MONEY You don’t have to be rich to feel rich

You don’t have to be rich to feel rich


Money Matters
Brid Conroy

My eleven-year-old daughter asked me rather ponderously in the car on the way to Westport the other day, “Why do people say that money doesn’t make you happy? If you have money and you buy things that make you happy, then money does make you happy.”
Well, she has a point when put like that. Yet we know that someone with €50 can be just as happy or sad as someone with €50,000.
As a country we are obsessed with money at present, and it seems to be the lack of it rather than the presence of it. We should all think about our attitudes to money – I believe that if we focus on the lack of money, we feel poor. Focusing on what you have can help to make you feel better. Here are a couple of exercises designed to help make you feel just a little bit richer.

Change of attitude
I’ve talked about the ‘Become Free of Debt Process’ previously in relation to business, but it works just as effectively on individuals.
First, get yourself a columnar writing pad. Head up the first column with your largest monthly outgoing, for example, your mortgage. Underneath, write the monthly amount you are committed to paying, and on the next line, write the total outstanding amount.
Put your second-largest outgoing in the next column and so on. When the smallest item on your list is due, try to pay twice as much, if you can. If not, simply cross it off your list and feel glad that you have kept your commitments.
As further bills arrive in the post, instead of feeling discouraged, you will be eager to enter the bill on your columnar pad and with this, your attitude to debt will change. After a while, you will start to see how your financial picture shifts and changes too.

Identify the positive
The ‘Focus Wheel’ process is a particularly good one to use whenever you have negative or worrying thoughts about money. Draw a large circle on a sheet of paper. Inside it, draw a smaller circle. Think about whatever has given rise to the negative thoughts and say to yourself, ‘Well, I clearly know what I don’t want, so what is it I do want?’. You could say, for example, ‘I feel skint and I want to feel prosperous’. Write this statement in the smaller circle.
Next, write statements that match what it is you do want at each ‘clock’ position around the smaller circle. These should be general statements that you already believe – for example ‘I always have the money for the things I really need’. When you hold that thought, it will give rise to other more positive thoughts like ‘I want to earn more money every month’. You will feel more enthusiastic as you go around the circle putting beliefs and aspirations at each position.

Wallet warmer
The ‘Wallet Process’. I love this one. It is completely mad but it works. First, get a €100 note and put it in your wallet or purse. Keep it with you at all times. Feel pleased it is there and for the added sense of security it brings to you.
As you move through your day, take note of the many things that you could buy with this €100 – a meal in a nice restaurant, an item of clothing from your favourite shop. By doing this, you are (almost) getting the same benefit as if you had actually spent the money, twice, three or four times over or as many times as you like.

BRID CONROY FCCA is a Chartered Certified Accountant with a practice in Louisburgh. She works on improving personal finances and the profitability of small and medium-sized businesses. Contact Brid at 098 66870 or theoldschool@iolfree.ie.