What does it really mean to be financially healthy? While many people measure success by income, investments, or net worth, true financial wellness goes far beyond the numbers. In this episode of the Build It to Billions Podcast, Brett Swarts sits down with Dr. Erika Rasure, Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance and a leading expert in financial therapy, to explore the powerful connection between our mindset, emotions, and financial decisions. Together, they discuss why building lasting wealth starts with understanding the psychology behind money.
From overcoming financial stress and limiting beliefs to creating healthier money habits and making values-driven financial decisions, Dr. Rasure shares practical insights that can help entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners achieve both financial freedom and personal fulfillment. Whether you’re growing your business, preparing for a major exit, or seeking to become a better steward of your wealth, this conversation offers timeless wisdom for building a richer life—both financially and emotionally.
Episode Highlights Here:
Brett
Before we jump into this episode, I would invite you to join our community to help you become a better steward, scale to billions, and ultimately give more or all of it away. All I want you to do is to click the subscribe button right now. I love your support, it’s incredible to see your comments, and we’re just getting started. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you. Thank you so much for subscribing. It means the world to me. Welcome to the Build to Billions podcast, where we got successful entrepreneurs and investors on their journey from millions to billions. We believe the key to scaling and compounding your wealth and life starts every single day with a mindset and practice of stewardship over ownership and applying billionaire biblical principles. Our ultimate goal is help you scale and compound your wealth and life, so you can give more or all of it away to help MVPs. My name is Brett Swarts. Every episode, we’re joined by the world’s top entrepreneurs, millionaires or billionaires, and they share their secrets, insights, and wisdom with us, so we can all level up and make a bigger impact. I’m excited about our next guest. She’s the chief financial wellness advisor at Beyond Finance, where she develops real-world solutions to help people improve their financial health and relationship with money. She’s helped establish the National Financial Practice Week to advance the field of financial wellness and highlight its importance. And she serves as the financial review board for Investopedia to balance very well family and very well parents, and has been featured in outlets such as Mind Body Green, CNN, and Forbes, and so much more. She holds a PhD in personal financial planning. Please welcome to the show with me, Dr. Erika Rasure. Dr. Erika, how we doing?
Dr. Erika
I’m good, thanks. So much for having me. Excited to be here.
Brett
Excellent. For listeners getting to know for the first time, would you give us just a little bit more about your story and your current focus?
Dr. Erika
Yeah, so right now I serve as the chief financial wellness advisor for Beyond Finance, and you know, I am a financial therapist at heart, so my history starts, you know, really with the idea that I wanted to be an estate planning attorney. Realized that I loved the people more than law, and really found my way to helping people navigate their emotions when it comes to their money, because as most of us have come to learn, money is often more emotional than numbers based in
Brett
beautiful, really well said. Thank you so much for that. By the way, if you wanna learn more about Dr. Erica, you can go to Beyond finance.com Beyond finance.com So, let’s dive right in to just that. You know, what’s the number one secret, I guess, to becoming financially either emotionally intelligent, or how would you say that? And you can. We can just dive right in.
Dr. Erika
I think the number one secret is coming to terms with this idea that you’re not alone. I think there’s so much pressure on people in general to feel like they have to know everything about money all at once, and I think it really prevents people from taking a deep dive into their own financial destiny, because there is so much shame associated with thinking that you should know more than what you do, and if you don’t, it kind of keeps you away from it
Brett
so you’re not alone, and there’s folks, and folks like yourself, and teams, and processes to help. What, what do you think hold people holds people back from reaching out to
get help?
Dr. Erika
I think it really does come down to that shame aspect, you know. When we, when we think about guilt and shame, I think that’s where we have to start that conversation, you know. Guilt is, oh, I feel bad that I made this mistake, or I feel bad that I did xyz and have now ended up in debt, whereas shame is I am bad. And when people are really grappling with this idea that, wow, I ended up in debt for no matter what reason it is, you know, and what I have found over the years is debt doesn’t discriminate. You could be making six, seven figures, and your balance sheet could look really, really scary because of lifestyle creep, or you had a major medical illness, or something along those lines. And so we’re all one big event away from debt, from debt, but there’s a shame that really prevents people from reaching out, because we don’t talk about money. I mean, it’s getting better, I think, but we’re getting a little bit more comfortable talking about money. But when we’re talking about these financial conditions of debt, you know, there’s good ones and there’s quote unquote bad ones. There’s a lot of moral judgment when it comes to our debt, right, or our financial situation. And so, debt is really considered kind of this bad thing, and so if we won’t talk about money when it’s good or reach out for help when it’s good, how are we expected to reach out for help when it’s bad?
Brett
Yeah, I feel like I can agree more, and I feel like it’s. it seems like a lot of the conversation is about investing and strategy and allocations and very, very tactical things, right, but you’re right. The, let’s say, 80% of all financial decisions are emotional, right. And that’s the, that’s the steps that’s below the surface. So, so if you’re speaking to the entrepreneur, the businessowner that has been very successful, and yet has not, and or is not great with when the distress comes, or the debt comes or the challenges, things come, so what’s is the first step? Just being aware that it’s, hey, it’s okay, and it’s okay if you’re, you know, if you’re feeling these things, let’s work through them. Is that kind of the so if you like this little short clip of the interview I just did, click over here to watch the full interview, and please don’t forget to subscribe, think. So much everybody.
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About Dr. Erika Rasure
Dr. Erika Rasure is an internationally recognized financial therapist, educator, researcher, and financial wellness expert who serves as the Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance. With a Ph.D. in Personal Financial Planning from Kansas State University and credentials as a Certified Financial Therapist™ Practitioner, Dr. Rasure has spent more than two decades helping individuals transform their relationship with money. Her unique approach blends financial planning, behavioral finance, emotional wellness, and coaching to help people overcome financial stress, build confidence, and create healthier financial habits.
Prior to joining Beyond Finance, Dr. Rasure worked as a financial advisor and university professor before becoming a leading voice in the growing field of financial therapy. She serves on the financial review boards of publications including Investopedia, The Balance, and Verywell Family, and her expertise has been featured in major media outlets such as Forbes, CNBC, CNN, and NBC’s Today Show. Through her work, Dr. Rasure is helping reshape the conversation around money by emphasizing the connection between financial health, emotional well-being, and long-term life fulfillment.
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