Money Isn't Everything

It really isn't.

But...we all know that having enough money to care for the financial stressors in life can be a major relief, and, consequently lead to a greater sense of freedom. Afterall, money is not one of our basic psychological needs as a human being. Freedom, on the other hand, is. Along with Power, Love, and Belonging, and Fun they make up the core basic psychological needs. These were described by William Glasser in his classic writings on Reality Therapy and Control Theory.

But how do we attain freedom in our adult lives? Well if we have been conditioned to live beyond our means then financial freedom cannot exist. So unless we make a significant change in our behavior regarding spending/saving then we can't expect things to improve without some external force.

Conditioning:

If we are conditioned from a young age to be mindful and respectful of money we are much more likely to attain a sense of financial freedom. Having loads of money does NOT make one financially FREE. I propose that most of it hasn't anything to do with how much money one makes, but how they behave with the money they have.

So in part this relates to the "Starting Early" article from my last post. I hadn't connected it in this way until now but I can think of several friends of mine who are certainly not experiencing financial freedom yet they make an annual income that would make 5-10 families content.

Experiment:

It's too late for me to be conditioned from a young age (I'm nearly 38) but it's not too late for me to influence my own children's mindset regarding money, wealth, and freedom. I would love to hear from others about your experience regarding financial freedom.