3 Money Tips for People with ADHD

Tips for those with ADHD and/or those with friends/loved ones with ADHD. Please share!

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Managing your money is hard. It’s tough to control our impulses. But even tougher for people with ADHD. It’s tough to stick to a plan. But even tougher for people with ADHD. It’s tough to focus on long-term goals. But even tougher for people with ADHD. It’s tough not to default to procrastination. But even tougher for people with ADHD. You get the point.

We’ll devote a full podcast to this subject in the future but I’ve helped a lot of people with ADHD get on top of their finances over the years and I want to make three quick but VERY important points here:

Number 1: If you have ADHD you must use pay-yourself-first techniques. Must! Forced savings. Don’t rely on budgeting.

Take human nature out of the equation. We all should do this, you must do it. Pre-authorized checking, payroll deduction, that kind of thing. Point 2: This one is so key. You need to limit, dramatically limit, your access to credit. Lines of credits? Hmm. Credit cards? Leave them at home except when must-haves.

Even debit cards? Ugh. Yep, the old-fashioned pay-with-cash-when-possible approach is best. Limits the amount you have available to spend. Plus you actually feel a little pain when passing over the paper dollars. All good. Is it always practical? No. But I’m telling you it’s really helped a lot of ADHDers.

Is that a word? Number 3: Use the buddy system if at all possible. A romantic partner, a best friend, a whatever. Having someone monitor your finances from your spending to your saving to your bill paying, etc. can be a giant difference maker. I’ve found that even knowing that he or she will be looking at things help people make better decisions.

Plus, they can push you to change systems, try different approaches, whatever. When things get off track, they are there to help. Can this be a bit embarrassing? Tough on the ego? Sometimes a tad inconvenient? Yes, to all. But, I’m telling you from experience, it works. K, that’s enough for now. Even people who don’t have ADHD are usually sick of me by the two-minute mark.