Why Is It So Important to Have a Positive Money Mindset?

Lana_M/Shutterstock.com

Your money mindset consists of your thoughts and beliefs about money, and it essentially determines how you relate to this valuable resource. In this post, I talk about how you can identify what your current money mindset is. Knowing how you currently relate to money is important if you would like to change your money mindset.

Many people were raised with a negative money mindset or one that doesn’t allow them to embrace their ability to create wealth for themselves. This is why, when it comes to turning your financial situation around, developing a positive money mindset is key. To give you a better idea of why this is so important, here’s a list of five reasons.

5 Reasons It’s Important to Have a Positive Money Mindset

1. It encourages you to see money as a source of joy instead of stress.

   Financial problems can be a huge source of stress in people’s lives. Because of this, even the thought of money can make them uncomfortable, irritated, or angry. But money itself is neutral. I’ve even heard it described as a form of energy. So, it’s not really money that’s the problem here, it’s people’s attitudes toward it.
   
   A negative money mindset will encourage people to associate money with stress. They may believe they never have enough money to do the things they need or want to do. They may also believe that the only way to receive money is through hard work. While hard work can be required up front, people who become wealthy understand that the hard work doesn’t have to continue indefinitely.
   
   This is something I learned about in the book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker. The rich understand that it’s important to do hard work that will result in them receiving money passively in the future, meaning they won’t have to work that hard forever. But because a negative money mindset can see money as a source of stress, it can’t help but believe that earning it should also be strenuous.
   
   Making the mental shift from negative to positive money mindset will allow you to understand that you don’t have to work hard indefinitely for money if you don’t believe you have to. And just thinking about the kind of wealth you can create when you think this way and what that wealth will allow you to do—like help others—that should be enough for you to see money as a source of joy.

2. It encourages you to see money as good instead of bad.

   If you’re someone who grew up thinking that rich people are bad or greedy, and that money itself is bad as a result, you’re being controlled by a negative money mindset. But as I said in #1, money is neutral. It’s not good or bad. It’s not right or wrong. It’s just money. But the way you perceive it will determine the way you relate to it.
   
   If you see money as bad, then you probably don’t want to have much of it. And you probably won’t take much time to learn about how it works or how to make more of it. That means you probably won’t understand how credit cards work, how budgeting can help you manage your finances, or how to make your money work for you.
   
   But if you see money as good, you want to learn more about it. You want to understand how it works. You want to know how you can invite more of this wonderful resource into your life. You might even start to see money as a friend, a concept I discuss in this post. But just seeing money as good will open you up to possibilities you couldn’t see when you saw money as something to be dealt with only when necessary.

3. It encourages you to see many options for receiving money, instead of just one.

   People with a negative or unhelpful money mindset might only consider one main option for making money—getting a job. But the truth is, there are an infinite number of ways you can make money. Having a positive money mindset allows you to consider those options by viewing money as being abundant, which I talk about in this post.
   
   You can absolutely work at a job if you enjoy it, but even if you have a job, you can look into other sources of income. For instance, you could start a side hustle or look into passive income streams like selling digital products or investing.
   
   And within all of these options, there are still numerous ways to make money. For instance, when talking about investing, it could be investing in things like real estate and the stock market, but it could also be investing in people, in ideas, in businesses, and in yourself. All of these investing options have the potential to give you a return on your investment.
   
   And that’s a way of making your money work for you, which is something the wealthy do. But only a positive money mindset will allow you to view money in this abundant way.

4. It encourages you to believe in your potential to become financially savvy.

   While they don’t necessarily have to go together, people with a negative money mindset can also be dealing with a fixed mindset, a concept discussed in the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. People with a fixed mindset don’t believe in their ability to grow and change. They believe that they’re pretty much the way they always will be.
   
   As a result, they don’t consider that they have the ability to learn new skills that would allow them to seek out other options for earning money. If they don’t feel that they’re good with money, they don’t believe in their potential to become better with it. If they’ve never invested, they don’t feel they can learn how to do it successfully.
   
   But people with a positive money mindset believe in their potential to become financially literate. They have a growth mindset, which is also discussed in that book. Even if they’ve made their share of money mistakes—and we all have—they believe they can learn to do better. They can learn to be good with money. And they’re willing to do the work necessary to become good with money.
   
   (Actually, shifting from a fixed to a growth mindset is one of the mental shifts necessary to develop a positive money mindset.)
   
   Having a positive mindset toward money doesn’t automatically mean you become wealthy overnight. But this is the kind of mindset necessary to become wealthy and to be open to welcoming abundance into your life.

5. It encourages you to let go of limiting beliefs you may have around money.

   The previous items on this list address some of the limiting beliefs people may have when it comes to money. Beliefs like, “There’s never enough money to go around” relate to #1, while beliefs like, “I’m not good with money” relate to #4. But people can have many different limiting beliefs around money. And in order to be able to invite more money into their lives, they’re going to have to release them.
   
   A negative money mindset will encourage people to hold onto their limiting money beliefs. They may not want to let go of them because they give them an excuse not to change. This is the fixed mindset at play again, which I talked about in #4.
   
   Someone with a positive money mindset, on the other hand, will want to identify and remove all limiting beliefs that can keep them from realizing their full financial potential. To counteract these beliefs, they may start telling themselves positive money mindset affirmations like, “Money is abundant” and “I’m good with money.”
   
   Although these affirmations may not describe their current situation, beliefs like these—when repeated often enough and said with feeling—can actually allow a person to change their reality.

Final Thoughts

If you have financial goals that you find yourself struggling to reach, you’re probably in need of a money mindset shift. In case you were wondering why such a shift is so important, I’ve just given you a list of five reasons.

Having a positive money mindset can allow you to see money as a source of joy and as something good that you want to have more of in your life. It can also encourage you to learn about how to make more money and become financially savvy. And it can encourage you to release any limiting beliefs that may be preventing you from reaching your financial goals. Having a positive money mindset can completely transform the way you relate to money.

Now it’s your turn. Why do you think it’s so important for people to have a positive money mindset?

~ Ashley C.

Note: The advice presented here is for informational purposes only. If you’re in need of professional financial advice, please see a qualified professional.

Last updated: June 21, 2024