Thinking finance
What’s your money personality?
Lynda Moore calls herself the Money Mentalist combining accounting skills with psychology to help her clients get richer.
And clients pay $2500-$5000 for her services.
It’s a lot of money for people struggling to get ahead financially, though for many, cash flow isn’t the problem.
They are often high-earners. Their issue is getting any of the money they earn to stick.
Lynda’s first-ever client Shelly Davies, says the money spent facing up to the deep-seated beliefs that were holding her money life back were dollars well spent.
Davies is a successful business writer and trainer, who earns her money teaching people at companies such as Air New Zealand, BP, and Kathmandu to write effectively.
She had always earned ‘‘okay money’’, but as her business took off, Davies was earning ‘‘better than okay money’’, and still not getting ahead.
The traditional way of tackling that is to get some budgeting skills, or even employ a financial fitness trainer from a business like EnableMe which help people set goals and budgets, and stick to them.
But Davies says she didn’t lack for budgeting skills. There was something deeper driving her pay cheque to pay cheque money life.
One day, Davies picked up a business magazine and saw an advert for the Money Mentalist.
‘‘I thought, I have wanted this my whole life,’’ Davies says.
And $5000 later, Davies found herself confronting beliefs, including the sense that she was somehow not really a business woman.
She says: ‘‘I had a belief that there were good people and there were wealthy people, and they were separate groups with no crossover.’’
Yes, it was ridiculous, she says, but it was deeply held.
She also found herself understanding that her spending was often directed at making other people happy, allowing her to live her values in the short term, but seriously limiting her ability to live them sustainably in the long-term.
But there was something else. She was undervalueing herself and her skills.
‘‘Every time I had sought out help, it was always about a scarcity mentality. Lynda was immediately about an abundance mentality.’’
The money she spent with Lynda, she recouped within months by lifting her fees to the level that reflected their real value, ending her habit of unprompted ‘‘discounting’’.
She’s also much better at saying ‘no’ when the money, or the client is not right.
Moore says she undertook her own money journey after a marriage break-up.
She had the number skills from her accounting work. The missing piece was understanding what drove her behaviour.
She studied money psychology under psychiatrist Dr David Krueger MD in Houston, and found the answer there, as well as a business opportunity.
There are enough people willing to pay, even though Davies is convinced in Kiwi culture, seeking anything that feels like ‘‘counselling’’ is often seen an admission of weakness.
When people first make contact, Moore asks them to complete a 20-question online test to gauge whether they fit into one of five money ‘‘personalities’’- Amasser, Money Monk (people who basically equate money with evil), Spender, Avoider or Hoarder.
Moore says people have a primary money personality, and also a secondary, so you could be a Money Monk with a dash of Avoider, or a Hoarder with a touch of Amassor.
‘‘I’m a spender,’’ says Moore. ‘‘I still really enjoy spending, but I think about it a lot more.’’
I thought, I have wanted this my whole life. Shelly Davies.