Money Tales

Money Tales

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Money Tales episodes

  • Beginners Mindset, with Amanda Gibson
    In this episode of Money Tales our guest is Amanda Gibson. Amanda started adulting when she was twelve years old. As Amanda tells us, she developed a budget and related proposal to move out and pitched it to her parents. It was rejected! Only four years later, she was successful and started an independent life of her own. Reflecting on this years later, Amanda views curiosity as her superpower to imagine a financially secure life of her own at such a young age. Curiosity has served Amanda well throughout her money life.
    Today, Amanda works with CEOs and other senior executives to create paths through complexity and chaos. She serves as a strategic partner as well as a Certified Executive Coach, helping ambitious leaders be the leader that they want to be. Her work sits at the intersection of strategy, leadership, innovation, and culture, building on two decades of experience designing and redesigning strategies, roles, programs, processes, and teams across disciplines that include marketing, operations, innovation, R&D, finance, and business development.
    28 min
  • Do What You Enjoy, with Monica Mazzei

    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Monica Mazzei. When she was a teenager enrolled at a private high school, Monica’s parents told her that she’d have to be financially self-sufficient after graduation. This meant Monica was on her own to pay for the formal education needed to achieve her dream of becoming an attorney. Monica tells us that financing college with loans makes you look at your education a little bit differently. She knew she was making investment in herself and realized that she couldn’t afford for it to be a bad investment.

    Monica Mazzei is a Certified Family Law Specialist representing clients in the Bay Area, with a concentration in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, as well as Los Angeles. She represents high net worth clients throughout the divorce process and in mediation. Monica has been named a California Super Lawyer from 2015-2019 and has been recognized in the international Chambers High Net Worth 2017-2019 guide for Family/Matrimonial Law.

    Monica specializes in dissolution actions involving complicated valuation and financial matters, and complex community property and support issues, including international issues, dissolutions involving hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and privately held businesses.

    Monica drafts and negotiates cohabitation agreements, pre-marital and post-marital agreements for her clients.

    Monica also mediates pre-marital agreements. As a mediator, Monica helps to identify the thoughts and concerns of both parties in a non-confrontational setting. Mediation helps clients discuss difficult topics which allows Monica to create a financial structure that works for both parties.

    Monica takes a modern approach to the practice of family law – addressing various needs for her clients related and unrelated to their family law case. Monica has relationships with top professionals in the Bay Area such as forensic accountants, mental health professionals, real estate agents, financial advisors and business valuation experts.  She also works closely with estate planning attorneys to come up with creative solutions for her clients and ensure their agreements reflects their current objectives.

    Monica is a frequent lecturer and speaker on family law matters and a staunch advocate against domestic abuse in her pro bono work.

    See all episodes >

    31 min
  • Navigating Blended Families, with Paul Hood
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Paul Hood. Paul is a “recovering tax lawyer”. Among many things, he is also a prolific writer. Paul recently published his ninth book, Yours, Mine & Ours: Estate Planning for People in Blended or Stepfamilies. In this Money Tales conversation, Paul talks about his personal journey navigating his own blended family. Paul has two sons from his first marriage and later married again. As he shares, there have been periods where he felt like he wasn’t doing enough for his current spouse, while also feeling like he was never fully caught up with his kids. Paul viewed this as a “damned if you do and damned if you don't” situation.
    A native of Louisiana (and a double LSU Tiger), Paul obtained his undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University and an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center before settling down to practice tax and estate planning law in the New Orleans area. Paul has taught at the University of New Orleans, Northeastern University, The University of Toledo College of Law and Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law. Paul has authored or co-authored nine books and over 500 professional articles on estate, charitable and tax planning and business valuation. Paul’s ninth book, Yours, Mine & Ours: Estate Planning for People in Blended or StepFamilies, is now out. His website is www.paulhoodservices.com.
    A frequent contributor to Leimberg Information Services since its inception, Paul is a highly sought-after speaker and consultant because of his innate ability to see through the complexity and explain difficult and even boring subjects in understandable and entertaining language with his insightful and biting sense of humor, and he minces no words in doing so. Along the way, Paul’s been a father, husband, uncle, Godfather, lawyer, trustee, member, director, president, partner, trust protector, director of planned giving, expert witness, agent, professor, judge, juror, respondent, and a defendant, and he uses his experience in these myriad roles to guide others.
    A passionate history buff who teaches the history of tax and estate planning in his school and continuing education classes, Paul is a self-described amateur papal historian (boasting a personal library of papal history books that exceeds 100), and he has given numerous speeches about the history of the papacy and the popes as well as the history of the governors of Louisiana.
    In the fall of 2022, Paul is beginning to teach a three-semester course on the history of the popes and the papacy in the Adult Lifelong Learning Program at Lourdes University, and he’s also teaching another course in the fall of 2022 on the fascinating and litigious histories of Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame groups the Platters and the Drifters.
    Paul is an author, speaker and consultant on tax, estate and charitable planning. He also is a Vice-President with Thompson & Associates, a charitable estate planning firm.
    34 min
  • Shoot for the Moon, with Julius Robinson
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Julius Robinson. As Julius explains, he came from pretty meager beginnings, raised by a single mother of four kids, living in one of the traditionally low-income areas of Los Angeles. When he was a college student, Julius made a commitment to himself to shine a proverbial light over his shoulders so that others wouldn't stumble on the potholes and rocks in the path he was taking. As he continues through life, Julius has come to understand that the beacon of light he’s creating needs to be amplified by the people following him. Doing so creates opportunities where people and communities can manifest themselves.
    Julius is Managing Director and Head of MUFG Union Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Group for the Americas. He is responsible for company-wide CSR strategy and programs in the United States, Latin America, and Canada, including charitable giving, community outreach, environmental, and Chief Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) compliance officer, directing resources and investments, Supplier Diversity and Environmental Stewardship Policy & Risk. Julius is an integral part of the bank’s government relations & affairs activities; he Chair’s the MUFG Union Bank Foundation, the nonprofit entity that acts as the agent for the bank’s charitable contributions. He plays a key role in the bank’s overall Community Development strategy in organizing the bank’s cross-functional resources to benefit of low and moderate income and minority majority communities.
    Julius joined the bank in 1997 and has more than 43 years of banking experience. He has held position of management and progressive responsibilities with several major financial institutions including San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, Crocker Bank, Union Bank, Chase Manhattan, Home Savings of America, GMAC Mortgage prior to his 25-year career with MUFG Union Bank. Julius has comprehensive knowledge of Credit Analysis & Underwriting Risk, Residential Mortgage Origination, Commercial and Consumer Lending, Private Equity Investment, Community Reinvestment Act Compliance, Philanthropy, Supplier Diversity, Environmental & Social Risk Governance, Community Relations, and Governmental Affairs.
    Julius is well known for his community involvement as: Chairman of the Board of Students Rising Above.org; Museum of African Diaspora (MoAD), Board Secretary; SF Jazz.org, Board of Trustees; Western Regional Minority Supplier Diversity Council (WRMSDC), Corporate Advisory Board; Operation HOPE Regional Committee; California State University Monterey Bay School of Business, Corporate Advisory Board; USC Latino Alumni Assoc, Corporate Advisory Council; L.A. Latino Chamber, Corporate Advisory Board; and former Committee co-chair of the Bay Area Council’s Workforce for the Future: Boys and Men of Color Initiative.
    Julius received his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Diplomacy with a minor in Economics from the United States International University, San Diego & Mexico. He completed the post-graduate program with Pacific Coast Banking School at University of Washington, Seattle. In addition, he holds a Certificate of Practice in Corporate Community Involvement from Boston College Carroll School of Management.
    Julius has received numerous awards and recognitions for his professional accomplishments and community work. These include Senatorial, Congressional, State and City proclamations, awards and recognitions from nonprofit, NGO, and professional organizations.
    Julius has two adult sons. He enjoys sports of all kinds but particularly basketball, football, and tennis. He is an avid runner and enjoys general fitness including hiking in the East Bay Regional Park hills near his home. Other favorite pastimes include live music of various genres, and he is an avid art and wine collector.
    37 min
  • The Transitive Property of Trust, with Amber Banks, PhD
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. Amber Banks. When she was in second grade, Amber switched from a private elementary school to a public one. The private school was predominantly white, and the public school was predominantly black. For Amber, who self-identifies as a black biracial woman, this was a pivotal moment requiring her to navigate two different environments and become a bridge builder between the two. As Amber tells us, it was hard, at times, to feel she was enough in either environment.
    Amber is the CEO and Founder of the Center for Trust and Transformation, a collective dedicated to the advancement of trust as a foundational building block for racial equity and social justice. She brings over two decades of experience in education and the social sector as an educator, researcher, facilitator, advisor, entrepreneur, and organizer. Through the Center for Trust and Transformation, Amber's work rewrites the narrative on trust to better honor our histories and identities and invites clients to build and repair trust in service of joy, justice, and liberation.
    Amber completed her undergraduate degree in Journalism at Boston University. She also completed a Ph.D. in Education Leadership, Organizations, and Policy at the University of Washington with a focus on cross-cultural trust, critical race theory, and social network analysis. Amber is a Pahara NextGen Fellow, co-founder of Women of Color in Education, a mom to two beautiful children and a caretaker of many plants. Amber loves to dream of what’s possible when we work together from a place of trust and healing.
    31 min
  • Family Business Edutainment, with Ira Bryck
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Ira Bryck. Ira’s family created what became the oldest children's clothing store in the United States. The neighborhood the store was located in changed dramatically over the decades. As Ira describes it, the town became rough, had crime problems, and people were scared to shop there. During its 90th year, Ira made the difficult decision to close the store and he decided to move to a new state. Ira’s big dream was to open a retail store of his own in his new area. Ira created a business plan. The business plan spoke to him. It said “no.” As a result, Ira had to rethink his identity and find a new path.
    Ira started in his family’s retail childrenswear business as a child, ran it for a generation as an adult, ran the UMass Family Business Center for a quarter century, and hoped to help people solve their family business challenges through educational forums, cartoons, plays, radio, roundtables, advice columns and more. He currently coaches and trains leaders and managers, using a personality assessment and practical conversations to help teams and people be more productive and satisfied at work, and as a bonus, in life.
    29 min
  • Making the Most, with Sara Munro
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Sara Munro. In our experience, people do not give much thought about the implications of facing a short-term or a long-term disability. Sara was in that camp. As a young woman, she experienced a physical disability. The injury came on slowly, and the recovery was a steep hill to climb. This experience impacted Sara financially and taught her an important life lesson about living with intention.
    Sara’s professional career has spanned the rise of digital marketing requiring her to pirouette with each new opportunity. She has a broad range of communications and public relations experience in the non-profit and private sectors. She knows the challenges of determining what is worth exploring and how to best leverage new media within the broader context of marketing, corporate communications, and strategic planning.
    Sara is currently Chief Collaboration Officer and Owner of Bay Haven Consulting. She has worked in PR, fundraising, event planning, and digital marketing both in-house and as a consultant She regularly presents social media and content planning workshops for new business owners and entrepreneurs. In 2021, Sara became the new co-host of #SocialChatter, the longest running weekly talk show about social media news from Social Chefs.
    31 min
  • A Journey with the Debt Free Guys
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guests are John and David Auten-Schneider. John and David are known as the Debt Free Guys. Early in their relationship John and David were considering buying land in the mountains where they could build their dream vacation home. During their drive back to Denver after looking at some properties, they fantasized about the home they’d build. Then, as they were descending the mountain, one of them asked, how are we going to pay for this? John and David ended up confessing to each other how much debt each of them was carrying. As they described it, they were literally and figuratively living in a hole financially. It turns out that driving down a highway at 75 miles an hour is helpful for hard money conversations, because neither could jump out of the discussion.
    With their writing and speaking for DebtFreeGuys.com and Queer Money® podcast, David and John help queer people (and allies) live fabulously, not fabulously broke. As certified LGBTBEs, they are the queer voice in both personal and business finances.
    David and John’s work has appeared on Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, NBC’s Squawk Box and The News with Sheppard Smith, ABC News, Good Morning America, and The Rachael Ray Show to name a few. They’ve partnered with some of the best in financial services, including Capital One, Experian, MassMutual, American Express, and Prudential. They’ve partnered with some of the best LGBTQ+ organizations including, The Trevor Project, Callen-Lorde, The William Way Foundation, One Colorado, and LGBTQ+ centers nationwide.
    Their goal is to connect LGBTQ+ people with the information and tools they need to reach financial security.
    32 min
  • The Gift of a Sudden Death, with Lisa Skye
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Lisa Skye. At age 26, Lisa’s dad was killed in a car crash. Her father was the most important person in her life, and she still misses him dearly. For Lisa, this period was bittersweet. She inherited significant assets that impacted the course of her life, yet Lisa was overwhelmed with emotions and responsibilities because there was much to sort out. Her parents had been divorced, and her younger brother needed her to manage the estate. Related, Lisa felt responsible for the livelihood and future of the 25 employees who worked in her father’s business. This experience propelled Lisa’s financial maturity and a journey of self-love, both of which continue to serve her today.
    As a magnetic leader and inspirational public speaker, Lisa has spent a lifetime leveraging unmistakable charisma, business savvy, and strong intuition as vehicles for tuning into core needs and guiding businesses across industries to remarkable success. She managed two restaurants within Danny Meyer’s hospitality empire, drove deals for a top NYC real estate team, built the world’s fourth largest business networking franchise within BNI, and initiated WeWork’s first-ever community model, positioning the startup for astronomical growth. In her role as CEO, Lisa founded and built Primary, “NYC’s Coolest New Wellness-Focused Coworking Space,” which quickly expanded to two locations in Manhattan—and was eventually named the 3rd Best Coworking Space in the US.
    Lisa has raised significant startup funding (10mm+), negotiated multi-million-dollar leases, and invented a wellness category within coworking. She has also weathered industry-wide downturns with unshakable grace and resilience. With a Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology in hand, Lisa recently launched Skye Advisory – where she is working with entrepreneurs (pre-launch to early stage) in fueling their business growth and bringing visions to life in a variety of industries from real estate, coworking and hospitality to cannabis, wellness and product design.
    Lisa is on a mission to create programs designed to inspire and elevate entrepreneurs around the world. In her spare time, she inspires and elevates her two sons.
    31 min
  • Appreciating Things Differently, with Dr. Jeremy Lurey
    In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Dr. Jeremy Lurey. Jeremy had all the right conditions when he was young to set him up to be a spoiled and entitled adult. He grew up in an affluent community in Malibu, traveled the world more than he traveled the US, once had an elephant in his back yard and when he wrecked his car, a hand-me-down from his parents, they replaced it. When we asked Jeremy how he turned out so grounded, he told us it was because of his mindset and belief system.
    Dr. Jeremy Lurey is a Consultant with The Family Business Consulting Group. Jeremy is a talented executive coach, business consultant, and family advisor who enables business owners and CEOs to improve performance and create greater value for their shareholders. Over the past 25 years, he has served clients ranging from families of significant wealth to mid-market companies to Fortune 500 corporations.
    Jeremy has expertise in supporting family offices and family businesses with the critical leadership and governance practices required to create more sustainable futures. He is passionate about helping established families transition their businesses and transfer their wealth to the next generation, and he excels at supporting Baby Boomers transitioning into retirement and their NextGen successors accepting increased business and personal responsibilities. Over the years, Jeremy has also supported siblings, cousins, married partners, and parents, along with their children, by regularly facilitating family forums and retreats, preparing family charters, and providing family counseling and coaching beyond his direct efforts to improve performance and produce better results in their businesses.
    Jeremy is a proud husband, father, brother, son, and owner of 3 rescue dogs. In addition to his role as a consultant, Jeremy frequently presents at professional conferences and seminars and has authored several publications on family business, succession planning, organization development, leadership, and family legacy. His clients regularly acknowledge his ability to get them unstuck, act more “leader-like” and focus on what matters most in their lives.
    Before joining FBCG, Jeremy worked at both PricewaterhouseCoopers and Andersen Consulting. He also managed his own coaching and consulting practices Plus Delta Consulting, CHIEFEXECcoach, and Family Legacy 1st, where he has served clients of all sizes and across numerous industry sectors.
    35 min

About Money Tales

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In American society, money is a taboo topic. By not talking with loved ones and friends about money, we miss opportunities to sort through the noise and learn the vocabulary and skills we need to…