The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge - Review
My co-author moved a couple months back, and while we were cleaning out his bookshelf, he gave me a few volumes to read. Among them was The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge by Ted Klontz Ph.D., Rick Kahler CFP, and Brad Kontz Psy. D.
I’ve been reading mainly fiction this past year, so it was nice to find a new addition for my recommended financial reading list. This is a short, easy read which would make a nice supplement to other financial reading. Instead of giving you specific advice about money, The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge uses Dickens’ classic to illustrate the deeply ingrained beliefs we have about money that don't help us and how to start recognizing and dealing with them. The authors call these “money scripts”.
As an example, the article I commented on last week seemed to contain a few money scripts that troubled me. Several are packed into this sentence "It is impossible to be good with money when you don’t have any." (-Linda Tirado, source)
There’s a lot of half-truths packed into that sentence. One article is certainly not enough for anyone to analyze the author, so consider this more a list of potential messages/money scripts that could be derived from the above statement.
Being ‘good’ with money is defined by how much you have.
My choices don’t matter.
Poverty was something done to me.
Poverty robs me of choice.
The system keeps me poor.
Poverty creates bad choices.
People with money can be good with it and therefore bear more responsibility.
People with money are different than me.
…and several variations on those themes. There are kernels of truth in these statements. Yes, if you’re good with money, you will keep more of what you get. Yes, often higher income helps and poverty can limit your options. Yes, poverty can happen through no fault of the person in it. And I do believe those who have more also have a bigger responsibility to help others. However as there are high income earners who make terrible decisions with their money, there are also low income earners who can and do make very good financial decisions.
The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge encourages you to rewrite these money scripts into something more useful through a process which involves looking back to understand where these beliefs about money come from, making efforts to see the present more clearly, and finally making a workable plan for the future.
For example, one might change the above scripts to more productive ones like:
Being ‘good’ with money is about doing the best with what I have.
I must take action to increase and stabilize my income.
My choices are important.
My situation is difficult but not hopeless.
I need to examine why I keep getting stuck in the same pattern.
I need to learn how the system can work for me.
I am not responsible for what is done to me, but I am responsible for what I do with it.
People with money are neither better nor worse than me. They simply have more money.
(Again, these are example scripts. I’m picking on a sentence that bothered me, not the person who wrote, because frankly, I don’t know them.)
What I find encouraging about this process is it works with nonfinancial issues too.
What this book won’t give you is much in the way of practical financial information, which is why I consider it a supplement. But it’s intended to be topic specific, so that’s fine. The authors lead seminars and work as financial planners, so towards the end there’s a bit of a pitch for their services. This was a 2006 release and repeatedly mentions a website with further information which no longer exists. Which is kind of a shame since unlike many other financial topics, this one has a very good shelf life and will continue to be valid regardless of the time period.
I’ve been reading mainly fiction this past year, so it was nice to find a new addition for my recommended financial reading list. This is a short, easy read which would make a nice supplement to other financial reading. Instead of giving you specific advice about money, The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge uses Dickens’ classic to illustrate the deeply ingrained beliefs we have about money that don't help us and how to start recognizing and dealing with them. The authors call these “money scripts”.
As an example, the article I commented on last week seemed to contain a few money scripts that troubled me. Several are packed into this sentence "It is impossible to be good with money when you don’t have any." (-Linda Tirado, source)
There’s a lot of half-truths packed into that sentence. One article is certainly not enough for anyone to analyze the author, so consider this more a list of potential messages/money scripts that could be derived from the above statement.
Being ‘good’ with money is defined by how much you have.
My choices don’t matter.
Poverty was something done to me.
Poverty robs me of choice.
The system keeps me poor.
Poverty creates bad choices.
People with money can be good with it and therefore bear more responsibility.
People with money are different than me.
…and several variations on those themes. There are kernels of truth in these statements. Yes, if you’re good with money, you will keep more of what you get. Yes, often higher income helps and poverty can limit your options. Yes, poverty can happen through no fault of the person in it. And I do believe those who have more also have a bigger responsibility to help others. However as there are high income earners who make terrible decisions with their money, there are also low income earners who can and do make very good financial decisions.
The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge encourages you to rewrite these money scripts into something more useful through a process which involves looking back to understand where these beliefs about money come from, making efforts to see the present more clearly, and finally making a workable plan for the future.
For example, one might change the above scripts to more productive ones like:
Being ‘good’ with money is about doing the best with what I have.
I must take action to increase and stabilize my income.
My choices are important.
My situation is difficult but not hopeless.
I need to examine why I keep getting stuck in the same pattern.
I need to learn how the system can work for me.
I am not responsible for what is done to me, but I am responsible for what I do with it.
People with money are neither better nor worse than me. They simply have more money.
(Again, these are example scripts. I’m picking on a sentence that bothered me, not the person who wrote, because frankly, I don’t know them.)
What I find encouraging about this process is it works with nonfinancial issues too.
What this book won’t give you is much in the way of practical financial information, which is why I consider it a supplement. But it’s intended to be topic specific, so that’s fine. The authors lead seminars and work as financial planners, so towards the end there’s a bit of a pitch for their services. This was a 2006 release and repeatedly mentions a website with further information which no longer exists. Which is kind of a shame since unlike many other financial topics, this one has a very good shelf life and will continue to be valid regardless of the time period.