👵🏽When Your Parents' Financial Trauma Becomes Your Money Mindset

How do you overcome a scarcity mindset when it was essential for your family's survival? Financial therapist Rachel Duncan responds to a listener's question about breaking free from the scarcity scripts inherited from immigrant parents. Rachel explores how financial trauma gets passed down through generations and offers a step-by-step process for honoring your family's experiences while creating new money scripts that serve your present reality.

💬 "I'm doing money differently than my parents did, and that's okay because they raised me to be smart and watchful. I will always look out for my safety." - Rachel Duncan

Key takeaways from the episode:

1. Immigration often involves significant financial trauma that shapes family money scripts

2. Scarcity mindsets that were once survival mechanisms can become rigid identities

3. Rewriting money scripts should honor the original intent (safety) while allowing for growth

4. Financial healing isn't about rejecting your heritage but expanding what's possible

5. Recovery from financial trauma means integrating past challenges into a fuller life story

⏰ EPISODE BREAKDOWN

Understanding Financial Trauma [00:02:08 - 00:04:16] Rachel explains how financial trauma develops and manifests through fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses in relation to money.

Common Scarcity Patterns in Immigrant Families [00:04:16 - 00:07:08] Exploration of typical money behaviors in immigrant families, including guilt around purchases, hypervigilance about being ripped off, and "take whatever you can get" mentality.

The Purpose Behind Family Money Scripts [00:07:08 - 00:08:54] Discussion of how family money scripts often come from a place of wanting to keep you safe, rather than just being arbitrary rules.

Step-by-Step Script Rewriting Process [00:08:54 - 00:16:30] Rachel walks through a detailed process for identifying, examining, and thoughtfully rewriting inherited money scripts to create flexibility while maintaining safety. [See below]

Examples of Transformed Money Scripts [00:16:59 - 00:19:15] Several examples of common limiting money beliefs and how they can be reframed into more supportive, flexible scripts that honor both safety and growth.

📝 Money Script Rewriting Process

Step 1: Identify Your Current Scripts Complete these prompts to uncover your inherited money beliefs:

1. Money is...

2. Income is...

3. Spending is...

4. Expensive things are...

5. Enough looks like...

6. Being "good with money" looks like...

7. Debt is...

8. Credit cards are...

9. Wealth is...

Step 2: Examine the Language

1. Circle one sentence that feels like a block to your growth

2. Identify absolute, extreme, or black-and-white words (never, always, don't, must)

3. Note words with moral judgment (bad, stupid, evil, greedy)

Step 3: Understand the Historical Context

1. Where did this script come from in your family's history?

2. What economic conditions shaped this belief?

3. How did this script help your family survive during challenging times?

Step 4: Identify the Protective Intent

1. What is this script trying to protect you from?

2. How was this belief meant to keep you safe?

3. What values does this script reflect?

Step 5: Rewrite with Flexible Language

1. Update the script for your current reality

2. Use words like: tools, learning, wisdom, flexibility, consideration

3. Center the script on your ag