My Relationship With Money

In a world where almost everything is expensive already, from the food we eat, the cost of transportation to go to our desired travel destinations, the electric and water bills that we need to pay every month, and other necessary expenses that we have to shoulder every time we encounter them, I guess it is just but right to say that "Money makes the world go round" somehow. Money may not be the most important thing, but it greatly affects our life that we have to work hard every single day to have it.

After reading the article of joydigitalsolutions about Prompt Questions about Money that she got from Pinterest from the prompt of BecomingWhoYouAre.net, I decided to make my own version of it and answer the questions as well, since the topic is just so interesting to ponder on. There are 20 questions from the set of prompts and I will answer all of them by five to also save myself from having a hard time thinking of topics to write on. So without further ado, let's get on it!

1. Describe your relationship with money in five words or less.

• Money is my Servant. My relationship with money is nothing but a servant-master relationship, where I am the master and money is the servant, and not the other way around, although it looks like it at some point sometimes.

• Money should just be our servant where it will serve us to give us a sense of security and stability in life. It should help us to have a good life where we get to spend it on the things we need and want. But because of the unfairness of life, we do everything and work so hard just to get money to the point that we become slaves to money. However, it should not be this way forever that is why I am already doing all the things I need to do so that money will be the one to serve me and not me be the slave to it until I die.

2. What was your money story growing up?

• I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth that is why as early as 6 years old, my parents already inculcated in my mind the value of saving money not just for the rainy days but for the sunny days as well.

• When I was still young, I already learned to be thrifty so I have extra money to save in the bamboo bank that my father made me. And from just saving some of my daily allowances to the point that I will skip buying snacks in school so that I have some money to spend to buy new clothes and toys during our town festival, I learned to also save money so that we have some cash to spend during emergencies, like when my parents need extra money to pay for our electric bills.

3. What does it mean to you to have "not enough" money?

• For me, money is not enough when you can no longer buy and pay for all of the necessary needs for yourself and your family, such as buying nutritious food and decent clothes and getting to pay for your monthly bills and other expenses. Money is not enough when you have a hard time sleeping at night because you are already thinking about the possible expenses for tomorrow. Money is not enough when you resort to acquiring debts from loan sharks and banks because it's already difficult to make both ends meet.

4. What does it mean to you to have "too much" money?

• To me, I can say that I have "too much" money when I can already treat not just myself but my parents too in a fine-dining restaurant and good food whenever I want. I already have too much money when I can already have a good sleep at night not worrying about the uncertainties of tomorrow. I already have too much money if I have already established my emergency fund, and have different streams of active and passive income and investment.

5. What, to you, is the purpose of money?

• Just like what I've said in the first question, the purpose of money is to serve us, to give us a sense of security and financial stability. Others say that money is supposed to be spent and I agree with that because we need to spend money so that we can have the things we need and want. However, money is also supposed to be saved so that we have something to use in the future, which will make us feel secure. Money will save us from uncertainties if we know how to save some of it when we have more. Thus, we should not just spend but learn to save money too.

Feel free to answer these questions in the comment box or through an article too. Share your thoughts about money and let's spread Financial literacy. Cheers!