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Is money an emotional issue for you?

Purse Strings

“What if she asks me to do something scary?

What if she shames me for the way I’ve handled my money?

What if she has me invest my money, and I lose it all, ending up with nothing?”

Those were the “what ifs” that came up for me when I hired my financial advisor, Melissa Sweet. She had come highly recommended by my dear friend, fellow author and speaker Cheryl Richardson, so I knew I was in good hands. But the fears still rose to the surface to spook me.

My self-worth issues came up, too, as I thought, “Who am I to have a financial advisor?” I still held the belief “Only people with tons of money and investments use financial advisors.” During our first conversation, Melissa asked me to share my money story. When I got to the part about my marriage and my divorce, I broke down. In fact, I spent the entire remainder of the session bawling my eyes out! I still felt such shame about how much I had given my financial power away to my ex-husband and to my lawyer. I even felt ashamed for not knowing what I didn’t know. But there’s no reason I should have known about finance unless I had studied it. What an unfair expectation I put on myself!

Luckily, Melissa sat patiently and listened to me cry about my financial past. I suppose it wasn’t the first time she’s experienced a client having an emotional meltdown.

I’m so glad I went through all that because hiring Melissa was a huge step for me. She completely changed the way I handled my money. I’d been stockpiling all of my savings in a low-interest account—which was almost the equivalent of keeping a pile of cash under my mattress. It helped me feel safe to have that big number in the bank, but in truth, it was just my version of head in the sand syndrome. It wasn’t the wisest or most lucrative place to keep that money, or as Melissa put it: “You keeping all that money in a savings account is like planting frozen vegetables and expectingthem to grow.” I also didn’t realize that paying off my mortgage—which I did—could actually be an investment!

Making that one powerful financial decision—to consult an advisor—changed my life in a number of positive ways. I learned more about the world of finance, got control of my purse strings, and grew my self-worth all at the same time. (Thanks, Melissa!)

Let’s keep this conversation going! Head on over to Facebook and tell me, what is one financial decision you can make today to propel you forward?

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