Purpose with Mark Bertrang

You deserve to feel good about your finances after your divorce. Beth Kraszewski, CFP®, CDFA®, CLU® assists those going through a divorce to protect themselves. Beth is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst who has studied in the field of pre-divorce financial planning and is an expert in personal vs. marital property, valuing and dividing property, retirement assets and pensions, spousal and chil...

A recent visit to a Farm & Fleet Store reminds us all of how easily life can end. This should be a story of newborn baby chicks and ducklings. At a time around Easter, when life is new and precious a story told like this by an employee of the store recently visited reminded me of the simply fragility of life and how all the planning, we do can be undermined by something as simple as a lost package...

Planning for the lifetime needs of a special needs child is a great undertaking. Grady Jennings of the Dignity Group shares the work he does to assist families navigating the planning for their special needs children. Dignity Group empowers families through seminars, workshops, support groups, community gatherings, and free online learning materials. This second part of Grady's story helps to expl...

Planning for the lifetime needs of a special needs child is a great undertaking. Grady Jennings of the Dignity Group shares his personal story of the unexpected birth of his son James, who was a downs syndrome child. James changed Grady's life and his career practice. Dignity Group empowers families through seminars, workshops, support groups, community gatherings, and free online learning materia...

Mark Bertrang shares a story of a client who approached him at the beginning of his career, asking him to complete an application for life insurance. After finishing the questionnaire, ordering the medical tests and receiving approval from the insurance company, Mark was ready to deliver the policy only to be told the client had changed their mind about the purchase. What happened next forever mad...

Through a year of the Covid-19 pandemic, racial unrest, of Black Lives Matter comes a message of individual responsibility. What choices do we make each and every day? We are all the role models – either good role models or poor role models; other people have their eyes on us to see how we handle choices in our own lives. We can either live our lives to be uplifting or downgrading. It's our choice...

Amplitude Modulation and Frequency Modulation are the scientific terms for AM or FM radio. What can we learn from the modulation of radio waves in the comparison of the waves that can ripple through our lives and the lives of our loved-ones through the use of life insurance portfolio? Are we planning for the "line of sight" like FM radio waves travel or can we bend the impact from our lives, simil...

Each spring we spring ahead and each fall we fall back. We adjust our clocks for the change of daylight savings time. Wouldn't it be great if we could make the same adjustments with the planning of our lives? If we could only spring ahead of unforeseen problems or fall back to correct previous mistakes we have made in our lives. Isn't it time to set our personal values clock today to endure no mat...

Many times, people become distracted by what a product is called and forget the need to focus upon what it might accomplish for them. Some may deny themselves the benefits of liquid safe accumulation of cash along with the protection of their families because of the regulatory names of products. The questions to ask is 'what are the benefits to you and your family?" or "how will this product sing...

Whole Life insurance has existed for well over a century; yet to many there is confusion as to how the accumulation of its Cash Values work. There's a Guaranteed-side to Whole Life insurance that's built-in contractually and there's a side which can accumulate through the use of dividends which may be declared by mutual insurance companies, which allows policyowners to participate in the profitabi...

Recently with wintery sub-zero temperatures outside, Mark found his house with a broken furnace. While the HVAC guys were tearing out the old and installing the new, Mark was calculating the actual 'lost opportunity cost' of a furnace, it's yearly maintenance, the ongoing expense of natural gas, the impact of inflation and what would that money might have provided for his family's future economy t...

Guests: Kevin & Jessica Schaler Adult & Teen Challenge of Western Wisconsin-La Crosse is a long-term faith-based drug and alcohol recovery center that serves women, age 18+. It's a place of refuge for those who are stuck in the bonds of chemical addictions, as well as other life-controlling problems, taking a holistic approach to address the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of each person....

Wealth isn't measured by how much money you have; it's measured by how much freedom you have. It's easier to get ahead if you can follow a leader. Who is your leader? How do you become a member of their tribe? How do you create a tribe? It involves values, beliefs, ethics and a difference between your tribe and those standing from the outside looking in.

Careful consideration needs to be examined when a whole life insurance policy is used to accumulate cash for opportunities and cash for emergencies. Whole life insurance provides more than just a death benefit. It also provides potential liquidity for many different options that may require available cash. How does a MEC status affect your cash options?

Being an entrepreneur is a lonely, demanding road. We face decisions daily that a lot of people will be impacted by: team, clients and family. This heavy responsibility, along with memories of past failures causes our way forward to be murky with uncertainty. The result can become a business that we don't love anymore. We're working with people who don't feel like are "our people," and we drag our...

When discussing the Life Insurance Asset, you need to consider how this asset could assist you in fighting the "Eroding Factors" of your financial life, which include inflation, taxes, planned obsolescent, technology changes, consumption, consumption of savings and lifestyle changes. Do you have a tool to combat these eroding factors in your life?

Do you view your life insurance as a snapshot in time? That's what we're told to do by the financial gurus, as seen on television, radio and the internet. Are they taking the short view, when we should be taking the long view on our life insurance planning? Instead of a snapshot, perhaps we need to be taking a panoramic lifetime view.

Melissa Schultz is a business coach, strategist, trainer and speaker equipping women to leverage their God-given gifts to maximize their business potential to boldly achieve their dreams. Melissa recently spoke during a "Women with Purpose" luncheon titled "Finding the Light in The Darkness". Recent times have brought significant changes to our ability to socialize and be in community with one ano...

Erin Waldhart is the Executive Director of WAFER, the largest Food Pantry serving the La Crosse, Wisconsin region. What is WAFER and what are the services it provides; and what is Erin's story and her role there; and what is your role in serving the hungry in need?

How do you center yourself through the cold, dark winter of the Covid-19 pandemic? How do you help yourself or a loved one who doesn't want help and where are the resources to help?

This enduring story was read by Mark Bertrang on a recent December morning, in an open calf barn on the Todd & Gwen Manke farm north of Banger, Wisconsin; as we all wait in preparation for the coming of Christmas. A bale of hay was used, where Mark placed his bible which he read from on a cold winter morning. Join us for these four short minutes, as we remember the story of the real reason that we...

Brother Matthew Kotek is in temporary vows with the Midwest Province of the De La Salle Christian Brothers. After teaching for five years in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Memphis, Tennessee, he currently serves at the Fratelli Project, an educational center co-sponsored by the De La Salle Brothers and the Marist Brothers that serves Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. Many of our podcasts cen...

Mark Bertrang recalls a story of a trip taken to Winnipeg Canada in 1985. While there, he purchased a set of uncirculated coins from the Royal Canadian Mint, that have never been touched by human hands. What can be learned from this coinage in 2020?

Alexis Probst is a young business leader who began building her own business – "Elite Nutrition", practically right out of college. As a business owner and wellness coach, Alexis discusses her journey, taking immediate control over her future and sharing the lessons which she has learned along the way.

How does your faith come into play during the separation many of us are feeling from our job, school, friends, family, faith communities and perhaps even God, during this pandemic? This conversation explores bringing focus to our lives, by focusing on what is greater than ourselves.