Many people want guidance that truly supports their goals, yet the way advice is delivered can shape how confident they feel.

How do you create space for every voice at the table? How do you build a client experience that reflects communication, care and long-term thinking?

In this episode of Focused on the Future, host Suzanne Siracuse talks with Cary Carbonaro, CFP, MBA, author, fee-only financial advisor, and CFP Board ambassador, about her early industry realizations, her mission to elevate the experience for women clients, and her approach to building a practice with a clear purpose.

Cary explains how she built her firm from the ground up, why communication gaps still exist across the profession, and how empathy, education and emotional intelligence foster lasting relationships. She also discusses what advisors can do now to prepare for the great wealth transfer and better serve the clients who will soon lead it.

Key points:

• How women were routinely left out of early client conversations and how this shaped Cary’s mission
• The importance of empathy, education and emotional intelligence with women clients
• Why the great wealth transfer demands changes in communication and client experience
• How Cary maintained trust through four practice transitions
• How media presence and clear messaging help advisors expand influence

Resources:

• Listen to Focused on the Future on WealthManagement.com
• Subscribe and listen to Focused on the Future on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe and listen to Focused on the Future on Spotify
• The Money Queen’s Guide: For Women Who Want to Build Wealth and Banish Fear by Cary Carbonaro
• Book: Women and Wealth: A Playbook to Empower Clients and Unlock Their Fortune by Cary Carbonaro

Connect With Suzanne Siracuse:

• LinkedIn: Suzanne Siracuse
• Twitter: Suzanne Siracuse
• Email: Suzanne@suzannesiracuse.com

Connect With Cary Carbonaro:

• LinkedIn: Cary Carbonaro
• Website: Cary Carbonaro
• LinkedIn: CFP Board
• Website: CFP Board

About Our Guest:

Cary Carbonaro, CFP, MBA, is an award-winning Certified Financial Planner Professional with over 25 years of experience in financial services. She is the Managing Wealth Advisor and Women and Wealth Ambassador at Ashton Thomas, where she leads a multimillion-dollar financial planning practice focused on empowering women.

Cary is the bestselling author of The Money Queen’s Guide and Women and Wealth: A Playbook to Empower Clients and Unlock Their Fortune (Wiley 2025), which offers actionable strategies for better serving women in financial services. Through her writing, speaking, and advocacy, she is helping reshape the industry to better support its fastest-growing client segment.

She has been honored as a CFP Board Ambassador for over a decade, named a “Women to Watch” by Investment News, and ranked six times among Investopedia’s Top 100 Financial Advisors. In 2024, Cary was appointed as the first female member of the NASDAQ Advisor Council, further cementing her leadership in the field.

Before building her advisory practice, Cary held leadership roles at JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and Lord Abbett Investment. Today, she is a respected industry voice and frequent media contributor, with appearances on dozens of TV stations.

Through her decades of experience, Cary remains a passionate champion for financial literacy, gender equity, and empowering women to take control of their financial futures.

Building a firm that reflects your values does not happen by accident.

In this episode of Focused on the Future, host Suzanne Siracuse talks with Julia Carlson, founder and CEO of Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group, about creating an inclusive culture, serving clients without traditional minimums and using technology to strengthen relationships. Julia also shares insights from her new book, Let’s Get You Fired, which helps entrepreneurs step back so their companies can grow.

Julia also describes how she built Financial Freedom from the ground up, why she hires from her client base, how the Inspired Wealth program supports emerging investors, and how AI is reshaping client service and advisor training.

Key takeaways:

• How Julia went from a 19-year-old bank teller to launching Financial Freedom Wealth Management at age 23
• The way her own “misfit” experience sparked an inclusive, values-driven culture that hires from unexpected places
• How the Inspired Wealth program lets the firm serve people below traditional asset minimums while staying profitable through revenue-based design and focused coaching
• Why her upcoming book Let’s Get You Fired helps entrepreneurs step back, build strong teams, and grow values-based and valuable companies with a strong lens on generosity
• How JUMP AI, Salesforce and Microsoft Copilot are reshaping notetaking, prep, training and client experience while freeing advisors to focus on real conversations

Resources:

• Listen to Focused on the Future on WealthManagement.com
• Subscribe and listen to Focused on the Future on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe and listen to Focused on the Future on Spotify
• Listen to Julia on The Healthy Advisor Podcast with Diana Britton

Connect With Suzanne Siracuse:

• LinkedIn: Suzanne Siracuse
• Twitter: Suzanne Siracuse
• Email: Suzanne@suzannesiracuse.com

Connect With Julia Carlson:

• Website: Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group
• LinkedIn: Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group
• Website: Julia Carlson
• LinkedIn: Julia Carlson
• Books by Julia Carlson

About Our Guest:

Julia Carlson is the Founder and CEO of Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group, LLC. She founded the firm at the turn of the century, and with its successes, she has become a thought leader in the financial industry. Julia is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, educator and expert on the investment landscape. She is recognized as being especially knowledgeable on topics relating to tax strategies for retirement and distribution planning, as well as exit planning for business owners.

Julia has been identified as an InvestmentNews 2020 Women to Watch honoree. She was also recognized as one of Forbes’ 2018-2022 Top Women Wealth Advisors as well as a 2018-2021 Top Wealth Advisor Mom by Working Mother magazine and SHOOK Research. Furthermore, Julia provides her knowledge through a financial column in a local newspaper. She actively participates in her community as a Rotary member, Chamber of Commerce member and Vice President for the Pacific Communities Health District Foundation Board. Julia works from our office in the beautiful coastal community of Newport, Oregon, where she resides with her husband and their three children.

Julia has been interviewed by Barron’s, Forbes, Financial Advisor Magazine, CIO Views, MSN, Reuters, InvestmentNews, USA Today, yahoo! Finance, TD Ameritrade Network and Nasdaq.

Julia is an Investment Advisor Representative and Registered Principal with LPL Financial. She has her Series 24, 7, 63 and 66 Securities registrations held with LPL Financial, as well as her state Life and Health Insurance licenses.

Partnership in life and business takes communication, balance and understanding, and when money enters the mix, the stakes are even higher.

In this episode of the Focused on The Future podcast, host Suzanne Siracuse talks with Douglas and Heather Boneparth, the husband-and-wife team behind Bone Fide Wealth, about how their personal and professional lives intersect, the inspiration behind their new book Money Together, and the lessons they’ve learned about partnership and purpose.

Douglas and Heather share how real-life challenges shaped their firm’s people-first mission, why emotional awareness matters as much as financial planning, and how open communication can strengthen both relationships and client connections.

Key takeaways:

• How Doug’s second-generation financial background shaped Bone Fide Wealth’s people-first philosophy
• Heather’s transition from corporate law to financial services and how her outsider perspective strengthens the firm
• How their experiences with debt, economic uncertainty and family life help them connect authentically with clients
• Insights from their new book Money Together on fairness, communication and partnership in financial relationships
• Practical advice for advisors on engaging both partners in client conversations and using digital platforms effectively

Resources:

• Listen to Focused on the Future on WealthManagement.com
• Subscribe and listen to Focused on the Future on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe and listen to Focused on the Future on Spotify
• Book: Money Together: How to Find Fairness in Your Relationship and Become an Unstoppable Financial Team

Connect With Suzanne Siracuse:

• LinkedIn: Suzanne Siracuse
• Twitter: Suzanne Siracuse
• Email: Suzanne@suzannesiracuse.com

Connect With Douglas & Heather Boneparth:

• Bone Fide Wealth
• Money Together
• LinkedIn: Bone Fide Wealth
• LinkedIn: Douglas Boneparth
• LinkedIn: Heather Boneparth

About Douglas & Heather:

Douglas Boneparth is the founder of Bone Fide Wealth, a wealth management firm in New York City. Recognized as one of the nation’s most influential financial advisors, Douglas serves on the advisory councils for CNBC and Investopedia. He has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and more. He is also a CFP Board Ambassador for New York. Douglas received his B.S. from the University of Florida and his M.B.A. from NYU’s Stern School of Business. When he’s not making jokes on the internet, he enjoys brewing coffee, though he can do both at the same time.

Heather Boneparth is used to wearing many hats. On her first maternity leave, she co-authored the couple’s first book on helping millennials achieve financial freedom. Since then, she has become a rising voice at the intersection of love, money, and family. She has written for CNBC, theSkimm, Insider, Scary Mommy, and more. As a lawyer, she spent more than a decade in the insurance industry before joining the family business as Bone Fide Wealth’s director of business and legal affairs. She received her B.S. from the University of Florida and her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Heather and Douglas met in college and consider themselves Gators for life. They now live in New Jersey with their two daughters.