You think you're making rational decisions about money. You believe you're being careful, responsible, logical. But underneath every financial choice you make, there's an invisible script playing on repeat. And you probably wrote it when you were eight years old.

I didn't realize I had a money story until I was well into adulthood. I'd been avoiding investing for years, always finding reasons why it wasn't the right time. Too risky. Too complicated. Not enough saved up yet. I told myself I was being smart and cautious.

Then one day, a friend asked me a simple question: "What did your parents teach you about investing?" I froze. They didn't teach me anything about investing. But they did lose money in the market during a recession, and I remembered the stress it caused. The tension at dinner. The worried conversations late at night.

Suddenly, it clicked. I wasn't avoiding investing because of logic. I was avoiding it because of fear I'd absorbed as a kid.

The Scripts We Inherit

We all carry beliefs about money that we didn't consciously choose. Maybe you grew up hearing "we can't afford that" so often that you internalized the idea that money is always scarce. Maybe your parents fought about bills, and now financial conversations make you anxious. Maybe money was abundant but never discussed, so you learned that talking about it is somehow inappropriate.

These early experiences shape how we see money today. And most of the time, we don't even realize it's happening.

Here are a few of the most common money stories I've encountered, both in myself and others:

"I'm just bad with money." This one usually comes from a few embarrassing mistakes that got blown out of proportion. A bounced check. An overdraft fee. Instead of seeing these as learning moments, you labeled yourself as incompetent. But being "bad with money" isn't a personality trait. It's just a lack of experience or guidance. And it's completely fixable.

"Investing is gambling." This belief often comes from watching someone lose money or from media coverage that only highlights crashes. But disciplined, long term investing in diversified funds isn't gambling. It's ownership. And it's one of the most reliable ways to build wealth.

"I don't have enough to get started." This story keeps countless people on the sidelines, waiting for some arbitrary amount before they feel ready. The truth is, you can start with very little. And thanks to compound growth, starting small and early beats starting big and late.

"Money doesn't matter." Some people reject financial goals entirely because they associate money with greed or shallowness. But money isn't inherently good or bad. It's a tool. And pretending it doesn't matter doesn't make you virtuous. It just makes you unprepared.

What's Your Story?

If you've been stuck in the same financial patterns for years despite knowing better, your money story might be the reason.

Ask yourself: What's my earliest memory involving money? How did the adults in my life talk about it? What emotions come up when I think about spending, saving, or investing? What assumptions do I make about people who have more or less money than me?

These aren't easy questions. But they're important. Because once you can see the script, you can decide whether it's still serving you.

Rewriting Takes Time, But It's Possible

I wish I could tell you that recognizing your money story instantly fixes everything. It doesn't. Old beliefs run deep. But awareness is the starting point.

Once I realized my fear of investing came from childhood experiences that weren't even mine, I could start separating past emotions from present decisions. I didn't become fearless overnight. But I did start taking small steps. And those steps built confidence.

Your money story was written a long time ago, probably by people who were doing the best they could with what they knew. It's not about blame. It's about recognizing that you're not stuck with the script you were handed. You can write a new one. And the first line starts today.