How a financial therapist can help you with money anxiety

Money commonly negatively affects people’s health, causing feelings like anxiety, stress and depression. Nearly half (47 percent) of U.S. adults say money has a negative impact on their mental health, at least occasionally, causing anxiety, stress, worrisome thoughts, loss of sleep, depression or other effects, according to Bankrate’s Money and Mental Health Survey.

When those money worries remain for weeks or months at a time, it may help to reach out to a financial therapist who can provide support. Over the past decade, more counselors specializing in financial therapy have begun to help people understand how finances affect their mental health and give them the steps to build better financial mindset habits for the future.

Unlike a financial advisor, a financial therapist can’t manage your money for you, but they may be able to help you through the stress that can come from money. Here’s what a financial therapist does and why they can be a resource when money affects your mental health.

Bankrate’s insights on money and mental health

What can a financial therapist help me with?

Turning to a financial therapist can be a way to find support when money is negatively impacting your mental health. The idea of a financial therapist is relatively new; one of the first self-described financial therapy organizations, the Financial Therapy Association (FTA), began in 2009 and started publishing studies that same year.

The trend of financial therapy has grown as more Americans generally begin to seek mental health care to learn new coping strategies for anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions. In 2022, 12.6 percent of U.S. adults were counseled by a mental health professional, according to the latest data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up from 9.5 percent in 2019. The FTA’s database now has around 80 members offering financial therapy or non-clinical guidance, specializing in subjects like receiving sudden money, insurance, layoffs, retirement, budgeting or trauma.

Financial therapists can break down financial stressors that may be affecting you, help unpack financial trauma and provide other therapeutic guidance. A financial therapist is typically not a licensed financial advisor and they may not have a fiduciary duty, meaning they won’t manage your money for you.

For Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, a Michigan-based financial therapist and coach, her role is less about guiding people through the nuts and bolts of how to manage a bank account and more to do with understanding emotions tied to money.

“A financial therapist really helps people at the intersection of how emotions, psychology and systems impact why they do what they do with money and to help them make choices that feel best for them about their personal finances,” Bryan-Podvin told Bankrate.

Bryan-Podvin was already a therapist specializing in anxiety and depression disorders when she began to feel underqualified to help clients with the emotional side of money. When she struggled with bills after graduate school, commonly available personal finance advice wasn’t helping.

“Every time I picked up a book, I felt like I was getting yelled at. It was, ‘It’s your fault you’re in this situation. You didn’t work hard enough. You didn’t save enough.’ And I’m like, I’m doing everything in my power,” Bryan-Podvin said. “I knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of incredibly individualistic and shame-laden personal finance advice, and I just thought that I was not alone in that.”

How much can you expect to pay for financial therapy?

Fees for financial therapy vary from provider to provider, just like other forms of therapy. Financial therapists are obligated to clearly disclose their fees and billing structure in the first meeting or session. Because financial therapists don’t manage your money for you, you won’t be billed based on your assets, like a financial advisor’s fee.

Financial therapy is difficult to provide under health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, according to Bryan-Podvin, though it’s easier if the mental health practitioner can classify the therapy under a diagnosis like anxiety or depression.

If therapy fees aren’t in your budget, you can seek credit counseling through a non-profit organization. Credit counseling can’t address mental health issues directly, but counselors often offer free workshops, education and advice to help manage money and debt.

Cost can lock low-income people out of financial therapy, but Bryan-Podvin says she’s seeing more financial and mental health resources become available to minority communities.

“Even if it isn’t a specific financial therapist, finding communities, whether it’s a Substack newsletter or a hashtag that you follow, finding people who can validate, emphasize and normalize your lived experience actually [helps],” Bryan-Podvin said. “You’re going to be like, ‘Oh, I’m not alone.’”

3 ways to organize your finances before seeking financial counseling

Considering starting financial therapy? First, it may help to take stock of your financial picture. Here’s how you can better understand your finances before of reaching out to a financial therapist:

1. Create or update your budget. Write down your monthly bills, debt repayment, insurance and other expenses to get a gist of how you’re spending each month.
2. Write down your debts and assets. If you have a credit card, student loan, medical or other debt, gather your accounts to understand how much you have in debt. It may also help to look into your assets, such as the value of your home, retirement accounts or savings. Your debt subtracted from your assets is your net worth, which gives you an idea of your financial picture.
3. Consider your financial goals. It may be helpful to ask yourself why you’re examining your financial habits. For example, do you want to buy a house or get married? Or maybe you want to pay off debt? Creating a list of short-term and long-term goals can provide accomplishments to work towards.

• Methodology

  All figures in Bankrate’s Money and Mental Health Survey, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,364 adults, of whom 1,109 have concerns over money which impact their mental health. Fieldwork was undertaken between 18th – 20th March 2024. The survey was carried out online and meets rigorous quality standards. It employed a non-probability-based sample using both quotas upfront during collection and then a weighting scheme on the back end designed and proven to provide nationally representative results.