Do you want to know what is fascinating about money? It can be made in abundance as equally by a gas station attendant with no college education and an Ivy league graduate on Wall Street. (Ronald Read is a great inspiration for someone who built wealth in the humblest of ways.)
What this proves is that conquering the path towards money prosperity is not bound by elite financial engineering knowledge, which interesting enough was the most popular major at Princeton’s School of Engineering over a decade ago. And, although many of us have aced the math-based skills on finance taught in classes, podcasts, and the bazillion self-help books on financial freedom and wealth building, what we probably have never stopped to recognize is what really influences our ability to build wealth is centered around our personal experiences that have formed our psychology and behavior with money.
Morgan Housel recently wrote, “Financial outcomes is not a hard science; it's a soft skill. How you behave is more important than what you know.” in his recently published book, The Psychology of Money. Here he shares that personal financial achievement is guided by people’s behaviors and begins to dive into examples of how emotions and behavior correlate to the decisions we make every day with our money. How we earn it. How we value it. How we stash it away. How we spend it. How we look at it, or not, as future worth.
Rooted at the center of where we stand today with our finances and money management is our money psychology. No matter what your financial goals and endeavors are today, preparing for a different kind of money prosperity for yourself, and perhaps your family, is admirable.
The 3 fundamentals to kick start your money prosperity journey are:
You should acknowledge you are unique in your life experiences. This is what has shaped your current understanding and relationship with money. This isn’t bad - this isn’t good - this is what it is.
You do not need to be a mathematical genius to be financially healthy.
Money is a relationship. It needs little specks of attention every day, but hopefully always with a smile! But, like relationships, it will have ups and downs, surprises and will require compromises, but it can be very nurturing as you watch the fruits of your labor grow.
Money psychology is a favorite fascination and is a budding new area of personal health and wellness, as we all look to craft and develop our best, well-rounded, selves. We'll continue to post more behind Money on the Brain, a series dedicated to help you explore more about behavioral changes that can influence your financial well-being.
Have your own favorite book, author, influencer in the money psychology space? Please comment below and share - we'd love to hear about some of your favorite reads and influences.