One thing that I can never understand is the weird taboo that surrounds money in our culture. Why is it that out of all of the personal questions we can be asked, there is only one that makes us falter? Ask any student on campus, “What’s your favorite color?” “When was your most embarrassing moment?” “Who was your first kiss?” Most will answer each without batting an eye.

But one other question, “How much money do you earn?” will get a whole different response.

I do have a few theories about this money shyness.

First, I think people make it personal. They connect money to their own self-worth. Part of this, to me, has to do with the American Dream. If an American can work his or her way to success, can’t they work his or her way to having more money? So, if he or she doesn’t have that money, maybe he or she isn’t working hard enough. In this train of thought, admitting you don’t have much money amounts to no more than saying you don’t work very hard.

On the other hand, say a person has a lot of money and still won’t talk about it. Often this is because they either don’t want to feel like they are bragging or he or she doesn’t want to make the other person feel bad about their own situation.

Logically, the only solution is to stop making money personal. It has less to do with how hard you work than with how you spend or save what you somehow already have. If there is one thing I can say that I have learned by working at the Student Money Management Center, it’s that anyone can save their way to having more money. The important thing to remember is that the money you see being spent never tells the whole story.

Money can come from so many different places. For example, think about that girl who has a whole new outfit on every time you pass her going to class. Maybe she has that money. Maybe her parents gave it to her or she has an amazing part-time job. But there could also be the scarier alternative: maybe she also has three credit cards with maxed out credit limits.

Either way, the money that she has is a combination of hard work, chance and choices.

Then our own personalities further factor into our financial situation. According to Olivia Mellan, professional business consultant and author of “Money Harmony,” there are at least five different money personalities. These include hoarders, amassers, spenders, savers, and the money monks.  These people spend, save or invest their money in varying amounts. And saving and investing are two aspects of a person’s financial situation that we will never see and probably never hear about.

Again, money comes from so many different places. Plus, what we have is a combination of what we’ve saved and what we’ve earned. With all of these different factors, we shouldn’t be embarrassed to admit that we either can, or can’t, afford to go to that fancy restaurant tonight.

I guess what I really wish people would realize is that admitting something about your financial situation doesn’t really reveal anything. It’s just a fact of life at the moment that will change. Nothing about money is permanent. Your financial situation can change as quickly as getting a new job or starting a bad shopping habit.

So please, the next time someone asks you a random money question, you don’t have to answer, but try to remember that if you would, the answer really isn’t a big deal. Your self-worth is made up of more than just the numbers.