👋 Hi,
Preparedness isn’t just about numbers — it’s about narratives.
When we measure success only in dollars, we lose sight of what really matters: purpose, people, and progress. This week, we explore how to make money more human — and more aligned with who we truly are.
💡 This week:
Self-worth vs. net worth • The art of compassionate communication • Financial caregiving with confidence
🧠 Thought of the Week
Money is one of the most emotional topics in our lives — yet we rarely treat it that way. The path to financial fluency isn’t just about learning products or policies; it’s about learning yourself. The more we bring empathy into money conversations, the better our decisions become.
1️⃣ Before Life Happens → Stop Tying Self-Worth to Net Worth: Making Money Feel More Human
Why it matters: Real financial planning should evolve with your life. Money “optics” does not equal money reality—what looks good isn’t always sustainable
Your Move: A great planner meets you where you are—and helps you move forward. Women are looking for financial professionals who listen, not lecture.
The Win: We can bring more compassion, flexibility, and real-life perspective into the way we talk about and manage money.
💭 Tony’s Take: Your self-worth is more than your net worth. Who you are is more than how much money you have.
🎙 Shannon Lee Simmons and Tony Steuer on The Get Ready Money Podcast. Check it out (here)
2️⃣ How to talk about money: From Awkward to Helpful: Mastering Compassionate Grief Communication
Why it matters: Why “grief literacy” matters — and how to say the right things to someone grieving
Your Move: How to handle awkward comments, anniversaries, and emotional triggers
The Win: Strengthen relationships through empathy and presence rather than platitudes. So, you can show up for widows and grieving families.
💭 Tony’s Take: Understanding how to talk about grief and other emotions is a valuable life skill and will help us retain our humanity.
🎙 Kathi Balasek and Tim Hudson on the From Tears to Triumph: A Widow's Journey Podcast. Listen on (Apple Podcasts)
3️⃣ Money for Good → Why I Don’t Teach My Kids Finance*
Why it matters: Everyday moments. Those are the conversations that come naturally to us as busy parents and are timely and relevant for our vivaciously active kids.
Your Move: Drop terminology here and there to expose them to words like “savings” and “investment”. Keep your eyes out for opportunities to teach the principles behind resource management.
The Win: Kids connect when you meet them in the world they live in.
💭 Tony’s Take: Almost every concept we learn in life can be applied to the world of money. Money is just a language which is why I'm focusing on the concept of financial fluency as introduced by Bernadette Joy.
Our kids are looking to learn from us including how to communicate (we need to talk about money), manage our resources (as you point out), lay out our goals and how we will meet them and so on - nothing specific here about money or is there?
📄 By Faith Teope. Read on (LinkedIn).
4️⃣ Integrity in Action → Best practices for new life agents
Why it matters: Life insurance agents often focus on selling products that don’t fit a client’s needs, while focusing on the short term rather than developing long term relationships.
Your Move:
✅ Find your niche
✅ Earn certifications that strengthen your credibility
✅ Build your network
The Win: Becoming a professional, rather than a salesperson.
💭 Tony’s Take: The life insurance industry needs to evolve to focus on helping people find the products they need, rather than creating ever more complex products that are not consumer friendly.
🎙️ Check out my conversation with Tyler York of Achievable on (Apple Podcasts)
5️⃣ Preparedness Check → Financial Caregiving 101
Why it matters: Why women often shoulder caregiving—and how to prepare even if you’re not the household “money person”. Fear and uncertainty are inevitable—but you can still take control of the plan
Your Move: Connect the legal, medical, and financial lanes so caregivers can act quickly (and confidently).
The Win: From the $100 POA that can save $18,000+ and a year of guardianship hassles, to making sure trusted contacts and online access are current, this episode turns overwhelm into a plan.
💭 Tony’s Take: Creating an aging plan that includes all of the aspects of caregiving is essential.
🎙 Beth Pinsker and Melissa Joy on The Women’s Money Wisdom Podcast. Watch on (YouTube)
6️⃣ Get Ready For → The Double-Edged Sword of Longevity: Rethinking Aging and Financial Security
Why it matters: Living longer is a gift—but are we financially and emotionally ready for it?
Relying on your kids as caregivers? It’s not a fair—or realistic—plan.
Your Move: Money is deeply emotional—it’s not just about dollars, it’s about protection and peace of mind.
The Win: Peace of mind knowing your aging plan supports both your health and independence.
💭 Tony’s Take: We need to rethink aging, caregiving, and the financial realities that come with a longer life. Every family should have an aging plan and an open conversation
🎙 Michael Banner and Tony Steuer on the Get Ready Money Podcast. Check it out (here).
7️⃣ Get Ready For → The AI Agent Tsunami: How Financial Advisors Must Niche to Survive (Before It's Too Late)
Why it matters: This wave of generative AI is different from every previous technological revolution. The speed and nature of the work being replaced (cognitive labor) means the traditional financial advisor role is rapidly becoming obsolete.
Your Move: You must niche down and specialize to survive and thrive in the future.
The Win: Learn how to transform your practice from a generalist into a high-value concierge service, specializing in the behavioral and health-related complexity that generic AI can't yet master. This is the only way to avoid becoming a "boiling frog" in the face of the AI Agent Tsunami.
💭 Tony’s Take: In the age of AI, success will come to those who are truly an advisor and guide for their client. Empathy and adaptability are the top differentiators, knowledge is no longer enough.
🎙 Chris Heye and Jonathan Michael on the AI for Wealth Podcast. Watch on (YouTube).
7B. My Advisor, Her AI, and Me: Evidence
Findings indicate that regulations and guidelines should adopt a consumer-centric approach by fostering environments where human capabilities and AI systems can synergize effectively to benefit consumers while safeguarding consumer welfare.
📓 From a Field Experiment on Human–AI Collaboration and Investment Decisions
by Cathy (Liu) Yang , Kevin Bauer , Xitong Li , Oliver Hinz. Read (here).
8️⃣ Strategy to know: Here Is Your Secret Tax Weapon for Saving for Retirement
Why it Matters: A health savings account can be a source of tax-free cash to cover medical expenses in your later years.
Your Move: Using an HSA to save for out-of-pocket medical expenses offers three tax benefits:
- You can make pretax contributions to an HSA through payroll deductions if you have a high-deductible health insurance plan through work. If you’re self-employed, you can open an HSA on your own and claim a tax deduction for your contributions.
- Earnings on the investments in your HSA grow tax-free.
- Your withdrawals aren’t taxed if the money is used to pay for qualified medical expenses, such as health insurance deductibles, prescription drugs, dental work, hearing aids and vision care.
💭 Tony’s Take: It’s important to review all areas of your financial life, so you can see which products and services can help you and which ones you don’t need. The Get Ready Weekly Action Items guide you through all areas of your financial life over the course of the year.
📄 By Cameron Huddleston for AARP. Read (here).
9️⃣ ⚡ Quick Hits
🎙 Debt After Death–Does It Die With You? Laura Adams on the Money Girl Podcast. Listen (here).
📄 Sustainable Money Explained - by Lacey Filipich for The Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards - Money Explained Newsletter. Read on (LinkedIn)
📄 The Three Levels of Psychology in Financial Planning by Derek Hagen for Money Quotient. Read (here).
📄 Don't Toss It! Why Your Medicare Annual Notice of Change Matters by Donna Levalley for Kiplinger. Read (here).
📓 AI WealthTech Map: The Oasis Group’s Peaks Perspective on AI Wealth Technology by John O’Connell. Check it out (here).
📓 The Technology That Independent Financial Advisors Actually Use (And Like). Kitces. Read the study (here).
🔟 Week #42 Action Item: Optimize your spending.
Why it matters: Seek value by understanding your options. Finding the best value will help you reduce your expenses so that you’ll have more money for your goals.
Your Move: To optimize your spending, be sure to understand your options and look at the details. Here are some examples:
- Consider fees: For example, mutual fund A has an expense fee of 2 percent, and mutual fund B has an expense fee of 1 percent. Mutual fund B will save you 1 percent a year in fees, meaning that you’ve increased your return by 1 percent a year.
- True cost: When making a major purchase such as a car or home, calculate the total cost, which includes the price, insurance, taxes or registration, maintenance, and so on.
- Comparison shop: Do your research. If two financial products have the same benefits and one has a lower cost, opt for the lower cost.
- Insurance riders: Review your insurance policies and terminate policies and riders you don’t need.
The Win: By reviewing the details and understanding your options, you will minimize your spending which allows you to have more money available for other goals.
💭 Tony’s Take: Optimizing your spending will help you lead an efficient financial life.
📝 Access your resources for this week's action item (#42) from your dashboard (Monthly Focus Area 10: Find Value):
- In the Get Ready Blueprint, week 42 PDF, you’ll create an affordability ratio for your auto and housing costs. You’ll also review additional tips to optimize your spending.
- Review your cash flow analysis (week 16) for the information to create your auto and housing cost affordability ratios.
Access Your Get Ready Resources here
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🧠 Final Thought
Financial fluency is about more than learning about specific products or services, it’s about learning how to speak money. When you see money as a reflection of your values, not your worth, you move from reaction to intention. That’s where freedom begins.
✅ Stay ready.
💬 Start a conversation.
💡 Share what sparked something — with a friend, client, or in the comments.
— Tony
Coming Next Week: Beyond the Mirage: Rethinking the American Dream and Financial Equity
P.S.
📚 Explore The Tony Steuer Bookshelf - a digital collection of my books (here)
