You don’t need more advice thrown at you. You need someone who can stay with you.

When everything is changing, you don’t need another expert telling you what to do. You need someone who can stay with you in the uncertainty and help you make decisions without rushing, shaming, or overwhelming you.

In this episode of Home Ec, hosts Nick Ashburn and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Moraya Seeger DeGeare sit down with Josh Dunlop, founder of Even Path, to explore what real financial support looks like during high-stakes life transitions like divorce, retirement, loss, and complex family change.

Josh explains why he prefers the word guidance over advice. Advice creates a power dynamic. Guidance is collaborative. It is someone walking with you when you feel activated, isolated, and unsure what comes first.

We talk about what clients often look like when they arrive: burned out, overwhelmed, and late to asking for help. Josh shares how avoidance compounds stress, and how creating structure and executive support in high-pressure moments can lower anxiety and restore confidence. We also explore what people are really fighting for in divorce and major transitions: not just money, but balance, safety, dignity, and the need to feel whole again.

Josh introduces a concept he is developing called wallet dysmorphia, describing how trauma can distort someone’s perception of their financial reality even when the numbers are stable. Often, the person least able to assess the situation clearly is the one living inside the upheaval.

• Guidance vs advice and why the difference matters in transition
• What being “activated” looks like in divorce and major life change
• Why structure lowers panic and helps people regain footing
• How grief and identity loss shape financial positions
• Wallet dysmorphia and the gap between feelings and facts

Josh Dunlop is a financial advisor and the founder of Even Path, a fee-only practice (no commissions, no product sales). He is a CFP, CDFA, and a board member of the Financial Therapy Association.

Josh is currently accepting new clients:

• Individuals navigating divorce
• Couples preparing for retirement
• Families holding complex transitions and financial dynamics

• Work with Josh: Even Path
• Episode reflections and Our FREE Money Psychology Assessment : homeecpodcast.com

• Instagram : @homeecpod & @Calibrate_app
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• Linkedin

Questions or reflections? Email Moraya@personawealth.com

This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not financial, legal, or clinical advice, and does not replace working with a qualified financial professional or licensed therapist who understands your individual situation. Listening does not create a therapeutic or advisory relationship.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Summary

What if your financial history isn’t a knowledge problem or a personal failure, but a nervous system story?

In this episode of HomeEc, we sit down with aspiring Rich Auntie Rachel to unpack a year of emotional, relational, and financial transformation that led to one unexpected move: she submitted her Calibrate Growth Profile alongside her mortgage paperwork.

She got the mortgage.

Financial Therapist Nick Ashburn and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Moraya Seeger DeGeare explore what happens when context meets numbers, when behavior is understood instead of judged, and why “knowing what to do” so often breaks down without safety, regulation, and support.

This episode challenges the idea that financial success is about discipline alone and asks a bigger question: what would change if lenders and advisors understood the human behind the spreadsheet?

What We Cover

• Why knowing better does not automatically lead to doing better
• Emotional spending as regulation, not moral failure
• How strengths become blind spots under stress
• Over-giving as a bid for connection
• Showing up as an adult versus a younger, activated self
• How context changes financial behavior
• What Rachel’s story reveals about credit, care, and trust

Why This Episode Matters

Rachel’s story shows what becomes possible when self-awareness, therapy, and behavioral insight enter real financial systems. This is not a story about perfection. It is a story about being seen, supported, and regulated enough to follow through.

If you have ever felt behind, misunderstood by your numbers, or stuck in patterns you “know better” than to repeat, this episode is for you.

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Disclaimer

This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute mental health, financial, or legal advice. It is not a substitute for guidance from a licensed mental health professional or a qualified financial advisor familiar with your personal circumstances.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.