Anniki says when she was younger, she often felt scared to check her bank balance and avoided dealing with money as much as possible.
This kind of behaviour is often linked to our education, says Claer Barrett, consumer editor at the Financial Times.
“How we felt about maths in school, maybe that burning feeling of shame of not knowing the answer or putting your hand up to answer a question and getting it wrong, that can often make us feel like, I can’t do maths. So therefore, I can’t do money.”
“We should be really pushing on that door and trying to understand more about our financial situation.”
Abigail says the only way to do this is to force yourself to tackle it head on, setting aside a set amount of time each week to look at your bank account and all your outgoings.
“It’s a minimum of an hour a week.
“Just go through your finances and kind of be hit with it. It sounds a lot, but it can be really calming for your nervous system.”
Doing this will often throw up outgoings that you’ve forgotten, such as a subscription for a gym you haven’t been to in six months or a random app you’ve forgotten you’ve subscribed to, she says.