Praise for LOADED
"LOADED is that rare resource which somehow captures both theoretical and practical wisdom about money, personality, and life. Your views – and actions – with money will be much improved after reading the wonderful advice in LOADED."
—James Grubman, PhD, author of Strangers in Paradise: How Families Adapt to Wealth Across Generations and co-author of Cross Cultures: How Global Families Negotiate Change Across Generations
YOUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET...IS YOU. LOADED WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT.
Based on decades of research and years of hands-on experience with people from all walks of life, LOADED is a must-read for anyone who finds themselves caught between the desire to thrive financially and the complex emotions and conflicting priorities that money so often brings to our lives.
Inside, you will learn to:
- Check your stories. Pinpoint and change beliefs that hold you back.
- Choose your strategies. Learn how to align your money with your needs.
- Cultivate your value. Put your unique resources to use and earn more.
Deeply researched, yet written in an approachable, conversational tone, LOADED offers insight into how your personal experiences have shaped your financial attitudes, and how you can build a healthier relationship with money.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: When It Comes to Money, We’ve All Got Issues 7
Note 9
Chapter 2: Money Messages 11
We Don’t Talk about Money 11
We Talk about Money Constantly 13
From Freud to Frodo: The Stories We Tell Each Other 15
The Stories We Tell Ourselves 19
Stories Can Help or Hurt 24
Heuristics and Biases Shape Our Stories 26
Identifying Core Beliefs 27
Challenging Core Beliefs 28
Using Science to Our Advantage 32
Notes 32
Chapter 3: Poverty, Privilege, and Prejudice: A Crash Course in the Science of Money Psychology 33
Money and Social Psychology: How Poverty, Privilege, and Comparisons Affect Our Minds and Behavior 35
Poverty: Why Not Having Enough Is a Major Drag 35
Privilege: Why Having an Advantage Is Great . . . and Not So Great 46
Prejudice—We’ve All Got It 54
Movin’ on Up 59
Money and Cognitive Psychology: How Specific Thinking Patterns Affect Financial Decisions 63
Why Retail Therapy Feels Good: Identity and Ego Depletion 64
Time and Money: Why We Always Want It NOW 70
Thinking in Circles 81
Finances and Emotions 83
Financial Knowledge 87
Making Change 90
Notes 94
Chapter 4: The LOADED Budget: Creating a Human-Centered Money Management Plan 99
What’s Wrong with Your Budget? 100
Where Does Your Money Come from? 102
Assets and Resources 108
Where Does Your Money Go? 114
Rules of Thumb for Creative Resource Management 140
The Asset Test 141
Putting It in All Together: Your Personal Economy 149
Enjoying a Loaded Life: Living in Harmony with Your Money and Your Values 161
Notes 164
Appendix A: Self-assessments 167
Write Your Personal Financial Narrative 168
Define Your Core Beliefs 169
Financial Management Behavior Scale 170
Emotions and Money (from HelloWallet’s 2014 Pilot Study) 171
Mental Imagery 172
Behavior Identification Form 173
How Impulsive Are You? 174
Big Five Financial Literacy Questions 175
Appendix B: Interventions and Exercises 177
Change the Narrative 178
Challenging Core Beliefs: Find a Counterexample 179
Age Progression 180
Future Visualization Exercises 181
Exercises to Combat MoneyThink 182
Affirm Core Values 183
Cash Flow Worksheet 184
Resources Worksheet 185
Expenses and Needs Worksheet 186
Your Personal Economy 187
Just-In-Time Financial Education Resources 188
About the Author 189
Index 191
