CU Alum Holly Morphew, the CEO of Financial Impact and the author of “Simple Wealth” (Courtesy of Holly Morphew)
Do you have a toxic relationship with money?
Many of us experience stress, fear and shame when it comes to money. We worry about not having enough. We overspend. We don’t save enough.
CU Alum Holly Morphew (Class ’02), an accredited financial counselor, wants to change that.
In her Amazon best-selling debut, “Simple Wealth,” Morphew introduces a transformative guide to personal finance that facilitates a healthier relationship with money. Through cultivating an abundance mindset and using financial strategy tools, she believes anyone — even college students — can begin to build wealth and strive for financial independence. She will discuss “Simple Wealth” and sign copies at the Boulder Bookstore at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept.16.
“People want to talk about money in a different way,” Morphew said. “My book teaches you how to connect requests to make spending decisions with your own personal life vision, so you can create the kind of life you want to live.”
For Morphew, the child of a real estate investor and an entrepreneur, this is more than a personal finance book — it’s a personal manifesto, the result of her upbringing, as well as her own struggles with debt and financial mismanagement.
In her 20s, diagnosed with a chronic illness and uninsured, she couldn’t afford to pay her bills and began slipping into credit card debt. $67,000 to be exact. Meanwhile, she was working in an unsatisfying corporate job, at odds with her personal life vision. Then, one day, after a harrowing incident at work, she knew something had to change.
Now, at age 40, she’s a financially independent millionaire; the founder and CEO of Financial Impact, a financial coaching practice; and a best-selling author in nine out 10 categories on Amazon.
“Simple Wealth” by Holly Morphew (Courtesy of Holly Morphew)
In the past few years, the concept of mindful money management has gained prominence, especially during the COVID-19 economic crisis. Instead of offering dry, technical how-to manuals, personal finance books (like Jonathan DeYoe’s “Mindful Money” from 2017) are now addressing the underlying causes of bad financial habits: negative emotions surrounding money.
Likewise, Morphew’s financial impact system taps into this trend. In her mindfulness-based approach, she focuses 80% on psychology — personal practices like gratitude, giving, positive self-talk and the abundance mindset — and only 20% on traditional financial strategies.
“Most people come to me because they want to receive more peace, love, confidence and power when it comes to their personal finances,” Morphew said. “If you want to get more, you have to give more. That’s the principle of abundance.”
Although she mainly coaches high-earning professionals, she believes that cultivating an abundance mindset can benefit anyone, especially college students, who are often trapped in a scarcity mindset as they struggle with financial insecurity and student debt. For students, she also recommends making realistic decisions about the price of their college education given their professional starting salary, as well as taking small steps to eliminate debt and save more every day.
“Abundance is our natural state,” she added. ”When I say that, I mean that money is infinite. You can create more streams of income. Is it easy? Not necessarily. Is it simple? Yes.”
Find out more about Holly Morphew here and “Simple Wealth” here. Tickets to the signing at the Boulder Bookstore can be purchased here.
Contact CU Independent Head Arts Editor Izzy Fincher at isabella.fincher@colorado.edu.
