Childfree Life by Design

If money is the one thing you and your partner keep fighting about, you’re probably the normal ones. Research suggests we tend to fall for our financial opposites. Bill Nelson, CFP®, CFT™, who has worked with couples since 2016, knows what usually sits underneath the friction. He’s seen spouses who grew up with hyperinflation invest every paycheck the minute it lands, coming close to overdraft in an otherwise healthy household. He’s also seen wives who would merge everything except one private emergency fund after watching a friend’s husband empty the accounts and leave. Joining Maddy Roche, he makes the case that every couple has an objectively right way to align their finances, and almost no two of those answers look alike.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
Why couples tend to attract their financial opposites, and why that makes you the normal ones
What to combine, what to keep separate, and what a widely shared study on joint accounts can’t tell you about your own relationship
Where separate accounts end and financial secrets begin
How to keep power balanced when one partner earns more or manages all the money
The one savings question that settles most saver versus spender standoffs
A first money memory to explore over dinner, and a simple yes question that makes the hard conversation easier to start
Resources:
Joint bank account study by Jenny Olson of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and colleagues, published in the Journal of Consumer Research (2023)
https://academic.oup.com/jcr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jcr/ucad020/7077142 
Recommended next listen: Managing Money as a Couple: Yours, Mine, Ours, or Something Else Entirely? Ep 142 https://childfreeinsights.com/resources/podcast/episode-142

Episode Guest:
Bill Nelson, CFP® and Certified Financial Therapist™ Professional, is the founder of Pacesetter Planning and has been working with couples since 2016. He helps partners navigate the intersection of money and emotions--combining financial planning with the psychological side of personal finance--to build a strong foundation together. Whether you’re merging finances, working on your money mindset as a couple, or navigating tough money conversations with your spouse, Bill brings a practical and human framework to the financial side of marriage.
Connect with Bill Nelson, CFP®, CFT™:
Website: pacesetterplanning.com
Instagram: @pacesetterplanning
Episode Host:
Maddy Roche is the Chief Growth Officer at Childfree Trust®, where she leads all sales, marketing, and partnership initiatives and brings sharp insight to estate planning, LGBTQ+ legacy considerations, and Childfree financial decision making.
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.

Early on, about half of the free consultations at Childfree Wealth® ended in tears. When Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® finally asked why, people told him it was the first time they had felt heard. Five years and more than 50 versions of the business later, Childfree Trust® picked up three major wins in a single month. It received a $434,385 grant from the National Institute on Aging to build a Childfree-specific AI. TIME named it one of the Best Inventions of 2026 in the social impact category. The World Economic Forum named it an UpLink Venture. Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® and Bri Conn, CFP® go behind the wins, from a 2022 client question nobody could answer to the investor who said he couldn’t back a Childfree company and still go to church on Sunday.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
What the National Institute on Aging grant will build, and why general AI tools assume you have kids
Why TIME placed Childfree Trust® in the social impact category, alongside work on malaria and girls’ education
What becoming a World Economic Forum UpLink Venture opens up, including conversations outside the U.S.
The 2022 client question nobody could answer, and how it became Childfree Trust®
What building a company for Childfree people really takes, from 300 investor conversations to wanting to quit 100 times
Resources:
NIH awards Childfree Trust® $434,385 to research an AI tool for long-term care planning in adults without children: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/nih-awards-childfree-trust-434-385-to-research-ai-tool-for-long-term-care-planning-in-adults-without-children-1036570933
Childfree Trust is seeking Childfree adults 50 and older to help build and test the AI tool. Share your interest here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1BeFla-ITpjy9OtbBcGocs_m1yAD2aum1PcvmdjrMtYg/viewform 
Recommended next listen: Building Childfree Trust® - Partnership with Welon Trust │ Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP®, John Steiner, CFA®, & Robert Allan, CFP®, CFA®, CPA, Ep 179 https://childfreeinsights.com/resources/podcast/episode-179

Episode Hosts:
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®, the first of its kind next of kin representation service for Childfree people. He is also the author of The Childfree Guide to Life and Money.
Bri Conn, CFP® is a Childfree Wealth Specialist® at Childfree Wealth® and Customer Experience Manager at Childfree Trust®. She specializes in financial management, life design, and estate planning, with particular focus on LGBTQ+ individuals and couples, drawing on her own early financial challenges and recovery to fuel her work in personal finance education.

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.

You have around 500 passwords, thousands of photos in the cloud, and a phone that opens with your face. Niki Weiss joins Bri Conn, CFP® with the part most people have never considered: your will does not override the privacy agreements you signed with the platforms. Meta owns your data. Spotify owns your account. A digital legacy thanatologist who went from hospice bedsides to project management, she treats end-of-life planning like any complex project with stakeholders, risks, and a timeline, and she's blunt that having kids makes none of it simpler.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
Why estate planning is one piece of end-of-life planning, and how the four domains and three scenarios fit together
What platform privacy agreements mean for your accounts after you die, including Meta's AI patent for accounts of people who have died
How to set up legacy contacts on your phone, and why one person is not enough
What a letter of instruction and a crucial document box should actually contain
Why old documents create probate problems, and why same-sex couples should not wait on this
Resources:
Recommended next listen: Who Handles It All When You're Gone? Death, Legacy, and Planning for a Solo Life with Marni Blank, Ep. 138 https://childfreeinsights.com/resources/podcast/episode-138
Episode Guest:
Niki Weiss is the Founder and CEO of ENDevo and a Digital Legacy Thanatologist. Both her parents were gone by the time she turned 50. A former hospice clinician with a background in project management and risk analysis, she started asking a question most people avoid, which is what happens to your digital life when your physical one ends. She built ENDevo and My Final Playbook to answer it, a four-pillar approach to end-of-life planning across legal, financial, physical, and digital, designed for individuals and for employers who want to offer it to their teams. She calls the plan a love letter. Her tagline is "Live fully ~ die ready."
Connect with Niki Weiss:
LinkedIn: Niki Weiss, Digital Thanatologist
Website: endevo.life
Website: finalplaybook.com
Episode Host:
Bri Conn, CFP® is a Childfree Wealth Specialist® at Childfree Wealth® and Customer Experience Manager at Childfree Trust®. She specializes in financial management, life design, and estate planning, with particular focus on LGBTQ+ individuals and couples, drawing on her own early financial challenges and recovery to fuel her work in personal finance education.
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.

For a lot of Childfree people, the question isn't whether they have time and energy to give, it's where to point it so it actually means something. Lemon Price has an answer. A civic leader who's been in these rooms since she was ten, she joins Maddy Roche to demystify the path from casual volunteer to the seat where decisions actually get made. She's honest that the work itself is refreshingly unglamorous, it's governance, not glory, and she makes the case that showing up with intention is what turns your passion into real influence in your community. The conversation also lands somewhere freeing: your cause doesn't have to be your forever, and giving yourself permission to evolve is part of designing a meaningful life.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
The real difference between volunteering and board service, why a board's actual job is governance, and what's expected of you once you have a seat
How to "volunteer with intention," name your skill set so the right people can tap you, and learn an organization's strategic plan and gaps before you ever ask to join
The tactical things every prospective board member should know, from the fact that nonprofit boards are unpaid and carry fiduciary responsibility, to why you want liability coverage and accurate minutes
How to build a reputation that opens doors, why leadership is a whole-life practice, and how to network your way toward a board seat without awkwardly asking for one
Why your passions are allowed to shift over time, how to find the "through line" that connects the causes you care about, and why you're never married to a single mission
Resources:
Recommended next listen: Finding Friendship and Community as a Childfree Adult, Ep 201 https://childfreeinsights.com/resources/podcast/episode-201
Episode Guest:
Lemon Price is a civic leader, ICF-trained leadership coach, and certified public speaker whose work sits at the intersection of institutional influence, intentional living, and women's leadership development. She hosts the Well Lived Society podcast, ranked in the top 2 percent of podcasts globally, and has been featured twice in Forbes for her work in leadership development. She's the founder of Civic and Board Fellowship, a six-week experience helping accomplished women enter the rooms where decisions are made, and she currently serves the Junior League of Savannah and as a legislative liaison for the Georgia State Public Affairs Committee.
Connect with Lemon Price:
Website: lemonprice.co
 Podcast: The Well Lived Society
 LinkedIn: Lemon Price
Episode Host:
Maddy Roche is the Chief Growth Officer at Childfree Trust®, where she leads all sales, marketing, and partnership initiatives and brings sharp insight to estate planning, LGBTQ+ legacy considerations, and Childfree financial decision making.
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.

Giving gets complicated fast when you start asking where your time and money can make the most impact. Bri Conn, CFP® and Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® explore how Childfree people can give with more intention, whether that means volunteering, donating to causes, supporting friends and family, or creating meaningful experiences.
They also cover giving while you are alive, vetting organizations before making larger commitments, and setting boundaries so generosity does not turn into obligation.
In This Episode, You'll Learn:
Why deciding who you want to impact comes before deciding how much to give.
How to choose between giving time, money, skills, services, or a combination that fits your life.
Why giving while you are alive can help you see the impact, test organizations, and adjust your plans over time.
What to consider before making a large gift to a small local nonprofit that may not have the systems to manage it.
How paying for education, services, experiences, or specific needs can create healthier boundaries when helping friends and family.
Mentioned in this episode:

Ann Patchett TEDx Talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBx86QE4k3s

Episode Hosts:
Bri Conn, CFP® is a Childfree Wealth Specialist® at Childfree Wealth® and Customer Experience Manager at Childfree Trust®. She specializes in financial management, life design, and estate planning, with particular focus on LGBTQ+ individuals and couples, drawing on her own early financial challenges and recovery to fuel her work in personal finance education.
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®, the first of its kind next of kin representation service for Childfree people. He is also the author of The Childfree Guide to Life and Money.
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.