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Sonya Lutter

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Sonya Lutter
Born
Sonya Lynn Depenbusch[1][2]
Other names
  • Sonya Britt-Lutter
  • Sonya Britt
Occupations
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisThree Essays on Money Arguments Between Spouses (2010)
Doctoral advisor
  • Sandra J. Huston
  • Dorothy B. Durband
Academic work
DisciplinePersonal financial planning
Websitesonyalutter.com Edit this at Wikidata

Sonya Lutter is an American financial planner, academic, author, and professor. She is the director of Financial Health and Wellness in the School of Financial Planning at the Texas Tech University College of Human Sciences.

Education and early life

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Lutter grew up in the rural town of Kingman, Kansas, where her grandparents were custom harvesters of wheat, whose worked involved seasonal long-term travel in the Midwestern United States.[3][4] She said that her views on money were shaped by growing up in a very small agricultural town and an incident in which her sister stole money from her piggy bank.[3] She graduated from Kingman High School in 2000.[2]

While working as a summer camp counselor, Lutter said she befriended a deaf girl, which caused her to want to go to college to become a speech pathologist. She enrolled in college at Kansas State University (KSU) and declared speech pathology as her major. After job shadowing practitioners working in the field and taking some of the required science coursework, she withdrew from her classes and changed majors. She said she found financial planning because she liked numbers and education, and wanted to help people.[3][4] She was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in personal financial planning from KSU in 2003.[4]

After graduating, she said that she wanted to understand financial conflicts in family and couple dynamics, so she enrolled in a graduate education at KSU researching marriage and family therapy. She was awarded a Master of Science in 2003.[4]

She earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 2010 from Texas Tech University in personal financial planning.[5]

Texas Tech University School of Financial Planning named her a Distinguished Alumni in 2023.[6]

Career and research

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Lutter began her career as a marriage and family therapist.[3][1] While working on her PhD, Lutter co-founded the Financial Therapy Association and served as the inaugural president in 2009.[7][8] She became an assistant professor of family studies and human services in 2010 at KSU,[9][10] a position in which she held until she was promoted to an associate professor in 2014,[10] and a full professor in 2019. While a professor at KSU, she was the Program Director of the Personal Finance Planning department, the Director of the School of Family Studies and Human Services,[11] and was a Mary L. Vanier endowed professor.[10][12] While under her leadership, the School of Family Studies and Human Services changed names to the Department of Applied Human Sciences.[13]

In 2014 the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education gave her an outstanding journal article award.[14] In 2017 the Financial Planning Association awarded her with the Best theoretical research paper award.[15]

She served as the director of research and education for Herbers & Company for one year.[16]

She has served as associate editor for the Journal of Family and Economic Issues, on the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Therapy and on the international scientific board of the Italian Journal of Sociology of Education.[4]

In 2022, she was named the inaugural director Financial Health and Wellness in the School of Financial Planning at Texas Tech University.[5] She also serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Systemic Financial Professionals.[17]

Selected publications

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  • Dew, Jeffrey, Sonya Britt, and Sandra Huston. "Examining the relationship between financial issues and divorce." Family Relations 61, no. 4 (2012): 615-628.
  • Britt, Sonya L., David Allen Ammerman, Sarah F. Barrett, and Scott Jones. "Student loans, financial stress, and college student retention." Journal of Student Financial Aid 47, no. 1 (2017): 3.
  • Klontz, Bradley, Sonya L. Britt, Jennifer Mentzer, and Ted Klontz. "Money beliefs and financial behaviors: Development of the Klontz Money Script Inventory." Journal of Financial Therapy 2, no. 1 (2011): 1.

References

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  1. ^ a b "SONYA LYNN BRITT M.S. - NPI 1649399429". NPI Profile.
  2. ^ a b "Kingman High School Graduates 1991-2000". ksgenweb.org. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  3. ^ a b c d "Sonya Lutter — The Intersection of Love and Money with Sonya Lutter - Mindful Money". Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Researcher Profile: An Interview with Sonya Britt, Ph.D., CFP, AFC". Journal of Financial Therapy. 4 (1). 2013.
  5. ^ a b "Sonya Lutter, Ph.D., CFP, LMFT". Texas Tech University. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  6. ^ "Alumni Award Descriptions". Texas Tech University. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  7. ^ Kahler, Rick (2023-12-08). "Talking with Sonya Britt Lutter - Part One - AW Financial". advanced-wellbeing.com. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
  8. ^ "The Financial Therapy Association: A Brief History". Journal of Financial Therapy. 1 (1). 2010.
  9. ^ Fottrell, Quentin; Malito, Alessandra (2018-10-20). "'I want to enjoy life and go places—my wife wants new cars and big houses'". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2025-11-23.
  10. ^ a b c "Sonya Lutter CV" (PDF). Texas Tech University.
  11. ^ "Sonya Lutter named director of the School of Family Studies and Human Services". k-state.edu. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  12. ^ "K-State in the news — March 2021". K-State Today. Retrieved 2025-11-23.
  13. ^ "A Message From The Department Head – Department of Applied Human Sciences". enewsletters.k-state.edu. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  14. ^ "Outstanding Research Journal Article". AFCPE. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  15. ^ "The Financial Implications of Cohabitation Among Young Adults". Financial Planning Association. 2018-04-01. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  16. ^ "Herbers & Company hires financial therapist". Financial Planning. 2021-08-18. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
  17. ^ "About Us". Institute for Systemic Financial Professionals™. Retrieved 2025-10-31.
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