The Financial Impact of Bullies and What You Can Do to Protect Yourself
Bullying can undermine your financial well-being through making short-term decisions, diminishing your earning potential, and increasing your health costs, but you can take back your power to live the financial life of your choosing.
Greetings, Talk About Money Community. I hope that you are well.
In this post I am reexamining a topic that I wrote about back in 2019: bullying. Since bullying seems to be having a moment, let’s spend a few moments considering its impact and what you can do to protect your well-being and your finances.
You may or may not realize that there's a hidden cost to bullying that extends far beyond its immediate emotional toll. Whether it occurs in the workplace, at school, in relationships, or online, bullying can have profound and lasting impacts on your finances. Having experienced bullying in professional settings myself, I know how these experiences can derail not just your personal confidence but also your financial stability.
When someone undermines your sense of self-worth, isolates you socially, or creates a hostile environment, the effects ripple into your financial life in ways that might not be immediately obvious. The good news is that by understanding these patterns, you can develop preemptive strategies to protect your finances from the destabilizing impact of bullies and live the financial life of your choosing.
How Bullies Can Negatively Impact Your Personal Financial Management
Bullies Force You into Short-Term Decision Making
When you're dealing with a bully, your brain tends to shift into survival mode. This neurological response prioritizes immediate relief over long-term planning, and it affects financial decisions in significant ways.
These stress-driven financial decisions can include:
Making impulse purchases to boost your mood temporarily
Taking on high-interest debt so that you can escape a difficult situation
Accepting reduced financial terms so that you can end a conflict
Delaying important financial planning because your emotional bandwidth is depleted
The constant stress from bullying depletes your mental resources, making thoughtful financial management feel impossible when simply getting through the day takes everything you have.
Bullies Can Undermine Your Earning Potential
Bullies fundamentally attack your sense of value, and this erosion of self-worth can directly impact your earning potential. Whether it's a boss who belittles your contributions, a partner who discourages your professional growth, or childhood bullying that shaped your early beliefs about your capabilities, these experiences create what psychologists call "financial self-efficacy issues."
A study published by Yosef Bonaparte and Naman Kumar found that victims of bullying encounter long-term economic challenges. While they tend to achieve higher levels of education (including a greater likelihood of earning postgraduate degrees), their income levels remain significantly lower than those not involved in bullying. They earn slightly less than individuals who are bullies. This discrepancy indicates that being bullied has a lasting detrimental effect on individuals’ careers.
The undermining of your earning potential can happen when you:
Hesitate to negotiate for better compensation at a new job
Feel reluctant to pursue promotions or advancement
Sell yourself short, or set unnecessarily low rates for your services or products
Accept financial arrangements that undervalue your contribution
Limit your vision of what's financially possible for you
When someone repeatedly tells you “You’re not worth it," no matter the context, that message can translate directly into your financial decisions.
Bullying Can Create Costly Health Consequences
If you’ve been victimized by a bully, the physical and mental health toll can directly impact your finances. A survey published by the American Osteopathic Association found that the health consequences of bullying include stress, anxiety/depression, sleep loss, headaches, and calling in sick frequently, among others.
The health-related financial impacts of being bullied can include:
Higher out-of-pocket medical expenses for stress-related conditions
Increased costs for mental health treatment and support
Lost income from sick days and reduced productivity
Long-term disability costs (for severe cases)
Higher insurance premiums due to increased healthcare utilization
Even after the bullying has stopped, these health consequences can continue for years, creating an ongoing financial burden that compounds over time.
Ways to Protect Yourself and Your Finances from Bullying
Now that you better understand the financial risks associated with bullying, what practical steps can you take to protect yourself? Here are three strategies to help safeguard your financial well-being.
Set Financial Boundaries to Develop Financial Independence
Creating durable financial boundaries is especially important for protecting yourself from bullies, as financial entanglement often becomes a mechanism for control. Examples of creating financial independence can include:
Maintaining at least one separate financial account that only you can access
Building an emergency fund specifically earmarked for "fresh start" situations
Developing a clear understanding of your essential expenses
Creating documentation of all of your personal assets and their value
Establishing your own credit history independent of any shared accounts
Having your own financial identity can give you the independence and wherewithal to face life’s challenges.
Build Your Community to Develop Financial Resilience
While bullies often try to isolate you, building a supportive community can provide you with both emotional support and practical resources. Financial resilience through community includes:
Accessing financial education where you can learn in a supportive environment
Working with financial counselors and coaches who can provide objective financial guidance
Creating mutual aid networks with trusted friends for emergency support
Connecting with professional organizations that can help with career advancement
Take the “America Saves Pledge” for added accountability in saving for your financial goals
Finding people who affirm your worth and capabilities serves as a powerful counterbalance to the negative messages that bullies try to perpetuate.
Invest in Yourself to Establish Self-Protection
Perhaps the most powerful antidote to the financial impact of bullying is knowledge. Financial education provides you with the tools to recognize and counteract harmful financial patterns. This protection includes:
Understanding the psychological aspects of money management
Learning to recognize and address financial gaslighting and manipulation
Developing skills to evaluate financial advice critically
Building confidence in your financial decision-making abilities
Creating systems that protect your assets regardless of outside influences
When you understand the mechanics of how finances work, you become less vulnerable to those who might use financial ignorance as a tool of control or manipulation.
Moving Forward with Financial Confidence
The financial impact of bullying can be substantial and long-lasting, but it doesn't have to define you or your financial future. By recognizing how bullying can affect your financial decisions, you can use that knowledge to build protective financial strategies, develop supportive resources, and reclaim your financial power.
Remember that recovery after experiencing bullying isn't just about rebuilding your bank account; it's about rebuilding trust in your own financial judgment and self-worth. Just as psychological safety is essential for personal growth, financial security is fundamental to your ability to make empowered life choices.
If you're currently experiencing bullying that's affecting your finances, know that you're not alone. The resources mentioned above offer starting points for building both knowledge and support. Each small step that you take towards financial protection builds not just your financial security, but also your confidence in navigating a world where, unfortunately, bullies exist.
What do you think:
Have you experienced the financial impacts from bullying?
What strategies helped you navigate those challenges?
Share your thoughts with this insightful and supportive (and did I mention kind and good-looking?) community, either in the Comments below or on LinkedIn. Your experience might provide exactly the guidance another member of the Talking About Money community needs right now. Thanks, stay safe, and be well.