Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Money Personalities

Every year, The Phoenix Companies Inc., surveys wealthy people to see how they feel about the economy, their financial goals and the like. The survey ultimately is aimed at selling them financial products, but when the Phoenix folks toss all the data in the hopper, it spits out some interesting information on demographics, attitude and tendencies -- a wealth personality of sorts.

The survey came up with six wealth personalities: Satisfied Savers, Status Chasers, Altruistic Achievers, Secret Succeeders, Disengaged Inheritors and Deal Masters. Most of the personalities share some positive characteristics: They work hard, live below their means and they know how to make their money work for them. On the other hand, some of them are so worried about losing money that it's a source of daily concern.

[via aquarian]

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For most of us, money and our feelings toward it are dynamic and intense. We love money or we hate it, we fear it or we worship it - but we certainly never ignore it. And yet, we know so little about why we experience these emotions.

As a psychologist who specializes in money related matters, 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. I've learned that not only do we have a physical self, an emotional self and a social self, but we have a financial or money self. This money self is an integral part of our behavioral repertoire. Most of us fail to realize the extent to which it affects our financial habits and affects the degree of satisfaction we get from what money we have.

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.

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Mind Over Money: What's Your Money Personality?

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