Credit Guru

Your money history is what you saw, heard, and experienced about money in your life. Your history is your lens on the world. Whether you grew up rich, middle class, or poor, your lens sees money from that perspective.

Your money history produces your money voices, your money voices help form your money beliefs, and your money beliefs help form your financial patterns. Left unchecked, you will yield to the natural force of your influences and may fall victim to their pull. It is essential to examine what makes you do what you do financially so that you can know you are making intentional choices based on sound reasoning.

Betty’s money history revealed two strong influences: her father, who lived to amass wealth and was unhappy, and her grandmother, who had little money but lived a contented life. This conflicted history caused Betty to feel ambivalent about money. She wanted it, but she didn’t want it. If she earned too much money, she risked going against Grandma; if she didn’t earn a lot, she was going against Dad.

As a result of her financial frustration, Betty looked hard at her history to see where her ineffective money patterns began. An independent woman and successful business owner, Betty was stunned to see how she was still holding on to old influences. Her history produced a challenging duet of opposing money voices. In turn, the money voices produced a belief that she could have nice things as long as she didn’t pay much for them. This meant she could enjoy quality as long as she didn’t have to feel guilty about what she paid for it.

She had a good laugh when she realized she had lived out her money belief perfectly when she bought a beautiful classic Mercedes but only paid $10,000 for it.

Betty didn’t trash her pattern of looking for good quality at low prices, but she did release herself from feeling guilty if she didn’t. She replaced her old pattern with a new one based on sound money management.

This is the power of your past over your financial choices today. It is worth opening up to the possibility that the situation you are in may be due to some outdated messages and beliefs you have adopted and never discarded.