People often feel disconnected from digital money, even when their accounts show positive balances.

The brain processes physical and abstract wealth differently, making tangible assets feel more "real."

Touching money and understanding it can make you feel more secure and in control.

Many Americans feel anxious about their financial security, even when their accounts show positive balances. Open your banking app and look at the number on the screen. It reflects your financial security—rent or mortgage covered, food on the table, a buffer for emergencies. But pause for a moment and ask yourself: Does it really feel like yours?

For a lot of people, the honest answer is no. The number is visible. It can be moved, spent, invested. But it does not land the same way as something tangible. A car in the driveway, keys in your hand, even cash in a drawer. Instead, it can feel more like access than ownership. That reaction is not irrational. It is psychological, and more common than people tend to admit.

To better understand why so many people feel disconnected from their own money, I spoke with Stefan Gleason, CEO of Money Metals Exchange, one of America’s largest precious metals dealers. Over hundreds of thousands of customer interactions, he has seen the same pattern emerge. As the financial system has become more abstract, many people no longer feel like they truly own their savings.

Why the Brain Treats Digital Money Differently

Experts indicate that the brain processes physical and abstract information in fundamentally different ways. A recent meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies found that concrete concepts, those tied to physical experience, activate brain networks that help construct mental models of the world. Abstract concepts, by contrast, engage brain regions involved in language processing and higher-level thinking. This distinction may help explain why tangible objects, things you can touch, hold, and interact with, feel more "real" to the brain than abstract representations like numbers on a........

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