The Emotional Side of Money

How stress, fear, and denial can hurt our health and our bottom line

Many of us combat stress with retail therapy: buying things we don’t need with money we don’t have in order to lift our spirits. NDAB Creativity/Shutterstock

Money is basically a unit of measurement, but it covers a lot of ground.

Strictly speaking, money measures the market value of goods, services, and investments. But for some, it can also function as a measure of our self-worth. It can reveal fears about not having enough, resentment for having less than you feel you deserve, or guilt for not being able to provide the standard of living you want.