Podcast Episode

Real Money, Real Experts

Yours, Mine, and Ours: Navigating Money in Blended Families with Mikel Van Cleve, MBA, CFP®, FBS®, CEBS

Feb 03, 2026 Season 6 Episode 142

AFCPE®

Money conversations are emotional for any family—but in blended families, they often come with added layers of loss, loyalty, and complexity.

In this episode of Real Money, Real Experts, Dr. Brandy Baxter and Rachael DeLeon are joined by Mikel Van Cleve, CFP®, PhD candidate at Texas Tech University and U.S. Coast Guard veteran, to unpack the unique financial and emotional dynamics of blended families.

Drawing from both research and lived experience—what Michael calls “me-search”—the conversation explores why traditional financial advice doesn’t always work for blended families, common emotional landmines around money, and how assumptions about “joint finances” can unintentionally create conflict. Mikel shares practical tools financial professionals can use, including the three-bucket money approach, genograms, money dates, and role-playing exercises, to foster communication, transparency, and trust.

Whether you’re a financial practitioner working with blended families or someone navigating one yourself, this episode offers actionable insights, empathy-driven strategies, and a powerful reminder: blended families aren’t broken or abnormal—they’re simply different, and they deserve planning approaches that reflect that reality.

Show Notes:

01:26 – Meet Mikel Van Cleve, CFP®

03:05 – How Mikel’s lived experience shaped his research

05:18 – Why blended families are often overlooked in financial planning

07:52 – Emotional and financial landmines blended families face

11:48 – Rethinking joint finances in blended families

13:02 – The three-bucket money approach explained

18:44 – Why practitioner bias matters when working with blended families

23:36 – Tools for navigating emotionally charged money conversations

26:08 – Mikel’s 2 Cents

Show Note Links:

Learn more about Mikel's work