All stories by
Priya Shah
Priya Shah writes about the psychology of money — why financial threat hijacks the same attentional systems as physical danger, why saving feels impossible when the brain is running triage, and how scarcity reshapes cognition in ways that compound over time. Her work focuses on what's actually happening neurologically and emotionally underneath the surface of financial behavior.
How Foreign Money Hides Inside Your Favorite Nonprofits
Foreign money doesn't walk through the front door of an election — it takes a much more respectable route.
What Happens When a Weight-Loss Drug Works Better Than Surgery
A new class of obesity drug just posted weight-loss numbers that resemble surgery, not a shot — and that changes the financial psychology of every treatment decision people are making right now.
The Disaster Next Door Is Rewriting the Math on Homeownership
Wildfire and flood losses have quietly crossed into territory that's forcing insurers out of entire states — and most homebuyers are still running the old numbers.
Climate Anxiety Is Changing How Young People Think About Money — But Not How You'd Expect
New research on eco-anxiety finds a hidden fork in the road — and which path young people take has almost nothing to do with how worried they are.
Your Brain Treats Feeling Broke the Same Way Whether You Are or Not
Research now shows that the felt sense of not having enough shrinks your thinking and kills your saving — even when your bank balance says otherwise.
The Feeling of Not Having Enough Is Its Own Financial Problem
New research shows that feeling financially stretched — regardless of what you actually earn — quietly suppresses retirement savings in ways that have nothing to do with math.
Tapping Your Card Doesn't Feel Like Spending — That's by Design
A new construct called 'Spendception' goes deeper than the old cashless effect story — and the mechanism it names says something uncomfortable about how modern payment systems are actually designed.
Your Brain Treats Financial Worry Like a Physical Emergency — And That's the Problem
New research shows that perceived financial threat — even when the numbers are fine — triggers the same attentional shutdown your brain uses for physical danger, and that shutdown is exactly what makes saving feel impossible.
Why Saving More Money Makes Some People Feel Less Safe
The financial security threshold keeps moving upward no matter how much you save — and that's not a math problem, it's a psychological one with a specific, fixable mechanism.