Rethinking Your Money Beliefs

I watched a Marie Forleo video a while back doing an interview with Kate Northrup on changing your money beliefs which I thought was interesting.  Kate talks about the 4 money beliefs that may be holding you back from reaching your financial goals.  Some of these may have been ingrained from your family upbringing.  None of these are excuses for bad finances, but rather provide a means from which to examine our relationships to money and our issues relating to money that we may have internalized from a very young age.

Being mindful about our financial and personal habits can help us reach those seemingly impossible financial goals.  For me, that's paying off my large student loan debt.

Here are the 4 money beliefs Kate talks about:

1. "Someone else should or will do this for me."  People with this money belief do not take responsibility for their actions, if they have the power to do so, and are willing to give up their financial power to someone else.  This includes hoping that Mr. Right or a parent or someone else will save us from our financial troubles.  If you have this money belief, you should remind yourself of your agency - you have what it takes to take control of your finances.
2. "I'm not good with money."  This money belief is one way that some people set themselves up for failure.  By thinking that they're not good with money or numbers, they simply avoid dealing with them, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  To counteract this, try checking in daily with your finances through websites like Mint or Personal Capital, and manually inputting transactions in your budgeting software (I recommend YNAB) so you can be aware of what's going on.
3. "People with money are greedy or it's not spiritual to have money."  Judging others for having money or having their finances in control will block you from becoming wealthy or getting things under control.  To counteract this, try to see money as a reflection of the value that you are adding to someone else's life.  
4. "I'm not ________ enough."  Whatever limiting belief you have about yourself or invisible assumptions you make about your abilities will hinder you from achieving your goals.  These beliefs reflect low self confidence, which in turn is perceived by others who will not have as much confidence in you.  Remember, no one will value you more than you value yourself.

What Kate gets at, and what is really consistent with my own personal philosophy, is that having control over our finances allows us the freedom to be fully present to more creative, service oriented purposes.  Whether that be volunteering more of your time, sitting down to write that novel, or giving more time to family and friends, that freedom benefits you and the world around you.

Check out the video here and let me know what you think!