7 Feb 2025
Rick Kahler on the importance of money emotions in financial planning.
Today, I bring you a lovely conversation I just had with my friend and colleague, Rick Kahler.
We just had a wonderful chat about all things financial therapy within the realm of financial planning, and I can’t wait for you to have a listen.
Of all my colleagues in the finance space, Rick is one of my longest running friendships. He’s one of the first financial planners I met when I was in the early years of developing my financial therapy method.
I credit Rick with being the first financial planner to bring therapists into his financial planning meetings.
He was very clear that money is such an emotional subject and that adding money psychology support was essential for his clients (especially for couples trying to navigate different money approaches in the delicate terrain of planning retirement.)
We first met in 2004 at Nazrudin, which is a think-tank for financial planners created by George Kinder and the late Dick Wagner. Rick loves to tell the cartwheel story which you’ll hear at the beginning of our interview, and the Nazrudin event is where my infamous cartwheel happened!
Rick is also a Financial Therapist and has also been on the board of the Financial Therapy Association since its inception in 2009. He’s been a guiding force in that community.
(I’m still not a part of the FTA, since I’ve been teaching my financial therapy method since 2001, before it was formed, and think all financial therapists should have a Masters in Psychology. I do, however, recommend them and they have a good directory to help folks find a financial therapist.)
Starting in 2013, I’ve had the honor of interviewing many of the “elder” money pioneers. Olivia Mellon, Karen McCall, Deborah Price, Barbara Stanny (now Barbara Huson), Saundra Davis, Vicki Robin and many of the next generation folks where I fit in, like Brad Klontz, Mikelann Valterra, Jacquette Timmons, and Rachel Robiasciotti.
Some of these interviews are on my podcast and the others live in my online program library (which people get access to when they join my Art of Money program.)
To date, all of my conversations with Rick have been on his Financial Therapy podcast. He was a guest teacher in one of the rounds of my Mentor Program, but this conversation is our first interview on my podcast.
I’m excited for you to have a listen to the conversation I had with him!
In the interview we discuss:
The realization that money work is so emotional for his clients
Why he started bringing therapists into his financial planning meetings
How important doing his own therapy has been for his life and financial planning practice
His favorite therapy modality - IFS (Internal Family Systems) and how he connects it to money work
Why do we both think the Enneagram (personality system) is so helpful for understanding your money behaviors and habits.
How he has written 7 money books and has plans for more on the horizon
And, some praise back and forth for our friendship over the years
