Beginner Level
Transforming your relationship with money can influence almost every part of your life.
This is because your relationship with money goes beyond receiving a paycheck or paying bills. It is about how you think and feel about money, and how those thoughts and feelings contribute to how you use money.
There are even different money personalities, which makes your relationship with money unique. There's everything from savers to spenders and those who don't want to think about money at all.
Regardless, your relationship with money is important.
That said, in this article, we'll cover how you can transform your relationship with money by understanding your current relationship, setting goals and intentions for the relationship you want, and taking the steps to establish a healthy relationship with money.
Whether you've noticed it or not, you've already built a relationship with money. This relationship with money influenced your career choices, created certain spending habits, and even influenced where you ate for dinner.
This is why a healthy relationship with money is important as it positively impacts your interactions with money.
Having a healthy relationship with your money means understanding how money works. It means using your money to help you maintain good health, live a life with less stress, and invest in things that will support you long term.
A positive relationship is what leads to financial freedom and wellness.
Having an unhealthy relationship with money often leads to a stressful life because of poor money choices.
This can look like: impulse shopping, maxing out credit cards, avoiding managing your finances, refusing to talk about money or seek financial support, disliking or displaying anger toward financially secure people, being afraid to spend money even on necessities.
This poor relationship with money also affects the other relationships in your life.
For instance, finances are a big cause of divorce for many people and can cause money conflicts in families.
When you have a healthy relationship with money everything seems to fall into place. The sun shines brighter, the birds sing a little louder, and you appreciate life more because you're not worrying about money.
A healthy relationship with money includes: having a spending plan or budget for your money, feeling good about the money you earn, having a strong savings plan or emergency fund, living debt free or actively paying off debt, being able to make purchases without feeling guilty.
If you have a relationship with money that could use some improvement, here's more about transforming your relationship with money into something that is healthy and sustainable.
It's important to know that transforming your relationship with money will take time. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to unlearning the false beliefs about money and creating better habits. Yet, with a little time and effort, you'll start to see a difference.
The first step is to really take an honest assessment and not a judgment of your current relationship with money. Remember that no matter where your relationship is, it doesn't make you a good or bad person.
To understand your relationship, ask yourself the following questions.
What are my thoughts about money? Are they positive or negative? How have I made progress with money over the last year? What are your parents' relationships with money? Are you mimicking the money relationships of those in your social circle?
Now is the time to leave the past in the past and focus on the future. What do you want your relationship with money to be?
Do you want your relationship to be fun yet responsible? For example, you can spend money on things you enjoy but also build savings.
When you identify this relationship, try to focus on what this relationship will look like in your life. How will your life, behaviors, and thoughts be different because of this new relationship?
How will this new relationship feel?
A simple place to start is to think about your values and make sure your relationship with money aligns with them.
Now it's time to zero in on your new and improved relationship and create an intention or a goal.
To do this, consider what types of outcomes you want for your new relationship.
Do you want to increase your savings? Feel confident in making more money? Or do you want to pay off debt?
Having an intention or intended outcome will help you to stay focused on building your new relationship. It will help you change habits and create new routines that will help you to fulfill this new goal.
This is when you start putting steps into practice. When you think about the foundation of a house, it's the strongest part. What can be the strongest part of your new relationship?
The easiest way to start building this foundation is through education. Understanding how money works, how to use money, and understanding the financial structure can help with transforming your relationship with money.
It's important to remember that you've had this negative relationship for years. It's ok if you don't change things overnight.
The next time you think about giving yourself a hard time, try these techniques for giving yourself grace: forgive yourself for your past money mistakes; keep trying until you get it right.
Taking a look at happily married couples, a key to their positive relationship is marriage counseling. Similar to your relationship with money, sometimes you need a little outside help.
And when you seek help from financial experts, they can guide you to make better decisions with your money.
Professionals can help you create a plan for your money and help you to feel good about your money.
We often celebrate other relationships in our lives, such as a new romantic partner, a new job, or becoming a parent. Why not celebrate your new relationship with money? A relationship that will indeed affect every other relationship we have in our life.
Now that you know about transforming your relationship with money into a healthy one, let's make sure that you can maintain this relationship. Like a romantic relationship, there is no going back to the lazy unappreciative partner.
Here is how to stay out of the cycle: avoid bad money habits by creating new money habits; pay attention to your thoughts and your beliefs about money; spend time with people who support your healthy relationship with money; remove things in your life that don't support a healthy relationship.
With these steps, you will create a relationship with money that is healthy, supportive, and thriving. Remember that this transformation will take time.
By starting with the simple step of understanding your current relationship with money and setting the intention of how you want your relationship to be, you are setting yourself up for a major change. It's important to stick to your goal, seek professional help when needed, and give yourself grace.
Strong relationships take time and can last you a lifetime.
