Money Personalities: Are You a Wealth Creator?

This post is by Shaun of moneycactus.com.

Isn’t it funny the way different people behave with money? Some squirrel it away and spend as little as possible, while others spend like drunken sailors, buying anything and everything they can!

Although there is a huge difference between these personality types I don’t personally feel that one is necessarily any better than another. Both examples tend to highlight people who use money poorly and are therefore not contributing to their own wealth. I don’t recommend indiscriminate spending and neglecting savings, but then I don’t really endorse extreme frugality either.

Although their personalities may be poles apart, people at both ends of the scale tend to end up feeling the same way: poor and unhappy.

The indiscriminate spender

Indiscriminate spenders may briefly satisfy their need for instant gratification by buying the things they want, but all this really does is fuel the fire and leave them feeling empty and wanting more. These are dangerous feelings and the result is similar to any other addiction: the bar needs to be raised each time in order to achieve the same feeling of satisfaction.

The outcome is often a debt spiral that becomes harder and harder to pull out of and our unhappy spender comes to the misguided conclusion that money is the root of all evil.

The money hoarder

Although money hoarders may feel like they are far better off than indiscriminate spenders, they don’t generally fare much better. Most will also feel unsatisfied with their financial position as the thing that makes them successful money savers also stops them from enjoying the fruits of their labor—they become afraid of spending. Amassing large sums of money is something to be proud of, but merely hoarding it is like keeping your favorite toy in its packaging and never getting to play with it.

There is no fun to be had and eventually you end up resenting money in the same way as our unhappy spender.

The wealth creator

The best wealth creators are not generally extreme at all, they are in fact completely average in every way. They know how to save, but also know how to reward themselves for doing so. There are no feelings of guilt relating to the way they use their money, a successful wealth creator can spend their allocated money freely as this is exactly what it was intended for. Wealth creators understand that there is more to life than money, but also know how to attract and use it to make more.

The biggest factor defining these type of people is their ability to think logically and control their emotional intelligence.

How do you view money?

It is completely possible to be a wealth creator, no matter what you current outlook is, all it takes is a change in perspective. Most of us aren’t extreme spenders or hoarders, but then most of us also have trouble finding the balance in between. Money can have strong effects on our emotions and quite literally rule our lives if we let it, this is where controlling our emotional intelligence becomes very important. Strangely enough, the process we can use to develop our emotional intelligence is exactly the same for both indiscriminate spenders and money hoarders alike, ultimately It comes down to how you view your money and how you value your other aspects of wealth.

If I said to an indiscriminate spender, “Hey, you should buy this really cool shirt. It’s on special and looks great on you, plus it only costs fifty bucks!” chances are they would be rather tempted. After all, it will make them look good and it’s on special.

Now what if I said it in a slightly different way? “Hey, you should buy this really cool shirt. It’s on special and looks great on you, plus it only cost three hours of work!”

Chances are our indiscriminate spender is going to ask me what the heck I’m talking about, but then they might also think a little longer about buying that shirt. Would they go to work for three hours and happily walk out with that one shirt? If the answer is yes, then they should go ahead and buy it. At least now they have made a conscious decision.

Our money hoarder is probably not that into retail therapy, they might desire something else, but the loss of their precious savings is holding them back. The same principal can be used to weigh up the true cost of what they want.

“Round-the-world ticket for $1,899.”

Or

“Round-the-world ticket for less than three weeks’ work.”

I don’t care how tight you are with money, that is starting to sound pretty darn good! Money hoarders need to find the thing they desire, allocate funds and start working towards it. By setting a reward they may just find that they work harder, or preferably smarter, at achieving their goal and developing their overall wealth by adding to their life experience.

It really doesn’t matter what your pay or tax rate is, you can easily apply this train of thought to your situation and ask yourself the same question: would you be happy to give up X amount of time (working) to get Y as a reward?

In the end wealth creation is much more about lifestyle than it is about just making money. If you know what it is you want to do, and develop your emotional intelligence to help make better financial and life decisions, you will find you can do just about anything you like.

Shaun is not an accountant, financial planner or life coach, but he writes about wealth creation anyway! Shaun’s motto is “Make wealth, not money,” which fits quite nicely with where he wants to be in life. You can find out more by visiting his blog where he shows you how to do nothing and grow wealthy.