If she had used the money from her savings instead of her friend’s money, she would still have $20K left over!

How broke would you have to be to start panicking about your finances? Some people freak out if they have to take a cent out of their emergency fund to pay for an actual emergency. Others are chilling even when their bank account is a couple of hundred dollars in the red because they know they’ll get paid in three days. Money is deeply personal, and your feelings about it often depend on your financial situation growing up. A lot of people who grew up poor and start earning a stable income in adulthood spend all of their money as soon as they get it, because when they were kids, they were never taught how to save, and saw the adults in their lives spending money as soon as they got their hands on some. Not all people who grew up in poverty are serial spenders. Sometimes they’re chronic savers, never spending any money on anything fun because they’re nervous about keeping the lights on and spending only on essentials. 

The other side of this coin is people who grew up rich and think they don’t have enough money to survive, even though that’s patently untrue. Anyone catastrophizing about having only $50K in their High Yield Savings Account needs to get a grip, no matter how high their cost of living.