Hi and welcome to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hu. Today, financial coach Estelle Gibson talks to us about a trap she accidentally fell into, even though she manages money for a living. The trap? handing over your financial power to someone else. In her TEDx talk from Dayton in 2019, she wakes us up

to this problem and outlines how we can all become more empowered and financially free.

I grew up in a family where my father managed all the money. But for some reason, when I was

eight or nine years old, he started showing me

things about money. We would sit at the kitchen table and he'd show me all the bank books. Now,

that was back in the day before the internet when we used to have little books that we used to

keep our information in. And he would show me how he saved in these accounts and he paid bills

out of these. And every time he would show me something about money, these accounts and he paid bills out of these.

And every time he would show me something about money, he would end by saying,

and don't you tell your mother.

Now, to this day, I really don't know why he said that.

But what I do know is that eight-year-old girl sitting at the kitchen table, it meant,

don't say a word.

Years later, when I got my first job, my father said, you'll bring me your check and I'll put it in the bank for you.

But because of what he had taught me years before, I said, I'd like my bank book.

And to my surprise, he gave it to me. Right then, at 16 years old, I said, I'd like my bank book. And to my surprise, he gave it to me. Right then, at 16

years old, I began managing my own money. I went on to college and then to start my new career

as a CPA. But now with student loans, getting an apartment, and a new job, I began the roller coaster ride of accumulating debt,

paying it off, and accumulating more. Many years later, after getting married, I went through

an unexpected divorce, and I was left with a house I couldn't afford and bills I couldn't pay.

You might be wondering, how does that happen to someone that's educated and skilled at managing

people's money? I had reverted back to what I learned growing up, that one person managed all the

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