Money Concept

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I was just wondering how people approach the concept of money. Personally I am hopeless with it and always have been, I just don't understand the difference between cheap and expensive. I logically understand that $1000 is more than $20, but for me numbers are patterns and don't really relate to money. I know that 5 lots of $20 make $100 and $1000 is only ten lots of $100. But the trouble is that I confused and often find that I have spent rather a lot without meaning to, even when I think I have been buying cheap stuff.

As I work in finance I always thought it was something like 'mechanics and their cars', but lately I've been thinking it might be part of my AS.

Does anyone on WP have similar issues with money?

Budgeting can be a challenge to say the least. I spend most (sometimes) all of my money on my interests and forget the basics (which do not interest me at all). This has caused many problems for me in the past and now my wife manages my money, otherwise we would not have any. Too bad my special interests were not money matters / household budgets so I would not be such a burden on my wife in this regard.

Mostly I do OK at recognising whether I'm dealing with big money or small amounts, but not always.

When it was worth shopping around for bank accounts with the best interest rates, I got very into that, and became alarmingly glib about shuttling thousands of pounds around on the Web. Riskiest thing I did was to move £25,000 into a bank I'd never heard of before, with just a few clicks of the mouse. Luckily I got away with it. I suppose I felt overconfident because Web activity had always been a low-risk thing for me.

Conversely, I've wasted hours tracking down the cheapest deals for things that only cost a couple of pounds.

Haven't had to really put it to the test yet, but have a good feeling it will be a problem for me.

Money tends to burn holes in my pockets, but that's because I don't have to spend any of it on essential things, so I just usually end up purchasing whatever new game I want or saving up for that really powerful graphics card or a gift for a family member's upcoming birthday.

I'm still in high school, so I've got nothing better or more important to spend it on. I'm actually really frugal when I can't get everything I want to purchase in a short amount of time, and I usually end up not purchasing most of it which leaves me with more money than I would have if I could have purchased all of it.

I don't think I'll have too much in the way of money troubles, but only time will tell.

I'm not very good with money. I'm really bad at guessing how much things cost (wouldn't be very good on The Price is Right). I don't know much about money, except for the basics and what's been explicitly taught to me in school. Anything to do with stocks and bonds I find deeply uninteresting and confusing. I don't know how I'm going to manage when I get older: I do catch on to things well when I am clearly taught, so hopefully I'll be able to learn as I go.

I went to business school straight out of high school. I have always had an academic understanding of money.

However, during my twenties I overspent and made poor business decisions with the wrong business partners, eventually resulting in being over $100K in debt and then bankrupt. In hindsight, many of these errors were made due to ADHD/ASD symptoms - and now knowing this, it's a whole heck of a lot easier to forgive myself for my mistakes and move forward.

I've since managed to successfully treat my ASD & other symptoms over the last couple of years via diet/supplements/probiotics as I've shared on the forum for the last year or so. I'm happier & healthier than during the rest of my life to date.. and my relationship with money has changed dramatically for the better, too. I don't make impulsive purchases, I don't use credit at ALL never mind abuse it buying things I can't afford or financing small business operations that aren't going to pay off. I've become a saver & investor. I drive a high milage beater transportation appliance and buy many of my clothes at thrift shops. A year and a half ago my bankruptcy discharged and I had about $300 to my name. Today I'm up approx $30K depending on the markets & have a whole lot more financial progress to make over the next year or two as I continue to build the capital required to launch a business plan I've had in mind for the last ~5 years.

Over the last year and a half I've spent money on essentials like food/clothing/tools etc, $700 on a car (which I smashed twice so it's now worth $50 but still goes lol) $1000 on new glasses and $2000 on Thanksgiving & Christmas presents and saved almost every other cent I've made. Lately I've spent a little more here and there on a meal or a drink, but still not much. I love that saving as I do has enabled me to afford to buy the gifts I have for people and hope to continue that on throughout the rest of my life.

So, yeah, I could definitely relate in the past when my symptoms were strong.. but now that I've managed to get myself under control I've also managed to make the right decisions and take the right actions as per my knowledge of money vs. knowing better but not doing better due to ASD symptoms controlling my brain functions and ultimately decisions, actions, and life.

It's been my experience that "Health is wealth," - quite literally. The healthier I get physically/mentally/neurologically, the more I'm able to earn & in turn invest and compound as bigger better opportunities to make money present themselves.

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