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With that in mind, we will be talking about what a money mindset is and how you can create a positive money mindset, starting today.
Table of Contents
What Is A Money Mindset?
A money mindset is the way that you think about money or the beliefs that you hold around money.
Things like how and why you spend money or even how much you think you can possibly earn all boils down to your money mindset.
Don’t underestimate how important your money mindset is. It has a huge impact on the decisions that we make and, therefore, has massive implications for our financial lives.
A lot of us think that we have a good money mindset, but it is interesting to see what beliefs we actually have once we start consciously looking into it.
Some people think that because they are high earners, they have a good money mindset by default, but that’s just not the case.
Some people have to work on positive money affirmations to get good vibes with money!
If you don’t have a positive money mindset or decent financial education, you can find yourself in a high-earning job but not knowing what to do with that money.
If you find you have negative associations with money, don’t worry- we can help you change your outlook and form a positive money mindset.
Money Mindset Exercises
Do you have a positive money mindset? Starting from square one, we need to know what you already think about money now.
Depending on how you answer, you may find yourself viewing things differently.
There are certain things that we can ask ourselves to get started:
- What did your parents/caregivers think about money?
- What do you believe about rich people?
- What do you believe about poor people?
- How do you feel when you spend money?
- How much money do you believe you can earn?
- What were you taught about how to manage your money?
- What good or bad money habits do you currently have?
There are also some questions that you can ask yourself in regards to how you deal with money currently:
- How do you feel once your paycheck hits your account?
- How do you feel just before your paycheck?
- What do your friends/family say about how you are with money?
- Do you feel like you need to keep all of the money?
- Do you feel like it needs to be spent straight away?
- Do you think you’ll never have enough?
- Do you think that you are generous?
- Do you feel that you are in control of your money?
- What comes to mind when you think of a financial advisor?
How Can I Change My Thinking About Money?
A positive money mindset is important because you want to make sure that you give yourself the best advantages going forward and make your decisions based on positive thoughts.
A negative money mindset can come from a scarcity viewpoint- there just isn’t enough money for you.
It can take a toll on you, making you feel anxious or stressed.
If you’re always addressing any decisions that you make for your life from a negative mindset, you may not give yourself as many chances for success.
The way that mindsets are formed is usually from what we see and hear throughout our lives.
We glimpse money mindsets throughout our childhood, learning examples from our parents/caretakers.
Although we pick up most of our money mindset beliefs subconsciously, it’s important to note that it doesn’t mean we can’t change them.
Our brains are very powerful and they tend to believe what we tell them. This means that we can tell our brain something different, and over time it will come to believe it. But you have to believe it’s possible!
It’s more than telling yourself that you will work on your mindset. You need to figure out what your new positive mindset is and how you would like that to change exactly.
It doesn’t have to be as extreme as going from “I’m always going to be poor” to “I’m going to be the richest person in the world” – it needs to be realistic for you.
The key thing here is to make sure you are going to actually believe it.
You may not even realize what subconscious thoughts and beliefs you have about money until you do some work on it.
It does take some work as well. If you have been brought up believing one thing, and your peers all echo the same – it will take some inner work to flip the script.
Characteristics Of A Positive Money Mindset — Hone In On These
Knowing That Money is Neutral
The way that we think about money has nothing to do with the money itself; we must realize that money is neutral and unaffected by our beliefs.
What we tend to do is attach our emotions to money, such as “money is evil”, “money doesn’t buy happiness”.
Money isn’t any of these things. That doesn’t mean to say that people don’t behave in these ways when it comes to money; but money itself isn’t the problem, it’s what people do with it.
Money is a tool that you can use in your life to do the things that you want to do. When you think about the positive gains you receive from money, then you frame your mindset positively.
You just need to figure out what you want, make a plan and go for it!
Keep Your Focus
If you have an abundance money mindset, you will keep in your own lane and not worry about what anyone else is doing.
You believe in yourself and that you have money to achieve what you want, and you focus on the next steps you can take to do more for yourself.
Focus on the things that are important to you and the goals that you want to achieve in your life- such as a full emergency fund, paying off debt, going on vacation or reaching financial freedom.
If you have any goals that you want to work towards, it can help to have a vision board so that you can look at the things that you are aiming for.
You Believe There’s Enough Money for Everyone
This is a really important one – if you have a positive money mindset then you will believe that there is enough money to go around.
There are rich people who are scarce with their money, just like there are poor people who still try to spread the wealth.
When there is enough for all – including you- you feel more secure in your financial journey and may be more eager to invest and start new ventures that can open new opportunities.
Remind your brain that you have the potential to make money, regardless of your current financial situation.
Characteristics Of A Negative Money Mindset — Avoid These
Thinking There’s Not Enough Money
If you get upset about how others spend their money, focusing on their financial habits rather than your own, you could have a negative money mindset. When people are in a scarcity mindset, they believe that there isn’t enough money for everyone and certainly not enough money for them.
If you think that there isn’t enough money for you and everyone else, you’re going to think from a place of lacking. You may not be open to new, positive opportunities.
You may even sabotage yourself because you think that you are not worthy of more money.
Having a YOLO Mindset
YOLO stands for “you only live once” and it’s turned into an expression that people sometimes use as an excuse to make some bad decisions. It’s the favorite money quote of poor decision-making!
The YOLO philosophy means that you likely aren’t planning for your future or taking any responsibility for your actions or finances.
YOLO is mostly used when people are trying to decide whether or not they should do something… and the reason for doing it is YOLO! May as well right?
Hmm, not so fast. This can be a terrible mindset because it can be used to justify things that you know you shouldn’t be doing. Such as going out to eat five times per week, buying the latest iPhone every year, or going into debt to afford lavish vacations.
You are either responsible and track your spending or you can think in the short term and let instant gratification wreck your financial future.
Of course, there is a difficult balance between enjoying your life to the fullest and being a financially responsible individual.
But when you’re making decisions despite knowing they could impact you negatively, this is when having a YOLO mindset can be damaging to you and your finances.
You can’t simply rack up credit card debt with no foresight on how it will affect your financial goals.
10 Ways to Change Your Money Mindset and Live With Abundance
1. Assess Where You’re at with Your Money Mindset
It’s one of those things – you may think that your money mindset is pretty good, but what about when you dive down into it?
The best thing to do is ask yourself questions and write down your thoughts about money- and be honest with yourself.
The type of questions you can ask could be things like “What’s the biggest thing I learned from my parents about money? What are some things that they say about money?” or “What are my feelings about very wealthy people?”.
2. Evaluate Who You Spend Time with
This is a good money hack to start with! Have you ever heard the expression, “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”?
Although we’ve spoken about the beliefs formed from watching our parents, it’s also important to acknowledge that we also pick up a lot from the people we spend the most time with.
Look at the 5 people that you spend the most time with and think about the influence that they have on you. Do you need to try and spend more time with people on a similar wavelength to you when it comes to finances?
3. Read Positive Money Mindset Books
If you love to read, reading personal finance books that focus on the money mindset side of things could really help you reshape your own money beliefs.
Sometimes money quotes and inspirational stories from people who have overcome financial strife can be the best motivation!
And if you don’t like to read or don’t have the time, audiobooks can help you learn and rethink things as well.
Reading helps to expand your mind and give you information that you never knew you needed!
These are our favorite best money mindset books:
- You are a Badass at Making Money – Jen Sincero
- Your Money or Your Life – Vicki Robin
- The Total Money Makeover – Dave Ramsey
There are so many out there, we recommend reading a bunch of different personal finance books and taking note of the ones that have an impact on you. Different things impact different people!
4. Dare to Dream
When in a scarcity mindset, you won’t really dare to dream big because you convince yourself that it isn’t possible or doesn’t happen for people like you.
The thing is, dreaming is fun! We don’t mean to make completely unrealistic goals or imagine an alternate universe, but start thinking of what you would like to do in your life.
When you dare to dream, you will get excited, and you will become motivated to make some positive changes.
You can become a millionaire but you first have to dream up the vision of becoming one.
5. Believe that You Can Do It
The most important thing here is to believe that you can do it. You can achieve the dreams that you secretly think about whenever you have a quiet moment. You can grow your wealth and break the chain of generational poverty.
It is not woo-woo to tell yourself things that you want to believe – it’s been proven that this works.
The whole point of working on your money mindset is to change the way that you think about money- we need to believe that we can grow wealth, no matter where we come from.
6. Give
You may be surprised by this one, but giving some of your money away really can lead to a more positive mindset.
If you try to hold on too tightly to your money, you won’t be as open to receiving any more yourself.
Giving your money away to those in need is truly an amazing feeling and we highly recommend doing this – just watch your money grow.
7. Practice Gratitude
When you wake up each morning, take some time to pull out your journal and write down 3 things that you are grateful for.
When you live a life of gratitude, it is much harder to have a negative mindset.
Try it out today and see how it changes the way you start your day and make decisions!
8. Make Financial Freedom Plan
Our mind likes to play all kinds of tricks on us to convince us that things are far worse than what they actually are (why do we do this to ourselves?!).
But our minds can’t argue as much when we have a really clear-cut plan to move forward.
With your money, a great place to start is with creating a budget. A budget will show you where you are currently with your finances, and where you need to make changes to have a positive impact on your life.
9. Forgive Yourself for Past Mistakes
We tend to beat ourselves up for all of the bad financial decisions that we’ve made in the past, but this isn’t helpful at all.
Tell yourself that what you did in the past was the right decision for you at the time, and you can make positive changes for your future based on what you know now.
10. Allow Room in Your Budget for Fun
When you are working on your finances, perhaps putting together your first budget, it can be tempting to be really strict with yourself so that you can achieve your goals faster.
But here’s the thing – you’re setting yourself up for failure. Cutting every single little piece of joy out of your life isn’t going to benefit anyone – certainly not you!
It’s important to figure out what brings you joy; make sure that you include them in your spending. This means that you know that money is good, and managing your money doesn’t mean deprivation.
Powerful Money Mantras
- Money flows to me with ease and grace.
- I forgive myself for my poor money choices in the past.
- Money always flows into my account.
- I deserve an overflowing checking account.
- I am grateful for the money I have.
- I live a very blessed financial life.
- I am unapologetic about my desire to live a rich life.
- My income far exceeds my expenses.
- I am a money magnet.
- There is always more than enough money in my life.
- I naturally attract good fortune.
- I am financially free and stress-free.
- I deserve to be paid for my skills, time and knowledge.
- I have a positive relationship with money and I know how to spend it wisely.
- My income increases constantly.
- I am wealthy with my time and money.
- My job/business allows me to live the life I desire.
- If I want something, I can make enough money to earn it.
- I live with an abundance of time and money.
- Every dollar I spend and donate comes back to me multiplied.
- I can look at my finances without any fear.
- I choose to live a rich and full life.
- I give myself permission to prosper and grow.
- I have the power to create success and build the wealth I desire.
- I am in complete control over my money.
Why Is Your Money Mindset Important?
Your money mindset is important because it will affect so many of the decisions that you make for your life.
Due to our limiting money beliefs, we cause roadblocks to fortuitous opportunities. It is truly surprising what types of situations we talk ourselves out of because we believe we are not deserving of it.
Once you believe wholeheartedly in something, it will spur you into action and you will take positive action in order to achieve it.
Believe that you can be wealthy? You’ll be straight on course to figuring out how to do just that.
Final Thoughts On Changing Your Beliefs About Money
Changing your money mindset is one of the best things that you can do, and the best thing about it? It’s free!
You can change your life right away, and be on the path to building more wealth and prosperity than you ever thought possible.
