We all know debt is bad for our financial and mental health, so why do we have so much trouble staying away from it? In this episode, Kimberlee explores this question by digging into the psychology of debt. She shares several factors that may contribute to our debt struggles, from our relationships to our spending to our education, and she reminds us that managing debt is vital for our physical and mental health. And stay tuned for part 2, where we’ll talk about strategies for tackling debt!

Episode Recap:

• Today we’re talking about the psychology of debt (1:02)
• Knowing something is bad for us isn’t always enough to stop us from doing it (2:12)
• Debt and health are directly linked (5:52)
• The average American has $5,700 of credit card debt (7:47)
• We incur debt when we don’t have a budget (12:12)
• We incur debt when we spend more than we make (14:14)
• Our debt grows when we don’t have enough cash flow for interest and expenses (17:16)
• Marriage problems can make debt worse (20:24)
• We struggle with debt when we don’t understand it (23:16)
• Don’t rob yourself of future stability (25:53)

Resources:

• Find every episode of the Fiscal Feminist podcast
• “The Fiscal Feminist” book

Quotes:

“Don’t rob yourself of future financial stability because it will affect your health as well. If you have a health problem, you go to the doctor and try to figure out how to fix it so that you can stay healthy. This is as important as going to the doctor, because if you don’t, you may end up having health problems over it because you get so stressed out. So, the point of this podcast is for you to ponder the why of your debt honestly, and that is the first step to solving the problem.”

“Most people fail to plan. They don’t have a budget, and they rely on intuition to regulate spending. ‘Should I be spending this? Eh, well I have a little bit of room.’ But they don’t know because they haven’t done a budget. And this is a really, really bad idea.”