Dreaming about money: what that dream usually says

What this dream usually points to (and what it doesn't)

Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme.

Dreaming about money does not announce a gain or a loss. What dream research shows is a link with waking worries and wishes, and money is one of the biggest worries of adult life.

Read also: Dreams about flying: what happens in the brain and Dreaming about death: why it happens and what it does not mean, Dreaming about a safe.

What sleep science observes about dreaming about money

Under the continuity hypothesis, what occupies your mind during the day tends to come back at night. A tight month, an unexpected bill, a salary negotiation or a purchase plan are direct fuel for this kind of dream.

Source: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003.

There is also evidence that dreaming about something you just learned tracks the processing of that material: in one experiment, people who dreamed about a task they had trained performed better afterwards.

Source: Wamsley et al., Dreaming of a Learning Task, Current Biology, 2010.

Scenes that show up most in this dream

• Finding money: usually comes with relief, common in tight phases.
• Losing a wallet or cash: shows up with a sense of carelessness and duty.
• Receiving money from someone: frequent when there is a real expectation of payment or help.
• Fake money, or money that vanishes in your hand: often tracks distrust about a waking situation.
• Being robbed: belongs to the very common threat group.

See also: Dreaming about coal and Dreaming about eggs.

Science and belief: Freud, Jung and faith traditions

In Freud's psychoanalysis. Finding money in a dream is almost a textbook case of wish fulfillment. Freud quoted an older observation on this: just as a mother who lost a child becomes a mother again in such images, a man who lost his money sees himself as immensely rich. The night scene hands over what the day denied. He also noted that impressions from the day before, like a payment or a talk about prices, become dream material.

In Jung's psychology. Man and His Symbols quotes the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart: every natural treasure means gold. In the Jungian reading, the treasure that is hard to reach points to the Self, the center of the psyche. So a fortune that appears or vanishes may speak less about a bank balance and more about the worth a person does, or does not, see in themselves.

In symbols and faith. In A Dictionary of Symbols, Chevalier and Gheerbrant explain that alchemy never sought only metal gold: the real aim was to transform the person. Vedic texts said that gold is immortality, and the poet Angelus Silesius wrote that the heart becomes the finest gold. Jesus taught in Matthew 6:19-21 that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. In the orisha mythology gathered by Reginaldo Prandi, gold belongs to Oxum.

Bringing both views together. If the dream keeps coming back, it may simply echo real bills, as science shows. Faith, in turn, offers a different question: what treasure fills your heart right now?

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; Chevalier and Gheerbrant, A Dictionary of Symbols; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014; Prandi, Mitologia dos orixás.

What dream books say

Livro do Sonho, a popular Brazilian dream dictionary, links money to better finances and good prospects at work and in business. For those who see the dream as a message, it is usually read as a good omen, but also as an invitation to look at your relationship with security and worth. In the Brazilian dream book O Livro dos Sonhos, by L. P. Baçan, money brings good prospects in life and surprises in love.

Freud described dream books as a kind of dictionary that translates each image into another with a fixed meaning. Artemidorus of Daldis, author of the oldest complete Greek dream book that has survived, advised looking at the dreamer's life before interpreting. If you see the dream as a message, both paths suggest the same thing: ask what this image brings to mind in your life right now. See dream meanings according to science and culture.

Source: Livro do Sonho, Brazilian dream dictionary; Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

Popular readings of dreaming about money

In folk reading, finding money means luck and losing money means damage. In older psychological readings, money stands for self worth, recognition and security, not cash flow.

None of these readings predicts a financial outcome, and there is no link between dreams and lottery numbers.

The useful part

If money dreams are frequent, the subject is weighing on you. Instead of looking for an omen, look at the real numbers.

See also dream meanings.

Read also: the belief that lice dreams bring money; pig dreams and the abundance belief; Dreaming about lava; the belief that dreaming about poop brings money; dreaming about a homeless person; dreaming about a purse or wallet.