If you’re seeking to turn over a new financial leaf, it’s not enough to simply examine a snapshot of your current circumstances and smooth things out around the edges.
Achieving lasting and effective positive change will require you to trace your “money story” back to its very beginnings.
“Some things related to money management are part of our personality,” explains Sarah Newcomb, a behavioral scientist and author of Loaded: Money, Psychology, and How to Get Ahead Without Leaving Your Values Behind. “Others are inherited or absorbed from our surroundings as we grow up — and the same circumstances can produce very different results, depending on the person.”
Which is to say, each person’s perspective on money has been shaped by a unique mix of factors including family attitudes, peer influence, individual experiences, historical forces and our own always-evolving approach to decision making.
In reforming long-held spending habits and navigating your financial ship to calmer (and more prosperous) waters, “The why is often just as important as the what,” Newcomb says.