Money Isn’t Scary - Money Mindset, Money Anxiety, Intentional Spending, Saving Money, Money Management

This week on the show, I'm joined by financial wellness coach, author, entrepreneur, and Stanford-trained sociologist Tari K. Vickery for a conversation about something I believe is at the heart of financial well-being: the emotional side of money. So often we focus on budgets, investing, and financial strategies, but we rarely stop to ask why we make the financial decisions we do. Tari and I expl...

This week, I'm talking about something that happened to me recently that I think many of us can relate to: consuming financial advice and somehow ending up feeling worse instead of better. After a late-night social media scroll left me feeling behind in about twelve different areas of my life, I started thinking about how much financial advice we're exposed to every day—and how overwhelming it can...

This week, I'm chatting with Jenn Klein—author, podcast host, and philanthropic advisor—for a thoughtful conversation about generosity, giving, and what it really means to be a philanthropist. Many of us think philanthropy is something reserved for the ultra-wealthy, but Jenn challenges that belief. She shares how generosity is not defined by the size of a donation, but by the ways we choose to al...

Have you ever felt like somewhere along the way, you stopped feeling like yourself? Whether it's motherhood, burnout, a career change, or simply years of putting everyone else's needs before your own, major life transitions can leave us feeling disconnected from who we are. And sometimes, without even realizing it, we turn to spending as a way to reconnect with ourselves. In this episode, I'm expl...

This week on the pod I’m talking about the financial and emotional cost of constantly saying yes during the chaos of event season. May can feel like a nonstop cycle of graduations, weddings, school events, birthday parties, fundraisers, travel, gifts, and social obligations — and while these moments are often joyful, they can also leave us feeling financially stretched, emotionally overwhelmed, an...

In this week’s episode, I’m joined by Tracy Hoth — life coach, professional organizer, systems expert, and host of The Organized Coach Podcast. Tracy’s work goes far beyond organizing physical spaces. She helps people understand the emotional patterns, mindset shifts, and habits that often sit underneath clutter and overwhelm. In our conversation, we talk about the connection between clutter, mone...

In this week's episode, I’m talking about something that doesn’t get discussed nearly enough—the invisible financial load that so many moms carry every single day. Beyond paying bills or managing accounts, there’s a deeper layer of responsibility: the constant thinking, planning, worrying, and anticipating around money. And in many households, that emotional and mental load quietly falls on moms—o...

In this episode, I’m joined by Kim O’Hara, coach and host of This Delicious Life, for a really grounding conversation about what it means to build a life that actually feels good—not just one that looks good on paper. We talk about the idea of a “delicious life” and how small, intentional moments of self-kindness can shift how we show up day-to-day. We also explore the connection between our overa...

Do you ever feel like you’re just… tired of thinking about money? Because I do—and that’s what inspired this episode. Today I’m talking about financial fatigue—that low-level mental exhaustion that comes from constantly having to think about, manage, and make decisions around money. It’s not that we don’t care or don’t know what to do—it’s that we’re overloaded. In this episode, I share: What fina...

Why does it feel like we’re always trying to keep up? In this episode, I sit down with Ruchika Malhotra, author of Uncompete, to talk about how competition shows up for women—and how it can quietly create a sense of scarcity, impact our confidence, and shape the way we think about success and money. We also explore what shifts when we move toward a more collaborative mindset, and how that can chan...

Tax season isn’t just about forms, deadlines, and numbers — it brings up a lot more than we expect. In this episode, I talk about the psychology of tax season — why it can feel so heavy, why so many of us avoid it, and what’s really going on underneath the surface. From procrastination and fear of getting it wrong, to deeper feelings of financial shame, this time of year can quietly stir up a lot....

This week, I'm talking with Courtney Townley, host of the Grace & Grit podcast and a leading voice in helping women navigate health, hormones, and reinvention with intention. Courtney’s work is all about helping women stop self-abandoning, regulate their nervous systems, and build lives rooted in power instead of pressure. We talk about what it really looks like to live in alignment—and how to...

In today's episode, I explore a deeper layer of our spending habits—looking not at what our money is helping us move toward, but what it may be helping us avoid. Building on the idea of the “upgraded self,” I share personal patterns I've noticed in her own life, from spending during moments of mental overwhelm to purchasing things that feel productive but actually delay decision-making. I also tou...

Today I’m really excited to share my conversation with psychiatrist and author, Dr. Ellen Vora. We dive into one of my favorite topics—anxiety—and explore it in a way that feels both grounding and empowering. Dr. Vora takes a holistic, mind-body approach to anxiety, focusing on getting to the root rather than just managing symptoms. As you’ll hear throughout the conversation, there’s a powerful pa...

In this week's episode, I explore the idea of the “upgraded version” of ourselves—the elevated identity we imagine when we think about who we want to become. Inspired by a simple desire to buy a J.Crew sweater, I unpack the deeper psychology behind why certain purchases feel like they’re bringing us closer to a more confident, composed, and secure version of ourselves. I discuss how many of us qui...

In today's episode, I'm talking with Amanda Foust, a high-performance neuro coach trained in neuroscience and trauma-informed care. Amanda works with leaders and high performers to help them understand how their brains work, shift the patterns that keep them stuck, and create the lives they truly want. Amanda and I talk about how neuroscience and self-awareness can help us better understand our tr...

In honor of Women’s History Month, today I’m reflecting on the subtle, unspoken money lessons I absorbed from my mom — and how those early patterns shaped my relationship with money in ways I didn’t fully understand until adulthood. In this episode, I talk about how inherited money beliefs often live in our nervous systems, how survival strategies get passed down generationally, and why awareness...

In this week’s episode, I share a relatable story about almost buying a $178 sweater — and then hitting pause. That moment got me thinking about delayed gratification, impulse spending, and why it’s so hard to wait in a world built for instant rewards. I talk about the psychology behind impulse buying, money habits, and self-control, what the marshmallow test teaches us about trust and patience, a...

In this episode, we’re talking about the money anxiety that shows up even when nothing is technically wrong. Bills are paid. There’s no emergency. And yet, you still feel tense, on edge, or like you can’t fully relax around money. I talk through why this happens, how past financial stress can linger in your nervous system, and why quiet seasons can make money anxiety feel louder. We also explore t...

In today's episode, I’m sharing my conversation with Leslie Forde — author, CEO, researcher, and advocate for women’s maternal needs. Leslie is the creator of Mom’s Hierarchy of Needs, a powerful framework that helps explain why traditional self-care so often falls short for moms. We talk about why so many of the struggles moms face aren’t personal failures, but the result of systemic and cultural...

In today's episode, I talk about why money can feel so urgent when the world feels uncertain—and why that urgency is often anxiety, not clarity. I share what I’ve seen after nearly 20 years of working with people around money: most financial mistakes don’t come from waiting, they come from acting while overwhelmed or trying to feel in control. We talk through what you don’t need to decide right no...

In today's episode, I’m talking about the quiet, often unspoken ways grief shows up in our relationship with money. Not just the grief of losing someone we love, but also the grief tied to paths not taken, timelines that shifted, dreams that didn’t unfold the way we expected, and the lives we thought we’d be living by now. I share how this kind of grief can sneak into everyday money decisions, sho...

Money avoidance is something most of us do at some point — especially when life feels overwhelming. And it doesn’t mean you’re irresponsible or bad with money. It means you’re human. In this episode, I’m talking honestly about what money avoidance actually looks like, why it feels comforting in the moment, and the quiet ways it can end up costing us more over time — emotionally, relationally, and...

January has a way of bringing out the part of us that really wants to do everything right — especially with money. In this episode, I talk about what I call the good girl hangover: that rule-following, people-pleasing energy that shows up after the holidays and leaves us feeling pressured, restricted, and exhausted. We’ll talk about how this “good girl” part learned to keep us safe, how she shows...

In this New Year episode of Money Isn’t Scary, I’m talking with social psychologist and author Kari Liebowitz about how to get out of winter survival mode and feel more supported by this season instead of just pushing through it. We explore how the way we think about winter can completely shift how it feels in our day-to-day lives, especially when we’re tired, overwhelmed, and juggling a lot. Kari...