We all have one. A money script that is. Money scripts are underlying behavioural principles that dictate money habits. You know, the ones that cause you to throw caution to the wind when strolling through your local shopping malls. Indeed you needed the extra five kitchen gadgets, especially those that juice lemons while catching the pits. Money scripts are also responsible for having feelings of jealousy and bitterness that hijack your senses at the sight of a Porsche whizzing by.
Based on indelibly etched experiences of life that form each person's money habits, individuals form impressions of the significance of money and how it affects their life. By absorbing messages from our environment, unconscious beliefs about money form lifetime behaviours. Often learned from parents and social settings, a money script based on dysfunctional patterns may lead a person to develop extreme habits like overspending or underspending, running deep into debt, or being so miserly as to forgo necessities. While the money script remains hidden in the subconscious, the corresponding behaviours emerge daily, controlling a person's actions without the individual understanding the reason for their habits.
In 'The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge', Dr Klontz explains Scrooge's underlying money scripts and how they have defined his life. We all know Scrooge: grumpy, uncaring, ungiving, and famous for catch-phrases. The behaviours are manifested so profoundly that he treats his employees poorly and withholds necessities for himself. It would cramp his style to allow his employee extra coal or allow himself an additional candle in his own home. My favourite quote from the book is, "Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge liked it." It seems perfectly logical to him until the ghosts show him how he looks to the world.
Not all money scripts are bad. The ones that result in less financial stress and balanced debt levels are good money scripts. Similarly, financial satisfaction, contentment with possessions, and not avoiding necessities also reflect healthy money scripts.
If you're not sure how deeply a money script impacts an adult life, read Samantha Irby's May 20 article, If Every Day Is a Rainy Day, What Am I Saving For? In a poignant narrative, the author recounts her life spent in poverty but close enough proximity to the middle class to cultivate deprivation feelings. Her experiences were so jarring that, as an adult, they cause her to spend with wicked abandon, while asking herself: How many lipsticks is too many? However, while admitting her lack of financial literacy, she shuns learning.
Her money script is alive and kicking. The conflicting forces of knowing what she should be doing, i.e., saving, investing, and compulsively fulfilling her childhood desires are continually clashing. Because she cannot disengage from the early years of financial trauma, this mental loop will continue to play out until she deals with it head-on. When I read the piece, I see the dysfunctional relationship between money and happiness. Although delivered with the conceding humour of an addict, her adult behaviour diminishes any possibility of financial security. Ms Irby's pattern will preclude her from ever experiencing a shred of financial contentment. Remember: it's not what you make; it's what you spend.
It's in your best interest to know what your money script is.
Thank you for reading and hope you have a good rest of the day!
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