Money Is Not Your Enemy or Your Goal, It Is a Tool

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Most of us don’t have a healthy relationship with money. We think of it as an enemy – something that constantly gets in our way, or we think of it as a goal, something that will solve all our problems. In fact, money is just a tool. This realization changed my habits in an interesting way.

However, it is easy to say that “money is just a tool” when there is a lot of it. When you don’t, it seems impossible to look at money from this perspective, because many of our problems are related to money problems , and these problems are huge: you cannot afford the rent, you cannot afford to leave your terrible job, you cannot afford to travel outside your area. Money cannot be viewed as a tool because money is the enemy. Or, like me, you see money as a goal , a solution, and let it rule your life.

However, money is not an enemy or a goal. It’s just the thing that you use in your priorities. Sometimes your priority is to just keep your head above the water and pay your rent. In this case, you are dependent on money, but it is still a tool.

However, the truth is that these problems don’t magically disappear just because you say, “Okay, money is a tool.” You still have the same problems, you still have to pay rent, but this perspective is critical for one big reason: it helps you feel in control. It relieves you of fear and gives you the opportunity to sit in the driver’s seat. Even if the process is gradual, it is this shift that will change your situation. Here are some examples of how this works.

Easier to come up with a strategy

It is difficult to make financial plans when you are afraid of money. You don’t bother budgeting your expenses because looking at your bank account makes you anxious. You don’t bother counting numbers because they never add up, and even if they do, it’s impossible to stick to them. You think all this is impossible. When you think of money as a tool, you can focus on decisions rather than emotions, because there are clear ways to make the best use of this tool. This post by author Carl Richards changed my point of view, and in it he explains:

This shift in thinking is definitely subtle, but it changes the way we think about saving and spending. We no longer need to think about good and bad, positive or negative. We are focused on the result of our actions.

Richards says it really well – it’s just a mindset change, but it’s a action-focused mindset, and when it comes to personal finance, that’s it.

It all starts with a meaningful goal. Money itself is not a goal. You need to know how you plan to use this money. To feed your family? Pay off debt or unpaid medical bills? Travel? Either way, once you know the end goal, you can work on your strategy for using money to achieve that goal. Your plan might be:

When you think of money as a resource or tool, it implies that it has to be used , so in a sense, you are giving yourself permission to use it. Yes, it takes a lot of work and is not exactly easy to use, but it’s much easier to come up with a plan when you think of money in those terms, rather than as an obstacle even if you think so.

You overcome the guilt of spending

We all know that spending money on quality often pays off . For example, a University of Michigan study tracked toilet paper purchases by over 100,000 American families over seven years. The study found that 39% of high-income households buy toilet paper on sale, compared with 28% for low-income households. High-income households also bought on average more buns compared to low-income households.

Overall, low-income households paid about 6% more per sheet. Here’s what the research results came to:

The inability to buy in bulk hinders the ability to time shopping to take advantage of the sale, and the inability to speed up the time to buy at a sale hinders the ability to buy in bulk. We found that the financial loss that low-income households suffer from underutilizing these strategies can be as much as half the savings they get from buying cheaper brands.

Honestly, when you live from hand to mouth, you can’t always afford to buy quality. However, even if you can afford it, some of us still find it difficult to pay the extra money. For a long time I had problems with this. I was always afraid to spend money, because I am afraid of not getting it. I feel guilty for spending more than I need to, even if it’s something as simple as toilet paper. Again, Richards says it very well :

Tools are meant to be used. They are not meant to sit on a shelf and collect dust. Instead of thinking about saving and spending money, I started thinking about using it … Money is meant to be used, to be on the move. It is passed on from us to other people and then comes back to us again. Even when we save money, we just save it for future use. When we use money today, we are not wasting it or wasting it. We use the best tool available to get the job done …

I realized that I had a bad habit of idealizing money, which made me feel guilty about spending it. I realized that I can be frugal and still spend lavishly, because frugality is not about saving money, but about using money efficiently as a tool. Sometimes buying quality is just an efficient way to use this tool .

Having learned to look at money as a tool, I also noticed that it is much easier to resist impulsive spending.

We’ve already talked about prioritizing your spending, but sometimes it’s still hard to resist, even if you know it’s not a priority to update your phone. I know there is a wrong way to use this tool, and I know that it can mess up the way I use it in other areas: it is a limited resource. This practical awareness makes resistance much easier.

Saving money and getting more money are not mutually exclusive.

To increase the amount of cash in your bank account, you can save more of what you are already earning, or you can make more money. For a long time, I considered these two concepts to be mutually exclusive: do I need to save more or earn more?

When the goal is money, it is natural to think in these terms. However, as my mindset changed, I realized that saving more and earning more are just methods I can use to achieve my bigger and more meaningful goals: supporting my family, traveling more and having more time to work on my own creative projects. … … I could save more and earn more to ease my goals.

I could also pinpoint when it was counterproductive to save more and earn more. Sometimes these methods have hurt rather than helped my goals. For example, some money-saving habits were a waste of my time. My goal was to get more free time to work on my own projects, so it became counterproductive. Sometimes I took on a job that I didn’t like just for the extra money. It was also counterproductive because I had less time to spend on my projects.

In short, looking at money as a tool helped me prioritize my goals and weed out ineffective ways of using that tool to achieve those goals.

How to Move to Thinking of Money as a Tool

Personal finance has nothing to do with money . It’s about learning how to use your money in the best possible way in order to live the life you want.

Of course, “thinking of money as a tool” is much easier said than done. Even now, completely inspired by Richards’ publication, I try my best not to idealize money. However, several things have helped me keep my brain in check.

  1. Determine What Matters: Since money is not a goal, it is helpful to know what the goal really is. This is why many financial planners start with a single question : why? Again, this helps you set a clear goal for your budget. In this way, your financial decisions are filtered through this goal, which helps to ensure that they truly benefit you.
  2. Prioritize spending: This also helps you list the expenses that bring you the most pleasure. Beyond your needs, this is the best way to leverage your income. This means prioritizing what you love . For example, I like to eat out, but I like to visit my family at home. Since money is just a tool, I have to figure out how to use it effectively, which means I spend less on restaurants so I can use it to save up for trips home. When you prioritize these, it becomes much easier to use the tool effectively.
  3. Take the Little Steps: Again, “money is a tool” is much more difficult when you are struggling to survive. Any goals seem insurmountable compared to the income you should be using for those goals. It helps you focus on small steps and tiny actions.

By breaking down your goals into smaller milestones, you can make them less challenging. For example, if you are trying to pay off a $ 40,000 student loan debt, think about your payment in years, or even months or weeks. $ 50 a week is much more doable than $ 40,000, and again, while this is just a mindset change, it makes your goal more action-focused. When you focus on action, you are more likely to take action and feel in control. This makes it much easier to view money as a practical tool rather than a daunting milestone.

For most of us, money symbolizes something much more than it really is. It reminds us what we are missing. It reminds us of things that we cannot afford. However, at its core, money is just a tool. It can be powerful, especially when you lack it. A simple mindset change won’t change your financial situation overnight, but it is a necessary step towards taking control of your finances.

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