Highly Sensitive Money for Highly Sensitive People who want to align their values with their money

Understanding High Sensation Seeking as an HSP with Dr. Huong Diep
In this episode, psychologist and Certified Financial Therapist™ Huong Diep explores how family history, cultural identity, and inherited beliefs around scarcity shape our financial lives — and why financial stress so often lives in the nervous system long after someone becomes objectively successful. Together, we unpack the tension between high sensitivity and high ambition, and what it truly means to feel financially safe from the inside out.
One foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes as an HSS-HSP
How money entered Dr. Huong's work as a psychologist
Why money can feel more intense for sensitive people
Inherited scarcity, survival, and the pressure to succeed
Wanting wealth without betraying your values
The narrow definition of acceptable success
Class mobility, survivor's guilt, and grief
Understanding money through a biopsychosocial lens
How family messages become money patterns
Balancing personal security with collective wellbeing
Raising financially responsible children without shame
Building a personal menu of restorative rest
Meet Our Guest: Huong Diep
Huong Diep is a board-certified psychologist, Certified Financial Therapist™, and wealth psychologist working at the intersection of culture, identity, and wealth. Her work helps thoughtful individuals, couples, and families understand how emotion, family history, cultural expectations, identity, and learned strategies around safety and self-worth influence financial decisions.
Huong is transitioning from a primarily clinical foundation toward a consultative role in the wealth advisory space. She is particularly interested in helping families develop the communication, emotional capacity, relationships, and shared purpose needed to use wealth well. Her clients have included high-achieving professionals, globally mobile individuals and families, and people navigating transitions involving money, identity, career, success, and belonging.
As a 1.5-generation Vietnamese American, first-generation college graduate, and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Huong brings a deeply cross-cultural perspective to the human side of money. Her approach draws from financial psychology, trauma-informed frameworks, and systems thinking. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and is licensed in California, Nevada, New York, South Dakota, Virginia, and Washington, DC. 
Resources
WebsiteLinkedIn
#WealthPsychology #FinancialTherapy #MoneyMindset #FinancialIdentity #IntergenerationalWealth #MoneyAndCulture #NervousSystemRegulation #SocialJustice #RestorativeRest #FinancialWellbeing
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

What Your Body Already Knows: Lynn Festa on Intuition, Burnout, and Money
 
In this episode, our guest Lynn Festa and I explore how money, work, identity, and well-being intersect for people who process the world deeply. Lynn shares how her career as an occupational therapist, her own experience of burnout, and her training in coaching and positive psychology led her to support people in creating sustainable, meaningful lives. 
Discovering sensory processing sensitivity
Why the world's design can lead to burnout for highly sensitives
Powdered milk and the "taste of poverty"
Financial abuse and the belief that "I don't know money"
Building a profitable clinic without a traditional loan
"We know before we know": trusting sensitive intuition
Using character strengths to create an upward spiral
Extrinsic and intrinsic causes of burnout
Reclaiming financial knowledge and locus of control
Reasonable fees, accessibility, and charging with integrity
 
Meet Lynn Festa
Lynn Festa is an occupational therapist, speaker, and coach with more than 35 years of experience in healthcare. After experiencing her own professional burnout in 2012, Lynn became deeply committed to supporting people to reconnect with the meaning and passion that first drew them to their work, and to help them live more meaningful and purposeful lives.Drawing on the philosophy and skills of occupational therapy, Lynn uses a strengths-based, practical approach to coaching and speaking, helping professionals build sustainable careers while protecting their well-being. Her work focuses on burnout prevention and recovery, especially for highly sensitive professionals who care deeply about the people they serve.Since 2002, Lynn has presented workshops, keynotes, and conference sessions at numerous national and international events. She is especially proud of her TEDx talk, Creating Sustainable Trust Through Integrity-Based Medicine, which has received nearly a quarter of a million views.Lynn is the owner of Lynn Festa Coaching. In her free time, she enjoys open-water swimming, reading, hiking, and pursuing her next creative chapter as a cabaret singer.
Resources
Website YouTube LinkedIn Instagram VIA Character Strengths
#LynnFesta #BurnoutPrevention #PositivePsychology #SensoryProcessingSensitivity #FinancialWellness #IntegrityBasedMedicine #Resilience #AccessibleCoaching #SocialJustice #Entrepreneurship
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

From Money Scripts to Financial Freedom with Danielle Howard
Danielle Howard shares how more than 30 years in financial services led her beyond transactional advice and toward conversations about money stories, identity, values, and financial wellness. She also reflects on selling the financial planning practice she built and entering a new chapter focused on consulting, education, and helping people integrate financial health into every part of their lives.Together, we discuss why knowing what to do with money does not always make it easier to act, how childhood experiences shape financial behavior, and why changing a habit often requires changing the way we see ourselves. 
From insurance sales to holistic financial planning
Selling a practice and learning to let go
When traditional financial planning no longer felt right
Helping money-avoidant clients open up
Why "enough" is more than a number
Balancing generosity with long-term security
Sensitivity, overwhelm, and financial justice
Moving beyond shame and blame in financial advice
Rewriting money identity to change behavior
Learning to spend after a lifetime of saving
Giving from guilt, generosity, and intention
Meet Danielle Howard
Danielle Howard is a Certified Financial Planner®, author, speaker, consultant, workshop facilitator, and passionate advocate for holistic personal finance. With more than 30 years of experience in financial advising and client engagement, she has become a transformative voice in reshaping how individuals, families, and organizations approach their financial lives. Her work brings together financial tools, practical techniques, individual temperaments, and healthy money mindsets to make financial wellness more personal, meaningful, and sustainable.After 21 years in the traditional financial services industry, Danielle founded Wealth by Design, LLC. Through the firm, she worked alongside clients to align their financial decisions with their personal values and manage family portfolios in ways that reflected their circumstances, priorities, and desired lives. She successfully led Wealth by Design for more than a decade before selling the firm in 2025.Today, Danielle focuses on consulting, speaking, education, and facilitating workshops for individuals, families, and organizations. By bridging Wall Street strategies with Main Street realities, she makes complex financial concepts accessible and relatable. Her work encourages open conversations about money, challenges financial taboos, and helps people expand their monetary mindsets while integrating financial health into every aspect of their lives.
Resources
LinkedInWebsite Facebook
#HolisticFinance #FinancialWellness #MoneyMindset #MoneyScripts #BehavioralFinance #IntentionalSpending #FinancialPlanning #GenerationalWealth #IntentionalGiving #HighlySensitiveMoney
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

Reparative Capital, Buen Vivir, and Redesigning Impact Finance with Alicia DeLia
In this conversation Alicia DeLia and I explore what it means to move money in ways that are relational, reparative, and non-extractive. Alicia is the founder of Buen Vivir Capital Institute, and her work sits at the intersection of philanthropy, impact investing, social movements, and community-rooted leadership. This conversation brings our show’s ongoing questions about money, values, power, and care into the world of capital allocation—asking not only where money goes, but how it arrives, who gets trusted, and what kinds of relationships it creates.
Alicia's work across philanthropy and impact investing
Why the Buen Vivir Capital Institute needed to become a platform
Wealth holders as financial activists
Trust-based, restorative, and reparative capital
The roots of impact investing: Catholic nuns, microcredit, and activism
Activating wealth holders in Latin America
The role of network weavers and ecosystem builders
Alicia's multi-class childhood and financial background
Rewriting the development playbook in Central America
The need for dignified, non-extractive investment
Meet Our Guest
Alicia works at the intersection of capital, community, and impact leadership development across the U.S., Latin America, and Africa. Throughout her career, she has raised and helped mobilize more than $100 million for social enterprises and impact-driven initiatives globally. As a fundraiser, international economist, and convener of right-relationship capital, she designs spaces and programs for impact leaders and funders where money, power, and humanity can be brought back into alignment to accelerate human and ecological thriving. 
Through the social impact institute and network she founded, Buen Vivir Capital Institute, she helps mobilize integrated capital (investments + philanthropy) into the most undercapitalized ecosystems of the Americas & Africa—while helping impact leaders and entrepreneurs create effective and sustainable fundraising programs grounded in trust and relationship as well as organizational rigor. She also works with philanthropists and impact investors to help advance their ability to fund impact enterprises in innovative and impactful ways, particularly advancing learning and activation of integrated capital and blended finance to marginalized communities and emerging economies. 
She is building the future of impact capital—and it is grounded in rigor, humanity, and relationship. Join her @Buen Vivir Capital Institute
Resources
LinkedInWebsiteInstagram
 
Keywords
#BuenVivirCapitalInstitute #ImpactInvesting #ReparativeFinance #TrustBasedPhilanthropy #NonExtractiveCapital #SocialImpact #LatinAmerica #FinancialActivism #RegenerativeEconomy #HighlySensitiveMoney
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

Have you heard these myths about conflict and money?
Myth 1: Conflict is always bad and should be avoided at all costs.
Myth 2: Generosity means giving away all of your money.
Myth 3: Talking about money only leads to arguments.
Lily Kerrigan will share the truth about navigating conflict and money for highly sensitive individuals.
You can watch our conversation here.
In this episode, you will be able to:
Discover healthier ways to handle conflict and money, leading to more harmonious relationships and reduced stress.
Explore the unique challenges highly sensitive individuals face in managing their relationship with money, and uncover practical strategies for financial well-being.
Learn how to heal from past abusive relationships, including the financial impact, and gain insights into rebuilding a healthy relationship with money.
Navigate the complex relationship between money and relationships, and gain valuable tools for fostering financial harmony with your loved ones.
Uncover the patterns of using money as armor and control in relationships, and gain insights into creating healthier dynamics around finances.
This is Lily Kerrigan's story:
Growing up in a middle-class household, Lily Kerrigan's early exposure to her mother's anxiety around money left a lasting impact. Lily's highly sensitive nature led her to pick up on the generational trauma and financial anxiety, shaping her perception of money and conflict. 
Her experiences with financial abuse in a past relationship further intensified her anxieties, causing her to associate generosity with vulnerability and fear of being taken advantage of. Despite being in a healing and positive relationship now, she finds it challenging to share and receive money, feeling an overwhelming need to constantly repay any acts of kindness, leading to a perpetual state of exhaustion. 
Lily's journey reflects the intricate intersection between being highly sensitive and navigating complex emotions around money, generosity, and conflict, providing a profound insight into the struggles and complexities faced by individuals with similar sensitivities.
Lily is an actor, writer, and comedian who has toured her full comedy hour, The Lily Show, to D.C., LA, and Atlanta. You can find her on Instagram @lilykerriganpresents or on YouTube as Lily Kerrigan.
The key moments in this episode are:Control and Financial Independence Generosity and Unworthiness Coping Mechanisms and Independence Addressing Physical Sensations and Engaging in Somatic Practice Exploring the Dynamics of Financial Independence and Interdependence Finding Relaxation and Balance in Financial Exchanges Guilt and Generosity Uncovering Money Patterns Healing from Abusive Relationships Building Conflict Resolution Skills
 
Resources:
You can find Lily on Instagram and YouTube 
Decolonized Wealth by edgar villanueva - A book that provides insights into a more community-oriented approach to philanthropy and wealth distribution. It offers a different perspective on generosity and financial relationships.
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel - A book that delves into the psychological aspects of money, offering a deeper understanding of the emotional and relational dynamics associated with financial decisions.
The Work of Byron Katie - Referring to the teachings and methodologies of Byron Katie, particularly her four questions approach, which can help in discerning motivations behind financial interactions and relationships.
Connect with me here:
www.allthecolors.net 
https://www.youtube.com/@HighlySensitiveMoney 
https://www.linkedin.com/linkedin.com/in/dianagyanez/ 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

Beyond the Blank Slate: Honoring Your Needs as a Highly Sensitive Therapist with Andie Whitaker
Today I chat with Andie Whitaker, a therapist and founder of Spiral Tending, to talk about what it's like to navigate money as a highly sensitive person in a world where we are increasingly losing worker’s rights. Andie shares how they're creating spaces for therapists to explore money through art and creativity, build community instead of competition, and challenge the fragmentation that keeps helping professionals from advocating for themselves.
Meet Our Guest
Andie Whitaker is a therapist and coach who offers spaces for healers utilizing creativity, nourishment, compassionate business support, and somatics.
Episode Highlights
"We're not robots"—challenging the expectation that therapists should be blank slates 
Recognizing financial needs after years of training to ignore them 
The reality of not being able to hold 30 clients like other therapists 
How therapist fragmentation prevents us from building workers' rights 
Creating spaces for therapists to play, flow, and explore money through art 
When stability allows you to access your intuition and sensitivity
How social justice education shaped Andie's worldview
Resources
WebsiteInstagram
Keywords
#TherapistBurnout #MoneyMindset #HelpingProfessions #CapitalismAndCare #WorkersRights #TraumaWork #SensitivityAsStrength #TherapistWellbeing #HighlySensitiveMoney
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

If Anything's Possible, What Would You Love? Christine Farrugia on Career, Money, and Enoughness
Today we are joined by Christine Farrugia, an executive coach who spent 20 years climbing the corporate ladder before starting her own coaching practice. Christine opens up about growing up with financial instability and how that shaped her early relationship with money, leading her to prioritize safety above all else in her career choices. We explore how becoming an entrepreneur fundamentally shifted her relationship with money and conventional definitions of success. And we dive into her coaching work around helping clients define what "enough" really means for them, moving past society's endless pursuit of more.
 
Meet Our Guest
 
Christine Farrugia is a passionate leadership coach and esteemed executive. She has 20 years of real world experience leading teams of up to 300 people at major Canadian companies, including Wealthsimple, Loblaws, and KPMG. She has successfully pivoted her career in different industries, functional areas and starting a coaching business by tapping into the work that brings her energy and joy. She has an MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and is a Certified Khan Method Coach.Leveraging peak performance coaching, Christine helps her clients gain clarity, build confidence and take action to build a career they love, while staying true to who they are. Christine believes that everyone deserves to feel fulfilled in their career. Through empathetic guidance, she helps people let go of the "shoulds" so they can tap into what they truly want in order to create a career and life that makes them excited to get out of bed every morning.
 
Episode Highlights
 
At 22, Christine wanted to be a life coach but thought it wasn't a "real job" 
Growing up with financial instability shaped Christine's early money relationship 
"Am I running toward something or away from something?" 
When "how's your business going?" became a painful question about income and self-worth
"If anything's possible for me, what would I love?" 
Most people already have more than enough from a material perspective
Social justice work starts with just getting involved
Equating being busy with feeling important
 
Resources
 
WebsiteLinkedInInstagramThe Gap and the Gain by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan
 
Keywords
 
#ExecutiveCoaching #MoneyMindset #Entrepreneurship #Enoughness #FinancialSafety #HighlySensitiveMoney #SelfWorth #WorkLifeBalance
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

From Insurance Analyst to Advocate: Tony Steuer on Curiosity and Financial Literacy
 
Today’s guest, Tony Steuer shares about his transformation from numbers-focused insurance analyst to passionate financial literacy advocate. Tony shares how witnessing clients make seemingly "illogical" financial decisions led him to explore behavioral finance and the emotional drivers behind our money choices. We discuss how financial predators target vulnerable communities, particularly widows and people of color, and how Tony channeled his anger about these injustices into advocacy work that centers curiosity and empowerment.This conversation beautifully illustrates how sensitivity to suffering can become a catalyst for meaningful change in the financial services industry.
 
Meet Our Guest
 
Tony Steuer, CLU, LA, CPFFE is an internationally recognized Financial Preparedness Advocate, award-winning author, and host of Get Ready: Before Life Happens. Through his books, playbooks, and podcast, Tony is leading a global movement to help people navigate life's what-ifs and build their own Financial First Aid Kit—so they can protect what matters most with clarity, confidence, purpose, and integrity.Tony collaborates with advisors, educators, and changemakers worldwide to elevate financial fluency and change the way we think about money. His thought leadership has earned recognition from ThinkAdvisor's LUMINARIES, the Plutus Awards, and the California Department of Insurance Curriculum Board. A trusted media expert featured by The New York Times, CNBC, Fast Company, and ABC's Seven on Your Side, Tony continues to empower individuals and professionals to ask better questions—and be ready before life happens.
 
Highlights
 
Behavioral finance unlocks the concept of emotions and money stories that drive financial decisions
Money looks like math, but people's decisions don't follow the "right answer" 
Life insurance is often sold by friends and family, adding complex dynamics to financial decisions 
Tony's weekly newsletter highlights diverse voices doing important work that doesn't get enough attention 
How financial predators trick people through community links
Tony’s realization that he’s highly sensitive during our time together 
The strongest power you have is the power of curiosity about your money
 
Resources
 
WebsiteLinkedIn The Get Ready Money Podcast on YouTube and Apple PodcastsThe Tony Steuer Podcast with Phuong Luong: Creating a Just Economy with Financial Education
 
Keywords
#BehavioralFinance #FinancialLiteracy #FinancialJustice #MoneyPsychology #HighlySensitiveMoney #FinancialAdvocacy #InsuranceIndustry #FinancialEducation #CuriosityAndMoney #DiverseVoicesinFinance
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

Insecurities as Gateways: Trusting Yourself Through Transition with Corinne Gardner
 
In this second conversation with Corinne Gardner, we pick up where we left off and go deeper into the relationship between intuition, identity, and money. Corinne shares how her decision to leave nursing — despite the fear that it would upend her sense of self and earning capacity — became one of the most honest acts of self-advocacy she'd ever taken. Together, we explore how insecurities can be gateways to human potential, what it means to "douse" our intuition, and how the path to embodied wealth begins with learning to hear — and trust — what our bodies already know.
Meet Our Guest
 
Corinne Gardner is a connector facilitator by heart, a women's health and relationship coach; aka a Shame Shedder. She founded Evulva Wellness to reimagine how women speak of themselves, as a pathway of believing in our worthiness without struggling as 'lone wolves' in our transitions and conscious pivots. She encourages women to practice self-appreciation. Bridging the fields of architecture, designing spaces for nurturing real connections and clarifying our wants and needs, Corinne encourages women to notice, honor and voice our natural embarrassment, shame, and distress to people who will really listen, trusted mentors, coaches and friends, we can shift and revel in being ourselves without apologizing for our ever-evolving uncertainty, needs and desires. 
Corinne believes and has experienced herself, that when women feel safe, heard and well-supported in their flourishing as a judgement-free process then we can safely shift from focusing on 'figuring things out or constantly doing' to nurturing aligned Self pleasure practices to evolve. For Corinne's fuller BIO click here.
Highlights
 
Hydrating the parts of ourselves connected to money, intimacy, and boundaries 
Conversations with a former nurse and Ayurvedic practitioner that helped Corinne hear her body 
The irony of sacrificing her own mental health while caring for others 
The privilege and courage it takes to pivot — and the cost of staying 
Exploring what it means to doubt our gut knowing and what trusting it looks like 
Corinne's reminder that there's no one-size path — each person's timing is their own.
 
Resources 
WebsiteInstagramLinkedIn
 
Keywords
 
#EmbodiedWealth #HighlySensitiveMoney #WomensFinancialHealth #IntuitiveDecisions #MoneyAndIdentity #SelfAdvocacy #ConsciousPivot #SheddingShame #SensitiveAndSavvy #WomensWellbeing
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.

Learning to Ask: Financial Literacy as an Ongoing Practice with Corinne Gardner
In this episode, I sit down with Corinne Gardner, a women's health and relationship coach who helps women shed shame and practice self-appreciation. Corinne shares how her journey toward financial literacy paralleled her journey toward embodiment—both requiring her to ask uncomfortable questions and find mentors who would truly listen.
We talk about the women in her family who modeled both overgiving and resilience, how she discovered values-aligned investing through asking questions she wasn't sure had answers, and why receiving is a skill many of us have to consciously learn. This conversation is for anyone who's ever felt like a "lone wolf" in their growth and is ready to find support.
Meet Our Guest
Corinne Gardner is a connector facilitator by heart, a women's health and relationship coach; aka a Shame Shedder. She founded Evulva Wellness to reimagine how women speak of themselves, as a pathway of believing in our worthiness without struggling as 'lone wolves' in our transitions and conscious pivots. She encourages women to practice self-appreciation. Bridging the fields of architecture, designing spaces for nurturing real connections and clarifying our wants and needs, Corinne encourages women to notice, honor and voice our natural embarrassment, shame, and distress to people who will really listen, trusted mentors, coaches and friends, we can shift and revel in being ourselves without apologizing for our ever-evolving uncertainty, needs and desires. 
Corinne believes and has experienced herself, that when women feel safe, heard and well-supported in their flourishing as a judgement-free process then we can safely shift from focusing on 'figuring things out or constantly doing' to nurturing aligned Self pleasure practices to evolve. For Corinne's fuller BIO click here.
Episode Highlights
Financial confidence and literacy as an ongoing practice, not a destination
The dissonance between seeing her nanny’s self-fulfillment while the women in her family struggled with financial secrecy 
Witnessing chronic doing, overgiving, and self-abandonment in the women around her 
Receiving as a skill learned through conversations with women outside her family 
Discovering that values aligned investors exist 
Corinne's reminder that everyone's path to financial empowerment unfolds in their own timing
Resources
WebsiteInstagramLinkedIn
Keywords
#FinancialLiteracy #ValuesAlignedInvesting #ShameWork #WomensEmpowerment #FinancialMentorship #Embodiment #SelfAppreciation #HighlySensitiveMoney #FinancialHealing
 
Click here to watch our interview on Youtube
 
Diana Gisel Yañez is an Investment Advisor Representative of Natural Investments PBLLC. Natural Investments is an independent Registered Investment Advisor. All the Colors is not a registered entity and is not an affiliate or subsidiary of Natural Investments. See our Disclosures and Disclaimers and read our Form CRS.