Money makes the world go round.
Money is the root of all evil
Money talks
In business money is needed for investment, to pay employees and for supplies. And as the war in Ukraine impacts food and fuel prices we are focused on the amount of money needed to meet our basic needs, let alone luxuries. Money has become key to our existence.
Yet some of us have a difficult or uncomfortable relationship to money. On Saturday I was invited to speak at the AICP (Italian Association for Professional Coaches) training day. The anthropologist Professor Marino Niola provided a fascinating context exploring the history of money and references to it in economics, theatre, literature and music.
As a trained economist I learned that money is a medium of exchange, a unit of account and a store of wealth. As a bond dealer, equity analyst and fund manager I came to see money as a symbol of my self worth and public status.
As an ontological coach I have realised how many influences impact our interpretation of and relationship to money. We learn our attitudes to, beliefs about and practices in using money from, e.g. our parents, our religion, our schooling, our gender, our race and political orientation. Some of this learning and the resulting strategies we developed have helped us to get to where we are today. And some of that learning is ‘beyond its use-by date’ and hinders our progress.
A fraught relationship with money is not only the preserve of those with little money. In a recent Financial Times article, “Who Wants to be a Billionaire?” it was revealed that some of the ultra wealthy seek assistance from wealth therapists to deal with shame, guilt and indolence.
What has influenced your perspective on money?
If you would like to explore your relationship to money and how to shift unhelpful beliefs, attitudes and practices contact me +44 (0) 7952 068133 or sylvana@sylvanacaloni.com
