Four ways to improve your money mindset

Mouthy Money’s latest article is from Finance Dee as she discusses the various ways to improve your money mindset.

What is a ‘money mindset’?

A money mindset is made up of your attitudes, thoughts, beliefs, emotions and behaviours towards money and how you handle it. This is primarily formed based on your upbringing, conversations about money you have had, and any knowledge you have acquired about money.

How to identify my money mindset?

Here are a few questions you can consider asking yourself to get a feel of what your money mindset or your attitude towards money may be:

• What was I taught or not taught about money growing up – How does it relate to what I think or feel towards money now?
• How do I feel when talking about money with others?
• How do I feel/approach reviewing my personal finances in detail?
• How do I envision my future looking in terms of my personal finances?

If you find yourself generally skewing towards anxiousness, uncomfortableness, or straight avoidance when talking, thinking or reviewing your money status, you may have a pessimistic view on money.

And there could be very good reason for this based on your lived experiences! The great news is though, mindsets can absolutely be changed with the right reflection and action steps.

How to improve my money mindset?

Let’s talk about four ways you may be able to improve your money mindset from pessimistic to optimistic:

1. Work on your financial literacy

We are all well aware personal finance isn’t something we are taught during formal education, but this does not mean it is not an essential skill we need to navigate life. Improving tour financial literacy, namely what you know and understand about personal finances, is a great way to improve your money mindset.

Whether that’s through reading personal finance books, listening to podcasts, browsing through blog articles, or watching YouTube videos, demystifying the seemingly frightening world of personal finance can quickly show you the power and ability you have to control your own finances.

2. Align your life values and goals to your finances

We all have dreams and desires, and truth be told many of them are probably underpinned by finance in some way. It’s important to make sure that your personal finances align with what you value in life and what you’re working towards.

If home ownership is what you value, that’s where a good portion of your money should be directed until you achieve your goal. If traveling is what you value, then your budget should allow room for you to afford your travels.

3. Address your limiting money beliefs

This one may sound a bit airy-fairy, but there truly is power in addressing your beliefs that impose limits on your life. If you believe you will never earn enough to be comfortable or save for your future, you’ve already put yourself in a box by believing you won’t be able to.

A good way to address limiting money beliefs is to first recognise them, write them down, and make a counter-statement against those beliefs. Then the hard work really begins to ensure your thoughts and beliefs about money stay positive.

4. Don’t dwell on past financial mistakes:

Learn from them! It is a huge waste of time and energy to dwell on what you should or could have done, instead of focussing on what you can do now. Mistakes are there to teach us, and are great life lessons which can help us shift our money mindsets into a positive direction.

Photo by Jason Strull on Unsplash