Accountant Explains: The 4 Money Personalities - Which one are you?

Hey there, real quick before we jump into the episode, listen, if your earnings treadmill hasn't set you free yet, running faster won't either. Listen, hustle without principles just going to burn you out. So here's what I want for you. I want you to join me for my money machine experience. Live it is three free trainings. Deep dive into how to escape the treadmill and build a money machine that actually works for you. All right, Grab your spot here by going to moneymachinelive.com and I'll see you in the free training. Why is it that two people can make the same amount of money, but one ends up with a healthy portfolio and the other ends up with a really great shoe collection or chronic financial anxiety? Listen, if you've ever felt like money just slips through your fingertips or if your partner treats spending like a team sport but you're on the opposite team, this episode's for you. Because today I'm going to walk through the four money personalities. They're the money personalities that I wrote about in my book building your money machine. And they're the ones that I've seen over 30 plus years as an advisor, as a CPA is someone that's helping people build their path to financial freedom.

Here's what most people don't realize. Your relationship with money isn't just about math. It's about mindset. It's about muscle memory. It's about habits. Building habits. Good, bad, indifferent. Listen, it's going back since you got your first 25 cent allowance or $5 allowance, whatever it was, and then you went and blew it on candy. Or maybe that's just me because that's what I did. Just like personality tests help you figure out why you always end up organizing your sock drawer instead of going to a party. Your money personalities explain why you default to certain financial behaviors and why it's been so daggone hard to change them. All right? So I'm going to break it down for you. These are. And I'm going to go deeper than I usually do. These are habits that are actually in my book building your money machine in chapter 10 where. Where I talk about the money personalities and the habits in there, but we're going to talk about them in a different way. I'm going to draw them out for you as. As we move through this, okay? Because I think this is going to be a little bit of.

A mirror into who you might be. It might be a little bit of a roast as to what the traits of that personality is. And Hopefully a bit of insight of what to do and then how do they interact? Because what's interesting is when you get two different personalities or two of the same personalities in the same place, playing in the same playground, it can be really interesting making that happen. Okay, so, so I'm going to break it down for you and we'll, we'll make it happen. Now there are four personalities that we're gonna, we're going to talk about, but I'm gonna give you kind of the breakdown of how this, how this works out, okay? And if we just look at the four personalities, they fall on a, on a matrix like this. And when you look at the matrix, there's two things that we're focusing on. One is the timeline. And some are dealing with things in the present moment, some are dealing things in the future. As far as their focus goes, then the other is who Their focus is this. On one side it's more self focused and on the other side it's more others focused. Okay? And so the first, the first personality, the first personality that, that I want to, want to touch on is, is down here. It deals mostly in the present moment and mostly with self. This is the saver, okay? Now the Saver, this is like the superhero of financial safety, okay? You'd rather stash the cash under your mattress than take, take risk. This is where you probably still have your first dollar you ever made laminated somewhere, okay? The traits for, for, for this person is, is that they, they literally, they're responsible, they're cautious and they hate debt because they don't want risk, okay? And so they're, they'll, they'll save and save and save. The problem is this is even though they're in the present category, they may not actually enjoy the present because they're so risk adverse, they don't want to take calculated risks. So it's kind of a twist because the Savers retirement plan might be airtight, but their idea of a vacation is checking their budget in a different zip code instead of enjoying the time they're out. And so one of the things to realize is that that Saver has those personality traits and if we're not careful, they can fold over into hoarder, okay? Or Miser, if you will, where now all of a sudden they don't spend, they don't do anything, they don't want to do anything, they're scared to do anything. And all of a sudden we got to be careful. Now I'll tell you right up front that at one point I was very much a saver, very much a saber. Partly because of my upbringing, partly because of what I saw with my parents and that kind of thing. And I think that we all will have that in us. Now. When you'll see all four personality traits, you'll see that you'll all have elements of each of them. The question is, which one is your go to, which one is your strength, which is your primary and which is your secondary. And as you understand that, it might give you insight into why you make some of the choices you make with respect to money. Okay, so here's the action. Kind of what I would do here for a saver is I want you to deliberately, if you identify with this, I want you to deliberately give yourself permission to spend on something joyful. Okay? I said joyful, not frivolous. This is where building a plan comes into play. Because now you've got put it into a plan and you can do it without guilt, you can do it without remorse, you can do it in that way. But giving yourself permission to spend on something joyful will change some things for you. Trust me, the world won't end if you buy a latte. It won't end if you go and get a massage. Okay? But I want you to start to expand the walls of the saber. Okay? That leads me to the second personality type. And the second personality type is up here. And this personality type is the spender. Now, interestingly, is the spender. Their traits are they enjoy experiences, the excitement of it. They can be impulse buyers, which means that they're marketers. Dreams, okay, and, and everything. So now here's the upside with them is that because they crave and they enjoy experiences, they're really good at creating memories. They're also really good at creating moments and valuing those moments. And so when you talk about living a rich life, it's those experiences, those moments and those memories that create richness and in our life. So they're, they're really good at that. So you're, you're there for, the spender's there for a good time. Now they're not there for, for long term investment strategies. So they're not spending a lot of time looking towards their future. They think it, look at it through the eyes of life is short. So why not get the shoes, why not get the subscription rocks? Let's get extra guacamole. Do the things. It's always extra. And so are you. And so I think that there is this balance. If you look at the saver and then you look at the spender. All of a sudden, there's two different ends of the spectrum there. Now what happens is their kryptonite, you know, the, the negative here, potential is this, is that the credit card debt becomes their financial regret. Is that when I said they were a spender, that didn't mean they had the money to spend. So sometimes they will spend money they don't have. In other words, they finance it, pay later, you know, panic later, that kind of a thing to make it happen. And so look, I, I've been there, okay? I've done it. Now. I didn't overspend, I didn't go into debt. But look, I, I bought a $900 coffee maker by swiping on a, on an Instagram ad, and I, I created financial logic around it to make it make sense.

So I have. Now, I told you that I was a saver, and now you see that I still have some leanings towards spender, but the one thing that I do not do with it is I do not finance my spending. Okay? Spenders. Spenders will spend even if they don't have it. And that's the thing that we need to be aware of. Now, if you identified with this or you lean towards this, I want you to start to think about things in the construct of taking different actions. And what those actions would be is the spender needs to set up a fun fund. Again, the plan comes into place, but one of the, one of the things that you have in place will be a fun fund. This is money that you can set aside. You should set aside and spend it guilt free. It gives you joy. This is your joy, and this is joy with a plan. Okay? So you're not having the challenges, you're not having the problems, you're not having the guilt, and you're not going to debt to do it. You're actually deliberately setting yourself up to spend with boundaries, with plan, with rules to make it happen. So you get this now you start to get a balance between the saver and the spender. Now both of these categories or personalities are living in the present moment. The saver and the spender both are. But now we transition to those that might look more.

Towards the future. And.

That first future.

Is going to be here, the investor. Now the investor. These are the people that will spend the time reading investment newsletters for fun. That might be me. All right. That might be me. Okay, you have a spreadsheet for your spreadsheets. You, you're not just playing the money game, you're Trying to win it with, with everything you do and do it in that way. Now the traits that, that an investor have is they're typically very, very strategic. Strategic, okay? They're certainly future focused. So they're always looking towards the future and they have some level of risk tolerance because they know that without risk tolerance, without risk, you can't invest. And so they will continually invest knowing that they're going to be strategic, they're going to be building a future and they're going to tolerate a certain level of risk. Now this is great because what's happening is that you build well, faster through a leverage and a vision, okay? And doing it from that perspective is that you're actually hyper focused on building your money machine to give you that freedom, that life of choice down the road and, and maybe forestalling immediate gratification, gratification for.

For future benefits. Okay? Now the challenge with it is this, is that you can over prioritize your returns and ignore the relationships, ignore the harmony, ignore even the risks is because we invest, invest, invest, and we get hyper focused on the wins in the investment and now all of a sudden we prioritize the returns over the experiences, we prioritize the future over the present.

And we forsake potentially relationships in that journey if we're not, if we're not careful. You know, it's interesting when you think about it. It's like an investor's idea of a romantic date is literally rebalancing their portfolio together. Nothing says love like optimizing asset allocation. I mean, come on, that's, that's the way they look at things. Now remember, people aren't purely one or the other in most cases. In fact, I have all four of them. So I, but I, in different phases of my life, I was more leaning into one or the other. Now if you are in the investor category, the action item here for you would be to take time to align your strategy with your values, not just the highest yield. This is one of the other reasons that when we do money machine master plans with our clients or when working with people in the money machine blueprint, one of the things we start with is the vision for your life. Because I want to align all our money decisions towards that vision. And then when we align it with the strategy, because the vision sets the plan, the plan sets the strategy. Now we can move closer and closer to the life we wanted. So if we don't align the strategy with our values, you end up rich, but you end up alone. You know, except for a collection of ETFs and index funds. That doesn't help you. It doesn't provide you the rich life that you want. All right, and that leads me to the fourth category, the fourth personality trait in this, and that's up here. This is the philanthropist. They're future oriented and they're focused on others. They're not just generous, but they feel spiritually obligated to pick up the check. We'll pick up the check for the whole table at almost every meal, including brunch with strangers. They pick. I've done this where I've just paid for the meal for the person behind me or another table. Okay? Their traits, you know, obviously they're very giving. Okay? They're very focused on the impact they have. And they also have a big part. But the, the, you know, the reality is, is that that gives them some great upsides. They create a legacy because of the impact they're having on other people. They feel deeply fulfilled in the process. But there's a challenge there because often they struggle to say no. And they may sacrifice their own financial stability for the sake of being generous to others and put their life on hold or on the back border or in jeopardy for the sake of a cause, for sake of a mission, for sake of that. And we got to understand something. This isn't about not caring for other folks. But if I cannot take care of myself, I will not be in a place to take care of others at the greater level that I should and that I could. So this is a place where we could struggle to say no if you lean into this. And so because philanthropists, a lot of times, they'll give away their last dollar.

And then they'll finish getting rid of their dollar, and then they'll venmo someone else lunch. It's beautiful, but it's just not sustainable to make it happen. So what's your action step here? Create a giving plan. Okay. Boundaries don't make you selfish. They allow you to give another day. They make your giving sustainable for the long term. Okay? So these are the four personality traits of money. And I think that when you start to understand where you are in each of these, you can figure it out. And different stages of your life will end up differently. Because I know early on, early on, I think I was a spender. Okay? When I first came out of college, I had this new job, I had this new salary, and I was a spender. But then I realized, oh, I'm not going to get ahead this way. And so now all of a sudden, And I had some hiccups and in work and income and expenses. So I became a saver. And then I save, save, save, and. And I spent, but I didn't spend as much. But until I understood the market, until I understood what investing did, until I understood some of that, I wasn't an investor. And then I leaned heavy into investing.

And through it all, I found philanthropy on the way. And so I am in all four of these quadrants doing these things. But at any given time, I may be more leaning in one than the other. I think today I'm much more in the philanthropist investor category than anything else. Okay, But I still have spender tendencies. We still take our vacations and do our things. I still have saving tendencies because I know that I'm 63, going to be 64, and I want to make sure that we're safe and that my wife's safe and my son and his wife and the grandkids are safe. Okay? So don't look at this and judge yourself based on where you might see yourself. Rather, look at it and understand yourself and what it might take to navigate through that so you can be more fluid within the four personality traits. Now, here's where the fun starts, though.

What happens when you get into a relationship and you combine these things? Now, if you're in a relationship, this is where this kind of gets fun and fiery if you're not careful. Because think about this. What if you're the same. Same type. Maybe you're two savers, which means you're rich, but you're bored. Or you're two spenders, you're fun, but you're broke. Or you're two investors, you're rich, but you're competitive. Or two philanthropists, you're broke, but you're generous. So we have to be careful when we put ourselves together if we don't understand what the other person is or where their leaning is right now. Now what happens when they're not the same? Think about this. A saver and a spender. All right, That's a tug of war at Target. It's not going to be fun. But you. But if you understand that you have a spender and they understand that you are a saver, you can have a dialogue and put those things in perspective to allow the spender to spend within. Within reason and around the saver to satisfy their needs for safety. Okay, what if it's an investor and a philanthropist? This is like Shark Tank and Oprah on the same show. Okay? We need to look at it from that perspective. And if you have a spender and a philanthropist together, this is a big argument for boundaries, okay? Boundaries with generosity. Okay? So here's what I would look at, is just talk about.

The traits that you have. Where your leaning is, have an understanding of what that might do with your financial choices, the financial decisions you have, talk about the why behind your money. That way, it will also inform the habits and allow you to move through the habits. When you build a financial system, a financial system.

That honors both perspectives of the individuals.

Then you're going to be in a whole different place, because now you get a chance to honor it, you get a chance to enjoy it, and you move together. Instead of allowing money to become this divisive thing, it becomes this conjoining thing that allows you to bring it together. And maybe you just avoid Costco for a date night. Okay? That's. That's the game. Now, this is. This can really be challenging. I mean, when we talk about it seriously, it can be challenging if you don't understand that there's these personality traits that are at play and you have conflicting personality traits in play. And having this, the conversation, having the understanding will allow you to navigate. You don't need to change your personality. You just need to work with it. You need to understand it. And if you're judging your partner's habits, just remember they're probably judging yours too, if you're not careful. And so rather than judge each other and the habits, have an. Understand the personalities, the perspectives and the whys behind them, which will give you the understanding to bring you together towards that common vision for a financial future that gives you the life that you want. All right? So let me know. Let me know in the comments. What was your primary money, per se? I'd love to hear. I'd love to hear what your thoughts, your insights are. This is one where you get a chance to also, if you want, let me know what your partner's personality is. But be kind. No shaming in here, all right? Because like I said, I'm all four of them, and we all lean in all four of them at some point in time, okay? I want to help you build that money system that works with your wiring in a way that drives toward the vision you have for your life. So do me a favor, let me know what it is. Let me know what your questions are, and let's have some fun, all right? Because no matter what your type is, saver, spender, investor, or philanthropist, when you get intentional, you can build a life and a legacy. By design and not by default, not by demands. All right. I hope that this helps. I hope you found this valuable and I hope that it will give you some insights to having the conversations you need to have with yourself about your money journey and with your partner about theirs and about yours together. All right. Until I get a chance to see you on your path to financial freedom, always, always strive to live a life without losing. See you in the next one. Cheers. Thank you for listening to the Affluent Entrepreneur show with me, your host, Mel Abraham. If you want to achieve financial liberation to create an affluent lifestyle, join me in the Affluent Entrepreneur Facebook group now by going to melabraham.com group and I'll see you.

And that's it for this episode of Building your money Machine where we help you learn how to master your money, eliminate financial stress, and live a life of choice. If you found this valuable or helpful to you, here's what I'd love for you to do. If you do me a favor, go to Apple, Apple Podcast or wherever you're listening to this podcast and rate and review the show. It helps us tremendously to keep us at the top of the list this so we can continue to get this information and this message out to people because I truly believe that financial freedom is your birthright and I want to help each and every one of you claim it. Thanks so much.