Your money mindset is how you view money, your positive and negative associations with it, what you want to do with it and how much of it you want to have. Essentially, it’s your entire outlook on money and, what we learned when we address money mindset in The Vixen Mastermind, is that many women don’t know that they have one.
And if you don’t know that you have something, it’s really hard to understand what it is or is not doing for you and how to leverage or change it.
How to Develop a Money Mindset
Everyone has a money mindset. Most of us don’t know it.
Your money mindset is triggered when you:
- Decide what to spend money on (think flip phone vs. four-year-old iPhone vs. new iPhone every time there’s a new release)
- Decide how to spend your money (are you okay putting things on credit? Are you a cash-only woman?)
- Consider your savings (are you okay with none? Do you need three months’ of expenses worth? Are you an every-day-is-a-rainy day kind of woman?)
- Feel guilty about earning lots of money or spending it
At our Vixen Mastermind retreat in March, we started our money mindset exercise, even though I just sold a financial advisory firm after 15 years in an industry where I hosted a TV show about finances, I was surprised by the visceral responses each Vixen had to her own money mindset.
I get it though…
When I originally did the same exercise, I felt the same. It made me realize on a deeper level than I had before, how three of my relationships had affected my money mindset.
There’s my relationship with my parents who have a money mindset of scarcity and then that of the one I had with a former partner. All three of those relationships actually lowered my money mindset.
The point is, we all have a money mindset, you just might not know what it is.
Types of Money Mindsets
Typically, money mindsets fall into three categories:
- Growth vs. fixed
- Abundance vs. scarcity
- Success
Growth vs. Fixed
Those with growth mindsets constantly want to grow, learn and achieve their goals. Most importantly, they believe that they can do those things and don’t let setbacks deter them. Those with a fixed mindset are the opposite. They believe that their state (financial, intimate, etc.) will not change and so they don’t make any efforts for it to do so.
Abundance vs. Scarcity
An abundance mindset comes from the idea that there is enough of everything—love, happiness, etc.—to go around. In other words, just because you’re doing well, doesn’t mean that your neighbor can’t do well, also.
A scarcity mindset, on the other hand, comes from the idea that there are limits to everything—love, money, success, happiness, etc. And that if you have a lot of something, someone else will have less of it and vice versa.
Success
A success mindset is what we’re aiming for! That being said, success does not mean the same thing to all people. What’s good for me might sound horrible to you! The point though, is that when you have a success mindset, you can remove the obstacles that get in the way of that success.
What Influences Money Mindset?
Believe it or not, unless you’ve actively tried to change it, your money mindset has been with you since you were a kid. It’s created by external forces. Your parents. Your peers. Your teachers and society. And, if you’ve never consciously worked on it you can’t change it. Makes sense, right?
We’re all subject to influence so it’s good to know where you stand on important issues like money, core values, boundaries, etc. so that when you go up against influence, you get to decide what’s best for you.
Why is Your Money Mindset Important?
Your money mindset is important because it affects how you live, how you earn and your thoughts and feelings around money.
During the March Mastermind retreat, during the money mindset exercise, one of our Vixens realized that, although she had never really thought about her money mindset when she did, she was fine with it. Right now, she’s got kids to raise and she’s fine having a business that serves people while she spends her most important moments with her kids and her partner takes on the bulk of the financial responsibilities.
Other Vixens didn’t understand how much their money mindset was holding them back in business.
Regardless of your money mindset, knowing about it helps you understand how you make decisions and how that mindset might leave you short-sighted.
Money Mindset Exercises
Ready to start exploring your money mindset?
These exercises will get you thinking about it.
- Think of your first story regarding money. Did you first learn about money because you heard your parents talking about it over dinner? What was that like? What feelings did it make you associate with money?
- Think back to how it felt when got your first paycheck. What did you think about it? How did that feel? How did it influence future ideas about money?
It doesn’t matter what your money mindset is—what matters is that you’re aware of it.
And don’t worry. As I said before—we all have one and we’ve all had some laughs (and tears) about them.
