Asian Money Matters
Money is woven into every stage of our lives, influencing our decisions, shaping our opportunities, and often carrying emotional and cultural weight that goes far beyond pounds and pence. Over the past year, AMBER’s Asian Money Matters series has explored how our relationship with money evolves from childhood through to retirement, shining a light on the beliefs, habits, pressures, and expectations many Asian women experience as they move through life. Each article has taken a compassionate and honest look at the financial journeys we inherit, the ones we consciously build, and the ones we are still learning to navigate.
Below is a summary of all five editions in the series — each one offering personal reflections, lived experiences, and practical journal exercises to help us better understand our own money story. Whether you’re just starting to build financial independence or preparing for retirement, we hope these pieces offer clarity, confidence, and connection.
This first edition looks back to our earliest encounters with money — childhood influences, upbringing and the early lessons we absorb about value, saving, need and desire. It explores how as children we often emulate the financial habits around us — whether from parents, extended family, or community — and how these early experiences shape our attitudes toward money later in life. By reflecting on what was normal for us then, we begin to unpick patterns of dependence, entitlement, or financial insecurity, and create space for healthier, more conscious financial thinking.
In this part, we transition into adolescence — a time when many begin forming their own limited financial choices, often under cultural and social pressures. Though rooted in the same foundational beliefs from childhood, the teenage years bring new influences: peer pressure, emerging independence, and early consumer habits. This edition encourages readers to reflect on how teenage spending patterns, social expectations, and early notions of identity around money have shaped their adult financial behaviours — sometimes unconsciously.
Here we explore early adulthood (roughly ages 20–35): earning our own income, beginning to navigate real financial independence, and all the emotional, cultural, and social pressures that often come with it. This stage is described as an “emotional roller-coaster”, where many of us live paycheck to paycheck — balancing responsibilities, expectations, personal dreams, and social pressures. It examines how cultural values, family obligations, societal beauty standards, and social media shape spending behaviours and perceptions of what “success” and “security” look like. Most importantly, it encourages emotional awareness — understanding the difference between financial needs, logical goals, and emotionally driven spending — as we build our paths toward independence.
This article turns to mid-adulthood — a stage often filled with big life decisions and pressures: balancing career, family, home (often home-ownership or renting), relationships, and wellbeing. It goes beyond just saving or spending, emphasising the need to balance financial decisions with emotional and physical wellness. The edition reflects on how to navigate responsibilities while maintaining financial health and overall wellbeing, offering a more holistic understanding of “wealth” — not just in terms of money, but life-quality, mental health, stability and long-term planning.
The fifth and final part looks ahead to retirement — a stage many may not yet fully imagine, but one that merits thought and planning. This edition encourages readers to consider long-term financial security: saving, investing, retirement planning, and emotional readiness for later life. It reflects on how earlier stages’ habits, awareness and growth can come together to shape a secure, dignified, and peaceful retirement. It invites women to think beyond immediate financial demands, to plan sensibly for later years, and to envision what financial independence and wellbeing might mean in retirement.
A Community Invitation
We hope this Asian Money Matters series has helped you reflect on your own financial journey, recognise the patterns shaped by culture and upbringing, and feel more empowered to make informed, intentional decisions about money. Every edition invites you to pause, look inward, and grow your financial wellbeing — not only for yourself, but for the generations that follow.
At AMBER, we believe these conversations are even more powerful when shared. That’s why we’d love to bring the community together in the new year for a series of online meet-ups, where we can openly discuss each life stage, exchange experiences, and support one another in building healthier financial futures.
If you’d like to join this conversation, please register your interest here:
👉 Register for the Asian Money Matters, AMBER Community Meet-Ups
Together, we can continue learning, growing, and empowering one another — one life stage at a time.