It was when Matt was offering business advice to a friend about their private practice that he realized he needed Erik’s help.

Matt realized the private practice wasn’t making money and referred to Erik to help the business with it’s financial needs. Matt also kept coming across families and couples coming to him for counseling and relationship advice but were struggling with money that put strain on their relationship.

He quickly realized the benefit of referring to and collaborating with Erik to help navigate the money issues. Erik saw the relationships people form with their money and realized he had something to learn from Matt.

He began studying the difference between financial advising and financial counseling and saw the benefit of how he could help more people and teach them how to manage their money wisely.

As he told others he started working with a couples counselor, it was well received and applauded on how it is a more holistic approach. Dr. Matt first developed Building Us in 2010 as a premarital counseling series.

As Matt started the program he recognized quickly that new couples often needed more support in their merging finances. He invited Erik to include a section for family finances.

The combination of couples counseling and financial counseling was a success and other married couples started to ask for similar support. 

Building Us evolved to a podcast combining financial planning and couples counseling to educate others how to invest in their relationships and manage money wisely.