Your relationship with money is deeply rooted in your past, often shaped during your formative years by early experiences and the attitudes you observed from your primary caregivers. These influences, absorbed primarily during the imprint period, frequently become ingrained as your personal truth, consciously or unconsciously impacting how you handle finances as an adult.
Limiting beliefs about money, if left unchecked, can continue to influence your financial decisions, causing stress and holding you back from financial growth and empowerment. By uncovering these ingrained beliefs and reframing your approach, you can begin to reshape your relationship with money.
The belief that there is never enough. This often leads to fear-based decisions, such as hoarding money or being overly frugal to avoid financial insecurity. This mindset is tied to limiting beliefs such as ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’ or ‘you have to work hard to earn money’. The scarcity mindset mirrors emotional patterns where you might feel unworthy of abundance and continuously fear not having enough, both financially and emotionally.
Some people associate wealth with greed or corruption, subconsciously blocking opportunities to accumulate wealth because of negative connotations. This mindset is rooted in beliefs like ‘money is the root of all evil’ or ‘having money makes me a bad person’. These limiting thoughts may cause you to subconsciously reject financial growth, sabotaging your ability to build wealth.
This belief involves avoiding financial management or feeling that handling finances is someone else’s responsibility. It is often tied to the idea of ‘burying your head in the sand’ and can stem from a lack of financial education, fear of making mistakes, or financial control by another person. Like low self-worth, avoiding financial decisions can be driven by feelings of inadequacy or fear of failure.
Each of these mindsets can limit your ability to build and sustain financial wellbeing. However, by creating awareness around them, you can begin to shift towards a more positive and empowered financial mindset.
Use the following prompts to dive deeper into your relationship with money and begin identifying limiting beliefs that may be affecting you:
Step 1 – Explore Money Beliefs Inherited from Primary Caregivers
How did your caregivers talk about wealthy people? What attitudes did they express about people with wealth? Did they celebrate their success or criticise them for being greedy or unwholesome? This can shape how you feel about your own potential to accumulate wealth.
Step 2 – Reflect on Your Financial Situation Growing Up
Step 3 – Consider the Impact of Your Money Beliefs Today
Step 4 – Reframing Your Money Beliefs
By using these prompts to explore and reflect on your financial history, you’re taking a crucial step towards building a healthier, more empowering relationship with money. Becoming aware of the money beliefs you’ve inherited allows you to reshape them and move forward with greater financial empowerment. For example, if you have a scarcity mindset, you might feel there is never enough money, no matter how much you actually have. As you address and reframe these beliefs, you’ll regain control over your financial future and lay the foundation for lasting wealth and abundance.
Source: Flying Solo April 2025
This article by Emma Lagerlow is reproduced with the permission of Flying Solo – Australia’s micro business community. Find out more and join over 100K others https://www.flyingsolo.com.au/join.
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