Learn What Your Money Personality Is

Psychologists often use categories to label people based on their personalities or individual characteristics with the goal of understanding their behavior more broadly. For example, Bob may be labeled an extravert because he scores highly on a questionnaire measuring interest in social interactions. Personality categories are functional for psychologists and everyday people because these categories provide a roadmap for how a given person will operate in a specific situation.

Similar to how we can be categorized into buckets based on our personalities or attachment styles, we can also be categorized into buckets based on our beliefs about money. Financial therapists have discovered that when it comes to our “financial personality”, we tend to fall into one of four different buckets¹. Like other personality characteristics, our financial personalities, which the founders refer to as money scripts, are typically formed by our culture and early-life experiences based on how our parents and peers operate with money. Read the descriptions and characteristics below to see which one best describes you.

1. Money Avoidance

People who are money-avoidant simply do not like dealing with or thinking about their finances. They agree with statements like, “Money is a source of evil”. If you believe that money makes you jaded, this is going to guide your everyday behaviors in terms of choosing to save vs. spend and will likely impact your career choice or ambitions. Money avoidants do not check their account balances regularly, are unlikely to budget, and prefer to ignore or run away from any money problems². If you are money-avoidant, fear, disgust, and anxiety are the resulting emotions experienced by matters of money.

2. Money Worship

Money worshippers subscribe to the belief that they would be happier if they had more money. If you are a money worshipper, you feel that your needs are never met. You believe that buying a mansion or having a bank account of $1M is required for you to experience joy. In addition to well-being, feelings of safety and power are tied to your bank account balance. Characteristics of people who worship money include hoarding behavior or workaholism. They may be drawn to get-rich-quick offers (e.g., gambling, lottery, crypto) or the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early).

3. Money Status

Money status is the belief that money and status walk hand in hand. People who fit the money status script are concerned that others will only like them if and only if they have money or luxurious things. In other words, the money status script is extremely materialistic. Outward displays of wealth, such as one’s car, jewelry, and clothing are of utmost importance. Demographics correlate with the money status script, meaning most money-status folks are young, single, and less educated. The ultra-wealthy (i.e., top 1%) also disproportionally believe in money-status, although most people in this category are from low socioeconomic backgrounds².

4. Money Vigilance

Last but not least, we have those who are watchful, alert, and careful with their money. To give an analogy with attachment styles, money vigilantes are considered “secure” in their relationship with money. They value money, but they are not obsessive in terms of spending, denying, or acquiring it. The money vigilant tend to budget, checking their finances weekly or monthly. The upper middle class and business professionals tend to skew towards money vigilance. A certain level of anxiety is displayed for the money vigilant, aiming to avoid using credit cards and debt altogether.

So, which money script describes you best? And where do you think it came from? Most people inherit their money script from their parents, close friends, or romantic partner. We may not even realize what our subconscious attitude towards money is or where it came from. Some questions that can help you figure out your money script is finishing these incomplete sentences:

Wealthy people got that way by ___________________________________.

Poor people are poor because _____________________________________.

One should never spend money on _________________________________.

Similar to core personality traits like extraversion, money scripts can change over time and are not set in stone. Understanding our attitude toward personal finance can help explain the emotions we feel about saving and spending. I hope that this post has helped you learn what your money script is. As with other personality traits, understanding what your beliefs about finances are and where they came from can be a powerful tool for self-discovery.