Money is a topical issue everywhere. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are or who you’re with. For something that is so important little time is ever spent learning about it. Or rather learning about ourselves in relationship to money. Your money personality determines your behaviour towards money. How you plan for it, search for it, use it when you have it and sometimes even when you don’t.

Understanding your relationship with money will help you combat problems you may be facing when it comes to finances. Perhaps there’s never enough money, or something always comes up to drain money. Maybe you aggressively chase it and even more vigorously spend it. Your money personality is central to these behaviours. So let’s look at the five money personalities;

Hoarder

The Hoarder has a mentality that makes them very good at seeking money and reluctant to let go of it. These are people who have a mindset that is easily geared to accumulating money. Very good with budgets and well-planned expenditure they tend to shy away from spending on self or loved ones for luxuries. Hoarders look at investments with security as a first priority, they prioritize the safety of their investment. You will find Hoarders are very cautious with money going out.

Spender

The Spender loves to spend. They love to use their money and to use it now. The spender is not averse to using their money even before they have it – leading to debt. It’s not the spender doesn’t want to save money, they just simply don’t have any money left to save. Many will confuse the spender with the Avoider (more on this one later). Spenders May hide behind words like “the finer things in life” to justify their habits. They are prone to impulse buys and rash decisions in the presence of money and sometimes completely catastrophic ones in its absence.

Monk

Monks are hard to identify but this type believes that “money is the root of all evil” and for this reason are more content seeking spiritual and humanitarian ideals. They are not averse to money but are conscious perhaps to a point of paranoia of the effect that having money can have on their behaviour. The Monk is characterized by anxiety around money and may experience feelings of overwhelm if they receive a windfall. They will likely look for ways to “get rid of” the money. Through seemingly altruistic acts like helping family, friends and the less fortunate.

Avoider

You may have difficulty dealing with money in general. Perhaps you’ve never drawn up a budget though you intended to. Something came up. Something always comes up. Avoiders find money a difficult issue to deal with and this is something they share with Monks. Avoiders, however, choose to bury their heads in the sand on the issue. Their vague answers when it comes to how much they have, earn, save, spend give them away. Where the Monk has a disdain for money the Avoider chooses ignorance. Because of this the Avoider also has trouble keeping up with payments and will likely be behind on one or two bills or loans. Where the Spender is determined to use the money for their benefit with a bias to instant gratification the Avoider is simply hapless with money, reckless.

Amasser

The Amasser loves nothing more than to make money. They associate money with power and status and large amounts of it can only enhance. They are the antithesis of the Avoider as they are all about their money. As meticulous as the Hoarder in the accumulation of money through more relaxed when it comes to spending it. The Amasser will spend but their primary goal is to make more money. They like investments with high return opportunities; the quicker the better. This makes them prone to scams.

The personalities are not mutually exclusive, it’s a matter of degree and extent. You may identify with more than one personality and it’s a matter of how much you identify with each one. Understanding this clash is also useful in deciding your financial personality and getting to grips with why you do the things you do.

You may find the money personalities under different names in different places but the principle is ultimately the same.  I’ve used the names as they appear in the Money Harmony test which you can take by clicking here. I took the test and my dominant result was a Hoarder. Take the test and let us know your results.