Whenever I surf television cable news channels, I can’t help but notice the plethora of ads for financial planning. Some of them sound compelling, even to me. I often find myself thinking, “Dang, that’s exactly what we do.” Then I notice the...
In the financial therapy program that I co-founded in 2007 with Dr. Ted Klontz, we taught and practiced a lot of “mindfulness” meditation. After a meditation we would often ask, “So what does this have to do with money?” During the first part...
I pay a lot of attention to current events, both domestic and global, consciously choosing to consume a balanced diet of news sources that lean left, right, and in the middle. Even with trying to look at issues from both sides and be aware of my own biases, I still...
Based on my experience, American societal money scripts around estate planning appear to be “Good parents leave everything to family,” and “The more money I can leave my kids the better off they will be.” It’s not surprising, then, that estate...
Someone who wouldn’t dream of betraying their spouse or partner by having an illicit affair may be risking the relationship in another way: by committing financial infidelity. Being financially unfaithful to a partner has the potential to be just as damaging to the...
Two years ago, writing at the outset of the pandemic, I cited a March 2020 New York Times column by David Brooks, “Pandemics Kill Compassion, Too.” He warned that, historically, pandemics, unlike other disasters which bring communities and nations...
