Rick Kahler, MSFP, CFP®, CFT-1™, CeFT®, CCIM, founder of Kahler Financial Group, is a life-long resident of Rapid City, SD. His firm, specializing in the integration of financial coaching, financial therapy, and traditional financial planning, attracts an international clientele. The company specializes in investment advising, financial planning, and financial therapy services for business owners, professionals, and retirees.

He founded Kahler Financial Group in 1981 and became the first fee-only Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) in South Dakota in 1983. In 2020 he became one of the first Certified Financial Therapist-Level I (CFT-I™,) in the nation, a Certified Financial Transitionist (CeFT®), and in 2021 became a Certified IFS℠ Practitioner.

He is the recipient of two awards for his groundbreaking work in financial therapy: in 2019, when he was named as one of the financial planning professions “Innovators” by InvestmentNews and in 2018, when he received the Insiders Forum Iconoclast Award. In 2017 and again in 2019, Investopedia.com named Rick one of the top 100 Most Influential Financial Advisors. In 2012, InvestmentNews named him one of the top 15 financial advisors to follow on Twitter. In 2009, BusinessWeek named him one of the top 15 most experienced planners in the nation.

He is co-author of four books on the psychology of money: Conscious Finance (FoxCraft, Inc., Second Edition 2007), The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge (HCI, 2006), Facilitating Financial Health (NUCO, 2016 2nd Ed.) and Wired For Wealth (HCI 2009). Rick has been a columnist for 30 years for several South Dakota newspapers and is the author of hundreds of articles and whitepapers.

His work as the co-founder of Onsite’s Healing Money Issues workshop, was featured by ABC News’s 20/20 in 2009 and in Wynonna Judd’s book Coming Home To Myself, (New American Library, 2005). The Wall Street Journal, hailed this work as “an innovative effort that combines experiential therapy with nuts-and-bolts financial planning.”

Rick has served on several national boards and is a founding board member and past Chair of the Financial Therapy Association. He is on the faculty at Golden Gate University where he serves as a Distinguished Adjunct Professor and instructs the Facilitating Financial Health graduate course.

In addition to earning the CFP® designation in 1983, Rick graduated from the American College, Bryn Mawr, PA, in 1988, earning the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) designation. He obtained his master’s degree in personal financial planning in 1999.

He served on and chaired the South Dakota Investment Council and served in leadership capacities with the Financial Planning Association and the National Association of Financial Planning Advisors.
Kahler is also a nationally renowned speaker and educator. In 2003, National American University recognized Mr. Kahler with the Alumni Distinguished Service Award.

He has been published or quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Times of London, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC, SDPB, Forbes, USN&WR, Money, Kiplinger’s, AARP, Money, YahooFinance.com, MarketWatch, Journal of Financial Planning, Financial Planning Magazine. Investment Advisor, Advisor Perspectives, Reuters, Reuters Money, and others.