How To Deal With Your Money Personality

The quiz in yesterday's Times gave you a general idea of which combination of five money personality types you tend to be: hoarder, spender, money monk, avoider, amasser. Now, we'll examine in detail the characteristics of each of these types.

Remember that most people are a mixture of types and do not exemplify only one tendency. It is even possible that in the course of doing your money awareness work, you may change types entirely.

Hoarder

If you tend to be a hoarder, you like to save money. You also like to prioritize your financial goals. You probably have a budget and may enjoy the processes of making up a budget and reviewing it periodically. You most likely have a hard time spending money on yourself and your loved ones, for luxury items or even practical gifts. These purchases would seem frivolous to you. You might very well view spending money on entertainment and on vacations - and even on clothing - as largely unnecessary expenses.

If you think about investing your money, you tend to be concerned not with liquidity but with future security, especially during retirement. "Saving for a rainy day" appeals to your orderly nature. If you are an extreme hoarder, you may want to keep your money so close to you that you avoid putting it even in conservative investments such as money markets, bonds or mutual funds. Some hoarders have been known to keep their money hidden under mattresses and in other secret places rather than put it in a bank.

Assignments for hoarders

-- Once a week, go out and spend money impulsively on a purchase for your immediate pleasure.

-- Once a week, buy a frivolous gift, which you see as a luxury, for someone you care about.

-- Once a month, take some portion of money you were going to put into savings or investments (a relatively small amount of money like $25 or $50 is fine) and spend it on yourself or a loved one.

-- If you have a budget and you generally consult it often, spend one week or two ignoring your budget and trusting your instincts in deciding what to spend your money on and when. Then compare the results with your budget and see how this experiment went for you.

Spender

If you are a spender, you enjoy using your money to buy yourself goods and services for your immediate pleasure. You probably get satisfaction from spending money on gifts for others. The odds are that you have a hard time saving money and prioritizing the things you'd like in your life. As a result, it may be difficult for you to put aside enough money for future-oriented purchases and long-term financial goals. You may spend most or all of the money you earn, and you may even be in debt.

One of the common traits of spenders is that they hate making budgets and adhering to them. Some spenders say that having to think about following a budget makes them break out in hives! As a recovering overspender myself, I can attest to the fact that even the word "budget" makes me feel claustrophobic. (Now I know enough to use the term "spending plan" instead.)

If you are an extreme spender, you may feel that you have an addiction or compulsion to spend money. And you may feel ashamed about being out of control in this way. Don't judge yourself too harshly. Remember that you are brainwashed by the media to buy things you don't need and can't afford. Staying sane and balanced in this culture is not easy.

Assignments for spenders

-- Once a week (or once a month) put some amount of money into savings. Decide on the amount that feels right, and stick to that decision.

-- Once a week, refrain from making one impulsive purchase.

-- Every day for a week, each time you spend money write down how much you're spending and on what. At the end of the week, make a decision about one change you will make (it can be a minor change) in your spending habits that will lead to less expenditure of money. Decide what you will do with this money you save that will make you feel good about yourself.

Money monk

If you are a money monk, you think that money is dirty, that it is bad, and that if you have too much of it, it will corrupt you. In general, you believe that "money is the root of all evil." It stands to reason that you identify with people of modest means rather than with those who amass wealth. If you happen to come into a windfall somehow you would tend to be uneasy and even very anxious at the thought of the influx of so much money. You'd worry that you might "sell out," becoming greedier and more selfish, and losing sight of positive human, political, and/or spiritual ideals and values. You would probably avoid investing your money, for fear that it might grow and make you even wealthier. If you were willing to invest some of it, you would most likely be comfortable only with socially responsible investments that reflected your deeper values and convictions and that contributed to causes you would support.

Assignments for money monks

-- Spend money on yourself in a way that you have previously considered selfish or decadent. See if you can experience any enjoyment out of this new behavior.

-- Spend time imagining yourself coming into a large amount of money and not being corrupted by it. How would you feel? What would you do with this money?

-- Conjure up examples, images, memories of people you've known or read about who have a lot of money and are not corrupted by it; people who in fact do many things with their money that you admire and respect. What are your feelings about these people? What do you have in common with them?

Money avoider

If you tend to be a money avoider, you probably have a hard time balancing your checkbook, paying bills promptly, and doing your taxes until the very last minute. You may avoid making a budget or keeping any kind of financial record. You won't know how much money you have, how much you owe, how much you spend. You may avoid investing money, even if you do have some, because it seems like too much trouble to attend to such details. What fuels this avoidance? You may feel incompetent or overwhelmed when faced with the tasks of your money life. If you are an extreme money avoider, you may even feel a kind of money anxiety or paralysis when faced with money tasks that resemble the feelings associated with math anxiety.

Assignments for money avoiders

-- Once a week, address one aspect of your money life that you usually avoid (e.g., balance your checkbook or set up a system for keeping track of your financial records).

-- If you are procrastinating about a financial task, such as getting information together for taxes, set a time to do it and then do it. If you feel enormous resistance to doing this task, invite someone over to be there while you do it, or figure out a way of easing yourself into the task so that it is less unpleasant.

-- If you usually wait a long time to pay bills, deal with them as soon as they arrive.

Money amasser

If you tend to be a money amasser, you are happiest when you have large amounts of money at your disposal to spend, to save, and/or to invest. If you are not actually spending, saving, or investing you may feel empty or not fully alive. You tend to equate money with self-worth and power, so a lack of money may lead to feelings of failure and even depression. If you hire an investment adviser or financial planner, your major concern will be finding investments with high rates of return, since you hope to make as much money as you can as quickly as possible. You probably enjoy making your own financial decisions, so it may be quite difficult for you to give up much control to a money professional. If, on the other hand, you tend to be a worrier, too, and if you are tired of being overly obsessed with your money, you may welcome the opportunity to assign some of the details of your money life to a trustworthy financial adviser.

Assignments for money amassers

-- Find a time - on a weekend, perhaps, or on vacation - when you can spend at least one day not dealing with money at all. You might want to practice this behavior for several weeks in a row, one day a week, and notice if your feelings are evolving in any way over time.

-- Think about some of your dreams or goals for the future that don't require much money or any money to accomplish, that don't involve making a lot more money, and that might lead to other kinds of pleasure and more solid emotional fulfillment. See if you can move toward taking action on one of these dreams or goals.

-- Try to remember a period in your life when you were less obsessed with money. What did that feel like? Did you like it? Did you dislike or fear it? Then role-play having this attitude toward money for one day and see how you feel about it now.

Tomorrow in The Times: Money myths: learning to identify and debunk them.

(From the book "Money Harmony: Resolving Money Conflicts in Your Life and Relationships," by Olivia Mellan. Copyright 1994, Olivia Mellan. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Walker and Company. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate.)