Tweak Your Perspective and Financial Behaviors to Stress Less

Apply CBT to fix money misuse, better inform purchases, and protect yourself.

Posted April 28, 2026 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

Two universal truths: Humans have automatic thoughts that we can prove to be a little (or a lot) irrational. Second, people stress over money no matter their balances. Using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), the former can mitigate the latter.

Events don’t influence our behavior as much as perception does. Take losing your job, landing you hurt, shocked, and scared. How is it that one person facing this may close the shades and swing open the liquor cabinet to douse feelings, while another sits at a computer, turning contacts into a network with a sharpened resumé?

Perception or self-talk makes a huge difference. How much evidence truly exists to support your beliefs?

Focus on what you can control. Ruminate less on what you cannot. This constitutes a cognitive reframe—unhelpful thoughts turned into positives.

“Money touches every part of our lives, yet most of us were never taught how to think about it with clarity or confidence ,” says Ryan Coulter, CFP, in Stop Following the Rules: The Real-World Guide to Building Financial Security. 1

CBT helps you connect your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to interrupt the process that leads to impulsive, emotional spending, reports Deborah Beck Busis, LCSW, Director of the Beck Institute Cognitive Behavioral Wellness Coaching Program. 2

Twisted Financial Thinking

Pick up any CBT-based book to learn about distorted thinking. Here’s a primer presented through finance:

Untwisting Faulty Thoughts

“Unless you’ve been told no by life a few times, you’ll struggle to find the drive it takes to build a lasting financial foundation,” says Coulter. He also advises not to chase dopamine (the latest product, trend, or stock analyst).

Indeed, shopping creates a predictable neurological rush of the feel-good hormone dopamine released in the brain before and during a purchase. Compulsive shopping can lead to oniomania, uncontrollable urges to purchase despite negative consequences.

“Too many people fall into the trap of thinking they deserve the dream home, the new car when they land a high paying job,” Coulter adds. Quick moves aren’t progress. They’re traps. Emotional reasoning leads to bad investments.

Other faulty thoughts are often fear -based. Investors bail when the market dips or people-pleasing personalities paralyze their voices or stall initiative.

“There’s no rate of return that outpaces a twenty-one percent credit card interest rate. That’s quicksand,” says Coulter. Debt doesn’t have to break you, but it demands planning because life doesn’t stop happening while you pay down balances.

“If your whole plan is to pay everything off first, then start investing ‘someday,’ that’s not a plan, it’s wishful thinking,” says Coulter, noting one’s earning capacity is the most valuable asset that causes disaster if it's unprotected. Think disability and insurance protection.

“Real financial planners don’t just run your numbers. They talk you off the ledge. They keep you from buying depreciating assets with delusional confidence. They remind you that intelligent people still make dumb choices when emotion gets in the driver’s seat.”

Dealing With Behavioral Challenges

Coulter advises that it’s better to have a modest income and a solid plan than to earn six figures and have just as many panic attacks. More funds don’t make up for a lack of strategy.

Ride out unnecessary spending urges, label your feelings, and rate their intensity from 1 to 10. In 15 minutes, you’ll likely see a peak that recedes if you do not make purchases.

Mindful money management begins at home. Coulter writes, one generation hustled with sacrifice. The next got comfortable from the fruits of that labor. The third often became entitled, never having had to skimp, save, or stretch. Talk about money. Do a financial genogram to uncover inherited dynamics and patterns. 4 And, keep learning. 5

Coulter, R.M., CFP. Stop Following the Rules: The Real-World Guide to Building Financial Security (Warrenton, VA: InnoGage Publishing, 2025)
Beck Institute, April 20, 2026. How to Stop Impulse Buying: CBT Strategies to Help You Control Your Spending; https://cares.beckinstitute.org/blog/cbt-for-impulse-buying/
Seven Things Keep You Poor, Legend Investor Framework with Warren Buffett; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy90iLAM77M
https://creately.com/guides/financial-genogram/
Cagan, M., CPA and Lariviere, E. The Infographic Guide to Personal Finance (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2017)

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Loriann Oberlin, MS, LCPC, is a clinical counselor and co-author of books including Overcoming Passive-Aggression.

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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.