The Financial Therapy Podcast - It's Not Just About The Money

The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement advocates extreme frugality in order to retire as early as age 30. The biggest challenge with the skills and discipline needed for a FIRE plan is not starting it (which isn’t necessarily easy) but stopping (which can be very difficult). Why? Like building an actual fire, building frugality into one’s lifestyle starts slowly. For some savers, especially FIRE advocates, frugality can become a way of life, a game, and a habit that’s hard to break. It can become, not the means to reach the goal of financial independence, but the goal itself. This is what I call “Frugality Syndrome.” A long-term focus on frugality, like a raging wildfire, has a momentum that’s difficult to stop.  Read more here.

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values.. 

Dick Wagner, CFP, was fond of saying that understanding money and how it works is a 21st Century survival skill. This is not an exaggeration. What you don’t know about money—as well as what you think you do know about money—has the potential to literally kill you and those you love.  A comprehensive research project done by Columbia University in 2011 on the impact of social factors on mortality found that 4.5% of U.S. deaths could be attributed to poverty. Research overwhelmingly supports a huge correlation between financial illiteracy and not having enough money. Read more here.

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values.. 

People that have money scripts like, “You should not tell others how much money you have or make,” “Money should be saved not spent,” and “I would be a nervous wreck if I did not have money saved for an emergency,” typically struggle with Money Vigilance.  “Work hard, play hard” is a foreign concept to Money Vigilants. This money script category is associated with poor relationships, lack of leisure time or activities, poor sleep, anxiety, and a lack of having “fun”.  If you are a Money Vigilant there is a way to have money and serenity.  

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values.. 

People that have money scripts like, “People are only as successful as the amount of money they earn,” “If something is not considered the ‘best,’ it is not worth buying,” or “Your self-worth equals your net worth,” typically struggle with Money Status. This money script category is often predictive of compulsive buying disorder, gambling, financial dependence, and financial infidelity. We all want to be successful. These thoughts and feelings are normal, but when left unexamined they can lead to detrimental financial outcomes. .  If this is you or someone you love, listen in to learn more and tips on how you can begin to improve this financial condition.

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values.. 

Do you know someone that believes that “Things would get better if I had more money,” “More money will make you happier,” and “Money would solve all of my problems.” If so, their majority of their beliefs about money may fall into a category that financial therapists call Money Worship. People with a high level of these types of money scripts are associated with being young, single, lower levels of education, income and net worth higher levels of credit card debt, and often have a range of self-defeating money behaviors.  If this is you or someone you love, listen in to learn more and tips on how you can begin to improve this financial condition.

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values.. 

Do you know someone that believes money is bad, creates anxiety, and that rich people are greedy?  Do they believe that they don’t deserve money?  If so, their majority of their beliefs about money may fall into a category that financial therapists call Money Avoidance.  People with these types of money scripts are associated with lower levels of education, income and net worth and often have a range of self-defeating money behaviors.  If this is you or someone you love, listen in to learn more and tips on how you can begin to improve this financial condition.

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values.. 

Money scripts, those beliefs that influence every money decision we make, underly and form chronic harmful money behaviors.  We’ve identified 13 harmful money behaviors that can negatively affect a person’s financial wellbeing.  Learn how these behaviors form in us, typically as young children and can destroy a person’s finances.  Do you have any?  Listen and find out.   

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values.. 

How much is a tax deduction worth? Maybe less than your money scripts and the emotions that drive them would have you believe. Here are some common ways that over-emphasizing deductions may reduce your tax bill, but actually cost you more money than you save. Find out how separating your money scripts and emotions from the decision to deduct or not deduct can save you thousands and pay financial and emotional well-being dividends.  Read more here. 

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values.. 

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Most of us are familiar with this tidbit of immense wisdom. That doesn’t necessarily mean we follow it when it comes to either our physical, emotional or financial health.  According to a Modern Healthcare article, 60% of visits to the emergency room in 2017 were preventable.  A much higher percentage of financial “emergency” scenarios could be completely avoided. These fall into two categories: those with known deadlines and those that we know will happen but don’t know when.  Read more here.

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values.. 

"Mom, I can't take time off work today to take you to your doctor's appointment, so I've arranged to pay for an Uber driver instead." The elderly parent's need for transportation is met. The son or daughter's obligation and desire to help is fulfilled, with the Uber expense much less than the cost and disruption of taking time off work. It's a win/win for everyone, right? Only if one could strip all the emotional history and money scripts from the individuals involved. Read more here.

A podcast that blends the nuts and bolts of financial advice with the emotions that drive our money decisions.
Join Rick Kahler, CFP®, CFT™, as he blends practical financial wisdom with the emotional insights that shape our choices. Discover how financial therapy can help you make money decisions that truly align with your values..