Bari Tessler was practicing financial therapy before most of the rest of us had ever heard the term. A psychotherapist, Bari decided to go into the bookkeeping business, quickly saw the union of psychology and money, and in 2001 began calling her work financial...
What makes life worth living? This question is at the heart of financial life planning and financial therapy. I remember my late mentor Dick Wagner, CFP, talking about reviewing a person’s financial statement during a visit to Japan. Along with the normal...
Last week’s column on being financially stuck focused on getting help. But what if, for various reasons like affordability or availability, outside help isn’t a practical option? There are some steps you can take yourself to begin getting financially...
What do you do as a driver if your car gets stuck in the mud or a snowbank? You probably try shoveling, rocking the car back and forth, or putting something under the wheels. Sometimes, though, you can’t get unstuck by yourself; you have to call for help. What...
The fourth and final category of Money Scripts in this series is Money Vigilance. Those with Money Vigilance scripts tend to be watchful and guarded about their finances. They will commonly have beliefs such as, “You should not tell others how much money you...
For our ancestors, even as recently as the 19th Century in many places, survival skills were hands-on. If you didn’t know how to build a house, farm, hunt, butcher animals, sew, and cook, you couldn’t provide well for your family. Money skills were largely...
