Understanding Your Financial Core Beliefs
If budgeting never sticks, you find yourself buying things you don’t need, or money talks stir up stress, your financial core beliefs might be the reason. These hidden assumptions can:
Cause anxiety, shame, or avoidance around bills and budgeting
Create repeating patterns like yo‑yo saving, tapping credit, or impulse spending
Fuel conflict with partners or family over money decisions
Keep you under‑earning, over‑giving, or sabotaging financial goals
Make it hard to invest or seek financial advice
By naming and updating these beliefs about yourself, you can gain a clear path to confident, values‑aligned money choices.
What Are Financial Core Beliefs?
Financial core beliefs are deep, mostly unconscious ideas we hold about money, success, and self‑worth. They drive how we think, feel, and act with money, often on autopilot. Because they’re learned early from family, culture, or tough experiences, they can clash with financial goals we have today.
How Core Beliefs Show Up in Your Money Habits
Core beliefs don’t just live in your head. They guide how you act with money every day, through what are called “money scripts.” Think of it like the layers of an onion:
Core beliefs are the deeper emotional truths tied to identity (e.g., “I’m not good with money,” “I don’t deserve wealth”).
Money scripts are the shorthand rules we follow based on those beliefs (e.g., “Spend it before it’s gone,” “Debt is normal”, “YOLO! Treat yourself!”).
Core beliefs are the emotional roots; money scripts are the behaviors and patterns they produce. And they can be rewritten.
Common Core Beliefs About Money
Financial core beliefs reflect assumptions about yourself, money, and your relationship with it, fundamentally guiding your actions. These beliefs are often shaped by childhood experiences, family narratives, and societal influences. They can manifest in various ways, leading to specific money scripts and financial habits. For instance, if you believe "I'm just not good with money," you might avoid budgeting or seeking financial advice, reinforcing the belief itself.
Here are some common financial core beliefs we may tell ourselves:
“I’m just not good with money.”
“I never learned about money growing up.”
“Talking about money isn’t polite / respectable.”
“If I don’t financially support my relatives, I’m abandoning or disrespecting them.”
“We can’t afford that.”
“We were poor, so I didn’t learn about finances like wealthier people did.”
“I’m afraid of money because I don’t understand it.”
“I feel like I don’t deserve to have money.”
“Only greedy people care about money.”
“No matter what I do, I’ll never get ahead financially.”
“Investing is too complicated, so I don’t save for retirement.”
💡Having or “coming from” money doesn’t mean you know how to manage it. And not learning earlier doesn’t mean you can’t learn now.
Why These Beliefs Matter
Core beliefs shape your entire relationship with money:
Where These Beliefs Come From
Beliefs aren’t fact; they’re reflections of our history. Here are the most common sources:
Family & Caregiver Messages: “We can’t afford that,” “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” “Spend it while you have it,” or silence about money. These early messages are anxious, avoidant, or impulsive, and plant the first money scripts in us.
Cultural & Community Norms: Arguments about money, beliefs that it’s taboo, or gendered rules like “men handle investing.” In immigrant or first‑gen households, parents may hide cash, defer needs, or go into debt while sending money to family, creating mixed signals about earning and saving.
Personal & Generational Experiences: Job loss (your own or a parent), medical debt, recessions, discrimination, unstable gig income, or watching family businesses fail can hard‑wire a mindset that manifests differently, showing up as financial scarcity (“Save every dollar” or impulsive “live for today” spending).
Comparison & Social Media: Seeing friends spend lavishly, inherit wealth, talk investments, or flaunt financial success online can trigger “I should be doing better”, “They know the secret”, or “That world isn’t for people like me.” Truth is, you don’t really know what’s going on there, and highlight reels rarely show the full money story.
So let’s focus on what you can control: YOU.
Rewriting the Script
Here’s how to change your core beliefs and improve your financial health:
Name It – Identify a belief, e.g. “I don’t deserve money” → “This is a belief I picked up, not a fact.”
Ask Where It Came From – Family, culture, personal setback?
Challenge It – “Is it always true? Could the opposite sometimes be true?”
Replace It – Write a balanced belief you can practice.
Practice It – Take one small action: read a money article, track spending for a week, ask a question.
Repeat and Reflect – Notice wins, adjust scripts, and be kind to yourself.
New Beliefs You Can Practice
Instead of repeating what doesn’t serve you, try these instead:
“It’s not my fault I didn’t learn. I can learn now.”
“Knowing about money is a skill, not a personality trait.”
“I deserve to feel safe and secure with money.”
“My past doesn’t define my financial future.”
“I’m excited to learn something new about money.”
Moving Forward
Every belief and the fear, shame, or stress attached to it is learned, which means it can be unlearned. Spot the old script, take a small new action, and celebrate each step. Over time, these shifts build a healthier, more confident money life. You don’t need to do it perfectly; you just need to start.
