Ed Coambs is the founder of Healthy Love and Money, a financial planner and marriage and family financial therapist. Ed shares his unique background, having transitioned from being a firefighter to a financial planner and becoming a therapist.

He was interested in how family dynamics and financial behaviors intertwine, and this led him to study therapy to understand these deeper connections. He discusses his own skepticism about therapy before experiencing its benefits personally and professionally. Over time, he embraced therapy because of its power to help people understand themselves and their behavior.

Everyone has a personal history and relationship with money, shaped by our lived experiences. Understanding this history is key in financial therapy, as it helps to understand seemingly irrational financial behaviors. We all have Emotional Connections to Money and sometimes Society Influences Spending and constant pressure to consume and compare fuels unhealthy financial behaviors, like impulse buying.

Ed has a specific Therapeutic Approach to Couples and Money and his view on Attachment Theory and Money is very interesting. Ed advocates for increasing awareness about the relationship with money and how this relationship was formed. One of Ed’s central beliefs is that empathy and curiosity can lead to meaningful change, whereas using shame as a motivator can have long-term negative consequences. In this episode, you will hear Practical Tools for Couples that will help build a more collaborative and positive financial relationship. Let’s stop the circle of fighting over money and build better habits.

Show notes:

👨‍🚒 Ed is a former firefighter: running into burning down relationships is harder. 02:01

💲 Financial intimacy: the intersection of love and money. 02:59

🚒 Ed’s Journey from Firefighter to Financial Therapist. 03:38
👨‍⚕️ The Role of Therapy in Financial Intimacy: we all have our issues with money and it reflects our relationships with people. 10:21
🤩 You can’t be told what to do: your experiences are important for financial behavior.
15:27
⚡ Power of empathy and social media: what are your needs and emotions connected to money? 17:06
😎 Practical strategies for couples to develop financial intimacy: looking into all perspectives. 27:24
💰 The Role of Attachment Theory in Financial Therapy. 29:55
⏯️ Patterns of behaviors around money: fighting about money and going in circles. 36:28