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How you feel about money impacts your spending

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Being aware of your own psychological and emotional approach to money is the first step to developing healthy spending habits. Psychologists agree that these beliefs can start early. They may also come from other life experiences — whether you need to support a family, for example, or if you’ve had a negative history with unmanageable debt.

Published

6 years ago

October 21, 2019

Oakland Post

Cultivating awareness about your psychology surrounding money — and the kind of spending habits it promotes — can help you chart a financial path that works for you. (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)

Your feelings toward money can influence how you spend it.

We all have a personal relationship with money, and it will often show in how we spend it. But our feelings about finance can sometimes lead to negative spending habits that can hurt us in the long run. To begin developing healthy spending habits, it can be helpful to start by identifying your emotional and psychological relationship with money.

Get to know your financial psychology

Being aware of your own psychological and emotional approach to money is the first step to developing healthy spending habits. Psychologists agree that these beliefs can start early. They may also come from other life experiences — whether you need to support a family, for example, or if you’ve had a negative history with unmanageable debt. It’s important to remember that your emotional outlook on money, regardless of where it comes from and what it may be, is not inherently right or wrong. Rather, it may influence you to make unwise decisions in certain financial areas, while setting you up to be great in others.

To understand your feelings toward money better, ask yourself:

How does being in debt make you feel?
How does disclosing your financial situation to others make you feel?
How willing are you to make bigger purchases (such as a car or a house)?
How willing are you to make smaller purchases (such as clothes or eating out)?
What purchases do you feel good about making? Which purchases do you not feel good about making?
How often do you make impulsive purchases?
How often do you feel compelled to check your bank statement?
How often do you find yourself thinking about money?
How does it make you feel to hear about the state of the larger economy?

This is the first step toward building a healthy relationship with money. Then carefully examine your responses.

Identifying your spending habits

Once you have a better sense of your feelings towards money, it can be useful to identify how these feelings have translated into spending behavior. Do this by taking stock of your bank statement from the last two months. If a bank statement isn’t available to you, start keeping tabs on your expenses moving forward with your receipts. Then begin looking for patterns. You might even consider working with a professional such as a financial coach, counselor, or advisor to help you identify your spending habits Ask yourself if your habits — frequently buying clothes, for example, or eating out multiple times in a week — make sense given the responses you gave to the questions above. This is the second step to developing healthy spending habits: moving beyond what you think your spending habits should be to which ones you actually practice. From here, you can begin focusing on ways you can improve your use of money.

Identify the spending habits that you can change

Think of ways you can make your financial habits healthier. This responsibility is twofold: not only should you focus on eliminating unnecessary purchases, but also on spending your money in ways that make you feel positive. For example, have you found that you too much of your paycheck goes towards clothes? That doesn’t mean you have to eliminate all of your shopping but maybe you can consider less expensive options such as your local thrift store. Does the thought of making a sizable purchase — such as a car — cause you stress, even if you know such a purchase will significantly improve your life? Set up automatic transfers from your checking account to a savings account so you can start working towards your goal in a way that doesn’t cause anxiety.

Cultivating awareness about your psychology surrounding money — and the kind of spending habits it promotes — can help you chart a financial path that works for you.

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IN MEMORIAM: Legendary Funk Pioneer Sly Stone Dies at 82

Sly Stone’s musical approach radically reshaped popular music. He transcended genre boundaries and empowered a new generation of artists. The band’s socially conscious message and infectious rhythms sparked a wave of influence, reaching artists as diverse as Miles Davis, George Clinton, Prince, Dr. Dre, and the Roots.

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Sly and the Family Stone play the Opera House in Bournemouth. Mojo review. Photo by Simon Fernandez.

By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Newswire

Sylvester “Sly” Stewart—known to the world as Sly Stone, frontman of the groundbreaking band Sly and the Family Stone—has died at the age of 82.

His family confirmed that he passed away peacefully at his Los Angeles home surrounded by loved ones, after battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other health complications.

Born March 15, 1943, in Denton, Texas, Stone moved with his family to Vallejo, California, as a child. He began recording gospel music at age 8 with his siblings in a group called the Stewart Four. By his teenage years, he had mastered multiple instruments and was already pioneering racial integration in music—an ethos that would define his career.

In 1966, Sly and his brother Freddie merged their bands to form Sly and the Family Stone, complete with a revolutionary interracial, mixed-gender lineup.

The band quickly became a commercial and cultural force with hits such as “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People,” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”—all penned by Stone himself.

Their album “Stand!” (1969) and live performances—most notably at Woodstock—cemented their reputation, blending soul, funk, rock, gospel, and psychedelia to reflect the optimism and turmoil of their era.

As the 1970s progressed, Stone confronted personal demons. His desire to use music as a response to war, racism, and societal change culminated in the intense album “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” (1971). But drug dependency began to undermine both his health and professional life, leading to erratic behavior and band decline through the early 1980s.

Withdrawn from the public eye for much of the 1990s and early 2000s, Stone staged occasional comebacks. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys in 2017, and captured public attention following the 2023 release of his memoir “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”—published under Questlove’s imprint. He also completed a biographical screenplay and was featured in Questlove’s documentary “Sly Lives!” earlier this year.

His influence endured across generations. Critics and historians repeatedly credit him with perfecting funk and creating a “progressive soul,” shaping a path for racial integration both onstage and in the broader culture.

“Rest in beats Sly Stone,” legendary Public Enemy frontman Chuck D posted on social media with an illustrative drawing of the artist. “We should thank Questlove of the Roots for keeping his fire blazing in this century.”

Emmy-winning entertainment publicist Danny Deraney also paid homage. “Rest easy Sly Stone,” Deraney posted. “You changed music (and me) forever. The time he won over Ed Sullivan’s audience in 1968. Simply magical. Freelance music publicist and Sirius XM host Eric Alper also offered a tribute.

“The funk pioneer who made the world dance, think, and get higher,” Alper wrote of Sly Stone. “His music changed everything—and it still does.”

Sly Stone is survived by three children.

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PRESS ROOM: Clyburn on 10th Anniversary of Mother Emanuel AME Church Shooting in Charleston

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06) released the following video on X, paying tribute to the 10th anniversary of the shooting that took place at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015.

Published

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Oakland Post

By Congressman James E. Clyburn

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CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06) released the following video on X, paying tribute to the 10^th anniversary of the shooting that took place at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015.

“Over 6 years ago, the House first passed my Enhanced Background Checks Act to close the Charleston Loophole that allowed a white supremacist to obtain the gun he used to murder nine worshipers at Emanuel AME Church on June 17, 2015.

“I’ll never stop fighting to pass this law.”