Recall from Part I of Confessions of a Money Coach, my wife and I were pondering some life changes. We resolved that before making any major moves we would first get a better handle on our money.  I experimented with every cash management system or approach I could find.  I hated all of them. They Read the full article…

Much of the writing by “money experts” starts off with a story about how they had fallen deep in debt, hit rock bottom, experienced some kind of epiphany and through a radical shift in behavior, managed to un-dig their financial hole.  This entire experience becomes their motivation to show others how they can dig out Read the full article…

Those who have a why to live can bear almost any how- Victor Frankl, Mans Search for Meaning  It was in the middle of a conversation during our fourth coaching session a client, I’ll call Roberta, paused for a moment and said “I want peace of mind”.  Roberta, I’d learned, was a remarkable woman.   She Read the full article…

The single most important question all of us must answer in our money lives is “How can I build and maintain financial reserve?”  This one ability is the dividing line between money mastery or misery, here’s why. Those with financial reserve are able to experience a freedom and lightness about their finances that so many Read the full article…

What is a normal goal to a young person becomes a neurotic hindrance in old age. – Carl Jung This post draws from the book – Falling Upwards – A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr. I came across the book by chance. To be clear, this book has nothing to Read the full article…

I want to let you in on an important secret.  If you want to feel more financial abundance, try taking control of your money.  Wait, before you bounce, hear me out…. To explain, I’ll use the analogy of water in place of money.  Imagine how difficult managing water would be if we didn’t have something Read the full article…

I’ve been wrestling with the “does money buy happiness” question for some time in part because it seems I could successfully argue both sides of the debate.  Over the holidays, I decided to do a deep reflection on this to resolve it once and for all.  My conclusion –  Money does buy happiness but certain Read the full article…

This is the year I’ll act on something that’s disturbed me for some time. It has to do with the Christmas gift giving ritual in my family (which is probably similar to the ritual in many western households). More about that in a moment. So, why am I changing this now? Maybe because: I’m turning Read the full article…

I started my private pilot’s license in my 30’s at a small air park north of my home. The thing I loved about learning to fly was, from the start, the student is the one doing the flying. Yes, there is an instructor right beside you in the early stages, but you’re the one in Read the full article…

Taking stock of where we stand is the first step to any corrective course of action, money included. To help people quickly get a handle on this, I developed a simple two-variable self-assessment. The two variables are: Is the household spending more than it is earning? Is consumer debt present (for example, high-interest credit cards, Read the full article…