Are you 'Financially Aware'?
Awareness is being aware of something. Being aware. Not passing judgment, trying to fix or alter, just being aware.
The thing is, when it comes to money awareness is something that we can shy away from, applying the old ostrich technique of head in the sand. Maybe, just maybe, if we don’t look it’ll all work itself out.
If you really want to change something, to make a difference, it’s kind of important to know where you are starting from. Imagine trying to plan an eight-mile hike without knowing the starting point!
So what could money awareness look like?
You would know how much money you have in your bank accounts, you would know how much you spend and where all your money goes. You would know the value of your pensions and any investments.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I know at this point that for some of you your brain just got really noisy – it has an opinion on all of this doesn’t it?
We live in a world where our personal value has got really entwined with our bank balance, so it’s really easy to judge ourselves or suffer from ‘comparisonitus.’ We use emotive words like being ‘good’ or ‘bad’ with money or even words like ‘awful’ and ‘useless’. By doing so we assign some sort of moral judgement on the money and ourselves.
Money is neither good or bad and so having it/not having it is neither good or bad. There are some really happy wealthy people and some really happy poor people, there are rich arseholes and poor arseholes. The only meaning that money has is the one that you bestow upon it.
It’s so easy to fall into the trap of judging ourselves based on the amount of money that we have (or don’t have – depends which way you are looking at it). I want to remind you that your self-worth is in no way linked to your financial worth. Let me say that again, your self-worth is in no way linked to financial worth! I know that you know this, but do you REALLY know this?
Your self-worth is made up of your own unique personal assets – maybe you have the natural ability to make people laugh, maybe you are kind, generous and caring, maybe you are a great listener, maybe you are tenacious or stand up for others, maybe you fight for a cause that you are passionate about. Take a moment and consider the gifts that you bring to the world in your own completely unique way (it’s an antidote to getting caught up in your stories about money).
So back to awareness – awareness is just a place to start, its clarity. From a place of awareness we are able to make plans, to take action and you may even be like one of my program participants who discovered that when she really looked at it she had enough money to take a break from working overseas and spend more time with her family.
I’ll leave you with my favourite quote on awareness:
“Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.”
In Week 3 of the Finding Your Balance program we sit down and become aware of your numbers. To learn more or have a no obligation chat about how the program can help, click here.
Hi there I’m Gail Bainbridge - money coach and mentor. I am on a mission to transform our relationships with money. I teach people to find money that they didn’t know they had for the things that are important to them. If you enjoyed this blog sign up to my newsletter to be the first to read all my money musings.