Permission to Spend: Rethinking Legacy Planning for Child-Free Clients

The Bucket Plan® On-Demand Podcast

Permission to Spend: Rethinking Legacy Planning for Child-Free Clients

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElMQ9wEObTA

In This Episode

About the Episode:

It’s easy to default to follow traditional planning frameworks that assume clients want to build generational wealth and leave substantial inheritances. But what happens when your clients don’t have children and genuinely don’t care about how much money they leave behind? This fundamental shift requires us to completely rethink our approach to wealth management and legacy planning.

Join host Kirsten Schlumbohm as she explores this underserved market with Bri Conn, CFP®, a Childfree Wealth Specialist® at Childfree Wealth® who’s built her entire practice around child-free wealth planning. Bri shares how she accidentally discovered this niche and why it’s become her passion – along with the eye-opening question that starts every client relationship: “Do you care about how much money you leave behind when you die?”

Key Topics Discussed:

Redefining Legacy Planning: How legacy extends beyond genetic inheritance to include community impact, charitable giving, and personal passion projects
The Die With Zero Philosophy: Implementing Bill Perkins’ concepts to help clients spend down wealth strategically while living their best life
Estate Planning Without Obvious Beneficiaries: Practical strategies for identifying meaningful charitable recipients and alternative legacy options
Financial Independence, Live Early (FILE): Moving beyond traditional FIRE concepts to create flexible work arrangements that prioritize current life experiences
Building Trust Through Active Listening: The “shut up and listen” approach that helps advisors truly understand child-free clients’ unique goals
Avoiding Common Biases: Recognizing and addressing assumptions about family planning, inheritance goals, and traditional life scripts
Practical Implementation Examples: Real-world case studies of clients who’ve transitioned to part-time work, passion-driven careers, and experience-focused spending
Volunteer-to-Legacy Strategy: Using volunteer experiences to help clients discover their philanthropic passions and estate planning preferences

Explore how understanding this growing demographic can enhance your practice and help you serve clients who may have felt misunderstood by conventional financial planning approaches.

Resources:

Book referenced: Die With Zero by Bill Perkins
Podcast: Childfree Wealth Podcast
Volunteer platform: Volunteer Match
Child-Free Wealth website: childfreewealth.com

Permission to Spend: Rethinking Legacy Planning for Child-Free Clients

About the Host:

Kirsten Schlumbohm is the Vice President, Head of Annuity Sales at C2P. She has over 15 years of industry experience in which she’s served as an insurance and annuity wholesaler, sales trainer and leader, and financial advisor. In addition to her life and health insurance licenses, she holds her Series 66 and a degree from Iowa State University.

Kirsten is committed to empowering you and helping you reach the retirement finish line. She believes in optimizing processes to build strategies out of silos and encourage tighter collaboration.

Follow Kirsten on LinkedIn

About the Guest:

Bri Conn, is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® and Childfree Wealth Specialist® at Childfree Wealth®, a life and financial planning firm dedicated to helping people simplify their finances so they can live an amazing Childfree life. She is also the co-host of the Childfree Wealth podcast. In her free time, Bri loves hiking, running, and generally anything that involves being outside with her wife & dog.

Childfree Wealth® has been featured on Fortune, Forbes, MarketWatch, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Insider, CNBC, and many other publications.

Follow Bri on LinkedIn