What financial therapists want advisors to know

Financial therapists say advisors should make clients’ money stories, emotions and trust central to planning and consider working alongside clinicians to address behavior as part of wealth management. A 2024 report from the TIAA Institute found 42% of U.S. adults say money negatively affects their mental health, a statistic therapists cite when urging integrated care.

Financial therapy combines behavioral therapy with financial coaching. In this model, therapists concentrate on emotional regulation, limiting beliefs and the roots of spending and saving patterns while advisors continue to handle portfolio design and technical planning.

Megan Ford, director of the University of Georgia’s Love and Money Center, noted that upbringing, past experiences and stress shape how clients view money and said those factors explain many financial choices that appear irrational when viewed only as numbers. Ford added that behavior becomes clearer when advisors learn the stories behind clients’ decisions.

Christine Hargrove, clinical assistant professor and assistant director at the Love and Money Center, recommends active listening and motivational interviewing. She says asking what motivates a client and listening closely can help advisors align plans with a client’s values and reduce the need for repeated course corrections. “Even though it takes a little longer, in the end, you’re going to be more effective as an advisor if you take the extra time to really listen and first connect with the client as a person with their values, their goals, their dreams, their fears,” she observes.

Ashley Agnew, a behavioral scientist at Edward Jones, advises moving beyond standard planning prompts to invite stories that reveal deeper priorities. Asking a question such as ‘Tell me a story that really makes you feel this saving goal is important to you’ can surface concrete personal goals-wanting to be an involved grandparent, supporting a hobby in retirement-that clarify trade-offs and planning choices.

Therapists urge advisors to prioritize trust over covering an agenda. Ford uses the image of a client facing a hard-to-see path to retirement and says creating a safe space for clients to share fears and family dynamics strengthens relationships and can make planning conversations more productive over time.

Advisors are cautioned against starting with basic directives clients have likely heard before, such as ‘spend less.’ Hargrove warns that such advice can feel patronizing and widen the gap between advisor and client expectations. She recommends asking what strategies a client has already tried and why they did or did not work.

Therapists also encourage advisors to examine their own money histories. Agnew points out that advisors who have worked through their own money stories can better hold deeper conversations and model the behaviors they recommend. Ford adds that many professionals benefit from the same reflective work they ask of clients.

Therapists recommend closer collaboration between clinicians and advisors as a way to reduce clients’ financial anxiety, support better decision-making and help clients pursue long-term financial goals.