Advanced Wellbeing offers financial therapy insights each week to inform more details about financial therapy.
“Find a financial advisor who is a fiduciary, someone legally bound to put your interests first.” I have made this recommendation many times over the years. Now, most financial advisors technically qualify as fiduciaries, which is a problem for consumers.
As you advance in your career and begin to build financial security and invest for the future, you will build a financial team. Most likely, you’ll find a CPA to do your taxes, a financial advisor for investments, and an attorney for legal matters such as estate documents. Ideally, each professional will be capable and will act in your best interest. It’s natural to assume that their work will come together coherently. Yet it often doesn’t.
Dying and money collide in ways most of us never think about until we have to. When someone receives a terminal diagnosis, they and their loved ones are forced to deal with emotional and financial complexities around death at the same time. A financial planner who is also a trained death doula helps clients navigate both.
You’re thinking about rolling over your 401(k). Or maybe you just inherited some money and you’re not sure what to do with it. Where do you go for advice?
Even if you have a financial advisor, you may get a variety of opinions from friends and family, none of whom know your full financial picture. I’ve seen this happen with clients for decades but only recently learned a term for it.
How do you find a competent, ethical financial advisor? An approach I have recommended for years is to interview planners, ask questions, and persist until you get clear answers. Under a relatively new SEC rule, getting those answers is becoming harder to do.
Creativity is just as essential in personal finance as it is in art or science. And no, I’m not talking about the kind of “creative accounting” associated with lying to the IRS.
Money usually calls to mind budgets, spreadsheets, investment returns, and tax brackets. You might think of creativity in terms of painting, music, or theater. But creativity is far broader than that. It’s about seeing new possibilities and bringing your authentic self into the moment.
A common assumption about financial therapy for couples is that the goal is to “fix” their financial disagreements. If they can just land on the right budget, the right system, or the right division of responsibilities, harmony will follow. Yet many money problems in relationships are not solvable or fixable. They can only be managed.
A core purpose of my work in financial planning and financial therapy is to help clients achieve and maintain financial wellbeing. What is that, exactly? Financial wellbeing is not simply about income or net worth. Nor is it about happiness. It’s about a person’s ability to function financially with security, agency, and sustainability. Emotional enjoyment doesn’t override that, and wealth doesn’t guarantee it.
Some financial advice is repeated so often it begins to seem cast in stone: Never touch your 401(k). Always diversify. College is the path to success. Debt is dangerous.
At the 2025 Nazrudin Project retreat, a gathering of planners, therapists, and coaches who explore the emotional aspects of money, one session focused on financial sacred cows. The discussion was a spirited reminder that even the most established financial “rules” deserve to be questioned.
Have you ever stood on a ladder, painting a wall or trimming a branch, and suddenly realized just how far down the ground is? Even if you know the ladder is steady, you may wobble for a moment. That’s what investing can feel like when markets reach new highs.
