The Money Value Cycle (MVC)^©

To explain the Money Value Cycle (MVC)© a little more, I’ll share how I discovered it and walk us around the various pieces. 

 

I was sitting at my desk after my favorite yoga class, thinking about people and money, while simultaneously feeling the energy lines coursing through my body from the yoga I had just done. And I realized, in an “Ah ha” moment, that just like the lines running through our physical bodies, there are energy lines from us to our money and back again across the body of our lives. 

 

I saw these lines of value and this cycle from an individual to their money and back again as connected with the world, clear as day in my mind’s eye. And so, I mapped it. As I did, I learned many things. I’ll share two here. 

 

First, the value of money itself exists because of its relationship with the other forms of value around the cycle – the real-life productivity of the value we create in our money cycles, the valuable goods and services we use and consume through our money cycles. It’s the non-financial value that substantiates the value of money.

 

Secondly, interestingly, the value in our money cycles doesn’t start with or come back to money - it starts with and comes back to the Self. This makes sense, since we created money, and it’s our energies and needs that travel the world through financial currency. 

 

What does this tell us? Money’s not about money— it’s about connection, and it’s about us!

What part(s) of our own value are we tapping into in our money cycle? This is about knowing and honoring your Self. When not done well, the best parts of ourselves sit to the side, atrophying, while other parts work hard to create money. When done best, we connect how we create money with the depths of our true selves, following a dream perhaps, and become more and more of ourselves in the journey. Often, it’s somewhere in between. Most importantly, are you growing as a person in how the value cycle comes together as a whole (since it’s not about money)? 

 

Next in the MVC©, we use our own value and energy (part of our value) and create something of value in the world. This is true no matter how money comes into your life. Maybe you work, and money comes through the value of your work. Maybe you have money from investments. The people borrowing your money value it enough to pay you! Maybe it’s family money. Your family values your very existence.

 

We then see where it’s more than money that comes back to us in this cycle. The non-financial value we receive, for better and worse, is a crucial part of what this all means to us. Good work relationships can make a bad job bearable, while toxic work relationships can turn a dream job into dysfunction.  How we think and feel about where our money comes from matters to many people, and a general sense of being energized or depleted by your money picture always matters, no matter how much money you do or don’t make. A sense of purpose and/or being valued by work or family is priceless. This piece is very important because, since money isn’t about money, it’s the non-financial value you ultimately experience that brings together the value of the money itself. 

 

Next, our money comes from somewhere- cash inflow. Not only is this part of how money connects each of us to the greater world and each other, but, in my experience, the source of our money impacts what it means to us. Compare birthday gift money to hard job money. The money feels different, and it affects what it means to us. It often affects how we use it. In my observation, when we dislike how money comes into our lives, that negativity touches what our money touches.  But it’s also true that when our money comes from a connected place of power, that positivity touches everything in our lives that our money touches (everything). 

 

Then there’s the money itself. Yes, the money matters! In today’s world, money is our vehicle to food, shelter, and other goods and services that other people sell. It’s a wonderful, highly valuable thing! We can do completely unrelated activities all day, and then use money to magically have food, shelter, and other goods and services in our lives. Simply, it becomes a way to convert the value that we are and create with the value we use. 

It’s a mistake to reject the value of money, because it’s real. Personally, I think it’s beautiful.

 

It’s also dangerous. In today’s world, money is our bridge from our internal needs and wants to the external, material world and our vehicle for food, shelter, and the like. As my father famously said, “Money skills are 21st century survival skills” (R. Wagner).

 

 

When we use money, there are a few things to consider. 

 

First, bang for buck. Are you getting good value for your money, or not? This is where price shopping and inflation live in the MVC©. 

 

Next, the balance of your money use – because every part of our lives calls for financial energy, and so using money in balance across the breadth of your life is part of using it to support a life well lived. 

 

The final personal element in using money to support personal meaning and value in the world is back to self-awareness and self-worth. Do you bring energy and value back to you as an individual by what you bring into your life and how you shape your world when you use money? Understanding what you find personally meaningful and deem valuable in the world, plus owning the self-worth to ask for it. 

 

The MVC© ends with the reality that we connect to the world beyond ourselves through the value we send forward when we use money. This is true on a literal level through the economic ties. But I also see an interpersonal, metaphysical reality. I see a piece of ourselves in every dollar in our lives, as we put ourselves into how we create money through our own value and energy. We send this forward when we use our money, and we will build, as people, where we send our value and energy. 

 

 

The Money Value Cycle (MVC)© demonstrates the vast and intense connection of money across humanity, from how it might come and go from places across the globe via our collective economy, to the nuances and intimacy of our personal MVC©’s. I see it as the world’s greatest man-made force of human connection.

 

Our philosophy that “money can and should be used for great good” (R. Wagner) is visible throughout the MVC©, from the self-actualization of how you create money in your life to how we all, as co-creators, shape the world through the value and energy we send forward in how we use our money.  

 

Last, the MVC© shows us that we should not put money ahead of non-financial value. Rather, we should use money to cultivate and uplift the ineffable, the priceless, and the practical. 

The Money Value Cycle is a powerful framework for moving beyond simple math and looking at how "life energy" transforms as it moves through your hands. Think of it as a circuit: when the flow is open, you feel vital; when it’s clogged, things feel heavy.

 

Here is a breakdown of the cycle, starting with you and moving through the manifestations of value.

 

 

1. Self: The Source

 

The cycle begins with You. Not your bank account, but your inherent worth, skills, and presence.

 

• The Flow: This is where you acknowledge yourself as a "valuable being."
• Check-in: Does this feel robust (I have much to offer) or contracted (I’m not enough)?

 

2. Contribution: Creating Value

 

You take your internal value and project it outward. This is your work, your art, your service, or your labor.

 

• The Flow: Your energy turns into something others can use or benefit from.
• Check-in: Does your work feel like a meaningful expression of your "Self," or is there a disconnect between who you are and what you do?

 

3. Compensation: Receiving Value

 

In exchange for your contribution, the world gives back. This usually manifests as Currency.

 

• The Flow: The energy of your work is "frozen" into money—a liquid form of value you can carry.
• Check-in: Do you receive this with a sense of "vitality" (gratitude/fairness) or "drain" (resentment/undervalued)?

 

4. Exchange: Moving Value

 

This is the bridge between receiving and consuming. It’s the act of deciding where that "frozen energy" goes.

 

• The Flow: You trade your currency for the value others have created (rent, groceries, investments, charity).
• Check-in: Do your transactions feel like a choice that aligns with your meaning, or a leak you can't control?

 

5. Consumption & Integration: Using Value

 

The cycle returns to you. This is the food you eat, the home that shelters you, and the experiences that nourish you.

 

The Flow: The external value is converted back into your personal well-being.

Check-in: Does what you consume actually nourish your "Self" and replenish your energy for the next cycle?

 

Mapping Your Energy

 

As you visualize this loop, look for the "Kinks in the Hose":