What Is a Mental Wealth Coach? A Q&A With Michele Mersereau

Financial success can be measured in numbers. Mental Wealth begins with a different kind of inquiry: What do I truly want? What patterns are shaping my financial decisions? Am I making choices from intention, or simply operating in autopilot mode?

For Michele Mersereau, Mental Wealth means experiencing peace, clarity, purpose, and emotional freedom — not as separate from financial life, but deeply connected to it. As a Mental Wealth Coach, she helps people explore the emotional and psychological side of money, where decisions often have less to do with spreadsheets and more to do with identity, fear, security, family history, and self-worth.

That work matters because money is rarely just about, well, money. The way people earn, spend, save, give, invest, and avoid financial decisions is often influenced by patterns they absorbed long before they ever opened a bank account or earned a paycheck. By helping clients recognize those patterns with compassion instead of judgment, Michele helps them move toward greater awareness, intention, and alignment.

Below, Michele answers questions about Mental Wealth and how people can begin building a healthier relationship with money.

What do people often misunderstand about their relationship with money?

Many people believe their money habits are simply about discipline or knowledge, when in reality, they’re often rooted in emotion and personal history.

Most of us inherited unconscious beliefs about money long before we ever earned it ourselves. We absorbed messages from family, culture, experiences, and even survival patterns. So, when people struggle with overspending, avoidance, anxiety, or scarcity thinking, it’s rarely because they’re “bad with money.” There’s usually a deeper story underneath the surface.

For someone new to the concept, what is a “Money Personality” and why does it matter?

A Money Personality is essentially the unique way you emotionally and psychologically relate to money. It influences how you earn, spend, save, give, invest, and even how you communicate in relationships.

The reason it matters is because financial advice isn’t one-size-fits-all. Two people can receive the exact same advice and respond completely differently based on their wiring, experiences, and emotional relationship with money.

Our firm’s Money Personality Quiz helps people recognize their natural tendencies with compassion instead of judgment. Once you understand your patterns, you can begin working with them instead of fighting against them.

How do early experiences shape our relationship with money, and to what extent can those patterns change later in life?

Early experiences shape us profoundly. Childhood experiences around safety, stability, achievement, conflict, generosity, or lack often become the emotional blueprint for how we relate to money as adults.

But the hopeful part is that these patterns absolutely can change. Awareness is powerful. Once people begin to understand why they react a certain way around money, they often experience tremendous relief because they realize they’re not broken. They’re patterned. And patterns can evolve. With reflection, support, and intentional practice, people can create a healthier and more empowered relationship with money at any stage of life.

Planning Alternatives talks a lot about “True Wealth.” What changes when people begin to define wealth more broadly?

Traditional definitions of wealth often focus exclusively on accumulation: more money, more success, more achievement. But many people reach those goals and still feel exhausted, disconnected, or unfulfilled.

At Planning Alternatives, we believe True Wealth is broader than financial capital alone. It includes meaningful relationships, health, purpose, joy, freedom, time, and emotional well-being.

When clients begin defining wealth more holistically, financial planning becomes much more personal and life-giving. Money stops being the end goal and instead becomes a tool to support the life they truly want to live.

For the many people who feel anxious or avoidant around money, how do you help them begin engaging with it in a more manageable way?

The first step is removing shame and judgment. Anxiety around money is incredibly common, and avoidance is often a protective response, not a character flaw.

I try to help people approach money with curiosity instead of criticism. We start small. Sometimes it’s simply understanding their Money Personality, noticing emotional triggers, or creating tiny, manageable habits that build confidence over time.

When people feel emotionally safe, they’re much more able to engage with financial decisions in a calm and empowered way. 

At Planning Alternatives, we work with families who have achieved financial success and are asking what comes next. If you’re rethinking the relationship between your wealth and your life, let’s talk. Because managing portfolios is important but helping you build a life that reflects what matters most — that’s True Wealth.