In order to understand where you are going (in life and financially), you first need to understand who you are. And in order to understand who you are, you need to understand where you came from. Your values, education and environment all interplay in a complicated way to determine your financial personality, and understanding the impact of these influences is key to the self-discovery process.\n\nWhether you are aware of it or not, your values are a very important part of what drives your day-to-day decision-making. However, many people go through life purporting to have certain values yet these values do not correlate with the way they live their lives. How many people say they value family but spend little quality time with their children? How many claim independence as a high priority and then work in a job that is more like a prison sentence? In cases like these, it may be that they are not acknowledging or recognizing their true values. Or it may be that they are not really living their lives in accordance with their values.