Finance
Money issues? The financial psychotherapist will see you now
I am surprised that Vicky Reynal, a financial psychotherapist, is soft and reaffirming when I meet her. Perhaps I shouldn’t be – she is a therapist, after all. But something about her line of work, helping people untangle their issues with money, had primed me to expect someone more brisk, more clinical.
I think of how many business executives she meets with, how prohibitively expensive her time must be, and how strong her boundaries probably are. I even panic at the thought of logging into our Zoom meeting one minute late, because time, after all, is money.
Reynal, I’m sure, would find this compelling. She believes that we often have thoughts and feelings about money that actually have nothing to do with cold, hard cash, and everything to do with our earliest emotional experiences, deepest yearnings or misgivings.
It can be frustrating, then, that Reynal won’t talk much about herself. I’m genuinely curious – especially when I ask about her fascination with Warren Buffett, whom she has read extensively about and once met in person. She admits she was drawn to him growing up, but offers only vague hints as to why: references to formative financial experiences and the symbolic weight he held within her family, though she declines to elaborate.
As a psychotherapist, she tries to obscure her own life from her clients, to prevent it obstructing their process. Anonymity, it turns out, is a very good therapeutic tool.
“People try to guess where I’m from, and their guesses tell me so much about their internal world. Some people who have very strict and ungiving parents guess that maybe I’m eastern European, because of how cold they perceive me to be. Others guess I am Mediterranean or South American – from a warm country – because of how loving and giving [they think] I am.”
When Reynal was younger and went through therapy herself, she had a transformative experience working through some of the feelings about money. This, she thought, must be an area ripe for psychotherapeutic practice. But after nearly a decade studying psychology and psychotherapy, she was surprised to find that only a handful of research papers and textbooks directly focus on it.
“I thought, ‘Wait a minute, we are talking about our relationship with food, with sex, with people, why aren’t we talking about people’s relationship with money?’ It comes in the therapy room anyway, because it’s part of leading a life and people get into all sorts of messes because of it – and as therapists we have the lens to understand that.”
When Reynal began to explicitly market herself as a financial psychotherapist, she was suddenly overwhelmed by patients queueing up to talk to her. Her inbox was full of emails from would-be clients, telling her how relieved they were to find her. “They were saying: ‘I didn’t know a money psychotherapist existed, and I need your help,’” she says.
She sees some clients on a concession fee or a reduced rate, as they may be unemployed or struggling with debt. But others don’t need it. These are patients who know what they need to do when it comes to money on a rational level, but they just can’t bring themselves to do it: the client who obsessively buys shoes, or the one that can’t bring himself to buy basic things like a coat in the winter, because he feels a deep and bewildering desire to deny himself nice things – despite having more than ample means to buy them. Others have more than enough cash, but can’t find contentment. They come to her thinking: “Maybe you won’t judge me, for being wealthy and yet unhappy.”
Finances are central to how we relate to the world. The way we deal with our income affects our families, shapes our conversations with partners, and can cast long shadows over our relationship to our parents.
But as with so much in therapy, when people think they are coming to talk about money, it is actually not about the money at all. And beneath all that, it often reflects the lessons we absorbed growing up.
“It’s just a language that we use, because I think it’s easier to say: ‘You are being stingy,’ than to say: ‘I wish you were more affectionate with me,’ or ‘I don’t feel you love me enough,’ or ‘I love you more than you love me,’” says Reynal.
She also meets clients who are struggling to make ends meet, who have the sense that they are being childish and impulsive with money – they feel belittled by the way that they spend. When Reynal raises this, I can’t help but wonder whether her clients attach those negative descriptions to themselves because in the US and the UK, poverty is often described as being about bad choices rather than broader economic conditions.
Most of us can point to relationships in our lives – certainly with ourselves – where the way in which we spend serves as a proxy for something deeper. The colleague who is a constant under-tipper, who feels hard done by despite always contributing least to the bill; the sibling who works like a dog but can never, ever ask for a raise; the friend who constantly feels on the edge of financial ruin, despite having more than enough.
So what are the subconscious motivators beneath these interactions? Reynal will often see clients who come in to talk to her about one thing: for example, a recurring frustration that they are always too generous and give far beyond their means, even to the point that it leaves them feeling resentful and angry; which in turn leads to a conversation about people pleasing and where the urge to put others’ needs first came from in their life.
Those behaviours, it turns out – just like infidelity or drug use, or any of the more obvious topics that we associate with therapy – may originate from a time in our lives when we felt unsatisfied. An incredibly generous person might have struggled to fit in during their teenage years, while another’s hunger for wealth might be due to an unmet need to be loved by their caregiver as a baby or feeling constantly rejected or dismissed as a child.
“They are non-obvious links on the surface … but they help us get to the real longing underneath, the real unmet desire.”
Her practice has helped her understand broader shifts, too. She remains shocked at how social media use has led to an unprecedented level of lifestyle inflation. People are no longer comparing their lives with their neighbours, but to totally unattainable lifestyles displayed by people paid to look rich.
“There’s this manic level of social comparison,” she says. “People begin to believe that everyone has more money than they do. A lot of clients of mine are men who come under an enormous amount of pressure because they have taken on mortgages bigger than they could afford or cars that they couldn’t afford. They have to accept that they have failed against their own standards, or the shame of not being able to provide what their family wanted or was hoping for.”
In some ways, it’s no surprise that many of her clients feel a sense of relief after finding her. These kinds of struggles aren’t often met with much sympathy – especially in an economy where so many are simply trying to make ends meet.
“There’s this idea that is quite common that money will fix everything. And of course, if you are struggling to pay your bills, money would make that better. But to make the leap that if people have money they must be happy, or they have no right to be unhappy – that’s a big leap,” she says.
She lists many of the ways that people struggle with wealth. Some clients have more than their families did, and self-sabotage as a result, perhaps believing they don’t deserve it. They don’t invoice clients properly for work, or feel guilty when there’s a lot of money in their account. Others spend money extravagantly, almost to rid themselves of it. And in the therapy room she often learns about how the stories clients have heard growing up affect them: if their families thought of wealth as immoral or greedy, for example, what does that say about them if they become wealthy?
But Reynal also stresses the many stabilizing and positive relationships people have with money – like feeling empowered after years of struggle, or wanting to be financially independent because it is freeing.
“It’s not about stripping emotions out of financial decisions,” she says. “It’s about becoming aware of them.”
In that sense, she invites readers to be inquisitive about their own attitudes towards money, how they spend it, and where their own beliefs about financial security come from.
“We can’t all afford therapy. But opening up that curiosity can be enough: why am I buying this thing? Or why am I feeling guilty about spending money on that thing, if I have enough for it? What’s the longing behind that?” she says.
Some may think there are just a number of different ways to split the bill. But for those who look deeper, they may just find out something new about themselves.
Because the EFL’s profit and sustainability rules are about trying to make sure clubs are not losing unsustainable amounts of money.
Despite going on a summer spending spree, paying about £30m for players and having one of the highest net spends around, Wrexham are well within the financial parameters because of the commercial revenue already being brought in thanks to deals with giants such as United Airlines and HP.
In League Two, they were already bringing in more than 20 of the 24 Championship clubs.
“Under the PSR rules, you’re allowed to lose £39m over three years,” said Maguire. “Looking at their two most recent sets of accounts, Wrexham lost around about £23m – but they’ve had substantial increases in broadcast revenue, from about £1.2m in TV money in League Two to about £12m this season.”
That is before taking into account a significant jump in sponsorship and commercial income, with chief executive Michael Williamson estimating they are already on a par with some top-flight clubs.
“We have a global brand, a Premier League brand in the Championship,” Williamson told Ben Foster’s Fozcast podcast in August 2025.
“What we don’t have is the broadcast revenue of Premier League clubs or the parachute payments.
“From a commercial standpoint, if you compared us to Championship clubs, I’m sure we’d be among the top and – on commercial revenues only – we would probably surpass a handful of Premier League clubs, around four or five I would guess.”
As you work on diversifying your stock portfolio, it can be a good idea to take a step back and consider your options. What sectors are advantageous now? Should a new approach be taken?
We spoke with 12 financial and investing experts who shared the stocks that have currently piqued their interest. And, they shared their best advice on how to approach your picks. If you’re looking for sound advice this year, and beyond, you can find advisers using CFP Board, NAPFA or this free tool from our ad partner SmartAsset that matches you to fiduciary advisers.
CrowdStrike or the ETF Global X Cybersecurity — Myles J. McHale Jr., president and founder of Wealthcare Advisors
“Many of us have faced credit card fraud or financial/romance scams, and these issues are not going away. I recommend investing in network security, endpoint protection and identity management. Specifically, the individual stock CrowdStrike (CRWD) or the ETF Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG) are excellent choices in this space. With the continued expansion of AI, cybersecurity investments will remain crucial,” McHale says, while adding that “there is no need to panic or drastically change your current asset allocation.”
BBB Foods — Rick Munarriz, stock analyst at Motley Fool
“Valuations and tensions are high, so if there were ever a time to be a Peter Lynch disciple and ‘buy what you know,’ this would be it. Don’t chase hot stock tips in companies and industries you don’t fully understand or aren’t passionate about. One of my favorite stocks heading into 2026 is BBB Foods (NYSE: TBBB). It’s the parent company of Tiendas 3B, a fast-growing retail chain in Mexico specializing in ‘hard discount’ groceries.
It’s a stacker, and by that I mean a company that is stacking growth on top of growth. BBB Foods is expanding its chain at a low double-digit percentage rate. It’s also growing average store-level sales — or what they call comparable-store sales — in the low double digits. Stack those two things together consistently, and BBB Foods has rattled off four consecutive years of better-than-30% revenue growth.”
BlackRock, GE Aerospace and Walmart — Jason Bernat, investment adviser, president and CEO of American Financial Services
“We are anticipating several rate cuts in 2026 which will support higher valuations but also increased volatility. I personally believe that AI will continue to remain central. Stocks tied to AI computing and data center buildouts are obvious choices. However, moving beyond pure hype tech, into sectors like financials, industrials, and even value, will give a major growth opportunity.
NVIDIA (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), Marvel (MRVL), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), Alphabet (GOOGL) [and] Amazon (AMZN) are your champion AI stocks with high earning potentials, momentum, and cloud and hardware growth expectancy. Outside those, I like BlackRock (BLK), which has strong earnings growth. GE Aerospace (GE) industrial and defense exposure with projected revenue growth. Finally with a more defensive position if markets wobble is Walmart (WMT).”
“Focus on owning high-quality, cash-flow-generative assets” — Josh Katz, CPA and founder of Universal Tax Professionals
“The easy-money era, where simply being in the market guaranteed strong returns, has shifted. This year, focus on owning high-quality, cash-flow-generative assets and let that income, reinvested over time, do the heavy lifting for your portfolio. Patience and discipline will be key differentiators.
I always favor diversified exposure through ETFs that capture the themes above rather than risky individual stock picks. The U.S. equity market is projected for resilient growth, with firms poised to benefit from AI-driven efficiency gains, a friendly policy mix and strong earnings potential. This remains the core, growth-oriented foundation of a portfolio. In a market favoring quality and durable cash flow, funds focused on companies with a history of growing their dividends are essential.”
Renewable energy and energy storage — Jamie Hobkirk, CFP at Reynders McVeigh Capital Management
“As we move into 2026, I think it is important for investors to stay diversified across different sectors and not get hung up on the winners of 2025. More recently, we are starting to see increased breadth in the market, which presents more investment opportunities for investors.
Themes that Reynders McVeigh continues to like are renewable energy, energy storage and the buildout of the electric grid. The expansion of artificial intelligence is creating a growing demand for energy. With current demand outpacing production, multiple energy sources will be needed to support continued growth. Companies that support these themes are Schneider Electric, Nexans, and Nextpower Inc. to name a few.”
AI and tech — Carson K. Odom, CPA, CFP and wealth adviser at Adams Wealth Partners
“AI and technology leadership remain central to the conversation, but concentration is the biggest risk factor here. My biggest warning would be to make sure investors are aware of how concentrated an index fund they own may be. Some may not realize that 40% of their index fund is concentrated in under 10 names.
Themes I like for 2026 are tech and AI infrastructure, quality earnings and underperforming small-cap stocks. AI got the headlines in 2025, and I think the infrastructure behind it can take the lead in 2026. Also, high quality small-cap stocks have really lagged in performance since 2021. We’re nearing one of the largest deficits in small cap performance relative to large caps in recent history. If history tends to give us a lesson, it’s that there’s usually a reversion to the mean with these trends, which makes small caps appear attractive.”
Walmart and American Express — Ekenna Anya-Gafu, CFP, accredited asset management specialist, AIF and founder of Pacific Canyon Investments
“My number one piece of advice is have a long-term thesis and try to ignore the noise (a lot easier said than done). My biggest thought when it comes to the stock market and retail clients is that understanding the source of products, where they are made, and who the company is selling to is extremely important.” Anya-Gafu recommends:
“Walmart (WMT): They have close to a monopoly on low-income shoppers, and if the K curve (different groups in the economy experience very different outcomes at the same time) shows more in 2026, I believe the middle class will start to fade, which puts more individuals and households into lower income thresholds.
American Express (AXP): We saw that 93% of all purchases on Black Friday [were] done on a credit card or Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). I like American Express because their high credit profile requirements will be more protected from people not being able to pay their credit card bills, but because it is a charge card, it should make more profit than a typical credit card company.”
Digital infrastructure and essential services — Martin Robinson, CFP and director at Amzonite
“Areas such as digital infrastructure, the energy transition and essential services continue to attract attention because they tend to be more resilient across different market conditions. Companies with steady cash flows, pricing power and strong ownership are often better positioned when uncertainty is high. Ultimately, stock choices should reflect personal goals, time horizon and comfort with risk, rather than a single prediction about where the market is headed.”
MYR Group, First Solar and Recursion Pharmaceuticals — Peter Krull, director of sustainable investing at Earth Equity Advisors recommends:
“MYR Group (MYRG) — Specialists in electrical infrastructure. Between the clean energy transition and the AI buildout, we’re going to need to move electrons efficiently across the country. MYR designs and builds transmission lines to meet the ever-growing demand for more electricity. I see continued growth for at least the next decade in their services.
Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX) — One of the most promising uses of AI technology is in biotechnology and pharmaceutical development. Recursion teamed up with NVIDIA to build a supercomputer to analyze potential drug opportunities. The analysis performed by the Recursion system has the potential to speed up the drug development process and reduce the cost of development by half. This is a riskier opportunity, but there should be long-term potential.
First Solar (FSLR) — First Solar is a leading designer and manufacturer of solar panels and systems for utility-scale developments, and the largest headquartered in the U.S. They are focused on innovation in the solar manufacturing space, investing in clean manufacturing and higher cell efficiency.”
Healthcare, energy and housing — Chris McMahon, president and CEO at Aquinas Wealth Advisors LLC
“We believe the market will broaden out dramatically over the next few years. The current overconcentration in tech stocks will begin to spread into the broader market. In particular, we think sectors such as construction, banking, and materials are well positioned for growth.” McMahon recommends:
“Healthcare: this sector has languished as the market reduced allocation based on the uncertainty of Secretary Kennedy. We have had time to see that in spite of some changes.
Energy: driven by the demand from AI and also a return to U.S. manufacturing we expect energy to outperform in the coming year.
Housing/material: lower interest rates will drive spending and fuel the growth of this sector. [The] $3-6 million shortage of housing is real and means good things for the sector.”
Commodities — Michael E. Chadwick, CFP and founder at Fiscal Wisdom Wealth Management
“The public needs to understand capital is slowing [and] rotating away from stocks to hard assets. While the world chases seven stocks and crypto, the next cycle will favor hard assets and the most richly valued things today will take the biggest bath. Index funds, popular mutual funds, ETFs that are passive, and lifestyle funds are the most dangerous things to own today and will likely see massive falls followed by upswings.
I like the commodity complex in general — precious metals No. 1, miners No. 2, critical metals No. 3, energy No. 4, [hard commodities like energy, gold and silver] and Latin America is also very attractive. I like them because they’re out of favor, undervalued and have been ignored. The whole world is chasing AI, tech and crypto, so some amazing opportunities exist in boring areas. This is where the real money will be made in the next cycle.”
Utilities and industrials — Doug Beath, global equity strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute
“We continue to be very positive on the AI buildout and believe we’re closer to the early innings of the cycle than the end, but are also cognizant of valuations. We downgraded the technology sector to neutral several months ago and now favor the ancillary trends related to AI but with better valuations such as utilities with the data centers, and industrials to help build out those data centers.
Financials also have a favorable AI-related theme in terms of financing and M&A activity — and seem particularly oversold so far in 2026. At some point, we could overweight technology again if there’s a pullback or market conditions changed. This leads to another theme we’re recommending to clients this year, and that is prepare to ‘be nimble.’”
There’s a famous quote attributed to J.P Morgan, the early American financier and banker whose name now adorns the largest investment bank in the world.
“Nothing so undermines your financial judgement as the sight of your neighbour getting rich,” he said.
Social media these days is full of people touting the next big undervalued stock or crypto coin and showing off their gains from investing in speculative markets. And according to new research, it is actually younger, more internet native generations who are more likely to follow dubious investment advice and fall for investment scams online.
It comes as regulators in Australia push for better financial literacy to counter the AI boom and consider cracking down on advertisements of financial products.
RELATED
Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Joe Longo, has warned about the proliferation of promotions for financial products, particularly through social media, suggesting they posed a danger to Australian consumers.
Highlighting previous rules to ban cigarette advertisements, Longo flagged a potential crackdown on such advertisements as the watchdog looks to close gaps in the regulatory regime governing the financial services sector.
“Particularly through social media, there’s a whole range of ways in which Australians are exposed to pretty aggressive financial product promotion,” he said.
“So I think we need to be looking for ways of helping Australians navigate that. And secondly, possibly even looking at restrictions or prohibitions of some kinds of advertising, to nip it in the bud.”
The ASIC chair, whose stint as head of the regulator ends on May 31, said the government was intent on pushing more funding towards literacy about both financial products and technology as it prepares for the expected rise of AI agents which are capable of independently performing tasks with minimal human input.
“The whole question of literacy around technology is related to financial literacy, because we’re seeing a convergence.
“So many financial products are promoted through a range of these technologies or platforms. So I do worry that, as a community, we’re not investing enough in our level of understanding around these issues.”
AI has helped fuel an explosion in advertisements spruiking questionable investments in financial products.
Kansas Congress Members Express Alarm at Lethal Force by Federal Agents
Kentucky vs Vanderbilt score today, UK basketball game updates
With the power out and roads closed, northern Louisiana continues to struggle after winter storm
Another Varsity Maine boys basketball poll, another change at the top
Maryland’s four-year graduation rate slightly declines, the Department of Education reports
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Video: F.A.A. Ignored Safety Concerns Prior to Collision Over Potomac, N.T.S.B. Says
Democrats demand Kristi Noem be fired or warn impeachment will follow
EU Commissioner Virkkunen urges US to respect EU digital rules
Families of killed men file first U.S. federal lawsuit over drug boat strikes
Video: New Video Analysis Reveals Flawed and Fatal Decisions in Shooting of Pretti
-
Sports1 week agoMiami’s Carson Beck turns heads with stunning admission about attending classes as college athlete
-
Illinois6 days agoIllinois school closings tomorrow: How to check if your school is closed due to extreme cold
-
Pittsburg, PA1 week agoSean McDermott Should Be Steelers Next Head Coach
-
Lifestyle1 week agoNick Fuentes & Andrew Tate Party to Kanye’s Banned ‘Heil Hitler’
-
Pennsylvania2 days agoRare ‘avalanche’ blocks Pennsylvania road during major snowstorm
-
Sports1 week agoMiami star throws punch at Indiana player after national championship loss
-
Cleveland, OH1 week agoNortheast Ohio cities dealing with rock salt shortage during peak of winter season
-
Science1 week ago‘It is scary’: Oak-killing beetle reaches Ventura County, significantly expanding range