Insights Straight to Your Inbox

Tips, freebies, event invites, and more to make your Childfree life even more amazing

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Insights Straight to Your Inbox

Tips, freebies, event invites, and more to make your Childfree life even more amazing

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Scott Barnes

CFP®, TPCP, CLTC

Childfree Wealth Specialist®

Scott Barnes is Childfree Insights's resident expert in insurance and long-term care.

He's a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and Childfree Wealth Specialist® with more than 20 years' experience guiding clients through complex financial markets, from the height of the dot-com bubble and 9/11 to the Great Recession, COVID-19, and other ongoing global economic uncertainties.

His passion for financial planning is deeply personal: He grew up middle class in Virginia, and after losing his mother to breast cancer at an early age, he witnessed firsthand the financial strain a family can endure. Later, like many young adults, he faced his own challenges with credit card and student loan debt. His journey to financial independence ignited a desire to help others take control of their financial futures.

Today he focuses on helping Childfree individuals and families align their life goals with smart financial planning strategies for retirement, sabbaticals, international relocation, or long-term care.

He lives near Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, Etta, and their spirited cat, Louise (Weezie!). When he's not working with clients, you'll likely find him under the hood of a car or enjoying a drive with fellow enthusiasts.

Episode 204: The Myth of the Maternal Instinct

Plenty of Childfree people carry a quiet suspicion that they’re missing some piece of wiring everyone else got. Dr. Amy Blackstone went looking for the research to explain what was wrong with her and found there’s no such thing as a maternal instinct. She joins Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® to talk about what the science really says, and why feeling wrong usually means you’re measuring yourself against the wrong population.

Episode 203: Disability Insurance and Protecting Your Paycheck

When you’re Childfree, life insurance may barely make your list, which is exactly why disability insurance is so easy to overlook and so important to get right. Bri Conn, CFP® and Scott Barnes, CFP®, TPCP®, CLTC break down how to protect the paycheck that funds the life you’ve built, and the fine print that decides whether your benefit shows up whole when you need it.

Episode 202: Where to Find Your Community as a Childfree Adult

Building real community as an adult is hard, and harder still when you’re Childfree and the friends you counted on get busy, have kids, or move away. In this episode, Maddy Roche sits down with Kari Cardinale, Florence Wlodarski, Charlie & Ali Higgins, who all stopped waiting and built the Childfree communities they couldn’t find.

Episode 201: Finding Friendship and Community as a Childfree Adult

When you are a Childfree adult, no one hands you a built-in community, so you build it intentionally. Melissa Holcombe, DSW, LCSW, Maddy Roche, Bri Conn, CFP®, and Alli Gage share honest stories of rebuilding their circles after divorce, sobriety, and big moves, plus the practical habits that turn strangers into the crew you actually do life with.

Episode 200: Building a Small Business as a Childfree Entrepreneur

Being Childfree shapes how you build a business, from the money you reinvest to the hours you keep to the question of what you’re building toward. Jena Gribble of Blush Cactus and Huzefa Kapadia of Scalar Learning join Bri Conn, CFP® to talk about what that’s really looked like, the freedom, the trade-offs, and how it changes what a business can become.

Episode 199: What Women Need to Know About Money and Starting a Business

In the United States, only 15 banks are women-owned. Ilaria Rawlins, CEO of Fortuna Bank, joins Bri Conn, CFP® to talk about why female entrepreneurs face a capital gap that most people do not even know exists, and what she built to change it.