Money Visualization: An Ideal Day Exercise
What You Need to Know About Money Visualization
A guided money visualization is a practice based in fantasy realization theory.
Money visualization helps you get clear on your values and financial priorities by asking, “What would shift if I had a little more breathing room?”
This approach blends mindset and practicality. It's not about forcing gratitude or sticking to a rigid plan. It’s about reconnecting with your “why.”
Let’s play a little game of “what if.”
What if you had an extra $50 every month?
What about $100?
Or $500?
Take a second and really imagine what you’d do with it.
How would your days be different, or not, based on the additional income?
Hire someone to deep-clean your home once a month so you’re not rage-scrubbing the shower at 9 p.m. on a Tuesday? Upgrade from freeze-dried coffee powder to the locally roasted coffee beans? Or maybe something utterly practical, like finally replacing the threadbare undies that you’ve been clinging to since college.
This isn’t just a fun thought experiment. It’s a money visualization technique rooted in real psychology, and it can reveal a lot about your values, desires, and next steps.
This is Not the Law of Attraction: It’s More Than Money
I am not a person who believes that the harder you want something, the more likely it is that you’ll get it. I don’t subscribe to the idea that successful people are successful because they had happy thoughts. And conversely, I don’t believe that people who are unsuccessful are that way because they had negative thoughts. Our identities, lived experiences, and the systems we live in shape so much more of our lives than reading positive affirmations.
Visualization is creating or recreating a scenario in your mind. Visualization or psychological imagery is a tool that’s been used in many settings with positive outcomes. Visualization has been shown to help manage stress in healthcare workers, improve strength in athletes, and help musicians nail their performance (Resources here and here)!
A visualization exercise like the one above is about more than money. What this exercise does help you do is connect the dots between your ideal life and your current one. It gently invites you to explore how close, or far, you feel from the kind of life that aligns with your values.
Because when someone says, “If I had an extra $100, I’d book regular massages,” they’re not just talking about tight shoulders. They're often talking about needing rest. Or healing. Or feeling worthy of being taken care of.
Or maybe someone says, “With an extra $500, I’d take a week off unpaid and go visit my grandmother.” That speaks to values like family, connection, freedom, and presence.
This isn’t about luxury. It’s about permission. What are you giving yourself permission to want, and what are you assuming is out of reach?
Why You Need to Know What Matters Before You Plan
When we jump straight into things like rigid budgeting, aggressive debt payoff, or color-coded retirement planning without pausing to reflect on what actually matters to us, we risk creating financial plans that look good on paper but don’t feel good in practice. More commonly in my financial therapy practice, this looks like someone following someone else’s money rules, without ever pausing to decide if they are the right money rules for them.
Sure, you might check all the boxes, working on an emergency fund, contributing to a Roth IRA, and using HSA money for related expenses, but if those decisions aren’t grounded in your real-life priorities, it’s easy to fall into the trap of doing what you’re “supposed” to do, rather than what actually supports your version of a well-lived life.
That’s why money visualization matters. It gives you a starting point for identifying what your financial decisions are for. And that’s true whether you’re creating a grocery budget or mapping out your 30-year retirement plan.
Instead of budgeting from guilt (“I should cut takeout”) or fear (“I’m behind and need to catch up”), this exercise invites you to start with clarity: What do I want my life to feel like? How can money support that feeling, even in small ways, right now?
Why the Money Visualization Exercise Matters
At MMB, we don’t believe in rigid budgeting rules, nor do we lean entirely into “just think positively, and abundance will come” messaging. No shade to manifestation girlies–but I believe more nuance is required.
This exercise lands in the in-between space I love to work in: where mindset meets real life. It’s grounded in a therapeutic tool called mental contrasting, which helps folks build clarity and motivation by visualizing their goals and the real-world barriers that might get in the way.
This isn’t about shaming yourself into change. And it’s not about “cutting lattes” to fund a future you’re not even excited about. It’s about getting honest about what matters most to you, and identifying small, meaningful ways to get closer to that version of your life.
What Is Mental Contrasting?
Mental contrasting is a psychological concept that involves goal-setting and problem-solving. It asks people to use visualization to imagine what would happen in their lives if they achieved their goals.
Specifically, it asks people to focus on two things at once:
Imagine a desired future. What do you want to feel, do, achieve, or experience?
Contrast that with your current reality. What’s getting in the way? What other barriers haven’t you thought of?
Unlike purely positive thinking or affirmations, mental contrasting helps you move beyond “wouldn’t it be nice if…” and into “what would it take to make that happen?” It’s a strategy that’s been shown to help with motivation, emotional clarity, and even goal follow-through.
In short, it helps people build a bridge between fantasy and reality.
Try the Ideal Day Exercise for Yourself
Here’s how to try this reflective money visualization on your own. Set aside 10–15 quiet minutes, grab a notebook or answer these questions on a voice memo.
Ideal Day Exercise–Money Version
Start small: What would shift in your life if you had an extra $50/month?
Stretch a little: What about $100? $500?
Use psychological imagery: Get specific. Picture your day with that added money. What are you doing, where are you going, how do you feel?
Gently contrast: What’s currently keeping you from that version of your day? What internal or external barriers exist?
Get curious: Are there small, creative, or compassionate ways to bring even a piece of that ideal into your present life?
Real-Life Money Visualization Examples
Here are a few examples of what the money visualization exercise revealed that I’ve heard from clients over the years as a financial therapist (shared with permission and paraphrased for anonymity):
What would you do with extra money if you each month?
$50: “I’d start a date night fund so my partner and I could reconnect without guilt.” → This client and their partner were both Type-A strivers, and when we worked together their career had taken over so much of their life. When we dug into the reason to reconnect with their partner, they didn’t say they needed a weekend away without distractions; they just needed a consistent time to reconnect more frequently. Some of their low-cost date nights included happy hour before a free concert, a guided walking food tour, and ordering delivery pizza and streaming 90s rom coms.
$100: “I’d buy higher-quality groceries instead of relying on the big box grocers.” → We explored what it would mean to prioritize nourishment and enjoyment right now. They agreed to permit themselves to go to the farmer’s market once per week to pick up local produce.
$500 “I’d finally take that pottery class instead of waiting for a raise or hoping my mom would gift it to me.” → We unpacked the belief that creative joy was “wasteful.” While they worked on tweaking their spending plan so they could save up for the pottery class, they started sketching again in a notebook. Sketching was a creative practice they hadn’t done since high school. They found that sketching opened up a world of play. They’d doodle on scrap paper, or sit outside to draw what they saw instead of scrolling through their phone. They nurtured values of not only creativity but presence, too.
See how it works?
What’s “just” $50 or $100 on the surface is often a clue to something much deeper: connection, confidence, rest, creativity, joy, and presence. Additionally, when you move into visualization, you move from vague generalizations to specificities.
Ideal Day Exercise Invites Clarity
I want to be clear: This isn’t about confronting yourself with a harsh financial “reality check.”
This exercise offers a gentle, supportive lens to reflect on what you want and what’s possible. Sometimes, a fantasy is closer than we thought. Other times, we realize that what we think we want might be available in a different form.
Maybe you said you'd start walking daily if you had the money for a gym membership. As someone whose favorite way to explore new places is on foot, I get it! But how true is it that a gym membership is the only way to move your body? Could you find a movement routine that feels joyful and accessible today, even without that extra cash?
Or maybe it is all about the gym, because it represents structure, community, and routine, which you desperately need. In that case, I’d encourage you to think about creative ways to trim expenses that don’t serve you so you can spend that $50 on a YMCA membership.
This exercise isn’t just about dollars. It’s about what those dollars represent: flexibility, rest, creativity, joy, connection, or confidence.
It’s a small but mighty way to name your desires, identify your values, and reconnect with your “why.”
Even if your financial reality hasn’t changed, the clarity you gain from this reflection can shift your emotional landscape. It can help you make decisions that feel more grounded, intentional, and aligned with what matters to you.