Smart, Simple Wealth

Smart, Simple Wealth is built on one idea: financial, legal and life planning belong in the same conversation. The expertise comes from Carrie Quraishi, an estate and wealth planning attorney at Quraishi Law & Wealth, a firm serving clients in Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee. She has also written a book with the same title as the show. Walter Storholt sits on the other side of the desk. He opens the episodes, asks the questions and repeats the key point back so it sticks. The subject matter is the unglamorous paperwork that quietly decides how a family fares. Wills are a good example. In one discussion, Quraishi lists the small errors that derail them: a missing second witness, a notary signature without the official stamp, and initials left off the bottom of pages. Storholt answers with a cautionary tale of his own, a car donation that turned into repeated trips to the DMV, the bank and a notary after a family member's shaky advice about the title. It is a light moment with a pointed lesson. Taxes get the same close attention. An episode featuring Jeff Wicker, CPA, includes a detailed exchange on qualified charitable distributions and how they relate to required minimum distributions and the standard deduction. The SALT limitation on itemized deductions also comes up. Giving is a thread of its own. One episode sets its tone with the show's quote of the month, an Anne Frank line about no one ever becoming poor by giving, before Quraishi introduces Rebecca Hendrix, Chief Development Officer of the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas. Retirement and investing round out the range. A conversation about retiring without regret draws on advice from past retirees and warns against hunting for a 'magical unicorn' investment. The Iraqi dinar serves as the example of a speculative bet people did not really understand, and the advice is to speculate only with dollars you are comfortable risking. The Mark Twain episode turns to what savings are actually for, whether that means time with grandchildren, freedom, or care for people left behind. Several episodes were recorded during the pandemic, and in one of them Quraishi describes an EF3 tornado that cut through the middle of Jonesboro. Through all of it the tone stays warm, measured and occasionally dry. Closing disclosures make clear that none of it is legal or investment advice, which fits a show that sends listeners toward a professional rather than trying to replace one.