Tag: Financial Planning

Maximizing Your Retirement Through Estate Planning with Craig Hersch (Ep.67)

Maximizing Your Retirement Through Estate Planning with Craig Hersch (Ep.67)

Think estate planning is just about what happens after you’re gone? Think again! It’s a vital life plan to help you shield wealth, minimize taxes, and set your family up for success. 

Today on The Dream Architect Life Podcast, Bryan Sweet interviews Craig Hersch, a seasoned estate planning attorney and strategic coach. They discuss the upcoming changes in estate tax laws, particularly the sunset provisions set to take effect in 2026. Craig shares insights on advanced estate planning strategies, the importance of timing, and how to identify qualified estate planning attorneys.

Craig discusses: 

  •  How important is timing when implementing estate planning strategies
  •  What are some common misconceptions clients have about estate planning processes
  •  Why is open communication with family about financial matters essential
  •  What is necessary to create a personalized estate plan tailored to a client’s unique situation
  • And more

Resources: 

Connect With Craig Hersch:

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

About Our Guest:

Craig R. Hersch is the go-to National Practice Development Expert for truly entrepreneurial & ambitious estate planning attorneys. He almost single-handedly created the innovative, trademarked processes The Family Estate & Legacy Program® and The Estate Settlement Program®, The Advanced Planning Expander™ and The Transitional Event Sequence™.  These unique processes, designed to provide clients with comfort and clarity when navigating the complex legal, tax, and financial concerns associated with planning and administering an estate, are innovative game-changers that can’t be compared with anything else out there.

REPLAY: Navigating Uncertainty and Adversity In The Current Age

REPLAY: Navigating Uncertainty and Adversity In The Current Age

It’s time to hit replay on an episode that covers an increasingly relevant topic in today’s digital age: uncertainty and adversity.

Fear can paralyze us and prevent us from achieving our dreams. That’s why we want to share these practical steps on focusing on what you CAN control, using visualization, and seeking positive influences to stay motivated. 

By tuning in, gain clarity on:

  • Focusing on what you can control and what you can do to reduce fear and anxiety
  • Surrounding yourself with positive influences and limiting exposure to negative media
  • Take small, actionable steps toward your dreams, like researching travel destinations or talking to professionals
  • How visualization can be a powerful tool in staying motivated and excited about your future

Resources: 

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

Overcome Distractions and Achieve Your Dreams with Mary Morrissey (Ep.63)

Overcome Distractions and Achieve Your Dreams with Mary Morrissey (Ep.63)

Unlock the keys to transforming your dreams into reality with the insights of our guest, Mary Morrissey, founder of the Brave Thinking Institute, the world’s premier provider of transformational training and coaching.

Join Mary as she is interviewed by Bryan Sweet and Brittany Anderson, where she shares powerful transformational strategies to help you turn your dreams into reality. She discusses the importance of having a clear vision, overcoming distractions, and using practical tools like the “up until now” mindset shift. 

Discover how to build a life that encompasses not only success but also fulfillment and purpose as this episode highlights:

  • Understanding the importance of a clear and actionable vision for your future
  • Practical techniques to recognize and manage distractions that impede your progress
  • Embracing the “up until now” mindset to overcome limiting beliefs and barriers
  • How small daily actions can lead to significant life transformations over time

Resources:

Connect With Mary Morrissey:

Go to Brave Thinking Institute to order your copy of “Brave Thinking” and get 3 bonuses!

✨Bonuses include: The “Designing A Life You Love” guided meditation bundle, “100 Common Hour Thoughts & How To Transform Them” kit and “Winning The Battles Of The Mind” Affirmation Collection)

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

About Our Guest:

Mary Morrissey has made it her mission to empower people to create and live a life they love. 

For over 50 years Mary has studied the art and science of transforming dreams into results. 

Mary is the founder of the Brave Thinking Institute, the world’s premier provider of transformational training and coaching. Through life-changing books, events, and programs, Mary has helped millions of people tap into the power within them to achieve new levels of success and experience a deeper sense of meaning and purpose.


Mary holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology and an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters. She has addressed the United Nations three times, co-convened three week-long meetings with His Holiness The Dalai Lama, and met with President Nelson Mandela in South Africa.

She has written two best-selling books, No Less Than Greatness and Building Your Field of Dreams, which became a PBS special.
Today, Mary is focused on a bold dream: 1 Billion Dreams Achieved around the world.

That dream begins with you!

REPLAY: Creating an Even Bigger Future Than Envisioned With Amber Knips, CFP®, CDFA®, CeFT® (Ep. 58)

REPLAY: Creating an Even Bigger Future Than Envisioned With Amber Knips, CFP®, CDFA®, CeFT® (Ep. 58)

Something every financial planner dreams about doing is helping their retirees achieve a far better retirement than they had ever hoped for.

Our guest, Amber Knips has a lot of experience doing just that.

In this episode, Brittany Anderson chats with Amber Knips, wealth advisor at Sweet Financial, about the biggest obstacles modern-day retirees face and what strategies they can use to mitigate these struggles, both financial and mental.

Amber discusses: 

  • Where she sees retirees getting the most ‘stuck’ and what modern-day obstacles they face the most 
  • How she uses “fear mitigation” with retirees when they are afraid of overspending (and the risk of inexperience because of this fear)
  • What does dreaming big mean to her and how does this mentality apply to retirees like you
  • How to apply the 50/50 retirement approach – the misconception that retirement is either full-time traveling or full-time doing nothing at home
  • And more

Resources: 

Connect With Amber Knips, CFP®:

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

About Amber Knips:

Amber helps people see possibility through life’s greatest and most challenging transitions.  She is someone who has total passion and conviction for what she does. Using her empathetic and sincere approach, she has made it her mission to build deepened relationships with her clients all while helping them cultivate a financial plan that helps them focus on what they most enjoy. After joining the team at Sweet Financial Partners in 2012, Amber has gained extensive experience and training in guiding women through transitions such as the loss of a loved one, divorce, career change, retirement, and much more. You only experience these life transitions a few times during your lifetime, but she helps people through them every day.

How To Create A Fulfilling Retirement: Time Management With Jacob Hartke (Ep.53)

How To Create A Fulfilling Retirement: Time Management With Jacob Hartke (Ep.53)

True fulfillment comes from creating meaningful experiences and positively impacting those around us, either in your career or your retirement.

Recently, Brittany Anderson, Partner at Sweet Financial sat down with Jacob Hartke, CRPC® to discuss the value of time management.

Jacob shares how his transition from an intern to a client-facing role has helped build upon his passion for building deep, meaningful relationships with clients. Listen as he and Brittany explore how dreaming big varies for each individual and the importance of focusing on one’s purpose rather than getting bogged down by the “how.” 

Discussion points include:

  • Jacob’s journey from aspiring lawyer to financial advisor–how defining his skills allowed him to find his perfect role
  • The value of embracing life’s changes when pursuing your aspirations
  • The role of time management in the advising industry and the transition into retirement
  • The evolution of “dreaming big” & why you need to define it at every stage of life
  • And more

Resources: 

Connect With Jacob Hartke:

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

About Our Guest:

As a master of time management and a drive for excellence that is reflected in all he does, Jacob has been a wonderful addition to the Wealth Services department here at Sweet Financial. Having joined our team in 2015, Jacob has developed a skillset in helping our clients build and execute a financial plan that supports their biggest dreams. You will find him working diligently behind the scenes, completing more tasks than what should be normal for any human, just to ensure our clients get a plan that is accurate and timely.

 Jacob finds joy in helping each of our clients with their distinct retirement plans and inevitably helping them create the retirement they can’t wait to wake up to. He thrives on living out the vision for the company, which is to create relationships with clients that goes beyond just the finances. But rather helps people think more about how they want to spend their retirement.

 Jacob graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2015 with a degree in Financial Economics and a minor in Political Science. He is a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™ (CRPC®) which provides him with special training in all aspects of retirement planning, including a comprehensive assessment of an individual’s financial needs before or after retirement, including sources of retirement income, personal savings, income taxes, estate planning, and more. He lives in Fairmont with his wife Sierra, daughters Haevyn and Henlee, and their dog Cammie. When Jacob isn’t at work, he enjoys spending time out on the lakes or taking walks with his girls.

Creating an Even Bigger Future Than Envisioned With Amber Knips, CFP®, CDFA®, CeFT® (Ep. 41)

Creating an Even Bigger Future Than Envisioned With Amber Knips, CFP®, CDFA®, CeFT® (Ep. 41)

Something every financial planner dreams about doing is helping their retirees achieve a far better retirement than they had ever hoped for.

Our guest, Amber Knips has a lot of experience doing just that.

In this episode, Brittany Anderson chats with Amber Knips, wealth advisor at Sweet Financial, about the biggest obstacles modern-day retirees face and what strategies they can use to mitigate these struggles, both financial and mental.

Amber discusses: 

  • Where she sees retirees getting the most ‘stuck’ and what modern-day obstacles they face the most 
  • How she uses “fear mitigation” with retirees when they are afraid of overspending (and the risk of inexperience because of this fear)
  • What dreaming big means to her and how this mentality applies to retirees like you
  • How to apply the 50/50 retirement approach – the misconception that retirement is either full-time traveling or full-time doing nothing at home
  • And more

Resources: 

Connect With Amber Knips, CFP®:

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

About Amber Knips:

Amber helps people see possibility through life’s greatest and most challenging transitions.  She is someone who has total passion and conviction for what she does. Using her empathetic and sincere approach, she has made it her mission to build deepened relationships with her clients all while helping them cultivate a financial plan that helps them focus on what they most enjoy. After joining the team at Sweet Financial Partners in 2012, Amber has gained extensive experience and training on guiding women through transitions such as loss of a loved one, divorce, career change, retirement and much more. You only experience these life transitions a few times during your lifetime, but she helps people through them every day.

Get Visibly Fit™ In Mind, Body and Spirit With Wendie Pett (Ep.36)

Get Visibly Fit™ In Mind, Body and Spirit With Wendie Pett (Ep.36)

Planning for retirement consists of so much more than setting and investing the right amount of money. People often forget how important it is to invest in their health so they can enjoy their wealth.

How are you investing in your health to enjoy your retirement?

In this episode, Brittany Anderson talks with Wendie Pett, a professional trainer and coach. Wendie discusses her journey of becoming a health and wellness coach so many people can enjoy their retirement years and create valuable memories.

Wendie discusses: 

  • The path that led her to become a passionate health & wellness trainer and coach
  • How you can implement physical and fiscal healthy habits into your lifestyle
  • How to not just invest your money for retirement but invest in yourself
  • How to start realistically pursuing your fitness goals 
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Wendie Pett:

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

About Our Guest:

For over two decades, Wendie Pett has been motivating people to make fitness and good nutrition part of their daily routine. She teaches the balance of mind, body and spirit through her Visibly Fit™ wellness program. Wendie has a nationally syndicated television program that airs each week on the NRB Network, LIFTABLEtv, WLCN, Faith Unveiled Network and IBN Television. It has aired for over 9 years. Her television show also appears weekly on the Life Network For Women app. For over 8 years, she’s been known as ‘Coach Wendie’ on KTIS radio in the Twin Cities with her featured healthy tips segments. Wendie is also a featured columnist in VEGWORLD Magazine, The Christian View, Best Ever You, Refreshed, Vegan Lifestyle, and Diet.com. Wendie has two podcasts, Visibly Fit (won Best Lifestyle Podcast 2021 by Spark Media) and Your Biggest Breakthrough with her husband, Todd. Wendie is a full-time business owner, a naturopathic doctor, wife, mother, author, speaker, TV host, advisory board member for Christian Women in Media and part-time volunteer. Her business consists of whole-food/plant-based wellness coaching, emotional healing, personal online training, fitness planning, educational and motivational speaking, and creating new products/tools to assist clients along their wellness journey. After a major injury to her shoulder, she resorted to body weight resistance exercises for strength and healing and hasn’t turned back to any other form of training since. She has helped countless others reach their fitness goals without ever compromising their joints, tendons, or ligaments – teaching that Your Body Is Your Gym™ and instilling new diet habits that have shown to reverse multiple diseases and allow people to get off medications. To learn more go to www.wendiepett.com.

Extraordinary Out Of The Ordinary, Part 3 (Ep. 35)

Extraordinary Out Of The Ordinary, Part 3 (Ep. 35)

For some reason, people think that experience equals traveling somewhere. But experiences are sometimes just making the extraordinary out of the ordinary. 

But ultimately you have to define what experiences mean to you.

In this episode, Bryan Sweet and Brittany Anderson discuss how to be intentional about the experiences you want to have in your life. They also explain how their resources and connections can help to eliminate all the reasons why your experiences are not going to happen, to live a more fulfilling life.

Bryan and Brittany discuss:

  • Two examples of Bryan’s most favorite experiences
  • How they help clients find those things that can give them experiences to satisfy that itch
  • Why you should be intentional about your desired experiences
  • If it’s not front of mind it’s less likely to happen
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

Living A Life Beyond Wealth Through Legacy and Purpose, Part 2 (Ep. 34)

Living A Life Beyond Wealth Through Legacy and Purpose, Part 2 (Ep. 34)

The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why. There’s been studies done that say if you lack purpose, your life expectancy is four to seven years less.

In this episode, Bryan Sweet and Brittany Anderson address why it’s so important to take the time to discover what motivates you, and gives you a sense of belonging. 

Bryan and Brittany discuss: 

  • What it means to have purpose in your life
  • How to prevent emotional or rash decision making
  • Being intentional about how you want people to feel because of your actions
  • How to get started on making your mark
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

Adding Value 2 Life With Robert Peterson (Ep.19)

Adding Value 2 Life With Robert Peterson (Ep.19)

Adding value to other people’s lives every day, helps us to impact their life in some way.

In this episode, Robert Peterson, co-founder and president of AV2L Consulting (Add Value 2 Life) will share how your understanding of money and dreams can impact lives. He also teaches you how you can shift your negative mindset. 

Robert discusses: 

  • The path that led him to where he is today
  • One area of life people get stuck in the most
  • Why he started his podcast
  • How you can shift yourself out of a negative mindset
  • And more

Resources: 

Connect With Robert Peterson:

Connect With Sweet Financial Partners:

About Our Guest:

Robert Peterson is the co-founder and president of AV2L Consulting llc. He and his partner founded AV2L because they believe that human beings were created to take care of each other. They believe they were meant to, “encourage one another and build each other up.”

He helps entrepreneurs make great connections and build meaningful relationships.

He has a lifelong passion of serving and helping people. He has taught and coached leaders in dozens of countries and has a unique ability to connect, excite and impact my audiences.

His coaching and training helps leaders focus on strategy, leadership, influence, communication, relationships and accountability while connecting their passion and faith to tangible results.

Robert is passionate about seeing his clients believe in themselves and achieve results they never believed possible.