What happens when money struggles, relationship patterns, and personal history all collide in the same room? In this wide-ranging and deeply human conversation, Rick Kahler sits down with Dr. Megan Ford to explore how financial therapy grew out of systems thinking, why “fixing one person” rarely fixes anything, and how our earliest money wounds quietly shape our adult lives. Megan shares her journey from marriage and family therapy into financial therapy, including her own money avoidance and the self-work required to become an effective healer. Together, they unpack the importance of therapists and financial professionals doing their own inner work, the role of evidence-based practice in financial therapy, and why lasting financial change almost always requires looking inward—not just at numbers, but at relationships, beliefs, and emotional patterns that drive financial behavior.

#FinancialTherapy #MoneyPsychology #MoneyMindset #BehavioralFinance #EmotionalMoney #MoneyStories #MoneyWounds #FinancialHealing

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 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..