Personal history

Personal history is about how your own past with money, from the messages you heard growing up to the good and bad experiences that followed, shapes the choices you make today. Researchers call some of these unspoken beliefs money scripts, and studies such as the Klontz Money Script Inventory link them to saving, spending and attitudes to wealth. Understanding where a habit comes from does not excuse it, but it helps you see it as learned rather than fixed. This page gathers our articles, quizzes and videos on how upbringing and experience shape money behavior, handled with care.