Next Question

How Your Earliest Understanding of Finances Impacts Your Spending Habits

stacks of money lined up

Getty

Ally’s senior director of financial health and wellness discusses “money stories,” and Katie comes clean about her own financial anxieties.

Does the act of spending money cause you extraordinary stress? Or do you spend now, and worry about potential complications later? Either way, you’re not alone — we all have weird, complex feelings about our bank account balances, our savings, interest rates, and other subjects surrounding both long-term hoarding and impulsive splurging.

In this intimate podcast interview, Katie and Ally’s Jack Howard, senior director of financial health and wellness, talk “money stories.” These narratives of lifelong financial behavior begin with our first memories of money (usually our parents’ spending habits) and our perception of finances during our formative years. Katie and Howard also interview Julien and Kiersten Saunders, authors of Cashing Out: Win the Wealth Game by Walking Awayand founders of the blog and podcast rich & REGULAR. They all delve into why these childhood experiences matter and what you can do to break free from an unhealthy financial cycle. Katie also tells her own money story and explains why talking finance still makes her uncomfortable.

Listen to the interviews below.