Getting Into A Healthy Money Mindset
Updated: May 9, 2019
What kind of beliefs do you have about money?
What you believe about money determines the way that you deal with it and thus the results you will get out of the decisions you make in your life. Your perception dictates your reality.
This is where the “Money Mindset” comes into play.
A money mindset is an overriding attitude that you have about your finances. It drives how you make key financial decisions every day. And it can have a big impact on your ability to achieve your goals. If you change your mindset about money, you tend to make better choices concerning your finances and your success in general.
Having a good mindset about how you make and spend money can be difficult for some. Some people have a “scarcity mindset” about money, meaning that they are constantly concerned that they will not have enough money. Some people have what I like to call a “just enough mindset” where they make just enough and they are content with that or they don’t think that they will ever have more than just enough. Others can have an “abundance mindset” about money, where they think they will always have enough. That is where you want to be, you want to always know that you got this and you will continue to get it!
Unfortunately, most people never get into the right money mindset. They just constantly think about the bills they have to pay and how they could earn more money. They cycle these thoughts around, with money always at the forefront of their minds, but they never get into the money mindset to begin helping their financial situations.
Becoming financially fit is more than just making a budget and saving. Becoming financially fit is a complete lifestyle change. It requires you to be fully conscious of your money habits and really immerse yourself in your finances on a daily basis. This usually requires a paradigm shift. You can’t go from overspending and living above your means to consistently adhering to your budget and meeting your money goals until you change your perspective on money.
Despite what you believe about money right now, you can change your money beliefs. When you question your beliefs and change them to improve your life, you create your life for your future instead of recreating more of the past.
So, now that we know the gist of what a healthy “money mindset” is… how does one get into it? There are a couple of components that go into transforming the way you think about money.
Here are my top tips to get you into a healthy money mindset:
Forget What You Were Taught
Our beliefs are formed by our surroundings. You are molded from a young age by the people in your life. So it is no wonder that our initial views on money are usually the same as our parents or the people closest to us. For some, this can be a good thing, but for others, it can really limit the scope of their success. For example, if Fulana was raised by parents that complain all the time about not having enough money but did nothing to improve their financial situation than money may have a negative connotation for her. She might believe that she is stuck being poor for the rest of her life, that that was the condition she was born into, and there is nothing she can do about. Or worse yet, she may be ok with staying stagnant and not having more out of life. But if Fulana was born into poverty and her parents worked hard to gain wealth and were always positive about money than she might have a more healthy money mindset because she does not see money as an object that holds her back but rather as a tool for success. In both of these scenarios, she believes what those around her believe.
But you are not the people around you! You are uniquely you, and your beliefs should reflect that. You should question the beliefs that you have had implanted in you throughout your life by others and form your own.
Forget Your Past
Our beliefs are also formed by our experiences. A lot of times events that have occured in someone’s life has skewed their perception of money. Money was at the root of negative things that happened to them so they have a negative view of money. Let these thoughts go! Money is not the root of all evil. There are evil people with money and there are evil people without it. Your past should not dictate your current situation or your future. Money is a good thing, so you must view it as such.
Commit Mentally
Once you have a clean mental slate regarding money you have to really commit to making the changes that are required to get your financial life together. The decisions that you were making in the past regarding your money were not the best, so you have to be willing to make some changes. Putting in the work required will take dedication and consciousness, not to mention a level of awareness that most do not possess when it comes to their money. So before you really start your journey to financial freedom you have to flip the money mindset switch in your brain from “off to “let’s get this money!”
Put in The Work To Create Your Future
Once you have really gotten serious about getting your financial life together then it’s time to get into action.
Like anything in life worth having… you have to work to become financially fit. Think of it like becoming physically fit. Most people want a six-pack and nice round booty… but how many people actually put in the work to achieve that goal? The same goes for getting financially fit. You have to really do it. Go from “I want to get my financial life together” to “I am getting my financial life together.” Take charge of your finances. You can finally tell your money what to do, and not the other way around. Come up with a game plan to reach your financial goals and then crush those goals!
Side Note: In order to get your financial life together you have to complete the six steps to financial freedom: budget, save, get out of debt, plan for retirement, invest, and grow your wealth. I go over all six of these steps in a separate blog post, and I will include the link at the bottom of the page. Completing all six steps is a major task for some. This endeavor can take years and even decades. But the most important thing is that once you get laser-focused on becoming financially fit and dedicate yourself to the lifestyle change it will become second nature to you.
Hold Yourself Accountable
In order to really get into a healthy money mindset, you have to make sure that you hold yourself accountable. At the end of each month compare your budgeted amount for expenditures to what you actually spent, and adjust your budget or your spending habits accordingly. Failure is fine, just don’t make excuses. Do not allow bad decisions to get in the way of your goals. Figure out the reasons why you failed and fix it! You owe it to yourself to become financially free.
Money Tip: Weigh the value of your purchases beforehand. Cut impulse spending and emotional spending! No more impulse buys on Amazon! No more buying random crap from Walmart or Target every time you walk in. Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should buy it. Be value conscious. Just ask yourself before purchases, “Do I really need this?” Chances are you don’t. Now I am not saying that you have to become super frugal, but a couple of impulse buys here and there can really add up and throw off your whole budget off.
Do Not Get Complacent
I would say that this part is where most people mess up. You erase your past biases and start making your own positive beliefs about money, you commit mentally to becoming financially fit, you put in the work… and then you get complacent. Your complacency might ruin all the hard work you put in. You made a budget and you usually stick to it, so you don’t have to be so strict. You save some every month so you must be doing something right. Wrong! If you lose focus you might just end up back at square one. Once you are in a healthy money mindset you have to constantly reevaluate your spending habits to make sure that you are still on track to meet your goals. You have to be aware at all times of the choices you make and the effect they will have. You must actively monitor your activities and stay laser focused to keep the healthy money mindset that will catapult you into financial freedom.
Speak It Into Existence With The Law of Attraction
Speak what you seek until you see what you’ve said. What you speak has power. So speak your dreams into existence with the law of attraction. The Law of Attraction is the ability to attract into our lives whatever we are focusing on. So keep a positive view of your financial situation. Take “can’ts” out of the equation. Do not resign to the fact that you will not succeed. Do not do yourself a disservice. You can do anything you put your mind to if you work at it. If you constantly tell yourself “I can’t afford that” or “I will never have enough money to do that”, then you are shining a negative light on those things. Instead, tell yourself “How can I afford that?”, ‘What do I need to do to save up the money for that?” By becoming more positive about money you essentially redirect your energy towards meeting those goals instead of blocking them from ever occurring in the first place. You deserve to be wealthy. And once you start believing that fact, you will shift your decision making to reflect that belief.
All in all, if you follow these tips to get into a healthy money mindset there is no financial goal too far fetched to achieve. Wealth does not happen overnight, but once you lay the groundwork to make your goals a reality the only thing standing in the way is yourself. So once you get into a healthy money mindset financial freedom is in sight!
If you prefer listening to a podcast to reading a blog then check out this blog's corresponding podcast at: https://anchor.fm/alexis-bertoldo/
Here are the six steps to financial freedom if you need to brush up:
https://www.themoneytalk.net/post/blog-3-first-step-to-financial-freedom-budgeting
https://www.themoneytalk.net/post/blog-4-the-second-step-to-financial-freedom-saving
https://www.themoneytalk.net/post/blog-5-the-third-step-to-financial-freedom-paying-off-debt
https://www.themoneytalk.net/post/blog-7-the-fifth-step-to-financial-freedom-investing
https://www.themoneytalk.net/post/blog-8-the-sixth-step-to-financial-freedom-grow-your-wealth
I will see you all next Monday! :)