ADHD, Emotions, and Rewriting Your Money Story with Nicole Stanley

Sep 25, 2025

Nicole Stanley, founder of Arise Financial Coaching, discusses her journey with ADHD and money. She reveals how early experiences shape financial beliefs, often leading to feelings of shame and overwhelm. Nicole emphasizes the importance of automating financial systems and creating dopamine-driven habits to make managing money more enjoyable. She challenges listeners to redefine financial independence and identify core financial problems while shedding the guilt attached to spending. This conversation is a liberating guide for those ready to shift their money mindset.

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ANECDOTE

Late Diagnosis And Childhood Dismissal

Nicole describes being late-diagnosed with ADHD after childhood signs were dismissed as personality.
She framed struggles as charm until adulthood revealed deeper challenges affecting school and relationships.

ANECDOTE

Motherhood Triggered Deeper Awareness

Nicole shares postpartum depression and money-related anxiety after becoming a new mom and feeling inadequate.
Raising a daughter with ADHD prompted Nicole to seek evaluation and recognize her own ADHD traits.

INSIGHT

ADHD Traits Shape Financial Outcomes

ADHD traits often map directly onto financial challenges like debt and low retirement savings.
The financial industry speaks neurotypical language, so ADHDers miss ADHD-friendly methods that leverage their strengths.

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Money is rarely just about math—it’s about stories, habits, emotions, and, for ADHDers, often a deep sense of shame. In this episode, Pete and Nikki sit down with Nicole Stanley, financial coach and founder of Arise Financial Coaching, to unpack the hidden ways ADHD intersects with our finances—and how we can finally start to build a healthier, ADHD-friendly relationship with money.

Nicole shares her own diagnosis journey and the challenges of postpartum depression, financial anxiety, and feeling “not enough” as a new mom. From there, she walks us through how our early experiences shape money beliefs (most of us make up our financial mindset by age seven!), and why traditional budgeting advice so often fails the ADHD brain.

This conversation is a blueprint for anyone who’s ever felt overwhelmed, behind, or just exhausted trying to “do money right.” Nicole reframes key concepts: how to spot the real root of your financial stress, why automating your systems might be better than trying to “budget harder,” and how to emotionally connect to your goals so you’re actually excited to follow through.

Plus: what financial coaches really do, how ADHDers can leverage dopamine to create a positive money loop, and the five core financial problems that every person needs to identify before they can move forward. Whether you’re in credit card debt, unsure where your money’s going, or just sick of feeling behind—this episode is your permission to drop the shame and start where you are.

Links & Notes

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

The Simple Path to Wealth by J.L. Collins
Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin & Joe Dominguez
I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
Happy Money by Ken Honda
You mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?! by Kate Kelly & Peggy Ramundo
Die with Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins

(00:00) - Introducing Nicole Stanley
(01:55) - Nicole's ADHD Journey
(04:43) - Welcome to Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast
(07:30) - ADHD Money Assumptions
(13:17) - The Areas of our Financial Lives
(17:57) - What does it mean to "retire well?"
(33:22) - The Five Potential Problems in Your Financial Life
(40:37) - Coaching, Counseling, Advising, Accounting

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