1. What does money mean to you? To your spouse?
   
   
2. What do you want money to mean in your family? In your business?
   
   
3. If you had all of the money you need, how much would that be?
   
   
4. Think of all of the ways you would satisfy your wants, if you had all of the money you need.
   
   
5. After you have satisfied all of your wants, what would you do then?
   
   
6. Is it okay to discuss your salary with others? Why or why not?
   
   
7. To what point is it okay to discuss what things cost?
   
   
8. Is it okay to pay children for getting good grades?
   
   
9. When should your child get a paying job?
   
   
10. In the family business, how do you determine what to pay a family member?
    
    
11. Is the breadwinner in your family the boss?
    
    
12. What did your parents teach you about money?
    
    
13. What are you teaching your children about money?
    
    
14. What ethical boundaries have you crossed with regard to money that are still "secrets" in the family?
    
    
15. How are these "secrets" costing you, both in dollars and in self-esteem and trust?
    

Evaluating Your Responses

Sort through your answers and look for patterns and themes. Are you surprised by your responses to this exercise? What are the meaning you have made of money? Go back to the beginning of the chapter where I discussed the meaning of money. Do your answer in this self-assessment exercise reflect any of the myths and values of money that are dominant in our culture? Are these values you really want to keep? Think long and hard about the money values you want to pass on to your children. Now rewrite your money values and add to the rest of your life plan a new healthier script for acquiring and utilizing wealth.

Summarizing Remark

Write one sentence or a brief paragraph summarizing what you learned from this exercise and what you want to change.