Why People Screw Up with Money

I’m not your usual accountant. I didn’t learn about money in a textbook while sipping cappuccinos in a cozy lecture hall. My education came from the gritty, unpredictable world of post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s. Imagine a place where salaries weren’t paid for months, bills piled up, and survival wasn’t guaranteed. You either figured out how to make money, or you didn’t eat. Simple, but harsh. That’s where I started—building small businesses to scrape by, while observing how people survived, thrived, or fell apart under financial pressure.

Fast-forward 20 years, and here I am in Australia, helping people navigate their money messes. While the economy is kinder here (no unpaid salaries, thankfully), the emotional chaos around money is the same. People wrestle with fear, shame, greed, and hopelessness, often without realising how much these feelings shape their financial decisions. Because, let’s face it, money isn’t just numbers—it’s personal. It’s tied to our dreams, fears, and whether we thrive or fail spectacularly.

Who Are You in the Money Game?

After two decades of working with people and businesses, I’ve seen the same cast of characters pop up repeatedly. Do you recognise yourself in one of these?

  1. The Defenders: Frugal to the point of self-denial. They hoard every penny as if the apocalypse is coming tomorrow. They’re constantly preparing for a disaster that never arrives.
  2. The Consumers: They live for the moment, spending without a care for tomorrow. Fun, generous, but always broke. They’ve mastered the art of enjoying life but have no backup plan for when reality hits.
  3. The Strugglers: Victims of circumstance—always blaming the economy, a bad divorce, or their boss for their financial mess. No matter how much they earn, it’s never enough.
  4. The Masters: The rare unicorns of finance. They balance today and tomorrow, plan smartly, and make things work. They’re proof that it’s possible to win the money game.

The problem? Most people are stuck in scripts they don’t even know they’re following—scripts handed down by their parents, culture, or life’s circumstances. These scripts dictate how you behave with money, often without you realising it.

Breaking the Script

Here’s the good news: once you name your script, you can break free from it. Let me show on a very simple example how:

Script 1: “Money is complicated.”

Is it, though? Or have you just been avoiding it?

Try this: sit at your dining table with 10 envelopes in front of you. Each envelope represents a spending category—rent, groceries, fun, savings, etc. Now, take your paycheck in cash and divide it into those envelopes. That’s budgeting. If you’re struggling to figure out what goes where, the problem isn’t that money is complicated. It’s that your priorities are. Fix those, and suddenly your money starts making sense.

Script 2: “Why bother saving? I’ll still be broke.”

This one’s a classic, but here’s how you shut it down:

  1. Call it out. Recognise this script for what it is—a lie. The problem isn’t your income; it’s that you’re not telling your money where to go.
  2. Build a mini win. Take $50 and put it in a separate account. Call it your “I’m Smarter Than My Script Fund.” Watch it sit there. Don’t touch it. Why? Because this isn’t about the amount—it’s about proving to yourself that you can save.
  3. Rinse and repeat. Add another $50 next month. Boom. Suddenly, you’ve got $100, and your script starts looking pretty dumb.

Want the Deep Dive?

These are just the teasers. In my 3-hour Behavioral Finance Masterclass, we dive deeper into:

You’ll leave the session with clarity, confidence, and a real plan to escape your financial ruts. And if you don’t? I’ll refund your $1,497 you pay me for the session.

Because here’s the truth: your money habits don’t care about inspiration; they care about execution. Ready to stop screwing up with money?