How Our Parents F*cked Up Our Money Beliefs
And How To UnF*ck Them
We can't afford it. Money doesn't grow on trees. Money is the root of all evil. Mo' money, mo' problems.
How many times have you heard these old-fashioned sayings from your parents and grandparents?
Inherited Money Beliefs
The words we hear when we’re young shape our money beliefs. As children, we watch how our parents deal with money and absorb those lessons. These ideas stay with us. They affect how abundant we feel for the rest of our lives unless we replace them.
Believing you can’t afford things can show up in many ways throughout your life. For instance, do you always spend more than you have? If so, you will eventually be unable to afford things - confirming your belief. Or maybe this thinking causes you to avoid reasonable investments. If you always play it too safe, you limit your own potential.
Hearing that you don’t have money. Hearing that you’re poor. Hearing that ‘money is the root of all evil’. These affect your self-image for the rest of your life by causing you to identify with poverty. Collectively, we believe that there’s something wrong with the poor. That they are ‘less than’ the rest of us. And if we ‘can’t afford it’, we must be poor, so we act as if this were true. Which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If we don’t change our own harmful beliefs about money, we pass them along to our children. This, in turn, perpetuates the societal belief that there’s something ‘wrong’ with the poor. And the wheel goes round.
Breaking Up with Our Parents’ Money Beliefs
Some parents can't afford to buy the things their children want. And sometimes they say they can't afford them because it seems easier than saying ‘no’ outright. Call it a white lie, meant to spare your feelings. But the end result is the same and whatever the reason, your little kid mind absorbs it as fact.
How do we stop this? If you’re a parent, here are some ideas:
Tell your kids that you’re being smart with your money and choosing to spend it on essentials like food and rent.
Explain that experiences make you happier than things.
Take the time to teach your kids positive money beliefs
All of us should take a look at our own money beliefs from time to time. If you find you have outdated money beliefs, it’s time to start examining them and shifting to a place of abundance.
Living in Abundance
We all inherit money beliefs from our parents and other childhood caregivers, but we can choose to shift those beliefs to live a life of abundance.
Begin by recognizing what you have. Appreciate things like clean water, food, clothes, and a happy family. Throw out the idea that money gives you worth or that the amount of money you have defines your value as a person. Rich people just have more money. People living in poverty have less money. Many of us are somewhere in the middle.
Being abundant means recognizing and appreciating what you have. Sometimes it also means casting out your parents’ money beliefs. You get to decide. You get to choose abundance.
Article by Renee Spears. Renee is a Law of Attraction Coach & Mentor, Spiritual Advisor and Host of The Abundology Podcast. Learn more HERE.