Does Your Personality Affect The Way You Save?
I'll be honest - I used to think that personality types were a load of crap but I realised that I'd made that decision when I read somewhere that my type ENFP can be selfish. Me selfish - imagine the indignation I had about that - that was it if they are wrong about me (which clearly they were) they must be wrong about everyone.
The thing is I've arrived in this place, fairly recently I might add, where all of the parts of me are accepted and I'm good with them. I can even admit to a bit of selfishness too, it's just a small part of the whole and actually usually only kicks in when I've been over-giving so actually a useful little indicator. Anyway, I digress - now that I don't think it’s all crap I admit I'm a little curious about personality types as a tool to help us recognise some of our patterns.
Let's see what you all think. Does any of this sound familiar?
If you don't know your personality type you can do this quick test https://www.16personalities.com/ but remember to answer it based on how you are not how you'd like to be.
Got your type? Great, let's have a look then:
IDEALISTS:
ENFP, INFP, ENFJ, INFJ
Idealists are not typically motivated by money, often making decisions based on their principles. They care about the world, the greater good and have a tendency to be altruistic. This can result in living and giving beyond their means making saving difficult.
Automate savings and bill payments then allocate the rest of your money to 'pots' to spend as needed based on what's important to you. This avoids the need for complex budgeting.
INTELLECTUALS:
ENTJ, ENTP, INTJ, INTP
The thinkers, the problem solvers. Intellectuals like to focus on the big picture so they may find the day to day aspects of managing their money mundane. They may forget to set aside money for simple things like utility bills and insurance which impacts on their ability to save.
Similar to idealists its a good idea to automate the saving and paying of bills so that nothing is missed - leaving the rest of your money available to spend as you wish.
ARTISANS
ESTP, ESFP, ISTP, ISFP
Probably the least risk-averse and likely to see money as fluid. Artisans like to live in the now and lead exciting fully engaged lives which may be costly. They can find it more difficult to focus on saving for the future or setting aside money for potential emergencies.
Artisans may like a simple budgeting and saving method like the 50:30:20 rule.
50% of your income goes to basic needs, home, food, transport and bills
20% of your income goes on savings and investing or paying off debt
30% of your income goes on flexible spending.
GUARDIANS
ESTJ, ESFJ, ISTJ, ISFJ
Guardians are responsible when it comes to saving and investing their money. Money is not viewed as exciting but rather essential. In their work, a secure reliable job that pays well may be more important than it being interesting (although obviously they would prefer both).
Savings is likely to not be an issue although with a risk-averse nature they may not get the best return on savings and investments.
My tip here is not to concentrate on the long term savings but to focus on the shorter term savings and to allow yourself to spend some of it in order to live life to the fullest in the now.
What do you think? Did any of this feel like it reflected how you are with money? I'd be interested to know your thoughts on this one!
Hi there I’m Gail Bainbridge - money coach and mentor. I am on a mission to transform our relationships with money. I teach people to find money that they didn’t know they had for the things that are important to them. If you enjoyed this blog sign up to my newsletter to be the first to read all my money musings.