It's All Money

Would you take $20 now or $40 in a week? Deciding when to claim Social Security can feel like the same test, with far more money on the line. Sonoma Wealth Managing Principal Daren Blonski CFP® and Marketing Director Dano Weir are joined on It's All Money by Certified National Social Security Advisor Clay Dunkle CFP® to unpack when claiming may make sense and when waiting might cost you. In this e...

The global bond market is nearly three times the size of the US stock market, yet many don't know how it actually works. Sonoma Wealth Managing Principal Chris Sipes joins Marketing Director Dano Weir this week on It's All Money to explain the major types of bonds, how prices and yields move together, and why the current rate environment matters for mortgages, 401(k)s, and retirement income. In th...

Roth Conversion vs RMD: What Every High Earner Needs to Know Before Age 73 Your RMD isn't just a withdrawal — it's the IRS setting off a chain reaction that can spike your Medicare premiums, tax your Social Security, and wipe out the charitable giving move you didn't even know you had. In the latest episode of It's All Money, Sonoma Wealth Managing Principal Daren Blonski CFP® and Marketing Direct...

If you had $55,000 cash, buying 10 unopened boxes of used video games probably wouldn't be the first investment you'd choose. But when you're Jason and Rebecca Moorhouse of Petaluma, you have a system in place to turn those games into a potential 20%, 30% or even 40% return. This week on It's All Money, Sonoma Wealth Marketing Director Dano Weir breaks down the fascinating business and investment...

Protecting millions in luxury automobiles and millions in real estate takes two qualities- precision and trust. We are excited to share the entrepreneurial stories of Ivan Jimenez of Sonoma Auto Spa and Alison Pulido of Green Casa Cleaning in the latest episode of our podcast It's All Money. In this episode you'll discover:  How Ivan took his business from sedans to supercars.  The importance of n...

Kevin Warsh is the new Fed chair, and real estate buyers (and sellers) want to know what that means for mortgage rates.  In his first Fed Meeting this week, rates held, with 9 governors indicating a potential increase this year. Sonoma Wealth Marketing Director Dan Weir and Advisor Clay Dunkle sit down with Linda Zaiss, VP of Mortgage Lending at Rate in Napa with 26 years at the closing table for...

Last summer Congress created a brand new savings vehicle for minors called the “Trump Account” or 530A account. For families building generational wealth, the rules might not be what you'd expect. In the latest episode of our podcast It’s All Money, we're stacking it head-to-head against 529 accounts and the Custodial Roths to show you which one could win for your grandkids, your estate plan, and...

Our Sonoma Wealth Chief Operating Officer Jackie Egidio recently joined the Beyond the Vines podcast with Amy Ahlers, and we're sharing the audio here as a bonus for It's All Money listeners! What's it really like running a financial firm with 12 advisors, thousands of clients and $1 billion Assets Under Management? Listen and find out:  The financial planning conversations every business owner an...

Wine, blueberries and construction- chances are you’ve experienced Serres Ranch in the last 100 years in Sonoma County.  A Farm Bureau Farm Family Of The Year, the Serres family has become a pillar of the community, with decades of business successes and lessons along the way.  On the latest episode of Sonoma Wealth's life and finance podcast, It’s All Money , Sonoma Wealth Advisor Shelby Wirick a...

Most households treat taxes as a seasonal exercise in document collection. Meaningful wealth preservation demands something fundamentally different- proactive, year-round tax architecture designed to compound after-tax outcomes over a lifetime. What if there were tools your fiduciary financial advisor could offer, that provided proactive, year-round or years-long planning?  Tools to chart optimal,...

Physical fitness, crisply-made beds, chopping with high knees and precise execution are foundational principles that could get you through basic training in the United States Marine Corps.  But what could those very tenents also teach anyone, even you, about finance?  Sonoma Wealth Advisor Gaetano Bettinelli joins our house podcast It’s All Money to share his story as a Former Captain in the Marin...

It’s a Digital Age, no, it’s a Cloud Digital Age, no no, it’s an AI,Cloud, Digital Age where everything is saved forever and lives in your pocket, anytime you want.  Until it breaks.  Gets dropped in a lake.  Hard drive with all your crypto goes click click click.  Pirate hackers hold your business server hostage for ransom.  Or unfortunately for many in California, a device with your digital life...

Kicking off season 3 of It’s All Money with a special double-episode answering what seems like an obvious question- is inheriting money a good thing?  Well...maybe.  In the next 20 years, the largest wealth transfer in the history the USA is about to take place.  Whether giving or receiving...are you prepared?  Do you have a plan?  Sonoma Wealth Marketing Director Dano Weir and Managing Principal...

Following an unbelievable 12th straight Michelin Bib Gourmand award, host Dano Weir had to track down Chef Ari Weiswasser and Managing Partner Spencer Waite of the Glen Ellen Star restaurant for an episode of It’s All Money.  Just what is a Michelin Bib Gourmand award?  How is it different from a Michelin Star?  Awards are amazing, but they only happen with great food and great people. What early...

It’s one of the oldest "stocks" ever...GOLD.  It’s over though, right?  That’s the late-night TV infomercial stuff?  Your grandpa had it in a safe but you’re living in the future and everything’s digital now?  ...right?  Then why’s it up 43% this year, and 105% in the last 5 years?  Stock or not, shouldn’t your advisor be aware of an asset soaring like that?  This week on It’s All Money, hosts Dan...

First came seashells, then gold, then paper, and now, hold your breath, crypto.  That last one is hard to swallow because of it’s mysterious, scandalous, and in one case truly unknown origin.  But like it or not, crypto is becoming a part of the world outside your friend’s boyfriend’s cousin’s basement.  On this episode of It’s All Money, Sonoma Wealth CEO Daren Blonski CFP® and Marketing Director...

(00:00:00) 8 Secrets Learned Retiring Thousands (00:02:16) Don’t retire away, retire to something (00:06:19) The go-go years, the slo-Go years, and the no-go years (00:11:40) People are living longer (00:18:26) Social Security isn’t designed for retirement (00:22:09) Everyone gets along until you die (00:24:46) Buy memories, not things (00:27:31) Checks and balances (00:30:37) SOMEthing physical R...

It’s 2025!  Every business is Robots! Franchises!  CORPORATE!  ...then how is an upstart local restaurant with humans expanding from 1 to 5 locations in under 6 years? Through a global pandemic? In one of the world’s most highly competitive restaurant markets?  On the back of good ol’ burgers and fries?? 🍔🍟🥤  This week on It’s All Money, we sit down with Erica and Todd Kniess of Sonoma County’s...

Imagine 17,134 grains of sand in zen garden sand box.  ONE is an absolute winner.  Could you pick it?  Could you pick it from a much smaller box of 534 even?  That’s essentially cryptocurrency right now.  Dismissing cryptocurrency is a logical reaction and yet-  would you believe as an asset class, if all of crypto were on the Fortune 500, it would be a top 10 company by market cap?  Bigger than B...

We’re in year 3 of interest rates being basically 2-4x what they were the prior 3 years. Just this past month, June 2025, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said “For the time being, we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”  In other words, NO.  At Sonoma Wealth, we plan toward potential futures and outcomes...

We’ve all been doomscrolling on a phone at god-knows-AM when some stranger in a video says something that makes “sense” about money. Ever wonder what a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® might say to that same video? In this fun episode of It’s All Money, we open up the pandora’s box of internet money advice and let our Managing Principal, Daren Blonski CFP® give his take. Additionally, Marketing Direct...

Everybody knows ‘Social Security is going to go broke’...but is it?  A Social Security discussion often becomes a political one, and a key question often gets ignored for a retiree-  what functionally happens to the check I get every month when Social Security “goes broke”?  Would you be surprised to find out you will likely still get a check?  In this episode focused on retirees (and not politics...

Real Estate Headlines hurt these days don’t they?  “Pending Sales Hit All Time Low”  “Forecast Downgraded”  “Commision Litigation Could Impact Sales”  “REAL ESTATE HALTED”  While trends, data and comps matter, in real estate every deal is unique and individual.  Your friend’s house price doesn’t matter as much as your list price, your offer price.  This week on It's All Money, host Dano Weir and S...

You don’t want to hear this episode. No one does. But you probably need to watch this episode. If you’re in the orbit of Sonoma Wealth, then you’re a planner.  You’ve planned your whole life, and yes, you can plan your death too. But why bother? Did you know depending on the situation, the government can take 40% of what you have just to transfer it from you to your loved ones?  Did you know makin...

“Money’s all in your mind” sounds pretty hokey, doesn’t it?  But trace every decision you’ve ever made in life, including your money.  Where did it all flow from?  Right 😉🧠.At Sonoma Wealth Advisors, we offer a holistic approach for our clients (and future clients!).  This includes starting at square 1, or even square 0-  How do you think about money? What’s your behavior around it?  What’s your...