Framing Effect Can Limit Your Money Energy Potential

Money Energy Law #18:

Develop a growth mindset. Do not set limits on how much money you can have in your life.

We are all born with a genetic pre-disposition toward money, and it’s a contributing factor to our unique behavioral style. And you might be wondering: “If there are certain inherent financial behaviors ingrained in us, can financial education actually have any impact on our ability to generate wealth?” The answer is a resounding yes!

“Learned” financial behavioral is equally important.

Continuous learning occurs throughout life, but it commences at seven years old and strongly imprints our behavior up to around fifteen years old. In fact, your money memories (experiences), education, and values have the potential to stretch your brain and emotional development. Thereafter, it is strengthened through coaching, life lessons, formal instruction, financial tools, and professional advice. Sometimes, learning lessons come in the form of learning what NOT to do instead of what you SHOULD do. 

When it comes to your relationship with money, personal improvement is available to anyone, but not everyone has the right growth mindset to achieve more. In my last blog post, I discussed opportunities to improve your Money Energy potential, but sometimes we sabotage ourselves or are influenced by behavioral risks. Whether you have a growth mindset or not may be a question of choice—or you may be experiencing the framing effect. 

Getting Into the Right Frame of Mind

We make financial decisions based on the way information is presented, as opposed to just on the facts themselves. The same facts presented in two different ways can lead us to make different judgments or form new habits based on those limitations. This is the framing effect on your mindset. A classic example is the belief that becoming a high-income earner will guarantee financial success, reduce stress, and bring joy. In fact, two people in the same situation might experience completely inverse feelings. 

I’d call it mindful ambition and it depends on the lens you place on life. Think of an image on a large canvas and you have only a small frame to see this picture. Where you place those borders will change what you see, how you feel about it, and whether it drives positive or negative reactions. This happens with your relationship with money.

Sometimes those frames are restricted by fear of loss or inadequacy. For example: Do you see wealth in terms of your personal ability to achieve a lifestyle-sustaining income, or do you compare wealth with others and what you have feels less significant? Do you see a higher income as an opportunity to buy more luxury goods, or to open the doors to exploring more life experiences, or to even find more ways to give back?

Shifting Challenges to Opportunities

From our research, we’ve revealed a few positive growth mindsets based on specific traits. The most exciting growth mindset to watch is from those who see themselves as wealthy before they are, who take every opportunity to learn about money, who recognize the energy and the rush money gives them, and who know how to manage and control it. They learn from those who've built their wealth before them.

Traits of someone with healthy financial habits:

• They are always open to opportunities as they arise and have the financial flexibility and know-how to take them.
• They keep focused on their long-term goals versus instant gratification.
• They seek opportunities that do not significantly increase risks.
• They save more and spend less.
• They use debt to obtain affordable needs (i.e. a home), but not for frivolous wants (i.e. the latest luxury items).
• They stick to a budget or a financial plan.
• They are thankful for their financial increase.
• They give back.
• They keep learning.
• They leverage their skills to find more ways to produce income.

Limited Growth Mindset in the Status Quo

Let’s use that last bullet in terms of healthy habits as an example. So far, I have related this discussion to individuals with high net worth, but what about someone with a scarcity mindset and concerns they may not have sufficient money to satisfy their longevity goal? Let’s learn how to turn framing into a way to build more Money Energy.

Meet Alicia Davies. She is 43, divorced, and working full-time at an advertising agency. She invests in staying fit, owns a one-bedroom condo, and has a reasonably healthy bank balance, manageable debt, and a 9-year-old car. 

Alicia's primary focus is living a balanced life. She accepts her current environment as “it is what it is.” She frames her world as safer if she remains satisfied with the status quo, which provides day-to-day stability, but limits her ability to generate more wealth.

At a year-end tax meeting with her financial advisor, Alicia was told that she would need to increase her investments and consider other income-making strategies as her current financial approach would not be sufficient to maintain her lifestyle at retirement. Knowing this, her advisor used her gym membership as an analogy. 

Through Alicia’s eyes, working out regularly is about maintaining dexterity and health. She routinely attends an aerobics class and that is how she values her gym. The advisor asks her to consider if she is limiting her gym membership. Pressing her to look beyond the one class, what if she could further improve her health, build more muscle mass, and increase endurance by reframing her use of the gym (an existing asset)? Just think: if she expands her mindset and opportunities, she could exponentially improve her health. 

This analogy opened Alicia’s opportunities to more benefits without the need of spending more money for more activities (additional resources). She realized how that same rush of energy and achievement could be harnessed if she reframed her own skills and time management toward Money Energy and her retirement goals. Acknowledged as an expert in the field of advertising and reflecting on her transferable talents at the agency, Alicia utilized her existing talents to start offering virtual communication skills training in her free time to build her nest egg.

Just imagine... If you can break the mold of the framework that surrounds you, expand your mindset, focus on one or more financial habits to improve upon, then perhaps you can avoid setting limits on the money you can have in your life.

Complete our Money Energy Discovery to learn more about your inherent behavioral style and how you can leverage it to develop a growth mindset.

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