There is a classification that identifies 7 levels of money management. Its author is Anton Monin.
According to it, most people on the planet are at the first level — this is the survival level, about 5-10% of people are at the comfortable money level. Even fewer people are at the business level and above.
In this article, we will look at the first two levels and analyze how they are connected to your emotions.
If you understand that you are at either the first or the second level, then this article is for you.
So, read on to learn how to transition to or strengthen your position at the comfortable money level.
Three levels of money management
First level — survival mode
At this level, a person’s monthly income can range from 30 to 70 thousand rubles. At the same time, the person spends everything they earn. In the Soviet Union, this was called “living from paycheck to paycheck.”
At this level, money is enough to cover minimal needs, but there is none left for luxuries and pleasures. Only basic needs are satisfied.
A person has a strong attachment to money, an exaggerated focus on it. The person is fixated on money, or more precisely, on where to get it.
At this level, money is directly linked to emotions, and most often to negative ones. This is the main difference between the survival level and the next level — comfortable money.
If a person has unexpected expenses: neighbors flooded the apartment, the car broke down, a victim mentality kicks in because there is no money to fix it.
The mind is occupied with where to get money for food, for paying the apartment. There is an endless race in a vicious circle, or as it is also called, the rat race.
At this level, self-esteem is tied to money, especially for men. Success is measured by the presence of money.
See also What is a poverty mindset and how to identify it
Find out what thoughts and behaviors program people for a lack of money.
Second level — comfortable money
At this level, a person is not overly fixated on money. It comes at the right time for the needs you have.
At this level, you are not dependent on money. And you do have money.
You have formed a safety cushion. Moreover, this is not money for a “rainy day,” but an amount covering six months of living expenses in case of force majeure.
If you need to go to the hospital for a check-up, or travel somewhere for urgent unexpected matters, you do not worry, do not fall into stress, but simply take money from the cushion and use it for its intended purpose. That is what it is for.
At this level, there are no longer emotions associated with having or not having money.
The significance of and dependence on money is eliminated. Money is just a tool for solving your tasks.
Money comes and goes, and you know exactly how to get it, how to earn it.
A sign by which you can understand that you have moved to the level of comfortable money is that you stop paying attention to prices in stores, and your attitude towards discounts and promotions changes.
You buy an item not because it is on sale, but because you need it or like it.
Third level — business
We will only touch upon this level briefly.
At this level, money comes from business. Here, people work for you. You can step away from the process, and your business will continue to operate without your involvement.
You can relax on the beach with a cocktail while your business thrives, and you receive passive income.
If you are at this level, we would be glad if you share in the comments whether this is how it works for you.
How to move to the comfortable money level
Now let’s look at how to move from the survival level to the comfortable money level.
1. Erase limitations associated with money
Identify the money programs that affect the financial side of your life.
To do this, track what you think about money, what thoughts, and especially what emotions are associated with money.
Find limitations, for example, it could be a fear of large sums of money that appeared back in the 1990s, or beliefs such as “money doesn’t grow on trees.”
Dedicate a week to this process, write down all thoughts about money that arise, as well as your reactions to spending, expenses, and also income.
After a week, you will have a list of your negative beliefs related to money. Opposite each belief, write an equal but opposite one and start reprogramming.
Go through the meditation “Living in a New Paradigm.” Light and Love, integrated through the body, will allow you to dream without limits and create your new paradigm – for the common higher good.
2. Remove dependence on money
In the first part of the article, we determined that at the survival level, money is strongly tied to emotions.
Your task is to reduce the importance of money in your life. The fact that you stop suffering from its absence and experiencing negative emotions about it will not make you have less money.
And while you do not see new opportunities to earn more money, I recommend as often as possible tune into a wave of gratitude — be grateful for what you already have.
The meditation “Gratitude to Money” will help you clear the channels of receiving and giving money energy, letting money into your life with joy and ease.
3. Learn to pay with pleasure
To have more money, earn it with pleasure and spend it with pleasure too.
Practice this exercise: pay with pleasure when you buy something you like.
Replace the word “spending” with “I am investing in myself,” “I am investing in myself.”
This way, you rewrite the neural connections in your brain that linked spending money with negativity.
If you work for yourself, treat yourself to gifts and enjoyable purchases when you earn another sum of money.
Money comes for desires that bring you pleasure.
Money does not come for the word “need”: “I need to get my teeth fixed,” “I need to pay for the apartment”…
Because the word “need” is associated with words like “must,” “I don’t want to.” There is no pleasure here.
If you really wanted something, and money came to you for it, then you need to spend it on what you wanted.
Otherwise, the law of Saturn comes into effect, and this window of opportunity will close for an indefinite period.
If you are saving up for something, think about how burning your desire is, because when everything inside you is buzzing and you are “on fire” just at the thought of it, money for it comes from unexpected sources (an unexpected bonus, a side job, not declared from any side).
There are people who cannot desire for themselves, because when they desire for themselves, absolutely everything in their life “collapses.”
For such people, spirituality and money are absolutely incompatible. They have no need to have anything more; they are used to being content with little. Perhaps this is a trace from past lives.
And therefore, their loved ones: children, husbands, wives desire for them, and money comes for the desires of the people valuable to them.
Read also: 7 steps to getting pleasure from life
4. Increase your own value
Value and money are interconnected. Money comes when your value is in order.
Determine what your uniqueness is, as a specialist, how you can use your strengths for the benefit of your work process.
Nurture this within yourself and broadcast it outward. Value is not self-esteem, determined by the mind. Value is always with you, it comes from within.
When you understand and feel this, it will be easy for you to voice your price — for how much money you are willing to spend your time. And you will not care if someone is not satisfied with it, because inside you will always have the confidence that those who are ready to pay as much as you stated will be attracted.
Take the meditation “My Value,” which will help you forgive yourself and feel your worth.
5. Believe in your potential
What distinguishes people with a poverty mindset from those who are confident in themselves and their abilities?
The former believe in freebies, in fairy tales that money can fall from the ceiling (unexpected inheritance, lottery win). They do not believe they can earn this money through their own work and talents.
In this scenario, there is no involvement from them: “I won’t do anything, it will happen on its own.”
This is an illusion, a belief in castles in the air — it happens at a survival level, when a person does not see options.
In the second case, people who work effectively know that it will bring them money. And so it happens. They believe in themselves, in their own strength.
This is the second level and above, where you are the main protagonist.
6. Accept your parents
From an energetic perspective, there is a direct connection between your parents and money.
The first chakra — the root chakra — is responsible for material things — money, as well as ancestral ties.
Therefore, if you still hold grudges or grievances against your parents, let them go and accept your father and mother as they are. This is the fundamental starting point for spiritual development.
This article is based on the broadcast “Money and Wealth” from the “Conversation on the Couch” section. All questions on this topic were discussed in detail here: