125: Incremental Steps, Lasting Impact: How Small Changes Lead to Financial Success with Meg Wheeler, CPA
Release Date: 12/01/2025
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....
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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...
info_outline
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
124: Leap Smart: Career Transitions and Financial Strategies for Midlife Women with Tabatha Jones
Take Back Retirement
"It is never too late to start something new and to put your energy into something that you’ve loved your whole life, but you’ve never had time to focus on." Our hosts, Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines, explore the strategic path to entrepreneurship in midlife with the Corporate Escape Sherpa herself, Tabatha Jones! After 30 years in corporate tech leadership, Tabatha made her leap at age 50 and now guides women through building profitable businesses before they leave their steady paychecks behind. "If it's not on your calendar, if it's not something you are focused on doing, it...
info_outline
123: Making Your Own Story: Finding Meaning After 50 with Diane Gansauer
Take Back Retirement
“You don’t build courage by avoiding what you’re afraid of. You build courage by moving through it.” -Diane Gansauer Our hosts, Stephanie McCullough and Kevin Gaines, explore an extraordinary midlife reinvention with Diane Gansauer, who traded a high-profile government position for one of the few full-time funeral celebrant roles in the United States. Her transformation proves that stepping away from prestige can lead to real personal fulfillment! "I became more effective and a happier person," Diane reflects on leaving her role as deputy director of a Colorado state agency...
info_outline“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 been taught it in school?"
Meg challenges the pervasive shame many people feel about their financial knowledge gaps. After all, we don't feel ashamed about not knowing brain surgery or environmental science because we were never taught those subjects either!
The real problem isn't lack of knowledge, but the absence of safe spaces to discuss money openly.
Meg's work centers on creating a community where people can share their financial stories without fear. She emphasizes that most people's situations aren't unique. Whether it's medical debt from our broken healthcare system or struggling with inconsistent business income, the factors contributing to financial challenges are systemic rather than personal failures.
She suggests going for incremental progress rather than perfection.
"Every quarter we want you to pick just one thing within one of those buckets to focus on," she explains, referring to her three-pillar framework: set up foundations, stabilize, and grow. This approach makes wealth-building feel achievable rather than overwhelming.
Perhaps most powerfully, Meg advocates for teaching children about money early. Her eight-year-old has a debit card and checks his bank balance before purchases. Not because he's learning to become a financial professional, but because money should not be feared but normalized.
Financial empowerment begins not with expertise, but with conversation, community, and compassion toward ourselves and others navigating the same challenges.
Key Topics
● Meg's Path to Financial Education (02:26)
● The Problem with "Financial Literacy" (04:28)
● Why We Feel Shame About Money (05:21)
● Information vs. Quality Education (05:56)
● Creating Safe Spaces for Money Talk (14:07)
● Teaching Kids About Money (16:13)
● Learning the Language of Money (17:43)
● The Three Pillars of Wealth Building (25:51)
● Overcoming Emergency Fund Shame (26:54)
● Business Owner Tips and Avoidance (33:00)
Resources:
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.
Follow Stephanie on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.