3 Common Money Scripts That Hold You Back In Life

• Stacey Tisdale previously held positions as a financial journalist at The Wall Street Journal and CNN.
• She found herself constantly stressed and making bad financial decisions.
• Tisdale discovered her “money script” to understand her behavior and change her relationship with money.

Stacey Tisdale was working her dream job as a financial journalist with some of the biggest media organizations in the business—the Wall Street Journal, CBS, and CNN, just to name a few—but despite her success, she wasn’t satisfied. . She was very stressed and was not making the best decisions with her money.

“I was playing it safe and it wasn’t getting me anywhere,” Tisdale tells Insider. “I was stressed and wondering what my next step would be. I knew I wanted to continue working in financial journalism and help people better manage their money, but I had to do it in a different way.”

Tisdale finally realized that she was scared. He had always done what was expected of her.

“I had been conditioned that where I was and what I had was enough and that trying to break away from that would have been crazy,” says Tisdale.

He went to work to change his life. One day, while doing a report for CNN, she wondered, what is it about money that makes it so difficult for us to do it right? Not only doing well in terms of daily money management, but also setting ourselves up for financial success.

These questions, and her own desire to make things right with money and break down traditional barriers, led her to a 6-year study. in financial behavior about what prevents us from breaking away from traditional models, investing in our passions, and finding financial independence.

Tisdale’s journey culminated in a study on financial behavior, or “money scripts.” A money script is a term used in behavioral finance coined by Rick Kahler, author of “Mindful Finance: Uncover Your Hidden Beliefs About Money And Transform The Role Of Money In Your Lifeto describe the beliefs we have acquired about money and how it works and are the result of conditioning that begins from the moment we are born.

According to Tisdale, there are 3 main money scripts:

childhood scripts: Our first education about money comes from our primary caregivers and how we watch them handle money and their ideas and attitudes around money. This is often where our first impressions about money come from. If you saw your parents stressed about money or living paycheck to paycheck, chances are you are feeling stressed about money and living paycheck to paycheck as well.

social scripts: We are very influenced by social messages and the media about what we should have and what we should do. We spend a lot of time comparing our lives and achievements with our peers. These social scripts also influence how we feel about ourselves.

“This was the money script that I wrestled with. In my mind, I had what most people would want and there would be no point in walking away from that,” Tisdale explains. “I was comparing myself to other people and what society said success should be. It kept me trapped and afraid to walk away from what I was doing.”

The songs we play in our heads: From the moment we start receiving money, we have preconceived ideas, according to Tisdale. Negative inner thoughts and doubts can become the biggest barrier to financial success. Believing notions like “money management is too hard” or telling yourself that “I’ll never understand how to invest” are examples of “songs” that can play in your head.

Once you understand your money script, you can get out of it and stop making financial decisions that influence it.

“I really had to get rid of that social script that was playing in my head and telling me that I was okay where I was, because I wasn’t. I was operating out of fear and not using my money to its fullest potential.” It was when I let it go that I moved on and started investing differently,” says Tisdale.

Tisdale knew that she would eventually have to leave corporate America. She admits that she struggled with this. She was one of the first women and the first African American to report from the New York Stock Exchange, but even this did not bring her happiness and financial independence.

“I knew that money and teaching people how to better manage money was my passion, but the way I was doing it wasn’t. It took me a while to get away because according to society and my peers, I was where I belonged.” . Tisdale says of the experience.

Additionally, during this time, he addressed his own negative financial behaviors.

“I found myself overspending and having credit card debt. It wasn’t an overnight process to get through this, I also needed to test the waters to see if what I wanted to do would work,” says Tisdale.

To see if his idea was feasible, he formed Winning Play$a behavior-based financial education program that helps students develop healthy behaviors around money.

“After reporting on money for years, I had a unique perspective on people and money. I could easily spot negative financial behavior and realized that it often started very young and stayed with us throughout our lives.” Tisdale says. She took the time to get out of debt and improve her own financial situation while she tested her business idea.

It was also in creating Winning Play$ that Tisdale finally found her passion and knew she could use her acquired knowledge about money in a way she loved.

“Once I got that, that was really the jolt I needed to finally break with what I had known for so long. Then I started putting my resources in earnest to build my business around money and financial education,” Tisdale explained. .

Tisdale says that the reason this is important is because we are all operating under some kind of money script, whether we know it or not.

“Whenever there’s a financial problem, we go straight to the numbers and think the only way to solve it is to get more money,” he says. “Then you get more money and a few months later you’re back in the same situation. What if you ask yourself, ‘Why am I in this situation?’ or ‘Why is this a cycle for me?'”

she went on to build Mind Money Media, a media and event content provider focused on financial wellness. It wasn’t until he got out of his own way that he found financial and professional success, Tisdale acknowledges. Her company has partnered with numerous organizations and corporations teaching their workforce positive financial behavior and fostering healthy relationships around money. Thanks to her research, she became one of the pioneering journalists in behavioral finance and financial psychology.

“We all need to realize that our financial decisions are based on learned financial behavior, and it’s often this behavior that prevents us from pursuing our passions and reaching our financial goals,” he explains. “It wasn’t until I abandoned that script.” in my head, telling me what I should be doing and investing in what I really wanted to do to achieve financial success.