This month, Jamie Hopkins’ new book, “Your Retirement Sketchbook,” co-written by Bonnie Treichel, hits bookstores, and a lot of advisors know Hopkins as a retirement planning expert. Less known is his own personal story, which includes the passing of his father in a job-site accident when he was 8 years old.

“This has impacted so many things in my life—my desire to be a dad, a sense I would die early, a fear of heights and a scarcity mindset for years around money,” he writes in the book.

In this episode of The Healthy Advisor, host Diana Britton chats with Jamie Hopkins, CEO of Bryn Mawr Trust and co-author of “Your Retirement Sketchbook,” about those fears and how childhood loss shaped his approach to retirement planning and life. He also explains the importance of financial advice access for underserved workers, the career decision that helped him be more present with his children, and why protecting health and relationships should matter as much as building wealth.

Jamie discusses:

• The childhood tragedy that shaped his perspective on money, planning and family priorities
• Why many workers in trades and small businesses lack access to retirement guidance and financial advice
• How one comment from his son reshaped his approach to work and travel
• How scarcity around money can influence lifelong habits and emotional relationships with finances
• How Jamie invests in his own health

Resources:

• Listen to The Healthy Advisor on Wealth Management
• Subscribe and listen to The Healthy Advisor on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe and listen to The Healthy Advisor on Spotify
• Book: Your Retirement Sketchbook by Jamie Hopkins and Bonnie Treichel

Connect With Jamie Hopkins:

• LinkedIn: Jamie Hopkins
• Website: Bryn Mawr Trust
• jhopkins@bmt.com

Connect with Wealth Management:

• Wealth Management
• LinkedIn: Diana Britton
• diana.britton@informa.com
• LinkedIn: Informa
• LinkedIn: Wealth Management

About Our Guest:

Jamie P. Hopkins is CEO of Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors and CWO of WSFS. A Wall Street Journal best-selling author, educator, and executive speaker, Jamie has previously served on numerous advisory boards around the financial services industry, such as Wing.app, Wealth.com, C2P, IncomeLab, and was a national trustee member of NAIFA. He currently sits on the advisory board of Focal, an AI startup. Jamie is also the founder and president of the 501(c)(3) non-profit, FinServ Foundation, and was recognized as the 2021 RIA Thought Leader of the Year by WealthManagement.com and Top 10 Investopedia 100 Top Financial Advisor for 2023. Jamie has also taught financial planning courses and created course content at Creighton University and American College of Financial Services since 2012.

In 2018, Melissa Caro’s perfectly healthy 72-year-old mother was suddenly diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, and within 24 hours she became her sole caregiver, her financial planner, her life coach and her healthcare advocate. At the same time, her 87-year-old stepdad was falling apart and spiraling into dementia, and her husband was in the hospital with severe back problems.

As a Type A personality, she struggled significantly during this time. During one doctor’s visit for her mother, a nurse reminded her to take care of herself.

In this episode of The Healthy Advisor, host Diana Britton speaks with Caro, founder of My Retirement Network, a financial education resource for clients and the advisors who serve them, on how she navigated caregiving while managing her career and other responsibilities.

She discusses the emotional complexity of caregiving, the gap in financial literacy for those without advisors, and how her experience shaped her mission to help people understand their finances during life’s most challenging moments.

She discusses:

• Her journey into financial services
• The sudden shift from professional routine to full-time caregiving
• The financial, physical and emotional toll caregiving can have on a person
• The things that helped her cope and get through the struggling times
• How financial fear intensifies during illnesses
• How her caregiving experience shaped the work she does today with My Retirement Network
• How personal loss can help advisors listen, communicate and frame their role with clients

Resources:

• Listen to The Healthy Advisor on Wealth Management
• Subscribe and listen to The Healthy Advisor on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe and listen to The Healthy Advisor on Spotify

Connect With Melissa Caro:

• LinkedIn: Melissa Caro
• LinkedIn: My Retirement Network
• Website: My Retirement Network
• mcaro@myretirementnetwork.com

Connect with Wealth Management:

• Wealth Management
• LinkedIn: Diana Britton
• diana.britton@informa.com
• LinkedIn: Informa
• LinkedIn: Wealth Management

About Our Guest:

Melissa Caro is a Certified Financial Education Instructor, CFP, and the founder of My Retirement Network, a digital media platform dedicated to promoting financial literacy. With a mission rooted in the belief that knowledge empowers people to create the future they envision, Melissa brings decades of experience in finance and education to her work. She has witnessed firsthand the positive impact that understanding finances can have on people’s lives, far beyond just numbers.

Melissa’s goal is to make financial literacy accessible and meaningful for everyone. My Retirement Network was created to bridge the gap between complex financial concepts and the everyday decisions that shape financial futures. The platform empowers individuals at every stage, whether they’re planning for retirement, starting a career, or teaching their children about money, to understand and take control of their financial well-being. Through education and awareness, Melissa supports people on their journey to building a stronger, more informed financial foundation.

After facing divorce, financial hardship and even losing her home in a wildfire, Bridget Venus Grimes rebuilt her life and career around helping other women do the same, taking control of their finances, finding community and redefining success on their own terms.

In this episode of The Healthy Advisor, host Diana Britton sits down with Grimes, president of WealthChoice and co-founder of Equita Financial Network, to explore her journey from Wall Street trader to pastry chef to financial planner for breadwinner women.

From personal struggle to powerful purpose, Grimes reveals how she built a network to uplift female advisors and how coaching, balance, and connection helped her thrive through life’s toughest seasons.

She discusses:

• The unconventional path that led Bridget from trading floors to Paris kitchens and back to finance
• How divorce, debt and disaster shaped her passion for empowering women through financial planning
• Why pay inequity and lack of flexibility persist for women in financial services
• What inspired her to create Equita Financial Network
• How coaching, community, and boundaries can protect advisors from burnout

Resources:

• Listen to The Healthy Advisor on Wealth Management
• Subscribe and listen to The Healthy Advisor on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe and listen to The Healthy Advisor on Spotify
• The Healthy Advisor: Overcoming Insecurities and Self-Doubt With Stephanie Bogan
• Focused on the Future: Breadwinner Women, Gen Z, and Succession with Bridget Venus Grimes

Connect with Wealth Management:

• Wealth Management
• LinkedIn: Diana Britton
• diana.britton@informa.com
• LinkedIn: Informa
• LinkedIn: Wealth Management

Connect With Bridget Venus Grimes:

• LinkedIn: Bridget Venus Grimes
• bridget.grimes@wealthchoice.com
• Equita Financial Network
• LinkedIn: Equita Financial Network
• WealthChoice LLC
• LinkedIn: WealthChoice LLC

About Our Guest:

Bridget Venus Grimes, CFP, is President of WealthChoice, a wealth management firm for women executives, and Co-founder of the SEC-registered investment advisor Equita Financial Network, a community of women-led financial planning firms. Bridget began her career in 1987, trading stocks for private hedge funds in New York City, before pursuing her passion for financial planning for women.

Bridget believes in empowering women to take confident steps toward a better life. She authored the best-selling book Corner Office Choices: The Executive Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom and has written countless articles for major US media channels. Her commitment to women’s financial education extends not only to women professionals but also to fellow financial planners. She has spoken at major industry conferences and co-hosted the Financial Planning Association’s Women’s Knowledge Circle.

Bridget splits her time between Arizona and California and enjoys boating, golf, entertaining, anything French, and, most of all, cooking. She holds a B.A degree in German language and literature and a minor in Art History from Mount Holyoke College.