Most families assume the important information is “somewhere.” A folder. A drive. A password manager. A safe. A filing cabinet. A shared document. But when someone dies suddenly or becomes incapacitated, “somewhere” is not a plan.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig talks with Jeffrey Shavitz, Co-Founder of FamVault, about the gap between having documents and having a real family access process.

Jeffrey explains why the old paper folder problem has become a digital folder problem. Families may have estate documents, passwords, wills, safe codes, pet records, attorney contacts, vaccine records, social media accounts, financial details, and other critical information scattered across tools that no one else can reliably reach. FamVault’s work is built around making those details organized, findable, and accessible to the right people when the moment comes.

The conversation gets practical fast. Jeffrey shares the story of a cardiologist friend who died suddenly after seeming healthy and high-functioning, a reminder that success does not automatically mean readiness. He also tells the story of a family facing a wall safe after a death, with no one knowing the code. Craig connects it to his own experience of watching a family member try to hack into a password vault even though access had technically been provided.

The lesson is simple: storage is not the same as succession. Google Docs, Dropbox, password vaults, and shared folders can all fail if the next person does not know what exists, where to find it, or how to get in.

This is not just an ultra-wealthy family issue. Teachers, police officers, firefighters, veterans, business owners, retirees, and everyday families all leave behind complexity. The question is whether that complexity becomes manageable or whether it lands on grieving people as a scavenger hunt.

Jeffrey and Craig also push back on the idea that families need to fix everything at once. The better move is to start small, build a process, sit down with the people who will matter in a crisis, and make the right information findable before it is needed.

Want to learn more about Jeffrey Shavitz's work? Check out his website at http://www.famvault.com.

Connect with Jeffrey Shavitz on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffshavitz/.

Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply at https://fiduciaryalchemy.com/podcast/apply/.

Learn more about Fiduciary Alchemy at https://fiduciaryalchemy.com/.

Most people think better financial decisions come from better math.

Ross Powell sees it differently.

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy Podcast, Craig Andrews sits down with Ross Powell, Wealth Manager, to talk about the emotional side of money decisions, why technically smart people still make painful financial mistakes, and how shame keeps people from fixing the problems that are already costing them.

Ross shares an early-career story about getting into $45,000 of vehicle debt even though he had the accounting education to know better. That story becomes the doorway into a bigger conversation: money mistakes are rarely just math mistakes. They are usually identity, pressure, fear, and psychology showing up in financial form.

Craig and Ross also dig into estate planning paralysis. Families often stall because they believe every decision has to be perfect forever. Ross explains how shrinking the timeline can help people make responsible decisions now instead of leaving their family exposed while they wait for certainty.

They also cover why tax planning can be one of the most direct ways to increase net worth. Market gains are never guaranteed, but reducing unnecessary tax drag can create real, permanent gains that stay working for the client.

This conversation is about getting past shame, making the next responsible move, and treating wealth as something to steward instead of something to perform with.

Learn more about Ross Powell: http://rosspowellcpa.com

Connect with Ross on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/rosspowellcpa

Think you’d be a great guest on Fiduciary Alchemy Podcast? Apply at https://fiduciaryalchemy.com/podcast/apply/

Want to learn more about Craig Andrews and Fiduciary Alchemy? Visit https://fiduciaryalchemy.com/

The papers were signed.

The estate documents existed. The legal work was done. On the surface, the client had handled the responsible part.

Then he asked William Bissett a better question: what happens when I am gone and my wife and daughters do not know where anything is, who to call, or what to do first?

In this episode of Fiduciary Alchemy, Craig Andrews talks with William Bissett, President and Senior Client Advisor at Portus Wealth Advisors, about the planning work that begins after the obvious boxes are checked. William works with business owners, especially blue-collar and trades business owners doing roughly $10M-$50M in revenue, and he sees a pattern many people miss. A business can look simple from the outside while carrying real financial, family, and succession complexity underneath.

William shares how he started in insurance and annuities, rejected product-pushing, learned planning from the back office, wrote 160-200 financial plans, worked under Michael Kitces, and eventually founded his own firm in 2019. That path shaped how he thinks about advice. Planning is not a product. It is a process that has to make sense when life stops cooperating.

The conversation turns practical when William tells the story of building a detailed organizer for a client whose family would have been lost even with proper estate documents in place. The lesson is blunt. Documents matter, but they do not help much if the surviving family cannot act on them.

Craig and William also talk about why clients often want simple, fast solutions to complex planning problems, why William starts with what is on fire before returning to the broader plan, and why educated clients ask better questions. They also dig into AI in wealth management, from note takers and agents to the risk that vendors and custodians wall off data to protect their turf.

Near the end, William pushes back on a future where bots do everything and people sit idle. Work still gives people purpose. Human connection still matters. And in a world chasing automation, crafted human experiences may become more valuable, not less.

Connect with William Bissett on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/williambissett/.

Want to learn more about William Bissett’s work at Portus Wealth Advisors? Visit https://www.portusadvisors.com.

You can also reach William Bissett directly at william@portusadvisors.com.

Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply at https://fiduciaryalchemy.com/podcast/apply/.

Want to learn more about Craig Andrews' work? Check out https://fiduciaryalchemy.com/.