It’s a scary time of year, and, frankly, the world is scary, too.
When it comes to money, we all have big, existential questions, but here is one you may not have thought about: What are you afraid of?
The answer could be any number of things. The fear of not earning enough. The fear of getting fired. The fear of making a big investment mistake. The fear of being old, alone and penniless.
I have been covering personal finance for several decades, and I’ve read study after study which says that Americans are not prepared for retirement. So, even though I’ve been saving for my golden years since I entered the workforce, my biggest money fear is outliving my savings.
“A Healthy State of Panic,” a new book by Farnoosh Torabi, who is a personal finance expert as well as a longtime friend, tackles these and other money fears.
“Fear is the emotional underpinning of so many of our money questions,” Torabi says.
The first thing to know about money fears: you are not weird and you are not alone. In fact, 70% of Americans are stressed out about their finances, according to a recent CNBC survey. The biggest fears: inflation, economic instability, rising interest rates and lack of savings.
You do not need to let money fears consume or paralyze you, though. Instead, think of fear as your friend: Your brain is just doing what it has been designed to do over hundreds of thousands of years, which is to keep you alive and protect you from potential harm.
Here are a few tips for handling money fears.
