Guest: 10 April 2025

Joe Curry is a Certified Financial Planner and the founder of Retirement Planning Simplified. He is also the host of the Your Retirement Planning Simplified podcast, where he helps Canadians navigate the complexities of retirement with a focus on clarity, simplicity, and purpose-driven planning.

Today he explains:

• Company stocks and pensions as sole retirement funds
• CPP and OAS, the GIS, RRSPs, TFSAs, RIFs and LIFs
• common retirement planning mistakes
• eliminating or reducing any threats to retirement
• the Retirement Navigator: goals… but values first
• transitioning from saving to spending
• the non-financial aspects of retirement

Such great information and then Joe says all the right things about feeling comfortable with your retirement/financial planner.

Listen in!

Guest: 03 April 2025

Mel Stubbs is a financial planner with over a decade of experience, specializes in helping federal employees plan for retirement. A key focus of Mel’s work is aiding clients and viewers in assessing potential future tax challenges and devising proactive strategies to fix those problems.

Today he explains:

• His advice for an American listener who is concerned about their job security
• 10 decisions you have to make at retirement
• Social Security, 401k’s, ROTHs, TSPs
• How to manage and reduce the tax hit on retirement savings
• Well-known routes and lesser-known routes to preserving retirement savings
• Long-term planning for older married employees
• Capital gains
• Advice for and about your kids

Mel is so well-versed about this subject that I was running out of questions to ask him. A lot of food for thought even if you aren’t an American federal employee.

Listen in!

Guest: 20 March 2025

Dr. Deborah Heiser is the CEO/Founder of The Mentor Project and author of The Mentorship Edge. She is a TEDx speaker and expert contributor to Psychology Today. Our conversation today is about mentorship.  Deborah explains:

• why mentorship is so powerful for Boomer women
• Ageism and the emotional trajectory
• What makes a good mentor
• A paid gig vs volunteer
• Grandparents as mentors
• wisdom meets innovation
• non-profits and philanthropy

I was quite surprised at how clearly defined the role of mentor actually was.  So much great food for thought today!

Listen in!

Guest: 13 March 2025

As a young woman in the U.S., Anne Alexander-Sieder was an actress. That ended when she followed a handsome young German fellow back to Germany as his wife. Sixteen years later she made the huge decision to go back to acting… in a second language… in a foreign country… at 47. Yikes!

Today she shares:

• What prompted that decision
• The community she found
• How too many women are defined by their “roles”
• “Our curiosities are the key to unlocking our purpose on this planet”
• Reframing nervousness and fear as excitement
• The concept of curating experts
• Small intentional steps

Anne’s rekindled career in acting has included Netflix and Hallmark movies and has led to her program “Passion Project to Purpose”.

Listen in!

Guest: 27 February 2025

Teri M Brown has written 5 self-help books, a number of historical stories…  but this last one… about double butts – two mid-age people on a tandem bike cycling across the US, well, the title made me chuckle but the story caught my attention.

For Teri, it was an epic adventure.  Today she shares:

• Why, and how, an epic adventure came to pass
• Never quit on a bad day
• You get a lot of junk out through tears
• Becomes an author
• The research that goes into writing a novel set in another place and time
• Her writing process

Teri has great thoughts for us all when I ask what she wants you, dear listener, to think about.  She is a true inspiration.

Listen in!

Guest: 20 February 2025

Jack Kammer is an advocate for men’s social issues and sexism against men. He says “Important social advances around gender equality remain to be realized by understanding sexism against men and boys.”

Today, he explains:

• How men tend to see their role in the family
• The training for men 60 years ago: “don’t show emotion”, “man up”.
• His idea for a dating app.
• Making men’s issues more prominent
• The Maryland General Assembly and the Wimp Bill

Jack also discusses the possible update and republish of his book “Good Will Toward Men: Women Talk Candidly About the Balance of Power Between the Sexes”.

Listen in!

Guest: 06 February 2025

Amethysta Herrick is… or has been…  a geneticist, a chemist, a software engineer, and a manager. She is also a transgender woman. If that sounds a little outside your comfort zone, in these times it’s all the more reason to listen in.

Ami was candid and open so our conversation went long – it’s divided into two parts on her page.

In this episode, Ami discusses

• gender & identity; sex vs gender (things get sciencey!)
• non-binary, pansexual, asexual, intersexual
• dysphoria as pathology
• the two aspects of transition
• the truth behind puberty blockers and young people
• advice for Grammas,     and lots more.

Facts! and Science! are not the norm it seems these days so if you need to listen twice like I did, do it.

Listen in!

Guest: 30 January 2025

Taylor Crabill has had the privilege of representing clients against some of the largest and most formidable companies in the world. These experiences have not only honed his expertise in employment law but has also reinforced his dedication to ensuring that employees are treated fairly and lawfully.

In this episode Taylor discusses:

• The allure of employment law
• Colour, sex, disability discrimination
• Retaliation charges
• Workplace incidents and hiring concerns
• How to prepare to present to your lawyer
• What happens next
• Repercussions for employer

Taylor’s advice for you as an older employee feeling discrimination is really encouraging: times have changed since our parents were eased out of the workplace, and it costs you nothing.

Listen in!

Guest: 16 January 2025

Andra Davidson is a divorce coach.  She isn’t going to tell you whether you should or shouldn’t, she’s going to help you maintain your health and conscience and minimize conflict throughout the process.

In this episode, Andra discusses:

• The rise of grey divorce
• What coaching looks like
• Acrimony during the process
• Adult kids and long-term friends
• Collaborative approach and collaborative law

I was surprised when Andra explained the #1 question she gets asked; I was pleased with her advice to anyone going through this difficult process.

Listen in!

Guest: 09 January 2025

Paula Cobb is a patient advocate for women who have been misdiagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis.  She is a retired physical therapist who has dealt with bladder issues since the age of 5. In this episode, Paula explains so much about UTIs and IC and more that I can’t list it all!

• The bacteria and what they do to cause UTIs
• Why antibiotics can be the problem
• How a woman might suspect she has a UTI
• Why women have to be their own advocates still (how often have we heard that?)
• Castor oil! (Gramma, don’t say a word!)
• Menopause, catheterization and the elderly
• Procedures
• How we can reduce our risk of a UTI

Like so many women who face a health issue, Paula has made it her life’s work to learn as much as she can, stay informed and stay up-to-date about Urinary Tract Infections and related issues.

Listen in!