Member since June 2023
I'm a financial advisor, speaker, and bestselling author on a mission to help women rewrite the money narratives that have held them back. After more than two decades at top advisory firms—advising clients, mentoring advisors, and leading innovations in client service—I co-founded Sanctuary Financial Planning with my husband Jim in 2023. We built a flat-fee, fee-only firm designed to make high-quality financial advice accessible and free from the intimidation, asset minimums, and conflicting incentives that keep too many women on the sidelines of their own financial lives.
My work focuses on the intersection of money and identity: how shame, silence, and outdated beliefs shape women's financial decisions—and how to break free from those patterns. I'm the co-author of From Work to What's Next: Designing a Life You Don't Want to Retire From (2025 #1 Amazon bestseller), a TEDx Sugar Creek Women speaker (2026), and a recovering credit card debt holder who's learned that being smart and being confident with money are two entirely different things.
I'm passionate about dismantling the shame, silence, and outdated beliefs that keep women from claiming their financial power—whether it's understanding why we make the money decisions we do, building confidence to engage in financial conversations as equals, or trusting our own judgment about spending and investing. I believe every woman deserves the skills and permission to design a financial life on her own terms.
I spent over a decade sitting on the sidelines of my own financial life—making good money but avoiding my credit card statements, deferring to others, and believing I wasn't "the numbers person" in my marriage. The truth? I wasn't lacking intelligence. I was lacking permission to care about money in a way that felt authentic to me. Now I help other women recognize that gap—and close it.
After 14½ years at a firm where I was the designated successor to the president, a merger changed everything overnight. What could have been devastating became clarifying: I spent a year asking myself what I actually wanted to build. In June 2023, Jim and I launched Sanctuary Financial Planning—not just as a business, but as a platform to challenge the way financial advice is delivered and to champion the voices of women who've been told to stay quiet about money for far too long. Now, through speaking and writing, I'm bringing these conversations to women everywhere.
Most money fights aren’t about math. They’re about two people building a life together while running different money stories — safety vs. freedom, control vs. trust, avoid vs. obsess. Sarah shares her own wake-up moment and teaches the skill of financial intimacy: seeing the belief under the behavior.
PLUS Explore how money impacts relationships with friends and family, and how to stop the resentment spiral at dinners, trips, and “who’s paying” moments. Includes conversation prompts you can use.
Perfect for: women’s conferences, couples programs, HR/ERGs, community events
You’ll learn:
How “money memories” from childhood shape adult decisions (and why that matters more than the budget)
A 3-part conversation you can start tonight: Mine → Yours → Ours
Red flags and repair moves: financial avoidance, financial infidelity, and how to rebuild trust
Shared systems that reduce friction: meeting rhythms, decision rules, and who decides what
Retirement isn’t an age; it’s a stage. Sarah shows how to replace the 1950s “save, stop, sit” script with a stage-not-age approach that aligns money with meaning. Audiences learn how to plan for purpose, not just for probabilities — so they use money to fuel what’s next.
Perfect for: employee groups, associations, leadership events, pre-retirees and career changers
You’ll learn:
The “invisible income” of work (identity, structure, community) and how to rebuild it by design
A simple framework for testing your next chapter before you leap
Guardrails > guesses: how to spend confidently and adjust with real life
A plain-English checklist for taxes, healthcare, and legacy decisions that won’t start a family feud
Plenty of accomplished women still feel unsafe with money. It isn’t capability; it’s conditioning. Sarah names the hidden scripts: “I’m bad with money,” “My partner handles it,” “I’ll learn later”—and offers a practical path back to agency.
Perfect for: women’s leadership summits, ERGs, professional networks, alumni groups
You’ll learn:
The Security Fallacy: why “my partner handles it” doesn’t equal safety—and what real security looks like
Three habits of financially confident women (that don’t require loving spreadsheets)
How to build an annual “financial wellness check” as normal as a physical
Where advice goes wrong for women—and how to find a model that puts you first
The #1 bestselling roadmap for anyone asking "what comes after my career?" Perfect for professionals 45-65 navigating transitions, career pivots, or early retirement. Stop planning to retire. Start designing a life worth living.
Learn MoreI spent over a decade sitting on the sidelines of my own financial life—making good money but avoiding my credit card statements, deferring to others, and believing I wasn't "the numbers person" in my marriage. The truth? I wasn't lacking intelligence. I was lacking permission to care about money in a way that felt authentic to me. Now I help other women recognize that gap—and close it.
After 14½ years at a firm where I was the designated successor to the president, a merger changed everything overnight. What could have been devastating became clarifying: I spent a year asking myself what I actually wanted to build. In June 2023, Jim and I launched Sanctuary Financial Planning—not just as a business, but as a platform to challenge the way financial advice is delivered and to champion the voices of women who've been told to stay quiet about money for far too long. Now, through speaking and writing, I'm bringing these conversations to women everywhere.
Most money fights aren’t about math. They’re about two people building a life together while running different money stories — safety vs. freedom, control vs. trust, avoid vs. obsess. Sarah shares her own wake-up moment and teaches the skill of financial intimacy: seeing the belief under the behavior.
PLUS Explore how money impacts relationships with friends and family, and how to stop the resentment spiral at dinners, trips, and “who’s paying” moments. Includes conversation prompts you can use.
Perfect for: women’s conferences, couples programs, HR/ERGs, community events
You’ll learn:
How “money memories” from childhood shape adult decisions (and why that matters more than the budget)
A 3-part conversation you can start tonight: Mine → Yours → Ours
Red flags and repair moves: financial avoidance, financial infidelity, and how to rebuild trust
Shared systems that reduce friction: meeting rhythms, decision rules, and who decides what
Retirement isn’t an age; it’s a stage. Sarah shows how to replace the 1950s “save, stop, sit” script with a stage-not-age approach that aligns money with meaning. Audiences learn how to plan for purpose, not just for probabilities — so they use money to fuel what’s next.
Perfect for: employee groups, associations, leadership events, pre-retirees and career changers
You’ll learn:
The “invisible income” of work (identity, structure, community) and how to rebuild it by design
A simple framework for testing your next chapter before you leap
Guardrails > guesses: how to spend confidently and adjust with real life
A plain-English checklist for taxes, healthcare, and legacy decisions that won’t start a family feud
Plenty of accomplished women still feel unsafe with money. It isn’t capability; it’s conditioning. Sarah names the hidden scripts: “I’m bad with money,” “My partner handles it,” “I’ll learn later”—and offers a practical path back to agency.
Perfect for: women’s leadership summits, ERGs, professional networks, alumni groups
You’ll learn:
The Security Fallacy: why “my partner handles it” doesn’t equal safety—and what real security looks like
Three habits of financially confident women (that don’t require loving spreadsheets)
How to build an annual “financial wellness check” as normal as a physical
Where advice goes wrong for women—and how to find a model that puts you first
