You may wonder what a “financial hoarder” is. With all the media attention given to hoarders of physical objects, there’s been little focus on people whose focus is money. Rebecca Eddy was recently asked to present on the topic, as the term applies to many of the clients we’ve helped over the years.
To hoard is to amass, hide, or store away something of personal value. It has multiple causes and varies in severity.
You or Someone You Know May Be a Financial Hoarder if…
Any of these items are hidden (or not so hidden) in your home:
- Stock Certificates
- Bonds
- Certificates of Deposit that have expired
- Stashes of Cash
- Piles of Checks to be Deposited
You have an excess of these financial accounts:
- Multiple checking and savings accounts at several banks
- Credit Cards (including ones to get travel points & store discounts)
- Investments with multiple firms
- Certificates of Deposit at different banks
You are overwhelmed by a superfluous amount of these papers:
- Bank statements
- Investment reports
- Medical bills & insurance statement
- Credit card bills
- Household bills
- Solicitations from charities
If some or any of the above are true, you may be dealing with financial hoarding.
The Causes of Financial Hoarding
Dealing with finances can be anxiety-provoking for many people. Thus, the primary cause of financial hoarding is most often fear.
How financial hoarders interact with money is often defined by some very specific fears. Some defining fears are:
- Fear of a bank crash
- Fear of not being able to get to a bank to get cash
- Fear of having “all eggs in one basket” resulting in
- Multiple accounts
- Multiple brokers
- Multiple types of investment vehicles
- Fear of stockbrokers “churning” stocks for commissions
- Fear of automated banking
- ATMs
- Direct deposit
- Auto-pay
Other causes of hoarding are psychological conditions. These most often require the combined support of a therapist and a professional organizer who specializes in hoarding.
Hoarding may also be caused by a recent change in situation. Factors could be a sudden illness, the death of a spouse, or the degeneration of eyesight, motor skills, or executive function.
In either situation, you may have developed or be developing ineffective, if not counterproductive, habits. A Daily Money Manager can provide beneficial assistance in unraveling the excess of financial information and help you establish healthy financial goals.