After college, I felt lucky that it didnt take long to find a job.
I counted my blessings and enthusiastically entered the working world.
Months later, I was offered a better, higher paying job.
Youd think Id be happy, but I wasnt.
I was mostly afraid.
The opportunity was tempting, and it was in line with what I shouldve been paid in that industry.
But I was terrified of the risk.
What if it didnt work out?
And what if I couldnt find anything after that?
What if I had nothing?
Fear can serve a purpose, to some degree.
At first, it lit a fire that helped me reach some financial goals.
To some extent, it helped me work hard.
But after a while, that same fear started getting in the way more than it helped.
Here are a few financial fears Ive dealt with, and what I did to get over them.
I Was Afraid of Losing My Income
Probably my biggest money fear was losing my job.
Or, more specifically, losing my income source.
Its an understandable fear.
I was afraid of the struggle of not having enough to get by.
In a way, that fear served a purpose.
It probably helped shape my work ethic a bit.
You tend to work pretty hard when youre terrified of being fired.
As understandable as this fear may be, it also got in the way of some pretty important stuff.
Conquering this fear had a lot to do with learning tospeak up for myselfand become comfortablewith taking risks.
For example, I saved an adequate amount for an emergency.
Second, I calculated the risks I took.
I took the risk, and it was a risk that paid off well, both financially and emotionally.
I Didnt Want to Regret Spending
Another financial fear of mine?
Youshouldavoid overspending, right?
Sure, but this fear has gotten in the way, too.
For example, as a freelancer, I spend a lot of time on my laptop.
For a while, my laptop was on its last legs, which made work very difficult.
It took me longer to get stuff done, and I was constantly frustrated with my system.
It was a source of worry, as I always associated it with not having enough.
Once I understood how money motivated me, it became a lot easier to get over that fear.
By recognizing it, I could manage it.
Whenever I made a financial decision, I asked whether it was solely motivated by that worry.
If it was, I reassessed the decision objectively.
But spending regret is still something I consider.
Balancing the two comes down to developing some conscious spending habits.
For example:
I put adollar limit on indecision.
I focus more on my financial goals than my budget.
Because Im a frugal person, its hard for me to spend money in certain areas.
But I have my weaknesses, too, which is why Im wary of overspending to begin with.
I, like others, just thought it seemed intimidating, confusing, and beyond my abilities.
Ive always been a very frugal person, but saving money isonly one part of building wealth.
And its not even the most important part.
If you really want to build wealth, couponing isnt going to cut it.
You have to increase the money you have coming in, and investing is part of doing that.
After I paid off my debts and saved for an emergency, investing became hard to ignore.
And I couldnt take advantage of it without investing.
But I didnt know what I was invested in or how it worked.
Most resources I read referenced index funds, so I learned more about those, too.
I also learned to diversify.
Overall, I learnedhow to build an easy, beginners portfolio.
I learned how both of those work, and I learned how they impact my own tax situation.
The learning process was gradual, but most of it falls into one of those three general steps.
The more I learned, the more I got over my fear.
Soon enough, I realized its not that intimidating at all; its actually pretty simple.
I was afraid of losing my job, so I worked hard.
I was afraid of overspending and losing my money, so I did a good job of saving it.
But after it serves its purpose, that fear can also get in the way and hold you back.
Illustration by Tara Jacoby.
