Hi There,
Is it just me or this month is very fast to all of us? The month only started and just liked that we are already in the second week. Well, I guess this is a subtle reminder not to snooze on anything we want to do but get on with it immediately; just as it is often said, “ time waits for no one.”
We started conversations on “ Financial Reflections” last week and we will continue on that path today. We will be discussing “Money Personality”, it is important to understand our money personality. I know it sounds a little funny that we have money personality and that is because we often see money as a means to an end or what we receive for providing value. The way we respond to money or what we think about money is a result of certain things like; your family, mentors, environment and these form our money personalities.
In understanding you money personalities, have a conversation with self and ask yourself these very simple but critical questions:
- What does money mean to mean?
- How do I feel about money?
- How do I act when I have and do not have money?
Answering these questions sincerely will reflect how we make, spend/enjoy, save/invest, and give our money. Understanding some of the unconscious biases going through our minds, will bring to the fore some of our actions with money and this understanding will help us take control of our finances. Let’s examine some money personalities below:
- Compulsive Saver: This is a person obsessed with saving and investing; more like, uncontrollable habit of saving. This person believes money brings freedom, gives them options, what to do, when to do and how to do it. They are hesitant with spending and go through a rigorous analysis before spending. They would track their investments, have a vision for their savings and sometimes, they don’t. However, some pitfalls of this personality are these people don’t address issues on time and hence fall into “penny wise, pound foolish” situations. They also never invest in anything that is highly volatile but invest in low yield , guaranteed investment schemes.
- Compulsive Money Maker: these people are obsessive about making more and are permanently looking for the next promotion, bonus, increase in salary, new job and with several side hustles. They are always looking for the next big thing and sometimes, end up in trouble. They are also widely read, have great knowledge about new opportunities in the market and are great researchers. The downside to this is, they often neglect family and friends and are very unstable people
- Compulsive Spender: The “Odogwu Team” also known as “You Only Live Once” team. These team enjoy spending their money for many varying reasons; they spend on impulse. They most often than not find themselves in debt and own items that do not use because they spend money buying wants and not needs. They just want to enjoy life and this lifestyle is fueled by a mindset that they can continue to create money by exchanging value, but this is only possible with continuous growth and self-improvement. Once something happens to the change-create pocket, then there is a problem.
- Saver-Spender: They have to spender; they literally have no vision about their savings. The core characteristic of this personality is, increasing the amount they spend as their income increases. For a Saver-Spender, they can go a year of saving and spend the money within a week.
- Worriers: These people almost always expect the worst outcome for whatever reason and this mindset is often developed from one bad financial experience or life experience that affected their finances. They are always concerned about negative happenings, and they often tend to attract those.
Whatever you do, money is involved in our everyday activities and a lot of us start out our careers without money goals, believing that when we work hard, money will find its way to us. But life will only give us what we demand and not what we deserve. To create a balance in your money personality; be self-aware, always have a plan and save. 21Search is a manpower development and management organization that provides recruitment, outsourcing and training services. Kindly send an email to e.mbahon@21search.ng or call 08107017274 to get a quote.
Until I come your way again, stay safe, work smart and not just hard.
Love,
Lizzy