The following is an excerpt from the new book “Manifest AND Invest … Live Your BEST LIFE, Get Your MONEY RIGHT” by Dawn Santoriello, CFP®.
When it comes to our financial wellness, we often neglect our money personality type-our approach and emotional response to money. We need to really know ourselves and be in touch with our emotions in order to make the best financial decisions. All of us react and feel differently about money. We learned how to manifest, we uncovered our money blocks, now let’s learn our money personality type.
The five different money personality types are the compulsive moneymaker, compulsive saver, compulsive spender, indifferent to money, and the worrier.
If you are a compulsive moneymaker, your priority is making more money. You believe making more money is the key to happiness. You give your all to your work. Often at the expense of putting work and making money ahead of your personal relationships and experiences. You are most likely to be the hardest-working person in the room. A compulsive moneymaker will do the extra work to get ahead financially. Some helpful advice would be to stop and smell the roses once and a while. There is more to life than making money and as the saying goes you can’t take it with you when you are dead and gone. Go on that vacation or treat yourself to something you always wanted.
The compulsive saver is similar to a squirrel in trying to save as many nuts as it can. Saving makes you feel more secure even if you don’t have anything you are saving for or any plan on how to spend the money. Security doesn’t come from having money. Yes, money helps but true security comes from within. You need money to cover the basics but above that money isn’t going to give you the security you think it is. There are some things money can’t provide-character, deep meaningful relationships, and true friendships. Those are what will make you feel secure and those come from having a healthy sense of self-love first. If this sounds like you, don’t let a fear of losing or spending money prevent you from ever really enjoying it. You are usually the one friends turn to because you always know how and where to get the best deals and you have the biggest emergency fund. Some helpful advice is to find a healthy balance between saving and spending money. Moderation is key. If you do this you will have a more enjoyable life.
You know you are a compulsive spender if you spend money on things you don’t always need. Retail therapy is one of your favorite past times. You tend to be outgoing and treat yourself and others to the finer things in life. There doesn’t need to be a special occasion. You are the life of the party and the best person to go shopping with. If you are not careful, you can quickly find yourself in debt. Even if you already have large amounts of debt, you continue to shop. You might keep what you buy a secret from your spouse. My advice would be to take a look at what is going on inside you that makes you feel the need to buy things, especially for other people in excess. Is it love you are looking for? Approval? Acceptance? I hate to break it to you but money can’t buy those things. Like I said before what you are seeking is inside yourself. It’s not out there or in others. My advice would be to create a spending plan and stick to it. I’m not saying you can’t spend your money just make sure everything else like your retirement and emergency fund is fully funded before you start over splurging. Don’t carry credit card debt. If you can’t pay off your bill in the same month that is a sign you are overspending.
If you have an indifferent-to-money personality you don’t stress or think about money. You don’t let money influence your decisions to do or not do something in life. Money isn’t the key to happiness is one of your core beliefs. This is a healthy mindset to have but if you ignore your finances, you could be headed for disaster. Many people rely on their spouse to handle the finances. I recommend you become involved. Like I said before, the unexpected happens and you could find yourself having to handle your finances. My advice is to at least know what you have, why you have it, and where you can locate important documents. Get more comfortable with money. Know what the household expenses are and what your income is and how much debt you have. This will save you a lot of financial stress in the future.
Finally, we have the worrier money personality. This personality is always worried that they will lose it all, no matter how much money they have. You always plan for the worst-case scenario. This is unhealthy and keeps you stuck in scarcity mode. You let fear stand in your way of enjoying life and opportunities for increasing your wealth. It is great to prepare for the future, but this personality type goes overboard worrying. My advice would be to discover wear these fears and worrying are coming from. You now have the tools in this book to help overcome those fears. You may want to talk to a therapist who can help you work through this issue. Take baby steps. Believe in yourself and educate yourself on money and your confidence will grow and your worries will shrink.
As you read through the different money personality types you probably fit into more than one type. Most of us are a combination of these different types. There are no bad or good types so I don’t want you shaming yourself. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and how to work on them is the only way to improve your financial well-being.
About the Author
Dawn Santoriello, CFP® is the founder and CEO of DS Financial Strategies, a fee-based financial planning firm that develops customized plans designed to maximize the efficiency of your money. Located just outside Philadelphia, Dawn is focused on empowering women, couples and entrepreneurs to reach their financial goals with peace of mind across the United States.
As a financial entrepreneur, speaker and author, Dawn has refined her expertise and is able to quickly evaluate personal goals and provide relevant advice on how to meet financial needs. She is dedicated to inspiring clients to pair their passions with understanding and to remove financial and emotional barriers that can be blinding to achieving their goals.
Find Dawn S. Santoriello, CFP® on the Web: https://www.dsfinancialstrategies.com
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Contact: Dawn S. Santoriello
Email: Dawn@DSFinancialStrategies.com
Website: https://www.dsfinancialstrategies.com
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