How To Change Your Money Mindset

How To Change Your Money Mindset

Here are 5 Powerful ways on how to change your money mindset

1. Understand Your Money Mindset

While you may think you know your attitude towards money, it’s possible that you’re not fully aware of how your views are shaping your decision-making.

Brittney Castro suggests tracking the thoughts that come up each time you make a money decision.

As we make so many money decisions in our lives, doing this for just one day and then reviewing the results for patterns can be enough to deepen your awareness of your attitudes.

With more clarity on your mindset, you can identify beliefs and habits that affect your ability to stick to or even create goals and plans.

2. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others

In this age of social media, reality TV, and celebrity magazines, it’s far too easy to get sucked into making comparisons.

We compare ourselves to other family members, to our friends, to celebrities, and to fictional characters on TV.

This is not a good way to spend your time for several reasons. You’re comparing what you know about yourself “warts and all!” to what you see of someone else remember you maybe only seeing their best side that they choose to show you.

Someone may appear to have a fantastic life filled with fabulous clothes, vacations, houses and cars but it also could be fuelled by debt and financed to the hilt.

For real-life examples check out the Real Housewives of New Jersey. All that glitters is not gold.

When you make comparisons and find yourself lacking, your diverting attention away from focusing on your own finances, dreams and aspirations.

3. Optimize Your Budget for Happiness

The very word “budget” can fill people with dread because it suggests restrictions.

Manisha Thakur has a more positive outlook, as she believes,

“Gentle boundaries can set you free.”

This is because knowing where you’re spending your money as opposed to having no idea where it’s going is a far more empowered place to be.

That awareness ensures that you can tweak your spending so that you’re directing your hard-earned cash towards what matters to you most.

Sometimes we spend on things that do not actually make us happy just because we think we should.

  • How much of what you’re spending is for you and your goals?
  • What are you spending on that truly brings you joy?”

A great guideline for budgeting is the 50/30/20 rule.

This comprises directing:

  • 50% of your earnings to needs (housing, food, gas, medicines),
  • 30% to wants (vacations, that painting class you’ve always wanted to take),
  • 20% to saving. If you’re carrying debt, that 20% may be directed to paying that off first.

If you keep the 30% and 20% separate from the 50%, you’re probably going to be OK without having to review everything on an itemized basis every month.

Plus, you can go wild with that 30% and spend it on whatever you want!

Reference: https://www.mint.com/vip-content/6-ways-to-instill-a-positive-money-mindset

4. Read Books to Change Your Money Mindset.

Leadership speaker Charles Jones once said,

“You’ll be the same person in a year as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

If you want to give your brain the chance to change and grow, pick up a book.

Here are some of my favourites in this space:

Reference; https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/understanding-your-money-mindset#:~:text=Your%20money%20mindset%20is%20your,myself%20no%20to%20a%20purchase.

10 More Books for a Better Money Mindset

  • The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. …
  • Start with Why by Simon Sinek. …
  • The Power of Broke: by Daymond John. …
  • The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. …
  • Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. …
  • The Inner Game of Tennis by W. …
  • The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. …
  • The Other 90% by Robert K.

You can find the reviews for the books above by following the link below…https://www.bonfirefinancial.com/books-for-a-better-money-mindset/

5.Practice Gratitude to Change Your Money Mindset

Gratitude is such a powerful emotion, one that can make your life better in so many ways. It’s quite difficult to feel depressed or sorry for yourself when you are feeling gratitude.

In a study carried out by Emmons & McCullough in 2003, there were a multitude of benefits from keeping a gratitude journal

A simple notebook where you write down daily what you are grateful for.

The study showed that the people who kept a journal exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic.

It also showed that people who kept the journal were more likely to make progress towards their goals.

Overall, there was a greater sense of feeling connected to others, a, more optimistic view towards life and better sleep quality, relative to a control group.

If you would like to experience some of these great benefits, why not try some of these simple ways to make gratitude a part of everyday.

Here are 40 simple ways to make gratitude a part of everyday.

Example:

I am so grateful that I have a beautiful house.

I am so grateful that I can meet all my financial needs every week

I am so grateful for having my job.

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/40-simple-ways-practice-gratitude.html

We have all been told about the power of positive thinking, although rarely are we told to think positive about our money. 

We all here of people complaining about never having enough or can’t afford something. 

It’s true though that we can change our mindset around money to attract and create money, it does come with a new mindset.

What Is a Money Mindset?

Your money mindset is your unique set of beliefs and your attitude about money. It drives the decisions you make about saving, spending and handling money.

People who have a healthy money mindset believe things like:

  • have the freedom to spend, but I can also tell myself no to a purchase.
  • enjoy helping others who are struggling by giving generously.
  • I don’t have to compare myself to others.
  • It’s possible to achieve my financial goals.

Your money mindset shapes the way you feel about debt, your attitude toward people who make more or less money than you, how easily you can give, your ability to invest with confidence, and more.

The Importance of Understanding Your Money Mindset

Henry Ford said, “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.”

Ramsey Solutions conducted a study of over 10,000 millionaires, and one of the most fascinating statistics to me was that 97% of millionaires believed . . . wait for it . . . that they could become millionaires.

They believed that it was within their control. They believed they held the key to their success. And having that mindset not an inheritance, fancy education or wealthy parents is exactly what caused them to succeed.  

What you believe will drive your behaviour, which will lead to positive results.

You do this in other areas without even realizing it. Do you believe that making your spouse feel special is important to your marriage?

Or that you need to have a job to pay rent? Or that “Pizza Fridays” are the best day of the week? 

Your behaviours will support those beliefs. That means you’ll probably send texts to your spouse throughout the day, show up to work on time, and make sure you pick up pepperoni at the grocery store by Thursday.  

So, how Is our Money Mindset Formed?

Our money mindset is influenced by many different factors, including the psychology of money itself.

Obviously, the experiences you’ve personally had around money will play a big role.

Things like if you had a part-time job in high school, if you’ve been at the receiving end of generosity, or how openly your parents talked about money growing up.  

Think about that last one for a moment!

Now, everything that happens in your life is not your parents’ fault.

The truth is, more is caught than taught, so the way you saw your parents talk about money or not talk about it.

There attitudes definitely influenced your attitude about money from an early age.

So, thinking about how money was handled in the household you grew up in will help you understand the foundation for your beliefs about money.

If you’re married, this can also help you get to the root of money fights you and your spouse may have.

Their experience was probably totally different than yours, which means you guys are coming at this big topic of money from two different perspectives.  

Reference:  https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/understanding-your-money-mindset#:~:text=Your%20money%20mindset%20is%20your,myself%20no%20to%20a%20purchase.