Fiduciary Alchemy

A $124 trillion wealth transfer can sound like a math problem. It is not. The attorneys can draft the documents, the advisors can manage the assets, and the plans can look tidy on paper. But when money moves because someone died, retired, exited a business, entered caregiving, or lost the life they knew, the real conversation is happening underneath the numbers.

Melissa Douaire joins Craig Andrews to talk about the emotional economi...

A centuries-old live oak twists, turns, and grows into something impossible to duplicate. Plant one under controlled conditions and it may grow straight—but it loses the irregular beauty that makes the original unforgettable. Craig Andrews sees the same tension in the rush to replace human work with AI.

Craig is an AI power user, yet he draws a firm line around writing, storyboarding, and finding the story. AI can reproduce fa...

A family meeting can look responsible on paper and still fail in the room. If the conversation is only about trusts, investments, estate plans, and how the money should be used, the people who most need to care may quietly check out. Charlie Carr, Founder of Big Canyon Advisors, joins Craig Andrews to talk about why lasting legacy work has to reach beyond the balance sheet.

Charlie argues that the strongest family meetings are built...

Most families think the plan is in place because the accounts exist, the advisor knows the portfolio, and the will or trust has been signed. Then something happens. A parent is unconscious. The bills are due. The hospital needs answers. And the people who love them most discover they do not know where the money is, who to call, or what they are allowed to touch.

Martha Underwood lived that version of the problem after her father fel...

A lot of advisors lead with the word "fiduciary." Corwin Davidson is more interested in what happens after that word is said. If an advisor claims to act in a client's best interest but has no access to real tax strategy, Corwin believes the promise is incomplete.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig Andrews talks with Corwin Davidson, Wealth Advisor and Tax Strategy Nerd at Breakline Wealth + Tax, about the places where weal...

Real estate can build real wealth, but Ryan Finch is clear about the part people like to skip: it is not passive just because rent checks show up. In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Ryan, founder of Tangible Wealth Solutions LLC, about the difference between owning real estate on paper and actually carrying the risk, work, stress, and responsibility that come with it.

Ryan’s story starts early. At 19, he us...

Most people know they should have estate documents in place. Fewer people understand that the documents are only part of the work. In this episode, Craig talks with Emily Harper of Monument Wealth Management about why estate planning often stalls, why families postpone the hardest decisions, and why waiting for “later” can leave loved ones carrying the burden in a crisis.

Craig connects the conversation to his own hospit...

Business owners start retirement plans for the right reasons. They want to help employees save, compete for talent, and build something that serves people beyond the paycheck.

But qualified retirement plans come with responsibilities many owners do not realize they have.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Jeff Atwell, Sr. VP Fiduciary Services at AmericanTCS Fiduciary Services, LLC, about ERISA, fiduciary duty, po...

Business owners like to believe they have time. Time to revisit the agreement. Time to fund the insurance. Time to decide who owns what, who gets paid, and what happens if one partner suddenly cannot show up tomorrow.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Alexander Langan about the planning gaps that feel administrative until they become catastrophic. A business partner dies unexpectedly. A widow is left with five c...

A business owner may think distributions are the reward for years of risk. A buyer may see the same distributions and wonder why the owner stopped betting on the business.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Richard Parker, founder of Roy Street Advisors, about what makes a lower middle market business more valuable, more buyable, and less likely to fall apart during a sale.

Richard explains why reinvesting in the ...

An Austin attorney with hundreds of cows sounds like the start of a lighter conversation. But Ellen Dickerson knows ranch life and estate planning have at least one thing in common: waiting until something goes wrong is a bad strategy.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Ellen Dickerson, Partner at Hardie Alcozer, about the plans families avoid until the moment those plans are needed most.

Ellen starts with the lin...

Most owners know they will eventually leave the business. The harder question is whether the only realistic exit is selling to private equity, watching the culture change, and hoping the community, team, and legacy survive the spreadsheet.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Austin Smith, Principal, VP, and CIO at Schulz Wealth, about how business owners can create other paths before exit pressure forces the decis...

Average returns make retirement planning look cleaner than it really is.

Clients do not retire into averages. They retire into real markets, real tax bills, real spending needs, and real fear when one bad stretch shows up at the wrong time.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Jack Oujo, Financial Advisor at Oujo Wealth Strategies, about why retirement planning has to account for the inning that can change the whole...

Most families assume the important information is “somewhere.” A folder. A drive. A password manager. A safe. A filing cabinet. A shared document. But when someone dies suddenly or becomes incapacitated, “somewhere” is not a plan.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Jeffrey Shavitz, Co-Founder of FamVault, about the gap between having documents and having a real family access process.

Jeffre...

Most people think better financial decisions come from better math.

Ross Powell sees it differently.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy Podcast, Craig Andrews sits down with Ross Powell, Wealth Manager, to talk about the emotional side of money decisions, why technically smart people still make painful financial mistakes, and how shame keeps people from fixing the problems that are already costing them.

Ross shares an early-career s...

The papers were signed.

The estate documents existed. The legal work was done. On the surface, the client had handled the responsible part.

Then he asked William Bissett a better question: what happens when I am gone and my wife and daughters do not know where anything is, who to call, or what to do first?

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig Andrews talks with William Bissett, President and Senior Client Advisor at Portus Weal...

Financial advisory growth can expose every weak spot in the business.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Sean Kuttin, Business Development Manager with Kuttin Wealth Management, about what it takes to build a firm that can serve 27,000+ clients, support 250+ team members, and steward more than $18B in assets without losing the human work at the center of advice.

Sean shares how Kuttin Wealth became a safe haven fo...

Everyone loves the headline number on a business exit.

The sale price. The valuation. The story that makes the room go quiet.

But Brett Swarts wants owners looking at the number that comes after tax. Because a big exit can become a quiet surrender if the tax plan shows up after the deal is already moving.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig Andrews talks with Brett Swarts, founder of Capital Gains Tax Solutions, about the plan...

Most people spend their working years building the mountain. Then retirement arrives, and nobody has taught them how to come down without handing the IRS a bigger share than expected.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig Andrews talks with Erik Brenner, Private Wealth Advisor at Hilltop Wealth & Tax Solutions, about the tax problem hiding inside retirement planning. Erik explains why the old assumption that taxes automati...