SwissCast Shows: Where Swiss Life Meets English Voices

A valid, properly signed power of attorney still isn't a guarantee a bank will honor it. Beth Pinsker found that out the hard way while managing her mother's care and finances from several states away, an experience she turned into "My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving."

Beth, a CFP and award-winning journalist, joins the podcast to walk through what financial caregiving actually looks like day to day, why one family member usually ends up doing it whether or not they agreed to, and what changes when the people involved live in different countries.

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CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

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00:00 - The distance every caregiver feels, whether it's states or oceans away

01:26 - How a "temporary" trip turned into nine months of caregiving

06:22 - Big-picture money talks versus the daily bill-paying reality

09:19 - Why one person always ends up "the doer" in every family

11:59 - What changes when trustees and heirs live in different countries

21:14 - The power of attorney fight that took three appointments at the bank, and the one document every family needs before a crisis

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ABOUT THE GUEST

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Beth Pinsker is a CFP and award-winning journalist who has covered personal finance for outlets including MarketWatch and The Wall Street Journal. She managed her own mother's care and finances from several states away and wrote about the experience in "My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving."

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ABOUT YOUR HOST

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Arielle Tucker, CFP® & IRS Enrolled Agent with Connected Financial Planning, is a cross-border financial planner based in Switzerland helping Americans living abroad navigate U.S. taxes, international investments, and cross-border financial planning.

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LOVE THIS EPISODE?

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Follow the show and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it's the single biggest thing you can do to help other cross-border families find this show.

──────────────────────────────────────────

ABOUT PASSPORT TO WEALTH®

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Passport To Wealth® is the platform for current and aspiring US expats. We connect globally mobile Americans with vetted, licensed cross-border financial advisors, tax professionals, and relocation experts who understand the financial and legal complexities of life abroad.

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LINKS & RESOURCES

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Website: https://www.passporttowealth.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passporttowealthofficial

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/passport-to-wealth

Order My Mother's Money: https://bethpinsker.com

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This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Individual circumstances vary. Consult a qualified cross-border financial professional before making any financial or tax decisions.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Find your cross-border expert on the Passport To Wealth® directory

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"Why do founders get stuck researching instead of launching?"

Sometimes the work that looks productive is actually protecting you from finding out whether something will work. In this episode, Linda looks at the founder who is not overwhelmed by too many decisions, but stuck because they keep waiting until they feel completely sure.

What You'll Learn:

The Hook: Why some founders stay busy refining, researching, and aligning instead of making the decision that would move things forward.

Reality Check: Linda shares the story of a founder who spent eight months preparing to launch a service while the bar kept moving.

The Shift: Most delayed decisions are not one-way doors; they are two-way doors you can walk back through, adjust, and learn from.

The Move: Three ways to stop hiding inside productive-looking work:

• Sort your decisions by asking whether you can course correct if you get it wrong.
• Run the fear game by naming the real worst case, its likelihood, and what you would do.
• Separate important from impactful by asking what changes if this is perfect versus good enough.

The Wrap: Ask whether you are doing real work, or doing work that protects you from finding out.

Key Takeaway: The eight months of preparation do not eliminate the risk; they only delay the moment you find out if it works.

FAQs This Episode Answers:

How do I know if I am procrastinating or avoiding a decision? If you are busy doing real work but the decision still does not get made, you may be avoiding the moment of finding out. Research, feedback, refinement, and alignment can all be useful, but if the bar keeps moving every time one concern is resolved, the issue may be fear dressed up as diligence.

What is the difference between a one-way door and a two-way door decision? A one-way door decision is hard or impossible to undo, so it deserves careful thought. A two-way door decision can be adjusted, reversed, or learned from, which means the bigger risk is often not deciding at all.

How can I stop perfectionism from delaying a launch or important business move? Sort the decision first: if you can course correct, set a deadline to decide. Then name the real worst case, check how likely it is, and ask what changes if the work is perfect versus good enough.

Ready to make the decision you have been circling? Visit https://www.lindavanegmond.com/ and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

The SwissCast Podcast Network is here to amplify the diverse voices and unique stories of Switzerland—all in English. Whether you're a Swiss local fluent in English, an expat, or simply curious about Swiss culture, SwissCast offers engaging content that speaks directly to you.

Our mission is simple: to create a space where Swiss life and English voices connect, bringing you meaningful conversations, expert insights, and compelling stories from all over the country.

Our podcast shows are made by, for, or in Switzerland and range from Health, Business, Career, Travel, and more.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Connect with Linda on LinkedIn

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Got 10 Minutes? Why Europeans Are Losing It Over American Grocery Stores

The World Cup brought a wave of Europeans into US grocery stores — and the internet lost it over package sizes. "We only shop once a month," the Americans said. "Then how is your fresh food still good?" the Europeans replied. Megan went down the comment-section rabbit hole and immediately needed Danna. What follows is a genuinely fascinating look at how shopping behavior, fridge size, and even bread shelf life reveal way more about a culture than anyone expects.

What You'll Learn:

1. Why a "normal" Swiss fridge is basically the size of an American RV fridge
2. How often Danna and Megan actually grocery shop — and why walking vs. driving changes everything
3. The freezer-the-size-of-your-face problem (it's real, and it's rough)
4. Why Swiss bread goes stale in two days while American bread practically fossilizes
5. The Costco-in-France discovery that surprised even Megan — and where that food is actually coming from
6. Why "robot strawberries" that last a month in the US would never survive in a Swiss kitchen
7. The real reason behind it all: space constraints, regulation, and culture all colliding in your produce aisle

That's your 10 minutes. Go check your fridge. Be honest about your freezer situation.

Want more on this? We've got 15 more grocery store topics queued up — including a full price comparison between US and Swiss basics. Let us know if you want it.

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00:00 Grocery Store Obsession

00:23 World Cup Sparks Debate

01:44 How Often We Shop

02:44 Tiny Swiss Fridges

07:33 Food Culture Wrap Up

Mentioned in this episode:

So Frickin' Healthy is a proud member of and produced by the SwissCast Network

Discover more great podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland

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France can tax an American's retirement income at zero. It can also be one of the least forgiving countries in the world to die in. Both are true, and most families only learn the second half after they've already moved.

Vincent Berthier de Bortoli, a French tax attorney and STEP member whose clients are now almost entirely American, joins the podcast to explain how the US-France tax treaty actually works, why France has no legal concept of an "estate," and why a US trust can quietly turn a 0 percent tax situation into a 31.4 percent one.

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CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

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00:00 - Why Americans are moving to France right now

02:35 - Inside the US-France tax treaty: pensions, IRAs, and Roth accounts taxed at zero

07:31 - Why dying in France is never a good idea, tax-wise

10:22 - Inheriting from a US parent while living in France, and the six-year tax holiday

13:47 - The one-euro filing rule most Americans don't know about

17:56 - Why French tax authorities almost always come after a US trust

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ABOUT THE GUEST

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Vincent Berthier de Bortoli is a French tax attorney and STEP member based in the French Alps. He has practiced tax for nearly a decade, founded his own French tax practice in October 2023, and now advises a clientele that is roughly 90 percent American families relocating to France. He also is a member of the Passport To Wealth® community.

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ABOUT YOUR HOST

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Arielle Tucker, CFP® & IRS Enrolled Agent with Connected Financial Planning, is a cross-border financial planner based in Switzerland helping Americans living abroad navigate U.S. taxes, international investments, and cross-border financial planning.

──────────────────────────────────────────

LOVE THIS EPISODE?

──────────────────────────────────────────

Follow the show and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it's the single biggest thing you can do to help other cross-border families find this show.

──────────────────────────────────────────

ABOUT PASSPORT TO WEALTH®

──────────────────────────────────────────

Passport To Wealth® is the platform for current and aspiring US expats. We connect globally mobile Americans with vetted, licensed cross-border financial advisors, tax professionals, and relocation experts who understand the financial and legal complexities of life abroad.

──────────────────────────────────────────

LINKS & RESOURCES

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Website: https://www.passporttowealth.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passporttowealthofficial

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/passport-to-wealth

VBDB Website: https://www.vbdbtax.com/en/international-tax-attorney

Vincent's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincentbdb

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This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Individual circumstances vary. Consult a qualified cross-border financial professional before making any financial or tax decisions.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Order "The Expat Money Playbook"

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter

Order "The Expat Money Playbook"

Passport to Wealth is a proud member of the SwissCast Network

Discover more podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland

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Find your cross-border expert on the Passport To Wealth® directory

Pricing sustainable products brings up a question I hear constantly: what do you do when there's nothing out there to compare your price to?

That's the first problem. The second is what happens once you put the price in front of a customer — some are ready to pay it, others push back, and some tell you straight out it should cost less because it's sustainable.

In this episode I go through why pricing a sustainable product feels this hard: the missing comparison point, the mission bias every founder in this space has to reckon with, and value that's often delayed or hard to prove upfront. I also cover a wrinkle specific to founders selling through a channel instead of directly to end users — the argument that works with your customer often doesn't work with the partner deciding whether to carry you.

None of this means the pricing method changes. It means applying the fundamentals with more care, in a context that's genuinely more demanding.

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All Swiss Birth Stories Episodes

Matrescence is the profound physical, emotional, and psychological transition of becoming a mother and it's a big focus of everything we do at Swiss Birth Stories, but it's also a huge part of Dr. Jessica Laine Carmeli's expertise. In this episode, she discusses pregnancy, out-of-hospital birth, breastfeeding, and motherhood. She describes severe hyperemesis in her first pregnancy, medication-supported nausea management in later pregnancies, and contrasts NHS hospital-based midwifery care with Swiss birth-house and home-birth midwifery models, emphasizing continuity of care and the need for self-advocacy in doctor-centered systems. She recounts a first birth house birth, including labor stalling during an Uber ride, minimal intervention, immediate breastfeeding, and quick discharge, then a second, faster, uninterrupted home water birth shaped by safety, environment, and boundary setting. She discusses tandem feeding, weaning decisions, cultural “good mother” scripts, preparing more for motherhood than birth, and trauma healing as central to her motherhood transition.

*Quick head's up: childhood sexual abuse is briefly mentioned around minute 53 to 54.

1. What's the difference between hospital, birth center, and home birth in Switzerland?

Jessica experienced all three- hospital-based midwifery care in the UK, a birth center (with continuity of care from one midwife), and a home birth, plus she is currently planning her second home birth. She shares how each setting shaped her sense of safety and control.

2. How do you find an English-speaking home birth midwife in Switzerland?

Options are limited, so Jessica recommends reaching out early, confirming availability around your due date, and asking clearly about backup midwife coverage.

3. Are cervical checks necessary during labor?

Not always- Jessica had them in her first birth but did not have any of them in her second.

4. Is it possible to breastfeed while pregnant, and can you tandem feed after the new baby arrives?

Jessica breastfed through pregnancy (with reduced supply) and tandem fed her toddler and newborn, sharing how she navigated it emotionally and physically. Her discussion about weaning and examining your own scripts about motherhood and breastfeeding is especially enlightening.

5. How do you advocate for yourself with doctors and midwives during pregnancy?

Jessica describes contrasting expert-driven medical care with a more collaborative midwifery model, and how she learned to trust but also to push back when necessary, even when it felt uncomfortable, to get the care which was right for her.

Subscribe for more Swiss Birth Stories, Write a review, and share this podcast to help more parents in Switzerland and beyond find the show.

@swissbirthstories

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@juliathedoula.ch

www.juliathedoula.ch

www.lilybee.ch

www.swissbirthstories.com

The birth where Jessica had her first baby was the Maison de naissance Eden in Lausanne: https://maison-eden.ch

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matrescenthealth

Website: https://matrescenthealth.com

Substack, where she write about pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and Motherhood: https://substack.com/@mamaoutlaw

Mentioned in this episode:

Discover more great podcasts at SwissCast.Network

The SwissCast Podcast Network is here to amplify the diverse voices and unique stories of Switzerland—all in English. Whether you're a Swiss local fluent in English, an expat, or simply curious about Swiss culture, SwissCast offers engaging content that speaks directly to you.

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"Your Bloods Look Normal" Is Not a Diagnosis: Patient Advocacy & Perimenopause ft. Belinda Balscheit

Listener Amanda was so passionate about today's guest, she sent a voice message to make sure we booked her. She was right. Belinda Balscheit is a two-time cancer survivor, women's health advocate, and patient advocacy powerhouse based in Basel — and this conversation is one of the most important we've had on the show.

If you've ever been told your symptoms are all in your head, dismissed by a doctor despite knowing something is deeply wrong, or simply felt lost in a medical system that wasn't built with women in mind — this one's for you.

About Belinda Balscheit:

Belinda works in a global pharmaceutical company in Basel and is a fierce patient advocate for women's health. Diagnosed with a rare cancer at 29 and breast cancer at 37 — with three girls under three — she navigated 11.5 years of treatment, two rounds of menopause, and a near-complete nervous system collapse before anyone connected the dots. She's writing a book called Biologically Dismissed: You Were Never the Problem, and she's currently on Instagram documenting all 142 symptoms of menopause, one by one. Follow her — it's essential viewing.

What You'll Learn:

1. Why your doctor may be working off a 30-year-old study — and what that means for your care
2. How Belinda went through menopause twice — and what that taught her about hormones, dismissal, and survival
3. The practical advocacy toolkit: symptom tracking, building your case, and walking into appointments with evidence
4. Why "your bloods look normal" and "it's probably stress" are not diagnoses — and what to say back
5. The statistic that stopped everyone cold: 94% of women on HRT report a significant reduction in suicidal thoughts
6. How to fire a doctor who isn't listening (yes, you can, and yes, you should)
7. Why perimenopause and menopause aren't diseases — but untreated, they can cause ones

Real Talk Moments:

Belinda shares the moment she discovered she had 47 out of 49 menopause symptoms — and 40 of them were an eight out of ten in severity. She also opens up about reaching a point where she didn't want to be here anymore after three doctors in three weeks told her it was all in her head. Danna shares her own experience of arriving at a doctor with a list of 24 symptoms and being sent home with the same dismissal. The rage was mutual. The solidarity was real.

Belinda's Parting Wisdom:

"Knowledge is empowerment. Once you have it, run."

instagram.com/belindabalscheit

linkedin.com/in/belindabalscheit

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00:00 Menopause Care Gap

05:17 Belinda’s Cancer Journey

27:37 Advocacy Through Tracking

32:13 Medical Gaslighting Reality

35:52 System Gaps and Data

51:14 Advocacy Playbook and Wrap

Mentioned in this episode:

So Frickin' Healthy is a proud member of and produced by the SwissCast Network

Discover more great podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland

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Your body's been dropping hints

Time to listen! Check out the Urban Cleanse and give yourself the refresh you deserve.

Organilicious - Danna, Functional Medicine Health Coach

Can a 529 plan actually pay for university outside the United States? Some foreign schools qualify for tax-free withdrawals. Most do not, and most families do not find out which is true for them until they are already trying to spend the money.

Kaitlin Krozel, CPA and founder of Krozel Capital, joins the podcast to walk through how 529 plans work for American families abroad, what qualifies as an eligible foreign university, the new K-12 withdrawal rule, and the wealth tax risk a 529 can create once a family moves to certain countries.

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CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

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00:00 - Can a 529 actually pay for university abroad?

02:11 - What a 529 plan is, and why state choice affects your deduction

09:50 - How living abroad changes 529 strategy in real time

14:42 - The new $20,000-a-year rule for K-12 international school tuition

18:09 - How to check if a foreign university actually qualifies

24:25 - The wealth tax risk most families do not see coming

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ABOUT THE GUEST

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Kaitlin Krozel, CPA, is the founder of Krozel Capital, where she works with American families living abroad on cross-border tax and college planning. Kaitlin has spent years helping expat parents figure out how 529 plans hold up once a family leaves the United States, and she is raising her own two children across multiple countries.

──────────────────────────────────────────

ABOUT YOUR HOST

──────────────────────────────────────────

Arielle Tucker, CFP® & IRS Enrolled Agent with Connected Financial Planning, is a cross-border financial planner based in Switzerland helping Americans living abroad navigate U.S. taxes, international investments, and cross-border financial planning.

──────────────────────────────────────────

LOVE THIS EPISODE?

──────────────────────────────────────────

Follow the show and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it's the single biggest thing you can do to help other cross-border families find this show.

──────────────────────────────────────────

ABOUT PASSPORT TO WEALTH®

──────────────────────────────────────────

Passport To Wealth® is the platform for current and aspiring US expats. We connect globally mobile Americans with vetted, licensed cross-border financial advisors, tax professionals, and relocation experts who understand the financial and legal complexities of life abroad.

LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED

Website: https://www.passporttowealth.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passporttowealthofficial

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/passport-to-wealth

Check Student Aid Eligibility: https://www.studentaid.gov

List of Eligible Foreign Universities: https://www.savingforcollege.com

Find Krozel Capital: https://www.krozelcapital.com

──────────────────────────────────────────

This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Individual circumstances vary. Consult a qualified cross-border financial professional before making any financial or tax decisions.

Mentioned in this episode:

Passport to Wealth is a proud member of the SwissCast Network

Discover more podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland

SwissCast Network

Order "The Expat Money Playbook"

Find your cross-border expert on the Passport To Wealth® directory

Order "The Expat Money Playbook"

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter

Start your Business Reality Check Now

“We Thought We Had a Communication Problem”

When the same team problems keep coming back, it is easy to blame communication. But often the real issue is missing structure: unclear ownership, fuzzy decision-making, low trust, and constantly shifting priorities.

What You'll Learn:

The Hook: Why adding more meetings, messages, or tools rarely fixes the real problem underneath.

Reality Check: Linda shares the story of a team stuck in low-level conflict, repeated decisions, and constant frustration.

The Shift: Communication breaks down when people are filling structural gaps with their own assumptions.

The Move: Use an accountability chart to make ownership and decision-making clear:

• List every major activity in the business.
• Assign one accountable owner to each area.
• Clarify what decisions each person can make alone, with input, or with founder approval.
• Set a 90-day freeze period for the top three priorities.

The Wrap: Before booking another communication workshop, check whether everyone knows what they own, who decides, and whether priorities have been consistent.

Key Takeaway: Communication problems are often accountability problems that have not been named yet.

FAQs This Episode Answers:

Is my team’s communication problem actually an accountability problem? If the same conversations keep happening, decisions get made and unmade, or people are unsure who owns what, the issue is probably deeper than communication. The episode explains how unclear roles, fuzzy decision-making, low trust, and shifting priorities often show up as “communication problems.”

How do I fix unclear ownership in my business? Start by creating an accountability chart. List the major activities in the business, assign one accountable owner to each area, and clarify which decisions that person can make alone, which need input, and which need founder approval.

What should I do if my priorities keep changing every week? Set a freeze period for your top three priorities. Choose them for the quarter, write them down, and avoid changing them for 90 days unless something genuinely critical happens. New ideas can go on a list for the next quarter.

Ready to make it easier? Visit https://www.lindavanegmond.com/ and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

The SwissCast Podcast Network is here to amplify the diverse voices and unique stories of Switzerland—all in English. Whether you're a Swiss local fluent in English, an expat, or simply curious about Swiss culture, SwissCast offers engaging content that speaks directly to you.

Our mission is simple: to create a space where Swiss life and English voices connect, bringing you meaningful conversations, expert insights, and compelling stories from all over the country.

Our podcast shows are made by, for, or in Switzerland and range from Health, Business, Career, Travel, and more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Let's Connect on LinkedIn

Find Linda on LinkedIn

Connect with Linda on LinkedIn

Start your Business Reality Check Now

Discover More Shows at SwissCast.Network

SwissCast Network

Got 10 Minutes? Grains at the Base? Thanks, Lobbying.

Megan found a Dr. Jason Fung video called "The Food Pyramid Lie: Why We Got Fat" and immediately needed to talk about it. So here we are. The food pyramid you grew up with — the one that told you to build your entire diet on a mountain of bread and grains — was not based on science. It was based on lobbying. And the Swiss one? Also a little sus. Danna had never even heard of the Swiss food pyramid before this episode. She has thoughts.

What You'll Learn:

1. What the old US food pyramid actually looked like — and why it made us all fatter and sicker
2. How the new US food pyramid flipped everything (literally — it's now inverted)
3. The Swiss food pyramid breakdown — and what it gets right and wrong
4. Why protein is criminally underrepresented in every government food guide
5. The dairy lobby problem — and why "lactose-free" isn't necessarily the health win you think it is
6. Why fat got vilified in the '80s (spoiler: money) and what that did to public health
7. Danna's version of the ideal food pyramid — water and protein fans, this one's for you

That's your 10 minutes. Go look up the Swiss food pyramid. Then get mad. Then eat more protein.

Want a full episode diving into lobbying, food policy, and who's actually deciding what we eat? Let us know.

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00:00 Food Pyramid Setup

01:21 Old US Pyramid Breakdown

02:07 New US Pyramid Shift

03:15 Swiss Pyramid Compared

07:05 Fixing Guidelines and Wrap

Mentioned in this episode:

So Frickin' Healthy is a proud member of and produced by the SwissCast Network

Discover more great podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland

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