Questions to Explore Your Relationship with Money

QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH MONEY:

What will it take for me to have all the money I want?
What do I know I am right about regarding money?
Why do I want money?
What must I give up to have money?
What do I think and feel about others who have lots of money?
How will having more money change my life or the lives of loved ones?
What would I be able to do with more money that I cannot do now?
Whom would I need to forgive in order to have a powerful relationship with money?
Who do I secretly blame for my misfortune in life?
Who do I hold responsible for my money problems?

EXTRA CREDIT:

For more of a challenge (Simplified version from Joe Dominguez’s “Your Money Or Your Life.”)

Find out how much money you have earned in your entire lifetime.
Calculate the number of precious hours you have left on this planet. (There are resources on the internet that can help you calculate this, or use the table below.) Then subtract the number of hours you will be sleeping and doing maintenance (eating, shopping, etc.) and come up with the total of precious hours you have left.
Calculate the dollars per hour you actually get from your work. Start with the hours you work and the pay you get. Then include the real adjustments like: time to travel to/from work, time to dress for work, meals, job related illnesses, etc. After these adjustments, you will have a real hourly income.
List all your current monthly expenses and divide each by your real hourly income to calculate the number of precious hours you are using for each expense. For example: If you spent $88 on magazines for the month, and your real hourly rate is $4/hour, you are using 22 hours of life energy.
Raise these three questions for every expense:
Did I receive fulfillment, satisfaction, and value in proportion to life energy spent?
Is this expenditure of life energy in alignment with my values and life purpose?
How might this expenditure change if I didn’t have to work for a living?

SPIRITUAL LEVEL: Money is something we choose to trade our life energy for.

Table from National Health Center Statistics: AVERAGE REMAINING LIFE EXPECTANCY

AGE / YEARS / HOURS
20 / 56.3 / 493,526
25 / 51.6 / 452,326
30 / 46.9 / 411,125
35 / 42.2 / 369,925
40 / 37.6 / 329,601
45 / 33.0 / 298,278
50 / 28.6 / 250,708
55 / 24.4 / 213,890
60 / 20.5 / 179,703
65 / 16.9 / 148,145
70 / 13.6 / 119,796
75 / 10.7 / 93,796

SOME BELIEFS AROUND MONEY:

I must work hard for the money.
I don’t deserve a large sum of money, in fact, nobody does.
I need more money than I can generate.
I feel helpless in changing my financial picture.
I don’t handle money and wealth well.
I’m not good enough, or I’m not good enough to be loved.
No matter what I do, I should be doing something else.
If it hasn’t happened yet, it never will.
If you knew what I’m really like, you wouldn’t want me.
I don’t know what I want.
I upset people around money issues.
Better stop wanting; if you get your hopes up, you’ll really get hurt.
If I fail, I should feel bad for a long time and be really scared to try again.
I should have worked this out by now.
I believe you must choose between money and integrity.
I believe the economic differences between me and others are unfair and should be changed.

OPPOSING BELIEFS: (From Money Maturity, George Kinder)

1. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

I believe what you have before you is worth more than some potentialout there where you can't grab it
On the other hand, I believe if you focus only on the present anddon't plan ahead, you'll end up with nothing down the line

2. A fool and his money are soon parted.

If you believe everything you hear, and you'll be a sucker for everycon artist who comes along
On the other hand, I believe openness, credulity, and a sense ofwonder are the stuff of saint

3.A penny saved is a penny earned.

I believe the capacity to put money aside is the most powerful tooleach of us have for accumulating wealth
On the other hand, I believe if all you do is save, how can you takecare of your present needs and wants? And how can you be generous?

4.All work and no play make Johnny a dull boy.

I believe many of the activities that shape our lives most deeplyhappen outside of work, in family, song, poetry, even baseball.
On the other hand, I believe why not make work as nurturing assports, literature, family, and music?

5.Daddy will always take care of you.

I believe there is no substitute for security?
On the other hand, I believe depending on someone else undercutsindependence.

6.Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.

I believe that you should look for what's lasting in a relationship.
On the other hand, I believe there is a lot more to a goodrelationship than what you can sell from it.

7.Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

I believe a prudent, thoughtful approach to investing and savingwill protect your egg nest.
On the other hand, I believe failure to take risks will cut you outof the most productive investments.

8.Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

I believe we should be grateful for what comes our way.
On the other hand, I believe gifts can contain hidden handcuffs.

9.Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

I believe skepticism and diversification are excellent protectionfor your investments.
On the other hand, I believe commitment- to a person, a way of life,the pursuit of freedom requires all of you, not just a part.

10.Hard work always yields success.

I believe success is ten percent inspiration, ninety percentperspiration.
On the other hand, I believe there is more to gain than pain.

11.Marry for love, not money.

I believe relationships have a value beyond dollars and cents. Besides, money can't buy you love.
On the other hand, I believe when you make a lifetime commitment, besure you know how you are going to pay the bills.

12.Money doesn’t grow on trees.

I Believe it takes work to get money.
On the other hand, I believe the most important parts of life don'tcarry a price tag.

13.Money is the root of all evil.

I believe money spawns all sorts of wrongdoing, from cheating onincome tax returns to killing parents for inheritance
On the other hand, I believe money isn't the problem. It's thegreed, ambition, and hunger expressed around money that causes the trouble.

14.Money is a sign of success.

I believe people with money got that way by working hard and smart.
On the other hand, I believe not if it was handed to them, particularly through inheritance. And what about drug lords, financialmanipulators, and white collar criminals? Remember, too, our friends whohave little money yet live wonderful lives.

15.Money isn’t everything.

I believe money is only a small part of life.
On the other hand, I believe it may be small, but money can nourishor destroy everything else.

16.Time is money.

I believe you have to husband your resources for the mostfinancially rewarding activities and set priorities carefully.
On the other hand, I believe like Thoreau said: "Time is a river inwhich I go fishing." That's a better way to live.

17.You only get what you pay for.

I believe good stuff is more costly than junk.
On the other hand, I believe air and water are free. So are many oflife's most valuable gifts, and you never had to pay for them.

18.Your best friend is your bank account.

I believe saving for a rainy day means you'll have money when itclouds over.
On the other hand, I believe money is no substitute for love andfriendship.

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Money Traps

a. Overspending and hoarding.

b. Choosing between money and integrity.

c. Dread, panic, and disempowerment around money.

d. Inability to attend to practical, necessary financial tasks.

e. Investing in the latest get-rich scheme and making poor investment choices.

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RESOURCES: Some GOOD books around Money and Financial Independence

1. Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin

2. Seven Stage of Money Maturity by George Kinder (A Buddhist Approach)

3. The Energy of Money (A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal

Fulfillment) by Maria Nemeth