Few people would consider themselves a success if they had little or no money even though figures like Jesus, Buddha, and Socrates ventured very different ideas on the subject. The ability to manage money, allocate assets, and increase wealth plays a major role in the economy, as well as the lives of each person. Let me deal with the subject from the perspective of consciousness by offering five ideas that will feel quite new to anyone who approaches money strictly from a naked desire to make as much as possible or from the opposite desire, to escape debt and impoverishment.
Money reflects who you are. It mirrors your psychological makeup The first idea is a core truth, and many branches grow from it. It says that money is never truly objective. The psyche, with its abundance of fears, wishes, hopes, and desires, is always colouring how each of us views money, to the extent that the economist J M Keynes considered all markets to be psychological in nature. What you think and believe will be automatically reflected in how you manage your money.There are hoarders who cannot tolerate the slightest risk,gamblers who can never save their winnings, along with free spenders and philanthropists. Since money reflects the psyche, including its unconscious drives, people are secretive about their money in order to hide themselves. Few of us want to be entirely seen or known by others, and at a deeper level, we are afraid to know ourselves completely. Yet the more you can accept yourself, the easier it will be to deal with money and the less anxious it will make you. Find a formula that works for you, that allows you to not obsess over money, fear its loss, or take risks you cannot tolerate. Don’t assume that your ability to manage money is the same as the people around you, and don’t try to live up to the life story of some billionaire. The path to money, if that’s the path you want to walk, begins inside.
The highest use of money is to increase happiness The psyche is complicated, and once you know yourself, there is still room for confusion, because money has to be turned into action. Which part of your mind should you follow, the emotional or rational? Is greed something to ignore or follow? Should you focus on earning, saving, or investing? It takes years of experience to untangle these issues – and many more, besides – but the most helpful guide is to use your money in the service of being happy. Rich butn miserable is no way to spend your days, either now or after you retire. What will make you happy? To be happy in the future, pay attention to your happiness today.The real issue is whether stress, greed, obsession, and amorality are enemies of happiness.
