As any therapist will tell you, conflicts about money are usually not about money. They’re about you — or rather “your issues.”
So for my final Color of Money Book Club selection this year, I’m offering a pick that isn’t just about money.
The book is “The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge: 5 Principles to Transform Your Relationship With Money” (Health Communications Inc., $14.95) by Ted Klontz, Rick Kahler and Brad Klontz.
Ted Klontz is a certified therapist based in Nashville, Tenn. Brad Klontz, Ted’s son, is a licensed clinical psychologist based in Kapaa, Hawaii.
Rick Kahler is a certified financial planner based in Rapid City, S.D.
The authors effectively use the transformation of Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” to make their point that “it’s your relationship with money that is key.” Scrooge makes a good case study, as does Bob Cratchit.
Do you recall that Cratchit spent a handsome sum for Christmas pudding and a goose? How many people overspend at this season even while they are ducking calls from creditors?
“There are millions of modern-day examples of people who, like Scrooge and Cratchit, are imprisoned by self-defeating money behaviors,” the authors write.
They use their backgrounds to get you to figure out your “money script,” which they call self-limiting beliefs about money that drive our financial behaviors. For example, do any of the following sound like your personal money mantra?
“Very early in life, people begin to internalize messages about money’s purpose — how it works, what it promises, its overall significance — and develop their relationships to it,” the authors note.
To become a member of the Color of Money Book Club, all you have to do is read the recommended book. I also invite you to join me online to chat with the author or, in this case, the authors.
Ted Klontz, Brad Klontz and Kahler will join me online at 10 a.m. MST Dec. 20 at .
In addition, every month I randomly select readers to receive a copy of the book, donated by the publisher. For a chance to win a copy, send an e-mail to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Please include your name and an address so we can send you a book if you win.
Michelle Singletary: singletarym@washpost.com
