The Prosperous Doc

"It's more than just numbers. There's an emotional component, a psychological component there, that money has meaning to us, that we ascribe to it,” says Ashley Quamme. “And when we make financial decisions, it's not just making financial decisions from a number standpoint, but it's also making it from an emotional place as well.” A therapist and Certified Financial Behavior Specialist®, Ashley is the founder of Beyond the Plan, which connects firms with financial behavior officers (FBO) so they can navigate sensitive client financial decisions. In this conversation with host Shane Tenny, CFP®, Ashley suggests that financial decisions aren't driven solely by logic; they're deeply intertwined with our emotions, beliefs, and past experiences. “Financial psychology,” she explains, is about “understanding how people or how clients, how their emotions, their thoughts, their experiences, their behaviors, their attitudes, beliefs – how all of that impacts their financial decisions.” In working with advisory firms to help advisors and clients, Ashley focuses on how trauma and deeply held beliefs shape money behaviors. Past experiences create patterns – from scarcity and abundance mindsets to financial trauma and comfort spending – that either help or hinder our financial success.  The discussion delves into the fundamental dynamics at play in couple relationships around money, with Ashley describing how anger often masks deeper fears and how financial arguments are rarely about the money itself. She also shares practical strategies for identifying personal money beliefs, including her "money timeline" exercise for self-discovery and her "think, feel, do" framework for understanding financial decision-making patterns. For medical and dental professionals juggling high-stress careers with complex financial decisions, Ashley's insights offer a pathway to better understand the emotional undercurrents that drive financial behavior and ultimately achieve greater financial wellness aligned with personal values. 💡 Featured Guest 💡Name: Ashley Quamme, LMFT, CFBS What she does: Ashley is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Financial Behavior Specialist who serves as a fractional financial behavior officer for advisory firms. As the founder of Beyond the Plan, she helps financial advisors understand how their clients think, feel, and behave with money. She specializes in uncovering the psychological and emotional factors that drive financial decisions, working with individual clients and couples to navigate complex money-related challenges. Company: Beyond the Plan Words of wisdom: "Although it may not logically make sense, comfort shopping – to the extent that we are depleting resources, no, that doesn't make logical sense – but to our brain, comfort shopping is serving a purpose there, and it's serving us well … Ultimately, those that are engaging in shopping or spending to this extent, there's a pleasure component there that they're receiving. And while that might make sense, we need to, or my job really then, is to understand: ‘Okay, well, we're receiving pleasure from this, but what are we lacking?’” Connect: LinkedIn | Planning & Beyond Podcast | Instagram 💰 On the Money 💰Top takeaways from this