Your
Relationship with
Money
Everyone has a relationship with money, but for women, it’s much
more fraught with emotion, says Meriflor Toneatto.
When we avoid and ignore those emotions, we allow them to quietly guide our decision-making – which inevitably holds us back.
“Understanding our emotions, fears and doubts about money
and how they affect our behavior can help us heal them so we
can experience financial and personal freedom,” says Toneatto,
an entrepreneur, certified business and life coach, and author of
“Money, Manifestation & Miracles: 8 Principles for Transforming
Women’s Relationship with Money,”.
“For women, money is an emotional currency. It’s tied to our
sense of self-worth and self-confidence, and our feelings of safety
and security. These feelings often translate into self-limiting decisions.”
The effect can be profound. Consider female entrepreneurs:
“The number of women-owned U.S. businesses is growing 1.5
times faster than the national average, but a 2013 report found
that they’re still contributing less than 4 percent of overall business revenues, about the same as in 2007,” Toneatto says.
“Our businesses are smaller because we’re less likely than men
to borrow in order to expand. We’re afraid to take financial risks,”
she says citing a U.S. Department of Commerce report.
And in the corporate world:
Women comprise half the workforce, yet hold the majority of
lower-wage jobs in the United States, according to the 2014 State
of the Union address.
What are the emotions shaping so many of our decisions? Toneatto cites five:
• Fear: The most common emotion among women is fear. With
money, we fear not having enough of it; that someone will take
it; that we’ll lose it all and never get it back. Nearly half of all U.S.
women fear becoming a “bag lady” – including those in households earning mor