Feeling Good About Money is Available to Everyone

So what is getting in the way for you?

Is it your attitude?

Fear?

Comparison?

Focus on your lack?

Have you decided you’ll never have enough?

Too complicated?

Has someone made you feel stupid?

Do you feel out of control?

There aren’t enough opportunities?

Do you wish you had more money or do you wish you had fewer expenses?

Do you feel behind or embarrassed for not knowing more?

The reality is the amount of money in your bank account is not making you feel bad about money. I have met clients with millions who feel poor and I have met with people who live on pennies who feel abundant and grateful. Studies show that happiness does correlate to money up until you make more than $70,000 per year for a family of 4 in the US. But we all know how much that varies depending on where you live as well.

Feeling good about money goes hand in hand with 2 factors: feeling grateful for what you do have AND knowing your wants and your values.

I think feeling good about your money is so much deeper than being able to balance your check book or having an emergency fund or even being out of debt. Feeling good about your money is about being in alignment with your money and your lifestyle. If you constantly choose to live in a mindset of scarcity and lack, you will make yourself miserable wishing and hoping for life to be different. That’s where you will live with money and that’s what will be most obvious to you.

If you know what you want from life. Not what’s important to Instagram influencers, your family or friends, but just you, then you can be excited about creating that. If your family valued safety and stability, but freedom is your top value, then your money and lifestyle should reflect freedom, not the safety you were taught. And if or when you change your mind, change how your money works as well.

You might say to yourself, I don’t see the value in fancy investing strategies or insurance products that salesmen offer. I would say it might not be the right time for you to consider that right now or you haven’t been presented the value it could provide to your life. If someone could show you the benefits and peace of mind it could bring, you might surprise yourself with how exciting it could become.

Behavioral scientists are constantly studying human motivation; what causes humans to change and sustain these changes? It’s been a mystery and our punitive system has not been helpful in creating lasting changes for human behavior. Following a set of rules around money doesn’t motivate the vast majority of people. The reality is very different; most people won’t change unless they see the direct effects on their own existence AND they have belief that they can make it different. Mostly, we do what our parents have done and we make minor adjustments. And absolutely no one changes because they give a shit about what their financial advisor thinks. People change when they are ready, when they are convinced, and they don’t want to experience any more pain in the previous direction.

So let’s work toward the most sustainable possible change. Let’s find something we can believe in. Let’s create a future we are excited to build, with money that works in our current lifestyle. Let’s use everyday language to talk about how we want money to work so we can communicate about it easily. And let’s be easy with ourselves as we learn to love the life we are creating. Because what’s the point of money if not to create the best life I can imagine for myself and my loved ones? That’s where money gets its value.