Raising Your Fees

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A Surprise Followed a Fee Increase

A couple of years ago I carefully researched both my business costs and consulting fees in my field and service area. It was clear that after four years it was time to adjust them up a bit.

Even after all these years of helping individuals and professional practices deal with the emotional and business aspects of money in general and fees in particular, I noticed I wasn’t as relaxed as I would have liked. I walked myself through the same process I encourage my clients to follow and prepped myself to start announcing the increase to take effect the first of the year. Continue Reading

Tips for Working with Wealthy Clients

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It’s not easy for most of us to work with clients who have much more money than we do. When Amanda Mills and Syble Solomon asked me to write a section of their book based on the money-related coaching and consulting I’ve done for the past 15 years, I was honored. And, it’s been rewarding to help other professionals learn what I have-that being affluent doesn’t automatically grant confidence, freedom from worry (even about money), and the majority of other problems of living.

Here’s a peek into the recently published book, Bringing Money Into the Conversation. The article this month captures the essence of what I wrote for this readable and useful book. I wanted to share some tips I’ve found valuable regarding attitudes, behaviors and emotions when working with people with wealth. Let me know what you think. Continue Reading

Don’t Get Caught By Potential

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Recent research shows that when we’re hiring employees we have an innate pull or bias toward the person with potential– potential trumps actual experience. We seem to be fascinated by the promise of success and value it over a history of actual success.

Potential is, of course, potentially valuable, but experience shows that experience is worth paying attention to also. How can we be sure we’re giving experience the attention it deserves? If we have a tendency to think or judge in a certain way, how do we keep that bias in check? One clear technique is to ask questions that force you to pay attention to the bias. Don’t let things that are in the background nudge you unawares. Continue Reading

You Can Provide Higher Quality Treatment, Work Fewer Hours and Make a Better Living

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Szifra’s article is featured in the Massachusetts Association for Marriage & Family Therapy August 2012 Newsletter

by Szifra Birke

August 29, 2012

It is possible to offer highest quality treatment for your clients, earn an income that supports you and your family, and reduce your stress so that you can enjoy your time at work and your life outside work.

Over the last 20 years I’ve built three successful private practices. I was on several insurance panels; I was the go-to therapist for a couple of law enforcement EAPs, I used to see 20 or more clients a week; I worked for myself so I collected the entire fee. I was also discontent. Continue Reading

Coping With Stress as Markets Quake

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Szifra is quoted in this article at Financial Adviser – a blog by Dow Jones.

by Thomas Coyle

June 12, 2012

Here is a story, courtesy of psychologist Szifra Birke, of how one financial adviser literally started adding a little color to his dark days.

It was late in 2008, and for the past few months of market turmoil, the owner of a small investment-adviser boutique had been scrambling to keep clients calm in meetings, over the phone, via email and through regular bulletins. Continue Reading

The Psychology of Wealth: Understand Your Relationship with Money and Achieve Prosperity

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Szifra  is quoted in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

by Charles Richards, Ph.D

Publication Date: January 17, 2012
McGraw-Hill Publisher

The Psychology of WealthPsychologist and wealth counselor Szifra Birke observes, “Money tends not to solve personal problems; money solves money problems.” Birke also reports that many financially wealthy people are actually burdened by a vague sense that they don’t deserve what they have. Our view of our worthiness seems to hinge in part on how we came by our financial gains and whether we have worked for them in incremental steps. Feelings of unworthiness are especially common in folks who suddenly or unexpectedly come into a large sum of money, such as through an inheritance (or, as we’ve seen, through a lottery win). They commonly experience “sudden wealth syndrome”; with the acquisition of financial riches, they feel lost and overwhelmed. Continue Reading

Coaching The Next Generation

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Szifra is quoted in this article at Financial Adviser – a blog by Dow Jones.

by Thomas Coyle

December 7, 2011

Once there was a boy who hated his family’s money.

He was a teenager when his blue-collar dad made a fortune almost overnight in the tech boom of the late 1990s. Suddenly it was good-bye middle-class home, public school and old friends, and hello mansion, private school and stuck-up rich kids.

“He was at a very impressionable age,” says Carolyn Decker of Lake Street Advisors, a Boston-based wealth-management firm that advises on about $3.2 billion. “He thought the money uprooted his life.”

Though his parents tried to interest him in the wealth, he resisted. “It’s not mine,” he’d tell them. Continue Reading

Listen Up: Improving Client Relationship Skills Gaining Priority For Wealth Managers

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Wealth Management

Szifra is quoted in this article from wealthmanagement.com

by Charles Paikert

June 28, 2011

Four years ago, Abacus Planning Group, a 13-year old $700 million wealth management firm in Columbia, S.C., was growing at a good clip, gaining both clients and assets. But Cheryl Holland, president and founder of the firm, and a 25-year industry veteran, wasn’t satisfied. Continue Reading

Perceive Ourselves Differently and Make a Difference

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Szifra’s warmth, compassion and caring are keystones to her writing and presentations. She shares her own development and the processes of her clients so all may benefit. Szifra is a woman willing to speak out andmake a difference in the way we perceive and respond to ourselves and
our fellow human beings.

Anita Ralstin, RN, MS

  • Associate Professor of Nursing, Albuquerque, New Mexico