How Money Mindsets are Formed

Your money mindset is thew ay you think about money and wealth. It is your perception
of wealth, how you think people become wealthy, and whether you love or hate money.
Believe it or not, these are not mindsets you form in your adulthood, but adolescence.
The first words you hear about money are what start a life of feeling a certain way about
it.

Money Lessons From Your Childhood

The first lessons you got about money, finances, and wealth probably happened as a
very young child. Your parents and guardians have a very big influence on how you feel
about money, not just whether or not your family was wealthy, but what you heard them
say when it came to money and people who were wealthy.

It might take a little time thinking back, but you should be able to pull up a few memories
of your parents or people in your life telling you certain things about money. It is also
very common to have contradictory feelings, where one person told you about their
aspirations to be wealthy, and another told you it wasn’t possible.

People You Spend the Most Time With

As you get older, you start to pick up on thoughts and mindsets about money from the
people you spend time with. This can include your friends, other family members, and
co-workers. It seems to subtle and innocent, hearing stories from your friends about
their road to wealth (or not). But these tend to stick with you, and you assume other
people’s money stories are going to become your story.

Outside and Social Media Influences

Of course, many mindsets are also heavily influenced by social media and other voices
that you listen to. If every day, you logged on to Twitter and saw someone talking down
to people with money, you will start to think negative emotions about money as well. Be
careful who you listen to and where you get your influences from.

Myths and Misconceptions About Money

Lastly, some of your money mindset might have been formed from the common myths
and misconceptions about wealth and finances. Things like “money can’t buy
happiness” and “money makes people selfish”. You hear stories that money “changed
them” and turned them greedy. When in fact, everyone has full control over who they
are and who they become. Money isn’t some evil conspiracy to make the world evil.