5 Essential Money & Mindset Values

At Maria's Money & Mindset Coaching, I lead with 5 core values that I believe are critical to self-improvement and financial progress.

1. Authenticity

The very first step to funding your best life is to identify your core values. Whom and what gives you a sense of purpose and fulfillment? Spending time reflecting on who you are and who you want to be will help you identify what is important to you and what kind of life you want to lead. From there, it's simply a matter of aligning your money to your values. This is known as value spending, and it is critical to converting money into happiness, fulfillment, and joy.

When you show up authentically in your financial life, you gain control over your present and future because you are less susceptible to external influences, like peer pressure, consumerism, and FOMO. You become the architect of your life when you let go of the expectations of others and make decisions in alignment with who you want to be.

2. Growth

Change doesn't happen over night. In order to change both your mindset and your finances, you must be committed to mental and financial growth. Oftentimes, this will mean letting go of habits and behaviors that simply don't serve you, like overindulging in retail therapy or spending money on a luxury car just to keep up with the Joneses.

Adopting a Growth Mindset (as opposed to a Fixed one) will enable you to be more open-minded, learn more quickly, and build confidence in yourself. It will also make you more resilient when you encounter a setback and boost your perseverance in the face of challenges.

3. Balance

As with all things in life, striking a balance is both an art and a practice. At Maria's Money & Mindset coaching, I say "no" to deprivation. Deprivation is in direct contrast with value spending, which is the act of spending joyfully on what you value. Rather than adopting a "Money Diet" mentality of scarcity and limitation, I invite you to find ways to make the pursuit of your goals both sustainable and enjoyable.

The idea that you need to live on rice and beans until you are free from debt is not only unappealing, but also unnecessary. The truth is you can work on paying off debt and eat out. You can save for a vacation and donate to causes you care about. Enjoying the journey helps you build momentum and increases the likelihood of you reaching your destination. Just make sure you don't go overboard "treating yourself."

4. Practice

Knowledge without application will only get you so far. As a coach, my job is to help you get from the awareness stage to the implementation phase. Putting information into action and practicing the concepts we discuss will be essential to achieving the results you're after.

Just as a seed does not blossom into a tree overnight, neither will your habits change from one day to another. That is where the practice comes in, the willingness to ditch the pursuit perfection, and to embrace progress and improvement. Rather than beating yourself up because you went over your budget or came up short on a savings goal, take a deep breath, think about what you might do differently the next time, and give it another go.

5. Generosity

The practice of giving freely and happily must be a part of your financial habits. Firstly, practicing generosity combats limiting beliefs like scarcity, and promotes an abundance mindset. Additionally, it is one of the most effective ways of converting money into a sense of purpose, pride, and gratitude. In contrast, stinginess will result in a self-fulfilling prophecy of scarcity in which you never feel safe, comfortable, or satisfied with what you have.

Everybody has something to give. Yes, even while you're paying off debt, and even while you're getting your financial house in order. And no, you absolutely do not have to wait until you're earning six figures or some other financial milestone to start making charitable donations. If you don't give when you have some, you won't give when you have a lot. Abundance and generosity are states of mind that you should begin to cultivate immediately. Incorporate the act of giving into your practice, and see how it transforms your mind and your life.