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Core: Money

Money is an Emotional Issue.

We worry if we don’t have it or if we do!

When we don’t have ‘enough’, we stress about meeting all our financial commitments.

If we have more than ‘enough’ (how much is that?) we worry about losing it, securing it, keeping it ‘secret’ from greedy others.

Our relationship with money impacts all aspects of our lives and relationships: our self respect / ‘worth’, work, families, friends and marriages.

Do you know that our decisions and actions around money are usually fear-based?

We often feel out of control because we think we never have enough money. Then, we project a host of negative emotions onto money like fear, self-sabotage and guilt.

Money Or Love?

The ‘emotional’ associations of money really hit home when we discover the origins of the phrase from the Musical ‘Cabaret’ lyrics:

“Money makes the world go around,
the world go around, the world go around” ^[1]

The words originally come from an anonymous old French song which Cabaret adapted by replacing the original word ‘Love’ with ‘Money’! ^[1]

C’est l’amour, l’amour, l’amour, Que fait le monde A la ronde.
(It’s love, love, love that makes the world go around)

So does ‘Money’ or Love’ ‘make the world go around’?

A fascinating question!

Particularly when you know that money issues are one of the key stresses between couples and a, if not the top, reason for divorce.^[2]

This particularly applies when expenses for chronic illnesses like MS swallow most of the budget.

For sure, our medical bills can be crippling and draining in every way.

Trevis Gleason’s MS Blog ^[3] shows how over 62 % of all personal bankruptcies in America are due to ‘Medical Bankruptcy’ - medical bills/illness related.

Most medically bankrupt families came from the middle class, attended college and own a home. Most had health insurance!

The average out of pocket medical expenditure for a medically bankrupt family was $17,943 from the time of onset.

Neurologic disorders like multiple Sclerosis almost double the average at $34,167!

If living with MS is such a financial burden, what can we do?

While some of us have health insurance, Disability Benefit or hospital concessions, many of us have run out of options.

It’s all very well to buy your lottery tickets in hope, but...!

But What? Lottery Revelations..........

I’d like to pause here, and invite you to consider what a lottery scenario could reveal about your relationship with money......

You see, for 6 years I helped to design an on line lotto. As part of that I researched the psychology of wealth and reactions of winners.

What I discovered was enlightening.

We seem to think that MONEY, MORE of the stuff will make us happy. But in fact, this is not so.

Money does not necessarily equate to being healthy or happy. As Joe Dominguez ^[4] says:

“The foolish person wants more money and
more of the things money can buy.
The wise person wants enough money and
more of the things money can’t buy:
health, happiness, love, and peace of mind.”

To explore the relationship between money, health and happiness, I present my discoveries in an interview format between a fictitious financial advisor to our Lottery Company and a professional interviewer. The International audience includes some disabled and MS people.

Here’s what you can expect in the rest of this page:

Contents

1. The Psychology of Wealth & Lotto Research Findings

2. Questions for You

3. What Do You Think?

4. How Much Do You Want Good Health?

References

1. The Psychology of Wealth & Lotto Research Findings

1.1. Preamble

To start, imagine that you have won the lottery. Instantly, YOU are a lottery multi-millionaire!

How does it feel?

Are you shocked, amazed, jubilant.....? What do you do? Scream, pinch yourself, sit gobsmacked?

Think about it......how would you cope?

For sure, it’s an experience most of us dream of isn’t it?

But what does winning such a fortune mean in reality? Will it really make you happy and healthy?

These are some of the questions that Annabell Taylor of The Celebrity Radio Show pose in this interview to Mike Williams, CFP, a clinical psychologist and financial advisor to a popular online lottery:

References

1. The lyrics for the Cabaret song “Money Makes the World go around...” are at “Money, Money” from the musical Cabaret.

   The original French words of this lyric are discussed in this post at The Phrase Finder: Re: Money or love

2. To discover the top reasons why people divorce see Top Reasons People Divorce at Associated Content.
3. To view Trevis Gleason’s MS Blog on Money see MS money matters: Medical bankruptcy
4. Joe Dominguez explores the relationship between money and personal power or life energy in his book “Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence”.