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October 8, 2025 14 mins

What if every budget you've ever "failed" wasn't your fault at all?

 

Here's the truth they don't want you to know: Your budget isn't broken. Your willpower isn't weak. Your body is literally hijacking your financial decisions to protect you from perceived danger.

 

In this episode, Amanda exposes the invisible force that's been sabotaging even the smartest, most capable people ... and it has nothing to do with discipline.

 

You'll discover:

  • Why your brain goes offline the moment you open your bank account (and what's really happening in your nervous system)
  • The shocking research: financial stress drops your IQ by 13 points—you're literally making decisions with a handicapped brain
  • How your "Financial Nervous System" mistakes budget reviews for life-threatening danger
  • Why all the spreadsheets, apps, and perfect plans in the world can't override biology

 

Key Quote: "You can have perfect financial knowledge, flawless systems, and iron discipline, but if your nervous system interprets financial management as dangerous, it will override everything. Every. Single. Time."

 

This isn't a character flaw. This is biology working against your bank account.

 

And once you understand it, everything changes.

 

🎧 Listen now. This episode will flip every "failure" story you've been telling yourself.

 

Ready to work WITH your biology instead of against it? Take the Find Your Flow Assessment: livecounterflow.com

 

#PodcastEpisode #FinancialNervousSystem #BudgetingTips #KeepingWealth

 

00:00 Introduction: The Real Culprit Behind Budgeting Failure

00:38 Welcome to Wealth Wisdom Financial Podcast

01:15 Amanda's Return and Special Announcement

02:13 A Personal Story: The Power of Mind-Body Connection

05:25 Meet Paul: The Engineer Who Couldn't Stick to a Budget

05:55 The Financial Nervous System: How Stress Impacts Decision Making

08:12 Break: Schedule Your Discovery Call

09:24 The Data: Financial Stress and Cognitive Performance

11:12 Addressing the Real Problem: Nervous System Safety

12:02 Introducing Financial Safety Architecture

13:10 Conclusion: Find Your Flow Assessment

 

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/XgPDWgHOz5M 

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So you've been told that budgetingfailure is a discipline problem, but
what if I told you the real culpritis a protective system in your body
that's been trying to keep you safeand it's been sabotaging your financial
success without you even knowing it?

(00:23):
In a world where chaosseems to reign supreme.
Where uncertainty lurks around everycorner and financial markets are
now more unpredictable than ever.
There's one place you can turnto to find clarity and control.
Welcome to the WealthWisdom Financial Podcast.
Hey, I'm Brandon.
And I'm Amanda.

(00:43):
Join us as we dive deep in the world ofpersonal and business finance to assist
you in navigating through the chaos andbuilding the financial future you deserve.
We believe when conventional financialthinking doesn't get you where you
want to go, you need wealth wisdom.
So if you're ready to take control of yourfinancial destiny, tune in to the Wealth

(01:05):
Wisdom Financial Podcast because in achaotic world, your money shouldn't be.
Subscribe now.
And never miss an episode.
Welcome back to the Wealth WisdomFinancial Podcast, where we
dig deep into the real forcesshaping your financial life.
I'm Amanda, and today we're exposinga critical blind spot that's been

(01:27):
undermining even the most intelligent,capable people I work with.
For our loyal listeners, you'llhave noticed that I've been
off the show for a few months.
First of all, thanks for listening,um, or watching if you're on YouTube.
I hope you've enjoyed the interviewsthat Brandon's been bringing your way.
What you likely aren't aware of ishow I've been working on something

(01:48):
really special behind the scenesthese last few months, and I'm really
excited to tell you about it today.
So staying tuned to the end ofthe episode for all the juicy
details of the tools that I'vebeen creating and things like that.
And before I jump into, um, thetopic today about how our bodies
sabotage our best financialintentions and why that, you know,

(02:11):
how that makes budgeting not work.
I wanna tell you a little bit of why.
Um, I believe so powerfullyin the power of our bodies.
Along with our minds.
So, um, I don't tell this story veryoften, but back when I was a senior in
high school, I was going to high schoolearly for like an honor society meeting.

(02:33):
And, um, I got into a car accident.
Um, the police report says that mytire blew, this was back when it wa
there was a big, um, tire company thatha was having a lot of problems, um,
and getting sued and things like that.
Um, the insurance company says I musthave fallen asleep, but the wheel
and the tire blew during the thing.

(02:54):
I think they didn't wanna get into allthe hoop law with that tire company
that was happening at the time.
But anyway, um, I get into this ravine,um, and this other girl who was not part
of the honor society was on the same road.
Um, and, uh, she saw lights in theravine that usually aren't there, right?
There's nothing down there but trees.
And she pulled over to see like,what's going on, and that's when

(03:15):
the lights, my lights went out.
So she hadn't have seen that, right?
Like, um, I might not behere talking to you today.
Uh, the paramedics show up and.
They can't get to me.
They have to get the jaws oflife to like cut the top off of
the truck that I was driving.
And, um, they, but theynotice that I'm not breathing.
They can't see, um, you know,any indication of a heartbeat

(03:38):
or movement or anything.
So they're like really scared and they,but they can't get to me to do anything.
So they go get the jaws of lifeafter as they're cutting it off.
Um, so one of these paramedics isactually one of my good friends
from high school, her dad.
So he tells me this story later.
That while they were doing that, mybody starts to, um, sorry, this is

(04:00):
kind of graphic, um, starts to vomit.
And that from what he could tell,restarted my heart and my breathing.
Um, it was my body knew what to do.
Um, I don't know if my brain was sendingme, um, signals, my body was sending
my brain signals, something the HolySpirit involved, like I have no idea.
But somehow, um.
Uh, the, I was able to restart everythingand kick off in a really cool way.

(04:27):
Now I could talk for the rest of thepodcast about all the amazing things
that happened over the next month where Iwent from the doctors saying I definitely
would not graduate high school that year.
Definitely would not be goingto college any time soon.
To having a miraculous recovery and,um, graduating actually valedictorian.

(04:47):
So, um, weird to like, to saythat on a podcast, but it's true.
Um, and so anyway, I'm telling you thisbecause I want you to keep in mind.
Probably sometime in your life whereyou've seen the power of your body
or your mind, or your mind bodyconnection, or your subconscious or
the divine, whatever you wanna call it.

(05:08):
Like do something that you can't reallyexplain and how powerful that is.
Okay, so keep that in mind.
I'm sure, um, if you haven't experiencedthat, you have someone close to you
that has, think of those kind ofstories or use mine in this example.
So, um, let's now shift andwe're gonna talk about Paul.
Um, Paul is a brilliant engineer whocould optimize complex systems all

(05:30):
day long, but he couldn't stick to abudget for more than like three weeks.
He'd create these beautifulspreadsheets, automated savings,
set up every system perfectly, andthen something would trigger him.
Maybe an unexpected expense or seenhis investment account drop, and
he'd completely abandoned his plan.
Paul thought he liked discipline.
Well, he was wrong.

(05:50):
Here's what a neuroscientist, Dr.
Arnon discovered.
It's actually when your brainperceives a threat, it literally
shuts down your prefrontal cortex,the front part of your brain.
This is the area that'sresponsible for strategic thinking,
long-term planning, learning.
You actually lose your bestdecision making capacity

(06:11):
exactly when you need it most.
When your brain receives a threat, thatpart of your brain just shuts down.
Um, so for Paul, and maybe for you,um, his threat wasn't a real danger.
It was just financial uncertaintythat triggered this ancient
survival system that I like tocall the financial nervous system.
It's this threat detectionnetwork that treats budget reviews

(06:33):
more like Saber tooth Tigers.
And here's the brutal truth you have.
You can have perfect financial knowledge,flawless systems, iron discipline, but if
your nervous system interprets financialmanagement as dangerous, then it's gonna
override everything every single time.
This isn't weakness as biology aspart of what makes us strong as

(06:56):
human beings in our bodies, right?
And financial stress is like any stress.
It's gonna elevate our cortisollevels, it's gonna impair our cognitive
function, it's gonna shorten our timehorizons and how, how quickly our brain
thinks, and it can't think past that.
It's literally your body andyour brain protecting you from
what it perceives as danger.

(07:17):
It makes sense.
Your stress, um, can yield poordecisions, which erodes your
portfolio, which causes more stress,which causes more poor decisions,
which further erodes your portfolio.
And we get stuck in thiscycle over and over again.
We all know consciously if westop to think about it, that
we're not really in danger.
But this protective system is still usingan ancient software that helps us survive.

(07:42):
Often that ancient software can'tdistinguish between actual financial
threats and the normal stressof managing money responsibly.
It isn't meant to, right?
Our ancient, uh, things they did notneed to think about money or investing
or, you know, those kind of things.
So stay tuned after the break for howto actually work with this ancient
software rather than against it.

(08:12):
Ready to take the next step towardssecuring your financial future.
Whether you're planning for retirement,saving for your dream home, or you
just wanna make your money work harderfor you, the team at Wealth Wisdom
Financial are ready to assist you.
And now it's easier than everto see how we might give you a
boost on your financial journey.
Schedule a 15 minute discoverycall with one of us today and

(08:34):
let's discuss your questions andyour financial goals together.
Don't wait any longer.
Your financial freedom awaits.
Schedule your discovery.
Call at www.wealthwisdomfp.com/call.
Now, if you're like me.

(08:55):
Your analytical mind isalready pushing back.
Maybe during that commercial, youcouldn't stop thinking, Amanda,
this sounds like psychobabble.
I just need better systems, moreconsistency, more discipline.
I want you to stop right there.
I get you.
I feel you.
I'm analytical too.
I used to think the exact same way.
I believe smart people with good systemsshould automatically get results.

(09:16):
Then I've watched client after client,people far more intelligent than
me, hit the same invisible walls.
Here's the data that changes everything.
Researchers found that peopleexperiencing financial stress show
a 13 point drop in IQ equivalentto losing a full night's sleep.

(09:38):
Literally in, uh, some of theseresearch studies, many of them that
all confirm this 13 point drop in iq,they'll do things like ask participants.
To imagine an unexpected carrepair bill, either $300 or $3,000.
I got a car bill, car repair bill.
This, uh, year, uh, it was in betweenthose, but you can imagine 300 or 3000.

(09:59):
While the smaller amount had littleeffect, the larger hypothetical
expense caused IQ scores to.
The mere anticipation offinancial strain was enough to
impair cognitive performance.
They found this true no matter whatincome bracket the participant of
the research was in, they couldbe making very little income.

(10:20):
They could have lots of income, they couldbe lower, uh, net worth, higher net worth.
They all still had a 13point drop in their iq.
When faced with a majorunexpected expense, this is not
about feelings or motivation.
This is about measurablebiological reality.
So how do you work with it?

(10:41):
How do you make sure that yourperfect financial plans, you know,
they don't just fail an execution?
Um, how many times have you knownexactly what to do, but found yourself
making completely different choices?
This is not a planning failure.
It's not a character flaw.
This is your nervous system hijackingyour higher brain functions because

(11:03):
it's trying to keep you alive.
The financial industry does not wantyou to know about this because it's
easier to sell you another budgetingapp than to address the real problem.
So how do you address this?
We have to go upstream.
Here's what I'd like to you to understand.
Sustainable financialsuccess requires two things.

(11:23):
One, a competent strategy and two.
Nervous system safety.
Most financial advice only addresses thefirst one, competent strategy, and there's
lots of competent strategies out there.
Lots of different ways,right to to build wealth.
But financial advice, if it's nottalking about nervous system safety,
people are gonna keep hitting the samewalls no matter how smart they are,

(11:46):
no matter how good that strategy is.
As we work with clients, I'm realizingmore and more that we do something
almost natural and intuitive.
We don't just optimize their portfolios,we teach their nervous system
that financial management is safe.
So, um, over the past severalmonths, um, as Brandon's been doing

(12:07):
interviews and I've had a little morespace, we've been building what I
call financial safety architecture.
We've been embracing this thing thatwe've kind of naturally and intuitively
done over the last seven years, um,working in the financial industry.
And we're trying to say, how can wecreate systems and tools that work
with your biology, not against it.

(12:27):
So Paul learned this today.
He manages a complex portfoliobusiness, finances, all without
stress or self-sabotage.
Not because he got more disciplined,not because he found a new budgeting
app, but because he got smarterabout how his brain actually works.
And as you know, your nervoussystem is not just your brain.
It.
All throughout your body.
That's another podcast.

(12:49):
So you have to start with this.
Acknowledging your financial strugglesare not a character defect, they're
a nervous system protection mechanismthat's outlived its usefulness.
And then you gotta decide you're donefighting against your own biology.
That's step one.
Are you tired of findingagainst your own biology?

(13:09):
Yes.
Great.
Then I wanna invite you to take theFind Your Flow Assessment, a strategic
diagnostic that identifies exactlyhow your threat detection system is
interfering with your financial execution.
This isn't therapy, this is performanceoptimization for high achievers who are
done leaving money on the table becauseof those invisible biological barriers.

(13:34):
It's nothing heavy, very simple.
You can get theassessment@livecounterflow.com.
That's LIVE, counter,C-O-U-N-T-E-R, flow FLO w.com.
Um.
And invite you to take this assessmentand finally understand what's really
running your financial decisions.

(13:55):
And then from there you'll beinvited to try out some other
things, but we think you'll getvalue straight from that assessment.
Free, no obligation, not heavy.
Um, I, I think you'll, you'llbell actually find it maybe even
fun and calming in and of itself.
So thanks for joining us on theWealth Wisdom Financial Podcast.
Be sure you hit up subscribebuttons, you don't miss an episode.

(14:16):
And remember to live long and profit.
The topics presented in thispodcast are for general information
only and not for the purposes ofproviding legal, accounting, or
investment advice on such matters.
Please consult a professional whoknows your specific situation.
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