So Money with Farnoosh Torabi · Monday, September 14, 2026
Dr. Marissa Franco, a psychologist, explains how different attachment styles, formed in childhood, can profoundly affect adult financial habits. She notes that avoidantly attached individuals may neglect their finances, while anxiously attached individuals might exhibit a scarcity mindset and avoid risks.
“Well, if you're sort of an avoidant approach to money would be like, I don't want to look at my money. I'm going to spend it and not open my bank account, right? I mean, fundamentally, an avoidantly attached person is avoiding uncomfortable emotions all the time.”
“Anxiously attached person, you know, I guess have maybe more of a scarcity mindset about money, like I don't want to take risks because I'm going to lose my money. I don't want to necessarily invest. My money's going to abandon me, right?”
“Versus securely attached people, perhaps functioning, they're able to be in the present, and function based off of the information that's provided to them, rather than their fears.”