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

Houston budget amendment would give financial assistance to help those impacted by a trash fee

Published

6 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Houston budget amendment would give financial assistance to help those impacted by a trash fee

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Houston City Council could soon consider whether to offer financial assistance to help those who may struggle to afford a proposed trash fee.

This month, council will approve a budget. In it, Mayor John Whitmire doesn’t increase taxes.

However, he does want to charge a $5 monthly fee to cover trash services. A plan to help close the city’s nearly $200 million deficit that doesn’t add up to some.

Speaking in front of council on Wednesday, Super Neighborhood 64 president Lindsay Williams brought more than concerns, she had numbers surrounding the mayor’s proposed $5 monthly trash fee.

A plan his team says could climb to $25 a month by 2032. If it does, Williams told council that $300 annual cost would be just .15% of a $200,000 income.

For someone making $15,000, it’s two percent. “More than 13 times the burden for the same trash, same truck and same fee, but not the same pay,” Williams explained.

However, Controller Chris Hollins said the mayor’s not being truthful about the real cost.

“Houstonians are not stupid,” Hollins said. “We should not treat Houstonians like they’re stupid.”

Hollins said the cost may need to be $40 a month. Whitmire didn’t respond to Hollins during the meeting when he asked if he plans to increase the fee.

No matter the cost, some council members want to offer financial relief. Right now, there are no exceptions.

However, an amendment council will consider from Council Member Alejandra Salinas next week would change that.

“If they for whatever reason met the threshold and need an additional need because of the administrative fee, our amendment would allow them to apply for funds through the water fund,” Salinas said.

The trash fee wasn’t the only item from the mayor’s seven and a half billion dollar budget proposal that sparked debate. Hollins said a plan to divert money away from water utilities could drain a billion over the next five years from infrastructure money.

Whitmire disagrees saying there’s more than enough funds to handle the change, and continue with projects.

“We’ve all admitted the budget’s not perfect, but certainly it’s a first start that Houstonians understand and it’s a shame it’s being so politicized because it’s literally people’s lives and death,” Whitmire said.

Council will vote on amendments next week. It has to have a new budget in place by the end of the month.

Finance

How can I illustrate our financial position to a spouse who shows little interest?

Published

16 hours ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

How can I illustrate our financial position to a spouse who shows little interest?

Reader question: My spouse has little interest in our financial position. As we age, this concerns me. I try to share some basic information (income, spending, account balances, debt, and so on) each month but rarely get a response. I think graphs or charts might be of more interest to her than a bunch of numbers. What recommendations would you have for illustrating our financial position so that I am not the only person aware of how we are situated? Thanks!

Answer: Your situation is pretty common. Most couples I know develop a division of labor over time, where one person is in charge of financial matters and the other person is less involved. That’s definitely the case for my husband and me. He’s in charge of paying all the monthly bills and preparing our tax returns, but the financial planning and investment decisions are up to me. This type of arrangement might work well for a long time, but can become less sustainable with age, particularly if the “finance person” in the relationship dies or develops a major health issue.

Online tools and mind maps

Illustrating your financial situation with charts and graphs is a great idea that might help your spouse become a little more involved. Morningstar’s  Portfolio X-Ray  tool includes a variety of images that help illustrate your financial situation. Websites for most major brokerage firms also include some visual tools. Schwab, for example, offers a Portfolio Checkup and a bar graph illustrating your account’s monthly income from dividends and interest income. Vanguard has a Portfolio Watch tool and a variety of performance illustrations, tools, and calculators.

A  mind map, which we used with clients when I worked for a financial advisory firm, can be another way to picture your entire financial situation on one page. There are various  softwaretemplates  for drawing a mind map, or you can simply sketch it out with a large sheet of paper and a pencil. Start with your names at the center of the page. Then draw spokes connecting to various categories, such as names of other family members; investment accounts; real estate and other assets, insurance policies, estate plans, key goals and values, and contact information for accountants, estate planners, and other professionals. It can be helpful to go through the mind map together and make any updates needed at least once a year.

Other ways to communicate about money

A few other ideas—though not related to charts and graphs—might also be useful.

I like the idea of putting together a  net worth statement  that itemizes cash, taxable accounts, real estate, retirement accounts, and debt for each member of the couple as well as items owned jointly. It’s a good idea to update this document at least once a year and  discuss it as a couple. If you set up the document as a spreadsheet, you can include columns with additional information such as account numbers, what each account is used for, which accounts are subject to required minimum distributions, or tax issues like potential capital gains.

Many couples also put together a  binder  (sometimes humorously called a “Doomsday Book”) that contains information about where to find important paperwork, insurance policies, how bills are paid, what each account is for, steps the surviving spouse will need to take, final wishes, and any other critical information.

A well-qualified financial adviser can bridge the information gap

Finally, you could consider working with a good  financial adviser,  who can help involve your spouse in financial matters while you’re still living and step in to fully manage investments and personal finance decisions if you pass away before your spouse. Make sure the adviser holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and charges fees that are reasonable. Although a 1% fee is still the industry standard for accounts of $1 million or less, it’s possible to find advisers who charge significantly less, including a few who price their services based on hours worked instead of a percentage of assets under management.

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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.

Amy C. Arnott, CFA, is a portfolio strategist for Morningstar and co-host of The Long View podcast.

Finance

Proximo Congress 2026: US Energy & Infrastructure Finance | Insights | Mayer Brown

Published

1 day ago

June 3, 2026

Press Room

Proximo Congress 2026: US Energy & Infrastructure Finance | Insights | Mayer Brown

Mayer Brown is a proud sponsor of Proximo Congress 2026. This senior meeting of the US energy, infrastructure, and digital infrastructure finance community is shaped around the questions credit and investment committees are actually asking in 2026: how asset classes are converging, how risk is being priced in a recalibrated policy and geopolitical environment, and how public and private capital are being structured together to deliver projects at scale.

Mayer Brown has also been recognized for three separate awards which will be presented during the event. These awards include: