Money Personality, I Have One?
A Quiz tells shows results of how money psychology is related to your relationship to money.
At the beginning of my financial journey, I searched for people on social media who are or did go through the same predicament as myself. Of course, I asked my family for advice and their history, but their past doesn’t shape my view on money or what kind of person you are when it comes to money. So, I did what any regular millennial would do; I used Google University and Youtube Academy(Not real names), books, podcasts, and other platforms.
Everybody knows that Google has or doesn't have all of the answers searched. In this case, Youtube became my primary source of similar stories of people paying off their debt, whether it’s their credit card, car loan, and/or student loan debt. My journey has started because of my student loan debt. As I searched on Youtube for budget plans, I stumbled upon a Youtuber named Aja Dang.
Ms. Aja Dang: SHE DID THAT!
Ms. Aja Dang is a Content Creator and Youtuber who lives with her boyfriend of 6–7 years, two dogs, and lives in Los Angeles, California. That sentence should tell you that it doesn’t matter what kind of income a person has; paying off debt is possible. She has a playlist on her channel about her financial journey. It consists of monthly budget updates, tips, and tricks that she learned through her journey, side hustle ideas, and any other financial videos to help anyone through their path. By the way, she paid off 152,677.65, including a car loan and other debt, that totals to $200,000 of debt, and guess what; this BOSS LADY paid off her debt in two years. Need I say more. I still watch her videos.
Her journey to financial freedom is not your journey, but she is an example of mindset shifting, going through the emotional roadblocks, and being resilient. Anyway, she posted a video in 2019 similarly titled(She claimed the title first) called ‘What’s Your Money Personality? | October Budget | Aja Dang’. It’s about a quiz provided by an online banking application called Empower. According to Aja, “I found the Money Personality test from Empower to be very eye-opening.”
The Empower Money Psychology Quiz
Naturally, if a Famous Youtuber such as Aja Dang provides a link to the quiz in the description box for her viewers(me) to take the quiz for themselves, well, then we should take the quiz. “What’s your money personality?” The quiz asks questions such: A World Without Money Sounds A) Amazing B) Impossible, Would You Rather, A) Stick to a strict budget B) Get Punched In The Face, etc. These questions were not always first, but the results tell the person what kind of relationship we have with money.
Questions Asked
Providing the questions below will give an insight into how your brain automatically answers the question. I am retaking the quiz to copy the questions that we asked of me this time around. Answering the questions with a version of myself who is proud of financially is still an ongoing process.
1)A World Without Money Sounds A) Amazing B) Impossible
2) Would You Rather A) Stick to a strict budget B) Get Punched In The Face
3) You Check Your Bank Balance A) Regularly B) I Don’t Know(Emoji)
4) Spending Money Makes You Feel A) Joy B) Pain
5) A Friend Stills Owes You $100, Do You A) Follow up on it again B) Forget about it. The friend needed the cash
6) What Do You Want More of? A) To live every day like a vacation. B) To have a skyscraper with my name on it
In total, there are 14 questions in this quiz. Sample questions that I answered, but this quiz is for personal use. However, once I finished the quiz, my results as previously shocked my soul.
My Results
I have taken this quiz more than three times, hoping to have different results, but what’s that “repeating the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.” At first, my results showed that I was a nurturer; that’s the reason why retaking the quiz seemed to be better than to be known as a nurturer. However, before my goals and focus shifting, this made sense because I was worried about my parents, especially my mom since my father was and still is the breadwinner for us.
As a nurturer, their savings plans and spending for their loved ones just in case it needed. Everyone knows that relying on you emotionally and financially is essential. If the family ever found a financial emergency, you are not there to help is a big money nightmare for you. Sometimes money is not disposable income; it would go broke than admit that your own needs are just as necessary. The term “The Responsible One” was your role since your parent(s) could not provide for your needs in your childhood.
As this article is written, I retook the quiz, and now my results show that I am a Conqueror. According to the Quiz Section on Empower, there are six money personalities, and they are in order: The Idealist, The Stockpiler, The Hedonist, The Celebrity, The Nurturer, and The Conqueror.
As a conqueror, I can see opportunities that others do not see. My biggest money nightmare is a missed one and where the blame would be placed on myself. I define money as ‘Work Hard, Play Hard,’ except playing hard is a foreign concept. As the saying goes, ‘Time is money’; it’s about how it earned more than how much is made. People telling you to relax is an insult to your character, but achieving such is validation to feeling worthy instead of not good enough. During my early childhood years, financial and career success was the way to win. Winning at any cost was the way to love.
Do the results dictate what will happen next? Sometimes. Honestly, I have never seen myself as someone who would choose to work over spending time with my family. At the beginning of the pandemic wave, there was an opportunity to work more hours. I took the chance; however, it came at a price of working 12-hour shifts or 16-hour shifts near the COVID closed off floors, days where using more than six days in a row without one or two days of complete rest was exhausting, and my parents picking me up from work late at night was selfish of me.
In the end, I switched shifts from nights to mornings 4 days per week, sometimes picking up 12-hour shifts on the weekends.
Take the quiz for yourself
I genuinely believe that the first step to financial freedom and health is to look at your past expenses and understand our relationship with money and what behavioral traits lead you to take the next step. Links are provided for the Empower Quiz and to Aja Dang Youtube Channel.
It’s crucial to understand how our reactions, habits, and behavior comes from our childhood and influences in our lives. Learning something new about yourself can be scary, frustrating, and weird. Still, I promise it’s better to know that our relationship to money is rooted in our emotions than blaming outsiders. Take the risk, learn about your relationship with money, and go from there.