Good Relationship with Money: 4 Money Personalities (with a quiz)

The true first step to financial health is understanding your own relationship with money and what makes you tick. Research from world-class psychologists and financial experts came up with a few money personalities that will help us understand our relationship with money and what to do about it.

Ask yourself, when you think about money, what do you feel? confident, Anxious, stressed, afraid, recognized, or is it a controlling force that you can’t tame.

These are feelings that those with or without money have. Either you are stressed about how to get it, how to keep it, how to grow it, how to spend it, how to make it improve your status.

Why Money Personality Matters.

What you believe about money comes from your history with money. Here is a reason to blame it all on your childhood..your childhood moments, your parent’s financial security, there is more to life than money, Money should never come in the way of your life enjoyment or relationships.

Our goal is to have a positive relationship with money that will ensure we live a fulfilled fabulous life, always having plenty of money and never burdened by excess.

Your Money Personalities

Research has shown there are 4 main money personalities. You are either a Money monk, spender, moneymaker, or an avoided

Take the quiz to know your Money Personality 

1. Money Monk/ Hoarder/Savers

You worry that you will not have enough money for your needs. This fuels your ability to save, save, save. It can be hard for you to enjoy the money you’ve earned because spending it on anything but the bare necessities feels like wasting it.

You never internalized a feeling of abundance when it came to money, so you learned to hold tightly what you have. Money represents survival, and the more you have, the better.

You may have grown up in an environment of little resources creating a scarcity mentality.

• You’re very frugal. You look for ways to avoid spending money on anything you consider not essential.
• You put away money endlessly, sometimes with no actual end goal in mind.
• You believe saving money is the only way to feel more secure in life.
• You never take risks with your money you are afraid to lose even one coin.
• You never invest in financial therefore their money is reduced affected by inflation in the long term.
• You can go your life without spending your money even on hobbies or enjoying life. Eg. people who you discover was rich when they die.
• You do not have any debts
• You believe in having an emergency fund for the rainy day

Investment advise for Money Monk/Saver/Hoarder

• Spending money isn’t such a bad thing, especially if it will help you in the long run. Envision your future and plan to achieve it i.e. Buying a house, for instance.
• Move your money from a savings account that has low-interest rates and move to financial products that grow your money to beat inflation.
• Start with Mutual funds and government treasury bills and bonds that have low risk.
• These people like to stick to conservative investments. They are afraid that by taking high risks, they might lose money.
• Make financial goals so you have a purpose to spend your saving and grow your money.

2. The Spender

You value your connections and your influence on your peers. This means you have to have an elegant taste that makes you well-connected professionally and socially around the world. Your connections have translated into real opportunities for you.

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like. ~ Will Smith

Growing up, your family might not have the money to purchase things that would have made you happy. At some point, you realized that money is an indirect way to buy yourself into inner circles.

Though there’s nothing wrong with spending money to impress others and build connections, sometimes this sort of extravagance can be hard on the wallet creating a financial problem for you and your lifestyle

• You have a talent for upgrading everything in your life
• You love shopping and your inner voice often says, “I deserve this!
• Saving is there on your mind, but you feel you can reserve it for later.
• Prioritizing is definitely not in your dictionary – ‘Should I buy this or that?’, but you end up buying all of it.
• You tend to spend money on things you don’t necessarily need.
• You have an outgoing personality and love treating people to something special, sometimes for no particular reason.
• When you’re in emotional distress, your solution is to spend, especially for immediate gratification.

Investment advise for Spender

Creating a budget plan will help you see things from a different perspective.

Having a budget reminds you of that sacrificing money on essential things like saving for retirement or paying off debt.

Give yourself time before you make a purchase. When you see something you like, don’t buy it immediately give yourself 24 hours to think if you really need to purchase it. Many times you find you will not need to buy it after all.

Before you splurge on something expensive or trendy, ask yourself how much that purchase is going to mean to you in a year.

When you channel your energy into saving, you have another opportunity to think long-term. Look for slow and steady gains as opposed to high-risk, quick-win scenarios.

Risk is not foreign to you. Taking risks with their investments should not be difficult.

Share with Mutual funds for an emergency fund and try small with shares.

3. Money Maker/ Conqueror 

Watching your net worth accumulate gives you a feeling of safety and control. You are a time is money kind of person and this makes you want to be more productive.

You know how to optimize every minute of your life. You tend to neglect important relationships to prioritize growing your wealth.

You may have grown up seeing your parents value success in a traditional way – doctors, lawyers, business owners. Winning was the way to earn love and respect

• You get pleasure from the approval and recognition from other people for your financial success
• You see money as a means to achieving a higher status.
• You believe that earning more money is the secret to happiness.
• You spend most of your energy trying to make as much money as possible.
• Achieving more money is a source of constant validation that makes you feel worthy, valued, and loved.
• You are fueled by a fear of others thinking you aren’t good enough, and you’re determined to prove them wrong.

Investment advise for Money Maker/ Conqueror

The money-maker doesn’t have time to do research on what to invest in and where to best put his money. Appoint an investment advisor.

When your money is growing then you can concentrate on your career, making time for family and friends and your hobbies.

4. The Avoider/ Ostrich

The idea of amassing a giant fortune is less enticing than connecting deeply with others. You would rather bury their head in the sand like an ostrich than organize your finances.

Many people who are indifferent to money feel they only need a modest amount of money to be

happy, which is a healthy mindset. But things can get ugly if they’re not responsible for their finances (e.g. depending on a partner or spouse to do the work for them).

It doesn’t take much for you to enjoy life, because you don’t get distracted by materialistic things.

Growing up, you may not have needed to worry much about money. Your bills were paid for you, and you never had to think about where the money came from

Or maybe you grew up in a community with fewer resources, and you learned to value family and friends more than money.

• You feel strongly that money shouldn’t influence important decisions in life. You hate anything that has to do with ‘financial advice’ or ‘spending too much
• You rarely think about money (and just the idea of creating a budget makes you nauseous).‘Investment’, ‘savings’, ‘financial security are alien words to you.
• You hate it when someone says you spend excessively on unwanted stuff.
• You hate making financial decisions and always depend on someone else. When growing old seems far away, why would you think about retirement?
• You never let money get in the way of doing what’s right
• In extreme cases, you believe that money is inheritably bad or evil.

Investment advise for Avoider/ Ostrich

Start putting money in your savings account using standing orders. this means you don’t need to keep tabs on the money but will start saving

Appoint an advisor who will invest your money in your behave and ensure your money keeps growing as you are busy with other aspects of life.

Conclusion

Your relationship with money affects your success in all aspects of life. If you have a positive relationship with money then you understand that money is a tool for you to use.

You can easily fix the issues you may have with money regardless of your relationship with money.

Did you use the money personality quiz useful?  What is your personality? Feel free to share in the comment box below.