You can struggle with math and still succeed with money. My guest, Sarah Brady, lives with dyscalculia, a math processing difference that makes numbers, counting, and even telling time tricky, and she’s a financial expert. This episode proves financial capability isn’t about being a “math person”; it’s about systems, tools, and compassion. If spreadsheets send you running for the hills or you’ve ever called yourself “not a numbers person,” you’re in good company. Sarah is a nationally recognized credit and finance expert, writer, and former certified credit and housing counselor. Since 2016, she’s written trusted personal finance content for top outlets like Forbes Advisor, Yahoo! Finance, USA Today Blueprint, Experian, Credit Karma, and Investopedia. With a background in loan underwriting, SEO content, and financial education, Sarah makes complex money topics clear and relatable, especially around credit, debt, scams, and the emotional side of money.
Substack: https://sarahcbrady.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scbradyWebsite to get information on dyscalculia: https://www.understood.org/
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The Dr. Sev Talks Money podcast’s mission is to empower women to approach money confidently, reframe their financial habits, and build a future where their money is a tool for opportunity and security. Through Dr. Sev Talks Money YouTube channel and Podcast, I provide actionable advice and inspiration to help you achieve financial freedom. Join me for one-on-one coaching, group sessions, workshops, or speaking engagements as we journey to financial empowerment together. It’s never too late to begin again—let’s make it happen!
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Podcast transcript
Hey, hey, hey, Savvy Squad. Welcome to another episode of the Dr. Sev Talks Money YouTube and podcast, where we empower women to manage money confidently. Think you have to be good at math to be good with money? Nope. Sarah Brady, who’s my guest, opens up about dyscalculia and the surprising brain hacks that that helped her thrive financially. If you’ve ever said I’m just not a numbers person, this episode is for you, Sarah. Welcome to the Dr. Sev Talks Money podcast.
Thank you. Thank you for having me. Dr. Sev excited.
You are welcome. And I’m excited to talk about this because this is my first time hearing about this topic and I’m sure there are other people who are experiencing or have experienced the same thing. But before we jump into that, I love to start off with a little bit of an icebreaker because you and I know that money is a touchy subject. And so I want my guests and my listeners to get a little bit comfortable. So here’s my icebreaker for you. What app gets too much of your time or your money, and I’m going to share mine in a little bit.
Okay? Gosh. Too much time and money. Well, you know, we were just talking about this a minute ago, but I just set up a substack account and most of what I do is writing and I’m a little late to the game. But substack is, is, you know, there are just tons of writers on there and people talking about money, people not talking about money. There’s room for me to have more self control about how much time I spend scrolling that app and reading the funny, weird, interesting things that people share and of course, you know, posting my own things and worrying about whether or not, you know, people are relating to it or whatever.
Yeah, I, I can relate to the substat, but for me, it is Kindle. I get those reports at the end of the week and it tell me, I won’t say how many hours I spend on Kindle when I should be working on a. A project or I should be doing something outreach or something for my clients. I’m on Tindle, I’m reading.
Horrible use of your time. Right.
Okay, so before we get into today’s topic, can you share about who you are and the work that you do in the personal finance space?
Yeah. So my name is Sarah Brady and I’ve been involved with financial education in some way or another since 2013. I got my start, really was not interested in going into financial services, but I became a an NFCC certified credit counselor in 2013 and really fell in love with helping people understand money and understand how to improve their quality of life by getting better at handling money. So, former credit counselor. I’m also a former HUD certified housing counselor. I’ve taught many, many workshops for the City of San Francisco for their below market rate housing program. I have some experience in loan underwriting and I have been a freelance writer for the last. It’s been about nine years, written for tons of different publications and outlets.
You may have seen my name pop up in a few of them. They include Yahoo. Finance, I’ve written for Experian, Credit, Karma Kiplinger, Forbes Advisor, Investopedia, and so on.
Okay, so the first thing is, for those of you who are listening with this wealth of knowledge that Sarah has, you need to follow her on her sub stack. And I’m going to share it here. I was going to wait until the end, but I think I want to share it. Find her on substack at Sarah C. Brady. And that’s Sarah S, A, R, A, H, C, the letter C, Brady, B, R, A, D, Y. Find her there because she has a wealth of knowledge. Okay.
And we’re going to talk about some of her experience in a little bit.
Thank you.
Now, you mentioned the nfcc. Can you tell the listeners what that is?
The NFCC is the national foundation for Credit Counseling. They’re an incredible organization. They essentially developed this field of credit counseling. And they, they certify agencies that provide credit counseling services to the public. They’re wonderful. And I still write for them.
Okay. Awesome. So you are a financial expert and you have the, the accolades to back it up, but you have a secret.
That’s right.
You have dyscalculia. Can you explain what that is?
Yeah. Thank you, by the way, just for giving me a space to talk about this because it really has been a secret for me. And even after I suggested talking about it with you on your podcast, I was like, maybe, maybe I’m not ready. But. But I really am glad that you’re giving me an opportunity to share more with people about this. So dyscalculia is. It’s a neurodivergence. It’s kind of hard to explain.
There’s a common explanation you’ll hear, you know, if you look into it. Or if you talk to someone who has it, that it misses the mark a little bit, but it can give you a kind of an introductory idea. So some people describe it as dyslexia, but with numbers. So think about, you know, when you think about someone with dyslexia, transposing letters. That can happen for people with dyscalculia. And it affects all kinds of different ways, Ways that our minds function, ways that we process numbers. A common issue for me, for example, might be that I will see what time it is, but if you ask me to tell you, I might.
I might be convinced that I know what time I see, but I might say the wrong number and still be totally convinced that it’s right. So it’s kind of like your mind plays funny tricks, tricks on you. With numbers. I can share kind of a more developed definition if you’re interested. But it affects a lot of different functions that have to do with numbers and sequences, like remembering sequences or a series of instructions and things like that as well.
Wow, fascinating. I can imagine that, that it. Once you discover that’s why, that’s the reason numbers seem a little bit off for me at least now you know why that is. Then how did you first discover you had it? And what was your initial reaction?
Oh, my goodness. Well, the way I went about it, it was really clumsy because, you know, a lot of people don’t know what. And there really aren’t many resources available. So I, you know, looking back, there are a lot of signs, right, that I had issues with number for just simple. Similar to people with adhd, there are usually signs early in age. So I had my suspicion, and it grew over time as I got older and. But when I. When it.
It first kind of came to me, I was in my mid-30s. I had started working as a freelancer, and I was trying to supplement my income as a writer and educator by working at a restaurant. You do what you got to do, right? And if you’ve ever worked at a restaurant before, then you probably remember or you know, that you have to tip people out at the end of the night. And, you know, it involves counting money anyway, which had always been kind of challenging for me. You know, here I am, I’ve got a master’s degree. You know, I’ve done very well in school. I’m, you know, I’m pretty confident in my intellectual abilities, but things like counting money are really challenging for me, and I don’t know why. So one day I was at work at the restaurant and having a really common experience for me.
I was trying to calculate how much money I needed to tip out to, you know, the bartender and the host and the busser and just totally anxious about getting it wrong. You know, I was always really scared that people were going to think I was stiffing them. And there was somebody near me who I just trusted and liked a lot. And I just kind of said out loud that I was having a hard time with this. And I will never forget this. She said, oh, it sounds like you have dyscalculia. And I had never heard that word before, so I thought she was making it up. You know, it just sounded like, I don’t know, it didn’t sound like a real word to me.
And I was like, what do you mean dyscalculia? She said, oh, you know, it’s like dyslexia, but with numbers. And it’s hard to describe what was happening for me as we had that conversation. It was like the clouds parted and the light showing down on me. It was like, wait a minute, there might actually be an explanation for this thing that I’m experiencing in my daily life. And so that’s when I first heard about it. And it would. It was not until I would say, at least five or so years later that I started to talk to medical professionals about it and try to understand how I could get help. Yeah. Yeah.
Wow. Yeah, I can imagine that. That angel that was there at the right time, at the right place, how much that helped you to relieve some of the anxiety. Because now, you know, there’s a name to what I have. It’s not that I’m crazy or, or, or, you know, can’t manage numbers. There’s something going on in my brain that’s causing me to transpose numbers or to have an issue with managing it. I’m smart. I cannot do this.
So I’m hoping that somebody’s listening who may have the same experience, realize that you may want to get this checked, because that could be the issue, that you’re not crazy, you’re. You’re smart, you are accomplished. But there’s this thing with numbers. So hopefully you. This will be a, a wake up call for you to go and get it checked out so that at least you can put a name to it and take some steps. Yes. So you mentioned that, you know, managing the money, counting it out, and being able to distribute it to the different people in the restaurant at the end of the night. Are there any other challenges that may dyscalculia may, present in your professional.
Or that has presented in your personal or professional life.
Yeah, you know, I actually, I pulled up a list of kind of like major symptoms and challenges that, you know, I. I’ve searched for resources for a long time, and I will be honest. They. They’re hard to find, and they’re. They tend to be more oriented toward children who. Trouble with math in school. But I found this great list for anybody who’s curious. It’s.
It was on a website called Understood.org and common signs of dyscalculia include trouble with the following. So here’s a list of a few items grasping the meaning of quantities or concepts like biggest versus smallest. So sometimes if you ask me, you know, which group of people is bigger, I might not be able to tell you. Or if you ask me which appointment is first today, I’m. Sometimes I’m not sure. Understanding that the numeral 5 is the same as the word 5 and that these both mean 5 items.
Remembering math facts in school, like times tables, that was my first indication that I had a problem as a kid. I think thought that I couldn’t remember certain times tables because I had been sick and missed a couple of days in school. And I believed that for years. It’s just like such a funny explanation that I came up with. But let’s see the next one here. Issues Counting money or making change. Difficulty estimating time. For me, one of the hardest things to do is, let’s say, you know, I’ve got a flight and I want to be at the airport two hours early.
And then I’ve got to figure out what time I need to leave to get there on time. And then I’ve got to count backwards to figure out when I need to start getting ready. And I might get it wrong. Judging speed or distance. Understanding the logic behind math. And then the last one is holding numbers in your head while solving problems. So I know that was kind of an indirect way to answer your question, but I just wanted to share that because it was such a relief to me when I found that list.
Yeah, and thank you for sharing that, because those who are listening may see themselves in. In what? In those. Those markers that may be. Okay, maybe this is. This is why I am struggling with numbers. So with all of that, you. You’ve now realized, hey, I have this unique way of looking at numbers or not seeing numbers.
Yeah.
And so you’ve adapted because now you’re a personal finance coach. You work with people with numbers. So what are some things that you’ve done to adapt your approach to money and teaching others because of this condition?
Yeah, that’s a great question. And I just want to kind of reflect back to anybody who’s listening as well of that. There aren’t a lot of resources yet for us, but there are ways that you can learn to manage what you’re dealing with. And for me, a lot of the ways that I adapted took place before I knew what was wrong. So, you know, you’ll hear people with other types of neurodivergences describe the experience of, like, masking. And so I was doing a lot of work to cover up what I was dealing with. And so, you know, any way that I could, I would try to focus on concepts as opposed to specific numbers. And that’s something that has really helped me as a financial educator, because people don’t necessarily like to hear a lot about numbers, but they may gravitate more towards a concept like, you know, let’s save up money for emergencies, because these are the types of circumstances that can happen if you don’t.
Right.
Let’s see. You said I’m losing track of your question. I’m sorry, I’m getting long winded here. You were asking about tools that I use to help out, Right? Yeah. I’ll say this. This might sound like an unlikely tool, but. But one of the things that has been most helpful to me is acknowledging that I do have a limitation and that there are some days that I feel I call it being clear. Some days that I feel really clear, and I feel like, you know, I’m doing good with numbers.
I’m reading numbers, they’re making sense to me. And some days I just don’t. And there are some tasks that are really difficult for me as well. Talking about things like booking flights or, you know, figuring out what time I need to be ready for an event. One of the best tools that I have developed, if I can call it that, is learning to ask for help. And things really changed for me and started improving when I started telling my friends and family what was wrong. And not just saying, hey, I have dyscalculia, you know, and leaving it out there, but making a point to sit down with folks in my life and explaining to them, this is what this is. This is how it impacts me, and here’s how I could use your help.
So I’ve had to get really specific with folks in my life. And over the last few years, I’ve come to know that there are certain people in my life that I can reach out to at any time. And I can say, hey, somebody just emailed me to set up an appointment. Can you confirm that? I put this in my calendar at the right time. So leaning on my community has been a huge tool for me.
Yeah, I love that. Because one of the hardest things for us to do is to say, I need help.
Yeah.
And taking advantage of the people who care about you and want to see you succeed. Why not? Why not ask for. For their help? So people say, okay, I’m bad with money. I hear it all the time. I’m not good with man. I’m not good at math. I’m bad with money. What would you say to someone listening who feels like that?
Oh, my goodness, I. I feel that because I hear that from people a lot, and it makes me, you know, sad. It makes me angry on the behalf of. Of the people who feel that way, because I know that it’s not a personal failure. That’s. That’s one of the first things I would say is this is. This is more likely than not. It is not a you problem.
You know, most people I know you went through high school, didn’t receive any kind of education about money at all. Even in college, you know, I certainly, you know, I mentioned I have a master’s degree I1 economics class, but really in that class, I didn’t even learn anything about, you know, personal finance. So I think the first thing is that you are not the only person that feels this way. Many people who, you know, when I tell them about what I do for a living, especially women, their first reaction is, oh, my gosh, I’m so bad with money, I could never be good at money. And my response to that is always, that’s not true. You know, if you can do basic math, which I even have a hard time with, you can be really good at money. It doesn’t have to be ultimately about math or numbers. Money is, is ultimately about our lives.
It’s about our goals and whether or not we’re setting up ourselves up to make progress to those goals. And when you can start thinking about it in terms of what is it that I want to accomplish and am I just setting myself up to move in that direction? That, for me, is ultimately the essence of what being good at money is about.
Yeah, I would agree. And I think you mentioned you went back to talking about that. It’s not a, you Problem. A lot of it is systemic. Systemic because we. Enough in school, we are taught this block of knowledge and everybody is supposed to understand it the same way. Everybody is supposed to get, you know, absorb the information the same way. But everybody’s brain doesn’t work the same way.
And there is no room for looking at someone who thinks differently from the way the information is targeted to, you know, whoever it’s targeted to a certain group of people who think this way, who behave this way, and there is no room for somebody who may not think differently. So, yes, I will second what Sarah say. It’s not you. It’s really about the system not making. Making room to accommodate your uniqueness in the way you understand numbers and, you.
Know, you can take it even a step further. It is hard to exaggerate how much the general public is alienated from good, accessible information about managing money. I mean, if you, you know, if you want to hear from somebody who speaks in a way that’s relatable to you, who doesn’t use financial jargon that you’re not familiar with, that can be really difficult. I will say there are a lot of creators now who thankfully are, you know, doctor said you’re doing it as well, really trying to change the way that conversation is happening so that, you know, folks don’t have to come to you and just go, oh, she’s just talking about a bunch of stuff I don’t understand, you know, so I’m really grateful for that shift. But, yeah, certainly not, you know, a you problem. It’s not because you’re dumb. It’s not because you’re broke and you’re destined to be broke forever. You know, all of those things are.
Are just not true.
Yeah. And. And please stop listening to people who call you dumb and stupid. Please stop doing that. If they. If you’re listening to somebody who is just confirming what you think in a negative way about yourself, please do yourself a favor and stop listening to those people. Yeah, okay.
Yeah. You know, I have this sort of personal motto that has helped me so much with just life in general, but also with this dyscalculia issue. I. The way I phrase it is go to the right person for the right information. And I’ve learned that there are people in my life who I can reach out to and say, hey, you know, I’m having trouble with this number. Can you help me? And they don’t really know how to help. Or maybe they’ll say something that makes me feel kind of dumb and I don’t go to those people anymore. You know, I found there are a couple of people in my life who can, who can just go, oh, hey, you need help with this? Sure.
Like, what can I do? And I think it’s the same, you know, you can apply that to learning about managing money. If there’s a writer, you know, if there’s a public friend figure and you listen to their, you know, their podcast or you watch their video and you walk away feeling confused or you feel talked down to, they’re not the right, they’re not the right one for you. You know, there are, you know, there are other creators, people like me, I’ll just, you know, shameless plug for myself, who really want to make sure that when somebody comes to me, when somebody reads one of my articles, that you walk away going, wow, that is a lot easier to understand than I expected.
Yes, I totally agree with you. As we’re getting ready to wrap up, is there anything else that you want the listeners to take away from our conversation?
Yeah, you know, I really.
What I want people to know is that, you know, there’s no such thing as this life sentence of being bad at money. There are financial concepts that you can learn that are, that are so surprisingly and mind bogglingly simple. In fact, I can just share a couple of them right now. No matter what position you’re in, I would say probably one of the first things you want to do is if you’ve got credit card debt, focus on finding a way to pay it off. That’s a major financial principle that you don’t have to be good at math to understand. Credit cards have really high interest rates. Whatever investments you make will never offset the charges that you get for carrying credit card debt month to month.
Number one. Right. Number two, save money for emergencies. Once you pay off your credit card debt, make sure that you are building up a fund for yourself so that you can replace your income if you need to for a few months. That’s a really simple financial concept that you don’t have to be really bright to understand. Right?
Yeah.
And it doesn’t necessarily involve numbers. And then from there you want to start thinking about saving up specific funds for future goals. Maybe you want to go on a vacation, maybe you want to buy a home, maybe you want to invest for retirement. A lot of people I talk to are maybe in one of those first two stages. But you know, the information that I’m sharing and of course we could get deeper into it about the processes that you can go through to set yourself up financially. But it’s not about numbers. It’s not rocket scientists. It’s really not even that complicated.
It’s just about kind of knowing what steps to go through, like I mentioned earlier, to reach the goals that you have.
Yes, I certainly concur. And with that I want to share again Sarah’s substack where you can find the simplicity of personal finance in that when you go to substack you can find Sarah S, A, R, A H, C the letter C. Brady B R A D, Y. And if you are looking for someone to work with one on one, the best place to find her and connect with her is on LinkedIn. And because the name Sarah Brady is a little bit common on LinkedIn, you can, I will share in the show notes on YouTube and on the podcast the best way to find her. But for those of you who are looking right now, it is LinkedIn.com backslash I n I n backslash sc Brady backslash. Okay, so all of that information will be in the show notes.
Sarah, thank you so much for joining me on the Dr. Sev Talks Money podcast. I’m hoping that something that was said by you that that someone who may be in a similar situation, that it benefits them and I know it will. I know it will, it will benefit them. So thank you so much for sharing, being vulnerable and sharing and for giving us all of the information that you’ve given us. I’m also going to get from you that that website, I think it was understood.org I’m going to get that from you and I also include that in the show notes so that others can go take a look and find information that will be beneficial.
And for those of you who are listening or watching, I just want to remind you that if you’re watching me on on YouTube to subscribe to the podcast. If you listen on Apple Podcasts, leave a review and a rating. If you listen on Spotify, leave a rating. And as you are completing your ratings, please remember that we absolutely love the number five. Until then, this is Dr. Sev saying stay savvy and we’ll see you next time.
Thank you so much.
