What’s Your Money Type?

The love of Money is the...  Money doesn’t… Rich people are….  Save for a…. 

I bet you could fill in all the blanks of those money clichés. It’s not money that’s evil, but the LOVE of money. We wish money grew on trees. I know many wealthy people that are anything but greedy and it’s always good to save for a rainy day.

We know the answers to these money clichés because we unconsciously pick up the cultural messages around us – many of which tell us there’s never enough money.

I think it’s safe to say that all of us have some type of money “stuff”. One way to dig deeper into understanding what is driving your money bus, so to speak, is by looking at your Money Type.* 

Answer these questions to see if this Money Type is one of yours:

Do you have a tendency to avoid paying your bills? Does the thought of money make you anxious? Do you consider yourself naïve about money? Is it difficult to even know what you think or feel about your money? Perhaps though making good money, you’re still hoping prince charming will ride to the rescue?

If you answered yes to these questions then The Innocent Money Type is showing up in your relationship with money. The 8 Money Types aren’t who we are, but they help us see more clearly what we think, feel and how we act with money. The Type shows us our money strengths and weaknesses. 

The Innocent Money Type appears more often with women than men, probably because women haven’t been in the work force for generations and women have been taught that they are to be taken care of. That’s different now, but it takes time to move past all that programming.

Here are 3 suggestions to move your Innocent Money Type to feeling and doing better with your money:

1)   Take the FREE Money Quiz to see what other Money Types are showing up.

2)   Take baby steps to make changes. Not paying bills? Start there.

3)   Anxious whenever you think about money? Call a friend and ask them to talk you through the anxiety. Or, take 10 breaths (really this calms the fight/flight reaction) and then pay the bill.

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Certified Money & Business Coach, Professional Speaker & author, Lynn Telford-Sahl, writes the weekly PowerUP Your Money blog for women in sales and small business. If you’re ready to PowerUP your Money, your Business & your JOY get your FREE Strategy Session with Lynn at powerupyourmoney.com

(*Money Coaching System copyright material developed by Deborah Price, Money Coaching Institute and used with permission)

2 Steps to Shift from Money Fear & Stress to Gratitude

How do you shift from stressing about money to gratitude, JOY and freedom? That may sound impossible, but it's not. It just takes time, energy and of course: FOCUS.

If you're feeling unhappy about your money situation and there may be very good reason - a job loss, divorce, downsizing, overwhelming debt, finally let your house go into foreclosure, it may sound impossible to feel you'll ever be ok again.

But, you can be and the answer is part perspiration and part inspiration.

Step 1:  Let's tackle the fear first:  

1) Write down all the money fears you have on a piece of paper that you'll throw away. Go on - do it and do it now.

2) Feel the fear - I know this ain't fun, but "feel it to heal it" is a truism and it only lasts a minute. Notice where you most feel the energy of the fear in your body. Rate the fear on a scale of 0-10 with 10 the worst. Breathe into your body for a few minutes feeling it with the in breath and releasing the fear with the exhale. Rerate the charge of the anxiety on a scale of 0-10 again.  Better? Little shift? Repeat until the number down enough to feel relief.

3) Now, if you're ready, ask - what's the blessing of this situation or money fear that I'm having? As soon as we gain perspective because we're not so caught up in the emotion, we can THINK better and be aware of any blessings. When we're deeply IN the emotion we can't think.

 4) If you can't go there yet, it's ok.  Think about and FIND at least 3 things in your life you can be grateful for right now - List them, feel the gratitude and imagine you have a REMOTE control in your hand that you can dial the number up to increase the FEELING of gratitude in your body and mind.  Raise the number as much as you'd like. Repeat this process until you feel complete - may take a few days to weeks. We're all different in terms of how willing we are to let go of the past. When you're ready go back to Step 3 and find the blessing of the money challenge.

Step 2:  You know how you read in Oprah Magazine and many other places, about how important it is to be GRATEFUL? Do you know why? Fear and stress lower our energy, depress us and disempower our ability to focus on what we want to create in our lives. Gratitude, love, happiness increase our energy state and therefore increase our ability to see possibilities, focus on what we'd like to have more of in our lives and very important - REFOCUS when we lose our momentum and or stuff happens - and we all know stuff happens to all of us.  

A very simple formula is to write down 3 different things you're grateful for every day. I like to do so at the end of the day. Writing it down cements it into your subconscious and then you take those positive feelings into sleep where your subconscious works with it to help you create more of what you want.

If you get stuck on the fear and this is like any CHANGE process - it takes time to RETRAIN the brain (our most powerful instrument) say the words out loud:  CANCEL  CANCEL and then think about the opposite of the problem you were thinking about.  For example:  I don't know how I'll make payroll.  CANCEL CANCEL and think or say:  I know I'll find a way to make the rent.  Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Your subconscious will start looking for solutions.  

Resources about this subject:  FREE Monthly Webinar: December's 3 Keys to Turn Holiday Stress into Peacehttp://lynntelfordsahl.com/3-keys-to-holiday-peace  Lynn's Money Coaching Programs, Wayne Dyer:  Wishes Fulfilled, (CD with James Twyman excellent meditation), Esther Hicks material, Jack Canfield or Mark Victor Hanson.  

The Wealthy Barber Says Break the "Gotta Have It Now" Habit

Why do we make our financial life so difficult when it doesn’t have to be?  One reason is that we want to feel better right now and our consumer culture loves to prime the “I work so hard, I deserve something” pump. Feeling stressed, unhappy, dissatisfied?  Buy something – that’ll make everything better - temporarily... Except that after the initial glow wears off – usually by the time you get home – remorse or guilt set in, along with the now monthly payment that goes on and on. Yow.

You know how sometimes we know better, but we do something against our financial best interest anyway?  One of my clients, “John,” hates his job, is super stressed and is sticking it out for his pension that is a long 5 years away. What do you think he and his wife just did? They bought 2 new cars so now they have two big payments a month.  If something were to happen to John or to his wife so that they couldn’t work…. Well, you get the picture.

“The Wealthy Barber” was a smash bestseller a few years ago and the author David Chilton is at it again with ‘The Wealthy Barber Returns.” What does Chilton think we should do with our money?  1) Save, save, save. Pay yourself 10-15% of your  NET income  a year.  On a $50,000 annual salary that’d be 5,000 – 7,500 a year or $400-580 a month. (The only relatively painless way to do this is to create an automatic deducationfrom paycheck to savings/retirement account) 2) Live modestly. According to the mortgage lender you might be able to afford a house payment that’s 30% of your gross income, but what do you have to do without to afford it. 3) Keep track of everything you spend for the next 3 months. I’ve done it and it’s eye-opening how much money we can piddle away on coffee, lunch or stuff we don’t really need.  Chilton would say that banks, mortgage lenders, atms, are not your friends and that “…real wealth comes from saving, not high income.”