#1 Understand your spouse’s money personality Money is one of the most challenging topics to discuss. I have used Money Habitudes and found it to be a quick and effective way couples can relate to one another.  The non-threatening game...

  Money is one of the hardest topics for people to talk about in a relationship. During a health crisis, practicing good money habits isn't at the front of anyone’s mind. But, in times of uncertainty, it’s one of the...

What to ask clients who want to change their financial behaviors

According to a Nerd Wallet 2022 survey1 nearly a third of people reported that they still owe money from last year’s holidays and 72% plan to charge this year’s holiday purchases on credit cards. Others plan to take stores up...

Cara Macksoud   Children are often left in the dark about what goes on with the family's finances. This can lead to a lack of confidence and knowledge later in life when it’s time for them to handle their own...

FAQs to get started with Money Habitudes Online

Engaging and innovative financial education curriculum with a focus on the psychology of money and behavioral economics helps teens with personal finances and relationships.

Melanie Lockert Feb 06, 2019 6 second take: Sexual and emotional dishonesty aren’t the only things that can destroy a relationship. Financial infidelity can, too. Infidelity of any kind can tarnish even the strongest relationship. It feels like the ultimate...

The 2018 UK Workplace Stress Survey Executive Summary Work is the most common cause of stress for UK adults, with 59% experiencing it Just 9% say they ‘never’ experience work-related stress, while only 12% consider the levels of work-related stress...

Social stigma plays a big role in whether people seek out financial coaching, counseling or education. Social stigma also plays a part in whether people feel good while getting financial help. Money Habitudes is often employed in a manner to...

What is financial coaching? Is it the same as financial counseling or financial planning? Are those different from financial education? It's a pretty basic question of financial terminology, but an important one. After all, these terms – financial coaching, counseling,...

Financial stress is serious.  It was identified as the number one cause of stress in a 2009 study by the American Psychological Association. Financial stress is associated with increases in: suicide attempts and suicide rates physical illness divorce rates domestic...

Do you feel like you have so much information to share that you need to make the most of every moment when you teach financial education classes? Research has shown us that how we teach may be more important than...

Building on the popularity of Money Habitudes, we've just released The Good Credit Game. It's a credit curriculum kit that makes it fun and easy to teach credit classes. The Good Credit Game covers credit reports, credit scores and credit...

Money Habitudes is used by colleges and universities in to promote financial literacy for college students. It may be a student financial aid office running a financial aid workshop or using the tool in financial counseling sessions. It's also used...

Organizations use Money Habitudes in a variety of ways. This is an example of how the money personality tool is used in a career class. The workshop write-up is provided by Amy Mazur, a career counselor at Career Moves, a...

This financial capability grant announcement is applicable to many Money Habitudes users who are doing work in asset building. CFED, in partnership with Bank of America Charitable Foundation, is soliciting applications from organizations interested in joining an eighteen-month Intensive Learning...

Our Money Habitudes materials help people teach financial management to adults and teens. Because the hands-on activity is used like money management games, we're often asked if there is a version for young kids. The Money Habitudes for Teens version...

Money Habitudes is now recommended as a resource in Finance in the Classroom. Finance in the Classroom is a service of the Utah State Office of Education and the Utah Education Network. Finance in the Classroom supports Utah's initiative to...

We talk a lot about the right way to talk about money. After all, money is one of the hardest topics for people to talk about. But, what happens when you don't have a good interaction around money? There are...

Usually when people use Money Habitudes as financial conversation starters, they stick to the usual money personality instructions. In the typical solitaire sort, people get to see their money personality for how they are today. But, of course, our financial...

The new "Protecting the Credit of Youth in Foster Care" guide recommends using Money Habitudes.  The foster care report was prepared for the Annie E. Casey Foundation by Jennifer Miller and Rebecca Robuck of Childfocus. A good resource for those...

We track and list marriage and finances statistics because they tell part of the story behind why people use Money Habitudes. After all, what marriage and finances statistics show is that money plays a big role in whether marriages are...

It's important to know how to discuss money. This is true if you are discussing money with a friend, sibling, parent, partner or spouse. It's also important for professionals like financial planners, financial educators and therapists to be able to...

Your spending behavior is how you regularly, almost automatically use your money. Of course, inherent in one's spending behavior are the times when one does not spend, i.e., saving behavior. How does spending behavior develop? We all see and use...

If you're a financial educator, how can you teach a better money class? Here are some tips. Tips to teach a better money class No matter if you're working with adults or teens, a money class should be engaging. It...

About a year ago, we started studying how to produce materials for low literacy audiences. (The result was our new version of award-winning Money Habitudes for Adults, released in November.) Why? We originally designed the Money Habitudes statements to be...

A few months ago, we released a new version of our Money Habitudes cards. This version is written with low-literacy financial education audiences in mind. All of the money personality statements were written at 5th-grade reading level or below. This...

Money games for adults make learning about personal finance fun. Using adult games is a different than typical financial education classes. After all, it's not much fun to fill out a budget worksheet. And listening to a financial lecture can...

Money Habitudes cards help people understand their financial habits and general money personality. Money Habitudes are the six most common money types. The activity reveals your money personality and spending habits by showing you your own unique combination of those...

How to talk about money? Because it's so difficult to talk about money, people often don't talk about it. After all, it's often said that people find it easier to talk about sex rather than talk about money. Tips about...

The psychology of money can be hard to understand. Why do we spend the way we spend? Why do we save? Why might two siblings see money so differently? What do you think about money? How do you feel about...

Money personality is important, but what is it? In the same way that people have different personalities, we also all have a different money personality. We all see and relate to money in different ways. But how do you know...

The Issue: How to get parents and kids to feel comfortable discussing financial topics in a long-term financial literacy program – and better relate to each other around the difficult topic of money. Who: Tarin L. Washington is Program Associate at...

Financial education programs can be hard to fill up. Here are some ideas to increase attendance in financial education classes: Frame it differently. Attending financial education programs can be seen as "being in trouble." Because no one wants to be...

The goal of supportive housing and transitional housing programs is to provide housing. But organizations providing housing assistance often also provide financial literacy education. Why? Because people who need housing assistance typically need more than just housing assistance. With an...

A number of libraries offer financial literacy classes using Money Habitudes through FINRA grants and the Smart investing@your library® initiative. One such institution is the Jackson District Library, Jackson, MI. FINRA grants for financial literacy classes at libraries FINRA is the...

Billed as a "fun interactive way to talk about the difficult topic of money in a fun, nonjudgmental and constructive way," this is an example of an Extension workshop based on Money Habitudes. A way to engage a new audience...

This "Relationship with Money" workshop was geared for career and workforce development professionals. In this train-the-trainer case sponsored by Career Counselors Consortium Northeast, it is professionals who are exploring the relationship with money; many other Money Habitudes career classes reach...

This marriage education program in Melbourne, Australia uses Money Habitudes cards. Put on by CatholicCare, it highlights the importance that money plays in couples' relationships. Talking about money in a marriage education program This class shares some similarities with other...

In order to show how organizations really use Money Habitudes cards in employee benefits workshops, here’s an example of a financial seminar for university employees, at West Virginia University. Many Money Habitudes financial education classes are taught by Extension educators....

In order to show how organizations really use Money Habitudes cards in financial workshops, here's an example of an upcoming financial seminar in Bloomington, Illinois. It's taught by an Extension educator and will be conducted at a bank. For financial...

We just won an Excellence in Financial Literacy Education Award (EIFLE) for our financial literacy curriculum. The awards are given by the Institute for Financial Literacy. Awards were presented at the Annual Conference on Financial Education. Money Habitudes Financial Literacy...

We've been posting some examples of how Money Habitudes users actually use the financial cards in workshops,  financial planning seminars, counseling sessions, etc. This is an example of a Financial Lifestyle Planning Workshop in Tampa, FL. The  financial planning seminar,...

When it comes to understanding spending habits, people often forget that they are just that: spending habits. What is a habit? an acquired behavior pattern that is followed regularly so that it is almost involuntary Examples of spending habits Spending...

Like other colleges, Texas Tech understands that it's important to introduce people to personal finance early in their lives. And Texas Tech also understands that it's important to make personal finance fun, approachable and relevant. College Financial Education Week Red...

Here's a real money personality type assessment using the Money Habitudes card sorting process: That's me (statements that describe my money personality type) Targeted Goals 9 Selfless 4 Security 2 Status 1 Free Spirit 0 Spontaneous 0 sub-total 16 That's...

Here’s a real example of how a community college is developing a financial education workshop. It's based on using Money Habitudes cards: Harper's Money Smart Week presents: Money Habitudes for Students When:Tuesday, April 24, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM...

Financial literacy may not be a graduation requirement at a university, college or community college. However, it is important that students have real financial capability. Why does personal financial literacy matter for university and community college students? According to the...

Prisoner reentry programs often include personal financial education within a variety of other life skills classes. This may be in prisons, jails or community programs. They may include money management in a variety of ways, but the rationale is much...

Couples often find themselves engaged in a money fight. To this end, fighting about money comes up in two recent surveys: Yahoo! Finance Financially Fit Survey from Yahoo! and Fitness Magazine (November 2011) YourTango.com Survey Both reassert what we already...

There are a variety of personality tests and inventories that are used in marriage and relationship education. A popular one is Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages. As the book explains: As people come in all varieties, shapes, and sizes, so...

Who: Ronald Brewer, Director of Education, People of Principle, based in Midland, TX. What: Marriages are subject to a variety of stresses. Few are greater than having one spouse incarcerated. It is in this prison environment that People of Principle...

Money management games help people learn better ways to spend and save. Popular money management games include the Stock Market Game and a variety of offerings developed by Cooperative Extension (such as the Allowance Game). Yet, personal finance is often...

Having already covered financial education classes and career workshops, this post addresses how Money Habitudes is used in a marriage or relationship class on finances. The example is drawn from a relationship class about money, done by the Portland Relationship...

I just posted that Money Habitudes cards are used all the time in a variety of financial education seminars, job classes and the like. Well, here’s a good example of a career workshop using Money Habitudes. In this case, it’s...

This is a common example of how community organizations use Money Habitudes cards in their financial education classes. Although we often hear about such financial education classes, in many cases, they are never posted online and we're not aware of...

The American Psychological Association (APA) just released its report: Stress in America: Our Health At Risk. Of course, the number one cause of stress is money. What’s Causing Stress in America? The APA stress report finds sources of stress are:...

What is your Money Personality Type There are a number of money personality types and money psychology personality tests that exist. All speak to the psychology of money, recognizing that our spending and saving often has a habits, attitudes, emotions...

Want a divorce? Why couples get divorced? There are a lot of reasons for divorce. However, studies show the most common reason why a husband and wife fight, go to marriage counseling and end a marriage is money. According to...

Maybe it’s the economy. Maybe it’s a recognition of the role of money in marriage. We see an increasing number of Catholic archdioceses, dioceses and parishes including instruction on finances in their marriage prep or Pre-Cana classes. It’s not surprising....

The latest issue of the Financial Therapy Association's Journal of Financial Therapy just came out. The association and journal are concerned with the link between personal financial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors and personal and family well-being. The assimilation speaks to the: financial planner, financial educator, therapist, financial...

Just heard about Tweet What You Spend on the radio. While it's not what I thought it was originally, it does address a real issue: cash tracking. (Granted, if you're going to pull out your phone and open Twitter and then...

Ramit Sethi uses some of Carl Richards's simple economics diagrams to illustrate the psychology of investing and why it's hard to get ahead of the cycle as he looks at Buying High and Selling Low. It's amazing how powerful "napkin sketches" can be when...

The holiday shopping season recently past, this article in the Vancouver Sun offers some insight into the beast that is gift giving. We all have different philosophies on giving gifts. Some may not give at all. Some may give lavishly....

Where: Immaculate Heart Academy, a Catholic college prep high school in Washington, NJ What: Piloted Money Habitudes cards in psychology and finance classes Who: Stephanie Licata, campus minister Mary Liz Fuhrman, guidance counselor and psychology teacher Students: primarily seniors Why:...

This is a topic that seems to get revisited every year around Black Friday and the holiday shopping season: Can money buy happiness? This recent iteration from The Oklahoman has Bill Sones and Rich Sones writing that: While it's true...

The Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) is really well respected in the field of unbanked and underbanked financial services. An interesting quote in advance of the meeting that highlights the role of habits and attitudes in relation to serving...

In her “Top 9 Money Questions to Ask Your Partner Before You Get Married,” Maria Lin (@marialinnyc) says: “Before marriage, all kinds of lovely conversations ensue: How many kids? What should we name them, Jayden or Hayden or Payden? Where...

Findings from Bank On It: Thrifty  Couples Are The  Happiest: Newlywed couples who take on substantial consumer debt become less happy in their marriages over time. By contrast, newlywed couples who paid off any consumer debt they brought into their...

From the Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy … Scholars at Brigham Young University studied 1,734 married couples across the United States. Each couple completed a relationship evaluation, part of which asked how much they value "having money and lots...

In this article, Nancy Anderson, a Forbes contributor, identifies the “5 Financial Mistakes That Ruin Your Marriage” as: Materialism – valuing “things” or money over the relationship. Having conflicting money values. Adopting traditional roles when they don’t fit. Having opposing money...

Dr. Nando Pelusi, contributing editor to Psychology Today magazine and a licensed clinical psychologist with a private practice inNew York City, continues with this November series on what's trending in therapy. This week: money, politics, and couples. An interesting discussion about how the economy...

A TED talk with behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman on “Experience vs. memory” On a related note, this recent story, “Behavioral Economics Foils an Obama Tax Cut?” from Bloomberg BusinessWeek mentions an early experiemtn done by Kahneman and Amos Tversky: They...

From ESPN.com, Tom Haberstroh's “The predictably irrational NBA lockout” takes a look at how emotions around money come into play in basketball as seen in the NBA lockout… Ariely interpreted this phenomenon as an example of the endowment effect, an imperfection of...

We use six Money Habitude types (in a fun and easy-to-use hands-on card game format) to help people better understand how they relate to money and to better comprehend the role it plays in their lives (and the lives of...

Jenna Goudreau (@Jenna_Goudreau) presents a “Financial Checklist Before Getting Married” in Forbes. “Finances have long been a trouble area in marriage,” says Julie Murphy Casserly, author of The Emotion Behind Money, “and the current economic crisis is stretching even more...

Writing in “The Anti-Gladwell: Kahneman's New Way to Think About Thinking” in The Atlantic, Maria Popova (@brainpicker) calls psychologist (and Nobel laureate and founding father of modern behavioral economics) Daniel Kahneman “one of the most influential thinkers of our time...

In a not-subtle article in MarketMatch, Paul B. Farrell, asserts that: Financial-literacy programs are getting popular again. Warning: They don’t work. Maybe for 7% of us. But for the rest of Americans, they are a big waste of your time,...

This article about a three-part series about financial issues specifically geared toward women (with a focus on how our beliefs impact our decisions) speaks to a number of financial planners and therapists who use Money Habitudes to combine psychology and...

In a recent post on Forbes, contributor Doug Hirschhorn (@DougHirschhorn), who uses sport psychology to coach elite traders on Wall Street, posits that thinking like a woman may give you an edge in trading. Hirschborn says: I believe women, in...

Something we hear an awful lot from therapists and couples is echoed in this post for a lecture by Aaron Kipnis, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Santa Monica, CA: Money is a subject often more taboo than sex, religion or...

Some interesting news as of late in the unbanked and underbanked world: Arjan Schutte (@arjanschutte) of Core Innovation Capital and CFSI estimate: people who don’t rely on banks for their financial needs spend $45 billion in fees and interest, alone....

Not really a surprise to see this headline out of Ireland, but interesting to see the global reach of money issues in marriage: Money worries biggest cause of marital distress: Stress: Families feel pressure of rising bills THE majority of...

After the 72-day marriage ended in divorce, celebrity watchers are speculating about whether Kim Kardashian’s wedding to Kris Humphries, was a made-for TV hoax. Yet the marriage-and-divorce coverage still highlights an issue common to less grandiose weddings: not really knowing...

A new article by personal finance expert Erica Sandberg talks about “Six Money Tips For Late-in-Life Divorces.”  Tips for exiting an extended marriage include: Employ a lawyer, judiciously. Create a "Now I'm single" budget. Prepare for merged debt. Plan to...

The initial GOHFLI results demonstrate that the hypothesized link between student success outcomes and financial literacy is a strong one and leaders must work to strengthen all the elements of a student’s success: hope, engagement, wellbeing, and financial literacy. Ten...

A few more thoughts from the third annual Jump$tart National Educator Conference … I sat in on a workshop session about high school financial education tips, which featured a few programs and presenters – and a very full room of...

Just back from exhibiting at the third annual Jump$tart National Educator Conference in Washington, DC. The event was attended by a few hundred teachers from all but six of the United States (Alaska and Hawaii one can understand, but Georgia...

A good recent article (in which Syble is quoted) this month in Delaware Moms magazine says that: The most common mistake parents make with money and their kids is not communicating honestly about finances. This can run the gamut from...

Money is not a topic we like talking about. Many people say they find it easier to discuss sex. It’s a topic tied up in a lot of emotions. How we relate to money is often tied to other big,...

Who: Kelly Chicas, a Board Certified, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (at Albuquerque Family Counseling) and Lisa Johnson, PhD, LMFT in Albuquerque, New Mexico Situation: Workshops for community agencies and general audiences to provide educational information and introduce therapists in a...

Contact: Erica Brown, a community readiness technician at Shaw Air Force Base Airman and Family Readiness Center (AFRC) Situation: A financial education class to reach young airmen on their own turf, in the dorms. The workshops in the barracks would...

Contact: Carol Allison, Financial Program Manager, Naval Support Facility (NSF) Dahlgren/The Navy's Command Financial Specialist (CFS) program Situation: Use Money Habitudes cards in preparing Navy Command Financial Specialist Counselors to be financial first responders to their colleagues Who: Command Financial...

Contact: Kent Thompson, Financial Program Manager with Army Community Service, Camp Ederle, U.S. Army Garrison, Vicenza, Italy Situation: A comprehensive, six-hour course for couples intending to divorce called Military + Divorce created by the Association of Financial Counseling, Planning and...

Contact: Madeleine Greene, Personal Financial Counselor, Contractor for the Department of Defense. Greene worked as a financial counselor and educator for Cooperative Extension Service through the University of Maryland for more than 15 years. Situation: Financial education workshops on military...

Financial education classes often neglect communication skills and focus solely on the mechanics of budgeting, expense tracking, etc. But Lori Scharmer, a family economics educator, finds great value in helping couples communicate about money. If they aren't comfortable talking about...

Contact: Kent Thompson, Army Financial Program Manager, Army Community Service (ACS), Camp Ederle in Vicenza, Italy Situation: Financial education classes without funding to attract soldiers to a class by offering pizza or other food. Who: Soldiers who are generally unwilling...

Contact: Beverly Mercer, court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, Waco, Texas Situation: The State of Texas mandates that any Texan who files for bankruptcy must attend a bankruptcy class which teaches them how to avoid bankruptcy in the future.  Mercer teaches 3-5 classes...

Contacts: Valerie Conzett, director of the Family Life Office in the Archdiocese of Omaha, and Sr. Virginia West, a marriage and family therapist at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Winter Park, FL. Situation: Catholic churches and dioceses use Money...

Contact: Tony Owings, Certified Financial Planner, A.R. Owings Financial Strategies, an independent firm that works mostly on a fee-on-assets-under-management and offers securities through Raymond James Financial Services Situation: It’s important for financial planners to understand their clients, including how they...

Contact: Alan Frank is a financial educator and planner, serving as Financial Services Lead Instructor at Bow Valley College in Calgary, Canada Situation: Teaching college students who are studying to become financial planners and clients who attend the classes and...

Teenagers like to interact with each other rather than sit still for lectures. Playing to this tendency, Joyce Bartels-Daal uses Money Habitudes as the basis for a money-based life skills class. Students enthusiastically dive into the activity and need little...

Instead of sleep-inducing PowerPoint slides and a lecture, Belinda Pfeiffer, a family and consumer sciences educator, uses Money Habitudes for Teens to connect with teenagers in schools and youth groups. When using Money Habitudes with homebuyer/homeowner classes and with senior...

One of the great friction points in marriages is money. Although people do not want to talk about it, they do want to be able to deal with it effectively. To help people introduce the difficult topic, talk about it...

In working to build and sustain healthy relationships, Stronger Families knows that money plays a crucial role. Therefore, the organization includes a module on money and communication – using Money Habitudes cards – in its hallmark relationship program, which largely...

Contact: Kelly Chicas, a Board Certified, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, Albuquerque Family Counseling, Albuquerque, New Mexico Situation: Private counseling sessions Who: Individual clients and couples seeking relationship counseling. What: Use Money Habitudes cards as a tool to draw clients into...

Contact: Steven Shagrin, CFP, has a law degree and started his career in finance as a tax accountant before spending twenty years as vice president for investments with Smith-Barney and Pain Webber.  As one of the pioneers of the life...