Your
Money Personality:
What It Is and How
You Can Profit From It
> Dr. Kathleen Gurney's Insightful Book
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For most of us, money and our feelings toward it are not static but fluid, dynamic and intense. We love money or we hate it, we fear it, or we worship it, or we enjoy it - but we certainly never ignore it. And yet, we know so little about why we experience these emotions toward money and the effects they have on our very existence.
As a psychologist specializing in money related issues, I have confronted these money emotions every day of my practice. I have worked with hundreds of men and women from all kinds of backgrounds and income levels: company presidents who make million-dollar decisions in the board room but can barely balance their own checkbooks, divorced housewives who must now join the work force and negotiate new financial lives, couples who never retreat from the financial battleground as they argue over "my," "your," and "our" money.
Not only do we have a physical self, an emotional self and a social self, but we also have a financial or money self.
This money self is an integral part of our behavioral repertoire and influences the way we interact with our money. In other words, your financial personality is a major factor in how you utilize your money. Most of us fail to realize the extent to which our financial personality impacts our financial habits and affects the degree of satisfaction we get from what money we have. There is an inseparable link between our unconscious feelings about money and the way in which we earn, spend, save and invest it.
Money attitudes influence our behavior, aspirations and emotional reactions to ourselves, our families and our friends. Understanding your money style will help you gain insight into how and why you react emotionally to money - why you have those reactions and how they affect your financial success or lack of success.
If you don't know your money strengths, you can't use them. If you aren't willing to change your money attitudes, you will stay in your financial status quo.
If you don't know your money strengths, you can't use them. If you don't know what's preventing you from getting money, you will remain a money victim. If you don't know what you want from money, you will never reach your financial goals. If you aren't willing to change your money attitudes and habits, you will stay in your financial status quo.
REFLECTIONS OF SELF-ESTEEM:
THE BOUNCEBACK FACTOR
The set of thoughts and beliefs you have about yourself is your self-concept. How you evaluate those beliefs, or the amount of pride you have in your self-concept, is your self-esteem. Also called self-respect or self-worth, self-esteem is the core of our personality, the sum of all the parts that determine how we relate to the world.
Generally speaking, the higher your self-esteem, the better equipped you are to cope with life's challenges and adversities and the better chance you have of finding happiness and security. Nothing is more important than self-esteem when measuring psychological and financial well-being.
One way to judge how much confidence you have in yourself is to determine how good you are at taking risks. Do you have the courage to take a risk and know deep inside that, if you do fail, you'll have whatever it takes to bounce back? In financial terms, when frustrated about your status, do you consider looking into different investment plans, or is it easier to let your money remain in a savings account because at least you feel safe?
LEVEL OF INVOLVEMENT:
A QUESTION OF CONTROL
Anyone can invest; not everyone will.
The extent to which we participate in money decisions can forecast how successful or unsuccessful we are in handling our money on a daily basis. Some of us like to follow market trends, read the stock reports, decipher the tax laws and be in a position to manage our money intelligently. Others don't want to take the time to get a financial education and would prefer to rely on the skills of a professional money manager.
If we choose to work with a financial professional, there are several possible levels of interaction. We can give the professional total control over our money, or we can give control but always ask for final approval, or we can insist on a variety of investment options so we can be participatory decision-makers. The style of interacting as well as the choice of investment vehicles depends not only on the characteristics of the investments, but also on the financial personality of the investor.
The extent to which we participate in money decisions can forecast how successful or unsuccessful we are in handling our money on a daily basis.
Money management programs often fail because people are thrown into a sea of financial terms and plans and neither the investor nor the financial professional takes into account the psychological attitudes toward money.
Even when there is a desire to have a financial expert intervene in money matters, there is often a reluctance to seek advice. The reasons that prevent people from hiring a professional include lack of trust, need for control, a desire to be personally involved. Some people are simply too fearful to trust their money to anyone else or to any place other than the bank or a shoebox.
APPETITE FOR RISK:
TRADING THE KNOWN FOR THE UNKNOWN
Most people think of risk tolerance when they think of matching personality characteristics to investments. An "I can't stand taking big chances" attitude probably will lead to an investment portfolio of high-grade municipal and corporate bonds and government securities. If, however, this risk-avoider winds up with a portfolio of stock in emerging-growth companies, commodity future contracts and similar speculative investments, all he or she has bought is a period of sleepless nights and nail-biting days - or worse - no matter how much profit is made.
Investing is the process of giving up something now in order to receive something (preferably more) in the future. Taking risks in investments refers to giving up something known now without knowing what your return will be in the future. Often, the possibility exists that what you get will be less than your investment. Your risk tolerance is your ability to make decisions, trading the known for the unknown, and to be comfortable with the decision once it is made.
But risk tolerance is only one of the financial traits to consider before you create an investment portfolio which will make you feel comfortable. There are other traits that need to be considered when matching your investments and money management style to your financial personality. The kinds of investments you'll feel comfortable with will depend on the dominance and configuration of your personal financial traits.
It is important to take a hard look at how you perceive money. Successful investors are usually in control of their emotions and make decisions based on facts, not feelings. Psychological research tells us behavior shapes attitudes, just as attitudes shape behavior.
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"You have brought a lot to the world of financial management. Your contribution with your book, "Your financial personality", has been of the utmost importance for all the financial community. You have created a very sensible new concept and your contribution in the area of analyzing the way people think and act when they invest is both very original and also totally accurate."
Jean-Paul Morin,
CFO - Publicis Europe
"I found Kathleen Gurney's first book both fascinating and illuminating. It gave me a new perspective on the way in which individuals make and live with investment decisions. That perspective helped me deal with the issues faced by many wealthy investors, and to provide them with better advise. "
Jean Brunel
Editor,The Journal of Private Portfolio Management
SAMPLE ANALYSIS FROM DR. GURNEY'S BOOK
The Money Masters
The Money Masters are exactly that - masters of themselves and their money.
They are in control; they know themselves and their money styles. They are aware of who they are, where they have been and where they are going. Their money sense of themselves is both positive and secure.
If all the nine financial personalities, they rank highest in work ethic, involvement, trust and contentment, and are tied for first position in self-determination and pride. Of all the groups, the Money Masters are the lowest in two traits that handicap wise and fruitful money management: emotionality and anxiety.
While even the Money Masters can fall short of total financial satisfaction, they have discovered the formula for both using and enjoying their money to their greatest benefit and pleasure. They have found the optimum balance between the control and mastery of money and the contentment and sense of security they reap from it.
When we look at the Money Masters to determine the reasons behind their accumulation of assets, we find it isn't so much that they have a magical investment formula as it is that they possess the basic money attitudes that foster financial success.
They are practical; they don't need a lot of prestige and public recognition; their financial decisions are usually good ones. Most of the time their investment decisions have been profitable because they have been thoughtful and have avoided high risks, settling instead for steady, reasonable returns. (Often the need to pursue high risk, the big kill with big returns, is more of a power play than a money motive.) The fact that the Money Masters don't need prestige or recognition from anyone else enables them to analyze all financial options before committing themselves.
The Money Masters are also the masters of self-esteem. They not only possess great confidence and a sense of accomplishment but they enjoy significant feelings of personal worth, contentment and a high level of trust in their fellow man. Their tremendous personal power earns them security and the belief that they can excel at whatever they set out to accomplish..
If they had to start all over again - make money and accumulate it - the Money Masters are convinced they could duplicate their success.
That's most interesting about the Money Masters is that confidence in themselves is what makes them feel the most secure. If they had to start all over again - make money and accumulate it - they are convinced that they could duplicate their success. That high level of confidence comes more from their sense of themselves than from the money they have earned and saved.
he Money Masters dispel the notion that you have to make a lot more money in order to accumulate more assets. Instead, they prove that you have to use your money more wisely to assure continued financial success and security..
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EIGHT MORE FINANCIAL PERSONALITIES: HOW TO IDENTIFY THEM
Not everyone is a Money Master. The Moneymax Personal Profiling System identifies/analyzes eight other distinct money personalities to help you discover how to optimize financial success, based on your unique money management style.
The Moneymax® Groups - at a glance
Achievers - proud and conservative, with a strong need to...
Entrepreneurs - performance-driven and goal-oriented, they're motivated by...
High Rollers - sensation seeking and creative, they seek out...
Hunters - aspiring but self-doubting, with a tendency to worry about...
Optimists - positive and confident, their priority is...
Producers - hard working but frustrated, they can profit from...
Perfectionists - highly analytical and thorough, but afraid of...
Safety Players - cautious and security-oriented, they avoid...
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