• "I don't want to end up on the street."
• "I know if I take one more chance, I'll hit the jackpot and have everything I've ever wanted."
• "I feel comfortable financially, but I keep thinking . . . is this all I dare wish for?"
• "I don't know a thing about managing money, and whenever I try, I feel like a moron!"

It occurred to me that people ask the same questions about money because they tend to keep dealing with money the same way-the only way that feels familiar. That made sense, in its way. People also operate from experiences and messages given to them in their past and what they learn along the way. These influences clearly hinder how they deal with money now. This also made sense, and I suddenly knew I'd hit on my answer at last: Everyone's money behavior falls into definable patterns.

Everyone, including you, has some kind of "financial personality"- a style of handling money that reflects everything from the deepest fears to the most heartfelt desires to basic practical dealings on a day-to-day basis. The problem with the people asking those same questions was that they weren't looking at what they felt about money-those very powerful emotional connections just below the surface that drive their decisions. And so they continually make the same mistakes, unable to break away from their usual way of money management to find the prosperity or sense of security-or both-they all craved. Furthermore, this was why they couldn't follow or create a financial plan that might actually work.

I considered the complexity of the money-and-emotion equation, and knew I had to find a way for you to better understand your "financial personality." When you did, your fears about money would lessen and your strengths and creativity with money could grow. What could I do to make these goals happen for you? People came from diverse backgrounds and had different feelings, different values, and different personal histories. Clearly there wouldn't be just one solution.

I wanted to create some sort of simple process wherein I could help you, no matter what your background, beliefs, or present financial situation. I wanted to reconcile money information (what you need to know about managing money itself) with your money attitudes (what you need to know about your feelings and fears about money) so that you could emerge feeling secure and more confident about money, for now and for the future. This became my mission.

This book grew out of my determination to find effective answers to your money questions in a way that would be meaningful. The result is this guide to mastering your Money Type. The key to real life-changing financial success for you can lie within these types. I'll show you how very shortly.

First let's talk about money and what it means to you.

Everyone gives money all sorts of meanings beyond the value of the goods or services it can buy. Why do some people idolize money while others reject it? Why are yet others afraid of money or believe that wanting it is an unworthy or even shameful goal? Why do some people kill for money or kill themselves if they lose it all? Why do close relatives, spouses, or friends become enemies over one's "rightful share" of the money?

The answers are within every life story-the way your answers can be found within your story. Maybe your parents were stingy with you or generous to a fault. Perhaps you were told that life is tough, money is limited, and that you should be grateful for the money you get. Then again, maybe you were raised to believe that the world was bountiful and that the bounty would have your name on it.

Whatever you were told and whatever you believe, no matter how contradictory, one thing is true for all of us: Money is never just money but a repository for our deepest fears, doubts, insecurities, anxieties, aggressive impulses, and even sense of self. All these feelings can influence and even dominate how you manage money. There is always an emotional component to money. When you think about money, how do you feel? Deserving, powerful, confused, secure, happy, insatiable, entitled, guilty, corrupt, fearful?

More important, your attitudes about money can affect and drive your financial aspirations. If, for example, you have a strong conviction that you will always have money, you'll do everything you can to earn more or take the kind of investment risks that will provide financial prosperity. I recently spoke to a woman who said she figured out that she had "ten pockets" from which she could either put in or take out money. That is, she had a job, but she also invested in a friend's business for a share, rented out the family cottage for the summer, as well as having a trusted broker who guided her investment pockets, and so on. For her, security was all-important, and she made every effort to build it.

Perhaps you feel the opposite. You believe your fate is to struggle and never have enough. In this case, you may be in debt and have a poverty mentality that keeps you broke. I got an e-mail from a family man in his forties who said he "hated money matters" and that he couldn't figure out how to make his salary stretch. He said he wanted to "pursue the American Dream," but for him, "it turned into a Financial Survival Nightmare." For this man, the quest for more money will always go hand in hand with hating the details of acquiring and keeping it.

Or perhaps a sense of personal powerlessness stands in the way of financial planning, thus leading to a disastrous retirement fund. I get so many letters that tell me how much you want to know about saving for a specific goal, but you feel intimidated by the information-and most of all, fearful that you cannot learn how to do it. When you believe that money management is elitist or arcane and beyond your scope, well, as the saying goes, "If you believe you can't, you're right!" Believe you can.

In this book, I'll help you uncover your dominant money values, attitudes, and behavior and pinpoint what emotional baggage is standing in the way of you improving your finances. Identifying your emotional baggage helps you understand the motivation and emotions behind your money behavior. This involves self-awareness-what is really happening in your money life, not what you want or don't want or can't admit is happening. It is about making peace with the past and finally letting yourself master how money works and can work for you.

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Copyright © 2006 by Amherst Enterprises, Ltd., and Lynn Sonberg Book Associates