Rick Kahler
Rick Kahler, MSFP, ChFC, CFP is a fee-only financial planner, speaker, educator, author, and columnist. Rick is a pioneer in integrating financial planning and psychology. BusinessWeek named him one of the top 15 most experienced financial planners in the nation. He is a past chairman of the South Dakota Investment Council, managing $6 billion, an adjunct faculty member at Golden Gate University, and a Past-President of the Financial Therapy Association. His work and research has been featured or cited in scores of periodicals and books, including ABC News, NBC, CNBC, Fox Business, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Reuters, Money, Time, Forbes, BusinessWeek, The Street, MarketWatch, and MSN Money. He is a co-author of four revolutionary books on money, financial planning, and therapy: Facilitating Financial Health (NUCO 2008), Conscious Finance (FoxCraft 2007), The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge (HCI 2006) and Wired For Wealth (HCI 2009). Learn more here .
Articles by Rick Kahler
- Opinion
The Silent Spouse: Why Financial Advisors Need to Hear From Both Partners
They may be afraid of looking foolish in front of two people who understand something they do not.
- Retirement & Income Planning
Will Social Security Still Be There When You Retire? The Demographic Problem
The world population, now roughly 8.3 billion, is still growing by about 69 million people a year. That works out to 0.84 percent annually, down from more than 2 percent in the 1960s.
- Money & Life
The More You Check Your Portfolio, the More Volatile It Feels
Checking more frequently does not change your investment. It does change your level of anxiety.
- Money & Life
Your Emotional Storage Unit May Be Affecting Your Financial Decisions
A divorce. A house fire. A serious accident or illness.
- Money & Life
The Saver-Spender Trap: Why Couples Keep Fighting About Money
This emotional cycle is one of the reasons that spending spreadsheets and planning sessions are often not enough to help couples change.
- Money & Life
Should You Open a Trump Account for Your Child? What Parents Need To Know
If you have children younger than 18, should you open one of these 530A accounts for them?
- Opinion
Communism Won’t Destroy Your Portfolio—Corruption Might
If the United States ever became a purely communist system, would investment portfolios become worthless?
- Money & Life
One Question Every Investor Should Ask Before Hiring a Financial Advisor
**“Find a financial advisor who is a fiduciary, someone legally bound to put your interests first.” **I have made this recommendation many times over the years.
- Money & Life
Money Conflicts Make More Sense Once You Understand These Scripts
Uncovering and understanding those scripts, individually and together, may be one of the more useful things a couple can do.
- Money & Life
Wall Street Is Celebrating. Main Street Isn’t.
In mid-May, the S&P 500 hit its eighth consecutive weekly gain and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record close two days in a row.
- Money & Life
The Costly Mistake Even Smart Investors Make: Their Financial Team Doesn’t Communicate
It’s natural to assume that their work will come together coherently. Yet it often doesn’t.
- Money & Life
Financial Trauma From Religious Giving Lasts Far Beyond Childhood
Religious trauma is one of the childhood experiences that can shape money scripts with damaging lifelong consequences.
- Money & Life
College Costs Aren’t as High as Most Families Think
Yet that sticker price, especially for private colleges, is often far higher than what students actually end up paying.
- Money & Life
Financial Independence Doesn’t Always Deliver Emotional Freedom
When you think about building wealth or financial success, what’s your freedom number? When you think about building wealth or financial success, what’s your “freedom number?
- Retirement & Income Planning
Keeping Your Retirement Savings Clear Of The Government’s Thumb
The rationale is that government should be neutral on asset classes. It should not put its thumb on the scale by favoring some investment types
- Money & Life
Daily Money Managers Help Seniors Stay Independent and Protect Their Finances
If your elderly mom needs assistance with daily money matters, but you live three states away, where do you find the help she needs?
- Money & Life
End-Of-Life Planning Isn’t Just Numbers… It’s Emotion, Timing, and Care
When someone receives a terminal diagnosis, they and their loved ones are forced to deal with both at the same time.
- Money & Life
Are Shadow Advisors Shaping Your Financial Decisions?
Thinking about rolling over your 401k. Or maybe you just inherited some money and you’re not sure what to do with it. Where do you go for advice?
- Money & Life
Why Powerful Men Are Turning to Financial Therapy—And What They’re Learning
Financial stress among wealthy men often presents as dominance, overwork, or compulsive acquisition.
- Money & Life
How To Support Adult Children Without Sacrificing Your Financial Security
What I find concerning is that about half of those parents say the help is negatively affecting their own financial security.
- Money & Life
New SEC Marketing Rules Are Reshaping What Advisors Can Say to You
The intent of the rule is to protect clients, and the principles behind it are sensible. Communications must not be misleading.
- Money & Life
Love, Money, and Miscommunication—How Couples Can Break the Cycle
The good news is that couples can learn to talk about money without starting a fight. Here are some strategies that can help:
- Money & Life
Market Panic During War Often Leads to Costly Investor Decisions
Back away from the computer before you access your investment account. This is not the time to take dramatic action out of panic.
- Money & Life
America’s Tax System Is a 1913 House With Endless Additions
Even financially savvy people find themselves second-guessing what qualifies, what doesn’t, and what changed this year.
- Money & Life
Growing up Poor, Earning More, Still Anxious: Rewiring Financial Trauma for Lasting Security
Even when the numbers say you’re safe, the body may still brace for impact with a jolt of anxiety.
- Money & Life
Who Really Pays for Tariffs? Costs That Show up Months Later
Yet for most Americans, daily life went on with little obvious impact on prices for goods. At least not right away.
- Opinion
Childhood Trauma Shapes Adult Wealth More Than Most Realize
The consequences were striking. Childhood adversity is far from rare, and its financial impact lingers long into adulthood.
- Money & Life
What a Weaker Dollar Means for Prices, Portfolios, and Investor Psychology
Like tariffs, a weakening dollar acts as a hidden tax, one that most people feel long before they understand why.
- Opinion
Markets Don’t Care How You Feel About Investments
Outcome had anything to do with her attachment. Both were due to a variety of factors like the larger economy, company management, and market shifts
- Money & Life
The Hidden Cost of Interest Rate Caps: Why “Protection” Often Backfires
Yet relatively speaking, even though they feel painfully high, interest rates are not excessively high.
- Opinion
It’s Not Capitalism vs. Socialism. It’s About Who Holds the Power.
How we think about freedom and fairness, the key differences among them come down to one essential element: who holds the power.
- Opinion
What Do We Really Mean by ‘Socialism’? There Are Actually Four Very Different Answers
Beyond its dictionary definition, the word socialism actually describes four very different systems.
- Money & Life
Why Spreadsheets Alone Will Never Fix Your Relationship With Money
It can show up in the way you cook dinner, organize a messy garage, or yes, even how you design your budget.
- Money & Life
I’m Canceling My Christmas Column—Because Budget Advice Isn’t the Real Problem
Holiday overspending doesn’t happen because we’ve forgotten how to add. It happens because we’re human.
- Money & Life
Stop Trying To Fix Your Money Problems: What 69% of Couples Actually Need
Money is one of the most common places they show up because financial decisions touch so many aspects of who we are.
- Money & Life
Why Your Construction Loan Costs More Than You Expect — And Why It Isn’t a Rip-off
It reflects the fact that a construction loan is both riskier and far more labor‑intensive than a conventional mortgage.
