Money Mindsets: Change Your Money Story!

If you can change just one thing–just one thing–which helps you to make more money, what would it be? That one thing is your thoughts. They are called your money mindsets.

Your thoughts influence every thing you do. If you hold money in a negative light, so too becomes the evidence of your world. If you believe money to be bad and that only crooks have money, you’ll also find evidence supporting your money story.

In essence, you find what you’re looking for. What would happen if you decide to look for the good money does? What would happen if you found people who represent the good you wish money can do?

The good you seek from the people who exemplify that virtuousness already exists. You’ve just been looking in the wrong places all this time. Is it any wonder that most people look only at the bad of a situation? We’ve been trained since the beginning of time to avoid bad rather than look for good.

Life Is Was Hard

Our prehistoric ancestors learned that the best way to survive and pass on our genes to our descendants is to avoid taking risks. We reinforce this by focusing on the negative as it confirms our viewpoints of the world, thereby strengthening those beliefs. What you focus and spend the most and attention on tends to come back many morefold. This is called the Law of Attraction. As you already know, you cannot build a house on a sandy foundation.

This happens even now. It’s called the News. The media loves to look for the bad in the world. They thrive on the grotesque, sensational, or scandals. You rarely hear about the good in the world. If there’s one thing you can do to increase your happiness level, it’s to stop watching the News.

Build a Solid Money Foundation

Just as a building will stand the test of time if it’s laid on a solid foundation, so too does it become easier to make and have more money the stronger your fundamentals are around money. Again, shift your money mindsets.

When you spend time looking for the bad that money brings, then all you’ll ever see is how “bad” money is. Money is neither good nor bad. It’s a reflection of a person’s values. If a person is greedy and self-serving, then he will use money to reflect this personal belief system. If a person is fearful of loss, then she will avoid using money which could have otherwise enriched her life through education and having things that could have made her life more comfortable. Likewise, if a person has a “how may I serve you?” mentality then she will give willingly (e.g., through donations, service to others) without the expectation of anything in return.

Reframing your perceptions around money plays a large part in strengthening this foundation.

It’s really true that the more money you have, the easier it is to make money. A simple example is the power of compounding interest. In simple interest, 1% of $1 million dollars is $10,000. Likewise, 1% of $1 is a measly $0.01.

So how do you get to the position of having a million dollars? Build a solid foundation around money first. Change your thoughts around money.

The Wealthy Pay Themselves First

One of the money mindsets of the wealthy is to pay themselves first before they pay anyone else. Rather than put everything into paying off their debt, they might pay off a portion of it, especially if there is a class they want to take. They do this, knowing that the knowledge gleaned from taking the class will come back as more money later on. Of course, they also know there are bills that are absolutes, like the mortgage and utilities. They often have to be paid in full. Otherwise, the person will lose his house. Without a place to live, it’s hard to work on building wealth. Paying themselves first also means taking care of life’s necessities first.

Money Is the Root of All Evil

Many people have the mistaken belief that money is the root of all evil and that money does not make you happy. This is a foundation upon which most people build. In the end, they building nothing.

Money is just an indicator of our successes and failures. Naturally, the more money you have, the higher that indicator of success is. Is it any wonder some people like to drive luxury automobiles. They are telling the world, “I’m a success.”

Of course, you might be surprised to also find out that some of the most outwardly “rich” people in their luxury automobiles are really the poorest. The real millionaire is the person who drives a 10-year-old car they had bought used in the first place. He or she also wears a $10 watch (source: The Millionaire Next Door. Stanley and Danko).

This is just another way to think of money. You don’t care what other people think. Get into a position where your assets create enough money for you to have that luxury automobile before you go get one. On the flip side, if you’re perfectly happy driving a 5 year old automobile, then be happy and ignore the criticism of other people.

Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness. Or Does It?

You don’t care your smartphone is five generations older than your friends’, who want the latest and greatest models (but pay $1000 every year). Are they really rich? Or are they just helping to make the smartphone companies even richer?

When you believe that money is the root of all evil, what is your natural tendency when you have money in you hands? Your subconscious reaction (note the word reaction instead of response) is to get rid of that money as soon as you can! Is it any wonder then you never seem to have enough money?

If money is evil, then how can it bring happiness?

Of course, money does bring happiness (but only to a certain extent). You certainly need money to live. That’s why most of your adult life is dedicated to working, whether you like it or not.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be making $150,000 a year and hate my job than to make $50,000 and love my job. With $150,000, I can do a lot of things, like buy time. This helps me to figure out what I really want out of life, which helps to bring the happiness and fulfillment I seek.

Life is a lot harder when you cannot pay for a roof over your head and food on your table. Life is boring when you cannot pay for entertainment or get things for your hobbies. How then can you say that money does not bring you happiness?

Money Serves You

Most people think they are just a slave to money. It’s easy to see why money mindsets like this is so prevalent. We spend the majority of our lives working, oftentimes earning just barely enough to make ends meet. We enter 30-year mortgages to pay for a tiny sliver of land and a house.

Adopt a new viewpoint. Think of how insignificant that house on that tiny parcel of land looks from an airplane 1000 feet up in the air. How then can you say that your money problems are significant when in the grand scheme of things they are insignificant in comparison to the world? What would happen if you chose to trivialize money as a silly game that people play?

What if you started asking yourself, “How can I have more fun?” (This usually means making more money.) The question soon turns into, “How can I have more of the fun stuff?” Asking this question takes you out of the lack mentality and into the abundance mentality.

It reframes you thoughts from one of lack to one of gratitude.

Practice Gratitude

Keep a daily gratitude journal. At the end of the day, list 15 to 20 things for which you’re grateful. They are usually simple things, such as waking up to enjoy another day, having a car to take you to work, or even just being able to hear the birds chirping.

Too many people think just the opposite: Money is hard to come by and in constant short supply. They tend to see money as scarce, as they do other areas of their lives.

Express gratitude, too, for how money serves you. That cup of coffee in your hand, the computer screen you’re using to read this article right, and the electricity keeping you comfortable.

If you cannot be grateful for the things you have now, then how can you be grateful when you are finally in possession of your wants?
Benson Wong

Practice appreciation that money brings happiness and enjoyment. Money serves you and enables you to live comfortably. Money helps you to do good in the world. Money is an amplification of that good and shortens the time in which you can do that good.

If your mission is to bring fresh water to parts of the world where someone has to walk a mile a day just to get fresh water, then having more money helps you achieve that goal faster. Rather than do everything yourself, you have other people help your movement. This amplifies the good you can do in a shorter amount of time.

Do Things to Build Your Knowledge and Skillsets

Money isn’t just this paper thing with funny pictures and numbers. You will never see your savings as stacks of paper on your living room floor. Money is an idea just as our money mindsets are. It is a reflection of the values and services we provide to the world.

Why do people search on Google or read blogs? Most of the time, it’s because they have a problem they wish to solve. Even if they are reading for fun, they are solving the problem of boredom.

When you learn to serve others without the expectation of anything in return, your perceived value to other people goes up. This helps bring more of the green stuff into your life.

This means being willing to invest in yourself. If you can spend $500 on a class which will bring more value and joy into your life, then go do it! If you can spend $500 on an item in your hobby which helps you expand your knowledge, especially if it’s synergistic with your job, then definitely do it!

What separates an expert from the rest is the willingness to spend extra time learning and doing. If you spend even just one extra hour a day more than most people are willing to do, this equates to 5 extra hours a week (for a business week) or 260 hours a year (56 weeks x 5 hours a week). This by definition makes you a much sought-after expert in your field.

Become a Student of Life

Do things. Stay engaged. Become a voracious reader. Learn to be curious. Always look at the world with a novice’s eyes. This helps you to learn to always question and challenge your preconceived notions. What we learn today can turn our world upside down, especially as we realize how blind we have been. Stay a novice, because what we learn a year from now can also challenge what we learn today.

Books are especially important as they expose us to new ideas we would have otherwise never been exposed to. Then execute those ideas by doing. Acquire things in your thirst and quest to grow as a person. This growth helps you to acquire even more things, especially as your breadth and depth of knowledge grows. This is what it means to get rich. You’re not just getting rich in the monetary sense, but also in the intellectual and spiritual sense.

It’s Not About the Money

At this point, you likely noticed an interesting trend: I’m not talking about money. This is funny, considering we are talking about changing our money mindsets. That’s also the curious thing about books, blogs, and people who teach you how to make more money. They never talk about the mechanics of making money.

Heck, I can recommend just about any investment firm to do it for you. I pay someone to manager my money.

It’s no different here. Money is just a reflection of the value you provide to the world. When you’re a person of value, you will be rewarded financially. After all, when you work at your job, you’re not actually printing money (that would of course be illegal!). You’re providing some service or value for which your employer compensates you in money.

Here are some more articles that will help you change your money mindsets:

Money Is Energy

Depending on where you are, you fall into one of three categories when it comes to money. You either…

Overspend
Underspend
Spend just enough

Most people are overspenders. That’s why the average retirement account for people in their 60s is $172,000, according to the Transamerica Study for Retirement Studies. This may sound like a lot of money but it really isn’t. In reality, if you wish to have $50,000 of yearly annual income in retirement, you really need $1.3 million in savings (the 25x rule).

A small portion of people are underspenders, including yours truly. So was Steve Jobs, the late CEO of Apple. If I want to spend $40 on something as simple as a new dishware, it might take me anywhere from 1 month to 6 months to finally decide what to do. In the meantime, I’d exhaust myself through research (yes, really…even on dishware) to the point that I’d no longer want to do anything because I’ve paralyzed myself through over-analysis.

Overspenders will go purchase the dishware right away without regard to how it might clash with the rest of their kitchen decor or what to do with the current set. I think about all these things.

Spending Just Enough

It’s taken many decades to finally get to the point of spending just enough. Money is energy. Our money mindsets determine that energy. It’s a reflection of our value system. I’m stingy because my father was stingy. Every time we’d go shopping, he’d make a fuss by pointing out the price tag. It didn’t matter that the item was the right cost for value. The fuss would often turn into pained pleas to put down the item and move on. Overtime, I learned that spending money is literally painful because I’d heard that pained voice in my heard. It’s taken me many years to become aware of this habit and break it.

It’s Really Not About the Money!

In the end, it’s not about the money. When you finally decide you want something, price is often one of the last few items on your list under consideration. You buy it because it solves some pain-point or makes life better for you.

Money is just energy. Money serves us, enables us to live comfortably. It’s energy in constant circulation through our interactions with our people, be they as simple as buying a stranger who looks gloomy and sad a cup of coffee, just to brighten up her day. Your value system in this case would be to bring joy to other people. Money enables us to do good and help other people in the world, and amplifies the time in which we can do that good.

Your Solid Financial Foundation

By now, you can see why it’s important to shift your thoughts around money. Your money mindsets is just that: a mind that is set. It determines both your conscious and subconscious response to money. Your perception, too, shapes how you interact with money (or anything really) when you come into contact with it.

Shifting money mindsets often means first being aware we have these limiting beliefs in the first place. Then, we look at ways to shift. Oftentimes, people change because the circumstances have become dour enough to require them to make a change.

Here, we look at the positive reasons for change. What do you really want? How does shifting your money mindsets help you get what you want?