Financially FAT

What if your biggest competitor could become your most valuable teammate? After more than 30 years in insurance, Eric Partin was content but not satisfied. So he flew across the country to a 3-day retreat and let someone blow up the way he did business. In this episode, Ben sits down with Eric Partin, co-founder of EDP Assurance and author of Collaboration Is the New Currency, to talk about trading competition for collaboration, why the right 100 clients beat chasing 1,000, and how a Virtual Family Office serves people better than any solo advisor can. Eric also shares the mindset shift that ended his high-pressure selling for good, and the one question that gets clients to sell themselves. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights [00:01:39] The FAT test in real life: flexible, adaptable, teachable [00:02:20] The 3-day retreat that blew up 30 years of habit [00:03:48] Learning AI at 56, and why the AI version wins [00:05:24] What a Virtual Family Office actually is, and isn't [00:06:19] The competitor mindset Eric had to unlearn [00:09:05] Why the right 100 clients beat chasing 1,000 [00:10:08] The real cost of guarding your own book of business [00:13:35] The hardest sales habit Eric had to break [00:17:38] Don't steal the client's microphone Mentioned Resources Collaboration Is the New Currency — Eric Partin’s book EDP Assurance About the Guest Eric Partin is the co-founder of EDP Assurance, where he helps insurance professionals grow by leading with a process instead of a product, uncovering bigger client needs, creating more revenue from existing relationships, and reducing their dependence on constantly buying new leads. He is the co-author of Collaboration Is the New Currency and author of Rise Relentless. Through EDP Assurance and The Growth Compass, Eric focuses on practical growth, collaboration, leadership, and helping professionals become more valuable to the clients they already serve. 🔗 LinkedIn | Website Important Links Connect with Ben: LinkedIn Connect with Golden Tax Relief: Website | LinkedIn Request a consultation: Schedule a FREE Tax Evaluation Check our socials: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok The Financially FAT Podcast is an original production hosted by Ben Golden. Brought to you by Golden Tax Relief. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand .

What if your CPA is doing everything right, and you're still overpaying the IRS? Ben Golden loves great CPAs. Some are the smartest people he knows. But most business owners expect their CPA to do something they were never hired to do, and it quietly costs them money every year. In this solo episode, Ben breaks down five conversations your CPA may never have with you, why tax preparation and tax planning are two different jobs, and how one business owner uncovered six figures in legitimate savings after shifting to proactive planning. If you only think about taxes in March, you are already too late. Here is how to work with the tax code instead of against it. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights [00:00:51] The misconception costing business owners money every year [00:01:38] Why your tax return is really just a history book [00:02:19] Compliance versus strategy, and why they are two different jobs [00:02:53] The architect analogy that explains what most people get wrong [00:03:36] The client who did everything right and still left money behind [00:04:37] The one question that changed the trajectory of a business [00:05:45] Why paying less tax was never actually the goal [00:06:25] What the tax code is really rewarding, if you know where to look [00:07:11] The moment when the biggest savings are still on the table [00:07:11] Where a great CPA and proactive planning finally meet Important Links Connect with Golden Tax Relief : Website | LinkedIn Request a consultation: Schedule a FREE Tax Evaluation Check our socials: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok The Financially FAT Podcast is an original production hosted by Ben Golden. Brought to you by Golden Tax Relief. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand .

What good is protecting your valuables if you lose sight of your values? Andy Bowman spent decades helping wealthy families protect what they own. Then a trusted business partner running a Ponzi scheme cost him seven figures and shook him to his core. That betrayal reshaped how he thinks about protection, and it is why values now come before valuables in every plan he builds. In this episode, Andy and Ben get into asset protection as building a castle before the barbarians arrive, why your estate paperwork is a love letter to your family, and how a virtual family office keeps your most important advisors in the same room. They also talk about being FAT, flexible, adaptable, and teachable, and how one hard lesson can change your trajectory. If you have built something worth protecting but never asked what it is really for, this conversation is for you. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights [00:04:13] The one question Ben asks every guest, and why FAT changes everything [00:06:07] The business partner who prayed before every meeting and hid a Ponzi scheme [00:06:59] The wolf in sheep's clothing that cost Andy seven figures and 15 years [00:07:41] The two-day meeting that was half strategy, half working on your soul [00:09:50] The three questions Andy asks before he takes on any client [00:11:57] The CPA who called Andy a waste of skin, and why it mattered [00:14:47] What a Spanish penitentiary has to do with the name Citadel [00:17:04] Why your estate paperwork is really a love letter to your family [00:20:26] Build the castle before the barbarians storm the gates [00:21:50] Valuables versus values, and the difference most wealthy families miss [00:31:33] What a family office actually is, and when you need one [00:33:12] The one move you can make this week to see where you are exposed Mentioned Resources The Citadel (the military college Andy attended and named his firm after) Darren Sugiyama Jim Duggan About the Guest Andy Bowman, CAPP, CWPP, is the CEO and Managing Member of Citadel Financial Services and a graduate of The Citadel, where the code of integrity shaped how he runs his business. Based in Florida, he specializes in asset protection, estate planning, and business succession, and he runs a virtual family office that brings a client's key advisors together in one room. He is building a public-facing brand, Citadel VFO. His focus goes beyond valuables to values, helping successful families protect their wealth and define the legacy and meaning behind it. 🔗 LinkedIn Important Links Connect with Ben: LinkedIn Connect with Golden Tax Relief: Website | LinkedIn Request a consultation: Schedule a FREE Tax Evaluation Check our socials: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok The Financially FAT Podcast is an original production hosted by Ben Golden. Brought to you by Golden Tax Relief. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand .

What happens to your firm when AI can prepare a thousand tax returns before lunch? Amanda Argue helped build Instead, one of the first companies in decades licensed by the IRS across every form and state. She and Ben get into what agentic AI really means for tax and accounting. They cover the difference between a chat assistant and an AI agent, why eighty to ninety percent done is the new starting line, and how the accountant’s job shifts from doer to reviewer. Amanda also makes the case for ending hourly billing for good. The firms that stay flexible, adaptable, and teachable will pull ahead. The ones that wait may fall behind. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights [00:03:22] The three words every business owner needs to survive [00:03:41] Building a company like turning a wooden ship into a steel boat mid-ocean [00:07:07] The pivot from compliance grind to high-value advisory work [00:09:50] The moment AI agents turned 2018 sci-fi into 2026 reality [00:11:43] Why the desire to change is there, but tax season eats the time [00:13:16] How to actually take a lunch break in the middle of busy season [00:15:14] What your firm looks like when AI drafts 2,000 returns at once [00:16:05] The one thing AI will never do for your tax return [00:17:20] Why it is not AI that beats you, it is the people who use it [00:23:17] The Tesla Full Self-Driving analogy that finally explains AI agents [00:26:27] The IRS position on AI savings that could change how you bill [00:27:46] The controversial take on killing the hourly rate Mentioned Resources Corvee , Instead ’s tax planning product launched in 2020 AI assistants: ChatGPT , Claude , Perplexity , Gemini Legacy tax software: Lacerte , UltraTax Financial Times About the Guest Amanda Argue, CPA, is co-founder and chief of staff at Instead, a tax preparation platform built for tax and accounting professionals with AI agents inside the tax engine. Based in San Francisco, she specializes in taking new products from zero to one, building the first version and then handing it off to scale. Instead is one of the first companies in decades to earn IRS licensing across all forms and states. 🔗 LinkedIn | Website Important Links Connect with Ben: LinkedIn Connect with Golden Tax Relief: Website | LinkedIn Request a consultation: Schedule a FREE Tax Evaluation Check our socials: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok The Financially FAT Podcast is an original production hosted by Ben Golden. Brought to you by Golden Tax Relief. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand .

What would you do if the IRS gave you 24 hours to pay a $171,000 debt that was never yours? In the first episode of The Financially FAT Podcast, Ben Golden opens with the night that shaped everything. A revenue officer read his personal net worth back to him and told him to pay a logger client’s payroll taxes by morning. Ben walks through the arrangement that put him on that account, the IRS procedure the agent skipped, and the old manual he found at 3 in the morning that changed the outcome. He also unpacks what FAT really stands for, Flexible, Adaptable, Teachable, and where it came from. This is the origin of the show, who it is for, and the one thing Ben wants every owner who feels alone to hear. Listen now. Timestamped Highlights [00:00:51] The 24-hour ultimatum, and the $171,000 that was never Ben's to pay [00:02:10] The Scrivener contract: the hand that only held the pen [00:03:02] "I don't owe this. This isn't mine." What the revenue officer said back [00:03:45] Walking home to his kids while carrying a secret he would not share [00:04:28] 3 a.m., an old master's program manual, and the form that mattered [00:05:16] The IRS procedure they skipped on the way to Ben [00:05:58] Why he went over two heads to the territory manager [00:06:41] How it ended: a suspension, a payment plan, and no check [00:07:24] Where FAT comes from, and why it is not a marketing term [00:08:56] The chain of advisors, and the weak link you cannot see [00:10:22] Who this show is for, and who it is honestly not for [00:14:25] The real why behind the show, and it is not the money Important Links Connect with Ben: LinkedIn Connect with Golden Tax Relief: Website | LinkedIn Request a consultation: Schedule a FREE Tax Evaluation Check our socials: Instagram | Facebook | TikTok The Financially FAT Podcast is an original production hosted by Ben Golden. Brought to you by Golden Tax Relief. Production and editing by Podcast Your Brand .