122: Redefining Retirement: Finding Your Creative Voice Through Comedy with Lynn Harris
Release Date: 10/15/2025
134: Impact Investing for the Rest of Us: Making a Difference Without Millions with Missy Sue Mastel
Take Back Retirement
“If you are feeling that you are not powerful, you are wrong. You are very powerful just in and of yourself. And in community, it's just multiplied.” - Missy Sue Mastel Most people think impact investing is only for the ultra-wealthy. Missy Sue Mastel, a financial strategist with three decades in nonprofit capacity building, disagrees. Our hosts, Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines, welcome Missy to explore how everyday investors and retirees can drive meaningful change without writing a massive check. The conversation centers on what Missy calls "hypergrowth capitalism": a system so...
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133: Don’t Panic, Pause: Simple Steps to Avoid Being Scammed
Take Back Retirement
"Scammers rely on emotion. If they can catch you in that half second of panic, then they might be able to get you to do something.” 41% of American adults have lost money to scams. And that's only those who reported it. Our hosts, Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines, are back to talk all about money scams because the problem keeps growing, and because the scammers, as Kevin puts it, keep learning. The core mechanism hasn't changed either. Scams are all about manufactured panic. Whether it's a Social Security alert, a fake IRS demand, or a "computer security team" that called out of nowhere...
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132: What's Your Number? (rerun)
Take Back Retirement
"You need to come up with your own number, not using someone else's, because your situation is going to be different from someone else... and it's going to change over time, and that's still okay." A lot of folks believe that there is a magic number that they need to work towards in order to be able to retire. There is a myth out there that there is some perfect number of dollars you need to accumulate so that you can retire. That it’s really all just one mathematical equation with one distinct, perfect answer. …Except this belief is completely, utterly unfounded....
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131: Back to Basics: Essential First Steps to Taking Control of Your Finances (rerun)
Take Back Retirement
“It’s not about deprivation. It’s about balance. It’s about taking care of your today self and your future self.” Join our hosts, Stephanie McCullough of Sofia Financial and Kevin Gaines of American Financial Management Group, as they simplify the world of financial planning, starting with understanding cash flow. They tackle how to monitor the inflow and outflow of your money, without yet worrying about its source or where it's going. Learn the importance of observing more than one month of data, as things can fluctuate from month to month. Stephanie and Kevin...
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130: Planning to Age Well: Life Care, Long-term Care, and Advocacy with Laura Lynn Morrissey
Take Back Retirement
“A lot of women feel as though this is ‘my role, this is my job, and if I have to ask for help, there's something wrong with me.’ It doesn't mean failure. It just means that you're taking care of yourself as well as your loved ones.” - Laura Lynn Morrissey Our hosts, Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines, sit down with Laura Lynn Morrissey, founder of Silver Savvy. She brings a unique perspective, combining two decades at Fidelity Investments with hands-on experience building and selling home care companies in Boston! Laura Lynn's journey into senior care began while simultaneously...
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129: What Women Need to Know About Charitable Giving and Retirement
Take Back Retirement
“There are ways to get some more net dollars to the charity, having a smaller financial impact on your own situation. It just takes a little bit of looking at [your financial situation].” Our hosts Stephanie McCullough of Sofia Financial and Kevin Gaines of American Financial Management Group tackle the ins-and-outs of charitable giving, and reveal how strategic planning can maximize impact while preserving your financial security. While charities treat all dollars equally (they pay zero taxes), how you give dramatically affects your bottom line! First up, they cover critical 2026 tax...
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128: Scripts, Frameworks, and Real Talk: Mastering Money Conversations with Erika Wasserman
Take Back Retirement
“My goal in life, my purpose in life, is to spark conversations. And in 2026, my goal is to spark 10,000 financial conversations.” -Erika Wasserman Our hosts, Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines, welcome back financial therapist Erika Wasserman to discuss her groundbreaking new book Conversations with Your Financial Therapist. Invited by Wiley Publishing to write about the emotional side of money, Erika created a practical guide wrapped in storytelling, featuring seven composite characters navigating real financial conversations throughout their lives. The heart of the book is the...
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127: Conversations That Count: Money, Values, and Clarity with Carl Richards
Take Back Retirement
“In a life well lived, there's always going to be more things you may want to do than you can do with time, energy, money, and attention.” -Carl Richards Stephanie and Kevin welcome Carl Richards, creator of the iconic "Sketch Guy" column in The New York Times, for an inspiring conversation about his latest book, "Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in 101 Simple Sketches." Over 17 years in the making, this collection distills complex financial concepts into simple drawings designed to spark the conversations that truly matter! Each sketch focuses on a single idea, creating entry points for...
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126: Retiring Gen X Style: From Anxiety to Action with Kerry Hannon and Janna Herron
Take Back Retirement
“This is a generation that is incredibly scrappy. This is a generation that gets it done. We actually know how to find the resources when we need to.” – Kerry Hannon Our hosts, Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines, welcome Kerry Hannon and Janna Herron, co-authors of "Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future," for a candid conversation about why this overlooked generation faces unique retirement challenges, and why there's still plenty of time to turn things around! The timing couldn't be better. With the oldest Gen Xers turning 60 this year, this generation...
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125: Incremental Steps, Lasting Impact: How Small Changes Lead to Financial Success with Meg Wheeler, CPA
Take Back Retirement
“Creating safe spaces for people to talk about money is one of the most powerful things we can do right now to make the world better for change.” -Meg Wheeler Our hosts Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines sit down with Meg Wheeler, CPA and founder of the Equitable Money Project, who's on a mission to demolish the shame surrounding money conversations through accessible financial education. Her approach shows us that the path to financial confidence isn't about becoming an expert. It's about learning to simply talk about money without judgment. "Why should we know this when we've never...
info_outline"Comedy is power because when you make people laugh, you make people listen." -Lynn Harris
Our hosts, Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines, explore the unexpected world of midlife comedy careers with Lynn Harris! She’s the founder of Gold Comedy, a comedy school and professional network specifically designed for women and non-binary creators seeking to build comedy careers or creative side hustles.
Lynn's journey from journalist and standup comic is proof that midlife transitions can be moments of opportunity and not just crisis. She describes a "very vocal, powerful, creative, awesome cohort" of women in their forties, fifties, and better who arrive at Gold Comedy with a clear message: "I'm doing this."
These aren't bucket-list dabblers. They're women like Rocky, a retired high school art teacher who came saying, "I know I'm funny, but I don't know how to write a joke." Three years later, she's touring with her half-hour solo show and writing for a sketch team. Or Billie from Portland, whose pilot "Batshit Debbie" is now in development with a well-known comedian attached.
Lynn tells us that comedy serves as more than entertainment.
“Humor,” she says, “inspires trust.” When a comic takes you through a setup to an unexpected punchline, everyone’s connected. "You all who got that joke have something in common," Harris explains.
Technology has democratized access to comedy education. No longer must aspiring comics brave potentially hostile open mics or relocate to major cities. Through Zoom classes and social media, women can develop their craft from home, finding their unique voice without geographic or social barriers.
Most importantly, Harris reminds us that while natural talent helps, comedy is learnable. It requires practice, understanding the science of humor, and most crucially, developing your unique perspective.
That’s something midlife women already possess in abundance!
Key Topics:
- Gold Comedy's Mission and Midlife Students (3:04)
- Empty Nest as Creative Catalyst (6:24)
- Rocky's Journey from Art Teacher to Touring Comic (11:01)
- Can Anyone Learn to Be Funny? (13:42)
- Women Still Facing One-Woman-Per-Show Reality (18:27)
- How Comedy Builds Trust and Connection (27:18)
- Remote Comedy Education Breaking Down Barriers (32:59)
- Stephanie and Kevin's Wrap Up (39:05)
Resources:
- Classes, events, and info at GoldComedy.com
- Gold Comedy on Instagram (DM and mention that you heard Lynn on this episode for a 10% discount!)
If you like what you’ve been hearing, we invite you to subscribe on your favorite platform and leave us a review. Tell us what you love about this episode! Or better yet, tell us what you want to hear more of in the future. stephanie@sofiafinancial.com
You can find the transcript and more information about this episode at www.takebackretirement.com.
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