The Secret behind your Spending Habits

Imagine if someone said that you have 60 minutes to solve your money problems, and that if you do, you would be given 25 million dollars. Ready. Set. Go.

This deal seems easy and accomplishable, but most people would ultimately fail. They wouldn’t know where to start. They would be completely lost.

You Hold The Key To Your Solution

But ironically, you hold the key to your financial solution. All you have to do is find out your money personality, which financial coach Jordan E. Goodman created to help people like you, with normal finance problems, get tailor-made advice to becoming financially sound.

These six money personalities range from being thrifty or extremely complacent, to spending way too much and taking too many risks. Goodman calls them strivers, ostriches, debt desperadoes, coasters, high-rollers, and squirrels. And, finding out your financial personality, which keep in mind may be different from your spouse’s, will get you on track to starting your money makeover.

Your Past has Created who you are Today

Discovering this personality all starts with evaluating your childhood experiences with money. Believe it or not, these experiences made you who you are today financially.

First and foremost, you must evaluate how you feel about money in general. This includes recognizing your experiences with money during your childhood and acknowledging your fears and fantasies with money. Your feelings about money all tie back to your upbringing.

A friend of mine lost his house when he was a kid. His parents had spent money all over the place and didn’t save toward their mortgage. As a young boy, he blamed himself and became determined to get a job that would give him financial security. He eventually chose a major in risk management so that he could manage situations and protect himself with insurance. He learned the power of spending and saving, and set himself up well going forward. This one event, losing his house as a child, affected his life decisions. And, if you can think back to your experiences with money during your childhood, you can find out how it has affected you, too. Maybe you didn’t have much money growing up. Maybe your family always had an abundance of it. Maybe your family split up because over money, and you shun it.

Those experiences contribute to how you feel about money. Do you feel deserving, powerful, confused, happy, insatiable, entitled, guilty, corrupt, or fearful? There is always an emotional component to money.

Evaluate and Talk with your Spouse

Once you know your feelings toward money, you can connect it to your financial situation now.

Do you spend a lot of money?
Are you saving everything for the future and not fulfilling any of your desires now?
Do you take a lot of financial risks or think you’re invincible?
How are you doing financially, honestly?

These questions are good starting points for conversations with your spouse. Not only will you be bonding on an emotional level, but you will also be helping to understand why each other feels the way they do about money and how it’s affecting your finances now. Talking will help put some of your money matters at ease.

What are your goals as a couple? Have you even discussed goals with your spouse? It is very important to know what you want? But, once you assess what you want, you will know what to do — how much insurance to buy, where to invest your money, whether to buy that dream home, or whether to quit your job and start a new venture.

Once you answer these essential questions. You are ready — ready to find out your money personality, how to adjust your finances based on it, and how to handle your finances based on your spouse’s money type, as well.

Written by Epiphany Johnican, Journalist for Money on Your Terms

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