Breaking Financial Cycles and Building Legacy, with Jamie Yuenger

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Jamie Yuenger. At 17, Jamie explicitly told her mother not to buy her a car because the family couldn’t afford it—yet came home to find one in the garage anyway. When she pressed about insurance, her mother assured her it was covered, but after the car was totaled in an accident, Jamie discovered the insurance had been canceled. Next, Jamie was told she’d have to stay home from school to pay back the damages. In that pivotal moment, just two months before starting college, Jamie made a defining choice: despite her fear of confronting her mother, her fear of not escaping the cycle of financial chaos was greater. As the first person in her family to attend college, she refused to let her mother’s financial decisions derail her future, demonstrating how breaking free from inherited patterns sometimes requires the courage to choose your own path.

Jamie Yuenger is the founder and CEO of StoryKeep, the premier legacy media company serving ultra-high-net-worth families globally. With a background in folklore and a deep passion for human stories, Jamie leads a creative team that produces bespoke films and private podcasts to preserve family history, values, and legacy. Her work is rooted in the belief that storytelling is a powerful bridge across generations, fostering connection, belonging, and meaning. Jamie speaks internationally on the role of narrative in wealth transfer and family resilience. She and her partner, Piet Hurkmans, run StoryKeep together and live with their daughter in the Netherlands. Prior to launching the company, Jamie worked in public media and studied Scandinavian culture and oral tradition. She’s known for her grounded style, her curiosity, and her ability to help families reflect on who they are, where they come from, and what truly matters.