Frequently Asked Questions

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Financial therapy may be right for you if money causes stress, confusion, conflict, or avoidance in your life. Many people understand the mechanics of budgeting, saving, or investing — but still struggle to follow through because of emotional, behavioral, or mindset-related barriers.

If you’re ready to better understand your relationship with money — and align your financial behaviors with your goals and values — financial therapy can provide the structure, insight, and support to help you move forward with clarity and confidence.

Traditional psychotherapy focuses on mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression, trauma, relationships, and emotional well-being. While money may come up in therapy, it is rarely the central focus. Financial therapy specifically addresses your relationship with money.

It combines elements of psychology and personal finance to explore how your beliefs, past experiences, family dynamics, and cultural influences shape your money mindset and financial behaviors. Financial therapy looks at patterns around earning, spending, saving, investing, debt, and wealth building — and helps you understand the emotional drivers behind those decisions.

Unlike traditional therapy, financial therapy also integrates practical financial concepts. The goal is not only emotional insight, but improved financial decision-making, reduced financial stress, and long-term financial wellness.

Basically, financial therapy helps you understand your emotions about money — and turn that insight into healthier financial behaviors and sustainable wealth building.

I offer all three types of financial guidance. If your primary struggle is emotional — anxiety, avoidance, shame, conflict, or repeating unhealthy money patterns — financial therapy is likely the right place to start. If you are clear on your goals but need structure, accountability, and behavior change support to execute a plan, financial coaching may be more appropriate. If you feel you are ready to start building wealth, and want to develop a clear path for investing, or need help assessing insurance or education needs, you should consider financial planning.

Many clients benefit from all three. Because my work integrates behavioral finance and psychology, we can address mindset and mechanics simultaneously, improving not just what you do with money, but why you do it.

Financial coaching is a goal-focused process that helps you improve your financial habits, strengthen your money mindset, and make more confident financial decisions. Unlike financial planning, which often centers on investment strategies and complex financial products, financial coaching focuses on behavior, accountability, and practical day-to-day money management.

A financial coach works with you to clarify your financial goals, create actionable plans, and build the habits necessary for long-term financial wellness and wealth building. This may include budgeting, debt reduction, saving strategies, cash flow management, and improving financial decision-making.

A financial advisor typically focuses on investments, asset allocation, and financial products.

Financial therapy focuses on you — your decision-making patterns, money mindset, emotional triggers, and behavioral habits. We examine the psychological drivers behind financial choices so you can make clearer, more disciplined decisions.

Advisors manage portfolios.
Financial therapy strengthens the person making the decisions.

My financial therapy and financial coaching process is designed to address both your money mindset and your practical financial behaviors — creating a path toward lasting financial wellness and sustainable wealth building.

1. Discover and Assessment. We begin with a comprehensive conversation about your financial history, current challenges, goals, and sources of financial stress. In financial therapy, we explore your early experiences with money, family influences, and emotional patterns. In financial coaching, we clarify measurable financial goals and behavioral priorities.

2. Identify Patterns and Barriers. Together, we uncover limiting beliefs, financial habits, and decision-making patterns that may be holding you back. This step builds awareness around your money mindset while identifying practical gaps in budgeting, saving, spending, debt management, or wealth-building strategies.

3. Strategy and Skill Building. Next, we develop a personalized action plan. This may include behavior-change tools, structured financial systems, accountability practices, and practical financial education. The goal is to align your emotional relationship with money and your financial behaviors.

4. Implementation and Accountability. Change happens through consistent action. We meet regularly to review progress, refine strategies, and strengthen new financial habits. This ongoing support helps reduce financial stress and build confidence in your financial decision-making.

5. Long-term Financial Wellness and Wealth-building. As clarity and confidence grow, the focus shifts toward sustaining healthy behaviors and building long-term wealth. The result is not just improved finances, but greater financial well-being, resilience, and peace of mind.

The first session is a structured discovery conversation. We explore your financial history, current stressors, decision-making patterns, and long-term goals.

I may ask about early money experiences, family influences, financial turning points, and present challenges. This is not about judgment — it’s about identifying patterns.

By the end of the session, we outline a clear path forward focused on improving financial wellness and sustainable wealth building.

Talk therapy, when applied to finances, focuses on the emotional, psychological, and behavioral aspects of money. Rather than concentrating solely on numbers, budgets, or investments, financial talk therapy explores how your thoughts, experiences, and beliefs about money influence your financial decisions and overall financial wellness.

In financial talk therapy, we have guided conversations about topics such as money stress, financial anxiety, spending behaviors, debt shame, family money patterns, and past financial experiences. By talking through these issues in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment, you can begin to understand the root causes of financial behaviors that may feel confusing or self-defeating.

This process helps you:

• Identify emotional triggers related to earning, spending, saving, or investing
• Recognize generational or cultural influences on your money mindset
• Reduce financial stress, shame, and avoidance behaviors
• Build greater awareness, confidence, and clarity in financial decision-making

From a financial perspective, talk therapy is not about diagnosing mental health conditions — it is about helping you develop a healthier relationship with money so you can make thoughtful financial choices and move toward long-term financial well-being and wealth building.

 Depending on your unique situation, I employ a variety of behavioral science methods, including:

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Money. CBT helps identify and restructure unhelpful thoughts and beliefs about money. By examining automatic thoughts, cognitive distortions, and emotional triggers, we can shift your money mindset and improve financial decision-making.

2. Behavioral Finance. Grounded in decision science, behavioral finance examines the predictable biases and heuristics that influence financial behavior. This framework helps explain why intelligent people still make irrational money choices — and how to correct them.

3. Narrative Therapy (Money Story Work). This approach explores your personal “money story” — early experiences, family influences, cultural expectations, and financial turning points — to identify patterns and rewrite limiting narratives around wealth and financial wellness.

4. Solution-Focused Coaching. A forward-looking, goal-oriented modality that emphasizes actionable steps, accountability, and measurable progress toward financial goals and wealth building.

5. Motivational Interviewing. A collaborative method used to strengthen commitment to behavior change. This is particularly effective when addressing financial avoidance, debt cycles, or inconsistent saving habits.

6. Systems and Family-of-Origin Frameworks. Money patterns are often multigenerational. This lens examines family dynamics, inherited beliefs, and relational influences that shape financial behaviors.

7. Financial Planning and Strategic Goal Setting. Practical financial tools — including cash flow management, debt strategies, savings systems, and long-term wealth-building structures — support the behavioral and emotional work.

No. Financial therapy and financial coaching are about financial wellness and behavior, not net worth. I work with individuals building wealth, maintaining wealth, or rebuilding after setbacks. You do not need to have significant assets. You simply need a willingness to examine your patterns and commit to change.

First, I set you up in my practice management system. You will be sent a brief agreement to review and sign. Then I sent out a few data-collection instruments, to gather some key information about you. Simultaneously, we work on scheduling our first virtual visit.

Yes, we are a fee-only fiduciary. This means, we don't accept commissions or bonuses on any referrals or products we sell. Our founder is not only certified for financial planning (ChFC) and financial therapy (CFT), he is also a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE). We will never compromise on your needs and  values. Our recommendations are not biased by our own financial gains. We work in your best financial interest.

Change is behavioral, and behavior change requires consistency. Some clients engage for a defined period (e.g., 3–6 months) to address a specific issue such as debt reduction, financial transitions, or decision clarity. Others prefer ongoing support as an accountability structure for long-term wealth building. We define expectations clearly at the outset and adjust as progress unfolds.

No, all of my client consultations are now virtual, so that I can see people from across the United States.

I will serve as your primary accountability partner. A financial accountability partner is someone who helps you stay committed to your financial goals by providing structure, consistency, and support. While knowledge is important, lasting financial wellness and wealth building come from consistent action — and accountability bridges the gap between intention and execution.

As your financial accountability partner, I help you:

• Set clear, measurable financial goals 
• Break large goals into manageable steps
• Monitor progress and adjust strategies when needed
• Stay consistent with budgeting, saving, debt reduction, or investing habits
• Address emotional or behavioral obstacles that interfere with follow-through

Yes, completely, 100%. Our work together is conducted with professionalism, discretion, and respect. Financial, relational, and emotional struggles are deeply personal. Creating a confidential and psychologically safe environment is foundational to meaningful progress.

My background in behavioral decision-making and finance allows me to operate at the intersection of psychology and analytical rigor. I do not simply provide budgeting advice, nor do I engage in open-ended therapy disconnected from financial outcomes. My work integrates behavioral science, financial strategy, and structured accountability — strengthening both mindset and mechanics. The result is disciplined decision-making aligned with long-term wealth and personal well-being.

Well, to me, the Yellowstone Mountains and the National Park represent strength, power, and resilience. The Yellowstone mountain ranges are symbols of permanence and beauty...All features I want to help others achieve in their financial life. Yellowstone Wealth Advisors is about helping others achieve their best financial life.

For most clients, we charge an hourly fee for planning or coaching. Pre-purchasing a package of 5 or more sessions in advance comes with a reduced hourly rate. If you also want help managing investments, we charge a flat 1% fee for the assets we manage (this is called assets under management). Financial planning is strongly recommended before we start managing investments, so that we can thoroughly understand your risk tolerance, preferences, and overall financial situation.

Your assets are held in custody by our third party custodian, either Charles Schwab or Altruist LLC, both self-clearing brokerage firms with solid reputations and good client interfaces. They are one of the largest independent brokerage firms. We (Yellowstone Wealth) do not hold the assets personally. If we manage your assets through one of these custodians, we use a direct debit process for the quarterly fees, in arrears. 

The advice I give is exactly what I follow as well. I would never recommend something too risky or too speculative. My personal money is invested in similar types of portfolios as I would recommend to my clients. I prefer a long-term, disciplined, buy-and-hold approach to index funds or exchange-traded funds, based on solid performance and risk levels.