What is Your Money Personality?

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We all have our positive and negative spending tendencies. Being aware of where your money personality can help you tweak your financial life into an optimized system. Unlike most quizzes you find these days you don’t have to enter your e-mail or anything.

Your retirement plan is…?

a)      Fuzzy. I think I am putting some money into retirement through my work, hopefully that’ll work out.

b)      TBD - I want to live while I’m young. I’ll figure that out later.

c)       TBD – Right now I’m trying to pay off my car and credit card bills.

d)      TBD – There are too many expenses right now, the money seems to be gone at the end of the month.

e)   On its way – I have spoken to a financial advisor before and am contributing every month to a plan.

f)    To take full advantage of any 401(k) matches available to me and contribute the full amount each year to my ROTH IRA

g)   The same as f, but also I am consistently analyzing my retirement accounts to make sure I am optimizing my return. Additionally, I am working on some other sources of passive income. I’m excited about my financial future.

h)   The same as g, except I am not so much excited as I am scared of not having enough.

On what do you spend most of your money?

a)      Basic needs I guess. I don’t have much, but I make do.

b)      Anything special. I want to experience life.

c)       Car, clothes, latest phone, décor.

d)      Friends and family, I want the best life for my children.

e)       Not sure where the money goes, but a big chunk goes to the mortgage and car payment for sure.

f)        Housing & retirement.

g)      Investments, both for retirement and for passive income in the short term.

h)      Undoubtedly savings.

Dream vacations are…?

a)      Too extravagant. I don’t have that much money and I can’t even think about expensive travel costs.

b)      A must. I take them as often as possible.

c)       A given. What is a honeymoon without the tropics?

d)      Out of reach. If my friends or family want me to go somewhere, I’ll try to work it out, but it can be tough to do those things and take a vacation where I want to go.

e)       Too expensive. A nice vacation is do-able, but there is just not enough money for a dream vacation.

f)        A fun indulgence that I save for – or -  Are unnecessary for me. I’d rather pay for something else.

g)      Are included in financial goals. I am able to take them more often than I expected by finding great value ideas.

h)      Are not going to happen. I’d hate to spend the money and then run into a situation where I needed it.

Do you buy name brands at the grocery store?

a)      It can go either way. I’m not really sure how much it saves anyway.

b)      Probably not, I just try to get in and out. I have better things to do than grocery shop.

c)       Well yeah. Who buys Crisp Rice? I need my snap, crackle and pop Rice Krispies.

d)      Mostly, especially if it is what my parents bought.

e)       Haven’t given it much thought; I just grab what I always have and never second guessed it.

f)        Sometimes yes and sometimes no. On some items I can tell the difference so I’ve switched back to the name brand.

g)      Same as f. Additionally, I’ve found some coupon for those brands that I frequently use.

h)      Never.

Do you buy luxury brand clothes or sunglasses?

a)      No, they are way too expensive for me!

b)      If it has a look that expresses me???

c)       Of course. I need to dress for success.

d)      Nothing too extravagant, but I do stay away from shopping at Target, Ross or Walmart for clothes because my friends/mom would call me cheap.

e)       Every now and again I’ll feel the desire and splurge.

f)        If something is particularly special, I’ll save up and buy it/take it out of a budget I already set for this sort of thing.

g)      Same as f. Additionally, if there is a particular brand that I love, I’ll set up alerts etc. to notify me when those items are on sale.

h)      No way.

Which letter did you have the most of? Below are the results for each letter.

a)      Happy-go-lucky spender: You often find yourself saying you don’t know where your money goes or finances are too confusing. You think of yourself as someone who just wants to live the simple life and therefore are reluctant to spend much time assessing your finances. You are at high risk of signing a contract that you don’t really understand.

b)      Carpi Diem spender: You often say, “You only live once” or this is a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” It is counter-intuitive to save because after all, you may not be here tomorrow. As awesome as spontaneity is, deep down you know that living in the moment is not as fun when you are broke.

c)      Appearance-driven spender:

Keeping up with (and getting ahead of) the Jones is your priority. You consistently try to keep up with trends, whether that is with technology, your clothes, car or house. You don’t consider buying generic brands or using coupons because that seems like something someone who is poor would do. You want people to see you as economically successful. You find that if a friend makes a purchase, you consistently make a similar purchase.

d)      People-pleasing spender:

You recognize that you are not going to be the richest house on the block and truly are not trying to keep up with the Jones because of pride. However, you feel pressure to keep up a certain appearance for fear of disappointing people. It is not that you covet having the yard of the month, but rather you fear that your neighbors will be upset with you if you don’t put up a nice fence like everyone else. Or maybe your parents expect you to own a certain type of car or house and you would feel ashamed if you didn’t meet their demands. You fear being called cheap. You are easily persuaded by sales people, advertisements, family, friends and co-workers. If someone recommends something, you feel like you have to try or you will let them down.

e)      Mis-matched spender/saver: You do have a mix of spending & saving, but you are unfamiliar with some financial concepts, leading you to not be very effective with your money. You may spend a lot on things that aren’t giving you much value while simultaneously cheaping out in what you really care about.

f)       Balanced spender/saver: You generally follow basic financial concepts and consequently you always have what you need and even sometimes have left over to splurge.

g)      Optimized spender/saver: Due to your diligent efforts, you carefully allocate your money exactly where it best suits your needs and desires. The money you allocated to saving is producing what you need from it to help you reach even more of your financial dreams.

h)      Fearful frugal saver: Money equals security to you. However, there are other things in life besides money. People talk about greed. But just as common, if not more common, is fear. It does make sense to plan, but not at the expense of your whole life. Remember your money is here for you, use it!

What is your money personality?