Recently, researchers have analyzed more than 2,000 people to try to figure out if people spend money on certain things according to their personalities. After weeks of going through the money records the social scientists also gave each participant a personality quiz, after which they discovered that even though everyone spends money on material goods, like housing and food, but it’s the extracurricular and discretionary spending that really categorizes our unique priorities.
With billions of payment cards in circulation worldwide, it is now easier to study these spending patterns at scale like never before. It is, therefore, possible to predict people’s personality from the way they spend.
Here is how major personality traits can be correlated with some of the most common spending habits;
Travel: spending a lot of money on tours and travel expenses mean you’re more of an open-minded and adventurous person.
Drinking and Dining out: since these are quite social experiences, it hints that people who tend to spend a lot of money on such outgoing stuff tend to be more extroverted.
Saving investment: are you someone who keeps most of their extra money in savings? If yes then you probably have a high conscience. More careful and responsible people keep their spending behaviors restricted to the basics and save for the future.
Charity and nonprofits: people who donate more are usually more agreeable, kind, and generous in person. Well, that’s not really a surprise.
Nonessential items: Finally, those who spend a lot of their money on material things like jewelry or clothing are people who tend to experience more anxiety, negativity, complexity and loneliness. Such people are likely to be high in neurotic-ism.
People having high self-control spend less on bank charges, where as those who are more impulsive spend less on mortgage payments, mainly because they think more about short-term gains over long-term goals.
Behavior in High School Accurately Predicts Future Income and Success
By now, you might have probably explored your zodiac chart, and maybe even fiddled in your human design. But do you now know your financial personality type?
A clinical psychologist turned financial planner Brad Klontz, Psy.D., CFP, has spent years studying the assumptions and beliefs that influence his clients’ relationship with money. By the time, Klontz managed to calculate the four money “scripts” that drives everyone and even wrote a book on how to optimize them, named Wired for Wealth: Change the Money Mindsets That Keep You Trapped and Unleash Your Wealth Potential.
The first step in questioning, and then ultimately transforming the habits that hold you back in the finance department is identifying your money script.
Which type of a spender am I?
Thinking about how you’re spending your paycheck is not enough. In order to really explore your financial life, you need to do more. Compare your tendencies to an iceberg. You have your financial behaviors above the surface of the water and below you have all these subconscious things wandering around in your head that’s probably been rushed there from people generations ago.
Here are some basic types of wealth-related characteristics that people generally have.
Money Avoidance:
People who avoid money have negative beliefs around wealthy people. They think that money usually leads people to corruption and falsehood.
Money Worship:
This describes those who think that having more money will make them happier by solving all their problems. These associates people with a whole new range of things, including extensive shopping and workaholic traits.
Money Status:
According to some people, this is a belief that your self-worth is connected to your net worth. People with this mindset might brag about making more than they actually do, only buy things that are new, branded and flashy, etc and judge others on the basis of material possessions.
Money Vigilance:
Being money vigilant makes you anxious and excited about the future, which drives you to always have a backup and something set aside for a rainy day. Such people are more focused towards saving and would probably lose their cool if they by chance, do not have enough money saved for an emergency.
Also, they are likely to be more secretive about money saved and how much of it they actually make.
To align your personality type and your values, you should shift your spending after coming up with a financial stability plan. Money and life coach Brianna Firestone recommends a suitable plan for that.
According to get, you should begin by scheduling time to focus on your financial plan and making it either weekly or monthly tradition.
Talking about money with a small group of friends might also help. Also consider writing down your goals verbally and physically, so you can accomplish them. It’s hard to locate where you’re heading if you don’t put it into words!
In case you notice that you’re still not perfectly spending in accordance to the lines of your values, Firestone suggests setting a backup routine you can adapt, this way you’ll be moving ahead even if you fall off the wagon sometimes.
The one amazing thing thinking of wellness routine as a way of life does for you; is that it teaches you how to get back on track. When know what works and aren’t rooted in our practices, we end up giving up the moment we get off track. On having a solid foundation, we usually know exactly what to do to get back in line.
