In You Don’t Have to be Rich, author Jean Chatzky says there’s a strong relationship between feeling in control of your finances and feeling happy about your finances.  And, she says there’s a powerful relationship between feeling in control of your finances and feeling happy with your life:

Control over your finances plays a greater role in determining your life’s happiness than being in control of your job, your health, your friendships, your weight. Clearly it’s worth striving for.

So how can you gain greater control over your finances, and greater happiness in your life?  Chatzky offers The 10 Commandments of Financial Happiness. [Read more…]

What thoughts or feelings come to your mind when you hear the words “thrift” or “thrifty”?

It might just be me, but it seems like those words often have a negative connotation to them, and are synonymous with doing without, depriving yourself, cutting back, and making do.

For some reason, pork and beans, and other very simple meals,  come to mind when I think of being thrifty!

People often become thrifty or frugal because they lost a job, can’t make ends meet right now, or are trying to eliminate their debt.

Anne Simpkinson wrote recently at Guideposts about how she rediscovered thrift while focusing on paying off debt.

At first, she thought she’d have to deprive herself and give up her life in order to get out of debt.  But what she discovered is that, by gaining a thrifty mindset, she has gained peace, enjoyment and satisfaction in the journey toward being debt free.

The reason why, she learned, is because the word “thrift” is really synonymous with the word “thrive.” [Read more…]

Have you ever thought that “just a little more money” would make you happy, content, and free from money worries.  I know I have at different times in my life. But as I think about it, I realize that it does not.

In fact, research Dr. David Krueger shares in his book, The Secret Language of Money, shows that the amount of money we make really has nothing to do with our feeling of happiness or contentment.  He explains why:

“Your level of financial contentment is based on your definition of what money means to you.” [Read more…]

Have you ever thought about how much money is enough for you? In other words, how much money would give you a feeling of happiness or contentment?

Dr. David Krueger, the author of The Secret Language of Money, has given a money quiz to hundreds of people over the years, where he asks two simple questions:

1. What is your current annual income?
2. In order to insure happiness and contentment financially, with no more money problems and worries, how much annual income would you need?

Dr. Krueger reports that in more than 9 out of 10 cases, people respond that their annual income would need to be about twice what its current level is, for them to feel happy, content, and free from money worries. [Read more…]