What Does Money Mean?
It may sound like a strange question on the surface, but what does money mean? I’ve already spent many many keystrokes on the subject of money just here on this blog, and many many more keystrokes over at My Total Money Makeover site, and just this morning halfway through my first cup of coffee, it hits me: What does money really mean to me?
In the past, money meant stress and anxiety because it has always seemed I never had enough. The few times I have had enough money for the month meant security and a feeling of relaxing deep in the pit of my stomach. The many more months where it seemed I didn’t have enough money meant a knot in my stomach and restless sleepless nights wondering how to pay the next tuition bill, how to pay for textbooks, how to pay for my son’s back-to-school expenses, how to come up with car insurance premium, etc. Remember, I never learned how to do a real budget until almost nine months ago!
During my first marriage, money also meant some hellacious money fights with my then-husband. We both worked over 60 hours a week at one job, and rode in together, usually fighting about the money there and back (during a 45 minute commute!). It eventually split us up, being the superficial symptom of some seriously irreconcilable philosphical differences.
Back in the spring, while my current husband was still the reluctant spouse, he accused me of only talking about money when he called or we caught each other online. There is quite a bit of merit in that accusation, but this morning it hit me: I wasn’t really talking about money itself! I was talking about things that are just easier to discuss using the money metaphor: a sense of security, hope, dreams of my college education, worries about those dreams because the GI Bill won’t last forever, and also our future: dreams, hopes, and worries.
Dave Ramsey loves to say he can figure out a couple’s value system by just looking at their checkbook register. David Bach also equates how couples spend their money with their value system, and devotes an entire chapter in Smart Couples Finish Rich to writing out the values and dreams each spouse wants to accomplish using their money.
Really, when you look at money itself, there isn’t much to like or even love. It’s just funky printed cloth and little chips of base metal alloys (no offense to the coin collectors out there). So to say someone loves money isn’t really accurate. It’s what the money means to a person! So let me throw it open to hear what others think: what does money really mean?
