How to change your parent's financial habits

Understand the problem

If you are reading this article, you are already on the right track. You have realized that your attitude towards money is wrong and needs to be changed. Alexander Lowry, professor of finance at Gordon College, says the first step towards positive change is to acknowledge the problem and change consciousness.

Do not be guided by the rules and guidelines laid down in childhood. Question them, try to think differently. It's hard, but eventually you will stop thinking in a formulaic way.

Alexander Lowry Professor of Finance

Ask questions

Karen Lee, a certified financial planner, advises asking yourself how attitudes toward money affect your life. The questions may vary. For example, does it drive you into debt, does it affect your relationship with your partner, does it interfere with progress in life. This will allow you to find out why you are not happy with the current situation and form new financial habits.

Determine the financial attitudes you inherited from your parents. Ask yourself why they are negatively affecting your life. It's a good idea to make a complete list of money management methods that are no longer relevant to you.

Karen Lee Certified Financial Planner

Find a financial mentor

Changing your financial behavior is difficult, so find someone you can trust in this regard. Take an example from him, with his help learn to think differently.

Financial literacy education comes with certain difficulties. Realizing how little you know about it can overwhelm you. You will need a mentor who can get your thinking in order.

Karen Lee Certified Financial Planner

Go to themed sites, read financial advice, or ask a friend for help who handles money the right way. Feel free to ask questions.

Create a financial cushion

You have heard this advice a million times, but what can you do if it does not lose its relevance. Prepare for difficulties at this stage, if the family did not previously have the habit of saving money. Perhaps the parents liked to spend the entire salary at once. Perhaps, as a child, they pampered you, so now you think that you need to buy whatever you want. But no matter how difficult it is to rebuild - do it. Set aside a couple of thousand rubles from each salary and learn to live by the new rules.

Forgive parents

You may be angry with them for their poor financial habits. They may be angry with you for not wanting to live by their rules. Parents may not accept your new attitudes, for which you will be even more angry with them. Forgive them. And yourself. After all, you can also be angry with yourself, because the process will take longer than you would like.