This week we’re talking to Rahkim Sabree, author, financial trauma educator, and the person who basically put “financial trauma” on the map for a lot of the internet. His work connects money behaviors to nervous system responses, family systems, and broader cultural and structural realities. His book, Overcoming Financial Trauma, and his whole approach are research-heavy, emotionally honest, and built to last.
Julien starts this conversation by admitting something most people don’t say out loud. He shares that he delayed inviting Rahkim on the podcast because the conversation would’ve forced him to confront his own financial trauma, and he wasn’t ready to "perform" his way through it.
From there, this episode goes deeper than “money mindset” and way past generic financial literacy. If you’ve ever felt anxious about money without a clear reason… or noticed your stress spikes around the 1st and the 15th… this one will feel uncomfortably specific, in a good way.
We talk about:
- Why “financial trauma” is everywhere right now and how the term gets misused
- The awkward truth about why healing your money story can feel like disrespecting your parents
- The money anxiety you normalize until somebody else hears it
- Rahkim’s house fire and how the “tools” we rely on (education, planning, discipline) don’t always deploy when life is on fire
- Why money often represents power, freedom, and safety – and how safety shows up after loss
- Vicarious financial trauma and how you can “catch” money anxiety from what you grew up around
- How we’re socialized to treat “have-nots” and how that drives status, spending, and fear
- Physical tells of financial trauma and why the better question is: where do you feel money in your body?
Links:
- Get Rahkim’s book, Overcoming Financial Trauma
- Learn more about his work on Rahkim’s website, Instagram, and LinkedIn page
- Subscribe to Rahkim’s newsletter on Substack
- Follow Rahkim’s writing on Forbes
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