Finance

Using The Emotions Wheel To Transform Financial Help

Published

1 year ago

January 9, 2025

Using The Emotions Wheel To Transform Financial Help

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I recently launched a peer financial coaching center at my university, providing students with a place to receive financial coaching help. While the center primarily relies on trained peer financial coaches to assist fellow students, I occasionally step in as a financial coach. During one of my sessions, a young college student arrived with a big smile, radiating confidence and maturity. She seemed poised and self-assured, and I assumed our session would likely cover advanced financial topics, like stocks or Roth IRAs.

Still, I decided to start by asking her how she was feeling.

She gave me a sideways glance and replied, “OK.”

Seeing her hesitation, I decided to ask a follow-up question: “Would you mind looking at this emotion wheel and letting me know which emotion best matches how you’re feeling?”

She studied the colorful wheel for a moment, then handed it back and said, “‘Powerless’ and ‘bleak.’”

Her serious tone caught me off guard—I hadn’t expected that response.

“Let’s start there,” I said. “Tell me more about why you’re feeling that way.”

Financial Facilitator, Not Advice Giver

In my article, The Path to Financial Health Goes Deeper Than Advice, I argued that most people are not ready to change, which is why traditional financial advice often falls short. Instead, the key to improving financial health is having someone come alongside as a financial facilitator—not simply an advice giver. Rather than looking down from the metaphorical mountain-top of financial expertise, a financial facilitator walks alongside the individual, helping them move toward a place where they are ready to make meaningful changes.

The book, Facilitating Financial Health, emphasizes that the most important characteristic of a financial facilitator is empathy. Empathy involves warmth, genuineness, and positive regard. It involves feeling another person’s emotions alongside them. However, empathy is only possible once you truly understand how someone is feeling.

Reflecting on my encounter with the student who described feeling “powerless” and “bleak,” imagine how the meeting might have unfolded if, after she initially replied that she was “OK,” I had simply launched into a discussion about stocks and Roth IRAs.

Given her kind nature, I suspect she would have smiled politely and even thanked me for my efforts. However, beneath the surface, she would have left the session feeling just as unsupported—if not worse—than before. While I might have walked away feeling accomplished, she would have gained nothing meaningful from our conversation, and the opportunity to truly help her would have been lost.

Magnify Your Empathy Powers With Emotional Wheels

One way to improve your ability to express empathy is by helping someone discover and articulate their emotions. Simply asking, “How are you feeling?” may not yield a clear response, as the person might not be ready to answer or may struggle to put their emotions into words. An emotion wheel is a powerful tool that assists individuals in identifying their feelings. The most effective emotion wheels provide enough granularity to ensure that everyone, regardless of their emotional state, can find the precise word(s) to describe how they are feeling.

Over the past 50 years, psychologists and researchers have significantly advanced the development of emotion wheels to better understand and categorize human emotions. Robert Plutchik’s influential “Wheel of Emotions” (1980) was one of the earliest models, highlighting eight core emotions—joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation—arranged in a circular structure to illustrate their intensities, combinations, and opposites.

More recent emotion wheels distinguish between comfortable and uncomfortable emotions, reflecting findings that these types of emotions are processed in different parts of the body (Enete et al., 2020). This distinction helps explain why individuals can simultaneously experience seemingly contradictory emotions, such as being “thrilled” and “scared.”

Using Emotion Wheels

The emotion wheel I use comes from Human Systems, which provides two emotion wheels: one for comfortable emotions and another for uncomfortable emotions. Each wheel identifies five or six broad emotions and breaks them down into up to nine sub-emotions.” Each sub-emotion is further refined into two sub-sub emotions for greater specificity.

For instance, the uncomfortable emotion wheel by Human Systems includes six broad emotions: Angry, Embarrassed, Afraid, Sad, Dislike, and Alone. Under “Angry,” there are nine sub-emotions such as Offended, Indignant, Dismayed, Bitter, Frustrated, Aggressive, Harassed, Bored, and Rushed. Each sub-emotion is further detailed, like “Insulted” or “Mocked” under “Offended,” and “Pushed” or “Pressured” under “Rushed.”

I often use these emotion wheels with my two children as part of teaching them to identify their emotions. My wife and I believe this helps them develop better coping and communication skills. When our kids are overwhelmed by their emotions, asking them to pinpoint how they’re feeling can be incredibly effective. (Although, one time my son humorously thwarted this approach by circling the entire uncomfortable emotions wheel and walking away!)

Conclusion

When providing financial help to others, it’s essential to first help them identify their emotions. Emotion wheels are powerful tools for assisting individuals in recognizing and naming their feelings. The understanding that you gain from an emotion wheel enables you to express genuine empathy with others, which is crucial for effectively “walking with them” on their journey toward greater financial health.

Related Topics:emotion wheel emotions empathy financial facilitator

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Finance

Tesla Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is in the Biggest Way Possible | The Motley Fool

Published

4 hours ago

February 7, 2026

Press Room

Tesla Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is in the Biggest Way Possible | The Motley Fool

Go big or go home has always been Tesla’s style, but this time it comes at a cost of saying goodbye to two instrumental models.

Investors will never be able to claim that Tesla (TSLA +3.50%) doesn’t shoot for the stars or go all in on its ambitions and vision. Even from its humble beginnings with only the Roadster for sale, plotting to one day reenergize an all-but-dead global electric vehicle industry, it aimed big. Now Tesla is doing it again, except this time its long-term sights are set outside of the automotive industry, and that comes with a cost.

Goodbyes are difficult

For investors who have been part of Tesla’s dramatic rise, it’s a bittersweet moment to say goodbye to vehicles that were instrumental in turning Tesla into the business it is today, while grappling with a future of humanoid robots, driverless vehicles, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Tesla announced it will end production of its high-end Model S sedan and Model X crossover in the second quarter and transform that California-based factory space into an assembly line for the Optimus robot, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “It’s time to bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge. We are really moving into a future that is based on autonomy,” Musk said during the company’s earnings call in January.

Image source: Tesla.

Perceptive investors likely saw this move coming. After all, Tesla stopped accepting new orders for the Model S and X in China last April due to escalating tariffs — remember Tesla imports those two models into China, making them very expensive compared to the locally produced Model 3 and Y. As of late 2025, Tesla effectively discontinued taking new orders for the Model S and X in Europe due to low demand.

Take a step back

Before investors panic and have knee-jerk reactions such as saying Tesla is no longer an automaker, or being overly concerned it’s discontinuing a big chunk of its product list, it would be wise to take a quick glance at recent sales.

While Tesla doesn’t break out its Model S and X sales individually, it gives us plenty of insight through sales of its “other models,” which are combined results from the Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck. In 2025, deliveries of those models totaled 50,850 units, or just over 3% of Tesla’s total 1.6 million deliveries.

Today’s Change

(3.50%) $13.90

Current Price

$411.11

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$1.4T

Day’s Range

$397.75 – $414.55

52wk Range

$214.25 – $498.83

Volume

63M

Avg Vol

73M

Gross Margin

18.03%

What it all means

For investors, this officially should mark the fork in the road. It’s absolutely time to take a look at when and why you started your Tesla position, and whether it’s still the company or has become the company you first aligned with. Tesla is aiming to be far more than an electric vehicle maker, and by the end of this year, the company could be producing Optimus robots with a long-term goal of making a million units annually.

Uncertainty is risk, and Tesla’s future and business is arguably more uncertain in this moment than it has ever been, or at least since its early beginnings. There’s nothing wrong with that, and the upside is sky-high, but it’s also not an investment for everyone. It’s critical that investors understand this because Tesla is again shooting for the stars and putting its money where its mouth is. Now it’s for you to decide if this is a ride you want to take.

Finance

Rogers Sugar AGM: Shareholders Approve Directors, KPMG Auditor and “Say on Pay” Resolution

Published

16 hours ago

February 7, 2026

Press Room

Rogers Sugar AGM: Shareholders Approve Directors, KPMG Auditor and “Say on Pay” Resolution

Rogers Sugar (TSE:RSI) shareholders approved all resolutions brought forward at the company’s annual meeting, including director elections, the appointment of auditors, and a non-binding advisory “say on pay” vote, according to preliminary results reported by the meeting’s scrutineer. The meeting w

Finance

Block vs. PayPal: Which Fintech Stock Is Better Positioned for 2026? | The Motley Fool

Published

1 day ago

February 6, 2026

Press Room

Block vs. PayPal: Which Fintech Stock Is Better Positioned for 2026? | The Motley Fool

Two companies battling to win the global payments market.

Great businesses win by solving problems, and the $2.5 trillion global payments market is a goldmine for companies that can make money move effortlessly.

Two of the firms competing in that space are Block Inc. (XYZ +4.85%) and PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL +1.30%).

Image source: Getty Images.

As each pushes into new technologies and revenue streams, the next year could define their long-term trajectories.

With this potential turning point, I’ll examine which fintech stock may fit best in your portfolio.

PayPal’s moves into AI, global payments, and stablecoins

PayPal shares have dipped 37.28% over the last year, but the company has three initiatives that could help reverse that trend: PayPal World, artificial intelligence (AI) agents, and cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. PayPal World and AI agents enhance the current services, while crypto and stablecoins open up entirely new financial terrain for PayPal.

Today’s Change

(1.30%) $0.52

Current Price

$40.42

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$37B

Day’s Range

$39.38 – $40.61

52wk Range

$38.88 – $79.50

Volume

35M

Avg Vol

19M

Gross Margin

41.78%

Dividend Yield

0.35%

Announced in June 2025, PayPal World will allow customers to pay global merchants using their payment system, or wallet of choice, in their local currency. In essence, you’ll start seeing PayPal integrate seamlessly with other payment services.

For AI shopping, PayPal says a customer can tell an AI agent they need a ride to the airport at 4:50 a.m. The agent can both book that appointment and pay for it.

Finally, that brings us to cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. The company enables the buying, selling, and sending of crypto within its wallets. PayPal also offers its own stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar called PayPal USD (PYUSD) for fast, global payments. As of this writing, holding PYUSD offers a 4% annual yield.

Its peer-to-peer payment service, Venmo, can also boost revenue over time. As a reference point, in 2021, PayPal said it generated roughly $900 million from Venmo. PayPal expects it to generate $2 billion in revenue by 2027.

Block’s next growth chapter

Similar to PayPal, Block shares have stumbled over the last year, dipping 22.48%.

Today’s Change

(4.85%) $2.59

Current Price

$55.97

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$32B

Day’s Range

$54.81 – $56.42

52wk Range

$44.27 – $88.73

Volume

Avg Vol

7.5M

Gross Margin

40.31%

Once again, the key is looking at what lies ahead.

Its flagship Cash App service still has the reputation of friends just sending each other money, but Block is focused on turning it into a complete financial platform. Through banking, savings, direct deposit, bill paying, an AI-powered money assistant, and more, users are gaining fuller control of their financial lives through just one app. In Q3 2025, Block reported $1.62 billion in gross profit from Cash App, a 24% year-over-year increase.

Its global lending products have now surpassed $200 billion in provided credit. Defaults remain low, with 96% of buy now, pay later installments paid on time and 98% of purchases incurring no late fees.

Outside of its consumer products, Block is building out a robust suite of merchant tools to provide businesses with everything they may need, including credit card terminals, payroll services, and loyalty program marketing campaigns. Business owners can also build websites through Block, which could lead sellers to adopt more of its tools over time.

Block has also leaned deeper into cryptocurrencies. In October 2025, it launched Square Bitcoin, which will automatically convert credit card sales into Bitcoin. Block also holds roughly 8,800 BTC, worth nearly $770 million.

The PayPal vs. Block winner

PayPal and Block are both stocks that could rebound in 2026 if their initiatives gain traction.

Block has high-growth segments in cryptocurrencies and lending, and its expanding suite of services and tools for businesses can help it generate more revenue from its current customer base. That high upside potential also comes with a high beta of 2.66, meaning it is more than two and a half times more volatile than the general stock market. Despite those issues, the balance sheet is strong, with $8.7 billion in cash compared to $8.1 billion of debt.

PayPal has steady, transaction-based fees from its global payments platforms and even pays out a dividend of $0.56 per share. Its beta of 1.43 also means it’s less volatile than XYZ. This may appeal more to risk-averse investors. The key here will be if PayPal’s recent moves can take it beyond being just a steady and mature business. With $12.17 billion in debt and $10.76 billion in cash, PayPal operates with a slight net debt that’s reasonable considering its consistent earnings.

Ultimately, the choice comes down to whether you prefer owning PayPal as a dependable revenue machine that could grow meaningfully as it enhances its services and features, or Block’s higher-risk path that could deliver outsized returns if its bets pay off.