Ep 331: Helping Teens Feel Wealthy—Inside and Out

Elizabeth Husserl, author of The Power of Enough, joins us to discuss how parents can teach their teens a healthy relationship with money, how to use financial decisions to meet deeper needs, and how families can start meaningful conversations around money.

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Full Show Notes

Money can feel like a taboo topic—even within our own households. While we'd love our teens to grow up feeling confident and secure financially, it can seem challenging to teach them how to approach money effectively—let alone joyfully. Many young people enter adulthood without a clear sense of how to balance their financial resources with their deeper needs and desires. How can parents foster a healthier, happier, and more meaningful relationship between their teenagers and money?

In this episode, we're diving into how to redefine and transform your family's relationship with money, shifting from scarcity to joy. Joining us on this journey is Elizabeth Husserl, the co-founder of Peak 360 Wealth Management and author of the new book The Power Of Enough: Finding Joy in Your Relationship with Money. Elizabeth combines expertise as a financial advisor with insights gained through her study of transpersonal and somatic psychology, teaching families how to view money and wealth in deeper, more fulfilling ways.

In our conversation, Elizabeth explains how to help teens understand that wealth goes far beyond having money in the bank. She argues that a healthy relationship with money is about intentionally and creatively meeting our deeper human needs. Elizabeth shares her strategies and exercises developed from psychology and personal experience, guiding parents in teaching teens to manage financial resources thoughtfully and in alignment with their unique sense of fulfillment.

Redefining Wealth & Scarcity

Elizabeth emphasizes the distinction between money and wealth. While money is simply a tool, wealth relates to our overall state of well-being. She describes how many people carry stories of scarcity handed down from previous generations—traumas, hardships, and struggles—despite those conditions no longer matching their everyday experience.

By helping teenagers examine their personal and family money stories, parents can free their children from generational anxiety around money and encourage mindful, empowered financial experiences. Elizabeth outlines how we can become "anthropologists" of our money behaviors, identifying patterns and stories without judgment, and then choosing consciously how to move forward.

The Wealth Mandala and Teaching Needs-Based Decisions

One of Elizabeth's key tools—the Wealth Mandala—is a powerful exercise for teens and adults alike. Elizabeth shows us how to use this exercise to explore our core human needs such as connection, belonging, creativity, and safety. By mapping out areas where we feel fulfilled (or lacking), families learn to consciously channel their resources—financial and otherwise—to address what truly matters.

Anxiety about money often comes from not truly understanding our needs. Elizabeth provides clear and concrete examples of how parents can guide their teenagers in understanding and articulating their deeper needs—beyond fleeting desires for material possessions—and learning to fulfill these needs in fulfilling, sustainable, and financially mindful ways.

Having Honest Family Money Conversations

Talking directly with your children about family finances and money values can be intimidating. Elizabeth offers practical strategies and scripts, like the Target store exercise she implemented with her own daughter, demonstrating how to let tee