Financial fear is universal and can be transformed from a paralyzing force into a motivator for taking necessary action.

“if you learn how to face it head on if you lean into that fear and you unpack where is this coming from you can flip it from something that paralyzes you into this force that motivates you to do what you need to do to figure things out”

People should treat financial fear as an educational opportunity to understand what they value rather than trying to stop feeling it.

“I don't really like to talk about how to stop fearing it what I want to reframe is how to have a conversation with your fear”

He believes his fear of losing money is rooted in his childhood experience during the financial crisis when his family's economic stability vanished.

“to me like money is something that could just be gone and I was um just some of the roles that I had in my household I was in charge of like making sure the bank accounts were balanced and things like that so to me that's like even looking at my bank account can be traumatic regardless of the amount”

Sandra feels like she must be the one responsible for ensuring the family is safe from financial ruin, a fear that has been with her since childhood.

“makes me scared that there's not going to be enough and that it's all in me too to make sure that there will be enough like I have to be the safe one.”

She believes that the fear of future financial insecurity is the primary driver behind her financial behavior.

“what if for some reason I get laid off and I can't get a new job the fear keeps me going”

Experiencing panic attacks creates a phobic cycle of avoiding situations that might trigger further episodes.

“you're afraid of panic attacks in a strict phobia way where it's like you build your life around not having them so wherever you found your safe place to be is just like your life around that and extra things can and that's another reason why this job just isn't the job for me is because it's so anx”

Courtney admits that her tendency to misrepresent financial numbers and downplay expenses is an emotional strategy to avoid stress.

“I think too like I'm sure when I said that number it was probably something that like in my heart I knew it was more than that but I'm like I don't want him to know that it's this much so we're just gonna go ahead and say this maybe about this much I get I guess it's like a form of self-soothing”

Brian expresses that he maintains a cavalier attitude about money specifically to protect his wife from feeling anxious.

“I do want to protect her. I know how she feels about money. I know how she worries about it. I don't want to use the word minimize necessarily, but I kind of try to have this demeanor where, you know what, it is going to be okay.”

Emi acknowledges that her avoidance of financial matters was a way to deflect responsibility, which resulted in anxiety and debt.

“why I think it was just deflecting responsibility it's all on you I trust you you got this I support you I'm going to keep putting my head in this hand”

Ryan believes that constant worry over money is unproductive and he chooses to avoid it.

“I made decisions based on money that in hindsight I later regretted and I I kind of just at some point said I'm never doing that again”