Have old fashioned sayings had an impact on your attitude to money?

Money is so very often a topic of conversation. This is not surprising at the moment with furlough, reduced hours, redundancy and people simply not being able to go to work. Money is on everyone’s minds – young and old. 

But many of our attitudes to money are life-long, formed on ideas that were passed down to us. These beliefs about money, many of them just common memes and sayings, have floated around in our cultures for decades. Those little memes sneak in and get delivered by parents, teachers, books, media and friends, and wheedle their way in quietly so that we find that they are whizzing round our heads shouting at us before long. 

Attitudes to money: What’s in a saying?

It is important to identify these common sayings and the impact they actually have on you and your relationship to money management. Here are some you’ll most likely have heard:

• Money doesn’t buy happiness
• Health is better than wealth
• Neither a borrower nor a lender be
• The best things in life are free
• You have to spend money to make money
• You get what you pay for
• Money is power
• Money doesn’t grow on trees

Who knew there were so many? Most don’t have a great meaning about money and are negative beliefs. No wonder people are struggling to save or earn a good salary with all those negative beliefs whizzing around, quietly sabotaging their attitude to money in the background. 

“A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned.” Benjamin Franklin

What is your attitude to money?

No matter how old or young you are, now is always a good time to reflect on what you think about money. Notice your thoughts and feelings about money – are you excited and eager to think about it? Or does it create a feeling of dread? 

When you think about your piggy bank or bank account are you thrilled to see the deposits, or disappointed and defeated? These blogs have explained before that what you focus on is how you feel, and how you feel is what you get more of. So, if you’re focusing on a lack of money, that it is hard to earn and there’s never enough, that’s what is going to keep showing up for you. What you believe is true.

If you focus on ‘there’s always enough money to go around’, ‘I easily attract money into my life’ and ‘earning money is fun’ then you’ll start to see an effect in your finances. 

If you like making money it does not make you selfish or ruthless, these are ideas and thoughts made up by other people. What if you believed that the more people you helped the more money you made? How could you not want to make more money? 

“While money can’t buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.” Groucho Marx

Rethink your attitude to money

People who make money can actually help others in need, they can create jobs for people who may then go on to help others. Spending money helps others too. The people employed in holiday firms, the taxi driver who meets you at the airport, the hotel staff who can support their family. Earning money has a ripple effect. Having money does not deprive others, it supplies others. 

Abundance is not being a billionaire, or a millionaire, it is that feeling of having all that you need to feel that you can succeed, feel fulfilled and have more than enough to do what you want to do and to put aside for something special in the future. For some people that might be an extra £10 if they are young, or £100 or £500 or £1,000. For other people it might be an extra £10,000 or £50,000 a year that would make all the difference to make life amazing. 

Money doesn’t mean that life will be plain sailing either though. It doesn’t mean that all your problems will go away. It does mean that when you have problems, you’ll maybe have more resources to be able to handle them and not have the additional stresses of ‘how am I going to make ends meet?’. 

“Money is a great servant but a bad master.” Francis Bacon

What are your beliefs about money?

Take a minute to put pen to paper and write out what your current beliefs about money are. What do your beliefs focus on? Is it a lack of money? Wishing you had more? There’s never enough? Money is the root of all evil? Notice your energy around money, what feelings it creates. If it is less than excitement or appreciation, then today is the day to change those beliefs and be empowered around your finances for the future. 

What could your new beliefs be? ‘The more people I help, the more money I earn?’, or ‘the sole purpose of money is to express appreciation’. 

Think about it, money is called currency, currents flow. Money is meant to flow. We should allow it to flow as an exchange for the value we give when we do something and we get paid for it. 

“Having money isn’t everything, not having it is.” Kanye West

Learning to fuel your finances

Is it time for you to find your money flow? Back on Track Teens is currently working with money expert Ignition Coach Alan Jackson, who is helping to develop a new ‘Fuel Your Finances’ module for young people in our Ignition Programme. 

It is designed to be a fun, playful, quirky and colourful insight into finances. If you’d like to know more about the Ignition programme then go to www.ignition.rocks or email me here.

Choose the life you want to lead

While many people can have a difficult relationship with money, being in control of your finances is empowering. Existing in a community where you can earn and spend is part of life and positively embracing that can be liberating. 

If you have concerns about your finances and are looking for tips, or want to share advice that has helped you develop a positive attitude to money, get involved with the back on Track Teens online community: 

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Having what you need to exist happily and on your own terms will let you life the life you want, make sure your relationship with money supports that positively.