Uncovering Your Money Beliefs

Posted on: August 06, 2007

A discussion of how you acquired your money attitudes and beliefs

Our beliefs about money affect our lives every day. They color our relationships; they shape our homes and careers. We relate to money based on the attitudes and beliefs we have about it. Often these beliefs don’t really serve us. Yet, we often unconsciously cling to these beliefs, which we acquired as young children.

Because talking about money is a taboo in our culture, we learn about money by observation, and that observation is from the perspective of our little-kid eyes. Your kid brain makes up its mind and forms its opinions based on what it sees and what makes sense to it. So let’s explore how you decided about money and what it means to you.

$ What are your earliest money memories?
$ What do your remember about how your parents felt about money?
$ What “truths” did your childhood experiences cause you to conclude about money?

People often combine the money behaviors of their parents with other behaviors that got tied to money. Let’s say your parents were inconsistent in how they gave you money. Sometimes you got money for chores, and sometimes you didn’t. What your kid brain may have decided is that money is not predictable. In that case you may still be operating as if money itself is not predictable, when the truth is that how your parents gave you money was unpredictable, not money itself.

One of my childhood beliefs about money says that in order to make money, you must sacrifice your home life. My mother wanted more and more money and things, so my father worked harder and harder to get them, but he was never home. What I then concluded was that the price for having money, and what money could buy was distant relationships. But what was really true is that my parents had a distant relationship. Money was not the cause of their distance.

$ How does your money belief from childhood still show up in your life?
$ Is it tied to a behavior that is not really about money?
$ If you could separate the money belief from the “other” part (such as my childhood belief that having money meant sacrificing close relationships), what would be different in your life?
$ How would your relationship with money change based on this new way of looking at your old belief?

Let these ideas spark a new relationship between you and your money. The first step to shifting any belief or behavior is becoming conscious of the actual belief. Once you become aware of the belief, you can start choosing whether to perpetuate it. If you need or want a partner in this process of improving how you relate to your money, call me. I’ll help you make money make sense.

Shell Tain of Sensible Coaching is a money coach. She works with people, helping them change their habits and beliefs surrounding money, and guiding them towards plenty and prosperity. Shell believes we can all enjoy bigger and fuller lives. She takes you from the crunch to the ka-ching! Shell’s clients range in income, professions, and lifestyles; she successfully coaches individuals, budding entrepreneurs (more than a quarter of her clients are in real estate and mortgage related fields), couples, small groups, corporate teams. Call or email her to schedule a free, sample session; you can also sign-up to join her monthly teleclass.