NoBS Wealth®

Happy holidays—and let’s be real: the markets, the economy, and “the plan” don’t look clean right now.

In this 12 Days of Giving episode, Shana Orczyk Sissel comes back with a story that hits every advisor (and every client) right between the eyes: a young advisor leaves a firm, starts from zero, and lands a $25M client… not by sounding smarter… but by asking better questions and bringing REAL options to the table.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most advisors are selling the same portfolio with a different logo on it. Same playbook. Same funds. Same “set it and forget it” pitch. Shana breaks down why alternatives—private credit, direct lending, and other non-traditional tools—can be a legit way to differentiate… IF you’re actually doing planning and not just product-pushing.

Then we go straight at the elephant in the room: crypto and “controversial” investments. If your advisor’s entire view is “it’s a scam,” that’s not wisdom—that’s laziness. You don’t have to love crypto to be qualified. But you DO have to have a thoughtful, educated stance. Because the future client is already there, already curious, already investing… and they’re not waiting for the industry to catch up.

We also talk about where advice is headed: less AUM worship, more fee-for-service, coaching, and real-life decision support. Translation: if you can’t deliver value people can’t get from a brokerage app, you’re going to get left behind—fast.

Watch the full episode here:
https://youtu.be/Wv8sctzRALQ

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

Everyone loves to romanticize nonprofits. Cute animals, smiling founders, feel-good posts. But behind the scenes? It’s brutal. In this 12 Days of Giving episode, we rip the filter off and walk straight into the chaos, cost, and emotional weight of running a real nonprofit — through the lens of a donkey rescue that now cares for around 100 donkeys plus a full farm of other animals.

Sara Weldon never planned on saving donkeys for a living. She and her husband Rick were “hobby farm” people in Florida — until one traumatic night when their donkey gave birth and then tried to kill her baby. They grabbed the foal (Cash), raised him in the house like a newborn, and accidentally turned him into a social media star. That led Sara down a rabbit hole into the ugly world of donkey abuse and the slaughter pipeline in America. The plan to breed quickly turned into a mission to rescue, sell everything, and move to Tennessee to build what became Cash’s Crew Rescue.

From there, it got real. Sara walks us through how hard it actually is to form a legitimate 501(c)(3): months of paperwork, state filings, IRS hoops, building a board, learning to live with full financial transparency, and even watching early board members cycle off as the organization evolved. It’s not just “file a form and boom, nonprofit.” It’s governance, accountability, and people management — which is often way harder than the animals.

Then we get into the grind. A “normal” day means feeding 100 donkeys plus horses, cows, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, and a pile of dogs — twice a day. It’s special feed for neglected animals, checking every body for wounds, hauling hay with a tractor, vet visits, constant castrations for incoming jacks, running a merch store, shipping orders, answering 30–40 texts at a time, managing social media, and still finding time to fundraise just to keep the whole thing alive. Meanwhile, she’s often forgetting to eat while making sure every animal is cared for.

I step in with the money truth: it costs about $4 a day to feed a single donkey — and that’s before barns, trails, housing, staff, or expansion. If a nonprofit can’t build sustainable income streams, it will burn out its founder and its donors. We talk about what sustainable actually means, how we’re designing CCR to generate its own revenue over time (lodging, retreats, weddings, etc.), and what questions you should be asking before you donate or start your own nonprofit. If you’ve ever given to a nonprofit — or thought about starting one — you need to hear this.

Watch the full episode on YouTube:
 👉 https://youtu.be/0ceH4FHRixo

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

December is chaos. Holidays, travel, weather, kids, hosting, work, pressure to “make it special” – and then we act shocked when the credit card statement smacks us in January. In this 12 Days of Giving episode, I bring back money expert Rachel Duncan to walk through the one simple system she built to stop December from blindsiding her every single year: a recurring “Holiday Lessons Learned” calendar event that future Rachel is very, very grateful for.

Rachel breaks down exactly how she built her holiday playbook: what went wrong, what worked, who actually enjoys which tasks, how much candy they really need for Halloween, why New Year’s hosting hits different, and how all of that quietly adds up to real money. She shows you how she turned a chaotic season into a repeatable checklist that lives in her calendar and gets better every year instead of starting from zero every time.

From there, we go straight into the money. We talk holiday “specialness” spending, why the real budget busters are the so-called “one-off” expenses, and how seasonal stuff like camps, hobbies, gifts, travel and parties are exactly what push people into debt. Rachel walks through her “holiday specialness” category, sinking funds, and even a controversial but smart use of a dedicated credit card you pre-load like a savings bucket. This isn’t theory – this is how real families actually spend.

Then we zoom out into the psychology. We hit future-self research, the idea of seeing your future self as a real person, and why we’re willing to plan better for others than we are for ourselves. Rachel shares how aging a photo of herself, naming future-Rachel, and literally thanking “past me” changed how she spends in the moment. It’s not about guilt. It’s about taking responsibility for the version of you who has to live with December’s decisions.

If you’re tired of swearing “next year will be different” and then repeating the same pattern, this episode is your line in the sand. We’re giving you a concrete way to capture your own holiday lessons, track the real costs, and start funding them like adults instead of pretending we’ll remember. This is part of our 12 Days of Giving series – one raw, practical episode every day from December 12–23 to get your money and mindset right heading into 2026.

👉 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AUn_SwFDK5M

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

If you still believe “the IRS already knows what you made, they should just do your taxes for you,” this episode might slap that idea right out of your head.

In today’s 12 Days of Giving episode, I’m back with Enrolled Agent, Morgan Q. Anderson, breaking down a real story where the IRS seized a client’s $116,000 refund over a 1099-R that reported roughly $196,000 of “income” he never actually received. The investment fund admin bailed, paperwork got lazy, and a bad form turned into a six-figure tax bill and years of stress for a real family.

We walk through how this happened in the first place: an alternative investment, a change in administrator, broken communication, and then a “we’re done here” 1099-R sent to the IRS like the account was cashed out. The money never hit his bank account—but the system doesn’t care. It just saw a big number, flagged “unreported income,” and quietly grabbed his refund to cover a tax that should never have existed.

Then we get into the fight. Morgan explains exactly how she rebuilt the timeline, pulled old statements, got a letter from the investment manager, and used the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and the Taxpayer Advocate Service to force the IRS to slow down long enough to see the truth. This wasn’t a quick phone call. It was months of “we need 90 more days” letters, escalation, and refusing to roll over.

The payoff? The IRS not only returned his $116K refund, they had to pay tens of thousands in interest for sitting on money that never should’ve been theirs. That’s the difference between “the IRS must be right” and “prove it.”

We close with a playbook you can actually use: how to pull your wage & income transcript and see what’s being reported under your Social Security number, what to do when a 1099-R or other form is flat-out wrong, and when to stop DIY-ing it and bring in someone who knows how to fight inside the system.

👉 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/It_EkPInwj8

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

This isn’t a cute budgeting episode. This is a $14 million revenue business buried under $1.5 million in stacked merchant cash advances, with money ripped out of the account every single day. The owner wasn’t reckless. He had a 740 credit score and solid bank statements. He just got sold the wrong “solution” over and over.

In this 12 Days of Giving episode, I sit down with Sara Weldon of TruFinCo to walk through exactly how this happened — and how she helped pull him out. We break down how MCAs are really structured, why the payments feel fine at first and then choke your cash flow, and how these things get layered until your business exists to feed lenders, not you.

Then we get into the turnaround: how Sara and her team stepped in, worked with the right legal support, and restructured the full $1.5M, giving the owner roughly $45,000 a month in breathing room in about four days. From there, they rebuilt his capital strategy using lines of credit, term loans, and 0% business credit through capital stacking instead of more toxic “fast money.”

If you’re a business owner staring at debt, stressed about cash, or being pitched “quick funding,” you need to understand this playbook. This series is about real people, real numbers, and what it actually takes to get free — not the fantasy Instagram finance tries to sell you.

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FDb4tVqGSOM

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

Most couples think they’re “broken” because they argue about money. The truth? You’re probably more normal than you realize—you’ve just never been taught how to talk about money without going to war.

In this 12 Days of Giving episode, I sit back down with financial therapist Ashley Quamme to walk through a real couple we’ll call Mark and Mary—late 30s, three kids, decent income, solid marriage… until money comes up. He’s the anxious saver, constantly bracing for the layoff that may never come. She’s the practical spender who wants to make memories with their kids and not live like everything is on fire. The money isn’t the problem. Their stories about money are. 

ashley-2-2025

Ashley takes us into their backstory: Mark’s single-mom, count-every-penny upbringing and Mary’s “we’re fine, we don’t talk about money much” childhood. We break down how those early money memories hijack their adult arguments—why he feels panicked when they’re not maxing accounts, and why she feels controlled and judged when he questions holiday spending. None of this is “just numbers.” This is nervous systems, fear, and unspoken expectations running the show.

Then we get into the actual work: how Ashley helped them stop avoiding each other, set up structured money dates, and build rules of engagement so they’re not trying to solve their financial life at 9:30 p.m. half-asleep and pissed off. We talk about what to do when you hit a stalemate, why “we’ll talk about it later” usually means “never,” and how they finally landed on a savings target that calmed his anxiety without killing all joy for her.

This is not some dramatic, on-the-brink-of-divorce situation. This is a normal couple that refused to settle for “fine” and chose to do the work before things blew up. If you and your partner are mostly good—but money convos feel tense, defensive, or like the same fight on repeat—this episode is your mirror and your playbook.

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2mdLDYnOJDk

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

Most business owners aren’t losing opportunities because they’re bad at what they do. They’re losing because nobody knows they exist. Why? Because they refuse to show up. In this 12 Days of Giving episode, I’m back with my sister-from-another-mister, Kristina Hall of Hall Social Media, to talk about one brutal truth: at some point, you’ve got to just f*ing do it**. That idea you’ve been sitting on? That video you’re scared to post? That content you’ve been overthinking for six months? Yeah. That.

Kristina walks us through the story of Dr. Lawrence Green, a dermatologist outside D.C. with 25+ years in the game and serious credentials. For years, he wanted nothing to do with video. No Reels, no TikTok, no “get ready with me,” none of it. Then she pushed him—hard—into trying something new: drugstore skincare product reviews. He said no. His wife said yes. Kristina didn’t let it go.

What happened next is what everyone says they want, but almost nobody is willing to get uncomfortable enough to earn. Those videos exploded. Engagement went crazy. TikTok comments became a content goldmine. His social presence started backing up his expertise so strongly that now he’s traveling constantly, speaking on stages, doing live Walgreens segments, and getting featured on Good Morning Washington—all because he finally leaned in and did the thing he was resisting.

This episode isn’t a fluffy “you got this” chat. We talk about ego, the fear of looking stupid, the hate and bots in your comments, and why NONE of that is paying your bills. Kristina breaks down why most posts aren’t supposed to be home runs, why you should treat social like a numbers game, and why being stuck in “content jail” (200–500 views forever) is actually a data problem, not a worthiness problem.

If you’re an expert who “doesn’t want to be a content creator,” this is your gut-check. You either keep hiding and slowly fall further behind… or you get over yourself, hit publish, and give your business a shot at the opportunities you say you want.

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NmLsAFP9TaM

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

This is the episode nobody wants to think about… until they’re forced to. Your parent dies, you step in to “help,” and suddenly you find out they haven’t filed tax returns in years. The estate is frozen, the IRS wants their cut, and you’re grieving while also trying to untangle a financial nightmare you didn’t create.

In this 12 Days of Giving episode, I’m back with Morgan Q. Anderson, EA, who’s on the front lines of this exact mess. She walks through a real case: two adult children, a mom with advancing dementia, four years of unfiled tax returns, and over $50,000 in penalties and interest slapped on the estate. It took 21 months of fighting with the IRS and the state to fix it. That’s almost two years of grief, stress, sibling tension, and a frozen inheritance while the government waited to get paid. 

We break down what really happens behind the scenes when a parent quietly stops filing taxes, why dementia and paranoia around money can derail even the most “organized” life, and how quickly families start turning on each other when someone is named executor and the numbers don’t look how everyone expected. This isn’t theory. This is what’s actually happening in families right now.

Then we flip it. Morgan and I talk about how to avoid this disaster: why you should almost never make your kid the executor, why a neutral third party can save your family’s relationships, and how to start the brutally honest “Mom/Dad, we need to talk” conversation after the holidays without blowing up Christmas. We also hit what happens if someone dies with no will at all and why “it won’t matter when I’m gone” is one of the most selfish lies older generations tell themselves.

This episode is part of our 12 Days of Giving series (12/12–12/23), where we’re dropping one episode a day to give you game you can actually use. If you have aging parents, estranged parents, complicated parents—or you ARE that parent—this one is a must-listen.

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

The holidays are here, the cards are swiped, and a lot of you are sitting there doing the math you’ve been avoiding all year. In this 12 Days of Giving episode, Daniela shares the story of a single mom in Richmond, Virginia who was one denial away from a full breakdown: new apartment, two little girls, $10K in credit card debt, and zero clue how to keep from getting evicted again. 

This isn’t a cute budgeting story. This is “I’m at the edge of the cliff and I don’t know what the hell to do next.” Daniela walks us through how she sat down with this mom and started at the absolute basics: what a budget actually is, what savings actually means, and why pulling your credit report is non-negotiable even when you’re terrified of what you’ll see. When they pulled it, the truth hit: multiple cards, sky-high APRs, and $10K of debt that her paycheck could not support.

But here’s where it flips. Instead of shame and “you’re bad with money,” they built a plan: lay out every card, every APR, every balance. Tackle the ones that give you the biggest win fastest. Call the creditors and tell the damn truth about what’s going on. Negotiate. Get the APR down. Build short-term and long-term wins so she’s not just surviving the month, she’s rebuilding her life. And they did one more powerful thing most people skip: they brought her two little girls into the conversation and turned money into a game, not a threat. 

We also dig into the emotional side: what it feels like to be at the edge versus already over it, why people wait until the last possible second to ask for help, and how involving your kids can actually speed up your own mindset shift. Daniela talks about using vision boards, values, and real talk to anchor someone before you ever touch the spreadsheets. Because if your head is still in “I’ll never get out of this,” no plan will save you. 

Then we turn the camera on you. If you’re approaching the edge, standing on it, or already hanging off financially, this episode is your wake-up call. Daniela doesn’t sugar-coat it: it’s never too late, but it is on you. No one is coming to fix this for you. Small wins, boring habits, and asking for help early is how you change the story. I close the episode by calling out exactly what we all know: you just spent a ton of money on the holidays, you’re feeling it, and now is the moment to move—not “next year,” not “when things calm down.”

This is one of our 12 Days of Giving episodes running December 12–23, where we highlight real stories, real mess, and real ways forward. Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pKDDgLWgJpg

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.

What happens when your generosity becomes the very thing that threatens your future?

In this 12 Days of Giving episode, I sit down with therapist and member of the NoBS Collective, Rachel Duncan, to unpack a story that honestly describes way too many people: late 50s, single, big heart, strong friend group, steady nonprofit job — and quietly terrified that retirement might not be possible because she gives so much away. Not to institutions. To people. To friends. To every GoFundMe, every “I saw this and thought of you” moment.

Rachel walks us through an amalgam of clients who live this reality: the friend who always picks up the tab, drops off the $50 candle, buys gifts nobody asked for, and then goes home worried about the future. We dig into where that pattern really starts — teenage years, money as social capital, using spending to feel “safe” in relationships — and how it gets locked in when nobody ever talks about money honestly.

We also talk about the shadow side of generosity: people who love to give but damn near refuse to receive. The discomfort of being on the other side of a big gift. The awkward “you didn’t have to do that” text. The pressure, the unspoken expectations, and the reality that a lot of us already have too much stuff and not enough real connection.

Then we flip the script. Rachel shows how her clients shift from “I have to buy everyone something” to “my presence actually is enough”. We go into handmade gifts, small creative expressions, experience-based giving, and, honestly, the power of just showing up. No performance. No price tag. Just you.

If you’re the generous one in your circle — the giver, the fixer, the one who quietly worries about money while still swiping your card — this episode is your wake-up call and your permission slip. You’re allowed to change how you give without changing who you are.

🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CFiYwlaPibM

This is part of our 12 Days of Giving series (December 12–23), where every day we tackle the emotional, psychological, and financial side of money during the holidays. No fluff. No guilt trips. Just truth, tools, and stories that sound a lot like your life.

If this hit home, drop a comment. Tell me where you're feeling it most. I read every single one.

New episodes every week on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Subscribe so you never miss a real conversation.