Tag: Grandchildren
How Grandparents Can Support Family Without Hurting Their Retirement with Yana Leonard (Ep. 112)

How Grandparents Can Support Family Without Hurting Their Retirement with Yana Leonard (Ep. 112)

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Helping your children and grandchildren can become one of the most meaningful parts of retirement, but how much time, money, and energy can you comfortably give?

In this episode, Josh Leonard and Yana Leonard, Chief Risk and Operations Officer at Leonard Advisory Group, explore how grandparents are becoming a bigger part of childcare, family finances, and everyday life. They share their own experience relying on grandparents, examine the financial pressure that family support can create, and consider 529 plans, family trips, relocation, and other ways retirees may help. 

Josh also explains why these choices belong in retirement planning, including the need to protect your own time, resources, and independence.

Key points:

  • How childcare and after-school help from grandparents can change a working family’s budget and daily routine
  • Why financial help for adult children and grandchildren needs to be considered within a retirement plan
  • How 529 plans, family vacations, and other gifts can turn retirement resources into shared family experiences
  • Why grandparents need room for their own travel, interests, independence, and personal retirement priorities
  • How retirement planning can account for family support without overlooking your own financial and personal needs
  • And more!

Resources:

Connect with Josh Leonard: 

Connect with Yana Leonard:

About our Guest: 

Yana Leonard serves as Chief Risk and Operations Officer, where she helps ensure every client experience is delivered with clarity, care, and consistency. She oversees firm operations, internal controls, and compliance, supporting a strong foundation that allows advisors to focus on helping clients plan with confidence and live with intent. With 15 years of corporate finance experience, Yana brings a disciplined, thoughtful approach to decision-making, always focused on protecting clients’ best interests and the long-term strength of the firm.

Yana holds her Life and Fixed Annuities and Accident & Health insurance licenses, reinforcing the firm’s comprehensive approach to retirement planning. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting with a minor in Economics and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in Accounting from Baldwin Wallace University. She is also a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

Yana lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, Josh, their sons, Eli and Isaac, and Layla, their golden retriever. When she’s not working, she enjoys gardening, volunteering, traveling, and being on the sidelines for her boys’ sporting events.

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How Can You Prepare for the Rising Cost of College? with Dan Cieniewicz (Ep. 23)

How Can You Prepare for the Rising Cost of College? with Dan Cieniewicz (Ep. 23)

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As your children get closer and closer to graduation, that education cheque is slowly becoming your reality. 

In this episode, Josh Leonard is joined by Dan Cieniewicz aka The College Dude, to discuss all things saving for college. They emphasize the need for parents to come up with a budget and consider sources of funding for college including the FAFSA process and recent changes to it. 

Dan and Josh discuss: 

  • Retirement benefits grandparents can receive through paying for their grandchildren’s education 
  • The challenge of integrating grandparents into the conversation about college funding
  • The importance of scholarships, grants, and choosing the right school for each student
  • The FAFSA Simplification Act and its implications for grandparent-owned 529 plans
  • The four fits and factors you need to consider before choosing a college 
  • And more

Resources:

Connect with Josh Leonard: 

About our Guest: 

Dan Cieniewicz works with parents of teenage children as they find themselves in a position to strategize to pay for college while also staying on track for retirement. Dan’s goal when working with clients is to explain the complexities of the financial aid & college application process and to strategize to make sure that both parents and children are set up for long-term success. 

Dan was born & raised in Berks County. He attended Albright College, majoring in Economics & Political Science and played on the football team.  Dan has obtained the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation. 

Dan is the head girls basketball coach at Warwick High School in Lititz, PA and loves working out and playing basketball. He resides in Lititz with his wife, Carly.  He also became a father in March of 2022, to a beautiful daughter, Stella.

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Gifts of Financial Wisdom for Your Grandkids (Ep. 8)

Gifts of Financial Wisdom for Your Grandkids (Ep. 8)

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Looking for last-minute gift ideas for your Grandkids? Look no further! Although they might be looking for fun toys, it might be time to offer them the gift that keeps on giving; a solid financial foundation. 

In this episode, Josh Leonard is joined by Bill Leonard, father and founder of the Leonard Advisory Group. As the holiday season is sneaking up on us, it might be time to start thinking about some non-traditional gifts you can offer your children. These gifts can aid in the stability of their financial future, whether that is opening a savings account for them or offering aid through goal setting. 

Josh and Bill discuss: 

  • Ways to incentivize savings accounts among younger children
  • Some out-of-the-box gift ideas you can offer your children or grandchildren that can help their financial future 
  • Some teachable moments that come from fun experiences
  • How to help your children understand the idea of savings 
  • And more

Resources:

Connect with Josh Leonard: 

About our Guest:

William Leonard founded Leonard Advisory Group to fill in the gaps he saw when helping his mother plan for retirement. Bill focused much of his career on the insurance and annuity industry. As an independent advisor, he helped thousands of retirees and pre-retirees face the financial challenges that lie ahead with confidence. Since 1996, Bill has worked in a variety of capacities, gaining valuable experience with insurance. In 2007, he became an independent consultant, focusing on income protection and retirement planning. Bill was an honorary host of the “Protecting Your Profits” radio show on 94.5 3WS Pittsburgh and a weekly guest on the national broadcast “Financial Safari” radio show heard locally on NewsTalk 104.7 FM. He has also been featured on WISR 680 AM and WORD FM. In his free time, Bill enjoys traveling, boating, skiing, hiking, biking, restoring antique vehicles, and spending quality time with family, friends, and clients. He has been married to his wife, Cindy, for almost 40 years. They have three children: Zach, Josh, and Zoey, as well as a crazy border collie named Sweep. After over 25 years of assisting families transition into retirement Bill is excited to transition himself into retirement at the end of 2022.

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