Loaded: Money, Psychology, and How to Get Ahead without Leaving Your Values Behind

Praise for LOADED

"LOADED is that rare resource which somehow captures both theoretical and practical wisdom about money, personality, and life. Your views and actions with money will be much improved after reading the wonderful advice in LOADED."
James Grubman, PhD, author of Strangers in Paradise: How Families Adapt to Wealth Across Generations and co–author of Cross Cultures: How Global Families Negotiate Change Across Generations

YOUR MOST VALUABLE ASSET...IS YOU. LOADED WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT.

Based on decades of research and years of hands–on experience with people from all walks of life, LOADED is a must–read for anyone who finds themselves caught between the desire to thrive financially and the complex emotions and conflicting priorities that money so often brings to our lives.

Inside, you will learn to:

Check your stories. Pinpoint and change beliefs that hold you back. Choose your strategies. Learn how to align your money with your needs. Cultivate your value. Put your unique resources to use and earn more.

Deeply researched, yet written in an approachable, conversational tone, LOADED offers insight into how your personal experiences have shaped your financial attitudes, and how you can build a healthier relationship with money.

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Introduction: When it comes to money, we ve all got issues

Chapter 2 Money Messages

We Don t Talk About Money

We Talk About Money Constantly

From Freud to Frodo: The stories we tell each other

Kathy s Story

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Stories can help or Hurt

Heuristics and Biases Shape Our Stories

Identifying Core Beliefs

Challenging Core Beliefs

Using Science to Our Advantage

Chapter 3 Poverty, Privilege, and Prejudice: A crash course in the science of money psychology

Money and Social Psychology: How poverty, privilege, and comparisons affect our minds and behavior

Money and Cognitive Psychology: How specific thinking patterns affect financial decisions

Making Change

Chapter 4 The LOADED Budget: Creating a human–centered money management plan

What s Wrong With Your Budget?

Where Does Your Money Come From?

Assets and Resources

Where Does Your Money Go?

Putting it All Together: MEconomics

The Power of Perspective

Keeping Yourself on Track

Enjoying a Loaded Life: Living in harmony with your money and your values

APPENDIX A: Self–Assessments

1. Write Your Personal Financial Narrative

2. Define Your Core Beliefs

3. Financial Management & Behaviors Scale

4. Emotions and Money

5. Mental Imagery

6. Behavior Identification Form

7. How Impulsive Are You?

8. Big 5 Financial Literacy Questions

APPENDIX B: Exercises & Worksheets

1. Change the narrative

2. Find a counter–example

3. Age–progression

4. Future Visualization Exercises

5. Exercises to Combat MoneyThink

6. Affirm core values

7. Cash Flow Sheet

8. Resources Worksheet

9. Needs Worksheet

10. Your Meconomy

About the Author

Index

SARAH NEWCOMB, PhD, is a behavioral economist at Morningstar and HelloWallet (a personal financial wellness company owned by Morningstar). An interdisciplinary scholar, Sarah is well versed in consumer psychology, economic decision–making, personal money management, and cognitive and social psychology.

What Others Are Saying:

"LOADED: Money, Psychology, and How to Get Ahead without Leaving Your Values Behind is that rare resource which somehow captures both theoretical and practical wisdom about money, personality, and life. Sarah Newcomb has done a phenomenal job of distilling the latest concepts from behavioral finance and psychology for the benefit of the everyday reader who simply wants to know how to handle money better. She opens with a big–picture perspective on how we form our money personalities and behaviors, using relevant personal anecdotes and case examples. By book s end, she leads us to taking charge of our money decisions to create budgets that really work. Writing in a highly readable style, her tone is upbeat and empowering. Your views and actions with money will be much improved after reading the wonderful advice in LOADED."
– James Grubman, PhD. Author of Strangers in Paradise: How Families Adapt to Wealth Across Generations and co–author of Cross Cultures: How Global Families Negotiate Change Across Generations