4 Priceless Pieces of Wisdom From My Mom

Editor's note: Please welcome Sarah from Unsettle.org. She's here today sharing all the good pieces of life and financial advice she learned from her mom. Sometimes we take words of wisdom from our parents for granted and sometimes we don't realize just how valuable their advice is until we get other. Hopefully our moms good advice makes us better people and for that we want to say thank you!

As Mother’s Day approaches, it’s difficult not to think about the impact your mom has had on your life.

After all, mothers are our first point of contact with humans. As we get older, they teach us about life, and the way the world works.

They’re the first people who love us, and the first people who taught us something. Mothers are responsible for a lot of our attitudes, beliefs, and perspectives.

I’m lucky to have a strong, amazing woman as a mother who instilled a great deal of wisdom and belief about the world into me. I still learn things from her constantly, and I’m grateful for the woman she’s helped me become.

Here are four pieces of motherly wisdom my mother was able to instill in me which have helped shaped the path of my financial behaviours.

1. You Are Not Your Money

Sometimes, it seems as if everyone is trying to one-up one another.

People are buying bigger houses, fancier cars, brand name clothing, and expensive goods to make themselves look good.

But underneath that, what they’re trying to do is to prove to themselves that they’re worth something by putting on a facade to the world.

One of the best things my mom taught me about money is that your worth isn’t tied to what you own or possess.

It’s not necessary to try to keep up with the Joneses’ to prove to the world that you’re successful. And often, the only reason people need to prove to the world that they are successful is because they don’t quite believe it themselves.

2. Get Rich Quick Schemes Never Work

One thing I’m very grateful that my mother taught me was that schemes that promise to help you get rich in a short period of time don’t deliver.

It’s easy to get sucked up into the constant barrage of scams, easy money schemes and even just honest people not willing to put in the work, but they don’t pay off.

Knowing this has surely saved me a lot of time, money, and frustration and has led me to believe that the best way to get rich is through hard work and smart decisions.

3. Money Should be A Tool, Not a Goal

Money is a useful tool.

It puts a roof over our heads, food on the table, and gives us a means to pursue what we love to do.

It helps us get from place to place, enables us to see the world, and opens doors that would be shut tight without it.

But that’s all money is and should be used as: a tool.

Money is a tool that can help you plan for the future, achieve your dreams, and live a meaningful life.

But money should not be the goal.

My mother taught me not to pursue money for the sake of money, but rather to pursue my dreams and use money as a tool to get there.

And that’s been a very powerful lesson.

4. Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness..

.. but it can buy experiences, and happiness can be found through experiences.

Instead of spending my money frivolously on “stuff” like designer clothing or kitchen gadgets, I was taught that any spending money should be spent on experiences.

Whether that experience is travel, outsourcing something so you can volunteer your time, or connecting with a friend over coffee, those experiences are things that you’ll come to appreciate only enrich your life at the end of your life.

You’re not going to remember or care about that new iPhone, but you’ll always appreciate the happiness experiences can buy.

I’m so grateful to have a mom who instilled such great Mother’s Day wisdom in me, and I hope that everyone reading this also has a mother who has done the same.

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