Please read this short piece on Conquering Financial Self-doubt, as published in Point of View online magazine on August 6, 2025, also a short video clip.

Conquering Financial Self-doubt

Last updated: July 7, 2026

Here is a scenario that I’ve seen time and again: someone inherits wealth — or is suddenly thrust into a financial leadership role — and instead of feeling empowered, they feel paralyzed. Not because they’re not intelligent, not because they aren’t capable, but because no one ever prepared them for this part of their life.

The terminology and acronyms, the legal and tax structures, the complex investment products — it can all feel like alphabet soup if you weren’t taught how to navigate that world. And when the stakes are high — family businesses, inheritances, multi-generational legacies — it can feel even more daunting.

One client had just inherited significant wealth from her father and had been invited to join the board of her family’s company, which her father and uncle had built from the ground up. On paper, it was an honor. But emotionally? She felt lost. She didn’t even know what questions to ask, out of fear of embarrassing herself.

What she needed wasn’t just technical information. She needed a safe space — a mentor, a translator of sorts — to help her feel grounded. Before each board meeting, we’d have private prep sessions. We’d go over what to expect, what to listen for, and how to ask thoughtful questions. Bit by bit, her self-confidence grew.

She found her voice. She started to own that board seat — not just fill it. Her uncle and cousins took notice. But more importantly, she began to see herself differently. Helping to create that shift from self-doubt to self-confidence is one of the most gratifying parts of this work.

No one has to go it alone. Whether you’ve inherited wealth, married into it, or are managing it for the first time, there is no shame in needing guidance. In fact, seeking out a mentor is one of the most empowering things you can do.

Mentorship isn’t just about learning financial lingo or how to read a balance sheet. It’s also building your inner confidence to sit at that conference table, to speak with clarity, and to lead with intention. Education and outside support go hand-in-hand. You need both.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your new-found financial position, find someone who listens, explains, and empowers — and doesn’t make you feel small for asking. Over time, you’ll move from “I don’t know what I’m doing” to “I’ve got this.”

Because you do. With the right support, you can turn your current financial self-doubt into a strength. You can become not just a passive steward of your wealth, but an active player in your own financial story.

Please click to read this short piece exploring Overcoming Emotional Barriers to Wealth, published in Talking Trends online magazine on July 10, 2025.

There is also a short video clip.

Overcoming Emotional Barriers to Wealth

Last updated: July 7, 2026

My work with families of wealth often uncovers emotional barriers to wealth. Frequently, family members hold limiting beliefs about money, and I help them break through to overcome those beliefs and embrace financial empowerment.

A story comes to mind about a couple that I worked with a number of years ago when I was still working at a wealth management firm.

This was a very traditional couple from an older generation, where the husband was the successful corporate executive. He spent his entire career in one company, rising through the ranks, receiving stock and stock options, and the couple accumulated considerable wealth. The wife was the traditional corporate wife, raising the kids, hosting the gatherings at the country club, and so on.

Tragically, shortly after the husband finally retired, he developed dementia. His wife had to pivot from being a corporate wife who never needed to focus on the family’s finances to being solely responsible for managing absolutely everything.

When she traveled to New York City for our wealth management meetings, she would take the Church Bus because it cost only $25 and she was afraid to spend money on an airplane ticket or even a train ticket. We sat her down, explained her balance sheet and told her that she was worth $50 million dollars, and could very comfortably afford to take an airplane or the train.

We literally sat down with her and walked her though her brokerage statements and her wealth management statements line by line, and explained terminology and concepts to her that she had never needed to understand before, because her husband had taken care of her finances throughout her adult life. In this way, we empowered her with knowledge and the tools to better step into her new role as sole decision-maker.

From that moment, I made it my mission to try to educate women on being your own person and taking charge of your finances in a way that empowers you and makes you feel good about yourself and your capabilities.

Click to read this short thought piece covering You Would Cringe if You Knew, as published in Inspiration and Insights online magazine on June 4, 2025.

You can also watch this brief video clip.

You Would Cringe if You Knew

Last updated: July 7, 2026

If your family has established a private family foundation, you may be surprised to know the amount of private information about you that is publicly available.

When I used to run a Donor Advised Fund, the first thing I did whenever I went into a meeting with a new client was to look up the family’s last name on Guidestar, and if they had a family foundation, I would print out the foundation’s annual tax filing Form 990PF, drop it on the conference table in the first meeting and ask, “Are these the details of your family’s philanthropic vehicle? Is that your home address? Is that your signature?”

They are supposed to black out the signature, but they don’t always do so.

Unless the Family Foundation uses “care of” the CPA’s or the wealth management firm’s address as their address for purposes of their annual tax filing, the default is often the family’s home address.

And so anyone who cares to look will see publicly available your name, your signature, how much you give in the aggregate, which causes you give to, in what amounts you give to each charity, all kinds of information about you that you would cringe if you knew.

For privacy, make sure that your tax preparer uses their business address on your Foundation’s tax filing instead of your home address. It will help reduce the number of unsolicited grant seekers sending you mailings. Also think about not using your last name in your family foundation’s name to offer enhanced security.

Beyond that, you might consider using a Community Foundation or Donor Advised Fund as your family’s giving vehicle. In addition to a higher level of anonymity, it also provides higher income tax deductibility thresholds and a number of other advantages over a private family foundation.

My most prized possession isn’t a piece of jewelry, artwork or a rare coin. The object that I value most is an old, well-worn piece of cookware that my mother used each year to prepare our holiday dinners.

Please click to read this short thought piece exploring A Family Heirloom as Legacy, as published in Impact! online magazine on May 8, 2025.

There is also a short video clip.

A Family Heirloom as Legacy

Last updated: July 7, 2026

My most prized possession isn’t a piece of jewelry, artwork or a rare coin. The object that I value most is an old, well-worn piece of cookware that my mother used each year to prepare our holiday dinners.

Mom passed more than 30 years ago, but it gives me such joy to use her favorite pot to this day as I prepare holiday dinners using her time-tested recipes. I fondly remember working by her side at our old kitchen counter, absorbing her best lessons lovingly shared. I imagine her watching over me now and guiding me. I confess that I might be heard muttering thanks to her under my breath as I stir, simmer and braise.

The notion of Family Legacy comes in many forms. It is generally not as simple as a monetary inheritance that we may be fortunate to receive from an ancestor, but rather the entirety of the family’s history and culture passed down from previous generations and then adapted by each generation as appropriate.

Your family’s legacy is the combination of all the stories and values that you learned from your ancestors, and that in turn you communicate to your descendants. It’s your family’s unique story, not just of how your family’s wealth was created, but also encompassing your and your ancestors’ hard work, sacrifice and dedication towards the ideal of providing future generations with better opportunities. These personal narratives and culture reveal much about personal values and priorities, and are individual to your family.

My mother’s old holiday cookpot to me represents a mother’s love, nurturing and nourishing her family in the best way she knew. The hours we spent together in her kitchen all those years ago resonate today with remembered warmth, laughs shared, occasional tears or frustration, but always the lessons tenderly and patiently taught. Those lessons included, yes, cooking technique, but also family anecdotes, confidences, never-before heard stories about my grandparents, the types of moments that arise offhand in the course of hours spent together on a shared project. These anecdotes, confidences, stories and moments are ingredients in the recipe of my own family legacy.

Is there a family heirloom that is part of your family legacy?

Please read this short piece discussing Explaining Wealth Stewardship to Young Children, as published in Point of View online magazine on April 3, 2025, also a short video clip.

Explaining Wealth Stewardship to Young Children

Last updated: July 7, 2026

Someone asked me recently, “How young is too young to start talking to our children about our family’s wealth?” My answer was that your children are almost never too young to start.

I had a client who shared this powerful anecdote with me. Remember that old nursery rhyme about the golden goose who laid the golden egg? This client was an inheritor of wealth herself, and she used that analogy with her children to describe her approach to handling their family’s wealth.

She told her young children that she had inherited the equivalent of a golden egg from her grandparents, and that she viewed her job as the current steward of that egg to nurture and grow it, and not to break it open and take out all the gold.

I love the notion of explaining the concept of wealth stewardship to even young children by use of a familiar story that the children are comfortable with and can relate to. These so-called “money talks” can be daunting for the parents to contemplate, but starting early and continuing them in age-appropriate ways over the years will produce a better outcome in the long-term.