Real Talk with Life After Grief Chris

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Writing a book can feel like a solo mission until you realize the draft is only the beginning. We sit down with Kim Eley of KWE Publishing to talk about what ethical, supportive publishing partnership actually looks like when the story is personal and the author is carrying real life alongside the work.

We get honest about the “sharky” parts of publishing, why marketing often becomes the hardest phase, and how authors can shift from living in their own head to speaking directly to the ideal reader. Kim breaks down why that mindset change is so tough and so necessary, especially for memoir writers who are sharing raw truth. Chris connects it to his world of grief and financial planning, where clarity and trust matter because people are overwhelmed and decision fatigue is real.

We also dig into practical due diligence: asking for references, reading professionalism signals, and choosing partners who show integrity, have your back, and stay invested over time. Then the conversation goes deeper into legacy. Chris shares why this memoir matters for his sons, what it feels like to revisit painful chapters after therapy, and how small moments of presence and parenting become part of the bigger purpose.

If you want to connect with Kim, we share where to find her online, including KWEpub.com and her https://kwepub.substack.com/. Subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of grief, money, and real life, and if this one helps, share it with someone who needs it and leave a review so more people can find the show.

And by the way....my AudioBook is live!  Go here Life After Grief Audiobook by Chris Dale

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Peace is not always quiet, and healing is not always private. We sit down with John Balauat, creator of the faith-driven podcast Chasing the Kingdom, to talk about what happens when your early life teaches you to survive, but your faith calls you to rebuild. John shares how an abusive upbringing shaped his view of people, why he once “hated people,” and how Scripture reframed that instinct into something stronger than avoidance: the kind of peace you can carry into the messy parts of real life.

We also get practical about purpose, work, and visibility. John explains why he refuses to chase likes, downloads, or aggressive marketing, and how that choice protects authenticity for creators, entrepreneurs, and leaders. We connect that to boundaries around social media, privacy, and the hidden cost of turning family life into content. If you’re navigating grief, supporting someone in grief, or advising clients through life transitions, you’ll hear why trust, consistency, and a safe space matter as much as any technical plan.

From there, we talk legacy and fatherhood: how to raise kids with grit without handing them your trauma, how unconditional love creates confidence, and why “capacity” can quietly limit everything from your business growth to your emotional health. If you feel stuck, drained, or boxed in by people and patterns that keep repeating, this conversation offers a clear next step: let go of what blocks your capacity so you can build again with hope.

John is also the owner The Help Agency.  His company is  a private-label web team behind the scenes, helping top agencies deliver high-end websites—without them lifting a finger on production.

His  clients are creative and marketing agencies who are burned out trying to manage the development side.

John Balauat is a son, husband, father, and entrepreneur. He hosts a podcast called Chasing the Kingdom which is focused on telling God stories through the art of conversation. Find it here.

Subscribe for more Real Talk with Life After Grief, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more listeners can find us. What line or story hit you the hardest?

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A life-limiting diagnosis doesn’t just change a calendar. It scrambles the way people think, decide, and even talk to the ones they love, especially when money and legal choices suddenly feel urgent. We’re joined by Rose Zealand, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER­­™, Certified Financial Transitionist®, and death doula who’s building a rare kind of support for people facing “dying too soon” and the families around them.

We talk through Rose’s origin story, including why she launched her RIA in a way that honors her dad, and how her work connects the practical with the personal. Rose explains her three-part framework: money, meaning, and mortality. That includes cash flow changes after a diagnosis, using disability insurance and other benefits, tightening up estate planning, and getting incapacity planning aligned with real intentions. Just as important, it includes education on the dying process, space to tell one’s story, and support for anticipatory grief that starts the moment life splits into “before” and “after.”

We also get into what this looks like for financial advisors on the front line. When a long-time client becomes inconsistent, avoidant, or overwhelmed, most advisors were never trained for the behavioral and emotional side of finance at end of life. Rose shares how she partners with advisors in an advice-only, time-bound engagement that reduces pressure, creates clarity, and helps clients feel grounded enough to make informed decisions. We close with a candid reflection on legacy, preparedness, and what it means to truly practice what we preach.

If you want more on Rose’s work, visit deathandmoney.com. 

📖 Join my Launch Team for my upcoming book, Life After Grief: Holding the Numbers with Shaking Hands--When Money, Trauma, Grief and Racism Collide.

As a launch team member, you’ll:
• Get early access and behind-the-scenes insights
• Help spread a message that brings comfort and courage
• Be part of a community that speaks honestly about grief
• Play a meaningful role in helping this book reach the people who need it most

If this conversation helped you, subscribe, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review. What’s the one planning step you’ve been avoiding?

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Did you know you can now Help Us Continue Making Awesome Content for Listeners Affected by Grief!

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We talk with Maddy Roach of Childfree Trust® about why child-free and permanently childless adults face a different kind of estate planning problem: not paperwork, but finding the right people to legally act when life gets messy. We share how Child Free Trust helps fill the medical POA gap, protects your wishes & reduces the burden that often lands on advisors and friends. 

• Why the child-free demographic is growing & what it changes in financial planning 
• The fiduciary conflict that prevents advisors from serving as medical POA 
• How a missing or unsigned POA can force decisions onto hospitals or courts 
• What Child Free Trust does across medical POA, executor, trustee and care planning 
• Why elder care oversight matters in rehab & nursing facilities 
• Why Maddie restructures estate planning into continuity planning 
• Pricing basics, hourly POA support & the Medicaid commitment 
• Where to learn more & how to contact Maddie 

Get into contact with Maddy here:

Chief Growth Officer of Partnerships

[email protected]

Childfree Trust®
Childfree Trust | Connect with me on LinkedIn

📖 Join my Launch Team for my upcoming book, Life After Grief: Holding the Numbers with Shaking Hands--When Money, Trauma, Grief and Racism Collide.

As a launch team member, you’ll:
• Get early access and behind-the-scenes insights
• Help spread a message that brings comfort and courage
• Be part of a community that speaks honestly about grief
• Play a meaningful role in helping this book reach the people who need it most

Support the show

Did you know you can now Help Us Continue Making Awesome Content for Listeners Affected by Grief!

Thanks for listening!  Follow us on twitter or follow us on Facebook.  You can also find us on LinkedIn.  

Send us Fan Mail

A client looks at you and says, “Chris, just take care of it.” Sounds simple until the “it” is a medical crisis, an estate plan that can’t wait, a $130,000 hospital bill that should have been covered by insurance, and a sudden decline that forces real decisions in real time.

We share the full story of Hugh Breeze, a client I meet in 2004 who wants a straightforward path into retirement and the freedom to live life without a lot of noise. Over nearly two decades, our relationship grows into something deeper than investment management. It becomes the kind of long-term financial planning that includes retirement income planning, smart coordination with an estate planning attorney, and the hard boundaries every ethical financial advisor must keep around power of attorney and healthcare decision-making.

Once an accident and illness enter the picture, the work shifts fast: verifying insurance coverage, correcting hospital billing mistakes, dealing with opportunistic claims, and tackling the unglamorous logistics that can derail everything like replacing a Social Security card, ordering a birth certificate, and getting valid ID. We also talk about rehab oversight, companion care, what hospice training teaches you about the final stage of life, and what it means to support someone with dignity when the end is closer than anyone wants to admit.

If you care about grief and money, caregiving and planning, or how a Certified Financial Transitionist® can guide families through life’s hardest transitions, this story will stay with you.

📖 Join my Launch Team for my upcoming book, Life After Grief: Holding the Numbers with Shaking Hands--When Money, Trauma, Grief and Racism Collide.

As a launch team member, you’ll:
• Get early access and behind-the-scenes insights
• Help spread a message that brings comfort and courage
• Be part of a community that speaks honestly about grief
• Play a meaningful role in helping this book reach the people who need it most

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

Comment “LAUNCH” or check the link in the description to join us. 🤍
LAUNCH

 Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find Real Talk With Life After Grief Chris.

Support the show

Did you know you can now Help Us Continue Making Awesome Content for Listeners Affected by Grief!

Thanks for listening!  Follow us on twitter or follow us on Facebook.  You can also find us on LinkedIn.  

Send us Fan Mail

He was up at 5 a.m., alone in the dark, running drills before middle school tryouts and he didn’t do it because I pushed him. Watching my son Eli work that hard simply because he loves basketball hit me in a way I didn’t expect, and it forced me to question my own lifelong relationship with motivation.

I share a personal story that connects my past to my present: how my early basketball drive was shaped by dysfunction at home and a need to get away, and how a “tribe” of mentors helped me channel that intensity into something productive. Then I contrast that with what I’m seeing in my kids, especially Eli, whose routine includes reading, math, and voluntary practice, and Gideon, who is just as committed but prefers to train independently. As a father and coach, I talk through the tension of staying engaged without turning effort into pressure, and why it matters to protect the fun so motivation stays healthy.

If you’re thinking about resilience, parenting, coaching, or what it looks like to build a life after grief, this conversation offers a grounded reminder: you can be driven without running from something. The same principle shows up in grief support and financial planning after loss, where the best progress happens when people feel ownership, not force.

📖 Join my Launch Team for my upcoming book, Life After Grief: Holding the Numbers with Shaking Hands--When Money, Trauma, Grief and Racism Collide.

As a launch team member, you’ll:
• Get early access and behind-the-scenes insights
• Help spread a message that brings comfort and courage
• Be part of a community that speaks honestly about grief
• Play a meaningful role in helping this book reach the people who need it most

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

Comment “LAUNCH” or check the link in the description to join us. 🤍
https://www.lifeaftergriefconsulting.com/launchteam

Support the show

Did you know you can now Help Us Continue Making Awesome Content for Listeners Affected by Grief!

Thanks for listening!  Follow us on twitter or follow us on Facebook.  You can also find us on LinkedIn.  

Send us Fan Mail

A great interview with Professional Photographer Carter Cundiff of Kate Styles Photography.  We explore how grief-focused photography can help honor loved ones, why saying their names matters, and where end-of-life planning meets compassion. Carter shares her practice, shamanic training, and how images become legacy, while we unpack the role of death doulas and the realities of caregiving.

• grief-informed portraiture that preserves memory and meaning 
• intuitive vs analytical grieving styles and when each helps 
• shamanic training as a path to self-awareness and service 
• death doulas’ role in planning, advocacy and family support 
• triggers, resilience and the quiet rituals of remembrance 
• ethical care for aging clients and honoring final wishes 
• why photos and printed keepsakes outlast the hardest seasons 
• resources to connect with Carter and continue the work

Here is how you can connect with Carter....www.katestylesphotography.com

on Instagram @carter_ksp

[email protected]

Don't forget to..........

📖 Join my Launch Team for my upcoming book, Life After Grief: Holding the Numbers with Shaking Hands.

As a launch team member, you’ll:
• Get early access and behind-the-scenes insights
• Help spread a message that brings comfort and courage
• Be part of a community that speaks honestly about grief
• Play a meaningful role in helping this book reach the people who need it most

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

Comment “LAUNCH” or check the link in the description to join us. 🤍
https://www.lifeaftergriefconsulting.com/launchteam

Support the show

Did you know you can now Help Us Continue Making Awesome Content for Listeners Affected by Grief!

Thanks for listening!  Follow us on twitter or follow us on Facebook.  You can also find us on LinkedIn.  

Send us Fan Mail

A quiet truth powers this conversation: writing a book is only half the work—bringing it to the people who need it is the other half. I walk through the path from private pages written for healing to a public launch designed to serve clients in grief and the advisors who guide them. Along the way, I unpack how to ask for help without feeling self-conscious, why a launch team turns readers into advocates, and what happens when gratitude replaces hesitation.

Join my launch Team:  Launch 

I  dig into the practicalities of a mission-led launch: setting a clear runway toward the release date, inviting early supporters with an advance reader copy, and offering real value through a private training called Being Present When It Matters Most. That training blends personal experience and professional practice, including a case where coordinated presence changed a family’s final days for the better. You’ll hear how simple, steady actions—language, timing, documentation, and emotional cues—can transform the advisor-client relationship during the hardest moments of life.

If you’ve ever wondered how a book about grief and finances can feel both deeply human and rigorously useful, this is your blueprint. I share what we learned from publishing partners about marketing that respects your audience, how early reviews shape a book’s impact, and why community is the best amplifier of hard-earned wisdom. For anyone navigating loss, or any advisor determined to show up with skill and heart, you’ll leave with concrete steps to get involved, learn, and lead.

Don't forget to..........

📖 Join my Launch Team for my upcoming book, Life After Grief: Holding the Numbers with Shaking Hands.

As a launch team member, you’ll:
• Get early access and behind-the-scenes insights
• Help spread a message that brings comfort and courage
• Be part of a community that speaks honestly about grief
• Play a meaningful role in helping this book reach the people who need it most

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

Comment “LAUNCH” or check the link in the description to join us. 🤍
https://www.lifeaftergriefconsulting.com/launchteam

Support the show

Did you know you can now Help Us Continue Making Awesome Content for Listeners Affected by Grief!

Thanks for listening!  Follow us on twitter or follow us on Facebook.  You can also find us on LinkedIn.  

Send us Fan Mail

I am excited to share my new book Life After Grief:  Holding the Numbers with Shaking Hands

I have  an exclusive invitation for my listeners... Join my book launch team for Life After Grief:  Holding the Numbers with Shaking Hands and help bring this message into the world: Launch

I kick off Season 10 by sharing the plan to write my first book on grief and financial care, how my publishing partner helped shape my voice, and why new tools can ease the hardest weeks after a loss. We invite you to meet our guests, join the launch team, and help us make this guide honest and useful.

My book explores the complex financial and emotional crossroads of grief with clarity, dignity, and compassion.

My hope is that it creates a connection where people feel seen and heard — especially in places where money has been linked to pain, past experiences, and our sense of self-worth. Readers will gain language for what often feels unspoken, practical clarity in the midst of emotional decisions, and reassurance that they are not alone. 

I would like to invite you to......

📖 Join my Launch Team for my upcoming book, Life After Grief: Holding the Numbers with Shaking Hands.

As a launch team member, you’ll:
• Get early access and behind-the-scenes insights
• Help spread a message that brings comfort and courage
• Be part of a community that speaks honestly about grief
• Play a meaningful role in helping this book reach the people who need it most

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

If you believe grief deserves tenderness, truth, and a voice — I would be honored to have you on this journey with me.

Comment “LAUNCH” or check the link in the description to join us. 🤍
https://www.lifeaftergriefconsulting.com/launchteam

Support the show

Did you know you can now Help Us Continue Making Awesome Content for Listeners Affected by Grief!

Thanks for listening!  Follow us on twitter or follow us on Facebook.  You can also find us on LinkedIn.  

Send us Fan Mail

What happens when years of therapeutic writing suddenly resurfaces as the foundation for a transformative book? In this deeply personal episode, Chris reveals his journey into authorship after discovering eight detailed chapters he'd written during trauma therapy years ago—writing he had no memory of creating.

The decision to transform these raw materials into a published book wasn't made lightly. After careful consideration and encouragement from those closest to him, Chris shares his twofold purpose: creating a lasting legacy for his sons while simultaneously helping both grieving clients and the financial advisors who serve them. This book represents the culmination of his life's work—turning personal trauma into what one client recently called his "Superman powers" to quickly understand, empathize with, and guide others through their grief journey.

Chris takes us behind the scenes of his publishing journey, from vetting potential publishers through extensive reference checks to selecting a ghostwriter who will help compile his existing material from 93 podcast episodes and countless client interactions. We hear how a simple interaction with a 10-year-old who recognized him from his podcast reinforced the impact his story already has on others. The episode concludes with news that this is the season finale, with more updates on the book's progress coming when the podcast returns in the fall.

Have you found meaning through your own grief journey? Share your thoughts and follow along as Chris transforms his personal experiences into a resource that will help others navigate life after grief. Subscribe now to be notified when we return with more insights and updates on Chris's book writing process.

Support the show

Did you know you can now Help Us Continue Making Awesome Content for Listeners Affected by Grief!

Thanks for listening!  Follow us on twitter or follow us on Facebook.  You can also find us on LinkedIn.