Adult ADD and Money

Lack of Sleep, Lack of Money

Sleep issues are more common among people with ADHD compared to the rest of population. Sleep in very important for both your mental and physical well being, and it can also have a negative affect on your finances. A University of Coppenhagen study found that unemployment rates were 30% for people with sleeping issues. Another study from the Duke-NUS Neurobehavioral Disorders Program suggests that sleep deprived people are more likely to underestimate the risk involved in financial decisions. Financial stress can also have a negative impact on sleep.

While at certain times it can be a challenge for an ADHD adult to get the proper amount of sleep, it is critical if you want to stay healthy, wealthy, and wise. This week a few ADHD coaches wrote posts on their blogs about ADHD and Sleep Issues, these posts offer different perspectives about sleep issues as well as tips to help you improve your sleeping patterns. Earlier this year Dr. Roberto Olivardia joined my wife on ADHD Support Talk Radio to talk about Sleep Problems and ADD/ ADHD. Dr. Olivardia also presented a Teleseminar at ADDClasses.com about ADD / ADHD and Sleep.

ADHD and Timely Tax Posts

Eileen Bailey from Health Central has written several timely posts related posts related to ADHD and taxes. Two of the most interesting posts are:

• 10 Tips to Help You Do Your Taxes
• Medical Tax Deductions for ADHD Related Expenses

These posts might just give you the jump start you need to start working on your taxes.

If you are still are thinking about procrastinating you should read A taxing defense? at ADD-Libbing. The article is about a lawyer who claims her extreme ADD caused her to not file or pay her taxes.

ADD Medication and Financial Success

In the Introduction of the book ADD and your Money there is a section titled " The Link between ADD Medication and Financial Success". The main point of the section is to point out the benefit that medication used for ADHD should help people with organization and managing priorities. This should lead to better financial choices and improved financial management. This seems like a very reasonable premise.

What really intrigued me was that this section also cites a study titled: Effects of methylphenidate on impulsive choice in adult humans by Cynthia J. Pietras, Don R. Cherek, Scott D. Lane, Oleg V. Tcheremissine and Joel L. Steinberg. In this study "Eleven adult males with a history of criminal behavior but no history of attention–deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) participated." The men who were given a stimulant medication were more likely to choose to wait longer for a larger sum of money rather than a shorter wait for a smaller sum of money.  Curbing impulsive behavior should also lead to increased financial success.

When I read this section I had mixed feelings about whether there was truly a link between ADD Medication and Financial Success. I know people who take medication for their ADD and have improved their ability to organize and make better financial choices. I also know people who are financially successful who are not on medication for their ADD. Some people I have talked with have felt that they were less inspired and productive when taking medication for their ADD, for these people it is a reasonable argument that taking medication hampered their financial success.

What I really want to know is whether you think there is a positive impact on finances after taking medication for ADD. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

 

Hidden Costs - Exercise Bike

Recently I had been debating over whether to purchase a gym membership or buy a stationary bicycle. I have been a member of a gym before, but I only attended sporadically. I really wanted to buy a stationary bicycle, but was a little leary about the cost.

The bicycle that I wanted to purchase was $240.00, the gym I would have signed up for was $160.00 for a year. According to my comparison I would need to use the bicycle consistantly for a year and a half, if I wanted to get the same financial benefit as belonging to a gym. While it is certainly possible that I will use the bike for that long, 18 months is a considerable amount of time. I was undecided on the issue until I took one hidden cost into effect.

You see, it is a least a 10 mile round trip from my home to the gym. If I went to the gym 2 times a week, it would cost me an additional 11 dollars each week. Including my gym membership it would cost me slightly over $60.00 a month to use my gym, using those figures, the bicycle would pay for it self in four months. This made my decision to purchase the bicycle very simple.

The point I am trying to make it that sometimes it is very easy to overlook hidden costs when making a financial decision. This is especially true for adults with ADD who are more likely to make impulsive decisions. A lot of time you can uncover these hidden costs by using the 24 hour rule., and waiting a day before making a financial decision.  

7 Days to Tax time

Here are a couple of useful articles for dealing with the drudgery we all feel with filing taxes:

The Deadline Disorder -It's a Taxing Time of the Year for Chronic Procrastinators - "Unappealing tasks such as filing taxes turn many people into procrastinators, but Sawyer is far from alone in electing to put off everyday chores. According to Joseph R. Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago, some 20 percent of us are chronic procrastinators. "That's very high," Ferrari said, adding that research reveals there are more chronic procrastinators in the United States than there are people with clinical depression."

Taxes are Taxing - " Many adults with ADD would rather scrub the floor with a toothbrush then work on preparing their taxes. Here are some tips to help make taxes less taxing:"

Organize Financial Documents the ADHD Way - "Orderly record keeping may not be the most interesting project for an adult with attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD) to undertake, but I've learned, through hard experience, that it has to be done. With tax time upon us, it's even more important than ever to get a head start on personal filing."

Donating & Reducing Clutter

Many chartiable organziations are struggling to get donations with the recent downturn in the economy.  This year, you might feel the need to reduce the cash donation that you usually make to your favorite charity. One of the things I did today was to give my unused gift cards to a local charity. Beside donating your unsued gift cards, there are also other ADD friendly ways to donate without making a dent to your checkbook:

1. Donate your loose change to a charity of your choice. The coinstar machines that are in many supermarkets will allow you to make a direct donation to your choice of one of several charities.

2.  Donate gifts that you never opened or barely used to a thrift store such as Goodwill Industries.

3. Donate used clothing. There are many drop off boxes around, and there are more people that could use warm clothing this year.

All four of these donations are things that you can do with out opening your checkbook, and will help to reduce clutter, which can be very helpful for adults with ADD. 

Controlling Your Finances - ( Free Live Teleseminar)

CONTROLLING YOUR FINANCES

Free Live Teleseminar through (ADDCLASSES.COM)

Instructor: John Mackenzie, MBA (Author of Adult ADD and Money)

Date: Tuesday June 17,2008

Time: 8:00 pm Eastern

Changing your perception is the first step to controlling your finances. This teleseminar will help you to deal with the emotional and behavioral issues that may be hindering your financial success. It will also provide tips and strategies designed for ADD adults to deal with spending, managing, and saving money.

ADHD can cost adults 20 or more workdays a year

Here is small excerpt from an AP article by Randall E. Schmid about the effect that ADHD has on the workplace.

"When "Fidgety Philip" grows up, the problems of attention deficit disorder can multiply into loss of nearly a month's work per year. Long seen as a problem for children, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was first described in 1845 by Dr. Heinrich Hoffman, who wrote "The Story of Fidgety Philip."

READ MORE >>

7 Strategies To Fund ADD/LD Treatment (ADDitude Magazine)

Here is a short excerpt from an outstanding article from ADDitude Magazine titled "7 Strategies To Fund ADD/LD Treatment". I stumbled upon this article while reading the ADHD & LD Resource Blog. 

There are ways to reduce the financial burden brought on by ADHD. But often, families lose out because they are unaware of tax breaks and assistance programs or run up against problems with their insurance plan. If this happens to you, though, Peter Jensen, M.D., author of Making the System Work for Your Child with ADHD insists, "Don't take this sitting down. ADHD is every bit a biomedical problem as strep throat."

READ MORE >>

Interesting Posts related to ADD and Money Management

Here are a couple of interesting posts related to ADD and Money Management:

I'm writing to open a discussion about the problems that ADD present regarding money management. As a middle aged guy, I look back and realize that, among other factors, ADD has had a strong negative impact on my ability to manage my money. READ MORE >>

Also, the UMASS study found that 67 pct of adults with ADHD compared to the control group (15 pct) had trouble managing money. READ MORE >>

Are you a spender or a saver? An impulse buyer, or a scrooge when it comes to spending? Develop self-awareness about your budgeting and spending habits by considering these points:  READ MORE >>