Episodes

Having grown up around financial planning, Matthew Newman realized the importance of having everything in place before tragedy strikes. His father’s advice to plan for the negative moments was a lifeline. At age 39, he was diagnosed with Grade 3 Astrocytoma, a form of brain cancer. At the time, he had three children under 5, and his father-in-law was battling pancreatic cancer. All of a sudden, he saw life through a new set of lenses. Throughout his battle, he sought to make his journey a commun...

It was not just one struggle in her life that shaped Marissa Nehlsen. Since her formative years, she’s faced adversity and come out stronger every time. Despite significant hardships, including the loss of her family farm, enduring domestic abuse from her father, and coping with Stargardt disease, which has led to blindness, Marissa has built a seven-figure business and become a coach, speaker, and podcast host. In this episode, Nehlsen, the founder and CEO of Freedom Financial Group, discusses ...

In her role as head of culture and field experience at RBC Wealth Management U.S., Shareen Luze is responsible for making sure the firm’s 2,200 financial advisors feel supported and have a similar employee experience as those in the home office. One particular area of focus, which has become more acute in the global pandemic, has been mental wellbeing. But Shareen has had her own mental health challenges, having struggled with anxiety for years. She first realized she had the mental health disor...

While studying at Duke University, Martine Lellis started to feel sick. It developed quickly into a hospital visit where she was diagnosed with pneumonia in both her lungs. The condition escalated into a near-deadly situation, so her doctors decided to induce a coma even before her parents were able to reach her. It became so serious that while in a coma, she received her last rites, the religious ceremony performed by a Catholic priest for someone who was dying. Thankfully, she woke up three we...

Kimberly Sanders followed a typical path into financial services, gaining an undergrad in finance and working for a series of banks and brokerage firms. When she became pregnant, she made the decision to stay home for eight years to raise her kids. But when it was time to return to work, the path was not so smooth. For Anna Howard, her path into the industry was driven by a desire to earn validation from her father, also an executive in financial services. Later in her career, she realized the p...

At the end of 2022, Kristine McManus got an unexpected breast cancer diagnosis. Yet doctors thought it was the least aggressive form and easily treatable. Shortly after her surgery, she received multiple messages from the hospital; it turns out she had the most aggressive form of breast cancer, triple-negative. Her outlook on life changed as she was forced to miss one of the most important years in her children’s lives due to treatments. From that moment on, she focused on the value of living li...

As the staggering number of Opioid overdoses and deaths continue to increase, so does the threat on family finances and retirement dreams. Cheryl Canzanella knows that all too well. In August 2017, she lost her husband to an accidental overdose, exposing her to the horrific realities of the opioid crisis. Since his death, she’s made it her mission to educate employers and her peers in the financial services industry on how the Opioid epidemic is not only ripping families apart emotionally but al...

At just 10 years old, William Hoffman’s son Liam was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis (NF), a rare genetic condition that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body. When Will and his family got the news, they could have succumbed to despair. Instead, Will leaned into it, and has made it his mission to find a cure for Liam and set an example for his sons around overcoming the struggles that life may deal you. He and his wife have been active participants in the NF community, raising awa...

While wellbeing and mental health have become a more mainstream conversation among the wider U.S. population since the pandemic, it’s a topic still largely untouched by the financial services industry. New research from Kitces.com aims to measure and track trends across advisor wellbeing, just as the industry benchmarks anything else. Over 1500 members of financial advisory teams responded to The Kitces Report: 2023 Advisor Wellbeing Study. Respondents reported on their current level of life qua...

After selling her business in November 2022, Tina Powell earmarked 2023 her “year of health.” The first step on that journey was to get a full body scan at the Princeton Longevity Center on Martin Luther King day 2023. That scan would change the trajectory of her life. That day, her doctors discovered a 2.1 cm tumor on her right lung. Despite being a healthy, fit non-smoker, she was launched into a challenging and emotional journey battling lung cancer. Diana Britton, managing editor at WealthMa...

As a busy and often stressed-out executive at one of the top RIAs in the country, James Bogart found himself neglecting his well-being, resulting in weight gain and various health issues. A series of hospital visits prompted him to hire a concierge doctor and a nutritionist, leading to a remarkable 70-pound weight loss over the course of several months. In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor at WealthManagement.com, is joined by James Bogart, CEO and president at Bogart Wealth. James sh...

Facing the hurdles of disadvantaged youth, Heather Kelly’s life was marked by a single mother, a disabled sister, and limited opportunities. She moved out of her home in Ozone Park, Queens, at the young age of 16. On top of that, she has struggled with dyslexia, a learning disorder and neurological condition that posed additional challenges in her educational journey. Despite these obstacles, Heather climbed the corporate ladder and become a very successful executive in the insurance and wealth ...

When financial advisor Cary Carbonaro met her first husband, she thought she had it all. She had a great upbringing in New York, wonderful family and friends. She was very successful. And while her fiancé looked very good on paper, the relationship turned out to be toxic. Behind closed doors, the marriage was a nightmare, with Cary facing physical, mental and verbal abuse from this man on a daily basis. She got the courage to leave him in 2009, but then endured a lengthy and painful divorce proc...

When Mike Wunderli started his journey into wealth management, he was excited about a career that had a combination of sales and finance, interpersonal and analytical. He built up an impressive book of business, helping entrepreneurs and business owners engineer liquidity events for their companies. But then, the 2008 financial crisis hit, causing the downfall of large financial institutions like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, where he worked at the time. Lehman became the largest bankruptcy ...

Maria Castillo Dominguez grew up in Ronda, a small mountaintop town in the south of Spain. And while she had a great support system, she also had a very humble childhood, and things were difficult for her family financially. And because of that background, she lacked a lot of opportunities. Most of her family members worked labor jobs, and no one went to college. But Maria was determined to be the first person in her family to go to college, and eventually get a desk job. She left home at a youn...

After selling her firm to EP Wealth in 2016, Lynn Ballou became a fixture among EP’s leadership team that worked to take the RIA to new heights. She’s also served as a mentor for younger advisors and a fierce advocate for greater diversity in the wealth management industry. Lynn had to put all of that on hold when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer. But when she first learned of the diagnosis, she went into denial. The hardest part was accepting the fac...

In his financial advisory practice, Paul Peeler specializes in planning for mental illness caregivers and their families. But Paul has his own story of caring for a family member with a mental illness and the emotional toll the experience has taken on him. When a close family member spiraled into a mental health crisis, he was forced to deal with the crippling emotions, while also struggling to navigate a confusing health care system and financial burdens that came along with that. In this episo...

A lot of people in the industry know Stephanie Bogan; she’s a sought-after business and practice management coach and speaker. Before starting Limitless Advisor, her current coaching firm, she founded a consulting firm at the age of 24 and sold it in a 7-figure deal to a Fortune 200 company. She then joined Joe Duran’s executive team at United Capital, which was eventually acquired by Goldman Sachs. But less known is her personal journey. She dealt with a tough childhood, with a father who was i...

Sathya Chey Patterson was born into struggle. She came into the world in a Thai refugee camp, as her family had just escaped from the Cambodian genocide, an explosion of mass violence that saw between 1.5 and 3 million people killed at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, a communist political group, in the 1970s. Her family then arrived in the U.S. financially destitute. Yet her humble beginnings and financially challenged upbringing have defined her truth. The experience taught her resilience and bui...

Trigger warning: This episode discusses content some listeners may find upsetting. A lot of folks in the wealth management industry know Tyrone Ross; he’s a frequent speaker at industry events, an active “finfluencer” on social media, and a thought leader in the crypto asset space. Less known is his life journey and how he got to where he is today. Raised in New Jersey in a family where no one had a high school diploma, as a 16 year old, he watched sprinter Michael Johnson set records at the 199...

A little more than six years ago, Robert started living a healthier lifestyle, working out a lot more, in an effort to lose weight. But one day while working out, he had a widowmaker heart attack, which happens when you have a blockage in the biggest artery in your heart. The name of it leaves no question about the severity of it—only 12% of people suffering from this heart attack outside the hospital survive, according to the American Heart Association. Fortunately, he was one of a few to live ...

Mary Martin had always been very health conscious, making sure she ate right and stayed in shape. But several years ago, she had a miscarriage at five months’ pregnant, although she didn’t know she was pregnant at the time. The experience helped her learn that from an emotional standpoint, she wasn’t really present in her body. She came to realize what it was like to truly be a human being, not simply a human doing. Now she focuses on teaching advisors about taking care of their own wellbeing th...

Trigger warning: This episode discusses content some listeners may find upsetting. Journalist Davis Janowski grew up in the Panhandle of Florida, where he grew accustomed to sunny weather and developed a deep passion for the great outdoors. But when he moved to Syracuse, N.Y., at age 25 for grad school, the cold weather and lack of sunlight and exercise began to impact his mental health. The stress of a full workload at school, as well as a part-time job further exacerbated the problem. The pres...

When Lori Eisel first found out her son had an addiction problem, she tried to do everything in her power to get control over the situation and help him. But even years later, he is still on the road to recovery. In this episode, Diana Britton, managing editor at WealthManagement.com, speaks with Lori Eisel, president of fee-only financial planning firm Arcadia Financial Partners, who shares the struggles and achievements faced by both her son and herself in dealing with this addiction. Lori rec...