opportunity to learn about money was not afforded them. This would include having been the unfortunate victims of oppressive governments, discrimination, or any number of atrocities throughout human history from which they were not able to recover.
The second possible cause is that they didn't buy into the concept of hoarding. According to Dictionary.com, hoard is defined as “a stock or store of money or valued objects, typically one that is secret or carefully guarded.”1 There are several key elements to this definition. First, it requires someone to stock up and save money or valuable objects. Second, it requires someone to protect, preserve, and safeguard the hoard.
The great news about this is that if you are reading this book, you likely live in a free society where people just like you have been able to create financial success. So while institutional and/or cultural barriers exist, it is possible for you to overcome them.
Today, we honor hoarders of money and resources. If you are not among them, it would be normal for you to feel bad about yourself. You may ask: Why were they able to do it, and me and my ancestors failed to do it? But here's the thing: While today we honor hoarders of money, thousands of years ago we killed them.
DEATH TO SAVERS
The majority of us are just not wired to save. In a 2018 study published in Nature Communications titled “Differential Temporal Salience of Earning and Saving,” researchers Kesong Hu, Eve De Rosa, and Adam K. Anderson found that we are wired to pay more attention to earning than saving.2 They noted that “savings” are for future use, are currently inaccessible, and are abstract, which decreases our attention and motivation to save. In contrast, we are wired to focus more on earning or gaining money and possessions now, which is much more concrete. Not only are we wired to pay attention to immediate concrete gains versus long-term abstract savings, our ancestors survived by sharing what they had when they had it. Those who didn't share were sanctioned by the tribe, often quite dramatically—sometimes banished, sometimes publicly executed. The ultimate sanction was to be thrown out of the tribe, which was a prescription for certain death. The sharers survived, and so they passed on their sharing genes and became the dominant group with the trait of sharing.
In many contemporary settings, the bias toward sharing instead of saving for oneself is very much predominant. For example, this approach to resources is quite prominent in Appalachia, Native American tribes, many African American communities, poor neighborhoods, and others. Those members of the community who share what they have with others are venerated while nonsharers are sanctioned. An underlying premise is that “If I look out for you when you need help, then you will look out for me when I need help.” Each generation had its share of hoarders, but the majority of our ancestors, those individuals who survived, were those who had a sharing bias.
At this point, you may be wondering about your money beliefs. Where did they come from? Did they evolve from my ancestors thousands of years ago? How much of my financial behavior is hardwired and on auto pilot, and how much can I really control? Can I really fight genetic tendencies against saving, and if so, how? Can I become aware of my tendencies and correct them or am I doomed for financial extinction too? In the next chapter, we begin to explore those and many other questions, but first we need some Mammoth Insights to lead us on our journey.
Chapter 1 Mammoth Mindset Insights
1 Wealth can be a tool for happiness, but not the only source.
2 Setting expectations for greatness can occur through ancestry education.
3 Ancestral expectations can help build intrinsic motivation to achieve.
4 Sharing understandings and expectations of wealth can be generationally powerful.
5 Our early ancestors who evolved and survived had a sharing bias.
6 Setting an expectation for savings and financial independence is very important.
NOTES
1 1. Dictionary.com, “A supply or accumulation that is hidden or carefully guarded for preservation, future use, etc.,” https://www.dictionary.com/browse/hoard?s=t.
2 2. Kesong Hu, Eve De Rosa, and Adam K. Anderson, “Differential Temporal Salience of Earning and Saving,” Nature Communications 9, no. 1 (2018): 2843.
CHAPTER 2 Your Parents
You are a product of your parents, and so is your relationship with money. Take a moment to think about your parents and their experiences around money. Did they grow up wealthy? Poor? Middle class? What was that like for them? Were they satisfied with their socioeconomic status as kids? Were they dissatisfied? Did they feel shame about having too little or too much money compared to those around them? Were they raised knowing that they would have family financial support when they needed it, or were they cut loose at an early age knowing they had to sink or swim on their own? What lessons did your grandparents teach them? What cultural and/or historical events impacted their relationship with money? How would you rate their satisfaction with their financial status in adulthood? Were they happy with their achievements? Did they feel remorse or despair?
Don't be surprised if you don't know the answers to these questions. After all, money is a taboo topic in our culture. Many of us feel shame around money, and it can be difficult to think about, let alone talk to your children about. However, your parents' experiences around money have had a dramatic impact on your relationship with money. Shedding light on their experience can help you make sense of your own financial beliefs and behaviors. If your parents are still alive, we encourage you to sit down with them and interview them about their relationship with money. If not, try to interview aunts, uncles, or cousins. Ask them questions about your grandparents and any stories about your other ancestors. In terms of understanding and mastering your own financial psychology, uncovering the details of your family history is pure gold.
Now think in terms of how your parents raised you around money. How was money handled in your home? How was it talked about? Did your parents agree about financial matters? Was money a topic of disagreement or conflict, or was it avoided altogether? What did your parents teach you about money, either overtly through instruction or by example?
When you take the time to explore your parents' experiences around money, you will make better sense of your own financial beliefs and decisions. As a child, you watched them closely. They created the universe in which you were raised; they created the initial structure on which you built your money mindset. Their beliefs about money have had a powerful impact on your own financial psychology—for better or worse.
YOUR PARENTS
As you think about your parents, their relationship with money, and what you learned, what feelings emerge? Our relationship with our parents is complicated, made up of a mixed bag of feelings and experiences over the years. Due to the nature of our species, we rely on the care, feeding, and protection of our parents longer than any other animal. As a result, we are more influenced by our parents than any other species. This is also where we get most of our socialization—how we make sense of relationships, our sense of self, and the various roles we play. For better or worse, you entered the world as the socialized and behavioral result of what you saw your parents say and do when you were very young. Typically, by the age of 7, your personality, behaviors, and social beliefs are fairly well cast.
When it comes to our beliefs and behaviors about money, research has supported a similar pattern of learning. What we see, hear, and overhear about money and relationships can influence us for our entire lives. These early childhood experiences create our money beliefs, which are hardwired into our subconscious. Our money beliefs drive our financial behaviors, and in many ways, determine