For those of you who attended the workshop in December about understanding your money personality I hope you have completed your homework! and have begun to set your financial goals no pressure 😊. Looking forward to catching up with you all at the next session.
By now I am hoping that you are now aware that by understanding more about your relationship with money, you can start to appreciate how you are making financial decisions and hopefully use that information to improve your money management in the future.
As a reminder here are here are the five popular money personalities:
- Saver
Also known as The Hoarder. As the name suggests, they love to save money and budgeting is the norm for them. They monitor their expenditure do not like the idea of losing money. They will not consider anything that would place their hard-earned money at risk.
However, savers can be so focussed on saving and can be seen to be stingy and cheap. An unwillingness to spend can be difficult for other personalities to deal with.
- Spender
Their main philosophy is ‘What is the point in making money if you are not enjoying it? ‘The spenders are all about using their money to live their best life. They tend to be generous and carefree. They enjoy spending money for pleasure and are happy to buy things for others too.
However, the downside to this is that they find it difficult to prioritise saving. Other personalities will find it difficult to understand why spenders are so comfortable splashing the cash, when it is not necessary.
- Risk-Taker
Risk-takers are all about betting big, for an even bigger pay off. They love the thrill and are not afraid of losing money in the process. They do not focus on financial losses; they focus on the potential gains only. They believe that without risk, there is no gain, so are more than comfortable taking risks with their money in the hope that they will make more money.
However, this can be seen by the other personalities as reckless. Their willingness to risk their money can make others uncomfortable.
- Security-Seeker
Security Seekers are all about ‘playing it safe.’ They are most comfortable when they know all their financial matters are settled. It is always better to be safe than sorry, so they are always thinking about they have sufficient funds for emergencies, ensuring that they have insurance and thinking about their long-term plans e.g., pension. In comparison to a saver, they would be willing to invest only if they were completely comfortable with risks involved.
However, security seekers can be seen as cynical and overly analytical by other personalities because of their willingness to say no and risk losing out on opportunities.
- Avoider
The avoider’s motto is ‘If you don’t think about it, it doesn’t exist.’ The avoider, avoids! They are normally content living their life not thinking about money. They do not want to think about saving, budgeting. Money is just something that comes in and out and they hate being confronted with decisions related to finances.
However, this means that they refuse to think or/ plan and they lack the skills to deal with money because they never really think about it. Other personalities may find it difficult to engage avoiders because they do not want to deal with money-related issues and are more likely to be in debt.
Remember Avoidance does not make financial obligations go away.
Does any of the above sound familiar to you, which one do you identify with the most?
There is no ‘perfect’ personality. By understanding which one of the personalities, you relate to the most, means that you can begin work on improving your relationship with money and understanding how others may view you.