Believe it or not…there’s a direct correlation between your relationship with money and your belief system.

Where do those beliefs come from? The early messages you picked up as a child from parents and other significant people in your life. The way they dealt—or didn’t deal--with money impacts the way you view money today.

Money doesn’t grow on trees…
You’re going to bleed me dry…
Don’t worry – your husband (father, trust fund, etc) will take care of you…
Money is the root of all-evil…

Not very realistic, or helpful, and yet many of us carry those old notions around in our heads, giving them undue power over our financial lives.

Messages can be received in nonverbal ways as well. In my own life, my father was someone we’d call a "tightwad." He hated to part with his money, and I often felt deprived. I came to see money as causing pain, so I avoided it.  Later, as I came to understand my old belief system, I was able to change my behavior.

Identifying the belief system that underlies your behavior will help you make changes in the way you view money today; then you can begin to make different choices.  Financial recovery depends both on understanding the belief system driving your "out of control" behavior and using the tools I have talked about in prior newsletters to develop more positive money habits. Access them at findingfinancialbalance.com.             

The ways we handle money, the financial decisions we make affect every area of our lives.
What parts of your life do you feel are NOT going well because of your behaviors and beliefs about money?  To find a solution, start by writing a money autobiography, your personal story depicting your relationship with money from childhood through the present.  Include what you heard from your parents and other significant people in your life.  Recall how they handled money, and how it influenced you. 

Then, what happened when you started earning your own money? How did your behavior reflect what you had learned as a child? This exercise will reveal valuable information about your present relationship with money…it will help you connect the dots.  You’ll begin to see that it’s not because you "aren’t good in math" that your money life is not working, but because you have a belief system that is no longer working for you.

For more information, visit findingfinancialbalance.com

Yours in Financial Balance,
Shelley Bayol

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