I want to help you thrive.
REFORMED FORMER FINANCIAL ADVISOR

A Better Way to Think About Money


"How you behave with money is more important than what you know about money and the financial products and services you own."
Ted McLyman, MS, MPA, Author

Most Financial Advice is BS

Ted McLyman, MS, MPA, Author
Reformed Former Financial Advisor

Behavior-Based Financial Coaching

You aren’t bad with money; you’re just a human with an ancient brain in a digital mall. Stop fighting your nature and start building a system that fits YOU.
Get a simple, human-friendly framework that helps you spend with confidence, save automatically, and stop the guilt spiral—without living in spreadsheets.
Free Guide • No spam • Secure access • Takes 5 minutes to read

Behavior-First Money Training & Coaching

Practical habits, simple rules, and a system that works with your brain—not against it.
  • No spreadsheets or math needed.
  • A simple, common-sense approach you can actually follow.
  • A personalized program designed for you and your real-life spending habits.
Bonus: Quick-start checklist included
Instant download


The Rational Spender is a Myth


Most traditional financial advice assumes that you’ll be rational with your money and consistent if you get the right tools, products, and mindset.

Take a quick look in your closet or attic. Can you explain every purchase, or do you see signs of comfort-buying, optimism, and “future me will use it” decisions? I get it. The pressure to spend is huge. But how many pairs of jeans do you need?

Your brain is roughly 200,000 years old and wired for survival—avoid danger, grab opportunities, seek comfort—not for doing taxes, making change, or reading the small print on a credit card agreement. 

The solution isn’t more guilt, the latest "get rich" technique, or a new talking-head guru; it’s building a money system that works with your natural behavior.
Do you see yourself in here?
In real life, about 95% to 99% of spending is emotional, automatic, and subconscious—happening fast and driven by stress, convenience, habit, peer pressure,  and the need to feel safe or rewarded. That’s not a personal failure. That's your brain's default.
Who needs to know?

If You Spend Money, This Is For You


This information is for anyone who spends money. That means just about all of us.

But it is especially helpful if you are tired of being told to use more discipline, track every penny, or follow some perfect system that falls apart in real life.

If you hate business as usual financial advice, this is for you.

Especially for people who:

  • Hate budgeting
  • Avoid spreadsheets
  • Feel bored or overwhelmed by traditional money talk
  • Are tired of product-based and technique-based financial advice
  • Know what they “should” do, but still struggle to follow through
  • Want practical, common-sense help that fits real life
Bottom line: If traditional financial advice makes you want to tune out, this approach was built with you in mind.
Why this works now

Why You Need the MBS Approach to Spend Smart


The Money Behavior System is a simple, common-sense way to help you make better money decisions in the real world—not in some perfect world where you always feel calm, focused, and rational.

Today’s digital world is fast, noisy, convenient, and built to trigger impulse, distraction, comparison, and emotional spending. That means old-school, cookie-cutter financial advice often falls apart the moment real life shows up.

What traditional advice usually does

It hands you generic rules, generic tools, and generic information—then assumes you will just go apply it perfectly.

That is like trying to teach someone to drive a car by giving them a few one-size-fits-all videos, an engineering manual, and a simple written pass-fail test... then tossing them the keys and telling them, “Good luck out there.”

What the MBS approach does instead

MBS starts with you—your values, your habits, your emotional triggers, your stress patterns, your natural wiring, and the way you actually move through life.

It is a One-Size-Fits-You approach. Not cookie-cutter advice. Not a rigid formula. Not a plan built for some imaginary “perfect” person.

Think of it like this

A better driving program would not just dump information on you. It would help you understand the road, your habits, your blind spots, your confidence level, your timing, and how you respond under pressure.

Then it would teach you how to drive in a way that fits you—so you can stay aware, make better choices, and handle real conditions safely.

That is why MBS is the perfect solution today

  • It works in the real world, not just on paper
  • It helps you handle modern digital spending pressure
  • It fits your values instead of fighting your personality
  • It makes smart money behavior easier to repeat
  • It turns knowledge into practical action you can actually live with
Bottom line: Here I'm teaching you how to drive money, and not "hurt yourself."

Where to Begin


Stop Fighting Your Brain



What you’ll get inside
  • A simple, behavior-first roadmap you can actually follow
  • The 3 steps that make spending feel calmer and more automatic
  • A clear next move to build real financial security
  • A $50.00 discount coupon  (applied at checkout) when you purchase the "Master the Money Behavior System" course.

Get the Free 3-Step Guide to Spending Smart and learn the steps missing from traditional financial plans—so you can start to build a money system that works with your wiring, not against it.
Not sure if this is for you?
If you’ve tried budgets before and they never “stick,” this guide will help you build a spending plan that fits how you actually make decisions—so it’s easier to follow consistently. We’ll send the guide to your inbox. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ted McLyman
Meet Ted
Ted McLyman, MS, MPA, Author
Financial Choice Architect

Why I Reformed

For 25 years, I crunched numbers. Allocation models. Projections. Optimized plans that looked airtight on paper. And for a while, I truly believed that if the numbers were right, the outcome would be right.

Then I watched the real world happen: smart people making “irrational” choices, good plans falling apart under stress, and perfectly reasonable strategies getting abandoned the moment life got loud. That’s when it clicked—financial success is 90% behavior and 10% products.

I shifted from managing my clients' finances to guiding their behavior. Rather than resisting human nature, I focused on developing personalized strategies and plans that complemented their natural money temperament. They took control of their finances,  become calmer, more engaged, and confident.

Yep, I'm reformed. I sold my practice, dropped my licenses, and began my quest to challenge conventional wisdom about money and wealth creation, and help people discover their unique financial DNA and start spending smart. You could say, I'm now a Financial Choice Architect.

Confessions of a Reformed Financial Advisor

(Yep, It's Mostly BS)

If you’ve ever felt like you “know what to do” but still can’t seem to follow through, you’re not broken—you’re human. This book is a behavior-first guide to fixing financial self-sabotage without shame, willpower contests, or spreadsheet guilt.

Inside, you’ll walk through a simple framework that helps you understand what’s actually driving your money choices and replace chaos with clarity.

Fix self-sabotage in 5 easy steps:
  1. Spot the triggers behind your “why did I do that?” spending
  2. Align money decisions with your real values (not your fantasies)
  3. Work with your money temperament instead of fighting it
  4. Build a learning approach that sticks
  5. Turn the plan into small, repeatable habits that create security
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For coaches & consultants

Attention Coaches, Consultants, and Financial Professionals: Start Guiding Money Behavior


Your Clients Aren’t Stuck Because They Lack Information

They’re stuck because money decisions are often emotional, automatic, and deeply conditioned. If you coach behavior, mindset, or performance, this is the missing layer that explains why even smart clients keep repeating self-defeating patterns.

Give Your Coaching More Precision

The Money Behavior System helps you uncover what is really driving financial choices so you can coach with more clarity, relevance, and impact. Instead of guessing, you can identify the patterns beneath the behavior.

Create Breakthroughs That Last

When you understand how a client is wired around money, you can help them move forward faster and with less resistance. That means better follow-through, deeper trust, and transformation that sticks.

  • Stronger insight: See what is shaping client decisions beneath the surface.
  • Better coaching: Tailor your approach to each client's natural way of processing change.
  • Greater results: Help clients turn awareness into sustainable action.
  • Premium positioning: Stand out with a coaching process that goes deeper than advice alone.

This Is How Coaches Differentiate

If you want to deliver more meaningful outcomes, stronger retention, and a more valuable client experience, this system gives you a practical edge. It helps you become the coach who gets to the root of why clients stay stuck.


It's Time for a Change

Don’t let business-as-usual undermine your clients’ breakthroughs or limit your practice’s growth. Take action now to integrate the Money Behavior System into your work and step fully into your role as the elite coach your clients need.

Required Checklist
  • Yes! Send me the Free 3-Step Guide to Spending Smart to reveal the hidden biological triggers behind everyday purchases instantly.
  • Join the Coaching & Consultants Community. Check this box for exclusive access to our distraction-free workspace, weekly behavioral prompts, and peer-to-peer masteries.
Behavior-first training • Free Guide included • Community access

Let's Talk
Download the Guide and schedule your complimentary call with Ted to learn how adding the Money Behavior System to your practice helps you address the real reason clients get stuck: unconscious financial behavior.
When you understand the "why" behind money choices, you can create deeper breakthroughs, deliver longer-lasting results, and position your coaching as a premium transformation rather than just another support service.

Services

Choose the format that fits your style—learn at your pace, build momentum with a group, or go deep 1:1.

Online Courses

Self-paced, behavior-first lessons that turn money knowledge into repeatable habits—without shame or spreadsheet overload.



Small Group Coaching

Discover, uncover, and unleash your Money Temperament with structure, accountability, and real-life implementation support.



1:1 Personalized Coaching

3 to 6 months of intensive behavioral implementation—so your plan becomes your default, even when life gets loud.

MBS Speaking, Workshops, and Masterclasses

  • Keynote speaker on the Money Behavior System, and the BS behind why smart people still make emotional money decisions.
  • Podcast guest and lecturer for audiences who want practical, behavior-first conversations about spending, budgeting, and the Money Behavior Gap.
  • Masterclasses that break down financial behavior into simple, usable tools people can apply immediately.
  • Interactive workshops designed to help individuals identify spending triggers, reduce spreadsheet anxiety, and make better financial choices.
  • Custom presentations, workshops, and MBS training tailored to your organization.

Coming Soon: A Three-Tier MBS Certification Program. 
Contact Ted at ted@tedmclyman.com (Subject: MBS Certification Beta) to participate in the program's design and development.


You Aren’t Doing This Alone.


Download the guide and immediately get access to the Spending Smart Community. 

It’s time to stop fighting your ancient brain in isolation. Join other Smart Spenders to brainstorm, discuss money behavior, and fix the behavior gap together. Think of it as a Facebook Group, but without the distractions.


Free to join • Weekly prompts • Practical, behavior-first support


Spending Smart Community

Get invited to the community

We’ll send your invite link to your inbox. Unsubscribe anytime.

Remember, Humans are emotional creatures who think, rather than thinking creatures with emotions.

To make better spending decisions, we have to understand the emotional drivers beneath our behavior—and learn how to work with them.



1) Emotion comes first
Notice the feeling before you reach for your credit card. When you know the emotion, you regain choice.


2) Thoughts follow the feeling
Your feeling brain builds a story to justify your spending. Challenge the story—not yourself.


3) Align behavior with values
Use emotions as data—then choose the next step that matches your values and priorities.

Appreciate you stopping by

Thanks For Visiting!

I Hope to Meet You Soon.


Remember: The behavior gap doesn't close on its own. Whether you join the community, read the book, or just pause for ten seconds before buying that thing you don't need—take action today. Your ancient brain is watching.



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