How Your Childhood Affects Your Financial Life

By Holly Gillian Kindel Learn more about Holly on NerdWallet’s Ask an Advisor Much of your financial life is probably driven by beliefs that you aren’t even aware you have. These unexamined, ingrained ideas are known as “money scripts” and influence your financial behavior. Drs. Brad and Ted Klontz, founders of the Financial Psychology Institute, coined the term money scripts to describe unconscious financial beliefs developed in childhood and often passed down by family members. These thoughts run through your mind like lines in a movie script when you think about money.