I Have So Much to Tell You

Stefanie Ricchio CPA
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What actually happens with money, career, and life behind the scenes. Hosted by CPA Stefanie Ricchio, a go-to financial expert featured on TurboTax, Yahoo Finance, and The Globe and Mail. From navigating financial uncertainty and life as a stay-at-home mom to becoming a trusted advisor to business owners, Stefanie shares honest stories, client insights, and the real conversations no one prepares you for. Because the decisions you make with money do not just impact your finances, they shape your career, relationships, and the life you build.

  1. Oct 1

    I Have So Much to Tell You...About True Inclusivity

    This one isn't about money. It's about why I do this work at all. If you've followed my disability tax credit and caregiving advocacy, you know the financial side of the story. What I've never shared is what it was actually like to get there. In this episode, I tell it all, including the parts I've kept private for years because they still hurt. It starts with my son being rushed from the NICU to SickKids at a day old, and a transport nurse telling me to say goodbye "just in case." From there: moderate hearing loss nobody caught until he was three, an ADHD diagnosis the same year, a daycare that told me he'd probably never read, write, or finish high school, and a school board meeting where I offered to quit my job and sit in his kindergarten class every day if that's what it took. I also talk about the adults who made it harder. The parent who told her child to hit mine. The father who told a four-year-old he'd kill him. The birthday party that got him quietly uninvited from every party after it. And the brain-training program that changed everything. Today he's 17, on the honour roll, surrounded by friends, and applying to university. He doesn't remember any of it, and I'm so grateful for that. We also talk about what real inclusion looks like at work. It's not a banner and cupcakes. It's building a workplace where people who think, learn, and behave differently can actually build a career and their own financial security. If you're a parent in the thick of a diagnosis, this is for you. And if you're not, it's a reminder that everyone around you is carrying something you can't see. Be kind anyway. Content note: this episode discusses a newborn medical emergency and threats made against a young child.

  2. Sep 25

    I Have So Much to Tell You About Why It's OK to be Human at Work

    Somewhere after 2020, we lost the plot on what work is supposed to look like. In this deeply personal episode, Stefanie makes a case she feels in her bones: the idea that you can show up wearing only your "employee hat" was never real. You're a whole human, and every part of your life walks through the door with you — the sick parent, the school drop-off, the 2 p.m. phone call you can't ignore. She shares two of the hardest moments of her corporate career — the days she walked into the building already breaking — and the boss whose door was open, physically and otherwise, who held out his hands instead of pointing her to HR. That grace, she argues, isn't a soft perk. It's the whole strategy. (It's also a story she's only half-telling here — the rest is coming in the season finale.) From the sandwich-generation squeeze to the big-name job she turned down this year — four days in office, with a wink toward five — Stefanie lays out why rigid, low-trust workplaces quietly bleed their best people, and why "measuring attendance like we're in grade four" is a management problem wearing a productivity costume. Said with love by someone who's run her whole business from her kitchen table for eight years: the work still gets done. Then she stops diagnosing and starts prescribing — because this is a leadership, policy, and structural problem, and it gets solved top-down. In this episode, we get into: -The caregiving load nobody's staffing for — young kids and aging parents, at the same time -Productivity paranoia, RTO mandates, and why the "trust issue" is really a measurement issue -The concrete fixes for leaders and HR: flexible leave, flexibility as the default, paid care time, and a "don't punish honesty" request path -The four-to-five hours of real deep work hiding inside every eight-hour day -Why disgruntled, unsupported people quietly cost you more than the flexibility ever would And a closing line for anyone still convinced that grace at work is nonsense — one you'll feel in your chest.

  3. Sep 18

    I Have So Much to Tell You About Why It Was Never the Software

    I've watched companies spend a small fortune on beautiful new finance systems — and six months later, half the team is still living in spreadsheets and email threads. Why does that keep happening? This week I sat down with Paul Dear, VP of Travel EMEA at SAP Concur, to answer the question that's followed me from my years inside implementations to my work leading them now: when a rollout fails, is it ever really the software? Spoiler — it almost never is. We get into the three things that actually decide whether an implementation sticks (people, process, and change management), why finance teams feel the shift harder than anyone, and the North Star every leader should define before touching a single system. Paul also shared a stat that stopped me cold: of the 700 CFOs SAP surveyed, 600 believe their own employees are using AI to generate receipts — not always to defraud, sometimes just because they lost one and the tech made it easy. If you've ever been handed a login and a manual and called that "training," this one's for you.

    I Have So Much to Tell You About Why It Was Never the Software

  4. Sep 11

    I Have So Much to Tell You About Building Your Brand

    I never set out to build a "personal brand." I set out to build a business — and eight years ago, someone told me I'd never pull it off because I had no network, no name, and as far as the world was concerned, I didn't exist. The worst part? They were right. In this episode, I take you all the way back to zero and walk you through exactly how I went from a corporate CPA no one had heard of to doing the work I get to do today: on television and radio, on stages like SXSW and Web Summit, in digital publications, and in partnership with global brands. Whether you're a career professional trying to stand out in an impossibly competitive market or a business owner fighting for attention, this one's for you. Because technical skill is table stakes now — everyone chasing that job, that RFP, those dollars is already "good enough." What sets you apart is the plus, the answer to "why you?" — and that answer lives online, where every hiring manager, client, and collaborator goes to look you up before they ever say yes. I'm not holding anything back. I'll tell you about: The comment that broke my heart — and lit the fireWhy I chose LinkedIn over Instagram, and the $26,000 lesson I learned about taking the wrong adviceHow to get comfortable with visibility when putting yourself out there feels terrifyingWhy consistency beats going viral, especially in those slow, silent early yearsBuilding social proof, and the branding investment that gave me the story I still use to close deals todayThe wild things that have landed in my inbox — from interviewing Kevin O'Leary to PR pitches for Blake Lively and Bethenny Frankel to conversations with Amazon and DisneyAnd the two 2026 moments that reminded me why I never stopped: a senior leadership offer from an $18B company, and a five-figure partnership with a $40B global tech company that found me, a CPA in Ontario, on LinkedInHere's the truth I keep coming back to: I'm not the best CPA, consultant, or speaker in the world. But I built the total package — the profile, the proof, the story — and people aren't looking for the best. They're looking for the person who can pull it all together. Your homework: figure out where your audience lives, get comfortable being seen, and define what success actually looks like for you. Then sit through the uncomfortable part — because that's where it all starts to click. The internet is your portfolio. Let's build it.

  5. Sep 4

    I Have So Much to Tell You About What Hating Myself Cost Me

    Trigger warning: this episode discusses bullying and eating disorders. This one's a message. To the parents — because what you decide is "perfect" becomes the voice your kid carries for decades. To the bullies — you have no idea how long a person keeps the thing you said. To the people who can't bring themselves to validate anyone — your silence isn't neutral. It leaves a mark. And to the world that profits from us hating ourselves — I see the game now. If every one of us woke up tomorrow at peace with our faces, our bodies, our grey hairs, an entire industry would collapse overnight. The point was never that you look bad. The point is that you spend. I spent a long time believing I was the problem. I wasn't. At 46, I'm perfectly imperfect and finally at peace with that — and this is the conversation I wish someone had started with me a lot sooner. If you or someone you love is struggling with an eating disorder, support is free and confidential. In Canada: NEDIC (National Eating Disorder Information Centre), 1-866-633-4220 or nedic.ca. In the US: the National Alliance for Eating Disorders, 866-662-1235 or allianceforeatingdisorders.com.

    I Have So Much to Tell You About What Hating Myself Cost Me

  6. Aug 28

    I Have So Much to Tell Your About the Future of Work

    I can't tell my kids which jobs are going to be safe. I don't think anyone can anymore. So I'm teaching them something else instead. This one's personal. I've got one kid finishing high school and one starting first year — one headed into brain research, the other into accounting (my field, and yes, the one that lands on every "jobs AI will replace" list). So I sat down and got honest about what I actually want them to understand about automation, AI, and the careers in front of them. I get into the messy middle of it: how I watched automation reshape accounting in real time and rebuilt my whole career around the parts a machine can't do; why the linear, one-job-for-forty-years path our parents sold us is basically over, and why "portfolio careers" are the new normal; what I see every single day in my consulting work when leadership asks me who's adapting and who's getting left behind — and how to make sure it's not you; the one question to ask yourself if you're worried about being automated out of a role; and the little trait-spotting exercise I quietly run on my own kids, because half the stuff you got in trouble for growing up might just be your next career. Here's the whole episode in a sentence: I can't promise my kids a safe job. But I can teach them how to be the person who's safe in any job. That's the homework — for them, and maybe for you too.

  7. Aug 21

    I Have So Much to Tell You About What is Enough

    …Enough. Let's talk about it. I gave up years of my career to motherhood, came back, and built a consulting business that actually worked — and then almost worked myself into the ground protecting it. I'm talking waking up at dawn to get billable hours in on a family vacation in Hawaii, dreading every single morning, watching my whole world shrink down to the size of my laptop. I'd bought the hustle-culture script completely: if you're not doing all the things, it's never enough. This episode is about the day I finally called that off — and the question I've been living with ever since: how much is actually enough? Not more. Not "burn it all down and live a soft life." Enough. And here's what I know as an accountant — enough isn't a feeling you sit around waiting to arrive. It's a number and a boundary you set on purpose. I get honest about how I defined my own enough (and why it looks nothing like the sellable, scaled-up firm everyone kept telling me I should build), the two scripts the internet won't stop selling us — "never enough" versus the soft-life counter-swing — and why neither one answers the only question that matters. Then we get practical: the satisfaction equation, the five types of wealth, and the real work — naming your enough number, drawing the boundaries that protect it, and pricing the true cost of the chase. Because the point was never to keep shoving the ceiling higher for no reason. It's to build a life the future you actually gets to enjoy.

  8. Aug 14

    I Have So Much to Tell You About Being a Stay at Home Mom

    I was a stay-at-home mom. I'd do it again. But I'm still going to tell you everything nobody warned me about. In this one, we'll start with the "tradwife" moment blowing up online — the influencer who sold a fantasy she wasn't actually living — and my own real story: staying home for my son's development, and quietly refusing to become financially invisible while I did. In this episode: Why I was forced into staying home — and why it was still the best time of my lifeThe "tradwife" persona problem, and why 90% of what you're watching is a businessProtecting your resume: the career gap, why it's judged harder for women, and how part-time work bridges itFinancial independence as a safety net — not just for divorce, but for widowhood and a partner who can't earnThe $200K of unpaid labour, retirement contributions, and the CPP box Canadian parents forget to tickThe identity crash nobody talks about: who are you when they don't need you the same way? "You were someone before you had those children. You will be someone after." If it resonates, send it to someone who needs it — and start the conversation your future self will thank you for.

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About

What actually happens with money, career, and life behind the scenes. Hosted by CPA Stefanie Ricchio, a go-to financial expert featured on TurboTax, Yahoo Finance, and The Globe and Mail. From navigating financial uncertainty and life as a stay-at-home mom to becoming a trusted advisor to business owners, Stefanie shares honest stories, client insights, and the real conversations no one prepares you for. Because the decisions you make with money do not just impact your finances, they shape your career, relationships, and the life you build.

Information

  • Creator
    Stefanie Ricchio CPA
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Stefanie Ricchio CPA
  • Show Website
    I Have So Much to Tell You