Your money personality type
The important thing to remember is that your personality money type is not about money. It’s about what money means to you and how you handle money.
All money personality types can benefit from a few simple steps. It can be used for developing and managing your financial strategy:
(1) Write down your financial goals, enabled by your passion.
(2) Conduct your MBTI self-assessment.
(3) Intuitively validate your MBTI personality especially when it comes to money and the use of money.
(4) Develop a career plan and a spending plan based on your unique MBTI personality. These plans should bring you closer to your goals.
(5) Automatically direct debit up to 80% of your every paycheck into a separate physical bank account when you get paid. This money enables your spending plan and resource your career plan. This money will also pay for all monthly or reoccurring expenses after you have synchronised all invoice due dates with your paydays.
Understanding you and your partner’s money personality type will help both of you navigate potential conflicts that may arise.
From the example provided earlier, there will always be money conflicts between Protectors and Pleasers. Different personality types will approach money matters differently.
By understanding how Protectors and Pleasers can positively interact with other personalities will determine the health of your relationship.
The Protector
If your Myers-Briggs Type is an ESTJ, ESFJ, ISTJ, or ISFJ, then you are a Protector.
Do you tend to make lists? Pour over the details? Play it safe?
Protectors are generally viewed as hard-working and precise individuals. They thrive on having things organised or well planned. They also operate “according to plan.”
When it comes to handling finances, they are typically seen as the responsible ones. They tend to view money in a practical way.
To them, it is challenging to deal with unexpected life events that might throw a wrench into their carefully calculated budget numbers.
We know that Protectors:
(1) Makes average or higher income in their jobs.
(2) Financially conservative, by nature.
(3) Find it hard to spend money and take vacations.
(4) Natural planners who think ahead and like to plan for the future.
(5) Like to make lists.
(6) Don’t take too many risks.
(7) Always stick to a budget and avoid debt.
(8) Good at saving money for emergencies and retirement.
(9) Wants to protect their principal investment regardless of the opportunity costs.
Unfortunately, Protectors:
(1) Have trouble accepting calculated risk with their investments.
(2) Have high savings rates to make up for their conservative risk tolerance on their portfolios.
(3) Do make bad on-the-spot decisions out of sheer panic. This is where any unexpected, unanticipated changes in life or income cause them to go into a panic.
(4) Buy the same brands and shop at the same stores.
(5) Tend to be stubborn.
(6) Run the risk of crossing the line from frugal into misery.
(7) Tend to deny themselves reasonable indulgences which may also create conflict in their relationships.
To make the most out of your Protector’s money personality type:
(1) Perform an annual financial review.
(2) Consider whether your current spending plan is still in your best interest. Or whether you are simply sticking with the status quo because it’s what you’ve always done.
(3) Give yourself permission to splurge sometimes. Build ‘fun’ money into your spending plan without feeling guilty about it.
(4) Make a spending plan. Ensure that each and every dollar has a purpose that aligns with your priorities and goals. This plan also helps you remove any spending guilt by assigning your hard-earned dollars to different sub-categories before they are spent.
(5) Allocate money in an emergency fund so you don’t feel out of control when something major hits. One of the ways to build up the emergency fund is to go on week-long spending fasts and only spend on the essentials.
The Planner
If your Myers-Briggs Type is an ENTJ, ENTP, INTJ, or INTP, then you are a Planner.
Do you think big picture? Are you in your head a lot? Do you dream of the future?
Planners are action-oriented, energetic individuals who have lofty ambitions and loads of self-motivation.
As they’re well-informed, intellectual, and logical, they may also think that they’re right.
They tend not to consider others’ needs or opinions, be it their partner or a financial professional. This overconfidence can sometimes hurt their finances and personal life.
We know that Planners:
(1) See themselves as competent and as smarter than the rest of the room.
(2) Are pretty independent, imaginative, bold, and strong-willed.
(3) Have long-term goals, weighing all of their options, and tracking their progress religiously.
(4) Look at the big picture while planning for the future and investing for the long-term.
(5) Take calculated risks in order to achieve their long-term goals as long as they have a contingency plan.
(6) Avid savers who track their finances closely.
Unfortunately, Planners:
(1) Have goals, but aren’t sure how to get there.
(2) Often have more debt and fewer financial assets.
(3) Can be so focused on the forest (or the future) that they don’t see the trees.
(4) Miss out on short-term opportunities to splurge or have fun in the present.
(5) Experience “analysis paralysis.”
To make the most out of your Planner’s money personality type:
(1) Write down your financial goals and break them down into manageable steps or actions.
(2) Pay yourself first.
(3) Set up another bank account specifically for “fun money” or spontaneous moments in life.
(4) Collaborate with trusted experts like a Certified Financial Planner to develop a spending plan.