So much that we learn about money is restricted to Money IQ, or the intellectual side of money, such as earning, investing, and saving. These are all incredibly important, but they’re not everything.
Without a healthy amount of Money EQ, or our emotional intelligence about money, we end up making financial mistakes that we regret. It takes a great Money IQ and Money EQ combined in order to feel peace of mind and happiness along with your financial success.
Money IQ Principles
1) Earning Money
I believe the best way to earn money is to do what you love, in one form or another. When you’re doing something that lifts you up and energizes you from within, it not only brings you happiness and peace of mind, but also a huge amount of motivation, creativity, and inspiration. So many people are stuck at jobs they dislike and they feel chained down by their money. That’s why we tend to blame money for so many of our problems. However, the real source of the problem is never truly about money.
2) Spending Money
How skillfully do you spend money? Do you mostly buy things that increase your abundance, or do you tend to waste it on consuming things that don’t add value to your life? When you’re mindful about how you spend money, you can spend more wisely.
3) Protecting Money
Protecting your money is about protecting your relationships as much as it is about your finances. When you have great relationships, you’ll know you can get through any emergency because there will be plenty of people there to support you in your time of need.
4) Increasing Money
Simply put, increasing your money in terms of Money IQ means investing and multiplying your money. It includes the business aspects of investing that all the experts teach about, but it also encompasses finding a purpose that you believe in and investing in the people, relationships, and businesses that you care about most.
Money EQ Principles
1) Receiving Money
Most of us are terrible at receiving, and we struggle to even ask for help when we need it. We also tend to be better at giving than we are at receiving, but the cycle is incomplete if everyone is trying to give and no one is willing to receive. Your act of receiving is what allows someone else to give to you, so it’s very much two sides of the same coin. When you receive, do so in gratitude and in a way that will allow the person giving to you also experience joy.
2) Enjoying Money
How often are we caught up in earning money that we forget to just enjoy the abundance we already have? When we spend money, sometimes we think that we’ve lost something in the transaction, but usually the opposite is true: We tend to gain more value than the money itself that we spent. Nothing is lost – abundance is gained. Remember to take time and enjoy your abundance.
3) Trusting Money
This is one of the most important principles of all – to trust in the flow of money. The idea of scarcity states that there isn’t enough money in the world, and it’s something that we can run out of. The truth is that money circulates infinitely in a flow very much like water. When you feel like you don’t have enough, you forget that it’s impossible to truly run out of money and that putting yourself in a greater flow of money is the fastest way to give yourself a reality check. Trust comes first, and then you attract into your life only what you believe is possible for you.
4) Sharing Money
When you realize how abundant you already are, you create more abundance for yourself when you share skillfully with others in your life. Holding onto an excess of money is like stopping a flow of water, making it stagnant. The more you share, the more generous you become, and the more abundance will flow to you.
How to Shift Your Relationship With Money From Stress to Success(Opens in a new browser tab)
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About: Money and happiness expert Ken Honda is a best-selling self-development author in Japan, with book sales surpassing eight million copies since 2001. His latest book is called “Happy Money: The Japanese Art of Making Peace With Your Money” (June 4, 2019, Simon & Schuster). Learn more at KenHonda.com.
By Ken Honda
