Building a Better Relationship with Money

A lot of financial creators will talk all the time about the nuts and bolts of wealth building. Heck, if I’m being honest, we do it all the time on this channel—and it’s certainly important. But a lot of times, the emotional side or the relationship we have with money gets lost when we’re all focused on just making as much money as possible. How to build a better relationship with money is what we’re going to talk about today.

You should also build a better relationship with that like button though. Go ahead, throw us a like if you haven’t already—and please subscribe. Now, let’s get into it.

Without a doubt, we have a lot of fear when it comes to money in America. Throughout the course of my adult life, I’ve been a CPA, a financial adviser, and a personal finance content creator. And for over 30 years, I’ve witnessed and worked with people across all wealth levels. I’ve talked to people that were down in the broke—”I declare bankruptcy!”—I’ve also talked to people who were multi-many-times-over millionaires. And one thing that I see everywhere is fear.

Whether that’s the 20-year-old who is already thousands of dollars in debt, terrified—how are they going to survive, much less get out of this situation? Or even the couple who’s completely financially independent, agonizing over every purchase because they are terrified of running out of money. I’ve seen it all.

And so no matter how much money you have, step one when it comes to building a better relationship with money is to free yourself from that fear. Which is hard. It’s easier—much easier—said than done, but it is worth it.

Fear can be one of the biggest hurdles in our wealth-building journey. The fear of losing money is the number one thing that keeps people from saving and investing. Fear is also what leads people to making unwise or even desperate decisions when things get tough. And the social fear of being perceived as someone that’s unsuccessful can lead us to overspend and rob our future selves of wealth.

This does not have to be you. You can take control of this situation. And this decision is the way to free yourself from fear around money. Recognize that yes, you do operate within the system—but that system doesn’t control you. You don’t need necessarily the nicer car, the nicer house, the nicer clothes until you can truly afford it. So many people feel forced to take on debt, to stay trapped within a cycle of endless spending and regret. But freedom is making the choice to free yourself from this cycle—to say, “No, I will not be forced into a life that I don’t love. I will live on less than I make. Instead, I will make this system work for me, to build a life that I want to live.”

But part of freeing yourself from that fear might be assessing the fears themselves—understanding what the fears themselves are, where they come from, and how they impact your behavior today can be an eye-opening process. For example, maybe you—just like me—come from humble beginnings, and because of that, you have a fear of running out, even after years of building wealth. Maybe you tried to dabble into investing, you lost money on that first investment, and are completely terrified of a market crash.

We carry those negative feelings with us too, and a lot of those struggles are part of who we are. Don’t let it control you, but don’t ignore it either. Recognize where it comes from, let it have its space in your mind, and then make a conscientious decision how you want to move forward.

The goal isn’t to eliminate fear entirely, but to learn how to coexist with it in a way that empowers you rather than holding you back. After all, true financial peace comes not from never feeling fear—that’s not healthy—but from having the confidence and tools to move beyond it. Acknowledge that fear, but don’t let it dictate your choices. Instead, use it as a fuel to build something stronger—a mindset that’s rooted in intentionality and also understanding.

But maybe your fear simply comes from a lack of understanding. We often fear what we don’t understand—those blind spots—and money is no exception. Folks are often scared off by all the technical jargon, the numbers, the acronyms. And I get it. It’s a lot. When I started out, I was the same way. I understood nothing. That’s why they make you study and pass a whole bunch of tests before you manage other people’s money.

But when it comes to your own wealth building, you don’t need to be an expert. In fact, I would argue that you really only need to understand three simple things. We call these the three ingredients to wealth creation. They’re discipline, it’s money, and of course, it’s the most powerful of all—time—to let your money actually do the work for you.

Discipline is the ability to live on less than you make. The margin that discipline creates is the money that, when given time, can turn into tremendous wealth. And the reason that time is such an important component is due to this awesome concept of compounding interest. People call it the eighth wonder of the world. And while it is indeed wonderful, it doesn’t need to be this mystical or even complicated.

Here’s a simple breakdown: if you invest $100 and it earns 10%, you have $110. The next time interest compounds, it will be compounding on that whole $110—not just the $100 that you initially invested. If it earns another 10%, you’ll earn $11, or 10% of the $110. You can see how quickly this starts to pick up pace.

Just this simple baseline understanding of how wealth actually works can be a huge asset to combating the fear that we all face at the start of our wealth-building journeys. But don’t let your education stop there. Continue to educate yourself. That’s actually where we come in. We want to be what alleviates your fears. We want to be what motivates you. And we want to be there right with you on your journey to building wealth.

And having assessed your fears, having committed to not letting those fears control you, and having understood what actually builds wealth, it’s time to put it all into practice. And what better way to do that than with the Financial Order of Operations. We designed this system to make money less confusing for the people—to tell you exactly what to do with your next dollar, to help overcome your fears.

So don’t let fear keep you from building the best financial life that you should have—and the life that you deserve. Take a little bit of today to build your great big beautiful tomorrow.

I’m your host, Brian. Money Guy team out.