Activity time: 15 minutes

Materials for Activity

• List of patterns and themes from Activity 1
• Handout 1, Money Scripts of Scrooge and Cratchit
• Newsprint, markers, and tape

Preparation for Activity

• Make copies of Handout 1 for all participants.

Description of Activity

Say:

In their book The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge: 5 Principles to Transform Your Relationship with Money, Ted Klontz, Brad Klontz, and Rick Kahler offer a useful tool for deeper exploration of your own money story. They write about money scripts, which are defined as “deeply internalized beliefs we have about money, often unconscious, which play out daily in our attitudes and behaviors around money and money decisions.” The book uses the characters in Charles Dickens’s book The Christmas Carol as the source for some common money scripts.

Share this quote from the book:

Often, messages learned during childhood are buried so deeply that the individual doesn’t know about or question the belief, even when acting on it causes him or her repeated problems. It is important to understand that money scripts are not inherently good or bad, right or wrong. Certain money scripts can serve us well when applied to the appropriate financial circumstance. However, money scripts can become a problem, even become destructive, when they are applied to inappropriate financial circumstances.

Distribute Handout 1, Money Scripts of Scrooge and Cratchit, and invite participants to read them over and reflect on whether any of these money scripts have played a role in their own financial lives. Ask:

Is there any relationship between the patterns we identified from our own money stories and the money scripts in the handout?