Military to Financial Planner Podcast

Welcome to a special bonus episode of the Military to Financial Planner Podcast! I’m Daniel Kopp, and today I’m joined by my SkillBridge intern, Russ Meyer, for the inaugural session of our PME Book Club. We’re diving deep into "Advice That Sticks: How to Give Financial Advice That People Will Follow" by Dr. Moira Somers—one of my hands-down favorite books for any financial planner, and honestly, for anyone who wants t...

I was thrilled to have my longtime friend and colleague Kate Horrell join me on the podcast. We’ve known each other for years—through mastermind groups and the broader military financial community—and I’ve always admired the work she does to support military families through education and advocacy.

In this episode, Kate shares her incredible journey from being a new military spouse struggling with bills an...

In this episode, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Ashley Quamme, a licensed marriage and family therapist and the founder of Beyond the Plan. Ashley is someone I’ve admired for a long time, and this conversation is packed with powerful insights into the intersection of psychology, relationships, and personal finance.

Ashley shares her unique journey—from launching a private therapy practice focused ...

I’m excited to welcome Greg Young on the podcast today. He is the founder of Ahead Full Wealth Management, a fee-only RIA based in Rhode Island. As a Navy veteran himself, his focus there is working with military, government employees, and educators through financial planning, investment management, and tax planning and preparation. 

In our wide-ranging discussion Greg shares his personal journey of initia...

I’m excited to welcome Dan Huffman on the podcast today. He is the founder of Cornerstone Financial Planning, a fee-only RIA based in CO. His focus is on working with those in the real estate community so we spend a lot of time talking about that type of expertise, the planning and tax considerations for that niche, compliance considerations, and balancing those goals with other aspects of financial planning especially...

I’m excited to welcome Ryan Guina on the podcast today. He is the founder of the Military Wallet, one of the longest running and most respected personal finance websites focused on the military audience. Ryan served over six years in the United States Air Force as an aircraft mechanic, then joined the Air National Guard in 2014 after an 8.5-year break in service which we talk about integrating the challenges of that wi...

I’m excited to welcome Valerie Rivera on the podcast today. She is the founder of First Gen Wealth, an RIA specializing in no shame, no judgement financial advice for First Gen wealth builders in their 30s and 40s. I invited Valerie on the podcast to help share her story of overcoming lots of barriers including race, family of origin, education, class, financial safety net, and much more. I love her transparency in sha...

I’m excited to welcome Curt Sheldon on the podcast today. He is the founder of C. L. Sheldon and Company, a flat-fee RIA focused on serving senior military officers. Curt first launched this firm more than 14 years ago and offered flat fee engagements with investment management long before this became more common. His firm also prepares more than 300 tax returns.

In this wide-ranging interview Curt shares ...

In this short bonus episode, Paul Allen rejoins us to share the exciting news about the MQFP live exam prep course coming up at MilMoneyCon25. We chat through what that looks like, what you can expect to learn, how much it costs, when to plan travel, integration with the MilMoneyCon conference schedule, and a special opportunity for some scholarships! Hope to see many of you listeners there!

https://milmon...

I’m excited to welcome Stacy Miller on the podcast today. She is the founder of Bayview Financial Planning, a flat-fee RIA focused on serving women, widows, and military and veteran families. Stacy is a military spouse to a retired U.S. Army officer. Married for over 30-years to her husband, Jody, who served 28-years in the military, Stacy has experienced many positive and negative transitions. She has seen firsthand h...

In this episode, I’m joined by David Evetts, who serves as the President of the USAA Educational Foundation. Since 1986, The USAA Educational Foundation has served the military community by helping service members and their families become informed financial decision-makers through every life stage. USAA, the founder and sponsor of The USAA Educational Foundation, is a San Antonio, Texas-based financial services compan...

I’m excited to welcome a friend and colleague who has a little bit different career track today. Drew Stamp serves as the Chief Operations Office for the Donovan and Bank Foundation - a, nonprofit organization that focuses on helping special operators transition to a life of peace, balance, and contentment. 

We chat about Drew’s early personal finance experiences, how he learned he loved to teach and help ...

Today on the podcast I’m joined by Matt Stephens from Willow Chute Financial. Matt has had a winding career path that has taken him to a variety of roles, firms, structures, and responsibilities. During his career in financial services, he has also served as an officer in the Army Reserves since 2008. In our discussion, we chat about the pros and cons of a variety of financial services compensation and service structur...

I’m so grateful to have Heather Walrath joining us on the podcast today. She currently serves as financial education and accredited financial counselor at the Navy Mutual Aid Association.  As part of the Education Team, Heather speaks one-on-one with servicemembers and spouses and provides group presentations to servicemembers and families across the country to  increase their knowledge and understanding of financial m...

I’m excited to have Paul Allen on the podcast today. In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss his first exposure to the financial services industry which rubbed him the wrong way and sparked an interest in doing his own financial planning work. Later on, Paul wanted to help educate fellow members of his military community so he got his CFP so he could teach financial literacy classes, all the while wondering if the...

In this podcast episode, I sit down with Mike Hunsberger to learn more about his career journey across an Air Force career and launching his own RIA, Next Mission Financial Planning. He shares about his early experiences with being sold permanent life insurance and high fee mutual funds which led him to get more interested in personal finance. Thanks to many years of his own good financial decisions, including building...

In this podcast episode, I’m joined by Stephanie Higgins to talk about her journey into the financial planning profession. As a military brat as well as military spouse, she has spent a great deal of time overseas so we talk about the challenges of employment and building a career while OCONUS. I love hearing about her personal journey of learning about finances as she took over her household money management and the b...

I’m excited to welcome Omen Quelvog to the podcast today. If his name sounds familiar to you, it’s because we have talked about him on this podcast before when Sean Gillespie and I chatted about the DoD Skillbridge program and how Omen was the first MFAA Skillbridge intern. We cover a lot of ground in this episode including Omen’s own financial experiences and love of spreadsheets and personal finance. 

I ...

We continue the recent theme of podcast listeners becoming podcast guests as I’m joined by Arcelia Wicker on the episode today. He is a financial planner at Bay Capital Advisors in the Virginia Beach area. 

We chat about his personal experiences of personal finances and how going through Financial Peace University helped him and his wife get their own financial house in order before going on to help host a...