Money Autobiography

Money Autobiography? Ever heard of it? This is one of the topics discussed in one of my classes. I’ve been trained and worked in the financial field for many years, but I must admit this is the first time I come across money autobiography in my Learning Community class at Fuller.

I was responsible for a company I worked at to do financial planning and cash flow projection up to three years, but none of those could speak something so close to me. I mean who of us is not concerned with money at all? I take care of my financial matter carefully and I manage others prudently as well. This however does not mean I was born to be a good financial manager. It took time to learn and to grow as well.

Sadly, I’ve seen many people who have been living in financial difficulty not because they’ve not had enough but rather the opposite is mostly true. Many incidences in our life sometimes cause our otherwise peaceful and normal living go derail. If financial matter is one of them, then I’d like to ask you to spend a little time to find out what money autobiography is about. Even if you’re fine and financially sound, by catching a glimpse of what is it may turn you to even a better steward than just a ‘money’ manager.

As the name suggests, it is a personal reflection process on the role and influence of money and material possession in our lives. We want to find out in a very honest way about our past attitude, assumption, and value towards money. At the end of the reflection, we realize that it is the material things that posses us more than we posses them. Through this reflection, hopefully it can help us set some priorities and goals in our lives for the future.

You may want to begin by reflecting on your attitude towards money by pondering over few questions like these: What do you like best about money? What do you like least about money? What things in life are worth more than money? Which of the following words best communicate your attitudes and feelings about money? Why? E.g. Money is.....power….leasure.….freedom….security….hope….love….evil…fun….prestige….etc.

As time goes by our reflection questions may change from attitude or value questions to lifestyle or management questions. I find this kind of reflection questions great. It can really help us to see ourselves through a different perspective. I say this because I’ve done some personal reflective writing for this class as well, and it really helps me to examine what kind of a learner I am.