How to Use Money — Not Let Money Use You | Dr. Jacob Guidi

Most of us were taught how to earn money, and maybe how to save it. But the deeper conversation — what money actually means to us, how it shapes our choices, and how it can quietly run our lives if we're not paying attention — that one rarely gets addressed.

In this episode of the Mindful Living podcast, Dr. Jacob Guidi, Account Director at Thrive Benefits Group and a Doctor of Musical Arts, brings a rare and refreshing perspective to financial wellness. Drawing on his journey from concert cellist to financial professional, Jacob explores the invisible emotional architecture we build around money — and offers a grounded, mindful framework for reshaping it.

This is not a conversation about budgets or investment strategies. It is an honest, unhurried exploration of how our relationship with money reflects our relationship with ourselves — and how awareness, not accumulation, is where real freedom begins.

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Dr. Jacob Guidi is a Doctor of Musical Arts, dedicated cellist, proud father, and Account Director at Thrive Benefits Group — an independent financial services agency helping organisations and individuals find clarity, security, and peace of mind around their finances. He bridges the precision of the arts with the strategy of business, and brings both disciplines to bear in every client relationship.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• More money beyond a certain threshold does not increase happiness. Research — and Warren Buffett — both point to the same truth: if you can't find contentment at one income level, reaching a higher one won't fix it. The relationship with money matters more than the amount.
• Your financial beliefs were formed long before you started earning. Whether shaped by childhood scarcity, parental patterns, or cultural messaging, most of us carry unconscious associations with money that drive our behaviour far more than logic or intention does.
• Letting money pull you out of the present moment is just as harmful whether you have too little or too much of it. Fixating on a bank balance going down, or blaming a lack of funds for a stalled life, are two sides of the same coin — both root you in anxiety rather than action.
• Tony Robbins' three-decision framework applies powerfully to money: decide what has your attention, decide what effect you allow it to have on you, and decide what you're going to do about it. Running this process regularly is a form of financial mindfulness.
• Decoupling your passion from your income changes everything. When Jacob separated his music from his means of earning, he was freed to play simply for the love of it. Finding one area of life that money cannot touch — a hobby, a practice, a relationship — creates the grounding that financial pressure cannot.
• Money is a tool, not an identity. Like any tool, it only serves when we understand how to hold it. The goal is not to eliminate money's role in your life, but to stop letting it steer the ship.

CONNECT WITH THE GUEST:

Website: www.thrivebg.com

Email: Submit a contact request directly at thrivebg.com and Jacob will get back to you personally.

LinkedIn: Jacob Guidi — linkedin.com/in/jacobguidi/

EPISODE CHAPTERS:

[00:00] Intro — What we were never taught about money, and why mindful living demands we go there

[07:30] Meet Dr. Jacob Guidi — From concert cellist to financial wellness professional: an unlikely and illuminating journey

[10:00] The Biggest Misconception — Why the belief that more money equals more happiness keeps us trapped

[13:30] Money, Poverty, and the Present Moment — How financial pressure pulls us out of alignment regardless of our income level

[17:00] Jacob's Own Relationship With Money — The surprising ways over-saving can be just as disruptive as over-spending

[21:00] The Three-Decision Framework — Tony Robbins' process applied to your financial mindset: attention, effect, and action

[26:00] From Cello to Clarity — How separating passion from income freed Jacob to love music again — and what that teaches us all

[30:00] A Practical Starting Point — Finding one money-free anchor in your life, questioning your neuro-associations, and making better decisions from there

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