Economic pressures are rampant.
The cost of living, rising debt, loan refinancing and mortgage payments are constantly on the mind of the average adult daily.
However, financial coach Renee Popplewell isn’t sure that the wider public, and women in particular, are given the guidance to handle the mental pressures created by financial duress.
“Across the globe, in the Caribbean, in Europe, in Asia, North America and the same story is everywhere, different countries, different access currencies, but women have the same fear. Women are looking powerful on the outside. They’re looking like they have it all together. But when it comes to it, they are feeling anxious inside. I lived that for a while; I lived that whole persona, that façade of ‘wow, she has it all together.’ And I’m crumbling inside for other things, for money, for life,” said Popplewell in a phone interview with the Business Guardian last week.
It is her experience, as well as the numerous cases she has seen about her life, that has prompted the UK-based coach to create “The Financially Unshakable Woman”
The course is geared towards not just teaching lessons about financial resilience but also mental fortitude in the face of economic uncertainty.
“I realize women don’t just need financial literacy. They need financial steadiness. Need to understand triggers. They need to understand how money connects to self worth, boundaries, and identity. They need to feel safe with themselves. That’s why I do this work, not teaching how to count money, but to reclaim their power. And I’m beginning this movement,” said Popplewell, who is also the founder of the accountability playbook.
“People are choosing jobs or partners from a place of fear, staying in relationships that don’t even serve them. People, they’re so scared about the money that they are staying in relationships. People who are panicking whenever life becomes uncertain. Those are shapeable moments. People who lie awake at night worrying about stability. And I always say, like financial stress for me, is the worst kind of stress I have ever experienced. I have had breakups, I have had job issues, I have all these things, but money worries, that’s the worst kind of stress I have experienced,” she said.
She explained this has led many people to place themselves in precarious positions, whether it be abusive relationships or spiralling into greater debt simply in an attempt to maintain a lifestyle beyond their means.
“They spend no matter how much money they have because it scares them. Say yes to everybody because they’re afraid to lose relationships. Who is overgiving financially out of guilt? I know I was there for sure,” she said, “because it doesn’t always show up in your bank account, it shows up in your behaviour.”
However, Popplewell credits her mother’s influence for helping her overcome those issues, as she was involved in a credit union and learnt key financial literacy tools from a young age.
“I learned emotional steadiness from her. She never panicked about money in front of me, even when I knew things were tight. She taught me how to be calm, to be focused and to have priorities. When it came to my money, she was my very first experience of what unshakable looks like in real life, because I didn’t grow up around wealth. “
While it helped, Popplewell admitted that she, too, got swept up in the challenges created by financial pressure over time.
“I had to learn how to navigate uncertainty, and that navigating uncertainty made me unshakable, rebuilding myself from difficult moments,’ said Popplewell, “It’s not about (wealth). It’s a woman who feels steady, a woman who can make decisions without fear, running the show, who doesn’t panic every time life shifts, with their money, with their people, with people and with herself. Financial unshakability is never how much you earn. It’s about how grounded you feel.”
Popplewell said while the course is geared towards women, men can also enroll in the programme.
Financial consultant Ved Seereeram felt there was merit in such a course, particularly given the additional strain placed on modern families compared to previous generations.
“In fact, that’s such a major issue in today’s world, and the problem is becoming more, as far as I can see, acute for the simple reason a family can’t exist on one salary. Now, if you look at North America, if you look at Trinidad, it’s coming more and more that two of the parents have to work,” said Seereeram, “Once the problem is in the family. It has affects on the mothers and both parents.”
He also noted that there had been a shift in lending from financial institutions which often contributed to irresponsible spending, and felt that greater financial advise was needed for young adults to avoid various debt traps.
“As you research this, you’ll find there are so many bits and pieces that add to the problem. I’ll give you one example, I joined a bank in 80s. In the 80s, for you to buy a car, you had to put up 10 or 12 or 20 per cent downpayment. So it means to say you would have saved, you would have saved money and planned for it,” he said, “Now you can buy a car with zero downpayment. What does that mean? It means to say that the banks, the financial institution,s are luring the citizen into a situation that could quickly backfire if one of them loses their job. They can’t pay the loan on their car or their house, what you’re going to find is greater and greater repossessions, and that’s happening throughout the world.”
He explained that during the Christmas season, this was extremely prevalent as there was added pressure to keep up appearances.
“Even now, all these Christmas loans, if you check out the enticement to come and borrow, don’t worry. And very soon, the borrowers cannot pay. And then there are pressures now to keep up with the Joneses. So you want to change your car every three years,” said Seereeram, “The world has changed and as far as I could see the topic that you are speaking about, it has become more and more acute and difficult for women and both parents. The problem is the trend is continuing. I don’t know where it will end, whether we have courage to reorganize society in such a way that we could probably survive at a more I would call a more pleasant environment with less stress.”
He said the financial stress would only rise given these conditions.
“Stress is becoming more acute. Stress is just becoming more acute for several, several reasons. So it’s not only the ladies, the men as well, and you’re going to find a lot of families are breaking up, which causes further stress upon stress,” he said.
Popplewell, who is Trinidad born but based in the United Kingdom, is set to host the course in person in the Caribbean for the first time on January 3 at Veloura Haven, Woodbrook.
