Debt: Is it good? Is it bad? The word debt has such complicated connotations, especially when it comes to finances. That doesn’t need to be the case.

In the premiere of Money Glow Up, "The Budgetnista" Tiffany Aliche sits down with financial therapist Aja Evans to discuss debt, the origins of people’s “bad” feelings about it, and fighting the stigma behind debt.

“It’s not the debt,” Evans says is ‘bad.’ “It’s how you feel about yourself because of the debt.”

Everyone has their own money story, which, according to Evans, shapes their beliefs around debt. Money stories are “all of your life experiences pertaining to finances.” They could be influenced by parents and the way they handled or talked about money growing up, school, people in the media, or even the news.

Evans shares this additional insight: “The thing about debt is sometimes it allows you to get things that you would not be able to get if you didn’t have the debt.”

To find out more, tune into this week’s episode of Money Glow Up.

Step into the classroom with Money Glow Up every Thursday at 12pm ET with Tiffany Aliche—aka The Budgetnista—to jump-start your financial journey.

This post was written by Lauren Pokedoff