Building Your Relationship to Money - Helen's Story

Helen had come to Chris for financial advice after she and her husband had made some disappointing investment and financial management decisions. Very early in the Financial DNA process, Helen realized that the two areas she needed to address immediately was her inability to save, and her ‘financial phobia’ which prevented her from effectively dealing with financial matters.

At the root of Helen’s inability to save was the ongoing shame she felt as a child at being the poorest kid in her class. Even though this embarrassment occurred 25 years ago, it was still a driving factor in her money management style, but it wasn’t until she completed the Financial Directions Appraisal that she realized it was still affecting her. Thankfully Helen had not fallen into the trap of easy credit, but after working for 10 years she still had very little to show for her hard work.

Helen’s Core Life Profile was Engager, which means she feared embarrassment, and looking good to others was a high priority for her. She remembered well the humiliation she felt when, as a child, her more well-off school friends lived in homes far more modern and stylish than her family’s small weatherboard cottage in a poor neighborhood. Worse still was the shame of being teased by her friends because of her meager weekly allowance and the poorer quality of her clothes and shoes. Even as an adult, Helen was still trying to compensate for this feeling of inequality by accumulating possessions.

Through the insights gained through the three Financial DNA stages, Chris was able to mentor her in this area, help her seek help to address her feelings of shame, and become committed to spending less and saving more.

In addition to Helen’s spending problem, she also suffered from a case of financial phobia - a paralyzing fear of dealing with anything financially related.

The cause of Helen’s financial fear was more recent than the factors contributing to her spending problem. Several disappointing investments and a failed business had served to eliminate what little investment confidence she had once had. A high achiever in other aspects of her life, Helen was paralyzed with fear at the thought of dealing with taxes, banks and investments. Her ‘solution’ was simply to ignore tax deadlines and correspondence from financial institutions.

Unfortunately for Helen, sweeping her financial matters under the rug did not make them go away. Her financial phobia had cost her several thousand dollars in fees and late tax returns.

Chris discussed with Helen the kind of financial future she envisioned for herself and her husband Tony. Early retirement, extensive travel and the ‘easy life’ was what Helen hoped for her. After consolidating her investments, a major step forward for Helen in itself, Chris showed Helen some simple projections to demonstrate just what kind of income she could expect in retirement. It became apparent that at her current rate of saving, Helen’s retirement savings would last her no longer than five years! This reality check, along with the education and support from Chris, was enough to motivate Helen to take control of her finances again, and make some proactive steps towards realizing her future financial goals.

Helen also participated in the process with her husband Tony – click here to read their story.


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