I recently received an email that really touched me. It was from an editor of a newsletter for financial planners that I subscribe to. This man had tragically lost his wife a short time earlier, and this email informed his subscribers of the reason for his wife’s sudden death. She had committed suicide.

I recently wrote a column about “longevity insurance.” This topic raised the question of how financial planners estimate our clients’ life spans. Obviously, if we planners are going to tell you whether you’ll have enough money in retirement to last the rest of your life, we need to estimate when your time on earth will be over.

The July 28 online issue of Investment News included yet another indication that integrated financial planning is becoming more mainstream. An article, “Freud Meets Finance,” included Rick’s comment, “There’s a growing awareness of a void in the financial services and mental-health professions around the issue of money.” He was cited as a founder of the Planner-Therapist Alliance and the co-author of Conscious Finance.

Because I encourage clients to invest for the long term, I tend to be an optimist when it comes to the economy. Economic cycles are normal, and the one thing we can be sure of is that markets will go up and markets will go down. If a portfolio is properly diversified, however, with five or more asset classes, it will withstand economic fluctuations with little damage.

Can money give meaning to your life?

I was one of a group of financial planners who explored that question during a session at the recent FPA Retreat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

How do people manage their money when nobody’s looking? What is behind the financial choices—good and bad—that we make?

Many of those choices are shaped by our “money scripts,” the unconscious beliefs we all hold about money. Most of these beliefs are partial truths, which we tend to follow blindly even though we aren’t consciously aware of them.

“It’s not shopping, it’s retail therapy.”

“I shop, therefore I am.”

“When I die, bury me at the mall, so my wife will come to visit me.”

Despite all the jokes like this, for too many people shopping is anything but a joking matter. This was the message of our March 27 teleclass with Dr. April Benson. She is a nationally known psychologist who specializes in the treatment of compulsive buying disorder.

Our recent teleclass with April Lane Benson, Ph.D., a nationally known psychologist who specializes in the treatment of compulsive buying disorder, was a smash success. We had a record number of participants and so much interest in her topic that we didn’t have enough time to field all the questions. 

One of the most interesting comments by Dr.

Here is a bit of news—my wife and I had a meeting with our financial planner this week. I can hear you thinking, “That’s news?”

Certainly, visiting your financial planner isn’t exactly news, any more than having an appointment with your accountant or getting your teeth cleaned would be news. It isn’t, at least, unless you are a financial planner yourself.

We’ve just scheduled an exciting teleclass for this week. Please join us on Thursday, March 27, at 4:00 p.m. MST (6:00 p.m. EST). My guest will be April Lane Benson, Ph.D., a nationally known psychologist who specializes in the treatment of compulsive buying disorder.

Dr. Benson’s new self-help book, To Buy or Not to Buy?: Why We Overshop and How to Stop, will be published in December 2008 by Trumpeter Books.