Bryan Huhn, CFP: Money Stress, Burnout, and Living According to Joy
Oct 6, 2024
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Bryan Huhn, a financial planner dedicated to aligning personal values with finances, shares his insight on the link between financial stress and burnout. He reflects on his own journey from a soul-sucking finance career to living authentically, after a health scare prompted a re-evaluation of priorities. The conversation dives into creating a financial plan that fosters joy and freedom, understanding spending habits through the lens of personal values, and the importance of intentional financial growth. Tune in for valuable strategies to reclaim time and well-being!
Financial stress can trap individuals in unfulfilling jobs, contributing to burnout and hindering the pursuit of meaningful work.
Committing to therapy and self-reflection helps individuals address past traumas, enabling them to make intentional life changes for fulfillment.
Deep dives
The Interconnection of Money and Burnout
The relationship between financial security and burnout is significant, as many individuals feel trapped in their jobs due to the need for a stable income, health insurance, and overall financial concerns. This fear often inhibits people from pursuing meaningful work or making necessary changes in their lives. The podcast highlights that maintaining a job for these reasons can create a cycle of anxiety that contributes to burnout. Ultimately, recognizing and addressing this emotional link is crucial for those looking to move beyond burnout.
The Healing Power of Therapy
Therapy is presented as a vital tool for overcoming the manifestations of childhood trauma and mental health struggles related to burnout. The podcast guest emphasizes that committing to regular therapy sessions has been transformative, allowing for self-reflection and healing. They discuss the importance of acknowledging past trauma and recognizing how it shapes behavior and career decisions. By developing self-compassion and confronting these painful experiences, individuals can redirect their lives toward fulfillment and happiness.
Assessing Values and Financial Health
A comprehensive examination of personal finances is necessary to identify areas where individuals may be spending in ways that do not align with their true values. The discussion encourages listeners to confront their bank statements and consider how their expenditures contribute to their overall happiness. This self-assessment can unveil overspending on non-essentials while highlighting opportunities for more meaningful investments. Such an approach empowers individuals to reallocate resources toward aspects of life that genuinely bring joy and fulfillment.
Setting Intentions for Financial Freedom
The journey toward financial stability begins with setting clear intentions and creating a deliberate plan for spending and saving. Listeners are encouraged to think critically about their career trajectories and identify paths that lead toward fulfillment rather than mere financial gain. Gradual changes, like improving financial literacy and seeking help from professionals, can significantly enhance one's financial situation. Ultimately, making intentional decisions today can pave the way for a happier and more secure future.
“What’s more important: being happy for having some stupid business card?” Asks Bryan Huhn, who joins FRIED today to discuss the relationship between financial stress and burnout, particularly when we allow the money we’re making—and the money we think we can’t live without—to convince us we need to remain in jobs that are making us miserable even to the point of illness. Bryan spent years valuing what people thought of him more than his own genuine passions and in an effort to people-please, pursued a career in finance rather than his dream of becoming a baseball coach. This led to a toxic cycle where his self-worth was tied to a job he had no passion for and therefore didn’t excel at, the stress of which, he believes, contributed to a cancer diagnosis in 2015.
With what he’s learned, he wants to help others make the most of their money so that they can create the best lives for themselves, and don’t have to spend another minute in jobs that they hate. As he explains to host Cait Donovan, this requires being brutally honest with yourself about where your money is going, what that says about what you value, and how you can start financially planning so that you can buy your freedom without wasting any more of that resource that is perhaps more valuable than money: your time.
This requires getting real with yourself, while at the same time refraining from judging yourself or comparing yourself to anyone else. Join today’s episode of FRIED to learn how your approach to financial planning will help you start to live your best life.
Quotes
“That’s one thing I would say: Don’t ever compare. If there’s something you’ve been through, even if it seems really minor, it has a major impact on your life and the way your brain works. So, having that self-compassion, I think, is really important.” (4:43 | Bryan Huhn)
“Money is imaginary. It literally is not real. We, as humans, just decided, ‘Hey, this thing, this piece of paper, this U.S. dollar is worth something and we all agree that it is, and that’s how we’re going to interact with one another and get the things we want. It could just as easily be Bitcoin. It’s not real, so why should your goal be to maximize how much of it you accumulate? No, the purpose of it is to live the best freaking life that you can possibly live.” (20:33 | Bryan Huhn)
“OK, where’s my money going? So, what am I valuing? Because if you really want to know what someone cares about, look at their bank statement and their calendar. The time and the money. It’s a really good way to measure that. So, it almost forces you to do that deep work that so many people resist.” (27:35 | Bryan Huhn)
“There’s no judgment there. It’s just being honest with yourself and I think a lot of times, especially in my industry, they make people feel really judged. It’s kind of cliche to hear a financial planner say, ‘Don’t spend six bucks on your Starbucks coffee every morning. Shut up. Don’t tell people what they should value, but help them figure it out and help them be brutally honest with themselves.” (30:13 | Bryan Huhn)