What are the 3 biggest influences on our financial values?

 

Introduction:

The financial values of our generation may have a lot to do with the influence of mainstream media, social media, and the marketing industry. Here are what I think are the top three biggest influences on our financial values.

We're often told that our values are shaped by our culture, parents, and religion. But what about the role our finances play in this decision? Well, there's plenty of research that demonstrates a strong correlation between the way we value money and where we live.

How you were raised

There are many factors that influence our financial values, but the three biggest ones are:

How you were raised. If you were raised with a strong work ethic, that will likely stay with you as an adult.

Your family’s financial situation. If your parents had to struggle financially and you saw them struggle, it’s likely that this will influence your values about money and finances in general.

Your own personality. How you believe money should be spent is one of the main drivers of your financial values.

The biggest influences on our financial values are the people around us. How we were raised, what our family and friends do, what we see on TV, and the values of the culture around us can all have an impact on how we think about money.

There are a lot of different ways to be raised with different values about money. One way is by having people in your life who teach you about it at a young age. For example, if your parents have money and they're not afraid to talk about it, this could give you more confidence when it comes to understanding how much money is needed for certain things in life. Another way is if someone in your family has had experience with finances and has taught you through examples or stories (e.g., "you need $50k for college").

Your current circumstances

Your current circumstances are the biggest influence on your financial values. If you're in a recession, then the value of money will be low. If you're in a boom, then it'll be high.

The other two factors are much more difficult to control:

The value of things changes over time. As a result, people have different ideas about what they consider valuable when they're young and when they're older.

People also have different ideas about how much money is enough for them to live on. This varies from person to person, but generally, it's somewhere between $50k and $100k per year for someone who wants to maintain their standard of living (and save some for retirement).

The biggest influence on your financial values is the current circumstances in which you find yourself.

If you are married, and one spouse earns more than the other, this can dramatically alter how each spouse perceives their financial situation.

If you are single, and you have a significant other who is willing to help pay bills, this can also change how each person perceives their finances.

Your aspirations

Financial values are a reflection of your aspirations as well as your current financial situation. You may have a strong desire to own a home, but if you can't make the payments, then that dream will be put on hold.

If you are in debt and don't know how to get out of it, then your financial value will be affected. If you want to retire early with no worries, then the money you make now will have to be used wisely so that you have enough left over to live on when you stop working.

Your aspirations are also influenced by how much money other people in your family make or how much they spend (or both). If everyone else has good jobs and lots of money saved up for retirement, then you might feel like there's no way that you can be as successful as them.

In order for us to succeed financially, we must set our own goals and work toward them daily. This is why financial planning is so important — it helps us understand where we're heading so that we can take steps toward achieving our goals while still keeping an eye on what's going on around us.

I think the biggest thing that influences our financial values is how we see ourselves. If you don't like your job, then it's hard to value yourself at $100,000 a year.

You can be happy with the job you have and still want more out of life, so you start thinking about what else might be out there.

The same thing happens if you start feeling like your job is not challenging enough or interesting enough or whatever else it could be. You start looking around for something else that might make you feel better about yourself and your life.

Conclusion:

The third and final part of my series on adult spending focuses on our values and how they translate into financial decisions.

The 3 biggest influences on our financial values were goals, personality, and family. It makes sense that the relationship we have with our family is incredibly important to determine how we spend money. It also makes sense that your values could impact your decision-making.

But I didn't expect to identify Goals so highly on average. Money tends to be a very goal-oriented thing in my experience, so it makes perfect sense once you identify them.