Speaking
Helping people navigate the intersection of ADHD and money.
About Me
I, Vanessa Dean, speak about the intersection of ADHD and money, helping people make sense of financial challenges with less shame and greater clarity. My talks bring together understanding and practical approaches for people with ADHD and the professionals who support them, including counselors, ADHD coaches, financial coaches, and wealth management professionals. Whether I’m speaking to someone navigating their own finances or a professional supporting clients, my focus is the same: making money conversations more compassionate and financial strategies more workable.
Signature Talk :
Beyond the Numbers: Understanding the Brain, Behavior, and Emotions Behind Financial Decisions
Who this talk is for:
Descirption
Knowing what to do with money is not the same as being able to do it consistently. A budget may be clear, the goal may matter, and the consequences may be real - yet the plan still falls apart after a week. In Beyond the Numbers, ADHD Money Coach Vanessa Dean explores what happens in that gap. Through candid personal stories, familiar money moments, and her practical Three-Container System, she shows how planning and organization, impulsivity and reward, and emotional regulation can shape financial decisions. Audiences learn to look beyond labels such as lazy, careless, or bad with money and ask a more useful question: what is making this hard to carry out? This engaging, shame-free talk helps financial professionals, community leaders, and individuals recognize executive-function friction, reduce unnecessary complexity, and choose systems that work with the brain. The result is not a promise of perfect behavior. It is a clearer path toward steadier decisions, greater peace, and support people can actually maintain.
Financial professionals, community leaders, and individuals seeking a more useful way to understand financial behavior. This version is designed for mixed audiences and can be adapted for practitioner-only or individual-only rooms after the audience is confirmed.
Audiences walk away with
A clearer way to distinguish a knowledge problem from an executive-function problem when a money plan is not being followed
Language for recognizing planning and organization, impulsivity and reward, and emotional regulation as three common sources of financial friction
A practical way to reduce shame and adapt the system by simplifying choices, automating what can be automated, and lowering the executive-function load
From Chaos to Clarity: Money Strategies for the ADHD Brain
For people with ADHD. Explore why traditional money advice can fall short and how to build practical approaches to spending, saving, and following through—with less shame.
Additional Speaking Topics
Beyond the Budget: Understanding ADHD and Financial Stress
For counselors and ADHD coaches. Explore the connection between executive functioning, emotions, and money—and how to support financial conversations within your professional role.
When Knowing Isn’t Doing: Financial Coaching for Clients with ADHD
For financial coaches. Help clients bridge the gap between understanding what to do and taking action through simpler systems, realistic goals, and supportive accountability.
Beyond the Portfolio: An ADHD-Informed Approach to Wealth Management
For wealth management professionals. Examine how ADHD can affect financial decisions, communication, and follow-through—and how to adapt the client experience to support lasting engagement.
The Distracted Dollar:
On The Distracted Dollar, ADHD Money Coach Vanessa Dean explores why money can feel so challenging for people with ADHD, and what can actually help. From emotional spending and forgotten bills to money shame, Vanessa connects everyday experiences with practical, ADHD-friendly strategies.
For event organizers, the podcast offers a preview of the topics and compassionate approach she brings to speaking engagements for people with ADHD and the professionals who support them.
Let’s change the narrative on
ADHD & Money
I’d love to hear more about your audience and explore how we can make your next event memorable.