When financial conversations start sounding like political debates, something deeper is going on, and this piece explores why facts can feel threatening when emotions take the driver’s seat. It highlights how polarization has eroded our shared understanding of basic economic principles, leaving advisors torn between honesty and clients’ emotional reactions. Drawing on the lens of financial therapy, it reveals how identity, fear, and belonging shape our interpretation of financial truth, and why both clients and advisors must learn to regulate their own internal “parts” to stay grounded. The heart of the message is simple but powerful: emotional awareness isn’t a soft skill—it’s a financial one, and reclaiming it may be the only way to restore trust in objective guidance.

#FinancialTherapy #MoneyAndEmotions #EmotionalAwareness #FinancialPsychology #MoneyMindset #FinancialTruth #BehavioralFinance #MoneyBeliefs #IdentityAndMoney #EmotionsAndFinance #AdvisorClientTrust #FinancialWellness #MoneyConversations #Polarization #SelfRegulation

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..

Most of us hear the word “socialism” and picture a single, monolithic system—but this episode unpacks four very different versions of it and reveals how much fear and old conditioning shape our reactions to economic ideas. Through an unexpectedly personal journey, Rick traces how his Cold War–era assumptions unraveled as he explored the distinctions between State Socialism, State Capitalism, worker cooperatives, and Social Democracy, and how that shift mirrors the emotional work many people face in financial therapy. What emerges is a deeper question about power, who holds it, how we relate to it, and why letting go of outdated beliefs can feel both unsettling and liberating.

#EconomicPsychology #FinancialTherapy #MoneyBeliefs #SocialismExplained #EconomicSystems #StateSocialism #StateCapitalism #WorkerCooperatives #SocialDemocracy #ColdWarConditioning #UnlearningFear #PowerAndMoney #MindsetShift #EmotionalEconomics #BehaviorChange #MoneyMindset #RethinkingEconomics #InnerWork #PsychologyOfPower #LiberatingBeliefs

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..

What if the way you pay is part of the therapy? Some psychoanalytic therapists ask for cash after each session—not for convenience, but because money itself reveals emotional truth. Forgetting to pay, overpaying, or haggling can uncover hidden dynamics worth exploring. Vessy explains how two sessions a week can go far deeper than one and why honest talk about fees is as essential as discussing feelings. When money enters the room, therapy gets real—and that’s where lasting change begins.

#MoneyInTherapy #PsychoanalyticTherapy #FinancialTherapy #TherapyInsights #EmotionalDynamics #MoneyPsychology #TherapyProcess #BehindTheTherapyRoom #TherapeuticRelationship #HealingPatterns #DeepTherapyWork #MoneyMindset #EmotionalAwareness #TherapeuticChange #ExploringFeelings #TherapyConversation #MentalHealthPodcast #InnerWork #UnderstandingYourself #TherapyJourney

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..

Real change with money isn’t about willpower—it’s about the brain rewriting old rules. In this conversation, Rick and financial therapist Emily Shull explore how memory reconsolidation and IFS work together to transform money behavior. Emily explains the four elements of deep change and shares a powerful client story where a childhood belief about money secrecy dissolved, leading to honest communication instead of avoidance. It’s a clear, emotionally intelligent look at how understanding the brain can free us from outdated money patterns.

#MoneyPsychology #FinancialTherapy #IFS #InternalFamilySystems #MemoryReconsolidation #BehaviorChange #MoneyMindset #EmotionalIntelligence #TraumaInformedFinance #MoneyHealing #WealthWellness #FinancialSelfAwareness #RewriteYourMoneyStory #Neuropsychology #BrainBasedChange #MoneyPatterns #FinancialGrowth #InnerWork #MoneyConsciousness

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..

Here’s a fresh way to choose the right “money-and-meaning” help: this conversation maps the entire financial therapy spectrum as a simple two-axis quadrant: financial to psychotherapy and shallow to deep, then shows where options like books, coaching, financial planning, CBT, IFS, and psychoanalysis actually sit, and how to know what you need; with guest Vessy Tasheva, Rick explores why credentials matter less than the therapeutic alliance, how identity and safety (gender, culture, lived experience) shape fit, and why histories like Bulgaria’s hyperinflation can drive powerful money scripts today, offering clear, human guidance for finding a professional who supports both your numbers and your nervous system.

#FinancialTherapy #MoneyAndMeaning #MoneyMindset #TherapyAndFinance #FinancialWellness #MoneyHealing #MoneyPsychology #MoneyCoaching #FinancialGuidance #TherapeuticAlliance #MoneyScripts #MoneyIdentity #FinanceAndMentalHealth #MoneyAwareness #FindYourFit

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..

When faith dictates money, the fallout can be devastating—especially for women. In this conversation with Sarah Carr, the focus turns to how rigid gender roles, abuse, and teachings like “God will provide” leave families financially vulnerable and women without autonomy. They explore how inherited beliefs around worthiness, guilt, and divine blessing shape earning potential, retirement savings, and even the courage to ask for a raise. From global inheritance laws to childhood prayers about the end of the world, the discussion shows how spiritual conditioning can sabotage financial security—and how awareness is the first step toward freedom.

#WomenAndMoney #FinancialEmpowerment #MoneyAndFaith #GenderAndFinance #FinancialIndependence #MoneyMindset #FinancialFreedom #MoneyHealing #InheritedMoneyBeliefs #SpiritualConditioning #FinancialWellness #MoneyAwareness #WomenAndWealth #FinancialAutonomy #BreakingMoneyPatterns

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..

What happens when belonging is tied to your bank account? This piece shows how cult-like religious environments turn “sacrificial giving” into financial control, leaving money scripts like “If I don’t give, I’ll be rejected.” Through client stories—including retirees pressured to keep giving—it highlights how loss of community magnifies money fears. Reframing generosity beyond dollars helps protect well-being while honoring values. The takeaway: healing means separating faith from finances with compassion so choices come from true values, not obligation.

#MoneyAndBelonging #FinancialBoundaries #MoneyScripts #FaithAndFinance #HealthyGenerosity #FinancialWellness #MoneyHealing #FinancialEmpowerment #MoneyFreedom #ValuesBasedGiving #MoneyMindset #FinancialTherapy #HealingWithMoney #MoneyControl #MoneyAndFaith

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..

What if money works like skin—protecting, signaling, and setting boundaries? Dublin-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist and financial therapist Vessy Tasheva shares how trust, reliability, and clear limits shape the healing process. From earliest money memories and family genograms to the subtle ways clients “test” safety, she shows why financial therapy is about emotions, not advice. By holding consistent presence and boundaries, therapists help clients internalize stability, choice, and healthier relationships with money.

#FinancialTherapy #MoneyMindset #EmotionalFinance #MoneyHealing #FinancialWellness #Psychotherapy #MoneyBoundaries #TrustAndMoney #MoneyPsychology #FamilyMoneyPatterns #MoneyEmotions #FinancialStability #TherapeuticBoundaries #MoneyHealingJourney #HealthyMoneyHabits

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..