in this episode of Money Tales is Barbara Pierce. Among other things, Barbara is an avid lottery player. She and her husband have already achieved the financial success they need to make their dreams come true. So, the lottery playing isn’t about her — it’s about playing against the odds to help enrich others. Barbara’s strategy is to buy tickets in areas where the winnings would make a material positive difference to the vendor. And her plans for the jackpot are focused on funding a f...

In this episode of Money Tales, we speak with Arielle Nobile. Love is a common thread in the money stories Arielle shares with us. She talks about how money has been used in her family to express love – sometimes with strings attached and sometimes without restriction. Arielle also talks about how she and her husband, both of whom are artists dealing with money stigmas of that profession, have deeply explored their relationship with money in the context of their loving relationship with each oth...

Jim Marocco started his career doing temp jobs out of college and couch surfing. He eventually made his way to Google where he became the VP of Finance and Corporate Controller. Jim grew up talking about money with his family around the breakfast table. This instilled a financial confidence that enabled him to leverage the little breaks in life and catapult his career. He’s a reformed pessimist who now describes himself as a raging optimist. His wife was a big influence on his changed outlook. T...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Elizabeth Lesser, one of Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul 100, a collection of 100 leaders who are using their voices and talent to elevate humanity. Elizabeth is a best-selling author and the cofounder of Omega Institute, the renowned conference and retreat center located in Rhinebeck, New York. Elizabeth’s most recent book, “Cassandra Speaks: When Women are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes”, reveals how humanity has outgrown its origin tales and ...

Frank Britt shares with us what it was like to grow up in a paycheck-to-paycheck home, where financial anxiety was an underlying theme. At a young age, Frank used his thirst for knowledge to redefine the path of his life and reimagined who he would become. Frank is a consummate investor in self-development and self-discovery. As you’ll hear in this episode, Frank is someone who brings his heart, his soul and his brain to important conversations, including those about money. During the course of ...

In this episode of Money Tales, Sandi and Cammie talk money with Tuti B. Scott. Tuti grew up in a large family on a farm in rural New Hampshire in the 1970s, where they lived off the land and created their own entertainment. Tuti became a competitive basketball player, which she says saved her life. Basketball provided Tuti an identity, exposure to the magic of teaming and rewards for hard work. Basketball got her into college and helped pay the tuition. After growing up working class and “jumpi...

Sometimes investing isn’t about the portfolio, it’s about relationships. In this episode of Money Tales, we speak with Michael Silverman who shares some very powerful insights learned through a painful pivotal moment when his sister died in a car accident. This situation changed everything for Michael and caused him to reevaluate his outlook and behaviors. As a result, Michael is now intentional about being open, honest, vulnerable and candid about everything, including relationships and money. ...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. Jamie Traeger-Muney. Jamie is someone who has been talking about money her whole life. It started with her parents, who continually emphasized the need and modeled the importance of discussing and learning about the value of money, how to use it and the importance of saving it. This developed Jamie’s fascination with money, which led her to become a wealth psychologist. Jamie specializes in the emotional impact of wealth on inheritors, women and c...

In this episode of Money Tales, we talk with Zabreen Khan, who is an inspirational, young powerhouse. Zabreen grew up in Lahore, Pakistan; and, while she always knew that she would move to the US, her move occurred sooner than expected to distance her from the political situation developing in Pakistan at that time. Zabreen currently works at Lead Edge Capital, a venture capital and growth equity firm based in New York. She focuses on software and internet investments and hopes to fund more fema...

Joe Gagnon is the creator of the High-Performance Life, a philosophy and guide to learn techniques for mental toughness, creative problem solving, leadership and personal effectiveness. In our Money Tales conversation, Joe makes it abundantly clear how this goal-driven approach to life has fueled him to achieve success in all areas of his life: family, money, and physical and mental endurance, including successfully running six marathons across six continents over six consecutive days in 2017. J...

Ella Chase Hyland is a 6th generation inheritor, who can trace her roots back to the Mayflower. She also happens to be super competitive. Ella learned to ski at age two, started racing at age five and ultimately, became a nationally ranked downhill skier . Her dad was her coach, and unfortunately, experienced a debilitating skiing accident, where he became paralyzed from the neck down. This proved to be an important lesson for Ella about what money cannot buy and inspired her to live by the mant...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest, Paula B. Pretlow, tells us about her beginnings as a poor black girl in Oklahoma City. Her mom made a huge decision to place Paula and her siblings in a desegregated school with the edict that they will excel. And that is exactly what Paula did. She grew from a poor girl to a very financially successful woman. During the conversation, Paula shares what her relationship with money has been like over the course of her life, including her experience as the...

During this episode of Money Tales, Sandi and Cammie spoke with Vincent Valerie. Vincent thought his destiny was to take over the family enterprise that his father founded. Since his path was paved, Vincent had the flexibility to live a party lifestyle and enjoy the fruits of what his father created. That is until he learned in his 20s that his dad was selling the company. With that sale went Vincent’s future as the successor CEO. Our discussion with Vincent inspired this week’s financial insigh...

It is obvious that money conversations are filled with words. In this interview, we talk with Tina Lovejoy, who shares her thoughts on choosing the right words and clarifying the meaning of those words to have productive discussions. All of this is driven by Tina’s fascinating background and her current career responsibilities. Tina is a trained opera singer and has extensive freelance writing experience. She is clearly someone who lives by the motto, “every word matters.” Today, Tina focuses he...

Steve Demaray is a passionate money coach who lives and breathes what he stands for. He shares the arch of his personal financial experience and the insights he picked up along the way that support our goal for the Money Tales podcast of helping listeners have honest, values-based, productive money conversations. With 30+ years in financial services and financial planning, one question has perplexed Steve, “with abundant information available, why do so many people struggle with money?” Here is ...

You know those feelings you get that guide you to make a money decision. Regardless of how strong that gut feeling is, you may put it aside in order to analyze the situation and convince yourself that your gut is wrong. Jill Willard, a globally known and gifted intuitive and a leader in meditation practice, discusses why we need to embrace our intuition during this Money Tales conversation. The tools of her trade are having an extraordinary understanding of the different parts of our brains and ...

In today’s episode of Money Tales, we talk with Louis Roden about his midwestern steel town values, to flirtations with bright shiny objects and back to the values that drive him. Louis is an honest storyteller and you will enjoy the tales he tells, including one about him buying a ridiculously expensive watch that he did not need, but was certain would become a treasured family heirloom. As you will hear, life unfolded a little differently than that… Louis has over 20 years of international Org...

Amanda Koplin, LPC, CEO at Koplin Consulting, is a wise 34-year-old who has already experienced some of life’s highest highs and lowest lows. She grew up in poverty and rather than letting that hold her back, she brushed off all the excuses and did something about it. Along the way, she struggled with a serious eating disorder and other challenges that strengthened her drive to make a successful life for herself and to help others wade through their own dark waters. Amanda is a mental health cou...

During this episode of Money Tales, we speak with Rowland Savage who is an entrepreneur, Corporate Development professional and now a published author. Rowland shares stories of growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the times of “The Troubles” and how his background and upbringing have influenced his life up to this point. Rowland has focused on the startup arena on “both sides of the fence.” He has taken two startups from concept through to paid deployment, has held roles in Venture Ca...

Our guest, Lindsay Fletcher Hardie, PhD started her path to the wedding aisle with a great book about how to develop prenuptial agreements. The book described blissful ways for the prenup to be a foundational pillar to the marriage. Unfortunately, the book was no match for the family attorney who was very focused on protecting her soon-to-be husband’s family resources. She shares this important story and many others over the course of our conversation. We invite you to stick around after the int...

Some people are born to be entrepreneurs and they are energized by building new businesses. Our guest Dan Allison is an entrepreneur writ large. He has made it to the top of the mountain a couple of times and realized that for him, it is the view of the peak from the valley that really charges him up. Dan shares his remarkable story of striking it big with his first business early in life. He talks about what he has learned about money along the way and what happened when he found himself deviat...

Many people dream of receiving a large inheritance—more money than they could ever imagine. And in those dreams, all problems disappear. In reality, some inheritors feel guilt, shame and that it is wrong. It is extremely difficult for Ann to discuss money because she was strictly raised not to. In order to feel more comfortable speaking to us in a raw and honest way about her experience as an inheritor, Ann has asked us not to reveal her identity. The mixture of family wealth and dynamics have l...

Paul Ollinger says there is a myth in America that striking it rich early and not ever having to work again is enviable. We explore this topic and Paul’s stark realization that you get a lot more from work than a paycheck. He was an early employee of Facebook and left after a successful number of years to test the myth. Paul shares the pros and cons of his choice to retire early, including the opportunity to move closer to his parents and being there for them during the sunset years of their liv...

Back in the 1990s, Jennifer Risher went to work at Microsoft and met her husband, and when they were expecting their first child, her husband decided to go to work for an entrepreneur who had an audacious dream to sell books online. As part of this transition, they walked away from valuable Microsoft stock options in exchange for stock options in this high-risk business. Jennifer covers this adventure and many others during our conversation. And, if you have not figured it out yet, the business ...