Total Wealth

“What do you do?” It’s the simplest, most basic question, one we might be asked on a daily basis. I know exactly what I do, but I’m still trying to figure out how to answer that question in a way that people can understand. In a nutshell, I help people think and feel differently about money. I help people create wealth, but not with stocks, bonds, real estate and budgets with built-in automatic saving plans.  (Yes, one must have a plan, but it’s the wrong starting place.)  I help people create wealth from the inside out, through transforming beliefs, attitudes, and emotions.  But what am I? Sometimes I define it by describing what I’m not. We all probably know what a Financial Planner is, or perhaps we have had experience with a Financial Advisor, Financial Services Representative, or similar animal. Some work on commission, some work for fees. All have tools to help you assess your current financial situation and panic properly as you grasp the enormity of the canyon over which you must leap in order to one day retire. Most sell financial products (investments, insurance, etc.) that might assist you in reaching your goals. I took a CFP course once. I got my life insurance license. I interviewed in the financial services field. I was well on my way to a life of using tools and charts and calculators to help people plan their financial futures. But I wasn’t sleeping well. It wasn’t my calling. I knew the world didn’t need another financial planner (with all due respect to the thousands of fine financial planners who serve a genuine need to their grateful clients). I knew what I was. I couldn’t deny it. I had been one for years. It was time to just admit it. I was… A Financial Therapist. Since no self-respecting therapist would ever call themselves…