Professionals in the field of finance recommend assessing your relationship with money if you want to have good money habits. According to them, there is relevance in having a profound acquaintance with how you relate with money because this determines how you make it, how much you make, how much you spend and save too. According to Mireille Mutoni, an experienced financial manager, anyone who wants to build a healthy relationship with money has to view it as a tool and not a goal. She says money itself is not the goal but a tool one can use to achieve those goals. Knowing this makes it possible to take control of your finances. “You also become more deliberate about the way you spend and use your money,” she says. An article by Louise Delagran indicates that while we all have a different relationships with money that is based on how much we have and how much we need, it is possible for everyone to take some steps towards having a more secure and balanced relationship with money. He recommends assessing wants versus needs. The first step is simply getting to know your relationship with money a little bit better. Even if you think you already have a good sense of how you spend, it can be helpful to track your money more diligently. Write down in a notebook all the money that is spent for a month, and then look to see how much you are spending on your wants (for example, entertainment and treats) versus needs (for example, housing, food necessities, bills). Sometimes we can get caught in the idea that money buys happiness and spend money on things we don’t need in order to satisfy a deeper longing for pleasure, escape, or connection. But if we spend so much on these purchases that there isn’t enough to meet our most basic needs, the short-lived pleasure these purchases can bring isn’t worth it, Delagran writes. He also notes that it’s important to adjust your goals by, for instance, taking a good look at your budget. While humans have a tendency to adjust expectations upward as our income goes up, you can consciously change that. Instead of wanting more expensive things and more of them, you can choose to save new income. Instead of buying things, you can give yourself the security of having enough money. One way to help yourself change your spending habits is to establish incentives that will motivate you to meet your goals, he adds. Mutoni is also of the view that being self-aware is key in building a healthy relationship with money. This, she says, helps you understand your own actions and reactions to various situations. “To be precise, having a knack for financial self-awareness is critical. It is only then that you can be able to make decisions on what job you to want to go for, how long you will want to work, when you can plan for retirement and so on,” she says. Delagran on the other hand is against comparing ourselves to others. “We tend to compare our income to others and only be satisfied if it is relatively higher. If we are offered a raise, but everyone else is too, we are less satisfied. Comparing ourselves to others and focusing on income is a never-ending treadmill of dissatisfaction, and it only makes sense to make a deliberate effort to get off. Set aside time to reflect upon what you like and respect about yourself—without comparing to other people. Focus on how you have improved or grown without worrying about how you rank. Take satisfaction in how hard work and experience develop your skills or speed.”
