The Patti Brennan Show

Inspired by the CFP Board's new "It's Gotta Be A CFP®" campaign, Patti poses one question: what actually makes someone qualified to manage your money? In this solo episode, she breaks down what the CFP® certification really requires, from six rigorous exam modules to 6,000 hours of real experience, and shares her own path to the marks, plus why fiduciary duty isn't optional.

Most people think of life organization as something for "someday." But the hardest moments for families aren't just about loss, they're about not knowing where things are: the will, the passwords, the story behind a recipe never written down. Sarah Bunnell, Head of Customer Success at Everplans, joins Frank McAleer to unpack the three pillars, security, guidance, and sharing, behind leaving your family truly prepared.

Older, wealthier families aren't just targets of opportunity, they're targets by design, and the numbers are staggering: billions lost to fraud every year, much of it never reported. Liz Loewy has seen the pattern from both sides. As a Manhattan prosecutor, she built the country's first elder abuse unit; today, as co-founder of EverSafe, she works to catch fraud early and limit the damage it can do. In this conversation with Frank McAleer, Liz breaks down how scammers exploit siloed finances and family trust, why so many victims stay silent, and how a "trusted advocate" can help.

Every summer, a group of students arrives at Key Financial expecting spreadsheets. They leave with something else entirely. In this episode, Paige Hill sits down with the 2026 summer interns for an honest conversation about what surprised them, what no classroom taught them, and the moment one of them realized that clients are not their money.

Forty years. Sixty countries. Thousands of entrepreneurs. After all of it, Mike Nichols of EY keeps coming back to the same word when he thinks about the best stories he has ever seen. In this episode, Patti and Mike unpack what disruption really means, how family businesses are redefining succession, and why the best entrepreneurial stories often start with someone who had nothing but an idea and the nerve to act on it.

We are halfway through 2026. Time to take stock of what we got right, what changed, and what the next six months may look like.

In this episode, Patti sits down with Key Financial Chief Investment Officer Brad Everett to cut through the noise and talk about what may matter most for your portfolio right now.

Here are just a few of the things they cover:

📉 Why the Mag Seven is now being called the Lag Seven, and why that may actually be a healthy sign for markets. 🌍 Why diversification has shown signs of paying off, and why the S&P 493 is up over 15% while the Mag Seven sits near zero. 🏦 Why bonds at 4.5 to 4.7% may be worth a second look, and what role they can play in a well-structured portfolio. ⚠️ Why September and October may bring added volatility, and why being prepared now may matter. 🔄 How Key Financial approaches rebalancing, tax loss harvesting, and scenario planning as part of an ongoing portfolio management process.

Tune in to hear Brad and Patti's full mid-year take, including their three key observations for the second half of 2026.

Do you have a "simple" estate plan? That might be the most expensive mistake you make. Patti sits down with legendary estate attorney Martin Shenkman, 44 books and over 1,000 articles deep, for a no-fluff conversation on why documents are not the same thing as a plan. Here is what it may look like as a part of an estate plan:

📌 A Spousal Lifetime Access Trust, or SLAT, is one of the most powerful estate planning tools available for high-net-worth couples who want to act before the exemption window closes.

🛡️ Patti and Martin walk through how young professionals, like physicians facing malpractice risk, can build asset protection into a trust years before any lawsuit ever surfaces.

💰 A basis planning strategy can wipe out decades of capital gains by adding a simple power of appointment for an aging parent.

🤝 AI tools and online document services cannot replace a coordinated team of legal, tax, and financial advisors working from the same playbook. Because at the end of the day, a document is not a plan, and a plan is only as strong as the team behind it.

Make no mistake... no one wants to have this conversation.

But when someone dies, the decisions start immediately, and they do not slow down. In this episode, Patti Brennanwalks through the complete "When Someone Dies" checklist, organized by urgency, so no one has to figure it out alone in the middle of grief.

Here is what needs to happen:

🚨 Within 24 to 72 hours: notify institutions, secure the home, and order 12 to 15 certified death certificates with a raised seal. 🔐 Within one to four weeks: notify all three credit bureaus, close digital accounts, and contact your financial advisor. 🧾 Within one to six months: begin probate, obtain an estate EIN, file the final tax return, and keep essential payments going. 🤍 Throughout all of it: communicate clearly as a family and avoid major financial decisions until the dust settles.

Because the greatest gift you can leave the people you love is a little less chaos and a lot more clarity.

If you have been putting off getting an estate plan and think it's something you still have to do, here's the thing: it's already been done. The state wrote it for you. And it has no idea who you are, what you built, or who you love. It does not know about the estranged sibling, the child with special needs, or the spouse who would be left with far less than you think. It just follows the formula. In this episode, Patti Brennan walks through the consequences of not taking action around building an estate plan, and what to do instead.

In this episode, Patti walks through the complete retirement checklist available on the Key Financial website, using the seasons framework to help you think ahead, not react later. She covers: Why the "winter before freshman year" is the most critical planning window before you retire The pools of money strategy and how it protects you from having to sell investments at the wrong time The Goldilocks tax zone in the middle years and why Roth conversions and capital gains harvesting can be game changers The unpredictable "fall" season, from cognitive health to housing decisions to cybersecurity threats What living solo looks like financially, and why pension elections and updated estate documents can change everything.