Financial Therapy
For more than 30 years, Ron Gallen has helped individuals and families understand and change difficult patterns around money. His work brings together financial behavior, personal relationships, and practical financial solutions.
Financial therapy is neither psychotherapy nor financial planning. It is a distinct approach to understanding the ways money affects our decisions, relationships, and lives.
Author of The Money Trap (HarperCollins). Featured in the London Times and New York Magazine.
When money becomes more than a financial problem
Money can create patterns that are difficult to change, strain important relationships, and make it hard to know what to do next. Ron works with individuals and families facing situations like these:
Repeating Financial Patterns
You may understand that certain financial decisions aren't working, yet find yourself repeating them. Ron helps you examine the patterns behind those decisions, develop a more constructive approach, incorporate realistic spending plans.
Money and Family Conflict
Financial disagreements can create tension between parents, adult children, partners, and other family members. Ron helps people work through these conflicts and find practical ways forward with real world financial solutions.
Financial Support and Boundaries
Supporting a teenage or adult child can become complicated when financial assistance, spending habits, and family expectations collide. Ron helps parents establish a workable structure between parents and adult children for financial support, boundaries, and follow-through.
Major Financial Transitions
Inheritance, debt, taxes, and changes in financial circumstances can bring difficult decisions and complicated relationships. Ron helps clients navigate the personal and practical dimensions of these situations.
What Clients Say
“I’m a single mother and business owner, always at the brink. After seeing so many CPAs, attorneys, and counselors--Ron was different. He helped me get my financial house in order with his mix of knowledge, experience, humility, and humor. This felt less like hiring a professional and more like school for the soul.”
AC
“Ron is a true ‘Individual Consultation’ provider. No matter what you’re facing, he helps you break it down and organize it so it makes sense and feels far less stressful or scary. Once you have your arms around the issues, he puts together a plan to help you move through them. Ron helped me organize my finances while going through a divorce—something I dreaded—and set me up for financial success. I’d recommend him a million times over.”
AN
“Working with Ron has been a game changer. He’s revolutionized my relationship with money, business, and life in general. He’s so much more than a therapist or a financial consultant. For over 15 years, I’ve turned to Ron for everything from starting a business and marketing strategies to investments and sensitive money issues involving my family. He combines clear financial advice with deep empathy, getting to the heart of the matter in a thoughtful, comprehensive way. I can’t imagine where I’d be without his down‑to‑earth, perceptive approach."
KD
Services
Family Financial Situations
If financial disagreements are creating tension between you and the people closest to you, Ron helps families navigate money conflicts, inheritance, financial expectations, and difficult family dynamics.
About Ron Gallen
Ron Gallen has spent more than 30 years helping individuals and families address the personal and financial patterns that can be difficult to change. His work focuses on the intersection of financial behavior, psychology, and family relationships.
He is the author of The Money Trap, published by HarperCollins, and has been featured in publications including the London Times and New York Magazine.
Ron also consults with helping professionals seeking to better understand and address the financial issues affecting their clients.
The Money Trap was published twenty-five years ago, when Ron was a pioneer in the field of financial therapy and money disorders. The book describes the different categories of money disorders. Although it was written as a self-help book, it is still used by a wide array of professionals. It also happens to be compelling reading.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do people generally work with you?
It depends. Most people find relief and new ways with money in their lives or their families within three to six months. Some choose to stay longer. I have families I have been seeing into the next generation, but also have clients who rearrange things and don't need me anymore after a few weeks. So, it depends. I do tend to be good, though, at getting straight to the issues at hand.
Do you work with different family members at the same time?
Often I do. Mostly one family member or parents see me first about some difficult family financial dynamic. That often leads to bringing other members into the conversation. When called for, I sometimes will act as a go-between for family members who can't speak to each other without fighting.
How do we help our adult child financially without perpetuating the problem?
When it is hard to set boundaries and keep them; when your child acts out and is hard to control, or when being the financial advisor and financial provider for your child becomes too much to manage--I step in to reate a spending plan, set up sustainable realistic boundaries, and create a follow through strategy.
Start with a Conversation
If you're struggling with financial patterns, family conflict, or difficult decisions involving money, Ron invites you to get in touch. The first step is a complimentary introductory conversation to discuss your situation and determine whether working together makes sense.
917-969-0996
rgallen@mac.com