How’s your budgeting? Learn financial literacy to avoid feeling stress about your personal finances - and don’t be too hard on yourself

Hong Kong woman Raven Tao frittered her money away on designer clothes and ran up credit card debt. It caused her stress and made her depressed

To get control of your finances you need self-compassion and ways to reduce stress, an expert says. It worked for Tao. She’s teaching financial literacy now

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Raven Tao used to be stressed and depressed about the state of her personal finances. By keeping tabs on her expenses and positive self-affirmations, she turned things around. Now she’s launching a social enterprise to promote financial literacy.
Photo: SCMP/Xiaomei Chen

Published: 5:15pm, 25 Feb 2022Updated: 7:24pm, 25 Feb 2022

When she was in her 20s, Raven Tao felt “hopeless” about her financial situation. She lacked “fundamental money management skills” and blamed herself for her predicament.

“I earned a decent salary working in media, but I frittered my money away on designer clothes that I never wore and had relationships with people who were happy for me to foot the bill,” says the 39-year-old, who was born in New Zealand and lives in Hong Kong.

“I also received bad investment advice and was the sole contributor to a joint bank account that I shared with someone who later tried to withdraw everything. I also had some pretty scary credit card bills.

“I wanted to improve my financial situation, but didn’t know how,” she continues. “I’d always been bad with numbers, so that became my justification for not taking action. I couldn’t get the help or advice I needed, either, because I was worried about getting ripped off. I felt like a failure for not being able to get my personal finances in order, so I avoided even thinking about it.”

Raven Tao at her home in Mid-Levels, Hong Kong. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

As a result, Tao suffered emotionally. She worked and spent more to distract herself from her money woes but this compounded her frustration, and she fell into a depression. Her dream of owning property and starting a business seemed unattainable and she resigned herself to the belief that she was “bad” with money.