I chose to do my book review on Brad and Ted Klontz’s “Mind Over Money: Overcoming the Money Disorders That Threaten Our Financial Health” because I have observed, and participated in, bad financial decisions that have greatly impacted my family for decades. I’ve taken many personal steps to attempt to break the cycle of destruction that ended my parents’ marriage, and to raise my children in a debt free environment. Unfortunately, it has not been an easy task. I have read many financial self help books and attended seminars on the subject. This book caught my attention when it said that simply learning how to budget and pay off debt isn’t enough, that one has to first understand our psychological relationship to money, and then move beyond the financial constraints we put on upon ourselves. For years I had struggled with debt and money management. I had always assumed it was my lack of education that held me from moving forward. Reading this book has been a welcome eye-opener.
Part One: The Big Lie
Chapter 1: Information Is Not Enough
The authors, Brad and Ted Klontz, show that money is identified as a major source of stress in our lives. “In a modern, industrialized society, money is one of the only things that touches on and impacts each and every one of our needs”. Money is not only essential to get our basic needs met, it is also very closely linked to emotional needs such as success, love, acceptance, security, atten¬tion, and the two are often inseparable.
Using imagery of a tilted table with three legs, the authors have us visualize a situation in which one leg is shorter than the other two causing the table to tilt. We can affect a quick fix by putting something under the shorter leg. When we experience emotions such as...
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...my financial hardships are a result of my own doing, but I can also see how I was influenced a child to lead me into that direction.
Chapter 10: Financial Therapy
With the recent studies that show our rational brain can actu¬ally regenerate cells and form new associations and connections throughout life, old patterns of thinking and reacting can be changed, or unlearned, once we are able to adequately identify them. To help support the change to healthier financial behaviors, the authors suggest techniques to identify and rewrite unwanted money habits. They suggest those with financial issues to look for “social support, encouragement, feedback, account¬ability to others, professional facilitation, and advice”, as well as identifying one’s emotions and become attuned to what their body is telling them and prac¬tice belly breathing and mindfulness meditation.
In “The Real Truth about Money” (2005), Gregg Easterbrook discusses the effects of money on the people’s happiness. He presents his article with statistics of the generation immediately after the World War II and the current generation. He has experienced both generations as he has lived in both and is very familiar with the difference of people’s lives now and back then. Easterbrook is a highly reputed journalist, he is an authorized writer, editor, and professor. He worked with many professional magazines and newspapers; accordingly, he has enough knowledge to write about the people’s happiness in terms of money. Easterbrook has well convinced the readers with psychological facts from university researches and credible
What would you do if you had $15,000? Would you give some to charity, or perhaps buy a new car? Maybe you could finally get that watch or purse that you’ve always wanted. The problem is that many people thought they had this much money. Unfortunately, it was all on a credit card and now they are paying 18% extra on their purchases; in some cases, even more than that. That equates to you paying roughly $18,000 dollars for something that only cost $15,000. Many Americans are faced with these bills today, but there is hope. There are people out there who want to get us out of debt, and back on our feet. This essay will look at two of those people; Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman. You will have to decide which will work best for you. Hopefully
I 'm warning you that this will require a change in your behavior. Using this method is powerful, but it means that you won 't be able to buy new clothes, tools, or toys whenever you want. It also means that you will be moving quickly towards a debt-free life where you don 't have to feel guilty and stressed about how much money you owe.
Happiness is a feeling adults experience when they receive a gift, win something, and various other reasons, but does money buy this happiness everyone experiences? Don Peck and Ross Douthat claim money does buy happiness, but only to a point in their article which originally appeared in the Atlantic Monthly (252). Throughout their article, reasons on why money can sometimes buy happiness are explained. While some of the reasons given are effective, not all are satisfying answers for adults working diligently to make a living. Money is a part of everyone’s life, yet it is not always the cause of happiness.
Few of us can deny the importance and power that money has in our society. It is difficult to think of issues that affect us on a daily basis, that does not involve money. But where does this fixation on money originate...
Making improvements on our financial literacy results in a wave of impacts on our economy and the financial health in our society because of responisble behiavior with our finances. These modifications to our behavior are neccesary because it let's us address primary cultural problems, for example over-credits on your purchases, mortgages possibly resulting in debt, dealing with expectations on inflation and also planning on your retirement.
The world revolves around money. Not only is money the base of our society, but people also depend on money to live a healthy and secure life. People have lost their homes, their families and th...
When none of us has ever come across such words and formulas, none of the great personalities has ever mentioned it, then who the hell has instilled it in our minds that money brings happiness. But among this debate one question still raises its head - What is happiness? Happiness is not actually leading a luxurious life but the luxury of living a life. Happiness is not actually about expanding your business, but it lies in expanding the horizons of life. Happiness is not having a meal in the most famous restaurant but to have it with your most beloved family. It does not lie in attending honorable parties but to attend a party with honor.
In addition, money’s effect on an individual’s happiness will be examined, in particular the belief that more money will bring more happiness and how it is not as significant as individuals with less money being less happiness.
In conclusion, the best way to manage your money is to keep a budget and record all your transaction to see where your money is going. Living with a budget isn’t the easiest thing in the world, but it can be a great alternative to worrying about how you are going to pay for your expenses. Budgeting allows you to create a spending plan for your money; it ensures that you will always have money for the things that are important to you. Following a budget will also keep you out of debt. If you don’t balance your budget and spend more than you make, you will have financial problems. Many people don’t realize that they spend more than they earn and slowly sink deeper into debt every year.
Money is probably one of the most important things in this world. Without it, life would be very hard. With it, you become economically stable making life would be easier in some ways. But the real question is, can money actually make someone physically and emotionally happy? There are many sides to this debate; some who say yes and others who say no. Though most people agree with the statement, “Money doesn’t buy happiness,” there is still a large amount of people who disagree with it. They believe that money does indeed buy happiness and that it’s the most important thing in the world. There is no right or wrong answer to this question, it’s just a matter of what you believe in and your values.
The study concludes that triggering self interest based on money leads to unethical behaviour. In fact, this correlation that money corrupts is supported in many articles including Stella and Willer (2014) who have suggested that the impact of money is so influential and effective that people will act unfairly or will take advantage of circumstances to ensure it is theirs. At the same time, thinking about money and its effects can be the leading contributor to stress. The American Psychology Association‘s recent surveys in America have concluded that matters regarding money are a major influence of stress (American Psychology Association, 2014). It has been concl...
...ven many the freedom from debt that allowed them to return to school or pursue a new, sometimes lower paying, yet less stressful occupation. Financial counseling is another alternative that has helped many to understand the nature of their debts, and gain control of them so that lower wages or new careers became a possibility. These and many other stress alternatives are available to most everyone, but it’s up to each individual to make a conscience decision to improve their lives, only then can they start down that road into the unknown; which for most, has been a very liberating journey.
Most researchers agreed that finances are an important factor for stress. According to an online poll carried 23% of people, who take part in these studies answer that finances as the major cause of stress in their lives. Stress about budget maybe result in insufficient income. Financial stress has led the list in much modern survey. In fact, the more modern life is, the more important money is. Anything needs money, even love also needs it. College students are stressed when they have to pay for an education. Older citizens find that retirement income can be a main cause of stress, when adults are stress because they have to face family expenditures. In addition, work is a major factor of stress. 80% Americans agreed that economy is a significant cause of stress. We always worry about getting a suitable job and how we keeping this job. Besides, we often worry new kind of work and new responsibilities. Sometimes, work stress is brought on by others such as our staffs, our leaders. we bring it on