Adult ADD and Money

127 million dollars in gambling losses, in one year.

Recently I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about Terrance Watanabe who lost close to 127 million at Harrah's owned casinos in 2007. Mr. Watanabe is facing four felony counts in Nevada stemming from a dispute over 14.7 million that Harrah's allegedly loaned to him and he lost. Mr. Watanabe filed a civil suit arguing that Harrah's holds some liability because they purposely tried to intoxicate him and then let him gamble while intoxicated.

There are many aspects of the story I found intriguing, but the one I found most interesting is the extreme lengths that an organization will go to keep fueling a customer's purchases. At Harrah's, Mr. Watanabe had a 3 bedroom suite, numerous attendants, a personal bartender, and a $500,000 credit at the gift shops among many other benefits. Given the amount he gambled with Harrah's this is not surprising, but should serve as a warning to consumers. With the struggling economy companies go to great lengths to make consumers feel wanted by offering additional benefits for spending money and by developing personal relationships with customers. While these are good things for customers, it is crucial to recognize that the main reason that companies are treating you better is because they want you to spend more money with them.

2005 Repost (Holiday Shopping Tips for ADD adults)

Another holiday repost from 2005 (Note: I drew the tree all by myself, an art career is not in my future)

Many adults with ADD tend to procrastinate holiday shopping because the whole ordeal can be overwhelming. Here are a couple of shopping tips to help ease your holiday anxiety.

1. Try to avoid the malls and the gigantic superstores.

Under normal circumstance the malls and superstores can be over stimulating for an ADD adult. However during the holiday season everything is more distracting; there are more people shopping, the holiday music always seems louder, there are more choices, and more displays. It is easy to make poor impulsive choices or to get discouraged and not buy anything at all. A lot of adults with ADD like to go to smaller stores that they are familiar with in order to reduce the stimulation, I find that in the smaller stores there are more unique choices to help you better fit your gift with the person that your are giving it to. Other ADD adults like to shop on-line to avoid the hassle and to find unique gifts.

2.  Divide you shopping into smaller trips.

Going on a shopping trip trying to buy fifteen presents can be overwhelming.  But if you go out on a shopping trip to get three to five presents you are more likely to achieve your goal.  To make it easier you shopping trips can have a theme, like one shopping trip can be to just get presents for your nephews & nieces. This will also limit the amount of stores that you have to choose from each trip.

Four things I like about "ADD and your Money"

ADD and your Money by Stephanie Moulton Sarkis, Ph.D., is the only book that I know that is solely about ADD and money management. I highly recommend this book for any adult with ADD who wants to take action when it comes to dealing with their finances. Here are four things that I like about the book.

1. The book deals with emotional and relationship issues before dealing with ways to organize and manage your finances.

2. Lots of suggested activities that engages the reader into action.

3. It got me to think about thermal receipts. In the book there is a section about managing receipts. One tips was to make photocopies of thermal receipts because they can fade quickly. Its a great tip, but I have a something to add to it. On more than one occasion, I have put my work clothes in the dryer to remove wrinkles so that I can wear the clothes later that day. A few times I have left thermal receipts in my pants, and after removing my pants from the dryer, the receipts were completely black and unreadable. So make sure to keep thermal receipts away from the heat.

4. I really liked the activity "Can someone guess your PIN number?". Often people don't make the connection that the information in your wallet or phone can give a thief easy clues in guessing you ATM PIN#.

(2005 Repost) Money and the Holidays

Here is another holiday repost from 2005.

Fall is in the air, and pretty soon the holiday season is going to creep up on us before we know it.  Now is the time to start planning and preparing (if you haven't already) for anyone to get through the holidays debt free.  I know what that many adults with ADD are still working on sending out last year holiday cards, but by starting out with small habits today you will reduce the holiday anxiety. We have enough anxiety actually dealing with friends & family. Right around now I like to make a list of the type of gifts that I am going to buy for friends and family and how much money I would like to spend on each gift.  By preparing this list now it will allow you to do three things.

1. If you like to buy all of your gifts at the last second, you can start saving the money you need now to fund these purchases. The list will also  give you a starting point of what stores you want to visit.

2. If you have issues saving the money that you WANT to spend during the holidays. You can reevaluate your list to reduce your spending, or you will have enough time to make or design some of your presents.

3. You can also start buying some of your presents now, to take some of the sting out of the holiday season. When I go on my regular shopping trips, I like to get at least 1 item on my list. It is also a good time to buy on-line because you don't have to pay extra for speedy delivery or worry that you are not going to get the item before the holidays.

The thing that everyone needs to remember about the holidays, is that it is a time to be around friends & family and to appreciate all of the blessings that you have received over the year.  No one wants to see you get stressed or go into debt buying things.

Ways for an ADD adult to waste money during the holidays (2005 Repost)

Here is a fun repost from 2005:

1. Buying and serving 10 vegetables with your holiday meal, because all of them looked good at the store and you couldn't pick just 3.

2. Buying extra gifts because you missed the deadline for holiday orders and the gifts that you ordered for people should show up on the 27th.

3. Buying extra gifts because you forgot where you hid some of your gifts.

4. Not cashing grandma's check because you threw it away with all of the other "junk mail" on your table.

5. Buying extra gifts because you desperately wanted to play with the video game that you bought for your nephew.

If you can answer yes to less than three of the questions above consider it a successful holiday season.

1. Buying and serving 10 vegetables with your holiday meal, because all of them looked good at the store and you couldn't pick just 3.

2. Buying extra gifts because you missed the deadline for holiday orders and the gifts that you ordered for people should show up on the 27th.

3. Buying extra gifts because you forgot where you hid some of your gifts.

4. Not cashing grandma's check because you threw it away with all of the other "junk mail" on your table.

5. Buying extra gifts because you desperately wanted to play with the video game that you bought for your nephew.

If you can answer yes to less than three of the questions above consider it a successful holiday season.