My new obsession these days is Money Magazine, and the only thing holding me back from reading it every day is the fact that it only comes out once a month. Unlike some other $ mags out there, Money conjures up some fascinating (and pretty easy to read) articles that even us newbies can quickly pick up. I’m not saying i’m slow or suck at reading, but i’ll be the first to admit those financial terms lose me every now and then.

One of my favorite articles this month (April, pg 79) goes into some psychology and “life” questions that poke around a bit, and get you to figure out exactly what you want out of your money. It’s titled, “What do you really want from your money?” :)

Although there are a few familiar questions like “if you were to die tomorrow, would you feel like you missed anything? would you do anything different?”, they had a pretty cool side box that helps you to dive into your past and figure out your money habits. It’s titled “Digging In” (pg 82), and it pulls excerpts from a questionnaire used by Barbara Kirby, a Minn. financial adviser.

Since one of my fav. things is to answer those random lists of questions people forward around, i figured i’d post and answer a handful of them myself. Here’s what we got (questions quoted from Money):

1. When you were a kid, did your family use money mainly to reward, punish, survive, impress, control, help others, have fun, buy love, reach goals, or ____? oh man, i hardly understood money back then…but i’d probably go with “paying the bills” and “making sure we didn’t have to worry about money”.
2. When you were young, did you consider your family to be rich, poor or ___? I’d say smack down in the middle. i never thought we were rich, but i did wonder why we couldn’t get Nike’s every year like all the cool kids ;)
3. As an adult, what has been the most important lesson you have learned about money? To save it! not that i always followed it, but that was the 1 and only thing ever mentioned about $ in our household.
4. In your current financial life, are you more of an avoider or a worrier? Prob. a healthy mix of both. I usually try to avoid worrying!
5. Has money been an “issue” or source of conflict in your important relationships? Never.
6. What money habits have been obstacles to your reaching your life goals? probably just spending more as i brought in more. since i’m still in my 20’s (barely…..tear) it’s not like i’ve had any major goals to strive for, but now that i’m putting them in place i’ll def. need to keep my eyes on the money flowing out of my pockets.
7. What experience do you feel has most directly shaped your current level of financial satisfaction? Buying our house last year. That’s really the turning point of my budgeting and financial planning. Although i am extremely more knowledgeable now than when we bought sadly, it’s def. opened my eyes and forced me to wake up and smell the greenbacks.

That is all my friends. If you’re interested, or just plain bored, i challenge you to give it a shot yourself! I’ve asked myself many a questions before, but none like these. Maybe you’ll have one of those “Ohhh, so THAT’s why i ____”?