fear Archives - Empathic Finance | Mike Pumphrey, AFC®

How much math skills do you need to be good with money?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on March 25, 2024 | Featured

Fear or distaste for math doesn’t need to prevent you from being good with money, because you don’t need that much in the way of math skills. … Read More

Tags: fear, math, numbers

There is no failure in financial wellness

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on February 13, 2023 | Featured

Learning how to manage your money better will take time, just like any new skill. Because of this, there is no such thing as failure. I received a very interesting question from a potential client on a recent consult. Now, … Read More … Read More

Tags: clients, coaching, failure, fear, fears

Vote. Without fear (if you can).

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on November 5, 2018 | Featured

I’m terribly sorry, but I need to interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post to remind you that you need to vote. (This post is centered on a U.S. audience because Election Day is the day after this post goes live. … Read More … Read More

Tags: election, fear, voting

Here’s the risk tolerance we ought to be talking about

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on May 10, 2018 | Featured

I was a little hard on people who have a low investment risk tolerance. But that’s not because I’m a mean person. I have very good reasons. I get that the idea generally is that we want to protect against … Read More … Read More

Tags: complacency, fear, investing, retirement, risk

Why it doesn’t matter what your risk tolerance is

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on May 7, 2018 | Featured

When investing, whether for retirement or for any longer term goals, there is often a discussion of “risk tolerance”. Risk tolerance in this context means how much variability in the investment return process that an investor is willing to withstand. … Read More … Read More

Tags: fear, investing, retirement, risk

How to move forward when you feel like the world is going to end

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on November 14, 2016 | Featured

On a Tuesday morning in September, a little over 15 years ago, I was waking up for work. At the time, my alarm was set to play classic rock radio (I believe it was 94.1 WYSP). While I usually woke … Read More … Read More

Tags: community, crisis, fear, grief, hope

This might be why you don’t believe you’ll be financially successful

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on June 6, 2016 | Featured

It’s not hard to find bad economic news that applies to you. If you’re a millennial, chances are the job market is terrible for you. If you’re a baby boomer, chances are that you’re either underwater in your house or … Read More … Read More

Tags: despondency, fear, hope, motivation

My mortgage principle that I broke (sort of)

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on October 8, 2015 | Featured

Finances and emotions. They go together like one explosively codependent couple. Don’t be fooled by my focus in the numbers side of the situation; I’m not immune to fear and anxiety either. I’m going through the process of becoming … Read More … Read More

Tags: fear, mortgages

The benefits of anxiety while flying

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on November 6, 2014 | Featured

For the past few years, I’ve flown over 25,000 miles each year, a respectable distance. With such a experience, you would think that I would have no problems with anxiety while flying. You would be wrong. But I consider … Read More … Read More

Tags: acceptance, anxiety, fear, flying

Shame, or why you don’t do what you know you must

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on July 14, 2014 | Featured

If you’ve spent any time with this site—or even if you haven’t—I want to ask you a small favor. I’d like you to trust me enough that you won’t skip this post. It’s pretty short. You can skip the … Read More … Read More

Tags: avoidance, fear, shame

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