4 Money Mindsets That Can Keep You From Building Wealth — and How To Beat Them
The old saying goes, “I’ve got my mind on my money, and my money on my mind.” There’s a truth to that saying: Keeping a sharp and healthy focus on growing your wealth or meeting your financial goals is essential to success.
Unfortunately, it’s very easy to get mired in less-than-constructive attitudes about money. Many people grow up hearing messages that may leave them feeling unprepared to build their savings or explore ways of growing their money. Whether those messages come from their families, communities or even broader culture, it can be a challenge to overcome them.
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The good news is that it’s possible to get past these money mindsets and embrace a more positive, constructive outlook. GOBankingRates caught up with Alejandra Rojas, founder of The Money Mindset Hub, and Jillian Knight, LMFT, owner of Her Financial Therapy, to learn more about these attitudes and where they came from.
I’m Not the Kind of Person Who Has Money
This attitude is an absolute gut punch, and it can keep people doubled over in cycles where they don’t build up their savings. Rojas explained that beliefs like this can be within the subconscious spectrum — simply put, you might not know why you have them, you just do.
However, this belief in particular might have origins within families. “This mindset is often passed down through generations where financial struggle was the norm, rooted in what we call generational financial trauma,” Rojas said.
Healing from this mentality might require consulting with a financial advisor who has a background or at least an understanding of the complicated emotional issues around money. Or perhaps working with a therapist who can help you unlearn some of these notions about your relationship with money.
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I’m Always One Step Away From Disaster
If you feel like you’re stuck in a deep pit, it’s hard to imagine what it would feel like to feel the sun on your face again. You’re concerned only about whether the ground underneath you can give way, sending you further down. For some people, this visual encapsulates their relationship to money. They imagine themselves always about to plunge deeper into the hole.
“This is a very common mindset I work with all the time,” Rojas said. “People project their financial futures based on past actions and get trapped in a loop of stuckness.”
Getting out of that doom loop, or feeling like you have the strength to climb out of that pit, means doing an honest assessment of where you are, financially, and investigating the impact of past actions. Once you understand which behaviors you might like to change, you can start the process of making those changes. Again, consulting a financial advisor who is well versed in financial trauma would be a great place to start.
I Don’t Deserve Money
The common conception around money and shame is that people feel ashamed of not having enough money. While that’s certainly true, the shame cuts both ways — and, unfortunately, it cuts deep. You can believe that you don’t deserve the money you do have, and that sense of being unworthy can stymie your abilities to earn more.
This is a common belief that Knight has encountered in her practice. She’s very aware that this belief can come from the people we grew up with, as well as broader systems that can cause individual and collective trauma.
When working with clients to heal these limiting self-beliefs, Knight said she tries to help them understand the origins of these beliefs to learn how they can stop reinforcing them, even subconsciously.
“I would encourage them to recognize that they were not born with these beliefs. They inherited these beliefs, and these beliefs continue to be reinforced in many cases,” she said. “I would also want them to know they have the power to work toward unlearning these beliefs and choosing what they want to believe about money.”
I Will Never Have Enough Money
Anxiety around not having enough money is a pretty common fear for a lot of people — but for some people, it can be particularly debilitating. It can make these people feel stuck at the starting line of their financial lives before they’ve even tried to take a step forward.
Working with a financial advisor or a therapist who is conversant in financial planning will help you get more personalized attention that helps get at the roots of your issues with compassion.
“My approach to helping clients work toward neutral or positive beliefs about money is similar in some ways with every client but differs based on the unique needs of each client,” Knight said.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 4 Money Mindsets That Can Keep You From Building Wealth — and How To Beat Them
