Bri Conn: [00:00:00] Welcome to Child Free Life by Design, formerly known as the Child Free Wealth Podcast. I’m Bri Conn here with Dr. Jay Zigmont, and we’re really excited to talk all about what’s changing with the show. If you’ve been listening for a while, you know, this podcast has focused primarily on finances, and that’s still a huge part of what we do. But we also wanna give you more. We are adding more about relationships, career decisions, and how to actually design a life that works for you when you’re not following the traditional path. Starting today, you’re also gonna hear from a larger team of people who can help us dig deeper into some of these topics. In this episode, we are gonna introduce you to the different faces and voices you’ll hear on the show and what they bring to the expanded conversation. This is such an exciting day for us as we get to share our rebranded podcast for the first time. If you’ve been listening for a while, you know Dr. Jay and me as the host behind Childfree Wealth for the past two and a half years. Today marks the beginning of a new era, Childfree Life by Design. [00:01:00] Dr. Jay I’m excited for this chapter. How about you?

Jay: Absolutely. This feels like the natural evolution of everything we’ve been building. We’ve always talked about more than just money, and now we have the space and the team to go deeper.

Bri Conn: Exactly. And for those of you who are brand new here, I wanna take a moment to tell you exactly what the show is and why we made it. If you’re child free, you already know what it’s like to design your life outside of the script. You’ve made a decision that roughly 75% of the population doesn’t make, and that means a lot of the conventional wisdom out there just doesn’t apply to you. The financial planning industry itself is built around funding college educations, and passing on wealth to next generation. The retirement advice you read online assumes your kids will help you coordinate your care. The life milestones, everyone celebrates are centered on parenthood. And it’s not just finances. The questions we face are different. How do I build a support network that will actually be there when I need it? What does legacy mean even when you don’t have biological heirs? How do I deal with family members who don’t respect my decision? How do [00:02:00] I find community when so many social structures are built around my children? Dr. Jay, you’ve been in the financial planning world for years. What did you see that made you realize child free people needed their own resources?

Jay: Yeah. When I was studying to become a CFP, the surprising thing to me is there was never once a mention of the constant me chare. Everything assumes you’re following the standard life script and gonna have kids, or you do have kids. The software assumes you have kids. The planning models assume kids. And when you don’t have that variable, most advisors don’t know what to do with you. They’ll tell you to save less because your expenses are lower, which completely missed the point. Our expense aren’t lower, they’re just different. Our goals aren’t smaller, they’re just ours. And the planning for the end of life, the long-term care for who makes decision for us when we can’t, like that’s actually more complex for us, not less.

Bri Conn: And that’s exactly why this podcast exists. We’re not here to convince anyone to be childfree We’re here, to help you actually live that life. Well, to make the most of the freedom you’ve chosen to plan for the realities you’ll face that other [00:03:00] resources ignore. Over the years we’ve covered the financial side extensively and we’re gonna keep doing that. But Childfree Life by design is about more than just your portfolio. It’s about relationships, career pivots, travel building, the kind of future that excites you, navigating healthcare systems that weren’t designed with you in mind, finding meaning and purpose on your own terms. And we realized we couldn’t do all of that alone.

Jay: Yeah, and that’s where our. United Team comes in. We’ve brought together people with different backgrounds, different expertise, and different perspectives, all united by this mission of helping childfree people thrive.

Bri Conn: So whether you’ve been listening since episode one, or this is the very first time you’ve heard our voices today, we’re introducing you to the team, showing you what we’re all about, and giving you a sense of what’s to come. If you’re watching the video, you can see all the faces we have here. If you’re listening, you’re about to hear some familiar voices and some new ones. Some of these people, like Fiona and Scott, have appeared on the show before. Others like Maddie and Allie might be new to you. Each of us brings [00:04:00] something different to the table, as we move forward, you’re gonna hear from all of us on the topics we’re most passionate about. Before we meet the new faces, let’s take a moment to reintroduce ourselves though.

Dr. Jay, can you go ahead and start and reintroduce yourself?

Jay: Sure. So I’m Dr. Jay Sigma. I’m the founder of What was Child Free Wealth, child Wealth Podcast. We also have Childfree Trust, Childfree Insights, like a whole bunch of companies that start with the word childfree I swear. And I’m also the author of The Childfree Guided Life and Money. If you haven’t guessed yet, this is my passion, like researching and understanding childfree people and how being childfree impacts your, your life and money.

Bri Conn: Yes, and you and I connected a few years ago, which is how I got into the child free space. We actually met in a Facebook group, so I’m Bri Conn I’m a certified financial planner here. And all over in different spaces, and one of the co-hosts here as well. But we met in a Facebook group and I was working to become a CFP at the time and that’s what I wanted to do. And then met Dr. Jay and started working for Childfree Wealth, and now [00:05:00] have been on the podcast and been doing all the different things with clients over the years. So if you’ve been a client, you’ve probably seen my face or interacted with me, whether it be an email, anything like that as well. I wanna start now with diving into some of the other people that we have here. I’m gonna go ahead and start with the planners and then I will move on to the other individuals. Fiona, let’s start with you.

So Fiona, you’ve been on the show a few times before, but this marks your introduction toasting. Fiona Waller is a CFP on the Child Free Wealth team. Before coming to the child Free Wealth team, she was a therapist, and this has allowed her to bring a fresh perspective on life planning in conjunction with a financial planning, utilizing a trauma-informed background. Fiona, can you tell us what you’re excited to share with our audience?

Fiona: Yeah, thanks Bri. I appreciate the introduction. So I really love chatting about the intersection of mental health and money. I think we’ve all seen that statistic of, personal [00:06:00] finance is 80% behavioral then 20% that head knowledge stuff. And I think that 80% is really fascinating and really cool to dive into.

I mean, none of us are robots and a lot of people have financial anxiety about different topics or a financial habit they wanna start or it’s hard to stick with. Like all of that messy gray area I think is so normal and also really fun to talk about. And. I think what I love doing with my clients is specifically talking about their values and if their financial plan and life plan is in line with those values, because I think getting that alignment is what can really lead to a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Bri Conn: Thank you for sharing that. it is so fun to see how you bring in that therapy background and do all those things. I know I learned from you every single day and all the different ways that you have that background and you have that knowledge to share with a team is so been so valuable

Fiona: [00:07:00] Thanks.

Bri Conn: You are welcome Scott. I’m gonna go to you now. So Scott is a voice you’ve probably heard a few times. Scott Barnes is also a CFP, who took his time joining the Child F Wealth team. He has been in contact with us for a while prior to joining the team and frequently engaged with our social media.

So we knew who he was. Scott is not only a CFP, but he’s also certified in long-term care and is a tax planning certified professional. When it comes to long-term care and tax planning, Scott is main that we go to. Scott, having shared all that, can you tell us what you’re most excited to share with our audience?

Scott_Barnes: Yeah, thanks, Bri. It’s, really great being here with everybody and working in the child free world. I’ve been in the business for over 20 years now working with clients and working with financial advisors and other agents and folks that work with people every day. And I’ll put it to you as plainly as I can put it in my world. traditional financial planning isn’t set up for childfree folks like us. Whether it’s the [00:08:00] assumptions that advisors and planners make about our motivations or the planning software that’s not built to fit our goals, childfree folks need advice and guidance that fits their chosen life. And this is where we really come in and we really provide a value, I think, that nobody else in the industry is providing especially in that traditional financial planning space.

Bri Conn: And I love that you have the experience of being in like in a traditional planning space and then seeing what that’s like and coming here. I think it’s been super valuable for all of us to learn and to grow with that and you’re like, these are the things you guys are doing really well, and even when one of us has a question, you’re quick to say, Hey, you guys are doing a lot for childre people,

okay, next up. Maddie Roach. If you’ve heard the name Child Free Trust, you’ve probably heard of Maddie. Or if you’re an advisor listening to this and have been the Ex-Wife Planning Network, you’ve also heard of Maddie, where she spent the last 11 years before joining the team here. Today, Maddie serves as Chief Growth Officer of Childfree Trust, meaning she’s responsible for all [00:09:00] partnerships and marketing of Childfree Trust. She’s also got a special knack for reminding us to stay in touch with our mind, body, and spirit. Maddie, welcome to the show. Can you please tell us more about what you’re excited to share with our audience as well?

Maddy: Sure. Thank you Bree and hello audience members. I’m so thrilled to be on this podcast and join this incredible lineup of co-hosts. I’m most excited about being on this podcast and talking to the audience about. How beautiful life can be if you are Childfree. The different ways it can look, but most importantly, to encourage my community members and the Childfree community, that there are some things we do have to do if we’re gonna be Childfree.

And as it relates to estate planning, I really wanna neutralize the topic. I wanna revolutionize what. People think about when they think about estate planning. So many people procrastinate around estate planning. They equate it to only conversations around death, and I really wanna invite more [00:10:00] neutral conversations around it so that we can do some of the hard work that needs to be done ahead of time so that we can live with ease of mind and a conscience to know that we’re protected when things may happen.

Bri Conn: Thank you, Maddie. It’s been so fun for you to be on the team and really take charge of growing Childfree Trust and getting it out there and spreading the message for everybody. is something we are excited to further dive deeper into on the show. Alright, finally, Allie. Allie Gage has been with us working in the background across Childfree wealth, Childfree Trust, and child free insights. Ally is a Lean Six Sigma black belt, which means she’s fantastic at designing systems and processes that help businesses elevate and grow. Allie, thank you for joining the team.

Alli_Gage: Thanks, Bri as the Chief of Staff for Childfree Insights. I’m really excited about what we have coming up for across all of our businesses, and I’m really looking forward to [00:11:00] sharing more of that behind the scenes journey with our podcast listeners. Specifically, I’ll get to be your eyes and ears at major industry conferences.

So I’ll promise to cut through the noise, the jargon, and all the hype to bring you what you really need to know in order to help elevate your business or your workplace or your personal life this year. We have lots of fun and exciting things coming up this year, and I really can’t wait to share it with this team as well as our listeners.

Jay: Ally is our resident Canadian and part of her job is keeping me in line. So if you wanna talk about somebody who has a hard job that’s ally.

Alli_Gage: Thanks,

Bri Conn: is true. , Alright. Thank you everyone, for everything that you’ve shared. This was a great review of all of the wonderful people that we have sitting here, different faces and voices. Detective Jay and I have had the pleasure of working with these people since they’ve been here and it’s really fantastic and exciting for us to now share them all with you. Alright. Dr. Jay. We have some rapid fire questions here. Will you do the honors and take it away [00:12:00] with those?

Jay: yeah, let’s have some rapid fire questions. Let’s dive in and we’re gonna go in alphabetical order. Why? Because it’s the only way I can think of to organize this group. So that means Allie gets to go first, followed by Bree, and then we’ll go from there. So Allie, what’s the last great book you recommended to somebody?

Alli_Gage: The last book I recommended was called Love Skip. Jump by Shaylene Bryan.

Bri Conn: Last book I recommended was Bowling Alone by Robert Put, no,

Fiona: I was just talking with someone about Atomic Habits. I feel like a lot of people know that book, but it, it is a solid classic and I really like it.

Alli_Gage: Yeah. Good choice.

Maddy: I have to give a shout out to Dr. Jay’s book the Child Free Guide to Life and Money that is a book I talk about almost daily to our audience members and to our community members. So I highly recommend it for any child free books that I have not read it yet.

Scott_Barnes: and one I most recently had just finished and started recommending is the Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel.

Jay: Yeah, we’re all boring, like giving out like [00:13:00] a nonfiction in the last group, but Allie and Bri were at least doing something cool. I think I tend to give out the the purpose code as most often, and I’m sure that was the most, the one I recommended. Recently. Alright, so what are you most likely to be found doing on a Friday night? And my answer, by the way, is sleeping, but I’m sure that’s not the answer we’re looking for. So, Allie.

Alli_Gage: On a Friday night, I am most likely to be found playing pickleball, or if it’s the wintertime watching a Toronto May leaf game.

Bri Conn: What? I didn’t know you were a hockey fan ally. Okay.

Scott_Barnes: Canadian. Come on.

Bri Conn: yeah, that’s actually true. Good point there. Good point. I am usually walking my. We’ve got a little neighborhood dog walking group that Fridays, we go for long, long walks with our dogs,

Fiona: That’s so cute. How many are in this group are the dogs friends with

Bri Conn: Yes. It varies. Sometimes there’s two of us, sometimes there’s like four or five dogs, and sometimes we got a dog and a stroller. It’s, it’s different.

Fiona: [00:14:00] That is so cute. My Friday night is like watching like dinner office reruns or some like comfort TV show. And then it’s like self-care, like a hair mask going to bed early, like relaxing. So.

Maddy: Friday nights you can find me doing yoga. My favorite teachers teach on Friday night, so I tend to do that and then move into maybe an hour of painting, and then I am horizontal on the couch until it’s time for bed.

Bri Conn: Hmm.

Scott_Barnes: Yeah, Friday night for me that’s a night we avoid going out. So we usually go out during the week ’cause we hate going out on Friday nights ’cause it’s too busy. So we’re usually at home, I’m catching up on car YouTube videos that I watch of different people, content creators that I watch on YouTube. But that’s pretty much it for us. So.

Jay: All right. How about now? What was your most recent splurge?

Alli_Gage: I was. Up with something exciting, but really I am not in a big [00:15:00] splurge phase. So the only thing lately that I can share is investments, which is probably good for my childhood financial planner team here. They must be proud of me.

Bri Conn: proud Ali. Very proud. I just made a big move and have been purchasing lots of house things, and some high quality blackout curtains. They’re fantastic. Expensive, but fantastic.

Fiona: Nice. I just ordered this and it does not come yet and I’m quite nervous to see how it goes, but I got one of those robot vacuum mop combos for Black Friday and I’m like convinced it will revolutionize like my life and save so much time, or it’ll like clog and break. Right away, and I’ll hate it, I don’t know, but it’s in the mail, so I’m excited.

Maddy: This summer on the larger side of splurging I bought two matching scooters for my partner and I to drive around Bozeman on their little Honda Metropolitans. And they [00:16:00] have vanity license plates with our dogs’ names on them.

Scott_Barnes: That’s awesome.

Bri Conn: I like that.

Scott_Barnes: Yeah, my world typically revolves around cars. So I ended up splurging this year and finally getting full HVAC system for our detached garage. So I get heat and cooling had window air conditioners before, but finally splurged and said, I’m done. I want comfort year round. So.

Alli_Gage: Nice.

Bri Conn: Nice.

Maddy: learning so much about everyone. I love this.

Bri Conn: Yeah.

Jay: at least Maddie and Scott had something fun. Like my splurge was, I got a new bed, you know, I went from queen size to king size, got a nice bed. Like the rest of us are really kind of boring, I guess. All right. If your life had a theme song, what would it be?

Alli_Gage: my theme song would be Counting My Blessings by Seth Schluter. And I dunno if I’m saying that right. So apologies if I’m not.

Bri Conn: I’ve really been listening to Eldest Daughter by Taylor Swift on repeat lately [00:17:00] that that feels very relatable.

Alli_Gage: Are you the eldest daughter?

Bri Conn: I am the eldest daughter.

Alli_Gage: That works

Maddy: Oh.

Bri Conn: I cry when I listen to that song most of the times. It just hits deep.

Fiona: I am gonna go with banana pancakes by Jack Johnson. Just nice and mellow.

Maddy: I’ve spent hours and hours and weeks and weeks listening to the song called Old Bone. It’s just a random song I found one time and I have spent way too much time moving my body to that song. So.

Scott_Barnes: Well, like Bri eldest daughter is really the song that resonates with me. So, but, but in all honesty, no. I’m a little, I’m a little too old for Taylor Swift. I hate to say no. Disrespected to swifty. Like, like you guys, but little too old for me. But I go with an old band called The Smiths, and the song called, there’s a Light that Never Goes Out.

Jay: And I’m [00:18:00] just feeling old ’cause I don’t recognize pretty much any of these songs. So I’m with you, Scott, although I’m gonna turn the question around you all and let you all pick which song should I have?

Maddy: Hmm.

Bri Conn: Ooh.

Maddy: Good question.

Jay: anyone want to take a shot?

Maddy: I am looking through my my Spotify right now.

Bri Conn: I would almost say a few questions by Clay Walker, but I don’t think you ask the questions that are in that song, but you always have questions, That’s, what that song’s about.

Jay: All right.

Fiona: Or like, I have the tiger, or something like survivor like, because that kind of like gritty entrepreneurial energy and you’re like always going for the next thing. That’s what pops into my head.

Bri Conn: That’s a good one too.

Alli_Gage: Yeah.

Maddy: a great one

Jay: All right. Maddy, what’d you come up with?

Maddy: for you.

Jay: Yeah.

Maddy: Oh, man. I have some funny ones. Let’s see. I think a good song for you is send me on my way by Rusted Root because you are a trailblazer. You are [00:19:00] up in front of the crowd and leading us on our way to, I think, a new world for Childfree people.

Jay: I don’t know that one. I’ll have to put it on my Spotify to listen to.

Maddy: It is sweet.

Bri Conn: a good one, Maddie.

Maddy: Thank you.

Jay: All right. Last up. So if you could be instantly fluent in any language, what would it be?

Alli_Gage: So I was actually fun fact an exchange student to Germany in high school for a semester, and I would love to be fluent in.

Bri Conn: Are you fluent in French at all?

Alli_Gage: Yeah.

Bri Conn: Are you? Oh, I was gonna say, I think you’re in the area. I wanna be instantly fluent in Norwegian. I am. Can talk a little bit of Norwegian, but not much.

Fiona: I think it would be cool to be fluent in. Korean ’cause I’ve always wanted to go to South Korea and then I could travel around and it would be so much easier instead of like using Google Translate on my phone like a tourist. So.

Maddy: I recently spent some time with women that were deaf, and I really became in love with [00:20:00] a SL and I know nothing about it. But I really had a nice time getting to know a new form of communication and I would love to become fluent in.

Scott_Barnes: Yeah, that’s really cool. On my side I lean toward Ali, I’m going German. ’cause half the stuff I end up doing with cars is German and I have to read and try to translate stuff that I don’t know how to speak or read. So,

Jay: That’s what Google translates for. Like, I, you know, I, I swear now learning a language when Google Translate does so well, I’m like, eh, you gotta pick like a fun language. Like, you know, I don’t know Fiona was talking about Lord of the Rings, we have to learn like Elvis or something, you know, like one of those languages you’re not really gonna use. But it’s just fun to know. All right, well that was fun. And now hopefully you know a bit more about our team. So what’s next, Bri?

Bri Conn: All right. Thanks Dr. Jay. That really was fun and I learned a lot about you guys that I also did not know. So I’m sure listeners will have a new appreciation for all of you as well

Speaker: walking away from this episode, I hope you feel more connected to our team and the people we have here. If you’re [00:21:00] looking for planning, Fiona and Scott are your go-to people while Maddie runs a ship at Childfree Trust, and Allie can be found bouncing around the scenes, across organizations, helping to ensure we’re all operating in an orderly fashion.

Speaker 2: We’ve reached our final segment of Childfree Life by Design called Deliberate Detail. This is something that you can expect in all of our episodes going forward. It’s a segment where we share a small, intentional thing that we’re doing to design an amazing life. I’m gonna go around and have each of you tell me one thing you’re doing to live a more intentional life in 2026, and we’re just gonna go once again in alphabetical order.

Bri Conn: So Ally, I’ll start with you.

Alli_Gage: Okay, so my deliberate detail is that I have been working to walk three miles a day every day, regardless of weather.

Bri Conn: Fiona,

Fiona: My deliberate detail is trying to consume less. Short form content because it like drains the dopamine out of my brain. Like I can feel it leaching out and I [00:22:00] need that dopamine to like do my laundry and stay on top of stuff. So what I have done, I’ve had social media deleted off my phone for a while now, but YouTube shorts is now my kryptonite and I can access it through Safari. I don’t even have the app, but my brain still finds a way to it. So like a toddler, I’ve gone into my privacy settings and blocked YouTube as like a bad website. So now I can’t get to it on my phone and let’s see if I can keep it that way for all of 2026.

Jay: Seriously, that’s much more like intentional than I could ever be. Like social media, I try to avoid as at all possible. I would love to delete it, but I gotta give you credit for that. Fiona, I think for me for 2026, it’s gonna sound a little weird, but I’m gonna learn how to say no, which sounds weird on a deliberate life. But like, what do you, when you say no to something, you’re making opportunities for everything. If you say yes to everything, then you’re like passing up on other things that you might. Wanna do, might enjoy. I don’t [00:23:00] know. It’s that balance of saying no and yes, that I’m gonna work on.

Maddy: I love that Jay. Thanks for saying that. This year I’ve been doing a lot of listening to my body and I do a lot of yoga, but I’ve actually switched the kind of yoga that I’ve been doing and I’ve been doing more yin yoga. And for any listeners that are not familiar with that, that’s much more restorative in nature. Quieter, less movement as compared to kind of a vinyasa yang energy, and I found that that is exactly what my body needs this season. I find life to be pretty chaotic and to know that I can go and do some restful postures is really what I’ve been focused on this year.

Scott_Barnes: Yeah, for me, I’m really gonna be trying to get out and see more friends around the country. I’ve felt like I haven’t connected in person with a lot of ’em. Over the years and really want to get back out there and do some road trips and get out to see friends that I haven’t seen in a long time.

Bri Conn: I love that. For me, 2026 is hopefully the year in which I spend at least one month out of the year at home. I travel a lot, so there’s only been one month in [00:24:00] the last seven or eight years where I’ve actually been home every single night. So while Scott’s out traveling more, I am trying to say no to travel and stay home a bit more as well. Well, this has been so much fun in getting to share everybody with you guys. Thank you everyone for joining us here today to Launch Child Free Life by Design. If you’re looking to connect with Vona Scott, you can find them@childfreewealth.com and Maddie at Childfree Trust. That’s all for this episode of Childfree Life by Design. Remember, intentionally choosing to invest in moments of joy is just as important as investing in your future. Until next time, happy designing.