Megan McCoy

Assistant Professor
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Accredited Financial Counselor®
Certified Financial Therapist™

Contact Information

343N Justin Hall

meganmccoy@k-state.edu

Courses I Teach

PFP 315 - Love and Money
PFP 769 - Relationships and Money
PFP 808 - Research Application/Independent Study
PFP 825 - Survey of Personal Financial Planning Research & Theory

Education

Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies: Marriage and Family Therapy, University of Georgia
M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy, Drexel University
B.A. in Psychology, University of North Carolina

Area(s) of Specialization

Financial Therapy
Financial Well-being
Financial Communication
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues

Biography

Dr. Megan McCoy, Ph.D., LMFT, AFC®, CFT-I™ is an Assistant Professor at Kansas State University’s Department of Personal Financial Planning. She teaches courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels focused on financial well-being, financial therapy, and couple dynamics regarding finances.

Dr. McCoy holds a B.A. in Psychology from The University of North Carolina and an M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Drexel University. Dr. McCoy also attended the University of Georgia, where she earned a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, an Accredited Financial Counselor®, and a Certified Financial Therapist-I™.

During her doctoral program, she developed a specialization in financial therapy and client psychology. She had the opportunity to work with clients alongside financial planning students to treat clients’ financial well-being together. Observing and learning from financial planners’ work with clients enabled Dr. McCoy to gain more insights into the psychology of financial planning.

She serves on the Financial Therapy Association's Board of Directors and was the past Associate editor of the Journal of Financial Therapy. She is currently co-editor for the Financial Planning Review. She was also a guest editor on a special issue on finances for Contemporary Family Therapy.

Dr. McCoy’s research interests focus on financial therapy, financial well-being, and financial communication, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. She has published over forty articles in top-tier mental health, family science, financial counseling, and financial planning journals. This year, her research has won awards from the National Council of Family Relations and the Financial Therapy Association. Dr. McCoy has been awarded grants from the Financial Planning Association, the National Endowment for Financial Education, and FP Canada to continue research on how to integrate client psychology topics into financial planning to foster trust and commitment with clients.

Dr. McCoy has also been featured as a financial well-being expert on the Today Show, NPR, BBC, the Wall Street Journal, and many other media outlets.