Beth Pinsker, financial planning columnist at MarketWatch, CFP® professional, and author of My Mother’s Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving, joins The Power of the Ask to talk about advocating for yourself, preparing families for financial caregiving, and why sometimes the most important ask is the one you have to make more than once.

Drawing from both her career in journalism and her personal experience caring for her mother, Beth shares how asking for opportunities helped shape her professional journey and how navigating financial caregiving revealed just how difficult it can be to put even the best-laid plans into practice.

Beth, Lisa, and Precious cover:

• Asking for the Opportunity: Beth shares how asking her employer for educational reimbursement to pursue her CFP® certification helped her expand her expertise and take an important step forward in her career.
• Preparing Before a Crisis: From powers of attorney to healthcare proxies and estate documents, Beth explains why families shouldn’t wait for an emergency to begin planning. Having the right documents in place early can make an already difficult situation easier to navigate.
• Starting the Caregiving Conversation: Talking with a parent about money and aging can feel uncomfortable. Beth shares why asking rather than telling, and approaching the conversation as a shared responsibility, can help preserve a parent’s independence while opening the door to important planning.
• Protecting Your Own Financial Future: Women often become the default caregivers in their families, sometimes at a high personal and financial cost. Beth discusses why caregivers need to be thoughtful about protecting their own retirement savings, income, benefits, and long-term financial security.
• Managing Someone Else’s Money with Their Values in Mind: Beth reflects on one of the central lessons from My Mother’s Money: when you’re managing finances for someone you love, the money remains theirs. Your role is to make decisions for their benefit and in line with their values.
• Making the Ask That Changes What’s Possible: Beth opens up about the personal decision that gave her more time and self-determination to pursue her own goals, including earning her CFP® certification and building the next chapter of her career.
• Being Relentlessly Tenacious: For Beth, the power of the ask means being informed, being kind, and being willing to ask again. Whether you’re dealing with doctors, banks, insurance companies, Medicare, or another complicated system, persistence can be essential to getting the help you or your family needs.

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Beth Pinsker (https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpinsker/)

Important Links for Beth:

• Beth's Website: (https://bethpinsker.com/)

About Beth Pinsker:

Beth Pinsker is a financial-planning columnist at MarketWatch. She has been a CFP® professional since 2018. Previously, she worked at Reuters, Fidelity, and Walletpop.com. Before covering personal finance, she was a film critic and entertainment business reporter, writing for Entertainment Weekly, The Dallas Morning News, and other publications. Her book, "My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving," came out in November 2025 from Crown Currency. Book orders are available at bethpinsker.com. You can follow her on all major platforms, listed in this episode's bio.

Katrina Volker, Vice President of Professional Relationships at OurFamilyWizard, joins The Power of the Ask to talk about what it takes to advocate for yourself, build trusted relationships, and create opportunities for long-term career growth. Drawing from her journey from an administrative role to executive leadership, Katrina shares how asking for the job, the promotion, and the compensation she deserved helped shape her career.

Katrina, Lisa, and Precious cover:

• Asking for the Opportunity: Katrina shares how asking to be considered for a full-time role helped her pay for college and opened the door to future leadership opportunities.
• Knowing Your Worth: When Katrina received an offer to join OurFamilyWizard, she made a bold counteroffer based on the experience and value she brought to the role. The experience reinforced the importance of doing your research and confidently advocating for yourself.
• Building Trust Before the Ask: Katrina explains why the strongest professional relationships are built over time through listening, showing up, helping others, and earning the trust that makes people want to say yes.
• Growing Within an Organization: Rather than waiting for a new title, Katrina asked to take part in high-impact projects, collaborate across departments, and assume greater responsibility. Those opportunities helped her grow into an executive leadership role.
• Creating Structure During Divorce: As a child of divorce and a leader at OurFamilyWizard, Katrina discusses how structure, documentation, and thoughtful communication can help families make better financial and parenting decisions during an emotionally difficult time.
• Why Women Must Keep Asking: Katrina reminds listeners that women need to know their value, advocate for themselves, and ask for help when they need it. Financial independence creates greater freedom, flexibility, and the ability to walk away from situations that no longer serve them.

Important Links:

• Savvy Ladies (https://www.savvyladies.org/)
• Precious Williams' LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/precious-l-williams/)
• Lisa Zeiderman's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisazeiderman/
• Katrina Volker's LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinavolker/)

Important Links for Katrina:

• Our Family Wizard Website: (https://www.ourfamilywizard.com/)

About Katrina Volker:

Katrina Volker is the Vice President of Professional Relationships at OurFamilyWizard, where she has spent more than a decade building strategic partnerships and advancing the organization's professional outreach. Since joining the company in 2013 as a Professional Liaison, she has progressed through leadership roles, including Director of Professional Relationships, before being promoted to Vice President in 2023. She holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing, Management, and Entrepreneurship and a master's degree in Organizational Leadership from St. Catherine University.