Women earn less money than men do. And women keep less of the money they earn than men do.

This can mean dreams not realized, bad relationships stayed in, dead-end jobs not left, companies not founded, families making do with less.

It may be no wonder, then, that money is women’s #1 source of stress. When asked what words come to mind when they hear the word “money,” so many women say “shame,” “loneliness,” and “uncertainty.” (For men, the synonyms tend to be “power,” “strength,” and “independence.”) And women prefer to talk about any topic other than money — including their own death.

Part of the problem is that women are told, again and again, a series of money lies. We first hear some of these lies as children. They continue through to when we are knocking on the door to the C-suite.

These are six big lies that we come to believe. And lies that cost us. Big-time. They are:

1. “You’re not really that good with money. Or math. Or math-like things.”

In households across our country, families talk with their little boys about money more often and differently than they do with their little girls. For boys, it’s more about how to build wealth, while for girls it’s more about saving and budgeting. Boys learn from their fathers and see their fathers investing, while girls tend to learn from their mothers — and in only 16% of US households does the mother direct the investing — so existing gender differences are reinforced.

At the same time, little girls receive not just a lower allowance than their brothers for the same chores; they also receive lower grades in math at school for the same answers as boys. (You read that right.)

From there, the other money lies begin — and there’s a disturbing throughline through them all.