Market research and advertising firms know we make spending decisions based on what we value. Insurance sales pitches focus on how much we value our families and are concerned for their future security. Automobile companies know that SUVs, sports cars, or mini-vans appeal to people who value power or social identity or family outings. Recognizing the coming retirement of the baby boomer generation, recent marketing campaigns have targeted boomer's values to sell them products and services. Trying to capture Gen Y's attention, marketers have discovered that what worked for boomers and echo boomers won't work for Gen Y consumers, because they have different values.
Whatever our age or life stage, what these marketing experts know is the simple concept that our values influence our behaviors. And by appealing to our values, they can convince us that we need or really want their products or services. Seen from this point of view, it is manipulative marketing. But if we turn this back to ourselves, we soon realize that one key to staying positive in life is consciously behaving in accordance with our own deeper values. As a bonus, we become marketing savvy and can more easily recognize advertising and selling techniques that try to - and too often do - influence our behaviors.
Connecting our values to our decision-making can make all the difference when we choose a home, make an investment, get an education, or interview for a new job. Understanding how values differ between spouses and among family members can help us to lessen, if not entirely avoid, the painful exchanges that can occur when conflicting values influence our emotions and our decisions. Uncovering our unique set of Personal Values takes a little detective work, but it will clue us into what motivates us to make our best choices, especially those that involve our finances. We also can begin to understand what motivates us to make purchases we cannot afford, ignore good financial management, fail to save and invest for our future, or behave in other irresponsible ways by:
1. Learning where our values come from and how what we value influences our decisions.
2. Thinking carefully about what we value most.
3. Integrating our deeper values into our financial management.
Values spark our desires, trigger emotions, and drive our decisions. How we channel our values shows up, not just in our character, but in how we handle our job or career, enjoy our social and intimate relationships, manage our lifestyle, and feel secure about what is in our wallets. For simplicity's sake, let's assume from now on that all of what you really care about in your life falls into four categories. They are: Personal Values, Social Values, Tangible Values, and Money Values. Collectively, we call them your "Life Values."
When Oprah Winfrey inaugurated the "American Debt Diet" on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", her guest, Jean Shatsky, a regular on "The Today Show" and contributing editor to Money Magazine, emphasized to the audience that excessive debt - or the failure to value sound financial management - is not only about money, it's about all of life. So when the condo you love becomes available or the lawn tractor goes on sale or the stock you have been following drops, you will make a financial decision, but it will have only a little to do with your checkbook balance or your portfolio. Your decision will be made, in large part, on the basis of your four Life Values. Check them out:
These are Personal Values such as your identity, the desire to achieve and to act as you please, your need for safety and security, and other aspects of the "real you." Such values reflect your desire for freedom and independence, your ability to control your everyday life, shape longrange goals, set your own priorities, and feel in charge. Everyone has a need to feel safe from perceived harm or loss, including financial upheaval. Real security is the feeling that you have the wherewithal to survive whatever you encounter, and it is based on deep-rooted confidence about your particular place in the world. Inner values also form the basis for finding purpose and meaning in life, the principles by which you live. Do you value your personal space? Need autonomy at home and at work? Do you value above all experiencing personal achievement and knowing the ropes? These are inner values, and they are rooted not only in how you see yourself, but how you believe others see you as well.
These are "belonging" values that concern your spouse, partner, children, other family members, friends, neighbors, and community members. They include your living and working habits and involve your desires to be with others. They involve your tendencies to plan and budget for social events or allow them to be spontaneous, and your inclination to share financial information and responsibility. Do you share costs, pay bills, or provide for others? Are you generous about household expenditures and clear about joint budgeting? Do you enjoy a supportive lifestyle? Your unique financial history, habits, and cultural preferences are rooted in your family and social relationships. This history may be determining the way you handle money today.
Tangible Values relate to the physical comforts and other tangible aspects of your environment. They include the amount of space you need around you to feel comfortable and the aesthetic stimulation you require to feel satisfied and fulfilled. Tangible Life Values involve your physical health and sometimes manifest as a search for the health benefits of a certain climate or activity. They include the general desire for beauty or specific features in your home, yard, or workplace. They trigger your inexplicable attraction to certain types of art and architecture, clothing styles, or vehicles to drive. Tangible Life Values are all about feeling physically satisfied and enjoying comfort and order in your surroundings. These values can reach far back into your childhood history, acting in concert with your Personal, Social, and Money Life Values - whether you realize it consciously or not.
Money Life Values refer to all things about your finances. It is a subjective category - what you think or believe about money and your financial affairs. It represents how you value money or other material goods or investments, not how much you actually have. This value has nothing to do with your actual financial knowledge or education level. Everyone is concerned with the sufficiency of their finances, but the meaning of, "Do I have enough?" varies from person to person. In the same way, the urgency of sustainability - "How long will my money last?" - varies among individuals. A higher savings account balance usually indicates a person who thinks more about financial sustainability as opposed to the person who lives from paycheck-to-paycheck. Finally, the appropriateness of our financial decisions - "Is this right for me?" - is often the key factor that keeps us in or out of financial trouble. Individuals who cannot or will not make decisions about the appropriateness of a purchase (or item, job, lifestyle, or vacation) in their lives are more likely than others to be ill-prepared to meet financial emergencies or to save for retirement.
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Note: This article was sent to us by: Hugh S. Robinson at 03062010
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