7:01 PM
The study of happiness is becoming increasingly mainstream, and
in applying this new science to the understanding of personal finance,
financial planning, money management and financial goal setting, there
are a specific set of characteristics which identify how people are
happy with money.
Although very few people admit to being happy
with money, or happy with personal finance, happy people do not wait for
things to come to them, they get up, get out and get stuff done.
They
volunteer their time, and move on from difficult circumstances quickly.
Happy people take action, they are proactive, and to understand how to
become money-happy, it is useful to understand the opposite position.
Happiness: The Reasons Why People Don't Take Action
You
don't need a financial planning degree, or embarking on a financial
planning career to be able to take action with personal finance
worksheets, yet the most obvious reasons for not taking action include
laziness, guilt and depression.
Some people just ignore their
money, and even though they understand that doing nothing is damaging,
they don't have the motivation to do anything about it. This often leads
to guilt and depression - but not action!
Also, many people not
talking action with their personal finance generally believe there is
not much point in doing so. They can't 'see' the bigger picture of
things like goal setting motivation theory, or investing to make money
because they have low self-esteem.
Happiness: How The Brain Solves Financial Problems
Mainly,
people react rather than prevent, which means the path to financial
happiness is far from smooth, and it depends largely on the degree of
discomfort being felt, the amount of pain each person is in. The brain
does have some degree of regulation in that most people can get to the
point where they realise that they " just cant afford it any more," but
not much beyond that - unless helped by a system of personal finance
budget software, or a home budget worksheet.
There are 3 ways the mind sorts problems
- The 'long way round' is to break the problem into its logical sequence and seek the patterns in order to find a budget solution
- Most people go by a 'rule of thumb' approach by measuring their solutions with their gut feel
- The most creative is insight where the mind does some creative visioning about the financial possibilities
Happiness: How to Get What We Want and Keep What We Get
Happy
people find an energy from within themselves or from around them, which
fuels their kindness to others. They smile a lot and don't get
embarrassed by laughing in public. They are responsible with savings,
with an eye on security 'smoothing' for the unexpected rainy day! They
are enabled by financial planning software, goal setting templates,
affordability calculators,and are comfortable with managing their
personal finance online.
The sequence therefore in proactivity is to;
- Concentrate on a goal setting template, just as if you were doing goal setting in business and isolate big goals and little goals by naming them, identifying them and money-tracking them.
- Set budgets for different aspects of lifestyle, set the rules, and stick to them.
By
understanding why you don't take action, and how your brain thinks
about money, it is entirely possible to manufacture the conditions under
which happiness can be achieved. When this is supported by proactive,
online tools which take all the hard work out of managing money, "why
would anyone choose to remain unhappy?"
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