Matt Haycox on Mental Health and Money: Lessons from Living Under Extreme Pressure
Updated · Dec 18, 2025
Money is often sold as the solution to stress. But according to entrepreneur and investor Matt Haycox, the reality is more complicated and, in some cases, the pressure only intensifies.
Haycox speaks from experience. Over more than two decades in business, he has built and rebuilt multi-million-pound ventures, lived through two public bankruptcies, and navigated periods of sustained legal and financial pressure that would test even the most seasoned founders. Today, based in Dubai, he invests, mentors, and hosts a long-running, award-winning business podcast where conversations about pressure, resilience and decision-making under stress consistently resonate most with his audience.
That combination of lived experience and ongoing dialogue is why Haycox is often asked about the intersection between money and mental health, not as a cautionary tale, but as someone who understands the psychological realities that sit behind financial success.
“One of the biggest misconceptions is that money automatically buys freedom,” he says. “From the outside, people see the lifestyle, the trimmings, and assume everything’s fine. But if the pressure is there, that freedom can be very fragile.”
In Haycox’s experience, visible wealth doesn’t always reflect inner security. Sometimes it represents a past success that feels under threat. In other cases, it masks obligations, expectations, or complex financial structures that quietly increase stress rather than relieve it.
“You might look like you’re doing well,” he says, “but if you don’t have control or margin for error, the pressure can be enormous. That’s when money stops being a buffer and starts becoming a source of anxiety.”
He’s careful not to frame this as irresponsibility. Instead, he sees it as a structural issue, one rooted in expectations, lifestyle inflation, and the psychological weight of maintaining momentum.
What money does under pressure, Haycox believes, is distort decision-making. When stakes feel high, emotion creeps in – often unnoticed.
“Anything involving money can push people into fear or rashness,” he says. “It’s very hard to detach from that, but learning to do so is critical.”
He often compares it to poker. The best players, he notes, don’t win because they have better hands, but because they manage emotion under pressure. They make decisions based on the situation, not the size of the stakes.
“Inexperienced players react to the money,” he says. “Experienced ones react to the moment. That applies in poker, business and life.”
One of the most persistent myths Haycox challenges is the idea that financial success automatically resolves mental health struggles. In reality, he’s seen the opposite play out time and again, both personally and through the hundreds of founders he’s spoken to.
“People who’ve never had money often assume it removes stress,” he says. “But people who’ve had it know the fear of losing it, letting people down, or damaging relationships. It brings a different set of pressures.”
Those pressures can be subtle but corrosive: ego, expectation, responsibility, and the sense that failure would ripple far beyond the individual.
“Different levels bring different devils,” Haycox says. “They’re not better or worse, just different.”
During the most intense periods of his own career, Haycox says stability came not from trying to control every outcome, but from grounding himself in what actually mattered.
“Spending time with family, being present with my kids, having people around me who genuinely cared, that’s what kept me steady,” he says. “It reminds you that no problem lasts forever.”
That perspective, he adds, isn’t blind optimism. It’s confidence built on repetition, the knowledge that he’s rebuilt before and can do it again.
“I know storms pass,” he says. “And I know I’ve got the skillset to rebuild. Surrounding yourself with the right people makes all the difference when things are intense.”
One area Haycox speaks about carefully, but honestly, is shame. In his view, shame around money is largely socially constructed, amplified by comparison culture and unrealistic benchmarks of success.
“There’s nothing to be ashamed of in having a difficult period,” he says. “You wouldn’t expect an athlete to be ashamed of a bad run of form. Life works in peaks and troughs.”
Money, he argues, has become a proxy for self-worth, particularly online, creating pressure that’s both unnecessary and damaging.
“People feel embarrassed not to have money, or to lose it,” he says. “But the truth is, money exposes people. You learn very quickly who’s around you for the right reasons.”
That lesson, while painful at the time, ultimately proved clarifying.
“Some people are there when things are good and disappear when they’re not,” he says. “It’s uncomfortable, but it’s also a kind of reset. You learn who values you, not what you provide.”
Through his podcast and private conversations with listeners, Haycox says these themes come up repeatedly – often quietly, behind the scenes.
“People don’t always want advice,” he says. “They want perspective. They want to know they’re not the only ones feeling this way.”
For Haycox, the goal isn’t to dramatise struggle or glorify stress. It’s to normalise the reality that pressure is part of building anything meaningful and that mental resilience can be developed alongside financial success.
“Stress doesn’t automatically mean you’re failing,” he says. “Sometimes it means you’re in the middle of growth.”
His advice is pragmatic: avoid catastrophising, break problems into manageable pieces, take the next sensible action, and protect your health so you’re not solving hard problems while depleted. Haycox has also spoken candidly elsewhere about the realities founders face when trying to scale under pressure.
“Anxiety thrives in stillness,” he says. “Movement breaks it. Action always beats anxiety.”
In a business culture that still equates success with ease, Haycox’s perspective is grounded and quietly reassuring. Money can amplify opportunity, but without resilience, perspective and support, it can also amplify pressure.
The real work, he believes, is learning to hold both at once.
These reflections sit within a wider body of work where Haycox explores how founders and investors navigate pressure, uncertainty and high-stakes decision-making over the long term. Rather than offering shortcuts or slogans, his focus remains on building resilience alongside financial success, not in place of it.
I hold an MBA in Finance and Marketing, bringing a unique blend of business acumen and creative communication skills. With experience as a content in crafting statistical and research-backed content across multiple domains, including education, technology, product reviews, and company website analytics, I specialize in producing engaging, informative, and SEO-optimized content tailored to diverse audiences. My work bridges technical accuracy with compelling storytelling, helping brands educate, inform, and connect with their target markets.
