Growing Money with Sean Trace

Ever been on vacation and suddenly realized you're spending money like it isn't real? 💸🇯🇵 During a family trip to Japan, I discovered something interesting about how our brains handle foreign currency. When everything is priced in yen, 1,000 here and 5,000 there doesn't always register the same way it would back home. And before you know it, those little purchases start adding up!...

I sat down with Taylor Nissi, founder of Pleasant Street Wealth Advisors, to talk about why so many successful entrepreneurs still feel financially stressed.  We get into the reinvestment dilemma, when to keep feeding the business and when to build wealth outside of it. We also cover why 80 to 90% of a founder’s net worth is often tied up in one company. Taylor shares the Harvard Business School s...

What if making more money isn't actually the answer to financial freedom? In this episode of Growing Money with Sean Trace , I sit down with financial coach Alana D'Angelica to talk about why so many high-income professionals still feel broke, stuck in corporate jobs, and unable to build the lives they actually want. After spending 15 years in the tech industry and leading teams of over...

In this episode, I sit down with Brendan Frazier to explore the psychology behind financial decision-making and why knowing what to do with money doesn’t always mean we actually do it. We talk about lifestyle creep, emotional spending, impulse purchases, financial anxiety, and why even smart money decisions can be difficult to separate from clever justifications. Brendan explains why our emotions...

I sat down with Brad Williams, CFP® from Highlands Wealth Group in upstate South Carolina, to break down family first financial planning and why solving for a life matters more than chasing a number. Brad shares his story as a first-generation wealth creator, what he learned from his mother about money, and why the cost of waiting is one of the biggest risks to any retirement plan. We talk about p...

Is Disneyland worth the money? After spending an incredible day at Tokyo Disneyland with my daughter, I started thinking about something bigger than ticket prices, expensive souvenirs, and vacation budgets. How do we balance saving money with actually enjoying our lives? Disney can get expensive fast. Between food, merchandise, tickets, and all those little purchases that add up, it's easy to...

In this episode of Growing Money with Sean Trace, I sit down with Max Jackson, Managing Director at Ballast Rock and manager of its renewable energy private credit fund, to explore one of the biggest investment themes hiding behind the AI boom: energy. As data centers, AI, electric vehicles, and an increasingly electrified economy push electricity demand higher, Max explains why energy infrastruct...

In this episode of Growing Money with Sean Trace, I sit down with Melissa Murphy Pavone, a Certified Financial Planner and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, to talk about something that affects almost every relationship: our emotional connection to money. Melissa explains why people often avoid financial conversations until there is a crisis and how making long-term money decisions while angry,...

overspending, poor habits, and bad decisions usually build slowly too. In this episode of Growing Money, I use my absolutely ridiculous haircut as a reminder that big outcomes are usually created one small step at a time. We talk about building better money habits, increasing your income, budgeting, paying attention to where your money is going, continuing your financial education, and regularly c...

I used to think being good with money was mostly about knowing the right numbers, but this conversation reminded me that money is deeply emotional. In this episode of Growing Money with Sean Trace, I sit down with Alex, a startup founder and personal finance coach who helps people in tech make better financial decisions. We talk about why money isn’t simply a math problem, it's also about beh...

I sat down with financial educator Laina Brown because I wanted to get real about why so many of us stay stuck in debt even when we genuinely want out.  We talked about the mindset traps that keep people broke, the "I'm just not good with money" excuse.  Laina broke down why willpower alone doesn't work and why building systems: automatic savings, tracking, waiting periods befo...

There was even a famous TV announcement: “It’s 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?” And that got me thinking… Do you know where your MONEY is? For a long time, I didn’t have a clear picture of where my money was going either. I wasn’t consistently checking my accounts, tracking spending, watching my debt, or looking closely at my cash flow. So I’m trying to change that. In this episode of...

Arielle Tucker is a certified financial planner, IRS enrolled agent, and author of The Expat Money Playbook, and she's currently building her life in Switzerland while helping Americans navigate the wild world of moving abroad.  We got into why US citizens still owe taxes no matter where they live, and why that first year abroad can either make you or completely break you. I shared my own sto...

Doing everything yourself might feel like you're saving money, but what is it actually costing you? Entrepreneurs, business owners, and even everyday investors often fall into the same trap: “Why should I pay someone else when I can just do it myself?” I’ve done it too. On a recent filming trip to Napa, I was the camera operator, interviewer, producer, and everything in between. When I got ho...

I sat down with Paul Walter, founder of The Donor's CPA, to talk about something most business owners get completely wrong: waiting until tax season to think about taxes at all.  Paul spent a decade working everywhere from small family firms to the Big Four before starting his own practice built around a simple idea: helping generous business owners avoid surprise tax bills and actually maxim...

I sat down again with Cristian Mundy, a certified financial planner and senior wealth manager working with professional athletes and entertainers.  Cristian broke down how a first big paycheck isn't the finish line, it's the start of a whole new game, and how spending becomes permanent even when the income isn't.  We talked taxes nobody budgets for, why surrounding yourself with the...

I almost bought a camera I didn’t need. And the only thing that stopped me wasn’t discipline, budgeting, or some amazing financial habit. It was friction. After a recent filming trip to Napa Valley, I convinced myself I needed a new camera. I had the use case. I had the specs picked out. I had the business justification. I was ready to buy it. Then the seller made it slightly harder for me to pay....

I sat down with Adam Van Deusen from Kitces.com to talk about something we don't discuss enough in personal finance: what "enough" actually means for you.  We got into why so many people worry they'll never have enough to retire, even when they're doing the right things, and why comparing yourself to influencers or the next tax bracket is a losing game. We talked about the...

I sat down with Jack Heintzelman, partner at Altara Wealth and board member of the Financial Planning Association.  We went way past budgets and spreadsheets into what money actually means to people, why couples avoid the money talk until it blows up their relationship, and why the  $2M client and the $20M client are often losing sleep over the exact same fears.  Jack broke down why the most power...

In this episode of Growing Money, I sit down with Shannah Game to talk about the side of personal finance that spreadsheets can’t explain: our emotions, identity, habits, and deeply rooted beliefs about money. We explore why someone can have plenty of money and still feel financially unsafe, why so many of us constantly think, “I should be further ahead by now,” and how childhood experiences can c...

In this episode, I sit down with Robert Dillard, an insurance and special needs planning specialist who works alongside financial planners, estate attorneys, and CPAs to help families protect what matters most.  Robert opens up about growing up in a broken, low-income household, living with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia himself, and raising a nonverbal autistic son who requires round-the-...

What if you could go back 20 years and make better money decisions? I ran into an old college friend while I was out filming at a winery, and our conversation got me thinking about Back to the Future, Hot Tub Time Machine, and one question that hits a lot harder as you get older: what would you actually change if you could go back? I wouldn’t want to rewrite my life. I love my wife, my daughter, a...

In this episode, I sit down with George Burnett, Director of Philanthropic Consulting and Wealth at Callan Family Office, to talk about what happens after you build wealth and why the hardest part often has nothing to do with investment returns.  We get into generational wealth, estate planning, wealth transfer, philanthropy, family communication, and the money anxiety that can exist at every leve...

In this episode of Growing Money with Sean Trace , I sit down with Matthew Nelson of Perspective 6 Wealth Advisors to talk about something that gets lost in most conversations about financial success: what does “enough” actually look like? Matthew works with business owners, executives, and people with equity compensation, and we dig into why a high income doesn’t automatically create financial fr...

I sat down with certified financial planner Robyn Jameson, who's spent 24 years helping successful families build real wealth.  Robyn breaks down why so many high earners still feel financially anxious, and the answer isn't about income at all, it's about clarity.  We talk about concentration risk hiding inside portfolios that people assume are diversified, the danger of comparing o...