Have you ever wondered why you manage money as you do? Why are you spending, saving, anxiety or a goodwill concerning finances? The answer can reside in your childhood experiences. Our lessons from the first lives on money shape our financial habits for life, often in a way that we do not even realize. Understanding the psychological roots of your money state of mind can be the first step to transform it.

This article explores how infantile trauma can have an impact on adult financial behavior, identifies injuries in common money and discusses strategies to reprogram your relationship with money. By making known the subconscious beliefs that lead your choices, you can start making more autonomous decisions aligned with your current values ​​and objectives.

How childhood experiences have an impact on the financial behavior of adults

From the moment we were born, we absorb messages on the money from our parents, our family, our friends, the community and the media. These implicit and explicit first lessons form our fundamental beliefs on finance. We internal ideas to find out if money is good or bad, rare or abundant, a source of freedom or anxiety.

The field of financial psychology has shown that our monetary habits as adults are deeply influenced by this childhood programming. The problematic money models often arise from the first experiences of deprivation, unpredictability or even trauma. By understanding how your past has an impact on your gift, you can start to rewrite your financial future.

Trauma of current childhood which influence monetary habits

What types of childhood experiences can we shape our life relationship with money? Financial therapists have identified several currents:

Poverty or financial insecurity

Growing up without enough money to meet the basic needs can be deeply traumatic. The chronic stress of food and insecurity of the accommodation sends the message that money is rare and that the world is dangerous. As an adults, children of poverty can face the hoarding of goods, to constantly worry about money or to overcome a deep fear of finding poor.

On the other hand, some rebel against a feeling of deprivation by spending too much or by taking financial risks to try to compensate for the needs of unmet childhood. The impulse of “treating you” can be strong when you have grown with so little. Be that as it may, a lack of lack can lead to an adult of imbalance around money.

Financially unstable or irresponsible parents

Even if there was always enough money to get out of it, unpredictable access can leave its brand. Having a parent who has played, too much spent or who has not budgeted in a coherent manner often creates the feeling that money cannot trust. Looking at electricity to close or go home in an empty refrigerator can make money not reliable and rare even when it is not the case.

As an adults, financially unstable parents may have trouble saving, planning or believing that they can control their financial future. They can avoid looking at invoices or bank statements by anxiety or rebellion. Learning healthy money habits is difficult when you’ve never seen them modeled.

Lack of financial education

Have you grown up in a cleaning where money was a taboo subject? Have questions about income or budgeting been encountered with silence or discomfort? For many of us, financial literacy has not been taught or modeled by our parents.

Without positive money mentors, we found ourselves getting rid of ourselves, often learning by tests and errors. This lack of education generates ignorance, shame and often risky behavior such as taking high interest debt. Feeling ignorant of finances is a configuration to avoid them completely.

Emotional manipulation using money

The trauma of the most damaging childhood money may come from the use of finances as an emotional manipulation tool. Money becomes emotionally loaded when love, affection or approval are linked to expenses, savings or remuneration.

Children who only receive praise or attention when they get good marks or reach a certain level of income internalizes the belief that their value depends on financial success. They can grow to be over-performance, terrified by failure. On the other hand, children punished or ashamed of wanting material things can deprive themselves as adults of guilt. Be that as it may, self -esteem is tangled in net value in an unhealthy way.

Case study: the story of Sandy

Sandy grew up in a single -parent household which had trouble reaching both ends. Food was still on the table, but money was a constant source of stress and conflict. Sandy’s mother worked several jobs and was rarely at home, leaving Sandy to manage for himself from an early age.

As a young woman wishing to follow richer friends, Sandy began to use credit cards to fill the gap, accumulating debt on clothes and experiences far beyond their means. This model continued until adulthood, with emotional expenses serving as a balm for feelings of solitude and insufficiency rooted in an unstable childhood.

It was only when a financial crisis forced Sandy to face the dysfunctional beliefs underlying their habits that things have started to change. With the help of a financial coach, they began to disentangle self -esteem from material goods, establish limits around spending and prioritize personal care on retail therapy. Sandy realized that economic stability was a way to honor, not to escape, from their young me.

Main to remember

• We absorb lessons on money from an early age that shape our lifetime habits.
• The financial trauma can result from the experiences of poverty, instability, lack of education or emotional manipulation.
• Infantile deprivation can lead to adult behavior such as hoarding, concern or rebel against money.
• Unpredictable or unstable access to money that generates mistrust and avoidance of finance.
• The lack of financial literacy in childhood opens the way to ignorance, shame and risky money behaviors as an adult.
• The use of money as a tool for emotional rewards or punishment links self -esteem to the net value in an unhealthy way.
• The identification of your financial trauma is the first step to cure your relationship with money.
• Auto-compassion, education and change of conscious habit can transform a disturbed financial past into an authorized future.
• Working with a financial coach or a therapist can help you treat money injury and establish healthy behavior.
• With awareness and intention, you can break the cycle of financial dysfunction and create a more positive inheritance of money.

Conclusion

Our relationship with money is complex, often rooted in childhood experiences that we may not even remember. The financial trauma, large and small, can leave lasting fingerprints on our psyche, shaping the way we win, spend, save and invest as adults. By providing these subconscious models in the light, we can start to heal the injuries of the past and make more independent choices in the present.

If you recognize yourself in one of the monetary trauma described above, know that you are not alone and that the change is possible. With self-compassion, education and support, you can transform your financial history of deprivation and dysfunction in sufficiency and peace. No matter where you start, it is never too late to cultivate a healthier and more intentional relationship with money and yourself.