https://open.spotify.com/show/033jq6NazBtVDoK3RY7CsK, https://threads.net/@theadhdfinancebrain

The ADHD Finance Brain, Singapore (2026)

20/06/2026

I grew up in a family that has always been deeply religious. Faith wasn’t optional — it was woven into everything, especially around death, ritual, and respect for elders.

So when I couldn’t sit through a chant, couldn’t hold focus through a prayer, I didn’t just feel distracted. I questioned myself. Was something wrong with my faith? My character? Why could everyone else around me follow through, and I couldn’t?

Chanting at funerals. Prayers at temple. Even at home. Halfway through every ritual, my mind was already gone. I’d catch myself drifting, pull back in, lose it again minutes later. Not laziness. Not boredom. Something I couldn’t control.

To everyone watching, it looked like disrespect. Checking my phone. Whispering to someone nearby. Restlessness during chanting. And honestly — at times, I knew exactly how it looked. I wasn’t oblivious to it. I just couldn’t stop it.

From the outside: disinterest, maybe even disrespect. From the inside: a brain fighting to stay present, and losing.

I didn’t know it then, but this might never have been about faith at all.

ADHD is linked to lower engagement in structured religious practice — not lower belief. The research shows the struggle isn’t with devotion. It’s with sustaining attention through stillness, repetition, and long ritual. But here’s what’s interesting: when ADHD individuals do stay engaged with faith, it works in their favour. A 2025 study of adults with ADHD found greater religiousness linked to lower symptom severity.

I wasn’t being disrespectful. My brain just couldn’t hold the ritual the way others could. I knew what I felt inside the whole time — trying, caring, losing the thread anyway. The science just gave it a name.

I’m piecing together the science behind ADHD, one behaviour at a time.
Already following? Like and repost.
New here? Follow The ADHD Finance Brain — so you can recognise these patterns in yourself, or someone you love.

19/06/2026

A “high risk profile” investor can still lose sleep at night. False sense of security #8.

Most people think risk profile is one label — conservative, balanced, or aggressive. It’s actually multiple moving parts most people never separate.

Risk capacity is what your finances and timeline can absorb. Risk tolerance is what your emotions can handle without panic. They’re not the same thing.

A 28-year-old with no dependents has decades to recover from a crash — high capacity on paper. But if a dip makes them check their phone every hour, that’s low tolerance. The mismatch is where bad decisions happen.

It’s not even one profile for your whole portfolio. Emergency fund: near-zero risk. Mid-term goals: moderate. Retirement, 20+ years away: highest capacity. Same person, three risk profiles, at once.

Your risk tolerance was also shaped before you ever invested. Lived through 2008? Risk feels dangerous. Grew up in the post-2009 bull run? Risk feels routine. Your generation’s lived experience shaped your risk psychology — not the market.

Knowledge changes it too. Unfamiliar investments feel risky even when statistically sound. Well-understood ones feel manageable through volatility. Sometimes “risk” is really a knowledge gap.

The best portfolio isn’t the one with the highest return, or the one your friend is in. It’s the one that lets you sleep at night. If it creates anxiety, it’s the wrong fit — no matter how optimal it looks on paper.

Understanding risk isn’t only the advisor’s job. It’s yours too. Ask what you’re actually exposed to. Advisors should explain capacity, tolerance, and time horizon — not just hand over one label.

Treating risk as one number is the false sense of security.

I’m on a mission to expose the financial blind spots most people never see coming.
Already following? Like and repost.
New here? Follow The ADHD Finance Brain and help me reach them.

17/06/2026

Nobody tells you $1 million might not be enough. False sense of security #7.

There are 3 common ways to turn $1M into retirement income — most people never compare them.

Drawdown to zero: $4,167/month over 20 years. Simple — until you outlive it.

CPF Life: your own savings, annuitised and paid back for life. $1M pays ~$4,920/month (female) or ~$5,290/month (male) on the Standard Plan. Fixed from day one. No inflation adjustment.

Dividend portfolio: $1M at 5% yield = $4,167/month. Capital stays intact, but markets fluctuate and discipline is required.

Here’s the part that should worry you: that $4,167/month is in future dollars, not today’s. At 3% inflation, a 35-year-old’s $4,167 will only buy what $1,717 buys today. A 25-year-old? Just $1,277.

Same $1 million. Very different lives — depending on your age now.

And none of this accounts for the risk almost nobody plans for: living longer than expected. Singapore’s life expectancy rose from 72.5 years in 1981 to 83.9 today, projected to hit 92.6 by 2100. Some scientists believe we could average 100 by 2050.

Every method has a breaking point. Outliving your money is the breaking point nobody talks about.

This is the false sense of security: assuming a number is the answer without running what it actually means for your age, your method, and your longevity.

I’m not here to tell you $1M is enough or not. I’m here to make sure you actually know.

I’m on a mission to expose the financial blind spots most people never see coming.
Already following? Like and repost.
New here? Follow The ADHD Finance Brain and help me reach them.

16/06/2026

I want to take a moment to explain why I share everything I do about ADHD.

It’s not to diagnose anyone. It’s not to label people.

It’s to create awareness.

Every post I share about ADHD traits — the hyperfocus, the curiosity, the emotional intensity, the knowing-doing gap — is an invitation to pause and observe.

Observe yourself. Observe the people around you.

Because the misconceptions are still out there. “It’s just laziness.” “Everyone feels that way sometimes.” “Everyone has a little ADHD these days.” “You’ll grow out of it.” These aren’t harmless opinions. They delay diagnosis. They deepen shame. And they keep people stuck in a version of themselves they were never meant to be.

Because ADHD is one of the most underdiagnosed conditions in the world. Many adults are walking around not understanding why they think differently, why relationships feel harder, why they can’t seem to follow through on things they genuinely care about.

They don’t need judgment. They need a framework.

That’s what I’m trying to give you.

Because when someone finally understands why their brain works the way it does — everything shifts. The shame lifts. The self-blame stops. And for the first time, they can start working with their brain instead of against it. That changes lives.

Awareness is the first step to understanding ADHD. Understanding is the first step to getting help.

And getting help changes everything.

I’m on a mission to make ADHD visible.
Already following? Like and repost.
New here? Follow The ADHD Finance Brain and help me reach them.

15/06/2026

They said I was easily distracted.

And honestly — they weren’t wrong.

War documentaries at 2am while work sat unfinished. Hours tracing how large-scale Ponzi schemes worked. How political corruption and power moved together across civilisations. The mathematical origins of formulas nobody asked me to understand.

Deadlines waiting. Priorities unattended. My brain somewhere else entirely.

To everyone around me — it looked like a waste of time.

But it was never random. It was never distraction for distraction’s sake.

It was the same question asked a thousand different ways — how do systems of power actually work? How do things break? Who benefits when they do?

My ADHD brain wasn’t scattered. It was hunting for patterns.

And yes — that curiosity comes at a cost. It pulls me away from what’s urgent. It makes simple tasks harder to prioritise.

But in my work as an FA, I see what it produces.

A large proportion of people arrive at financial conversations with conclusions already formed. Fixed beliefs built on surface-level understanding never questioned. They don’t ask the next question.

My ADHD brain can’t help but ask the next question. And the one after that.

What does this actually mean for you? What happens in ten years if this assumption is wrong? What are you not seeing because nobody told you to look?

That curiosity — the same one that kept me up watching war documentaries — makes me a better advisor than I would have been without it.

Not in spite of my ADHD. Because of it.

Sources:

1. BMC Psychology (2026) — ADHD curiosity in adults
2. Le Cunff, A.L. — Hypercuriosity Theory · King’s College London
3. Hildreth (2024) — Pattern Recognition in Neurodivergent Individuals

I’m on a mission to make ADHD visible — especially for the ones who never saw it coming. Follow The ADHD Finance Brain and help me reach them.

Already following? Like and repost.

14/06/2026

$100,000 in a standard savings account earns $50 a year.

Not $500. Not $5,000. Fifty dollars.

The same $100,000 at ~2% p.a. earns $2,000 in year one. $10,408 over five years. $21,899 over ten years.

The difference — $21,398 over a decade. From one simple habit.

As an FA, a large proportion of clients have significant savings sitting in standard accounts for years. Not because they don’t know better options exist. Because the process feels complicated. So the money just sits there.

Here’s how simple the habit actually is.

Identify a high-yield account that fits your situation. Some require salary crediting and card spend. Others require nothing beyond opening the account and moving your money in.

No lock-in. Full liquidity. Your money stays accessible. It just works harder.

One account change. That’s it.

The cost of not starting — $21,000 over ten years.

Disclaimers:
• 0.05% p.a. based on prevailing base rate of major SG banks, June 2026
• ~2% p.a. is illustrative based on realistic effective rates available in Singapore, subject to qualifying criteria
• Calculations assume simple interest, fixed $100,000 principal, no withdrawals
• Rates are variable and subject to change without notice
• For general information only. Not financial advice. Verify rates with your bank directly.

If you’ve been following and it’s been adding value — like and repost.

New here? Follow The ADHD Finance Brain so you don’t miss what’s coming next.

Either way — help me reach the people who need this most.

13/06/2026

Here is the trimmed caption, copy-paste ready:

The most dangerous financial threat won’t come from a stranger.

It will come from someone you trust. Someone credible. Someone who genuinely believes in what they’re telling you.

I’ve been on the receiving end of this. Approached by someone credible. A compelling story. A clear opportunity. The kind of conversation that feels safe precisely because of who it’s coming from.

That person may have been a victim of the same story they were passing on.

This is how Ponzi schemes and money games spread.

Not through cold calls. Through someone you know. Someone who made money. Someone who genuinely wants you to benefit too.

The recruitment chain is built on real relationships and real belief. By the time the structure collapses — most people in it were victims. They believed the story completely. They just didn’t ask enough questions.

This shows up in legitimate industries too.

New recruits inherit the beliefs of their seniors — not because the seniors are dishonest, but because the system rewards passing the story down, not questioning it.

A flawed concept applied confidently gets passed to clients as established truth. Nobody lied. Nobody intended harm. But the story travelled further than the facts did.

This post is for both sides of the table.

Buying — question the story. Ask what’s missing. Ask who benefits.

Selling — question what you inherited. Is it right for the person in front of you right now?

The best story wins. Even if it isn’t true. — Morgan Housel, Same as Ever (2023)

Compelling narratives bypass critical thinking. The subprime mortgage crisis wasn’t built by villains. It was built by good people following good incentives inside a broken system.

The same dynamic plays out every day.

The best protection against a compelling story isn’t cynicism. It’s the willingness to think for yourself.

If you’ve been following and it’s been adding value — like and repost.

New here? Follow The ADHD Finance Brain so you don’t miss what’s coming next.

12/06/2026

Everyone says ADHD is a superpower.

They’re not wrong. But they’re not telling you the whole story.

The same brain that sees patterns others miss can’t see itself clearly at all. The thinking that solves complex problems creates chaos in everyday life. The creativity that generates breakthrough ideas can’t follow through on basic tasks.

ADHD is not a superpower. It is a double-edged brain.

And here’s what nobody talks about — the superpower narrative can make things worse.

For an unmanaged ADHD brain, “you have a superpower” becomes the most convincing reason to never seek help.

This is called self-denial. And the superpower narrative feeds it.

Research calls this Positive Illusory Bias — the ADHD brain genuinely overestimates its own functioning. The tool you use to assess yourself is the same tool that’s impaired.

I lived this for 35 years. Compensating through intelligence. Telling myself the potential was coming. Blaming character, not neurology.

I wasn’t fine. I just couldn’t see it clearly enough to ask for help.

I’ve seen this in others too. Unmanaged ADHD quietly leading to depression, anxiety, addiction, broken relationships. Not because they were weak. Because the self-denial was too convincing. The superpower narrative gave them one more reason to believe they were fine.

They weren’t.

The self-awareness that finally broke through wasn’t gradual. It was a flood — 35 years of memories suddenly making sense.

Pattern recognition that sees what others miss. Creative thinking that connects unexpected dots. Resilience built from a lifetime of surviving. The ability to feel deeply — and use it.

That’s what emerges when ADHD is finally understood.

The superpower was never the condition. It’s what the condition becomes — when you stop denying it and start understanding it.

Not in spite of my ADHD. Because of it.

Source: Positive Illusory Bias — Owens et al., 2007 · Journal of Abnormal Psychology

I’m on a mission to make ADHD visible — especially for the ones who never saw it coming. Follow The ADHD Finance Brain and help me reach them.

Already following? Like and repost.

11/06/2026

ADHD people aren’t bad with money.

Their brain is making a trade — money for mental relief. The problem is nobody taught them the exchange rate.

I’ve seen this pattern more times than I can count.

Giving money or vouchers instead of carefully chosen gifts. Not because they don’t care. Because researching, deciding, buying and wrapping costs more cognitive energy than the brain can spare.

Paying for help with things others would just do themselves. Admin. Errands. Tasks that feel simple to everyone else but create a wall of resistance that no amount of willpower can move.

Chasing gambling — not out of greed or recklessness, but because the singular focus it demands silences everything else. For a brain drowning in competing thoughts, that temporary relief is worth the cost. Until it isn’t.

To people on the outside it all looks the same. Lazy. Wasteful. Reckless. A lack of discipline or self-control.

They’re not seeing the exchange rate.

This isn’t irresponsibility. This is a brain managing its own limits the only way it knows how in that moment.

The science backs this up. Research shows that as working memory fills up, ADHD brains choose immediate relief over delayed benefit at a significantly higher rate than neurotypical brains. When cognitive load rises — spending on things that reduce mental effort becomes a neurological response, not a character flaw.

The problem isn’t the spending. The problem is that nobody ever explained the exchange rate. How much cognitive bandwidth each decision costs. And what happens when you keep spending it without knowing.

Understanding this changes everything about how you see money and the ADHD brain.

Sources:

1. Bangma et al. (2020) — Financial decision-making in adults with ADHD · PLOS One
2. BMC Psychiatry (2020) — Working memory load and decision-making in ADHD

I’m on a mission to make ADHD visible — especially for the ones who never saw it coming. If that matters to you, follow The ADHD Finance Brain and help me reach them.

Already following? Like and repost this to someone who needs to see it.

10/06/2026

I’ve made this mistake myself.

The market dipped. I exited. It recovered. I missed it.

The market gained a little. I exited early. It kept climbing. I missed that too.

The real problem wasn’t the market. It was that I had no clear goal when I entered. Without a defined objective, every movement becomes a reason to leave. Fear when it drops. Satisfaction when a small gain appears. Neither is a strategy. Both destroy returns.

As an FA, I see this pattern constantly.

Clients won’t start investing because 6%, 8%, or 10% annualised returns don’t feel exciting enough. So they do nothing. Or they chase speculative short-term investments instead — higher potential upside, higher downside risk, and no clear strategy for when to exit.

When markets dip — panic sell.

When markets show a small gain — early exit, never optimising the return.

The result is the same whether they started or not. The compounding never happens. The retirement plan never materialises. The long-term goal keeps getting pushed further away.

Morgan Housel said it clearly in Same as Ever:

Long-term thinking is easier to believe in than to accomplish.

Every dip feels permanent. Every slow quarter feels like failure. The long run is actually a collection of short runs — and you have to survive each one emotionally to get to the destination.

Patience isn’t passive. It’s the hardest active decision you’ll make as an investor.

The market rewards those who stay. Not those who time it perfectly.

Inspired by: Morgan Housel — Same as Ever (2023)

If you’ve been following this content and it’s been adding value — like this post and share it with someone who needs to hear it.

If this is the first time you’re seeing this and it resonates — follow so you don’t miss what’s coming next.

Either way — help me reach the people who need this most.

The ADHD Finance Brain

20/06/2026

19/06/2026

17/06/2026

16/06/2026

15/06/2026

14/06/2026

13/06/2026

12/06/2026

11/06/2026

10/06/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category