Money Stories: The Emotional Narratives Running Our Financial Decisions
Money is rarely just numbers on a page.
We like to pretend it is. We talk about it like it’s rational, objective, factual.
But money is emotional — deeply emotional.
It carries the weight of what we’ve lived through, been taught, feared, or wanted.
In many ways, money is a mirror. A simulacrum. We look into it and it reflects back our fears, hopes, desires, and assumptions about who we are and how the world works.
Money Stories Start Early
Every one of us carries a money story — usually formed long before we ever ran a business.
Maybe we grew up where money was scarce, so frugality became survival. Maybe spending was how love was expressed. Maybe money was a source of stress, silence, or conflict — so now you avoid it entirely.
Those messages didn’t disappear. They linger just below the surface. But they still shape how we think, behave, lead, and decide.
And this doesn’t change when we become executives. If anything, it gets stronger — because now the stakes are higher.
Businesses Have Money Stories Too
Stories about:
• What “acceptable” margins are
• Whether debt is empowering or dangerous
• Whether pricing for real profitability is greedy
• Whether talking about money is strategic… or uncomfortable
These stories can drive healthy discipline — or quietly hold a company back.
A universal truth:
The more emotionally charged our relationship to money is, the more likely we are to make decisions that don’t serve us.
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Common Money Stories (A Field Guide for CFOs and Founders)
Archetypes that show up in my work and life include:
1) The Moralizer
Money is dangerous. Money corrupts. Ambition feels greedy. Best to underprice, underpay ourselves, and apologize for wanting more.
2) The Gambler
Money is adrenaline. Risk feels alive; restraint feels dead. The high of the big win outranks the probability of the loss. Cash flow planning feels like a cage.
3) The Avoider
Money = stress. Budgets get deferred. Forecasts get ignored. “If I don’t look at the numbers, the numbers can’t hurt me.”
4) The Prover
Money is identity. Revenue = worth. Profit = validation. Scaling becomes compulsive — not strategic. Every setback feels personal.
Here’s the Kicker
These stories don’t just live in people. They run companies.
They show up in:
• Pricing
• Hiring
• Spending
• “Gut calls” no one else understands
Ever watched a founder sabotage a healthy business based on one emotional decision?
Odds are that's a money story at work.
The CFO’s Real Job (Fractional or Full-Time)
It’s not just forecasting.
It’s narrative navigation.
It’s hearing the emotional signal behind a financial decision. It’s noticing when a story — not reality — is steering the ship.
Our role as financial leaders is to:
Know our own money story. Otherwise we project it onto the business.
Shut up and listen. Leaders reveal their story when they aren’t being “fixed.”
Notice where the tension is. People physically react when their story is touched.
Bring the conversation back to the baseline. To unit economics. To operational truth. To what is.
Name the pattern when it’s harming outcomes. Privately. Respectfully. Without needing to "win."
What a Healthy Relationship to Money Looks Like
• Clarity
• Calm
• Confidence
Not excitement. Not fear. Not shame.
Just… steady.
From that place, businesses make their best decisions.
A CTA to the CFO Community
Our role is not to sterilize emotion or be immune to it — it’s to cultivate awareness of it. In ourselves and others. To lead with curiosity, compassion, and steadiness. To help our partners see the story behind the spreadsheet — and choose a better one.
We don’t just manage finances. We help reshape the narrative around them.
