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| Friday, February 05, 2010 |
| Bring your spreadsheet when you visit the financial therapists couch |
The article: People address money matters in therapy discusses the emerging field of financial therapy. Financial therapists analyze people's emotions and behavior through the lens of money. They say once they start asking people about their cash flow, they find it's connected to absolutely everything in their lives.
"It's connected to self-esteem. It's connected to our beliefs about what we are entitled to, about how the world works, about how safe we are, about our value to others," says B. Dodge Rea, a Nashville, Tenn., psychologist who practices financial therapy. "So when people are widely scared about money, they find themselves scared about all kinds of things."
[...]
Klontz says given the current economic climate, there are some things people can't control, such as whether they'll be laid off or how the stock market performs. Financial therapy, he says, focuses on what people can control - their decisions and attitudes about money.
"Most people say, 'If I just get the numbers straight, I'll be all right,' but that's only half of it," Klontz says. "The other half is behavior." Perhaps my blog is my financial therapy. Tracking my net worth does give me a great sense of control and a satisfying sense of progress. Not sure I would pay someone to listen to my feelings about money - I have this great audience of readers who listen to me for free :) |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 7:24 PM *
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| 3 Comments: |
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"Bring your spreadsheet when you visit the financial therapists couch"... is an good and nice post..
Thanks for the post..
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How right you are, Boston Gal. I started by monthly net worth calculations after reading your blog and it reassures me that progress is being made.
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I have found that income is tied to my self esteem in two ways. First, that I feel I'm worth as much as my pay check, and wonder why I'm "worth less" than those who make more than me. Yes, it's because they have specialized training or other qualifications, but I really equate it to being a lesser person, and I need to be more rational about that. Second, with the layoffs rippling through the economy I've worried about being laid off myself, and I would really lose a chunk of my identity when I lose my job title. It's not rational. Forth both of these reasons, I see value in a financial therapist. Fortunately, my financial planner has been shaking sense into me when we meet, so I don't have a separate therapist yet :-)
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"Bring your spreadsheet when you visit the financial therapists couch"... is an good and nice post..
Thanks for the post..