As educated women, who are a juggling several important responsibilities, one would think that successfully managing our money would be a cake-walk. However, for most women, that is far from the truth.

Managing our money, and even growing our money, is not a purely academic exercise, where all we need is decent arithmetic skills. Underpinning these maths skills is our money mindset and attitude, which essentially, drives the choices that we make.

 

The Origin Of Your Money Script

This mindset, which is also called a ‘money script’, is the subconscious thoughts and messages we have about money – about managing money, and whether or not we should be financially wealthy. To a considerable degree, and if there is no deliberate intervention (or re-programming), the money script we carry and use in adulthood would have been developed through our observations and experiences as children. Consider the following scenarios of households some of us might have grown up in, and what we may have observed in relation to how money is manged and the lifestyle of the family:

• Money was not plentiful in your family when you were growing up. It was a frugal existence, with very few extras. You and your siblings got the basics, but you knew that your family was less well-off than most of your friends and classmates…
• Based on the work your parents did, there were times when there was plenty, and times when there was very little. During the times of plenty, the supermarket trolley would be packed high, and you children would go shopping and would be indulged. When there was little money, the family cut back considerably, and there would have been times when there wasn’t enough food, or money to cover basis household expenses…
• Your parents seemed to make a decent living, and the family seem to live in a nice middle-class neighbourhood, but there was a sense that your family lived very frugally. Most of your clothes and that of your siblings were hand-me-downs, and your parents never splurged or indulged. They were always looking for the most budget friendly option, which may not always be the most convenient or prudent…
• Your family lived modestly and money may have been a bit tight at times. But with all of your friends and acquaintances owning brand name products, travelling on trips, and seemingly having exciting experiences, you felt you were missing out…

These situations are just a few of what many of us have been through, but our experience, and consequently our actual money script, would be unique to us, as not only would it include the facts, but also the feelings and emotions we attached to those experiences.

 

What Is Your Money Script?

Understanding our views and attitude towards money could be a challenge, as it would require us to revisit situations from our past – some of which might not be pleasant. Further, and although we may consider ourselves logical and intelligent, we should not underestimate the extent to which our emotions can drive our money mindset, and may be leading us to make less-than-rational money management choices.

Outlined below are key characteristics of four widely accepted money scripts. We recommend that you read them with an open mind, and do some introspection, in order to determine whether one of more of the scripts describe how you feel about money.

Money Worship. Persons who are money worshippers tend to believe that money is the key to happiness, and there is no problem that money cannot solve. However, and at the same time, they tend to feel that they never have enough money, and cannot afford the things they want, which paradoxically can lead to them to overspend frequently, in order to try to make themselves happy.

Money Avoidance. For persons who are categorised as money avoiders, money is a source of fear, disgust stress, and/or anxiety, and as a result, they believe that money is bad or that they do not deserve money. Due to the negative association money avoiders have with money, frequently, they overspend, or they give money away, in order to have as little as possible, but at the same time, they may be working long hours to make money. Essentially, they tend to sabotage their financial success.

Money Status. Persons who score highly in the money status category tend to equate net-worth with self-worth, and so may prioritise outward displays of wealth, or have the mentality of wanting to ‘keep up with the Joneses’. Additionally, they tend to be lavish over-spenders, and to impress those around them, they try to maintain a lifestyle they can’t afford.

Money Vigilance.  People who score highly in the money vigilance category seem to be proactively managing their money and paying attention to their financial health. They believe it is important to save, and to work diligently and tactically in managing their money. In other words, they are not waiting for a windfall or to win the lotters to achieve their financial goals. However, such prudence can lead to over-frugality, and excessive wariness or anxiety with money, to the point they cannot enjoy the money they do in fact have.

As expected, you might not fall solely or squarely into one money script category. Two or more categories may feature prominently in your results. Nevertheless, becoming more aware of your money mindset is critical to achieving any money management or financial health management goals you have set, as the underlying thoughts, attitude and behaviour you have regarding money can undermine your efforts almost from the outset.

 

Moving From Where You Are To Where You Would Like To Be

In having a sense of what your current money script is, it is recommended that you also assess your current financial health. It is crucial to be brutally honest about, among other things, your income, your expenses, the debt you are carrying, along with the types of debt you have, your investments, as well as any other financial responsibilities or obligations you might have.

Depending on the magnitude of your situation, it may be prudent to secure expert financial advice. That individual may be able to help you to: organise your finances; prioritise your debt; earmark potential investment vehicles; plus identify tools and resources that may be available in your area that you can leverage. As a much as it might be embarrassing to admit to someone that you do not have control of your finances, it is more commendable to not let pride get in the way of getting your financial health back on track.

If, on the other hand, you believe you have the wherewithal to get yourself on a better financial footing, a good place to start is by setting some financial goals, as they will set the foundation and will also be the impetus for the change in mindset that you need make. However, and it is strongly recommended that each of the goals is compelling, and correspondingly, SMART:

Specific

Measurable    

Achievable

Realistic

Timely (or time-bound).

All too often, goals can be vague, unrealistic and given an open-ended time frame in which to be completed, which essentially, sets you up for failure. Do use the SMART metric to refine you goals against your current financial situation. Once you are satisfied with your goals, break them down into actionable tasks. For tasks that require you to handle money, such as to save or spend it, it is suggested that it be supported by a revised budget to show how and where you should be spending your money, and to keep you accountable, as you work towards reaching your goals.

 

 

Image:   Karolina Grabowska (Pexels)