When you live with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), things seem to become much more costly.
When asked, 60% of people living with ADHD who responded to a YouGov survey estimated that the disorder has cost them over £1,600 per year, because of how it affects their ability to manage money.
This is the ADHD tax; the hidden costs associated with the condition.
Traits like forgetfulness, time blindness, and poor attention to detail can burn a hole in the bank accounts of the estimated 1.5 million adults in the UK who have ADHD (although only 120,000 are formally diagnosed).
Rach Idowu, a 28-year-old writer behind the Adulting with ADHD newsletter, estimates she’s lost around £3000 to the ADHD tax. She stresses, though, that this is not about being ‘bad with money’.
She tells Metro.co.uk: ‘ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder and traits can be very difficult to manage. I don’t exactly plan to lose money as a result of impulsiveness, procrastination and other traits.’
Impulsive spending
Financial educator Martha Lawton, 43, who was diagnosed with ADHD in January 2021, explains that the ADHD tax ‘shows up in big and small ways.’
One is impulse spending: People with ADHD are also four times more likely to frequently impulse-spend, according to the aforementioned YouGov survey.
Martha notes that the psychology of impulse spending is complex, yet with ADHD it comes down to a brain that works quickly, without always considering the consequences.
She adds: ‘Ideas lead to actions almost instantly and that’s a recipe for impulse spending. We can know better, but our brains don’t let us apply that knowledge in the moment.’
This resonates with 36-year-old accountant Sarah Emm, who hasn’t had sayings since she was a child.
‘If the money is sat there, I’ll spend. There’s no, “oh, well, if I save this for next time”. It’s a need for instant gratification,’ she explains.
Some scientists believe this thrill-seeking behaviour is caused by a lack of dopamine in people with ADHD.
The impact of dopamine
We’ve all been guilty of splurging, yet when you live with ADHD, impulsive spending can quickly spiral out of control.
Sarah used to ‘have loads of handbags and shoes and cute little things and loads of different outfits’. That changed when she tried to consume less, but things have been replaced with trips away, or going out drinking.
Sarah adds: ‘I spent 20 quid on a salad the other day, because I wasn’t feeling well. I shouldn’t be wasting £20 on one meal when I’m already in debt and need to buy a week’s worth of food or put petrol in the car or pay car insurance.’
Charli Clement, 21-year-old autism and ADHD activist, says she’s always struggled with impulse spending – from small treats like sweets and books to accidentally double booking two events or forgetting she already owned something due to object impermanence (an ADHD trait where you forget about something if you can’t see it).
When Charli is impulse buying it’s almost like an out-of-body experience, akin to ‘scratching an itch’.
It’s gotten worse while living alone at university, with no one to see her spending her student loan on takeaways or the multiple parcels arriving every day
‘It’s definitely cost me hundreds if not thousands,’ she says.
‘I feel terrible when food goes mouldy or I’ve forgotten to return an item. I feel horrible guilt because I don’t like consumerism and don’t want to buy things I don’t need or cause waste.’
Meanwhile, Rach describes impulsivity as the ‘bain of her brain’, as she’s made some ‘not so well-thought-out investments’ in the past on ‘hyped crypto coins’ and ‘in a company pre-IPO which was a flop.’
‘If I had taken the time out to do more research and invested a reasonable amount before I jumped in, I wouldn’t have lost as much money,’ she adds.
The self-employed trap
People with ADHD are more likely to be self-employed than the general population, according to this Dutch study.
It makes sense – employers expect you to be constantly focused, complete tasks quickly, and not turn up late.
All of these things can be a struggle when you have ADHD, and it means people end up having to, or choosing to, work for themselves, often taking a pay cut as a result.
‘I could work in a corporate environment and earn like £60k or £70k with my qualifications, but I can’t hack it,’ Sarah explains.
‘I can’t get in on time, or follow a strict workday schedule, or I’m a disruption in the office. So I stay self-employed, which is worse.’
End-of-year taxes can be a struggle then when you lost important paperwork or haven’t kept note of your income and expenses, too. ‘So there’s a panicked flurry of activity near the end of January,’ says Martha.
The results can be brutal; forgotten expenses, making mistakes that lead to fines, or submitting a late tax return and being charged for it.
Out of sight, out of mind
Research has shown that ADHD can cause memory problems.
‘For many of us out of sight is literally out of mind,’ Martha says. An example: forgotten laundry that goes musty and has to be washed again.
‘That’s more power, more detergent, more water and more wear on our clothes. It’s incremental, but when it happens often it adds up,’ she adds.
‘Out of sight out of mind’ can mean forgotten food ends up rotting in the back of fridges, in bags or car doors.
Then there are the keys, phone, glasses, purses, umbrellas, water bottles and books that are all lost because people with ADHD forgot they had put them down.
The expenses can climb higher. Rach recently missed an appointment for a dental root canal treatment for the third time.
‘I was charged over £200 for a missed appointment, even when I explained it was an honest mistake,’ she says.
Forgetfulness can coincide with poor organisation and attention to detail. Rach remembers missing a flight after misreading the flight time. She couldn’t get to work, and had to spend £150 on a new flight.
Dealing with debt
All of these traits can land people in debt. To cope with that, or to fund their impulsive spending, people with ADHD may take out a loan, use an overdraft or borrow on credit cards.
At the age of 18, Sarah was earning big in the corporate accounting world, so she took out credit cards with big limits, to spend on holidays and stuff for the house and a car, and festivals and nights out.
‘In my mind was like, “Oh, I’m an accountant. I could deal with this. I can rejig all these finances and follow money-saving experts’ advice of moving your zero present balances around.”
‘Of course, I didn’t. So I now have about 20 grand in debt on credit cards.’
Sarah now has four overdrafts and spends £500 a month paying off her debt.
Rach also ‘impulsively’ took out her first credit card as a student, without really knowing what the APR meant. ‘I ended up forgetting about the card, not realising that costs were going up, the next thing I knew, I had hundreds to pay back,’ she adds.
Factor in other ADHD traits (and the fact that people with ADHD are expected to earn $1.25 million less than adults without ADHD) and unpaid debt can rack up.
As an accountant, Sarah plans out a detailed monthly budget for herself, with a day-by-day cash flow forecast.
‘I just then don’t follow it and don’t check it regularly,’ she says. ‘Which means that then I forget to transfer money to one account and then a bill bounces. Or I overspend one weekend, and the next.
‘It’s just like burying your head in the sand.’
Bored, bored bored!
People with ADHD don’t do well with boredom. It goes back to the dopamine cravings, and, for Charli, it manifests in hyperfixations and ‘the desperation for novelty’.
‘From spending money on hobbies that don’t last long or items I’ve seen advertised one too many times on TikTok…My house is a graveyard of abandoned food hyperfixations that I want to eat all the time until I suddenly don’t anymore,’ she adds.
This need for novelty can affect work too. Christina Sylvester, a 27-year-old copywriter, finds it hard focusing on repetitive tasks at work, ending up drained as ‘all her energy is spent masking to get through the working day.’
This leads back to impulse spending: ‘I might splurge on clothes/items I don’t need, takeaways…anything to help make me feel good but then doesn’t in the long run.’
How to cope
People with ADHD aren’t lazy or irresponsible, they are trying to function with a brain that often works against them. The resulting costs can be huge – and not just financially.
Constantly making mistakes, losing things, missing another deadline; it can make people feel like failures.
Diagnosis can help, but being aware of how ADHD affects your behaviour or spending habits doesn’t mean people can click their fingers and never make a mistake again.
‘Whenever I make a silly mistake that costs me, I get frustrated with myself and my brain and I wonder what is broken,’ Rachel says.
Martha’s top tips for dodging the ADHD Tax
- For debt help, seek free confidential, impartial help from charities like National Debtline, Stepchange and Citizens Advice.
- ‘Gamify’ saving money if possible e.g. Frame yourself as being in competition against shops and services. They get points when they get you to spend as much money as possible. You get points when you spot and resist these tricks and shop thriftily and intentionally.
- Use pots/spaces/vaults etc in app-based banks like Monzo, Starling and Revolut
- Automate saving and debt repayments for the day after payday as much as possible.. E.g delete all saved card details from browsers and online stores. If this is too much of a faff to do, you can request a new card from your provider and then the old details won’t work anymore.
- Open a savings account with providers that are not your current account provider so you need separate log-in details and they’re more out of sight.
- Set calendar reminders that start weeks before a deadline is due.
- On an emotional level, be gentle with yourself. Don’t hold yourself to neurotypical standards.
- Treating managing money not as something they “should” do, but as a kindly action that takes care of their future selves. Celebrating their wins and thanking their past selves.
There are small changes people can make to help reduce the ADHD tax.
Since she was diagnosed with combined ADHD aged 26, Rach has found it easier to dodge the tax by setting up direct debits for her current credit card, triple-checking plane/train ticket times, doing the research before spending big, and cutting down on online shopping.
Charli has also found it easier to manage since she has been diagnosed.
She says: ‘I’m more likely to track what I’ve got to read or eat, for example through apps like Storygraph.
‘I save money through apps that do it for me so I don’t have to remember, and I try to have plans for meals so I don’t buy takeaways. It’s definitely not foolproof – but it’s somewhat easier.’
Alongside these practical steps, it’s important to practice self-compassion and to remember that your brain isn’t broken or damaged, and neither are you.
If you want more tips and tricks on saving money, as well as chat about cash and alerts on deals and discounts, join our Facebook Group, Money Pot.
To chat about mental health in an open, non-judgmental space, join our Mentally Yours Facebook group.
Follow us on Twitter at @MentallyYrs.
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