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Hi Team,

The number 1 thing that keeps us awake at night is money problems. 

Everyone struggles with money, and we all have a love/hate relationship with our finances.

Last week I wrote about the origins of our beliefs and attitudes towards money, which largely come from our parents and grandparents and how they grappled with money during their lives.
 
We all seek financial stability and peace of mind and a small step towards achieving this can come from understanding your beliefs and attitude to money.

A recent podcast I listened to "Hidden Brain - Rewrite Your Money Story" by Shankar Vedantam (see link below) outlined that acknowledging and understanding your money origin story is the key to improving your relationship with money. This podcast also presented several key insights into why so many people struggle with money.

https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/money-2-0-rewrite-your-money-story/

An important part of uncovering your money origin story is understanding your partners attitude and beliefs around money. Different attitudes to money in a relationship can cause conflict and long-term stress. So, these are very important conversations we all need to have. But talking about money is uncomfortable, and these vital conversations are commonly avoided to every one's detriment.

A lot of people feel shame when talking about money and would prefer that this topic stays in the dark rather than exposing themselves to the discomfort of an honest discussion. Shame is the enemy of financial intelligence and will hold you back financially as long as it is allowed to exist. 

The Hidden Brain Podcast recommended the following questions be openly discussed by all families and all age groups.

• How did you feel about your socio-economic group growing up?
• What was it like for you growing up regarding money?
• What did your parents teach you about money?
• What are your financial goals?
• What is your most joyful money experience?
• What is your most painful money experience?
• What is your biggest financial fear?
• What are you personally most proud of regarding money?
• What are you most proud of regarding your parents and money?

Just because you have certain deep-seated beliefs about money, doesn't mean these beliefs must hold you back. Once you fully understand the origin of these beliefs you can start to change and reshape them and adopt new financial attitudes.

One final quote to round out this chapter on financial intelligence.

"Every dollar is a seed. Plant your seeds to create trees. Nurture your trees to grow a forest." George Choy

Thanks for reading,
Stay safe and talk about money.
David