Step One - Know Yourself

(Prosperity)

Your relationship with money is all about self introspection and evolution. By knowing who you are - your quirks as well as all of your amazing efficiencies and abilities - you'll have a better relationship with your money. You might have noticed that's a theme throughout the site( - "KnowThyself" is inscribed in the Temple of Apollo at Delphia, so this is not a new idea).

To make things easier on all of us, we've collected the self knowledge questions from all of our articles into one place. We've started with self-knowledge, and coming soon - relationships, money and communication.

These are not static lists, but will be updated with each new article. When applicable, we've linked back to the articles the question comes from, in case you want more information.

Step 1 - Know Your Relationship with Money

This knowledge sets your financial tone. Your relationship with money won’t ever go away, so you may as well work on getting it right.

1. What Are Your Family Influences?

• Did your grandparents worry about making ends meet?
• Did you parents feel as children they did without?
• How was money spoken about by your parents and grandparents?  Could it be spoken about openly? Was it something to be enjoyed or accumulated?
• Do you think you’re like your parents in their attitudes about money, or did you rebel and become their opposite?
• What stress did your family put on the influences of money?

For more on this, check out Knowing Your Financial Personality and Money Lessons from a Four Year Old - sometimes it's not only our parents we can learn from.

2. How You Handle Money - Know your strong points, and weaknesses, when it comes to your finances. This will help in any conversations you have with professionals.

• Who’s overseeing the relationship – you or your money?
• Do you have a budget?
• Are you in debt?  How badly?
• Can you name all of your accounts and balances?
• Have you made a plan for the long term and retirement?
• Are you able to think long term while living day to day?
• Is compounding doing its most for you?
• Do you have an idea of what you should be doing with all that money under the mattress?
• Is your first impulse with money to spend or save?
• Can you say what your financial goals are?
• Have you thought about your comfort level with investment risk?
• Do you have a portfolio?

3. Making Your Money Grow -If you’re trying to figure out the right portfolio for you, consider:

• Is my portfolio diversified among stock, bonds, and stable value investments?
• Are my stock investments diversified by investment style, size, and geographic location?
• Are my bond investments diversified by the quality – and interest rate - of the bond?

Five Steps For Your Financial Well Being:

• Invest Mostly, Save A Ton, ReAllocate As Needed
• Go Ahead, Ask For Help
• Websites Know What They're Talking About (gratuitous self-plug now over) - Use Them.
• Automate
• Communicate: Know Your Plans, Your Parents' (coming soon) and Your Spouses'.

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