Please click to read this short piece exploring Overcoming Emotional Barriers to Wealth, published in Talking Trends online magazine on July 10, 2025.

There is also a short video clip.

Overcoming Emotional Barriers to Wealth

Last updated: July 7, 2026

My work with families of wealth often uncovers emotional barriers to wealth. Frequently, family members hold limiting beliefs about money, and I help them break through to overcome those beliefs and embrace financial empowerment.

A story comes to mind about a couple that I worked with a number of years ago when I was still working at a wealth management firm.

This was a very traditional couple from an older generation, where the husband was the successful corporate executive. He spent his entire career in one company, rising through the ranks, receiving stock and stock options, and the couple accumulated considerable wealth. The wife was the traditional corporate wife, raising the kids, hosting the gatherings at the country club, and so on.

Tragically, shortly after the husband finally retired, he developed dementia. His wife had to pivot from being a corporate wife who never needed to focus on the family’s finances to being solely responsible for managing absolutely everything.

When she traveled to New York City for our wealth management meetings, she would take the Church Bus because it cost only $25 and she was afraid to spend money on an airplane ticket or even a train ticket. We sat her down, explained her balance sheet and told her that she was worth $50 million dollars, and could very comfortably afford to take an airplane or the train.

We literally sat down with her and walked her though her brokerage statements and her wealth management statements line by line, and explained terminology and concepts to her that she had never needed to understand before, because her husband had taken care of her finances throughout her adult life. In this way, we empowered her with knowledge and the tools to better step into her new role as sole decision-maker.

From that moment, I made it my mission to try to educate women on being your own person and taking charge of your finances in a way that empowers you and makes you feel good about yourself and your capabilities.