How You Feel About Money Says Lot About You

USA Today:

If cold, hard cash has a soft and fuzzy side, longtime financial adviser Susan McCarthy aims to expose it in her new book, The Value of Money.

Money and emotion inevitably go hand in hand, McCarthy says, despite the commonly held view that we shouldn’t let our feelings interfere when it comes to financial decision making.

Rather than ignoring our emotions, McCarthy argues we should scrutinize how we feel about — and deal with — money. For example, do you feel glee when someone else experiences a financial misfortune? Are you prone to spending more money than you have? Do you argue with others about money? Are you pleased with your answers to these questions?

“Most situations,” she writes, “point the way to some important lesson if we care to look on them in that way.” It’s this quest for the deeper meaning — the “hidden wisdom of money” mentioned in the book’s subtitle — that McCarthy says she hopes will translate to better money management and greater personal satisfaction for her readers.

McCarthy says she’s encountered seven basic types of relationships people have with money:

• Money is King. This type judges themselves and others by how much money they have.

• Little Lambs. This person, McCarthy writes, has a childlike relationship with money and favors the “I’ll think about it tomorrow” approach to finances.

• “I’ll Pick Up the Bill If You Just …” This type uses money as a weapon to manipulate others. As an example, McCarthy cites a client who structured a trust that included some family members and explicitly left out others.

• Wolf Never Leaves My Door. No matter how much money this person has, they always feel poor. Fear dominates this person’s attitude toward money — fear of running out of money, fear of losing it and fear of someone else taking it, McCarthy writes.

• The Money Martyr. For a person bent on being a victim, money can easily provide the means for self-sabotage, McCarthy says. This relationship, she warns, is an easy one to unknowingly pass on to children.

• All is Well. These people appreciate money for what it is: a simple tool. Wealthy or not, they feel calm and confident about their finances.

• Spread the Joy. People with this attitude use their money generously and compassionately, McCarthy says, adding that they are never controlled by it.

Photo by Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin Group.

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