How Do You Feel About Money and Investing in Your Future?

Did you know that 50% of your money mindset is set before age five?

Fascinating, isn’t it?

Money is merely a medium of exchange, but its influence on us is immense.

So, where does your money story begin? What do you really believe about your inherent worth?

Have you ever deconstructed your financial story and traced it back to its origins?

Or do you feel a deep resistance and avoid the subject at all costs?

Why We Avoid Talking About Money

A lot of people feel uncomfortable discussing money.

Many of us:

• Avoid learning about finances because it feels overwhelming.

• Feel shame or guilt when thinking about money struggles.

• Have been taught that talking about money is taboo.

This creates a vicious cycle:

📌 We fear money → We avoid it → We stay stuck → We reinforce the belief that we “can’t.”

Meanwhile, successful and wealthy people approach money differently. They don’t think, “I can’t afford this.” They think, “How can I afford this?”

When you shift from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset, you start looking for solutions instead of focusing on limitations.

How Your Brain Reacts to Financial Stress

How we feel about money isn’t just a mental thing—it’s biological.

When we experience financial stress:

• Our prefrontal cortex (the decision-making part of the brain) shuts down.

• Our fight-or-flight response kicks in, making it hard to think clearly.

• We make reactive, fear-based choices instead of strategic, long-term ones.

What’s Your Money Story?

Your beliefs about money didn’t appear out of nowhere. They were shaped by your early environment.

Ask yourself:

• Did you grow up feeling stressed about money?

• Were you always aware of how much (or how little) your family had?

• How did you have to show up in your family to be seen, heard, or valued?

• Were you told that wanting things made you selfish or a burden?

• Did your caregivers have a negative or positive relationship with money?

• What beliefs were passed down about rich people, success, or financial stability?

Journaling on these questions can help you uncover deep-seated money blocks you didn’t even know were there.

The Psychology of Spending

We’ve been conditioned to equate spending with happiness.

Think about it:

• We believe that designer labels are better.

• We think that staying at exclusive hotels or restaurants makes us special.

• Social media algorithms are designed to keep us in a constant state of wanting.

But here’s the truth:

✨ You don’t need to buy your worth.

We’ve been programmed to believe that spending = status and that we need more to feel enough. But that’s just marketing psychology at work.

My Money Story: Scarcity, Fear, and Breaking Free

What I Heard Growing Up:

I grew up hearing:

• “Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

• “You have to work hard for money.”

• “We’re not as rich as everyone else.”

• “If you care too much about money, you’re a bad person.”

I felt trapped between two worlds—privileged compared to some, but not enough compared to others.

I believed that having more money would make my problems disappear. But it doesn’t work that way.

I spent years:

❌ Living paycheck to paycheck

❌ Feeling ashamed of financial struggles

❌ Avoiding investing because I thought it was “for rich people”

I believed that budgeting would prove how little I had, so I avoided it.

I felt afraid to ask for more money because I thought I wasn’t worthy.

And when I finally did invest? My first experience was a disaster.

The Stock Market & The Fear That Followed

My dad, a former VP at Procter & Gamble, was obsessed with investing.

But instead of wealth-building, it became an addiction to risk.

He put everything into one stock: Taseko Mines—a mining company that never delivered.

Every time it tanked, he doubled down.

At 25, he convinced me to invest $2,000. Over two years, I lost almost all of it.

💥 That was the moment I subconsciously decided: Investing is dangerous.

I spent years avoiding the stock market, assuming it was chaotic, unpredictable, and too risky.

Not because investing was bad—but because I had associated it with instability and fear.

Rewiring My Money Mindset

Carl Jung wrote:

“Everyone carries a shadow. The less it is embodied in conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”

I realized my money beliefs weren’t mine—they were inherited.

And I would never be financially free until I let them go.

The Turning Point

After my mother died, I did RTT (Rapid Transformational Therapy) to work through my money blocks.

I uncovered that:

• I felt guilty for having more than my siblings.

• I feared that success would make me an outsider in my family.

• I equated money with love, acceptance, and worthiness.

I wasn’t afraid of money—I was afraid of losing connection with those I loved.

How I Finally Broke Free

Around that time, I found Helen Huang, CEO of Enrich Fiscal Fitness. Her course on financial literacy for women changed so much.

I learned:

✔️ How to manage money without fear

✔️ How to invest strategically, not emotionally

✔️ How to let go of scarcity & embrace abundance

And with that, something unexpected happened:

💡 I wanted to be seen.

💡 I wanted more meaningful relationships.

💡 I stopped craving things because I realized they wouldn’t make me happy.

If you’re serious about transforming your money mindset, I highly recommend:

📖 Finance for the People by Paco de Leon

📧 Her newsletter, which simplifies financial literacy

Final Thought: You Are Not Stuck

Remember:

🔹 What is expected tends to be realized.

🔹 You gravitate to what feels familiar, even if it’s bad for you.

But you can change your financial future.

Step 1: Become aware of your money story.

Step 2: Question the beliefs that no longer serve you.

Step 3: Take action, even if it’s small.

Your relationship with money affects your entire life.

It’s time to rewrite the script.