I wrote a pretty long Newsletter article last week (which many people enjoyed, so check it out), so this week I will keep it shorter.
I am also on holidays in Australia catching up with family, which actually inspired today’s conversation.
The other night I was having a conversation with my sister, who has been teaching children for a handful of decades, plus has done studies in Positive Psychology, so also loves to get into the phycology of the underlying motivations for different behaviours.
She was telling a story about some kids (good kids), who while in another classroom, trashed some fabric furniture with a bunch of glue.
She found it a bit odd, but she also said she had a bit of an epiphany.
One I also thought was pretty interesting.
The question was whether we (and kids especially) have a lower understanding of the monetary value of stuff, since many (or most) financial transitions are just a bunch of 0’s and 1’s on a digital screen?
A child may rarely see “physical” money during a financial transaction, so perhaps they don’t link a physical monetary value to physical items in their life.
It is certainly an interesting subject of contemplation; so I figured I might also riff on this, as it pertains to us big grown-ups.
Digital money and it’s link to physical things
I was also talking to my mum the other day about debt in general, and how when I was a kid we had a thing called “lay-by”.
It was an agreement between the store and the buyer.
The store honoured the price at which the first transaction was made (maybe getting something at a “sale” price), and then the buyer pays off the cost, over time, and only gets the item AFTER they have paid the full amount in CASH for the item.
You certainly valued the item you bought, as it was a long process of saving real and tangible money to make it happen.
So, perhaps with the immediacy of getting an item, with no VISIBLE cash changing hands, and the ridiculous ease and expediency of making a financial transaction by tapping a phone or bit of plastic (often people don’t even remember the amount of the transaction 5-mins later), could lead to someone having a lower sense of tangible VALUE for their purchase.
It is almost like they have no real “skin in the game” for the purchase.
What do you think?
Have a think about stuff you may have bought recently and how much “value” you attribute to the item or purchase.
Does this potential devaluing of goods and services contribute to our throw-away society?
Does it contribute to a crazier level of consumerism in the modern world?
Does it lead us placing less value on other things?
I don’t have all of the answers or solutions, but I thought this ease of transacting with nothing physical, may influence the value you place on what we buy.
I personally like to use REAL physical money for a number of transactions (Indonesian Rupiah in my case).
When I give my massage therapist a cash tip in Bali, there feels like a “real” exchange happening.
I give her physical money I have worked for (and have in my hand as a result), and she receives my physical money offering, and feels good about it, and perhaps proud of herself for delivering a service that caused the piece of money to land in her hand.
I guess the key point I want to make – since debt is off the charts globally and makes many people “debt-slaves” to their jobs and lending institutions – is do you TRULY VALUE money and the goods, services and assets it allows you to purchase, or has their intrinsic value changed due to easeful, digital transactions?
As you contemplate this subject, can you see in yourself perhaps a complacency or maybe even recklessness in your relationship with money, since it is less of a physical and tangible transaction?
And, as you and I both know only too well, one of the biggest stressors in our life is “MONEY ISSUES”.
So, it makes sense to have a eyes-wide-open relationship with money.
The book that comes to mind, as great reading on the subject, is “Your Money Or Your Life” by Vicki Robin.
In Summary
There is a possibility that we don’t attribute true VALUE to goods and services due to the non-exchange of physical money.
If we don’t value what we purchase, we may take less care of it, and be more flippant about its value to us (plus we are more likely to buy sh#t we don’t need).
We all know that money stress is very real, very emotionally painful (often causing lower back pain) and very prevalent in our modern society, so we need to be extra SMART about how we relate to and conduct transactions with money.
Self-education on all thing’s money is time and energy well spent, so check out that book by Vicki Robin (or your own favourite choice).
My Parting Words
I will keep these parting words short as well.
I remember working with a client many years ago who believed she had “bad karma” and a dark cloud hovering over her head, which was the main cause for some significant financial loss.
From my perspective, it was not “bad luck” but a total lack of education on money, with her primary strategy being to “HOPE” her financial choices (or non-choices) would work themselves out.
None of us want to be a slave to our debts, or to spending compulsions in general.
Like all things I teach, being more conscious of the WHOLE playing field (aka: an elevated perspective), in this case in relation to money, allows us to make WISER CHOICES.
Money issues are super stressful, as we all know.
And waiting for teaching, training or education on money to come from our educational institutions or governments is a VERY LONG wait, for a whole lot of nothingness (or actually being taught the wrong information and strategies).
Money is definitely a subject we need to self-educate on.
And then pass onto the kids.
Burying our heads in the sand when it comes to money, debt, consumerism, our spending impulses and habits, and the likes, is a REALLY BAD STRATEGY.
I will leave it at that.
I know you got the point, and will be doing the inner reflection, even now, to see where you are in relation to modern MONEY transacting and how it influences the VALUE you place on things.
Have an OUTSTANDING day and a wonderful week of being truly grateful and valuing all you have in your life.
Take care.
Carl
Quotable QUOTE:
“Burying our heads in the sand when it comes to money, debt, consumerism, our spending impulses and habits, and the likes, is a REALLY BAD STRATEGY.” Carl Massy
(Author of 18 Ways We Make Life WAY Harder Than It Needs To Be)
PS: Have you read or listened to this book yet? 18 Ways We Make Life WAY Harder Than It Needs To Be
