Hello, this is Tom Kaminski and welcome to episode 1.0 of the sandwich bread podcast. This is conversations with the sandwich generation about money. I'll get a little bit more into what that means later on in this episode, but first a quick background on myself. 

I am a certified financial planner, AKA CFP professional based out of Kansas city, Missouri, right in the middle of the country. Taylor Swift introduced the world to Kansas City over the last couple years. I'm the father of two amazing young daughters and a wonderful wife that is equal parts supportive and humbling. She takes me down a peg when I need it. And so ⁓ I'm also an aging athlete of sorts. I try to do sports whenever I can and it gets a little bit worse every time I do it. I'm a former artist of sorts and the central part of my identity these days is as a passionate business owner and financial planner. 

I started my firm about a year ago after 18 years in this industry in various capacities and it's been an amazing journey. And, above all, I think I'd describe myself as deeply curious and someone who really loves helping people. So this profession has been so rewarding on, both fronts. 

So now to the podcast. I'm hosting this podcast to speak to a very specific beleaguered audience, the Sandwich Generation. What is the sandwich generation? The definition isn't crystal clear, but for the sake of this show, I'm speaking to an individual or couple, usually in their 30s or 40s, that are navigating the personal, professional, emotional, and financial challenges of caring for multiple generations at the same time.

For the older generations that could be aging parents or elders in your life and you want to support them and do right by them the way they did right by you when you were coming up. Children and that could be children of their own, nieces, nephews, younger dependents in your life that you are trying to support and help have opportunities. And then God forbid you take out a little bit of time to worry about yourself.

You know, so your own finances, your own retirement or goal challenges, the things you're trying to plan for, for your family. And so the sandwich generation is essentially sandwiched. They are dealing with the very important responsibility of supporting their aging parents or elders, supporting their growing children's nieces, nephews, and the next generation. And then also navigating their own professional and personal challenges at the same time, incredible amount of responsibility and stress and anxiety being placed on this generation of people and so this this podcast is going to be speaking to that audience through the lens of financial planning. 

There are so many big topics tackled that my area of expertise is personal finance and so we'll be talking about helping support yourself and others through the lens of financial planning. This won't be advice because everybody's situation is so unique and so different but maybe it'll be a place where you can take away some little nuggets to help you on your journey and smooth out some rough edges to your own personal finances or those those in your life. And maybe at very least you'll feel a little less alone because the stress is real and I don't think there are enough people out there speaking to it. So maybe even laugh I'm not always this dry so we might even find opportunities to laugh and enjoy this a little bit as well so...

Just quick backstory, why even bother? I'm 40. I wake up each day with nondescript pain in my body. I have lifted a box maybe two weeks ago and for some reason today the calf is sore or my knee hurts and swells. No reason for it. You know, that's the part of life I am at. turned 40 last year and I'm living who I serve in some respects. Many of my clients, personal clients are of the sandwich generation.

And I've noticed a trend over the last few years, a growing trend of folks that are really worried about their parents or growing their own families. And the slow beating drum of stress is growing. And I step in to help wherever I can to help smooth out these challenges. it can be beautiful and encouraging and exciting to serve these individuals because so often it's people putting others before themselves.

And it's just really invigorating from my chair, where I sit. But it's not without its difficulties and challenges. so I hope this podcast will leave you with some ideas on how you can better serve those in your life and maybe at very least make you feel like, ⁓ there's other people out there that are struggling with this like I am. I don't personally think there are enough resources supporting multi-generational planning, financial planning and strategy that really speak to the sandwiched generation. So that's what this effort and this initiative is all about. 

What you can expect from each podcast? We'll try to keep it tight, you know, 15 to 20 minutes. I respect the fact that your lives are extremely busy. I live it myself. And so hopefully the podcast lengths match your commute to work. That's kind of the vision. And I'll try to put out a new episode every couple weeks and try to speak to very specific topics that are coming up in my conversations with clients, friends, family, and then we'll just go from there. It'll be interview based ⁓ I'll always try to bring in folks in my life, in my professional network that are experts, subject matter experts on a specific topic and can leave us with some good actionable things to take away. So thank you for making it to this point in this brief episode. 

Subscribe, follow the show Sandwich Bread podcast. You just need to search it on every major platform and give us a follow. Leave us a review or rating or withhold that rating until you think we're good enough. You know, you don't have to, I'm not forcing anybody. I don't push anybody. But you know, connect with us on social media and that's it for now. Thanks so much for making it through this initial run and we're gonna have a lot of fun All right, take care. Thank you.