Dr. Erika Rasure, PhD, CFT™, Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance, recently shared her expertise with CNBC on a topic that resonates with Americans across every income level: why earning more money doesn’t necessarily ease financial anxiety.
The CNBC story explored a surprising reality facing many households today. While conventional wisdom suggests that higher incomes should bring greater peace of mind, financial stress often persists regardless of salary. Rising expectations, lifestyle inflation, uncertainty about the future, and deeply ingrained beliefs about money can all contribute to ongoing anxiety.
“As humans, we tend to adapt quickly to our circumstances,” Dr. Rasure told CNBC. “What once felt like financial security can become the new baseline, leading people to continue feeling pressure even as their income grows.” She noted that financial wellness is shaped by far more than a paycheck. Past experiences, family attitudes toward money, and an individual’s sense of control over their finances all play an important role in how secure they feel.
At Beyond Finance, Dr. Rasure’s work focuses on helping people understand the emotional side of money and build healthier financial habits that support long-term well-being. Her perspective underscores an important truth: financial wellness isn’t simply about how much you earn — it’s about developing the confidence, behaviors, and mindset needed to navigate life’s financial challenges.
Read the full CNBC story here: Why Higher Income May Not Reduce Financial Anxiety.
About Dr. Erika Rasure
Dr. Erika Rasure, PhD, CFT™ is an internationally recognized financial therapist, educator, and researcher with over two decades of experience helping people transform their relationship with money. She holds a doctorate in Personal Financial Planning from Kansas State University and is a Certified Financial Therapist™ — one of a small number of practitioners in the country to hold both credentials. As Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance, she leads five weekly financial wellness sessions with clients navigating debt and is the creator of Beyond Finance’s Financial Wellness RESET™ Framework, Assessment, and Curriculum — a proprietary, clinically-informed model that addresses the behavioral and emotional reasons financial advice so often fails to stick, helping people change not just what they do with money, but how they relate to it. She serves on the Financial Review Boards of Investopedia, The Balance, VeryWell Family, and VeryWell Parents, chairs the Financial Therapy Clinical Institute Research Board, and her expertise has been featured on NBC’s Today Show, CNBC, CNN, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron’s, the Associated Press, and USA Today.