Before thinking about growing your assets through investment, you still need to understand and clean up your relationship with money. In his book, The money click, which will be released in bookstores on Wednesday, Tayssa Waldron pleads for a reconciliation with this often taboo subject. Interview.
Most personal finance books assume that people already have a good foundation, a good relationship with money. As if we all already had these 1000 dollars saved and we were wondering where to invest them… When that is not the case,” underlines Tayssa Waldron, in an interview with Duty around a cup of tea.
Her book reads like a sort of little therapy guide to help us better understand our relationship with money and improve it. Why do we have a little knot in our stomach when we face, on social networks, the demonstrations of wealth of others?
“It’s the syndrome of always feeling broke. We are always poorer than someone else,” explains M.me Waldron.
It addresses other questions on the same theme. How much income do we need to satisfy our needs and desires? Why do we lock ourselves into thoughts of failure when it comes to money?
“Everyone is weird about money, no matter their financial situation. We are human and far from rational. Money is very emotional,” emphasizes the author.
The “money trigger” among women
Tayssa Waldron is not a financial advisor or planner. Besides, she doesn’t hide it. “It’s true that I don’t come from a financial background, and I never thought I would evolve into that. But we are all concerned about money and we all have the right to be interested in it,” she says.
In recent years, the young woman has worked in the field of energy innovation, but also in the financing sector for female entrepreneurs. “And it was there, in particular, that I understood that there was a decision-making problem among these women,” she says.
“I wondered why it was blocking so much. And the answer, I address it in my book, it goes through what we today call financial psychology,” underlines Mme Waldron.
“In particular, I am somewhat critical of financial literacy as a miracle solution. In fact, it’s not just a question of education. We also have prejudices, psychological barriers that hold us back,” she says.
In particular, I go into the criticism of financial literacy as a miracle solution. In fact, it’s not just a question of education. We also have prejudices, psychological barriers that hold us back.
She believes in particular that, if women have less self-confidence when it comes to money, it is because they have long been instilled in them that they are only “compulsive spenders”.
In addition, Tayssa Waldron is delighted to see more and more women, especially young women, shaking up these prejudices on social networks: like Tori Dunlap (with her account herfirst100k) or Codie Sanchez, who have several million subscribers on Instagram and TikTok.
Significant financial experiences
Born in French Guiana — to a Brazilian mother and a Dominican father — and having immigrated to the French mainland before arriving in Canada, Tayssa Waldron learned to navigate different environments, which allowed her to observe that Preconceptions about money are not the same depending on where you come from.
“I grew up with immigrant parents. There are things that have been passed down to me that have shaped the way I think about money. For example, my mother always told me that you have to work hard. I grew up surrounded by women who earned their living by the sweat of their brow,” says the woman who is part of the first generation in her family to have received higher education.
I grew up with immigrant parents. There are things that have been passed down to me that have shaped the way I think about money. For example, my mother always told me that you have to work hard. I grew up surrounded by women who earned their living by hard work.
It is also important to remember that not everyone starts with the same opportunities and that some face more pitfalls than others, which can help to “relieve guilt and move forward,” she continues.
In her book, the author also cites some examples of situations that can shape our relationship with money. “In children’s language, we do not talk about social classes, but rather about the children’s clan cool and the clan of children less cool. This classification is often based on our possessions (shoes, clothes, social experiences, etc.),” she explains.
“I would say that we all have significant financial experiences, but we do not all have the luck and the ability to understand,” argues Mme Waldron, who hopes that his book can help people decipher and surpass them.