Tuesday 7 April 2009

Everyday Money

According to economists we are all supposed to be rational about money; to see it as “fungible” a medium which we can use to exchange for any commodity we desire. Each of us has a different relationship with money, the ways we describe money are incredibly varied. We say “money talks,” but it is the way we talk about money which is most revealing.

When we talk about money we usually refer to it as dirty stuff, the root of all evil. Women don’t discuss money; cash is hard, women are soft. Women can be appalled when they have to ask for money, that’s the sort of thing prostitutes do – exchange money up front for a service to be rendered in the future. But money does count and is important to us.

Money is the stuff of life. It is the measure of all the services you enjoy. It is money that changes hands in nearly all transactions, the end result of the selling or value process. Money is your friend. It signals the worth of your abilities; money is power, marking you as a person of substance. Make peace with money by changing the language in your head.

More about this in Girls Just Want to Have Fund$ and more about our irrationality in Money, Money, Money Ain’t it Funny.

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