Where Did Your Money Mindset Come From?

Last week you discovered if you have an abundance or scarcity mindset. If you missed it CLICK HERE to check it out.

Knowing where you stand is the first step, but digging into the why behind your mindset will help you understand yourself on a much deeper level. Today we are going to dive into where your money mindset came from and how it developed.

Our money mindset started to form long before we even had any money, well, except maybe a piggy bank with a little cash in it! It starts to form in our childhood. The first pieces of our money mindset come from what we hear and observe from the adults around us when we are growing up. Let’s take a time machine back to your childhood to start to better understand your money mindset.

I want you to think about how money was talked about and handled by the adults in your life when you were growing up. Was it talked about in a positive or negative way? Or maybe it was not talked about at all. Think about your earliest memories of money from your childhood. Think about how you feel about those memories, how you felt about them then, and how you feel about them today.

This is a great time to break out your journal again. Spend some time writing out your thoughts and feelings about these memories. Then expand on those thoughts and feelings by journaling about how those early memories are impacting your money mindset today.

Even if all the signs from your childhood point to the adults in your life having a positive mindset, that does not immediately translate into you having one as well. There is so much more that contributes to your mindset, we all have so many experiences with money beyond our childhood memories.

Now it’s time to think about your experiences with money beyond your childhood. Think about your first job and how you managed the money you earned and how you felt about that job. Did you spend all of your money on things that seem so unimportant now and not save anything (like cafeteria food and jeans that were way too expensive-like I did), did you start stashing some of your money away as soon as you started working or did you stash every single penny away and never have any fun. Really think back and be honest with yourself.

Now think about why you did what you did with your money from your first ‘real’ job. Was it following along in the footsteps of the adults in your life, or did you go in the opposite direction? This is not the time to sugar coat shit with yourself, really be honest with yourself. It’s not worth putting in all this work if you are going to edit yourself.

Last stop on this stroll down memory lane, think about what significant financial events in adulthood have impacted your money mindset. Good or bad, most big events in your life have money attached to them in some way. Maybe you took a job because of the money. Maybe you lost a job that felt like the rug being pulled out from under you in a lot of ways, but one of the big ways was financially. Take a step back and think about the major events in your life and think about how money played into them. Jot them all down and then come back to them and think about how you reacted to these events and how you felt about your finances at the time.

Doing all of this work is the next step to shifting your money mindset. We’re taking this one step at a time so that you can spend the time working on each step. Next week I will share with you some actions you can take to start working to improve your money mindset. Can’t wait to share with you!

-Sherry