The psychology of wealth: mindset shifts for financial wellness

Jun 21

Written By Emilee

Imagine, for a minute, that you’ve just lost your job, and you’re looking for a new one.

Every day you get up and say to yourself, “I’m never going to find a job. There’s nothing out there for me. I can’t do any of the jobs companies are hiring for. I’m terrible at finding a job.” With this mindset, how likely are you to find a job? Not very. If you insist over and over again that you’ll never find a job, are you really looking for one? Or are job prospects passing by, invisible to you, because you’re in the mindset of “I’ll never…”?

You could replace “job” in that last paragraph with just about anything, and it would still hold true. Convincing yourself that you’re stuck in a place of lack only serves to keep you in a place of lack, no matter what it is you’re looking for. For me, that thing was money. In order to find myself in a place of financial wellness, I had to make some serious changes to get out of the lack mindset. In this post, we’re going to explore some mindset shifts that can help you transition out of lack and into financial wellness.

Money is the root of all ________

Fill in the blank! If your upbringing looked anything like mine, you probably said “evil.” But here’s the thing - money isn’t inherently evil. Money does a lot of good in the world - it provides food and shelter, clothing, healthcare, etc. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting more of it. Desiring more money does not automatically make you greedy. We all want to have our needs met, we all want to provide for our families, and we all want to do some good in the world. We want to live fulfilling lives and experience less stress. We need money to do that. Repeat after me: “It’s okay to desire more money.”

Scarcity vs. abundance

Possibly the biggest mindset shift for financial wellness is moving from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. Let’s define those terms:

Scarcity Mindset: being so obsessed with a lack of money that you can't seem to focus on anything else. Comes from a belief that these resources are limited.

Abundance Mindset: belief that there are plenty of resources and time for you to accomplish your goals.

Having a scarcity mindset will keep you from taking the kinds of risks that can pay off in a big way. A scarcity mindset keeps you closed off to new opportunities. Not to mention the stress involved in constantly thinking about money (or the lack thereof). But there is enough to go around.

How do we transition to an abundance mindset? It’ll take a few steps:

Gratitude. Being grateful for and focusing on what you already have.
Get honest with yourself about your limiting beliefs. What “I can’t” or “I’ll never” statements do you tell yourself? It’s time to start working against those beliefs, replacing them with abundance-mindset statements.
Celebrate others’ successes. There’s no place for envy or jealousy in an abundance mindset, because there is plenty to go around. Get in the habit of celebrating other people’s success.
Give back where you can. Exercise your generosity muscle as much as you can. Whether that’s with money, time, skills, or other resources, giving back will signal to your brain that you have enough.

Overcoming the fear of failure

Time to get personal: failure has always been my biggest fear. The fear of failure has kept me from so many opportunities, so many possibilities, because my inner child believed it was better to not try than to try and fail. One thing I’m learning in all of this mindset work? The opposite is true. It is better to try and fail than to not try at all. The best that can happen: it will work out and you’ll find success beyond what you expected. The worst? That you’ve got something to learn from.

Rather than focusing on the worst case scenario, focus on the possibilities: what could go right? If it doesn’t work out the way I plan, what can I learn? This doesn’t mean to throw all caution to the wind - but to calculate the risks and assess them realistically. If your side hustle involves some social risk - looking silly on social media, for example - but not necessarily a big financial investment, that’s worth it! Who cares if you look silly on social media if it means breaking $10k a month?

Cultivating a long-term mindset

One of the pitfalls of side-hustle social media is the ubiquitous “I started my side hustle 7 days ago and I’ve already made $25,000!” style of post. It sets up a false precedent, as these stories are the exception, not the rule.

Building wealth takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight. Building a business takes time. There is so much value in practicing patience. One way to build patience is to keep a journal - keep track of the progress you make every day, the work you do, and the money you make, and read back through it frequently.

In your journal, keep track of your long-term goals. Why are you building your business? Why are you working your 9-5? What does your dream life look like? How much money do you need to live that life? Write down your goals and be specific. Reread them frequently to help you stay on track and remember why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Imagine you’ve done the work and built your business. You’re making good money. What do you do with it? Do you put it in savings? Invest it? Spend it? How much will you set aside for taxes? If you don’t know the answer to those questions, don’t wait until you have the money to learn about it. Knowledge is power, so take the time now to cultivate that knowledge and be in control of your finances.

Embracing financial education

In my personal experience, meeting with a financial planner was a game-changer. We met with advisors from Northwestern Mutual (not sponsored, just a fan) and learned so much about our money. We were able to envision the dream life and understand what it would take to get there. I highly recommend meeting with a financial planner or advisor and just learning about what your options are for the money you have and the money you dream of. If this sounds scary to you, this is going to be an important mindset shift for you - keep reminding yourself that knowledge is power.

When you invest in the stock market, it’s a good strategy to diversify your investments - spread them out among different stocks and funds. This is so you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket. It’s important to not bank on a single stock, in case that stock goes under. You can apply the same strategy to your income - develop multiple streams of income, so that in case something happens to one of them, you still have the money you need to live your day-to-day life.

Build multiple income streams

One common approach to building multiple income streams is the side hustle. You work your regular job, then in your off hours, you build up other opportunities and create a business around them. Some people invest in real estate, some people do network marketing, some people do dog walking or other gig work. You could also work on monetizing your social media using digital marketing, affiliate marketing, or UGC creation.

If you’re ready to launch a digital marketing side hustle, the Learn & Earn Profits online digital marketing course is a great way to get started. It’s a robust course with 80+ video modules (with more added all the time!). Even with a busy schedule, I had my sales funnel up and running in about a week, but you could make it happen in two days if you have the time and motivation. Ready?

Learn more

Mindful spending and budgeting

Tell me if this sounds like you: You avoid looking at your bank account. You would budget, but you don’t really want to have to see how little you have to work with. You go long stretches of time being really careful with your spending, then go on emotional spending sprees and feel like you’re back to square one.

If that feels familiar, please know that you’re not alone! That was me, too. I would try to budget, but then get off track and feel too ashamed to go back to the budget and make adjustments. Let’s give ourselves some grace - the shame we can feel around money will get in the way of an abundance mindset and set us back.

Let’s go back to the journaling idea - remember those financial priorities you wrote down? You’re going to base your spending on those priorities. Set your priorities and then decide that you aren’t going to feel shame around spending toward those priorities. That said, practice mindful spending as much as possible.

One tool that’s really helped me stay mindful about spending is the YNAB app (stands for You Need A Budget). It’s a paid app (key for buy-in!) that helps you track spending and give every dollar a job, so that you know exactly where your money is going. Remember, knowledge is power. Knowing where your money is and what it’s doing for you is a powerful thing.

The generosity mindset

With generosity comes abundance. What goes around comes around. Don’t get so attached to your money, time, and resources that you don’t share it when you can. Generosity feels good, it shows the Universe that you’re going to do good things with the abundance it gives you, and it puts good into the world.

When you’re setting your financial priorities, make sure you consider charitable giving. How can your money change the world? How important are certain causes to you? One cause that’s close to my heart is feeding the hungry - I believe that no one should ever be without food. There’s plenty to go around. So I make sure to donate to organizations that fight hunger around the world. The more money I make, the more I can give. Knowing that the money I bring in is going to make a difference in the world: the generosity mindset.

Let’s recap:

Money is not the root of all evil. Money brings good into the world.
Trade your scarcity mindset for an abundance mindset. There is plenty to go around.
Cultivate a generosity mindset. The more money you make, the more you can give.
Calculate your risks, but don’t let them stop you. You can always learn from mistakes.
The more specific your goals are, the more motivated you’ll be to work toward them. Think long-term.
When it comes to financial education and your budget, knowledge is power.

You are absolutely capable of changing your mindset around money. And once you make those shifts, you’ll start to see opportunities you didn’t notice before. I want this for you!

All the best,