CAPitalize Your Finances

In this episode, I’m sitting down again with my longtime friend and M&A specialist Laurie Barkman. A lot has changed since the last time she was on the show, so we had plenty to catch up on, especially when it comes to business value, succession, and what owners need to think about before they ever consider selling.

We get into the emotional side of exiting a business, as well as Laurie’s “head, heart, wallet” framework, why so many owners wait too long to prepare, and what actually makes a business more valuable and transferable.

We also talk about where financial advisors can do a better job serving business owners, how AI is changing professional services, and why the best exit planning often starts five to seven years before a liquidity event. Lots to unpack today, so sit back and enjoy my chat with Laurie Barkman!

In today’s episode, I’m getting into a question a lot of people ask at some point in their career: should I go back to school? And more importantly, is that degree or certification actually going to be worth the time, money, and effort?

I’ll break education down into three types of ROI: economic, signaling, and network. I’ll also walk through when going back to school can make sense, when it can be a poor investment, and the five questions you should ask before committing the time, money, and opportunity cost.

Ultimately, the better question may not be whether you should go back to school, but whether that education will actually make you a better professional, expand your network, increase your earning power, or simply make you more decorated.

This episode is all about using your 20s to set yourself up for potential financial success in your 30s. Your 20s give you something incredibly valuable: time, flexibility, and the ability to take risks before life gets more complicated.

I’ll talk about building high income skills, avoiding lifestyle inflation and unnecessary debt, saving aggressively, investing consistently, building the right network, and taking calculated career risks while you still have decades to recover.

It’s important to use this decade to build more than just a portfolio. You want to build skills, relationships, ownership, and earning power. If you do that well, your 30s can become a decade of wealth acceleration instead of financial catch up.

Today I’m discussing the true cost of having kids and how to plan for it. Kids are one of life’s greatest blessings, but financially, they can change almost everything.

I’ll walk through the major costs families need to think about, including housing, childcare, education, food, transportation, healthcare, activities, and college. I’ll also get into the costs most people forget, like reduced career income, lifestyle inflation, time tradeoffs, and opportunity cost.

Kids should not be treated as a financial decision, but they are a life decision with a major financial impact. If you plan ahead, build the right buckets, and keep prioritizing long term wealth, you can support your family without letting those costs derail your future.

On today’s show, I’m getting into how to recover when you’ve fallen behind on your financial goals. It happens to nearly everyone, even successful people. The difference is whether you stay stuck emotionally or build a framework to move forward.

I’ll walk through the Financial Reset Framework: pause the emotional narrative, recalculate your true financial position, run a new projection, choose your recovery lever, and create a 12 month catch up plan.

It’s important to know that you may not be behind forever. You may just be in a recalibration phase. Increase income, raise your savings rate, adjust the timeline, or adjust the goal. Once you turn vague anxiety into specific numbers, you can rebuild momentum and get back on track!

Today I’m talking about which types of insurance you must have and which ones you can usually skip. The key is simple: insure against the things that could financially devastate you and self-insure the things that would only be inconvenient.

I’ll take you through the core protections most people need, including health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, auto insurance, homeowners or renters' insurance, and umbrella liability coverage. I’ll also talk about situational coverage like long-term care, business insurance, flood insurance, and identity theft protection.

It’s important to know that insurance is less about covering every little inconvenience and more about protecting your family, income, assets, and future from the risks that could truly wipe you out.

On today's program I’m getting into money rules for newlyweds, parents, and growing families. As your family changes, your financial plan has to evolve with it.

I'll go through the key rules at each stage, from having monthly money meetings and building an emergency fund to eliminating high interest debt, buying insurance before you need it, creating an estate plan, and teaching your kids about money early.

Building family wealth is not complex, but it does require consistency. Spend less than you earn, save and invest regularly, avoid bad debt, protect your income, and communicate openly about money. Do that over time, and you give your family a real foundation for long-term financial success.

In this episode, I talk about how to capitalize your finances during a layoff or career change. A transition like this can feel disruptive, and it is, but it can also create a rare opportunity to reset, optimize taxes, and reposition your wealth.

I’ll walk through how to stabilize cash flow, protect liquidity, use a lower income year for Roth conversions or capital gains planning, review old retirement accounts, handle health insurance, and avoid panic selling long term investments.

Remember, a layoff or career change does not have to be purely defensive. If you manage cash flow, taxes, investments, health care, and career reinvestment the right way, a low-income year can actually become one of the best wealth building opportunities of your life.

Today I’m getting into the fastest path to your first $100,000. That first big milestone is usually the hardest because it comes more from income, discipline, and savings rate than investment returns.

I'll take you through three paths: career first, investing first, and the hybrid approach, which is where most people can move the fastest. I’ll also break down the more aggressive path, including building high value skills, expanding income, saving 40 to 60%, and keeping investing simple.

It's important to remember that you should focus less on chasing huge returns and more on growing your income, controlling your savings rate, building valuable skills, and creating opportunities. Once you hit that first $100,000, compounding starts to work a whole lot harder for you.

In this episode, I’m getting into the six-month financial reset and how to rebuild from scratch. If you feel behind, overwhelmed, or just need to clean up your financial life, I'll give you a clear process to follow.

We’ll walk month by month through the reset: getting a financial reality check, tracking your spending, stopping the bleeding, building an emergency fund, eliminating toxic debt, increasing your income, and finally starting to invest consistently.

What's the biggest takeaway here? Most people don't fail financially because they lack money; rather, they lack a system. If you stabilize your spending, build protection, remove high interest debt, grow your income, and invest with consistency, six months can put you on a completely different financial path.