diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index df9ab62bd2bc7..39e32808e1602 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 * [#11796](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/11796) Handle EOF error case in `readLineFromBuf`, which allows successful reading of passphrases from STDIN.
 * [\#11772](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/11772) Limit types.Dec length to avoid overflow.
 
+## Improvements
+
+* [\#11886](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/pull/11886) Improve error messages
+
 ## [v0.45.4](https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/releases/tag/v0.45.4) - 2022-04-25
 
 ### Bug Fixes
diff --git a/math/dec.go b/math/dec.go
index 6c00d042dd14d..951f51c307d10 100644
--- a/math/dec.go
+++ b/math/dec.go
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ func NewDecFromIntWithPrec(i Int, prec int64) Dec {
 // CONTRACT - This function does not mutate the input str.
 func NewDecFromStr(str string) (Dec, error) {
 	if len(str) == 0 {
-		return Dec{}, ErrEmptyDecimalStr
+		return Dec{}, fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", str, ErrEmptyDecimalStr)
 	}
 
 	// first extract any negative symbol
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ func NewDecFromStr(str string) (Dec, error) {
 	}
 
 	if len(str) == 0 {
-		return Dec{}, ErrEmptyDecimalStr
+		return Dec{}, fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", str, ErrEmptyDecimalStr)
 	}
 
 	strs := strings.Split(str, ".")
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ func NewDecFromStr(str string) (Dec, error) {
 	}
 
 	if lenDecs > Precision {
-		return Dec{}, fmt.Errorf("invalid precision; max: %d, got: %d", Precision, lenDecs)
+		return Dec{}, fmt.Errorf("value '%s' exceeds max precision by %d decimal places: max precision %d", str, Precision-lenDecs, Precision)
 	}
 
 	// add some extra zero's to correct to the Precision factor
@@ -182,10 +182,10 @@ func NewDecFromStr(str string) (Dec, error) {
 
 	combined, ok := new(big.Int).SetString(combinedStr, 10) // base 10
 	if !ok {
-		return Dec{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to set decimal string: %s", combinedStr)
+		return Dec{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to set decimal string with base 10: %s", combinedStr)
 	}
 	if combined.BitLen() > maxDecBitLen {
-		return Dec{}, fmt.Errorf("decimal out of range; bitLen: got %d, max %d", combined.BitLen(), maxDecBitLen)
+		return Dec{}, fmt.Errorf("decimal '%s' out of range; bitLen: got %d, max %d", str, combined.BitLen(), maxDecBitLen)
 	}
 	if neg {
 		combined = new(big.Int).Neg(combined)
diff --git a/types/errors/abci.go b/types/errors/abci.go
index e78846a4bb3e1..1a95419b339e3 100644
--- a/types/errors/abci.go
+++ b/types/errors/abci.go
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ func errIsNil(err error) bool {
 	return false
 }
 
-var errPanicWithMsg = Wrapf(ErrPanic, "panic message redacted to hide potentially sensitive system info")
+var errPanicWithMsg = Wrapf(ErrPanic, "error message redacted to hide potential sensitive info. Use the '--trace' flag if you are running a node to see the full stack trace error")
 
 // Redact replaces an error that is not initialized as an ABCI Error with a
 // generic internal error instance. If the error is an ABCI Error, that error is