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The Money Stories We Never Questioned

We’re opening Season 5 by naming the money conversations many of us were taught to avoid — debt, death, and taxes — and gently unpacking how those silences shaped the way we relate to money today.

In this episode, cohosts Arthi and Malika explore how our earliest experiences of money — what was said, what was modelled, and what was never spoken about — quietly become the rules we live by as adults. We talk about family “atmospheres” around money, generational ideas of respectability and safety, and why avoidance often holds more power over us than the numbers themselves.

This conversation isn’t about blame or doing money “right.” It’s about awareness, choice, and creating a calmer, more conscious financial legacy — for ourselves and for those watching us.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why we’re naming Debt, Death, and Taxes (DDT) as the theme for Season 5
• How avoidance keeps money stories powerful and unquestioned
• Childhood financial atmospheres and the silent rules we inherit
• Respectability, stability, and risk aversion across generations
• Scarcity thinking versus security-based decision-making
• The difference between strategic debt and destructive debt
• Reframing taxes as planned participation rather than punishment
• The idea of a living legacy — what we model long before we’re gone
• Adult patterns like overworking, under-earning, and financial avoidance
• The “people like us don’t…” exercise to surface inherited beliefs
• Practical ways to begin updating your money story

This episode is an invitation to pause, reflect, and gently question the stories you’ve been carrying — and to decide which ones still deserve a place in your life.

🎧 The Swan Effect Podcast is proudly sponsored by Old Mutual Wealth, supporting conversations that help us build financial clarity, confidence, and long-term well-being.

If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, share it with someone who might need it, and leave us a review. We’d love to hear your reflections — your messages and comments help shape the conversations we have next.

Thanks for listening!

— Arthi & Malika