By now, lots of us have heard about limiting beliefs and “money blocks” and I have, for a long time, felt frustrated about these things because the more one focuses on a block, the bigger it grows.

So, by engineering plans to “eradicate money blocks” way back when my life was so upside down it was crazy, I found more and more of them rather than some magical money breakthrough.

That said, there is enormous truth to the idea that we do all have a lot of subconscious impressions, judgements and beliefs that, when we practice them unconsciously, can lead us to repeat the same things over and over again whether they are wanted or unwanted.

Instead of falling into the rabbit hole of chasing money blocks, I started dismantling the old story and rewriting a new story in my life, my habits and my home! It worked! And it’s worked for countless others I’ve worked with, too.

It turns out that financial psychologists have quite great insight on these old stories we have been living with, and they call them “money scripts.” This work has illuminated my own relationship with wealth, and helped me to make powerful shifts for the better!

Money Scripts

The term “money script” was conceived by financial psychologists Brad Klontz and Ted Klonz. These scripts are essentially the stories we tell ourselves about money.  

These scripts are associations and ideas of what someone deems money to be.   They are usually only partial truths that are learned in childhood and can be easily passed down from generation to generation.  

Money scripts typically operate unconsciously, out of our awareness, and can drive our financial behaviors in an automatic way, affecting one’s income, net worth and the overall health of our finances. 

The Klontz Money Script Inventory was created to assess a person’s money beliefs, and  in previous research, four subscales were shown to correlate with net worth, income and a host of unbalanced money behaviors.  The subscales are: money avoidance, money worship, money status and money vigilance.  In the study, Brad Klontz, PsyD, CFP and Sonya Britt, PhD, CFP set out to explore the association and predictability of these money scripts and financial behaviors.

Since these scripts generally operate without one’s awareness, becoming cognizant of the script, where it came from and the issues it can create can be helpful in making a precise and positive shift in financial wellbeing!

Keep in mind, these scripts are general archetypes and every aspect of each one may not apply to you. For example, I definitely used to be a Money Avoider and so much of this applies to how I once operated my life (!) on automatic, but I was never a compulsive shopper!

Here are the main money scripts:

Money Avoidance

Money avoiders hold a belief that money is bad and that people who are wealthy are greedy and corrupt.   Some believe they are not worthy of having a lot of money, and some ardently feel that it is principled and upstanding to live a modest life with little wealth. 

And, as contrary as it may seem, research has also found that money avoiders tend to hold the incongruous beliefs that having more money would improve their social status, increase their self-worth and end their problems.  The discord between these beliefs, the disdain for money and placing too much emphasis on its value, has been found to cause money avoiders, “…to have less money and lower net worth.

Money avoidance is associated with increased risk of overspending and compulsive buying, sacrificing one’s financial well-being for the sake of others, financial dependence on others, hoarding, avoiding looking at one’s bank statements, trying to forget about one’s financial situation, and having trouble sticking to a budget.”

Money Worship

Then there are money worshipers who feel that increased wealth is the key to unleash their happiness and the end to all their problems and woes.  Simultaneously, money worshipers also tend to believe that they will never have enough money or be able to afford the things they desire. 

The dissonance here has been found to perpetuate constant overspending, and they “…are more likely to have lower income, lower net worth, and be trapped in a cycle of revolving credit card debt.

Money worshipers are also more likely to spend compulsively, hoard possessions, put work ahead of their family relationships, try to ignore or forget about their financial situation, give money to others even though they can’t afford it, and be financially dependent on others.”

Money Status

Those who hold the money status script believe that self-worth equals net worth, and they tend to measure success by the level of money gained. 

People with these beliefs tend to pose as being more affluent than they really are, and spend beyond their budget to make this impression. ” People with money status beliefs are more likely to be compulsive spenders, be dependent on others financially, and lie to their spouses about their spending.” 

This money script is also associated with a lower income and net worth.

Money Vigilance

The money vigilance script boasts frugality, being protective and interested in their finances and invested in saving.  They esteem earning their money over having it given to them. 

Overall, they veer away from buying things on credit cards and only spend what they can afford.  As a result, people with this script have a higher income and net worth. 

In this study it was found, “Money vigilance appears to be a protective factor, in that the money vigilant are significantly less likely to spend compulsively, gamble excessively, enable others financially, and ignore their finances.”

After looking these over, as I mentioned, it was clear that I settled into Money Avoidance for a long time, but when I finally saw my patterns objectively, I felt a little more clear on how to set things straight.

I learned about money.

I ultimately became Money Vigilant. It wasn’t an overnight process, but it produced lasting change and a whole new set of pretty automatic beliefs.

These basic “scripts” were less emotional and more straightforward, and it helped me to confront things in the same way— objective, aware and focused on changing what most needed to change!

In Feng Shui in my way, we use your home as a tool to rewrite the story of life in any ways you’d like to see change. When you step into the seat of author of your life you become more of a manifesting wizard a deliberate creator and a change-maker with confidence.

You home gets shifted in your best ways. You life gets shifted in your best ways. And, abundance flows in all the most awesome ways!

Here’s to the greatest stories of your life and your biggest visions come true!

xoxo!!!

Dana