In this episode, I sit down with George Burnett, Director of Philanthropic Consulting and Wealth at Callan Family Office, to talk about what happens after you build wealth and why the hardest part often has nothing to do with investment returns. 

We get into generational wealth, estate planning, wealth transfer, philanthropy, family communication, and the money anxiety that can exist at every level of financial success. George explains why families can spend decades accumulating wealth but wait until the last minute to plan what happens next, and why communication may matter even more than the legal documents themselves. 

We also explore the danger of chasing more without remembering why you wanted financial success in the first place, how scarcity can affect even ultra-wealthy families, and why a strong financial plan should create a “floor” of stability for the people you love. 

Ultimately, this conversation is about building a legacy measured not just by money, but by relationships, intention, impact, and what you leave behind.

In this episode of Growing Money with Sean Trace, I sit down with Matthew Nelson of Perspective 6 Wealth Advisors to talk about something that gets lost in most conversations about financial success: what does “enough” actually look like? Matthew works with business owners, executives, and people with equity compensation, and we dig into why a high income doesn’t automatically create financial freedom.

We explore the psychology of money, why successful entrepreneurs keep chasing the next milestone, the danger of spreading your time and money across too many opportunities, and why focusing on one meaningful goal can actually get you further faster. Matthew also explains the difference between financial independence and simply earning a lot, why business owners need to protect their time and energy, and how succession planning becomes about purpose and legacy, not just a payday.

At some point, building more wealth stops being the only question. How do you know when you actually have enough?

I sat down with certified financial planner Robyn Jameson, who's spent 24 years helping successful families build real wealth. 

Robyn breaks down why so many high earners still feel financially anxious, and the answer isn't about income at all, it's about clarity. 

We talk about concentration risk hiding inside portfolios that people assume are diversified, the danger of comparing our everyday lives to everyone else's highlight reel, and why the biggest financial mistakes aren't dramatic, they're small decisions repeated for years. 

What's one financial habit you wish you'd started earlier?

Being busy doesn’t automatically mean your business is making money. 

In this episode of Growing Money with Sean Trace, I sit down with Dr. Snohomish Brown, senior business advisor with Rock Financial and a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, to break down what business owners really need to understand about cash flow, business funding, debt, and financial health. We talk about why profitable businesses can still run out of cash, why the best time to explore business financing is often before you desperately need it, and how working capital, lines of credit, SBA loans, equipment financing, and accounts receivable funding can serve very different purposes. 

We also dig into the warning signs business owners shouldn’t ignore, from declining balances and payroll stress to avoiding the numbers altogether. The biggest lesson keeps coming back to one thing: know your numbers. Revenue might look exciting, but profit, cash flow, customer acquisition costs, margins, and cash runway are what keep a business alive.

What’s one number in your business you know you should be paying more attention to?

I sat down with wealth management expert and author Ben Bolen who wrote Clarity Before Crisis after watching families fall apart, not because of money, but because nobody talked before a crisis hit. 

We dug into why kids struggle to ask their parents the tough questions, why grief changes how we think, and why an estate can be technically "in order" while the family behind it is falling apart. 

Ben shared personal stories from his own family and his time as a combat veteran, and broke down the four-step conversation every family needs to have about care: what level of care is needed, who provides it, where someone will live, and how it gets paid for. 

If this episode resonates with you, head to claritybeforecrisis.com to take Ben's free clarity assessment and find out exactly where your family stands. 

If something happened to you tomorrow, does your family actually know what you'd want, or are they guessing?

I have a bad habit with cash: if it’s in my wallet, I tend to spend it.

But not carrying cash has created its own problems — especially when something unexpected comes up and suddenly cash is the only option.

So this week, I’m trying a simple experiment: Emergency Wallet Cash.

I keep a fixed amount of cash in my wallet, but mentally treat it as money that has already been spent. It isn’t available for coffee, snacks, random purchases, or anything else. It’s there only for those annoying little situations where cash suddenly becomes necessary.

It’s basically the envelope method, just inside my wallet.

Personal finance isn’t always about complicated math. A lot of it comes down to understanding your own habits and creating rules that protect you from the decisions you know you’re likely to make.

Sometimes even changing the name of your money can change how you behave with it.

So now it’s not “cash in my wallet.”

It’s my cash emergency fund.

I’m testing this for a week and I’ll check back in to tell you whether I actually managed to leave it alone.

How do you keep yourself from spending the cash in your wallet?

I sat down with Otto Rivera, a certified financial planner who built his entire career out of loss. 

He lost his mother at 18 after his father's terminal diagnosis, dropped out of college, worked forklift jobs and kitchen shifts to support his 3 younger brothers, and eventually found his way back to school and into finance at General Electric, before launching his own practice, Mindful Wealth Planning. 

We talk about faith, isolation, and why community is the antidote to almost every hard season in life. 

We also get into the emotional side of money, why "financial freedom" means something different for every person, and the advice he'd give his younger self standing at rock bottom. 

If you could give your younger self one piece of financial advice, what would it be?

Nai came into our lives scared, nervous, and unsure if she was safe.

Now she is one of the most loving little dogs you could imagine.

That transformation got me thinking about money.

A lot of us carry financial fear from things that happened years ago. Maybe it was growing up without enough, losing money, getting into debt, or simply never feeling financially secure.

And even when life gets better, that fear can stick around.

In this episode of Growing Money, I talk about Nai, what it took for her to finally feel safe, and why healing our relationship with money can work the same way.

Sometimes building wealth is not just about earning more.

Sometimes it is about finally believing you are safe.

I sit down with Justin Bennett, owner of Strong Tower Consulting and author of Level Up Your Finances, to unpack why so many of us feel broke even when we're earning more than ever. 

We dig into the real reason budgets fail, why a budget is really just a glorified shopping list, and how tracking every small purchase reveals the death by a thousand cuts that quietly drains bank accounts. 

Justin also opens up about the shame so many people feel around money and why courage, not perfection, is what actually changes a financial trajectory. 

What's one small daily purchase you didn't realize was quietly adding up until you actually tracked it?

I sat down with DonJay Rice, a financial behavior specialist who spent 28 years as a financial advisor before dedicating his career entirely to the emotional and psychological side of money. 

We dig into why so many of us carry hidden money beliefs formed in childhood, why budgeting classes fail nine out of ten people, and why knowledge alone never changes behavior. 

Donjay breaks down the three money personalities: distant, domineering, and dutiful and explains how our subconscious hijacks our decisions the moment we feel unsafe. 

We talk about stress spending, money guilt among high earners, the shame of feeling like you're "bad with money".

Which money personality do you think you are: distant, domineering, or dutiful and where do you think that belief first came from?