How well-connected are you to your money? It’s hard to really answer that question without looking at how you view money.

It is common to associate current money behaviors with the experiences and observations of money that you grew up with. If you were a saver as a child, you are likely to be a saver as an adult. If you were a spender as a child, you are likely to continue that habit as an adult. If money wasn’t talked about much when you were growing up, money may still be a tough subject for you to talk about as an adult.

Our money stories are built from our years of observing and experiencing money with our parents, grandparents, siblings, mentors, and teachers. Over time, for some, unhealthy behaviors with money take shape and impact adult lives and habits. Let’s see how money has informed your life.

Name one positive association you have with money.

Name one negative association you have with money.

Which association is more dominant for you, the positive or the negative association with money? Determining this will help you understand your present attitude toward money and how it affects you today.

Our behaviors with money are nuanced by the internalization of childhood money observations and experiences, and of tensions about money with our partner and about how we avoid or attend to our finances. We may have a determined purpose about money, or we may be overly concerned about money, accompanied by anxiety and the need to control others’ money as well.

If money behaviors tear at the fabric of your family, contact me. With 25+ years of experience in family dynamics and money behaviors,I may be able to assist.