Do you feel like a financial imposter?

IF you worry that you are no good with money, or feel financial matters are too complicated, then you are not alone. A new study from wealth manager Quilter has found that more than three million adults are suffering from financial imposter syndrome - a psychological state that manifests itself in chronic doubt about financial skills, achievements, and entitlements.

- By SARA KEENAN

The study was conducted in partnership with financial psychotherapist Vicky Reynal. Here Vicky sheds some light on this syndrome and how to overcome it..

What is financial imposter syndrome?

“Financial imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern in which we doubt our own financial abilities,” Vicky says.

“Alongside the self-doubt, there's also fear of being found out as a fraud, even if we were quite successful financially. So what you'll find is that people with financial imposter syndrome tend to attribute their success to either luck or others helping. It's all external things, then when they have financial failures or setbacks, they blame it all on the internals - it's their fault,” she says.

“This is because they believe they're not good enough financially.

“There's a lot of self-doubt that stops them from feeling like they can take charge of their finances. It can hold a lot of people back from taking steps to make a financial plan to make their money work for them, which can be a real problem, both practicality and emotionally.”

What is the usual cause of financial imposter syndrome?

Vicky says one of the most common reasons is that we're not taught about money growing up.