Ep 66: Money Below the Surface: How Our Stories, Systems, And Nervous Systems Shape Financial Choices

<p>What does your relationship with money really say about you — and the systems you were raised in? In this episode of Leading Below the Surface, LaTonya Wilkins sits down with financial coach and trainer Saundra Davis for a raw, wise, and deeply human conversation about money, trauma, and economic justice. Drawing from decades of experience at the intersection of financial coaching and economic justice, Saundra unpacks why so many people — especially people of color — struggle with money, and why that struggle has far less to do with personal failure than with systems designed to extract wealth from those least equipped to fight back. This episode offers compassion, clarity, and a reframe of what it truly means to build wealth.</p><p><br></p><p>🎥 <strong>Prefer to watch? </strong>This episode is also available on YouTube with chapters:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@changecoaches/podcasts">https://www.youtube.com/@changecoaches/podcasts</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Episode Chapters &amp; Key Moments</strong></p><p><strong>[00:00]</strong> Intro &amp; how LaTonya met Saundra at ICF Converge</p><ul><li>The story behind the connection and what makes Saundra&#39;s work distinct</li><li>Auntie energy and why it matters in financial coaching</li></ul><p><strong>[04:30] </strong>Auntie energy, kinfolk, and the generational gap</p><ul><li>What it means to show up with warmth and zero judgment</li><li>Bridging generational differences in how we talk about money</li></ul><p><strong>[10:00] </strong>Music, community, and staying connected across generations</p><ul><li>How shared culture keeps us rooted</li><li>The role of community in financial healing</li></ul><p><strong>[16:20]</strong> Growing up poor and the scarcity mindset</p><ul><li>How childhood environments shape our earliest money beliefs</li><li>Why scarcity thinking isn&#39;t a personal flaw — it&#39;s a survival response</li></ul><p><strong>[21:00]</strong> How the environment creates our relationship with money</p><ul><li>Systems, not character, create poverty</li><li>Why shame around money is a design feature, not a bug</li></ul><p><strong>[26:45]</strong> Trauma, money, and two kids raised in the same house</p><ul><li>How the same circumstances can produce opposite money responses</li><li>Why both responses make complete sense</li></ul><p><strong>[31:30]</strong> Why people in poverty pay more — and the consumer trap</p><ul><li>Predatory credit, bank fees, and the true cost of being poor</li><li>