Many people have fears about money and finances — and those anxieties take many forms.
Personal finance author Farnoosh Torabi explains a number of these worries and offers powerful suggestions about how people can focus these fears in positive ways about money and wealth.
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When examining this line of thinking, it’s important to think about which concerns are healthy and which are not.
“Some financial fears are worthier of our time,” wrote Torabi in her book, “A Healthy State of Panic: Follow Your Fears to Build Wealth, Crush Your Career, and Win at Life.”
“The best carry with them an individualized message and a healthy dose of urgency to encourage us to understand the stakes and commit to a plan toward more security for ourselves and loved ones,” she added.
Torabi discussed ways of thinking about one major financial fear many people share and how to imagine it in a positive way.
Farnoosh Torabi explains a healthy way to confront money fears
Many people have general fears about finances, but fail to put those abstract worries into a context that makes them manageable on a personal level.
The result can be an unhealthy feeling of stress, lack of control and a sense of being overwhelmed.
One example of this is anxiety about an economic recession that leads to layoffs. Torabi addressed a way people can leverage this fear.
“Consider a reframe,” Torabi wrote in her book. “What if I lose my job tomorrow? (It probably won’t happen, but let’s imagine.) What would you immediately do?”
Torabi suggested that taking a close look at that specific fear as it applies to you might prompt you to research your state’s unemployment benefits and how to be sure your health insurance would be covered. You might take a closer look at all of your savings and calculate how long you could live off of them.
“It will spur you to gather the facts and face your financial reality, armed with a plan,” she wrote.
Farnoosh Torabi speaks on April 6, 2016 in New York City. Torabi says money fears, understood properly, can lead to financial health.
Torabi describes a whole different kind of money fear
Another, although to most more enviable, fear about money involves the circumstances around suddenly becoming rich.
Torabi recalled a personal story written in the New York Times magazine by an anonymous woman who had instantly earned $6 million when the tech company she worked for had its initial public offering (IPO).
“I’d be smiling all the way to bank if it were me,” Torabi wrote, “But her fear of money was intricately bound with her fear of rejection and loneliness.”
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The anonymous author had explained in the article that she had a number of worries about her newfound riches. She was afraid her new wealth status would alienate her from her peers. She thought she might not be worthy of her wealth.
The woman had written that her dad told her, “You don’t know how your friends are going to look at you, so don’t talk about it with them. Don’t talk about it with these relatives or your siblings; you don’t want them to feel insecure.” She also said her mom had become “bitter.”
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Torabi wrote in her book that she wishes she knew who this anonymous author was, because she would like to tell her to stop letting fear tell her negative stories about herself.
“I would tell her that she has somehow adopted this convoluted money fear and has every right to drop it,” Torabi explained. “The fact is, I would assure her, with more money you can make a greater difference in your life, your community, and beyond.”
“Will she lose a few friends and alienate people in the process?” Torabi asked. “Based on her family’s reaction, maybe. But I believe that has more to do with their money story. Not hers.”
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