I’m excited to welcome Amy King on the podcast today. We start with her origin story that started with some fortuitous conversations about money and investing that ignited a passion for the subject and ultimately led her to the CFP while still on active duty. Through her personal network, she got a first job preparing taxes and doing paraplanning work for a small RIA while still on active duty that gave her a wealth of experience and knowledge. When Amy retired from the Army, she ultimately ended up at a major wirehouse and since that was different than many of our former guests, she shared ab ..read more

Today I chat with Erik Baskin of Baskin Financial Planning. I still remember some of my first conversations with him back in the very early days of this podcast so it’s a full circle moment for both of us in this episode. Since launching his own RIA in 2021, while still on active duty, Erik has further refined his niche focus to go beyond just the active duty focus to also work with veteran business owners. We chat about his educational progress, his entrepreneurial drive, and building a business to serve life goals as much as career ones. Given that Erik has tried lots of different marketing ..read more

Today we welcome Brandon Lovingier, the Enlisted Money Guy on the podcast. Brandon has created some really great content out there to serve his fellow servicemembers and shares his journey of financial successes and lessons learned. In addition to his prolific content creation, Brandon is also a virtual paraplanner - all while still being on active duty.   We discuss Brandons’ personal finance experiences, his curiosity to learn more about money that led him to the CFP/ChFC program, and his relentless experimentation of creating content including doing paid ghostwriting for other pla ..read more

I’m honored to have Caleb Brown join us on the podcast today. Caleb is the co-founder of New Planner Recruiting, which we have mentioned several times on this podcast before.  This recruiting firm specializes in sourcing, screening, and integrating financial planners in firms nationwide. He was named the Next Generation Influencer by Financial Planning Magazine, and one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in the Industry by Investment Advisor Magazine. In addition, Caleb was named to the prestigious 40 Under 40 list by Investment News. As a graduate of Texas Tech University’s Personal F ..read more

Today I welcome back Sean Gillespie to talk about some of the exciting things going on within the MFAA community. Specifically we dive into the details of Skillbridge integration within MFAA, our very first intern going through the program, and the vision for what comes next. For those of you who might not be that familiar with Skillbridge, this is a DoD program that allows transitioning servicemembers to gain valuable civilian work experience during their last 180 days of military service. You still have full military pay and benefits during this program which can help ease the transition for ..read more

In this episode, we welcome Sam Lewis to talk about his different career path than all of our prior guests so far. Sam is currently the Recruiting and Retention Senior Enlisted Leader for the Delaware National Guard as well as the founder of his own RIA, SJL Financial. He has served in the Delaware Guard for more than 23 years in a variety of roles. As he shares in our interview, he stumbled into the world of financial advice through the help of information and mentorship at the right times in his life. We talk about Sam’s educational journey and the reasons why he decided to start his own fir ..read more

I’m pleased to welcome Becky Noss in this episode. She is a Lead Planner at Redeployment Wealth Strategies where she analyzes client situations, builds financial plans, meets with clients to help review implementation, and integrates across the entire RWS team. We talk about her career journey including her bachelors and masters in math, her experiences as a teacher and tutor, and how her own journey as the household CFO led her to stumble into the world of financial planning.  We also chat about her education experience pursuing the CFP at the American College including how her technical ..read more

In this episode, we welcome Pam Bergeson to the podcast as she shares about her varied military career and now second career as a financial planner. Pam is the founder of Tailwind Financial Planning where she specializes in serving dual military officers and senior military leaders in their career transition. Over her thirty-year military career, Pam learned the importance of setting goals and building a plan to achieve them, and her nearly 35 years as a military spouse reinforced the importance of flexibility and adapting to new challenges. Her story and experiences on both sides of the “ID C ..read more

Derek Merkler joins us today to talk about his career journey. After his initial 8 years in Army aviation, Derek started out in financial planning working for a firm where he cut his teeth in the profession. He realized that there aren’t many financial advisors who work primarily with veterans to put together comprehensive and holistic plans and build long-term wealth. Rather, companies large and small have advisors whose job is to sell their own products, often with commissions and sales targets. For them, a veteran can become merely a number. Ultimately, Derek wanted some more control over t ..read more

In this episode, I’m chatting with my friend and colleague, Andi Wrenn. She has been involved at the intersection of personal finance and military life for many years now. Andi is an AFC as well as having a masters in marriage and family therapy that helps inform her work with clients. It might surprise you to know that Andi is a career changer having previously been a coach. owning gymnastic clubs, and being a math teacher. After becoming a military spouse, Andi found herself heavily involved in helping other military families with money which led her to the Accredited Financial Counselor (AF ..read more