Do you know your money personality type?

When it comes to handling money, we all fit into one of three personality types, spender, saver or investor. Having said that, it is not as easy as saying you are a clear spender or certainly a saver because we can easily cross over from one group to the next. Sometimes we may be a saver and at other times we spend. An investor may switch to saving at times and a spender may spend the majority of the time, but also save a bit each month. The point is, we are not definitely one over the other two, we filter from one to the other at different times, so the question is which money personality type, do you predominately fall into?

Below you will see a series of statements for each personality type. If you answer the majority of the statements within a personality type in the positive, then that is the preference you have when it comes to dealing with money.

Are You A Spender?

  • You tend to have too much month left at the end of the money
  • You have an eye for the latest gadgets and toys
  • You have more than one credit card
  • You love to buy one get one free offers
  • You don’t like waiting for the sales to start
  • You have a wardrobe full of clothes/shoes you hardly wear
  • You love to treat friends when out, maybe with drinks or meals
  • You buy magazines but rarely read them
  • You live, for now, the future and retirement is something you will deal with later
  • There are times when you struggle to pay your bills

Are You A Saver?

  • You have money left over at the end of the month
  • When you go shopping you know what you want because it’s on your list
  • You use a bank/debit card rather than credit card
  • You are happy to wait for a deal rather than buy it now
  • You have a savings account / retirement plan in place
  • You shop around for the best savings plan with the best interest rates
  • Paying your mortgage/rent is more important than filling your house with gadgets
  • You stay in more weekends than going out
  • You read books rather than glossy magazines
  • You take a lunch to work, more often than buying lunch

Are You An Investor?

  • You have money in other accounts rather than just your bank account
  • You have set money aside for life’s emergencies
  • You have investment accounts that pay more interest than your standard bank account
  • You are always looking for ways to invest your money
  • You can’t remember the last purchase you made
  • You have a plan to pay off your mortgage ahead of time if haven’t done so already
  • You don’t have any debt
  • You are comfortable making a loss with investments from time to time
  • You prefer to put your money in long term investments (5 years+) rather than buy the latest ‘thing’
  • You know the names of the presenters of CNBC rather than the characters of The Bing Bang Theory

Having gone through the lists, which money personality type are you?

If you want to be an investor, but you came out predominately a saver, well its only a short step to moving over into investment and making a few adjustments. If you came out a spender, you are going to have to look at a making some lifestyle changes, if you really want to begin investing for your future, and the main change you have to make is switching from a spender to a saver.

If you are a spender and do want to be an investor, the best way is not to try and do it immediately. Start gradually by making note of all your monthly spend and cutting back on the purchases that are ‘wants’ and not ‘vital needs’. If you have any debt, look to clear that debt as quickly as possible and as you begin to gain extra money each month, resist the temptation to spend it, but rather start investing small by placing it in a good saving account with reasonable interest.

There is a lot more that I can say on turning from spender to investor, but the purpose of this post was to help you ascertain your money personality type. If getting out of debt is a priority to you, then I recommend you check out the various programs on offer from daveramsey.com

If investing is something you want to consider, I do have a section on this site covering the various types of investments, or you may want to check out information on gold investment companies if you want to invest in something different, like precious metals.