How does your relationship with money impact your view of debt? Debt is often viewed as part of our financial life, but does this have to be the standard?
Money Relationships and Debt
I grew up not having a lot of money and viewed money as needed to acquire the necessities of life. My relationship with money and debt did not extend beyond that mindset. As I began to educate myself about finances, I began to view money as more than just a commodity. And as such I saw debt as not something that I wanted to carry with me day to day. Changing my mindset allowed me to start the journey to become debt free.
The way we view money plays a major part in how we view and tackle debt. For those of us who grew up not having a lot of money we may view debt as just a part of everyday life. It may feel like getting ahead financially requires being in debt. It may seem that debt is inevitable and unavoidable. For others their relationship with money may cause them to view debt as a means to an end, a necessary tool to acquire wealth. However, this mindset may lead to situations where the debt becomes too much to handle. This may produce circumstances in which you can become stressed because there are no emergency savings when a financial crisis occurs.
Some may view debt as the enemy of wealth and financial stability. This may also stem from a relationship with money where one did not have a lot of money growing up. Because of this you may feel that you never want to be in that situation again, so you value financial stability over having any form of debt. From this point of view no debt is good debt and owing money should be avoided.
Take a moment to think about your relationship with money and how that impacts your view of debt. Does having debt bring you stress and anxiety? Do you view debt as a necessary tool to attaining wealth? Is your view of money keeping you from becoming debt free?