In this episode, Kelley Long opens up about the emotional and personal journey of navigating a major life transition—choosing to remain child-free after years of pursuing parenthood. Through this vulnerable storytelling, she reflects on the process of grieving an imagined future and finding peace with a new direction. Kelley explores how this personal experience has shaped her understanding of self-discovery, acceptance, and how these themes apply not only to life’s emotional decisions but also to the emotional side of managing money. She encourages listeners to embrace uncertainty, letting go of rigid timelines and expectations, and instead exploring new possibilities with curiosity and flexibility.

Kelley shares insights into how she and her husband reimagined their life together after realizing that having children wasn’t in the cards. This required confronting their financial and lifestyle decisions—many of which were made with parenthood in mind—and shifting their focus toward new, unexpected opportunities. From making decisions about spending and saving to trying out new ventures like buying a second home or pursuing hobbies, Kelley discusses the importance of small steps and mindful exploration. She emphasizes that it’s okay to take time to adjust and to allow yourself to explore without pressure, helping you find a path that aligns with your values and goals.

Ultimately, Kelley ties this personal journey back to the financial realm by illustrating how emotional clarity can drive better financial decisions. Whether it’s overcoming impulse spending, shifting from scarcity to abundance, or overcoming fears around money, the key is aligning your financial habits with a larger sense of purpose. Through self-awareness and a mindset shift, Kelley helps listeners move from financial stress to financial bliss by making decisions that reflect their true desires, both emotionally and financially.

In this episode, Kelley Long shares valuable insights about Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and the lessons she learned about health insurance that changed everything about her choices and, really, her whole life. Reflecting on her early experiences, she highlights common misconceptions around high-deductible healthcare plans and the potential benefits that many people overlook, particularly those in good health. This is super important to better understand because getting this right could make early retirement or at least a mini-retirement or career sabbatical possible.

Kelley introduces eight key facts about HSAs that most people don't know, including their portability, rollover options, and tax advantages. She also discusses how HSAs can be a strategic tool for managing future healthcare costs, de-coupling health insurance coverage from a job and maximizing savings for retirement.

Tune in to discover how to make the most of your HSA and why it might be worth re-evaluating your health insurance options during open enrollment!

Followup resources to support this episode:

The ins and outs of IRA-to-HSA rollovers

3 Common HSA Mistakes to Avoid

Schedule a coaching session with Kelley

This episode is all about that sticky area of money where we try to separate out our wants versus needs when making decisions around how we want to spend our dollars.

The themes include:

Understanding Wants vs. Needs: Distinguishing between wants and needs can be complex, especially when personal values and societal judgments come into play. It’s essential to recognize that our choices around spending—like gym memberships or shopping for groceries—often straddle this line, and reflecting on these choices can help clarify what truly matters to us.

Owning Your Financial Choices: It’s essential to own your spending decisions without guilt or judgment. Whether you're choosing to join a high-end health club for the social aspect or choosing food delivery services for convenience, understanding the underlying motivations can empower you to make choices that align with your values. And when you're not comfortable with the choice, that's an area to dig into.

Evaluating the Trade-offs: Spending money is often a trade-off between time and energy. By assessing whether your expenses are intentional and truly beneficial to your life, you can better balance your finances and maintain alignment with your values, allowing for a more fulfilling financial life.

Resources to support this episode:

• To find a financial therapist, visit the Financial Therapy Association directory
• To schedule a financial coaching session with Kelley Long, visit www.financialblisscoach.com/services

You may have heard about a back door Roth IRA, especially if you make too much money to contribute directly into one right now. While a back door Roth and a regular Roth IRA utilize the same account, performing the contribution to get around the income limits has very specific steps that you need to get right in order to avoid unnecessary taxation and issues with the IRS.

This podcast episode goes over what a makes a back door Roth different than a regular IRA contribution, along with the exact steps you need to take to successfully perform the strategy. You'll also understand what account aggregation is and how those rules could cause unanticipated tax consequences, along with potential solutions to avoid taxes when doing a back door Roth contribution.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

Episode 8 The 1 Account With 4 Surprisingly Flexible Savings Options

Form 8606 - include this with your tax return for the year you make your non-deductible traditional IRA contribution

Form 5498 - what you'll need to save to prove that your contribution was made originally to your traditional IRA; it will be supplied by your IRA provider

Form 1040 - you'll show the nuts and bolts of your conversion to your Roth IRA on the line for IRA distributions

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational purposes only; every individual's situation varies and could impact the outcome so this should not be exclusively relied upon for tax, legal or investing advice.

Please confirm the use of this information with your own paid professionals as Kelley C Long and Kelley C Long Consulting LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability that may arise from listeners' use of this information for their own tax and financial planning.

When you know you need to start talking with your partner about money more, but don't know where to start, these 3 questions can help. Rather than jumping right into looking at spending, budgets, balances and statements, answering these questions together can help you gain a better understanding of where the other person is coming from, particularly if you commonly have conversations about money devolve into arguments. Even if you've been together for years, this can be constructive and may actually be even more necessary.

For an agenda to share monthly money dates along with suggested topic areas to discuss that ensures you'll cover all aspects of your finances at least once a year, visit www.financialblisscoach.com/moneydates to download your copy.

If you find yourself living paycheck-to-paycheck despite earning more than enough to cover your bills and lifestyle and know that you have room to save this episode is for you.

When you find yourself always spending more than you intend, even when you know that you can easily cut back because you DO when your run out of money at the end of your pay cycle, there's a surprising habit that may be at play.

The good news is, you can change this! The tough news is that it is about more than just crafting the perfect budget or deleting apps off your phone.

Previous episodes mentioned in this podcast can be found here:

Ep 2: Why You Keep Sabotaging Your Goals and How to Stop for Good

Ep 12: Why Changing Your Financial Life Is About More Than Just Learning to Budget

The reasons you think you need to buy a home ASAP may not be as valid as you think.

In this episode, Kelley Long gives a hot take on why home ownership is probably not the financial boondoggle a lot of us think it is.

There are plenty of great reasons to want to buy a home. But there are also a lot of reasons it's not exactly the Best Thing Ever, despite what the so-called American Dream says.

If you're stressed because you think you should be a homeowner by now and are frustrated that you haven't been able to get there yet, this episode is for you. Listen to the common reasons people give for needing to buy and why they may not be as true as the industry would have us believe.

It is human nature to compare ourselves to others, particularly when we are wondering whether or not we measure up. And for the most part, these types of comparisons cause us to feel like we are falling short in some way.

In this episode, Kelley Long, financial coach and money mindset advocate, shares a research-backed way that we can use comparison to actually boost the way we feel about ourselves and our lives that can ultimately lead to better financial behaviors that are in support of your own personal life goals and values.

It's true that comparison is the thief of joy. Except in this one instance. Give it a listen to learn more!

Visit the episode page here.