Stepping Stone Wealth

06/02/2026

This photo was taken at my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.
For the last 20 years of their lives, I was their financial advisor.
I watched my father — a teacher who raised two kids on one salary — trust me with everything he and my mother had built over a lifetime. Every decision. Every account. Every conversation about what would happen when one of them was gone.
It was the greatest professional responsibility I have ever had.
My mother has been gone ten years. My father seven.
I think about them every time I sit across from a client who hands me that same trust.
The women I work with are not just clients. They are someone's mother. Someone's daughter. Someone's person.
What I do for them is what I did for my parents — make sure the people they love are taken care of, no matter what comes next.
The two young women in this photo are my daughters Kelsey and Devon.
They watched me do this work for their grandparents.
I hope they understood what it meant.
What is the most important financial responsibility you have ever been given?

05/27/2026

Nobody warns accomplished women about this part.

The financial plan is in place. The numbers work. The date is set.

And then they stop working.

And within six months, many of them are quietly miserable.

Not because the money ran out.

Because the validation did.

For decades, their identity was built on performance. On being needed. On the daily confirmation that they were excellent at something.

Retirement removes that confirmation loop overnight.

The loneliness of it surprises them every time.

I have started having this conversation before clients retire — not after.

Not to talk them out of it. But to name what is coming so they can prepare for it.

The financial transition is the part we plan for.

The identity transition is the part that actually matters.

If you have made this transition — what do you wish someone had told you before you made it?

https://bit.ly/3RBonrg

Stepping Stone Wealth is an Ameriprise private wealth advisory practice in West Hartford CT. Get the personal financial advice you need.

05/26/2026

I tell clients I am the worst trained therapist they will ever meet.

I mean it.

I am an expert in financial planning. What I am not is a licensed counselor, a life coach, or a psychologist.

But here is what I have learned in 29 years: you cannot separate a woman’s financial decisions from the rest of her life.

Her fear of running out of money. Her guilt about spending it on herself. Her belief that someone else should be handling this. Her grief after losing a spouse. Her identity crisis after leaving a 30-year career.

None of that shows up on a questionnaire.

So I listen. I ask questions. I apply common sense and decades of watching people navigate the hardest moments of their lives.

And when I know I am in over my head — when what she really needs is beyond what I can offer — I refer her to someone better equipped.

Because I care most about the outcome. Not about being the one who produces it.

The financial piece is what I do.

The rest of it is what I show up for.

What do you wish your advisor understood about you that has nothing to do with your money?

05/26/2026

Nobody warns accomplished women about this part.

The financial plan is in place. The numbers work. The date is set.

And then they stop working.

And within six months, many of them are quietly miserable.

Not because the money ran out.

Because the validation did.

For decades, their identity was built on performance. On being needed. On the daily confirmation that they were excellent at something.

Retirement removes that confirmation loop overnight.

The loneliness of it surprises them every time.

I have started having this conversation before clients retire — not after.

Not to talk them out of it. But to name what is coming so they can prepare for it.

The financial transition is the part we plan for.

The identity transition is the part that actually matters.

If you have made this transition — what do you wish someone had told you before you made it?

Steppingstonewealth.com

Stepping Stone Wealth is an Ameriprise private wealth advisory practice in West Hartford CT. Get the personal financial advice you need.

05/21/2026

I sat across from a woman last year who had spent 22 years at the same company.

She was brilliant. Loyal. Passed over twice for a role she was more qualified for than the person who got it.

When we ran the numbers on what she would have earned if she had moved after year eight, the gap was over $400,000.

She had no idea.

This is the most expensive mistake I see accomplished women make — and it has nothing to do with their investments.

Women stay. Men move. The market rewards movement.

I've watched women leave hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table not because they made bad financial decisions, but because they trusted that loyalty would be recognized.

It often isn't.

Loyalty is a virtue. Just make sure you're applying it with your eyes open.

Have you ever calculated what staying cost you?

05/21/2026

Staying organized financially isn’t just about paperwork—it’s about having a clear understanding of where you stand today and where you’re headed. Join us for a practical, easy-to-follow session focused on helping you bring structure to your financial life and make more confident decisions moving forward. Join online: https://bit.ly/4fxiANg

05/20/2026

Yesterday we traded our desks for fresh air at 4-H Education Center at Auerfarm!

Alongside a few of our clients, our team spent the day rolling up our sleeves—refreshing spaces, working the grounds, and supporting a place that gives so much back to our community.

It’s days like this that remind us the best relationships are built beyond the office through shared experiences and showing up together.

Thank you to Auerfarm for having us, and to our clients who joined us. We’re grateful to be part of such a strong community.

05/19/2026

There was a period in my life when I was doing all of this at once.
Raising young children. Helping my elderly parents. Building this practice from the ground up.
Every single day I felt like I was failing someone.
The kids needed more. My parents needed more. My clients needed more. And I had nothing left.
I see that same look on the faces of women who walk into my office.
Carrying everything. Not sure anyone actually understands what that weight feels like.
I do.
And if that's where you are right now — you don't have to figure out the financial piece alone.
What are you carrying right now that you haven't told anyone?

05/18/2026

Our office will be closed, May 19th, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a team volunteering at Auerfarm!

05/14/2026

There’s a question I ask every client that almost no other advisor asks.

Based on the money available to you — not factoring in time, not factoring in health
— is there anything you need or want that you don’t have?

When the answer is no, I tell them they won.

Every time, they’re surprised. They expected a number. A bigger portfolio.
A finish line still somewhere out ahead of them.

I can’t quantify happiness. But I can tell you when someone has enough.

More people have already won than they think. They just haven’t been told yet.

Have you asked yourself that question lately?