Financial wellbeing
A fearless financial life.
Oh, the complexities of money! Money can be linked to feelings of power, exhilaration, and being in control, but it can also cause fear, guilt, shame and envy. Did you know your relationship with money started at a very early age? If your parents argued about the budget, you’ve lodged this in your brain as a negative data point when it comes to money. Did you feel accomplished when you saved enough to buy your first car? A positive data point. All emotions amassed over our childhoods help form our adult relationship with money.
For those who don’t currently have a healthy relationship with money, there’s hope. We can turn the ship around by recognising a couple of truths, shaking off those shackles and embracing new beginnings.
You can’t ignore your past
It’s a fact that our upbringing affects our relationship with money: who’s in control, how we talk about it, how important it is or not. Maybe your uncle lost everything in the ’87 crash, your neighbour had an investment that went south or a parent was cheated out of their inheritance.
The pressures we felt growing up have shaped our emotions today. Do you feel deserving of money? Out of control? We could be sabotaging our future thanks to our negative money emotions.
Whether we mean to or not, we take on the financial habits we’ve witnessed growing up. You may have accepted that you’re a bad saver or an impulsive spender without considering why.
Avoidance creates a vicious cycle
Shame is one of the most common and powerful emotions associated with money and is the root cause of why we stick our heads in the sand. When we feel shameful about something, we avoid it! We might feel we don’t have enough time, that budgeting is boring, or that we’re ignorant about investing.
Avoiding uncomfortable things can lead to a vicious cycle of more avoidance, and the next thing we know, we haven’t started investing for our kids’ education or our retirement. Taking back control is empowering and we can shake the past off.
Your fearless financial life
Breaking bad habits starts with awareness. Mindfulness allows us to identify negative financial behaviours, step back and examine why – and eventually understand the root cause.
Replacing negative associations with positive affirmations is a decisive step in taking back control. Take the stress of a difficult conversation and flip it to, “I bring value to the workplace and deserve to be paid my worth”. Simple changes to our internal dialogue can give us the courage to ask for a raise or the confidence to start investing. You can’t go back and erase the feelings of scarcity you may have had as a child, but you can start a new chapter and recognise that you deserve financial wellness – the ability to quit a job, travel or prioritise self-care.
Consider making a fresh start with your hard-earned money as we head into the summer and a new year. Check those unhealthy emotions and habits, start putting some money to work and find a like-minded friend to learn with and keep one another on track.
Can’t find a friend at your stage of the financial journey? Consider a coaching session. Visit hatchinvest.nz/coaching to address your fears, thoughts and barriers to owning your future. You deserve it.