The money mindset that can keep you poor
Hey Smarty Pants,
If you’re anything like me, sometimes you take a look at the world and think “The wrong people have all the money.”
In the face of climate change, global food shortages, and general humans behaving badly, people like Jeff Bezos spend more than we’ll ever see in our entire lives, combined, shooting themselves into space.
Worst yet, he came back. (ba-dum dum)
If I had infinite money, like him, off the top of my head, here’s what I’d do:
Send my parents on the vacation of their dreams.
Set up grants to fund climate change solutions, and those that get picked also win a big cash payout.
Set up free spay/neuter clinics…everywhere.
Give a bunch to reproductive rights orgs like Planned Parenthood/NARAL, etc.
Give a bunch to social justice orgs like the SPLS, ACLU, Trevor Project, etc.
I’m sure I’d give a ton to smaller colleges, K-12 districts, Habitat for Humanity, NPR/PBS, Propublica...the list really does go on and on and on.
The thing is, the richest people in the world could do all this AND STILL BE THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.
But they don’t.
They give a million here and a million there and everyone falls all over themselves for it, when in reality, that’s less than they find in their couch cushions.
When regular people give money, it often is a noticeable amount. If you’re taking home $3k a month, and you give away $200, proportionately to net worth, that’s WAY MORE than Bezos/Gates/Musk giving away millions.
When we think about money, we think of these guys. We think money is for other people. Often, bad people.
And so we shy away from it.
We think it isn’t for us. So we ignore it. We get our paycheck, pay our bills, buy stuff. And don’t have a plan for our money.
But by not taking control over our money, facing it, learning how to best manage it, we’re just making ourselves poorer, unable to live our lives the way we want, and unable to give to our favorite charities.
Worse yet, often the money we lose by not controlling it goes to rich people because they’ve figured out a way to snooker us out of it - through credit card fees, higher interest on loans, buying well-marketed items we don’t actually want or need and soon regret.
If we did take control over our money, really hunkered down, stuck to a budget, invested, did all the right things, we’d have a ton more money.
And we could do something good with it.
We could be the ones affecting change - for the better.
And this is the BIGGEST MINDSET MISTAKE I SEE MY CLIENTS MAKING.
At least, when they first start working with me.
Deep down, maybe not even consciously, they believe that having money will make them a bad person.
It isn’t just them, this is a well-documented money mindset (see “Money Avoidance” here)
So I’m here to tell you - taking control of your money, using it to make more money, wanting to make more money, doesn’t make you a bad person.
It makes you a rational person.
Because no matter what you want from your life, money will make it easier to achieve.
If you want to achieve your goals, whether that be to spend your time traveling, writing poetry, volunteering, being able to help friends and family in need, or becoming a great cook - money will help you achieve it.
Unless your goal is to be a hermit. That money wouldn’t help.
If you have been avoiding dealing with your money because you don’t want to be one of “those people”, I’m here to say, making a plan for your money doesn’t make you a bad person.
Taking control of your money doesn’t make you a bad person.
Wanting more money doesn’t make you a bad person.
It just makes you more of who you already are.
Hope this helps <3
Cheers,
Kate
PS - if this resonated with you or if you are making more than ever and still live paycheck to paycheck, you don’t have to live with this constant money stress, set up a free Discovery Session with me so we can talk about if and how I can help you live the life you want.