Your relationship with money

I just finished reading Geneen Roth’s new book called “Lost & Found”.  She has written a number of books, mostly on eating issues, including the NY Times Bestseller “Women, Food & God”.  I read that one too.  In short, Geneen was a Bernie Madoff victim.  She lost her life’s savings, more than $1million.  Although she has focused on people (especially women’s) challenges/relationship with food,  this book tackles how we all relate (or don’t) to money. Many of us have incomplete or flawed beliefs about money that dictate the action that we take and the financial realty that we create for ourselves.  I have to say that there were parts of the book that even for me, a financial life planner who has done a lot of work around my relationship with money, felt a bit uncomfortable with, but what a growth opportunity!  She especially goes after the concept of “enough”.  I have found that often someone who has a “number”- the amount of money they think they need to have to be financially (and inherently, emotionally) comfortable keeps growing as they reach each milestone.  The reality is that “enough” is illusive.  Being comfortable with what you have now is the real key to happiness. This appears to be proved out in a book I just completed…”Well-Being: The Five Essential Elements” by Tom Rath & Dr. James Harter.  In the studies that they have done on financial well-being, the key was financial security, not lots of money.  You could feel secure with little money or insecure with lots. So, determining what “security” entails and feels like for you is key.  Bottom line…there is more to money than many people realize.  Understanding your relationship and the relationship that you want to have with your money is key.