Childfree Life by Design

Rental properties, passive income, and long-distance real estate investing sound great on social media. The reality looks a lot more like what Justin Brown-Woods actually lived -- two properties across Michigan and Ohio, squatters, stolen copper pipes, three evictions in one year, and a net loss of $25,000 on the first property alone. Bri Conn, CFP® sits down with Justin Brow-Woods, Accredited Financial Counselor® and co-founder of Price of Avocado Toast, for an honest look at what small investors need to know before they buy.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
Why rental properties are rarely passive income, and how a single repair -- a sewer pipe, a roof, a set of stolen copper pipes -- can wipe out months of cash flow for a small investor with no cushion to absorb it
What inheriting tenants actually means, why the deal that looks great on paper can come with problems that no inspection uncovers, and how three evictions in one year became Justin's reality
Why out-of-state investing creates a specific set of risks around property management, oversight, and the gap between what you are paying for and what you are actually getting
How social media turns real estate investing into a fantasy product, and why the person with 99 properties and a beach vacation is not the same person as the small investor trying to build long-term wealth
Why having trusted people in your corner -- a real estate coach, a financial therapist, a straight-talking property manager -- made the difference between staying stuck and getting out with a plan
Episode Guest:
Justin Brown-Woods is an accredited financial counselor and co-founder of Price of Avocado Toast, a podcast and financial counseling service he runs with his wife Hailey. He helps people ditch shame, embrace mindful spending, and build a sustainable financial life aligned with their values, with a focus on progress over perfection.
Learn more about Justin on his website: priceofavocadotoast.com 
And on Instagram: https://instagram.com/priceofavocadotoast

Episode Host:
Bri Conn, CFP® is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, Childfree Wealth Specialist® at Childfree Wealth®, and Customer Experience Manager at Childfree Trust®.
About Childfree Insights:
Childfree Insights is a trusted resource for life planning without children. It explores financial planning, estate planning, relationships, and long-term decisions for adults building a future without kids. Home of Childfree Wealth® and Childfree Trust®.
Connect with Us:
Ready to work on building better financial habits? Connect with our financial planning team at childfreewealth.com or learn more about estate planning at childfreetrust.com.
Follow Childfree Life by Design on your favorite podcast platform and join the conversation on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/childfreeinsights
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChildfreeInsights/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/childfreeinsights
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChildfreeInsights
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational & entertainment purposes. Please consult your advisor before implementing any ideas heard on this podcast.

In this crossover episode, Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® sat down with Dr. Bill Yount, host and founder of the Catching Up to FI podcast, for a conversation that starts where most financial conversations never go. Bill recently hit financial independence and found himself in what he calls the fog of FI -- that disorienting stretch after you reach the number and realize the number was never really the point. He and Dr. Jay compare notes on what it actually feels like to arrive at a goal you spent years building toward, what it takes to build a meaningful second chapter, and what legacy really means when you are not leaving it to children.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
Reaching your goals is an identity shift, not a finish line. Dr. Bill calls it the "fog of FI." 
For Childfree people, legacy is not about lineage. Dr. Jay's second-line obituary exercise cuts to it: after your name and date, what does your life actually say?
Lowercase p purpose is what keeps you from wandering. It's not a grand mission, it's knowing who you want to serve and how.
Most retirement readiness has nothing to do with money. Fritz Gilbert's framework puts roughly 15 of 20 steps in the "soft" category: relationships, creativity, identity, and giving.
The right financial planner is a thought partner. Both Dr. Jay and Dr. Bill make the case for flat-fee planners who focus on life and behavior, not portfolio management.
Episode Host:
Dr. Jay Zigmont, PhD, MBA, CFP® is the Founder of Childfree Wealth®, a life and financial planning firm dedicated to helping Childfree and Permanently Childless people, and Childfree Trust®. He is also the author of The Childfree Guide to Life and Money.
Episode Guest:
Dr. Bill Yount is a practicing Emergency Physician and the host and founder of Catching Up to FI, a podcast for late starters at any age on the journey to financial independence. A self-described late starter himself, his mission is to help others begin where they are. 
Learn more on the Catching Up to FI Website: https://catchinguptofi.com/
And find him on Catching up to FI: https://www.facebook.com/groups/catchinguptofi/ 
And the Financial Literacy Project: https://www.facebook.com/groups/371081386982173/ 

About Childfree Insights
Childfree Insights is a trusted resource for life planning without children. It explores financial planning, estate planning, relationships, and long-term decisions for adults building a future without kids. Home of Childfree Wealth® and Childfree Trust®.
Connect with Us:
Ready to work on building better financial habits? Connect with our financial planning team at childfreewealth.com or learn more about estate planning at childfreetrust.com.
Follow Childfree Life by Design on your favorite podcast platform and join the conversation on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/childfreeinsights
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChildfreeInsights/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/childfreeinsights
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChildfreeInsights
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational & entertainment purposes. Please consult your advisor before implementing any ideas heard on this podcast.

Every major life change comes with a to-do list most people don't think about until they're already in the middle of it. The job switch that leaves you a month without a paycheck. The move that triggers a tax bill from a state you no longer live in. The divorce where nobody updated the beneficiary and the ex-spouse got the pension.
Being Childfree means more flexibility to make bold moves. It also means more responsibility to plan them deliberately. In this episode, Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® and Bri Conn, CFP® walk through the financial and legal checklist that should come with every major life transition, from career pivots and relocations to marriage, divorce, and everything in between. 
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
Why timing a job change can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
How to build a relocation plan that accounts for the costs most people miss.
Why a prenup is really a financial conversation first, and how working through money values, spending habits, and what Jay calls compatible baggage.
What gray divorce means for Childfree adults and why updating beneficiaries is non-negotiable.
How to build a sinking fund for any major life transition, so that when the move, the career pivot, or the life change actually happens, your emergency fund stays untouched and the stress stays manageable.
The episode referenced in this conversation can be heard here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2002436/episodes/18504425
Episode Hosts:
Dr. Jay Zigmont, PhD, MBA, CFP® is the Founder of Childfree Wealth® and Childfree Trust®. He is also the author of “The Childfree Guide to Life and Money.”
Bri Conn, CFP® is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, Childfree Wealth Specialist® at Childfree Wealth®, and Customer Experience Manager at Childfree Trust®.
About Childfree Insights
Childfree Insights focuses on planning for solo aging and later life without children. It offers trusted education on financial planning, estate planning, and building support systems for people aging independently. Home of Childfree Wealth® and Childfree Trust®.

Connect with Us:
Ready to work on building better financial habits? Connect with our financial planning team at childfreewealth.com or learn more about estate planning at childfreetrust.com.
Follow Childfree Life by Design on your favorite podcast platform and join the conversation on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/childfreeinsights
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChildfreeInsights/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/childfreeinsights
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChildfreeInsights
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational & entertainment purposes. Please consult your advisor before implementing any ideas heard on this podcast.

In this episode, Bri Conn CFP®, Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP®, and Maddy Roche share four real client stories, the kind that start with someone doing everything more or less right, and then life intervening in ways nobody planned for. 
These stories are not cautionary tales. They are honest, human reminders that planning is not about predicting the future, it is about being ready for the version of it that actually shows up.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
How an inheritance can sit quietly in the background of someone's life for years before a financial planner asks the right question and everything changes.
What homeowner's insurance actually needs to cover, why so many people are underinsured without knowing it, and what 80% of home value really means when a tree comes through the roof.
Why stock options are often dismissed as monopoly money and what that mindset costs people when an acquisition or IPO creates a narrow, time-sensitive window to save millions in taxes.
How one form filed within 30 days with the IRS can protect up to $10 million in stock option gains.
Additional Resources Mentioned in this Episode are:
Building Your Bench with Maddy Roche and Bri Conn, CFP®
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2002436/episodes/18504425

Planning Without Next of Kin | Maddy Roche & Chris Dale, CFP®, CeFT®
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2002436/episodes/18748824

What if your Parents Run out of Money | Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® & Bri Conn, CFP®
https://childfreeinsights.com/resources/podcast/episode-136/ 
Inheriting Parent Care Responsibility | Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® & Bri Conn, CFP®
https://childfreeinsights.com/resources/podcast/episode-137/ 
Episode Hosts:
Bri Conn, CFP® is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, Childfree Wealth Specialist® at Childfree Wealth®, and Customer Experience Manager at Childfree Trust®.
Maddy Roche is Chief Growth Officer at Childfree Trust® and handles all marketing, growth, and prospect engagement. 
Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® is the Founder of Childfree Wealth®, a life and financial planning firm dedicated to helping Childfree and Permanently Childless people, and Childfree Trust®. He is also the author of The Childfree Guide to Life and Money.
About Childfree Insights:
Childfree Insights is the trusted education hub for people who are Childfree or permanently Childless. It provides guidance on finances, estate planning, relationships, and life decisions for adults without children. Home of Childfree Wealth® and Childfree Trust®, supporting long-term planning for people living without kids.
Connect with Us:
Ready to work on building better financial habits? Connect with our financial planning team at childfreewealth.com or learn more about estate planning at childfreetrust.com.
Follow Childfree Life by Design on your favorite podcast platform and join the conversation on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/childfreeinsights
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChildfreeInsights/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/childfreeinsights
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChildfreeInsights
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational & entertainment purposes. Please consult your advisor before implementing any ideas heard on this podcast.

In this episode, Bri Conn CFP® sits down with Hillary, a client who is Childfree not by choice, for a real-life Childfree Wealth® checkup. Hillary has already done much of the emotional heavy lifting, moving through grief, redefining what her future looks like, and arriving at a place of clarity and intention. Now she is ready to match that clarity with a financial plan that actually fits her life.
What unfolds is an honest, grounded conversation about inherited accounts, trust income, estate planning gaps, career sustainability, and what it really means to plan for a future you once imagined differently.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
Why a Childfree Wealth® checkup is a discovery session first, and how the process of gathering your financial information can bring surprising clarity before the first meeting even begins
How the emotional journey from childless not by choice to Childfree by intention shapes the way you save, plan, and envision your future
Why inherited IRAs come with time-sensitive distribution rules that depend on the original account owner's date of death, and what that means for long-term planning
How to tell the difference between an HSA and an FSA, why it matters more than most people realize, and the triple tax advantage you may already have access to
Why six months of liquid savings carries even more weight when you are single, and how an accessible emergency fund protects you when disability coverage, job changes, or healthcare costs create unexpected gaps
The episode mentioned in this conversation can be found here: 
https://childfreeinsights.com/resources/podcast/episode-168/ 
Episode Host:
Bri Conn, CFP® is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, Childfree Wealth Specialist® at Childfree Wealth®, and Customer Experience Manager at Childfree Trust®.

About Childfree Insights:
Childfree Insights is a trusted resource for life planning without children. It explores financial planning, estate planning, relationships, and long-term decisions for adults building a future without kids. Home of Childfree Wealth® and Childfree Trust®.

Connect with Us:
Ready to work on building better financial habits? Connect with our financial planning team at childfreewealth.com or learn more about estate planning at childfreetrust.com.
Follow Childfree Life by Design on your favorite podcast platform and join the conversation on social media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/childfreeinsights
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChildfreeInsights/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/childfreeinsights
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChildfreeInsights
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational & entertainment purposes. Please consult your advisor before implementing any ideas heard on this podcast.