Money Values

This week Greenspring’s Women & Wealth group hosted a Conversation Circle to discuss our own relationships with money. If you aren’t familiar with a Conversation Circle it is an opportunity for a small group to come together for a facilitated discussion to share stories and experiences. The Circle allows us to self-reflect as well as draw wisdom from others.

As Wealth Managers it is second nature to ask our clients questions to draw out what their greatest fears and concerns are about money so that we can determine the best way we can help. As was the case with the cobbler whose children had no shoes, we often don’t pause to examine our own relationship with money.

I want to share with you the questions we asked ourselves so that you can reflect and better understand your own relationship with money. Hint- It’s complicated!!!

• What was your first money memory? What impact did that have on you?
• How do you typically spend your time and money now?
• What values are these behaviors reflecting?
• Do these behaviors line up with your actual core beliefs and values?
• Are there any changes you would like to make?

It is hard to pick out what we liked best about our discussion. It was an endearing exercise to learn more about our colleagues and engage at such a personal level; we talk about money every day in the office but we never get into our own personal relationship with money. We walked away from the circle with actionable items that we were energized to pursue to improve our relationships with money. It made us better at what we do professionally- guiding others on their money journey. The better we are at understanding how much our own relationship with money impacts the quality of our life, the better partner we can be to our clients.

The first step in making a positive change to your relationship with money is to better understand yourself, your history with money, and to be open to making adjustments. This is a really hard task to do on one’s own. You would be surprised how just a conversation, whether it be over coffee with a friend or with a trusted advisor, can ignite initiative you may not have thought you had.