What is "peniaphobia"

n. The fear of poverty and/or poor people.

Peniaphobia is a fear of falling into poverty, or going deeper into poverty. A reason for its irrational nature is there are some individuals for whom the possibility of poverty is very unlikely, yet they feared it anyway. A situation where such a scenario was said to have occurred was with Hetty Green who was extremely wealthy, yet spent her wealth in a manner that exhibited extreme levels of asceticism. An individual who has this condition is called a peniaphobe. Although the detection of symptoms indicating a phobia often evokes premonitions of empathy and such due to it being a psychological disorder, peniaphobes sometimes elicit a more sinister response, with some analysts conjecturing whether it might be an incentive to crime.