Your Relationship with Money Matters. Let’s Heal It.
Money isn’t just numbers; it’s emotions, experiences, and deeply held beliefs. It affects our sense of safety, our relationships, and our self-worth. At Fintuition Advising, our financial therapy sessions help you understand and transform your emotional connection with money so you can get unstuck from behaviors and beliefs that no longer serve you. Michaele helps you understand the why behind your financial decisions so you can take control of your what.
While financial planning and advising and financial therapy help you build a healthier financial life, they serve very different purposes. Michaele isn’t just a CPA, she is also one of the few Certified Financial Therapists (CFT) in the country! So how is that different from a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) or an investment advisor? And how do I know which is right for me?
First off, let’s talk about the difference between a CFP and CFT. An investment advisor and/or CFP focuses on the strategic side of money such as investments, retirement planning, budgeting, taxes, and insurance. Working with a CFP or investment advisor can provide you with an actionable plan to achieve your financial goals.
Financial Therapy is not Financial Advising or Financial Planning!
What is the role of a CFT?
A CFT - and financial therapy - focuses on the emotional side of money, exploring how your beliefs, habits, and past experiences influence your financial decisions. In financial therapy, the goal is to understand your relationship with money so you can make choices that align with your values and reduce stress. While we often work toward tangible goals - paying off debt, putting together a budget, deciding what to do with inherited wealth - this is intertwined with the more intangible therapeutic work.
If you’re currently working with an investment advisor or a CFP, you may benefit from supplementing that with financial therapy. That way, you’ll have the plan and the investment advice, but also understand the reasons behind your habits, emotions, and behaviors that might prevent you from following the plan.
What happens in a typical financial therapy session?
Michaele’s many years of financial and tax experience, combined with her two decades as a professor and trusted student advisor, meant she was uniquely experienced to train and now work as a financial therapist. Each one-hour session with Michaele is personalized and private, and together you will:
Establish a baseline for your financial beliefs and mindset
Discuss your financial challenges and emotional triggers
Complete guided worksheets and exercises
Map out realistic goals and action steps
Identify the patterns holding you back
Develop new, sustainable financial habits
You’ll leave every session with action items to continue to make progress outside the Zoom room.
Questions you may ask yourself…
Is Financial Therapy right for you?
There is no typical client when it comes to financial therapy. We help empower both individuals and couples to take control of their finances; across many different circumstances. This is done without judgment or condescencion - we start where you are.
So if you…
Feel trapped by debt or financial shame;
Avoid checking your bank balance or retirement savings;
Struggle to save or budget consistently;
Disagree with your partner about money;
Have recently received a financial windfall and feel overwhelmed; or
Want to rebuild confidence and control after a major life change…
…you might benefit from a session with Michaele. You don’t have to face these challenges alone!
From Michaele:
“After two decades in the accounting and tax world, I understood the technical side of money deeply. What I always saw as missing was space for the human side. When I discovered financial therapy, it felt like a natural extension and deepening of my work. The conversations can be uncomfortable at first, but real change happens when we’re willing to name what’s beneath the numbers.”
Ready to listen…
Everyone deserves to feel empowered in their financial decisions, and Fintuition Advising is committed to helping you make that a reality.
