The ADHD-Friendly Guide to Organizing Your Finances

Neurospicy brains are the best. ADHD can make you creative, spontaneous, and give you the ability to hyperfocus on your interests. But there are also some challenges that come along with neurodivergence and traditional budgeting strategies. Today, we’ll break it all down — the good, the bad and the beautiful — to help you figure out the best way to organize your finances with ADHD.

1. Pitfalls of managing your finances when you’re neurodivergent
   a. Organization
   b. Procrastination and time management
   c. Impulsive spending and generosity
2. Strengths of neurodivergent budgeters
   a. Passion
   b. Hyperfocus
   c. Creativity
   d. Spontaneity
3. Are you “bad with money” or do you just need to do things differently?
4. FAQ on managing your finances with ADHD

Pitfalls of managing your finances when you’re neurodivergent

If you’ve followed traditional budgeting advice and it’s gotten you nowhere, it might just be because that advice wasn’t built with neurodivergence in mind. Here are some of the stumbling blocks people come across when they have ADHD, and ways you can address them to make money management easier.

Organization

When you’ve got ADHD, it can be difficult to stay organized—especially when it comes to non-preferred tasks. This can have some pretty negative ramifications in the realm of financial management. It might mean you miss a due date and rack up late fees or interest charges. It might mean making slow progress towards your goals because you can’t get organized enough to paint a clear picture of your starting point, nevertheless, the endpoint.

How to address it: Automate and use budgeting software

Luckily, we live in the age of magic technology. You don’t have to pull out every last bill and manually enter it into a spreadsheet. Instead, you can use budgeting software that pulls your banking data automatically, giving you a clear, visual picture of where you stand today. Some budgeting software programs (like PocketSmith) will even project your income and expenses into the future, allowing you to create a plan for tomorrow’s finances, too.

Another great tool at your disposal is automation. When you set up automatic payments on your bills, you don’t have to worry about missing due dates. Automation is great for savings, too. Automatically transferring a portion of your paycheck to your savings account makes it much more likely that you’ll actually follow through on your savings goals.

The good news is that you may not be bad with money at all. You’ve just been using strategies that don’t accommodate your neurodivergence.

Procrastination and time management

Big or non-preferred tasks can feel suffocating at times. The anxiety they induce may lead you to put them off until the last minute — or maybe even past the due date. If you struggle with time management, it might be hard to sit down and review your budget regularly like you know you should. It can also make it difficult to do tasks like tracking down all your investment accounts or filing your taxes.

How to address it: Routinize with an accountability buddy

For those tasks that require regular maintenance, routine is your best friend. But because routine can be easy to break when no one else is watching, it’s best to implement that routine with an actual best friend. Whether that’s your partner or a friend who is similarly working towards bettering their finances, setting money dates with an accountability buddy can be a great way to address time management and procrastination.

Let’s say you meet every Sunday afternoon. Maybe in-person. Maybe on FaceTime. Over the course of a one-hour stretch, you update each other on your current financial status. You might also pick at least one other task du jour, like prepping a chunk of your tax return or researching side hustle ideas to help make ends meet now that you’ve actually taken a peek at that budget.

Impulsive spending and generosity

There are two ways to frame spur-of-the-moment decision-making. Sometimes it feels positive, like spontaneity (which we’ll cover in a minute — keep reading!) But other times, it can manifest as impulsivity, which is tricky when you’re trying to stick to a budget.

While it’s true that impulsive spending can look like a name-brand handbag you just had to purchase for yourself, it can also look like giving money or gifts to others. Generosity is a beautiful trait that people with ADHD tend to have in spades. But when giving to others starts interfering with your ability to take care of yourself, you need to set boundaries with your spending.

How to address it: Budget and keep your savings separate

The first step to knowing how much you can spend is boringly basic: You have to budget. It’s only when you’re familiar with your income and expenses that you can get a firm grasp on how much you have left over for “fun” stuff or to give to others.

Another way to set firm boundaries with yourself is to keep your savings account separate from your checking account. That way transferring the money is an additional step you’ll have to take before you can spend the money you’re supposed to be saving for tomorrow.

If you want an added layer of protection from those impulse buys, you can keep your savings account and checking account at two separate financial institutions. This makes automatic transfers less feasible. When you have to wait a couple of days for the transfer to come through, it gives you time to think about the purchase or gift. 48 hours can really give you some perspective.

Strengths of neurodivergent budgeters

We are not here to tell you that ADHD budgeting is all negative! There are some real strengths to being neurospicy, too, and they can absolutely serve you in money management.

Passion

When you are into something, you are into it. If you can steer this tendency towards passion towards your financial life, you could end up becoming the most expert personal financier on the planet.

How to harness it: Set financial goals you’re excited about

Maybe numbers themselves don’t get you excited. But finances aren’t all about dollars and cents. Instead of imagining spreadsheets, spend some time daydreaming about your big, lofty life goals. The ones that light your heart on fire. Don’t limit yourself to the realm of what others think is possible. Reach for whatever you think is awesome.

Want to spend your summers at a cabin on the lake with a sick new jet ski?

All of those things can be achieved through passionate budgeting and saving.

How about taking a year away from the grind to travel the world?

It may be achievable with enough savings and travel points.

Just be sure to include some longer-term goals in there, too. For example, are you passionate about selling off all of your assets in old age so you can live in a government-sponsored nursing home?

No, we didn’t think so.

But you’re likely more excited about the prospect of being able to spend your golden years in your home surrounded by those you love, and possibly passing on a little bit of wealth to them so their own lives are a little easier after you’re gone.

To achieve a goal like this, you’re going to want to learn about investing and estate planning sooner rather than later. It can be one of the “special topics” for your money dates. By focusing on the end goal rather than the dollars and cents of today’s paycheck, you can motivate yourself to get excited about advanced financial literacy topics.

Hyperfocus

Part of the reason it’s so hard not to procrastinate when you have ADHD is that you know yourself. Once you sit down and really dedicate yourself to a task you’re passionate about, you could go at it for hours and hours on end. It can feel overwhelming to know you’ll “lose” that chunk of time.

But when it comes to planning your personal finances, know that it’s time well spent. As long as you’re not using your budgeting software as a distraction from other immediate responsibilities, this is one hobby that can make a tangible difference in your day-to-day life.

How to harness it: Budget when you feel inspired — even if it’s outside of your routine

You should absolutely keep your routine money dates. But in addition to those, don’t push off any inspiration to work on your money goals just because it isn’t the “right” time. You’re likely to make the most progress when you lean into that urge to hyperfocus, even if inspiration strikes in the middle of the week.

Again, while you will be working with numbers, you’re more likely to hyperfocus if you can keep your eye on the larger goal. If the math just isn’t doing it for you, hyperfocus on jet skis and summer cabins, or leaving a financial legacy for your family members and friends. It will make focusing on those numbers so much easier.

While it’s true that traits like impulsivity or procrastination can be detrimental to financial success, other traits like hyperfocus and creativity can actually be a boon to your budget when harnessed appropriately.

Creativity

Neurodivergent people tend to be extremely creative. When you come up against a problem, you can turn it left, right and upside down until you find a solution. It might even be a solution no one else has thought of before.

This is a huge strength when it comes to managing your finances. Money problems — whether they be unexpected emergency expenses or an interruption to your cash flow — are something all of us encounter on our journey. But those with a little creativity are uniquely positioned to solve them.

How to harness it: Treat financial roadblocks like side quests

It’s easy to let money troubles bum you out. Those are legitimate feelings. Allow yourself to feel all of them.

But after you’ve felt your feelings, reframe your financial roadblock as a side quest. Yes, a hurdle presented itself on the path towards your goals. But finding a creative solution to jump it can enable you to get back on track. Plus, overcoming these obstacles will help you build confidence in your own financial skills.

Spontaneity

Sure, you could frame your tendency to do stuff at the drop of a hat as impulsive. But you could also frame it as fun. Your spontaneity is likely something people love about you, and it’s probably something you love about yourself, too. Rather than attempting to dampen your shine, plan for it financially.

How to harness it: Budget for the fun stuff

You are allowed to be good with money and have fun! It’s all a matter of budgeting. When you make a budget, it can be tempting to pretend you’ll never purchase last-minute concert tickets or go on a wild adventure with friends. But that’s probably not realistic. Build spontaneous spending into your budget so you can continue being your glorious self without necessarily derailing yourself from your larger financial goals.

Are you “bad with money” or do you just need to do things differently?

The good news is that you may not be bad with money at all. You’ve just been using strategies that don’t accommodate your neurodivergence. While things like organization and time management might be tricky with ADHD, there are technological solutions that can accommodate those pitfalls. You can also tap into your strengths, like your passionate nature and hyperfocus, to help you get ahead on your financial goals at lightning speed once you’ve framed them in a more helpful way.

FAQ on managing your finances with ADHD

Do people with ADHD struggle to manage money?

Sometimes! People with ADHD tend to struggle to manage money when they follow systems that aren’t built to accommodate their neurodivergence. While it’s true that traits like impulsivity or procrastination can be detrimental to financial success, other traits like hyperfocus and creativity can actually be a boon to your budget when harnessed appropriately.

Should I have multiple accounts for different purposes? Or is it better to consolidate?

There are pros and cons to having multiple deposit accounts for different purposes. Everyone’s brain is different. Just because you have ADHD it doesn’t mean there’s one, supreme answer for everyone who shares your diagnosis.

For some people, having multiple accounts may serve as a self-instituted boundary that guards against overspending. For example, if you have one checking account for bills and a separate checking account for “giving,” when the “giving” account runs dry, that might be a good reminder that you need to stop so you can take care of yourself. If that money’s all in one account, you might give more than you can afford without thinking. This method works particularly well if your accounts are at different institutions, which usually means an automatic transfer is out of the question. In the days between transferring money from your savings to giving account, you’ll have some time to think over your decision — and possibly reevaluate it.

For others, having money spread over too many financial institutions can lead to chaos. Let’s say you need to transfer cash to your primary checking account because you forgot about an annoying recurring subscription, and now you’re short on your electricity bill. If you have to wait days for a transfer, you might end up incurring unnecessary late fees. If this sounds like you, consolidating all of your money into a single checking account may be a better strategy. Keeping your savings and checking at the same bank where day-of transfers are possible may help, too.

Is there an ADHD money management app?

PocketSmith works particularly well for our neurodivergent users. It takes all the “work” out of tracking every last expense, evaluates your current financial situation and can even project budgets out into the future. If you have ADHD, be sure to check out all the features that could make money management easier for your fabulous, neurospicy brain.

Brynne Conroy is an award-winning personal finance writer, creator of the popular women’s finance site, Femme Frugality, and author of The Feminist Financial Handbook, which was an Amazon #1 New Release across multiple categories including Poverty and LGBTQ Demographic Studies. Her work has been cited in academic texts, and she’s spoken at venues such as Vanderbilt University, the Financial Planning Association and the 529 Conference. Here at PocketSmith, Brynne covers personal finance within American financial systems.