Who are you with Money?

Understand what leads people to make different spending choices is an important step to learning how to manage your money. Each person’s values have a great deal of influence over how they live their life – and how they spend their money. A value is a principle, or what you judge to be important in your life. Values are personal: What one person values highly another person may not value at all. For example, valuing independence might mean that a person lives on their own without being supported by other (parents/relative) or valuing community could mean that a person is willing to do everything they can do to financially support neighbors. Other values commonly expressed include caring, responsibility, status, friendships, family and knowledge.
How we spend money reflects what we value. For example, if you value education and knowledge, then you might spend money on educational books and programs, higher education and saving for family members to go to college. If you value status, you might spend your money on the latest fashion and expensive shoes. Because values are personal, your spending may differ from other people you know, including friends and family. We should always be careful of judging others for their values – no values are wrong, just different.
Managing money means making choices. Quite simply, there’s often not enough money for all things we’d like to do or buy. Needs are the things necessary to sustain life: food, air, water and shelter. Wants are the things that make life more enjoyable and comfortable. Some things are clearly wants, such as expensive sneaker, designer clothes or a sports car. What is truly can be harder to decide. For example, reliable transportation is a need but an expensive new car would be a want. Comparing choices and asking ourselves which items we need more can help us prioritize our spending. One key concept in managing money is opportunity costs – what you give up when you choose something else. This can relate to money or other resources, such as time. For example: One family may purchase clothing at a local department store and rarely eat out. Another family may buy clothes at the thrift store but eat out more regularly. Neither of these choices are wrong, but there are opportunity costs for each decisions.
Many things influence our buying. Our attitudes about Monday can play a big role in how we spend money. Understanding how we buying things makes you feel, or why you shop at certain times, may help you understand why your spending doesn’t always match up with what is really important to you. The different types of buyers are: Bargain Buyer, Emotional Buyer, Get-Even Buyer, Status Seeking Buyer, Wishful Buyer and the Satisfied Buyer. Each type of buying style has it’s own way to meet the needs of the buyer and knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each buying style can help buyers be better at shopping.

During the All my Money Program we cover each of these concepts in depth and help people determine how to become better with their money!
Currently there are two All My Money Winter 2018 programs that are open to the public and are scheduled!
• Badger High School – February 8, 15 and March 1 6-8:30 pm – $10 per participant cost – registration materials can be found at: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=YmFkZ2VyLmsxMi53aS51c3xiYWRnZXItY29tbXVuaXR5LWVkdWNhdGlvbnxneDoyNDc1N2U4OTYzMmViNGEy
• Sugar Creek Lutheran Church – February 5, 12, 26 6-8:30 pm – free due to sponsorship of Sugar Creek Lutheran Church – contact Dawn at 262-728-2222 or dtheath16@gmail.com for more information or to registrar.

Additional programs will be available around the county! Contact Amanda Kostman, Walworth County UW-Extension Family Living Educator at amanda.kostman@wisc.edu to be updated to event dates as they are released!

In addition, UW-Extension has online resources to assist with managing money, dealing with debt, and making progress toward goals. The website https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/money/ links you to reliable resources for budgeting, boosting credit scores, dealing with unexpected expenses, saving for college, and renting that first apartment.

For more information on managing family finances, contact Amanda Kostman, Walworth County UW-Extension Family Living Educator at amanda.kostman@wisc.edu.