My alma mater’s daily newspaper, The Daily Collegian at Penn State, features a piece on the upcoming SOAPnet reality series Bank of Mom and Dad where young women come face to face with their financial challenges and with the help of Mom and Dad (and me as a financial coach and mentor) develop a better relationship with money and begin a path towards financial independence. 

Here’s an excerpt from staff writer Kristen Karas’ article: 

Torabi said that by taking away the woman’s wallet, credit cards and “anything that is contributing to her cycle of debt,” she will better be able to understand what it is that is causing her financial problems.

“I don’t think you should ever go it alone when you are trying to get out of a crisis,” she said. “Parents bring about a level of accountability. Now that her parents are moving in and [the woman] is suddenly accountable, she has to make sense of what she is doing because her mom and dad are going to be questioning her.”

Plus, she added, parents bring in the emotion factor.

“The parents bring a little bit of fear into the picture, and it’s always helpful to be a little afraid of the consequences,” she said.