In this special episode of Financial Behavior Thought Leaders, the tables are turned as Dr. Kristy Archuleta steps in to guest host and interviews our regular host, Dr. Mary Bell Carlson. As the founder of the Financial Behavior Keynote Group and a leading voice at the intersection of behavioral finance research and real-world financial planning, Mary shares insights into her speaking journey, her passion for practical applications of research, and the stories that make her keynotes resonate. The episode dives into her keynote, “From Anchors to Action: Practical Behavioral Finance for Financial Planners,” explores foundational behavioral finance concepts, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges and triumphs that shape an unforgettable keynote speaker.

The conversation is lively and personal, as Kristy asks about Mary’s path from childhood love of the microphone to her formative experiences presenting financial education worldwide for the Pentagon. Mary discusses how her work has spanned audiences from military groups to mom’s conferences and highlights the importance—and sometimes the challenge—of tailoring presentations to different groups. You’ll get a preview of her widely recommended book, "Anchors, Ostriches, and a Hot Pair of Scissors," and learn how the transition from behavioral finance theory to practical application can empower advisors and their clients. The episode also features a striking story about mental accounting and the emotional labels people place on their money, demonstrating why communication and empathy are central to financial advising. The conversation winds down with a personal revelation about overcoming childhood speech challenges, underscoring the value of resilience and lifelong learning.

Five Key Takeaways:

1. The Power of Application in Behavioral Finance:
2. Mary emphasizes the need to move beyond theory, focusing on the practical application of behavioral finance in day-to-day financial planning. She stresses the value of answering the "so what" and "who cares" questions, ensuring that academic insights help advisors and clients in real, tangible ways.
3. Flexibility and Diversity in Speaking:
4. Her speaking journey—kicking off in extraordinary settings like the Pentagon and military bases around the world—demonstrates the importance of adapting content and style for vastly different audiences. Even with experience, Mary acknowledges that speaking to new groups can be a growth opportunity full of trial and error.
5. Labeling Money and Mental Accounting:
6. A memorable client story about "mental accounting" reveals how the ways clients label their money can dramatically impact financial decisions. By understanding and respecting the meaning behind those labels (for example, an “emergency fund”), advisors can help clients make progress that aligns with their values and emotional needs.
7. Building Communication Skills Is an Ongoing Journey:
8. Through both research and personal anecdotes, Mary illustrates that effective financial advising is less about diagnosing biases in others and more about connecting with empathy, listening deeply, and communicating without judgment. Communication techniques are tools for connection, not correction.
9. Resilience and Growth Behind the Scenes:
10. Mary shares her early struggles with speech and the significant work it took to become the polished speaker audiences see today. Her story highlights that keynote excellence isn’t just about charisma or stage presence—it’s shaped by perseverance, mentorship, and ongoing self-improvement, setting a powerful example for aspiring speakers.

This episode is filled with practical wisdom for financial advisors, event planners, and anyone interested in the human side of money. Don’t miss the chance to hear from Dr. Mary Bell Carlson as she offers both a front-row seat and a peek behind the curtain into what makes financial thought leadership meaningful and effective.

Welcome to Financial Behavior Thought Leaders. Today's episode is a little different. I'm Dr. Christy Archuleta and I'm stepping in to guest host while we officially turn the tables. Usually you hear Mary Bell Carlson guiding these conversations, but today she's in the guest seat and I'll be leading the discussion. This should be fun.

Yes.

Financial Behavior Thought Leaders takes you behind the scenes with the top speakers in financial services. Whether you're a financial advisor, an event planner, or financial professional eager to learn from the industry thought leaders, you're in the right place. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a single conversation. Today we're featuring Dr. Maribel Carlson, founder of the Financial Behavior keynote group and one of the leading voices bridging behavioral finance research with real world financial planning. We'll dive into her journey, her keynote from anchors to Practical Behavioral Finance for financial planners, and a story from the stage that consistently resonates with audiences. Mary, welcome to your own podcast.

Well, thank you, Christy. It feels both familiar and brand new all at the same time. But yeah, thanks so much for being the host today.

Absolutely. I can't wait to quiz you and learn more about you and have our audience learn more about you and what you do. Before we get into your keynote, though, let's start with your speaking journey. How did you find your way to the stage and what drew you into this work?

Well, I remember talking to you about your journey started in kindergarten. I think mine started back then as well as from a young kid. I love to grab a microphone now, put me on a stage to act and no way coming on a stage to speak. And I am totally your person, so I've always really enjoyed it. But it really came to pass when I worked at the Pentagon. And so most speaking journeys don't start in the Pentagon. Mine did. I had been working in the Office of Financial Education, and it was during the global war on terror, so there was a lot of things happening at the time.

Lots of troops deploying, and they did a roadshow that literally took us all over the world.

And.

And so one of the very first stages I stood on was in Okinawa, Japan, followed by Seoul, Korea. And I was with a group of really amazing, seasoned military spouses that I just admired so much. And I got up and I talked about personal finance and all the application to these service providers. And as soon as I got off the stage, one of my favorites turned to me and she goes, where did that come from? Like, none of them would ever see me seek them. And they're like, that was amazing. In fact, by the end of those roadshows I was actually giving the trans the TAP program, which means it's the transition out of the military. Let me pause for any of you that don't know me. I have never been in the military, so I have no idea how to get out of the military or into the military.

But I was the one giving the presentations. And so it just became a really fun, fun experience. We went to Alaska in January, which I do not recommend. It was negative 40. We went to Texas in the middle of the summer. I mean the military just send you wherever they want you and do not think at all about the time of day. And often I would find out maybe two to three days in advance before we flew out. And so there was also no prep and timing in it.

But that was my really that real world experience and I really, really loved it. Fast forward. I ended up working for the national association of Counties. So I. So I Live in Washington D.C. have done a lot at the federal level and then started doing some with NACO at the local level. So this is with counties and just love taking it from there. And then I had an FPA chapter ask and say, hey, come speak to us.

And ever since I just kind of picked that up and have enjoyed speaking to different audiences. Some financial, some military, some consumer. Just did a consumer facing audience last month that I really enjoyed. I should correct that they don't. I don't think of myself as a consumer. It was actually a mom's conference. It was a bunch of moms and it was very fun.

Wow. So you have a such a wide arranged diverse portfolio of speaking engagements that you've done in the past. That's so incredible. And you've always loved speaking from the stage, which is completely opposite from my experience. So you would have been one of the ones that I really admired growing up that, that no fear to speak from the stage. And I can't either.

Well, I think the other part of that though is people knowing that just because I've had that doesn't mean I failed. I have failed plenty of times. So please feel free to know that just because you've had these amazing. Sometimes those audiences, it falls flat when you know a specific audience and you're accustomed to speaking to that audience and then you go way outside your comfort zone. Speak to another. It. It's real work to make sure that that picks up. So yeah, I think that even though I've got this background in array, it's still constant work and effort to making sure that you're bringing the high quality and spending tables time wisely.

Yeah. And speaking of quality, you bring the quality and you're known for a few core areas and considered an excellent speaker in all of these. All of these areas, Behavioral finance, financial counseling and communication. Tell us what those mean in practice and why they matter so much for today's advisors.

Yeah. So one important thing for me as about a speaker and even as a researcher and with my background is application. To me it's always been about and I'm going to quote Dr. Grable here if you know John Grable the so what? Who cares? And I think that as a researcher that question was asked me very early on of but who cares? So it might be an interesting take or theory or hypothesis but at the end of the day if there is an application and so I maybe have taken it full on extreme to where it's very applied but for me that's how I've always operated is great to know about something but unless I can actually apply it, I can't do it. I've spent a lot of time really in that financial counseling counseling space. Worked a lot with AFCPE and things over the years and a few years ago I branched out into behavioral finance. It's always been something that's intrigued to me but I realized there was this lack of we knew a lot about behavioral finance but there wasn't that direct application specifically to financial planners in an office type setting. And so I that's where I wrote the book Anchors Ostriches and A Hot Pair of Scissors with my co author Jonathan Walker.

And and it really is a very applied, very hands on book where it takes a theoretical concept and then shows and breaks it down into constructs of this is what that looks like when you're sitting across the desk from a client or when you're working with a spouse or anybody really how those concepts apply. And so I think that's for me what is so important is understanding the actual application that so what factor because otherwise it's good to know and it's interesting but it doesn't really apply to that everyday life. So that's important for me and I think for those audiences and that's what really drew me into that is making sure that I was answering the questions they were asking rather than just talking about another really interesting thing they could add to their checklist.

Yeah and I recommend that your book Anchors Ostriches and a Hot Pair of Scissors to anyone who is wanting to learn about behavioral Finance as a primer, as a quick read to get brushed up, or how it, how these concepts do apply and fit into practice and what you can actually do about it. It's one thing to know that someone has a cognitive bias, like overconfidence bias, but you're not going to say, hey, you have an overconfidence bias when you're working with your client. That's completely unhelpful. But it gives you some really great tools to help you manage and work through that overconfidence bias with your client. So I really appreciate that about your work.

Well, and I think that means one thing, right. You have to identify what the bias is, but then the follow up is, so what do you do Again, so what? So what do you do about it? And that's what we really tried to do, is bring in that application of great. You may. And by the way, Christy, I think it's always funny when I am specifically speaking, speaking to financial advisor audiences, it's very easy for us to say, oh yeah, I see that in my client, or even better yet, I see that in my spouse or my kids. Right. Like they have this bias. But then the so what becomes what do you do about it? Because you're not going to change the client, you're not going to change your spouse, you're not going to change your kids, so what can you do about it to help them overcome that in a way that's not pointing a finger and saying, you've got this bias now go fix it. You know, it's helping you take the small steps needed to be able to make a better communic.

It's really about communication at the end of the day and how to better connect with the client, with your spouse, with your loved ones, whoever that may be. Yeah.

Which totally connects to your keynote. From anchors to action. Practical behavioral finance for financial planners. So what's the core message here? Who's it best suited for and what audience? What can the audience expect to take away?

Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the book because the book actually goes over 10 of the most common biases that we see in financial planning. So the speech really slimmed down for the top three to five biases that we see very often. And so what I'll do is dissect each of those biases into how you're seeing that in a client situation, as well as following up and saying, and here's how to make that outcome, here's how to make that change. But I like to even start and stand back a lot of times before giving the speech and put it into more of a conceptual framework here that says, now overall, why does this matter? Right. Why do we need to know about these and what do they do? Because my intention with this speech is not to have you memorize all 200 cognitive biases that are continually changing, but instead really understanding why people work. That's all a cognitive bias is, is helping understand how people work and think and behave. And so it's really about understanding people and communicating better in a way that resonates with them and in a way that you're listening. And when I say communicate, I think it's as important to know it's not what you're saying, but.

But it's also how you're presenting yourself. It's how you show up with your listening skills and other things. So that's what the speech is really meant to do. And that's the key takeaway, is you get a better understanding of behavioral finance in general. But then we hone in and really highlight three to five very specific biases that we're seeing often in financial planning.

Yeah. So every keynote has a moment that really sticks with the audience. Can you share a story from this particular keynote that resonates?

Yeah, this, this keynote actually is full of stories. The one that I love to start with actually comes from the mental accounting bias. And I start off by talking about a previous client, let's call her Wendy, for lack of a better word. And the committee comes into my Office and has $70,000 in credit card debt. And so being the financial planner that I was, I, I was actually in a financial counseling scenario inside an eap, an employee assistance program. And in sitting there, I thought, well, I need to do what most financial planners do, and that is pull out a pencil and, or a spreadsheet and start figuring out where all her income is, where all her assets are, and, and how we can pay off this debt. So I did that, and I discovered Wendy had almost $70,000 in bank account just sitting there.

She didn't know that beforehand.

Oh, she knew that.

Okay.

That's the interesting part with diets is it's not that they don't know it like mental accounting. We all think we know where that money's going, all the rest, but it was actually sitting it down. She knew that she had that. And so I thought, I told her, I said, hey, Wendy, take the 70,000 here, pay it off. Ta da. My magic is done. Right? Well, guess what? It wasn't that easy. This wasn't about the money, she had a fear.

And that fear was, is those credit cards were not an emergency. And what she had titled that savings account was, was an emergency savings fund. And so therefore me just telling her to use that emergency money to pay off her savings never resonated, never connected because of things that had happened previous in her life and the opportunities that she or experiences she had had where she really, truly had an emergency and didn't have the money. She had been storing up almost like a little squirrel over here trying to save up for the winter. And she was not willing to use it when that time came. So fast forward, it took a lot of other psychological techniques and working with Wendy to talk about that to ever be able to pay it off. So we didn't pay it off in a lump sum. She still needed money for her mental accounting to be able to feel that safety.

And it really, really mattered what Wendy labeled it. And so that's true. I find for a lot of clients, it matters what they label their money. They will tell you in what they value and what they want and how they label those funds. In fact, if they don't label their money, that's the positive side of mental accounting is that you can actually go in and ask them, what do you want? And we've seen this with clients who want a second home or want to go on a vacation. If your client wants to go to Hawaii and they start a little account and they title it My Hawaiian vacation and start putting money in it, I tell you, they will think more than twice before dipping into that fund because that's something they really want, they really care about. And so I find that mental accounting actually can be used for a lot of good things because it helps clients and it helps us. It helps clients spend according to what they value, but it also helps us know what they do value and what they appreciate and want out of life.

So we can take the guesswork out of it eventually. By the way, have to sum up that Wendy did get that paid off, but it wasn't with a lump sum. It was over time and it took a lot of convincing. And we did need to leave quite a large amount in that emergency fund to help her feel secure.

Wow. So labeling those specific areas in her savings was super helpful in her mental accounting and kind of getting over that hurdle to help pay down her massive amounts of credit card debt.

Yeah, and I would say that's not even just in savings. I've seen amazing changes in checking in, in that everyday spending, whether it's on a credit card or something else. But I've seen the mag, if you want to call it that, of using middle accounting to spend according to your prioritized priorities and help really maximize what they're getting in the long run. There's been some cool tech companies that have even come through. One that comes to mind is called Cube and Cube. Really, you spin it's the envelope budgeting method, for lack of a better word. But it's all digitized. So it's a bank and a budget one.

And you're choosing to put every month or week or however often you want, you put a set amount into that cube or envelope and then spend according to that priorities. And when you're out of money, you're out of money. But it really helps clients kind of forecast where they want that money to go. And I've seen that. So it's both on the accumulation side as well as on the decumulation or spending side that I've seen that work on both ends.

So you're saying that a change in one area can impact changes in other areas of someone's cash flow, their net worth, their spending plan, et cetera.

And it really could be as simple as labeling and helping bring out in that client what they value the most and what they care about. And that can. That will be different from client to client. From Wendy, it actually came from a very triggering event early on, many years before I ever met her. And that's where that insecurity came from versus others that may not come from a specific event. Maybe it's just how the way they've always felt or how it works in their marriage or other things. So sometimes you'll find that there are layers to it, and then sometimes you'll find it's just a habit or the way they've always done it. But it's easy to change that when you're able to add that little twist to that mental accounting.

So using it for positive change as well.

Very cool. Well, if you loved that story and want the full picture, you can download Mary's speaker sheet@financialbehaviorthoughtleaders.com.com which I highly encourage that you go and do right now. Before we wrap up, I want to shift gears for just a moment and ask Mary one more question. What's something that you. Sorry, what's something about you that most audiences or even listeners might want to know?

So, Chrissy, I don't share this very often because it is pretty near and dear to me, but. But I remember As a child actually having to go to speech therapy. So this is something that never really didn't. I enjoyed it, but it never came natural. And it was something I've always kind of tripped up is being able to say certain words or really pronounce things in a very distinct way. And I have had to really work on that throughout my whole life. And so what you're seeing on stage is a much bigger, more polished version of what was actually really, really hard for me throughout my very early years. And so I share that story because two things actually.

One is I had an incredible teacher who believed in me and she stuck with me and she really stood by my side even when the tears came and it was hard and other kids made fun of me. And I've always. Debbie Everett and I've always just really appreciated her, her and the way that she helped me overcome what could be seen as an impediment or a disability. And then the second part is know that what you see from people some, a lot of times means years of work and perf like trying to perfect that craft. And so I don't think often enough we talk about what it takes to get up on a stage and to really give deliver an amazing keynote. And I think that often people will say, well, that's an hour of your time. Actually it's a lifetime of work. Everything from how I speak, what I speak, how I say, what it's done, how it's structured, all of those things go into play.

And so I think there's a lot more about the whole person and seeing also that sometimes your weaknesses can turn into your strengths, even though it feels hard in the moment.

Well, I want to thank Mrs. Everett for, for helping to foster a one of the people that I think is one of the most articulate from the stage and thank our hometown hero for, for doing her work and doing it well and loving on kids. So thank you you Ms. Everett. Mary this has been such a meaningful conversation. From Anchors to Action does exactly what our profession needs. It brings behavioral finance out of theory and into practice and makes it real and digestible and you feel like you can take it home and use these things. So for event planners or firms looking for a speaker who blends evidence based research with practical application, you can learn more and book Dr.

Mary Bell Carlson at financialbehaviorthoughtleaders.com Mary, I'll hand it back to you for the final word so you can take over your own show again.

Well, thank you, Christy. You did a great job. Thank you for being the host today and I do want to say we are doing some exciting things inside of our speaking community. So for those of you that don't know we have an FBKG community and we will be hosting a miniseries on financial behavior thought leaders for the first quarter of 2026. This is going to be entitled the Speakers Will Success Toolkit. And what we're going to do in this series is really explore the real work that takes behind the referable, bookable high impact speaker. So not just the highlight reels, not the myths but the actual tools, the people and the systems that have helped people succeed. So if you're interested in speaking, if you're building your speaking career, if you're refining your craft, this is the place to be to come and find how to rise to that next level.

And this series is specifically for you. So be on the lookout for this new series coming in January of 2026. Thank you for joining us.