Financial Personality Types
- Claudia Wasige
- Oct 14, 2019
- 3 min read
Is your Financial Personality holding you back?
One of the main things I have learned in working with people is that ‘The Money Problem’ is hardly ever The Actual Problem. Most of the time, having money problems is just a symptom of underlying emotional problems. Your money is you in fold-able form. How you get and spend your money says a lot more about you than most of us would care to know.
The way we spend our money is very closely linked with how we interact with people. In fact I would go as far as to say that money is a form of communication. Why? Money outside of relationship is worthless. What is a pile of cash to a person stuck on a desert island?
This helped me understand why money problems and money fights has consistently been
referenced as one of the major cause of divorce in the UK. When we start to address how we spend and earn our money we are actually addressing the emotions that form connection and are involved in forming and maintaining healthy relationships. I want to help you not only get out of trouble but stay out of it too!
A really easy way to start that process of analysing your relationship with money is to identify your financial personality type. Like love languages to some degree we all have certain percentages of these personality types but knowing what our dominant types are is a key step in helping you win with money
What is your financial personality type?
1. Big Spender
Now it’s not as obvious as you think. Big Spenders are people who use their money to make statements that influence how they are perceived by the community around them. These people tend to fall into the stereotypical keeping up with the Jones’ ideology. We find they spend large % on their wealth on exclusive goods. That may be designer clothes but it may be the tech nerd that spends large amounts on the newest tech releases to make a statement to their peers. This focus on external perception makes them more likely to take big risks on investments.
2. Saver
In direct contrast to the big spenders, we have the savers. These are the people who like nothing more than looking at their bank statements and watching the pounds add up. These people will be more likely to hoard things. These people naturally tend to be very risk-averse and will accept the long term loss of potential income for the safety of the money they have.
3. Shoppers
It’s in the name guys, shoppers love to shop! The focus of their shopping experiences isn’t because of a need or statement they are trying to make, but the quality of shopping they do. So, bargain hunters fall into this. I have a close family member who falls into this bracket. She buys stuff she doesn’t need all the time. Justification? It was a bargain, I saved so much. As most of their purchases are emotion-based this makes them disorganised investors who struggle to build the routine day to day wealth-building habits.
4. Debtors
This is an odd one and probably needs to be renamed to something like non-committal, not paying-attentioners. Why debtors find themselves in financial problems because they are just not paying attention. They don’t love to shop or make statements with their financial purchases but have emotionally checked out, living life unaware of their financial limits. I describe these folks like the friends who are totally unaware of how their behaviour influences the people around them. They are not malicious or spiteful, just totally unaware. When confronted, they either are surprised or struggle to grasp the gravity of the situation.
5. Investors
Ever met an investor? I’m sure you can picture them. These folks are particularly cunning individuals who are keen to ensure that they are always receiving maximum rewards from everything they do. This makes them financial champs but can turn them into relational chumps. The need to always have something in return for what they give can make them come across as users and they can often come across as users which may leave them in relational bankruptcy pretty quick.
If you have attended one of my live seminars then you will know that I always say that no one Financial Personality type is an ideal. The most important thing is to create a healthy balance between them. Investors can take a leaf out of the debtors' book as the saver the big spender. This is not to create shame or condemnation but rather to start a conversation about our money habits and why we do what we do.
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