73: Understanding Money Personalities: Why They Matter for Your Finances

There are three simple objectives for our conversation on money personalities and healthy financial relationships:

•   To encourage you to Identify Your Money Personality: Understand which money personality you align with and how it influences your financial decisions, including spending, saving, and investing.

•   Begin to establish a Positive Relationship with Finances: Learn tools to cultivate a healthy and mindful relationship with your money, allowing you to make better financial decisions and relieve stress associated with finances.

•   Create a Consistent Financial Review Habit: Set a monthly or bi-weekly "money date" to review your spending plan and align your financial goals with your money personality for continuous financial growth.

Resources:

• Blog about the Waffle Theory 
• Stacked Intent Course Suite
• Stacked Intent Free Resources

Call to action: Head over to the Unmasking Your Money Personality Quiz to see what your money personality is and then hope on over to the Stacked Course Suite to hope into Finances Rediscovered Self-Paced Course  to dig deep into your healthy relationship with finances.

Thank you for tuning into Stacked Intent to be authentically YOU! Be sure to leave a review and follow us on instagram. 

Transcript

There are three simple objectives for our conversation on money personalities and healthy financial relationships:

•   Objective 1: To encourage you to Identify Your Money Personality: Understand which money personality you align with and how it influences your financial decisions, including spending, saving, and investing.

•   Objective 2: Begin to establish a Positive Relationship with Finances: Learn tools to cultivate a healthy and mindful relationship with your money, allowing you to make better financial decisions and relieve stress associated with finances.

•   Objective 3: Create a Consistent Financial Review Habit: Set a monthly or bi-weekly "money date" to review your spending plan and align your financial goals with your money personality for continuous financial growth.

Relationship? What just came to your mind? I bet your mind just went to romantic relationship, because that is how our society has trained our minds to automatically go toward relationship having to do with our romantic aspect of life. However, there are so many more relationships that are present in your life and today we are going to specifically talk about the relationship you have with finances and why that is important to your life. 

Did you know that you learn most your financial behaviors by the age of seven years old? Research from the University of Cambridge shows that our money habits are set by the age of seven, and our parents have real power to foster financial literacy. 

Between 3-5 years old, children will begin to understand money and learn there are values of coins and bills (if they ever see them due to our sociality mostly going to cards). They can learn the basic understanding of saving, spending, and earning. Then from this point we just go up in the complexity children learn from the basics in topics to the more complex. This helps children begin to understand their responsibility of money management. 

I remember as a small child, several times, I used my money skills to either buy more or save what I had. One time my family was out with some friends and cousins who had come to town, my parents gave me, my sister, and brother equal amounts of money to spend in the old timey gas station – I came up to them and wanted to add my own money to what had been given to increase what I had to spend on the snacks and candy. So, my parents let me add my money in but had me go last in the group. I was proud of myself because I ended up spending less than what they gave us to spend and saving the remaining. This has definitely been one of my traits.   Another time I remember a way that money personality contributed to what I’ve seen in myself as an adult would be. I used to set-up shop usually a bill, rent, and such with my stuffed animals when I was about six. I would write out a table with the bills they each had due and have them line up to pay their bills. If it seemed as though their bills were not going to be met or their rent wasn’t going to be paid, they got evicted. We recently found my documentation in our childhood toys, and it cracked us up because it was definitely clearly written out.  In that childhood play I had real checks to write because my daddy would cut his routing number and account number off the checks that they no longer needed and gave them to me to play with. What is a memory of money that you have?

I do totally understand that not everyone has a chance to be exposed to finances as a child in a positive light or it was just not a topic discussed in your household. That is totally fine because it is never too late to get started with where you would like to go from here. Learn to discover finances to develop a healthy relationship with finances to give yourself freedom in your budget in understanding your waffle squares. Which I am not going to jump into the weeds on my waffle square theory, but you can head over to the blog or in the Finances Rediscovered course to learn more. 

Pause as we start this conversation about financial mindset to see what personality you have connected to finances and make sure you aren’t comparing yourself to anyone because every single person is in a different place, so stop. Look at where you are and where you want to go! The most important aspect about finances is to look for like-minded friends who will help you in working towards the goals you have with your finances. 

·       Topic 1: Relationship with finances 

o   Did you know that your healthy relationship with finances is rooted in an understanding to leverage the tools that enrich your life? This is helpful to provide yourself with leverage to life rather than making finances an endless stress. 

o   Once you have established your relationship with your money, not having just a love for your money, but more of an understanding and healthy relationship that will provide you with the ability to make healthy decisions on how you are making money decisions. 

o   As you are building and prioritizing the relationship you have with money whether it was something positive that you started as a child or whether it was something you discover at this specific stage you find yourself at in life. It is never too late to figure out and cultivate a healthy relationship. This is an important relationship to create as money affects every aspect of our lives. 

o   You’ll want to create a mindful approach to your money so that you are able to develop the lifestyle you want to have. 

o   Remember that there is an emotional side to our financial decisions.

o   Best way to develop a healthy relationship with your spending plan is to grab a monthly coffee date with your spending plan to check and see if you stayed on track and where you might have gone off track from what you’ve set for yourself. I personally have a money date with our spending plan bi-weekly as we get paid and then my husband and I sit down monthly to review our budget. This helps us to stay on the same page, but it also helps me to execute what we’ve talked about. This is a discipline within you.  

o   Keeping your attitude upbeat can really help as you empower and boost your mindset. Though it might not be where you want it to be, keep working it and it will get there. 

o   Paying attention to your little things can be so helpful in keeping your relationship with your finances positive. I love to make my own teas and watch the added sugar that I consume, but I’ve found that a really good iced chia tea with lots of cinnamon makes me smile helps me find a small piece of happiness on a really hard season of life. So, what is that for you? Find it and now really enjoy it when you have it. When you are tight on money, find ways to celebrate your friends within your budget. It is okay to be honest on your budget/spending plan that you are within those spaces. I saw one time that when someone gives you a $30 gift be sure to show appreciation because for some people in our life that was working two hours for them—and they gave it up to share with you. Always respect the spaces people are coming from in their gifts. 

o   Have you ever made a financial mistake? All of us have in different ways, use it as a lesson or use someone else’s experiences as a lesson. Like maxing out a credit card? Be kind to yourself and learn from what happened. Then do your best to not max out a credit card again to only use a small percentage and pay your statement off each month. 

o   Biggest aspect of having a healthy relationship with your financials it to be kind to YOU. You are sitting with looking for a healthy relationship in finances. 

·       Topic 2: Money Personalities 

o   As we launch into topic two, I want you to think about how do you see money?

o   Personalities are all around us in how they affect our lives, did you ever think about the fact that you have a money personality? Once you understand your money personality as a tool to help you in your spending habits and plans, then this will help you to create your spending plans/budget because you’ll be able to understand why what your “needs” versus “wants” are. 

o   Understanding your money personality helps you to be encouraged in improvement of your financial decisions that will help you improve in your areas of needs. 

o   Understanding your money personality helps you to communicate when it matters to your financial decisions, within yourself or in a partnership of finding some common ground, helping you be able to set shared goals, and being able to navigate throughout these conversations, all because you have developed or reenforced a healthy relationship with finances. 

o   Once you’ve understood your money personality it will help shape how you spend, save, and invest. I must tell you I know that I can stick to a budget 1,000%, but there are also days I am really good at totally blowing it and sometimes it just depends on the day. I know this about myself though and that helps in my habits of trying really hard to stick to my waffle squares (head over to the blog to read more on this area). 

o   I’ve created a money personality quiz to help you determine where you land as a launching pad to developing toward the life you are working toward. 

·      Extravagant Explorer - This category represents the syrupy sweetness of enjoying life to the fullest. Just like a waffle covered in delicious syrup, these individuals savor every moment and aren't afraid to indulge in life's pleasures.

·      Prudent Preserver - Similar to the sturdy base of a waffle, these individuals build a solid foundation by saving for the future. They understand the importance of financial stability and ensure that their financial "waffle" has a strong and reliable base.

·      Stylish Consumer - Just as a waffle can be covered with various toppings, these individuals enjoy adding flair to their lives through carefully chosen purchases. They understand the art of balancing style and substance, making each spending decision a conscious and enjoyable choice.

·      Financial Balancer - Balancing the sweetness of spending with the stability of saving is crucial, just like finding the right balance of ingredients in a waffle batter. These individuals manage debts strategically, ensuring that financial decisions contribute to the overall harmony of their financial "waffle."

·      Strategic Wealth Builder - Much like a chef carefully investing time in perfecting a waffle recipe, these individuals invest their resources with a long-term strategy. They understand the importance of compounding and strategic financial planning, building a robust financial "waffle" recipe for success.

o   Now that you’ve heard me talk about these money personalities head over to Stacked Intents free resource to take Unmaking Your Money Personality Quiz (https://www.stackedintent.com/UnmaskingYourMoneyPersonalityQuiz) to see if you are in the ball field with what you believe your money personality is from the descriptions, I just shared with you. If you find that it is different, then I challenge you to dig into why is it different. Are you being realistic with how you see money or are you living on a different page?

o   Overall helping you understand the action that you need to take on getting to have financial health. You’ll be able to embrace your strengths, be able to recognize the short comings you might have and be able to make informed financial decisions. 

·      Knowing your strengths and weaknesses helps to build up a stronger budget wall for each of what you have. 

·       Topic 3: How Money Personalities Affect Finances 

o   The money personality you have will affect how you spend, save, and invest!

o   If you happen to be a big spender, then a lot of times you aren’t going to be a bargain shopper. A lot of times they do not fear debt and will spend in a comfortable space.

o   These personalities even in our subconcussion are going to affect the way that financial decisions are made.   Though the beauty in understanding helps you to be able to transform all aspects of your finances and be in a present state of where you are in your spending plan compared to just ignoring your finances. It is great to start as early as possible, but the best time to plant a tree is today, you cannot change what you did yesterday. 

o   Because on the flip side of overspending is someone who is too frugal with their habits which can lead them to unnecessary stress and missed opportunities. 

·       Topic 4: Let’s touch really quickly how you can have a positive impact on your children’s development with finances 

o   The best time to start teaching your children about money has no hard and fast rule, but financial education is a process that starts younger and builds as age-appropriate ways as your children age. You as a parent have so many opportunities to reinforce the message about finances, so the thought should be what message are you giving to your children? You’ll back it up with the real-life examples happening.        

·      I kept my niece last summer while her little sister was being born, so we made a pit stop at the store for her to grab gifts for her baby sister. I gave her specifically $30 in cash to use between two stores we used $20 at one she went through the store, and we talked about how that would affect her $20 and she decided based on that what gifts she was going to get her sister and then we went to the second store to use her other $10 to grab a book for her little sister. This gave her a boundary of a budget to stay in and she had a blast picking out the gifts for her sister. This helped give her a concept of limiting what she got for her little sister within a set budget. Plus, we just had an absolute blast. 

o   You’ll just be giving money skills as age-appropriate task, such as counting to ten, playing number games, delaying gratification such as waiting for treats. As they age, you can begin to help them understand needs vs wants which can include understanding the difference in luxuries and necessities. This can happen as you are shopping for birthday gifts for others by only shopping for the other individual. This will help you begin to establish this healthy money conversation within your household as your children are aging. 

·       This was just simply scratching the surface of how you can understand your finances! I have a course on the Stacked Intent Course Suite that can help you dig into a rediscover of your finances to gain a deeper understanding and empower yourself to shape your financial future. I look forward to providing you with more resources to build a healthy relationship with your finances. 

·       “When you truly understand you, then you can understand your underlying habits and behaviors toward finances.” By Becca

·       Call to action: Head over to the Unmasking Your Money Personality Quiz (https://www.stackedintent.com/UnmaskingYourMoneyPersonalityQuiz) to see what your money personality is and then hope on over to the Stacked Course Suite to hope into Finances Rediscovered Self-Paced Course (https://www.stackedintent.com/offers/UjUFCZUA/checkout) to dig deep into your healthy relationship with finances.