Michelle Kruger is a PhD student with a concentration in Financial Planning at the University of Georgia (UGA). She graduated magna cum laude with a BBA in Finance from the Terry College of Business at UGA in 2015. Her research interests include spending behavior, financial planning interventions, risk tolerance, financial stress, and behaviors associated with building wealth. In addition to her graduate studies, Michelle works as a research assistant at the Financial Planning Performance Lab at UGA, the nation’s only applied clinical facility designed to obtain evidence about the effectiveness of the financial planning process. She also works as a Financial Planning Analyst at Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group, a fee-only, comprehensive financial planning firm located in Athens, Georgia. Michelle has served as a financial counselor at the Aspire Clinic, an interdisciplinary teaching and research institution, applying marriage and family therapy theories and techniques to her work with financial clients.