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

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 Read Mikel's work! Connect with Mikel! Want to get involved with AFCPE®? Here are a few places to start: Become a Member, Sign up for an Essentials Course , or Get AFC Certified today! Want to support the podcast? We love partnering with organizations that share our mission and values. Download our media kit.

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Yours, Mine, and Ours: Navigating Money in Blended Families with Mikel Van Cleve, MBA, CFP®, FBS®, CEBS is an episode from Real Money, Real Experts by AFCPE®.

This episode is 32:12 long.

This episode was published on Feb 3, 2026.

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