Category: businessweek

Szifra is quoted in Business Week

By Chris Taylor

June 25, 2009

It can be a difficult, even emotional decision. Here are some things to consider before breaking up with your current adviser

You’ve got a dirty little secret. During long lunch breaks, or after work when everyone else heads home to their families, you’re sneaking out to a secret rendezvous. You know what you’re doing is perfectly justified, but you still feel a little bad afterwards. You never thought it would come to this. But here you are—cheating on your financial planner. Continue Reading

Szifra is mentioned in Business Week

By Susan Berfield

July 1, 2007

Wealth can be overwhelming. Now there’s a new breed of counselor to help.

When Thomas and Joan came into some money, $30 million to be precise, they were overwhelmed, and not in a good way. “We were shell-shocked, embarrassed, and kind of miserable instead of being overjoyed,” Thomas says. This dramatic turn in their affairs, which resulted from the sale of a private company in which Joan held a sizable stake, left the couple suffering from a clear case of “sudden wealth syndrome.” So they turned to James Grubman, a psychologist who works with several financial advisory firms, including theirs, for help. “We couldn’t talk with anyone else. The stresses money brings on are not particularly sympathetic,” says Thomas. Continue Reading

June 23, 2007—Psychology and Money

Financial advisers are realizing they have to deal with more than just dollars and cents when helping their clients. Some are hiring psychologists and other counselors to help them understand the emotions behind their clients’ views on money. We’ll talk with one “wealth” counselor.