Financial Independence For Everyday People

Get out of your own way.

Really.

Your current finances are a result of your money mindset, your personal relationship with money.

Your money mindset is a combination of your earliest education in money management, your successes and failures, and your phobias. While some of the circumstances were pure chance, you made all of the decisions that lead you here.

Congratulations.

Whether you need to start over or just continue doing more of what you already know, getting in touch with your money mindset will help you make better decisions every day.

• Many people have told me that they have such a strong fear of money, that they can’t bring themselves to even learn about it. They completely abdicate financial decisions to the partner, spouse, or advisor that will do it for them. To me, this approach to money goes beyond ambivalence to rabid fear.
• Other people that I know only see opportunity when it comes to money. The glass is always overflowing, and they relish the adventure of learning something new and taking a new ride along the road of life.

Your money mindset boils down to two pairs of emotions: fear/opportunity and scarcity/abundance. I like to use teeter-totters like the one at the top of this section to illustrate the trade-offs between different alternatives. Watch for more coming up.

→ Exercise: Name Your Money Mindset Part I…Fear, Ambivalence & Opportunity

Take a deep breath and contemplate the last time that you made a major financial decision. Then, take a moment and answer these questions.

1. What was the financial decision about?
2. How did you feel when you were finally signing on the dotted line and committing yourself and your money to this new venture?
   • Was your mind racing and pulse accelerating?
   • Were you sweating or smiling?
   • Perhaps you read every word and asked lots of questions, or were you supremely bored and skipped over all of the details?
   • Maybe, just maybe, you were confident and relaxed?
3. Take a look at the fear/ambivalence/opportunity teeter-totter at the beginning of this section. Think about your responses to the above questions, then circle the word that best describes your attitude towards money.
4. How do you feel about your conclusion? Do you feel that you need to move left or right on the teeter-totter?

Check Part II for the follow-up to this exercise.