How Your Spirituality Affects Your Money
My client asked, “Why do YOU care?” As part of my getting-to-know you interview with new clients, I ask about their faith. Most are caught off guard with good reason; they hired me to talk about money, after all. But there are many advantages as I discuss spirituality with clients before we address finances.
Know Thyself
Spiritual thinkers from Socrates to John Calvin advocated the importance of introspective familiarity in the pursuit of wisdom. Certainly, in the financial realm, the client who understands why she behaves the way she does will be more successful in achieving goals. By articulating the spiritual beliefs that drive decisions is a great exercise for her as well, even in cases where those beliefs are simply, “I don’t practice any sort of spirituality.”
Everyone has values, regardless of their stated faith or religion. Even old Ebenezer Scrooge valued wealth, frugality and financial independence. My clients receive a list of 140 common values from which they select the most important. I then have them narrow the list down to 20, then 10 as they look at themselves in a completely new way.
When our assets serve a larger purpose, we experience a deep inspiration and motivation over the long haul. By incorporating the big picture into our financial planning, we have better success with making behavior changes.
Putting money in its place
Maybe money shouldn’t be the key ingredient to our financial decisions. Where strong values are present, ideally our financial life will reflect them. When your money is in service to your values, it becomes a supporting cast member of a show where your values play the leads.
In a fast-paced, credit-loving society, it is easy to let money guide our decisions. We enter risky investment options in hopes of large payoffs with money we can’t afford to lose. We take jobs that pay well but require such dedication of time that we begin to lose touch with the people we love. We constantly seek “more” without taking the time to be grateful for what we have. But when values take the lead in our decision-making, our behavior finally changes for good. Investments no longer cause insomnia, jobs support a worker’s lifestyle, and gratitude becomes a regular part of life. That is wellness. It gives us the peace we need to sleep at night knowing we are who we think we are, even when you look into our wallets.
