Episodes

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Cindy Arledge. When Cindy’s parents died, they left behind a complicated estate. Cindy says there was 17 trusts that co-owned four pieces of commercial real estate and the beneficiaries spanned multiple family members. Cindy was determined to realize her parents’ legacy and see her daughters receive the property that her parents wanted them to have. Other family members felt differently, so Cindy ended up buying out all of her nieces and nephews to se...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Aubrey Johnson. As a young person, Aubrey had insecurities that extended into adulthood. As he tells us he felt greed and craving for acceptance which led to comparative thinking--- wondering how he measured up to the next person. This line of thinking was toxic and didn’t allow Aubrey to think for himself. It also played out in his money decisions. Aubrey shares that he often found himself comparing his finances, where he lived and the car he drove t...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Barbara Sloan. Barbara experienced homelessness at times between the ages of 15 and 19. She thought about money a lot during that period and reflects that one of the amazing things her dad instilled in her was a strong work ethic. Barbara often had two or three jobs going at once. She was always working and, though she never had a plan, she knew that she was able to provide for herself. Barbara ultimately made her way to the service industry, which op...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. Suzanne Wertheim. Suzanne started her career as a professor of linguistics. When a university-based research contract fell through, Suzanne’s expected income level disappeared, dashing her plans to improve the fixer-upper home she had recently purchased. Suzanne got creative and pivoted to a new path, leveraging her expertise by applying social science to the real-world problems of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Suzanne is a national...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Tiffany Schade. Tiffany started her career in corporate America and then shifted to becoming a wife and mother. She really threw herself into those roles, and at a certain point during her marriage, Tiffany realized it was her responsibility to get more involved with the family finances. As she tells us, she worked on both her self-confidence and financial confidence. That helped Tiffany achieve the clarity she was looking for, which led to her launch...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Lloyd Greif. After a decade-long investment banking career at Sutro & Co. Incorporated, Lloyd left to start his own boutique investment bank, Greif & Co. Some people would be skittish to make this leap. Not Lloyd. As he tells us, he was a top producer firm wide, and as the leading rainmaker within the organization, he was routinely generating 40% to 60% of the total revenue for their division. Lloyd had the relationships, contacts and chutzpah to know...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Olivia Summerhill. Olivia grew up in an ultra-high net worth family. She says they were very privileged and had everything they ever wanted: extracurricular activities, private tutors, private school, and big family gatherings at fancy resorts were the norm. From the outside it all looked perfect. However, Olivia tells us that when she was young, the family’s large custom home in the gated community was the façade of perfectionism. The family was keep...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dann Van Der Vliet. Dann is the Executive Director of the John and Dyan Smith Family Business Initiative (SFBI) at Cornell University. Dann tells us that in 2009 when his mom died, she had a condo, a used car and a few thousand dollars, but she didn’t have a will. Dann goes on to share that his older brother felt like he had done more to help their mom and, therefore, deserved her leftover resources as a result. This caused a rift in the family, and t...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Jaclynn (Jax) Brennan. Jax has been on both sides of the wealth spectrum. When she was young, Jax’s family went from having wealth to having nothing. She says this experience has allowed her to be comfortable taking incredible risks and leaps as a founder of a growing business. If her entrepreneurial endeavors don’t work out, Jax has the confidence of knowing that she could always fall back on her talents and get a corporate job. Meanwhile, as an entr...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Rocco Orlando. Rocco tells us that when he was coming out of college, he noticed he was an entitled pretentious person who was taking shortcuts through life because so many doors were open to him. In short, Rocco was becoming someone he disliked. His antidote was to join the army. While Rocco qualified as an officer, he chose to enlist as a private. This allowed him to start at the bottom with the intention of growing up. His plan worked and he gained...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Esther Choy. Esther recently published a white paper on first generation wealth creators. The New York Times featured her report, focusing on the philanthropic aspects of her research. Most wealthy people today created the wealth over their lifetime. This is a major transition for those individuals, who often keep the values they were raised with Esther wanted to understand how the modest upbringings of wealth creators influence them today, and how th...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Jeremy Savlov. Jeremy is a young, goals-driven professional. An important objective of his is to buy a home. To achieve this desire sooner, Jeremy decided to live with his parents to save money on expensive rent. By living in the suburbs, he’s intentionally sacrificing some of his social life, and rather than splurge in his twenties, he’s focused on saving money for his very own home. As Jeremy shares, it’s very hard to think ahead and do something fo...

hardest lessons to learn are often the ones that stick. When he was a young adult, Jonathan hit a financial snag because he wasn’t budgeting. He called an aunt for some assistance. Jonathan explains that she’s the one the family runs to when they need help because she's responsible with money. That said, she isn’t the kind of aunt to provide money without asking questions and offering lessons to avoid financial mistakes in the future. Fortunately for Jonathan, his aunt has been a money mentor to...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Lubna Bhayani. Lubna is a globetrotter. For most of her marriage, she followed her husband from country to country, wherever his job took them. Recently, they turned the tables. Lubna relocated the family to Kenya for an exciting position she wanted to take. This latest move has caused the couple to go deep into money conversations, which she shares with us on Money Tales. Lubna works for the International Planned Parenthood Federation Africa Regional...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Evelyn Starr. Evelyn is an entrepreneur. She started her business when she was pregnant with her second child, and her goal was to be productive outside of the confines of corporate America. Because she and her husband planned their personal finances carefully, they could rely on a single income to cover their expenses. This gave Evelyn freedom to grow her business on her terms and achieve the balance she was seeking. Evelyn is an author, brand exper...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. Mallory Dwinal-Palisch. Mallory’s thinking about the role of money in her life drastically changed when her dad unexpectedly died months after he turned 60. Mallory describes him as someone who talked about all the things he was going to do – hike mountains, go on trips, pursue other adventures. But he and her mom didn’t have gobs of money piled up somewhere they weren’t spending. Mallory’s parents were constantly investing and reinvesting, trying...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Kasey Lundquist. When Kasey was growing up, she worked really hard to make the club volleyball team. She was excited when she achieved this goal, but there was a problem. Club volleyball would cost $2,000 per year. That was outside of what her parents could afford. Kasey shares that she felt crushed by that. It was the first thing in her life that she really wanted to do, and money got in the way. Kasey decided then and there that she didn’t ever want...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Marit Bakken. Marit grew up in Norway where her grandparents had a little farm. For them, money was bartering arrangements with neighbors. As Marit says, they’d pay half a pig to have someone slay their field for a month. Money was tight and the family had to work really hard. When she was twelve years old, her grandfather died. Shortly afterwards, Marit walked into a room and saw her mother and grandmother sitting on the floor, counting money, and cr...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Morwari Zafar. Morwari was born in Kabul, Afghanistan to a father who was a diplomat and a mother who was a doctor. As Morwari tells us, in this culture social capital has a much higher value than financial capital. Politics and geopolitical challenges caused her family to move around the globe requiring her parents to take on different, less prestigious jobs in order to take care of their family. They ultimately settled in California. This is where M...

In this episode of Money Tales our guest is Amanda Gibson. Amanda started adulting when she was twelve years old. As Amanda tells us, she developed a budget and related proposal to move out and pitched it to her parents. It was rejected! Only four years later, she was successful and started an independent life of her own. Reflecting on this years later, Amanda views curiosity as her superpower to imagine a financially secure life of her own at such a young age. Curiosity has served Amanda well t...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Monica Mazzei. When she was a teenager enrolled at a private high school, Monica’s parents told her that she’d have to be financially self-sufficient after graduation. This meant Monica was on her own to pay for the formal education needed to achieve her dream of becoming an attorney. Monica tells us that financing college with loans makes you look at your education a little bit differently. She knew she was making investment in herself and realized t...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Paul Hood. Paul is a “recovering tax lawyer”. Among many things, he is also a prolific writer. Paul recently published his ninth book, Yours, Mine & Ours: Estate Planning for People in Blended or Stepfamilies. In this Money Tales conversation, Paul talks about his personal journey navigating his own blended family. Paul has two sons from his first marriage and later married again. As he shares, there have been periods where he felt like he wasn’t doin...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Julius Robinson. As Julius explains, he came from pretty meager beginnings, raised by a single mother of four kids, living in one of the traditionally low-income areas of Los Angeles. When he was a college student, Julius made a commitment to himself to shine a proverbial light over his shoulders so that others wouldn't stumble on the potholes and rocks in the path he was taking. As he continues through life, Julius has come to understand that the bea...

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. Amber Banks. When she was in second grade, Amber switched from a private elementary school to a public one. The private school was predominantly white, and the public school was predominantly black. For Amber, who self-identifies as a black biracial woman, this was a pivotal moment requiring her to navigate two different environments and become a bridge builder between the two. As Amber tells us, it was hard, at times, to feel she was enough in ei...