Chad

Overview

In this article I touch on our current capitalistic financial landscape and look at the effects of financial influencers, what living intentionally is and what it isn’t, why minimalism and ADHD work well together, and how to reduce impulse decision-making.

Financial complexity

Currently, our financial industry is complex (to put it mildly). The reason being, that the more complex it is, the easier it is for big companies, financial advisors, and con artists to sell investment products, scam consumers, and take advantage of our lack of knowledge. Of course, not all people trying to help are like this, but unfortunately, there are a lot out there who are.

For instance, if you want to know more about one of your 401(k) investments, you often have to download a “prospectus” that can be anywhere from 50 to 200+ pages long! Just for one investment. This needless complexity negatively affects many, (especially those with ADHD) creating more reasons to feel overwhelmed, guilty, or ashamed.

Our current financial system

Aspects of our current society like hyper-consumption, marketing oversaturation, and profit-first companies have all contributed to an environment of toxic productivity, excess, and ambition over anything. Minimalism and the increasing popularity of financial independence, retiring early, and quiet quitting are all responses to our broken system.

Thankfully, our government is starting to increase regulation in more industries. Unions are getting their members what they deserve, and our society is starting to see through the façade big businesses have been trying to maintain.

Financial influencers

Too many financial influencers online are sharing misinformation, motivated primarily by increasing their followers, selling their products, or outright trying to scam you.

Not only that, but these influencers say you should:

• Get this product
• Open this account
• Save for this
• Don’t buy that
• Live like this

These are their biased opinions. If we take these as facts to live by, it can create a toxic mentality of, “If I don’t do this or I don’t know about that, then I’m not doing what I should with my finances,” and anxiety soon follows.

Of course, there is good advice online, but even if the advice is helpful, it can lead you down a path that isn’t right for you.

Following others’ advice

This happened to me before I went to college for finance and got into financial planning. I read dozens of finance books, watched hundreds of hours of informational videos, and read countless articles to try and educate myself on money. They all seemed to talk about the same things: how the best ways to succeed financially were to be financially independent, and frugal, invest in real estate, and save 50% or more of your income.

I went after those goals and achieved some of them but woke up one day unhappy. Money had become all-encompassing and my self-confidence was wrapped up entirely in how I used money. All the advice I read and took to heart was nested in the mentality that “if you don’t live like this, you aren’t good with money”. It was toxic, and I have been working on releasing this baggage ever since.

The advice of others (yes, even my advice) should be critically evaluated. Don’t take everything someone says as the truth and copy and paste it into your own life. Examine their advice and pick and choose, applying pieces of it where they fit into your life and make sense for your goals. Fact-checking advice in general before doing something complex, like investing, is a good habit to get into.

The Integration of Minimalism and ADHD

Managing money while having ADHD can be especially daunting. Taking the first “step” towards educating ourselves is more of a great big leap. There will be struggles along the journey and introspection that can be hard to go through, but it is worth it!

Minimalism can help you understand what matters in your life through self-exploration, providing insight into your values, and removing things from your life and routines that overwhelm you and make you feel guilty.

Living intentionally, simply, and using your resources for things that matter are all parts of minimalism that I believe align with both money and ADHD.

What does it mean to live more intentionally?

“Intentional” is defined as “done on purpose, deliberate”. The simplest explanation of being intentional is to think about your decisions before you make them.

Living intentionally doesn’t mean anti-consumerist

It means thoughtful consumption. Using minimalism as a way to approach your life can reduce overall consumption, but it isn’t about going to extremes for the sake of it. Being “anti-consumerist” is impossible. Every living thing on this planet consumes. Humans consume air, water, food, products, gas, energy, housing, cars, etc. Without these things, we couldn’t operate in modern society. Being anti-consumerist is an unrealistic expectation, one that can increase guilt and shame if you aren’t spending time trying to succeed at it.

Living intentionally doesn’t mean zero-waste

It’s more about reducing what we can. Trying to be zero waste is also impossible and would require an incredible amount of work, patience, and discipline. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be thrifty, or fix your broken things rather than buy new all the time. These are great and can help to lower your waste, but it is next to impossible to create zero waste in today’s society.

How to live more intentionally

It can be hard to spend money intentionally when it comes to things that you care about or that excite you. When you find something you want to buy, a dopamine response in your brain gets triggered that keeps you focused on it until you take action. Here are some tips to help reduce impulse buying:

create a “cooling off” period

If you find something you really want, try to wait one day before you purchase it. Waiting even one day can help you limit impulse buying because it removes the immediate emotional trigger that makes you want to buy something right now. After you’ve “cooled off” from the initial excitement, you may realize you don’t really need that item after all.

make decisions on your good days

Find a day, or a time of day, when you feel the most clear-headed. This should be when you analyze a purchase decision or make purchases that you have been holding off on. Waiting until you are calm and clear-headed to make decisions prevents impulse buying in times when you’re overwhelmed or tired and just want to get one task off your to-do list.

know the return policy

Know the return policy of anything you purchase and put it on your calendar. As the date approaches, check in with yourself to see if that purchase still serves you or if you can return it.

With this approach, you can buy things quickly (fulfilling that dopamine rush), but it doesn’t affect your finances as long as you return the item. This tactic should only be used when you are hyper-focusing and can’t get the purchase off your mind.

Closing Thoughts

Living intentionally, thinking through your purchases, and creating a personal world that matches who you are and who you want to be are worth doing. But it may be harder for some than others. For instance, those of us with ADHD must purposefully put barriers in place to stop our impulse buying.

On this journey to improve your financial well-being, remember to be open to learning new methods and tactics, but don’t copy and paste what one person says directly into your own life. Evaluate their advice and see where it may work well in your life and which parts don’t make sense for your goals.

Think progress, not perfection. You don’t need to know everything to get started, but you do need to feel good about what you’re doing or else it won’t last. As you implement anything, check in with yourself and ask, “Does this make me feel good?” If it doesn’t, take a step back and reevaluate your approach.

Overview

In this article, I explain why I chose to focus on minimalism with money, living with ADHD, how unavoidable personal finance is, our financial education, and what my plans are to make financial education tailored to those who think differently.

Why did I choose minimalism? 

I love the idea behind minimalism and how it relates to our lives. The mentality behind minimalism is a great way of creating a financial life that is simple, elegant, and authentic.

Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. By clearing the clutter from life’s path, we can all make room for the most important aspects of life: health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution – The Minimalists

If we don’t know what’s truly important or what matters, we can live a life where we feel anxiety, discontent with where we are, and shame that we aren’t doing enough.

I have found through my own experience trying to manage my finances that using my money in a way that aligns with my authentic self has been incredibly life-giving. It has also bubbled up shame and guilt from the depths of my mind that I didn’t know existed as money can seep into every facet of our life.

It also doesn’t hurt that a few of the core tenets of minimalism relate to money so well, like…

● Intentionality: thinking through purchase decisions, financial goals, and how you want to lead your life by taking small steps. 

● Prioritization: focusing your spending on what matters to you, and knowing the order of importance of where you want your money to be spent. 

● Contentment: being happy with what you have, not focusing on what you lack, and knowing what “enough” means to you. 

● Simplicity: simplifying your financial life can make room for things you care about, and make daily life less overwhelming. 

Living with ADHD

I was diagnosed with ADHD at age 30, and all of my life I have dealt with impulsivity, buying things I don’t need, dealing with shame, and feeling incapable of change. This chaotic energy surrounded money, and even talking about it sent me into overwhelm.

I had this mentality that it was “just money, I can make more”. This mentality in itself isn’t harmful if it’s used in moderation. However, I used it as an excuse for everything I bought. I reasoned that I had a steady paycheck in the Marines and knew that it was coming in no matter what.

Using this logic, I had dug myself into a huge hole of debt that at the peak was $90k in credit cards and auto debt.

I lived this way for years, and it wasn’t until I got out of the Marine Corps that I even thought about money. I fortunately used a positive aspect of ADHD, hyperfocus, and learned everything I could about personal finance.

The next four years I was able to get out of debt, buy a duplex in the town I was going to college in, and become financially independent-ish. One of the feelings of being confident with your money is knowing that you will be okay if something unexpected happens. I want you to feel that confidence and the self-love that blossoms when you achieve it.

Personal finance is too important to avoid

Unfortunately, dealing with money is an unavoidable topic if you want to operate “normally” in society. Money can be a tool, but it more closely resembles a relationship. Money seems to bring out the best and worst in us, and often exploits our full range of emotions in the process.

If this relationship is positive, it can be life-giving. It can allow us to live a life aligned with our values and goals, it can make working optional, allow us to go on more vacations, and give to our families and others. 

However, it can turn into a bad relationship, where we end up living lives in debt, living paycheck to paycheck, feeling like we’re drowning in expectations we can’t meet and punishing ourselves for it.

“Understanding your relationship with money is the first step towards using it in the way that matters most to you.” 

I want to help you understand your relationship with money, and how it relates to your authentic self and living a life more aligned with your values.

Financial education

Personal finance is rarely taught in schools and to make matters worse, there are quite a few people and businesses out there ready to prey on this lack of knowledge. 

This blog is the result of thousands of hours that I have spent researching and coaching people on money and how it relates to their lives.

What makes me different

I am a qualified financial professional who understands ADHD, habits, behavior change, and what it’s like to live both inauthentically and authentically to my values. I know firsthand the change required and the work it takes to make that leap.

I understand that there can be a lot of nuance to your situation. Aligning your money with your values and beliefs, your memories of how your parents viewed money, your current opinions on money, how you view investing, etc. can be complicated.

A lot of current personal financial blogs and influencers only give access to their unique relationship with money or their opinion on it. It’s fun to see how other people use money, what they would do in certain situations, and get some hope that we also can change, but that’s their story, not yours. 

One of my top priorities is to help you understand how your situation applies to the many different aspects of money. I will share resources on how to start implementing these financial topics into your life. I know it is incredibly difficult to just read something and then all of a sudden know what to do next, or even how it relates. I am the bridge between knowledge and practical application for you.

What to expect from future articles 

I will write each article about a specific topic and give practical applications, whether it’s templates, resources, questionnaires, research, or exercises that can help you apply that topic to your current situation. 

I also plan on creating different series that help you navigate the complex financial landscape, like…

• Evaluation Series: where I show the research I conduct about financial companies, products, software, and books and if they are worth buying.
• Client Stories: this will be a series that involves my actual clients (names and situations altered for privacy) that shows you what they are going through, how they feel, how I help them, and what resources are used. I want you to know that you aren’t alone.
• Educational Series: this will revolve around relevant financial topics and exploring how they relate to your situation. The topics will include cash flow, budgeting, investing, retirement, financial independence, real estate investing, and home buying, to name a few.
• Curation Series: this will be a gathering of other great financial content and writings that I find through my research and organized by topic for additional reading and research for you.
• Entrepreneurship Series: this will be financial content that will apply to starting and managing a small business. If you have ADHD, there’s a good chance this is a topic that you have juggled with.

Conclusion

• I have found that minimalism is a great way to learn about personal finance, apply it to your life, and learn how to live as authentically as possible.
• I want to help you lower the stress and overwhelm you may harbor around money.
• I understand what it’s like to feel scatterbrained, overwhelmed, ashamed, and guilt-ridden when it comes to money.
• I also understand what it takes to become hopeful, confident, and knowledgeable about money.
• I want you to feel the relief of feeling confident and capable of achieving your financial goals.
• I want to help you understand the relationship you have with money and living and help you learn to live a life more aligned with your values.
• I want to make sure that I am continuously providing resources that can help you understand your own relationship with money.
• There are many out there that struggle.