Debt and Death: What Success Doesn’t Protect You From

The stats are screaming but are we listening? 91% Wish They’d Been Taught. 100,000 Try Not to Die.

💔 Debt doesn’t just break your bank account.

It breaks people. Sometimes fatally.

The connection between money and mental health isn’t just academic—it’s tragic. For every celebrity obituary that whispers about “financial stress” and “private struggles,” there are thousands of untold stories of ordinary people crushed by confusion, silence, and shame.

As for me, Sheryl C, I’m taking a brief step away from my usual serial AGM-ing to share something more personal. This issue—the fatal consequences of financial illiteracy—is not just theoretical for me. It’s a key driver behind my advocacy at The Engagement Appeal (TEA), though I rarely speak about it publicly.

This piece is for those who’ve suffered quietly. And for the rising class of self-made success stories who think they’re immune. Because even the rich, the smart, the credentialed—are being quietly undone by financial illiteracy.

---

🖤 L’Wren Scott: Success in Public, Silence in Private

In 2014, fashion designer L’Wren Scott—elegant, successful, in a relationship with Mick Jagger—took her own life in her Manhattan apartment. Her brand was $6 million in debt. She told no one. She left no note.

Her name faded from headlines. Her estate passed quietly to Jagger. But the warning remains: Success doesn’t shield you from financial overwhelm. It just hides it better.

---

🕯 Killed by My Debt: When £130 Becomes a Death Sentence