When we’re ready to retire, it’s natural to start taking stock. What do we have and how long will it last! Do we have the money to travel, retire and enjoy the second half of life.
Now’s the time your money mindset either supports you or creates fear and uncertainty for the future. If you’re planning for retirement, you may be asking how can I increase my money mindset to be sure I have enough. If you’re wondering “how can i retire early with no money” the answer is start working on your money mindset.
What If I Don’t Have Enough Money?
If you’ve ever felt fear of a lack of money, chances are it’s rooted in your childhood. Your parents or grandparents may have passed on their fear or doubt about where the money was going to come from. The reverse is true. If you grew up with a feeling of abundance, that your needs were taken care of and there wasn’t a limit on what you could earn or save, your money mindset is going to be confident not fearful.
If you’ve always manifested everything you needed, your bank account is full and you can’t envision it ever being empty then lack isn’t your jam. You’ve effectively mastered your money mindset whether you were conscious of it or not.
But. If you have doubt about your ability to create abundance. If you’re worried that your bank account may suddenly empty out and you’ll end up on the streets as a bag lady, then your mindset about money may need some tweaking. Hand raised here.
There doesn’t have to be a rational reason for your fear. In fact you may never have gone without in the true sense of the word, but there’s always that lingering niggle in the back of your mind that it could all go away tomorrow. Worse, that you have no real way of making it back. Like I said, it’s not necessarily a rational thought process.
Familiar with the law of attraction? LOA, as it’s also known by, is the theory that like attracts like. Abundant thought attracts abundance. Loving thoughts attract loving action. You get the idea. There’s one little problem with this theory. We can think all we want. Our brains are very good at summoning all sorts of fanciful thoughts. We can conjure with the best of them, right?
Thoughts may become things, but it’s not thought that affects what comes into our lives. It’s feelings.
How we feel about money or love is the attraction. We can think we have abundant thoughts about money, that we deserve all the riches in the world, but unless we feel we’re worthy it doesn’t really work. This is the tricky bit. Again we can “think” that we feel worthy, but what if our sub-conscious is really running the show? The old programming our parents drilled into us. The one that makes us feel fear we can’t be sure where the money is going to come from.
A wonky money mindset may manifest as the ability to overspend or the inability to save. Both paths perpetuate the feeling of not having enough or not being in control of your finances, while at the same time keeping your money supply tentative. In effect you’re confirming your deep seated fear of not having enough and voila here’s proof! We tend to act in a way that confirms our beliefs and keeps reaffirming them.
Perhaps it’s not a question of overspending or under saving that keeps you in a near constant state of feeling there won’t be enough. This is especially true as retirement looms. You may be quite comfortable in your current state of affairs, but thanks to the media, the stock market or perhaps wealthier friends, you feel your financial future is uncertain.
How to Change Your Money Mindset
If you’re aware your subconscious isn’t supporting your conscious mind about money, what can you do about it? How do you unprogram those niggling thoughts that undermine your ability to feel abundant.
How to Increase Your Money Mindset
- Do some digging. Think back to what you heard as a child. Was it “money is the root of all evil” or “money can’t buy happiness”? Whatever you heard, think it over. Is this true? No. Money is just the energy. It doesn’t shape you, it’s merely a vehicle. Money saves lives, it builds homes and it creates opportunity. The more you have the more you can contribute. Power can save as well as destroy. You can be the good stuff.
- Learn how to invest. Read the money pages, learn how the stock market works. Understand how to invest your money to watch it grow. Think about what you want to achieve. Is it home ownership or retiring early? Learn what it will take financially to do that thing. Sometimes it takes a clear goal to focus us on what we can achieve if we want it bad enough. Do this once or twice and you’ll see it’s not impossible for you to take care of you.
- Be prepared to give. All of the money mantra books talk about tithing or giving a percentage of your income away. The Universe sees this as proof you must have as much as you need if you’re giving it away! It keeps the supply coming. Make sense? I believe it also works on our subconscious the same way. If we give some of our money away, we’re confirming we have it to give. Pick your favorite charity or church and donate on the regular.
- Visualize your happy ending. Whatever it looks like, create a strong picture in your mind and revisit it often. You know how the Hollywood romances always have the couple finding each other at the end? This is your movie. Make it what you want. Write it down, and fill in all the details. Daydream about it. What does it look like? Where are you? What are you doing? Forget about how you got there, just have faith it’s yours. You deserve it.
- Go shopping at Harrods. Or Tiffany’s. You get the idea. Go and order tea or a martini at the swankiest hotel bar you can find. The idea isn’t to drop a lot of cash, but to soak up what it feels like to be wealthy. To hang out with money. The important bit is you have to drop any imposter syndrome. Just feel how wonderful it is to pamper yourself with the best. You are so worthy.
- The biggest aha when it comes to manifesting abundance is to be conscious of any negative self talk. Don’t say “I can’t afford this”, think instead “I choose not to buy this right now”. Subtle difference but it starts to shift your mindset from lack to positive reinforcement. From not having a choice to making a choice.
What small change can you make today in your money mindset? How will you start living as if your life is abundant right now?