People are really being held back by this idea that it isn't polite to talk about money.
How are people who don't have as much money as they want/need supposed to learn how to have more if those who know/have it don't get to share that knowledge?
My Money Journey in Adulthood
Leaving aside the poverty of my childhood, I'll start at adulthood. I came into adulthood among the children of the wealthy.
I can recall being a poor student at an Ivy League college, literally starving while surrounded by girls wearing fur coats to class. Hanging out with my friends, all of whom were at least upper middle class, I could see how they would hide information from me whenever something related to money came up.
Sometimes it seemed they were embarrassed by how much money their family had. Other times it seemed they felt some strange obligation to protect the knowledge of their class from other classes. Some friends were deliberately oppositional to that last idea, and seemed to relish letting me in on the secrets of wealth, but most unconsciously seemed to "toe the party line."
Over the years, I wound up around wealthy people enough to learn those secrets pretty well. In fact, I recently retired from the profession of business consulting. So recently that I actually still have a little work I'm responsible for for a couple more months. But I don't take on any new commitments in that field and by the end of the year I can disband that corporation officially.
My work was basically teaching people how to make more money, and sometimes implementing things directly that helped companies make more money. My earlier contracts were more with corporations and non-profits, and we focused on implementing technical systems that created more efficiency, accuracy, and insight, then retraining the staff to do their jobs in an easier way. Whatever the project, ultimately the bottom line was always making the company more money, even the non-profits.
As the years went by and I found I had enough money from that large project work to no longer have to take on such huge, complicated contracts, I shifted to working with individuals seeking to do businesses on their own. The max number of employees they could have and still work with me was 10. Most were sole proprietors.
With this new focus my work became even more explicitly about increasing profit. In big systems work the objective can be lost that you're trying to maximize revenue and minimize expenses, but with a sole proprietor trying to stay in business and thrive, this is the front and center objective.
So the only way I could be effective in my work was to get really good at knowing exactly that and teaching exactly that. Since people were paying me well to do so, it was of course natural for us to spend a lot of time talking about money, specifically how you get more of it.
No More Money Talk?
Now that I'm retired (having taken my own advice well enough to now be financially independent) I realize that there is no longer any context in which I really get to share my financial prosperity knowledge.
It's not just in conversation with people I meet. Each time I even think to write an article on here about money, I stop myself. It always strikes me as something that will make people feel negative feelings, rather than instructing them as intended.
You know I'm always teaching from my experience. Right now I'm experiencing how you manage money when it is abundant. And I think that's something more people need to know, even if they aren't financially abundant yet. The knowledge actually helps you get to that point sooner. But I always get an inner "no" each time I go to share about that.
I suppose there is also an element of not wanting to put too much of my own financial information up in such a public format. It's very different than a private call with a client, even though all the calls were recorded and given to them. The lack of confidentiality probably stops many people from sharing their financial knowledge with others. We teach best not from theory, but from experience placed in context by theory. But we open ourselves up to all kinds of problems by publicly sharing that personal financial information.
I was going to write a different post about money, but it turned into this one instead, because of these reasons.
Your Thoughts?
Do you think it is impolite to talk about money when you actually have it? Does it necessarily come off as bragging or stir up jealousy, shame or other negative feelings?
Don't you think there would be more prosperity in the world if people considered talking about making money (or growing/preserving money they already have) as impartially as they discuss directions to a good place for coffee?
How do you feel when people start talking about money around you?
I don't mean complaining about not having it. No one wants to hear that. Not asking for it either. Again, not a welcome conversation most of the time. But talking about money from a position of strength. How does that feel to you?
And do you have as much money as you want, or would you like to grow your personal access to money?
Do you see any connection between your answers to those last two questions and what you're experiencing?
(Photo source: Pixabay)
Resteems always appreciated