How to better manage your finances with ADHD?

A forgotten bill, an impulsive purchase or disorganised financial management can happen to anyone. But for people living with ADHD, these realities are often part of everyday life. These difficulties are not due to a lack of willpower, but are explained by a specific way the brain functions. Without claiming any medical expertise, myLIFE invites you to better understand the impact of this condition on day-to-day financial management and offers some practical ways to deal with it.*

What is ADHD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), be it with or without hyperactivity, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that often appears in childhood and can continue into adulthood. It manifests itself through symptoms that can vary significantly from one person to another.

• • Attention disorders: problems concentrating, frequent forgetfulness, difficulty completing certain tasks, etc.
  • Impulsivity: hasty decision-making, difficulty holding back urges, impatience, etc.
  • Hyperactivity (in some cases): constant need to move, a feeling of inner restlessness, racing thoughts, disorganisation, etc.

All of these manifestations can have repercussions in daily life, particularly on organisation and financial management.

Why does ADHD make financial management more difficult?

Anyone can occasionally lack concentration or forget certain tasks. But for someone living with ADHD, these difficulties are more frequent, more intense and have a tangible impact on everyday life. They are explained by an impairment of executive functions, which are responsible for organising, concentrating, memorising information, planning and controlling impulses.

It is easy to understand that these functions play an important role in managing finances. As a result, managing a budget or anticipating expenses can quickly become complicated for someone with ADHD, generating stress and leading to negative consequences.

> Complex organisation

A person with ADHD may have difficulty retaining and handling short-term information (known as working memory). This can result in forgotten due dates, irregular tracking of expenses or disorganised management of important documents.

Let’s take Talia, aged 31, who lives with ADHD. She regularly forgets to pay her bills. This is not intentional, but when she receives them, she puts them aside “for later”… and ends up losing or forgetting them.

This administrative disorganisation can lead to late payments with real consequences: bank charges, late payment penalties, service interruptions, etc.

Managing money requires consistency and concentration, which can be difficult with ADHD, especially when tasks are perceived as repetitive or unstimulating.

> Attention that is difficult to maintain

Managing money requires consistency and concentration, which can be more laborious with ADHD, particularly when tasks are perceived as repetitive or uninteresting.

For example, Talia starts organising her documents, but quickly stops after a distraction and eventually gives up. She also regularly postpones managing her budget, which she perceives as a difficult and boring task.

These administrative activities then become particularly stressful and create a mental load that leads to procrastination. It becomes a vicious circle.

> Impulsivity in purchasing decisions

Impulsivity is common in people with ADHD. It may take the form of spontaneous purchases, difficulty resisting urges or rash decision-making.

Young Talia finds it hard to resist promotions and spends significant amounts on purchases she later regrets.

These behaviours disrupt her budget. They can lead to regular overdrafts, an accumulation of debts, and generate a strong feeling of guilt.

> Difficulty anticipating and projecting into the future

ADHD can also affect the ability to think ahead in time. It therefore becomes difficult to set long-term goals or anticipate certain expenses.

Talia continually postpones preparing for her retirement. She is unable to imagine what savings with such a distant time horizon will concretely bring her. The same applies to her savings. Rather than setting money aside, she tends to favour purchases that bring immediate satisfaction.

This lack of planning can weaken her savings and make it harder to deal with unexpected financial events.

Faced with the difficulties linked to ADHD, the solution is not to try harder, but to adapt your environment.

What strategies should be implemented on a daily basis?

Faced with the difficulties linked to ADHD, it is important to realise that the solution is not to double one’s efforts, but to adapt one’s environment. The aim is not to do more, but to simplify tasks, reduce mental load and limit risk situations. This requires setting up strategies that must be maintained over time.

> Simplify as much as possible

Complex tasks or situations are major barriers for people with ADHD. Therefore, the simpler a system is, the more likely it is to be maintained over time.

• • Reduce the number of accounts and cards. To lighten monitoring and administrative tasks, Talia can keep one main current account, one savings account and a single means of payment.
  • Centralise documents. As soon as they are received, important documents can be grouped in a specific place (a dedicated box or a digital folder) to avoid forgetfulness and loss.
  • Simplify the budget. Talia can organise her budget into just three categories: essential needs (rent, bills, groceries), leisure (restaurants, shopping) and savings (emergency fund, future projects).
  • Progress in small steps. Financial goals can be broken down into several simple tasks to make them more accessible and less discouraging.

> Automate as much as possible

Making decisions can require a lot of energy when living with ADHD. Automation reduces the number of choices to be made daily and helps limit forgetfulness.

• • Establish a routine. Talia can set aside a time slot each week, in a calm space and away from distractions, to deal with financial tasks (sorting documents, checking accounts, forecasting expenses, etc.).
  • Schedule automatic payments. Recurring expenses (energy bills, phone, insurance, loan instalments, etc.) can be paid automatically.
  • Automate savings. An automatic transfer from the current account to a savings account can be scheduled as soon as the salary is received to avoid forgetting and to stay consistent.
  • Activate reminders and alerts. Banking applications with balance notifications and real-time alerts, as well as phone reminders, can help track important due dates.

> Make money visible

Concepts such as budgeting, saving or deadlines can seem abstract with ADHD. Making them visible helps build awareness and makes daily monitoring easier.

• • Use a financial management application. Automatic categorisation of expenses and graphs make it easier to track the evolution of finances.
  • Write down expenses. Using a calendar with colour codes for upcoming deadlines or a notebook to record purchases helps gain better awareness of spending habits.
  • Visualise goals. To boost motivation, Talia needs to visualise her projects (holidays, car, etc.). Displaying a photo, a note or a drawing in a visible place can help her limit impulsive purchases.
  • Favour cash or restricted cards. The envelope method (allocating a fixed amount of cash per category) or using a bank card with spending limits can help better control expenses and reduce impulsive purchases.

For people living with ADHD, impulsive purchases can be stimulating or comforting, especially during periods of stress or boredom.

> Reduce temptations

For people living with ADHD, impulsive purchases can be stimulating or provide comfort, especially during periods of stress or boredom. Interrupting the impulse and reducing triggers helps to better control these urges.

• • Allow time to reflect. Talia can impose a 24-hour delay before any non-essential purchase.
  • Delete saved cards on merchant websites. Rather than simply clicking a button where everything is pre-filled, having to re-enter all details makes the process more restrictive and can reduce the motivation to buy. A good thing if it was an impulsive purchase.
  • Reduce purchase triggers. Unsubscribe from newsletters, notifications and social media accounts that encourage spending.
  • Anticipate risk situations. Identify contexts that encourage impulsive buying (boredom, online browsing) and plan alternatives: go for a walk, call a loved one, engage in a sport or creative activity, etc.

Managing your finances alone can be difficult. Talia should not hesitate to seek help from a trusted relative, an ADHD coach or a finance professional to help organise her budget. With suitable tools and a few daily adjustments, she can reduce her mental load and gradually regain control of her finances.

* Content translated from French by the BIL GPT AI tool