The AND Life: Cultivating Growth in Family, Finance, and Farming

When people ask how I’m doing or what I’ve been up to, I usually pause — because the answer isn’t simple.

In 2025, my response often went something like this:

“I’m wrapping up my MBA at UC Berkeley Haas and will graduate in May. Stu and I are launching a CSA for Paradise Acres, our family farm. I’m expecting a baby in July. And my full-time role at KWB Wealth keeps me busy welcoming new clients and helping build our team.”

That’s usually followed by a moment of silence. Maybe a laugh. Definitely wide eyes. And then the inevitable question:

“How are you doing all this!?”

To start with, I love my life. I call it my AND life. Living the AND life means I can do it all – raise a family, have a career, be successful, be happy, love my husband, build community, and have fun while doing it. 

The threads of my life — work, family, and the farm —aren’t separate; they are integrated. My days in the orchard and my days with clients are part of the same story. The lessons I learn from nurturing the land —patience, stewardship, long-term thinking — directly shape how I help people plan for their futures. And the discipline and strategy I bring to financial planning help us build a farm that’s not just sustainable, but deeply meaningful.

If you’re wondering about stress management, it’s equal parts planning, avocados, and coffee. I also have a great life partner, Farmer Stu, who is supportive and meets me at 100%. Together, we make a great team, and our collaboration means we can do it all. 

However, since I work in two family businesses — Paradise Acres and KWB Wealth — I’m not just managing projects; I’m tending relationships. Clear roles, shared calendars, and a lot of patience go a long way. Each role enriches the other, reminding me that growth— whether in soil or in life — is something to be tended with care, intention, AND a sense of humor.

Working Alongside My Husband, Stu

Paradise Acres is very much a partnership. I work alongside my husband, Stu, who runs the day-to-day operations of the farm. He’s in the grove constantly, managing the trees, irrigation, soil health, harvest timing, and the countless decisions that come with farming. Do we water or not water? Which soil amendments do we need or not need?

My role looks a little different. I help us zoom out.

I’m a sounding board as Stu thinks through ideas and challenges. I help with big-picture strategy, marketing, pricing, and building our customer base. Together, we discuss how to increase local sales, how to thoughtfully grow our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, and how to make informed decisions that support both the land and our livelihood.

Some of our best planning happens informally — walking the orchard with our baby Rocco and our dogs, Snaps and Riley — over dinner or lying in bed when one idea inevitably turns into five more. In many ways, what I do on the farm mirrors what I do with my clients: helping translate vision into structure and values into action.

Two Jobs, One Philosophy

On the surface, financial planning and farming couldn’t look more different. One lives in spreadsheets, projections, and long-term models. The other depends on soil biology, weather patterns, and natural systems that don’t follow quarterly timelines.

And the longer I live in both worlds, the more similar they feel.

Both require long-term thinking.
Both demand patience.
And both reveal the real cost of short-term decision-making.

You don’t plant an avocado tree expecting immediate results. The most important work occurs in the years when there’s little to show above ground — when energy is invested in roots, soil structure, and resilience. The payoff comes later, and only if you’ve been consistent along the way. It takes five years for our avocado trees to bear significant fruit. Maintaining a long-term mindset is crucial, and the decisions made in the first five years will significantly influence our projected returns. 

Financial planning works the same way. The most meaningful progress often feels quiet: building habits, setting expectations, and letting compound growth work its magic. Farming has made the concept of time tangible for me and reinforced that progress doesn’t always look productive in the moment.

What the Farm Has Taught Me About Financial Planning

Farming forces humility.

You can do everything “right” and still face setbacks — unexpected weather, pests, rising costs, or missed timing. Control is limited. Certainty is rare. But planning still matters, because it builds resilience.

Stu and I experience this every year as we plan our planting schedule. We use weather patterns as a guide, but seasons shift, and sometimes we miss what felt like the “perfect” window. Farming has taught us to adjust, learn, and keep moving forward. Every year we’ve made changes to our crop planning, whether it’s our timing of seeding and transplanting, the number of plants we seed for each crop, and/or different methods for growing (mounds vs directly into the ground, for example.)

That lived experience has changed how I show up as a financial planner. I’m less focused on predicting outcomes and more focused on helping people build plans that can adapt as life unfolds.

The orchard has also deepened my understanding of compounding. Healthy soil improves year after year. Small, consistent inputs — mulch, cover crops, patience — create benefits that build on themselves over time.

This past year, we integrated cover cropping and mulch more intentionally into our farm management plan, and the soil test results told the story. Our soil organic matter went from 1.5% to 2%. This 0.5% increase means that our 40 acres can now hold approximately 500,000+ more gallons of water than it could a year ago. This is HUGE and the work of compounding. Small changes lead to big results over time. 

What Financial Planning Brings to the Farm

My background in financial planning shapes how we approach Paradise Acres. We think in systems. We talk openly about cash flow, pricing, margins, and sustainability — not just environmentally, but financially.

We ask hard AND necessary questions:

• How do we make this work long term?
• How do we grow without overextending ourselves?
• How do we build something that supports our family and our community?

Financial planning has taught me that sustainability isn’t about maximizing output in a single good year. It’s about creating something that can endure — through good years and hard ones alike. That mindset guides how we steward the land and how we think about our CSA — not as a transaction, but as a relationship.

Stewardship Over Control

At the heart of both jobs is the same lesson: you don’t manage outcomes — you manage conditions.

Whether I’m sitting with a client or walking the grove with Stu, the responsibility feels similar. You make thoughtful decisions today, knowing their impact will unfold over time. You accept uncertainty, plan anyway, and stay grounded when things don’t go exactly as expected.

My farming work isn’t separate from my financial planning work. Together, Paradise Acres and KWB Wealth ground me. They remind me why patience, discipline, and intentional planning matter so much.

That’s why I work two jobs.

Not because one is a hobby — but because together, they reflect how I believe meaningful, responsible work should be done.

If you’re curious to see how all of these threads come together, I invite you to explore Paradise Acres, learn more about our story, and consider joining our CSA family. We’d love to grow alongside you.

~ Rachel Bubb