This paper explores how poverty functions as a form of psychological trauma among Nigerians living in the United Kingdom. Drawing on recent data, migrant testimonies, and sociological theory, it examines how trauma rooted in economic scarcity manifests in financial behaviors such as hoarding, hyper-saving, and guilt-induced spending patterns. These behaviors, often misunderstood as irrational or excessively cautious, are reframed as survival strategies shaped by a legacy of systemic insecurity, economic precarity, and intergenerational transmission of scarcity consciousness.