Looking at my money calms me down

Scrooge McDuck gif via giphy

For the longest time, I have had what I thought was an unusual money habit. 

I look at my mint.com account to see how much money I have. Looking at that aggregated number instantly makes me feel better no matter how I am feeling about other things. I also have a spreadsheet where I track how much my net worth has grown every quarter for the last few years, ever since I began investing. It shows progress which makes me feel like I am moving forward.

Interestingly enough, I have come across two other instances very recently where this exact behavior is replicated. 

1) One is with Sallie Krawcheck, founder of Ellevest. I listened to her WNYC podcast and she had the following to say about this particular behavior quirk, " ... As a child, I liked to look at the savings account, okay, I've got money, there, I'm feeling calmer. I keep an Excel spreadsheet on my computer where I keep track of what my net worth is, and that makes me feel better."

2) One is with the character Amy Dunne in the book Gone Girl - "I know we are luckier than most: I go online and check my trust fund whenever I get nervous. I never called it a trust fund before Nick did; it’s actually not that grand. I mean, it’s nice, it’s great – $785,404 that I have in savings thanks to my parents. But it’s not the kind of money that allows you to stop working forever, especially not in New York. My parents’ whole point was to make me feel secure enough so I didn’t need to make choices based on money – in schooling, in career – but not so well off that I could be tempted to check out."