Why You Need to Give Your Money Meaning
When it comes to money, we all want as much as we can get. But not only is making money important, so is saving money. We save so that we can enjoy the future financially and so we can overcome any financial setbacks we encounter along the way.
However, there are many times when we fail to save. We would rather spend our money and put our financial future at risk. This is because we don’t give our money meaning. If you find yourself not saving as much as you would like or even not saving at all, I’ll show you the importance of giving your money meaning.
The Power of Meaning For Your Money
When many of us save, we have an idea in our mind of why we are saving that money. If for example, we are saving money in our emergency fund, that money’s meaning is to help us get through tough financial times should we ever need it. Maybe we lose our job or we need to fix a broken pipe in our house. Whatever happens, that money has a reason.
Another time we save is for retirement. For some people, simply saving for the idea of retirement is enough reason for them to save. For others, this is not reason enough. They need more meaning.
When you give your money a meaning, you get excited and want to save.
For example, let’s go back to the retirement example. For those where retirement in general isn’t enough to get you to save, you need to ask yourself why. Most times, the idea of retirement is too vague of a concept. We need a stronger meaning.
Think about what retirement looks like to you or what you want to do in retirement. If you love to golf, use that as the motivation for saving for retirement. The idea here is to get specific with your why so that you can get excited about saving money and are motivated enough to keep saving as times goes on.
Ways To Give Your Money Meaning
So how do you get excited and motivated? The first step is to simply sit down and figure out why you are saving in the first place. You most likely are saving for various things – retirement, maybe a house, a car, etc. – so take the time to think about each of these in detail.
For retirement, figure out what your ideal retirement looks like. For a new house, again picture what that house is like and what it will bring you in terms of happiness and or comfort.
You know you are on to something when you begin to get excited about saving money when you think of certain things. When you feel this excitement, write those thoughts and feelings down. Review them from time to time so you can keep pushing ahead to reach your saving goals.
Be Open to Change
Don’t think that whatever the reason or reasons you come up with now, have to be the reasons forever. We grow and change as we age and as life happens. What is exciting to you today about retirement might not be the case in 10 years.
Be open and accept the fact that things change in life. As you are saving, if you begin to feel the motivation or excitement start wear off, it might be a sign that you need to change your meaning for saving.
Instead of getting frustrated when this happens, just realize that you need to get more specific on what your ideal goals are.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to saving money, the more meaning you can give to your money, the easier it will be to save. Take me for example. I have multiple savings accounts for various goals. I save this way because each account has a goal tied to it.
One is for a dream vacation. Another is for a new car. I like logging into my account and seeing each goal as it is a reminder for why I am saving. I know that if I were to just lump my savings together and save, I would not be saving nearly as much. I need to motivate myself to save and giving my money meaning like this does just that.
If you are struggling to save, I encourage you to take the time to give your money meaning. You may be surprised at how much you want to save once you do this.
What do you want to save your money for?