Rahkim Sabree Unpacks the Six Sources of Financial Trauma | Ep. 390

• Rakim defines financial trauma as any instance observed or experienced that has a negative impact on the way you view, interact with, or believe about money.

• He identifies six sources of financial trauma ranging from generational and genetic to institutional and systemic.

As black people, right, navigating the United States and the capitalistic systems and racist systems that we navigate, we may never experience poverty. Right. There are those of us who've never experienced poverty. but still can be impacted by the policies of the institutions that we navigate, of the systems that we navigate.

• Financial trauma touches everybody and impacts everyone, shifting the perspective from an individualistic issue to a societal one.

• Tiffany notes that conversations often focus on individual money scripts, but institutional factors are frequently overlooked.

• Rakim introduces his three-part framework: Exposure (naming and labeling the six sources), Education (understanding impacts), and Execution (taking action).

When we start to name things, label things, things that maybe we have experienced or have had experiences with and connect the dots, there is often that aha or light bulb moment that people say, oh, I've been dealing with this my whole life.

• He emphasizes that institutional and systemic issues require collective action, while individuals can still recognize impacts on their nervous systems and behaviors.

• Rakim explains that the brain cannot distinguish between real or imagined threats, so opening a past-due bill can trigger fight/flight/freeze/fawn responses.

• These responses can lead to retail therapy, sports betting, or misinformed investing as attempts to establish safety through spending.

We can go outside, we can feel the grass beneath our feet, we can inhale, you know, God's good air, right? But we're constantly socialized and programmed to think that we have to spend money in order to move closer to this feeling of wholeness.

• Rakim's book "Overcoming Financial Trauma" releases November 2025 and is available for pre-order everywhere books are sold.

• The book covers the six sources of financial trauma, the four steps to financial healing, and his framework for understanding trauma through a financial lens.